October Roo News
OLD MAN RUFUS
The final lettering for this book has taken a lot longer than I had intended, but it’s almost finished now. I thought I’d give you a look at my process for one of these pages:
Here’s the first step, positioning the sound effect in the size and spot I want it.
First, I type the lettering WRAMM!! and try out a number of fonts that are specifically designed for comic special effects. After that, I adjust the font size of different letters, the spacing in between them, and move them either up or down so they’re not all uniform (on the same line-height).
Then I group them together, and rotate them to be on a slight angle as well. I then position them over the top of the art. I also add a second layer of the same text behind the black, and move it slightly so it serves to give it a bit more impact. I also make sure that the key letter forms will not be obscured (in this instance, W,R,A,M) by the artwork. It’s one of the reasons I added a second M, so it doesn’t matter if one of them is covered by the tail.
Now it’s time to take the sound effect into photoshop, as I need to mask out the foreground characters with the brush and lasso tools. Not just the tail, but also the water droplets and bits of wood from the impact.
This looks pretty good, but notice how the black ridges on top of the tail are now lost on top of the black text. So I reduce the opacity of the sound effect to about 70%, which pops the tail forward and creates a bit more depth.
All of this took me several hours - and while I think it was time well spent, this is just one panel from a 36 page story. I hope you enjoyed a bit more of the process behind this book which has taken so long to complete.
But the end is in sight, at least for the first batch of books.
This weekend I’m putting the final touches on the lettering, and then I’ll send it to a few friends for proofing / spell-checking. After that, it’s off to the printer next week.
The intention is to print ALL of the regular edition books, including the sketch covers, as well as all the stretch goal rewards and other merchandise (I’ll also be sending out all the digital rewards for those). When I get these back from the printers, I’m going to start fulfilling and shipping to all the backers who didn’t order the DELUXE EDITION.
The Deluxe Edition however, is going to take longer, because I still haven’t finished drawing the 8 page backup story. I won’t lie, I’m still struggling to get this done, and while I have made some progress, it might not get done before Christmas.
The unfortunate part of this, is that the majority of backers DID order the deluxe edition. So they will have to wait a bit longer before I can fulfil those. But at least you’ll have been able to finally read the main OLD MAN RUFUS story digitally in the meantime.
SUPANOVA BRISBANE - NOVEMBER 10-11
My intention is to have a small number of OLD MAN RUFUS books available for sale at this convention. I would also like to potentially fulfil and meet my Brisbane backers in person at this show, so if you were planning to attend this event, please let me know so I can prepare those items.
I won’t be in Brisbane long, it’ll be a real fly-in / fly-out event. But I’d love to see you at the show if you’re going!
After this show, all of my efforts will be directed into finishing that backup story, and clearing this book from my to-do list. It started out as a fun project, but after all this time it’s become a chain around my neck, and I’ve got no-one to blame but myself. I really hope it will be worth the wait for all of you.
KILLEROO / 4HORSEMEN : NO REMORSE
Stuart Black is currently putting the final touches on this 80-page sequel to the original crossover. I’ve seen nearly all of the artwork now, and it looks fantastic.
My original plan was to launch a kickstarter for this book by now, but I’m postponing that until after I have fulfilled and shipped every version of OLD MAN RUFUS to all of my backers. It would be an insult to do otherwise. This means it will probably be pushed to at least February 2024 (none of which is Stuart’s fault).
The good news is, this book will be completely finished well before Christmas, so once the kickstarter is funded it can immediately be printed and shipped within a month.
So barring any unforeseen circumstances, I will be going from an almost 2 year fulfilment of OLD MAN RUFUS, to a 2 WEEK fulfilment for NO REMORSE. I know my reputation has taken a battering for this, and I’m aiming to rebuild trust in my brand as quickly as I can.
KILLEROO / CRUCIFIX EXECUTIONER CROSSOVER
This book has taken a bit of a back seat for awhile, as the writer is still working on the final script. As he was involved with the recent writers’ strike, he’s had a few other things on his mind until recently.
But I’ve been working with artist Ben Sullivan on some sample pages to get that side of the collaboration underway, I’ve included a few panels from this.
This book is tentatively scheduled for April/May 2024.
That’s about it for Killeroo news at this time.
Personally, I’ve been struggling a bit of late from the mental health side of things. The continued delay of OLD MAN RUFUS has weighed heavily on me, and its going to take a while to get my mojo back. It’s sucked the joy out of a lot of things, every day I’ve felt the full weight of unfulfilled backers as a personal failure, which has led to a bit of a downward spiral of depression, weight gain and self-loathing.
I’ve barely drawn anything this whole year, apart from inking a few panels of Stuart’s art for the crossover. I rarely leave the house at this point, and have rarely seen many of my friends in person. On top of this - I work from home, so I rarely have a reason to need to leave the house.
It’s taken a toll. I hope to be able to rediscover the joy in simple things again.
I didn’t want to end this update on a down note though, as I have been hired to help a friend to fund his first comic book project in a number of years, and it’s a ripper:
GOURMAND GO
A cannibal space opera graphic novel by Jason Franks
Launching on Kickstarter October 25
The Gourmand Go is a tramp freighter that travels the galaxy on a mission to seek out new life--and eat it. But when times are lean, which they frequently are, the officers are not above eating more… human… cuisine.
From space mall food courts to the heart of a gas giant; from reality cooking shows to the table of a planetary warlord, the crew of the Gourmand Go will face any challenge with a thirst for adventure and a taste for the finer things.
Think Galaxy Quest and Army of Darkness, or Star Trek with added cannibalism!
There’s a murderer’s row of Australian creators involved, including:
Harry Purnell (co-creator, cover artist)
Matt Kyme (The Phantom, Wrath of the Cursed)
Aly Faye (The Sixsmiths, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force).
Ben Michael Byrne (Kranburn, Future Quake)
Cristian Roux (Falling Star, Talgard)
Gavin Thompson (Liedekijn)
Laura Renfrew (Blue, Tomorrow’s Misadventure)
ALL stories coloured by Graeme Jackson (Exilium, Adventure Illustrated)
Please follow the kickstarter and consider backing it from October 25.
Thank you for listening. It helps more than you know.
-Daz
killeroo.com
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