Page 45 — Spurred on second thoughts about sending Sami off on the Mermaid, Root needs — a horse? We’ll find out more later, after we find out what Sami’s up to!
CHAPTER TWO — OVER THE WAVES: INTERLUDE
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CHAPTER TWO — OVER THE WAVES: INTERLUDE
Page 44 — Hazard Pay! Even better than overtime! Do they know something that Root doesn’t?
CHAPTER TWO — OVER THE WAVES: INTERLUDE
Page 43 — Turns out Root’s business meeting is very relevant!
Chapter Two — Over the Waves: Interlude
Page 42 — Interlude — back in Half Moon Bay, Root goes to see about that mysterious commission she mentioned.
Progress!
Sometimes I’ve been feeling like I’m swimming upstream — but I think I’ve found the flow!
Hi folks, I’m still working on getting the comic back in action, but in the meantime, I’d like to fill you in on what I have been doing! It’s been an incredibly busy couple of months since I last posted. I have finished the two huge illustration jobs I was working on (still can’t talk about them until they’re published, but I can say that one of them is about undersea stuff!) and done a couple of other smaller ones. The bills come first, alas!
I’ve also been part of a group of local comics artists that launched in September, and we are doing some really exciting networking, and planning some publishing projects for the spring. I took part in Inktober, a world-wide initiative which I wrote about here, here, here, and here. It was great to relax and do some little, one-off drawings, and it kind of cleared my head for getting back into the comic.
But the big, big, BIG news, is that I’ve finally broken the ice on having an online shop. I’ve been doing tons of research, trying to decide how to make my art available, and decided to start with a POD (print on demand) company called Redbubble. I just uploaded my first design tonight, and it’s page 36 from this very webcomic where Sami spies the mermaid amongst the dolphins! It works very well as a print I think. I wrote a bit more about it, with links to the shop, on my regular blog. Please go check it out!
I’ll be back with more news about Mermaid Music very soon!
Pushing the Pause Button
They told me so. Did I listen? Noooooo!
Common wisdom has it that one should have at least six weeks of buffer pages before starting posting a webcomic. When I started posting the first chapter, it was all pencilled, and much of it already coloured and/or inked, which let me post blithely first once, then twice a week into June. In my customary eternal enthusiasm and almost pathological optimism, I had planned to jump back in at the beginning of August with the next chapter, which I did, and unwisely.
Why? Because I. Did. Not. Listen! Common wisdom is common for a reason.
As you know from my last couple of posts, I’ve been struggling a bit (okay, a lot) to keep up with a regular schedule of pages. I’ve been up to my eyeballs in a couple of big illustration gigs (which I can’t post about yet, it’s killing me!) and life just keeps happening. Which is good, one wouldn’t want it to not! But it can have a way of thwarting plans based on sheer optimism.
Looking at my workload, I’ve concluded that I’m going to have to back off and obey the Purveyors of Common Wisdom (not to mention the laws of nature that give us only 24 hours in a day): I’m going to pause the comic until I get a backlog finished so that I can keep up a regular schedule and not have to keep apologizing (really, if I have to keep being sheepish on a regular basis, I’m going to have to go live in a meadow)! Realistically speaking, based on the last chapter, this will probably take me a couple of months, so hopefully it will be back up and running in early November.
I want to be able to spend the time on this comic to make it the best it can be, out of respect for you, my readers, and my own vision, so that when I launch back into it, it will be the best I can make it. I’m finding myself slowing down and really putting the love into it; since this is my own project, a labour of love, I need to feel free to do that.
I won’t abandon you entirely, Dear Readers; there will be sketches and news (maybe even some tutorials!), and I’ll try to do that often. So I’m going to leave you for now with a teaser of the next page: Aunt Root returns in a “meanwhile” interlude back on shore. This is the inked version, which will be coloured as I have the others. The story will resume in a couple of months with this very page in full watercolour glory!
Aunt Root is back, and about to find out about that contract she mentioned to Sami back on page 20. The Redwing logo was fun to design, and I’ll be playing with that a bit — might even make some jewellery!
Chapter Two — Over the Waves
Page 41 — A Lesson in Ship Linguistics
The Artist is Human
Hello readers, just a quick post here to let you know what’s going on. I’m forced, with much blushing, to admit being human (not that I’ve been posing as a mermaid or anything). My superpowers seem to be on the fritz right now, and I have been too ill all week to do much art. With much regret, I’m going to switch back to a once-a-week schedule for a while to give myself time to heal and address some long-term health issues. The story will continue, though — I have so much good stuff planned! I will post weekly on Monday mornings, beginning this Monday, and hopefully resume the twice weekly postings within a month or so. Thanks for sticking with me, and Sami and the crew!
Here’s a bit of my past seashore art to keep you in the mood!
“Dancing Starfish” — acrylic on canvas
Chapter Two — Over the Waves
Page 39 — Sami is starting to get the idea that something fishy is going on here.
Note: I first published this page while travelling and didn’t have a scanner, so I snapped a not-too-bad picture with my iPhone! This is the official scanned page. Since I had the camera going, I posted some process stuff, too, on my blog. Have a look!
Delays, and Cook’s Grog
A mermaid sketch card: watercolour and ink, 2.5×3.5 inches
I’m about to set sail (on a ferryboat) to the great dry inland of BC, and fear that I may have to leave you all high and dry on our story until next Tuesday — I’m setting off with two partial pages, but then I realized that I will probably have no way to scan them and send them off to you. Arrrgh! So next Tuesday (August 18), the winds being willing, I will post the next two pages at one time — so be sure to check them both and find out why Hart Jones feels he must feed the mermaid a libation of grog!
And what exactly is grog, anyway? According to the Wikipedia article on the subject, it was a drink made with water or “small beer” (a weak beer), lemon or lime juice, and rum, to help combat scurvy. Nowadays, however, it can refer to any alcoholic drink. Aboard The Mermaid, scurvy isn’t so much of a worry, because she is a coastal vessel in a mild climate, able to get plenty of fresh fruit and veggies (and Cook makes sure of that) — so they have their own grog recipe that they like, made of cider infused with spices that they trade for in the Southern Isles. It’s not always the same, but Cook makes it with a medium-sweet cider (did you notice all those barrels down by the galley?), sticks of cinnamon, star anise, cardamom pods, ginger root, and cloves. He makes a big batch of concentrated syrup using the spices and some fresh squeezed cider (so no alcohol yet) by heating it in a kettle. He bottles it up and seals it, then he adds the spice infusion to the hard cider when he taps it. If they have lemons and lime on board, he adds a squeeze or two to taste. Mmmm!
Mermaid Music 