ONE SHOT PRODUCTIONS
A Day in the Life of a Comic Book

Send pinup art of any of our characters to: oneshotprez@yahoo.com

or mail to:
One Shot Productions
3125 S. Mendenhall #194
Memphis, TN 38115

Being an Indie Publisher ain't easy.
It's not a way to get rich, and it's really not even a way to break even. Maybe everyone has a different reason why they would start publishing comics independently, but my reason is pretty simple. I just have to. I drew my first comic book on notebook paper with colored pencils in 1987 when I was 10 years old. And it sucked. Thankfully, my comics improved (slowly) over the following 10 or so years. I started publishing my comics in 2001. I love writing comics, and I'm getting more and more into developing my style of art as well.

Indie publishers have to balance all the same facets of life as anyone else (day job, chores, trying to date, etc) but we also have to find the time to squeeze in all the duties of publishing that are usually done by a TEAM of paid comic professionals (writing, drawing, lettering, web design, promoting, etc). Sometimes you just want to relax. Sometimes you do that a little more often than you should. Sometimes a LOT more.

So on May 16, 2007, I decided to make a stand. I decided to try to do SOMETHING comic related EVERY DAY. I do have some rules, which are pretty loose and apt to change. I started this web log on June 1st, and so far I HAVE done something for my comics every day. I don't know how long it can last, but I'm going to try.

I've decided to chronicle my daily comic tasks right here for our readers, to give them a peek into the creative steps and behind-the-scenes processes that bring these stories to the page. Enjoy :)
-Jay W. Davis, One Shot Productions

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MAY 16, 2008
Here it is! May 16th again. The one year anniversary of the day I decided I would not be lazy when it came to creating comics. And to celebrate, I scanned then individual panel art for pages six through eleven of the next Shadowlord webcomic. Okay, it wasn't exactly a celebration, and scanning is probably my very least favorite part of making comics. But I do feel quite satisfied in the journey I've made over the last year. I hope to produce even more in the coming months than I have in those past.

MAY 15, 2008
I penciled and inked panels 11.7 and 11.8 tonight. These panels complete the art for page eleven of the Shadowlord webcomic. But more importantly, today signals the end of a year's time since I made this commitment to my comics. It hasn't been easy, but here I am. A year later, a leap year in fact, and today is the 366th day in a row that I've worked on my comics. Sometimes its fifteen minutes to draw & ink one panel, sometimes it's spending hours at a convention introducing people to my comic world. I've got a lot more to do, so I hope to carry this plan on into another year :)

MAY 14, 2008
I wrote a little on a future Shadowlord web story. It's Shadowlord's first battle after the brief skirmish with Dark Warrior. In this new story, Shadowlord faces a freaky monster in woods. I'm setting the scene up something like a horror movie. Tonight, I wrote up until the part where Shadowlord is about to first spot the creature. This was about three pages of action, descriptions, and some narration. I'm writing this one in short story form, with some notes in regard to page breaks. Once finished, I will need to convert it to script form. Later, I decided to pencil and ink panel 11.6 of the Shadowlord project. There's EIGHT panels on page eleven, but that page is almost finished!

MAY 13, 2008
I penciled and inked panel 11.5 today. Oh, and my banner arrived. I love it! I can't wait to take it to Philly for the Wizard World show at the end of the month!

MAY 12, 2008
I penciled and inked panel 11.4 of the Shadowlord webcomic. And I wasn't happy with it, so I tore it up and drew it again. The second attempt was better, but I'm still not ecstatic about it. This scene will probably end up in silhouette anyway, showing Calico running toward the reader's POV.

MAY 11, 2008
I penciled and inked two panels today. Panels 2 & 3 from page eleven of the Shadowlord webcomic. Panel 11.3 was pretty easy because it will use the same background as the earlier panel.

MAY 10, 2008
I penciled and inked panel 11.1 today. This is where Dark Warrior choke-slams Shadowlord during their fight!

MAY 9, 2008
I wrote a short Shadowlord piece today. Although it was not very long in short story form, it actually covered a few different points that I wanted to mention in his story. It starts off with Shadowlord trying to spear fish in a stream, then sets up events for the creepy next chapter. I haven't written anything for Shadowlord in a while, but I think about the story alot. I think that helped everything fall into place nicely for this short set up chapter. I also updated the home page to announce our presence at the upcoming Wizard World Philadelphia show.

MAY 8, 2008
I went back to that Stoic story that I was working on last month. I fleshed out more of the short story, and drew sketches of the four main characters in the story other than Stoic. I haven't got all the dialgoue penned quite yet.

MAY 7, 2008
Awesome. Now that the Shadowlord convention banner is complete, I can do something else... like taking that same darn banner and turning it into a flyer. This went a lot smoother though, as the image and logos were already done. I just had to shrink the image of Shadowlord down from the eight foot banner onto a 4x6 inch flyer. The flyer is set up a little differently than the banner, but uses the same look. I zoomed in where we only see Shadowlord and his fiery purple hand (without leaving room for Calico on the flyer). Once I was finished designing the flyer, I went online, paid for the flyers, and uploaded the image.

MAY 6, 2008
Satisfied with the results of the banner, I flattened the layers into one image, converted it to CMYK format for printing, paid for the print costs online, and uploaded the image. I also penciled and inked panel 10.6 of the Shadowlord webcomic.

MAY 5, 2008
Tons of work on the banner today! I colored and shaded the interior of Shadowlord's mouth, and digitally drew teeth for him. I added some shading to the eyeballs to give them depth. Then, I messed around with the text logo on top of the banner, and I was really happy with the purple fire effect on it. I'm really diggin' the way that new logo looks! I then changed the fire effect on his hand to match the look of the logo. I also added some glow to the website address text. I think this puppy is ready to roll to press! I'll take another look tomorrow before I finalize this project just in case it needs any last minute tweaking. But all in all, I'm this banner has turned out a little better than I expected. I can't wait to see it once it's printed!

MAY 4, 2008
I read about five free tutorials for how to make cool fire effects with my photo editing software, and I watched a video demonstration too. After experimenting all morning, I produced a cool purple and black flame that I'm happy with. I also penciled & inked panel 10.5 of the Shadowlord web project. Once I got all that out of the way, I went to the annual Memphis Music Fest and got to see some good bands perform, including Finger Eleven!

MAY 3, 2008
Sigh. More Shadowlord convention banner. I learned how to do some fire effects, but didn't get what I wanted for the flame coming off his hand. I'll try this again later. I also darkened the background to look more like night, and I also got rid of an annoying patch of dirt showing behind Shadowlord. Oh, and I penciled and inked panel 10.3 of the webcomic during the loading times.

MAY 2, 2008
Loading and procesing times on the banner are getting longer and longer the more I work on it. I checked the specifications on the print company's website. I adjusted the banner to fit as per their instructions. I only did minor tweaking on the banner today, but I did manage to pencil and ink a pretty cool panel for the Shadowlord web comic. Panel 10.3 shows Shadowlord turning around and bring his leg up as if he's ready to kick. It's less cartoony this time than in the original 2001 art.

MAY 1, 2008
Eleven months already? Wow. Eleven months since I started doing this daily journal of my comic work. Tonight I selected a tree background, super-sized it, dropped it in as background on the Shadowlord banner, and added a slight blur. I also merged the Shadowlord and Calico layers to cut down on the overall file size. I also sketched a thumbnail layout of a page of the Shadowlord webcomic, but I don't think I'm going to keep that one.

APRIL 30, 2008
Lots of work on the banner tonight! I added all the shading to Calico tonight. I'm completely happy with how she turned out. I also added more shading to Shadowlord. I realized his pants didn't look much like blue jeans, so I added a texture to them. I also penciled and inked panel 10.2 of the Shadowlord webcomic. This transitional panel is the first new one that doesn't appear in the old 2002 comic.

APRIL 29, 2008
I drew a new version of Shadowlord panel 10.1 but I wasn't happy with the static head-on pose of Dark Warrior. I then drew another version of the panel, this time a closer 3/4 shot of Dark Warrior. I also added most of the shading to the Shadowlord element of the banner.

APRIL 28, 2008
I did a little more work on the banner. I replaced the old Shadowlord figure with the new one, and resized it. The other thing I started on tonight was redesigning the layouts for the Shadowlord webcomic. The layouts of the Shadowlord webcomic (the first three chapters) are based directly on the layouts of the original comic published in 2002. That is, until page ten. Once Shadowlord and Dark Warrior begin to fight, I'm changing the layouts. So tonight, I've been sketching some possible layouts. It's tricky for a couple of reasons. For one, I'm so used to seeing the story told one way already. And the other thing is that I'd like to group certain panels together for pacing purposes, but the pace will be altered since I'm changing the number of panels on each page. The cool thing though, will be seeing more of Calico when she makes her firest appearance.

APRIL 27, 2008
I added the flat colors to the Shadowlord element for the banner. I also penciled and inked something for a new internet ad. AND I penciled and inked panel 9.5 of the Shadowlord webcomic.

APRIL 26, 2008
I scanned in the new Shadowlord element. I had drawn one of his hands separately, and had to swap it digitally. I also erased the flame from the hand and swapped in the good flame from the previous drawing. Oh, and before all that, I used white ink cover-up on part of Shadowlord's hair and then re-inked it. His hair was too high and had to be taken down a bit.

APRIL 25, 2008
Dissatisfied with the previous drawing of Shadowlord for the convention banner, I redrew him. It took a couple of tries to get the right pose and face, but then I drew one that I am REALLY happy with. It will need some digital touch up to remove some unsteady or too-thick lines. Otherwise, it's just what I wanted for this scene! Oh, but the flame shape from the last version was just right, so I'll be digitally swapping that one onto the new drawing :)

APRIL 24, 2008
This morning I pulled up the file of the original Shadowlord logo. I changed the hue from red to purple, resized it, copied it, and pasted it to the top of the Shadowlord banner. In between loading times, I penciled and inked pagel 4 of page nine for the Shadowlord webcomic. Then tonight after work, I did some more for the banner. I pasted and resized my company logo in the corner. I also resized the Shadowlord logo again to fit next to it. I then added the web address underneath those. That all looks fine, but I'm growing less fond of the way the Shadowlord figure looks. I may have to redraw it :(

APRIL 23, 2008
I tried adding dots to the chops around Calico's mouth to imply where whiskers came out, but it didn't look right. I reverted the image back to before the stupid dots. That technique works on smaller, cartoony style drawings but it wasn't working on this banner. I copied and pasted the Calico and Shadowlord elements onto the banner file. I then experimented with moving them around on the page and resizing Shadowlord down a bit until I was happy with both. While waiting through loading times as the program resized or added copies, I sketched a bit. One sketch of a young Stoic turned out poorly and made it to the trash. A smaller sketch of Stoic staring into the clouds turned out pretty cool and I cut it out to tape it to my file cabinet.

APRIL 22, 2008
Back to the Shadowlord banner today. I did some time consuming work on the Calico element for the banner. What took time was finding a way to get the right fur texture I wanted. Once I figured that part out, I still had to experiment with the colors a bit. Luckily, all that time resulted in a look that I'm quite happy with.

APRIL 21, 2008
I skipped over to the Shadowlord project again today, and knocked out the pencils and inks for panel 9.3. I kept this panel very similar to its 2001 counterpart from the original comic.

APRIL 20, 2008
Still working on the Shadowlord banner. I'm making it 8 feet tall, so it takes forever to do anything (because of load times). I was able to put some flat colors on the eight foot Shadowlord element as well as the huge Calico element. Calico took a lot of time too because I used photo reference of the real life Calico. Since the Calico in the comics is based on the real one, I wanted to keep the color pattern accurate instead of just slapping random colors on her.

APRIL 19, 2008
I typed up the first and third sections of the new Stoic story. I also did a bit of editing to the overall story to make it flow smoother. I then turned my attentions to the Shadowlord banner I'm making for the conventions. I had to to search for the drawing I had done of Shadowlord, as it was not with the other parts of the banner. I found it, scanned the parts in, and I started doing some digital clean up to the Shadowlord figure element. And I had to resize his head, which I had drawn too large.

APRIL 18, 2008
I wrote the ending to the new STOIC comic. I haven't fleshed out the first fight scene with the sea creature yet, but the length of that scene will really be deterined by the rest of the book. I didn't know how it would end until I was in the process of writing the final part of the book. The ending emerged as I got more into this part of the story. I really like it! The story will give some insight into Stoic's life as well as deliver two cool action scenes. There's still more to do in this phase of the story writing, but I got a big chunk of it done tonight.

APRIL 17, 2008
I took a break from the Stoic project and knocked out the pencils & inks on panel 9.2 for the Shadowlord webcomic. I also typed up the previous few day's worth of blog entries from the notebook I kept with me on vacation.

APRIL 16, 2008
After a false start trying to write the action piece, I instead filled a page with possible design sketches for the sea monster. I knew it had to have tentacles, or I wouldn't be happy with the fight scene. What I didn't want was a basic squid or octopus. I also did not want it to look like a rip off of any movie monsters either. On the plan ride home (yes, my vacation is at an end), I came up with a very unconventional design for the creature.

APRIL 15, 2008
I started writing the detailed short story version of the new Stoic piece. I finished this for "part one," but the story is starting to outgrow its intended webcomic size.

APRIL 14, 2008
I outlined part two of the new Stoic story. Since I'm here on the island, I was able to incorporate some of the real layout to transition from part one to part two. In this second part, Stoic battles a sea monster out in the ocean just off the coast. Yesterday and today I just worked out a good outline of these separate story parts. I still have to actually write it out in detail.

APRIL 13, 2008
I've been wanting to write a short story / webcomic about "Stoic" for a while. When I made plans a few months ago to come to the Bahamas, I thought I'd set the story here. So I've waited until today to start plotting the story out on paper. After a second trip to the beach in as many days, I've decided to expand on the story. Originally I thought I'd do just a short comic that was only a fight scene. Instead, I've started with a more introspective story as Stoic sits on the beach waiting for a spiritual disturbance he knows is coming. I think I'll still do a fight piece too, but make it a separate story like a part one and two.

APRIL 12, 2008
Woke up in the Bahamas! I've been saving up for this vacation since last year, and it's finally here! I'm still doing something for comics every day though. This morning, I drew a picture of the new female character I thought of yesterday.

APRIL 11, 2008
I got up first thing this morning and penciled & inked panel 1 of page nine of the Shadowlord comic. Spent the rest of the day traveling. In the airport, I had an idea for a new character.

APRIL 10, 2008
With the ninja webcomic done and posted, I turned my attention back to the Shadowlord web series. Tonight, I penciled an inked panel 5 of page eight. I may not be able to update this blog for the next few days, but rest assured I'm still working on comics every day. I'll update as soon as I can :)

APRIL 9, 2008
Today, I built the "add to cart" buttons to order "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." This button will appear at the end of the ninja webcomic. I also made the thumbnail image for the webcomic selection page. Oh, then I updated the home & news page. Afterward, I uploaded the whole shebang to the website, so check it out. Enjoy :)

APRIL 8, 2008
I finished the new ninja webcomic by lettering pages two, three, and four. I also altered the resolution of each to a web-ready size. I then built the html pages for the webcomic as well. It's almost ready to be posted!

APRIL 7, 2008
Tonight, I lettered page one of the new ninja webcomic. It took some tinkering to get the resolution and file size where I wanted. I wrote down the steps I used so I can do this faster with the next webcomic. Oh, and I built page one of the html file for this one.

APRIL 6, 2008
Penciled and inked page eight, panel 4 of the Shadowlord webcomic. Shadowlord's head and hair are a little big here, but I think I'll crop him out and focus on Dark Warrior in this panel.

APRIL 5, 2008
Penciled and inked page eight, panel 3 of the Shadowlord webcomic.

APRIL 4, 2008
I jumped back to the Shadowlord project for a moment, and knocked out the pencils and inks for another panel. This one is about 8x8", but will later be scaled down significantly to fit into the page. I had a couple of thick lines I had to get rid of with white ink tonight too.

APRIL 3, 2008
Finished assembly and digital clean up for pages three and four of the ninja webcomic. It's only a four-pager, so this step of the process is finished!

APRIL 2, 2008
Tonight, I assembled the pieces of the ninja webcomic, page two. I also did digital clean up on the page, deleting the stray marks between the panels. This took a little longer here because of the way I had speed lines protruding from the last panel on the page. I decided to trim those speed lines to stay within that panel. I also started some cleanup on panel 1 of the next page.

APRIL 1, 2008
Another new month! This marks over TEN months that I've been doing something for comics every day. This commitment has really made a difference in my level of productivity. And that's no April Fool's joke either. Tonight, I tediously scanned sections of my oversized 11x17" artwork on my 8.5x11.5" home scanner. The art is the four page short story featuring "Ori" from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I also digitally assembled and cleaned up page one of the story.

MARCH 31, 2008
Penciled and inked a large 8x11" scene for Shadowlord, panel 1 of page eight. This is a wide panel version of pretty simple panel of the original 2001 version. Here, we'll see Shadowlord walking away from Dark Warrior.

MARCH 30, 2008
Finished the art for page seven of the Shadowlord webcomic by penciling and inking panel 6.

MARCH 29, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 7.4 of the Shadowlord webcomic. It required some white ink corrections, but turned out well. This is one of the few panels in the original 2001 comic that still looks decent to me. Still, it needed updated with fresh art to stay more consistent with the rest of the current 2008 art.

MARCH 28, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 7.4 of the next Shadowlord webcomic. It feels good to knock out a panel a day lately :)

MARCH 27, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 7.3 of the next Shadowlord webcomic.

MARCH 26, 2008
I made an animated advertisement today for use on a comic book related website (to promote One Shot Productions webcomics). I made four small "gif" format picture files with text, then assembled them with a "gif" animator program. Then I contacted the website to get an invoice to pay for the ad space.

MARCH 25, 2008
Penciled and inked panel 7.2 today. This proved to be a difficult panel. In this panel, Dark Warrior is tossing some clothes to Shadowlord, but I was having trouble nailing the right poses and the free-falling clothing wasn't that easy either. It worked out on my third try, though it may need some digital tweaking later.

MARCH 24, 2008
Inked panel 6.3 of Shadowlord webcomic. Penciled and inked main figure in panel 7.1 of the next page.

MARCH 23, 2008
Penciled AND inked Shadowlord panel 6.3 of the webcomic. Also did the pencils for panel 6.2 today.

MARCH 22, 2008
Inked the panel from yesterday (Shadowlord panel 6.4) and added to the "firsts" web page.

MARCH 21, 2008
I penciled page six panel 4 of the Shadowlord webcomic today. It's a close up shot of Dark Warrior. I also began initial work on a new animated picture ad for the web.

MARCH 20, 2008
Skipped some panels in the Shadowlord webcomic, and penciled panel 5 of page six. The panel shows Dark Warrior talking with Shadowlord. I didn't get to the background yet, but I penciled AND inked both figures in the panel, and I'm happy with both.

MARCH 19, 2008
I inked the Shadowlord figure for the ad banner. I also drew a flame stretching up from his hand, but it took a few tries to get the pencils right for it. I thought I wanted the flame to branch off in three places, but it was never quite right when I would draw it that way. When I finally tried making the flame branch off in just two places, it fit so much better. I also began working on a new page for the website. It's a list of "firsts" for One Shot Productions. It'll probably be done this week.

MARCH 18, 2008
This Shadowlord banner art is taking forever! I tried to draw the Shadowlord figure again today, but it didn't turn out very good. So I drew it again. And again and again and again and it STILL wasn't right. Finally, I scrapped the "camera angle" I had in mind and drew a new version. And thankfully, version SIX was looking good. There are still some proportion issues to resolve for the hand & arm, but I'm happy with the rest of it. This version shows a little of Shadowlord's face, which I didn't think I wanted at first. But after more thought, the title character of my first webcomic series probably DOES need his face showing on the eight foot banner that's advertising his story. Duh. There's a lot more body language in this sixth version too. Before, the unsuccessful versions were very stiff, whereas this version is leaning back in surprise. I was starting to wonder how many times I would have to draw this same pose!!

MARCH 17, 2008
Still working on that ad banner. I decided to run with the version I liked yesterday. I realized that it's going to be tough to draw Shadowlord AND Calico on the same page and have them both turn out well. I tried it that way, and it was not good. So I searched the net for a picture of a tiger or cat with the right amount of upward head tilt, but none were quite the right angle. Still, I sketched the pose and really got what I wanted out of it. I inked that version, and now the Calico element is done.

MARCH 16, 2008
Tonight, I worked on sketches of Shadowlord & Calico to use as an advertising banner at conventions this year. Both versions show Shadowlord amazed at his hand engulfed in fire as Calico watches. In one version, we see Shadowlord's face but not Calico. In the other version, the view is reversed. I think I prefer the one that shows Calico's face. Also tonight, I drew more trees in the treescape I was working on yesterday. Oh, and I researched the prices and available sizes of those banners too.

MARCH 15, 2008
I think I'm finished with the ninja webcomic now. I added the last ink to it, which was a massive blood spray on page four. I also added another layer of grey to the figure in panel 3 of that page, since it wasn't dark enough for me. Since there wasn't much to do for this project, I also drew and inked part of a treescape for use with future Shadowlord webomics.

MARCH 14, 2008
Whew! I worked on the new ninja webcomic for about an hour tonight. I mixed up a little grey ink by adding a drop of black india ink to water in my inking dish. Then I added grey tones to all four pages of the webcomic! I really prefer to add greys to a whole scene all at once like that, mostly in the interest of getting a consistent tone for the entire scene. To get a darker grey area, I simply add a second layer of grey to it. I'm particularly happy with pages three and four, which have some of my favorite panels in this story.

MARCH 13, 2008
I added background details to some of page three of the ninja webcomic. And for the rest of the page, I added "speed lines" instead of background to signal the intensity of the action. I finished the main figure inks on page four, and I fixed a mistake on page two with some white ink.

MARCH 12, 2008
Primary inks on all of page three of the ninja webcomic. Also, primary inks of the first 3 panels of page four!

MARCH 11, 2008
More ink tonight. I inked most of the backgrounds on page one of the ninja webcomic. There are a couple of areas that need a slight touch-up, but it mostly turned out fine. I then went on to ink just about all of page two, including the main figures as well as backgrounds. Then, I inked the borders for all four pages. This project is moving right along!

MARCH 10, 2008
I started inking the ninja webcomic. I inked the main four figures on the page, and then part of the outside borders. I didn't start any backgrounds or greys yet.

MARCH 9, 2008
Four days, four pages penciled. I drew the fourth and final page of my new ninja webcomic tonight!

MARCH 8, 2008
I'm really trying to keep up this pace with the ninja webcomic. Tonight I penciled all of page three. There are four panels, including a shot of Ori in panel 1 that I really love! He's kneeling down (ready to spring into action) while reaching for the sword on his back and pulling his mask over his face. One more page to pencil!

MARCH 7, 2008
Sudden snow storm in Memphis! And I penciled all of page two for my new ninja webcomic!

MARCH 6, 2008
Tonight I penciled all of page one of my new ninja webcomic. That's pretty fast for me! One thing that helped is that I drew all three panels on one big 11x14" sheet rather than each panel getting its own sheet.

MARCH 5, 2008
I finished the panel I was working on yesterday. I penciled the background trees, inked them, and finished the inks on the main figure in the panel. I also wrote a short four-page webcomic featuring "Ori" from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I normally script a story in words before doing any drawing, but for this short piece I did something different. I sketched small layouts of each page, and wrote the dialogue out to the side. I still prefer doing an actual script, but I did it this way because this four page short is very action-oriented. I knew I wanted to show certian things and this was the best way to do it this time.

MARCH 4, 2008
I trashed the version of panel 6.1 of Shadoword (the one I drew a couple nights ago). I penciled another version tonight, this time it's the updated character design of "Dark Warrior." Plus, the version I trashed was a 3/4 shot (not quite front on, not quite from the side). What I decided on instead was a head-on front view of this character since this is the first time we reveal him in the story. I wanted a pin-up styled shot of our villain, and the 3/4 shot just wasn't cutting it. I also inked about half of him in this panel.

MARCH 3, 2008
I completely redesigned the look of "the Dark Warrior" tonight. The old 2001 version was basically a guy in a black skin-tight outfit covered in purple armor plates. The new 2008 version incorporates the same color scheme, but looks entirely different. I was never happy with the old version. Now I feel like this character finally looks like he might kick some butt.

MARCH 2, 2008
In future Shadowlord stories, there is a large rock formation that he takes shelter under. I've tried to draw what it should look like, but I wasn't satisfied with how it turned out. I thought of modeling the rock with clay, or at least trying to, but a better alternative opened up. I noticed a rock in a garden that looked very much like what I wanted. Today, I took pictures of this rock from a bunch of different angles. I even got some pictures from ground level that really look like angles I'll use in the story. I also penciled a new panel of the next Shadowlord web comic, and inked part of it. I'm not sure if I'll keep this panel or not, but it gave me a chance to practice drawing "the Dark Warrior."

MARCH 1, 2008
Every time I type a new month into the date here, it makes me realize that it's been another whole month of doing something for my comics every single day. That's eight in a row by my count! Tonight I flipped through "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" and found which pictures to use on the profile pages for the four main characters. I then opened those files, resized them and added them to the profile html pages. I also added a bit more to the main character's profile. Then I uploaded these four new pages as well as the main character profile selection page.

FEBRUARY 29, 2008
Happy Leap Year. Or leap day. Or leap year day. Whatever. I wrote profile pages for TANAZAKI, RE TUNG, and SASAKI, the three supporting characters appearing in "Fall of the Bamboo Grove."

FEBRUARY 28, 2008
Still sick today, but not as bad. I finished the new Shadowlord web ad, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I spent a lot more time on it tonight than I thought I would. I added a stroke (outline) to the text, but it was still hard to read against the busy dirt background of the ad. So I added a white fill over everything (except the puddle) and gradually faded the opacity until it was light enough to let the text show while still leaving plenty of visual information in the background. Plus, it really helps draw attention to the puddle which is what I wanted in the first place.

FEBRUARY 27, 2008
Sick as a dog today. I started creating a new ad to promote my new webcomic. After reviewing each of the pages, I decided to focus on the puddle in page five, panel 3. After resizing and moving the puddle around on the page, I added the One Shot logo and text of the web address. I also added a "Shadowlord" logo, but it isn't readable when scaled down to the size I need. I removed that one, and will likely just insert text instead.

FEBRUARY 26, 2008
Could it be? Yes! The new Shadowlord WEBCOMIC is up and running! Check out the first five-page chapter right now! It seems like I've been working on this project forever, but finally it's gotten big enough to release into the wild. I really love this character, and I'm so glad people connect with Shadowlord. Even so, I can't wait to sink my teeth into some different projects. Oh, and of course I had to update and upload the "home" and "webcomic" pages of the site tonight too.

FEBRUARY 25, 2008
After some more experiments in file size vs quality, I finally decided. I adjusted each of the five pages to the new web appropriate format. I also added the copyright tagline to each of the five pages. Then, I put together the first html page too.

FEBRUARY 24, 2008
I lettered page five of the Shadowlord webcomic today. In the last panel, another character speaks "off panel" (that is, the speech balloon comes from the panel border rather than a character shown in the frame). I thought it would be good to differentiate this character's speech balloons by making them black with white text (rather than the standard white balloon with black text). That's when I remembered something. I had planned some time ago to have all of Shadowlord's speech balloons be a PURPLE hue instead of white. I tested this idea out, and I loved it. I went back and changed his speech balloons on the other pages. Now, it will always be easy to tell when Shadowlord is speaking, even without a balloon tail pointing at him (such as when he and another character argue, for instance). This brings all the major work on the webcomic to a close! There is just a little more to do, which should be done soon!

FEBRUARY 23. 2008
First thing this morning, I relettered page one and lettered pages two through four. I ran out of time before going to work, or I would have finished the last page as well!

FEBRUARY 22, 2008
I spent an hour tonight doing trial & error to find the right combination of file size vs image quality for my Shadowlord webcomic. I was against the idea of lettering first, then reducing the file quality. But after a series of tests, I found that I wasn't really losing the amount of quality I thought it would, nor was the text unreadable. This will also give me a head start much later down the line, if I were to collect Shadowlord webcomics into a printed form. I finished lettering page one as a result of my process tonight. It shouldn't be long before this baby is done!

.FEBRUARY 21, 2008
I assembled pages three, four, and five of the Shadowlord webcomic. Page three was another challenge, since the three panel sequence had to be individually adjusted and still be exactly the same size. Page four was a snap, since it was only two panels and they hardly needed resized at all. Page five took a while, only because loading all the panels together took a long time.

FEBRUARY 20, 2008
Now that all the layouts are finished, I can start assembling pages of the webcomic. I resized page one and added the black border. For page two, I put all the pieces in place. This took longer than I thought because of the three panels at the top of the page, which needed each panel to be resized in an identical way. This was tricky! After that, the rest of the page fell into place. I still need to toy with the overall size of the page before I decided it's ready.

FEBRUARY 19, 2008
Back to Shadowlord again. Now that all five pages are colored and ready to go, it's time to copy each panel and drop it into the layouts that I've already created. The problem, though, is that the layouts are rather sloppy compared the coloring and effects of the five pages. So tonight, I created new layouts for pages two through five (page one is a full-page panel and didn't need a new one). Because the panels are already finished and have particular shapes, the layouts did not actually CHANGE. Rather, I have created cleaner, more precise versions of the same layouts. I wanted exact, consistent pixel width on all borders and gutters. Now I have it! I also made a long gutter that I can copy and paste to ensure this consistency.

FEBRUARY 18, 2008
I took some time away from Shadowlord today to do some work on the character profile page for the lead character from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I finished all the writing for the profile, and all that's left is to make a thumbnail image of the character to display on that page. I also added new profile links from the main profile list (but I haven't uploaded it yet).

FEBRUARY 17, 2008
Completion! Tonight I finished panels 4 & 5 from page five. That finishes the coloring for the first five-page Shadowlord webcomic. I dropped a background into panel 4 and added shading to Shadowlord in both panels. I enjoyed this part of the process, and I'm glad to have learned some new techniques along the way. Still, it will be nice to change gears and focus on other aspects of this webcomic or other comic endeavors.

FEBRUARY 16, 2008
Panel 5.4 was scanned in today. I added flat colors to Shadowlord's skin and hair. I also started some preliminary work on the character profiles for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." These will be added to the site in time for the release of the new book.

FEBRUARY 15, 2008
I added flat grey color to Shadowlord's skin and hair in page five, panel 5 of the webcomic. I also dropped in a background layer of trees. I skipped panel 4 because I haven't scanned it in yet.

FEBRUARY 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day! I opened the file of page 5, panel 4 tonight. I was ready to give it some color when I realized how much I hated the way this panel looked. This is a panel from when I first started redrawing scenes from this story, from about a year and a half ago. Dissatisfied with the art, I decided to try drawing this panel again. After two false starts, I finally drew the panel I wanted. I inked it with an ultra fine point marker, and erased the pencils from underneath it.

FEBRUARY 13, 2008
Panel 5.3 of the Shadowlord webcomic is finished, and I couldn't be more pleased! After adding shading to the ground and leaf layers, I redrew the puddle outline over and over. When I was finally satisfied with the shape of the puddle, I copied Shadowlord's face and hand, flipped it vertically, and dropped a copy of him in the puddle for his reflection. I tried to add a brown transparent layer to the puddle to make it look like mud, but it came out looking orange. At first, I thought I may stop at this point, but then I reconsidered. I really wanted to finish this panel tonight. I found a tutorial online on how to make a puddle effect, and applied the techniques I learned. I also referenced some photos online that show reflective mud puddles. To my surprise, the colors I sampled from the photos were all grey rather than brown. I added some of this grey over the brown, and arrived at just the color I wanted. I finished the picture with some gentle shading around the puddle to imply the dip in the ground where the puddle formed. And voila! Check out a small peek at this panel here.

FEBRUARY 12, 2008
I added tree detail on the foreground and background trees. I shaded Shadowlord and added color and texture to the ground. I also replaced the black outlines of all the trees and leaves.

FEBRUARY 11, 2008
I started on page five, panel 3 of the Shadowlord webcomic. It's a more complicated panel than the previous two. In this one, Shadowlord is leaning over a puddle, looking at his grey face in surprise. I divided the elements of the panel into background, midground, and foreground. I added flat color to Shadowlord's skin and the three brown trees. I also redrew the shape of the puddle digitally.

FEBRUARY 10, 2008
Panel 5.1 is finished. I added shading to Shadowlord hair and skin, and dropped in a background layer of trees.

FEBRUARY 9, 2008
Flat colors added to panel 2 of page five today. I separated Shadowlord's hands onto their own layer. I then resized the hands which I had originally drawn too large.

FEBRUARY 8, 2008
Finished panel 1 of page five. I dropped in a background layer of trees, shaded the midground trees, and added shading to Shadowlord. This simple panel wasn't anything as complicated as that multi-panel sequence from a couple weeks ago!

FEBRUARY 7, 2008
I added flat colors to Shadowlord's skin and hair for panel 1 of page five of the webcomic. I also added flats to the two main background trees, and replaced the black outlines on them.

FEBRUARY 6, 2008
I finished page four, panel 2 of the Shadowlord webcomic today. I shaded his skin and hair, and added a slight blur to the background. When I realized his eyes were just too stark white, I added some shading to his solid white eyeballs to insinuate their roundness. Then I went back to panel 4.1 and added the same eyeball shading (and the same slight blur to the swirled background). I liked the way the new eyeball look enough to go back and add that shading to the eyes of page two, panels 1, 3 & 6 and panel 3.3 as well. I also gave another look at the proof copy of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," and emailed the print shop with an approval to move forward with the printing!

FEBRUARY 5, 2008
A "Tornado Emergency" was declared in the Memphis area today. After arriving home safely, I finished panel 1 of page four. That was mostly shading on Shadowlord's head and arms. I also dropped a background layer in for panel 2, despite three shut-offs today from my computer overheating (since the air in my apartment is out). After that, I proof read "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," which does not appear to contain any typos or mistakes. I'll have someone else look at it too, before emailing an approval to the print shop.

FEBRUARY 4, 2008
Although it's still winter, a warm front here in Memphis has caused my apartment to be so hot that my computer spontaneously shut down about five or so times tonight. How frustrating! Even so, I was able to put flat colors on page two panel 2. I added the ready-made treescape to the background of panel 4.1, and I tried a number of effects until I found the right look I wanted. In the original 2001 art, there was a simple black & white swirl behind Shadowlord's head as he concentrates. In the new full color version, I wanted to keep a similar swirly pattern. The trial & error process was painfully lengthened by the multiple and untimely shut-offs of my computer. I also got my first look at a proof copy of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I haven't given it an official proof read yet, but at first glance it is lookin' mighty good!

FEBRUARY 3, 2008
Today, I placed Shadowlord's new arms on the old art for page four, panel 1. I had to rotate both arms, flip one (since I drew two versions of the right arm), and rescale one of the arms. Then there was plenty of tweaking to get them to look how I wanted. I also took an unsuccessful stab at trimming his hair (which is longer in this art than the other new panels). I added flat colors to his arms, and to his hair.

FEBRUARY 2, 2008
Page four of the Shadowlord project got some attention today. I am recycling art from the 2001 version on this page. I digitally removed the arms and hands which I did not like from the old version. I put flat colors Shadowlord's head and upper body, then separated him from the background layer. I also cut Shadowlord's mouth and moved it slightly up from the previous version.

FEBRUARY 1, 2008
Wow! Seven full months of posting this daily blog! And I've still done something everyday to further my productivity. Tonight, I finished panel 4 from page three. I added shading to the background trees, texture and lighting effect to the background leaf canopy, and shading to the foreground tree layer. I also added some blurring effect to the background layer to help separate it from the foreground. I lightened the background trees later, also to help distinguish them from the foreground. And lastly, I added shadows cast by Shadowlord's hand onto the tree trunk he's leaning on. I also updated the "Home & News" page on this website.

JANUARY 31, 2008
Tonight I added shading to Shadowlord's skin and hair (for page three, panel 4 of the webcomic). I also added some flat background color.

JANUARY 30, 2008
After unsuccessfully trying to add my ready-made treescape to the background of SL page 3 panel 4, I deleted this background layer altogether. The problem was the trees already drawn in the panel were overlapping the treescape ones in an unflattering manner. Instead, I drew some new trees digitally. I also replaced the black outlines on the four trees in the foreground. I also got an email containing my first look at some of the "Pride & Harmony vs robots" art. These first three pages look great!.

JANUARY 29, 2008
Panels 1, 2 & 3 of the Shadowlord webcomic, page three. This multi-panel sequence took longer to work on than I anticipated, due to the number of layers the image contained. Today, I added a different amount of blur to each panel. I also added some shadows, such as the ones cast on the ground by the figure walking in panels 2 and 3. I also started panel 4 today, adding the flat colors to Shadowlord and the trees.

JANUARY 28, 2008
Shaded all three versions of Shadowlord for the multi-panel sequence. I also added some detail and shading to the foreground leaf layer. This sequence is almost finished!

JANUARY 27, 2008
I added the top layer to the multi-panel sequence today. It's some strategically-placed leaves to cover the naked Shadowlord. I also added a scan of some criss-crossing tree limbs that were meant to go in the top part of the panel. I tediously colored, detailed, and shaded these limbs. Afterward, I decided that I didn't like them in this panel. I may leave them out altogether. I put flat colors on the foreground leaves though, and they will surely stay for the final version.

JANUARY 26, 2008
This three-panel sequence is really taking shape. Today I finished the foreground trees by stripping the black outlines away, adding moss detail, and applying shadows. I also added a texture to the four sections of leaf canopy on the background layer.

JANUARY 25, 2008
I added bark detail to some of the background trees today. I also added some moss tones to the brown trees. I replaced the black outlines of all the background trees with a dark grey or dark brown (depending on the tree). I then shaded all the background trees too. The time consuming part today was selecting and deselecting the trees from the other close ones.

JANUARY 24, 2008
One of the things I did today was edit down the arms on one of the Shadowlord figures (panel two version). The arms were just a bit too thick AND long compared to his body. So after much cut/paste/scale/skew work, I was finally comfortable with how it turned out. A lot of work for not-so-obvious results. But I also finished the ground texture today, and added a lighting effect and some hand-drawn tree shadows to that layer as well.

JANUARY 23, 2008
More of the multi-panel sequence today. I added versions 1 & 2 of Shadowlord and put flat colors on them. I finished the flats for the background layer, and I added some detailed shading to the bark of the foreground trees.

JANUARY 22, 2008
I added two new layers to this multi-panel sequence today: the forground tree layer and Shadowlord (panel 3 version). I also put the flat colors on both layers. In fact, I had drawn these tres and Shadowlord as one image, but it needed to be separated digitally. This is so I can turn the Shadowlord layer "off" while keeping the foreground trees visible.

.JANUARY 21, 2008
Today I started a complicated three-panel sequence from page three of the Shadowlord webcomic. In this sequence, we have three tall panels that show Shadowlord far away, and then coming closer to the foreground. In the old 2001 art, the panels are framed by trees close in the foreground. There are rays of light at the top, Shadowlord in the center of each panel, and a strategically placed leaf to cover his naughty bits. There was no background art. In the new version, we still have the foreground trees, Shadowlord, and the censor leaves. What's new is a complete background! Like some other panels, I will put it together in layers. Tonight's layer is the background, which is complicated to color because of the tall skinny trees all over. I put flat color on all those darn skinny trees, as well as the leaf canopy and some leaves on the ground.

JANUARY 20, 2008
This morning I drew a character design I've been bouncing around in my head lately. I came up with the character concept years ago, but I never really did any work on him. He's a captain on a ship, and will somewhat resemble a pirate. But with the whole "Carribean" trilogy of pirate movies, I want to make sure he doesn't resemble any of those characters. He also wears a mask, and it took about five times before I hit on a design that was the right one. I'll focus on his wardrobe later, but for now just having a sketch of the captain is a good start toward doing something with this character. Also today, I finished panel 6 of page two from the Shadowlord webcomic. I added the shading to Shadowlord's skin and hair, and dropped the background into place. The only thing that slowed me down was adding some teeth in his mouth. I hadn't drawn any, which looks fine in black and white. But in color, his gaping maw looks like that of an old man rather than a seventeen-year-old. After a few tries, I achieved the subtle teeth I was trying for.

JANUARY 19, 2008
Finishing page two panel 5 wasn't a big deal today. I added the shading to Shadowlord and his hair, and it was done. What took forever tonight was making digital alterations to panel 6 from the same page. This is a panel I drew over a year and a half ago! It is one of the first couple of panels I redrew from the Shadowlord comic, as a test to see how different certain panels could be. My art style has changed so much since then, and this panel really didn't resemble the other Shadowlord panels enough. The next was longer, and not proportioned to his head and body. And the hair wasn't chin-length, but nearly touched his collar bone. To fix this, I had to split parts of Shadowlord onto different layers. Then I could resize the body and neck without altering the face. I could scale the bottom half of the hair smaller without touching the top half of his hair. Although this took so long, I'm pleased with the results. It's won't be my favorite panel, but it will work for the webcomic. I also was able to do the flat colors for his skin and hair today.

JANUARY 18, 2008
Tonight I started and nearly finished page two, panel 5. I did the flat color for Shadowlord and a tree close to him. Then, I took the treescape from a couple weeks ago, and dropped it into the background. All that's left is the shading on Shadowlord.

JANUARY 17, 2008
Panels 1, 2 & 3 of page two were finished today. I did all the shading on panel 2, then I just digitally redrew the eyes to turn into panel 1. Then the same thing to make panel 3. It took me a while to draw the eyes good enough for me to be happy with them. I'm getting more comfortable with digital coloring all the time, but digital line art is another thing entirely.

JANUARY 16, 2008
Today I was able to start on a series of panels. On page two of the Shadowlord webcomic, there are three panels that show Shadowlord opening his eyes as he begins to wake up. The art is the same for all three panels, except for the eyes in each panel. So today I did all the flat colors for the second panel (becuase the eyes are closed). By coloring this panel first, I should be able to use the art in the other two panels by changing the eyes.

JANUARY 15, 2008
I finished the rest of the panel I've been working on. I added the light effect to the ground layer, and I added shadows to the trees and to Shadowlord's body as well. I am VERY pleased with how this panel turned out. In future panels, I'm going to try to not take as much time. I want the panels to look good, but three days for a 2x6 inch panel is maybe a little excessive.

JANUARY 14, 2008
More work on page two panel 4 of the Shadowlord webcomic. I'm still getting the hang of using my "dirt texture formula" and my "tree texture formula." I expect future panels to go more quickly than this one. It's still not finished, but I have added all the appropriate colors. I added the dirt texture, but it still needs to be tweaked. I have not added texture to the trees yet, or shading to anything. Although I must say I've done a heck of a job on coloring the squirrel on this page. Too bad he'll be a tiny little thing on the page once it's finished. Also today, I got an email from writer Jason Negen. It was a draft of a short story I asked him to write for Shadowlord. It should be about the fourth webcomic. That's quite a while off yet:) But I must admit that I laughed out loud as I read it. It's just the kind of humor I wanted Negen to show, which is very different from what I would write. I'll have to think about who will get to draw this humorous short.

JANUARY 13, 2008
Page two panel 4 of the Shadowlord webcomic was drawn in about four separate parts. It contains a background layer and foreground layer of trees, as well as a middle layer of Shadowlord (the focus of the panel). And there's a squirrel that was drawn separately. I assembled all four layers today. I also had to cut and repaste one of the trees from the foreground layer to fit better with the background. I also put flat colors on all the trees and Shadowlord's body. I also emailed back and forth with the artist for the new Falter webcomic. I got to see some pencils for the first two pages today.

JANUARY 12, 2008
Scan, scan, scan. Didn't I just scan a bunch of stuff a month or two ago? Oh well, new project... new scans. I scanned in the art for the new Shadowlord project tonight. Some of the older art still had some pencils undereath that had to be erased first. And some art had blue line pencils which had to be dropped out by adjusting the contrast levels during scanning. Some panels had more than one sheet of art due to the way they were drawn (with backgrounds on a separate sheet for some). I finished all the scanning for this webcomic now, and I should be able to move forward to the next step tomorrow.

JANUARY 11, 2008
Thankfully, the printer emailed me today and said my replacement font "worked like a charm" and the book was now prepped and ready for press. I normally do not want a proof copy before printing, but I'm getting one this time due to the trouble with the font I chose. For today's work, I scanned in the original Shadowlord pages two through four. I used the original 2001 layouts to create identical layouts for the new webcomic. Not that the original layouts were so great, but I'd like to incorporate that part of the old stuff with the new stuff. I just used the old panel shapes to create fresh black boarders with white backgrounds. Now I'll be able to select an area in one of the boxes, and drop the in the new art.

JANUARY 10, 2008
Over the last couple of days, I've been emailing back and forth with the print company for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." Two of the fonts I had included in the lettering were coming up as corrupt. I was able to salvage one font by emailing a link on the net where it was free to download. This didn't fix the second font. After sending two alternate site links, I realized (as did the print shop) that this font was not going to work. So tonight, I decided how to fix the problem. I had only a few choices. One soluction would be to make the speech balloons part of the image so it wouldn't matter what font I used. But this would be way more work than I wanted, and there could be problems from scaling the size of the image (since the images are larger than the size of a page). Instead, I spent time studying my other fonts until I found one that was close enough to the original. Then I had to go in and replace all the old font with the new font. That wasn't so hard, but there were thirty-something balloons that needed this treatment. Some of them needed the font to be resized, but some did not. Once I finished, I had to FTP the files to the printer and I emailed them a zipped copy as well. I hope this one works so they can move forward!

JANUARY 9, 2008
Finished! Well, with the pencils and inks anyway. I drew Shadowlord in the last panel of the five page webcomic. In this panel, he's kneeling to look at himself in a puddle. I had drawn the background and foreground trees separately on another night. Tonight was just the naked figure of Shadowlord. I drew the pose once, and was only happy with the waist and legs. I drew another pose with a very different upper body pose. So I cut the lower body off of one drawing, and taped it onto the other drawing. And voila! I'm done drawing the first Shadowlord webcomic!

JANUARY 8, 2008
I finally got a handle on that panel from yesterday. I drew and inked Shadowlord's lower half and added two detailed trees in the background. I also noticed his shoulder/arm was a little too thick so I covered part of it with white ink and redrew it. I'm really happy with how it turned out! Especially after trying fruitlessly so many times yesterday. That leaves only one panel that needs new art before I can begin digital work on this five page webcomic.

JANUARY 7, 2008
Frustration!! I've been avoiding panel 1 from page five of this Shadowlord project. But now it's the only panel left that needs a complete overhaul. In the panel, Shadowlord is looking down at his hands as he makes a simple pointing gesture. I drew (and subsequently threw away) four or five completely crappy versions of this panel. Finally, I got out my digital camera to take a photo reference picture. Once I had the photo to draw from, the figure began to look better. I concentrated on capturing the arms and hands in this new panel, so that's what I inked. At the end of the day, it may look like I've only drawn a torso-and-up sketch with scarcely any ink on it, but the four or five torn up sheets of paper in my recycling bin say there was progress made tonight. Although I may still redraw the head and hair again tomorrow.

JANUARY 6, 2008
Today's work was a challenging panel of the new Shadowlord webcomic. It was panel 2 from page five. The panel is a reaction shot of Shadowlord realizing there's something very different about his skin. I really liked the old 2001 art because of the wild way his hair whips around in this panel. The hands in the old version, however, were awful. Also, there was a large exclamation point over his head in the old one! In today's 2008 version, the hands are better and there is no floating punctuation. I also toned down the way his hair is moving here, while still keeping a sense of movement (as if he's just done a double take). I was able to pencil and ink the whole panel, although I didn't add any background. I plan to drop in a section of my ready-made treescape for the background here. The principle art is almost done for these first five pages.

JANUARY 5, 2008
I've been thinking a lot about the long term direction of Shadowlord lately. Today I wrote a breakdown of Shadowlord's story, season by season, for his first year in the woods. This helped me balance specific events over the course of that first year so not everything happens at once. I intend to use the changing seasons (and changing colors) of the woods to show the passage of time. This was a good time to establish a time line, because I needed to write down a couple of story points that I thought of in the last day or two. I didn't have much story taking place in winter, so looking at everything else in chronological order helped me realize what SHOULD be happening during that time. I wrote new winter-specific story points accordingly.

JANUARY 4, 2008
Good progress today! Although I decided to use the original 2001 art for Shadowlord Page four panel 1, I drew new arms and hands. In this panel, Shadowlord is reacting to a pain in his head. His arms and hands raise near his head in anguish. The original 2001 hands look horrid. The new hands I drew aren't spectacular, but they still look a lot better than the old ones! Also, I penciled and inked a close up panel of Shadowlord just before he wakes up on the ground. I also drew eyes that are slightly open and wide open. With some digital work, this panel will replace page two panels 1, 2 & 3 where his eyes start to open. That just leaves two or three more panels to pencil & ink. I can't wait to get these first five pages cleaned up and colored!

JANUARY 3, 2008
I finished panel 4 from page two of the Shadowlord webcomic. I added more trees to the background part, including leaves on the ground and clustered near the trunks. I added a bed of leaves beneath Shadowlord. I also drew a squirrel that will be digitally placed on one of the trees as if he's scurrying away (since this squirrel also appears on page one). Finally, I erased all the pencil after inking (I used regular pencil on this page rather than the blue line pencil I sometimes use).

JANUARY 2, 2008
I tackled most of Shadowlord page two panel 4. It's a wide shot of Shadowlord sitting up for the first time after waking up in the woods. I'm using a different pose / body language in this version (as opposed to the original 2001 drawing). I didn't quite finish the panel, but that's because I drew it in three separate parts: Shadowlord, background trees and foreground trees. I inked most of what I drew today, but I still need to add more detailing and trees.

JANUARY 1, 2008
Happy New Year!! Today makes SIX MONTHS in a row of this daily blog and I haven't missed a single day of comic work yet. Today I renewed my focus on the Shadowlord webcomic project by penciling and inking panel 5 from page two. By my count, there are at most nine panels left to draw on this project (and a couple of the old 2001 panels may not be redrawn at all). Oh, and I saw sketches of the first FALTER webcomic today. It's looking good already! I'm looking forward to posting these new webcomics soon!

DECEMBER 31, 2007
For production tonight, I finished the new version of the Torpedo logo. I zoomed in close to do more detailed cleanup, then I added the New York skyline inside the letters of the logo. I added a deep blue cloud layer behind the cityscape, partly to show night time and partly because blue ties in with Torpedo's costume. The black outline of the city scape was blending in with the black outline of the letters, so I added a white stroke inside the letters to make the logo more readable. Finally, I snuck in a tiny figure flying over the city, and a simple grey line behind him to show a vapor trail (and to tie in the logo with the 2001 version which had a light horizontal line across it as well). I uploaded this version under the pics on the Torpedo myspace page. This logo turned out exactly how I wanted. What a great way to finish up a great year for One Shot :)

DECEMBER 30, 2007
Tonight I scanned in the old "Torpedo" logo from the 2001 publication. I cleaned up the logo, and digitally deleted the gradient fill inside the block letters. I also downloaded over a dozen photos of the New York City skyline, which will serve a purpose in a redesign of the logo. I browsed over 750 images as I picked these few for the right reference. I'll likely finish this new logo tomorrow.

DECEMBER 29, 2007
The artist I've been talking to about the Falter projects is chomping at the bit to get started. I love it when someone is this eager to work on a project. That's the kind of energy I put into what I do, and I'm so lucky to meet artists who share such motivation! Tonight I pulled up the first short story involving Falter and his new supporting character. Well, really I guess the new character is actually the focus of these short stories since Falter doesn't talk. I converted the short story into a webcomic script, and also did a little editing to keep it in line with the later short stories I've written. I then emailed it to the artist. I'm pretty eager to see what this new artist can do.

DECEMBER 28, 2007
So I redrew another portion of Shadowlord, page six panel 1. I didn't like how that part turned out so I erased it and tried again. The second time turned out much better. It's view of Shadowlord from behind, which is tricky because our hero doesn't have pants on (that rascal). I also drew a different panel, but that didn't turn out well either and I scrapped it. What DID turn out good tonight was progress on the treescape. I finally have a process in place to give me the texture I want on the background leaf clusters. Like the dirt texture, it's actually a two-step process to get the desired effect.

DECEMBER 27, 2007
I took a break from doing digital stuff today. Instead, I started drawing the new version of Shadowlord, page six panel 1. This is the first time we see Shadowlord's rival. In the 2001 drawing, we only see the rival from his knees up. This doesn't do much to show that he's actually hovering slightly above the ground. In the new version, we see him from head to toe, and we can also see a shadow below him to help show he's not touching the ground. I penciled the rival, and inked him. I barely sketched the background.

DECEMBER 26, 2007
Today, I worked on the wide treescape, adding shadows to every tree (inlcuding all the numerous background layer trees). I experimented with some textures on the background leaf layers too, but I didn't find one I liked.

DECEMBER 25, 2007
Merry Christmas! Today I wanted to duplicate the successful dirt texture from yesterday. This time, I wanted to add the texture to the wide panel treescape I worked on earlier this month. Yesterday, I wrote down the steps that produced the right texture, but I forgot to write down what the starting color was! Oh well. I tried a few (slightly) different base colors until I found one that gave me the same texture. And I DID remember to right down the color formula this time. I even added a similar light effect as the panel from yesterday. That really helps the scene look more realistic!

DECEMBER 24, 2007
I've been a bit nervous about coloring the dirt on page one of the Shadowlord webcomic. It's an overhead shot, looking down at the ground so the dirt is a prominent part of the overall panel. It took some experimenting today to add a grainy texture to the flat brown area, then adding another effect to get the look I wanted. After that, readjusting the brightness and adding shaded areas was a snap. I also added more colors and a texture to the brown trees in the panel. Oh yeah, and I added shading to all the leaves on the ground. I wasn't happy with the harsh black outline on the leaves, so I changed all the black leaf outlines to a dark green. The leaves look much better now and don't distract as much from the page. I thought I had finished for the day, but then I realized I had accidentally deleted a layer about an hour earlier. The layer was only two large leaves, which would later be blurred to appear part of the extreme foreground. I kept this layer out of view while coloring the rest of the page, so I'm not sure when it got flushed. I pulled up a black & white version of the image, slapped the appropriate colors on it, cut it, and pasted it again on the color version. I also added the blur. Then for fun I added a lighting effect, and LOVED the way it changed the page. Earlier today, I thought I MIGHT add such an effect, so I shaded the trees with a certain directional light source in mind. Once I saw how good this light source made the page look, I had to "undo" the effect so I could add shadows to the last remaining part of the page... Shadowlord himself. I shaded his skin and hair, and reapplied the lighting effect. And I think that just about does it for that page! I'll take a look tomorrow, but I think it's in the bag. I'm so proud of how it turned out!! Even better than I had hoped! I can't wait to see it as part of a completed webcomic soon.

DECEMBER 23, 2007
Since I was staying in a rural home surrounded by woods, I was able to take some good photographs for reference. This time of year, all the leaves are gone (making good reference for winter scenes or frames to add leaves to later). When I got home later tonight, I pulled up the Shadowlord page one image and put a flat color on all the fallen leaves bunched up on the ground. Applying the color along these jagged lines was very time consuming, but now I can highlight them all at once (since they are now all the same color)..

DECEMBER 22, 2007
I traveled out of town today, so I spent a lot of time "brain storming" while on the road. Most of it was pinning down details for future Shadowlord projects. Once at my destination, I wrote down notes for the stuff I thought of today. I also added some more to those notes as I was writing.

DECEMBER 21, 2007
I colored the remaining trees on page one of the Shadowlord webcomic project. In this overhead shot, there are a couple of leaves in the extreme foreground that will later be blurred. I did a rough color job on these two leaves and then digitally cut them out so they could be on a separate floating layer. I also put flat grey colors on Shadowlord's body and hair.

DECEMBER 20, 2007
Back to the woods. Tonight I re-scanned the first page of the Shadowlord webcomic. I had previously scanned it at a lower quality just to put it up on the Shadowlord myspace page. After scanning this page at a higher resolution, I carefully put down some flat brown color on three of the large trees. This was more time consuming than it may sound because there are dead leaves bunched up against the base of the trunks. That gave me plenty of jagged lines to avoid.

DECEMBER 19, 2007
After having enough of coloring trees for the past few days, I instead did some writing tonight. I wrote a new outline for Stoic's past, particularly about how his parents met and a life-altering meeting with his grandfather. I've had these ideas floating around my head for a while now, but I haven't been ready to pin these points down until now. Afterward, I read my earlier note which bear some similarities to what I wrote tonight. The outline I wrote tonight ties up certain events better, and adds nuances to a couple of the important events in his timeline. With a clear vision of where Stoic has come from, I'll be ready soon to write something new for Stoic. I've been wanting to for some time now!

DECEMBER 18, 2007
Guess what. More trees. Today I took the middle ground layer of trees, copied them, pasted them, shrunk them, and flipped some to create a background layer of trees. I also experimented with adding individual leaves to some of the foreground trees, although I need more practice at it.

DECEMBER 17, 2007
More tree work today. I scanned and added the background layer of trees to the file I've been working on. I put flat colors on the background layer, and added some temporary dirt and leaf canopy colors to the bottom layer (to give me an idea of what the end product would look like).

DECEMBER 16, 2007
More color on the foreground layer of the tree picture. Today I added shadows to both types of trees, and then I added some green lines on top of the brown trees. In most of my reference pictures of Tennessee trees, almost all the trees are green or grey. I tried replacing the brown trees with green, but it just didn't look right. Even taking a green tone directly from the photographs did help, as my drawn trees looked sickly or unrealistic with this real life green. By adding green vertical lines along the brown bark, I was able to get something in between that I'm happy with. The trees still look healthy without be completely (and unrealistically) brown.

DECEMBER 15, 2007
I finished the flat colors on the tree picture from two days ago. There are two different kinds of trees, and so two different bark colors. I touched up the brown trees today (which I started last time), and I added grey to the other kind of tree. I also jotted down some more notes about the primitive human colony concept from yesterday.

DECEMBER 14, 2007
Today I came up with a concept for some characters that will exist in the world of "Mark of the Jinn." It's hard to say much about it on here while the idea is still in its infancy, but what I can say is that it has to do with a primitive human colony and their bizarre religious practices. I drew some concept art / design sketches and filled the rest of the sheet with notes.

DECEMBER 13, 2007
A while back, I drew a big tree study. Tonight, I scanned it (in pieces) and reassembled it digitally. I also put a base coat of color on most of the main trees in the shot. It didn't feel like much progress, but it took nearly an hour. The most time consuming part was putting the four-piece scan together. I had to cut some tree parts, paste them, then rotate to get the bark detail to line up correctly.

DECEMBER 12, 2007
It's days like this that make it hard to stick to my decision! After a long day at my day job, I then attended a company dinner where I was honored with an award (for the second time this year). I still made time when I got home for some comic book work though. I penciled a disappointing version of Shadowlord page five, panel 3. I then did another version of just the foreground and background trees (and not the figure of Shadowlord). I penciled and inked these pieces and will probably reuse the original art and add these new trees over the old ones.

DECEMBER 11, 2007
First thing this morning, I inked those two figure drawings of Shadowlord from yesterday. This evening, I did some white ink corrections to them. I also downloaded some new pictures of Tennessee woodland areas for visual reference.

DECEMBER 10, 2007
This three panel sequence is almost done. Today I penciled the Shadowlord figure designs for panels 1 and 2 of it. I drew them as large as the figure in panel 3, and I'll resize them later digitally to show that he's approaching the foreground throughout the sequence.

DECEMBER 9, 2007
Still working on that three panel sequence from Shadowlord. Now I've inked the close version of Shadowlord (for the third panel). I also penciled and inked a top layer which includes some strategically-placed foliage (to give our nude hero some cover) as well as some close-up branches high up in the foreground. I'm not sure how much I like the foreground foliage, and this may get another version somewhere along the line. I did add a little praying mantis to one of the foregroud branches for fun.

DECEMBER 8, 2007
This afternoon I started the pencils for the background art for the three page sequence from yesterday. I did these on a separate page so I can add them in digitally (though not anytime soon). I also got to go to the Memphis News Channel 5 Christmas party tonight at our beautiful Memphis Zoo. It was awesome! The party was in the room with the Polar Bear exhibit on one side, and the sea lion tank on the other side. I've never been to anything like it! After the party, I finished the inks on the 13-tree background piece. I held the foreground and background art up to a light, and it works very well together!

DECEMBER 7, 2007
In the original Shadowlord "Daybreak" comic, there was a three-panel sequence where the "camera" was in a fixed spot, and Shadowlord went from background to midground to foreground. To keep it consistent, I drew trees on each side which formed a frame for the panel, and just digitally duplicated these frames. Then I digitally added a different Shadowlord drawing to each. As I am redrawing this sequence, I started tonight with the trees on each side. I penciled and inked both of these trees in the style that I've been using lately (with more bark detail than the original). I also penciled a version of Shadowlord for the third panel. I keep an open copy of the original nearby as I redraw these panels. The significant difference between the art is so encouraging! Oh, and in non-comic related news... I got a promotion at my day job today :)

DECEMBER 6, 2007
I added the inks to the Shadowlord panel that I drew yesterday. I really enjoyed experimenting with a brush on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," but I'm now enjoying a return to ultra fine point markers! I feel a much higher level of control with the markers, and the panel turned out really well!

DECEMBER 5, 2007
Tonight I penciled a panel of "Shadowlord." In this panel, Shadowlord is frantically calling out (for Calico). In the Shadowlord comic "Daybreak," this was shown on page five, panel 5.

DECEMBER 4, 2007
"Fall in the Bamboo Grove" is in the mail now!! I shipped a disc to the print shop today. Later, I practiced drawing an important location for future Shadowlord scenes. It's a large natural rock formation that he and Calico use for shelter. First I did a nice smal sketch of the location, and then drew a larger, more detailed sketch. I also drew Shadowlord and Calico into the scene. It wasn't easy to make the second drawing of the rock look like the first one. I've got an idea though on how to keep a more consistent look. I also updated the "home & news" page of the website today.

DECEMBER 3, 2007
Today I reviewed a self-printed copy of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" for errors. Five pages had to be corrected, reprinted and reviewed again. This can actually be tough, because the brain naturally fills in the gaps and glazes over some errors. Especially since I know what it's supposed to say. After a careful review, I got online and put in an order for the books. I'll be mailing the files soon!

DECEMBER 2, 2007
I drew a scene of a lake surrounded by woods. There was a small two-person fishing boat out on the lake. Shadowlord was in the foreground looking out at it. I threw it out. It was good practice, but I didn't like the lake. It was too big. I'm trying to establish some common areas to use in future Shadowlord projects, including where he bathes. A lake isn't going to work for me. People would be around, fishing from a boat or from land. I need a more secluded area. So in my second drawing, Shadowlord is standing thigh deep in a shallow stream. This is much better. I only inked Shadowlord, leaving everything else pencil. This may not be the final design of this spot, as I'd really like to work in a small, rocky waterfall.

DECEMBER 1, 2007
Five whole months, and I haven't missed a single day! Today I wrote a lengthy section for the inside cover of "Fall of the Bamboo Grove." This section is called "notes from the author." I've thought about adding a section like this in previous books, but it never made it in. This time though, on book number ten, I had a few things I wanted to say. Since this is unofficially the last thing I had to work on for "Bamboo Grove" you could say the book is finished! I printed out a copy of each page which I will be reviewing for errors. It won't be "officially" finished until any last minute changes or corrections are made.

NOVEMBER 30, 2007
Where the heck did this month go? Tonight I finished the second and third ads in "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." That leaves only the one ad to work on (which is the first ad, the inside cover of the book). The second ad only needed descriptions typed for each of the four top comics featured on the page. The third ad needed a description for a "Midnight Train" advertisement on the bottom half of the page. The top half of that page needed sample panels of three webcomics, as well as a general re-working of the layout design of the ad.

NOVEMBER 29, 2007
More ad work in "Bamboo Grove" today. On the second ad page, eight of my previous comics are advertised. I toyed with the layout a bit, and ended up with the same format as some of my comic ads. I set most of the images in place, and added text labels on top of the books as well as tags underneath that list which artist drew the book.

NOVEMBER 28, 2007
Artist Curtis Rhodes (Stoic, Vertex) emailed me sketches of the first five pages of the robot project today. They look great! I used some of the panels from these pages to make an advertisement, which will appear in the front of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." This was good timing, since I was wanting to include an ad for the upcoming book, but I didn't have any actual art from the book other than preliminary sketch work.

NOVEMBER 27, 2007
Tonight I penciled a new panel of the upcoming "SHADOWLORD" project. In this panel, Shadowlord leans against a tree as he holds his aching head. I also inked about half of this panel, including a lot of bark detail on the tree he's touching.

NOVEMBER 26, 2007
The SHADOWLORD page I've been working on is finished now. Today I added a few little sprouts near the smaller trees, and I added some leave bunched up around the base of the larger trees. I also finished a large tree in the upper left which I had only drawn most of until now. Since I inked just about all of the trees before adding the fallen leaves, I had to paint over some lines with white ink to make the leaves look like they were overlapping the tree roots. It's exciting for me to see the old version of this scene that I drew in early '01 for the original "Shadowlord" comic compared to this new late '07 version. I plan to upload both versions on the Shadowlord myspace page.

NOVEMBER 25, 2007
Artist Mike Jenkins now has the script and reference pictures to get started on chapter six of "Mark of the Jinn." What I did today was work on page one of a future "Shadowlord" webcomic. I did most of the pencil and ink work already, but I'd like to add more detail to the scene before it's finished. I'm glad I practiced drawing trees not long ago, as there are at least ten trees of various widths, and it's an overhead shot!

NOVEMBER 24, 2007
More maintence on "Bamboo Grove." I adjusted the last panel of page four, because it just looked a little off to me. I also did some work on the second and third ad pages. The second ad page will show most of my previous books, with a description of some of them. The third page will mostly be about the free webcomics on this site, and the rest of the page will be promoting our previous book "MIDNIGHT TRAIN."

NOVEMBER 23, 2007
I spent some time on the internet tonight, looking for interesting new fonts. I found about eight new fonts that caught my eye. That's actually a lot, as I'm quite picky when it comes to fonts (there's a lot of crappy ones out there!). After downloading the new fonts, I added background images to the three ad pages of "Bamboo Grove." I also wrote a quick draft for a "notes from the author" section I wanted to include in the book, but I don't think I'll use it.

NOVEMBER 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving! I finished the cover of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" today. I decided to go with the green-colored version of my logo on this book, and I'm excited about this change. It's fun to think about alternately-colored logo designs for other comics currently in the works! After finalizing the placement of the title and logo on the cover, I loaded the image into my publishing software and checked that all the words and logo were safely in the "live" area of the book (so they won't get chopped off at the printers). Since the number of pages in a comic are a multiple of four, there will be a couple of leftover pages which will serve as ad space for my other titles. I penciled a rough version of one of these ad pages today.

NOVEMBER 21, 2007
Out of all nine titles I've published so far, every one of them bears my black & purple One Shot Productions logo. Although the shades of purple differ some from book to book, they are all in the same color group. This has been important to me, and I've kept it this way since I started publishing in 2001. Tonight, as I worked on the cover of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove," my stance on that topic is changing. I've had the cover art done ages ago (even digitally colored before most of the interior pages were even penciled). However, I have not pieced the other cover elements together yet (like the title or corner logo). As I started putting these elements together tonight, I realized how out of place the purple color was among the very earthy greens and browns of the cover. I'm not finished with this part of the cover work (maybe halfway done), but before I stopped for the evening, I saved the file with an alternate-colored version of the One Shot logo. So far, I'm liking it. I'll have to sleep on it, and make a decision as I finish the cover tomorrow. The stark black title lettering, however, is fine just as it is.

NOVEMBER 20, 2007
I wrote a plot synopsis for a new webcomic featuring our ninja hero from "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I also designed a pretty cool-looking anime-influenced character for our ninja to fight. I fleshed out some of the dialogue, but I plan to add some introspective narration as well.

NOVEMBER 19, 2007
Whew! I finished the lettering for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." That's pages twenty through twenty-three of the main story, and all twelve pages of the bonus story. Okay, so only half of the bonus story has any words on it, but it's an action piece. There's still plenty to do before this book is ready to go to print, but we're getting awfully close!

NOVEMBER 18, 2007
Busy day today! I lettered pages thirteen through nineteen on "Bamboo Grove," not that there were a lot of panels with dialogue. This part is mostly a fight scene, but when the non-human character speaks, I'm using a different font from the human characters. But that wasn't enough. I didn't like the non-human having the same perfect oval shaped word balloons. So after lettering the page one way, I went back and gave him choppy hand-drawn word balloons. I'm very happy with how it turned out. In other news, I printed off a copy of chapter six of "Mark of the Jinn" for Mike Jenkins, and I made him a CD full of the necessary reference pictures. Now I just have to arrange to hand them over. One other thing I did today was to record some voice audio for a promotional project for "Midnight Train." This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, but never remembered to get around to it.

NOVEMBER 17, 2007
The lettering continues for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." Tonight I lettered pages nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. This includes the appearance of our hero's love interest, for whom I forgot to select a font. So I also took time out to pick a font for her before completing these pages.

NOVEMBER 16, 2007
Tonight I lettered pages six, seven and eight of "Bamboo Grove." Page eight was particularly tricky, as there is a flashback / collage as one of the characters speaks. The rest of the lettering on these pages was rather routine.

NOVEMBER 15, 2007
I chose one page of "Bamboo Grove" and lettered it using one of the fonts I'm considering. After printing it out, I lettered the same page again using the other font. Comparing these printed pages side by side, I think I may keep the rougher looking font for our young ninja and his father, and use the more refined font for the wise grandfather.

NOVEMBER 14, 2007
I scrolled through fonts for "Bamboo Grove." I need two distinct fonts, one for our human characters and one for a... not-so-human character. At first I picked out ten interesting fonts, and then narrowed it down to just four (two choices for each). I'll make my final decision later (maybe tomorrow) after it "soaks" in a bit. I also scanned in the newer version of the logo, and did some digital work on it. Although I'm avoiding digital work on the interior pages, the cover is fair game for digital alteration. I'm happy with the changes to the logo, and I should be able to add it to the cover soon.

NOVEMBER 13, 2007
I opened the "Bamboo Grove" logo to get it ready for the cover, and I realized I just wasn't happy enough with the logo to proceed. I got out my brush and ink and did two more versions of the logo. I also added to the tree drawing I started yesterday, by drawing some skinny little trees on a separate sheet. I'll digitally recombine these images in layers. I'd rather do these trees in layers because I'll be able to adjust the darkness on separate layers to give the scene more of a three dimensional feel.

NOVEMBER 12, 2007
This morning I searched the net for "tennessee trees" and downloaded over 30 pictures for reference. Then I started sketching a wide 11x14 inch forest scene. I inked the main six tree with marker. This forest scene isn't just practice though. I intend to use it as background for an upcoming Shadowlord story.

NOVEMBER 11, 2007
First thing this morning, I went to the local copy place to make copies of Jason Negen's pencil work for "Mark of the Jinn." I'll be giving these copies to Mike Jenkins, so he can ink and do backgrounds over Negen's work. The artists I work with normally ink their own work, but Negen said a long time ago that he'd like to see his work inked in Mike's fantastic style. I agree, and I'm looking forward to their joint venture on chapter six of "MotJ."
Also today, I inked the title of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" for use on the front cover of the book. I have always done the same layout with each of my previous nine books. That is, the One Shot logo in the upper left and the title in the remaining upper portion. With this book, I'm considering a change and may put the title and logo on the bottom part of the cover.

NOVEMBER 10, 2007
Tonight, I took some time to add some notes about STOIC, his childhood, his young adult life, his very important grandfather, and a couple of love interests. It's really fun to imagine stories about Stoic that begin almost 400 years ago. I'm pretty good about torturing my characters to make them stronger, and there's a heap of hardships in Stoic's past to help him become the quiet & powerful hero he is today.
I also spoke with Mike Jenkins this afternoon about his role in the multi-artist "Mark of the Jinn" story. His chapter is co-illustrated with artist Jason Negen, and I've yet to get Jason's art to Mike. I'll have to do that soon!

NOVEMBER 9, 2007
I loaded the rest of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove into the publishing software. Once I load a page, I have to carefully resize it to fit the "live area" of the comic, and tweak the position to best use that area. This is one of those simple yet time consuming tasks, particularly on a book that contains 35 pages of art. The only pages that presented a challenge were pages two and three of the bonus story, which must fit together to show one double-page-sized panel. Other than that it was smooth sailing.

NOVEMBER 8, 2007
Tonight I opened my publishing software and set up 40 blank pages that will become "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I also loaded about a third of the pages into this file, tweaking their positions on each page. I did a test of text bubbles on one page, but I haven't decided on a font yet. "Comic Sans MS" is a great standby most of the time, but just doesn't match up with this art style. I've got a ton of fonts, so I'm sure I'll test some others soon.

NOVEMBER 7, 2007
So I practiced drawing trees. One of the trees that stands out most in my memories of hunting is the American Beech Tree. With a mostly smooth greyish trunk with horizontal lines, it looks a bit like a sleeve not pulled tight. I've got the trunk down pretty good, but I haven't got the leaves quite right yet. I'll need more practice.

NOVEMBER 6, 2007
Tonight was another night of online research. This time I turned my attentions to a specific forest area in Tennessee. This is where I hunted as a kid with my father, and the setting for the story of SHADOWLORD. I've been wanting to do work on more Shadowlord stories, but I haven't felt ready to start. I don't want to draw fictitious, generic trees. I researched the kinds of trees specific to Tenessee and to this forest. I found a great list, as well as pictures of leaves and bark patterns for many of them. I also found a list of all kinds of wildlife found in these woods. Now that I'm armed with all the right information (and visual references), I can start getting an idea of what Shadowlord's woods will look like on paper.

NOVEMBER 5, 2007
I took a break from "Bamboo Grove" today, and researched names online for the backstory involving "STOIC." This got to be pretty time consuming since I needed names with origins from Africa, a couple from Greece, and one Egyptian name. I found everything I was looking for. The names are for Stoic's mother, father, and maternal grandparents. I always like the character's real names to have a meaning that relates to that character's personality. Sometimes this make it hard to find the right name, but it's definitely the way I prefer to name my characters.

NOVEMBER 4, 2007
I worked on assembling pages of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" off and on all day. And I am happy to report that I finished this part of the process! I assembled all the remaining pages from page thirteen to twenty-three. I'm so excited to see how it turned out! It seemed like it was taking forever to draw all the individual panels so big, but now that I've put it all together... I'm thinking I may have to do more books the same way. There's less and less to do before this project is complete!

NOVEMBER 3, 2007
Whew! Busy day outside of comics today. All I had time for was assembling page ten of "Bamboo Grove." This is an important page though, as it is the first appearance of our hero's love interest. I hope to have more time for comics tomorrow!
(Later, after I posted this entry, I assembled all of page eleven also).

NOVEMBER 2, 2007
Another productive night of digital assembly. I finished pages five, six, seven, eight, and nine of the main story of "Bamboo Grove." By drawing everything separately, I have so much more control over the "camera" in each panel. For instance, in page seven panels 2 & 3, Both panels originally contained our ninja hero and his grandfather. But when assembling the page in the computer, I decided to make the camera "zoom in," showing a closer view of the grandfather in each panel and removing our hero from the shot completely. After drawing these 110 separate panels for the main story, I thought this method was too time consuming. At this stage however, I'm beginning to think that this greater level of control may trump the extra time spent drawing.

NOVEMBER 1, 2007
Wow! Four full months of documenting my progress in this blog, and I still haven't missed a day! And really, I've been doing my once-a-day work on comics since mid-may so that's actually five and half months that I've maintained my commitment to comics. Tonight was a particularly productive night. After studying yesterday's test page, I determined what I liked and didn't like. The only thing I DIDN'T like was a version of the test page where I changed the bamboo-style borders from solid black to a 50% grey. The grey version looked like crap. Before seeing it on paper, I thought that grey borders might be a nice medium between the stark black and white values in the panels (and blend well with the grey tones in the panels too). I was so wrong! The solid black borders stay. Today I reassembled page one from scratch (rather than move things around on the test version from yesterday). I continued to assemble pages two, three, and four... that's the first complete scene of the comic! I'm so pleased with how this book is shaping up! I can't wait to get more of it finished!

OCTOBER 31, 2007
I put together a test for page one of the main story of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" (seven panels). Since I drew every panel on a separate sheet of paper, I've got a GREAT deal more control of how close the "camera" pushes in. Since I have to digitally reassemble each page anyway, I'll also have to decide how much of each panel to use. I'll use this first test page to see how I like the positioning of each panel, as well as whether or not to turn the outside panel borders grey (instead of the original black). I don't want to rush into the main story without weighing these options first.

OCTOBER 30, 2007
I did the digital reassembly and clean-up for pages eleven and twelve of the "Bamboo Grove" bonus story. That's the end of the bonus story, and means I'll have to move on to the more difficult main story!

OCTOBER 29, 2007
Pages nine and ten of the bonus story got the treatment today. As the story gets bloody, there seems to be more mess in the gutters between panels. Still, the clean-up work here is probably going quicker than on the main story.

OCTOBER 28, 2007
I started doing digital cleanup on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" today. I decided to piece the bonus story together first. I've done pages one through eight already today. From the beginning of this project, I knew I didn't want to use digital tricks to enhance my art. So during this process, I'm being careful with the digital clean up. I have to reassemble the pieces in the computer, that's a given. I'm also taking away lines that were added by the scanner (like where one scanned section and the next begins). I'm also cleaning up the gutters (between panels) where there are a few stray lines and dots. That's pretty much it. Although I'm not a fan of my own art, I feel it is important to leave the art unaltered on this project (mostly because I inked the book in a pseudo-Sumi E style rather than with modern methods). So far it's coming together nicely, and this part of the process is WAY more enjoyable than all that scanning last week!

OCTOBER 27, 2007
I figured out the pacing for that third "Falter" short story, and finished the script for it. It ended up being just three pages long, but it acts as something of an epilogue to the earlier stories. It also shows some important growth in Falter's new supporting character, who is central to all three of these short pieces.

OCTOBER 26, 2007
Finished scanning the bonus story for "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I'm glad I'm through with this part of the process. The next steps are more difficult, but certainly not so boring.

OCTOBER 25, 2007
I scanned "Bamboo Grove" pages one, four, five, six, and seven today. Most of them had to be scaned in three separate sections. Page seven had to be scanned in five parts, because two of the panels were actually redrawn on separate sheets.

OCTOBER 24, 2007
I scanned pages two and three of the "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" bonus story today. These are each full-page size panels, and had to be scanned in sections and reassembled in the computer. These were the two tough panels to deal with in the bonus story. Everything should be pretty routine for the remaining pages.

OCTOBER 23, 2007
Tonight, I started scripting the newest "Falter" short story. I'm not quite finished yet, but I have a pretty good idea of what I want out of the this piece. And it's pretty short, so it shouldn't take much more work.

OCTOBER 22, 2007
I figured out how to make better "tails" on the speech bubbles with this photo editing software. It's still easier to make tails with the publishing software though. I finished the last page of the five-page webcomic, and I built the html pages for the webcomic as well. So without further ado... check it out "Torpedo v. Gator-Face" on the webcomic page!

OCTOBER 21, 2007
I started and nearly finished the lettering for the five page "Torpedo" webcomic. Normally, lettering doesn't take me that long, but I'm trying a different method this time. I always use my publishing software to add the lettering for comics, which works great for having something printed. But when you use that software to generate internet-friendly images, it loses quality (and clarity) of the lettering. So this time, I decided to use my photo editing software to add the lettering. It took a lot of practice to try to get the text bubbles right. The publishing software is so much easier because you can just draw the pointy "tails" on the bubbles free-hand and it intuitively smooths them out. If I did this with the photo editing software, I get choppy, blocky tails. The keystrokes and commands are completely different in each program. Still, the text is super clear in the images, and I hope to have the webcomic ready very soon.

OCTOBER 20, 2007
I did digital clean up for the "Torpedo" scans from yesterday. I decided to make the webcomic just five pages long (down from the original eight page scene). Since these originals were done in a style without gray tones, I was able to do most of the prep work by tweaking the contrast adjustments. After that, I had to just do touch ups to the white flecks in the black parts and the black flecks in the white (from scanning). All in all, this part took about an hour.

OCTOBER 19, 2007
And for something completely different... more scanning! Okay, so I've been scanning the last few days too. The difference tonight is WHAT I'm scanning. Instead of tackling the 12-page bonus story to "Bamboo Grove," I scanned some of the original art from my first ever One Shot Productions comic, "Torpedo." I scanned about eight pages of a fight scene between Torpedo and a supervillain. I intend show off part of this fight scene on our webcomic page soon, so our newer readers can get an idea of what this character is about. I hope to do a little digital cleanup & text and have this scene up within a few days.

OCTOBER 18, 2007
I scanned the remaining FORTY-ONE images of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" today. That's everything from page fifteen to twenty-three. I still haven't tackled the bonus story, but it will get scanned soon too. I'm getting closer and closer to the end of the "Bamboo Grove" project!

OCTOBER 17, 2007
Only had time today to scan about seventeen images today. A couple of them kept scanning in crooked and had to be rescanned a few times. Now I'm finished scanning up through page fourteen. Maybe this process with speed up when I get some off time from my day job.

OCTOBER 16, 2007
More scanning today. I've scanned through page eleven so far. I script an average of 5 or 6 panels per page, so it takes some time to scan these individual panels. Even so, having separate panels like this will give me greater control over each page layout since I can "zoom in" for a closer view of any panel later when I assemble everything.

OCTOBER 15, 2007
Scan Scan Scan. Oh boy! Position the paper on the scanner! Listen to it hum while it generates a preview! Block out the section you want to keep... and press the "enter" button! Experience boredom for an hour while you tediously scan twenty one images into the computer! This is definitely not my favorite part of publishing, but it's not going to scan itself.

OCTOBER 14, 2007
Today I began the long, arduous task of scanning in each panel of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." This is about the most boring work that goes into making a comic book. It will be particularly time consuming with "Bamboo Grove" because of how I drew each panel. That is, since I drew all 110 panels (of the main story) on separate sheets. Instead of scanning in 23 ready-to-go pages, I'll have to scan in 110 separate items. The bonus story was done in a more traditional way but will still be scanned in sections because the pages (11x17 inches) are too big for my home scanner.

OCTOBER 13, 2007
I wrote another short FALTER story today. This one is basically a focus on Falter's new supporting character, who is dealing with the after effects of witnessing some rather gruesome acts (from the second short story). It needs revision, and I think I have some other elements to it, but it's a decent rough draft and definitely fits in with the other two short stories.

OCTOBER 12, 2007
The main 23-page story of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove" has a unique panel design. Instead of the usual black lines or white "gutters" between panels, I used a layout design that looks something like bamboo. When I started the project, I penciled layouts for all 23 pages and then inked those layouts. Tonight's work was scanning in all 23 pages of bamboo panel layouts. This turned out to be pretty time consuming, as I wanted to scan these layouts as evenly as possible. I prefer this over scanning first and digitally spinning the image later (which seems to lose image quality.

OCTOBER 11, 2007
Tonight I pulled up a finished script that I still haven't done anything with. The current version of the script is twenty pages, and introduces a strong new FEMALE character into the One Shot universe. I've been close to handing this project over to an artist, but I just haven't been quite ready yet. I know I'd like to make this character an ongoing webcomic, but I haven't been sure how to fit this twenty page in with the webcomic. Should it be a jumping off point? But if so, then readers of the webcomic would miss out on a lot of the origin & setup. So tonight I looked through the script and divided the scenes up, which turned one full length comic into five separate webcomic shorts. Now I can still use this script, but online readers will get the chance to see the whole story from the beginning. I also wrote a synopsis for a new story that takes place before the current twenty pages. This is an exciting step for me since I feel like I've been holding this character back for so long.
I also emailed a chapter of "Mark of the Jinn" to a new artist, and emailed another artist about working on one of the new "Falter" shorts!

OCTOBER 10, 2007
In preparation for illustrating chapter four of my "MARK of the JINN" story, I practiced drawing the main character, GOJINN. I used blue pencil to sketch him out, and inked him with an "ultra fine point" permanent marker. It felt so different to have the control of the marker as opposed to the brush and ink technique I've done for so long on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." I also emailed a couple of new artists about working on some short projects.

OCTOBER 9, 2007
I'm finished with this new second short story for FALTER. I finished scripting it, and I added a lot of narrative to the last two pages (it's only four pages total). In this new story, we get some insight into the motivation for FALTER's new supporting character (which ties into Falter's motivation as well).

OCTOBER 8, 2007
Tonight I wrote a first draft to another FALTER story. This one is a little more action oriented, and takes place directly after the events in the last FALTER short I wrote a few days ago. Although this is just a first draft, I've already finished most of it, and even broken most of it up into panels.

OCTOBER 7, 2007
That does it! This morning I finished the last of the principle art work on "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." In the bonus story, I added scars to our hero's arm (from a wound he got in the main story). And in the main story I added grey tones to page twenty two panel 2 and the very last panel of the main story (23.2). I am particularly proud of how this last panel turned out. I'd love to describe it here, but I don't want to give away the ending to the main story of the book! It shows the fate of our hero's beloved beneath a full moon. I'm a harsh critic of my own art, but this panel is beautiful! Now that all the art for the book is finished, I'll be able to move on to the digital part of publishing this comic!

OCTOBER 6, 2007
I finished the primary black ink work on page twenty two, panel 2 on "Bamboo Grove." I finally worked up the courage to ink the mouth of one character (the angle was really giving me trouble!) and the rest was pretty routine. I had to finish both torsos, an arm, a hand, and some of the bamboo in the background.

OCTOBER 5, 2007
The new FALTER short story is officially finished and in scripted form as of tonight. I also took a few baby steps on page twenty two panel 2. Tonight I added all the details to one face, half the details on another face, chest and arm of one character, and a cut across the chest of the other character. The woman's face in this panel is giving me some difficulty, but it really is helping to do just a little ink at a time on this panel.

OCTOBER 4, 2007
Panel 2 on page twenty two is proving to be one of those tough panels for me. I must have redrawn it three times tonight. Or rather, I balled up the first two redraws before they were finished. The third one is looking really good, but I haven't penciled in all the details yet. Instead, I inked the hair and outlines of the heads of the two characters, and the arm of one character. For this particular panel, I'm finding it useful to set the good parts in ink first so I'll be able to tweak the details in pencil without wrecking what I like.

OCTOBER 3, 2007
Back to the last little bit of "Fall in the Bamboo Grove." There are only two panels left that need my attention. One is page twenty two, panel 2 which is inked but I'm not happy with. The other is the final panel of the book (panel 2 on page twenty three). While looking through the final few pages, I noticed that panel 23.2 was missing. When I found it... it hadn't been inked at all !! This is one of my favorite (and most challenging) panels in the entire book, and it wasn't yet finished!! Tonight, I took care of that. I did the primary black ink work on the panel. It still needs greys.

OCTOBER 2, 2007
I figured out the length and pacing for the new FALTER short story. It's going to be just four pages long. Like other scenes I've written lately, there will be a narrative that tells one story while visuals will reveal unrelated (but telling) information. In this newest story, a priest is talking about a local criminal that was on the news, but the visual clues reveal much about the old priest himself. I don't use this technique all the time, but it's very useful in something short like this future webcomic.