Phase Two Complete! (Summer - Day Ten)

The scans are finished! (With the exception of the final page. I want that image to be the last thing I illustrate/ink/scan/edit -- to give me a sense of completion. (You know, as if I'm not going to need to do multiple drafts on this baby.)

May 27th was the day I made the most progress in a single day. It started out with a bunch of other errands -- going back and forth to help with the set of Hello Dolly! -- all the while taking the girls to their classes. But once the ladies left for dress rehearsal, I got down to business. I must have scanned over a hundred images. Stayed up till 2pm, diligently walking back and forth between the keyboard and the scanner, all the while listening to the audiobook of Stephen King's 11/22/63.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the action sequences in Duck Town. Our heroes jumped into a canal to get away from a villainous gang of rats. But then Penny (the chick who thinks she's a princess) starts to float down the drain...

Well, now it's time to move to Phase Three. Operation Photoshop!

New Projects: Coach Ted and Radio Play (Summer Day Nine)

Our errands for today:

• Took daughter to her art class (she's an assistant teacher!)
• The Bradford Family swept and painted the stage (more Hello Dolly! stuff)
• Family lunch at Fresh Works. 
• Walked the dogs. 
• Returned stuff at Home Depot.
• Picked up some Mic tape at CVS.
• Quick run to Trader Joe's. 

We hadn't been to fresh works for a long time. They have a new soda machine by a company I've never heard of... and I really liked it. Plus, at least according to their signage, there's no high fructose corn syrup -- so it almost seems healthy! (Seems being the operative word.) 

I think it's an off-shoot of Pepsi (which I loathe), but these drinks were good. Really liked the Cream Soda. 

Wow, I just realized how suburban I am, droning on about a new carbonated beverage in the neighborhood. 

Anyway, I only scanned a few more images of Duck Town this evening. Most of my creative time was working on a new play idea. I'm tentatively calling it Coach Ted for now. It's unusual -- it gets a bit out of my comfort zone, which is good for a writer. 

Chris (from Bullshot Crummond) and I have tasked ourselves with an ambitious endeavor. We want to create a script by the end of the summer that might be performed with Randy and other CTG alum. We met at Barnes and Nobel tonight to brainstorm another idea -- one that will probably turn out to be the script we use because it has a lot of potential, and seems more mainstream/user-friendly. This one is based upon old time radio shows. That's all I'll say -- I never want to give away any spoilers on my blog. But whether or not these projects come to life, it's already fun just collaborating.  

Balancing Errands and Creative Time (Summer - Day Eight)

More progress today with Duck Town. I scanned in the rest of Chapter Seven and got started on Chapter Eight. Unfortunately, I found four more pages that needed to be inked! Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

In between creative tasks, I still had a lot of errands to run. Here was my itinerary:

• Daughter #2 to biology class.
• Daughter #1 to assist teacher in rocket science class.
• Walk the dogs.
• Picked up Daughter #1 from college.
• Took Daughters to Martial Arts. 
• Took daughters to the theater.
• Helped backstage during Hello Dolly rehearsal. 

Yes, as Calvin and Hobbes say, the days are packed. I do wish that I had the time and energy to finish my graphic novel before May draws to a close.

Getting Unstuck (Summer - Day Seven)

As you can tell, I've been blogging on a more regular basis again. So far, it feels like I'm just keeping track of mundane events. For example, today (May 24th) I spent a lot of time running errands:

• Grocery Store Trip (for Cheri's cauliflower crumbles)
• Picked up daughter from school
• Took daughter to dental appointment (she scored 100% on brushing techniques!)
• Dropped off both daughter at karate.
• Hardware Store Trip (for a big bucket of black paint)

I probably managed to carve an hour or two of Duck Town scans. Emily and I helped backstage at Hello Dolly! The show is coming along swimmingly.

I should be working on a script scene for the Big Sandwich Theater Company -- but the words are a bit stuck. I'm hoping that journaling / blogging will get me unstuck, but so far I haven't generated anything I'm happy about.

Done with Inking? HA! (Summer - Day Six)

Did I mention last blog post that I thought I was finished with the inking process? I thought wrong.

Today, while making good progress scanning images, I stumbled upon about twenty five penciled pages without a drop of ink upon them. So, that meant scanning screeched to a halt and I went to work with my ink brush.

During my office time, when it doesn't bother anyone else, I've been listening to a book on tape: Stephen King's 11/22/63. I'm halfway through and enjoying it immensely.

I've been returning to my New Year's Resolution to take more photos. But I'm rather incompetent with technology and photography. (I'm using Emily's old iPod touch.) Haven't been able to mail the images to myself, yet, otherwise I would post some in this blog.

As the inking process simmered down, Emily suggested that we watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I couldn't resist. And since I was watching one of my favorite movies, I couldn't resist making popcorn and eating Red Vines. I had hoped to follow Cheri's lead on a healthy lifestyle -- but once ten o'clock rolls around, it's hard to listen to the nutritionist angel on your shoulder.

Set Construction by Day, Duck Town by Night (Summer 2016 - Day Five)

Started off by sleeping in until 9am -- which makes me feel like I'm wasting my summer. The best time during the summer (especially when it's scorching hot) is between 6:30 and 10:30am. So I really need to make sure I get an early start each day.

I had hoped to scan as many images of Duck Town as possible. (For the record, the drawing and inking portion is done -- now I need to scan and edit about 60% of the graphic novel.) However, Cheri needed help with a prop chicken. So, I did my best to make one for her. It looks good for a Muppet production, but I don't know if it'll work for Hello Dolly.

Once I was at the theater there was no going back. There were props to make and walls to paint. I left Kenzie and Cheri at around 6:30 -- picked up some take-out at Stonefire Grill -- and then journeyed home to feed Emily. She was productive today. She cleaned her room!

From 7:30 until midnight, I was able to focus on Duck Town. Chapter four and chapter five are now scanned.

I've been listening to a lot of Prince. Last night I listened to one of my personal favorites: Diamonds and Pearls. I miss that mad, wonderful genius.

All Busy, No Business (Summer 2016 - Day Four)

It was one of those days. lots of stuff to do, but not much gets done. At least not much creative stuff.

Cheri was productive, though. She woke up at 7am, then she woke me up two hours later. I went to Costco for snacks, then to Target to get some presents for one of the karate kid's birthday party. Back at home, I straightened my office for a half hour. Then Em and I went to pick up Mackenzie from the theater (she was finishing up her lighting design).

Then I dropped them off at the birthday party, went home, delivered Cheri's ipad to Nanook (the sound designer), went back home, picked up the girls from the party, went back home, took Mackenzie back to the theater, helped her take down the scaffolding, then TimBen and Mike Smith were unloading stuff from the annex and loading up stuff to be trashed -- so I helped them for a coupke of hours. Came home, went to In-N-Out for Emily and me... Went home, consumed burgers. we started to walk the dogs but then we found a stray cat that needed help finding its home.

Em escorted the cat to its human family. Then we walked the dogs. Then I took the girls to ColdStone. Mackenzie hasn't had ice cream for about eight months, and she decided to treat herself.

So a lot of transportation and busy-body stuff, but I didn't find the time to work on Duck Town.

Still, it's not all bad. Mackenzie picked out Singin in the Rain, and so we're watching that now.