It’s GO GO GO Time!

Posted by jupe

After waiting quite some time, I’ve been assigned a story for Toronto Comix.  This happens the same day that penciled pages started coming in for The Red Surge. It looks like I have a LOT of work ahead of me, coupled with Christmas and family stuff.

I’m going to put commissions on hold, I think, until this is all done, with time only to draw Nick’s principal’s gift and work on his teachers’ gifts.

Otherwise, anyone who asks me what’s up will most likely get the response, “JUPE DRAW. JUPE JUST DRAW. DRAW, JUPE, DRAW.”

I almost forgot again.

Posted by jupe

And forgetting to blog would’ve made me a bad jupe.

Yesterday was a combination of good and bad. Good in that I got a lot of drawing done, as well as my blog post, and good in that I went to class. More on class later.

First, the bad.

Nick had a day at school. He got it into his head that it was a good idea to tell all the girls in his class that they were inferior and that boys are better, and then after getting a talking to about compassion by the teacher, did it again. He was in charge of handing out papers to the class and only gave the boys paper. He upset one of the girls so much, she went into hysterics.

SO, he spent the rest of the afternoon in the office, which I approve of. There’s no need for my son to become a pigheaded woman hater. He’s only six and such habits must be broken early. I’ll be keeping an eye on him at school.

Aside from that, the only other bad thing is the sheer amount of time I had to sit in traffic yesterday. I left home around 4:10 and after dropping the kids off at Alex’s work, then picking up Greg, I finally parked the car around 5:45.  Then, after class, after dropping Mandy off at Union, driving in Traffic where everyone loses their shit and forgets how to drive, and dropping Greg off, I got home an hour after leaving. Thursdays involve 2.5 hours in the car to drive only 62km, round trip.

BLARGH.

But aside from that, pretty good day. My class read their pitches and we all voted on the best ones. Next week, we must have 17 pages worth of a story map and a story bible all done and then Ty will teach us both sub plots AND then, later, roasts. We will get to roast Ty. OMG, I can’t wait! My class picked my Gimmick story. The Sidekicked story got a few votes, too, but it’s too much like a story that was put out in the past… and my Wavebreak story got almost no votes, which is unfortunate — but I’m super happy being able to work on the first issue of Gimmick. I’ve been wanting to refine it for quite some time and will finally be able to do so.

More updates on that as it comes along.

Also, for anyone wondering about Strays, I’m still working on it. I need to revise the script with the suggestions Ty made but I’ve been so busy lately with my daily drawings and with other life crap. It’s coming along and I’ll post again as soon as I’m ready to go.

TGIF, BITCHES!

I just love Thursdays.

Posted by jupe

Thursday is class day. I love, love, LOVE Thursdays. I’ll be meeting with Fred for dinner before class today and joining us will be Greg and possibly Tom and Mandy from class. I’ll head downtown earlier than usual, too, since I haven’t seen Fred in effing forever. So, I’m thinking ramen noodles, as the weather has been getting colder lately. A nice, hot soup will help warm the soul and fuel the brain — and if we have time, we can stop at the tea house for a cuppa before class.

All good.

Last night’s dinner was a simple one. Alex came home early from work because he was feeling like shit. I made wonton soup and pork buns for dinner and that went over really well. Everyone seemed decently satisfied with dinner. I passed out on the couch before the kids went to bed and Alex didn’t disturb me. I woke up to find out he was watching Man of Steel, then we watched the rest together and finished the night with Star Trek TNG. We watched Chain of Command parts 1 and 2. Part 2 is probably my favourite TNG episode. Picard rocks.

On the drawing front, I finished the Leona turnaround for today’s daily drawing. I’ll be sure to add it to the appropriate folders. We’ll see whether or not I do more turnarounds tonight, I don’t know. I’m equally dreading and looking forward to drawing Dog. That’s the only part I’m not overly confident about. I’ll have to find all sorts of reference stuff to work with so I’m comfortable with it.

Today’s big chore is dishes. I want Alex to be able to make dinner for the boys when I’m gone. Hope, hope, hope.

Speaking of hope, I hope Ty read my script. I wanna start on my thumbnails asap. 🙂

Yawn.

Posted by jupe

I don’t have a whole lot to report on today. Yesterday was spent mostly drawing. Today’s daily drawing took me awhile to do, too. I sketched out some quick pencils for Taryn’s turnaround yesterday and filled them in online today. I’m pretty happy with the turnaround of her body. I’ll end up doing some turnarounds for her head, eventually, too. Also, I’ll need turnarounds of her parents and her girlfriend. The vet isn’t featured nearly as much; only a page or two. I think that everyone else needs a turnaround, sadly.

On the agenda: photos of downtown Toronto in the areas specified within the story.. I need to photograph some houses, a convenience store, and a place to eat.  Oh, and the park. I also have to do an animal study of geese and Dog. Dog’s going to be a lot of fun to draw in the story, I think. He’s a vibrant and fun character.

Yesterday, we had chicken fried rice for dinner. That’s something I ought to post the recipe for, as my family goes apeshit over it. There are never any leftovers when I make fried rice. I have no idea for today, though. One thing I do know is my daily drawing took so long to do, I won’t be able to hit the gym while getting Rusty watched. It’s tempting to hit the gym in the evening and have the kids watched THEN, instead, but dinner’s always a pill to make and feed the boys in time. It’s hard when Alex works so much.

Ah, well.

I also have to write that tragedy today. I have absolutely no idea what to do for it. My mind has been completely wrapped around Strays.  I should be hearing from Ty about the script tomorrow. I hope he likes it and that he can offer me some suggestions for it, later.

Writing machine!

Posted by jupe

Not a very well tuned machine, I’ll admit, but still, I was a writing machine of some kind. I finished scripting my story! I breezed through Acts IV and V last night and edited the whole thing.  Finally, I sent off the script for a professional’s opinion.

In the meantime, it’s time to bust out the sketch pad and start doing preliminary sketches to flesh out the characters a bit more. When I come up with something I like, I’ll do my turnarounds.  Then? Thumbnail pages. Lots and lots of thumbnail pages. Ten thumbnail pages, to be precise.  I’m still unsure as to whether I should do them traditionally or digitally. My heart says traditional so I might just follow my heart — however, I’ll need another book of comic template paper.

The story has gone through a few revisions and has really evolved from the original. I’m pretty sure I haven’t any glaring plotholes, but Ty will surely let me know if that, happens.

 

So, in life news, I had both boys all day, yesterday, and I have both boys all day, today, too. Nick has a sore throat and a really nasty cough and I don’t want him spreading it around at school. I hate when people send their kids to school all disgusting and contagious. I don’t want to be that guy. So, all day, Nick was pretty good, and Rusty, too. When I put Rusty down to nap yesterday, I took a snooze on the couch and Nick snuggled up on me. I completely zonked out, only to wake up around 5pm to apocalypse winds outside and a black sky. The trees looked like they were in a mosh pit and all I could think was, “No way in hell I’m driving in that right now.”  See, I drive a tiny little Corolla and I’m certain that I would’ve been airbourne.

So, I waited until the wind died down by feeding the boys a dinner of chicken rosemary ravioli with red peppers and a butter sauce, then packed them into the car and dropped some popcorn off for my friends at knit night.  I miss them so much. I can’t go to knitting again until the new year because of Alex’s deadlines.  After dropping off the popcorn, the boys and I got some Harvey’s and brought it to Alex at work.  It was past bedtime, but that’s okay.  I ate with Alex, then drove home to put the kids to bed.

He didn’t get home until 11pm.

So, what did I do in the meantime? Felt completely miserable and lonely. This sucks. Did I draw? No. Should I have drawn? Yeah.

Blargh.

Anyway, today I have to take Nick to the dentist. He needs fillings. It’s only recently that he’s actually brushing his teeth like he’s supposed to, so here’s hoping that helps with dental bills. Alex is working late late again. Maybe today I’ll push past my loneliness and draw some.

Hope, hope, hope.

Chugging along.

Posted by jupe

Well, I was up fairly late last night writing, but I got a bunch of kinks worked out. The story is coming along really nicely. Hopefully, I’ll have the script done by Thursday so I can ask Ty what he thinks of it and for any ideas. The story has really come a long way since I pitched it to the class and I’m actually really proud of myself.  I’ve thought of a bunch of great angles and shots to draw and I’ll be headed down to the area I need to draw to take photos soon. I want to have all the pencils for my story done by Christmas.

And all of this is thanks to Ty’s writing class. If any of my readers are from Toronto and if any of you want to draw or write comics, take Ty’s course. It’s worth it a hundred times over.

In other news, we had a family game day, yesterday. Nick played Wii Sports and Wii Play all day. He loves the mini tanks game the most and is getting better and better at it. We ended game day with Mario Kart.  I think Sunday will be the game day if he’s had a good week and that Wii would be a good reward for when he finishes his homework.

His reading is coming along really nicely. He tries to read everything he sees and gets it right a lot of the time. I’m really proud of him.

Rusty’s speech is also coming, though slowly. He’s picking up more words. I worked on and finished his word charts yesterday. We have a schedule now and a “I want” chart so he can tell me what he wants without screaming at me.

I’ve decided on life drawings for today for the daily drawing. I drew Russell from an existing photo because he’s a squirmy little bastard who won’t stay still. It looks like him, so I feel successful today in my art.

 

Today’s tea was Canadian, EH? from T by David. Super smooth and yummy.

 

Today’s agenda is pretty chill. Nick is home from school with a mild fever and a sore throat so I imagine the tv and the cartoons will be going all day. That’s all right. At least I can get some things done.  if I get a chance, I’ll head up to see my knitting friends later and drop off their popcorn orders from Nick’s scout troupe.

On the knitting project front, I have one doll dress to make, the brunette doll, a dwarven battle bonnet, a cowl, something for my mother, and a mystery gift for Ty. I’ll post pics of the projects after Christmas so that nobody is inadvertently spoiled.

Whew.

Posted by jupe

I thought I’d never come up with what to draw… but a conversation with an acquaintance with me, local artist Adam Gorham,  He gave me some really good advice about perspective, as my previous couple daily drawings had perspective off. You’re going to start seeing a lot more drawings of the house and of things that are in perspective; it’s the only way I’m going to learn and get good at it. I need to practice, practice, practice.

Yesterday was a really busy day. I spent practically the whole day out with the boys running errands while Alex and the guys did some beer brewing. The boys were actually really good while I was out. Rusty was better than average and Nick was listening. There was a bit of pouting when they were given a lunch at the mall of noodles, chicken, and green beans (Nick wanted burgers and fries, of course) but in the end, both boys ate everything on their plates like ravenous little beasts. I’d say it was a success. We had our grease for dinner because I was far too tired to make anything decent.

Tonight should be okay. I’ll make up for it with a nice oven roasted chicken breast and some potatoes. Or maybe a chicken stir fry. I’ll decide later.

We got a bunch of supplies for Rusty’s charts and the start of Christmas crafts.  I think that I’ll make cookies for the family this year since nobody’s buying for us and we can’t afford to buy for all of them.  Christmas is so damned stressful.

Work on Best Mutt is coming along well. I’ve written out Acts I and II in script format and will work on getting Act III done today. Act III should be pretty easy because it’s mostly in montage form.  Act IV will be a bit more time consuming, as a lot happens, and Act V will be relatively easy. I’m getting all my rough mini thumbs done at this time, too, which will, of course, be revised later to look prettier. It’s all good. When all that’s done, I’ll do the turnarounds. I’ve never had to draw dogs a lot in the past so it’ll be a nice learning activity.

I’ll be posting the black and white comic online for free and if anyone wants a coloured version, they can throw me a few bucks for the PDF. I’ll set up a store for it and stuff and when I go to a convention of sorts for artists alley, I’ll print some copies of it in case anyone there wants a hard copy. (And, of course, I’ll make hard copies available for purchase online.)

Today’s plan is to write more and to play video games with my six year old. He didn’t get to play any yesterday and was pretty upset so I promised him that when his dad gets up, we’ll play some today.

Enjoy your Sunday!

I am excite!

Posted by jupe

So, I got a LOT written last night. I wrote the story bibles, the outlines, the supporting cast, and mapped the story out. I then wrote out and did mini thumbnails for the entire first act.

This is all from the little outline I wrote for homework last week. My buddy Tom helped me refine Act IV and I think it really works now.

The comic will be available for free online (with a donation box in case someone likes it enough to toss me a couple bucks) and it’s coming along really  nicely.

In addition to that, I have Red Surge work (which I’ll show in the Projects tab soon) and the second Toronto Comix anthology to work on, as soon as I am assigned a writer to draw for.

In other news, I have a lot of life stuff to deal with today. Alex is brewing beer all morning and afternoon with his buddies and that leaves me with the kids and a giant to do list to take care of. Groceries, cat food, craft supplies, and more. I’m working on a visual communication system for Rusty who isn’t speaking much and I’m really hoping that it’ll continue to make life easier. We have a chart up for him already and it’s working but we need more charts with interchangeable words and demands so that he can make choices. Also, I need to pick up Nick’s scout popcorn order today. I think I’ll just take the boys out for lunch when I run all these errands.

So, with that, I leave you all. Today’s daily drawing is a bit of a cheat, as I decided to colour yesterday’s drawing. IT’S ALLOWED. Have a great Saturday.