Well, between Birthdays and Movings-Out, I’ve failed to get everything done that needs doing.
The Schlock Buffer stands at 12 inked, but only 5 colored-and-uploaded. There are 5 GWAVAMan strips needing pencils, inks, and colors this week. Oh, and by February 15th I need to be starting work on the GWAVAMan fold-out comic (cover, two interior action-packed pages, watermark on the back) for BrainShare. My deadline on those is probably going to have to be March 1st, which will mean enormous amounts of “crunch” right at the end. See, this comic will feature numerous caricatures and characterizations of Novell GroupWise partners, and will be used at BrainShare as part of a promotion by the GWAVA team to drive delegates to all participating partner booths where they’ll surrender business cards (and their attendant contact information) for the opportunity to win prizes. Those partners featured in the comic have to pay up-front to get included, which of course means that a week before I’m supposed to be finished with it I’ll be asked to insert panels because somebody’s check cleared.
(If there are GroupWise partners reading this Journal, get with The Bliss NOW)
Yes, GWAVAMan is a total sell-out for me. As if working for Novell for a decade WASN’T? Yeesh. At least THIS sell-out leaves me a modicum of creative control, and lies within a field of work I truly love. And it’s hard work– easily the most challenging art-and-story I’ve done since scripting the Death of Captain Tagon.
So, the point of all this: I need to have the rest of the GWAVAMan weeklies pencilled and inked today (tomorrow at the latest), and colored by Friday at the latest. During “rest-the-hand” times I need to be scripting Schlock Mercenary, so that from February 7th through the 15th I can aggressively grow that buffer, hopefully through March 7th. By March 7th I should be done working on GWAVAMan, and I’ll be free to work on Schlock full-time (I know, I know… some of you may have been under the mistaken impression that I’ve BEEN doing Schlock full-time. Not so!) and growing the buffer in preparation for my busy conference schedule in mid-March, April, and May.
In short, to punnishly paraphrase Johnny Storm, “Game ON!”
VOOOMF!
–Howard
If you need help with coloring, just let me know.
Cheers
Thanks for the offer.
The only coloring that I would feel good asking for help with is easy stuff — only about 10 minutes work per strip for me, with all the automation and shortcuts I have in place… which means I don’t feel good asking for help with it. If I can’t get it done it’s because I’m a lazy idiot.
–Howard
Or busy.
Oh, yeah…
That reminds me… I’ve got a couple of one-off commissions to crank out, and at least 10 more Sandra’s-Birthday-thank-you notes to provide artwork for. The good news is that the thank-yous are work I feel good about doing on Sunday (it’s personal, not business. It’s my gift to you, you-know-who-you-are) and each of the character portraits I’m inking and coloring with markers still only takes about 15 minutes.
So far this morning I’ve pencilled all but one of the requisite GWAVAMan strips. Progress!
–Howard
I figure now is as good a time as any to show you this link to 1001 humorous trivia bits about the sitcom “Three’s Company” — read it now!
LOL
ps. You suck. 😉
And here’s a list of all the different shades of green known to man! How many can you name?
If you’re as easily distracted as I am, you’ll find it difficult to not start naming them in your head. Much less building a website with them listed.
And if you’re more distracted than I am, you’ll LOOK SOMETHING SHINY!