Why so long on the updates?

First off, I'm really sorry it's taken so long.  Usually to wrap a television show it takes about a week of very uncontrolled chaos.  This had/IS going on way too long. It took about 2 months to get everything wrapped and show delivered to the parent company, then a week or two ago the EP wanted to change the Pilot and we all had to come back.  I 'technically' had some vacation time, if  you consider a vacation being called in on random days and answering questions constantly. . .yeah, I personally don't either. 

Essencially the Day Job burned me out to the point where I would just drink some Whiskey and pass out when I got home.  I'm in the office right now as I write this, as we're gearing up for season two.  Yeesh.  However after the initial insanity passes, the begging of the show while in Post isn't too bad, so I'm going to try to push through and get this bad boy done.  I do have some art but I left it at home.  I'll try to scan it in when I get home if I'm not too dead on my feet.

Again, thanks for sticking with me, and I should have some more info and art for you soon.


-Trevor

Post coming soon

Sorry folks, the day job's show is getting near the air dates so it means long long hours that drain the life out of you.  I have to have a colonoscopy (don't think that's spelled right) on Friday meaning I have to stay home and drink this vile medicine stuff they give you pre-operation on Thursday, so in theory I should have time to get some stuff up, answer questions, etc.

Later Gators.
Trevor

How I do layouts (CC with a little ZF thrown in) Part 1

Scanner has been acting wonky at work so this post took awhile, and I'll have to do it in parts.

This post is really about how you can actively know what your strengths and weaknesses are and how to plan accordingly.  For example, as I mentioned before I'm horrible at backgrounds, and I feel they are a very important part of the visual layout of the page.  If perspective is off, the reader may not know why they dislike a panel/page, but they probably will dislike it more than something put in the proper perspective.  Also detail is important on a background.  A slum should look like one; trash strewn about, graffiti, etc.

The below picture is a version of the start of my layouts (after the thumbnail process as mentioned in a previous post). The reason it looks so rough is I had to HEAVILY adjust the levels after it was scanned (more about Levels and Photoshop/Gimp in an upcoming post).  I included a picture with just the straight scan so you can see how light the 4H pencil I use looks.  Also, that does bring up a good point; discover the range of lead pencils you want to use.  Some people use much darker leads than I do, as they provide a clearer image.  I prefer things in the mid to high H (hard lead) pencils as they don't show up heavy in a scan, and if done right are easy to erase.

Anyways, onto the start:

 So you can see the basics of the city have been laid out.  In fact you can see some of the perspective grid I set up just to make sure everything stays in proportion as well.  I already started putting some of the debris in the street, but obviously that, and of course most importantly, the Zombie Dinosaurs need to be put in the page.  But by laying out the backround first I know where all the little stuff would be (Stop sign, Fire Hydrant, etc.) that the characters would need to avoid when moving. It makes the world seem more real, more complete. Now you'll also notice the large amount of space at the top and bottom of the page.  This is because I have a large caption box going at the bottom, and, as I'm a fan of when Silver Age comics put the title on the first page, I'm going to do exactly that. And lets face it, especially of late, I've very limited on time, so it'll save me some when drawing the page. 

BTW this is how light my pencils are (no levels ajusted, just a strait color scan)

So you can see how easy it is to erase, and how little work I have to do digitally to clean it up as it barely registers (actually I had do a little touch just to get that to show).  As always taking the time to think and plan before you start will save you more time in the end.  The military has a saying "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast," and it's dead on. Additionally since I know I'm bad at backgrounds by having this problem dealt with first will same me a lot of time.  When I used to layout the character first and the backgrounds around them, it would often take me forever because I'd notice little faults I was constantly correcting.  The running dino is very sketchy and will probably be changed.  I had already altered it from this scan (this scan was done awhile ago) but as I leave everything in pencils, until I'm ready for the next stage, I can still change it).

More on the page progression later. I'll try for later today but we're really busy at the day job right now.  

-Trevor

I assure you I'm not dead. . .yet.

Sorry for such the long delay in posting folks.  I've had some serious health issues come up that I had to deal, and in fact am still dealing, with.  Not to mention work, and my cohort in crime's TV show that we'll be pitching soon. 

However that being said, I should hopefully have a post showing how I set up penciled pages, going all the way through the process.  To do this I need to use the large industrial scanner we have at work, so I'm trying to figure out how to get the pencils (I start using 4h pencils typically so it's very light) to shop up in the scans.

Oh and I'm making the little guy up above public domain, so free to use for whatever you want. . .

See you soon.

Day 26: Info on Copyrights and Trademarks

Feeling kinda nocuous at work, but I promised on this post and I feel it’s important so here goes, oh, and again, I’m not a lawyer.  This info is based purely on research, make sure to looking into the subject in depth yourself.

Before you get started on your company and comic if you’re thinking of self publishing you’ll want to check existing copyright and trademarks (© and TM respectively).  Now people will tell you have to hire copyright lawyers and such, which is a good idea if you can afford it, but as we’re all comic and/or zombie fans here, it’s a safe bet none of us are hording away money for obscure legal fees.  Thankfully there’s a lot you can do yourself, so let’s look at what courses you have open.

First off; Protecting your work, aka Copyrights. 

A lot of people will tell you to mail yourself your work so it comes back to you in a postage dated envelope and as long as it’s sealed your good.  No.  IF it makes you feel better go for it, but this ‘form’ of copyrighting doesn’t hold up in courts, and quite frankly is a waste of time. 

And you don’t have to worry about it as much because of recent changes in copyright laws.  Currently the United States operates under a creative copyright basis, meaning if you can show that you came up with the idea first, the concept is considered operating under your copyright.  This was actually one of the reason for the blog; it proves for all that this is my concept, when I came up with it, etc.  Keep in mind the trick is to protect your idea before you have it published. You can legally file a copyright, but in my opinion I’d wait till you start getting the bucks before you consult with a lawyer.

Trademarks are tricky, and it’s easy to step on peoples toes without even knowing it.  While trademarks seem similar to copyrights there are defined differences between the two, and you’ll want to read up on what makes them unique.  Basically Trademarks are designed to protect a service or product, Copyrights protect original ideas or artistic works.  So really what you want to focus on is Copyright for your comic, comic ideas, etc. and Trademark search to make sure whatever name your putting your comic ‘company’ under, hasn’t been taken, or is similar to an existing publishing company.

That being said you’ll want to start with searching copyrights and trademarks.  I’ve seen services, and or lawyers charging $200-$300 for this service. . .and all it takes is basically time.

Copyright

http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First

Trademarks

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4004:ag9594.1.1

Make sure when you do the searches you look for both broad descriptions and more specific detailed searches.  It’s pretty much all common sense. 

Hope that helps.

-T 

Upcoming Post

The next post up is going to be about how to research copyrights for free (instead of having a lawyer do it for you) something almost everyone forgets about and is AMAZINGLY important for North American Publishers, and something a lot of people overlook.  For fans of the blog outside the US I'll try to look up some of the information for you as well.  I should also have the website for the publishing company up.

In the meantime. . .

For our friends outside the us or if you don't get the joke see the comments section.  It should hopefully explain the joke. 

Day 25.3 Marketing info (CC: Comic Creators)

Hello and welcome to the middle of the film.

Sorry for the delay in post. Going to the range to blow off steam with my shotgun became quite the reverse when a live round got jammed in the chamber and the slide release wouldn’t open. . .so essentially it became like defusing a bomb.  A very ‘shotgunny’ bomb, but I digress.  

Anyway, let’s get into it, at work and don't have much time.  Today is mainly about marketing your comic, especially the theories of paying for marketing versus grassroot ‘free’ or ‘very low cost’ marketing.

If you’ve been reading the blog for awhile, you may recall that I worked up some marketing materials, mainly bookmarks, that have the blogsite  and facebook listed on it.  The theory was it didn’t cost anything (day job let me print out the bookmarks on extra card stock we had) and comic book readers, well, read.  So If I gave them a free bookmark that had the site information in it, it would, logically draw more traffic.  So far my feelings are mixed.  I’ve gotten them handed out at comic book shops and one of my friends, Ben (from http://frogofthunder.blogspot.com/) dropped out what was left of my bookmarks at the San Deigo Comic Con marketing materials table since I couldn’t attend this year.  And while I saw a slight increase in traffic, it didn’t seem like it was being generated by the bookmarks, but rather by my internet efforts.

At this point I’m thinking digital efforts for all of my marketing efforts.  I seem to get a wider reach and as an independent comic publisher, I need everything I can get, and obviously I don’t have a lot of time to do it in. 

One great thing that’s come up recently that may assist with this is Google.  Blogspot is owned by Google and apparently I’m picking up enough traffic that I just received $100 free Google Adsense.  I’ll be thoroughly reviewing the information once I get home and as long as there is no strings attached be trying this out. I’ve thought about using both Adsense and the Facebook ads to draw more people to the site.  IF Adsense seems to garner in traffic, I’ll definitely think about putting some money into both. 

On a side note, in a discussion with one of my retailer friends, we discussed ads in Diamonds Previews.  And his advise which I have to concur with was: don’t.  If you are unaware of what Previews is, it’s a large monthly catalog that goes to retailer shops and that they select comics out of (Diamond Distribution is the worlds largest comic distributor, at least at the time I write this. . .in a few years it may be iTunes which really bums me out but more on that discussion in a later post).  The problem is that Previews USED to be how comic fans picked out the comics coming out; you’d go to the store, look at their copy (or buy yours) and tell the retailer what you wanted. . .now with sites like comic related, newsarama, comic book resources, etc.  most comic fans already know about up and comic comics and just walk in or email their comic shop what they want pulled. 

So in a nutshell: I recommend internet marketing over physical marketing, I’ll be using Adsense soon so I’ll post my results in a bit, and recommend getting the word out on your comic by using internet news and trend sites over paying for it.

I’ll have a post with more panel art, scriptwork, and whining about not being able to get to San Deigo for Con for the first time in years later. . .actually nothing on that last part, skip that.

L8R ZINOS!

-T