A little snippet of a thing I'm working on. I'm finally working full out on my own book. I've teased and false started many times over the years, but scripts are being written, layouts drawn. Feels like I've got that old fire I had way back in the Red Mundi days... Also working all night again, which is... not ideal. Speaking of Rex Mundi, I remember in those very early days (1998, I think 😲) when Arvid was bouncing story points off me, starting to pump out scripts, and I was starting to do character designs. I sent some of those early character designs to Arvid and he remarked that seeing the art made start to feel "real", like the book was coelescing. That comment came to mind this last week when I had computer trouble and lost some work... If been on such a role writing, but that hiccup really put a damper on my enthusiasm. I was in real danger of this being just another false start... at least 10 years, at least 10, of false starts, feeling like I was wasting time on something with NO guarantees, so much less risk drawing and collaborating on other people's books... with paychecks... Anyway, I determined that this time, whether the project succeeds it fails, will not be a false start... and yet, those... fears, I guess, are still strong, and the bump in the road threatened to derail it once again. And then I remembered what Arvid said, "it's starting to feel real!" So, I determined that I'd shore myself up with what I do best, drawing, and give myself a minute to recharge before I done back into the writing. I decided to draw, essentially, a cover or one sheet for what will be the "prologue" to the larger story. Arvid, you were right, man, it's starting to feel "real". Looking up and seeing the image coming together on my computer screen, in a real sense looking my characters in the eye as I write them, seeing a proto-logo... Slowly but surely, it's starting to feel like a real thing. It's gratifying in a way that no project has been in many years. Not to denigrate any of them, but, after Rex Mundi, I haven't really feel like any of them were really mine. This is mine... For better or worse. (at El Cajon, California)
