I'll put up the progress page again later, in a different fashion. For now I wanted to give you a peek at what I've been working on. This is actually a page from Stone Clouds, which I'm currently coloring. This is one of those projects that just slowly spun out of control. This was originally a simple scene of a dozen or so heads. As you can see, it turned into a representation of every single character I ever gave two shits about in the series. And yes all 40 mini-ALs are present. It's a brief and weird little sequence in the first chapter, but being the last time I'll likely work with these characters I wanted to give them a proper sendoff. At some point I may have some posters printed, but not in the near future.
Anyway, on page 17, back to work.
Chugging right along, red slowly turning into green. For any color blind individuals out there, I'm on page 15 right now. I know that theres a few pages before that that still need color, but I'm realizing I need to keep momentum going on the overall page count. I am still coloring the earlier pages, I've just put the priority on the frontline stuff. Pages are turning out well, I'm happy. Vacation time coming up, so I hope to see a nice surge in productivity. This weekend was really good on that regard.
Back to work!
So you may notice something important has changed. I finally broke down and accepted the fact that I have to do this in color. It's gonna take a bit longer, but I think it'll be worth it in the long run. So while it may not seem like I've gotten a lot of pages done in the past month, I've actually done a LOT of unseen work on this front. I'll be catching up on colors a bit before I dig too deep into new pages.
In other news, I'm seriously broke. I'm doing some ebay on the side, and any help from fans would be much appreciated. If you win any of the auctions, mention Radioactive Panda and I'll send you some original art and a few other goodies.
Click here to see what's currently on auction.
Back to drawing!
Don't know why I thought this would be done by August, but progress is still steady. October is more likely, but you can judge for yourself as we go. I may scrap the shading idea altogether. I like the way it looks, but it almost doubles production time. I'm getting more comfortable with heavier inks, and that may well be enough for now. At some point I may have someone color the thing anyway, so putting in the effort to shade it may just be a waste of time better spent on more pages. I'm trying to get to page 15 by the Chicago-con, but I'll be happy with 13.
Back to drawing.
Alright, so this should give you an idea of how things are shaping up. Basically Chapter one is written and sketched out. It's 30 pages long and every panel is roughed out in varying degrees of loose pencils. The first 3 pages were done some time ago before I decided to ink and shade the strip. They're done in a pencil and crosshatch style and while not bad, won't really fit with the rest of the pages. So I have to ink them eventually, but I'm holding off till I make some progress elsewhere. I do tend to work somewhat out of order, so this trend may continue.
You will also see the script progress stay yellow right up till near the end. I tend to tinker, and some of the dialogue is currently in dire need of an overhaul :P
I'm planning to update this once a week or so, as things progress. If you want more immediate info, check twitter.
Oh and I started a Twitter feed.
I don't post often, but I'll try to update when I'm drawing.
Yes, it's true. Stone Clouds will not be arriving in 2006.
2009 however, is another matter entirely. I'm well into the process of actual page production, and I expect chapter one to be finished sometime in august. This first chapter is shaping up to be somewhere around 30 pages in length, and so far it makes me very happy.
For those who wonder where I've been, the simple answer is Azeroth. That's right, World of Warcraft. A lot of it. 3 years of obsession that ended last month. I finally accepted that no substantial work was ever going to get done on Stone Clouds, or anything else as long as I was mired down in WoW's daily quests.
I'm done with that now though, and all the little bits and pieces of creative work I did manage to get done over the last couple of years are being swept up and glued into place. Stone Clouds is happening. I put the first 3 pages up in the forum some time ago, but those are still being edited somewhat. I have a ton of sketches and doodles that will make their way onto the site in the coming months, as we get ready for the new material. And hopefully soon I'll be able to give you a definate date for the release.
Thanks go out to everyone who's pestered me over the years to continue, and those who've continued to check this site against all logic. You're about to get what you asked for...
Oh. Em. Gee.