An Unhealthy Love for Double Page Spreads

Polterguys Chapter 1 Double Page Spread work-in-progress

I’ve been working on this double page spread as the splash page for the first chapter in my book and it got me to thinking – “This is incredibly difficult. Why am I doing this to myself?”

Reading The Family Man webcomic on an ios Device Asus Tablet

Reading Dylan Meconis' Family Man on my former tablet

About a month ago my parents bought me a tablet (a long belated birthday gift) and I immediately bookmarked my favorite webcomics on it and loaded up my google reader feeds in anticipation of happily reading web material on my living room couch.

Polterguys: Update and Xeric Grant

Taking a cue from Lars Martinson and sharing a visual graphic of my progress on Polterguys Volume One.

Production Timeline
I’m started working on pencils for the book which, in Laur-speak, just means fleshing out the stick figures on my thumbnails and refining compositions in the panels. I’ve been giving out daily previews through twitter and you can see them archived on my sketchblog here.

I’m still unhappy with how klunky some scenes still read which is why I don’t think the script/thumbnails are quite finished exactly. For the most part, the overall story has been greenlit. I just want to push the work from serviceable to poetic and I know that sounds terribly pretentious but I’m shooting for the moon here (even if I miss the stars and end up on a barn roof or something. At least, I tried!)

I’d like to have the book in my hands by July to sell at Anime Expo so I’m tentatively setting my official publication day sometime around May or June. I will be releasing the book online leading up to the release so that should be around March when I finish toning and lettering. Not sure if I’ll manage to meet these dates, but they are there to keep me motivated.

Xeric Grant
I have no idea what my chances of success are exactly but I’m thinking of applying for the final Xeric grant in February. This means I need to have the book in some sort of near-completed status by the end of that month. This also means I’m in terrible looming deadline mode through the end of this year and it’s been giving me dizzy spells of anxiety.

I’m hoping to finish off pencils this month and have the book mostly inked by the end of January. Toning is going to be an issue. I love the feel and variation digital screentones offer but at this point I’m not sure how I can incorporate it into this timetable. Would the judges accept a barely toned book? Will they even accept manga-influenced work? These are things I know I can ask around for, but I’m almost afraid to find out.

It would be really nice to have some financial support and some outside validation for the story. I’m aware there’s Kickstarter and IndieGoGo fundraising campaigns but it’s tougher to drum up enthusiasm for a beginning comic artist untested by the webcomic community and with no serious artistic professional background (like animators or animation storyboard artists have).

Despite all these anxieties, I’m really truly grateful I have the opportunity to do something like this. There’s still so much ahead of me and I honestly feel overwhelmed at the amount of things I need to keep track of to do this well. But this is what I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. This is what I daydreamed about during my day jobs and what I wish for myself when I come across fantastic stories that move me. Even if I’m not going to get everything perfectly the first time, I’m still pretty darn happy to be on this crazy journey.

Lea Salonga: A Night with a Princess’ Voice

Lea Salonga, Princess Jasmine and this artist

Lea Salonga was twice a singing Disney princess for a very good reason. She’s incredibly good.

I had the privilege of seeing her perform at the Catalina Jazz Bar last Monday and I knew when we booked the tickets earlier, it was going to be a really special night. You see, Lea is the probably the most famous Filipina artist in the world. She not only landed the singing roles for Princess Jasmine (Aladdin, 1992) and Fa Mulan (Mulan, 1998) but also starred as the original lead for the Broadway musical Miss Saigon as well as played Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables.

So, you can’t really blame me for going full-on geek and working up a bit of fanart to present to her like a giddy kid. ( I actually got the idea from Andreas Deja when he got a chance to meet Celine Dion.) I handed it to her after the concert and snagged a quick photo with her amongst the crowd of admirers that surrounded her.

Spending the night in her company, it became apparent how I’ve come to I admire her so much. In addition to being unbelievably talented, she’s also funny, warm and down-to-earth. When you listen to her sing, you hear her heart on the line. She gives each song and every line she utters everything and her music resonates with you. Lea gave Jasmine the joy of discovering new worlds and captured Mulan’s struggle with her identity.

I want to create art in the same way Lea sings: in service of powerful, emotional stories that can inspire generations long into the future. I want to be able to say I gave my work my everything and in the event I do achieve my dreams, I can only hope I can stay grounded and be as gracious as she had been. Not everyone who achieves great success can say it’s made them better people. Lea seems to understand how fortunate she has been and exudes an infectious positive energy- the same kind professional artists who love their work have.

At the end of the night, Lea wished everyone creative success, encouraging everyone to break down the creative blocks that stop you from becoming the best version of yourself. Little girls and budding Filipino artists like myself couldn’t ask for a better role model.

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My Blogging Missions: What to Expect at the Laurbits Show!

Graphic via Wordle.com

It just occurred to me I dove in right away at this blogging stuff without really having clarified my intentions yet. In some ways, the unrestrained nature meant that I felt free enough to post whatever I like, but the weekly schedule quickly ended up becoming a daunting deadline and I’ve started second guessing myself as to what I should actually be posting. Suddenly, I’ve got a stage and I need to put on a weekly show but I’ve no idea what the acts should be!

So, here’s what I plan to do with this blog:

1) I want to chronicle my journey towards the goal of self-publishing a manga-influenced graphic novel by providing updates and insights on the stages of my processes. I am still planning on releasing the first book online for free leading up to the book’s launch next year. Though at this point, I really can’t give an exact date because everything involved in book production seems to require huge chunks of time! I’m also learning as I go through the steps of publishing and research is a big part of this endeavor.

2) I want to curate and share available online resources for illustrators, animators and from other fields of creative work to encourage continued study and growth as a visual artist. There are a lot of great articles, advice and resources shared by professionals in the industry and I’d like to dedicate a page on this site where I can access them easily.

3) I also want to create a space for other posts related to the creative life. I’d like to feature artists that I admire and give shout-outs if any of them have new work to promote. I may recommend comics and books I’ve read, blog about events I’ve attended or post some productivity tips that help me get work done and stay motivated to make art.

4) And ofcourse, I’d like to share my own art and comics here! Drawing and creating stories provide me great joy and I have always been grateful for the chance to reach and move people through art. I’d like to meet and engage with other artists, foster a community to discuss important and address the unique challenges to “making it as a professional artist.”

I hope this clarifies my intentions for starting this blog and if you have suggestions or ways I can improve anything I’m doing now, I’d love to hear them! Feel free to sound off below!