Hanging out backstage with Dead Man Holiday #-2
Okay, just like I did with the last issue, I thought I'd write a post dealing with my experiences producing and self-publishing Dead Man Holiday # -2. Accompanying this article are the drawings I did for people who ordered a signed copy of Dead Man Holiday # -2. (Here are the drawing I did for # -3.) The drawings are in exercise in speed in design and production. There are some I think are really cool. There is one of a skeleton moth playing minigolf.
Production wise, Dead Man Holiday #-2 was much the same as the issue before it. I designed the look of the comic before I knew much about process, and did made some choices that are really time consuming that I am now stuck with. One change I did make this time around was to do some of the inking with brush. I think this sped the inking up a bit, and made the book a little more rustic looking. But what I'm still shloshing through are the grey tones. I really hate doing them, I'm not that great at them, and they're something I did to fill up space. When I first started Dead Man holiday I was insecure about my compositions (and rightfully so) and decided to cover the whole thing in grey to compensate. I do think it's adds a gritty heaviness that serves this particular story, but this method will not be following Dead Man Holiday into positive issues where it will no longer fit my process or the story.
One weird thing that happened while drawing this issue was that things all of a sudden got easier. No reason for it, I didn't change my methods or realize anything new. In the middle of drawing the Koreatown scene everything just became a whole lot easier, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I think all of the pages after that are better than the ones before, too. Still now sure what happened there.
Publishing wise, everything went fine. I found out about using the "Unsharp Mask" filter on my pages right before exporting the final version, which makes your art look a LOT sharper if you're dealing with stuff you have to photograph/scan (non-line art). I tried to be a cowboy and not get a proof from Ka-Blam before I printed, and they came back looking a little dark and muddy. Totally my fault, lesson learned. I was pretty worried about it, but no one seemed to mind. This will be corrected for the collection.
A lot of the reviews I got praised the artwork really highly, which really meant a lot to me, but expressed concern about the lack of story. As I've said, I think this will iron itself out as people get the rhythm of the series down after a few issues. I had good luck personally reaching out to a lot of sites for interviews, and found that it's really the only way to get them. I only did a couple of interviews, but I think they were really substantial and will really help people understand what I'm trying to do with Dead Man Holiday. I used to be of the mind that I didn't really want to influence people's interpretation of the book, but people seem really responsive when Income out and tell them about it, so maybe that's the way to go. I was really honored to be interviewed by The Pulse, which I didn't even reach out for.
I had another contest over at the Indie Spinner Rack boards, and it went slow but ended up going really well. Thanks neil-brideau, Zach Taylor, DBM, Chris Ruggia and Charlito for participating and saving me from looking like a total chump! It's always nerve wracking starting one of those up because I don't know if anyone's even going to participate. This post from Neil was especially nice.
And I think that's about it. This isn't as long as the one for last issue, because I didn't ha veto climb as big a mountain to get the damn thing done. Like I said, the first one took me a couple of years. This one took me eight months, and the next will be even shorter. I'm right now in the middle of drawing a nine page, diologueless zoom in sequence that make up pages five through fourteen, so look forward to that!
