Summer Hours

Well, that was the opening eight pages of Mermaid Fire Brigade. Not quite chapter one--more like the prologue. I'm setting the table. Three mermaid friends, thinking about finding jobs. I think it was a fun opener.

I told you yesterday I was thinking of breaking it up into pieces, well that was Part 1.

I have to level with you all, I'm swamped. You probably guessed it from my missing week earlier this month. This summer is very, VERY tight, time-wise. I have three books due out in 2012. One I finished last month. The next one is due July 5th and the third is due in September. These are fun books that I'm very excited about. But I'm going to be working very hard to meet those deadlines.

I need to do two final pages a day, every day from now until September (two full graphic novels' worth--over 250.) Here are a couple of pages from the book I'm working on now. It's a historical graphic novel. Non-fiction--although you can see there are some silly touches, talking animals, people disappearing into smoke--it'll make sense when you see the final book in 2012. This one is about the Civil War navy--I don't want to be more specific (but history buffs can probably guess what story I'm telling from these panels.)

These are the grayscale versions--the finals have a layer of color (blue in this book) that adds extra depth. For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me show the extra color layer. Anyway--I need to log two of these a day. Plus the handful of book covers, chapter openers and other jobs I have lined up this summer. And, of course, the kids are now out of school. Which, when you work from home like I do, is a real productivity killer. (note to self: research summer schools.)

So you can imagine how hard it can be to finish all that stuff, then start on a fresh page of a blog comic around midnight. Like I said, I'm swamped.

I'm not sure what the solution is yet. My priority is the contracted books (of course.) At the same time, these books were born on the blog (the one above sold because of my Lewis and Clark comic.) So I don't want to neglect the blog. I think I need to post simpler stories. Mermaid Fire Brigade was WAAAAAAAAAY too complex for my current work schedule. It was almost like doing a THIRD page after finishing the two for the book. It'll be back, but not until this current graphic novel project is finished.

Bear with me. I'm figuring things out as I go. I don't know if a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule would work (just for the summer!) or even a Tuesday-Thursday...or maybe just a simpler drawing style (PINNIPED PARTY style!) I don't know. But I will continue to post stories and fun stuff--even if the schedule is a little different for the next three months. Who wants to check their computer every day in the summertime, anyway? It could be like a nice vacation for all of us.

Sorry again for the rocky patch. First the missing week, then Mermaid Fire Brigade cutting off eight pages in. I'm not sure what my summer hours will be. But I'll keep you posted.

Now I've got to get some sleep--I've got more pages to finish tomorrow. Enjoy the Civil War Navy sneak preview. I'll start something totally new tomorrow.