My editor got back to me, and the good news is, they don’t want me to rewrite the storyline for volume 1. That’s a good thing. There were other art changes too – they want me to completely redesign and redraw a character that appears ONLY in Chapter 1, but is in over half of the panels in it. They also want me to redraw the faces of some of the other characters in the same, but I don’t know whether it includes the leads or not.

The not-so-good news, on the other hand, is that they want me to work the rest of the story on the same “themes” as a famous 80s movie called “Picnic at Hanging Rock”, by Peter Weir. For those who don’t know, “Pcnic at Hanging Rock” is about a group of Victorian schoolgirls who go picnicking on Valentine’s Day in 1900. A few of the girls disappear, along with a teacher, for inexplicable reasons. A week later, one of the girls is found, yet she has no memory of what happened to her. The movie never explains what happens to any of the other girls – it basically ends without an explanation of anything.

Now, I’ve SEEN that movie, and it’s a good movie. And luckily, there are similarities plot-wise between that movie and “The Dreaming”. However, the similarities extend only to the fact that it is (a) set in the bush, and (b) involves vanished schoolgirls. Since I’ve planned much of the storyline of “The Dreaming”, I can tell you that 90% of “The Dreaming” can be pieced together at the end, whereas nothing pieces together at the end of “Picnic at Hanging Rock”. That in turn makes it different plot-wise from the movie – so what there IS in common is the mood and atmosphere. So far, I seem to be on the right track – except that what worries me the most is that there may be a difference of opinion in what the “themes” should be, especially the Australian mythos part.

I paraphrase the EIC: “Oftentimes, of course, in stories like these, it’s not all bad news – there’s frequently a feeling of liberation on the part of characters – especially younger ones – that the truths of the bush are much more freeing than the ‘truths’ commonly thought to hold the fabric of society together”. But that, I presume he’s talking about “Picnic at Hanging Rock”. If he is, then he’s completely misunderstood the point of “Picnic at Hanging Rock”, and he’s completely misunderstood what the Australian bush is actually like. Because if the Australian Bush is synonymous with anything, it’s fire and destruction. Every year, bushfires flare up, and if it doesn’t flare up, then it’s bad because nothing will grow. Australia’s flora is evolved in such a way that it will only grow when burned by fire, so every year, if bushfires don’t occur, they will have to be lit in a process called “patch burning”. All this destruction and then rebirth means that the bush is rarely viewed as something dangerous rather than something benign. It also means that the Australian bush is more likely to be viewed as a “masculine” force, rather than a “feminine” force (as it is often viewed in other parts of the world).

I’m typing out summaries of volumes 2 and 3 tonight, and I’ve asked my editor to call me tomorrow so I can tell her to get the EIC to readjust his beliefs about “Picnic at Hanging Rock”. Because if we don’t sort this out now, there could be big disputes down the track. I also should mention that the treatment of native aborigines is another theme in this story, though how to tackle it is something I’m not yet sure about.

New Online Manga: I did a short 10-page urban legend-like story for a Wirepop.com anthology. It’s now up here.

Happy Chinese New Year!
First time I drew something completely by computer. I was going to add more detail to it, but I thought I’d best get back to “The Dreaming” since there’s going to some big reworking coming along. This was supposed to be a break, but… what the heck.

Some bad news. The editor-in-chief and some higher ups had a look at my Chapter 1 for “The Dreaming”, and apparently “has extensive notes for [my editor] on that and the series as a whole”. They’ve all left for some retreat so I won’t get the notes by the end of this week, but I’ve been told that the changes COULD be fundamental. Well, I knew that rewriting parts of this story is required sooner or later, but I didn’t expect it to happen at this stage. I’ve been told to stop all inking and toning until the end of this week for that purpose, since the changes they demand could be large.

If this turns out to be completely different to what I want it to be, well, I shouldn’t be TOO surprised. Luckily I don’t feel “The Dreaming” is going to turn into an utter mess if rewritten, so if I’m asked to rewrite fundamental parts of the storyline, I would HATE it, but I won’t be traumatised. In fact, in retrospect I’m glad that “Block 6” wasn’t accepted by TokyoPop.

I have to wait until Friday, but I know for certain that if the changes they demand are fundamental, I could get quite annoyed. I’ll finish it, and I’ll do my best to put out a good product, but I really wish for me and not editorial to be the driving force behind the story. Hopefully the art and storytelling will come along without a hitch too, though there could always be the possibility of changes. Luckily my editor has told me the original deadline has been extended – I certainly won’t be able to get it done if it’s not changed.

Other stuff: This is a pin-up for a local fanzine, Generation 2005. I’m beginning to think I’m getting the hang of drawing Chinese opera singers. It doesn’t look exactly the way I want it to, but close enough.

I’ve nearly finished toning and adding the dialogue for Chapter 1 of “The Dreaming”! Unfortunately, when I wrote this, my LJ went down, so I’m only posting it now. From next week, I’ll be working on Chapter 2, and is scheduled to be finished on the 6th Feb. Right now, I’m SUPPOSED to be working on the remaining 3 pages for “Ten Years Ago Today” (see below), but I’m being lazy instead (NOOO!).

I’m sort of MOSTLY happy with the toning on Chapter 1… I had to use alot of tones, and though I dislike using so much toning, I find that this is one of the rare cases where over-toning works in favour. The mystery-horror setting, with the Victorian-era furniture and architecture means that it manages to work. I still wish I didn’t have to tone so much, even though it wasn’t mandated to me – I just toned in a way I believe is most suitable for the look of the story. Darn, I miss the good ol’ days of b&w art. *sigh*

As of now, I’m unhappy with pg2, p10-11 and pg 24; though the problem is more inking than toning. I can’t change it for now anyway because of scheduling problems, so I’ll probably finish the book, and then go back and correct it if there is any time left. Perfection/satisfaction is something worth working towards, though not to the detriment of everything else.

Here’s another rough cover for “The Dreaming”. I don’t like it at all. >_< In fact, the more I look at it, the less I like it. It didn’t look as bad last night, but when I woke up this morning and had a good look at it, it’s like… YURK!! It took me a while to figure out why I hate it so much. It’s because this cover gives the wrong impression of what the book is really like. It makes it as if there are ghosts popping out of every corner and blood and guts, whereas this is meant to be a mystery-horror with more emphasis on plot and atmosphere rather than the “horror” bit. This cover – even though it needs fixing – is unrepentantly “pulp-horror”. It is… TOTALLY unsuitable for “The Dreaming”.

This was done in exactly the same way as the first one, I earlier version I played with the contrast and hue afterwards, giving the red a garish, bloody look. But in the light of the above, I decided to tone it back down, not that it makes much difference. But hey, this is just a draft so it doesn’t matter anyway (hopefully marketing will choose the first one).

More comparisons: I tried toying with the colours again in this second cover, but nope – it’s beyond redemption. To be honest, the trouble is with the concept, not so much the colours, though they just make it worse. I find that the more red I put in the picture, the more “pulpish horror” it looks, but if I take away the red, then the picture would have nothing to catch a person’s eye with. I tried brightening the other colours, but that makes it even more pulpish. I tried darkening the ghostly purple-blue to a plain darker blue, but again, it doesn’t make much difference.

The bottom line is: cover #1 portrays a better sense of mystery than cover #2. The “mystery” part is the key. You take one look at cover 2 and you think it’s a horror, which is EXACTLY the sort of impression I don’t want, because the emphasis is on the STORY and SETTING, not the gross-out bits. There AREN’T any gross-out scenes in “The Dreaming”, or even much blood (no blood, actually). Not to say cover #2 is a horrible cover, but it doesn’t give the right impression for the book. If the story was titled “Tales of the Crypt” or “Nighttime Horrors”, then YEAH, that WOULD be a more suitable cover. But it’s not, and if cover #2 makes it onto the shelves, it would frustrate people hoping to pick up a gory story, while driving away people looking for something more toned-down.