Act 4 Thumbnail Layouts for Badin and the Secret of the Saami

At left are the thumbnail sketch layouts of the fourth and final chapter of Badin and the Secret of the Saami. This was the most difficult act to sketch. The ending of the story is very, very emotional and I had to put myself in the shoes of all who were involved. Eye-catching composition was also critical. I made quite a few minor changes for the art direction and dialog in the script! Writing the final scenes brought tears to my eyes. I think some of you will experience tears when you read it as well.

It is past one o'clock in the morning ("klockan ett på morgonen" in Swedish) and I promised myself I would stop staying up late. I know. I know. But my personal life has been in a state of turmoil and late, late nights have been the only time I can work on this project.

As I have written before, this project is very much alive and the calling I have to do it is bigger than my own trifling problems (trifling compared the racial and social strife consuming the world as I write this). Is it going to solve such problems? No. But it will help and it will inspire others to do greater things.

What is next? There are a few pages with sketches and panels that require revisions. These were pages that I did not like visually, but I did not want to stop to work on it. Typically, when I work out the panels I make very messy pencil gestures in a sketchbook and figure out composition. As we get closer to publishing, I'll be sure to share some of those things. I've got a book full of them! After that, I'll scan the layouts and begin building the pages in Manga Studio 5EX. From there, I plan to do "loose" penciling based on the thumbnail sketches and then move to "lettering" (placing text). After that comes inking and color.

Although I expect to self-publish, there is a chance a book publisher may want to give it a chance. So I plan to complete Act 1 entirely and then follow the step-by-step production process for the other three acts. Meanwhile, I'll still promote it with posters and teasers as planned (a new poster is due out next month). Did you get your poster?