So we’re done with the penciling. The hard work is all behind us. Now Jim is on to inking everything, and I’m learning to put tails on all the balloons and making all the text look pretty. Our hard deadline is to have this finished, sent to the printers, and ready for San Diego Comicon on July 14th. So you’re definitely going to see something finished in the next few months. We’ll likely release this on Amazon as an eBook before the print books come out.

Jim is also planning on putting together a little sketchbook of our favorite drawings, and sending it out to all our supporters in the next few weeks. So you can look forward to that. In the meantime, he’s off to the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême, France, one of the world's great comics events. There he’ll be showing off our ashcan copy to some hopeful supporters.

Not much else to say really. We’ve gone from the creative phase to the technical phase, so it’s a lot of studying page size, publishing programs like InDesign and Manga Pro, lettering and effects.

Happy (belated) New Year! Here’s to a release for Summer 2012

As I write this, Fedex is transporting our application for a Small Press booth at San Diego Comic-Con, well in time for their October 28th application deadline. Included in the application is our first official ashcan version.

The ashcan is impressive indeed. All but a few pages in the middle are fully penciled and captioned, a select few are inked, and the few roughs left are practically pencils already. Jim will also be keeping a second copy of this ashcan version which we’ll probably show to a select few, and those of you who signed NDI agreements will be getting a PDF version of this for yourselves in a few days.

Now’s where things get interesting. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of demand for a space at SDCC.Last year about 350 applicants applied for 100 spaces in the Small Press area, and a jury selects those who make it. So we will be facing some competition – our main concern is if they feel confident that we will publish this in time. This means we definitely have some deadlines over the next six months, which we will be going over in the next couple weeks. But whether or not we get a space, we intend to have a definite presence on the convention floor.

Honestly, I’m amazed that we’ve made it this far with no serious complications (aside from the debt I got into, which is manageable, but beside the point). And make no mistake – the support from this Kickstarter campaign was what catapulted this from a fantasy experiment to a real project with a completion schedule. And every week that goes by makes this more real, beyond my wildest dreams of what this could be.

So again, I tip my hat to all of you who helped. And remember, if you’d like more frequent updates on where we’re at, you can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/inferno2010 or on twitter at @inferno_2010.

So another San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone and I’ve come to realize how unmarketing a guy I am. Seriously, I didn’t even make any business cards, and I talked to a few people who were interested in learning more about INFERNO 2010 and how they can help.

But that’s a small down side to a big bright side: We’re almost done with the pencilling! We’re also doing some rewrites and inking and coloring the artwork, but if things go as planned we expect to go to press early in the new year. Talking to a couple other graphic novel writers, I’ve come to appreciate just how much progress we’ve made and how few problems we’ve had.

Even as we’re finishing INFERNO 2010, we’re also making plans for promoting it in the 2012 comics convention season. We’re applying for a spot in San Diego Comic-Con’s Small Press Pavilion. Last year, 350 small publishers applied for 100 available spots in the section. The final selections are chosen by jury, and we’re doing our best to make our case. But no matter what happens there, we intend to have a presence at the con.

In addition, we’re making plans for upcoming West Coast conventions starting in the Spring including WonderCon, APE and events in Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, as well a local L.A. area shows. It’s also possible we may do some shows in other parts of the U.S., such as SPX.

So there’s your prognosis for the coming year. And if you got the Award where you appear in the book, and haven’t sent us your pics yet, please do so soon!

Yeesh – I just looked at our last update – November 11, 2010! I’ve been posting pretty regular updates on our Facebook group (facebook.com/inferno2010) but it looks like I’ve neglected Kickstarter far too long.

Well first, the bad news is we won’t have this comic done in time for San Diego Comic-Con. There is just way too much to do, and I have no intentions of rushing this project for a deadline. The good news is we have had a decent rough draft now for months, and a few who’ve had the opportunity to read it have all loved it. In addition, we’ve opened up the story, adding close to 20 pages to the 100 we’d originally planned. If you’d like the chance to take a look at the rough, drop me a note and we’ll talk. You’d need to sign an NDA.

And Jim and I are plugging along, we are all but done penciling the pages. To give you an idea of the progress we’ve made, there are a few stages. First is the script, then we make roughs based on the script, then we add captions to the roughs, then we sharpen the roughs into penciled art, and finally we ink. The object is to resolve any problems in the pencil stage before giving things a tight finish in the inks - so this means we're almost over our major hurdles. After inking, we’ll be adding gray tones and finally color.

That leaves us wondering just what we should be doing with regards to Comicon.  We might want put out a more formal package with a bit of artwork just before we head out.  If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them. And if you want to follow our progress more intimately, please check out our Facebook group. 

“What,” you may have been asking yourselves, “the ... er .. underworld... is going on with INFERNO 2010?”

First off, thanks, as always for your support and patience. This is the first missive in a somewhat more regular effort to keep you up to date with what’s going on with our project.

Artist Jim Wheelock finished rough layouts for the remainder of the book in late October, and writer Ron Bassilian and he are now nip-and-tucking the overall story, editing and reworking bits and pieces and resolving issues as we progress forward. One thing we’re doing is looking at the places in the story where those of you donors who opted to appear as characters will turn up. Jim will be contacting you shortly with a description of the reference photos he’d like from you.

Jim is returning to penciling, and then inking and finishing the pages, while Ron will be starting the digital lettering process for the pages already penciled by converting the captions and dialog to comics style fonts and placing them on a digital layer “over” the pages, editing and re-writing as he goes. Later in the process, Jim will fine tune the lettering and add the word balloons and caption boxes, and the layers will be assembled with the inked and colored pages for printing.

Part of the outcome of roughing out all of INFERNO 2010 is that we found that in order to fit the whole epic story in, the finished book will be somewhat longer than we’d projected. The story itself will now run roughly 120 pages, rather than 100, and the entire book, including text material and other features, will likely come in at around 132 pages or more. This means things will take a bit longer, although we still expect to finish the material in the first quarter of 2011.

You, our donors, will be getting pdf copies of INFERNO 2010 once we’ve finalized everything and prepared the book for press. After that, it’ll be a question of working with the printers as to when we’ll actually have the physical books in hand. We do plan to have copies ready by the time the summer/fall 2011 comics convention season is in full-swing.

Prints and other rewards to donors should go out around the same time, if not sooner, and we’ll have an added surprise or two for you as well.

Once again, thanks for your support. Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments you have.

Best,

Ron Bassilian and Jim Wheelock

All those days of reaching out and advertising our work have finally paid off. We made our goal with some room to spare. Right now we're supervising all the transactions to make sure they process properly, and after that you can expect to hear from us regarding addresses and such. A few people's orders didn't go through, and you should be hearing from Kickstarter about this. You have a week to correct this.

So although the campaign part is over, the project will be active for a long time to come, and you can expect regular updates from us from here until we publish the book and ship out our last reward. Both of us also welcome friend ads on Facebook - just look for us by name, we're pretty easy to find.

Again, thanks so much for everybody's support! I'm truly amazed.

- Ron

Just a pleasant reminder that our Kickstarter campaign ends tonight. So if you have any friends who've been sitting on the fence, now's the time to get their contributions in and score that reward. Remember, just $5 gets you a signed print. After tonight the opportunity's gone.

I don't know what to say. Really, this started off as a fantasy project a couple years ago but now it's actually happening! And I'm not used to thanking people en masse like this, but right now it's all I've got time for.

Now, it's back to finishing up the project. We have a firm deadline to punch this out by the end of the year, and this money will allow us to make it happen. More news to come.

Thanks again!

- Ron

So this is it - down to the last week of our campaign. We have promises froM
a couple of people to take us most of the way, but right now I can't take anything for granted.

Again, so much thanks for everyone who pitched in, but I've said before this isn't just about money. We need to get as much exposure as possible. So see if you can post this page on facebook or email this link to your friends.

It's very easy to say we're almost there, we'll make it, but we still need to come up with the rest of the money. But if we all take the initiative and get the word out, it'll be a snap.

More to come.

Well, when I was young my dad told me I'd have to work my ass off for everything, and this project is certainly proving him right. With a week left, we have over $1000 left to raise or we get nothing. We have promises from a couple people but at this point I can't take anything for granted.

So again, a special thanks to everyone who gave, and again, this isn't just about the money. Right now we just need to get the word out, get people to see the video and see what they think. So if you want to help see this project a success, please share our link with whomever you can.

Jim has also written a good letter draft that you can send to your friends. I've included it below.

--------------
Hello,

Jim Wheelock here. I’d like to update you on how Ron Bassilian and I are doing in our drive to raise funds at Kickstarter.com.to complete our graphic novel, INFERNO 2010.

First off, thanks, as usual, to all of you who’ve pledged donations and gotten us this far. Ron and I are excited about INFERNO 2010 and appreciate your support. There’s been a lot of interest in our book, and we’ve been a Staff Recommended Project at Kickstarter almost since day one, and we were the Project of the Day during San Diego Comicon.

As I write this, we’ve raised $4,750, or 79% of our goal of $6000. That looks pretty good, and possibly some of you are thinking, “why don’t they just take their money and go home?”

The fact is, we can’t. The deal with Kickstarter is that unless we reach the goal we set for ourselves at the beginning, WE DON”T GET ANYTHING! All of the pledges we’ve gathered already are never charged, and it’s as if none of this ever happened. That’s what makes Kickstarter a horse race -- exciting, gut-wrenching, challenging, and, in a perverse sort of way, kind of fun.

Our deadline is August 31st, so we’ve still about a week to reach our goal. We’re respectfully asking you to help us out.

I was talking with a good friend the other night, and she said that if she won the lottery, she’d give us the money we needed. Well, that’s a safe bet, but I think that what she was thinking is what some of you are, too, that if you can’t (or don’t want to) donate big, there’s no point in doing anything.

That’s not the case at all.

Kickstarter is fiscal trench warfare, and we can do this on beer money. Some good people have given us very big pledges, but one of the first pledges we received was for $5, and that one made me realize that this could work. We still need about $1250. If 125 of you donate $10, we’re there -- and you all get some Reward swag and your names in the book.

Obviously, we’d like to get bigger pledges, and the Rewards are better the more you donate. The finished book is going to be really nice, and we want you to read it. Getting a signed copy at the $40 level’s a pretty good deal, and there’s more Rewards piled on the higher up in the donation echelon you go, including the chance to appear as a character in the book. Take a look at our Kickstarter page for all the details, and watch our terrific promo video that shows you what we’re doing with the book. As we get closer to the deadline, Ron is doing update videos, and we also have Facebook and Twitter pages.

In addition, we’re asking you to pledge what you can NOW, rather than keeping us in suspense until just before the end. People like to back winners, and the more we have in the till, the more likely Kickstarter regulars are to join in.

It’s fast and easy to pledge. You risk nothing -- Kickstarter uses Amazon’s secure payment system, and your card will not be charged anything until we actually reach our goal.

Our Kickstarter address is http://www.inferno2010.com.kickstarter.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions at all.

Thank you very much.

Jim Wheelock and Ron Bassilian.

This is a graphic novel after all, and Jim Wheelock is responsible for all the illustrations. Here's an explanation of how we met and what it's like to work with him. Enjoy.

A video introduction to the main premise behind the graphic novel and why I decided to write it. Tonight I will post another one about my collaboration with Jim Wheelock, as well as the Inferno's liberating message.

Enjoy! And keep in mind, this is my first webcast. :P

One of my favorite scenes in Inferno is when Dante meets Geryon the Manticore (man-eater) at the cliff overlooking the frauds. The despair in this scene is one of the most telling about the nature of his descent. So Jim and I decided to do a sneak preview of this scene, we'll be unleashing it in a few days. You can expect more sneak previews as we near the end of our kickstarter project, in prose if not graphic form, as an appetizer to the meal ahead.
I've also started a twitter feed to reach out to the rest of the blogosphere about our journey. The tweets will just alert people about upcoming previews, but you'd need to actually be a backer to have access to them. More incentive to jump on board!
We also have a facebook page set up. This is mostly so people will know what we're up to once the kickstarter project is over.

Well, after some post-comicon doldrums, a colleague just rocketed us over the halfway point. So that was a big boost in many ways. This isn't just about the money - it's a vote of confidence that you'd like to see this story a reality.
But we still have a ways to go to reach our goal. And I think we have to go beyond our immediate friends and colleagues to do it. I talked to other kickstarter project creators, they all hate pimping s much as I do, but I think we really have a story that sells itself. So if you want to continue to help, just show off our kickstarter page and video to people you know. And watch their eyes light up.
We also created a Facebook page. Those of you who are "attending" our kickstarter event on Facebook might just want to like this page instead. Though the updates there won't be as detailed as here, it will allow you to know what we're up to after this project is over.
And if you haven't already, feel free to make friends with myself or Jim on FB. I'm pretty available on FB chat during my day job.