Happy Holidays!

I will be away from December 24 - 31, 2007. There will be no updates, or responses to emails, during this time. Enjoy the holidays! See you in 2008!

Page 75 Complete! Last before New Year's!

Page 75 has been completed, the last page before the New Year's. I am leaving on a week-long vacation, so there will be no updates before New Year's. I will see you all in 2008 ! Happy New Year!

Page 74 complete!

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, with the hope of posting page 75 this morning, but as usual, right when things look like they are going smooth, it hits the fan. I was bombarded with time-intensive work yesterday, and socked with a cold on top of that. It wasn't a good recipe for artwork. While still fighting my cold, and knowing more time-intensive work is coming today and tomorrow, I am hoping I will at least get some work on issue 5 done today -- and if not, then tomorrow and Friday.

Page 73 complete!

Another page is complete — page 73. Check out the preview to the right (click for a larger view).

This is, hopefully, the start of a "week of many updates". Like I said, "I hope." With my "RL" work, I never know if it will be slow or hectic. I am hoping for "slow" this week, with the upcoming holidays. These holidays are also the reason why I want this to be a "week of many updates" as next week I will be away for the holidays. Needless to say, there will be NO updates or work done that week; nor will I have a chance to read or answer any emails. Come the New Year, however, all will be back to normal! :)

Page 72 complete!

I meant to post this yesterday. I got so caught up on working on the page, and then on the next page, that I forgot to post an update. Page 72, the one that you saw a pencil preview in the the last post, is complete — inked and colored. You can see a color preview by clicking to the right.

Now... onto page 73 — which is already 75% done...

Issue 5: Drawing Stage is now complete!

Sorry for any delays in posting in the last couple of weeks. The Thanksgiving/early Christmas season has been a busy one. But I have been working diligently whenever I could on issue 5. I can now officially say that:

grOw/cOmic#2, issue 5 is now in the inking & coloring stage. All pencil drawing has been completed for all 22 pages! Wait... did I say "22", as in 1 more than I originally said a few posts ago? Yes! I have added another page to the issue. I needed a nice conclusive page for this final issue of the series. To see an example of a full page in its pencil form, click the preview icon to the right. It is a reduced version of page 72.

In addition to the pencil preview, I have also completed coloring the opening page of issue 5 (page 71). You catch a preview of that by clicking on the color icon here.

grOw#2, issue 5 — drawing begins

The rush for issue 4 is winding down. It's a busy time answering emails, responding to forum posts, and fixing the occasional problem (more on that later).

Issue #5, "Losing Control" has begun! (Yeah, I know I misspelled it in the preview as "Loosing Control". ) I spent a couple of hours yesterday doing some more rewrites, and adding more BE action. I also redrew some thumbnail sketches of the page layouts. This issue will be biggest yet, with 21 pages!

Another thing I was working on is using Poser to "sketch" the scene. The comic will still be drawn by hand as usual, but I use Poser as it was originally intended — as a virtual, posable "wooden doll" drawing reference. With the numerous intertwined bodies, the greatly varied heights (for those following the story), and the"camera" angles I want to achieve, it is an invaluable tool!

Problems: Just a reminder that if you do not receive the link email within 4-6 hours of your order, please send me an email at help@bustartist.com . Actually, most links are sent and received within 20 minutes. Some email systems are very slow (Yahoo!) and even do not deliver the message on occasion (5-10%)! If you have one of these emails, do not worry — my manually written emails seem to go through with no problem.

NEW FREE BE color drawing and CONTEST!

I just updated my BEA Gallery (Free and Members) with a NEW BE Painting titled "The Bride to BE". Posted here, is a small preview. For larger versions, please visit my gallery (BEA Members get 2 über sizes, one up to 3300 pixels wide for detail!)


Contest: Contest, you say? Yes! I already have the "story" behind this one in mind, which I will reveal at the end of the contest. The idea is for YOU to come up with a quick description (just a paragraph... maybe 4-8+ sentences).

Two winners: 1) Best description. 2) Description closest to mine (which I will reveal at the end).

Judging: By popular vote by Forum visitors. I will set up a poll at the end of submission.
Where: This BEA Forum post.

Dates: Submissions due by Fri., Dec 14th, 12midnight EST. Judging from Dec 15-21. Winners decided Dec 22.

Prize: FREE issue 5 of grOw/cOmic#2, "H2grOw", plus any 2 other single issue grOw/cOmic or grOw/stOry -- current or future.

My BEA Gallery Updated!

New updates to my Gallery:

BEA Members: 1) New FanTITY morph 2) New BE/miniGTS color painting in 4 sizes (the largest is 2430 x 1659). This is a remake of the old "Shower Girls" pencil drawing (that is nearly 19 years old this month!)

Free Gallery: The same new BE/miniGTS [b]color painting[/b] in 2 sizes (the largest is 1000x 683).

Coming soon: 1) another NEW BE color painting. 2) a newly found (by old) pencil comix series like the "Wishful Thinking" comic.

Enjoy!

> FREE BEA Gallery
> Members BEA Gallery

Issue 4 "Fighting for Control" Released!

Post-production work went fairly smooth, with few problems at the proofreading stage, or at the store set-up. I was unable to make a "new" Combo purchase option, but if you have not done so, you can still purchase the 1,2,3 Issue Combo, and then issue 4 separately. I am looking into the problem.

Issue 4 is now AVAILABLE! I hope you enjoy all the hard work. It was a difficult schedule, but I actually enjoyed it myself, I am happy with the results!

Go to: www.bustartist.com

Page 70 and Issue 5 Cover Complete!

I finished the last remaining items — page 70 and the cover for issue 5 (remember, I try to show the cover of the next issue at the end for a sneak peak at what is coming up next).

Now, I am going through proofreading. There were a few small text mistakes here and there, and one big one (the entire issue was mislabeled as "issue 3" along the bottom folio of each page).

Once the corrections are made, the PDF is finalized, and the store is set-up, issue 4 will be released (which I will announce here, as well as other venues).

Page 69 (huh huh huh) is complete!

A more involved page again, with some nice new water effects that I had to figure out. I've gotten used to all the other pages, but this was new. I had to figure out how to do a nice wave of water -- not from the ocean, but from clear pool water. A tricky thing, but I think I achieved something that fits nicely with the rest of the art style.

Page 70 is close to done as well! Plus, I am half way through the cover of issue 5! We are really close, folks!

Page 68, just finished

A complicate page, to say the least. Extreme angles, new background to render, and lots of characters. But what do you expect from the next-to-last page?

Another late night to finish a page. It's been tiring. Hard to say if you will see another update before the weekend, due to the hard work. I don't want to work on the last page while tired and make a mistake. It is too important. Even if there is not an update tomorrow, I have completed a lot of work this week. We are almost there! *

(*Note: even when all pages and the cover of issue 5 are done, there will be at least a week more of production to do: proofreading (very important), making the PDF, getting the store ready, etc).

Page 67 complete! Halloween delay :)

Well, you can't have an update EVERY day. Halloween preparations and other "RL" work didn't allow me to finish page 67 yesterday. However, I was able to finish this morning!

So, here is your Halloween treat! -- page 67 is complete, with a preview at right.

There probably won't be an update tomorrow, as we are enjoying Halloween fun. Then, it's back to work. Getting closer!!

Page 66 complete! 2nd update today!

Amazingly, I was able to finish yet another page today! (Technically, most of page 65 from the previous post was done on Friday, I just finished it early today.)

Page 66 is one of those pages that make me believe most people will think this is the best issue so far. It's has many scenes of, and varied kinds of, growth throughout.

Only 4 more pages, and 1 cover* to go! (The "cover" is for issue 5, a sneak peak of which will be shown at the end of issue 4.)

"Missed it by that much." — Maxwell Smart

I was sooo close to completing page 65 on Friday. I missed it by "that much" (See? I am holding my finger and thumb away from each other by just a little bit).

Things turned out slower than expected for me for my "RL" work. I was just about done, when I realized that the background on the last panel wasn't quite right. The angle was wrong on the pool. So, I had to re-render the background, as the shot I needed wasn't in my gallery of pre-rendered backgrounds. And, of course, it didn't come out right the first time... or the second. But now, early Monday morning, it is complete.

On to page 66...

Page 64 finished, barely.

I worked on the page for a little later than usual, but I just had to finish it. I was sooo close when it was about the time to take a break for the night.

Not sure what tomorrow may bring. If it is not a busy day for me work-wise, I may get another half page done. If not, then the next update will probably be Monday. I need the weekend to rest and do "RL" stuff.

Enjoy the preview. Click the thumbnail !

Page 63 complete. Boy, oh, boy!

This page went quite well, today! It was a relief to have a break from doing all of the water effects on this one. This was a great page to work on, in terms of art, and storyline. The thumbnail sneak preview gives a hint to the page.

Only 7 more to go!

Page 62 of "H2grOw" is complete!

Ah! We are one step closer to release, with 11 pages out of 19 complete. Only 8 more to go! Page 62 was an intense one, with a lot of water effects (reflections, waves, and highlights). So it took a little longer. This page was one of 3 pages with the most intense water effects.

Click on the thumbnail at right for a larger view.

Update WILL come. Don't worry.

It dawned on me that after starting this blog, and making 3 quick posts, that there was a lull in updates right away. It was purely timing.

This past Friday was a bad day for any updates, as I was crushed with deadline work. This does happen from time to time. Also, we just had a weekend. After a busy week, I need time to catch up on life, and, welll... things like laundry! ;D

Also, each page takes a different amount of time. One page that has a lot of water shots (the one I am working on now) takes longer because of the special effects I have to add with Photoshop. Also, the size of the page makes no difference. Rather, the number of panels AND the number of people who appear in each panel affects the amount of time to complete. The opening pages (see previous issues) have only contained 1 panel, and maybe 1 or 2 people. Much easier than a page with 6 panels, and each panel contains 4 people.

Now... back to inking and coloring page 62...

grOw/cOmic#2, "H2grOw" Cover

I posted this at my website (www.bustartist.com) a few days ago, but not everyone may know about it.  This is a preview of the cover art for issue 4. While this was shown at the end of issue 3, it was much, much smaller.  Here is the image at 676 x 883 resolution.  Just click on the image above for the full version.

grOw/cOmic#2, "H2grOw" prOgress repOrt

So, for a first entry, I wanted to give an up-to-date status on issue 4 of grOw/cOmic#2, H2grOw.

I am a little behind on my original goal, which was to be mid-October. A number of "real-life" issues stopped all work for about 3 weeks in September. But things have gotten much better, and I am now pushing hard for the completion of issue 4.

Chapter 4: Fighting for Control will have 19 pages of comic! In addition to the delay mentioned above, this issue took a little longer because of 2 rewrites/additions to the story. One major one involved removing one 3-page sequence, and replacing it with an action-packed 8-page sequence. Something new was added with one character that was not even in the original script.

As of today, this is what is done on issue 4:

• All 19 pages are completed in the initial pencil stage.
• 10 out of the 19 pages are complete — pencil, "ink", coloring, text, backgrounds, and "special effects".
• Depending on my workload, I have been getting 1/2 to 1 page done per day.
• Current target: end of October to early November.

Welcome !

Questions and answers. Updates and changes. Tutorials and hints.

With this new blog, I hope to provide a central location to help all those who have questions about my work. I will try to provide updates to major projects, such as "grOw", on a day-to-day basis. There will not be an update to the blog every day, but I will update when I have made progress on a particluar project.

Right now, I am busy trying to get my current projects out there. However, I hope, in the future, to possible provide some hints and tutorials on how I was able to create my artwork.