Remiss? Maybe. Printers? Seeking.

If you keep up with my comic at any one of numerous other places news about it is posted (my deviantArt page, its own Smackjeeves page, etc) you will no doubt have read about the arrival of my printed copies of the first chapter of Heterochromia:


I was thrilled to receive them, of course, and launched Heterochromia's comic website with their arrival. There and on my deviantArt page, I wrote longish journals about my decision to put the comic online as well as in print. I didn't post anything about that here. Why? Simply because I didn't want to have to write another entry, to be honest. Here is what has been posted at Smackjeeves since I received the printed copies (August 26th):

"To celebrate the arrival of the first prints of the first chapter of Heterochromia, I've decided to also launch Heterochromia on Smackjeeves.

I realize it may not make immediate sense to try to sell in print what I offer for free online. Obviously, most people who read Heterochromia won't be paying for it. Luckily, profit isn't really my aim in selling copies. The price at which I'm selling the currently-printed copies will basically just cover the cost of printing and shipping, never mind all the money I spend on paper and other supplies. Instead, I'm selling copies to get the word out about my comic. I am very excited to finally be creating the story I've been working on (off and on) for over two years. I want as many people to enjoy it as possible, whether it earns me money or not.

That's not to say there aren't benefits to buying a copy rather than reading it online (or doing both!) ~_^ I will only be uploading one--maybe two--pages a week, whereas one can read the first chapter straight through in print. Further chapters will be printed as I finish them, rather than waiting for the online version to catch up (although obviously I would probably increase the number of updates per week if I were to get that far ahead). Not to mention the other arguments for print vs. online reading (eye strain, portability, online ad annoyance, etc).

Unless you can spot me in real life (Kumoricon, perhaps?) you can buy a copy online at Indy Comics:
http://www.indyplanet.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2607"

Why post that now?

Well, I just wanted to reflect on my printing choices.

For this batch, I went to the printer which had the best balance between short turn-around time (I realized that I could possibly print copies in time for Kumoricon with about a month and a half left, without all the pages done and with many ultimately requiring reworking) and low budget. Since Ka-Blam has no setup cost and about a 28-day turn-around, it was the best option at the time. I didn't have time to receive a proof copy, so I had to hope whatever they sent back was good.

I am very happy with what I got back, too. My only complaint is that the print is a bit darker than the screen version. A home print-out of my comic comes closer to what appears on screen than the professional prints; this is not unusual, but I do wish there were some way I could avoid it. At this point, for the two to match very well, I would have to do a sort of manual, guess-and-pray process of lightening each page. Which is a pain.

For the future, I am considering trying other printers. Currently in mind is ComiXpress, since I would be able to keep the size the same (apparently, 5" x 7.5" printing is unusual?). Since I save all my pages at higher resolution than most print companies will take, I have a bit of flexibility on size, as long as it is more or less proportional (I could go to Lulu and do 6" x 9" if I get desperate). I will probably have more options once I get more chapters done (I could go to book printers, which do higher page counts, instead of just specialty comic printers).

Does anyone have any suggestions, particularly about printers you've used yourself? Feedback would be appreciated.

Difference in Coloration, Changes of Plans

It was a busy school year, being my last in high school, so that's all I have to excuse the lack of postings since the end of March, and the gaps that existed before that. Lots of things have changed for me, but I am still continuing Heterochromia. In fact, I'm making an effort to take it more places now.

For a start, I've finished the first chapter. All the pages are drawn, inked, lettered and toned. Which brings me to the next part, that all the pages which have been posted so far have been redone. The illustrations are the same, I have just found a better style for toning them so that the online pages are more similar to how they will appear in print.

For the early ones, I had been toning each page twice (or more): once for future printing purposes, and once for display on-screen. Screentones which appear fine printed often look hideous onscreen, so it was too tricky a process to try to balance the two in one image. However, I still wanted that "manga" look with screentones instead of grayscale, especially since it was often more visually interesting that way.

With the technique I currently use, I only have to make one version of the image at hi-res for print, and lower that for screen. I've decided that the screentone technique wasn't really giving me the results I wanted; instead, I now use grayscale. As I mentioned, I didn't find this to be as visually interesting as screentones. However, the newer pages feature textures which provide more variation than flat tones and gradients to solve that problem. Now, what you see on screen is (more or less) the same as what will be in the printed version of Heterochromia. Which brings me nicely to my next point.

As I have now finished the first chapter of Heterochromia, I am now in the process of ordering printed copies through Ka-Blam Digital Printing. After my order goes through, the comic will hopefully also be available for print through IndyPlanet (currently having technical difficulties) and/or Comics Monkey (whenever that launches). I'll be posting more as I get more information.

Finally, I think, I am considering starting a SmackJeeves or similar account on a comics website. Although I may still upload pages to my deviantart account, I don't think that posting them on a blog is a very good way to display them, as it is difficult to move from one page to the next. Heterochromia may also benefit from increased traffic through these sites. On the other hand, I hate to start another account because, if the past has taught us anything it has taught us this: if I become busy, the comic will have to be put aside again. As I am starting college, this is highly likely. I would like to say that I've become more focused on this comic, but I can't promise it. Situations change. Returning to the first hand, though, maybe having more readers would encourage me more, and I think I can expect to become faster at completing pages as I gain experience. (Compare: the first 4 pages took me a year. The next 21 were completed within the following one.)

That's it for Heterochromia news, for now. Pages will be posted weekly or perhaps semiweekly--if I think I'm making enough progress getting further pages done--on my deviantart account. Scripting for chapter two is finished, though page designs aren't. After working on the cover of Chapter One, I've been considering trying to do more illustration. My skills, they need work.

A final, cute illustration:

Retroactive Insertion and a Little Extra

I've fallen behind on posting the pages on here, so I'm just going to catch up with that. As always, should be doing schoolwork instead...I'll blame that for why I've forgotten to post here. Never mind that I keep my dA account updated...

I added a couple pages between current pages 2 and 3, that set things up a little better. The page numbers from now on will have these pages included (so apparently there are no 8 and 9 pages)



New pages 3 and 4




Heterochromia: Page 3
So, it's a new page inserted into the beginning. I hope the penultimate panel (or group of panels) makes sense--her hand it supposed to be scanned, but I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the effect yet. May be changed yet, if I think of something better.

Anyone know how I might write a "nod" sound effect in French? "Signe de la tête" is a bit too long for my bubble.

Heterochromia: Page 4
Finally posted these two pages that I've wanted to add in. I felt like there wasn't enough definition to the setting...but then now that I think about it, they've already moved out of this room by the next page. So it goes. This is the one that really set me back, though--who wouldn't be intimidated by drawing all those rocks? Actually, what intimidated me more was wrestling with perspective (even though it seems rather simple in this picture;; ) and designing the setting in general. I spent all day working on this on New Year's Eve. Thank goodness the toning was relatively simple to do.

Heterochromia: Page 10
No long ramble for this one, because it's late/early (1:20am) and this page has been a long time in coming, from start to finish--reflecting on the whole process would be hard. That said... (onto the long ramble)
Before this, I had only once been able to draw Tilamere as I wanted her to look--that she came out so well on this page is a little miracle, that has continued onto the next pages by some celestial grace. This is an unusual page layout for me. I am rarely able to pull off an unbordered panel that satisfies me. But, with Tilamere's introduction, I just had to make a page layout that would suit her personality; thus, the shoujo-esq flowery headshot.
It took me a while to figure out precisely how I wanted to do the flowers. None of the screentones or manga brushes available to me quite fit the job. I saw a certain page of Acid Monday with an incredible flowery backdrop, but when I asked, Lucid said that the tone was available in the program she uses, not for download. So then I went for plan B: find a good flower picture, make it into a screentone. After a bit of searching and trial and error, I found a useful flower stock that I was able to use. Desaturated it, played with the brightness/contrast, used the cutout filter, then replaced each "cutout level" with a tone pattern of the same brightness. Clever, non?
...actually, that turned out to be one of the longer rambles.

Heterochromia: Page 11
This one has been production a long time... Inks have been done for months, but I just haven't had time to tone it. Trying to get back into the same style of toning was tough; I think I captured it, but if it seems inconsistent, that's why. I really struggled to tone this page in a balanced way. For all that struggle, I think I'm pretty happy with the result.
Since it has been so long since it was drawn (I'm fairly confident this page was done before even pages 3 and 4), I don't really have much to say about it.

Renewing and Reflecting

Yeah, yeah, long time no entry. School is to blame, not going to rant about it now that it's out. More importantly, I'm back on working on Heterochromia, and decided to make a few revisions.

I realize that it may seem a bit early for such things; after all, only 7 pages have been posted. However, there is a bit of information that I intended to share in that initial conversation (which just ended, essentially) that was not included. It makes more sense to me to go back and add some pages now, when I have a context that easily allows for it, than to try and force it later. It is also more reasonable to slip them in as soon as possible rather than continuing on with the story and backtracking even more.

With the original set up of the story, I was having trouble moving one scene into the next but staying within the chapter--there are lots of events that I know I want to take place, but it wouldn't make sense for them to take place so early. I am somewhat struggling to fill out the first chapter; I know I need things to happen to establish characters, settings, situations, before I can commence telling my favorite parts, I simply cannot seem to figure out how to do that. Extending the conversation is one way for me to do that. After all, Tamino is obviously new to the place where Pan lives (if that isn't as obvious as it is supposed to be, then an extension really is needed, badly) so it is reasonable for him to have more questions than just about her name. I also didn't get a chance to show the interior of the structure seen in the beginning (the rocks)... does it even come across that they've moved inside it? ;; That is partially because I didn't really have a good idea of what the inside looked like (and still don't, in reality).

So much to cover.

In inserting some pages, I also have the dilemma of how to upload them. I currently plan to add 2 to 4 pages between pages 2 and 3. Would it make sense to upload them one at a time (so for a while one would just have to keep in mind that some of the content between the new page 3 and the page following it (current page 3) is missing) or in a batch? A batch would take longer, but would be less ambiguous. It would also disallow me from posting any new pages for a while... would it be too confusing to upload the interim pages and pages following page 7 alternatingly? The pages would be kept in proper order in my deviantart account, but would appear out of order on this blog.

In the end, I suppose it all depends on what I get done first. I would really worry about this whole issue more if I had more readers--knowing that I don't, really, gives me a little more freedom, I suppose (though I would still rather have readers). Anyway, I can't upload anything until I get back from my vacation. I'm only writing this post now because I've been itching to since I started planning the interim pages.

Most likely, the next post will be about more general art things, rather than Heterochromia. The original intention of the blog was to discuss my art, not just my comic, but Heterochromia's sort of dominated it for a while. So, I'm going to try and work back to the original intention a bit, though I will still update with Heterochromia too. And maybe some other, non-art things, as well.

Delays

It's been a while since I last updated, I realize. All for good reason, I assure you: school-end rush. Time for the English teacher to decide that it was time to make us pay for having a relatively easy year because she doesn't believe in the importance of grades. Time for me to get sick and miss almost two weeks' worth of school (over the course of three weeks, with days of relative health interspersed). Time for a midterm, worth the same amount as the final, on the subject of the unit I missed during those days. Time to have two weeks to work a paper from a no-grade to the highest I can possibly manage. Thus, sadly, time to shirk art.

I'm guessing that if I do upload something soon, it will probably be concept art rather than a comic page... I dunno if I've even started penciling much of page... eight?

Aaaand that reminds me that I haven't put six or seven up here yet, though they've been on Deviantart for a while. I guess I do have an update for here, then.


Heterochromia: Page 6
This is the first page with a solid black area, did you notice? (I probably wouldn't, but for the virtue of having drawn it myself) Whipped out the copic marker for that one, since I don’t have any other plain black markers. I hope it doesn’t feel like I’m copping out for the background of the last panel (the majority of the page). It simply didn’t make sense to me to have much there—inside his room doesn’t have the lines running across the walls like the hallway does, and since he’s just walked into the room, in order to see his front, we basically just see the wall, not any sort of interesting furniture. Not that there really is much furniture there, mind you. Maybe someday you’ll get a further glimpse at Tamino’s lodgings. You’ll find they’re very… sparse. That’s sort of the Satekae (the aliens) style.
Speaking of the aliens, the one on this pages was really cute before I inked it. I almost miss it.
Although it’s probably not particularly noticeable, the panel lines on this page are more distinct and cleaner. Think I’m getting better.
Fairly happy with the lower figure drawing. Obviously, the anatomy’s a bit off (though trust me, it was worse before). Most frustrating, I think, are Tamino’s pants. They continually come out as just sort of baggy, when they’re actually supposed to be in sort of a boot-cut style. I feel like the wrinkles on the pants really stand out as the worst of them. I’d try fiddling with it, but I’d really rather move on and draw it better in the future.
Probably one of the quickest tone jobs of the lot, since its fairly simplistic. Toned while watching an episode of Doctor Who series 4 (Fires of Pompeii, btw). I had initially thought of including some sort of “loneliness” sound effect... there is something similar to that in Japanese (“ potsun” - ぽつん, according to Nihongoresources' giongo/gitaigo dictionary) or some sort of wind sound effect in English so show the room's emptiness or something. Decided to leave it plain, though—maybe the emptiness expresses itself?

Heterochromia: Page 7
In all honesty, I only vaguely remember my process for drawing this page. Part of it was done with blue lead, as the other pages were, but others were with regular lead because I ran out of blue and none of the local art shops carry it anymore. Go figure. Regular lead is easier to erase, anyway.
Anyway, you can see some experimentation with style here... Compare Pan's hair in the dominant panel versus the bottom right. Also, the first semblance of perspective, and it's completely messed up. I think it looks half-decent at a glance, somewhat believable (at least, to me, anyway. Clearly my brain isn't so strict with perspective) Just don't check it >_<
Perhaps somewhat interestingly, a lot of this was inked in a bowling alley. I wasn't bowling, but I was there anyway, so I thought I'd finish this up while listening to... Comic Timing? Around Comics? One of those podcasts (pretty sure it was Comic Timing). Toned while listening to the Morevi Podcast by Tee Morris.

Page 5

Sorry, too tired today to post anything aside from the page. Enjoy. Right to left as always.

Heterochromia: Page 5
The last of the first batch of pages done in December/January... Although I drew it then, I didn't end up printing it for the preview because it wouldn't fit into the print layout. I mostly worked on it then because I was avoiding working on page 4 >_> Haven't really much to say about drawing the thing because of that, but I did try some new toning techniques... particularly panels two and three, I didn't really have ideas about the tones going into it.
I'd been kind of putting off doing this page since Windows crashed, because it meant getting used to the Gimp. So I get bonus points for that, I suppose--doing it with unfamiliar tools. So it goes, a learning experience, etc etc.

An Unintended Snub

I haven't got time to write much of an entry at the moment, but I realized I had forgotten to post page 4 here (though it was posted in my deviantart gallery)

Remember, reads from right to left (not that it matters much on this page... the higher text is still read first)


Heterochromia: Page 4
Well. That took longer than I'd hoped. Turns out, it's difficult to express romance and shock in the same panel in tones. I dunno if there's enough contrast between the background and the main figures... I'll come and look back later, I guess (though, I might as well just move on and do better in the future instead of going back and fixing little things like that...) I'm sort of surprised the lines turned out as well as they did, because this page got really rushed back in January. You'll notice the lines are a bit thick. Also, my style, at least for drawing hair, changed a little bit. We'll see if that sticks around. Kind of wish I could fix Tamino's face. (Oh, and no--he's not communicating telepathically, I just thought I'd try balloon-less text) Not much (relatively) to say this time -- guess it's just been too long since I drew it, and I'm starting to get my toning routine down.

--

Pages 5, 6, and 7 have also been completely drawn and inked, but I haven't toned any of those yet (or added the lettering and things...) Look for those soon, although they may be delayed in coming due to certain research papers I haven't started writing yet. >_> I hope to post again between then and now.