The artwork is done.
At the beginning of October, I started work on the illustrations for Flember. I had nearly 200 drawings to do in just two months, and I don’t mind admitting it felt like an absolute mountain to climb. To get it done I’ve been doing seven day weeks ever since, getting up at 5 and working through till the evening. This is a foolish way to work. I’ve been running on fumes for the last stretch of it.
But it’s all done.
I thought I’d be elated at the end of it, but I wasn’t. I felt absolutely crushed. When I sent the last few pages over I buried my head in my hands and stared at the floor. And I can’t quite explain why. I *think* it was because this marked the end of such a long, long journey, and now it was finished I couldn’t change it anymore. Oh sure I can still tweak here and there before we go to print, but the book, the thing itself, is finished, and I have to be happy with what it is. Up until now it has been malleable and changeable. Now it’s done I’m committed to say yeah this is it and flipping heck what if it’s no good.
For context, while this pile of drawings represents a big chunk of work, here, alongside it, is the last few years worth of sketches and notes to even reach this point:
This is why I’m so invested in this book. I don’t think I’ve ever put as much of myself into anything, or spent as many years trying to get it ready. In that pile are not only all the sketches I did trying to find the right style, over and over again, but an earlier version of the book which I (foolishly) illustrated in full, as well as Flember comics I drew in the very early days before I even knew it was going to be a novel.
I’ve talked a fair bit on this blog about the writing process, how long it has taken for me to become good enough, to tell the story effectively, and how demoralising (at times) the revision process can be. But I haven’t spoken much about the artwork side of things. I wanted this to be a novel, a body of words, with illustrations to support it. But as you might expect, the book itself has evolved as we’ve put it together, and the words and illustrations have become intertwined.
I’ll post up more about the artwork in future - it’ll be fun to show how the style has changed over the years, as well as showing previews of how the book looks now (while being careful not to spoil anything). In the meantime, I need a big drink and a sleep.
Flember is released in October 2019.
