Updated Every Monday.
Pictured: A chunk of Tonoharu: Part One, page 83
This is the fifth post in a series describing the creative process behind my graphic novel Tonoharu. This installment, along with the one that proceeded it and the one that will follow it, deals with the design considerations. Those who haven’t already are invited to read the previous entry before diving into this one.
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Pictured: Detail from the title page of Tonoharu: Part One
This is the forth post in a series describing the creative process behind my graphic novel Tonoharu. This installment (along with the next two) deals with the design considerations.
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These posts are organized so that each one addresses a different stage of my creative process, in chronological order. In practice, the stages bleed into each other so it’s not always clear where one ends and another begins, but basically my process boils down to: 1) Inspiration, 2) Writing/Editing, 3) Drawing, and 4) Editing again.
There is, however, one important element that doesn’t neatly fit into the above chronology. It began when I first started working on Tonoharu, and came to a close when I finalized production details earlier this week. That is the overall design.
I figured that this point in the Creating Tonoharu series is as good a time as any to address this unruly topic, so following are some of the design decisions I made for Tonoharu and why.
The reason I decided to update this blog on a strictly weekly basis is that I figured it would be often enough so that people might visit regularly, but infrequently enough so I could write (somewhat) interesting entries without having the blog take over my life. For the most part I think it’s worked out pretty good so far.
This week, however, I’ve been really busy preparing the files for my forthcoming graphic novel Tonoharu: Part One to send to my printer. I’m anxious to get the files off to the printer because there’s an eight-week turnaround time from when they get the files to when I get the books back from them, and I want to start that process as soon as possible. So getting those files in order has been my number one priority.
Because of that, the old blog took a backseat this week. So with these few measly lines, I bring this phoned-in entry to a close. By early next week I should have the files delivered to the printer, and will resume writing the interesting entries you’ve come to expect (*cough, cough*), starting with the forth part of my Creating Tonoharu series. So check back for that.
In the meantime, check out a couple press releases I took a stab at writing here. If anyone who actually knows how to write a press release has any suggestions for edits, please let me know.
Pictured: One out of five knobs, and a little window.
I’ve been to Japan a few times now. First as a high school exchange student, then as an educator through the JET program, and most recently for as a “tourist”, living with my then-girlfriend for three months at the tail end of 2006.
My first night in her apartment she gave me the obligatory tour. The thing that most caught my attention was the shower. It looked like something from straight out of the Industrial Revolution.
Pictured: The upper right corner of a poster from one of my elementary schools, featuring all the teachers’ photos and names. Yours truly is pictured hovering in the little UFO.
Here is the ninth and final of my Tuesday mini-series of reflections on my experiences in the JET Program, lazily culled from e-mails sent to friends and family at the time. This one looks to be from August 2004, written in recognition of my one-year anniversary in Japan:
Image from Tonoharu: Part One
This is the third post in a series describing the creative process behind my graphic novel Tonoharu. This installment deals with writing the early drafts.
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The more I write, the more I’ve come to appreciate the subtle nuance that is a well crafted story.
The old saw “they make it look easy” applies; a well told story flows forward in such an honest and natural way that it’s easy to forget that it had an author in the first place. That behind that timeless tale of love & death was some poor schlub who struggled over countless dead-end drafts, debated with himself over what events to keep and which ones to lose, fretted over settings, timeframes, character histories, dialogue, etc., etc…
The real world doesn’t have an author (well, probably not, anyway), and a good story does such a good impersonation of Life that it’s easy to forget that there’s someone behind the curtain, pulling the strings. The more skilled an author gets, the more invisible his touch becomes.