Ground Xero Productions

Friday Status report!

2010-06-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lateness. I'm in the thick of cranking out the new page for Swordwaltzer. You've been patient, so let me hit you with some screenshots.

1. I digitally sketch in the page. It's loose, but has the elements I need to move on:

STEP ONE SKETCH

2. From there, I ink in the elements that are stand alone- characters and any items they are interacting with that aren't necessarily the background:

STEP TWO INK

3. Now the heavy lifting. I've been a fan of animation for ages, and the recent works of artists liek Adi Granov have really inspired me to paint my backgrounds in instead of just coloring line art. I like how the final look gives each panel the feel of an animation cel:

STEP THREE BG PAINT

And that's all for now! Back to work I go to have this bad boy up for you come Monday.

Music makes the gears turn...

2010-06-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

So, i decided to go a bit more in depth into the music list to show you what's usually funneling through my headphones as I work on Nine Shot Sonata or Swordwaltzer. Feel free to look these up on Youtube:

1. Sonata Arctica
2. Kamelot
3. Within Temptation
4. Gojira
5. Muse
6. Yoshida Brothers
7. Epica
8. Lunatica
9. Dr. Steel
10. The Protomen
11. Clutch
12. Manowar
13. Slayer
14. Daft Punk
15. Slim Cessna's auto Club
16. Apocalyptica
17. A Perfect Circle/Tool
18. Emperor
19. Aphex Twin
20. Movie Soundtracks (station i set up on Pandora for myself, mostly things int he adventure/epic vein)

And that's a small sampling. I constantly have music going while I work to inspire me or flesh out the emotion for whatever it is I'm working on. Example:

For the new Swordwaltzer cover, I was listening to Hans Zimmer's work on repeat.

For the new page of 9SS, I had an alternating loop of KMFDM's Ultra, Kamelot's Ghost Opera, Sonata Arctica's Wolf and Raven, and Built to Resist by Grip INC.

Next time: status update with the new page of Swordwaltzer, complete with screenshots!

News, and more.

2010-06-13T17:08:00.000-07:00

First up, as I like to get the band-aid peel out of the way with a swiftness, I'll hit you with the bad news: Hallowpoint is on indefinite hold.

Before the torches get lit and people form into the appropriate non-ranks for a well organized mob, let me tell you why. I'm currently experiencing major issues with my primary recording guitar and equipment. As it stands, I'm one guy, with no sponsors, no band to really speak of, and no gigs to pad the expense for getting new gear. So, while I'm doing everything I can to fix this and make sure I make the album deadline of this Autumn, I'm afraid there's only so much I can do on a limited budget of almost zero. So, please bear with me.

The good news? (dry your eyes, little one) The comics are turning out just fine and WILL be up, starting with a new 9SS, on the 21st, as promised. The schedule is shaping up to run thus: for the rest of June and partly into July, one comic a week, alternating. By August, the schedule will be both comics once a week; with 9SS on Mondays and Swordwaltzer on Thursdays. In fact, the week of the 21st will at the very least give you the new page of 9SS and the cover for chapter one of Swordwaltzer.

I know people aren't going to be dancing in the streets at first over this wonky schedule, but it allows me to build a slight buffer while bringing you new material every week AND getting commission work out of the way. The comic's free, and I have to pay the bills somehow, eh?

That's all for now. Next time, a look into inspiration as I crack open my working play list of music for ya.

Thought you might like to see this...

2010-06-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

This will be a short one, as I'm in the thick of creating. I figured I'd ask you a rhetorical question:

Who's got a link to 9SS in production?

You really don't have to guess.

I do.

Swordwaltzer Writing

2010-05-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

So here I sit, staring at the rough one-paragraph ideas I've written for the first three chapters of the new comic. Overall? They'll be scrapped.

Before you light the torches and hoist the pitchforks, you have to understand how I approach ideas and writing. I'll normally go through dozens of paragraphs like these. I'll glean what I think is cool, refine what I think is solid but needs clarification, and utterly torch what is just plain ridiculous. The thing is, however, I don't worry overmuch about what's foolish when it comes to the concept phase of these paragraphs. I just write ideas.Any idea that comes into my head. I get everything out on to the paper, no matter how out there.

Felicia Day put it best: just get it out there. Don't worry if it's a mess. Get it out of your head. Then you can clean it up.

*takes the time to hit the delete key on the notepad file*

And so, cleanup time.

You already know this, but...

2010-05-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Nine Shot Sonata will now be sharing site space with Swordwaltzer: Eternity's End. Both comics will be up with new content come mid June. Hence the blog title change. So, to prepare for said merging, I've updated the main site. Specifically, I've put up an entire Codex for Swordwaltzer, so new and old readers alike can pour over a fraction of over a decade of information and creation that's been crowding my head. This leads us to the meat of the post; relaunching SW: third time's a charm.

Swordwaltzer first launched back in 2003. Crude? Oh man - ridiculously. But the core aspects and world that I had been working on for so long up until that point. It had a solid run for a bit, but I wasn't completely satisfied. So, in circa 2004-2005ish, I decided to relaunch the webcomic from page one. This is about the time it was picked up by Bohemian Trash Studios, and saw it's two (and only) publications; an artbook/short story titled "Blood and Blade: Sketches from the War" and the first trade issue of Swordwaltzer itself. sadly, on the heels of all of this, life was going majorly south for Katy and I, and Real Life derailed the whole thing. Swordwaltzer went by the wayside, and I took a year off to do commission work and see what (if anything) could be salvaged. That lead to me unveiling Nine Shot Sonata.

However, Swordwaltzer was always in the back of my mind poking me with a particularly cruel pointy stick. At this stage, I was working on the idea of doing Swordwaltzer as a series of novels. would they get published? Probably not. I could always put them online for the curious or the diehard. (read: both groups consisting primarily of close friends and family members)

I decided on a whim to test the waters. Nine Shot sonata was on a hiatus after my computer died and took all of my work with it. I was gearing up with a new machine to do new pages, and suddenly we found ourselves blessed enough to finally be able to move to Colorado where a new, better job was awaiting Katy. On arrival, i posted an innocuous poll to my DeviantArt. Were people still interested in Swordwaltzer? Were there any readers out there from the first two runs that still kept a candle burning for my fantasy-that-could?

In a word? Wow. Yes. There were. Some very VERY vocal. I had impetus to try a third time to bring my world to comic form.

Time to get to work.

As I type this, I've got notes piled up from ideas for this new launching, notepad files opened from ones I actually managed to save on cd-rom from 2003, and my notebook of hand-written ideas that I scrawled for the world of Altir'Ra from High School circa 1998-99. Yes. I realize that I'm old. Shut up.

How to begin? Do I re-do how things began in 2005? 2003? The story's the same, but how to approach it? Then it hit me; if you're going to hinge the story on this cataclysmic war, then you should probably HINGE IT ON THE WAR. The conflict is the starting point, and the characters in it will flesh things out and show the reader the who, what, where, when and most importantly WHY of things. Don't worry about the Fantasy or the thing; worry about the humanity of the thing and let the Fantasy elements color it. In 2003, I would have described Swordwaltzer as a Fantasy Tale that lead up to the War. In 2005 I would have described Swordwaltzer as an "Epic Fantasy" about this lead up to War and what happens next. so, how would I describe Swordwaltzer in 2010? You'll laugh, but this really does apply, I think:

Swordwaltzer is a War Story. It is the equivalent of a Fantasy World War 2.

That may turn some people off. Let's face it, anyone with access to the History Channel or who is still sitting in a classroom is bombarded with WW2 nonsense. However, when you ask the common person about WW2, key things always pop up: D-Day, Pearl Harbor, The Holocaust, Adolf Hitler.

What about The Belgian Resistance? How about Stalingrad's female snipers? The Thule Society? Market-Garden? England's OSS? How about the stories from innocent people on street-level during the Blitz? Farm kids hiding out while Bastogne was getting the worst of the battle of the bulge? We know the 101st's drop, but what about England's drop prior to that with guys using phonographs to fool the enemy?

My point being, there was more to it than just the key things we can recite by wrote. The same goes for any war in our history. It's those aspects I want to explore. I followed one character primarily in the first iteration of Swordwaltzer, and expanded only slightly in the second iteration. What I want to bring this go around is an ensemble cast that's caught up in this mess. I want to show things from the word go being at the 11th hour and how the heroes will deal with that. This isn't a lead up to war. The war's here. There's no enemy at the gate. the enemy's through and already occupying.

Our Heroes ARE the resistance, and they are an endangered species. We have our setting, we have our reality. now the story is how they will go on, and at points it will be revealed as to how this reality came to be.

This won't be your usual fantasy. The fantastical is there- magic, swords, armor, creatures (though limited) and the like; but I really want to drive home the human aspect of it. War shows both sides of the coin, I believe. It's not a celebration of warfare, but a hard look at what people have to do when peace breaks down regardless of the reason.

With all that erudition in mind, I hope the geeky love I have for this world shines through. It's my hope that people will enjoy BOTH comics. If not, at least they'll have options.

Stay tuned; there's more to come.

Not dead, not sleeping...

2010-05-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Big post soon. Lots of info. Lots of cool news. Stay tuned over the coming days.

Dun
Dun
DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

What IS Hallowpoint, exactly?

2010-03-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

I've been asked this, since it really was sprung almost out of the blue, seemingly. However, this music project has been brewing since I was given my first guitar a few years back. Some of you may recall that in the promotional work and the comic Mal is seen with a guitar he's named Persephone. That's not just a geekery thing I threw in, mind. I was adamant in the first draft of the one-shot comic idea that Mal would be a guitarist for a metal band. This evolved into a full blown plot tie-in when I developed the one-shot treatment into a full series.

I've been making music for a LONG time now, but that's always been in the electronica vein, back when I used to actively produce and DJ. I've always been a fan of hard rock and metal, but I didn't have the skills or equipment necessary to really churn anything out. That changed over the past three years, and now I've got effectively everything necessary to get the tunes out of my head and out there into the wild, so to speak. Then came the epiphany:

"Wouldn't it be cool if the music Mal's band in the comic plays could be available for readers to listen to?"

That's really all it is, and where the impetus for any of my ideas come from, really. "Wouldn't it be cool if . . ."

So what IS Hallowpoint? It's myself, my custom SG, my Washburn Strat, My Snowball Mic, Acid, Soundforge, Stealthplug, and Amplitube 2 Live. That's really it. I'm a one-man production source, but then again that's how I've always operated. Vocals are provided on the tracks by myself, Katy, and our friend Christie. Music will be churned out, and posted for download as they are completed, with full albums (hopefully) being available alongside 9SS swag at cons, whenever we get to that point. Think of the project as Gorillaz-inspired, because it truly is. I've always loved the idea of Imagery and Music - namely comic-style imagery because I think it lends itself so well. So, here we are. I draw comics, I make metal music. I do not sleep.

Why do i tell you this? Because neither the comic, the music, nor even my "cool idea" would exist if not for your support. a dollar for a wallpaper later buys a few picks, or new strings, or new pencils and comic board. Your contribution helps out somewhere in the scheme of it all, and for that I do my utter best to turn out quality in both areas. I owe that to you as a reader or a listener.

I truly hope people, even non-metal fans, will appreciate the final products. As an entertainer, that's really my only goal in life; enhancing the quality of your day, no matter how little or how much.

A followup and 9SS/Hallowpoint news

2010-03-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

So, I got some pretty intense responses to the last blog post, so I'd like to clarify a few things. The tone of the post may have come off as a blanket slam to clients. It wasn't. Clients have rights, too.

I believe the client has the right to a fair deal, quality work, and satisfaction for their money spent. You owe it as an artist to them and yourself to do your best work, no matter the nature of the piece. You should outdo yourself. Art is nothing without progression.

That being said, some people want to hide behind the aegis of "the customer is always right". It's a useful maxim. Problem is that a lot of people out there seem to forget the phrase that pays on the other side of the fence: "We reserve the right to refuse you business."

The things that popped up in that post were par for the course with clients who refuse to see the artist as a businessperson with rights and due respect from the word go. This stems from the idea that "art is easy" or "artist isn't a real profession". You know, I'm glad you breezed through Art 1 in high school for your mandatory elective, but some of us actually cared about learning and honing those skills.

That being said, NEWS TIME!

The comic returns on the 15th with:

A new page! (given, right?)

A new wallpaper! (Yeah, also pretty much a given)

A new song clip! (Ho ho ho! didn't see THAT coming, did ya? It's a clip from the new Hallowpoint single, "Clockwork Blues")

Site changes! (cleaning up the site and flow, and adding a new section or two and getting to sorting out that fanart)

And more. I can't give everything away, now can I?

More soon. In the meantime...

So yeah. It's hip.
Ask me whatever about the comic, the music, etc: http://www.formspring.me/xerjester

Not how I would have wanted to return, but...

2010-03-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

So, this blog, and the comic, is coming back to life after moving across three states and getting set up in shiny new digs. sadly, however, I'll have to start things off by attaining the top of my soapbox on an issue that is, for lack of a more charismatic phrase, fucking pissing me off.

I advertised about commission work once more. This is the artist with his digital sandwich board, trying to attract business. So, since I've gotten a few pm's regarding pricing, I thought I'd point a few things out. First off, I'll address what I find to be the only valid concern in an artist/client relationship. Then? Then I'll gleefully tear apart the faulty logic of other points that constantly come up. If you're approaching an artist looking to get some work done, then you might want to have a read.

VALID - "I think that's too much/sticker shock/I can't afford that": Here's where I understand, and tell you good luck on your pursuit. I mean it sincerely. I and other artists out there know what it's like to be strapped for cash. Let's face it- not everyone can really make this gig work, so we'll be the first to nod in sympathy when you don't have the means to get a piece done.

By all accounts, every freelancer out there can be a bit of Pavlov's dog at times. We see a possible job, and we start salivating. The problem arises when said client starts reacting as though we were, in fact, slobbering pooches grateful for scraps. Here's where we get into the invalid comments. Yes, these come up a lot, and no, they don't hold water.

INVALID - "My cousin/friend/whomever can do this for cheaper": I need you to really listen to me on this. This kind of statement/bargaining ploy doesn't impress me, and it surely doesn't impress a single working artist out there. If you already had access to cheaper work, then you wouldn't be contacting me. It's that simple. Nor am I hard-pressed enough to suddenly and drastically lower the figure on a commission just because I'm afraid of losing you as a client. Artists set their prices based off what they know; time, effort, gain. If any part of the equation goes wonky, then the job is no longer worth anything. Does it suck to lose business? Yes. But just as you are under the impression that there are hundreds of other artists to choose from who will bend over for you, be advised that we know of hundreds of other potential clients out there who will play nice and reasonable. Fun fact? There are more of you than there are of us. Happy hunting.

INVALID - "That's not what I have budgeted for/ I only have x amount and need this anyway": Ok. That's great. This may seem like something to sympathize with akin to the valid point of "I can't afford this", but it's not. What you see as a service that's easy to perform is a service nonetheless. It's a luxury item. It's that new detailing on your car. It's that shiny new website for your business. It's that lovely new painting for your dining room. Can these things (your car, your business, your dining room) exist without them? Yep. They are improvements to the quality of whatever you pursue. As such, if you can not afford to buy them, then you've no right to them. No, it's really that simple. Saying something to the tune of "I don't have that budgeted" or "This is what I have, can you still do the full work" is as much of a strawman to freelancers as trying to scare us to the bargaining table by saying you have someone waiting in the wings to do it for less. We're not impressed, and we don't respond well to disrespectful tactics. Want to know what you sound like when you pull that? Here you go: http://www.vendorclientvideo.com/

INVALID - "You are ripping me off. I know that all you do is click a few things in Photoshop and it's done": Yeah. I don't really have to go overlong into this one. You don't know the program, and you obviously have no grasp of the training involved to become proficient at image editing programs. I will simply state this hard fact for you: Photoshop is not a verb. By way of example, your mechanic is trained to work on your car. Changing the oil for them is a very simple and routine task, and they charge a flat rate for it regardless of the time involved. I want you to try that line out on them sometime.

Yeah, you could learn to change the oil yourself. The same could be said of Photoshop or any image editor/graphics utility. But, alas, you emailed me, because you didn't. Moving on...

INVALID - "Artists are a dime a dozen. you should be grateful just to have me use your work": No. Wrong. True professional artists with the know-how and dedication to their craft are more rare than licensed doctors, IT workers, and engineers, just to name a few. Do we love sharing our work with the world? Oh man. Absolutely. You know what we're "grateful" for? Being able to pay the fucking bills while doing what we love. Of the artists out there, you came to one in particular because they had something that struck you as beneficial to what you wanted. Once again, you came to them, not the other way around. Even freelancers who bid on jobs qualify- you selected them because something in their portfolio spoke to you and your needs. They have what you want, and they know how to do it. Feel free to tell your HR staffers that skilled workers are a dime a dozen the next time you don't understand something and want to save a few bucks.

And finally...

INVALID - "This only takes maybe an hour. I could do it myself in less time": Liar. Or, if you're being honest, I again have to ask what the hell you're doing emailing me? Here's the gag- I've no idea how long it takes to do your job, or what it entails, or any aspect of your working process. Why in the good Goddamn are you deciding it's perfectly kosher for you to do the same? Personally? I work 15+ hour days depending on a given piece or workload. Some of my artists friends go to even more masochistic lengths with their daily routine.

Oh. That's right. Art is easy and Photoshop has a filter that cranks out completed art for you.

I'll have to find where that filter is. It would make my life a great deal easier, and you less of an ignorant, rude, slackjawed idiot.

New Walkthrough for ya

2009-12-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! First off, i decided to go ahead and do another walkthrough, but with some actual text content for the curious. Here's how I put together a recent page of 9SS: CLICK ME ALREADY

On to the other news. I'm shooting to start putting up new pages of the comic on by around January 15th. This will be leading up to doing 9SS full time in the spring, with all the bells and whistles.

I am also hoping to start recording music for 9SS this coming year. Yes, you read that right. On top of that, I am fiddling around with the idea of my own podcast. I currently am a guest commentator on B!tchcast, and while I've no plans to abandon that, I am amped on the idea of doing a bi-weekly podcast, probably covering the webcomics industry. We'll see. It'll be more int he vein of news and interviews rather than standard reviews and the like, but I'm still playing around with the concept. Stay tuned.

That's all from me now. Enjoy your countdown, and I'll see you further on down the road.

Exciting News

2009-12-20T17:47:00.000-08:00

As on Spring 2010 (that's so weird to finally be able to say, you know?) Nine Shot Sonata will be full time, 2 days a week, full color metal goodness. But wait, there's more!

I'll be implementing a gig to give more back to supporters than just wallpapers. This includes not only people who donate to the site, but also people who plug the comic on forums, social networking sites, etc etc. I've had B.A.B.E.L. in place for a bit now, but people seemed to forget about it. so, to spark interest, here's what contributors to 9SS can look forward to:

1. Wallpapers (of course).
2. Mentioned/linked in the Newspost and Links page.
3. Special contests for original penciled pages and more from the comic for contributors.
4. Personalized sketches mailed to the contributors who really go above and beyond.

Why all of this? Because the comic isn't possible without YOU. I'm taking a big risk by switching to full time and pouring myself completely into the work, but I think the story is worth it, and I think it's more than worth it to give back something extra to the people who make it possible.

So, you heard it here. 9SS is going full-tilt, guns-blazing full time as of Spring. I hope you all enjoy what I churn out, and I hope you all have an awesome holiday. I'll see you in the future with 9SS, but turn back here now and again for posts about things you can expect to see.

-your humble freelancer-
-X.

New Year Resolution and Hiccup

2009-12-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

My New Year's Resolution? Nine Shot Sonata.

Since the computer crash in mid-summer, 9SS lost hundreds of readers. That's just the nature of the beast when you can not update, and people stop checking back. There's no hard feelings, but there might be a bit of swearing. Ok. a lot of swearing. I've got a foul mouth, so you'll have to excuse me.

Knowing that, I know this announcement's going to lose me even more. I talked it over with Katy, dropped a few well-aimed F-bombs, and moved on to typing this out.

Nine Shot sonata will return in January 2010.

The reason? Well, there's a few;

1. Freelance work. I've a few orders that need to be completed. I owe it to these people to knock these out before Christmas, as they were kind enough to pay for art and help us pay the bills.

2. Moving. (Hopefully) we are trying very very hard to sell things off and get to Colorado before the middle of January. During that time I'll be without internet and setting up our new digs with dear friends. Don't worry though - I'll be working.

3. New digs, new habits. One new habit? Not smoking. This isn't a huge factor on the comic, but it is a big one that I've been wrestling with for the past three years.

So, what does that mean for the site? Not much. Until I lose the net, I'll be updating the site and this blog with news and guest art from friends, as well as keeping you all appraised of the situation with when you can expect things to kick back up. I know this isn't the ideal, but things happen. with Katy and I, whether some people out there believe it or not, they happen quite frequently. The move to Colorado is one big step in finally fixing that and giving me the go-ahead to crank out 9SS to my heart's content.

As you've seen from the Twitter or my personal FB feed, it's been rough. I apologize to the people who got sick of hearing about it. I got sick of living it. Needless to say, it wasn't fishing on my part or me waxing emo- what happens to us affects the comic and my work, and I pass it along. I've since pulled the plug on anything but 9SS news, but as this all concerns 9SS, you'll forgive me if I have to point out bad news/bad luck one more time. You're free to not follow, after all. ;)

I am still accepting guest art, and even simple doodles are tremendously helpful while I buckle down on what needs to get done.

My Resolution, then, is to get shit completed and fixed and secured. I owe it to myself, the comic, and to each one of you who stayed on even after the Summer crash to continue reading. I hope to see you all on the other side of New Year's Eve.

Horns up, and thank you for being there.

A 9SS Holiday

2009-12-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

No news on behind-the-scenes 9SS stuff today, folks. However, I think the following does toe the line on being related. Read on.

So. It can be construed that 9SS is a bit blasphemous. Sure. I'll grant that. With that in mind, I wanted to extend my thoughts to the people in particular whom, for whatever reason, find that saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is not only blasphemous, but an "attack on Christianity". It stems from a run in I had with someone in a store, who took offense to the greeting while they were pushing a shopping cart piled to the brim with items to decorate their place up for the Holiday. Items which, frankly, have nothing to do with the religion they were defending.

If you're not hip to some knowledge, skip to the bottom of the post, where the whole point is spelled out.

I won't even go into the origins of the word Holiday. You can look them up. I assure you that "Happy Holidays" is not only more appropriate, as to cover all the myriad holidays of this season, but it's actually more accurate. Don't believe me? Ok, I'll break it down for those of your playing along at home. Mind these bits, because there will be a quiz with the Almighty later on.

Xero's Handy Guide to a purely Christian Christmas:

1. Change the date. I hate to break it to you, folks, but Jesus wasn't born on the 25th. Ask some scholars in the upper echelons of whatever Church you follow. I'll wait. You've probably been answered that most believe that the saviour was either born in September (about six months after Passover) or sometime in Spring. That debate's not going to be settled anytime soon. But, what can be agreed upon is that the date isn't the de-facto birth of Jesus. That credit goes to Pope Julius I in the year 350. Why? Because at the time roman pagans still outnumbered Christians. The pagans were living it up with "Dies Natalis Solis Invicti", which translates out to "the birth of the unconquered sun". Winter was a fine time for sun-worshipers, and Mithra in particular held favor with the heathen Romans of the time. So, aside from culling competition, ol' Julius employed a tried-and-true tactic for easing conversion: take the pagan holiday/festival, alter it a bit, and allow them to still have their party with one or two new rules. It's an old tool or religion, folks, and history's the best teacher.

2. Lose the Tree. Are you a Christian? Celebrating Christmas, are we? Yeah, you might want to do away with that lovely-smelling blasphemy you've got in your house. While it's granted that the act of decorating the tree up to the nines was started by Christians (namely Germans), and that bringing it indoors to liven up the joint was right on with the faith, the origin of the Tree itself (all variants of the trees you can now find on sale at a Christmas tree farm) dates back to- you guessed it - pagan rituals. Bringing it indoors? That started back with winter festivals. It's a green living thing in winter, and a reminder that spring is on its way. Boughs were carried as totems of good luck, and you could find them scenting up weddings as signs of fertility. Hell, druids would go find large specimens of the trees out in the woods and have themselves a merry ceremony around the base of it. The Tree as we know it today didn't even crop up over stateside until the 1820's. Yet another thing you can thank Germans for, mind.

3. Trim back that Holly. Holly and it's berries are old hat for pagans. Greenery in various forms is attributed to the ancient Roman New Year and the berries were quick snacks for the Gods. And speaking of greenery...

4. Miss the Mistletoe. Druids used the plant as part of celebrating the coming of winter. So, what about the kissing? Blame Frigga. Scandinavians equated the festive little plant with their goddess of love. it represented peace, love, harmony and fertility. Sounds like a hippie-fest, sure, but bear with me. Kissing beneath the mistletoe was a nod to ol' Frigga, and probably more appropriate. You see, shagging beneath any plant at a public function would probably make the other guests uncomfortable. Or jealous. Though I've heard of some wild office parties...

5. Leave the Yule Log be. Yule is a word meaning "wheel". Hey, lookit! More sun worship! It's the name of a winter festival. You see, Scandinavians were the last to get the memo on Christianity. In fact, you'll still find the Christmas holiday referred to as "Jul".

6. Fruitcake. Yeah...do I really need to say anything? History be damned- that's a tool of Devil-worship if ever a baked good could be one.

7. Candy Caned. I hate to break it to some authors out there who keep perpetuating this myth, but the candy cane as we know it has nothing to do with Jesus. It's not a Sheppard's crook, and it's not an upside-down "J". Seriously, if you want to talk symbolism, haven't we learned enough from upside-down crosses? The cane was just a stick back in the day, and while some smart Priests would give the treat out for good behavior, the confection didn't earn its stripes and jaunty curve until around 1900. It wasn't a sign between fellow persecuted Christians, either. By the time it showed up to plague our waistlines, Christianity was already widely spread and believers were far from hunted. You know, until the Inquisition.

8. Forsake all the trimmings. Parties. Gift giving. Lights. Feasts. Charity. If you want the real deal Christian-approved experience, you had better make due without. All of these are examples pulled from Saturnalia, Winter Solstice festivals, Sun Worship holidays of winter, and just general good old fashioned merrymaking with no religious baggage. Don't believe me? Well the British agreed during the English Interregnum. The powers-that-be at the time became so incensed over the trappings that the holiday was banned. They considered it a "popish festival with no biblical justification, and a time of wasteful and immoral behavior". Man. So much for Christmas tea. Don't look to the colonists, either. Massachusetts banned the holiday for a time too. Then again, they were the Puritans from the same group in England who got all Scrooged up.

9. Pointless Poinsettias. We're talking symbology again. I.e. taking an object and giving it relevance and meaning beyond the object itself. The plants are native to Mexico. Back before rampant electricity and indoor toilets, the denizens thought that the lovely plant represented the Star over Bethlehem. Feliz Navidad to cross-pollination.

10. Last, but not least, if Santa comes, call the cops. Here's the thing folks; St. Nicholas is the patron Saint of sailors, Sicily, Greece, Russia and children. Was he jolly? No idea. Was he generous? Yeah sure- there are stories. But everything else beyond that is coined to a turn-of-the-century poem, and a LOT of Coke ads. Even stripping that away, I'm afraid the fat man with the toys has zilch to do with the Mass of Christ.

Let's bring it all home.

So. You can take offense with the greeting, go to extraordinary lengths to strip away every glittering layer of pomp we've embraced collectively with the holiday, and lock yourself up on the 25th to spend the day only in prayer and thanksgiving to honor the absolute letter of the law of Christmas or; you can relax.

No one is attacking your faith with the greeting. No one can take your faith or your holiday away with words. If you believe, you can't be touched. In the end, does it even really matter where the traditions come from, or WHEN Jesus was born? Does it change the wisdom he imparted? Does it sully the idea of good feelings toward your fellow man, if even just for one month?

In a time where shouting down the other person, party line division, unilateral hate by way of internet anonymity, and general distrust is the norm, you should be pleased if not touched when anyone (especially a complete stranger) wishes you "Happy Holidays". why? Because they're wishing you personal happiness.

And that, folks, is something we could all use under the tree, around the menorah, laid out on the Kwanzaa table, and in whatever supply and place we can find it.

Happy Holidays.

Happy Gluttony Day

2009-11-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late. I'm afraid I'm on vacation, and soaking up some well-deserved downtime this Thanksgiving week. New posts will be coming at you next week on Wednesday.

Friday the 13th? Sweet.

2009-11-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Small post today, as I'm literally in the midst of working on the page for Monday. Yeah, there will be a page. No, there will not be candy. That can be found next door.

I wanted to share a piece with you that actually has me fairly excited for future things for the comic itself. It was my first go at a comic "movie-poster" type of group shot, and I plan to give it the full color treatment complete with logo. It's a commission for a client, but it turned out better than I thought it would, and gives me the go ahead for things of this nature with 9SS later on:

http://www.xerjester.com/images/chrisgrouppencils.jpg

I'm also working on what to turn out in terms of merchandise once I get to that point. I'm keeping things simple, since the last thing you or I want to see is a biblical-class flood of Cafepress crap with the 9SS logo slapped on, like a veneer of chocolate frosting over a piece of molding cake.

So, it's Friday the 13th. I think it's a perfect opportunity to fly in the face of convention and encourage each and every one of you to purposefully do something that superstition tells you (in a condescending all-father voice) not to do. Chase after a black cat. Break a mirror. Spill some salt. Limbo under a ladder.

I'll be on the Bitchcast podcast this Saturday night, and I'll post a link on the main newspost when that's ready for human consumption. Then again, it's debatable if any medium where I can be clearly heard and understood qualifies.

Take a chance and have some fun with it. I'll see you all on Wednesday. For now, it's back to making sure Mal is ready for the spotlight.

Music is Life, Life is Music

2009-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

It's no secret; either Mal's a musician, or he just feels that carrying around a guitar into battle gives him cred with the off-kilter fans of Six String Samurai. For the sake of simplicity, I'll go ahead and tell you that it's the former. Mal's a musician, and Metal enthusiast.

So, in light of his affiliation, I had come up with the idea of introducing music into the comic itself. How? Well one of my favorite musical projects is The Gorillaz. It's comic dynamics blended with really good music. I've wanted to approach something like that for ages now, and decided that the best way to do so would be to produce music for the fictional (in more ways than one) band Mal plays in later on in the comic. That's for another time.

The whole point of this behind-the-scenes piece is Music and how it drives the comic. I'm a musician myself, and music is, bar none, the driving factor behind everything I write or draw. I simply can not seem to be creative unless there is music of some sort in the background. So, today, I wanted to share some of the music with you that has been the impetus for what I've done for 9SS thus far. Some of these are unsurprising, but some may just have you swing a double-take. Enjoy this playlist to Nine Shot Sonata:

1. Planet X marks the Spot - Dr. Steel

2. Lament for a Toy Factory - Dr. Steel

3. Take a Bow (symphonic mix) - Muse

4. The Metal - Tenacious D

5. Warriors of the World - Manowar

6. The Good Doctor - The Protomen

7. Built to Resist - Grip Inc

8. Book of Heavy Metal - Dream Evil

9. Bioshock Soundtrack - Various

10. Electricity is in my Soul - Steam Powered Giraffe

11. Far Away vol2 - Apocalyptica

12. Cheat on the Church - Graveyard BBQ

13. Country - Slim Cessna's Auto Club

That's a small sample of what's been on infinite loop as I work to bring you the adventures of Mal and his ethereal fun-time friends. If any names on the list escape you, I highly recommend that you check them out. Until Friday, I'm getting back to work.

On writing and Intolerance.

2009-11-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

I never considered the idea of using this little blog of mine to ever really tackle a pressing issue. Oh, I know I've mounted my trusty soapbox in the past to decry what I thought was skewed in genre fandom, but that was in the tongue-in-cheek vein of one creative geek asserting himself. This particular topic, on the other hand, comes from and is entirely about the heart. If you wish to move on past this to the 9SS post, just look below the dotted line.

I'm a Deist. I make no bones about this. It's what I am. My beliefs and world view can be summed up in the simple phrase; "God gave us reason, not religion." It's a code I hold to, and sorely wish people would at least entertain if not wholly accept. So now that the dust has settled and we see yet another state repeal what is essentially a fundamental right, I can not help but sit back and consume another shot of vodka to quell the migraine I can already feel coming on. Maine. Oh Maine. I tilt my head back, and to no one in particular but everyone involved in striking down the law, I ask quietly;

What, exactly, is wrong with you?

The issue at hand isn't one of statistics or documentation or study. Fathers marrying their sons legally? Not even in Nevada. Try again. Children being taught about sodomy? I learned about that in Sex Education as means to illustrate that no manner of sexual activity is safe from STD's without protection, and even then it's dicey. Try again. Higher percentage of divorce rate? The numbers were pulled from the baseline percentile of heterosexual couples. Indoctrination of children with homosexual parents, thus producing gay children? No conclusive studies, but now at least we come to the heart of what REALLY bugs you about gay marriage.

Fear of that which is not like you. Fear draped over with the sacrament. Prejudice gilded in faith. One last hold out of supernatural carte blanche to exclude, ostracize, and lower others. You don't have to check facts. You don't have to reason things out. It's so much easier to feel like a good and blessed soul to fly to kneejerk reactions and accept the unsubstantiated claims of anti-gay marriage activists. You were already thinking them in your heart of hearts, anyway. Bravo for taking what you thought to be the path of the righteous, when in reality it was merely the path of least mental resistance.

God gave us reason, not religion.

Gay marriage does not affect you anymore than inter-racial marriage. It affects you no more than a tall person marrying short. It affects you no more than strangers you know off to wed in Las Vegas, even if you live in that city. It doesn't affect you. The idea of marriage being tarnished? Some states have legalized it. I still have my ring on, I still have my wife, and The Rapture has yet to occur. The Horsemen are still kicking it in the lounge, and their steeds are out in the pasture grazing. you may wind down the klaxons.

Try Again.

In the early days, it was "the sin of marrying outside your kindred", but first cousins were ok. Then it was Eugenics. Then it was the protection of the Master Race. Then it was Jim Crow laws and Apartheid. Then it was Protecting American Interests from the catastrophe of the Civil Rights movement. Don't ask, don't tell.

Nowadays, it's called "protecting the sanctity of marriage".

Prejudice is prejudice is prejudice, and the God I know is love. Put down that Book you choose to wave at the issue; you've not read it through or understood it, or held to it, nor even set your worldview by it. You chose key phrases that fit into what you agreed with at the time, and when an issue came up that did not gel with the popular thinking of the age, it was revised or omitted from discussion.

We are not a Theocracy. Anyone who would claim otherwise while touting the ideals of our founding fathers would do well to recall a missive by George Washington; "As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion . . ."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On writing 9SS

Well, in the wake of losing the hard drive over the Summer, I've been given the opportunity (and I'll see it as one, it makes me swear less about losing those files) to revisit and rework the script for Chapter one. I've had a lot of fun so far, and the end result is essentially the same in tone as the first pass of the script, if not in key plot points. so, how do I go about a script? I don't do page-by-page, but for the sake of simplicity let's look at how I breakdown a page that goes along with the whole of the work:

1. The voices in my head: I let the characters talk it out. No, really. The best way, I've found, to put decent dialogue to paper is to let the characters have their say. so, before I write word one down, I let them talk out the scene in my head to give me a basic idea of flow, timing, and any wit that's thrown in.

2. Once more with feeling: I write down the general conversation as it played out. I take this time to finesse it and tighten it up so the page doesn't turn into a balloon-heavy novel. This is also where I throw in some manner of punchline, since I like each page (as it only goes up once a week) to have humor or memorable/iconic imagery or action. It's the gag-a-day method to approaching a continuous storyline.

3. Places, People. we're on in five: Now we get to the blocking/direction portion. I write in what I'll think will be good angles, gestures, expressions and the like for my "actors" to pull off during the conversation or action. These aren't necessarily paramount or locked in stone, either. some things work as words that fail miserably as art. sometimes I get a better idea when it comes time to draw. I try to keep the process fluid. The same thing applies to lettering in the conversation; sometimes things run long or ideas get repeated and I'll change them on the fly. Keep loose and fluid and let the work speak to you.

I hope that was some helpful insight into the writing process for 9SS. On Friday, I'll eschew the sermon opening. I just had to get that off my chest.

dusts off the veneer

2009-11-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

Oh dear. I seem to have neglected the production blog for a very very long time. Let's rectify that.

I'll be coming back to posting here twice a week, Wednesday and Friday, about all the geek-infused tidbits that currently power my frame. Stay tuned, and tell your friends. The gears turn once again, and the end product will be concentrated awesome in an aesthetically pleasing chassis of epic.

Or, it'll be the same old same old with that "new content" smell. Both will suffice.

Stuff and perhaps things, the return

2009-05-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

Working on:

1. Wow commission Dwarf and Gnome
2. Pinup for Applegeeks Vol.2
3. WoW commission Tauren
4. WoW commission Bloodelf
5. Trying to keep on schedule with 9SS amidst all of that.

And I have a convention next weekend. Yep. Sleep is for suckers. I'll post previews of all the work as the pencils are completed.

More later once I have a moment to take a breath.

A breakthrough

2009-05-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

Man. Busy life is buy. I've been so knee-to-waist-deep in Adobe Photoshop that I've not been able to peer over the trench wall that is my work schedule to see this little blog shivering and hungry off to the side of the main battle.

What? I like Band of Brothers. Lay off me.

As you can see from today's page, I've had a bit of a breakthrough with my art. Every now and again, an artist will try something new and it will go so well that it feels like a quantum leap compared to the otherwise slow and arduous process of improving over years. In this case, it's something that I've seen other artists do, but was always a bit too scared to actually try myself; CG without inking, right over the original pencils.

It's a style that you've already seen, too, if you've paid any attention to Marvel over the past couple of years. Joe Mad's run on The Ultimates uses this technique, with color artist Christian Lichtner simply working his magic over Joe's pencils without having to wait on the inker middle-man. It give the final piece an equal dose (to my mind) of full on comic-CG style with traditional painting sensibility.

So, I gave it a whirl. The Result?

This.

It keeps my original detail level. I can pencil without having to worry about the time it will take to ink (and this curb the amount of linework I'd put in, conciously or not), and I just truly enjoy what comes out the other side once I put the piece through it's paces in photoshop. Best of all? It cuts an entire day off of my production schedule.

So, now that I know it can be done even by lil ol' me, I'm confident now that the plan to switch to two pages a week in June will be successful. Stoked? You bet.

To see what else I've been up to, feel free to traipse through my deviantart gallery. I'll be posting more pieces off-site there while I tick off commissions. See you on Friday!

HEY, where's mah process update?

2009-04-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's right here: CLICK HERE TO SEE A STEP BY STEP OF THE LATEST PAGE!

Next Monday will not see a new page for 9SS. Unfortunately, the comic doesn't make money, so I have to take on freelance work to make ends meet. I am doing everything I can to make sure that this is only a one-week delay, but I can't make promises.

I'll see you here Monday with some more inner workings of my webcomic-that-could.

Bullet with Dragon Wings

2009-04-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so apologies up front for two things; First, the afternoon post. I'm typing this while literally in the thick of doing Monday's page. The PSD is open under this window and awaiting my attention. Secondly, I know I had said that I'd be posting pics of the process, but this page is too much of a beast for me to set aside time this week for that. Trust me, you'll understand when you see it.

Now then, Mal's gun-to-be, Joyluck. Joyluck is a mishmash, patterned on both the original LeMat revolver (ball and cap model) and the more modern 44 cartirdge model.

For those of you not in the know, the LeMat was popular during the American Civil War with Confederate calvalry troops. It was a nine round pistol, whose chamber revolved around a secondary barrel that contained a shotgun round. For this reason, it was also nicknamed the Grape-shot Revolver. Incidentally, and as a part of geeky trivia, the ball-and-cap LeMat is what Jayne carried in the Firefly series.

The gun's hammer had a switch that could be flipped with the thumb for firing either the cylinder's load, or lowered to fire the pin for the shotgun round. It was a pretty brutal weapon at close ranger, and it's accuracy wasn't too bad either.

Mal's model, Joyluck, takes a lot of the aesthetics of the first model, but is fitted for modern bullets and shotgun rounds, specifically 44 magnum cartidges with a 12-guage round in the lower breach. Mal is an engineer and inventor, so he took what was a modern LeMat and retooled it for his needs. The LeMat some of you have seen in the promo work and design sheet is the modern version, but not the version you'll see in the comic.

So then. Nine rounds, and a shotgun blast for punctuation. Nine Shots and a Bass hit, so to speak. Now you know half of the reason behind the comic's title. See you Monday!

Fashionable

2009-04-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Small post today, as I'm literally just waking up after a long set finishing up my WoW comic for Blizz. Today's topic: Fashion Research.

Yeah. I know. Yawnfest to some, but I'm pretty thorough when it comes to research for my work. Technology, Culture, Religion, Languages, and, yes, Fashion.

In the case of 9SS it's a mix-mash (as is appropriate for a city setting) of modern clothing with a 1940's lean. That will become more apparent later, as will the influence of Victorian aesthetic in jewelry and accouterments. I'm big on embellishment and detail, and a lot of this stuff is a complete geekgasm for me. Especially anything to do with clocks. I have a sick fascination with them. With that in mind, here's a nice nexus of what I looked into:

Steampunk Fashion Links

Next time, I'll post some pics from the process as well as talk a little about what goes into Mal's firearm of choice: Joyluck. See you on Friday.

Technology and the Genre

2009-04-14T07:59:00.001-07:00

I missed yesterday- chalk it up to working feverishly on this WoW comic and my inability to keep track of what time it is.

This will be a small post looking into Tech as it relates to steampunk. I chime in on this, because there will undoubtedly be some hardliner purists out there that will cry shenannigans on my refering to Nine Shot Sonata as steampunk. Why? The setting.

By tradition of genre, most Steampunk stories, movies, etc. take place in, or are heavily influenced stylistically by, a Victorian, Neo-Victorian or Alter-Victorian setting. That's fine and dandy from an aesthetic viewpoint, but I've always personally felt that the genre was defined by the technology. I'll cite an example of what I consider to be a great Steampunk story that a few of the purists might dismiss.

FreakAngels by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. Here we have a tale that is set in London, but not a Victorian one. Hell, it's not a London any of us really know, anymore. It's downright post-apocalyptic.

But what of the tech? Oh joy of joys, the tech makes me smile big-big, say thankya. In a land where petrol is scarce to the point of rumor, the tech here is deliciously run off the only source that pervades the area: water. Incidentally, that's also a sticking point of the story itself. The land is flooded in an event akin to Teen Angst meets Noah.

In FreakAngels, you have steamtech not in spite of petrol but because it's what's close at hand and useable. In my view, that qualifies. It's certainly not Verne-esque, but I'd argue that anything wrote after Verne shuffled off this mortal coil isn't. I think the defining characteristic of the genre, any genre, should not be confined to setting. It should be material, tone, and identifying structure or device. In this case, I believe Steampunk and all it's derivatives should be qualified by the technology.

Huh. This went on longer than I thought it would. Let me wrap things up.

I'm on my soapbox really for two reasons: 1. I love steampunk and the technology and reasoning behind it. Thus, it appears in 9SS, or will once we get out of this church. 2. FreakAngels is an excellent fucking comic, and I'd hate to think of people putting off reading a great story because their sensibilities about genre can't be fluid.

I think my soapbox is creaking in protest. Time to hop off, and I will see you all on Wednesday.

Some background research on rocking face

2009-04-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

So! I plan to update this production blog three times a week (Monday, wednesday, Friday), be it with info, artwork, or whatever strikes me as I'm working. I'm skpping a bit ahead of that schedule to bring you some knowledge. Today, I thought I'd give you some background on Mal's guitar that was recently featured: Persephone.

Persephone is loosely based on a combination body-type of Les Paul and Explorer. The string system itself was fun. I started with the feed-through you usually see on Fender Stratocasters, where the ends of the strings are fed through the body of the guitar from the back for stringing purposes. I coupled that with the Floyd Rose system some guitars use, but took it one step further. Mal's an engineer and inventor at heart, so Persephone utilizes a reverse feed setup. The strings are fed through from the neck and into a clockwork mechanism in the body itself that is precision-made to auto-tune the strings' tension with the turn of the key on the bottom of the guitar body itself. The design sheet shows what that looks like a bit without the additional covering:

http://xerjester.deviantart.com/art/9SS-Guitar-Design-96411023

I've seen mechanics of similar design in pianos and modern harpsichords before, but I took some liberty with the inclusion of a function to auto-tune the strings once they were taut. Hey, it's a bit of a fantasy comic as is.

I've also cobbled together a story based on reasearch to explain the guitar further in regards to the story, using real-life luthier, Hermann Hauser. I can't go into too much detail at present, but let's just say that Mal's precious guitar is more than just a unique piece of design.

On the non 9SS art vein, I've recently been asked by the World of Warcraft web content admin to submit another comic to their comic contest, so I'm in the process of putting that together. If they dig it, I'll be sure to link it here and on the main site for you to take a gander at.

Until Monday, I'll be heading back into the trenches.

Test done. Welcome!

2009-04-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new home for the 9SS production Blog, covering the behind-the-scenes info for (SS, as well as other projects I've got going on and other relavant bits that I think you might find interesting. Pardon the stock look of the joint. I'm working on redecorating this place up into something a bit more fitting. Stay tuned.

2009-04-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

Testing the new blogspace for 9SS.