The Dreaming: And so…

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I finished the inking for Chapter 1 on… Monday. However, it turns out that I had this week off because they apparently need to check the inks before I start toning. My editor says she’ll get the inking notes and the notes for Chapter 2 to me by Thursday night her time, which means Friday afternoon my time. So there you go, an entire work-week gone – if only I knew the inking must be checked beforehand, I would have asked my editor to approve Chapter 2 earlier. Oh well.

I’ve already planned out my schedule: 3 weeks for each Chapter, including inking and toning, is my plan. This schedule ends on the 22nd May, leaving a week before the 1st June. However, my scheduling doesn’t take into account that there would be any lag time for approving inks (and from the rate things are going, pencils too). And judging by the progress, it’ll take at least 4 working days for these to be approved.

Luckily I’ve told my editor to approve my pencils (which are approved separately from the inks) as fast she can, so when I’m waiting for the verdict on the inks, I’ll have SOMETHING to do. I think I may be one of the few creators that’s not being hounded by an editor for missing deadlines, but instead hounding the editor to hurry it up so I can finish the goddamn thing and do some other stuff.

 

Ten Years Ago Today

I’m grateful that my work “The Dreaming” for TokyoPop isn’t the most important thing in my life, or even my manga-drawing life. It’ll be so depressing if it was. The web is where I got started, and I won’t stop drawing short stories and experimenting on that front – best way to share my work with people. Anyway, as sucky as the scheduling problems have been, I’m grateful I’ve had a week off to knock together a short story for another anthology I’m contributing to (2 contributions due this month, AIEE!). This one’s a 10-page “Twilight Zone” sort of short story, and is drawn ona 6″x9″ page. I find that drawing quality of a 1 to 1 ratio still is passable – and I work quicker too. I also mixed traditional ComicWorks tones with greyscale tones, much like what I’m doing with “The Dreaming” – hopefully spooky things won’t happen during printing. There is also more sound effects in this short story than other stories I do – but so what? Apparently, there isn’t all that much difference.

I’m only sticking up 4 out of the 10 pages. This story’s for a printed anthology after all.

 

Ten Years Ago Today - Page 1

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Ten Years Ago Today - Page 2

 

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Ten Years Ago Today - Page 3

 

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Ten Years Ago Today - Page 4

 

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Rough Cover #2.5

Here’s another rough cover I’ve been asked to do for “The Dreaming” that’s very much like cover #2 – because cover #2 was really based on this cover and it was suggested I make the hands “creepier”. Well, we all know how that turned out. I’m 😐 about this one. I don’t know what to think, as it was the last of my original 7 cover submissions and for some reason they asked me to do this one (when this cover was the one I put the LEAST amount of thought into). I’ve always thought the very first one was my #1 preference, beyond everything else, so who knows? It’s marketing that chooses the cover, not me, so at least I’ll have someone to blame if people don’t like the cover of “The Dreaming”.

 

The Dreaming - Rough Cover 3

Appeal: Tsunami Victims

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I interrupt my blog to put up an appeal for donations to charities for the Asian Tsunami victims. Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock with no electricity and running water, you would already know about the devastating Tsunami that swept through the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day, killing thousands on the shores of 7 countries. The damage caused is enormous – the rising death toll says it all, which at the time of me typing, stands at 40,000. This may make it the worst Tsunami attack in recorded history. Not only did this one ravage Asia, but went all the way to Somalia and Kenya, all striking the poorer, underdeveloped areas where people are likely to suffer most. The humanitarian cost of this is going to be STAGGERING, with India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka being the worst hit. Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Maldives were better off, but not all that much. The Thai tourist resort of Phuket has literally been flattened.

If you want to donate through credit card, here are some sites:

http://www.worldvision.org.au/
http://www.oxfam.org.au/
http://www.careaustralia.org.au/
http://www.redcross.org.au/

 

Information about Tsunamis
Tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes, in areas where the earth’s tectonic plates are liable to shift and grate against each other. If there is enough friction between the plates, the movement will puncture the earth’s crust, causing the water above to swell and ripple like a pebble in a pond. When this happens in the ocean, the waves can travel extremely far, and up to speeds ot 800 kms (500 miles) per hour. This makes it comparable to the speed of an airplane. Up until it reaches the shoreline the waves are very low, typically half a metre in height, but when they hit the shoreline, the crest of the wave can swell. This forms a massive wall of water, unstoppable in its force, which can reach up to heights of 10 metres. This then sweeps through anything in its path, usually throwing anything infront of it up into the air, and dragging anything in its path back with it when it recedes back into the sea.

While earthquakes are difficult to predict, there are warning systems in place around the Pacific Ocean for approaching Tsunamis. Unfortunately, this system doesn’t exist in the Indian Ocean, largely because of poor infrastructure, and because underwater earthquakes aren’t common there. The one on Boxing Day was quite devastating – scoring 8.9 on the Richter scale, and is the 4th largest earthquake ever in recorded history.

 

Tsunamis in history
There has only been 2 other Tsunami attacks in recorded history which killed over 10,000 people. As you can see, both happened before last century. They are:

Indonesia – August 27, 1883: The volcano Krakotoa in the Sunda Straits exploded, in an explosion heard 3,000 miles away. 37,000 were killed in Sumatra and Java.
Japan – 1896: Japan has had a long history of dealing with Tsunamis. The Sanriku Tsunami struck in the middle of a religious festival, killing 27,000.

The first sign of a Tsunami (besides earthquake tremors) is a receding sea. Before the onset of a giant tidal wave, the sea will suddenly retract, almost ask if sucked out by a vacuum of sorts. This happen so quickly that fish will sometimes be left flapping on the beach. Then as quickly as it is sucked out, it will blast back in, as a forceful wall of water. If you’re unprepared, you’re likely to be swept away, pulled underwater and drowned. The best thing to do in an Tsunami is to get to higher ground and STAY there, as there can sometimes be more than 1 wave.

The Dreaming: Rough Cover 2

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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).

 

The Dreaming - Rough Cover 2

 

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.

 

The Dreaming: Rough Cover

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I’m now working on some rough covers for “The Dreaming”. This is my preferred cover, but the art director didn’t like it at all at first (the b&w version, that is). Luckily, with a bit of colour and the blurring effect, he seems to like it more now (I’ll still have to colour his choice in). Since this one didn’t take me long to do (about 4 hours), I’m going to be doing an extra cover or two so marketing can have a choice. The runners-up can be used for the next book.

This was done in Corel Painter 9 – I’m sure people would remember my adventures with this a few weeks ago. After having it for a month, I STILL couldn’t get the watercolour feature the way I want. I’m beginning to suspect the reason is not the software, but because I’ve never done watercolour properly in my life. That may explain why I can never get the effect I want no matter how I tweak it. I find myself growing fond of the airbrush function instead… So far, the grand total of all 3 cgs done in CP9 was airbrushed. Perhaps I should just stop spending my hours on watercolour attempts and try acrylics or other medium instead.

Remember, this is a very rough draft. And a Merry Xmas to y’all!

 

The Dreaming - Rough Cover