Updates June.08.04

Paper Biscuit #2 is at Westcan Printing Group and has gone through one proof stage already. My ability to see typos and glitches diminishes relative to how long I've been working on the pages. I saw a cluster of mistakes that just swam past me on the computer but there it is, stark staring at you in the blue line, a testament to change blindness (see post in the archives about gorilla suits and a basketball game). There will be other proofs on color adjustments for the cover and page alignments. I hope to get them this week and give them the "go" signal by week's end. Sigh. Making your own books is a minefield of minutiae to sniff out and adjust and I'm naturally lazy at that.

I made my own font at Fontifier when it offered their site's services for free. It has since closed that window of free trials and now charges $9 to download the font you make. Very reasonable still, I think. So, I'm using my own type, Delcarmen, on this book--for better or worse (I do have problems with my font when Photoshop won't recognize one punctuation mark and updates the text layer with a question mark instead. Nerve wracking). The book is also finished without the inking stage, that is, I used my pencils as finished line. Very different from the first book but similar to Paper Biscuit 1.5's images. It is the most involved work I've done for this book and one would think that it's also easier since I've cut out a whole step. That's a maybe. I saved some time but gained the added worry of stray pencil lines and specks here and there. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it is forty pages of all story--no editorial page or sketches section.

Chris Young and David Fraser at Westcan have been very accomodating and do go out of their way to make sure you understand that they value your project. I used Adobe In Design (thanks to Enrico) for the first time and David walked me through the steps--better than a tutorial--so I can deliver the pages with the utmost control. I'm a novice at all this so it took several tries. It got through without a major hitch. Old dogs, see.

The website desperately needs revamping and I do need a store page. You'll notice that there is no link whatsoever to buying the books. That's intentional and hopelfully will be resolved before the San Diego Comic-con comes around. I am not able to get on top of the book orders given the amount of work the day job is demanding of me. Add on top of that making these books and prepping for the con--then you have one frazzled artist.


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Did a weekend workshop. Judith Weston's Acting for Directors Workshop. This lady started the first day with a gentle promise that by the end of the three days you will be transformed. I must admit that I took that to mean that any three days you dedicate to doing something will change you in some way. Nothing cosmic or anything. But by the end of Sunday I can say that cosmic comes very close. And whatever I may have learned as tools to use in navigating a director/actor relationship paled in comparison to what I got out of it as self-realization. Can't explain it without sounding like a crazed zealot but I seem to be able to literally see things better after this weekend. I just hope this state lasts a while. So, surprise surprise! Here's my endorsement: If you are able to and you are in Da Business anyway, this is something you should do.