******
28
/ FEB / 07 - 0843 CST : Typos to be expected...
Hey folks. It's been a
while since I've spent some serious time writing here, so I figured
it was high time to get my word on.
The Strip…
I had a serious lack of
time to deal with the site in the past 24 hours or so, and while the
pencils are all done for today's offering (actually I've already
started in on them for Friday's comic as well), I'm a little behind
on the ink and colours. So at the earliest the strip won't be up
until just before I go to work at midnight tonight, or at the latest
tomorrow afternoon.
And no, I'm not just
delaying the next strip to torture you folks a bit more as to how
the GT crew will or will not manage to get out of the predicament
they've found themselves in. That would be cruel. Fun, but cruel.
It's a Wonderful Death…
And speaking of the
current story arc, I have to say just how much of a kick I'm getting
out of reading e-mails and forum posts from people who are
hypothesizing as to who they think might end up saving the day (if
the day can be saved that is). Trust me when I say that there is a
huge part of me that wants to just blurt out what's going to happen
in the remaining few strips, but for now I really can't say anything
about it.
What I can say though
is that I'm very pleased and somewhat surprised at what the reaction
to IaWD has been so far. Whenever I start in on a major story line
I'm always afraid that I'll start boring you guys, so it makes me a
little nervous. And while I'm sure there are those of you out there
who may not be happy with it (you can't please everyone after all),
I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to let me know
that you are in fact still coming back for more each day / week.
I'd also like to give
y'all a little behind the scenes type info on how things have
progressed with this tale as of late. Originally I had planned it so
that Pt. XX was going to be the last strip in the arc. It had been
my intention to leave things hanging for a while and head straight
into a story called "Second Stringers". Now I won't be
giving you any real details as to what would've gone on there, as
not only would it ruin the current ending (which fundamentally
hasn't really changed), but I may still be able to use it one day in
the future in a slightly modified form. I will however tell you why
I decided to go in a different direction, though a few of you may
not like the answer.
It was just way too
much work.
Now before you guys
decided to hold me down and brand "SLACKER" onto my ass,
hear me out. "Second Stringers" was plotted to be an
additional 12 full page strips. Which basically, at this particular
moment at least, would be just enough work to drive me totally
bat-shit insane. Plus, that would at minimum take the conclusion of
what was once considered a Christmas story into April. For the love
of god people, APRIL! I mean if I'm still having to string up
Christmas lights on my backgrounds and trying (rather unsuccessfully
I might add) to do three full pages a week come spring, I'm going to
have to start shopping for rubber padding and straight jackets!
So instead I did a bit
of rewriting and it looks like IaWD will be wrapping up in about 5
more strips. Then it's back to smaller strips, shorter stories, and
a life for me that once again involves sleep.
Passwords not required…
One more thing before I
sign off for the day. Some of you may have noticed that for most of
Sunday and part of Monday when you came to check out the site you
were being asked for a username and password. I assure you that this
was not a test run for some upcoming "Geek Tragedy: Premium
GOLD members only" revamp that I have planned for the future.
It had to do with my webhost switching the server or IP address or
something like that.
Now I apologize for not
warning you about this in advance, but in my defense the official
word I was given was that there would be no downtime experienced
during this switchover. A word which, once the site suddenly decided
to go into security lock-down, quickly changed to "it will be
back up in about an hour or so". And it was…for about five
minutes, and then it was back to "What are you doing
Dave?" mode. A trend that would continue for the next 18 to
20 hours or so.
So yeah…sorry about
that.
Okay folks, I'm off to
see if I can't get the strip done by tonight after all.
Later,
-Ed
******
25
/ FEB / 07 - 1030 CST : Mental reboot...
Hey
folks.
I
meant to do a little write up about why I went with filler art
instead of the next installment of the story yesterday, but I kinda
ran out of time. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about two
things. The first was about the Lar Pimp piece, and the other
was about "It's a Wonderful Death" in general, but I'll
save the story arc news post for another day (most likely Monday or
Tuesday at the latest).
Lar
D'Pimp...
After
producing close to twenty full page strips over the past few months
I've come to get a good handle on just how much time I need in order
to go from thumbs, to pencils, to inks, to colours / special f/x /
lettering. Of course depending on the number of panels or the
complexity of how things are laid out, certain pages may take me
longer than others. However, overall it's roughly the same
each time.
Well
with the last strip I found myself really struggling with the
pencils. It was just one of those days where the communication
pipeline between the brain and the hand holding my pencil seemed to
get clogged. And when Thursday night started to turn into
Friday morning and I still hadn't finished the pencils yet, it was
becoming quite clear to me that I had probably passed the point
where I'd have it done on time.
Now
this is a little known fact, but each time I miss an update I
receive a brief, yet powerful electric shock to my nipples...and
then a kitten dies (I really have to stop rubbing kittens on my nipples after
I've missed an update). And so in order to
save myself some pain and guilt I decided to switch gears and get
some work done on another project. That way I'd at least have something
to show you guys on Friday.
The
pimp piece was a sketch I had originally drawn for my buddy Lar
deSouza way back in October as sort of a Birthday present. It
had always been been my intention to ink and colour it one
day, but as it goes with a lot of the side projects I do simply to
amuse myself, it kept getting pushed further and further back.
Anyway, I figured if I couldn't get the strip done and was going to try and cleanse my artistic
palette, I might as well do it by working on something kinda fun.
So
there you have it folks. In the future I'll try my best to
limit the amount of filler art I throw up in lieu of a strip, but at
the same time I think showing you work like that is far better than
nothing at all.
Okay,
that's all for now. I'll see y'all Monday when I post the next
update.
Later,
-Ed
******
21
/ FEB / 07 - 2011 CST : I needed that...
Hey
folks.
The
strip will be up in a couple hours or so. Sorry I didn't post
earlier to give you an ETA, but the nap I took when I got home from
work this morning turned into a full day's sleep.
See
you in a few.
Later,
-Ed
******
19
/ FEB / 07 - 2027 CST : Tis not the season...
You
know, I always cringe whenever I have to show those stockings and
Christmas light in the background now. It's such a painful
reminder that I really screwed up the timing / pacing of this story
arc.
Anyway,
the strip is now up. Sorry it's a bit later than I figured. I
was playing around with that second last panel for a few hours or so
trying to get it to look the way I wanted, but in the end I just had
to admit defeat and wrap things up.
Okay,
I'm outta here.
Later,
-Ed
******
0839 CST : Back on track...
Hey
folks!
Just
letting you know that we're back to normal here, and that there will
be a new strip headed your way later today. It should be up
this afternoon / early evening, but if I can hold off on sleep for
another couple hours it could be done as early as 10am or so.
Later,
-Ed
******
16
/ FEB / 07 - 1331 CST : The week that wasn't...
Hey
folks.
As
you no doubt have already guessed from the updates, or lack there of
this week, my job (and a few other things) kinda got in the way of
the site. Granted I was fairly certain from the get-go I
wouldn't be able to manage to finish three full pages, but I sure as
hell thought I'd have more than just one up.
Anyway,
I'll be working on some stuff later today and over the the weekend,
so even if I wasn't able to get you the next page today, I might
still be able to send some artwork your way before Monday.
For
now though, I need to try and catch up on some of the sleep I missed
out on the past few days.
Later,
-Ed
******
14
/ FEB / 07 - 1825 CST : Waaay too long of a wait...
Okay,
there's going to be new work posted today.
Seriously,
I don't care if I have to throw up a pic of some macaroni art that I
did in Kindergarten, you're going to have an update before I go to
work.
Plus
it doesn't look like I'm going to be taken off nights again for many
moons, so this delay crap shouldn't be happening again anytime soon.
Later,
-Ed
0009 CST : Happy %&$@ Valentine's Day...
Okay,
I'm frustrated, tired, and beginning to get pretty pissed off with
myself here. So before I do any more damage by trying to get
this strip finished I'm thinking I better pack it in and head to
bed. Hopefully I'll have a better time with it after work
tomorrow.
-Ed
******
13
/ FEB / 07 - 0627 CST : Tonight...
Hey
folks.
I
appreciate your patience with the delays this week. Working
days really limits my abilities to do the strip, so once I'm back on
nights things will be back to normal.
However
I've been inform that if my sister wins the lottery that she will
bankroll Geek Tragedy from then on out, so keep your fingers cross.
For
now though, it looks like I'll have to keep working, but I can tell
you that I should have an update posted sometime tonight.
Later,
-Ed
******
12
/ FEB / 07 - 0723 CST : For the love of money...
The
pencils for the next strip are all done, but I'm just about to head
off to work now and I won't have another chance to touch them till
after 5pm, so it looks like the updates this week will fall on
Tuesday and Friday. Which I don't mind telling you I'm kinda disappointed
about as I was on quite a roll there for the past few weeks.
Unfortunately
the only way I can see being able to work around the shifts I've had
thrust upon me is to quit my job. And given my powerful need
for food and shelter I don't think that would be the best financial
move for me to make at this point in my life.
Anyway,
I'll let you know later on tonight if there is an outside chance
that the strip will be up today after all, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Later,
-Ed
******
10
/ FEB / 07 - 1649 CST : Once more into the daylight...
Hey
folks.
I
forgot that I'm stuck working three day shifts next week for
training. So while I'll do my best to get three more pages up,
I may have to pull it back to two. I'll keep you updated as I
know more.
Later,
-Ed
******
09
/ FEB / 07 - 2329 CST : Just under the wire...
Okay,
the comic is up. Took a little longer than I figured, and I
still have some touch ups to do on it, but at least it's done on
Friday.
Okay,
I need sleep now.
Later,
-Ed
1513 CST :
Hey
folks.
In
case you were wondering, the strip will be up later in this
evening. I got kind of a late start on this one so I'm just
getting into the inks now. Thought you might want a heads up.
Later,
-Ed
******
07
/ FEB / 07 - 1619 CST : Redemption...
I
have to admit that I really didn't like how the last strip turned
out at all, so this time around I wanted to make sure I did things
up right. Granted, it's not perfect, but I'm much more
satisfied with today's offering.
Okay,
off to bed.
Later,
-Ed
******
06
/ FEB / 07 - 1107 CST : Long overdue update...
Hey
folks.
It's
been quite a while since I sat down and gave you guys a decent sized
News update, so let's get right to it.
The
strips...
Well
I'm happy to say that things seem to be back on track as far as the
comic is concerned. I've been able to give consistent and
somewhat timely updates for the past couple weeks and it doesn't
look like that's going to change anytime soon.
One
thing I do want to mention though is that after this (seemingly never-ending)
story arc wraps up, I will be going back to the smaller strips as
apposed to full pages. Now granted I prefer to have the extra
room that full pages provide me when it comes to the strip, but they
are waaaay more work than my usual fair. In fact, each page
equals just over twice the amount of time and effort that the
smaller ones do, and as such they don't really allow me much time to
work on any of my side projects.
So
for the sake of better time management, I'm afraid you'll only be
able to enjoy full page updates for another couple of weeks at most.
The
cons...
As
of right now it looks like I can say with a fair amount of certainty
that aside from the Manitoba
comic con in October, I'll also be setting up a table at Toronto's
Paradise comic con in June. Granted I still have to
wait for it to be confirmed that my table fees have been received
and accepted, but given the fact that I've been told there is still
space available and that I'm sending out my cheque several months in
advance I don't see any problems.
On
top of which, I've also worked out the cost for Connecticon
in Hartford, and things are looking good there as well.
The
only one I'm not quite sure about at the moment is Wizard
World Chicago. With two cons happening a couple months
previous to that one, and adding in the fact that it's pretty damn
expensive for me to head out to that particular con, I may end up
having to skip it this year (again). Still, it's pretty early
to be putting the final nails in that coffin, so I guess
there's always a chance things'll change.
In
the mean time I'll be whipping up a "GT 2007 Con Tour"
list for the site in the next few weeks which will allow me to keep
you guys apprised of how things are progressing on that front.
As well I'll be sure to throw the names and dates of a few other
cons that I plan to attend, but not get tables for.
The
laptop...
In
case you were wondering, no, I haven't forgotten about giving y'all
the low-down on the troubles I had with my recent computer
purchase. Unfortunately though there is still one more issue
to be worked out as far as that topic is concerned, so until I can
tie up one last loose end I'll have to hold off on my report / rant
for now.
The
T-shirts...
I'm
looking to have at least one new T-shirt (as well as a few other
items...I hope) in the work by spring. I'm still hammering out
the kinks of a few design ideas right now, but the second I have
something solid in mind I'll let you guys now about it both here,
and on the forum.
The
Links...
I've
added some new links to, of all places, the links page. So if
you have a second, you should check 'em out. By the way,
Warbears = crazy-pull-your- hair-out-in-frustration fun!
The
sleep...
Gonna
get me some of that!
Later,
-Ed
******
05
/ FEB / 07 - 0940 CST : Cold day for a strip...
-38C.
That's what we're dealing with in my neck of the woods right
now. *sigh* God I hate winter.
Anyway,
wanted to let you all know that the newest strip will be up later
today once I've thawed myself out and grabbed enough sleep to start
fully functioning again. I'm also hoping that I'll have some
time later on today to fill you guys in on how things are shaping up
as far as my con schedule will break down this year, so keep a look
out for that.
For
now though, I need to go crank up the heat a bit and take a nap.
Later,
-Ed
