The final months of production on a graphic novel are the sort of months where you wake up every morning and begin questioning whether or not this line of work is a) worth it, or b) healthy (see also "sane"). It's that time now, and despite the stress, seeing the work as it comes together is pretty darn exhilarating. I read the book as it stands today, and I think it's working out. Not entirely sure yet, but I think it might be good.
In order to hit my deadline (which is looking nearly impossible at this point), I'm having to sprint every day, and I'm looking at a distance of two months to go. At this point, I'm only just finishing the thumbnails, so I'm going to have to skip the penciling process and go straight to the "inks" (in my case, it's cleaned up pencil work), so it's a good thing I went extra tight on the thumbs. I'm hoping this works out well, as this process will definitely save me time on future projects. I guess this means my original penciled pages will be smaller than index cards!
Assistants Wanted!
So, as I wind down on the drawing side of production and begin ramping up for the painting stage, I will need some volunteers! Anybody interested in giving me a hand with the flatting (and perhaps painting) of the pages? This year, I decided to find assistants online, to see what the internets will yield. My lead assistant, Alan Beadle, will still be joining me on this journey, as will Amy, Shadi, and Tim, but we'll definitely need some more brave souls to join the party. If you are interested, please send me an email at kazu(at)boltcity.com and some examples of your work. From what people who worked on the first book told me, they seemed to have a lot of fun and found it to be a rewarding experience. I hope they were being honest! Anyway, I'll be sure to post about this some more in the coming weeks.
