Progress Report, 22. November, 2019

I know I’ve been very silent on this blog (mostly due to being more active on Twitter and Instagram), but I’m breaking the silence to announce that I’m very close to completing Issue #6 of Wolfremica: A Gothic Parable.

If you’d like more frequent updates on my progress, my Instagrams are @spark_e_muntz and @wolfremica_agp, and my Twitter is @Spark_E_Muntz .

Looking forward to completing this!

Progress report - Issue #5 submitted for printing

For those interested in my progress, I have recently finished Wolfram: A Gothic Parable #5, which is in the process of printer review (checking to see that the page specifications and resolutions are up to their standard of printing).

For those who are unaware, the printer I use is Ka-Blam.com, a print-on-demand service for comics creators.  Their banner is visible on just about every page of this website.  Look for the banner up top, just below the website title.

Looking forward to adding this issue to the Catalogue and publishing the next issue online, one page per week for 24 weeks.

Progress report - 10/27/2017

Happy October, everyone.  Since my last progress report on Issue 5, I've received a surprise commission, so I've been working more on that recently than on Wolfram: A Gothic Parable.  I'm giving a guess-estimate release date of mid- to late-December at this point.

Sorry about the delay.  Here's an ink-and-colored-pencil portrait of Karsten E. Kesling.

Progress report: Sept 7, 2017

3 pages not started; 2 pages half-finished; 19 pages finished
1 cover leaf not started  2 cover leaves finished

And so, let the maths begin!...
19 + 2 + 1 = 22
22 ÷ 28 = .7857(...)  = 78.57(...)%

So... getting close to finishing Issue #5.  I'm tentatively scheduling release for late October... keep checking back every week (or so) for updates.

Progress report

Proudly I announce that I've been making some good progress on Issue 5 and can tentatively say that it will be released in or by October of this year.

Don't strain your eyes.  I applied a Gaussian blur to avoid leaking any spoilers... I know not everyone likes those. Green = completed; Yellow = started; Red = not started.

2 of 3 cover pages complete

16 body pages complete
3 body pages started
5 body pages not started

Estimated progress: 70% complete

Progress report on Issue #5 and Reader update

It's been a while since my last progress report.  So here's where I am right now.

8 pages finished
7 pages started (varying degrees of completion)
7 pages not started
2 of 3 cover pages finished

I self-assess my progress at 58 percent.
















And now for a reader update...

You may have noticed that Issue 4 is uploaded to the reader.  It has been for, I'd say, about a month now.  Sorry I didn't alert you to it earlier.

UPDATE (June 23, 2017): this chart is missing two pages (not started).  I have completed four incomplete pages since, which places my REAL progress currently at about 57 percent.  So about the same as I thought it was four days ago, which is disappointing to me; I had thought I was doing pretty well.

Progress report - 20 April 2017 (and teaser page)

So here's the analysis of my progress so far.  This format pretty much speaks for itself, so I won't bother showing my math.

Also...
I'm not in the habit of doing this, but today I'm posting a full page from my recent progress, with no text or visual details obscured.  Happy belated Easter season!

Progress report for Feb. 25, 2017

Condensing down every three pages started into one page (and counting finished pages as finished), I estimate that I have 5 pages complete from issue 5, plus the front and inside front covers.

Body: 5/24
Covers: 2/3
Total: 7/27

7 ÷ 27 = ~26% completion.

No further progress yet.

I have no further progress to report.

I've gotten out of the habit of posting progress reports, and I hope that changes when my new drawing tablet arrives in a week or so.  The one I have doesn't work with Photoshop anymore.

I blame the connecting cable for connecting both at the computer and at the tablet.  It looks like the new one might have a magnetic connector to the tablet, which will prevent the ports from wearing out from pulling.

As for the lack of progress, I have no one to blame but myself.

Progress report - New Years Eve - about 23.5% complete

Progress on Issue 5

 

I've neglected my progress report for a few weeks, so lets pick that back up again, shall we?  As the year closes, I've completed 2 cover pages and 2 body pages and have either laid out or begun artwork on 7 pages.

Value assigned to pages in green: 1 point(s)                        4 pages =  4 points
Value assigned to pages in yellow: .3333... point(s)            7 pages = 2.333...
Value assigned to pages in red: 0 point(s)                          16 pages = 0 points

~6.33 ÷ 27 = .234567091...
Progress = about 23.5% complete.

Progress report - Issue #5 - about 17% complete.

EDIT: I previously posted that the total progress was estimated at 20% completion, calculating "formated" pages at .5-point value.  I have adjusted the progress by assigning formatted pages with .25 value, half of what I assigned the first time.

So...
Pages finished: 4 pages (2 of them are covers)
Pages formatted: 3 pages
Pages not started: 20 pages

Total Pages: 27 pages

4(1) + 3(.25) = 4 + .75 = 4.75

4.75 ÷ 27 = about 17% complete.

Thanksgiving update - 10% complete

I'm finding myself needing to re-script the next issue for a few reasons.

First, some of the material I had created seemed not to be serious enough or appropriate for the point I was trying to make.  Part of this re-scripting has established Isolda's occupation as a composer of parables and reclassified her as an adamant wordsmith, rather than an adamant sentinel (see canon notes concerning Wolfremic humorology).

Another reason was to cut out less relevant material, because I'm probably not going to fit all of Chapter 2 into three issues, like I promised implicitly on the cover of Issue #4 (labeled as Chapter 2, part 1 of 3) without lengthening the issues to 32 pages or more.  I'll have to see what I can do to keep this promise.

And now, the Thanksgiving update:

Using the colors here, I estimate my progress as follows:

So here we go... to my American readers, a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! (And please spend it giving thanks with family, and not defeating the purpose by stampede-shopping for things you don't really need to replace the things for which you might have just given thanks.)

To the rest of the world, a happy and safe third-Thursday-Friday-and-weekend-in-November!

Second progress report - Issue #5 has begun production.

Now I reiterate the progress report from yesterday.  Issue #4 is complete, and a print proof is being sent to me now.  That is all for issue #4.

And now a progress report for issue #5:

 

Total early progress = 4.7 ÷ 27 = ~0.174 = ~17.4%

Total overall progress = .5 ÷ 27 = 0.018 = ~ 1.8%

Early Progress Report - Issue 4 (Chapter 2, Part 1 of 3)

I decided to do this progress report a few days early.

So here's the data we're working with.

Cover pages: 3 complete of 3, none incomplete.
Internal pages: 24 complete of 24, none incomplete.
Back page: printer's advertising space.

XXXX  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So, yeah, Issue 4 is complete and all pages have been submitted for a preliminary printing.

:)

Progress reports: now done weekly.

First, I'm letting everyone know through this blog and my GooglePlus page that I'll be posting prograss reports every weekend to help keep me on track.

And now, the update!

Pages 1-21 of 24 are complete, as are 2 of 3 cover pages. (Remember that the back cover is an advert space purchased by the printer for a discounted printing price.)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

23 (completed) ÷ 27 (total) = ~.851851 = ~85% completion.

Quick update - November 1, 2016

I don't feel like struggling over creating complicated infographics, so I'm going to do it really simply—with a capital X color coded and highlighted in the same color to represent one page.
Issue 4 consists of 24 B/W pages and 4 full-color cover pages.

Cover: XXXX  Pages: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

pages complete: 20
cover pages complete: 2

pages unfinished: 4
cover pages unfinished: 1
cover pages not-my-problem: 1 (Ka-Blam back page ad = printing discount)


So, defragmenting the data, we have:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

22 ÷ 27 = .814814... = ~81.5% completion

6.5% progress since October 25, 2016
25.5% progress since September 9, 2016

In short, I think the act of taking canon notes is helping.

Progress report for late October

Using the same basic imagery from two progress reports ago, here's what I've got for this month...

Green = 100% finished
Yellow=75% finished
Red = 0% finished

Let's use a points system: 4 points, 3 points, 0 points.

4 points     x    16 pages    =    64 points

3 points     x      4 pages    =    12 points

0 points     x      7 pages    =      0 points

(Two of the red pages above are blank copies of the previous spread mistakenly included in the infographic, so please disregard them.)

There are 27 pages in all (including three cover pages, excluding the back cover page).

27 pages x 4 points each = 108 points possible.

Points earned = 76

76 ÷ 108 = ~70.37% complete

In the words of Glados from the Portal games: 
"This was a triumph; I'm making a note here: Huge Decent success!..."

Reformatting future print size from 6.75 x 10.25 inches to 6 x 9 inches

I'm filing this under "progress reports," even though it's really more of a lateral strafe than forward progress.  I think just by staying in motion is important, and this was something fun and to keep me on the project while I worked up some more creativity and gumption to move forward on the story and art.

Nevertheless, I have done some artwork and, and I reworked a few of the things I'd gotten done earlier while I was at this, so I'm still claiming some progress.

Anyway, a while back, I thought I could save some money by printing pocket sized editions at home using borderless printing on saddle bound 8.5 x 11 inch printer paper, producing 5.5 x 8.5 booklets.  As any practiced expert can tell you, that's not a reliable or cost-effective way of doing things.  For some reason, I still felt like I had to give it a shot.

The ultimate bust notwithstanding, I gained from it the idea of a sleeker, more portable format, and I realized that 6 x 9 inches, barely larger than 5.5 x 8.5 inches, is the same proportion as 6.75 x 10.25 inches (a perfect ratio of 2:3).

So, introducing the new size format, along with the (less-recently) reworked logo and cover design:

Followup on this progress report: October 25, 2016

The 6x9 inch format and I have decided to go our separate ways.  I sent some page files in the 6x9 format to see how it would look and feel in my hands, and it wasn't speaking to me the way I had thought it would.

I also found that my brightness and contrast settings needed major tweaking, particularly my more recently created pages, and including on the cover page.  This may be partly due to the software I've been trying out.  The tools in it change the feel of my work in a way I'm not feeling the best about.  I'll still be using Manga Studio, but not relying on the brush tools the way I had been doing.

I'll also be test printing at home from now on, now that I know that I don't want to change formats.  My printer is reliable enough to accurately render a decent resemblance of the final look.

Progress report for issue #4 - 56%

I've prepared an infographic (of sorts) to show my progress on #4 of Wolfram: A Gothic Parable:

green - complete
blue - almost complete
yellow - started/in need of reworking
red - laid out and scripted only

Counting green pages as 100% complete, blue as 75% complete, yellow as 30% complete, and red as 10% complete, the calculations follow:

green - 12 x 100% --> 1200%

blue -  2 x   75% -->   150%

yellow -   4 x   30% -->   120%

red - 10 x   10% -->   100%

1570%

1570% ÷ 28 = ~56% complete

Having felt fairly confident going into those calculations, I disappoint myself somewhat.  So I put it into a Windows style defrag-inspired format to visualize what that actually looks like:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It didn't help me feel any better, but at least I know how far I still have to go. :-(