First issue: The Lessons Learned

First off, I'm very pleased to say that all the technical issues with the Amusedom version of the first issue have been ironed out. It's good and ready to go. I'll be waiting on a response back from Comixology before I schedule a release date, but it feels great to have it done.

And now, here's what I learned from making issue one:

Pencils- It's hard to draw when you haven't done it in awhile and I've lost a lot of years I could've been honing and improving my skills. That's my mistake. I should have never stopped making comics. Now I got to play catch up.

Inks- Similar to drawing, very hard to get used to doing again. Inks are especially hard because of the precision required. No erasing, no backsies. Wite-Out can only help so much. You really have to be a surgeon with an ink pin to create lines precise enough to hold up at the size Comixology wants it to. Lines that look fine in full size print required major work for digital.

I was pretty comfortable doing the computer touch ups and I'm going to experiment with the Wacom tablet I just got today to see if I can ink the pages digitally.

Color- This was really interesting since I've never worked extensively in color. The first thing I discovered is that color is sometimes relative and defined by the colors around it. A specific color may look dark on one panel and faded the next depending on the colors around it.

I also learned that color can tell as much of the story as any word or line can. It can have its own meaning, themes and humor just like any other part of storytelling.

Letters- I relearned how to use Illustrator to letter. Didn't really discover too much new about lettering itself other than how awesome it is to drop out the lines on logos since it'll show up on a color background (like I did with the CNBC and NIN logos).

I'm hoping I can figure out a way to do lettering in Photoshop so I don't have to buy Illustrator at home but that remains to be seen.

Submitting to digital comic sites- Read up. Do your research and be prepared for half of it to go out the window at some point. Be ready for anything and don't be shy about asking for help.

With issue one behind me, I'm taking few a days off of work to rest and recuperate before I get started on story two. I'll still be blogging during that time, so keep your eyes on this spot.

Letter Page Done!

The letter page is done! 

The letter page is a time honored tradition of comics, publishing readers' comments, fan art, etc. And part of that tradition is, since a series won't have letters before it's published, filling the first letter column with an editorial of some sort, whether it's just talking about the creators, the direction of the book, how the series came to be or just about anything else to fill the space.

So it's an absolute thrill to have my letter page become a part of the digital release. It features my editorial on Columbine that ran in the print comic in 2000 with a new section at the end talking about the digital College Follies series.

An additional change was that the original "MAIL TO" went to my actual home with my (now defunct) student website and email at the bottom. This needed to be changed since I no longer live there anymore (I was living with my then-inlaws, who probably don't need to receive any more mail about this comic). Because email has become so prominent now I've included my email instead of a physical address. I will say I miss seeing a full mailing address at the top of the letters column, but such are the times we live in.

I plan to have a regular letter column, regardless of if I get letters, as a way to communicate with the reader and let them know what's going on with the series (something I feel is sorely missing in many modern comics). But I do hope I get letters once it's released. And if I get any attached with crayon pictures of my characters drawn by little kids, my life will absolutely be complete.