The Busy Octopus

Here's a picture of an octopus for the last day of May.

I'm still figuring out Summer Hours. Trying to figure out how much blogging I can do in the next three months. I'm flirting with the idea of taking the whole summer off. I could finish my books and be back when school started. That plan is sounding better and better. Actually, I may have no choice. This summer has become a perfect storm of deadlines. I'll know soon, hang in there.

Memorial Day Weekend

I think I'll take the Memorial Day weekend to sort this Summer Schedule thing out. Have yourself a terrific long weekend. We'll kick off the summer with a new post on Tuesday!

In case you were wondering, I just finished today's two pages. It is 1:27 AM. They were extra-detailed pages.

Memorial Weekend ON!

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.

Mermaid Fire Brigade 8

I knew when I started that Mermaid Fire Brigade was going to be a lengthy project--more a graphic novel than a picture book. I've got a long adventure planned for the girls (and Carlos.) I may have to break it into chapters if it starts running too long. How do you like it so far?

Mermaid Fire Brigade 7

Extra post.

I watched the latest Narnia movie last night with the kids. Dawn Treader was my favorite book in the series as a kid. The movie was okay (they had the pond that turned things gold--for some reason I remember that scene vividly from the book--I really wanted to see it in the movie.) I thought the ship design was a little overwrought. I mean, I know the ship is supposed to have a dragon head--but that ship was ALL dragon head. Here's a diagram:

Also, in the movie, they would use three or four longboats to go ashore--where were they storing those? They weren't on deck, and they weren't towing them. Where were they? That's right, I'm nit-picking a children's fantasy movie.

The project I'm working on right now is very ship-heavy, I'm drawing a lot of boats and ships and that Dawn Treader was driving me nuts. Maybe some day I'll post my own take on the Dawn Treader.

Mermaid Fire Brigade 6

Mermaid Fire Brigade 5

Have a good weekend! By the way, I've been seeing some paperback CALAMITY JACKS at a bargain price ($5-6 bucks) on Amazon. Somebody will get them at the cheap price--I figured it might as well be you all! CALAMITY JACK on sale! Pick up a copy (and be the 20th reviewer! That book has had 19 reviews forever.)

Mermaid Fire Brigade 4