An anniversary episode for "ON MY WAY"

   Whilst the entire world prepare for the "worst" since 2010s, I'm thinking of the first anniversary of my personal novel "ON MY WAY".

   Today I finally edited a bigger episode, consisting of 8 pages and a tumultuous development my character Alex unexpectedly must face. 

   Fig.1. Adding the best contrast for comic

   When I wanted to get into editing episodes again after a really long time I was focused on two big projects that came one by one in a short time and "ON MY WAY" fell off my priorities due to the actual hurry for money and increasing bills. 

   Secondly, I made today a switch from Ulead PhotoImpact X3 (Fig.2), the editing software I used since childhood to PAINT.Net. The first mentioned got virused after a Windows update and I tried (unsuccessfully) reinstalling it. Problem solved, but I used to keep a vectorial deposit of fonts and elements for "ON MY WAY" within PhotoImpact and it's all gone now with the uninstall. 

  

   Fig.2.Editing previous episodes in PhotoImpact

   This episode was storyboarded last summer a.c, but I kept it unedited until today when I decided to release it as the first anniversary of the novel. Unlike the regular episodes, it's a special not only because it received four more pages, also it features a complex storyline and marks a milestone for my arduous comics development.

  

    Fig.3.During the editing process

  The editing process (fig.3)  took me likely three hours (and if you trust me, it was storyboarded within half an hour). Only the searching for a certain font I used previously in PhotoImpact took me a while, but found something similar. I just want to make the best during editing and I spent a really long time finding a structure for my comics.

   All the episodes I made and released to this day have their own storyboard and it was respected 90% all the time, except the dialogues and captions I usually re-make during editing.

  

    Fig.4. During editing process

This episode makes a special cameo of a real driver I encountered this summer (fig.4). I really had plenty of travels by bus this year and I used to have short chats with a certain driver before I got out at destination. I appreciated the point of views the driver had related to pandemic and actually struggles we face. He left the company few days after I finished the paperwork of the episode and hence the name of the novel - I try to embed events and individuals I encounter so over the years these episodes will remain a time capsule for the later times.

  Yeah, I faced a lot of emotions since the beginning of 2022 and they influence the development of "ON MY WAY". Like this episode that was storyboarded few days after I finished a big project - I dealt with blues those days and these feelings contributed to the storyline. Every piece of artworks require certain emotions to be created (also they should carry on those feelings to the reader/viewer). 

  

   Fig.5. During wip of the episode

   Fig.6.During wip of the episode.

  The episode featured police at some point. I felt more official to imply cops in rescue mission than a random stranger giving an aid hand to the main character. As I don't feel speaking to strangers, Keith and Gloria reached their full meaning in the story, as my main character knows them for almost a year. Sadly I didn't include my character's car, called "Tracia 1300" (fig.7).I felt that the story must focus on the characters than possessions (and too much details make the reader confused, especially for first person stories and done by a single author).

   Fig.7. My character and his "Tracia 1300"

  

  Lastly, it's an episode I can relate the most now, I really hope that someday I'll bring a remastered version of it, but in colour. The episode will probably come on the blog around 20/11/2022, it's finished now and ready for release, now depends on the available internet and other conditions. Keep reading, see ya soon! 💡🙏