The last block of pages – target -1- through -5- – were posted last month, on ATC’s anniversary. This block of pages – starting with target -6- – is being posted on my anniversary. Nine pages puts the chapter just shy of the halfway point, which I plan to hit by America’s anniversary.
I’m noticing a pattern here.
2012 06 10, 15:49 – Rendering finished last night. At this point 5.06 through 5.09 are ready for line art. I’ll be starting on line art for 5.06 and 5.07 here in a bit, with 5.08 and 5.09 tentatively scheduled for later in the week. The goal is to get all four pages done by and posted on the 19th, holding back on 5.10 for reasons of pacing and complexity. This is a great page to hang an update on, and doing it this way pretty much guarantees that July is going to be Mega Super Ultra DCR Production Month GO!.
I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I’d like on ATC, but I have managed to stick to a loose schedule so far. Hopefully this time next year my Daily Grind will be reduced to Work And ATC – the current “schedule” of Client A and Client {B|C|D|E|F} and ATC is sub-optimal to put it mildly. The work is getting done – but at a pace that’s not making anyone particularly happy.
2012 06 16, 00:24 – Pencilled. Inks and initial cleanup this coming afternoon and evening.
2012 06 17, 04:34 – Just finished cleaning up inks. A low energy blah sort of day, peppered with From the Earth to the Moon. Inks went relatively smoothly – cleanup was the real slog.
2012 06 18, 01:20 – Se previous. Ready for shading, and it looks like I’ll be doing that Monday. Yes, it’s technically Monday right now, but for me Monday is when I wake up. Unless I sleep through Monday, in which case I’ll be shading Tuesday.
2012 06 18, 21:37 – Finished shading 5.08 about 30 minutes ago. Sweated my way to the minimart, blocked out a local lobbyist or politician who seemed to be buying or selling “support” of some sort, sweated my way back to The Crystal Method: Blowout, writing this. Quick dunk into EVE Online for queue and market updates, then shading of 5.09 commences.
2012 06 19, 00:21 – Shit, I’m older. One panel left to shade, then a cursory spit-shine on all four pages in the block. Aiming to get this batch posted before my usual 3am knock-off time.
01:05 – Principal shading complete. Now to check over the previous three pages and straighten out this one if it needs it after.
01:30 – It did, just a bit – minor tweaks to Jason’s shoulder in panel three. Breather, then final once-over and post. Holding to schedule, albeit barely!
02:00 – Finally figured out what was pissing me off about Greg in panel five – tweaked his hairline and now he’s Within Tolerance. I’m not entirely happy with the shot – part of that the general neck mechanics, the rest is my insistence on keeping the lighting accurate to the scene, as opposed to going all Bayhem on the shot and lighting it to look Awesome instead of Appropriate (and Still Fairly Awesome).
02:06 – Extended the cleanup to panel four. Overall page quality has improved enormously. Even if it does feature a friggin’ lens flare.
02:12 – Photoshop has been thrashing since shortly after I wrote that line. “Bolded” the last word balloon, mis-clicked on the label and… grind.
02:13 – Finally.
02:15 – Ready to start rolling on the posting process for this batch of pages. Woohoo!
The next “scheduled” update is July 4th. I don’t know how many pages it’ll be, mind you – I’m aiming for at least one, hopefully at least two or three. I’m gonna have to over-over commit and lose some sleep to financially make it through the next couple of weeks, so there won’t be much time for ATC. Challenges of the next two weeks and change include renewing my ID, finishing a couple of websites, collating data for my accountant, and figuring out how to meet projected short-term expenses that exceed projected short-term income by approximately 35%.
Good times!
While the next couple of weeks are going to be rough, July itself looks like it should have more time to apply to production. At this point I’ve got roughly ten weeks to “deadline,” and eleven pages left to produce. Doable, if I can manufacture the time required.
2012 06 20, 17:09 – A few tweaks to Greg in panel five.
