IMPORTANT: Re-evaluating Release Date of Pilot Episode

Hello everybody!

Summer is starting to come to an end, and we've made excellent progress on our project as a whole! Staff changes were made, two new episode projects were started up, scripts were edited and finalized, and additional beautiful pages for our episode projects were made! Great work everyone!

As October is approaching, we need to re-evaluate whether or not we are going to release our pilot episode this year. Our most original release date was intended to be October 7, 2010, but we pushed it further a year to October 7, 2011 so that we could make further progress on the pilot episode before releasing it on a regular schedule. For the last year, we have been releasing monthly one-shot gag comics, with special thanks to our lovely artists.

What we now need to decide is whether or not we're going to keep our original plan to release our pilot episode this October, or push it back.

We have basically two options:

1) Keep to our original plan and release the pilot episode on October 7, 2011. Comics would have to be released every 2-3 months (i.e. 1 page per 2-3 months) if we want to keep updating at a regular pace.

2) Change it so that we don't have a set release date for our pilot episode (for the public, anyway). We would continue working on our episodes with no release date in mind. Whenever we do finish drawing a complete episode project, we would then proceed to releasing them to the public. This would mean that our project would go "underground" indefinitely. The con about this is that it may take months, it may take years. But we would be very prepared to release our comics. In the meantime, while we're underground, we can post monthly sneak-peaks for our readers.

3) Mystery option #3??? If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

The following is a brief and fairly current summary of the progress of our pilot episode:

• Story Outline: Complete!
  
• Script: 26 pages out of an estimated 30 pages has been written. Needs to be edited when finished.
  
• Cover Page: N/A
  
• Page 1: Coloured and inked. Need to add in background (completed) for Panel 2.
  
• Page 2: Complete!
  
• Page 3: Coloured and inked. Need to add in background (incomplete) for Panel 6.
  
• Page 4: Complete!
  
• Page 5: Coloured and inked. Need to add in backgrounds (completed).
  
• Page 6-7: Coloured and inked. Need to draw backgrounds.
  
• Page 8: Pencilled.
  
• Page 9-30: Scripted. Need to draw pages.
  

Thanks to everyone for their time and dedication! I hope we can get this sorted out!

- The Directors

Do fill me in - the pilot isn't going to be released in one piece, correct?
Thus we can publish the first page (nearly complete) on-time, and the rest of the pages at semi-regular (if possible) dates, with the intention of having a few pages of buffer to continue regular releases.

Tell me if that made sense.

Ideally, we would have released all episode projects (including pilot episode) in one piece, with buffer (gag comics) released in between episodes. But we only have a handful of pages for the pilot.



But yes, what you suggest does make sense.

I think we should release it on-time. If we push it back another year, I think we risk not being taken seriously-- it might look like we can't follow through on our promises or something. And I think gjsmo has a point-- we could divide the first episode into parts and sort of stagger the release. That way, we'd have a tiny bit of extra time to finish it up.
If we really can't get it done in time, though, it might be best to postpone after all. But it really would be cool if we could finally show everyone how hard we've worked.

If you need extra manpower... please, ask. I'll do what I can to help.

I'm inclined to agree with Meganium. This time last year I think I said push it back another year...but now it seems that a lot of people outside of this forum have kind of forgotten about the project and we do run the risk of people not taking us seriously if we postpone our release date again.

We're gonna have to hurry up and finish it then.

Maybe we could move the active staff members jobs onto the pilot episode project to get it done on time.

Hi everybody,



Thanks everybody for the quick input! It really does help!



It looks like we're going to stick to our planned release date! Exciting!



The thing we need to figure out next is how we're going to release our comics then. Are we sticking to a monthly update (with a mix of episode comics and gag comics), or are we going to slow it down a bit (e.g. to every 2 months)?



Here's what I'm thinking of a tentative schedule if we release our comics with no gag comics in between:



Oct: Cover page (I can have that done by October)

Nov: Page 1 (need Annemiek)

Dec: Page 2 (already done)

Jan: Page 3 (need Annemiek)

Feb: Page 4 (already done)

Mar: Page 5 (need Annemiek)

Apr: Page 6 (need Annemiek)

May: Page 7 (need Retromanka + Annemiek)

Jun: Page 8 (need Retromanka + Annemiek)

Rest of year: Gag comic buffer???



My main problem is that bloochikin (our penciller) has resigned, and that our inker and colourist (Annemiek) is missing in action (MIA).



I've been trying to get in touch with Annemiek for the last month, but with no avail. I will be shooting her another email in another week.



But our #1 priority is that we need a colourist then, who can add these already completed backgrounds to our pages so that we are ready for our release date.



We don't need to worry about the cover page (I can get that done by October).



Our 2nd priority is that we need a new penciller, so we're going to have to do some major artist recruiting.



If anyone can help with adding backgrounds and finding a new penciller, that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!



- Tendra

I will try adding some backgrounds... I see you have a background for page one. Don't count on me - I'm new, and not very good. But I'd love to see the deadline met.
Can't be penciller. At all. Sorry.

Perfectly alright! Thanks so much for the offer gjsmo! We really appreciate it! Is it okay if we see what a completed page one looks like by the end of this week?



I will put a deadline for myself as well, and make myself accountable to you guys by completing the cover page by September 12.

I can do the end of the week... probably today or tomorrow, even.
Annemiek, if you read this, I don't want to tread on your turf, but I'd also love to see this released on time, as a long-time fan of HA.

I also will do new background on this weekend! So 7th page is done? I thought I posted it already...

umm... is this what you want?
*See Ep. 1 Forum*
That was actually very easy, seeing as the characters were on a transparent background... anyone could do it, really.
I moved both characters - Monkeyman's text was in the way of "Vitello" too much, and I thought it would look better if Mrs. Vitello was sweeping her doorway, not the sidewalk. I can put them back, of course, if you want me to.

Hi gjsmo,

Thanks so much for adding the backgrounds! The backgrounds merge really well with the lineart!

I am curious though; what would the page look like if the background of the first panel was enlarged and cropped so that it would take up the entire first panel? Can you do that?

It was a very nice consideration for you to move Mrs. Vitello and Monkeyman around. So great thinking on your part. However, moving her up the panel without making her smaller in comparison to Monkeyman makes for an odd perspective (as objects further away tend to be smaller). Don't worry if the word "Vitello" is blocked by Monkeyman's speech, as these characters and places should be recognized by those who do watch the HA! series. If you have the characters in their original spots and add the Vitello background so that she's sweeping the sidewalk, it should suffice.

Thanks!

- Tendra

P.S. Can you also post your work in the appropriate sub-forum (https://ha6s.forumotion.com/f9-episode-1-project-photography-urban-legend)? Don't want to release our pages too early.

Let's discuss this there then, logistics here.

EDIT: The next episode in my play queue was apparently "Part-Time Friends" - which has plenty Mrs. Vitello. She's not as tall as I remember.

Thanks! I'll see you on the sub-forum. (P.S. Thanks for editing out that link in your earlier post)

So... are we still releasing it on October 7th?

Yes! We have the cover page all ready, and that will be released this Friday (very exciting!). Please spread the word around if you can!

Schedule so far is looking like this:

Oct 7 - Cover Page
Nov 7 - Page 1
Dec - Page 2

We are still finalizing Page 3, but we should have January out and all ready to go.

I will make a post in "Archive of Comic Pages" to give us all an idea of what Oct 2011 - Oct 2012 release schedule should look like sometime this long weekend.

Cheers!

Tendra

I'll try to put together a short video to share with my subscribers on Friday.

Thanks!