I’m gonna be honest. I didn’t draw very much last week, but here’s an inked version of a Usagi Yojimbo sketch from a while back:
I started a new full-time job so my time was pretty limited… is the excuse I tell myself. In reality, though, it wasn’t about time. It was just the stress of starting a new job and figuring out what my new routine would be. I let some things slip and wasn’t very productive with my time.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I was extremely productive and got into a nice little groove prior to last week. Not only with the art, but also writing. I’ve been on a long journey writing (and re-writing, and re-writing) The Atlantean. I had a bit of an epiphany one night as I was starting draft number eight, I think. This was definitely the biggest and most daunting project I’ve tried to write without any help. I thought about how long it was probably going to take me to complete and got a little discouraged.
Then I thought about how different it is from writing the weekly(ish) Change Log comic strips. Those things are throw-away gags that don’t take a lot of time to write or draw but they’re a lot of fun and I can get them done pretty quickly and move on. The Atlantean is the complete opposite. If I compare them to film or animation, Change Log is like a bit in a sketch comedy show where The Atlantean was shaping up to be an epic 5 hour movie. You know the kind where you don’t want to watch it in a theater because you’ll definitely have to use the bathroom during an important part and be lost when you come back (maybe I’m showing my age, there).
There had to be a better way to go about this.
When I think about what I like to watch right now, my preference, is serialized TV shows. Something like a Game of Thrones or The Mandalorian (the first two seasons, anyway) style, with a shorter season made up of focused episodes that advance a larger plot.
So there I was, a bit discouraged starting yet another draft of this comic that just wasn’t really working for me, and it hit me. Why not change gears a bit and try to tell this larger story - that I already know the basic plot points I want to hit - as serialized chunks. Chapters that I can complete, have a satisfying chunk of story that I can call done, and build on the energy of having completed something… and possibly even get some feedback from readers as well.
I remember being a comic book fan and going to a store every Wednesday to get the latest issue. It wasn’t all that different from watching a really good show today and waiting for a new episode to come out the next week. It’s a fun way to follow a story.
But not all TV shows are good at this. I remember reading an article a while back from a writer/showrunner for TV. For the life of me, I can’t remember his name or find the article, but I took a lot of notes from it and several other articles. He had a concept for writing that required every episode to have three major points: disruption, reversal, and conclusion.
The disruption would be an event that would shake up the status quo of the show.
The reversal would be a point in the episode where things are flipped. Sometimes just for one character, sometimes for the goals that the characters are working towards or thought they needed to do.
The conclusion is just that, the conclusion of the episode and the establishment of the new status quo for the series.
Have you ever watched an episode of a show and thought “that was pointless, nothing really happened”? Those filler episodes usually happen when a series has too many episodes in a season. They have to fill time with unimportant things and that’s what we get. Some shows can handle this well, exploring a supporting character’s backstory or providing more context for something. They could move on without that, but it adds to the overall story. Others are just filling up the schedule.
So that’s my new goal with The Atlantean. It’ll be more of a serialized story with chunks that I can complete to make some visible progress. The first chapter is well underway and shouldn’t take a lot longer to finish up. Not all chapters will be the same length. There definitely won’t be filler. When the first chapter is done, I’m still figuring out the best way to distribute it - maybe it would warrant a limited print run.
I hope you found this peek behind the writing curtain somewhat interesting. If not, I’ll have something more art-focused next week. Either way, thanks for reading!
If you want to see more of my artwork/sketches/ramblings, follow me on X and Instagram. And if you really want to support me, I have a store!
I also started an illustration studio, so if you or anyone you know is in need of custom illustration, check out Sketch Foundry!
Have a great week!
-Brad