Something I struggle with is maintaining a consistent workflow on my personal projects. If there’s a real-world consequence for me missing a deadline, that’s a great motivator for me! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to convince my brain to apply that to my comics and writing. At least not when I’m still in the more nebulous planning and drafting stages. Sure, I’ve given myself the vague goal of “Finish something to the point that it’s… Read more Staying on Track
It’s April, which means it’s a Camp NaNoWriMo month! While I’m not officially participating in Camp NaNo this month, I’m still using April to draft the Blythe vs. the Werewolf script. Before diving into the draft, I wanted to get some prep work done. The hope is that if I’m well prepared, I won’t spend the entire comic-making process floundering. Since it’s a visual medium, I want to get the design elements—like character and setting… Read more Spooky Story Skeletons
Last post, I shared some sketches for Blythe vs. the Werewolf, the short standalone comic I’ll be working on between now and October. I’ll definitely have more sketches of werewolf and character designs in upcoming posts. This week, though, I want to go a bit more into the project itself. The titular character, Blythe Bonfils, is a wizard who takes on odd jobs of the magical variety. The comic takes place ten to fifteen years… Read more Project Spotlight: Blythe vs. the Werewolf
Psst! Hey, you! Ya like werewolves? I sure hope so! I’ve been thinking a lot about werewolves lately, and there’s a reason for that! Last post, I mentioned that I’m taking a break from work on Strange Company to focus on a short comic. It’s called Blythe vs. the Werewolf, and it features—you guessed it—at least one werewolf. The titular character of BvtW plays a big role in Strange Company. It takes place over a… Read more Werewolves on the brain
I’ve been waching lot of DIY videos on miniatures and models lately. That, of course, has me thinking, “Hey, what if I make a model of the underground city I need to design?” Unfortunately I don’t currently have the space nor the materials to make that happen. Maybe someday? What I can do (and what I need to do anyway) is sketch it out. The city in question is part of the fictional archaeological site… Read more Setting the Scene: Designing an underground city
Last post I talked a bit about Raye. While she’s the foremost main character out of the five whose POVs get the most attention, the most central character to the plot is Sam. Although he has very few POV scenes outside of flashbacks, he’s the reason why everyone is where they are at the outset of Strange Company. Sam Donovan hasn’t gone by his Saintly name in a long…long time. Not since the gods stripped… Read more Character Concepts: Sam
Strange Company is a big story with a big cast, and it follows multiple POVs. There are five main characters, whose perspectives the story follows most often: Raye, Helmi, Uriel, Gabriel, and Sam. Out of these five main characters, THE main character is Raye. Raye is an energetic young woman with a mischievous streak. She’s also a bit directionless, and doesn’t know what she wants out of life yet. This becomes a point of contention… Read more Character Concepts: Raye
It’s been over a month since the webcomic host Smackjeeves shut down for good. For the last 12 or so years, it was home to my very first (and very abandoned webcomic). That webcomic was the spiritual predecessor to Strange Company. It’s got the same characters, the same world, the same settings. It even has some holdovers from the old plot. But I’d like to think it’s evolved enough that it’s something wholly new. The… Read more Project Spotlight: Strange Company
Let’s switch it up and break away from the planning and writing stuff this week. One of my favorite art challenges is the yearly redraw. It’s a great way to see what you’ve learned over the course of a year, and how your style and skills have developed. I’ve never attempted this before (at least, not that I remember) so I decided to take a stab at it. I dug through my digital art files… Read more Art Challenge: Yearly Redraw
Time to dip into the nitty gritty. I have the projects I want to focus on this year. Now I need to wrangle them into shape, and I need to decide how long I have to do that. I need deadlines. I’ve got a problem, though. A few problems, actually. For one, I have a habit of giving myself goals that prove too daunting. Solution? I need to break my big lofty goals into smaller,… Read more On Setting the Pace