Breaking Radio Silence
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Mar 28, 2021 at 08:44:30 PM
Hi there.
TL,DR: Work has not gone well for a few weeks. It’s going much better again, now.
I deeply apologize for the recent radio silence. I was in a dark place. If not actually black, it was at least terribly gray. Nothing new triggered this - but the <shrugs and gestures at everything outside> simply seemed to have finally worn me down.
Everybody's going through a lot, and many people are in situations far worse than mine. I realize this. So none of this is an excuse – but an attempt at an explanation.
The pandemic’s one-year anniversaries fell like dominoes in succession: last time I saw my parents; Last time I saw my brother or sister; last time I met up with friends; the day we literally turned back from O'Hare, because of the European travel ban; etc. etc. etc.
Losing Studio Cat hit a lot harder than I expected - even knowing we were doing the right thing. That was a tough one, that was. It's been a very long time since I was with a pet, the moment they died. I forgot that particular brand of hurt.
There were a couple of other things, as well. On top of which the gray, cold, late winter weather just exacerbated this feeling of being...so...very...tired.
There's a light at the end of the tunnel, to be sure - but the distance seemed hard to judge, and inconstant.
Across the board, my production plummeted. Some progress was made on THE TAO OF IGOR, but not nearly as much as I’d planned. This was triply frustrating, considering that three weeks ago, I said it looked like there was only three weeks' worth of work left.
However, things change.
The first day of spring came, and with that, the sun, and with that, my first COVID vaccination shot (Moderna, thanks for asking - I was fortunate to get in as soon as my group opened up in Wisconsin). As of this writing, I've had no side-effects, unless you count a renewed sense of optimism.
The next shot is mid-April - the day after my mum's birthday, in fact. With luck, I'll be traveling to see my (fully vaccinated) parents, and my (fully vaccinated) sister two weeks later, in early May. My (fully vaccinated) brother may also be there!
I'm working hard to make sure TAO is off to press before then.
Work is going better, again. My wife and Daughter went up north for Spring Break, to visit family, while I stayed in Madison to reboot, and get some solid work underneath me. This week went far better than any of the last three. It’s not up to my January best, but I expect next week will be better still.
This period felt much like one of those NASA countdowns, the ones that get very close to liftoff, and then just...stop. Nothing's scrubbed. The countdown simply remains...the same.
Often, a NASA engineer fixes something, or a technician pushes the correct button, or a break simply appears in the cloud cover, and suddenly the countdown begins again.
THE TAO OF IGOR is still very close to liftoff. Scanning, cleaning, coloring and lettering the last pages remains what's left. Next update (I hope) will include a peek at a couple of TAO OF IGOR pages that I consider the best drawing I've ever done, along with plans for an online book release party, and more.
Anyway, I’m sorry about the radio silence. I doubt it will happen again.
There’s a Carson Enamel Pin sale at the Dork Store, which ends March 31. However, I’ll keep the sale price for Kickstarter backers, and make the pin an add-on, should folks be interested, once the TAO OF IGOR backer kits go out.
I miss Studio Cat deeply. Working from home, however, means that Ginger (who prefers my wife) and Spice (who definiely prefers my daughter) do come into the home office from time to time, to continue Studio Cat's critical duties. Duties like sitting on important drawings, chewing on a connector cord, or playing “mouse” with pens you need.
This is Ginger
I would show you Spice, but Spice is hiding right now. And hiding very well. I can't see her anywhere, can you?
What a clever girl!
Be well, and stay safe!
- John
The Pandemic Anniversary Blues
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Mar 01, 2021 at 01:30:08 PM
Right now, my best guess is I'm about three weeks away from finishing off THE TAO OF IGOR.
This sounds great.
The downside is, this is what I've told myself for the last two weeks now.
There was progress on TAO over the last 10 to 14 days: simply not as much as I'd hoped.
After a burst of productivity, in January and early February, I spent more time than I thought I would on the Dork Tower webstrips, these last couple of weeks. The Pandemic Anniversary hasn't helped - I've not seen my parents, my brother of my sister for more than a year, now, and that's hitting hard. There's also a little sad news attached to the bottom of this update that took me out of my groove.
Pandemic Brain can still hit. One positive is that I'm able to work my way out of state-of-the-world funks quicker than I was last year. So I might lose a day, as opposed to early 2020, when I could become a zombie for a week or more.
In fact, the difference between my 2021 and my 2020 (work-wise, anyway) is startling. I'm waking up earlier (6 am, most days), making myself a lovely cup of coffee, and getting down to work sooner.
I'm also reading more, and writing more. Mostly, I'm writing letters to my parents and my sister. Letters - yes, honest-to-goodness handwritten letters. I find these far more theraputic and mindful than emails or phonecalls.
I try to start each day off with a bit of writing and some coffee, before (literally) heading to the drawing table. What I'll change up, these next few weeks, will be to tackle THE TAO OF IGOR first, instead of the Dork Tower webstrips, reversing the order I work on them now.
Bottom line: for the 21 days, the plan is to put my head down, and get this over the dang finish line.
****
Goodbye to a sweet little girl who’s been my studio companion these last 10 years.
Studio Cat -- aka "Kitty Mattay" (my then-toddler daughter's attempt at “Kitty Kitty”) -- was a feral cat, who began hanging around our old home, eating bread I threw out for the birds, keeping her distance.
Over the years, I coaxed her closer and closer to the house, eventually building a little shelter for her (and - when they arrived - her kittens) by our doorstep.
We found homes for a couple of litters of her kittens, one of whom became our Doozer (who passed a few years ago). Then I was able to grab Ms. Mattay, getting her to the vet for spaying (you’re welcome, Bob Barker).
When we moved to our new home, the old one - it was tiny - became my studio. One summer, I was able to bring Kitty Mattay inside. Or rather, I left the door open, because the day was lovely, and in she strolled.
She was a perfect studio-mate for ten years, friendly but not over-chatty, keeping other departments (mice) at bay, and never once taking anything labeled mine from the fridge.
Racked by kidney disease that started this autumn, we brought her to house, from the studio, New Year’s day. Here she had the warm and cozy Apples to Apples Guest Suite (tm) all to herself...a distinction she shared with my parents, a few artists, and several National touring bands.
She was her own kind of rock star.
Counting Down...
over 3 years ago
– Fri, Feb 12, 2021 at 11:56:41 AM
This is a very brief update – nothing terribly sexy or thrilling about it. Just keeping all you wonderful people up to date.
As it stands, I’m down to the last 40 pages of The Tao of Igor that need either lettering, or coloring, or both.
Many of these pages are VERY straightforward. My style is an easy one to color. The more difficult ones – there are only a few - are getting help from a professional colorist friend (I’ve noted this before. STILL…I can’t wait until you see the results.)
There are some minor annoyances with the older pages. The last chapter is a mix between several I drew ten years ago, and many that are more recent drawings. I’ll touch on this in The Tao of Igor’s Afterword, but, to put it simply, my style has evolved and improved, over the years. I’ve tried not to make the stylistic differences between old and new pages TOO jarring. For the most part, it works. Though I do resist the urge to go back over some of the old comic book pages, making Ken’s glasses larger. That way lies endless corrections (also, madness.)
Old Ken, vs. New Ken. This is a pretty extreme example:
There’s another problem with the old pages, though.
Sadly, back in the day, I drew on paper from a major manufacturer that had blue lines pre-measured and printed. They were, essentially, comicbook-ready. There were rules and notations on them that conformed to standard sizes, and making things easier. Theoretically.
Using this paper was a mistake for a couple of reasons:
- The actual paper itself wasn’t great quality stuff. The (equally not-great-quality) pens I used back then bled all over the place. If you look at the Dork Tower comic books closely, the line quality is atrocious. (The same thing happened with my early Munchkin cards). OK. I lived and learned. HOWEVER…
- The paper I drew those early Tao of Igor pages on also suffered from VERY dark blue “blue lines.” Lines which theoretically are not supposed to show up when scanned in. Lines, however, which have been making their presence VERY much felt, despite this.
This means that some of the last chapter’s old pages not only needed tightening up of line quality (all now done – yay!). Once scanned, they also needed a ton of cleaning in Photoshop - the amount of “noise” on them (unwanted markings) is spectacular.
Here’s an example of what I mean:
If those blue lines were simply around the outside of the images, it’s be an easy cleanup. But the fact that they are superimposed in places over the panels, and in some cases the characters themselves, is a pain in the butt to clean up.
You’ve seen this before (I believe), but here’s how the cleaned-up, colored page looks:
Anyway, things continue to be finished off, check-boxes keep getting checked, and we're bopping along. There should only be a few more of these updates coming (they do keep me focused on the finish line, though – I will tell you that.)
Whoa, this was a less-brief update than I believed it would be.
OK. Back to work.
I hope you and yours are well, and – as always – I can’t thank you enough for your tremendous support, and patience.
We’re almost there!
- John
The Color of Money (or at least of Igor)...
over 3 years ago
– Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 08:21:44 AM
Happy Monday, gang!
As of now, The Tao of Igor is layed and finished up to page 160. There are 60 pages left to pull together. This means it will officially be the largest Dork Tower collection ever. By far.
Past John did really well. I was worried I’d need to do a lot of searching out and seeking of pages 1 through 160 - or at least a good number of them - but there they all were, ready to be edited and cleaned up. THANK YOU, Past John!
Many of the remaining 60 pages are already colored. Some are lettered. But lettering and coloring are now the prime foci of what’s left.
Most of the pages that need to be colored are pretty straightforward. A few are not. Here’s one of the ones that wasn’t. Not quite finished up, but nearly:
I still need to get the Doctor Who colors on that scarf, and a few more book titles...I mean, Igor’s Star Wars bedspread alone had me going cross-eyed. As much as I’d loved to have kept it simple, however, the desire to make The Tao of Igor the best I can is pretty overwhelming.
Apart from more lettering and coloring, this week I still need to:
• Collect quotes/blurbs for the back page.
• Lay out the back page
• Write the afterword
• Send the solicitation sheet off to comic book distributors
The Kickstarter Dungeon will probably not be able to make it into the book. It’s huge, and would add at least an extra 15 to 20 pages (most likely veering towards the latter). It’s not been ruled out entirely, yet, and I’ll be getting a quote for it. But try not to get your hopes up.
Speaking of the Dungeon, that still needs to be proofed, in case anyone’s had a chance to read through it.
The Home Studio is working out well, and has really boosted my productivity, across the board. Even on a bad day, I can still manage to get something done. (I have a theory that sometimes salvaging a day is as important as seizing it.)
Studio Cat is happy, here at home. Her “guest room” is warm and comfy, and she gets her medicine three times a day. Not having to drive to the old studio is saving me a couple of hours a day, but more importantly, I just feel good that she’s here, with family. I’m not sure how long she has left – she’s thin as a rail, but still eating and alert. It could be weeks, or possibly months, but I’m just glad she’s here.
Anyway, I’m certain there’s something I’ve forgotten, but it won’t be so long until the next Update. Honestly, there can’t be many of these left, fingers crossed.
Let’s all have a phenomenal week, OK?
John
Happy 2021!
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Jan 04, 2021 at 10:50:41 PM
Happy New Year!
It’s been a good week.
Yay!
There’ve been a couple of big changes here, at the House of Muskrat. But first…
…who wants to see the intro pages for The Tao of Igor?
I showed you these a while ago, when I colored them. Now, they’re the introductory two-page spread, officially! With words and everything!
I felt this sort of double-pager was needed. Though Gilly’s back in the Dork Tower webstrip, as far as the Dork Tower Graphic Novel continuity is concerned, she’s still in Europe. Likewise, Stell (who gets "introduced." later in The Tao of Igor) is unknown to the other characters, at this point.
This was a fun couple of pages to draw.
I also changed the logo around. I believe it makes for a splashier cover.
It certainly no longer needs to perfectly pastiche the old The Tao of Pooh cover. That book changed years ago.
I’m finding myself questioning a couple of decade-old choices – using the Papyrus font for the logo, for example. It’s a bit of a joke – yes. Up there with Comic Sans as over-used, and much-derided. Here, though…it just works. (Knowing it’s probably what Igor himself would have chosen was a deciding factor, to be honest.)
As mentioned, my friend great friend Hal Mangold – a terrific graphic designer - is helping get The Tao of Igor off to press. I ran it past him, whether Papyrus was a good idea of no. Hal said it was just fine, in context. Possibly, he may have added "dammit, John," as well.
Bottom line: I embrace the Papyrus.
I can sleep at night.
The big changes here at home have proved important. A week ago, I decided to bring Studio Cat to our house. Her kidney disease has worsened, and I’m honestly not sure how long she has. But not leaving her alone was important to me. So she’s now Guest Room Cat, and is loving being in a warm house with a plush carpet and more human attention that I believe she’s ever experienced.
This means I no longer need to drive to the studio every day – an hour, round-trip – just to check up on her.
This also meant that it was way past time that I worked on pulling together a fully-functioning home studio.
And this is what I did, over the long New Year’s weekend.
Still a few things to pick up, here and there. But you get the idea.
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, my drawing table, main desktop computer, scanning station, light table and reference library are all in the same room. They're in the home studio. And it feels great!
These last few months were a real mish-mosh, with my work computer and scanner downstairs in the basement, my drawing table upstairs, in the “library” with the old household computer, originals on the floor or shoved into a huge, heavy messenger bag that travelled back and forth with me, from the home to the studio and back…you get the picture.
Had I realized what a change this would make, I’d have done it months ago.
I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s Resolutions. But I do like the New Year as a chance to re-set. Despite a generally productive 2020, that dang year just got to me, in the end.
I needed a re-set bad. And I got one.
My goodness, as far as productivity goes, 2021 has begun with a real bang.
I’m in a very happy, calm, creative place, in this room. My mind is at ease, and work is flowing.
Honestly, it’s fantastic!
Welcome, 2021…and hello, new work space!
May your 2021 be filled with grace and greatness!
- John
