I’ve been using Photoshop exclusively for nearly two decades, so a full transfer over to Manga Studio was bound to run into a few difficulties. Happily, the folks who moderate the Manga Studio forum on Smith Micro’s website have been able to help me each time I’ve run into a bump in the road. In certain ways all graphic programs are going to be similar and interchangeable, but I’ve worked at a pretty high level for a long time and I’ve been way down the rabbit hole in terms of complex operations. I sort of expected to start up with the new Manga Studio 5 Ex build at the same level, and it just isn’t happening. I can now see it’s going to take an unspecified number of weeks and lots of experimentation to make it happen the way I want. That’s OK, of course. It just sucks being patient.
Here are my short term goals. Yesterday I rendered three more pages of Johnny Saturn, so that’s just nine pages left until I finish up the comic content of the third trade paperback. After that will begin a several week period of trial and error and craziness that happens every time I format and collect a new trade paperback. If I’m going to ask someone to write a forward I’d better get on the ball and ask soon. I roughed out a cover today, and it’s going to kick ass.
Once the graphic novel is off and being printed I’ll upgrade my “Johnny Saturn” website. There is a lot to do, from advice Brad Guigar gave on webcomics.com, to ideas I’ve culled from a variety of webcomics and podcasts and books on marketing and website optimization. Things are going to be different.
In the meantime, as everything else is underway, I need to format more of my comics for Comixology, order a convention banner, and order new copies of existing books to sell at shows. It’s both exciting and daunting how much I’ve got planned for this year.