01/02/2012

Happy Endings!

Credit for the happy ending goes to my lovely and loving wife, who in seeing the original ending, which was very close to the end of the previous strip, suggested a happier ending. A little rewriting to the courtroom scene got us to the point we have here, where Ione finds Tom and they reunite.

It is a little melancholy in that their son is still gone, but that part of the story was written way before the ending was finalized into its present form.

There is a secret to Factor of 01 that I've only revealed to a few people and if you can break the code, it's actually in the comic itself, three times. I'll give a special gift to the first person to e-mail me with the secret, or to put it into the comments.

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Now for the future plans. The detailed plot for Hanamori's Circus is still being finished. I'm still undecided on how to format it, whether to go with horizontal or vertical and if to go with a strip format like I've been doing. I'm leaning away from it, as the only thing pulling me to strip format is that I have about three pads of Bristol cut to the format.

My schedule for the debut of Hanamori's Circus is not set. I want to get five installments in the can before it debuts. My collaborator is really wanting it in color, so we may just see another full color comic. In the meantime, you never know when I may fire off a one-shot strip just to exercise those muscles.

12/12/2011

The end is rapidly approaching.

The two ladies in the first panel are the same ones from before, that hit on Jenny's boyfriend. As for the waitress, you have to wait to find out.

11/21/2011

Tom is in the midst of his depression and goes somewhere that will remind him of his wife. That last part was an addition, and not in the original draft for this strip. Tom originally was going to go to a bar and just drink, but I wanted it to be someplace seedier. Making an appearance in the strip is Sketch Charlotte member Henry Eudy who just happened to be sitting across from me as I was drawing the panel. The fact that the dancer resembles Starfire is a comment on how she's being portrayed lately in the New DC 52.

Hopefully the next strip will be a little timelier, but with the holiday, I won't promise next week.

08/08/2011

Four more strips to go. I've redone the commissions page last week to reflect my new availability to do commissions. If you'd like examples of my work, you should go there, or to either of the new links over on the right, Sketch Charlotte, or Big Dog's Studio. I post stuff over there from time to time, not to mention over at DeviantArt.

Now it's time to talk about what comes after this story ends. I'm going to be working with a nice young creator named Pan D'Attac (yes, it's a pseudonym) on a story divorced from the 23rd century, all while I put together a collected Factor of 01. I'm not putting together a timetable yet, since I don't know yet how long this will take. In September, The Art of Stan Ford will be available in the store for purchase, or in person if you find me at a Sketch Charlotte meeting.

04/28/2011

One more step until the end of the story begins! Anthology commitments are just about over, so the pace should pick up soon!

03/21/2011

While this strip's action may be a little confusing, especially in the last panel, the next strip, already penciled, should clear stuff up and take us into the home stretch.

02/24/2011

From here on out, there will be quite a few wordless strips.

02/05/2011

Holy crap, it's two days early!

Until the story is over, these things are going up as they get done, so you better keep up to date or you'll show up and be three strips behind. I may just have another strip done by the end of the weekend, but no promises.

01/31/2011

This was posted a little late, but the weekend was really busy, with a couple days of outside work to get some cash, followed by a day at the zoo with the family. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you've seen the picture of me feeding a giraffe. A lot of people were scared of the giraffes, but I had zero fear.

Maybe having a Great Dane prepared me for having a large headed animal eating from my hand.

01/24/2011

This strip and next week's strip was not planned to be included, just because I wanted to end it by December 31.  However, I have a very specific ending in the works which first got suggested to me back in April and sometime in September, got revised a little bit by my wife.

The next strip is gonna be one of those mega-panels, just because I want to establish the courtroom as a location. After that, we have Ione's testimony and that leads us into the conclusion of our story.

By the way, I've been reading the Jaime Hernandez art book "Secret of Life and Death" and if you haven't looked at this, then do so. Also, be warned that if you click the "be a fan on Facebook" link on the right, then you get to see these strips as soon as they're done, scanned and pre-dated. I also plan to start sharing some special stuff over there soon.

Can you spot Elton's "01"?

11/01/2010

I've decided not to countdown. You guys know it'll be around the end of the year, so counting down is pointless. I'm not entirely satisfied with this strip, but after a while, you have to cut it loose and say so long.

10/25/2010

We're into the home stretch, now! Beginning next strip, each post will be titled with a countdown to the finale. I'm shooting for the end of the year, then taking a week or two to get ahead on the next storyline.

Currently, I'm debating collecting all strips and annotations in one volume, but given the state of my finances, I'd have to print it as a minicomic, and that would be one bulky minicomic, and I'd have to forsake my usual cardstock cover. More on that as it comes closer.

05/24/2010

Sorry it's late. It completely slipped my mind yesterday, stuff came up.