In Tune Someday

Meet my angry boy Jonah, the main character of my novel/comic story called In Tune Someday. He has a long way to go, hahah, and it's up to Annie to kick his butt into gear. He's very near and dear to my heart, because a lot of his experiences reflect on those of my own life. And I *too* am an angsty boy inside, lmao.

Follow me and Jonah's story through high school, if you're so inclined! I promise there's plenty of angst, fluff, and music, but also character growth and self-reflection.

Read the first 2 chapters now at:

intunesomeday.com

Chapter 2 of In Tune Someday starts today!

This is where the fun begins :) If you're new to the story, this is a great time to get on board. There will be weekly updates from here on out. Don't be as obstinate as Jonah, and give it a try!

I'm very excited to announce that the first chapter of my story In Tune Someday is NOW LIVE! You can read it on the website, with other platforms possibly available later. The fluidity of the novel/comic is best suited for desktops and tablets but is perfectly good for mobile too! I'm looking forward to sharing this story with you and invite you to follow along. Your interest and support means so much. The story is very personal to me and I'm hoping over time, people will connect with the characters and struggles. Thank you!! 💙

Just a few days until the launch of my new series In Tune Someday, a high school drama in the form of a novel/comic. If you're like me, maybe you need something else to think about and look forward to during these stressful times...

On MONDAY NOV 9th, you all can read the first full chapter and I'm excited to finally be able to share it with you~

The story follows Jonah as he arrives at a new school, anger and behavior problems in tow. Through new friends and music he slowly builds trust and gets his life on track. Seen here is a new illustration I'm working on for the website launch. I want a more atmospheric image for the homepage so that's why I'm working on this last minute drawing! After that I'll go back to drawing comic panels.

It's Inktober season and well, my Inktober is working on my comic so basically no Inktober for me! I've only (loosely) participated in Inktober once or twice, as I'm usually too busy. But I see Inktober as a way to stay drawing and I am drawing, so I can feel good about that! I am way behind where I wanted to be with the comic parts of the story. It's taking longer than I expected and the first 4 chapters that I have written have 100 panels of comic incorporated in them....which is more than I expected! Am I crazy?? (Don't answer that). I am still working on Chapter 2, which has the most panels. Progress is progress, right?? I also had to interrupt my drawing with making a website for the comic. I'm a web developer by day, so I could whip up something quickly. If I had more time I'd put more bells and whistles on it, but it'll do! The medium of novel/comic presents an interesting challenge with how to delivery the story, and while I plan to post on a few platforms online, only on my own website will I have full control over the presentation. So, that will be the place for the story delivered as fully intended (and one day, in print form, I hope!)

42 hours later.... Yes, I DID spend that long on this! Mostly because I drew the whole school in the background (behind the characters, as well) and drew approximately one million bricks.

Anyway, I've been staring at it for a long time and hopefully I don't pick anymore small things to edit. I enjoyed experimenting with this piece but I also am very glad to be moving on! And here's proof I can draw more than one character, lol.

I'm excited to announce that In Tune Someday will launch on November 9th! Or so that's the plan. I realized recently that date was a Monday (the day of the week I plan to post updates on) AND more importantly, it's my main character Jonah's birthday! And I can't think of a better way to celebrate it than finally getting to launch his story after 2+ years of planning and even longer in my head. This timeline should allow me enough time to wrap up the climax of the first arc, which is 4 chapters. So, you'll be set with regular updates for a while as I continue working on future chapters. If you're even vaguely curious about the story, or the format as a novel & comic hybrid, I'll be so so so appreciative if you try to give it a read.

I will be posting on WattPad initially, and perhaps my own site if I can also get that running by then. I might post on Tapas if I can figure out a logical way to use the platform for my hybrid format.

I call this “Musical Ecstasy”. Have you ever just become entranced when listening to music? Well, Jonah does it a lot. 

It’s always extra nice when a drawing comes out exactly like how you envision it in your head... I wanted this Very Blue, as it’s Jonah’s color. And I had a lot of fun adding more fluorescent-y purple lighting, too. 

Honestly it's been a long time since drawing, and even longer since posting any art online... I don't know what to say. My hand pain is manageable, and at best that's all it ever will be, but finally adapting to it mentally and physically, it's great to be drawing again. And also in a headspace that allows me to work on my story again.

By changing my project from a webcomic to a novel/comic hybrid, it will allow me to:

draw the comic scenes I really want to

expand the story in ways I never thought of doing, with writing

create many more illustrations like this one

and finish this epically long story (3 novels) before I'm old and decrepit. We're talking 2-3 years instead of like 10-14. hah!

Anyway, if you'd like to follow me on my journey, or more so — my angsty boy Jonah, here — feel free to give me a follow. Ultimately I will be posting the story on Wattpad and my own site, with previews and announcements here, on Pillowfort, and some other places like Instagram?. Tapas unfortunately has no way to mix image and text, so I don't know if I can utilize that platform in a logical way.

Feeling rejuvenated on my project since beginning to actually write my story in the month or so.

Let me clarify— this story was conceptualized as a comic, only I ran into chronic hand pain once jumping in to drawing full force. 100% iPad tablet's fault-- and my thumb hyper-mobility. I had had problems with my non-dominant hands for years, from computer work and crafting hobbies, but it had never hurt to draw. I could draw for 8 hours straight, no problem. Upon upping the ante, I waited patiently (or not so patiently) for a new release for the iPad Pro. An expensive investment I was super excited for (and I'm not even into fancy tech). It was my go-to drawing tablet and it was great... for about 4 days. Then the pain started. (fyi the Apple Pencil is very non-ergonomically friendly) Many hand doctor visits and months later, at best I can manage my hand pain in daily life. Drawing hours on end, however, is something I will never be able to do anymore.

I was left feeling utterly heartbroken and depressed that my epically-long comic project was near impossible to achieve (adding greatly to my suicidality tbh). It's been almost 2 years since I made this project my main artistic focus and more than a year since I had to stop drawing all together.

The characters largely left me and I've been waiting for the moment where I felt more in touch with them again. Actually, I thank small creators whose stories have gotten me into a writing mode to spark my desire to get in the driver's seat again.

It's been months where I've settled on the idea of doing a novel/comic hybrid. This will allow me to draw the sections I really want to, without completely destroying my hand, and to reach a conclusion to this long-ass story (approx. 1500 comic pages) sooner than the decade+ it would have taken to draw part-time.

I've always liked writing, though I only really did creative writing in school. I don't read much either! I didn't feel well-equipped to write a novel (or well, three) in the same way as a comic... Creating a comic has been a life goal, my passion, and it's been a little bit of a learning curve to envision the story as anything else.

However, I've found something fun and interesting about writing as opposed to visual storytelling methods. In my head, honestly the story plays out like a movie-- where I can also feel the character's emotions. In sequential art, there was next to no internal dialogue from the characters. Everything was delivered through their dialogue and actions. In writing, I can and must consider delving into actually verbalizing their internal dialogue and omnipotent dissection of their character, which is a interesting challenge. I feel like I can play with multiple mediums and use them in the best ways..

Uncharted territory...Hope you'll be along for the ride!

Since starting working on my new comic for the last few months, I’ve been wondering how other comickers feel about the process of working on pages.

What’s the most rewarding/fun part of the process for you? What’s the most challenging?

For me I find the thumbnailing stage to often be both these things. It’s an often difficult stage because planning panels is such a critical part, and I usually have an idea of my head of how certain panels should be (ie. large panel end of page) so I have to work around those panels. I thumbnail at about half-sized, and so sketch fairly detailed, which makes the inking phase much faster when I bring it into the computer (in my case, iPad). I also write the dialogue in so I can get a sense of pacing, etc. So, my thumbnails are more detailed than other artists’, which I think tend to be more small and loose to figure out layout/composition-- but it works well for me.

Thumbnailing is really rewarding to me because I can feel the comic actually taking shape. And it makes me excited to complete pages so I can get to future ones I’m extra excited about.

My boy Jonah has a pretty intense glare, hahah.

These are parts of two pages of the comic I’m hoping to launch late summer/early fall. It’s called In Tune Someday and it’s a high school slice-of-life drama that centers around relationships and music. There is a lot of angst, but fluff too.