Book 5: The Vaultlands is complete!!

Howdy gang!

OK, I'm a bit late on this update, but it's because I was determined to finish Book 5 before writing again, and I'm happy to say it's finally done!   

44 pages before editing, so it came out a bit longer than I'd expected. I'm working on getting it into InDesign today and then printing off and reading a copy with first-time eyes to see how bad it is. I expect much editing will still be needed(like all the previous books), but at this point it shouldn't slow down the release of the book!

Book 5! 44 Pages of Farlaine!

So here's the plan going forward...

I'm working on the cover right now, trying to come up with the right layout and design, then I'll draw it. I hope to finish it and get it off to the colorist so I can make the mid-January distributor cutoff date. If I do, then it would appear in their Previews catalog in March and hit stores in May. Horribly long lag, I know, but it's also why I wanted to have the book done before I started. 

My hope from here is that I will solicit Book 6 and 7 before they're complete, so ideally the books all come out in 2017. Sorry I wasn't faster, but I didn't want to rush something subpar out!

Once the cover is done, I'm jumping right into writing Book 6 over the holiday. I'm not yet sure if I'll write just 6 or 6-7 together to make sure all the loose ends tie up, but the idea will be to hammer the script into shape. I may have rushed the script on Book 5 a little to get to the drawing stage, which meant I ended up drawing scenes I may have cut with more time writing. So we'll see, but the idea is I'm in editing and writing mode for the next 6 weeks:)

Book 5! An inch thick of inked pages!

So that's where I'm at! 44 pages done, 2 books to go. Money is running lower, but I have a plethora of duplicate organs that I expect should be easy to sell, so no worries, Books 6-7 are coming!!

I'm hoping Book 6 comes in a bit shorter, maybe a 30-35 page yarn, but book 7 I honestly don't know what to expect. It could be 35 or 55, I'm not sure! 

PS - I stole this post mostly from my Kickstarter:)

Book 5 - Nearing Completion! MICE!

Wow, where does the time go! I kept meaning to post a blog update but lost track of time, so apologies about that!

Before I forget, I got a late invite to MICE, the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo in Cambridge October 29-30! This is a show I've always wanted to go to since it seems ideal - indie self-published comics only! Sorta like a smaller version of APE(Alternative Press Expo) or SPX(Small Press Expo), but within driving distance!! So please swing on by and say hi if you're in the area!

With family time and conventions behind me, September and October have been prime drawing time! I'm trucking along nicely and up to page 32 into Book 5, with another 10-12 to go. The climax of the issue is ahead of me so I'm hoping it means I'll be giddy and draw faster...but honestly I half expect instead I'll just stuff a lot more detail in:)

As soon as that's done I'll need to draw the cover, send that off to the colorist, and then start writing Book 6!

The original plan for my year off was to release the books as soon as they were done, but a part of me is now questioning whether I may do better getting a bit further into Book 6 so I don't leave too big of a gap between the final issues. You see, they sorta run together a little more than the previous books, so I don't want to leave readers hanging too badly:)

Book 6 I'm hoping will be a little shorter than the last two books. I was getting a bit indulgent in my writing and world building and tried to stuff a lot of things into Books 4-5, but I think Book 6 will be closer to the 30-40 page range. Book 7 though...no clue how long that'll be!

Getting back to Book 5 though, one interesting thing I find funny is the extreme difference of working on a comic in your living room vs a typical office job. Your life formats very differently I find, and you don't even realize some of the strange office habits you establish. It makes it strange to change that rhythm sometimes(at least for me).

When I drew Books 1-3 I had had time to settle into whatever schedule worked, which eventually morphed into a strangeness of working until 4-6am every day and then going to bed. Somehow I've always been more productive late at night. When I went back to a desk job my body never really liked it, and I was constantly exhausted no matter what time I went to bed and would find my creative spark igniting just as I went to bed most nights.

I'd expected that when I went back to full time comic work I'd happily slip back into that schedule of staying up until 4-6am every day...but sadly I haven't. I'm still generally up until 2-4am, but those last two hours have eluded me. Maybe this is age catching up! I still find it interesting though. I expect over time I'll shift later and later, just in time for running out of money and having to go back to an office job:)

But for now, things are happily moving along on Farlaine and all the folks who have patiently been waiting for the next book should have one on the horizon! And then two more! Exciting times are afoot in the land of Farlaine...

To tide you over, here are a few more in-progress tidbits from Book 5: The Vaultlands!

Convention Season/Family Time

The last month has been a nice trucking along on Book 5, doing some big rewrites of the script as I progress through the drawing. I had some new character designs that took some time to figure out and some new locations and plot points that needed hammering and polishing, but at this point things are looking pretty good. Book 5 should clock in around 40-45 pages long and I'm targeting the end of September to be done.

Part of the reason for the later September date is that the month of August is being largely lost to unproductive time. I had two conventions to deal with, the Boston Comic Con that was this past weekend(and awesome as usual!) and then the Baltimore Comic Con coming up September 2-4. Wedged in between them is a family vacation where I can't bring my drawing table so I'll be reduced to pencils and layouts for a bit.

I'll also be at the Hartford Comic Con September 24-25, which will be the end of my convention season for 2016. I'm hoping to hit more shows in 2017 as I get closer to the end of the series:)

I need to finish some inking before I leave for vacation later today, so I'll leave you with a couple of pages from Book 5 to wonder about:)

Heroes Con, Book 5, Boston Comic Con

The last month was the start of Book 5!

The first 6 pages are inked and scanned in and I'm burning through pages 7-9 as I type( I work in bundles). It's a bit slower of a start than I'd hoped but solid nonetheless! Hopefully over July I crank through a lot of pages.

In other news Heroes Con was this past month in Charlotte, NC. I'd never been and heard good things. It was a solid show and certainly worth going back to, and there was some tasty food too:) Not sure it can be an annual trip because of the expense, but could be fun to do alternate years!

The Boston Comic Con is coming up August 12-14, my next likely destination. That's my local show so I should have comics, trade, prints, and all the other goodies.

OK, short but sweet update so I can get back to work inking and drawing. Here are a couple of shots of some of the new stuff being worked on for Book 5:)

Book 5 Begins...

It's been an exciting and busy last month and a half !

The Kickstarter did wonderfully, raising $12,000 towards printing the final books and getting them in front of people! Thanks to everyone who helped out and supported the series; I really hope you enjoy what comes out of the final books:)

Since then I've been working on sending out the early rewards I promised people and finishing up the day job, which I've now been free from for a couple of weeks. It's amazing how set in that routine you can be, so it's taking some time to transition into a more productive schedule. So far so good though!

I'm trucking along on the script for Book 5 right now and hoping to have the first solid draft done soon. Luckily the beginning is mostly set so I'm able to start drawing while I work out the later kinks of the story. There are definitely some fun and interesting ideas in this book, so hopefully people enjoy it!

I also got in hand just this week the alternate cover painted by Larry MacDougall and let me tell you - it's spectacular!!! I'm not sure yet what book this will be used on but when it does it's gonna look amazing!!

Oh, I'm also going to be at Heroes Con in Charlotte June 17-19! First visit to this convention that I've only heard amazing things about and can't wait for!!

OK, back to work on that script now...

Farlaine the Goblin - Year off to finish the series! Kickstarter Now Live! http://kck.st/1VxmmqN

OK, so there's some big news!

I've decided to take another year off from the day job to finish the series! Books 5-7 are coming over the next 12 months!

I've saved up enough to do it if I live cheap and focus. Three stories to tell, and a year to do it. Should be a fun year:)

To help start with, I'm launching a Kickstarter to raise some funds to cover printing costs.

Launched today, April 18th, 2016, and runs for a month. http://kck.st/1VxmmqN 

Lots of great unique rewards like original pages of art, stuffed Farlaine dolls, first printings of Book 1, and more! Loads of great choices to support the book.

I'm finishing the series even if nobody supports the KS...but it sure would be nice if I could presell some of the books to cover the costs:)

 Thanks a heap everyone!!

What I've been up to for the last 3 months...

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I updated the site! Sorry about that! I'd meant to a few times and either got distracted with something else or posted to Facebook instead. Oops!

Quick catchup time...

I spent much of the fall dealing with the release of Farlaine the Goblin ~ Book 4: The Twistlands. With juggling a day job it takes longer than expected to deal with the legwork. I hit a few conventions, sent tons of copies off to be reviewed, and tried my best to get Farlaine in front of as many eyes as I could. In the end there were more reviews for Book 4 than any of the others, and it was positive across the board with a few really great ones. My favorite might have been Graphic Policy who said "Farlaine The Goblin #4 is, in all honesty, and without any exaggeration, probably the best comic I’ve read all week.". Woohoo! A few of the others were equally glowing, and all are linked from the Reviews & Press section of the site!

In November/December I decided to try Amazon marketing to help move the book, which led into some great directions and a lot of books moved. I then got it into my head that I really needed more of Farlaine on Amazon, so I spent a few weeks setting things up, making digital versions, and getting that side of things up. So as of 2016, ALL of Farlaine is on Amazon! You can order any of the 4 single books or the TPB, all in print or on Kindle! We even put Farlaine in the Kindle Unlimited bucket, so anyone that's already got that can read Farlaine for free:)

The last month has been spent on a fun little side project with someone who wanted to pitch Farlaine as an animated series. We needed to put together a show bible, so a lot of time was spent on getting that set, boiling down the plot, digging into the backstory, adding some new characters and drawings, and hammering out some of the future plot wrinkles that hadn't been put down on paper yet. It seems a longshot for anything to come of it, but why not try?

And now, finally, in February, I can begin to move on to Book 5!  Since Books 5-7 tie into each other a bit more than the others I wanted to get everything else out of the way before I dive in, and then hope to produce them one after the other. I've been gathering ideas and thoughts for a while now so it's about time to sit down and write it all out:) Wish me luck...