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1/3/2005 - Well, so it's a new year. I even have a resolution, which is unusual for me. But I am not writing about that, what I am writing about is that with the New Year comes a couple of changes here.
As you may recall, I mentioned dropping the sketchblog and bringing Bruno up to 5 days/week. Well, starting this week I will be doing that. I may still try to post a sketchblog here and there, but considering how overworked and tired I usually am, I wouldn't expect too much of me. I will, however, be puttering away at writing my graphic novels (3 now). So someday one or all may come to light, we'll see.
I did some slight adjustments to the Bruno page. Some of my links to other people's sites are totally outdated, as is some of my internal information. but it looks a little bit cleaner, which i like.
What's going to be happening next in Bruno.... well, I would never give much in the way of details. You'll be seeing a bit more of Gina, I'm pretty sure of that, but I'm still trying to figure that one out. I think this may be a big year for Bruno in the emotional growth department, possibly a reflection of myself, although I wouldn't presume that I'm suddenly any sort of mature well-adjusted being whatsoever. Hey, "A" for effort though.
Book#9 and Book#3 are underway again. Now that I've dropped the side story i had been dawdling on for the last year (I still promise I'll post it one of these days, though only in pencil format), the pre-press is nearly done (did a lot of the finishing this weekend), and I am mostly waiting for new ISBN numbers to arrive (I ran out). I'd project a release date, but it's been so long coming, that I won't bother until the day I actually mail it to the printer.
I was actually hoping to go to the Emerald City Con (Seattle) in February, but since I don't have Bruno book#3 (or #9) I will not be attending it (at least as a vendor, I may try to get up there for the weekend to see it, who knows). I have looked at APE and San Diego And Mocha for this year, and all I can say is that I have no current plans, but am eyeing all three.
My life.... who knows. What parts of my life aren't in question.... I can name only a few. I'm in therapy again (thanks to state employee medical benefits), cognative therapy this time, which seems a lot more helpful. I think I may have accidentally made sense of my last dozen years of wheel-spinning, at least abstractly. But that's not the first time I've thought that. I've also been reading some social psychology, which has not only been fascinating and relevant to my own life, but has helped tremendously in understanding Bruno. Or so I think.
For New Years I went out with Bethanne to The Brotherhood, the local pub we like, to do the New Years thing with her friends. I did end up coming home early, because of this and that, but while there, there was a fun duo playing Beatles covers. And here and there they'd throw in a song by someone else such as Elton John or The Rolling Stones.
Anyhow, here's where the anecdote ramps up. Ready? So the played "Kharma Police" by Radiohead, and during the bridge, worked in The Beatles' "Sexy Sadie", so that it was all one song.
.....
Well, I thought it was beautiful.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050103)
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1/4/2005 - Tuesday-Thursday will be without punchline, so don't feel you're not getting the joke. If you can, the Red Cross through Amazon.com seems a decent place to donate through.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050104)
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1/5/2005 - Well, my plan was no punchlines for three days, but there was something about this conversation, as I wrote it, that felt so natural. It was sort-of this thing, how in really dark moments, people still can find those good-feeling stories, which give us hope somehow. I don't know, i'm sounding like a fortune cookie now, but so it goes. I break my plans, but it felt right. Anyhow, again, if you can, the Red Cross through Amazon.com seems a decent place to donate through.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050105)
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1/11/2005 - You have all sent my freelance page to your art departments, right? (see yesterday post if you've no idea what i'm talking about)
Good. Now on to pillage your minds. Bruno seems to be on her way to go to Victoria and then on to work for this company which Gina owns. And I have two delimnas.
1. What should the company be? (and why?)
2 Where should the company be?
The "what" is driving me nuts. I want it to be savvy maybe, enough so that a CEO would spend a month at a conference in Canada. I want it to do or create something which gives Bruno some icky feelings, but not so much that she'd feel too immoral to play along. I want it to have a decently sized staff, not like a startup, so maybe 100 people? 200? I have all the ideas of their interactions laid out, just not the setting. Very sad.
The "where", there's three places I've been thinking about. One being Seattle, although it'd mean I'd have to actually visit up there occasionally, plus i could get in some Olympia and Portland (it can't be in Olympia, because that's simply too damn conspicuous since Dije moved there, although, damnit, maybe i should anyhow). The second place is somewhere in New England, so I could have her occasional interaction with the old crowd. The third place would be WA D.C. area, which woud fit her tone and get to bring Jeremy back in the picture (although I have no references, sad). Nevermind, scratch DC for now. Actually, NYC would be fantastic, but I wouldn't feel right writing it without moving there.
Anyhow. If you have any ideas, feel free to cast them at me violently, and I'll plunder what sparks amuse me. :)
Thank you so much!
-Christopher
p.s. - thanks for those of you who pointed out that moodycow.com had expired, it's back up now, although I'm still awaiting ISBN numbers to send the books off to the printer.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050111)
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1/12/2005 - Thanks everybody for piping in yesterday, a lot of good ideas on Gina's Co, much to be pondered.
But not tonight. I am either overexhausted or sick, and if I'm merely overexhausted, it feels like sick and I should sleep before it becomes sick.
You know, if you're wondering why Bruno is so brief today. :-/
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050112)
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1/13/2005 - Feeling a little better tonight. Made sure to get enough sleep, and tonight I'll almost get the same. :)
So, after long long pondering, I've decided that Gina's company will be a large advertising firm in Seattle. Both of these decisions leave Bruno feeling a tad edgy as well as have lots of opportunities. And thank you for all the ideas and suggestions (not just the several who did actually suggest advertising), i thought over all of them, and if it weren't for them sparking my brain, I'd probably still be writing vague strips, not sure where to go.
And regarding Seattle. Looks like i will be getting up there to photo-source it more than I have, but I encourage you all to join in the game. And not just Seattle, but any house, apartment, or office. You'd be amazed how often I want to have her go into a friends' house and have no sources (and pictures of houses taken anywhere can be houses anywhere else).
In fact, other cities she will visit at some point or another, and would be lovely to have more references on: Boston, Minneapolis/St Paul, Wash DC. (she will likely visit many other places, but i do not want to waste people's time until I know)
And not to step on the toes of anyone's creativity, but if you are interested in how to take photos which would most likely be useful to me, here are my tips:
Write Down the Location, I like noting where they are if they are actually someplace. Kinda' like Dickens.
Room or Office, taking pictures from each of the four corners (or more, doing a circle around the room) so that i can see the outside walls all 360 degrees. Also, choose a few things like a couch or a desk, and take a few pictures from different directions directly at it, where people might be sitting, so that i can have a few days at one location during a conversation. Feel free to play with angles some, but I would suggest not too much as I generally keep around eye level (which, of note, is lower when sitting).
Cafe or Restaurant, again, find a table the characters would sit at, and take pictures from all angles looking at it, so I can do several shots of the same table. Maybe another table if it's someplace she'd frequent. As well, maybe a shot of the cash-register, lobby, outside, for the before or after shots.
Outdoor Shots, basically interesting backgrounds/architecture. but also, not really necessarily tourist shots. It's often good to have some of the picture in the foreground, and then some in the background, such as, for example, a corner of a building, but where you can see a city-scape around the corner as well. Also, think about the fact that the strip is generally horizontal, so only a thin strip of the photo may be used.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050113)
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1/13/2005b - Forgot to mention. I am hoping that the ISBN numbers and my new printer-toner cartridge will be arriving by this weekend, and that Book #9 (well, and Book #3), which are pretty much done, will be off to the printer on Tuesday (Monday being a holiday).
That said, if you wish your name on the patron list in Book #9, please feel free to donate (minimum $6 for name in there) through the Moodycow Store or the Paypal Tip-Jar. You've all been really supportive and generous this past year with Little Dee, so I don't want to push this, but also, I wanted you all to know if you wished. The cut-off for Book #9's patron page is the end of friday night.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050113b)
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1/17/2005 - Happy Martin Luther King Day. "A day on, not a day off."
Little this-and-that on my mind. Like, you know, I really hope that The Sea Inside, A Very Long Engagement, and Howl's Moving Castleeventually make it to Olympia.
Ah well. If they do they do, if they don't they don't.
So, I know I was supposed to do the final touches of Bruno book#9(&3) over the weekend, but since the ISBN numbers didn't come in, I only put in a few hours on it so far (including trying yet again to get my MAC to accept OS 9.1 so that I can access my printer so i can actually print one copy the books (printer requires a hard copy), and I also spent time eyeing the new $500 apple and considering that as a printer-access solution although unrealistic),
Anyhow, all that coupled with me being a bit emotionally swurvy right now due to yadda-yadda this and yadda-yadda that, I speant hours drinking Ginger Ales with the lovely Chea and worked on my graphic novel (not the latter 3).
But yes, so I just finished the rough version of it (my graphic novel). I chopped out major parts of the script which I had written, loved, but found to be unneccesary; and created whole new sections which occurred to me on whim.
It's a bit more fun now, perhaps a bit more sexy too. Both things I am happy about.
So the final first-rough-draft clocked in at 155 pages, though it's bound to be a fair bit longer once I've reworked it a dozen times. Still, for now, this feels like a big accomplishment, especially since I've been puttering at it for about a year and a half.
I'm actually sketching the thing in a 8.5"x5.5" 3-ring binder, which allows me to add, take away, or move around pages at whim. I like that very much, as it is a feature I have very actively used. The sketched pages are mostly just to show what's being said, by who, and to give a general feel of the pacing of the pages. They look something like this:
For those of you who might be amused by this, I still have not sketched out the infamous bar-scene.
Anyhow. That's my mind today. We'll see what i get done Monday, hopefully I'll get done eveything else.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050117)
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1/19/2005 - Sorry about yesterday. Lost phone/internet service. It's back now, yay! (longer version of story below)
So, it's Monday, it's rainy and grey all day, Bethanne is gone all day, and around noon the phone-internet go dead. And so i putter, working on Bruno and Little Dee and prepress for Bruno #9, until, next thing I know it's 11:30 at night. No chance to get to Kinkos to upload the strips (if Kinkos is open (it's MLK day), i can't call to confirm.) I could walk there, about an hour each way (car with bethanne), but i chose not to. Maybe I'm not as dedicated as I'd like :)
So, 11:30, i try the brotherhood, our local bar which has a iMac you can rent. I had a whisky sour and waited for the person who was using it, finally it was available, and I found that they had disabled the cd drive. And so: no strip.
Fortunately, the phone company pulled through and fixed our line today. i guess some wires had gone outside out building, just for our phone.
The Bruno book #9 is pretty much ready, and lo-and-behold, the ISBN numbers arrived today. I still have tweaking, and I still haven't figured out how I'm going to get a hard copy to send them with it, but I'll figure something. Perhaps Kinkos. I'll call before I go.
Thursday (cross my fingers) I'll post the "Patron" list so that people can check the spelling of their names, etc.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050119)
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1/20/2005 - So, below is the list of names who have made donations in support of Bruno (and Dee) since Bruno Book#8. I'm posting it both to thank all of you, it honestly really helps me keep at this, both financially and emotionally; but also this list is so that you on it can spell-check your name before I print it in book #9 (or not-print it if requested). Email me with any problems.
Vince Altmare
Nancy J. Baldwin
Ronald Baldwin
Toby Bartels
Jennifer H. I. barts
Amy Bennett
Dirk T. Bergstrom
Max Bernstein
M. Bickers
Seth L. Blumberg
David Botten
Elise Bowditch
Nicholas Burger
Ross Carey
Stephen Cass
Brooks C. Clark
Matthew Cooper
Gary Couse
Robert Cudinski
Gordon Davidescu
Simon DeDeo
Sam Dodsworth
Gwen Eastmond
Tarynn Ecton
Victor Eijkhout
Douglas Faunt
Anthony Foiani
Sam Gavin
Elizabeth Gentry
noah gibbs
Christie Giles
Laurent Giroud
David Gluss
Phredd Groves
Paul Guertin
Faith Hamby
Lucy Hanouille
Dion Harmon
Maik Hennebach
Jan Hochbruck
Michael D. Hofer
Kane Imai
Timothy O. Jarrett
Ada Kerman
Carrie Lynn King
Sean Kinlin
Michael Kitchen
Seth LaForge
Michael D Landis
Sara Landymore
Charles Lovett
Kevin Lyda
Ben Mays
Ken McGlothlen
R Michael "Auros" Harman
Eric Miller
Abigail Mink
Howell Moffett
marc moorcroft
David Nerud
Sara C. Pickett
Stefan Pirkl
jeff rattray
Simha Ravven
Robert Retter
Sean K. Reynolds
Jennifer Schirmer
Paul Selkirk
Tristan K. Smith
Nicholas Sonneveld
Mark Stapleton
sarah stewart
In memory of Luvvy Moriarty Szedenits
Ruth Temple
Kaolin Fire
Mark Stokosa
Will Strang
David Streever
Daniel van Reijen
Amber Vanderpol
Dries Verachtert
Tamara Weikel
Don Wentworth
James Wood
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050120)
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1/24/2005 - So, the weekend was full of fun and productivity. Played shuffleboard at The Brotherhood, where I met Dan and company, and where my teammate and I lost on the very last puck. :sigh: And then we ended up at The Reef where I got well-buzzed on surprisingly strong whisky sours, which tasted like pure sour.
Saturday, Chea and I ate bagels at Ottos and then went atop the pier tower and talked long of all of nothing.
But also on Saturday I put in the time and got Book#3 and 9 ready for the printer. About a year late, but so be it. Now, there remains one problem, that of printing out a hard-copy, which the printer understandably demands to come with the job. Since I can't get my Mac to run 9.1 (still don't know why it won't), i have to print things through Bethanne's laptop, but we don't have Quark for PC, and the download demo (which I tried) only prints the first 5 pages. So, theoretically she and I shall get up to Evergreen this week and she'll print it out, or else 'll drop it off at Olympia City Printing and get it done.
My next goal is to find a better ink than Higgins Eternal to brush Dee with. I need it to go on very-black on the first coat (rather than several), and to be very permanent, so it won't fade with time.
And life rolls on.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050124)
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1/26/2005 - It feels so good to have a decent photo-source.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050126)
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1/28/2005 - I'm tired, and I forgot my source photos at my day-job. I know I could fake it, and the backgrounds are simple, but I want them for consistency, or maybe my brain is fizzled out at this point. I'll do the backgrounds sometime this weekend. Sorry. Arf.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050128)
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1/31/2005 - Well, after headache upon headache, Bruno book#9 and #3 are not only ready to go to the printer, but they're packaged up and ready to be walked to the post office. I know it's a year late, but it ended up being strips through mid-november of this year, plus the "best of" this past year's sketch blog. So yeah, it goes so far back it includes the pre-war protest strips, the individual character weeks, her coming back out east, the fire at Stanley's, and everything. I happily feel it is possibly my strongest collection yet. I may do pre-sales, but I'm not ready to yet. I'll likely be redesigning the moodycow a bit too, as it badly needs it.
In other news, BIll Mudron seems to be on a regular schedule again for his retelling of the classic Barre's Peter Pan. His site is at www.thegreencrow.com, but if you already read the intro, you'll find the new stuff starting here.
(link: http://www.brunostrip.com/notes/200501.html#20050131)
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