I finally got around to adding more art to the KTracy Network’s Art Gallery. In case you haven’t figured this out, I have my own network of websites and share certain functions between all of them to keep everything centralized (and to prevent my server from overloading). The user-end of that centralization is located in that bar at the very top of this and my other websites.

Anyway, to see my MSPaint artwork; including some never-before-seen work from testing I’ve done, the webcomic era, Volume I, AND EVEN VOLUME II; all you have to do is mouse over “Art Gallery” and click on “MSPaint Art.” Once there, you’ll find dozens of images I’ve drawn entirely or partially in MSPaint.

Or if you’re lazy, you can just click here.

An example of a frame drawn and colored by myself towards the end of the comic.

I’ll fill you in right now.  I have 8 pages left to draw on the MSPaint Comic before finishing.  Assuming I don’t elaborate on anything as I’m drawing it (causing it to be more than 8 more pages), the finished first volume The MSPaint Comic: Institution will run 100 pages long.

Now that the necessary update is out of the way, I thought it may be fun to share with you how exactly the MSPaint Comic is being made, and what exactly “8 more pages” really means.

Years ago, when the MSPaint Comic was a webcomic, I drew each frame one at a time.  However, as I learned the power of credit cards in obtaining monitors with enormous resolutions, I discovered I could draw entire pages at a time, rather than one frame at a time and then piecing those frames together on a page.  That process always killed me because I would spend hours, sometimes days, perfecting details that wouldn’t make it into the comic strip because I misjudged the resolution I needed or the final shape of the frame that was necessary.  Working with one page at a time ensures there will be no layout problems or conflicts.  As you may have seen in Pixels For Christmas, the end result is more professional than what you may remember in the webcomic.

Pixels for Christmas was also created at a much smaller resolution than Institution and I suspect much smaller than I probably used to create the webcomic.  Granted, I didn’t compress Pixels for Christmas to 792 pixels in width, either; which helped make things look a lot prettier if you get turned on by the pixels.

Anyway, there is a four-step process for creating a page in the comic.  The first, and most important, is creating the line drawings.  I do that entirely by myself since I appear to be the grand master of the MSPaint curve tool.  All the characters, clothes, actions, accessories, weapons, and their speech or thought bubbles are created in this first stage, but with only very limited color.

The second step is coloring, which is a shared responsibility between myself and Krista, my fiancee.  Krista handles the most basic and time-consuming coloring tasks.  In other words, if two people are standing next to each other, I give her a color code to go by and she does the rest, including shading.  Krista is also in charge of drawing most of the camouflage seen throughout the comic after page 50ish (when I decided to let her help me).  However, there are some scenes that I choose to color.  This is usually due to dynamic lighting effects or strange, but highly important details.  To give you an idea of how much time Krista is saving me, I’m currently working on page 93 and have colored approximately 15 pages between 50 and 93.  Krista is currently coloring page 76.  She started at around page 50 about 9 months ago.  Needless to say, the comic would not be complete in 2012 if it wasn’t for her help.

The third step in the process is drawing backgrounds.  Generally, this is done in a separate bitmap file using a copy of the colored drawing Krista did.  I’m drawing all the backgrounds myself, since there are details going into that work that I don’t think she fully understands because of my inability to express everything that’s happening in the comic and my more intimate knowledge of the settings in which the comic is being created.  The backgrounds are drawn over the characters Krista colored, and I copy paste the foreground bitmap Krista finished over the backgrounds I just created.

The fourth step are the special effects.  Believe it or not, I don’t do everything in MSPaint.  The power rods that resemble lightsabers are drawn in The GIMP.  I can’t get into the details of why that’s acceptable, but when you read the second volume, it should probably make more sense why not everything is pixelated.  In addition to special effects, the final editing on the pages is done in The GIMP.  What does this mean?  Well, it means getting the page ready for print, including color tests to make sure the backgrounds don’t clash too badly with the colors Krista used.  It also means setting up the spacer space.   That’s going to be particularly problematic from a cost perspective, though.  Since the MSPaint Comic was a webcomic, the comic strips and Pixels For Christmas always had a black border and black spacing between the frames.

Unfortunately, when printed, that requires what is called a page bleed.  All that means is that there is no white edge around each page.  Although it’s simple to understand, it can also be pretty damn expensive.  Currently, all the borders in the comic are a hot-pink color.  What they change into will depend greatly on the offer various printing services and prices presented to us.  Without a doubt, I would much prefer to keep the black background around.  However, if we’re talking about losing a full dollar or more per printed comic for the full bleed, I won’t let be added into the cost of the comic.

As it is, it’s rare to see an affordable, full-color 100 page comic by independent artists.  If I can cut a dollar or more off the price of each comic, I’ll do it without thinking twice.

When that’s done, the page is done.

Then everything begins finding its way into OpenOffice.org Writer, where the pages will be numbered, the bleeds installed, and the final PDF completed.  After an approval by a US Air Force security officer (a mere formality since I was an intelligence analyst and they have to make sure the Ghost of Teddy Roosevelt doesn’t reveal any state secrets), the MSPaint Comic can finally be printed and then sold to you and the friends you introduce to the pixelated madness.

The end of the waiting, at last. Despite missing the Christmas 2011 deadline I set for myself a while back, I am ridiculously close to finishing the book. I suspect the finished product will be done around February or March. Hopefully that includes the government censorship process (not that there’s anything to be censored, but I gave the Air Force permission to review any works I do involving the military or intelligence community).

There’s more good news, though. I bought a MacBook Pro. Now, you’re probably wondering why this is good news because MSPaint doesn’t work in the Mac OS. While that’s true, it appears to be true that MSPaint will work on a Mac using the Windows 7 operating system.

Thank you, BootCamp!

While this will enable me to work on the comic while on the go, it probably won’t make me more productive on the train for my 3-hour daily commute. at 6’6″, it’s impossible for me to even sit on e train comfortably, let alone begin working on the greatest pixelated epic ever told.

Anyway, what you really care about is the release date; and I’m afraid I don’t have one for you. Since I’m going to have time, I’m going to try and make sure the comic is listed by Diamond for distribution so you can buy it in stores, Amazon, Lulu, or from the KTracy.com store.

I am bummed about this. Unfortunately, Volume I of the The MSPaint Comic, Institution, won’t be ready by Christmas. Don’t expect any Christmas miracles, it’s not possible.

I am working on page 91 of what is probably going to be 100 pages. If you remember, the comic was only supposed to be 80 pages. I’m not sure what happened at the end, but the length just exploded.

There are some positives to this. For starters, I’ll now have time to seek out advertisers.

ADS!? HOW THE HELL IS THAT POSITIVE!?

Ads are positive because they allow me to sell the finished comic book for less money. Despite there being over 100 full-color pages in the finished book, I still aim to price the book at BELOW $10 a copy (when bought on KTracy.com or at a convention).

This also gives friends of the comic an me more time to convince comic book stores to carry copies of the comic. That’s good because pre-order money will be used to invest in printing more first edition copies and, when I buy in bulk, YOU save.

I suspect I will be done with the comic in March of 2012, but It won’t be released until later that spring or summer while Krista and I take our time to ensure we do everything we can to ensure this pristine independent comic can be read by as many people as possible.

This should not affect the schedule of other MSPaint Comic projects, but my story about terrorism in Chechnya is being kept on the back burner while I concentrate on the first volume of MSPaint Comic’s completion.

To avoid this in the future, I’m going to story board Volume 2 of the comic and all other projects from here-on-out. That process is yet to begin, so I can’t tell you how many pages will be in Volume 2. I will tell you this, however. As much as you will love the story in Volume 1, the story in Volume 2 is MUCH more dynamic and in depth. It may actually be the best of the 5 volumes. That will typically require more length, but there are also going to be fewer flashbacks necessary to explain what’s happening… that will tend to shorten the finished product.

I’ll give you a firmer estimate when the story boarding is complete. That’s coming after the Chechen storyboard, though, so its still a while off.

Sorry for the bad news, folks.

A lot has happened since my last update. Most significantly, I’ve gotten engaged. Why should you care? Because the future Mrs. Tracy is going to be helping me with the comics.

Okay, now for the sad part. I’m worried about meeting the deadline I set for all of you. Personal obligations mixed with excessive hours at work and commuting to Chicago have destroyed my schedule for the first volume of the MSPaint Comic.

Making matters worse, the length of the comic keeps growing. Whereas the comic was originally going to be 80 pages, I am currently working on page 89 and it looks like I might be going over 100 pages when all is said and done.

Considering everything that has to go into the book’s release, including a censorship review by the United States Air Force, I’m thinking a holiday release may not be possible.

I haven’t given up, but in the interest of honesty, I wanted to make sure you knew what was going on. It pisses me off when projects like films or movies don’t meet deadlines and fans are left in the dark until some random journalist asks the question or we find out about it on Twitter or Facebook.

Sort of like the sequels to Mongol and, an animated favorite of mine, Wizards; or the still to be found on Netflix second Eden of the East film.

Anyway, it’s nearly 3am here and I’m going to sleep before waking up, going pee, and getting back to work on the comic. This long weekend needs to be productive if I have any chance at finishing the comic on time.

I’m sorry to report that I missed an important personal deadline I had set a few weeks ago. That is, finishing all the foregrounds on all pages of Volume I prior to starting work. sadly, I’m still a few pages away.

Part of the problem was that I planned all along to have an 80 page comic. Well, it’s going to be closer to 100 pages.

As both the artist and writer, I’ve often been adding frames that provide a little more depth to the characters. Plus, as I’m yet to learn, fight scenes never go as smoothly as you plan them.

For instance, Sigmund Freud is smashing someone in the face with a chair on page 86. That wasn’t planned, but I thought it was important during a major point of growth for one of the characters.

But the lead up to this actually takes a page worth of frames… Otherwise you wouldn’t have the foggiest clue as to what’s going on.

It’s really a positive thing if you think about it though. Being both artist and writer, I can make sure the comic book is done right and expresses everything I want to convey on both the surface and below the surface.

I still plan on releasing The MSPaint Comic before Christmas. All missing this deadline means is that I’m going to be losing my weekends until it’s done.

Thankfully, it’s a pixellated labor of love.

Okay, so I spent a week building the MSPaint Comic website in HTML 5 and it looked pretty good.  So what the hell?

Ultimately, I decided that I didn’t like the static website for the MSPaint Comic.  The truth is that this is an ongoing project and all five volumes won’t likely be finished for at least another six or seven years.  In the meantime, any fans of the comic are going to want updates about what progress is being made, what conventions we’re attending, and up-to-date details about pricing projections and the many different projects I’m working on.

For example, I’ve reached an agreement with a Chicago printer and a Kentucky company to print a short 22 page comic in 3D and provide glasses with the comics.  The project is going to be called The Battle of Whiskey Skies 3D and will serve as a bit of a prequel to Volume I: Institution.  There was no good way to share that information with you on the HTML5 based website.  On a site with a properly functioning blog however, it becomes much easier.

Another benefit of the WordPress system is that I can design the MSPaintComic.com website to more closely mimic the KTracy.com design.  Of course, there are major design differences, but the layout is almost exactly the same… just different colors.  This helps me with a long term goal of establishing a KTracy.com Network of websites.  If you’re a long term fan of the comic, you’ll know that the MSPaint Comic has been an important part of KTracy.com since it’s inception in 2005.  You’ve also probably recognized how much I’ve struggled maintaining the balance between the serious topics I discuss at KTracy.com and the comedic stuff I do with the comic.  Placing these two websites on the same network like this will go a long way in reaching that right balance.

While I’m writing this, I also want to alert you to two additional comic projects I’m working on.  I’ve started a script for a very serious, very dark, and very graphic story about terrorism in Chechnya.  The overwhelming majority of the story will be in the English language, although I may decide to translate it into Russian for that market.  I have already found an incredibly talented artist (Dana Williams) to illustrate the story; which will run about 48 pages.  That project should hopefully be completed by 2013.

The second project, which is in a much earlier stage of development, is a comic that follows a more traditional strip-format.  I can’t discuss the details too much yet, but it will be a very sexy, fun project about relationships.  So much fun that I hope to hand draw the entire thing when I get more content for the book.  This is still in its beginning stages, but I also hope to have it finished by 2013.

You see, I couldn’t do this with the static website.  Be happy.