Rebranding! (Sort Of)

I'm going to make this the main place for where I write any major updates for my projects. Which I know it seems like this is what the blog is for already, but here's something behind the scenes: I'm actually writing the blog posts for my major projects in their own platforms and then pasting them onto this one, which can get a little time-consuming and, I'll admit, tedious. I've been suspecting that that's the reason I've been a bit demotivated to write these logs in the past months, and been coming and going with these logs in the past, I suppose, year.

I'm still trying to figure out my little game plan, but I guess I'll just improvise and see what works. That's all I want to say, really.

-Chocco

Project: April and friends - Log #039

We are back!

Right! So it’s been ages since my last update log, but that’s (once again) not to say that I haven’t been working on anything since then. I’ve been working on more of the concepts side of my SHP project, as well as Mydan, the story that comes before that one. 

I also should mention that I’ve been focusing on my Mydan project a lot more, recently, particularly because I really want that one to come out before SHP does. It’s a lot tamer when it comes to story and characters, so I feel like I could get this one out pretty soon. I just got to get some concept art out of the way. Really excited, and I hope I actually live up to my word!

Gone Unsupervised! - Log #017

Will this finally be the time? ‘Cause it’s been waiting too damn long!

GODDAMN. It’s been ages since I’ve made my last update on this project. But, I’ve got some good news. Now, I believe it’s coming back. Hiatus could be over and I’m feeling pretty motivated right now.

Here’s the game plan: I’m gonna start off “cheap”. Like, I’ll make the official pages with low-effort material (like plain paper n stuff) and it doesn’t matter if the scanning looks kinda crap. I just want to achieve the feeling of actually getting something out, and consistently. And then once I’ve gotten used to that, I’ll slowly make my way up to improving the production.

This is just going to be a simple webcomic after all, and not something to be printed or anything fancy like that. Pretty hyped! 

Dyrus' Men - Log #002

Hoping I'm back onto this soon

You know why? I've found the pencil case with all my inking stuff in it. Unfortunately, right now, I've been really busy with uni stuff. Y'know, finishing off my Winter School stuff, starting Semester 2 smoothly... It's a bit difficult to get back to this project and my other projects in general, at this time. Which sucks.

Luckily, in my spare time, I've decided to make a fan blog for the main guys featured in this project. You can check it out, >>here!<< 

Gone Unsupervised! - Log #016

My pencil case has been found!

Good news, my pencil case with all my inking stuff has been found! That means I can hopefully get back to working on this project. But first, there are some things I want to get out the way before anything…

Firstly, there’s completing all the major pages of this project’s website that I’ve been working on. You can view it >>here<<, although it’s still a work in progress. Second off, I want to be able to plan the first few pages’ scripts, too. I don’t want to come into this unprepared again.

I should also mention that I’m working on my final assignment for Winter School, which is keeping me pretty busy right now. Not to mention, the new semester’s starting, and I don’t want to come in disorganised, either. Yeah, life’s a bit busy right now. And that’s all I want to say, really.

Project: April and Friends - Log #038

Really busy.

It’s Winter School assignment week and the new semester’s just started. In other words, I’ve been really busy with life stuff, so I haven’t really been working on this project as much as I hoped I would. I don’t really recall anything major happening, other than letting my brother proofread my scripts. That’s it, really.

Dyrus' Men - Log #001

I've started it! Except, there's just one thing...

So, I thought that maybe I should probably log my progress for this project, too. Now, "Dyrus' Men" is a Spectrobes: Origins fan comic that I'm trying to work on. 

Firstly, this is a comic that I'm going to be drawing up traditionally, like with inking pens n' whatnot. I've already completed one of the scripts and I've started drawing it too! One problem... My pencil case is lost. The one with all my inking tools n' stuff. Yeah. It sucks.

Anyways, I'll probably continue this log when either I finish writing another script and/or finally find my pencil case!

Project: April and Friends - Log #037

I’m going to stop slacking starting now(?!)

So, if it wasn't obvious enough, I've been slacking a bit with updating these weekly logs without giving any reason. And I'll apologise for that. First off, Winter School. It's doing fine, athough it *has* made me pay less attention to this project and I'm still having some trouble organising the things I want to do during the day. Y'know, especially since I'm still trying to fix up my sleeping schedule n' whatnot... Other than that, there's really not much outside-of-projects stuff stopping me.

Back to this project. So far, I've just been re-focusing the whole central themes and internal challenges so I can confidently continue writing the main scripts. I've recently finished doing that, actually. So, I guess, that means I can continue writing the actual story!

I've also been getting back to reading comics & manga as a hobby, if I hadn't mentioned that on here, already. I've been getting into the action-adventure genre (and/or shounen, if you will), and at this time, specifically Jujutsu Kaisen and Scott Pilgrim. Reading those have really been providing me with some know-how on how to draw up comics, especially in the action genre.

Gone Unsupervised! - Log #015

My pencil case is lost!!!

Firstly, sorry it’s been a while again. But I guess, it’s safe to say that I’m pretty close to drawing up this project. But my pencil case is lost! And this is a comic project I really want to try drawing traditionally. Sucks!

Project: April and Friends - Log #036

Once again, I’m over a week overdue

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this already, but I’m currently taking on Winter School right now for script writing. This course is pretty important to me, so it’s bound to hinder my progress on this project.

Good news, though: I’m still working on the project in my spare time, especially with story planning n’ whatnot. I’ve especially been focusing on the more internal aspects (as in character arcs, themes n’ stuff - basically, the stuff that’s not the main action) because it’s pretty all over the place right now and needs some refining.

I’ve also got some future plans to help me with settings, too, since I’ve barely touched upon those compared to other elements. These are going to be based off the writing exercises I’ve done in my class today, which all had to do with setting/environment/location. Let’s hope I get started with that, soon.

Gone Unsupervised! - Log #014

Surprise! (sorry this log is late again…)

So I feel like I’m gonna get started actually drawing up this project, but it’ll be pretty different to how the prototype comics were drawn. I’m doing it traditionally. Y'know, with paper and ink(ing pens). I feel like, since this is a comic with dumb things just happening, with no real story or anything, I want this to be easy to produce.

The book I'm gonna draw this project in

I’m not 100% confident with my traditional inking skills yet, but I believe that the more I get used to it, the better I’ll be (obviously). And I’m pretty sure, since this is my first comic project that I’m actually drawing up, I’ll want to begin by not having to worry too much about colours n’ whatnot. Pretty excited to get this thing started (again!) Let’s see how far I’ll go.

My current inking skills. It's not the best...

Gone Unsupervised! - Log #013

Making some progress...

Firstly, sorry about not updating at all last Sunday. I was really hoping to get the script for one of my projects completed (which hadn't been completed until a couple days ago). Well, at least now that that's done, I can finally get back to this project. I'm starting to plan out the first couple scripts. Hope to get a good chunk of them done by the end of this week!

Project: April and friends - Log #35

I finally finished that last chapter!

First off, I'll apologise for not updating last Sunday. I really thought I could complete that last chapter by then, but, course, I wasn't able to. Good news though, I completed my first draft of that chapter a couple days ago, and it's now available to read on my main comics site!

Also, I've been thinking about rewriting some of my older fight + action scenes. I do feel like there needs to be improvements in terms with storytelling, especially. I'm actually also thinking about experimenting with thumbnails in advance, just so I can see how well this project flows on paper. I also want to get back to continuing my concept art stuff again, soon. Other than all that, I've really not much else to say. 

Gone Unsupervised! - Log #012

No more homework!

Now that my uni stuff’s started to cool down, I can finally start working on this again! Unfortunately, I hadn’t really thought up many ideas for this project in between breaks, but I’ve got some plans for the week.

First, I wanna complete the website I’m building for it. I forgot to mention this last week, but this project’s getting it’s own site, now. You can view it >>here<<. Second off, I should definitely redesign this series’ title since it’s different now. 

In the meantime, I should also organise the scripts I’ve got for them. And maybe, I might redraw some old pages when I get back to drawing this series up!

Project: April and friends - Log #034

I am free!

I’ve just recently submitted my last assignment! I’ve got a bit of a holiday now, which means now I’ve got some time to work on my projects.

In between my homework sessions though, I’ve still been thinking about this project. For this one, I’ve mostly been thinking about title-related stuff. I feel like I might *actually* just make the title of this project the idea I had before (it was “Steel House in the Prairie”). I think I’ve grown attached to it. For the last time, let’s just hope it’s here to stay…

Also, bonus! I talked to my friends about the characteres of this project again! Mainly it was the rooftop robots of the main/secondary cast. I’m really happy that they like them.

Changing the Layout

I've once again changed the layout of this blog. It's not done, though - there are still some things I want to add, but I don't really have much time for them, right now. 

First off, I'm thinking about drawing up a banner to go up in the header. If I do that, I'm gonna try draw up some more for my other blogs/sites, too. Doing this just to add a touch of nostalgia since I took the idea off some of the old sites and blogs I went on when browsing the links pages on the Cave Story tribute site.

Another thing I want to do for this blog is to draw up a proper background image. Right now, it's just a picture of a drawing I did not too long ago, that's been a bit crappily taken. It's not that great at the moment. But, I'll be sure to get that out the way, soon!

Gone Unsupervised - Log #011

Uni’s kickin’ my ass (and that’s probably my fault)

As I should've mentioned already on this blog, I'm a student at university. Right now, due to some of my bad working habits of mine, I've called off some project work. But, I have tried thinking of ways I can improve on that, which is good.

This week, I can't say I've done much on this project because of uni, but I do recall writing up a few scripts for some of the chapters I've planned out. Hope to continue my progress once uni stuff's cooled down.

Again, I apologise for the lack of progress this week!

Project: April and friends - Log #033

I need to up my uni game

If there's anything I want to get out of the way, I've been very busy with uni work this week. And that's due to some really, really bad homework habits that need fixing, and fast... But at least recently, I've found out my "golden hour(s)" for homework, which is good.

Now, on to some comic stuff. Because of uni, I've decided to sacrifice some time off my projects. But, I've managed to finally think up another title idea for this project! I'm thinking about titling it "Steel House in the Prairie". 

Sorry the quality’s not very good, but I hope you can see the basic shapes I’m trying to go for.

In my free time, I've been playing around with how it'll look on paper, and it's looking a bit like a rock band's logo. Not that that's a bad thing, though - I do recall saying at one point that (my interpretation of) rock music and its subgeneres has influenced the whole feel, aesthetics and tone of the story. I do feel, however, that I could tone down its edge. The story doesn't go all that hard.

Continuing on with some more uni stuff... I've made a death wish. I've decided I'm going to take on a Winter class for screenwriting. I don't know exactly how this will affect my projects, but I'm sure I'll manage fine. And maybe, it'll teach me a hard lesson on self-organisation. Who knows? It might make or break me. Haha...

Anyways, that's all I have for this week.

General - Log #002

Page redesign?!

I'm thinking about redesigning this page again... (when I'm free, of course)

I dunno, I just feel like it could look something closer to my current taste in web design. I wonder if it's possible to customise with HTML and stuff like that...?

Gone Unsupervised! - Log #010

I’M BACK.

Happy to say that I’ve gotten back to this project again! And y’know why? I’ve finally come up with a new title for this series. I’m changing it from “No Adult Supervision” to “Gone Unsupervised”. Still keeps the same sorta feel, it’s just as straight to the point as its predecessor, and feels less overwhelming to say, at least from my opinion. However, I did have to sacrifice my play on the “No Junk Mail” sign… Big shame.

Aside from that, I've also decided to create a website for this project. Honestly, it's about time, too. I'm doing it on Neocities, and it's looking pretty good so far. See it here, if you want!

Also happy to say that I’ve also come up with some new script ideas, which is good! Once I’ve written a couple of them down, and figured out the order of some of the scripts, I should be good to start drawing the comic up again. Very excited. Hope I don’t let myself down, this time!

Project: April and friends - Log #032

This doesn’t count as slacking!

I’ll admit that this week I hadn’t really been working much on my April and friends project. But! I’ve just gotten a boost of motivation for working on my other smaller projects, especially my Gone Unsupervised project (previously named “No Adult Supervision). 

As you’d expect from what I just said, nothing much happened this week. Hoping to get back to this project this following week, though. I *might* aim to finish my current chapter by the end of this month, except, that’s also when one of my uni due dates is… So, probably I’ll set my next due date for this project to be within a week after that one uni due date. Man, I’d kill to get that chapter done any time soon!!!

Project: April and Friends - Log #031

 Felt a bit crap, but I still did pretty good

Happy to say I've been back on working on my scripts this week. I've finally got the direction I want this chapter to go (finally!). Not so happily, I hadnn't felt that great throughout the week due to some real-life things I feel would be inappropriate mentioning, especially on a platform like this. It'd been a while since I last felt that bad, but it's a good thing all that didn't stop me from making a decent amount of progress on my project.

I've also decided to get back to working on some of my older story ideas and try turn them into comics. This is so I've got some comic content to get out earlier. It's good that I'm doing this too, just so that I can get the whole gist of making comics before I make any mistakes with the big one.

Also, I've got 7 out of 9 main/secondary character turnarounds done! It's just Wyra and Ida's left. However, I'm not gonna move on to the next batch of concept art, just yet. I want to return back to my previous character turnarounds and make adjustments or even completely redraw some of them. It's just that some of them don’t have good silhouettes, don’t work when it comes to physics, or just look off-model. Afterwards, I'm thinking about doing significant item/object sheets.

That should be all my major progress for the week ^_^

-Chocco

Project: April and friends - Log #030

Forgot to mention uni stuff last week, but I’m free (enough), now!

I’m a couple days overdue, but at least this is better than last time! Anyways, I didn’t really mention much about my due dates for some uni assignments last week, probably because last update was pretty much long enough. But, they did happen, and those days were pretty intense, so I guess I didn’t really get that much done with this project last week. At least those due dates are out of the way. My next one’s on the 31st, at least from what I know right now.

That aside, I’ve been thinking about a few things… Firstly, I really wanna change how the prologue will go. All it does, really, is just hint to some major plot points and show a bit of the main location of where the story will play out. What I’m saying is, I feel like I could introduce the type of story I’m trying to tell a lot better, so I’m thinking about adding a bit more.

Secondly, I also want to change up how some of the character turnarounds are. Some of the silhouette tests aren’t really clear for some of them, and I feel like I could make some adjustments to their shapes in general, too. I dunno why this happens, but whenever I try making some “official” art for my project, sometimes things just look really off-model for some reason, which is kinda funny! Oh well, I hope it ends one day, haha…

I’ve also made an update to my routine where I’m gonna try spend more scheduled time on this project, and other projects too, since I want to start off my whole comic-artist journey type thing pretty soon. I just feel like it’s about time I actually started being properly organised with my passions n’ stuff. That’s all I have to say for this bit really.

And, that’s also all I’ve got for this week.
Yeah.

-Chocco

Project: April and friends - Log #029

I’ll make this a weekly thing again, starting NOW

So once again, I haven’t written on this blog in two moths or maybe more… But, just because I haven’t been keeping up with logs n’ stuff, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been really doing anything. I’m happy to say that since my last update, I’ve made some good progress on the project!

Firstly, I’ve set up a Blogspot blog for where my comics will be and I’ve decided to put my official comic scripts on there. I’ve done some final edits on them while adding them onto there, too. During all that editing, I also should mention that I’ve changed it up a little to read a bit more like a screenplay and a novel at the same time, if that makes sense. When I say “novel” I mean that I’ve tried to give the action parts a bit more “character” and tone and stuff. The screenplay aspect’s more on the whole “INT/EXT. LOCATION - TIME” thing. A link to the page has been added to the script archive.

I’ve also decided it was about time I started working on some actual concept art for the project, starting with character turnarounds of the main and secondary characters. I’ve done 5 out of 9 so far! You can view them on my projects Twitter.

I noticed I’ve been more active in adding actual scenes onto the storyline, too. I’ve got them all up on a Google document and it’s 8 pages long so far, and it goes all the way from where I’m up to to anywhere near the end! I’m pretty glad that now’s probably the time I’m actually taking the project somewhere.

Also, I’m deciding that the title isn’t going to be “Project: Proclo” anymore. I’m still putting the whole title stuff on hold. I’m keeping it as “Project: April and friends” for now, which will NOT make the final cut. Yeah, this bit’s probably the hardest aspect of it all…

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m hoping to get another update down next week and make this a weekly thing. I better not forget!

-Chocco

Project: Proclo - Log #028

Database update

The database finally has links to all of the main 9 characters! 

You can see them, >>here<<

The majority, if not all, of them are still works in progress, but they’re filled enough to be released publicly. Excited to add more to the database!

-Chocco

Drones - Log #002

 Getting back into writing "Drones"

Drones is back in terms with progress! I've decided to let myself a little looser with this one and just started getting some scenes down. I'll alter them later, of course, depending on what direction I'll take the story, but at least it feels like I'm making progress.

I've also got a small notebook where I spill my ideas. It's not that full at the moment, but I'm feeling kind of hopeful!

Project: Proclo - #027

 Got another person familiar with my stuff!

Recently talked to an old classmate who was interested in my advice when it came to writing and stuff. I also got given some recommendations in exchange, too!

Since that talk, I’ve finally thought it’s about time I got myself into some of the sci-fi cult classics, especially since I’ve been meaning to get into some of them in the past few years. Weird that I never really got round to getting into them, especially since, imagining from a stranger’s perspective, I’d picture myself to be into a bunch of sci-fi cult classics. 

I’ve also launched a couple places relating to this project…

First off’s a just-in-case sort of thing. I’ve made a Blogspot which’ll be the main place I’ll upload more polished comics of the characters featured in the project. Doesn’t matter how big or small, it’s just gotta be polished. You can see it >>Here<<.

The next thing I launched is a blog on newTumbl. I realised I never had a place where I could just talk about the more useless things relating to any of my projects, similarly to the way I do it on Twitter. Except this time, those notes won’t get buried under unrelated things. You can see it >>here<<.

That’s all I’ve got for now!

-Chocco

Project: Proclo - Log #026

Sorry I haven’t written in a while!!!

I know, it’s been almost a month since I last updated, but a lot has happened over the past weeks, in regards to this project! Unfortunately, it’s not the completion of chapter 5′s script, though… I’ll try to set myself a due date get that done sometime this month. I feel like I want to actually get serious with my script updates, from now on.

When it comes to the project’s info site, I’ve updated it a lot! It’s reached a stage where all the important elements are pretty much done and now I can just keep adding on new things that are important. 

Here’s what it looks like now:

>>Site Here<<

I’ve also been working on the lore, a couple short stories, and some assorted future scenes, too.

Again, I’m sorry about the nearly month-overdue update. I should be updating regularly again, soon.

Project: Proclo - Log #025

Starting a basics site project

I’ve decided to start a small website project on Neocities based around this story project. I felt that it was about time this project had a website of its own which has the purpose of providing summaries, basic info, relevant links, and other important things regarding it.

It doesn’t look like anything to fancy right now, but here’s what I’ve got so far:

>>Site Here<<

My HTML skills are a bit rusty from my last attempt, and I’m still a huge beginner, but I hope to actually get this one’s most important stuff finished, anyway!

Project: Proclo - Log #024

I can finally move on...!

It took me long enough, but I finally completed editing and finishing off chapters 1-4, and added a prologue! This means I can finally carry on in the story from where I’m up to. I’m feeling good!