Some comic-related doodles

There we go. Now I can feel as though I have contributed to the blog. Thank you for checking out our blog!

Sample panel

Shhhhh.......
Don't tell anyone. Here is a sneak peek...just part of a page so you can get a taste of our flavor!

Preparation Whale Says, "Think Ahead (followed by whale sounds)"

He's quite right, you know. You really ought to store your leftover pizza properly...

Hitting Twitter hard while checking out web space and other blogs. Also, adjusting my budget and 401k contributions cause I'm responsiiiiiiiiiBAWWWLLLLL!__!

...But Wait!

Here's the thing, sometimes you get some fun surprises after you post a rage-y, cagey rant about not a table application being denied. Turns out, enough people cancelled, and we were fortunate to have our application selected. As quickly as possible, Katy and I sent out the paperwork and money, and have been planning our set-up all weekend. Our efforts have been of the hasty variety over the past couple of months, but we have to start running like our asses are haunted.

Previously, I stated very generally that our typical system is as follows: Bry write script; Katy make pictures; and Bry put all the word talkin' in the panels. In doing so, there was a very important detail glossed over; namely that Katy's step of the process takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. Writing and drawing are both creative endeavors, and are difficult and taxing in similar and dissimilar ways. However, there is the the simple fact that it is easier to punch words on a keyboard than to draw a beautiful Chicago rebel knifing around.

With a good portion of the first volume written, the plan is for me to focus more on getting a website started and taking advantage of as many social media outlets as possible. Wordpress seems like a practical and user-friendly tool to get better-acquainted with, and it seems as though I'll be jumping late onto the twitter train. All the while, Katy is going to keep cranking out awesome shit like this:

Just like this creepy smile, we're quite giddy over how events have turned. It goes to show that effort and a quality product can overcome a lack of experience and credentials...also luck...mostly loads of luck. We are going to cram our happy, happy half-table full of content and quality.Thank you to everyone who has followed this blog so far, and I assure you we'll have some great updates shooting out and about, all over the walls very soon!

Of Comic Con and Comfort Sloths

Katy and I set NY Comic Con as goal for our comic this past winter, and it occurred to us that the event is now only a few months away. Quickly we decided upon ordering our weekend passes (professional passes used to be available to artists, BUT NO LONGER!), and magically we'll soon be off to panic mode! Regardless of preparation, to me there is always the inevitability of feeling unprepared.

Don't misunderstand, the future panic I'm foreseeing is largely self-imposed. Realistically, we're actually progressing more quickly with the comic than I had foreseen. Words are done written, pages are drawn, and words get putted onto the drawed pages. In honesty, its been a constant gratification to have written something; and then see it swiftly turn into a work visually stimulating enough to pacify a shadowy continent of drunk uncles. When you scrape away at a goal with a friend, you can tangibly observe how all the inebriated, incoherent nights spent ranting together incoherently about character development took form.

The downward side of this self-expression is that recognition does not come easily, and personal expectations have to adjust themselves accordingly. In our own case, we were hoping to secure a table in Artists' Alley within Comic Con this year. Unsurprisingly, tables are rarely given out to non-existent webcomics with little to no established credibility as of yet. Yet, at the moment, I find myself working extra hard with renewed irrational self-criticism. Words get written on a page, and then I glare and glare and glare upon them with scrutiny; I do this until I anxiously delete the sentence.

So here we are, two weeks into trying to write without actually having anything tangible. Instead, I've been writing huge plot points in my mind-brain. Fantastically enough, this incredibly irresponsible method has actually led me to "writing" the last scene of the comic (tentatively). It sounds insane, but writing this way has usually worked best for me. When you have a beginning and an end in mind, all that needs to be done is create the journey between the two points. With a comfort sloth strapped to my back, I'm picking up where I left off and continue the trip to Comic Con!

CHI-CA-GO!

The setting of a story of any kind can either enrich it or drain it of all life and color. Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn contains some great character development and interaction, but the setting is so vague I pictured everything occurring in a large dark room. In stark contrast, Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian puts so, so many paragraphs into describing the scenery and historical context of said scenery that it reads like non-fiction. When you write a story, you and the characters you've created have to commit to the context of the scenery in which you've anchored. And so, after choosing Chicago as the setting for After, Katy and I have had to get better acquainted with a city we've never visited.

Katy originally chose Chicago because it's an iconic city that is close to Canada; relevant because in our setting Canada has essentially become a no-man's land. I was in love with idea because Chicago is home to The Second City and WBEZ, which have provided me with some of my favorite writers/comics as well as This American Life. Since then, its been exciting to look up cultural landmarks and imagine them gutted, re-purposed, or simply burnt to the ground! There was a Cataclysm after all...

Attempting to make the setting more than just a background is the key concept; or at the very least the job of the writer. I already know Katy can handle to scene and make it look how it needs to, but I'd be slothy sloth if I kept the city bereft of any character or context. Some of the best-written shows/movies/comics have achieved this by making the setting a dynamic character in and of itself: The Wire used a statically dysfunctional Baltimore; Firefly the under-doggedly rustic Serenity; and Scott Pilgrim utilizes the unabashedly Canadian Toronto. Ideally, I hope to do the same with our newly apocalyptic Chicago. I'm researching the hell out of the city any time the setting takes a dramatic shift and hoping the context is informed but not hammered in orc-ishly. Oh, and we have been plotting a trip to Chicago in what we hope is the near future; there is just that whole lack of money/vacation time business that needs to be worked out

Below is a video of Tom Waits' song "Chicago" from his newest Album, Bad as Me. The footage is taken from old Maxwell Street in Chicago, and it has such a hauntingly hopeful yet ominous quality. I listen to this song constantly while working on After. In my moments of severe delusion I imagine it being played in the movie trailer for the film adaptation of our yet-to-be-released webcomic. God damn it, that is very embarrassing to see written down. I've got to stop drinking that sweet, sweet delusion juice given to me by that wizard behind the Olive Garden...

Character Art! (Claire)

Today I'm writing from a beach house in lazy, crazy Sea Isle City, home of down-and-out seagulls. As such, I'm without me old scanner, so I can't create any of my own horrible comics to abuse anyone (I'll get you next time :D!). Instead you'll find above one of Katy's first completed illustrations of the central protagonist: Claire. A taciturn twenty-something with a penchant for knives and bullets instead of dialogue, Claire would be what I call the queen on the chessboard in terms of her functionality and character. More on her to come in the future...

P.S.: Your eyes have likely been drawn to the bad-ass cap Claire is sporting. This is a remnant of her old HAWK uniform, but I'm not saying anything further on that for now. FUCK YOU! (sorry)

P.P.S.: I'm a big ole bag of hanging dicks and failed to provide links to the ones who provide the actual art to this mess. Here are their personal sites:

Katelyn Amacker (Illustrator for After): http://www.kmamacker-art.com/
Jessica Kizmann (Designer for the lettering on the cover art): http://www.jessicakizmann.com/

They do a great many other great things than what I bother them to make!

Origin Story

Well hey there!

Shortly after my last post, I've been thinking that it is more than a little asinine to advertise a comic while saying nothing about the comic itself. SI-MUL-TANEOUSLY, I don't want to give anything significant away before we've released a single issue. So, here's the good word of compromise: I'll give some insight into the how we came up with After and its progression since.

I've wanted to write for a comic book for the longest time, due mostly to the fact that I have little to no talent for drawing (refer to the above illustrations). When I write, it is usually an attempt to translate a load of weird images in my brain into words that, hopefully, express such thoughts vividly. Ignoring whether or not I'm accomplishing this, its amazing to have someone who can put my warbled ideas into coherent illustrations. Additionally, I was fortunate enough that, about a year ago, Katy had an idea for a comic that she wanted to put to life, but had no tolerance for both drawing and writing it. In cases such as these, its helpful to bother a friend of yours relentlessly about sharing whatever project she or he has in mind.

Shortly after, Katy sent me character outlines for a comic concept titled Aftershock. The story focused on how society could react after a cataclysmic event, literally dubbed "The Cataclysm" in the context of the comic. Within the setting of the comic, a now post-apocalyptic Chicago, people have found security in a harshly conservative authoritarian figure. The focal characters of the comic belong to one of several rebel factions attempting to tear down the crooked establishment.

From that general storyline, I wrote and wrote and wrote until I cranked out the first comic script. I had done some research to find how best to organize a script for a comic; after which it seemed the best method was to send Katy a rough page description with details of the setting and character interactions. These scenes would then be drawn into panels in which I would later write dialogue for upon completion. Following this system, we cranked out a few pages in about three weeks.

There is one important addendum I'd like to add: my first draft at a comic script was garbage. Truly, nearly every bit of writing I take a first crack at comes to disgust me at a later point. Since writing the initial script about a year ago, I've hacked it up and re-written it at least three or four times by now; Katy herself has even thrown out the original panels she had drawn. As such, I think the only useful piece of advice I can endow for starting a comic: JUST DO IT, AHHHH! Nearly anything anyone attempts initially turns out to be a sack of diarrhea. The importance in overcoming the first step is more about ignoring your own harsh inner-critic that can stifle self-expression. Once its finally out of the brain and on paper, the product is far more tangible and easier to improve. THAT IS ALL!

Some Katy Drawrins

The above is a perfect example of why Katy is the one drawing this comic. The above character, Alma, is actually one of the primary antagonists of the story. You'd think it'd be more sensible for me to post a sketch of one of our jolly protags, but the image is far too badass not to show-off.  Also, Katy has provided a very accurate depiction of what it what her illustration process is like:

As time goes on, I'm hoping to provide more and more concept art and sketches , so keep your vision orbs open and ready!