Just GO.

I don't think I can tell your story just yet Maggy. At least, not in the way that I want to. My mind is all over the place. My heart is also drifting elsewhere. But I won't say what is.

It's not exactly a newborn secret anyway.

And this time, I'll ask for help. I need help with this since I can't do it on my own. Well I could but I just need support. Anyway, it's something I feel I need to do, or maybe I'm just being neurotic again, haha.

There's something I've been wanting to practice on. Maybe in my next posts I'll show my revisited ideas. But don't get excited.

At least, thats what I keep telling myself.

See ya for now, Mags.

Just a freethought, no pics included.

Well this weekend I wanted to test effienciey and speed when it came to working on the next pages of Get a Clue. I wonder if others consider me a cheater to want to do things faster? Either way, I don't care. As long as it looks good right?

Anyway, I came to the conclusion that lines work better on my comics. I was trying to delete the inking step (since it's the most painful process for me) and head straight into the color like I do on my pictures. But that's the thing. My illustrations and comics are two different things. The methods I use for both are different for a reason.

I don't consider myself an illustrator. I have a hard time with composition and colors. Plus, I get bored with illustrations. I want my pictures to move! I don't want to tell a story by just one image alone. I've been like that since I started making comics at 12 years old (at that time I wanted to be an animator. MOVING PICTUUURES). This is why I have so many stories to tell and I'm more entertained when I do comics. Illustrations are boring to me. Don't get me wrong, I love looking at what others come up with, I envy them even, but it's hard work for me. I'm getting off topic.

METHODS! I found the working lineless works regular pictures, but not in comics. There are details and certain things I need to define in comics that I'll loose if I don't put any lines there. Plus I simply take advantage of slapping colors over sloppily drawn sketches. There are loosely drawn comics, but if you're not careful, it could be sloppy to the point where you can't even "read" what's going on in the pictures. Or it just looks plain wonky.

Another thing. Using lines allow me to put in colors much faster without having to correct shapes. My quick shading method is also better with lines.

...well I guess that answers that. Usually I have to write things down in order for me to understand my methods more.

Now time to get to work. On to inking. Graaah!

( Broken hearts made new. )

I'm afraid sometimes I get a little overambitious and I wind up stopping short of what I want to achieve.

Or maybe I still doubt myself whenever I'm ready to take that jump.

Right now I justify that I have ideas for other things at the wrong time when I'm supposed to be concentrating on this instead.

Maybe I'm neurotic?

Either way, what usually comes easy for me...I find it the hardest right now. I can't write my whole story. I get to a point and wonder what exactly is supposed to happen. Maybe I shouldn't go in exact order. I'll try a different approach and start with the ending events, attempting to work my way back to the middle.

For now, I have to get to sleep so I can be alert at work tomorrow. Time bears no mercy on me still. Hmm...

Places should be inspired by the writing or story. Not the other way around. Note to self, it'll probably be best if I just went on and nutshelled the whole thing before assigning the places they need to go.

I need to sleep on this.

I'm still about two weeks ahead of my assignment. Save for the last couple of days haulting productivity because of disasters or laziness. Either way I'm still in the green.

So according to this week, I'm supposed to be "fleshing" out Memento, the time, place and people. Bringing important elements like these will fit the story together. Hmm, okay. So just having an idea of what Reminiscence is, is not going to cut it huh? Okay, time to take a dive then.

Reminiscence, I always thought was just a modernized country. Everywhere is not the boonies, everybody pretty much has electricity and transportation to go places. Everybody has a good amount of living, there is no poor or rich. But then, that would make this world very boring. There needs to be variety.

This is the part where I have to stop and smell the roses. It's pretty much just Maggy and crew zooming through to put mementos in their proper places. But Reminiscence isnt a blur that these kids just run through. If I like culture so much, why don't I incorporate it here, right? I had this done with Vale, and can easily transport those ideas here to save time. I mean, if it's not being used for another story, I can use it here. I'm not trying to cut corners. Why let good ideas collect dust, right?

Not only do I have some researching to do, but I'm also mashing next weeks' assignment (which is to write the entire story in a nutshell, including in-depth character events...good lord) with this one just some I can have some fluidity. Week 4 is when the fun begins, haha. Sometimes when I think about this, I wonder if this story is so big, I bit off more than I can chew. Maybe this will give me a real idea if I want to bother turning this into a comic. I'm afraid for now that's a no. At least let me dedicate to this story in a way where it will feel like I completed it in a different way, not necessarily as a comic.

I'd like to start off with something small first. And even though Get a Clue is small enough...I still want adventure. Ah, that's another thought for another time. Time now, to get on with the day, to think, to brainstorm and hopefully get some sketches out.

I updated my Artblog with a ton of pics. I'm quite satisfied but there's still room for more. I sorely appreciate what little feedback I've been getting.

Ah how I miss doodling. How I miss doodling without a care in the world. How I miss sketching Maggy too. She is always fun to do. Couple of things connnected with these new sketches.

Beware, lots of overanalyzing and old spoilers ahead.

( Brainstorming Maggy's new design (with pics, old and new) )
And with that, I'll end the mass posting for this day but I'll sketch somemore. Prolly more drawing tomorrow with further developing.

Sometimes I get over excited and lose sleep at night. Story of my life. But at least I gave my endeavors a lot of thought. It's like I said, because I didn't want to mix influences between stories and whatnot; I've already invested a lot of time into Memento (hey, I have 60% a prologue done and half the 1st chapter thumb nailed for goodness sake), I kind of don't want to loose what I have.

So I decided to go with that.

According to my weekly plan, now that I've chosen Memento, I'm actually well ahead of the game. Even in the next week, I'm supposed to be "fleshing out" the story. That could still be done because there so much I still don't know about the story myself and I'm very much open to adding or taking things away. I think I'll take this week and next week to explore the world of Memento, so I'm going to be throwing a whole bunch of crazy ideas for the next two weeks.

I'm going to be spending time thinking about what really happens from beginning to end. I think the only thing I'm afraid of is spoiling...well, you get what you get, haha. The possibilities of everything is absolutely endless.

( Some other early morning babbling (no pics included) )

Okay time to clean up @ 4am. I swear my next post should have some doodles.

WARNING I'm officially turning this into my thought log/journal. If you want to see less talking and more art, go to my Artblog. There will be art too, but there's also the brainfarting part in here too. I'm going to totally spill on ideas that come from left field in an attempt to open my mind about things and such.

AGAIN: These entries are tl;dr for real. If you have too much time on your hands, then you can actually be bored with my nonsense.

They are called "Freethoughts". I had about 5 of them before attempting on my cartoon strip "Get a Clue". It has helped me with that project, which is still ongoing*, but this is something different. The thinking process will totally be the same. Onwards!

Why am I doing this?

Because I'm still on the road to finishing a project. Not so much a comic project but just something in general. And I want to see it as a book. To show to others what I've done and then try for it again. Wouldn't hurt if I can make a portfolio out of it, right?

The rules
All my assignments are to be posted on my blog (or here...both? haha) every week Sunday before midnight until the 22nd week where the final project is to have all my work printed as a book and as a digital portfolio cd.

Sounds simple? Well, I failed it for the spring and summer, sooo...gonna try for it again. The main and total purpose for this is self accomplishment. I want to look back on this and see how far I've come. I have to just go for it.

Anyway, here we go!

( Week 1: The Project Idea (no pics included) )