Sabbatical, Day 44 (The Last Day, sorta, kinda...)

So I wrapped up my sabbatical Sunday having (finally) finished inking Page 14. With ten more pages left to ink, not to mention the lettering, the cover illustration (in color!), and the actual assembly, I've still got some work cut out for me. The plan to have everything completed by the time I appear at P.I.X. in mid-October is still in place. It was suggested to me by a coworker that I hold to my deadline, no matter what, and I agreed then and now.

Still and all...here's where the going gets a good bit rougher.

I planned my sabbatical months in advance, so I'd have time to work on the book and not kill myself. I even tried to leave extra time, in case I got behind, which was ultimately the smartest thing I could have done. I'm meticulous, I know, and I want - no, I need this to be the single best effort I've ever produced. So yes, I'm a little bit farther behind than I wanted to be. And I'm starting to feel that squeeze now.

But I'm also very pleased with the work produced thus far. And it is a lot of work.

I've always said that given the time, I could work on a professional schedule, and I pretty much did that, completing a page a day for pencils, and a page a day for inks, both on average. The only two days I took off completely came at the end, for my birthday and the day after that. Otherwise, I worked on HERO CORP. artwork every single day, and a number of those days were very long indeed. So I proved to myself that I could measure up professionally with the time needed. And I believe that once everything is assembled, I'll prove to the world that, yeah, I kick tail on a professional level.

Regardless, starting in just a few hours these will be even longer days for the next couple of weeks, as I attempt to complete inking a page a day AND putting in a full work day at the office. I can feel the stiff muscles already.

My only fear is that I don't want the quality of the inking to suffer due to my own fatigue, but there's not much wiggle room at this point, so I just have to man-up and get it done, hero-style.

Thanks to Wayne for six weeks of tolerating non-stop creativity, or mania depending on how one looks at it.

Thanks to Kristin for six weeks of providing the perfect diversions, with exquisite timing.

Thanks to Jami & Brian for taking on extra shifts so I could keep the ink beneath my fingernails. (Although I expect a cut of those overtime checks.)

Continued thanks to the Lord Almighty for giving me a degree of perseverance that even I don't understand most of the time. But I keep on believing it's with a purpose, so we'll find out where it's all headed in time.

Alright. More to come!

Today's Music: There was music...? It's all a blur at this point...!