Writing Ahead

Before I launched my comic I wrote several months ahead - of course if I could only draw as fast I wrote, I'd have a lot more issues out by now!

Right now I have enough issues written that should take me up to Summer of 2020 and I'm just beginning to draft what comes after that.  

One of the things I plan is for more characters - I love creating them, here's a super sneak peek of one that will debut next summer, I won't say anything about him, but this is the first draft of the character that I created this year...

It is possible that his final appearance might change a bit, I don't know yet.  

One of things that I was concerned with when I started the comic is if I would still be able to create new and interesting characters?  Most of what I created I did in back when I was in grade school, but so far I'm learning that the creative side is still there and I'm creating a ton of new characters.  

Also, you may wonder why all of these, and the ones posted on the photo site, are all in the same pose? Well, these are actually the color guides I create to help make make sure that the characters are colored the same throughout all of their appearances.  I basically just have male and female templates that I use for the bodies and then I just fill them in, not as creative to look at, but the consistency makes it a lot faster to color.

Comics and Genealogy

The next issue (number 10 should be out next week) is a little special for me as it combines my love of comics and my passion for genealogy.  

When the economy tanked in 2008 I found myself unemployed for 22 months!  (I've been working steady since, thankfully)  In that time I developed a passion for genealogy and tracing my family tree.  Today I'm in touch with about 400 cousins across many different branches of my family.  

One of the things that I specialized in with my research was my Italian side of the family - I read over 50,000 civil records from one town alone in order to create my tree.  

While I don't want to give much away, my next issue is set in one of the towns my ancestors came from - Popoli, Italy and with that as backdrop I introduce a new character into the mix called Italus.  Of course don't be surprised if the issue also sees a trip to Rome and maybe the comune of Fossacessia as well.

While genealogy itself doesn't play a role in the issue, the creation of the character is a homage for me of the time I spent working on my family tree and my connection to my Italian branch of the family. 

Unlike most of my characters, which were created years ago, Italus is a fairly new creation.  I came up with the character in 2015 and wrote him into the stories then.  As well as Italus, you will meet a few supporting cast and a new villain in the issue as well, plus the hint at a concept that will play a large role in the lives of our heroes.  

Bit of a Twist

I actually published the newest issue on Friday night, but I wanted to wait until I had a chance to sit down and say a little something about it.  This issue, which you can check out here: Interlude 1 is actually the first in a series of interludes that I plan to mix throughout the series.

While I strive to make the regular series monthly and all connected, the interludes will be random and stand alone stories.  They will service to introduce characters or concepts that will be used later in the series, but nothing that ties in directly to that month's issue.

The first interlude is an adaption of the Blue Light fairy tale told by the Brothers Grimm, it takes the basic elements from their original story and expands on them and links it into my universe.   When I originally wrote my series I had no interludes planned, but last summer the idea for this came to me and here we are.

Right now I have Interludes 2 and 3 written, but they won't be published for a while.  

The other thing was the style, this gave a change to try a different style that I hadn't done before.  In order to get the unique look for the issue, I had to use some outside help.  I actually created the comic the usual way and then used another company's free editing program to create the look I was going for.  This company, called LunaPic generously allows anyone to use their program for creating interesting special effects for their pictures.  You can check them out here: LunaPic.

Here's an example of what I did, below is the picture how I created it and right below that is how it looks after I edited it with LunaPic.

This gave the story more of a fairy tale look, well - I least I think it did, which is what I was trying to go for. Hopefully everyone will like it.

Throwback Behind the Scenes

I just found these in a folder from last year, these were original sketches that I did, some ended up getting used, some didn't...

This is the one for Titan, when I was prepping issue # 1, I thought it would be cool to have an image of the founding characters flash across the screen.  It actually wasn't and it looked better in my mind than it did in reality.  What follows are some other sketches, 

All of the above pretty much stayed the way I drew them, with just a few modifications.  Below are the ones for Phantom and Savage, which changed completely from the final versions.

Sneak Peek

Since setting up the photo hosting site on Fotki.com, I've been working on filling in some of the albums, and to be honest - it will be a few months before I have it all set up the way that I want it to be.

One of the things that I've decided to do on there is to, randomly, give a sneak peek of a new character(s) that will be debuting soon in the comic.  In fact, I've uploaded a few on there today. 

One is the villain called Koldun'ya, here is her debut (her actual debut will be in the June issue of the comic).

This is a lot different from when I originally created and designed the character around 2015, here's how she originally looked:

While this was the original sketch, basically the only thing I kept the same was her hair color.

Check out more exciting sneak peeks on the photo site!

One Year

Today is the one year anniversary of when I launched my comic!  

I remember the day very well and the time leading up to it.  I was actually ready to launch back in January of 2018, but I had to wait for the copyright protection to be finalized.  I had no idea how long that would take, so as soon as I got the certificate back from the Library of Congress I launched the book.  

Some of my ideas didn't go the way I thought, for one when I launched the color was distorted, something I hadn't planned on.  There is something that happens with a drawn book when you convert it to video and put it on YouTube, the artwork darkens and it gets a little less clear.  Of course I wasn't prepared for that, so I had to go in and edit it, but to edit the color took about 5 hours and then there was the problem with the speed.  The first issued was playing too fast and no one could read it.  I was able to edit that too, but that took 12 hours.  What a headache (but only for issue 1)!  I live and learn though! 

I originally thought I'd have animation in every issue, but I gave that up after issue 2, it was fun to see, but to animate one panel took about a week for about a 6 second playback and with working a full-time job in addition to doing the comic, well that just wasn't going to work out.

I also struggled with digital artwork, something I'm still not comfortable with and it shows in the early issues as not everything was uniform, but I've since given up on digital artwork and draw and ink on paper then just scan it in and color it digitally.

The biggest problem could come though from something I couldn't control.  After a few months in, YouTube took away the ability to adjust the color and every issue has been darker and less clear since then, no one is seeing the bright vibrant colors I am using and it's reflected in the readership - while not a lot of people were reading it, the first 4 issues after the color changed dropped down to one reader per issue, but it is slowly coming back up.

A nice surprise along the way was my cousin, John Allerton, allowing me to sample some of the music he creates for the comic!  The first few issues didn't have any music, but it got added in later on.  I don't think he sees this blog, but thanks again John!

Celebration!

To celebrate the one year mark, I've started a photo hosting site on Fotki.com for the comic.  The link is on the blog and I'll include it here as well.  Photo Hosting Site   What's on there?  All of the issues, in order, in the original bright colors I created them in.  A picture of every character (which I'm still working on getting in there), original character designs, a cover gallery and a few other things.  If I ever get any fan art, I'll create a folder for that too.  In fact, when I do publish a new issue it actually goes on Fotki about 20 minutes before it goes on YouTube.

What does the Future hold? 

A couple of things - first is the start of a new random series-within-a-series I'm calling Ultra-Elite Interludes, they are stand alone issues that will introduce new concepts and/or characters that will play a role in the main series eventually.  They will be random and the next issue out will be the first one.

A more robust representation on Fotki as I'm creating mostly new art to represent each character place card there, as time permits - I'm also including first appearance information with them as well.

Origins - we will get the origins of the characters in a few months!  Finally!

Lastly, and most important is by the end of June I'm going to be putting the comic up on web-based comic platforms and hopefully reach a much larger audience.  In time I may stop putting it on YouTube all together, depending on how it all works out with the other platforms.

Looking back...

The last year has been an incredible learning experience for me - I've learned how to make a monthly comic and my art has been evolving to match the format.  I had hoped it would have have gotten a much bigger audience by now, but I'm grateful for the 18 subscribers I have on YouTube and we'll see what the next year brings!  Onward and upward! 

Thank you everyone!

U-Teens Special

After much delay, the next issue is out - a special featuring the U-Teens who were introduced in the last issue!

We're back up and running with some news to be announced soon!

U-Teens Special

PS.  No deleted scenes for this one - they all made it into the final version!