Full Cover Jacket

And here we have even further developed cover ideas.

The first are the two previous front covers, merged into one.

The second has the Giant's first appearance, an idea suggested by my Wife, Tae In, and then re-suggested by Alec.

Font is thanks, again, to Christine Aaron!

Another Cover

Alec suggested a cover that looks like this.

The Cover

As of yet, there isn't a cover for the Hound's Tale. We're working on it.

Here is our first try, and an attempt at some color as well.

Some observations: a nice drawing, but not too exciting; and we Certainly need a logo design!

The Five

Here are Five Sequential pages from the Hound's Tale, book 1. These pages come from the near end of the book, pages 81 to 88.

Often submission requirements for publishers ask for five pages, so they can see what you're capable of: consistency, storytelling, layout, pacing, etc.

Ok ok, we know, technically there are six, well eight really if you count the two page spreads. But they work so well together!

Dialogue!

The talented Christine Aaron has created some lovely fonts for our story! Each character set / culture has their own, unique look, to help better tell the tale and diversify the world in which they live!

Check out Christine's site for a look a peek (scroll right to see them!)

http://cayanna.net/on-going/typography-for-the-hounds-tale/

More SFX

The sound effects were just added to these pages (83-84) only yesterday. Well all right.

SFX

The thing is nearly completed! Recently, I've been going through and adding sounds effects to each page. Here, a troll is barking wildly as Septimus vents his disgust for the noisy creatures. Soon I'll be able to show off the amazing fonts we had made for each character!

Color Test

The entire comic is in black and white, and will most likely stay that way. But the idea of color is a nice one, and we can't help but wonder what it might look like. So here is an attempt at it, with water colors.

The original:

And the one with color:

Maybe some more of these will be shown.

A Good Day

Today, September 01, 2010,

The last pages have been ReDrawn, edited, touched up, and it is all finally done! It is a good day.

Thank the sun and moon.

Now to add all the final text and sound effects and the book will be complete...

More Fixings

Finally we are nearing the last pages that are being ReDrawn. I'm currently working on page 81, but here is page 78, both its older and its newer self:

Now everyone has eyes, and Owin's got a chair! Subtle changes I suppose.

the Latest ReDraw

Here we have a page that had an implied march of Septimus and his soldiers. They are hinted at, and then appear en masse a few pages later. They needed to be shown as a group before their grande gathering, so I added a new panel. Also, Septimus doesn't walk with his men, but rather rides a chariot contraption. The new establishing shot now better shows this luxury, whereas before it was mostly cropped out.

Before:

After:

ReDraws

So we don't want to give away too much more of the plot, which is why there hasn't been anything new for a while now. But what we can share is what has been happening lately: redrawing.

"What do you mean?"

Well, a lot of the older pages needed quite a bit of retouching.

Compare a picture posted in August 09, "Owin and Huath"...

to its newly redrawn goodness.

I guess editing is another way of putting it.

Bonfire

Otso stays behind on the farm with Ma and Pa, and they collect plants to burn several bonfires. If the giant comes towards the house, the smoke from the fires should turn it away.

As the giant roars somewhere in the trees, they stare into the fire, and Pa wonders, "Will this really work?"

The Chase

Pa's concern is obvious. The giant is truly just that. But it doesn't put up a fight, and runs before them.

The Calvary

Three of them head into the woods: Dorian, mounted upon his harpy, Eroch; Owin, riding Huath; and Septimus, with his armor of flight. Their agility and speed will allow them to keep pace with the giant as they usher it along. Owin is concerned about gravely injuring any creature, but Septimus has seen the beast up close, and knows they could never really do any great harm to it.