Announcements for 2/1/2012
Almost there:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 90/90
Pages finished: 77/90
And inching ever closer!
Meanwhile, I have listed yet another Anti-Valentine's Day card. It is for sale in my feep etsy store:
Watch What Happens When I Squeeze
Okay! Racing off to the next thing.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/20/2012
Check it out:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 90/90
Pages finished: 62/90
Inks are done, oh yes. I am two pages from finishing the shading on Avery's chapter. And then? Only Aaron/James remains (well, and two pages of the intro that are 98% done).
You may also be interested to learn that I've gotten around to printing up a small run of one of my Anti-Valentine's Day cards. It is for sale in my feep etsy store:
You Have My Heart
For once, I get something done in time for a national holiday. If that ain't a harbinger of the end times, I don't know what is.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/6/2012
Howdy, y'all, and a very merry new year to you. Let's see where we're at:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 86/90
Pages finished: 53/90
That's right, folks, the inks are but a couple of days away from completion. Then all that remains is to finish up those last 37 pages, which represents Avery, Aaron/James, and two pages of the introduction that are actually mostly done and just need a smidge more work. My final due date for completion is March 1, with an eye to publication this summer, June or July 2012. I will obviously let you know more as things develop.
In the meanwhile, you might be interested in this upcoming anthology from Fantagraphics, called No Straight Lines. It includes work by a great many frabjuous queer cartoonists, including a couple of pages from yours truly. It's available for pre-order now, and ships in April if I'm not mistaken. So hie thee hence and check it out!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 12/8/2011
And then there was this:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 66/90
Pages finished: 42/90
So yes, Adam's chapter is in the can, or is it the bag? Anyway, some sort of receptacle. It's in that. I have also finished inking Avery's chapter, and then went back and inked the two pages of the intro that I hadn't quite finished. I am now on to shading Blake's chapter. Someday I will post some more art for you, I promise, but at the moment, prepping said art for the web takes away time I could be using to actually finish the book, so I am prioritizing the latter. So there you have it.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 11/18/2011
Been busy:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 54/90
Pages finished: 40/90
I am two pages away from finishing the art for Adam's chapter, which I hope to wrap up this weekend. That'll mark three chapters as 100% complete, so yay! After Adam my plan is to ink Avery's story, and make some minor tweaks to Aaron/James so that one will be ready for inking. And now, off to finish up the penultimate page of Adam's story.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 10/28/2011
Due to the New York Comic Con and the subsequent Me Getting Sick, I haven't a huge change in book progress to report:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 54/90
Pages finished: 25/90
BUT. Those four pages since last time represent the completion of Henry's chapter, which means two whole chapters are now 100% finished. So there's that.
And you still have a couple of days left to check out The Dirty Comics Erotic Art show at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco's Mission District. Or, if you can't make it to SF, you may wish to observe this here article from Art Business. Scroll down to the second story and you can see a photo of my page there at #14.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 10/8/2011
Still workin' away, and the pace improves as time goes on:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 54/90
Pages finished: 21/90
And now, it's show time. I'm going to be away for the next week, but you can find me (or some of my art) at these shows:
1. The Dirty Comics Erotic Art show at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco's Mission District. I have a page in this show, page 6 from Cal's story. There are tons of other great artists, so if you're in SF you should check it out. It's up for the month of October.
2. New York Comic Con, at the Prism Comics booth. This is happening Oct. 13-16 at the Javits Center, so if you're in NY, do drop in.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 9/16/2011
So here be's the deal: my hand is doing better, and while it is not yet 100%, it's getting closer every day. I've been able to resume limited drawing, which means I've finished up a couple more pages on the book, and have officially completed the art for one entire chapter (Cal). So here we go:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 54/90
Pages finished: 13/90
I can't work at a very fast pace right now because I have to rehab my drawing muscles. So I'm not sure it makes sense to do weekly updates right now, because there's not a whole lot to say. I do have a couple of announcements about upcomnig shows.
First up is The Dirty Comics Erotic Art show at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco's Mission District. I have a page in this show, page 6 from Cal's story. There are tons of other great artists, so if you're in SF you should check it out. It's up for the month of October. There's a Facebook invite here if you want the deets.
Also in October is the New York Comic Con, whereat I shall be sharing a booth with Prism Comics. If you are in the NYC area, I hope to see you there!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 8/19/2011
Just a quick update to let you know what's been going on. I sprained my drawing hand a few weeks ago, and haven't been able to work since then. The healing is going very slowly, since it turns out to be damn near impossible to avoid using your dominant hand. This is where things currently stand on the book:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 54/90
Pages finished: 11/90
I'll start updating again once my hand is healed (hopefully in another 3 weeks or so, but it may be longer).
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/22/2011
Inch by inch:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 54/90
Pages finished: 4/90
Finished inking Henry's chapter, and have decided to switch over to shading for a bit. It's a little less harsh on the ol' RMI. I decided to start with Cal's chapter since it's the shortest, and I'm playing with a slightly different shading technique. I figure if it's terrible I only have to keep it up for 10 pages. So far, though, it seems to be working out okay and will hopefully speed up the process a little.
I'm almost through lettering Aaron/James's pencils. This one is taking forever to clean up and make presentable because a lot of elements are digital, moreso than any of the other chapters. So on the one hand that means it's very slow at this stage, but on the other it means all that digital work should be done and won't have to be repeated for inks or shading. Yay! I hope to have a sample page or two ready to show next week.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/15/2011
Workin' away:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 49/90
Pages finished: 2/90
Shortly I shall go ink the 50th page, and then have a little party in my studio (guests of honor shall include a bottle of ink, several brush pens, and The Most Important Ruler in the World).
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/8/2011
I have returned! And observe, work proceeds apace on ye olde booke:
Pages penciled: 90/90
Pages inked: 43/90
Pages finished: 2/90
As you may have noticed, I finished the pencils. Eventually I will show you a sample from the Aaron/James chapter, but I haven't cleaned up the scans of the pencils or lettered it yet. So it'll be a bit before that happens. Inks, meanwhile, are done for Adam, Blake, and Cal, and I have begun inking Henry. Here's a sample page from Cal, showcasing some of the cityscapes I had hinted at earlier:
 - Cal - page 4 inks
Hopefully I can finish inking Henry and Avery by the end of the month. After that, I will probably switch to shading for a bit, to give Aaron/James time to make the rounds with the various people who have to sign off on it. I admit, it will be especially satisfying to watch the numbers in "Pages Finished" tick upwards.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 6/10/2011
Almost there:
Pages penciled: 88/90
Pages inked: 27/90
Pages finished: 2/90
My goal is to finish up those last two pages of pencils by next week, which seems entirely feasible given the pace I've been keeping. Perhaps get some inking done as well.
And then I'm going away for a couple of weeks to engage in some much-needed frivolity. I'll be updating once more come July, hopefully with some actual art this time, so check back then.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 6/3/2011
And so:
Pages penciled: 84/90
Pages inked: 27/90
Pages finished: 2/90
I have been a pencilin' fool. A mere six pages remain before all the pencils for the book are done. You would think this would fill me with glee, and in a way it does, but for some reason each of those last six pages multiplies in weight the closer I get to done. Sort of like seeing the finish line approach, I suppose, and feeling every bit of exhaustion from the entire marathon, and each step left is somehow harder than the last.
I guess what I'm saying is, I'm really, really tired. Burned out. But determined to get this these pages done in the next two weeks. In two weeks, y'see, I take my first vacation in ... um ... lots of years. I hope yo come back refreshed and ready to tackle the task of inking and shading. But, until then, sixxxx pagesssss ...
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/27/2011
Page countin' time:
Pages penciled: 80/90
Pages inked: 27/90
Pages finished: 2/90
A little less progress than I would have liked, but I managed to knock out an entire work day by getting food poisoning on Sunday. At least, it was probably food poisoning. All I know is, eating much of anything at all lead directly to vomiting the entire contents of my stomach, and then several attempts to continue when my stomach was empty. I at one point grumpily informed my system that there was nothing left to puke up, so would it please stop trying.
Point being, that state did not, as it turns out, mesh well with getting any drawing done on Sunday, and caused a bit of slowness for Monday as well. But I am better now and back to business, so hopefully next week shall see greater gains.
In the meantime, I'm off to get new glasses. It's only been 9 years since my last appointment, so I guess I'm due.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/20/2011
Here we go with this week's page count:
Pages penciled: 77/90
Pages inked: 26/90
Pages finished: 2/90
Not a whole lot of time for inking this week, as I spent quite awhile working on my Author Questionnaire and AP&M (which I think stands for Advance Promotion and Marketing, but I don't feel like looking it up just at the moment). Anyway, these are for Beacon Press to use for actual pimpage of the book, and to help craft things like back cover copy and all that jazz. Kind of fascinating, really, as I've never done this part of the process before, and it's the kind of behind-the-scenes stuff you don't usually hear about. Probably because it's mostly just paperwork and is therefore not terribly sexy, but it's at least exciting for me.
Anyway, my goal is to try to have some art to show you next week. As you can see, I continue to blaze away on the pencils for Aaron/James (page 12 is a gnat's wing away from finished, putting me at the halfway point on that chapter), so it's not like I don't have stuff I could show, I've just been too busy drawing to prep any images for the web. Such is the way of things!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/13/2011
So, yes. I haven't any images for you this week, but I shall nonetheless report on my progress:
Pages penciled: 73/90
Pages inked: 25/90
Pages finished: 2/90
This may not seem like a hufe uptick from last week, but that's because pencils are slow. However, four pages in one week is pretty damn good, given that on previous chapters I've managed only 1-2 pages a week, with an occasional blockbuster of 3. The nature of the art for Aaron/James lends itself to a faster pace, overall, so I'm hoping to keep this going and have the pencils finished by mid-June. We shall see!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/6/2011
I have been busy inking away. Finished the black lines on Adam's story, and have now moved on to inking Blake. Page 1 took quite awhile, but I think it may be my favorite page from the book:
 - Blake - page 1 inks
I've started penciling the Aaron/James megachapter, which clocks in at 24 pages. I've got three done so far, which means there are 21 pages left to pencil in the whole damn book. This one's going pretty fast, thankfully, so I'm still feeling pretty confident about hitting the Official Deadline.
This does mean the inking juggernaut is going to slow down a bit as I shift back into pencil mode, so I'm not quite sure what I'll update with here for the next few weeks. Possibly just typy stuff like this, giving general progress reports. To wit:
Pages penciled: 69/90
Pages inked: 23/90
Pages finished: 2/90
These counts don't include cover, title pages, author's note, bio, or any other non-story pages. But most of those (except the cover) will seem like a breeze after all the drawing.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/22/2011
I have for you some fun and exciting news, but first let's take a gander at an entire sample page of pencils from Cal's story, not just a blurry cell phone photo of a page in progress:
 - Cal - page 3 pencils
Now, that fun and exciting news. At this stage, the intro, Adam, and Blake are in the queue to be inked. Henry and Cal are off to production for a final round of proofreading before they get into the inking queue. Avery is pretty close to being ready for production's eyeballs. And the last chapter to be penciled, Aaron and James, just needs some minor tweaking to the storyboards before it's ready for the pencil.
So my editor and I had the important discussion of what publication date to shoot for, and June 2012 is the big winner. This means 100% finishing up the book in the next 5 months, which I think is doable given the general state of doneness of a lot of the hard work. Unlike all the other dates I've thrown at you, which were pure speculation on my part, this one involves real deadlines where they come after me with sharp sticks if I don't hand in my pages on time. So this is a much more accurate estimated date. It's still technically tentative, but they really want to time the release to coincide with Pride month, and I very much want to make that work. Not just for Pride, but also for SDCC 2012. Hell, I'm even willing to forego video games temporarily if it means getting this thing done in time for June 2012.
So that's the status of the when and the whatnot.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/15/2011
You will no doubt be thrilled to learn that I finished the pencils for Cal's chapter. It's all scanned in, but I haven't cleaned it up or lettered it yet, so I'll have to post a sample page at a later date. Meanwhile, the Aaron/James megachapter continues to kick around in storyboards; I have a meeting with my editor to discuss it on Monday. In the interim I have put the pencil aside and begun work on inking the chapters that are ready to be inked. I decided to start with Adam's chapter, since it was the first one I drew. Here's a sample page and some more process junkie nerdity for you:
 - Adam - page 2 inks in-progress
I decided to show you page 2 instead of page 1, since the pencils play a bit more of a continuing role on page 2 (particularly as panel guides for panels without borders), even if they shall be gone from the final product.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/8/2011
For those of you endlessly fascinated by the process:
 - Cal - page 8 pencils in-progress
Once again, click through for further exposition regarding my creative process, and my opinions on the art in webcomics.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/1/2011
I fear I don't have anything to show off today. I continue working away on the book - almost done with page 7 of Cal, and finished the second draft of the storyboards for Aaron and James - but don't actually have any images to post. Mayhap there will be something next week, though I think in general posting may slow down a bit in the coming months as I push to finish everything. I guess my point is, don't be too surprised if "new stuff every Friday" turns out to be a big, fat lie for awhile.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 3/25/2011
More Cal-related process junkie fun:
 - Cal - page 5 pencils in-progress
Once again, click through for further exposition regarding my creative process. This page is now penciled in toto, and it took a damn long time. But perhaps there will be enough tiny visual jokes to keep you looking at it for more than five seconds once the book is for reals in your hands.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 3/18/2011
Still whittling away on Cal's chapter. Once again I have for you some process junkie nerdity. Click through for a peek into my insanity:
 - Cal - page 4 pencils in-progress
This, by the way, is the sort of stuff I'm likely to be posting for the next while. Glimspes into the process and vague status updates, but not a lot of finished art for a bit. So, if you're into that kind of thing, stick around. If not, er, apologies. Books are hard and they take a long time.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 3/11/2011
STAPLE! went really well last weekend, though it did, as predicted, knock out any free time I might have had for updating this site. This week what I gots for you is a little nugget for process junkies. Click here and scroll down to see in-progress inks:
 - Intro - page 4 finished art with in-progress inks
Meanwhile, I'm still frittering away on Cal's chapter. STAPLE! also knocked out a lot of time I'd have spent working on the book (that's the trouble with conventions), so progress has been slow. Also part of the slowdown is drawing exterior scenes for New York City. Lots of research for photo references, lots of slow-to-draw, perspective-heavy city scenes. Such is the way of things.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 2/25/2011
The pencils for Henry's story are all scanned and lettered and whatnot. The sample page is from the end of the chapter, but it was the only one that sort of made sense out of context:
 - Henry's Story - page 11 pencils
Cal's pencils proceed apace, though somewhat slower for the moment due to the obligatory prep for STAPLE!, which shall be upon us in but a week. Which means feep making is soaking up a good bit of my time lately, and shall continue to do so for the next week at least. No idea what/if I'll post next week. Something? Hopefully? But STAPLE! may wind up consuming all free time in its path.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 2/18/2011
I've finished penciling Henry's chapter and have scanned it, but have yet to finish cleaning up and lettering the pages. Hopefully next week I'll be able to show you a sample page, but until then may I present to you a wee sketch:
 - Androgynous Punk
This particular sketch is from the bottom of my character sheet, hence the bit about photocopying for personal use only.
In further book news, I've started the pencils for Cal's chapter, and inked a few more pages of the introduction. I'm trying to save most of the inking for later, though, since it's sort of like artistic dessert for me. But no harm in a bit of nibbling here and there, right?
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 2/11/2011
Sorry for the dearth of posts lately. Life has been consumed by utter chaos the last couple of weeks: several waves of houseguests, weddings, rolling blackouts, frozen water pipes, doctor visits, vet visits, standard-issue winter colds, amidst all of which were the usual deadlines and Things Needing to Get Done. And, while I have been working away on Henry's chapter, I haven't had much I can actually show here, so the ol' website has taken a back seat. But I return today with a bit of frippery and fluff, to wit:
 - Barbarian
That's my latest D&D character, about which I am sure you are agog with fascination. He's a barbarian, and he likes to hit things very, very hard.
In book news, I expect to finish the pencils on Henry's chapter today. I had hoped to finish them sooner than this, but the aforementioned utter chaos intervened. Nevertheless, things continue to progress.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/21/2011
The general consensus on Adam's chapter was that the opening was too abrupt after the party scene was cut, so I added a single page at the beginning to introduce the scene:
 - Adam's Story - page 00 pencils
I did this page a couple of months ago, but forgot I'd never posted it here. So there you are.
In other news, I am penciling away on Henry. I think I'm on page 8 now? Or is it 9? Anyway, point is, things proceed apace. I really like this chapter a lot; it lends itself to a lot of the sorts of visual subtleties that I enjoy putting into a comix story.
Finally, Cal's storyboards have met with final approval from my editor, and merely await final approval from Cal. So that will be the next chapter up for pencils once Henry is done.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/14/11
I have actually finished the art for one page of the book. Inks, shading, everything. Believe it:
 - Intro - page 4 finished art
I'm actually still focusing on pencils right now and not on finishing pages, but I needed to get this done by the deadline for the STAPLE! 2011 anthology, so here it is. Nevertheless, there's something very satisfying about finally getting to see a finished page after all this time.
As far as those pencils go, I'm currently working on Henry's chapter, and am in the midst of page 5 of his story (12 pages total). In half an hour I'll be discussing with my editor the latest round of storyboards for Cal, Aaron, and James. At this time last year I hadn't even penciled the first page, so even though there is much yet to do it's good to take a moment to reflect on how much I've actually managed to get done.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/7/11
Well, shucky darn but if it ain't a new year and all that. I am busy penciling away on Henry's chapter, of which I have nothing scanned as yet. Instead, I offer you a wee bit of process junkie fun. Go look at the intro page 5 pencils again, and then scroll down:
 - Intro - page 5 pencils (updated)
Over the break I worked feverishly on the storyboards for Cal, Aaron, and James. Cal's chapter is, I think, closing in on done. Aaron and James are still pretty rough and require a good bit of work, but at least the meat of the story is there, and it's more a matter of massaging and refining at this point. I'm going to focus on getting Cal into pencil-ready shape first, though. My editor has all this material, so I pencil and ink as I await to hear back.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 12/23/10
I have bizarrely found myself with a spare moment right before I leave for the holidays, so I figured I'd go ahead and post the last page of the intro pencils. Probably no one will actually read this before the new year anyway, but here goes:
 - Intro - page 5 pencils
In sounds-boring-but-is-actually-exciting news, I have the go-ahead from production to ink the intro and Blake's chapter, so I'm'a get started on that during my holiday sojourn. I'm also set to start pencils on Henry's chapter, so I will hopefully dabble in that as well. Though I pretty much always think I'm going to get tons of work done when I'm out of town and then never actually do. Eh.
Nevertheless, I have packed up a bag full of book materials, so I can at the very least feel guilty about any not-working I do.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 12/17/10
Further intro pencilry:
 - Intro - page 4 pencils
The next two Fridays are holiday-ish type days and I will be traveling a fair amount, so I canna promise much in the way of updates. I know you are anxious to find out WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! in the intro, but mayhap you shall have to wait. We'll see.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 12/10/10
More intro pencils for ye:
 - Intro - page 3 pencils
Working, working, working. The intro is perilously close to being ink-ready. Several chapters are being tightened and refined. My brain has melted into a pile of slurry. YAY!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 12/3/10
No update last week because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but fear not, the intro pencils shall now continue:
 - Intro - page 2 pencils
Got a huge amount of work done on the last couple of chapters I had still needed to script and storyboard. I'm about two-thirds of the way through scribbling out the storyboard images, so probably in a week or so I'll have more or less the whole book storyboarded. This probably doesn't sound all that exciting to you, but trust me, it's a big deal. Also also, the penciled chapters have now been given the editorial eyeball and are a gnat's wing away from being ready to ink. Looks like Henry's chapter is next in the queue for penciling, so things do indeed proceed apace. Huzzah!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 11/19/10
So yes, I became too crazy busy due to Austin Comic Con to manage an update last week. But the show was amazingly successful, so at least the delay was justified. And now, let's get to those intro pencils:
 - Intro - page 1 pencils
Can I just say, it was weird as hell drawing myself over and over. I don't even know if I look like me. I was surpisingly grateful for the sunglasses, since even in cartoon form they provided a wee bit of protection from direct eye contact (yes, I am very shy).
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 11/5/10
I've finished penciling and scanning the intro, but I still have to letter the damn thing. So instead of intro pencils this week, I give you a sample page from Avery's chapter:
 - Avery - page 05 pencils
In theory I'll get the intro lettering done over the weekend, so I can start showing you those pages next week. Of course next weekend (Nov 12-14) is Austin Comic Con, whereat I shall have a table, so I'll be preparing like mad for that. If I don't manage an update next week, blame them.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 10/29/10
As promised, this week I bring you monsters:
 - Deep Sea Ghosts
 - Impatient for Night
 - Purple Makara
 - Beebat
That top one, Deep Sea Ghosts, is actually an older painting from 2005. I had grown dissatisfied with it, so I recently went back and fleshed it out (ha ha, ghosts, fleshed out). I like it a lot more now, and have put the new image up in place of the old one. The other three are brang new pieces from the last couple of months. They're all up in the ASG Art Show at the Hideout, which I believe is ending on Sunday. After that, any unsold pieces will be listed in my Etsy store.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 10/22/10
And now, the final page of the intro storyboards:
 - Introduction - page 05 storyboards
Next week being Halloween weekend and all, I believe I shall spend some time updating the "monsters" section of this site, adding a bunch of new art there. If you follow my feep stuff regularly you may have already seen them, but think of it as something of a greatest hits.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 10/15/10
Lettuce continue, shall we, with these here intro storyboards:
 - Introduction - page 04 storyboards
Avery's chapter is penciled, and I'm working away at the intro pencils now. In fact, I am currently drawing the 40th page, which means I'm about 40% done with the most labor-intensive part of the project. After discussing timelines with my editors last week, we figured that May or June of 2011 is the target date for getting the whole damn book finished, which puts the publication date at Spring/Summer 2012. Unlike all of my previous predictions for finishing this book, I think this one is actually realistic, based on how long it's taken me to draw those aforementioned 40 pages. So! That's the plan for now, and I shall update as necessary.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 10/8/10
Introduction storyboards, you say? Oh my yes:
 - Introduction - page 03 storyboards
Nearly done with Avery's pencils. Hopefully I shall complete this madness over the weekend, but failing that I should be done with his chapter sometime next week. After that I'll start penciling the introduction, so once I've finished showing you the storyboards for the intro I'll likely start running the pencils next. Probably with a break in there for some other art. I dunno. We'll see.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 10/1/10
Let us continue, shall we, with the introduction storyboards:
 - Introduction - page 02 storyboards
How do the pencils progress, you ask? I'm still scribbling away on Avery's chapter (lots of complicated layouts in this one), but closing in on the end. About to start penciling page 9 of 11. Page 8 marked the 35th page I've penciled overall, so things proceed apace, albeit at a slow pace.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 9/24/10
Couple o' things. First, I'm reposting the link to the work-in-progress sequence for Blake page 1. According to my web traffic, people clicked through to page 1 of the sequence, but did not proceed to page 2 and beyond. This may be because I completely forgot to mention that I was posting several pages at once. So, click here to go to page 1 once more, and then hit that right arrow to see the rest of the sequence:
 - Blake's Story - page 01 pencils work-in-progress
This week I also offer unto you page 1 of the storyboards for the book's introduction:
 - Introduction - page 01 storyboards
The intro shall be a brisk 5 pages, so that's what I'm gonna be showing you for the next month. Righty-o.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 9/17/10
Apologies for not updating last week. My grandfather passed away, so I very suddenly had to go out of town for several days. Needless to say, this derailed any work I might have gotten done on the book last week, but I'm back and scribbling away once more. I've currently got 33 pages penciled, or one-third of the estimated total. So THAT'S good news. Not that I've scanned any of it or anything. Instead, I offer all you process junkies a look at how page 1 of Blake's story came together:
- Blake's Story - page 01 pencils work-in-progress
Yes, they're crappy cellphone pix, but whaddayawantfernothin'? Anyway, it was a tricky page to compose, so I chose to document its progress, that I might inflict this nerdity upon an unsuspecting public. You're welcome.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 9/3/10
So yeah, didn't manage to post last week due to ArmadilloCon, but it was a very successful venture, so I personally am okay with how things shook out. Still working away on the book, but I don't have anything to show you on that at the moment. Instead, I will give you a feep:
 - Green Furry Dragon
This piece is a propos, given that tomorrow is the "closing" party for the ASG show at the Hideout. I have several pieces up in that, so you should come to the shindig, drink some wine, eat some cheese, and buy some art. I say "closing" party, because it was initially going to end on Sept. 4, but we ended up getting extended through September. So. It's still a party. You should still come. Further deets on the Events Page.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 8/20/10
This week I have for you page 1 of Blake's story. I won't be posting the entire thing online, but I would like to put up a page from each chapter just as a teaser. You may have already seen this on the Beacon Press blog, but here it is again:
 - Blake's Story - page 01 pencils
This page is also featured in the Transposes 20-page preview book, although in a slightly different form. Speaking of said book, have you purchased it yet? No? Well, here's that link again:
 - Transposes Preview Book
Meanwhile, ArmadilloCon approaches. Next weekend, in fact. That means I shall be a-feeping, and am as yet uncertain whether or not I'll be able to update next week. I guess we'll find out when we get there.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 8/13/10
So! What now, you ask? A fine question indeed. For the moment, allow me to present unto you this promotional piece I did for the PRISM Comics booth at SDCC:
 - Adam as Fred Astaire
I'm not quite sure what I'll be posting next week, though probably sample pages from Blake or Avery. I won't be putting their entire chapters online, but I can at least give you a teaser.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 8/6/10
Several announcements today, but let's take care of the final page of Adam's story first:
 - Adam's Story - page 16 pencils
So there it is. One chapter of the book in its penciled form. And I have finally, at long last, put the preview books containing this chapter up for sale online:
- Transposes Preview Book
As you can see upon clicking that link, you have two options: you can get just the book (which includes the 16 pages of Adam's story, bios of the other characters, page 1 of Blake's story, and a nifty full-color cover), or you can get the book plus a little piece of preliminary art. When I repeat panels in a story, rather than cutting and pasting with a computer like a sane person, I trace the panel onto vellum and then transfer it with blue carbon paper. So I wind up with all these pieces of vellum with art from the book traced onto them. The Deluxe Edition nets you one or two of these (depending on the size and complexity of the panels in question). Right now I have vellum panels from Adam's story and Blake's story available, and I'm sure other characters will pop up as I progress with the art for the book.
Speaking of which, I've finished penciling Blake's chapter and am currently working on Avery's. Concurrently, I'm storyboarding the introduction for the book, so there is much afoot here.
Also also, a couple of show announcements. I'm in an art show that is up now at the Hideout in downtown Austin, and have two Austin conventions coming up: ArmadilloCon (August 27-29), and Austin Comic Con (November 12-14). More deets on these shows are to be found on the events page.
I think that's it for now. Plenty enough, surely!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/30/10
San Diego was a blast. I had a great time hanging out with the PRISM guys, and am looking forward to doing it all again next year. There's more to say, but I'm frantically framing stuff in preparation for an art show that's going up tomorrow, so instead I shall cut to the chase and present the next page of Adam's story:
 - Adam's Story - page 15 pencils
Once the art show is up I'll hopefully have a spare moment in which to put the Transposes preview book into the online store. It really will happen eventually, I swear.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/19/10
I have posted my official schedule for SDCC, so if you're going to be in attendance, here is where and when you'll find me:
Events Schedule
No update this week, as I'll be a little bit busy. Hope to see some of you there!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/16/10
Bleah. Please allow me to apologize for not getting a listing up for the Transposes preview book for those of you who want to buy it from me online. I came down with a cold this week and am very sick right now. Getting up long enough to post this update is a bit much. Since my top priority is NOT being sick for San Diego (because how much would THAT suck), I am pretty much jettisoning most tasks that do not involve getting better as quickly as possible. So, if you want to buy the preview comic and are not going to SDCC and want me to hold one for you, please just email me and I'll set one aside. They're $3.00 plus $1.00 shipping (for US addresses, for elsewhere please ask and I'll figure it out), and consist of the penciled pages for Adam's story, character bios, and page 1 pencils for Blake's story.
At any rate, here's the next page of said Adam pencils:
 - Adam's Story - page 14 pencils
Hopefully all will be well soon. And by "all" I mean "me."
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/9/10
So! The preview comics did indeed arrive safe and sound. Soon I shall convey instructions for obtaining a copy, but I wanted to get this week's page up first:
 - Adam's Story - page 13 pencils
San Diego approacheth, and there is much work to be done in preparation. I will probably post preview comic purchase instructions this weekend, unless I don't. But I'd like to. But we shall see. Next week at the absolute latest.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 7/2/10
And now, Adam - page 12:
 - Adam's Story - page 12 pencils
Apparently the Transposes preview books are printed and en route to me even at this very moment. If all goes well I will have them in hand next Tuesday. I shall then confirm their worthiness to be sold to the public at large, and shortly thereafter shall convey instructions for obtaining your very own copy.
I just want to make absolutely clear that this is NOT the finished Transposes book that will be coming out from Beacon Press. This is a 20-page PREVIEW book I put together on my own for promotional purposes. It features the PENCILED art for Adam's chapter, not the final art that will be in the final book. This is for process junkies and early adopters and collectors and that sort of thing. Okadoke?
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 6/25/10
Page 11 of Adam's Story awaits:
 - Adam's Story - page 11 pencils
In SDCC preview book news, I got my proofs of the print-ready comic and have paid my invoice, so in theory the books are being queued up to print as we ... well, whatever this is. As I type, as you later read. At any rate, once I have them in hand I shall let you know how you, yes YOU, can go about obtaining a copy.
I'm working my way through page 8 of Blake's story right now, which puts me at about 3.5 pages to go. So that chapter should be done soon. This one's been slow going because I have to stop frequently to hunt up photo references, and there have been quite a few packed panels (nothing as extreme as the crowd scene on page 1, but still). Probably going to pencil Avery's story next.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 6/18/10
There's page 10 of Adam's Story, of course:
 - Adam's Story - page 10 pencils
But wait! There's more! My publisher, Beacon Press, is running a penciled page from Transposes on their blog in celebration of Pride Month. This is page 1 of Blake's story, which means you ain't seen it yet. See if you can spot the cameos:
Blake's Story Page 1 pencils
I'll be posting that here eventually, but for now that's where you gotta go to see it.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 6/11/10
Page 9, page 9, make way for page 9:
 - Adam's Story - page 9 pencils
Long day, brain fried, on to the next task at hand. Ka-zoom, etc.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 6/4/10
Could it be time for page 8? Oh, I think so:
 - Adam's Story - page 8 pencils
In SDCC book news, I think everything's ready to go. I've passed it off to a friend for typo-checks and so forth. If all goes well, I'll put in the print order this weekend.
I'm also prepping the pencils for page 1 of Blake's story for a feature on the Beacon Press Blog, so I'll let you know when that's up. Busy busy!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/28/10
Page 7 is here for your edification:
 - Adam's Story - page 7 pencils
The SDCC book is coming along nicely. I've got all the story pages formatted, now just need to do the cover and title page and whatnot. I've done a lot of cleanup to the pencils for the book version, mostly getting rid of planning lines on faces and so forth. So. Once it's all ready and printed I shall let ye know.
Meanwhile, I'm about to start page 4 of Blake's story, which will be the 20th page I've penciled. Once that's done I'll be approximately 20% done with the pencils for the book, which is quite glee-inducing. For me, at any rate. (Compared to pencils, inks are like coasting downhill.)
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/21/10
Ah, but page 6:
 - Adam's Story - page 6 pencils
Besides that, things chug along. I did finally finish penciling page 1 of Blake, but it took for-freakin'-ever. SDCC sneak preview book proceeds apace. That's about it, really. Onward!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/14/10
What's this? Page 5 already? So it would seem:
 - Adam's Story - page 5 pencils
I am still working on page 1 of Blake's story. It's a big, complicated crowd scene, dontcha know. But I'm having a lot of fun filling in the crowd with amusing cameos, so it'll be worth the effort. While I won't post all of Blake's story online, I may post page 1 so you can ogle the madness. But ye shall see it not before Adam's story is done, regardless. Now, I gotta go work on putting that SDCC book together before too much more time slips away from me.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 5/7/10
And now, Adam page 4:
 - Adam's Story - page 4 pencils
I have finished up the pencils for Adam's story, and it now rests with my editors, awaiting their commentary. In the meantime, I have begun penciling Blake's chapter, the first page of which is a bit of a doozy. It shall keep me occupied for quite some time. I also need to put together the preview book for SDCC, so that will be happening shortly as well. I believe it will be possible for folks not attending SDCC to snag a copy, so I'll keep you updated on the particulars.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/30/10
Today I don't just have a new Adam page for you, but we'll start with that nonetheless:
 - Adam's Story - page 3 pencils
But no, wait, there is more! Come close and observe, for I have at long last discovered an appropriate working title for this damn book: Transposes. Here's why it's so great:
transpose (vt)
1 : to change in form or nature
2 : to render into another language, style, or manner of expression
3 : to transfer from one place or period to another
4 : to change the relative place or normal order of : alter the
sequence of [transpose letters to change the spelling]
5 : to write or perform (a musical composition) in a different key
6 : to bring (a term) from one side of an algebraic equation to the
other with change of sign
There is also a definition for transpose as a noun: "a matrix formed
from another matrix by interchanging the rows and columns."
Plus, there's the idea of "pose" in there, as in posing for a photo,
painting, or - ahem! - drawing.
So there you have it. Unless something more brilliant comes to me in the interim, the title of this book shall be Transposes.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/23/10
Behold, further pencils in the Saga of Adam:
 - Adam's Story - page 2 pencils
In other news, trying to come up with a title is kicking my ass. I'm still searching for a word that conveys infinite complexity, but that isn't fractal (that is, the deeper layers of complexity don't necessarily follow the same pattern as the layers above). Blah! Where is this word I seek? Where is it?!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/16/10
Before you click, I must apologize for the fact that this is a pretty fast and dirty scan of the pencils for page 1. I just simply don't have time right now to do a better scan. Hopefully I can get to that this weekend, so if you want to wait for a better image, come back in a couple of days. Otherwise, click ye here:
 - Adam's Story - page 1 pencils
But yes, onward!
UPDATE 4/18/10: Just uploaded a much, much cleaner scan of the pencils, for the relief of your eyeballs and mine.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/9/10
And so we conclude draft 4 of Adam's storyboards:
 - Adam's Story - page 13 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 14 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 15 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 16 storyboards
So! This means next week I shall commence posting the penciled pages of Adam's story. I'll be doing so at the rate of a page a week, to give you lots of time to savor the details of the artwork.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 4/2/10
The fourth draft of Adam's story cannot be stopped:
 - Adam's Story - page 09 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 10 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 11 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 12 storyboards
Pencils on Adam's chapter proceed apace, so next week I'll have the last 4 pages of the storyboard draft up, and after that we move onto posting pencils. And. AND. My plan for San Diego is to have a minicomic of a penciled chapter for sale, so those of you who are into that kind of thing can pick up a special preview of the book with material that will be slightly different from the finished book. More info on that as it develops.
Meanwhile, the book is gonna need a title if I'm to promote it effectively at SDCC, but the sad truth is that coming up with titles is not my strong suit. So, if you have any brilliant ideas feel free to pass them along. More info about that and potential frabjuous prizes over at my LiveJournal.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 3/26/10
Four more pages of the fourth draft of Adam's story:
 - Adam's Story - page 05 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 06 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 07 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 08 storyboards
I'm in the midst of penciling page 5, should be done with that later today. Then I need to mock up a sample chapter using these pencils so the production folks at Beacon can make sure all is well with respect to aspect ratios and printable margins and what have you.
In San Diego Comic Con news, I have received confirmation of my pro registration, so I'm all barcoded-up and ready to go. Next step: figuring out travel. Excitement and thrills!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 3/19/10
So! Here we go. The first four pages of the fourth draft of Adam's story:
 - Adam's Story - page 01 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 02 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 03 storyboards
 - Adam's Story - page 04 storyboards
Now you can go nerd out and look at how much changed from draft 1 to draft 4. I am even now working on the pencils for Adam's chapter, so that's coming down the pipe. The plan is, the next month is fourth-draft storyboards (it's only 16 pages to the first draft's 21 pages), and then I'll start posting the pencils.
For the time being I'm taking down the storybards I'd had up for Cal's chapter. I think I want to keep it to one story, rather than have a mishmash of drafts from this chapter and that. So that's where those went.
In other news, I've sent off my pro registration materials for San Diego, so if all goes well I shall have my badge in hand in a few weeks, and all will be well as far as my plans for camping out at the PRISM Comics table go. More info when I know more.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 3/5/10
Continuing with the beginning of the first draft of Adam's story:
 - Adam's Story - page 02 storyboards
Behold! STAPLE! is tomorrow (March 6th), whereat I shall be selling comics and feeps and things. I would like to bring the chapter edits for Adam's and Avery's chapters so's you can see what it looks like when your editor writes all over your work, so hopefully I won't forget. Any of you hardcore process nerds would then be rewarded for getting off yer butts and coming to this show (so what if you don't live in Austin; can't you people teleport?).
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 2/26/10
As mentioned previously, let us wrap around to the beginning of the first draft of Adam's story:
 - Adam's Story - page 01 storyboards
I think these pages were gone by the second draft, so I'm not going to promise super excitement. What I will promise is a non-stop rollercoaster of process junkie nerdity.
Also, STAPLE! is next weekend (March 6th), so the time has come to panic about that. Off I go!
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 2/19/10
This here is the last page of the first draft of Adam's story:
 - Adam's Story - page 21 storyboards
I think what I'm going to do is go ahead and post the first four pages of draft 1 so you can see the whole damn thing in its warts-and-all glory. Next stop after that is to post the storyboard pages for the ... er ... I think it's the fifth draft? Which is the draft I'll be working from as I draw the pencils. (I'll probably do that at a rate of three pages a week instead of one, just to speed things along.) Then I can start posting pencilled pages for Adam's chapter, and you'll finally be able to clap your eyes on some actual art for once.
Meanwhile, my editors (I have two, actually, who are working in tandem on the whole book) are going to be doing line edits on the storyboards for Avery's chapter. So that one is the next down the pipe, though I'm not actually going to post every page of every chapter here. For that one, probably just a couple of teaser pages.
I guess my point is, progress is indeed being made, and things are on a roll.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 2/12/10
Another Adam page for you this week. No new Anti-Valentine, but I did do a new drawing of a hot nerdy guy:
 - Adam's Story - page 20 storyboards
 - Shirtless Copy Editor
I drew our corrective friend here so I could practice a different inking technique from my usual. It wasn't too happy with the process, honestly (too slow, too messy), but I thought you might enjoy the results nonetheless. Assuming you're into that kind of thing. And really, if you aren't, I don't quite understand what you get out of this site.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 2/5/10
Back to Adam:
 - Adam's Story - page 19 storyboards
Closing in on the end of this version of Adam's story. I think what I'm going to do is go back and post the original pages 1-4, which I didn't bother to do before, so you can see this draft in its entirety. THEN I'm gonna post all of the third draft so you can see how dramatically it changed. I probably won't make you read it a page a week, but rather 2 or 3 pages at a time. Yes, we are deep into process junkie territory, but I am a process junkie so you're stuck with it.
Not sure if I'll have another Anti-V-Day card up next week or not. We shall see if inspiration strikes.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/29/10
Let us take a wee break from Adam's storyboards for some new Anti-Valetine fun:
 - Wasp Nests Anti-Valentine
As I mentioned on the be-linked page, I did not doctor this photo. The scene was discovered as-is, and begged me to turn it into an Anti-Valentine. I am not so cold-hearted as to refuse such an impassioned plea.
Also as noted on said page, should you be shaking your head at my relentless cynicism, you may wish to note that the wasp nests in question are made by mud daubers. These are beneficial wasps and not particularly aggressive, so make of that what you will.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/22/10
Furthermore:
 - Adam's Story - page 18 storyboards
Talked with my editor yesterday, and Adam's story is almost ready for pencils. She's going to do line edits now, and once I have those I'll start drawing. Yes, I know, this process takes a lot longer than you might expect, and certainly longer than I'm used to, but I am learning a lot from this and I think my work will be much stronger for it. Now, to wrestle with another chapter for a bit.
Finished the new PIQue strip for the STAPLE! 2010 anthology. It'll presumably run in the program book, which you can get at STAPLE! on March 6th. After the big day has passed I'll run the strip here.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/15/10
And then there was this:
 - Adam's Story - page 17 storyboards
Spent much of last weekend trying to pick a font for das book (no, I'm not using Arial, for those of you who might have been concerned). Seriously, this took hours and hours, and I'm not even settled yet. I may wind up making a font of my own handwriting, but I dunno. It's not like my lettering has ever been spectacular. We shall see what transpires.
Finished the pencils for the new PIQue strip for the STAPLE! 2010 anthology. Shortly I shall ink.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/8/10
Yawp, onward with Adam's Story storyboards:
 - Adam's Story - page 16 storyboards
I'm actually rather excited to be able to hold up these drafts against the finished pages to see just how much has changed even at this late stage. It'll be a bit, though, before I will be posting any of said finished pages. But! Oh, when I do ... when I do ...
Meanwhiles, You may be interested to learn that I'm working on a brang new PIQue strip for the STAPLE! 2010 anthology. It'll also be awhile before you see that one, since I want to wait until after STAPLE! to put it online, but look ye for it after the first weekend in March. Or, you know, come to STAPLE! or suchlike.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
Announcements for 1/2/10
As you may have been able to ascertain, the holidays happened to my posting schedule. But I have returned, and have for you this page o' storyboards:
 - Adam's Story - page 15 storyboards
Should I say something about the new year? Well, here it is. Obviously the book is not going to be done in time for a spring 2010 publication date. I do hope it will still come out this year, but I'm trying not to get distracted my worries about specific release dates. The truth, as you may have gleaned, is that publishing deadlines are squirrely, and trying to pin them down is a bit of a black art. At any rate, you can rest assured that I am working away, even if my original time estimate was a wee bit optimistic. Who knew, eh? Who knew. Regardless, it's at a stage of getting more finished with each pass, tightening up and becoming fit and trim. All is well.
Cheers,
Dylan NDR
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