20091216 – Replaced the new sexier cover with a newer sexier cover. This one fits with the chapter layout aesthetic of The Dualist and is also the first appearance of the TV logo. Which didn’t exist until last night.

Here’s the wraparound:

20080706.20:23 – Replaced the old functional cover with a new sexier cover.

Unlike the previous cover, this one is a full wrap-around, designed for publication as an issue, as opposed to being solely a web placeholder. I’d put up the back so you can see the full thing, but I haven’t finished it yet – there’s some bits that’ll be going on the back that I still have to figure out…. and there’s no rush to do so at the moment.

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The brown, it’s earthy.

Readers of The Dualist know that the Sudden Appearance of a Chapter cover doesn’t mean that pages will be quick in coming. It’ll be a week or two before anything new shows up – since the first five pages take place in familiar environments, I’ve decided to bust ’em out ASAP, after which I’ll embark on the Ordeal that will be modeling the interior of the Daedalus. Putting that off and juggling DCR have slowed things down considerably, and I figure that the best way to break through the deadlock is to just start work on the project, and model objects as needed. It worked for The Dualist, and it should work even better for Transitional Voices – once the Daedalus interior is done, modeling will be down to a small handful of objects for each of the four chapters.

Four chapters, four elements. Less the “pretension” of the “tarot” dings in the initial version of signal and more of a tangible, applicable theme. It works, I like it, and most importantly, it’s helped the story considerably.

Earth has gone through three drafts. The third draft has been tweaked, smoothed, and whittled down into Something I Love. The first scene is done, set, and laid out – the rest of it still needs to be broken into pages and laid out… but the rest of it also needs to be modeled, and the model work will be used throughout the rest of the book, so it’s all good.

Fun fact: The Sabrosa was originally in this shot, between the Earth ding and Terra. The ship patently refused to render – what I was finally able to wrest from the software was useable, but ultimately it just didn’t work. So, no Sabrosa. Which is appropriate, really.