Hello Wanderer! Thanks for checking in!
Here's what I've got for you in regards to Deus Ex Machina going into the month of March...
What I completed in February:
Shared my second short story, "Testing Her Metal," which you can read here
Made two character illustrations that I'm super proud of (both of Fin, for some reason). One was done for the last short story, the second was just for fun, so I'll share it here!
Started an illustration for my March short story
Been working on writing short story 5 (called "Honing the Blades"), which won't release until June
Designed the faces of several characters (Medella, Dilucos, Vaughn, Iris, and Ada)
Did my first art livestream over on Instagram
Came up with a rough game plan for releasing the various aspects of Deus Ex Machina. More on that in a bit.
About February…
I'll just say it. February didn't go at all like I thought it would. If you compare my to-do list from last month to my completion list this month, you'll see that they're completely different. Mainly, I didn't work on the main script at all, and I didn't finish Medella's character design like I'd been planning. That said, I still feel like I've been fairly productive, just in different areas. As always, I've been refining and experimenting with my art, pushing to get it to the point where I can comfortably draw comic panels. There are certain aspects of comic art that I'm still uncomfortable with drawing, so each illustration has been an exercise in those shortcomings. I like lists, so here's one of some of the comic art issues I've been slowly teaching myself:
2-point and 3-point perspective
Drawing multiple characters interacting in a scene
Facial expressions
Hands. Just... Hands
Background and setting
Movement
Design and character consistency
Framing
I suppose my ulterior motives for the short story illustrations are to practice these elements and keep my art skills sharp while I continue to grind through the designing phase of the comic itself. They also allow me to build up assets I can use in the comic (like architectural designs, plant brushes, etc) more gradually instead of coming up with everything on the fly. Also, I think some of them would make for very nice prints when I'm ready to make those! Aiming to have a few physical prints in September for... Reasons. To quote Dilucos when asked what his plans are from an undisclosed section of my script: "Good things. Great things! Everything will be better, you'll see."
My plans for DEM in March:
Finish the last additions to the main script
Finish Medella's character design
Release the next short story (a two-parter!)
More art, more art, more art
The Game Plan
I told you I'd get back to it. This is the part that gets me excited. I roughly outlined this on my Instagram (on a random Thursday with no notice, as I'm prone to do), so nothing's set in stone, but I'm slowly getting a clearer picture of how I'm going to make all the individual moving parts of Deus Ex Machina work together. Here's the thing: DEM is more than just a single comic or graphic novel. It's a collection of creative endeavors in different mediums that tie together. Here are the different pieces:
The graphic novels, currently slated for 3 Books, broken down into smaller parts. Book 1 is 6 parts. The working title for Book 1 is Deus Ex Machina: The Book of Luna.
The short stories. Those are the ones you can read here on my website.
Traditional novels. The first one I want to write is a prequel about Vaughn and Iris (you'll meet them in the short stories in a couple months). Their book is called Deus Ex Machina: Vindicta. I haven't started it yet, but I know what happens.
Those three mediums collectively make up DEM. You can probably imagine that having so many plot threads gets a bit confusing, and the last thing I want to do is confuse you guys. So here are my plans for the order of release for each section.
Phase 1: The short stories will continue to release monthly here on my website. These will start to scale back once I hit the next release phase.
Phase 2: Drawing Part 1 of Book 1 of the graphic novel and release it regularly on Patreon as I complete the pages. I'm aiming to start this process sometime this summer, after the full script is finished and edited. I'm estimating Part 1 will take me a year to complete.
Phase 3: Outline Book 2 of the graphic novel. I'd do this simultaneously as I draw Part 1.
Phase 4: Release a physical book of the short stories on Kickstarter. Considering I already have almost 40,000 words written for the short stories alone (only half of the ones I have planned), it promises to be a hefty book in its own right. This would also occur simultaneously with the main comic's ongoing Patreon release.
Phase 5: Release a physical version of Part 1 of the comic on Kickstarter after its completion.
Phase 6: Repeat the process of Patreon release with Part 2 of Book 1.
Phase 7: Begin writing my first prequel novel (DEM: Vindicta) as I keep drawing the main comic.
It's a lot. I'm hyped.
THE IMPORTANT PART: This year will bring more digital short stories, the start of the graphic novel's ongoing digital release, and a physical copy of my first collection of DEM short stories.
The Story Continues…
On that note, lets talk about this month's upcoming short story: "A Matter of Perspective!" Oh boy, I'm excited for this one's release. Of the short stories I've completed so far, it's my personal favorite. It's also the longest, so I've taken to calling it the "not-so-short story." Because of that, "A Matter of Perspective" will be released in two parts. Part one of this story releases this month on Friday, March 15th. Part 2 releases Friday, April 19th.
"A Matter of Perspective" takes place one month after the events of "Testing Her Metal." It marks the second interaction of Lucian and Mina and their growing romantic interest in each other, as well as Fin wrestling with his past. We also get to see the Moon Level for the first time in all its glory, and I think you guys are going to really love how it's described. This story is equal parts funny, somber, and swoon-worthy, all which tie together surprisingly well in my humble opinion. I'd give it a PG-13 rating for the language (what can I say, our boy Lucian has a dirty mouth), but this story is free of any triggering or sexual content. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! (I still go back and read it just for fun).
The Current Playlist Cheat Sheet:
Find the playlist here.
“A Million Lives” by Reach - Full Series Theme
“The Moon Will Sing” by The Crane Wives - Luna’s 2nd Theme
“Ghost” by Halsey - Luna’s Main Theme
“Chandelier” by Hotspur - Sol’s Theme/Book 1 Main Theme
“Bishops Knife Trick” by Fall Out Boy - Mors’ Theme
“Devil’s Flesh & Bones” by Eliza Rickman - Medella’s Theme
“Emperor’s New Clothes” by Panic! At The Disco - Dilucos’ Theme
“We Forgot We Were Human” by Dirt Poor Robins - Aurora’s Theme/Prequel Auroris
“Give and Take” by Poor Man’s Poison - Zicari’s Theme
“The Mystic” by Adam Jensen - Roan’s Theme
“Whisper” by Burn the Ballroom - Luna’s Blades’ Theme
"Glory" by Friday Pilots Club - Fin's 2nd Theme
“Midnight Thoughts” by Set It Off - Lucian’s Theme
“Wires” by The Neighbourhood - Fin’s Main Theme
“Hard Times” by Paramore - Mina’s Theme
“Let Me Down Slowly (feat. Alessia Cara)” by Alec Benjamin and Alessia Cara - Lucian and Mina’s Theme
“Monster” by Imagine Dragons - Aaron’s Theme
“Lost Boy” by Ruth B. - Ada’s Theme
“Motherland” by Reach - Book 2 Character Theme (Unrevealed to avoid spoilers)
“Hypochondria” by Hotspur - Book 2 Character Theme (Unrevealed to avoid spoilers)/ Book 2 Main Theme
“Machine” by Regina Spektor - Elsie’s Theme
“What Scares You Most” by Manic Bloom - Book 2 Lucian’s Theme
“Reality” by Ellise - Book 2 Mina’s Theme
“Small Cuts” by The Brobecks - Book 2 Character Theme (Unrevealed to avoid spoilers)
“Running from the Scene” by Manic Bloom - Book 2 Aaron’s Theme
“Underworld” by CYPRSS - Book 2 Ada’s Theme
“Promise of a Life” by Reach - Book 2 Roan’s Theme
“New Frontier” by Reach - General Auroris Theme
“The Hound and the Fox” by I The Mighty (Oil in Water EP)- Vaughn’s Theme/Prequel Main Theme
"Saints" by Echos - Iris' Theme
“Coming up Roses” by Eliza Rickman - Mors and Medella’s Theme
“The Law” by Reach - Book 3 Character Theme (Unrevealed to avoid spoilers)
“Little Dreams” by Reach - Book 3 Lucian’s Theme
Current Time: 2hrs 3mins
Other Things:
I recently tallied up my word count total for everything DEM-related between the script and the short stories, and the grand total iiiissss: 84,157 WORDS! Talk about a confidence boost. Very proud of myself for that. Let's see how high that total can get, yeah?
I made another Spotify playlist for the short stories specifically! You can find it here, but these are the songs for each story so far: - "The Puzzle Box" - "Humerus" by Danielle Prou - "Testing Her Metal" - "Icarus" by Bastille - "A Matter of Perspective Part 1" - "Everyone's Dying (Grandma's Drunk Again)" by Roe Kapara - And more for future short stories, but you'll have to check out the playlist to see those.
That’s about all I’ve got for this update! Hope to see you back here on Friday the 15th for the release of my next DEM short story, “A Matter of Perspective Part 1!"
~ Puritatem per lunae lumen ~
Becky
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