Sunday, August 26, 2007
I've Only Gone and Done it!!
Last of the Chickenheads is FINISHED!! I'll talk about it more once I've collected my thoughts :)Edit: Okay, the evening of the day after, and my head has stopped spinning....sort of. :)
So, finally, my graphic novel, all forty six pages of it, is finished. I started it in February 2007, and finished it 7 months later. That's not bad going, seeing as I've been trying to keep to a personal deadline of 6 pages per month, and I've scripted, pencilled, inked, coloured and lettered all of it myself in that time.
How do I feel after finally getting it done? Well, obviously there's the huge sense of satisfaction that comes from finishing any major undertaking, and 'Last of the Chickenheads' (LOTCH) is the largest single project I've ever tackled. Before that was 'Dimo' which I'd scripted to be an 80 page + magnum opus, but which ground to a halt after the self-imposed '6 frames per page' dogma became too constraining. I only ever drew 26 pages of that one, including covers, and left it largely unfinished. Which leads me to my second overriding feeling...one of relief. Yep, relief that I can actually stick at something and see it through to the end.
Then there's the slight feeling of unease that comes from having grafted non-stop for 7 months, drawing LOTCH every spare moment God sent...then suddenly that's it, kaput...it's done. Well not quite, as I still need to get a presspack ready for Birmingham's convention mid October, and also a double page spread introducing LOTCH Bk II. Yes, that's right...there's more! I've already written the 2nd story's synopsis, and will script it fully soon. But I want to prepare a double page teaser, introducing main themes, new characters, and future twists, to show potential publishers that I really mean business with the LOTCH story arc, and with the characters themselves.
Ah yes...finding publishers. That prospect triggers yet another feeling to add to the mix. The feeling of 'what the **** do I do with LOTCH (as well as with myself!), now that it's done?' I'm not really renowned for having a business brain.
Well, off the top of my head, I'll be sending it off to Dark Horse and 2000ad for sure. I'll also be hawking it around the convention in October, trying to drum up some interest. There's also the avenue of self publishing to explore, because I truly believe in LOTCH as a standalone story, and also as an ongoing series of books. But do I go headlong into book 2 and keep myself out of the mainstream? It takes time to put such a project together, time I could be using in a more orthodox way, to send off samples to various publishers in order to get freelance work drawing other people's stuff. Then there's 'Jack in the Box' another original story that I'm itching to get started on, this one possibly needing collaboration with a writer with a flair for subtlety. Bloody hell....not enough time in the day!!
As I said, before I so rudely interrupted myself, I guess I'm just feeling the effects of having focused so long and hard on one thing, then having that focus taken away...and without any real conclusion to any of it. None of the traditional validation you get after slogging yer guts out, with some gaffer saying: 'Here's a few thousand squids for all your hard work!'
Is this what it's like being an aspiring author, then? :)
Anyway, I'd love to post some of it on this site soon...or do I create a LOTCH dot com, and go to town on the LOTCH hype there? One thing's for sure, I could probably do with a day or two away from the whole thing, to recharge my batteries...and it probably wouldn't hurt to talk to some comics people, just to get some outside impartial advice --
Calling The Comics Ombudsman!! :)
posted by Tony at
10:01 PM
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