Life: Merry Something-mas

I worked really hard on chapter two page two last weekend, but when I turned my laptop on Christmas evening, it didn't work. After going to Best Buy yesterday, I found out that the power button was broken and my harddrive is getting ready to commit suicide. In short, I am waiting for the new laptop I ordered to get in before I can get any comic related work done. The good news is that I am not spending near as much time online and getting a lot of reading done. At least school doesn't start for another two weeks. I will be making a Christmas post for Ice Pick before the year is done. I promise that much.

Life: I Have a Blog?

I am just kidding. I remembered that this blog exists. It has just been a rough couple of months, so I couldn't get anything going. After Christmas things will be much better for me. Since Ryan and I have the same job, we have the same busy time of the year which significantly slowed down comic creation. But, on the positive side, we just signed a contract for our new house.

Life: Distracted

Ryan and I got Assassin's Creed III in the midnight release. I have been spending most of my time with the game so I have not even looked at the comic since the last update. In short, things are being a bit delayed. However, I am halfway through with the game, so I am trying to spend more time with the comic again. That is the only excuse for the delay that I have.

Life: My Friend, Ming, Catches Things

This is a little bit more random, but my friend, Ming, put up this picture on Facebook this morning.

So, someone said they wish they had photoshop skills to put something in Ming's hands. Said person with photoshop skills being me, I made this after the suggestion that Ming be catching a goose.

 Of course, being the overboard person that I am, a simple goose catching wasn't enough for me, so I decided to get a little festive:

Then I got a list from Ming saying what he would like to be catching.

"Items I would love to catch:
1. A tardis
2. Selma Hayek
3. A Pokemon
4. A furby
5. An ewok"

I went with the two items that were easiest to find a usable picture for. I had found a reasonable picture of Selma Hayek, but her feet were not show so it would have been a bit more work for realism. Also, I loved the amazed looks on the two women's faces for whatever it is that Ming is catching.

So that is all the things that Ming has caught so far...Might still see if I can make the Selma Hayek picture work later on. It would be very amusing.

Life: Full Time Everything

I would like to apologize for the delays in the comic. This is mainly because of scheduling issues. Right now I am a full time employee and student. I am also a full time wife. I cannot possibly do so many things at once. Right now I am in two classes with three papers to write along with the usual class assignments. At work, the Annual Enrollment Period has gotten geared up so I am constantly on the phone and coming home exhausted. Of course, my husband and I are trying to enjoy time together. (And he was in an car accident.)  We have decided that for now that we will not be stressing over an update schedule right now. Pages will be going up when they get done until things start to calm down. It is just one thing I cannot keep up with while trying to live life. So. As a bonus, here is the uncolored version of page 1. I am further along than this. Do not worry. Page one is ready for coloring and page two is half way inked.

Life: A Note About the Cover Page

I thought I would mention it now since the entire first chapter is now on The Duck. This was also supposed to be a single panel page that ends the fight scene *SPOILER* We went with a different ending. *SPOILER* However, I kept Danny's opponent looking as close to the poor guy on the cover as much as possible. The icing effect was real difficult so we decided to delay that and go in a different direction. I also made a different version of Danny for this cover. He looked like this:

As you can see, Danny's hair and shirt used to be different colors than they are now. I also didn't give his eyes color for these because I want to emphasis the injuries. Going back, the injuries really are not shown in the fight scene. The pages that I put up may be changed at any time. The changes will usually be reflected more on The Duck because it contains the main archive. But, I will put up notice if I make any changes to page posted here. These changes will not affect the reader experience (except for the possibility of added realism).

The Awards Are Done But...

Alright, I have had some scheduling issues arise.  I am finished with the presentation of the Awards. Now all that I have to do is make a credit page. I have a class that keeps changing the due dates on the paper. So I am trying to get it done now before the professor changes her mind again. It is a relatively easy paper, considering, but it does take time to write these things and get them done right. The good news is, if my math is correct, I would have to fail the paper to get less than an A in the class. There is a 1% chance that I am wrong with this math, so I am not concerned. I just have to do the paper and do it to the best of my ability and do it right. As long as I don’t flub up my spelling and grammar, the paper should be adequate. I will be done with the paper by Wednesday.

But I know you are reading this blog and want to hear more about “Ice Pick” and less about “Life.” Good news there. The cover for chapter 2 is already done. In fact, it is already on the comic as the background. It was provided by Call Me Tom during the Summer Art Exchange.  Jamie did his own version of the cover, and it will be shown, but we will be moving it to chapter 3. Page 1 of chapter 2 is already inked and just needs its color. So, I am aiming to start releasing the chapter in a week. Simultaneously with this event, I will start mirroring the comic on the blog. There will be no difference between the pages, so if you are a Duck, don’t worry about it. This is just to make the comic more available to non-Ducks.

Until then, enjoy this picture of our cat taunting the dog by choosing her crate as his napping spot. 

How To Lose A Day: Frustration

This Sunday I spent most of the day working on page 16. I spent Friday through Sunday on the endeavour. I finally finished with the page around 10 pm on Sunday night and was hitting save when my computer shut itself down. I could have sworn that I was saving consistently, but when I loaded the page again, I had lost half a day's worth of work. Thankfully, I save after most of the tricky stuff so I don't have to repeat all of that. The only problem is, I did all this work so I wouldn't have to worry about it during the work week (today is my first day of my new job). Luckily, I am just going through training and school won't be starting again for another week.  I am hoping to to get Chapter 1 done before the start of school. With page 16, there are only two pages left, so this should be obtainable. Afterward, I just have to wait from more pages from Jamie before continuing on to Chapter 2.

In the mean time, I will be undertaking two projects. First, of course, is the Drunk Duck Awards. Almost everything is complete fr this. I just have to get everything in order. The awards will start being announced on September 10th. My other project is going back and revamping some Chapter 1 pages. I will be attempting to make the style more consistent with the later pages. I will also be going back and making the typeface more consistent. The final revamp I am doing for Chapter 1 will be behind the scenes unless changes to the archive are necessary. I will be making all pages a consistent file dimension and type. This will definitely come into play later as we have a goal to get this project published. So yeah. That is how things are running now. Please tell your friends/followers about our little comic.

Whew.

Sorry. I really don't have much news for Ice Pick. All I can do is promise that it will come back soon. I started my first full time job last week and haven't had any time to work on the comic. We should be back somewhere next to normal in August. My summer break will take place during this month. Even though I will still be working, I won't have any homework to do when I get home. This should make things go a little easier. I hope to get back on a buffer again, but life makes fools of us all.

As for the 2012 Drunk Duck Awards, the judging has started. We could still use a couple more judges or presenters to tie up some loose ends. It isn't as bad as it was last year, but there are still some gaps that need filling and I can't do them all. I probably took on more judging and presenting assignments than could be considered sane. I might foist some off on Ryan. He has about the same schedule as I do, though.

My goal is for Ice Pick to be nominated for several categories next year, so I hope you continue baring with us and be forgiving on how life changes within a second.

The next page has all the inking done and one and a half panels flatted. There are about 5 or 6 panels in this page though. I'm quite glad that the fight scene is almost over though. I had to get really creative with the coloring and effects to be able to show the movement exactly right. We will soon be heading back inside the bar to introduce a new character to the cast. We have already seen the character before, but now it is time for the introduction. There aren't that many pages left in chapter 1 and Jamie has already submitted all of the pencil drafts to us. I can't promise a regular update schedule, but I will release pages as soon as they get done or within one week of each other whichever comes second.

I was originally going to take a month off between chapters 1 and 2, but it doesn't look like it is going to happen. As long as I have drafts I will continue to work on the comic. The comic will most definately go on a scheduled hiatus between chapters 2 and 3. This will make sure that there will be penty of buffer so that this doesn't happen again.

I can't wait to continue to release the comic and show you what we have in store.

The Drunk Duck Awards 2012

Hello everyone! I hope I haven't gotten you sick of the Drunk Duck Awards yet, but this must be said... Right now, voting is well  under way, but it does not end there! Throughout the month of August, volunteers will be judging the nominated comics and others will be making the presentations that are the backbone of the awards comic. There is still a lot of room left for volunteers, and I will never say no to anyone even if I get too many (unlikely). So, if you have some free time in August, places contact me to volunteer. Get your friends involved too. We will make this the best awards ever!

Don't forget to vote for Ice Pick.

Some Stuff...

I have gotten two pages up since my last post. The last two pages have been simple compared to the fight scene. This is an appropriate wind down. I have really toned down the lighting effects, because I haven't been doing elaborate backgrounds. I have been really happy with the line art in the last couple of pages. Jamie did a really good job with the pencil and the actual ink turned out spectacular. My pride is especially centered on the gun. When I first finished it, I was showing it off to everyone.

I would like to apologize in advance that the next few pages may be late. I haven't had a chance to get started on them yet, but the pencil by Jamie is amazing.

I have a special announcement for the comic, actually. We will soon be using this blog as a mirror for the comic. The tab that is labeled "Ice Pick" that links back to the comic will be replaced with the mirror.However the mirror on this site will be one week behind the Drunk Duck site.

And I have a public service announcement: Voting for the Drunk Duck Awards starts tomorrow. Please consider us for an award or two. The Drunk Duck Awards 2012!

The Fight Scene!

I had been looking forward to making and posting page 11 since March. I finally got it up on Sunday. Now I'm going to show some side by sides for the last two panels of the page.

In March, these were two of the pictures we took for concepts. The angle is different from the comic but it still shows some of the movement.

 

Once again, my husband is playing the role of Danny while my little brother is the attacker. My husband also included some draw n concepts for Jamie to reflect the angle that he wanted to show of the fight scene.

Jamie sent this drawn page back to us.

He changed up the panel on the left to show that Danny is winding up for the punch. In a total of a week, I finished the page.

My motion lines will turn out a lot better in the next two pages. 

Now, there was one part that was hard about doing this page. Last week, we got a kitten. He likes to attack the computer screen, walk all over the keys, and sit on my shoulders. So, any major issues with this page, I can blame on this critter.

Busy...Busy...Busy

I have been very busy lately and almost couldn't get the page in on time. I started my job in full swing at a water park. Since this is a job with the public, I can't do what I did with other jobs and work on comics. At past jobs and comics, when I was the sole artist, I could get my drafting done, and even, on some occasions, inking. Since my job for this comic is purely digital, I can only work on it at home. It makes things very frustrating for me. The only thing I have been able to occupy my time with is reading. If I was disloyal, I would find a project I could have lead on so I have something to do at work.

I'm looking forward to next week because that is the meat of this fight scene. I will be able to do side by side comparisons of the concept photos and the actual fight scene.

Our Trip to Comic Con Dallas

As I've been mentioning. We went to Comic Con in Dallas last Sunday. I now finally have some time to write about it and share some pictures.

When we woke up Sunday morning, I quickly remembered that I don't have any comic book related T-shirts. Even my husband has a Captain America shirt and a Spiderman shirt. So on our way to Irving, we stopped in a Kohl's and bought the only graphic tee I could find in the junior's department.

And then we went to Comic Con:

There was a Back to the Future DeLorean outside:

I admit that we didn't do much while there. At least things that I took pictures of. There was a local comic publisher called Ape Entertainment on one of the floors. They were looking at other people's comics as well as showing what they sold in their store. They had a white board in their room for people to show off their art work. I had Ice Pick on my tablet and replicated one the panels (from a page that isn't up yet).

We went to the Exhibit hall and my husband bought some of the first issues of the New 52. We also saw some the comic book artists working on commissions in the back of the room. We didn't have any money to order them but I saw one of them (I can't remember the name) working on a water color of the Green Goblin. I didn't know that you could do that level of detail and precision with that medium. I kinda hope I didn't stare too much. But he did turn his paper around as he worked so I could see better.

Ryan and I hope that within a couple of years if we can keep up with Ice Pick we can have a stronger presence at the convention. Just having the first 13 pages of Ice Pick on my tablet turned some heads. I of course gave Jaime his full credit for doing the art for our comic. It took both Ryan and I to make the drawing on the white board.

After loitering around for two and a half hours, we left...after getting a good picture of a man dressed as the Joker.

After some lunch and shopping we picked up my younger brother, and went to see The Avengers (first time for him, second time for us).

THE END

A Well Deserved Rest

I have just finished inking 4 pages in less than a week. Every page is better than the last, I feel. The last page I worked in had some wonderful texture work that Jaime did with his pencil. I tried very hard to replicate it when I inked it. When that page comes out, I believe I will at least release Jamie's original panel, because, although my ink is good, it just doesn't have the same life. I now have 9 pages of the comic completely done and pages 10 -13 inked and ready for coloring. As it is, page 9 won't even premiere until the first of June. So, I'm going to take a week off working on the comic to rest. I'll still work on the Fiverr commissions I may get, but I'm going to take time to tend to my home and my reading list.

Last week I checked in on the FLYlady website. It breaks down the cleaning of an entire house into different rooms doing one room a week and spending time cleaning the room in 15 minute intervals a day. It is not just a plan, it is a lifestyle. In the past week, I've gotten more done in 15 minutes a day than trying to devote the entire day to cleaning. I can now brag that my kitchen, once a major point of contention between me and my mom, is now cleaner than hers. I'm going to take a week to really get deeper into the system to make our apartment very welcoming to guests.

The other thing I intend to be doing is catching up on my reading. I tend to check out 6 books from the public library at a time. In the past week I have only gotten one book read whereas, normally, I have 3 books read by now. Admittedly, the 1st book was read within a day and I just haven't had time to read the second book I grabbed.

Moving Right Along

We have finally released the last page that will take place in the bar. Don't worry. We will return to the bar in a couple of months. I'm both happy and sad by this. The bar is easy to light so I didn't have to worry about the extra effects and could just color. The next few pages have been a challenge as I am learning to add the proper lighting effects. However, the comic is finally moving scenes and getting into a more meaty bit. Looking at it, these past 5 pages must have been boring for people who just get to see one page a week. I hope as we build an archive, the story will continue to flow in a way that will immerse newcomers into the story.

Lastly, I've been mentioning this on my comic, but I would thought I would say it here too. Ryan and I will be lurking around Comic Con Dallas this weekend. Hopefully I will have lots of nice pictures during my next update.

Divided Attention

Well it is now time have severely divided attention. Right now it isn't too bad. I'm working on Ice Pick as well as this year's Drunk Duck Awards.

At the end of May, Ryan and I will be hitting Comic Con Dallas, and soon after my job will start. June and July will see me completing 3 more classes for my MBA degree.

My job and riding the judges for the Drunk Duck Awards will carry on through August. And then a new semester begins in September (and I have to be in a new job by then).

That being said, I got a good 3 and half page buffer for Ice Pick right now (soon to be 2 and a half). I am starting in on the chapter 1 fight scene now. When we finally have chapter 1 done, there will be a brief break in the comic (about two weeks) and it will resume normal schedule.

Enjoy.

A Little Bit of Lameness

I took a week off because I really couldn't say much about the last page. With page 5, I now have something to say...

This page features Jimmy and Danny and shows the entrance of a new character that will be fully introduced in upcoming pages. I believe that I have mentioned before that Danny's look is based of of Ryan. The only difference is that Danny's hair is a little more blonde. Well, this new character that we are just seeing now is longer haired version of myself. (And a little skinner). I really don't know why we put our looks into these two characters. I think, initially, it was to help with conceptualization. Also, Danny's apartment, which was only seen for one page, was based on the first apartment that we had together about 3 years ago. Not that our new apartment really looks that much different (It just has more space and a nicer kitchen. The main reason for that is that the first page was first conceptualized three years ago as well.

My main point to this whole post is that though the characters bear some strong resemblances to ourselves, the two of them are not the same as my husband and I. They have different careers and personality traits. So, don't worry about it.

In other news, I'm still working on getting the Drunk Duck Awards up and running for this year. I hope to have the categories finalized soon, so I can get on to the next step. The next step is opening up the floor for people to nominate their comics or other people's comics...Actually nominate is not really the right word. It is more that they are raising awareness of their comics so people will nominate them in July. I'm making sure I'm leaving plenty of time of everything to do with the awards to get done. I really like doing this project and I hope to be able to continue running it as long as there is an interest.

The DD Awards 2012

Last year, because of the circumstances surrounding The Duck Webcomics (formerly Drunk Duck Webcomics) site update and name change, I found myself in the position of running The DD Awards last year. Because of the value running a big project like this has toward my career and gives me practice with a lot of things effective managers have to do everyday, I'm hosting again this year.

The awards are still called The DD Awards (or Drunk Duck) in homage to the site's previous and much more interesting name.

Expect for this blog to have some info here and there related to the awards on occasion for the next couple of weeks.

Sadly, Ice Pick, will not be much of a contender this year because it is so new, but my team and I look forward to becoming major competition next year.

These are the awards I was nominated for last year:

The Two Moons Bar

Welcome to the Two Moons Bar:

I actually added the full page

I had made a nice long post about the bar, but then blogger lost all my information. I'm a little ticked off of it right now. I'm not sure I can remember everything I had originally made but I will try.


The Two Moons Bar is based of the Three Moons Pub which was a setting in an RP I did back in high school. I was the one that came up with the name. I might give a prize if anyone can figure out the meaning of the name correctly.


The bar is a sort of fantasy of my husband and me. We would love to gather the money the and resources to actually open this bar for real. We even have ideas for the menu including the Light and Dark Sides of the Moon (healthy and less healthy menu choices). Our bar would probably have a different color scheme and a larger layout.


This manifestation of the bar is owned and run by Jimmy. The name was given to the character in homage to my husband's car that broke down in November. I had originally colored the booth seat a dark color of blue, but Ryan insisted on standard red.

Experimenting With New Effects

I have said it before, and I will say it again: I do my best coloring when I have good line art. Before, I was the one doing the line art for my comics, so I really had no motivation to use photoshop to its full abilities to make a wonderful page. I had just colored it and said, "Done." What is worse I drastically changed my art style several times. (Some changes were good, but some were down right terrible).

Now I am working on coloring the first fight scene for Icepick, and I'm really starting to get into showing what I can do. I'm playing with lighting effects, filters, different brushes, and line color. My goal is to make this comic as professional as I can. I hope my work pays off in the upcoming months when we start releasing the fight scene pages.

Ta-Da!

The time is finally here! Presenting the much anticipated cover of Ice Pick.

*crickets chirp*

Alright, so maybe it is only a cover, but give it another week and Pages 1 and 2 will be out, and we will soon set to a weekly updating pace.

I was really looking forward to use this post to show the other couple of cover redraws that I got, but for some strange reason, the other person that submitted an idea removed his post, and I didn't get a chance to save it. So, I will have to change things up from my original plans.

Ryan and I really appreciate all the hard work that Jaime "RPGgrenade" does for us. He really tolerates a lot. For example, Ryan's original cover concept (colored by me):

 

This is the moment when Ryan and I took a step back and said, "We need an artist." We really did try to go it alone, but we couldn't even get the first two pages done sacrificially. So, like I said, we put out a request for artists. We got two submissions (that I remember) and only one of those submission was able to stay on with us.

Jaime's Original Sketch:

  

Jaime said he didn't mind drawing, but he didn't want to ink. So, I took on the added task of inking in addition to coloring. And the magical team was formed! Please keep checking back here and to the comic for more updates.

Added bonus, we got some art based on the cover for the previously mentioned Secret Santa. This was made by supermathsbeaver:

...we might have been able to make this work...

I Hope This Goes Without Saying

The post for 4/1 was part of an elaborate April Fools day prank between Dan "Harkovast" Stribley and myself. Though I will always be open to help him out when needed on Harkovast, I will not be making a full project with him. (Especially one as terrible as our fake project).

Ice Pick is still on schedule for release this Friday. Though it will only be the cover this week, I cannot wait to unleash this on the unsuspecting world.

My Side Project

My good friend and killer webcomic artist, Harkovast asked me to give him a hand with a new comic he is working on. I had offered to color for him in the past and I guess he took up my offer on it finally. So, I present to you.

This comic features his characters from Harkovast (left to right: Shogun, Chen-chen, Muir) in zany college antics. I'm not given much creative say in the matter so Harkovast keeps ignoring my pleas to do something about the fact that it looks more like "The High School Years" to me.

Harkovast, however has told me what these characters are majoring in and how it will effect this gag a day strip. Shogun is the old fashioned college jock getting his "major" in Kinesiology. Chen is an Art Major, and Muir is getting a degree in General Studies.

Of course, it would be boring to have them in class so much of the comic will be in the hallway. I keep trying to tell him that there is no way these three would see each other frequently in a normal college environment, so he tell me to shut up and get back to coloring...or cause he is from the UK...colouring.

Be sure to read this new comic and his original, Harkovast.

I Hated To Color When I Was A Kid

The title says it all. I hated have crayolas in my hand and coloring pictures all throughout elementary school. I had even gotten poor grades on assignments that required coloring. I just didn't like it. The only art activity I tolerated during elementary school was sketching. We had a real good art teacher to think for that.

During middle school I doodled in on my class notes but avoided coloring like the plague.

This isn't adding up, right? It wasn't until high school that I got into graphic design class. And even then it was a bit afterward that I discovered using Photoshop to color. I was more interested in editing photos and making cool designs. Coloring wasn't taught within the class, but I completed assignments quickly, so my teacher allowed me to do research over elements that I was interested in.

I'm mostly self-taught in coloring. I found a tutorial during high school that gave me the basics, but I didn't really catch on for another year or so. My early comics on The Duck and works of art I did on the side look like cave paintings to me in comparison to what I can do now. I was able to fill in a portion with color but I lacked an effective way to shade. It took me way to long to color because I made separate line art and separate color for each element of picture. I didn't know how use the "multiply" blend option or "clipping masks" and I couldn't use levels effectively. This all started to change with pastel. I saw some of her coloring before and asked her how it was done. Instead of just telling me, she also sent me a picture she had colored in Photoshop document. I could see what techniques she had used and even reverse engineer into my own style. I still keep the pictures for reference.

Since then, I learned new techniques and gained more confidence. I even started coloring for free during the summer to hone my skills and became quite well known for it. There were several people that wanted me to color their comics for them, but I didn't feel like doing something that long term.

Look at me now. Not only am I coloring full comic, but I 'm also inking it as well (something I would never dream of doing in the past).  It is my goal to make it the best superhero comic on The Duck. And I can't wait to unveil it in two weeks. Even if all that will be seen will be the cover.

I have also stopped coloring people's line art for free because of the time consuming nature of school and inking and coloring a comic. I offer my services on Fiverr instead.

Project Status:
Pages 1-6: Complete
Page 7: In Coloring Phase
Page 8: Inked
Page 9: With Me
Pages 10 - 13: With RPG
Page 14: Drafted but not sent

Why Ice Pick?

My best friend commented that the name of the comic (and the blog) sounds like some mobster's name.

When my husband was part of the World Martial Arts club at his University, the club members gave each other fighting names. During my husband's second sparing session he was pitted against someone dubbed Mammoth. My husband noticed that Mammoth was much bigger, so he focused his attack on his legs. When he had Mammoth on the run, my husband dropped his elbow into the front of his head. After the fight was over, other club members commented on his finishing move saying it looked like he was driving in an icepick. From then on his fighting name at the club was Icepick.

My husband thought that the name was a good descriptor for his fighting style and also would make a good name for a superhero like character. So this name was given over to the title character of the comic. However, this is not why the character was called Ice Pick, himself. Read the comic when it comes out in a month to see where it comes from.

First Fight Scene Concept Pictures

Yesterday, my family had a gathering to celebrate joint birthdays. My husband wanted to take some pictures of himself performing martial arts moves for RPGgrenade in pages 9-11.

My brother was persuaded to be a stand in for the thug that Ice Pick will be fighting in Chapter 1. My husband acted as Ice Pick in the pictures.

I would like to mention that no body was harmed during these photos and they were staged. My brother had only  one request from us in exchange for the pictures; he wants to be worked into the comic. We don't have a specific role for him yet. But keep an eye out. You may see someone that looks like him in the future.

The fighting style that you see in these pictures is a mix of Karate, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, and Kali.

Project Status:
Pages 1-5: Complete
Pages 6-8: With Me
Pages 9-11: With RPGgrenade

Project Darklight

Because Ozoneocean, one of The Duck admins, had been complaining of having too much on his plate, I was one of the few people that offered to help in whatever way I could. The result was that I got to right the post for the 3/1 feature comic, Project Darklight. This is what I wrote:


The world is a scary place, right? It is filled with things that are things that are human and less than human planning the end of the world or something to that song and dance. Luckily for us there is the Project Darklight! The comic follows the adventures of Girl, a creepy girl with a creepier talking teddy bear, and Amaru, the end result of a cult trying to bring a god into the world. These two partners have disappeared, spirited away by peoples with less than benevolent intents. Now it is up to Banshee to track them down before the world goes poof. This horror comic has dark lines, but pastel colours for the art which sets that tone for the story. The result is that many of the pages look like they were painted.
By Rashi, rated M.

Read Project Darklight .

Where We Are Now

Since the cover, RPG has drawn out four more pages for us. We have devised a system resembling an assembly line. My husband makes a rough sketch of each page including dialog. The page is sent to RPG who does a pencil sketch of the page (only his look better). Finally, I receive the sketches and use my computer to ink, color, and add the all important speech bubbles.

Right now, our intention is to unleash Ice Pick onto the world starting April 6th and releasing a new page every week. It is going to be a hard wait for me because I am an impatient person and eager to show the world what I can do.

The status of the project:

Cover and pages 1-4: Completed and ready for release
Page 5: In the coloring phase. 95% complete
Pages 6-8: With RPG
Pages 8+: In my husband's hands waiting to be sent over to RPG. Still need to take some pictures for concepts on the fight scene.

Ice Pick: The Beginning

It was several years ago that my husband came to me with the idea of his own. He had an idea for a super hero comic called Ice Pick. Because of my hobby, I wished to be a part of it, but we quickly discovered that neither one of us had the drawing skill to really bring the comic to life. The comic was iced so to speak until late last year.

My husband had been growing restless and needed his own creative outlet. I suggested the comic again, but he reminded me of the lack of drawing skill between us. In an act of desperation I cast my nets into The Duck Webcomics, searching for someone to draw my husband's creation. It started out with a request for someone to redesign our original cover image (which the only page that two year period). There were a couple of responses and some good designs, but no one was willing to commit to the long haul.

It was getting near Christmas, so I asked Ryan for one last chance to reel in an artist. If one would not come, we would have to abandon the comic for another year or so. I requested the cover to be redrawn within The Duck's Secret Santa. Right after my request there was a comment, "lol for some reason I'm kinda hoping i get niccea's [that is my username] one =P it looks interesting."

The post was made by RPGgrenade. His main comic is about a bar, which was perfect considering that the hero for Ice Pick is a bartender. We reached out to him, and before the Secret Santa was even assigned, he made us a new cover for the comic and offered to draw the rest for us.

First Frost

Disclaimer: I don't know that much about blogging and this if my first time engaging in the art. This was recommended by my awesome professor Lin O'Neill.

My name is Clara. I don't make my own living at this moment. I'm getting my MBA next year if all goes according to plan.

Since my sophomore year of college in 2007, I have been engaged in creating and reading webcomics. These comics have been, by default, whimsical in nature and not really meant to be viewed by the public and were used as a creative outlet. At the beginning of this year I have engaged in a much bigger project, Ice Pick.