We've had a productive month to say the least.
In short, the line art for the book is as good as done, and will be completed by the end of December. All that's left to do is a few minor touch ups on some of the character faces, and backgrounds.
Here's a peek at some of the final line art from KOZOR: Descent into Madness!
There are 17 pages left to color. So getting those done has become the main focus now. Korey is taking on the bulk of that, and we're aiming to get the coloring wrapped up before the end of January.
I'll be aiding Korey with flats and the initial shading pass for colors to ensure we meet that deadline!
The reason we've still got a decent amount of coloring to go is because the second portion of the book is an extension of the original version, and many of those pages had either not yet been colored or weren't colored to the current level of quality we want the book to have.
We're very happy with how the current colors are looking and confident that the hard work Korey has put into them will really make the book shine. Here's a look at some of the new pages Korey has just colored up.
Now that the line art is taken care of, we'll be sending the book off to Eric Weathers to get it lettered. Lettering should be completed early January, depending on how quickly Eric can knock it out.
Meanwhile, I'm getting the completed pages and art prints ready for the printers. I've been talking a lot with Michael Bancroft about pre-press, and he has been an incredible help in making sure the physical book looks as good as possible once it's in your hands. Korey and I want to both give Michael a big thank for his time and patience in helping us out with this stuff.
Here are some of the art print proofs I received last week. Fortunately they came out looking pretty damn good on the first try! We've since made some subtle tweaks to the blacks to make sure their values are all evened out - and now we're just waiting to get the finals back which should be the 10th of Jan from what our printer tells us.
The final art prints will be presented on 250 GSM Gloss paper.
There are a few other things I've been taking care of so that we're all ready to go when it comes time to fulfill!
A big thing on my to do list was to get our sturdy mailers ordered in. For some reason I thought it was going to be a much bigger ordeal than it was. I didn't know how much space they would take up, or how long they would take to get here.
Well, they ended up arriving within two days after I ordered them, and didn't take up much space at all! The delivery guy was super nice too, so a great experience all round there.
We've also ordered in the comic book bags and boards, and a label printer. So once the book is done, everything will be ready to roll for fulfillment.
In regards to fulfillment, we're planning to get KOZOR shipped out in February. Later than we wanted to, but we're not too far off now. We can't wait to finally call KOZOR done and get our book sent to you.
The postage time is difficult to predict at this point due to delays caused by COVID, and unfortunately it's out of our control. But we'll keep you in the loop as things develop in that regard, and will be providing all our backers with tracking once their package is sent out.
Any other delays we foresee from here on out, we'll keep you informed about. But things seem to be on track for fulfillment in February.
It's been a long ride, but Korey and I both feel KOZOR marks a good beginning for us as comic creators. We've learned so much along the way and are very proud of what we've created. We both hope the work we've put into our comic will speak for itself, and that the wait would have been worth it for our backers.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your patience and ongoing support. It has brought us this far, and we couldn't have done it without you.
Merry Christmas from the Barton Bros - and here's to 2022.
-Clayton and Korey.