I'm not making nearly as much progress as I'd like to be, or as I'd HOPED I would be, but I thought I'd make an update, all the same.

Yesterday I was all geared up to finish an entire strip, #4, in one night. Who knows if I would have succeeded, but I WAS on a roll and feeling pretty good, when my second job called. Turns out the shift I thought I'd switched for THIS Monday was NEXT Monday, and they needed me in, pronto. Obviously, I wasn't able to get any more work done last night.

Tonight I had the evening to myself, and I made SOME progress, but still not enough to satisfy me. I've just started on the third panel of #4, and I doubt I'm going to get any more done tonight. It seems I haven't yet gotten to the point where I can do a strip per night. I trust I'll get there eventually, but right now I seem to be averaging one strip per TWO nights.

Part of the issue is the scene in question. It's two guys sitting at a table at a Denny's, and the table has got a TON of stuff on it. Glasses, mugs, dessert menus, tablecloths, condiment bottles ... and it all has to be cleaned up and re-colored. Plus, one of my actors was wearing a patterned shirt, which takes a while to clean up as well. PLUS almost every shot is the same, which doesn't really affect how fast I go, but DOES affect how long I want to sit there, staring at what's basically the same image, over and over again. I'm hoping that when the scene shifts locations, it'll be (a) more interesting for me, and (b) less time-consuming to edit.

Don't get me wrong -- it's not going to be boring to LOOK at. But what will take you maybe thirty or sixty seconds to read is taking me four or five HOURS to put together. If you stared at the finished strip for five hours, you'd be sick of it too, and wanting some variety.

So, notes for future shoots: avoid cluttered tabletops unless absolutely necessary, and avoid patterned shirts. Solid colors, that's the way to go.

I AM happy with how the panels and strips are looking. And I AM getting faster. I'm just so impatient, not only to get on with the story and start shooting the next segment, but to put this thing out there, and see what you all think of it. To build a readership. To have a webcomic!

It'll happen soon, I know. JUST NOT SOON ENOUGH.

Ah well. I'd best get on to bed. We'll see if tomorrow I can finish strip #4, and maybe even get a start on #5. They're only in the Denny's through half of strip #9, so I don't have THAT much further to go.

I'm really quite excited about this strip, if you can't already tell. I can't wait to see what you guys think of it.