We have reached the end of Chapter Four! Hooray! I’m pleased that we get to start the new year with a new chapter. The action is about to pick up!

Remember I mentioned that I would be a guest on The Webcomic Beacon? Well, that episode is now up and ready for listening or downloading. We end up talking a lot about Star Trek, especially the original series. Y’know, there was a time when I had every episode memorized, but it’s been so long since I’ve watched any of them, even in reruns. I may have to look into purchasing the remastered editions….

And please come back January 1st for a special New Year’s (and First-Friday-of-the-Month) bonus!

Wow, ten panels on one page! That’s rare for me– I usually average around 5 or 6, I guess? But to be honest (this being the time of year when we are all more prone to honesty and other positive traits), the main reason this page is so compressed is I almost blew it– I’d already drawn about half of it before I remembered that I’d made some changes to a later part of the script that weren’t reflected on the part of the script I was working from. I had to dash out some quick-and-dirty editing to make it all fit right. I think– I hope– it works. (See, now, if you were just reading the graphic novel you probably wouldn’t even have noticed a thing. That’s the kind of behind-the-scenes information you’re only going to get in the webcomic! So there’s one reason to put up with this page-a-week stuff. )

For those who might be wondering, I don’t think I’m going to get anything special posted on Christmas Day, as I have in past years, but instead I’ll get something ready for New Year’s Day, which will of course be the First Friday of the Month in addition to being the First Day of the Year. Next Tuesday will have a regular update as usual. In any case, I hope everyone who is celebrating at this time of year has a great holiday!

Well, since every single person who commented last week voted in favour of keeping the grey tones, I guess they’ll stay! Thanks to everyone for your kind words of encouragement.

This Sunday, December 20th, I’ll be a guest on The Webcomic Beacon podcast, along with fellow sci-fi webcomicker Mark Mekkes of Zortic. The Beacon has a live chat room during the recording, so please feel free to join us on TalkShoe at 3pm EST. Average show length is between one and one-and-a-half hours. You can join the chat room as an anonymous guest, or you can sign up for an account on TalkShoe if you wish. A word of warning, though: in my experience, the Beacon’s regular chat room crowd, friendly bunch though they are, can get a bit, er, carried away, frequently on risqué topics which may or may not be actually related to the broadcast… that’s all part of the zany fun of a live chat room!

Happy Hannukah to all those who are celebrating this week!

Yay! Sunlight! No more goggles! *dances around chair in celebration*

I’ve gotten so used to doing grey tones, though, I could probably continue on doing them for small areas of contrast and shadow (like the way I’ve done on this page, in the areas outside the airlock). What do you think? Do you prefer the stark black and white, or are the greys worth keeping?

Also, in case you missed it, I posted a sample script, with commentary, last Friday. It’s kind of an interesting look at one part of my creative process!

Oh, did I say before there would be no more flashbacks? I was wrong. This is the last. And now we arrive back ’round where we came in, way back at the start of the chapter.

Hey, how did it get to be December already? That makes this Friday the old First Friday of the Month update. Man, guys, I’m gonna have to give my apologies and duck out of that one.  Again. I’m really trying to build back up a proper buffer, but a week of dealing with stomach flu sailing through the family has set me back. Again. Sigh. I’ll be sure to post something interesting, though, so please do stop by. Hmmm… something from the archives (the portfolio one, not the webcomic one), I suppose? Scripts, early Galaxion drawings, pencil drafts for pages… any requests?

This page reminds me that it’s been an awfully long time since we’ve seen Fusella, Darvin, and everyone else still patiently waiting aboard the Galaxion. At the moment my plans don’t include any scenes aboard ship for quite awhile, but Fusella– delightfully tenacious person that she is–  may yet find a way to sneak herself back into the storyline (as more than just a crackly disembodied voice, at any rate).

Here in Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving last month, but since I know a lot of you reading this are living in the States, I will take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everybody, last week I was a guest on the TGT Webcomics podcast! It’s a long one, clocking in at somewhere over two hours, but if you’re the sort of person that likes audio entertainment while you work, more is better, right? One of the traditions of the show is the host, Kurt, asking their webcomic guest of the week for a spoiler. So be warned, there is a small spoiler near the end!

This is one of those weeks when I don’t have enough brain power left over to write something important (and I’m sure there are at least two things I should announce but I keep forgetting about). In fact, the only thing I can say with certainty is I will throw a big celebration when these guys finally get out of the dark and I can leave off doing all these grey tones and why on Earth did I ever think it was a good idea to make them wear those stupid infrared goggles. (Confession time: the only reason I have Zan using a little flashlight here is because I couldn’t stand it any longer not being able to draw their eyes!)

This Friday is the first Friday of the month, but I think this month I’m going to call the Galaxion Halloween 2009 special my extra contribution, since it was nearly within the same week….

This will be the last flashback of the chapter, I promise! Also, if you drop by the site on Saturday, Oct 31st, there might just be a little something here to celebrate Halloween… nothing fancy, mind, but I can’t just let the occasion slip away without doing something fun!