Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 46

Ah~ I always liked the way this chapter ends. Yes... it is the last page of Chapter Two! I sort of miscalculated the page numbers (I thought there was 47 not 46! Oops!), but there it is.

In case you missed out, here are the amazon links to books 1 and 2:

Sorcerers & Secretaries book 2 on amazon
Sorcerers & Secretaries book 1 on amazon

Leave a review! Tell your friends the book is out! You definitely should be able to find it in any well-stocked comics store and chain bookstore by now. When you find it, I hope you enjoy it. =)

Now that the updating is over and the second book is off to do as it will, I have no plans for the website beyond updating it sporadically with sketches and occasional news. Check in occasionally if it fancies you. If not... thank you for being an attentive viewer and I'll email you (if you're on the mailing list) the next time there's eventful news involving my work.

I had a great time sharing these pages with you ladies (and guys), and a huge thank you to anyone that left comments on my blog. I'd check it at least three times a day! It was exciting to get reader feedback again, so thank you so much. =)

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 45

Only three more pages until the chapters 1 and 2 marathon comes to a close, so yes I will finish off the chapter (to answer May's question from yesterday's comment box). Things at the studio are good, painted some Amulet today. Tomorrow's for freelance, hopefully I can squeeze in a bit of time for Reman. I got up to page 50 in the script last night, so thankfully I'm past the first thirty pages! Woo hoo~ XD

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 44

And it continues... beyond the release date! But it seems people are starting to get their books in. I have to admit I'm a bit nervous! However, I suppose as long as I'm happy with how it turned out, I can handle any negative criticism gracefully.

I spent my day doing laundry (including a minor disaster because I failed to check the jean pockets!), and painted a page of Amulet. I should be working on a freelance project I have, but I'd rather write Reman Mythology before heading to sleep (I'm up to page 33 in the script).

Speaking of page 33... I kind of freaked out the other day and almost scrapped the script to start over yet again. Kazu asked me what page I was on, and I told him. Then he talked about screenwriters, and how getting past page 30 is usually a huge hurdle because it's the end of the first act and the last two are unknown, while the first one is far from perfect. "Just finish the whole thing," he said, "THEN go back and reread it to see what needs to be fixed, because you won't know until it's all laid out in front of you." It's so true.

So there you have it guys... if any of you graphic novelists out there are frozen at the end of act 1, just push forward and get past that dreaded "page 30"! There are greener pastures on the other side. I hope.

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 43

When I wrote the script I was dying to get to this page, simply because I haven't really drawn real romantic tension before. It made my friend blush, so mission accomplished.

This reminds me, I listened to this song a lot while drawing this book: another youtube music video link.

I also realize that I miscalculated how many pages are left for the June 12th release date (ha! obviously!)... oops. =P

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 42

Warm and tender conversation leads to warm and tender moments.

Speaking of... everyone should watch this clip and remember how beautiful the world is. Thanks, Kermit! =)

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 41

Warm and tender conversation. I like drawing that last panel hehe~

I appologize for the late update, Kazu and I decided to take the day off yesterday after the Otis presentation. The lecture was awesome, I especially loved hearing Coop and Camille speak, and it was so fun hearing Esther and Mark discuss their different adventures being illustrators in New York too. Since everyone, besides myself, was either gallery artists or editorial illustrators (two areas that I'm pretty unfamiliar with) I learned a lot. A big thanks to Michael Dooley for organizing it! And thank you to everyone that came out to see it. One person in particular actually read Reman Myth, and that always surprises me (I just feel like no one in the offline world reads that thing! haha~). So thank you for stopping by to say hello, Raika!

I'll try to update on time tonight. Kazu and I are at the studio once again, hopefully I can paint two pages of Amulet tonight...

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 40

Somehow I always read the two word balloons in panel three in the wrong order when it's online, but it reads fine in print. If I had more time, it's one of the things I would've changed for clarity's sake.

Speaking of honing one's craft, the first review that I know of for Sorcerers & Secretaries 2 is up at popcultureshock.com! It got a B+ which is good news. It means there's plenty space to improve and opportunities to surpass myself! I guess the reviewer wasn't too interested in Susan and Riley's relationship, and in retrospect maybe it was a little self-serving since it was the most fun part for me to write. I didn't really think too much about whether or not anyone else would be into it... oops. >_<>

In other news, today one of our assistants is leaving us for a covetted internship with Pixar Animation up in Emeryville, CA. She left us with a whole mess of One Piece episodes. Ever since she started helping us out with Amulet, she couldn't stop talking about One Piece. It is her ultimate television show, and I was touched by her gift. Can't wait to watch the whole series!!! Best of luck to you, Katy. Knock 'em dead at Pixar!

Tomorrow is the Otis presentation. I am a little nervous! It's been quite a while since I did any public speaking, and some people are paying money to see this. I hope the other artists and I will give them their money's worth. Wish me luck!

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 39

Josh is in heaven here. Hehehe...

Well I think I have enough romantic comedy recommendations to last me for a few years! It proved my theory that everyone loves romance deep down inside (how can you resist?). I remember when I was thirteen and obsessively reading any book I could get my hands on, if the story had no romance it was really uninteresting to me. Maybe it was because I was thirteen... but every story has to have a wee bit o romance, right??

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 38

Throughout the course of writing this book, I indulged in many romantic comedy movies. Some I had watched so often as a youngster, I didn't need to watch them again (Sleepless In Seattle, Pretty Woman, Princess Bride, Ghost, Groundhog Day, She's All That, and one of my all time favorites, French Kiss).

Some that I watched were simply terrible. The couples had no chemistry, their character development lacked emotional logic, and if anything, I was hoping that they didn't get together because it was a divorce waiting to happen. A couple examples of this are Alex & Emma, Kate & Leopold, Stranger Than Fiction, and I even found the couple in Breakfast At Tiffany's to be a bad match. It made me realize how delicate good chemistry is. All of this movie-watching has given me a taste for the romantic that I think will leak into my stories from now on.

So I'm curious about you guys. What romantic comedies did you like or dislike?

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 37

I always thought Nicole looked particularly fetching in panel 1.

It is Wednesday, June 6th, and Sorcerers & Secretaries book 2 officially ships in one week (June 13th) to a finer comic shop/book store near you! I, for one, am quite excited. A colleague at the studio just read both books for the first time in one sitting, and said that it flowed well. I was worried that the books would be awkward to read together since so much time passed between volumes, but I guess it's a-ok. Hopefully someday Tokyopop can afford to print a one-volume edition. I already have a super spiffy cover in mind~ We'll see I guess!

For any Otis students out there, on June 9th I'll be participating in a lecture/roundtable seminar pondering the meaning of being an artist in the business-driven environment of today's popular culture industry. I hear from the grapevine that Otis students get in for free/with a hefty discount, otherwise the lecture is $35. More information can be found here.

On the way to the studio today I spent a few minutes browsing the local library. I've been writing the script for book 1 of Reman Mythology this past week, and writing innevitably gets me in the mood for reading. In high school I spent most of my days writing prose, so whenever I get into my writing headspace I'm always awash with nostalgia. Particularly, nostalgia for countless hours spent browsing bookstores and library shelves throughout high school and middle school.

It was nice to just wander around and pick up whatever caught my eye. The rentals this week are a translation of the Upanishads, a book on Norse gods and heroes, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (which I started reading immediately as I walked to work, and it's awesome!), and Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Let's see if I can get through at least half of these!

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 36

It's funny, the sentences he's reading out loud are things I made up according to views I have on the action of writing/storytelling. They aren't the only views, of course, but I do think the best stuff has an essance of expressing something that is so emotionally powerful to the creator, that the only way it can be "spoken" is through symbols and stories.

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 35

Ah~ back to the main characters. I loved drawing the last two panels...

Today was interesting. There was a big food festival outside our studio back door with live music and a $50 entrance fee (we snuck around to our door through Nucleus' back entrance), plus Kazu installed our brand new 4' x 6' magnetic wipe board. OooOOooh~ fancy! It feels like a real office in here now, and we wrote benchmarks, due dates, and minimal daily goals all over that thing. Getting organized feels so good!!

In other news, check out the blog of Man Arenas and BE INSPIRED.

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 34

Updating a little early today because Kazu and I are pretty much taking the rest of the night off for a friend's birthday. If you're in the LA area, you should DEFINITELY make it out to Nucleus tonight for Edwin Ushiro's show opening starting at 7pm. Kazu and I got a sneak peak last night, and I have to say it's one of Nucleus' best shows of late. It's beautiful, and some of the pieces are one-of-a-kind (meaning no prints are being made) so you might as while see them while you still can. For example, my favorite piece in the show, a large painting (about 30" x 40").

Well, I'll see you guys on Sunday!

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 33

This page reads much better in book form. =P

No new links today. Painted a page from Amulet, but we need to get faster! Man... color comics sure are intense. My painting skills are improving though, something I thought would never happen...

Sorcerers & Secretaries vol. 2, page 32

Was it planned? Was it accidental? Some relationships are like car wrecks, and happen in the most haphazard way. This is why Susan and Riley's relationship was one of the most fun parts of writing the second book, and their story was the easiest part to write.

My friend Dawn showed me this super cute popular site called cuteoverload.com. It'll take up a few minutes of your day at the office/school. Also, experiments with water in zero gravity! (from Indigo's blog)