Almost there...

After two nonstop years, I'm finally easing my foot off the gas pedal. Just finishing up odds and ends and buff 'n' polish on the book while waiting for my editor's comments. Popping into neutral to cross the finish line with my sanity still intact.

Here are some sample spreads, two of which relate to earlier posts for any of you interested in the before 'n' after comparison:





Long overdue was some quality time with my wife in Costa Rica this past week--our first couple's vacation since our honeymoon in 2008. Needless to say, she's been very supportive and phenomenally patient with me working on VIETNAMERICA these past two years. Lost our camera in mid-trip, so all I got to show for it is this doodle:

"Let there be naked people."

Hells yeah: figure drawing's back in session!

C-C-C-COLORS!

Y'know that feeling you get when you're really into whatever you're working on--like feeling totally awesome about it and super productive--and go to bed totally psyched about the work you accomplished that day only to wake up and look at said previous day's work with fresh eyes and realize it sucks? Thankfully, that finally didn't happen to me this morning:



This is the latest round of master palettes for the book's various sections--I think they'll stick to the wall this time. Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Chuggin' along...

... and my days are blurring into one endless work session. Spent the last couple weeks hand-lettering the entire book and refining the b/w washes in preparation for coloring:




The theory goes that the better lookin' the tonal stage is, the easier the coloring stage will be. I'm approaching the two year anniversary of signing the contract on this project, so working diligently to give myself a huge reason to celebrate--i.e. finishing the book!

Covered.

I turned in the cover for VIETNAMERICA last week, so thought I'd post the process leading up to the final. It began with thumbnails scattered throughout sketchbooks and paper scraps... whatever I had on me at the time an idea struck:



After narrowing down those sketches, I refined a few concepts which were then submitted to my publisher:



And the winner was: [druuummmrrrooolll] none of the above! There was a seventh sketch that, when submitted, was unanimously agreed should be the cover so you'll see that when the book actually comes out. (Or for you industrious types, it'll be popping up somewhere on the interwebs soon enough.) Sorry to say, this cover was rejected by my editors pretty early in the brainstormin' process.

Washes: D-O-N-E!

Guess what's next? Yeah, "colors", I'm looking at you. You can run and hide, but I've got you locked on target...

Before and After: An example of obssesive compulsive time wasting?

Version A: Original art from book pitch to publisher.



Version B: Revised art for final published book.



See the difference? Yeah, me neither. Perhaps redrawing my pitch pages was not the best use of my time, but there are subtle tweaks in the revised versions that help improve story flow... AND if I had just "cheated" and reused the originals in the final book I know I would never forgive myself.

The proud new owner of my first-ever ISBN!

The biggest change from self-publishing to having a publisher is accepting that it's not all under my control anymore, especially marketing and distribution. Case in point: I had no idea you could pre-order my book in Canada and the UK. (The control freak in me would like to point out that besides the author name, publisher, and language all the other book deets are inaccurate.) Suddenly it all feels... very... real.

How I celebrated the arrival of 2010:

Happy New Year everyone! With the exception of book peripherals (like chapter headers and endpages) and a few re-edited/re-composed pages/panels, VIETNAMERICA is finally I-N-K-E-D! Reaching this benchmark took longer than I predicted, but still deeply satisfying as a huge weight is lifted and I float closer to the finish line. Now on to completing the washes...

11-0: the perfect season!

SVA's public figure drawing just went on winter break and rumor has it it won't be returning which makes this extra poignant: after attending for over 8+ years, this was the first semester I made every session. I am officially now more disciplined then I ever was in college!




When I'm on my deathbed and my life flashes before my eyes, this crowning achievement will certainly be the main feature. Special thanks to fellow figure drawers Alex Meyer, Debra Ziss, Matt Fleck, Leland Purvis, and Tyler Chin-Tanner for helping keep my eye on the prize.