The Process Starts All Over Again

Well the whole process for The Unknowns is winding down to what appears to be a no go at this time for it getting picked up. That's put me back at square one with everything as far as preparing a comic for submission to publishers. I actually really enjoy this process. The Unknowns got really solid readback from a few big publishing houses and I don't hate them for not picking it up. They have to make a business decision and unfortunately they passed for now. For now. :-) The door is still open. Not all responses have been returned. You know who you are.

But if you want to get something published in a traditional manner I have learned two big things; patience and continued work. The down time between finishing up one project and pitching the next is not chillax time. It's the time you use to prepare the next thing.

So I sat down this week and started penciling up the preview sequence for the next project. My agent was really excited about this one when I first showed him an image of it. Which really got me pumped because I was already excited to get the ball rolling on it. I put together the roughs and started cracking. This project has felt like, as Kazu Kibuishi sometimes says, editing a movie. I have used the pencils from several pages and then went back and completely rearranged the layouts and angles from the shots. Forming either whole new pages or more dynamic shots. Photoshop has really made this process easier. It's weird looking at the first two penciled pages because I have done two "takes" on them and it feels like two totally different cuts of the same moments. Only heightened in the second versions. It's been the hardest I've ever worked on creating a sequence. Thanks to Josh Ulrich for some really good suggestions and keeping me honest. You're making it awesome with me! I'm happy to say, it's also shaping up to be one beast of a preview. Truly terrifying.

One of the things I have spent a lot of time thinking about lately has been the place that webcomics is going to have in my future moving forward. It seems a lot of people take one and leave the other. Meaning going through a standard publisher and/or striking it out on your own through webcomics.

I owe a lot to webcomics. My graphic novel From Death Til Now has given me the courage and confidence in my own abilities that I can create the stories I want. And the beauty of all of it is, that the web will ALWAYS allow for that. Meaning that while I am going after a publishing deal for several of my properties, I am not depending on them to be the life or death of my projects. The Unknowns may become a webcomic at some point. And I think it's just as viable a way to tell my stories or get them out of my head. My hesitation with a project like it and the web is that it's a series of novels and will take years to finish. Just like FDTN, so I don't need another one. But I guess my point is that a successful artist is not one who limits themselves or their opportunities. So with that in mind, I am looking to release a whole new graphic novel web property next year. It will be a one and done style book, so I can get in and get out. But I plan to make it something really special and fun. So we'll see what the new year holds!

And don't worry FDTN readers. It'll be around too. :-)