My god, have I been swamped by email and work. I never seem to have time to do anything anymore, including go online and surf forums. Oh well. At least I’m being productive, especially since I’ve picked up some illustration work. When I’m done with it, I’ll put it up. I also seem to get alot of email these days…so much that I accidently delete some of them. Infact, if you sent an email to me from the 1st May – 12th May, I suggest you send it again if you haven’t gotten a reply. These things happen at times.

Third Print Run: “The Dreaming” is in it’s THIRD printing, because of Scholastic ordering 45,000 copies for their book club readers. It was originally 30,000 copies, but then they increased it for some reason. On the other hand, the second printing of “The Dreaming” is for 7,000 books, and because of the smaller print size, there won’t be any paper dolls in this version. There will be an artist’s bio and a section called “Praise for The Dreaming” instead. That said, it’s too bad about the paper dolls, but the Scholastic version will have them.

Cover for Volume 2: I’m not sure whether it’s been approved or not. I haven’t been told that there’s anything wrong with it, but until it becomes “official”, I’ll just say that the art isn’t final. That said, there’s been an oddity happening with the colours. This is the second time I’ve used Photoshop to do a picture, and I must say I’m starting to get used to the “brush” function in Photoshop. I’m wondering whether the airbrush function is better in Painter though… definately it feels smoother, but Photoshop seems to work fine though. What IS certain is that while the picture was done in Photoshop, the colours look better when they’re opened in Painter. The one below is the Painter version.

This is the Painter version, which I like better, though these weren't the colours I originally picked.

The colours were different, even though both are CYMK. Is it because Painter has a different palette or something? I have NO idea. All I’m doing now is exporting the file from Painter into Photoshop format, and I find that embedding the colours into the picture works. As long as the user chooses the “embedded colours” option when opening it in photoshop, the file shows up with the correct colours. I’m just puzzled at why the colours can be so different.

Update: Many thanks, I’ve got the answer to the mystery Painter/PS question! I’m using Photoshop 7 and Painter 9, and the reason for the colour changes is the difference between colour preferences, namely “Adobe 1998” and “SRGB”. I think Painter 9 uses “SRGB” whereas Photoshop 7 uses “Adobe 1998”. This explains why the contrast levels in the Painter 9 picture was higher, because “SRGB” has a high level of contrast, but apparently duller colours. I haven’t messed around with either to know, but you can change the colours in Photoshop 7 to “SRGB”, though because I’m doing another illustration in Photoshop right now, I’m keeping them that way.

India: I’m finally leaving tomorrow for India, until the 10th December. I was supposed to leave on the 17th, but just about everything that could go wrong with the preparations on this trip has gone wrong, so it’s all been delayed. Since it’s the last time I have to post news up, I’ll make sure I post something good, and a flurry of activity this week has been great. For starters, here’s an another Interview with me at “The Pulse”.

The Dreaming: This will be out in December, and the list of Australian Stores where you can buy “The Dreaming” is still here. By the time I get back, Chapter 3 will be up, but Chapter 2 is still available for November as of now. And I finally got the final version books for “The Dreaming”! I must say, I’m impressed by how it turned out. I was always afraid that the book’s tones will be printed too light, since I used Corel Photo-Paint rather than Photoshop for toning, but it turned out pretty much the same shade I wanted it to. So I’m happy with what it looks like.

The Dreaming Bonuses: Paper dolls! I drew some cute paper dolls for the book way back in August, and they’re there, as is Sarah Ferrick’s short story “Locker No. 246”. It’s a great plus to the additional material – not only does it give other artists some exposure, but it feels you’re getting more for your buck (which you are). It’s great when you don’t feel you’re getting a whole chunk of advertisements at the back. In fact, there are only TWO pages of advertisements in this book (I’m totally amazed). The entire book is 192 pages (not counting the paper dolls), so what you’re getting is effectively 190 pages of solid material. This must be the sole OEL manga release I’ve seen that has so little advertisements!

Seven Seas picks up Webcomics!: A Publisher’s Weekly article points to a great phenomenon – webcomics being considered by a book publisher! That publisher is Seven Seas, and kudos to them for also giving full rights to the creators of the webcomics as well. But my point of interest is mostly in the webcomics sphere of things. As I posed in the Engine, there are alot of bad webcomics out there, who at times can swamp the good ones in terms of sheer volume, but a book publisher taking an active interest in webcomics… it raises the legitimacy of webcomics. I would know that better than anyone, since I spent alot of my former time drawing webcomics and thinking that no publisher is going to take an interest, because I’m doing WEBCOMICS, and anyone with a web connection can do that. And somehow, through association, that kinda made webcomics “illegitimate” or something.

But now that webcomics are being given as serious a consideration as any pitch shoved under an editor’s nose at a convention (or in my case, mailed to a company)… that’s WONDERFUL NEWS!! It means that I can continue drawing the longer webcomics I have on my site, like “Keeper of the Soul”, “N.S.E.W.” and “Yuen”, which I previously stopped because I believed there was no way in hell a “REAL” publisher was going to take an interest in something that started as a webcomic. And so I started pitching to companies like TOKYOPOP, where I at least have a chance to be published in book form.

Plainly-spoken, back when I still had time to do webcomics, I considered it mostly a dead-end place where I can download my ideas, test new art styles or come up with new stories. That I didn’t mind, but thinking of the webcomics sphere as something that can be a bridge to being professionally published, rather than a freebie black-hole on the Internet, is liberating. It’ll also be encouraging for other webcomic artists, and a good place to see whether you can draw a story over the long-haul – not least because if you’re getting published, that’s exactly what you’ll have to do.

I always say that I’ll never give up drawing webcomics, and suddenly I feel I’ve been vindicated or something.

Art Overhaul: I’m starting to change my art style for my next projects again, and I find myself gravitating towards a more realistic art style. Aside from an aesthetic point of view, I find that it’s also a necessity – some of the other projects I want to work on will demand a more mature, realistic art style than what I’m currently drawing. Granted, the look of “The Dreaming” is unique, especially in the toning; it was a look specifically developed for a ghost-story set in a haunted Victorian-style school. The vast amount of greyscale toning meant that I had to forego cross-hatching, something that I really miss and is eager to get back into. Since I doubt I’ll ever do another “haunted school” story again, I doubt I’ll ever draw a story that is as heavily toned as “The Dreaming” is.

Here's Link again, looking rather happy. I suck ass at drawing realistic faces, so I'm doing some training in my spare time.

About moving towards a more realistic art style, this has got to do with shedding my earlier artistic influences. My earliest role models were Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2), Adatchi Mitsuru (Touch) and Watsuki Nobuhiro (Rurouni Kenshin), with Nobuhiro’s work being my “ideal” for action scenes (not that I was drawing alot of those). Granted, these artists’ work are still fantastic, but they all have something in common which I don’t want to draw anymore – namely big-eyed, anime-esque people. Their linework is simple and effective, but… hey, I like details. THAT has always been true.

Nowadays, I find myself wanting to emulate artists like Kentarou Miura (Berserk), Yoshitaka Hoshino (2001: Nights), and Kasuhiro Otomo (Akira) when it comes to action. These guys all have something in common – their artwork looks very realistic, and they have styles that are almost illustrational. Which is good for me. Granted, I’m not necessarily interested in drawing IN a realistic art style – rather, I want to be ABLE to draw realistically, so I can tell a certain type of story that isn’t as effective in a cartoony style. I can always revert back to a cartoony style, and indeed, some stories such as “Yuen” work FAR better in a simplified style than it will in a realistic one. And yet, I have serious historical, fantasy and sci-fi stories that will look alot better if told in a realistic, naturalistic form.

Here’s a style that kinda straddles the borders. It was drawn rather small, so it’s missing details, but the general idea are to draw people and surroundings that will look photo-realistic. Because of that, I used a more scratchy style of inking, some cross-hatching, and dot-toning, which gives it a more roughened look. I’m afraid greyscale toning is so smooth it doesn’t make things look “real”.

I want to draw action like Otomo!! I got the speedlines down, but Otomo’s inking is a lot rougher in some respects. Ah well, I can’t exactly emulate Otomo anyway, so using speedlines to give a sense of motion and urgency’s good enough. It’s just practice, so what’s happening here and why, or what these guys look like ain’t important.