June 05, 2004
Woo-hoo!! Buffer-Fu IIentry,
I did it. I cranked out another full week of Schlock Mercenary before my vacation, and this means I GET a vacation. Yay! The inked buffer stands at 21 as of this writing.
Tuesday I plotted. This involves scratching my chrome-shiny pate, muttering, talking to Sandra, and going to see a movie.
Wednesday I scripted. This is the brute-force part of the job, where I sit down and give birth to the heart and voice of my characters through the ends of my fingers, laying out the dialog in anticipation of pictures just taking shape in my head... I pounded out 9 rows of scripts (a Sunday and 6 dailies), shopped them with Sandra, and called it good.
Thursday I pencilled. It goes fast when the mental pictures are in place, but I ended up one panel shy of pencilling the entire week -- I just couldn't figure out who was standing where, what gestures were being used. No problem. I got the rest of the week done.
Friday I inked. I inked the Sunday (three rows) before going to work, and then inked the remaining six in the evening after work, between 5pm and 9:30pm, including that panel I didn't know what to do with on Thursday. The best part: My hand didn't hurt when I was done. The more I draw, the better I get at it. This happened in January, too.
Saturday morning I colored -- not the week I just drew, mind you -- the week you're reading now. It's just the flood-fill crap I'm able to do on my own, because Jean's not back online yet, but it's still COLOR, right?
Anyway, with that done, I can go on vacation and not have to come down off the mountain to catch up on the strip. It's a good thing too. We're having the hardwood floor guys come in and re-finish the floor. Our ice-maker leaked this winter, and the buckling wood has FINALLY dried out and laid flat so they can replace the bad bits and sand-and-polish the rest.
So... with me not coming down the mountain, and unable to get into my office due to the fact that you can't get to the office without crossing hardwood, this is the last entry update until next Saturday. If you're interested, however, you can probably check out my Live Journal, which I'll be able to update from time to time over the camp's slow connection.
Okay, it's time for me to go pack.