Alex Zen Draw

10 Facts About My Comic Books

Hi! It’s been awhile. June has been a rough month for personal reasons. I wanted to publish my first comic book in July, but it will probably have to wait until August or September.

Anyway, I felt that it is about time to write a new blog post. As it says in the title, I will list 10 quick facts about my comic books 🙂

#1 – The Program I Use For Making My Comics

I mentioned this in some other blog posts of mine, but I’ll say it again here. I use Clip Studio Paint Pro to make my comic books. I believe the usual price is $50. I bought the program for $25 during a Black Friday sale.

#2 – Main Fonts I Use

I mainly use 5 fonts for my comics. They are copyright free. I downloaded them from this website: https://www.fontspace.com/

The 5 Main Fonts

TroubleSide – The font I use for the speech bubbles.
Komika – The font I use for captions. I also use this font to make the dialogue more expressive. For some reason, I can’t italicize or bold the TroubleSide font, so I use the Komika fonts to remedy this.
Bicubik – The font I use when robots or computers are talking. I use this font a lot because RSL (a robot character) is part of the ensemble cast.
Space Frigate – The font I use for Space Grind‘s title.
Space and Astronomy – The font I use for Celestial Circle‘s title.

#3 – CSP Assets

I sometimes use 3D assets for Clip Studio Paint to help me draw. If I have trouble drawing a character from a certain angle, I can download a pose to help me draw better. I can also download objects and 3D environments.

A screenshot showing some of the 3D assets I downloaded.

#4 – Dimwit’s Appearance Evolution

I know that I have mentioned this before in a previous blog post, but I’ll tell you again here. One of the main characters took me a whole year to decide on a design. That’s right! It took me one year to decide on Dimwit’s character design.

For quite awhile, Dimwit was going to be a kid or a young teenager. I think the main reason for this was because of Dimwit’s child-like characteristics. However, the majority of the Space Grind characters were young adults. It made Dimwit feel sorta out of place. Obviously, I eventually chose to make Dimwit an adult like Neuro and Onion. I feel like this was a good decision because his dimwittedness is more apparent I think. I was worried people might think that that Dimwit’s dumb antics was because of his young age (if I chose to make him a kid). Dimwit is now officially 25 years old, so that he doesn’t have an excuse for his simple-mindedness.

These are the various designs I made for Dimwit before his look got finalized.

#5 – I Made a TV Show Outline for Space Grind

In 2018, I became friends with a professional cartoonist named Butch Hartman. He created 4 animated series for Nickelodeon. In December 2019, he suggested that I make an outline presentation for Space Grind. I got these outlines finished by July 2020. Butch gave me useful feedback 🙂

A screenshot of a slide for my TV Outlines.

#6 – I Had A Different Website For Space Grind Before Alexzendraw Comics was Born

I made a WordPress blog for Space Grind in January 2021. However, I eventually wanted to make comics about my other story ideas, too. That is why I made the “AlexZenDraw” website to replace the “Space Grind Stories Blog.” I copy and pasted the majority of the first blog posts I made in April 2021.

I also felt that my Space Grind website wasn’t very memorable from a marketing perspective. “Space Grind Stories Blog” felt like it was too long of a website name. “AlexZenDraw” is shorter and catchier, thus more memorable. The AZD website has a bigger variety of content since it includes my other story ideas. I also have my portfolio to show what kind of art I can make.

What the original website looked like. I deleted it, so it can no longer be viewed. Most of the blog posts on this website did get transferred to the new AZD website.

#7 – Three Podcasts I Often Listen to While Drawing Comic Panels

I listen to several podcasts, but I’ll list 3 of them here:

Joyce Meyer – A Christian teacher that I like to listen to. She is very good at what she does. I listen to her sermons on YouTube.
Vision: Possible on XOTV – A paid subscription that helps people achieve their dreams, whatever that may be. There are also options for mentorship.
Mad Hustle – A podcast made by Butch Hartman. Here, he gives advice to people who want to pitch TV series ideas in Hollywood. You can listen to the episodes on Apple Podcasts.

#8 – How Long it Took to Finish my First 25-page Comic

It took 8 months to finish the comic, which is called “Corona is a Cabrona.” Hey, look at that! Fact #8 says that it took 8 months to finish. I didn’t realize the coincidence till now.

I began the comic somewhere in October 2020. I finished the comic completely toward the end of May 2021.

#9 – How Long it Took to Finish my First 25-page Comic Script

It took 3 days to finish the script. I did tweak the script here and there as I drew the comic panels though.

#10 – The Laptop I Use

I use a MacBook Pro 2017 to make my comic books. Unfortunately, it is starting to glitch more and more often. The battery also needs to be replaced. I did not expect my laptop to get so buggy after only 3 years. I have my comic book files in my Google Drive so that they aren’t lost forever, if my laptop were to break or something.

That’s It!

I hope this blog post was at least mildly interesting to read. Have a great day! 🙂

May Progress Report 2021

May has been my MOST PRODUCTIVE MONTH so far 😀 Even more productive than December. Soooooo much got done. Here is a long list of the things that got accomplished:

Finished page 17 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-3-2021)
Finished page 18 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-4-2021)
Finished page 19 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-7-2021)
Finished page 20 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-8-2021)
Edited the speech bubbles’ size for pages 2-9 (5-10-2021) note: I ended up doing this for all the pages later for the new fonts
Changed RSL’s unique dialogue font for pages 2-9 (5-10-2021)
Edited some dialogue on page one (5-11-2021)
Finished page 21 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-11-2021)
Finished page 22 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-12-2021)
Downloaded new, 100% free fonts for the comic book (5-15-2021)
Finished changing all the fonts for all the previous House Havoc pages (5-18-2021)
Redid the front cover (5-18-2021)
Finished the last page of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-19-2021)
Finished the page advertising the next comic book (5-24-2021)
Finished page 24 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (5-27-2021) This means the COVID-19 story is COMPLETE

Yep! The longest comic in my book of comics (25 pages) is FULLY done 😀 I’ve been doing the drawings for it since October 2020. It took me 8 months to finish the comic. As cool as it is to accomplish that feat, the entire book is still not done. My guess is that it will be published on Amazon somewhere in July. There is only one more comic to do, which will be much shorter. I think it should only take about a month to complete. By the end of June.

The last comic is called “RSL Gives Exposition.” The robot character (RSL – Robot Sexy Lady) summarizes the plot of Space Grind before you read the other comics. I felt it was important to include it so that you guys have a clear idea of what Space Grind is about. I hope you enjoy reading it once it is ready 🙂 I may even post a blog post of the pages for that particular comic. Not sure yet though.

I am very happy with my progress this month. I can finally read my entire comic without any unfinished pages. It almost feels like I’m watching an “episode” of my TV show idea. I absolutely love seeing my characters interact with each other and their surroundings ❤ I hope you guys enjoy reading it, too 😀

I didn’t include this in my list, but I began drawing the panels for “RSL Gives Exposition.” I am so excited to finish the whole thing ❤ This has been a thrilling adventure!

This screenshot is a tiny little “sneak peek” or glimpse of what I accomplished in May. I decided to make this a tradition in my previous progress report. Here’s this month’s screenshot 🙂 I am not going to give context to this image. You’ll wait and see what is going on when you read the finished product 😛

That’s about it for this month’s progress report. Have a great day!

April Progress Report 2021

Hi! It’s that time again 😀

This month has been productive, but it could be better. There were some things that hindered my progress. Unfortunately, this month I got pink eye, which lasted for nearly 10 days. My vision was blurry. The skin around my eyes burned. Discharge was constantly oozing. All that good stuff. That definitely got in the way of some of my progress.

Fortunately, lots of productive things got accomplished 🙂 Here’s the list:

Copy and pasted the Space Grind blog posts to the new website (4-4-2021)
Deleted the old Space Grind website (4-4-2021)
Made all the finishing touches to the Alex Zen Draw website (4-7-2021)
Recorded the first live stream (4-14-2021)
Upgraded my WordPress plan to “Premium” (4-15-2021)
Added a “Donations” page (4-15-2021)
Changed AZD’s website domain (4-15-2021)
Planned, advertised, and outlined my 2nd livestream event (4-20-2021) note: things got in the way of being able to do this event
Added the “Fiverr” page to my website (4-22-2021)
Finished page 15 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (4-22-2021)
Finished page 16 of “Corona is a Cabrona” (4-30-2021)

Quite a few stuff got done throughout the weeks 😀 Lots of progress with both the website and the comic book. I’m getting SO CLOSE to the end of “Corona is a Cabrona.” After that story, I will be working on a smaller, expositional one.

I have an idea for a little tradition with these progress reports 😀 For every report, I would like to add one screenshot of an accomplishment (that got done during that month). I literally thought of it just now as I was writing this blog post XD

A tiny glimpse of page 15. This is a framed logo for the company Trax works for. Huh? It’s called “House Havoc” because the stories take place in Trax’s home. Why would this be in the comic book? Hmmmmm

How I Came Up With Space Grind

Disclaimer: This post has some PG-13 content and words that you may not want your child to be exposed to. If you are 13 or older, it’s probably okay for you to proceed.

Hi! I thought it would be fun to share how I first came up with Space Grind. Although I forget how I came up with most of my ideas, I vividly remember how I thought of this one. I will also put this post in the “Writing Advice” category. This is because there is a description of the creative thinking process by a certain person that inspires me.

It all started because of a video game called Yandere Simulator. For those of you who know what that game is, you might be surprised. Yandere Simulator?? How in the world did a silly anime game about “love” inspire a science fiction story? For those of you who don’t know, Yandere Simulator is a game about a high school chick who has a MAJOR crush on a boy at her school. In fact, she will go as far as to kill any girl that tries to win his heart. The game is still being worked on by a guy named Alex. (Wow! What a coincidence! The same person who inspired Space Grind has the same name as me lol) I was such a big fan of the game, I even emailed a few fan art of the game to him 🙂 I even got responses

A sketchbook drawing I made of Yan-chan. You can also email him fan art here: yanderedev@mail.com

A wallpaper you can download on the Yandere Simulator website.

Before I go ahead with how Space Grind got created, here are links to Alex’s Yandere Simulator website, blog, and YouTube channel:

YS Main Website: https://yanderesimulator.com/

YS Blog: https://yanderedev.wordpress.com/

YS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1EBJfK7ltjYUFyzysKxr1g

**Link To A More Detailed Description Of *Space Grind* (you’ll have to scroll down a little to find it):** https://alexzendraw.wordpress.com/2021/03/24/introducing-myself-and-my-website-and-future-comic-books/

In July of 2017, I was watching an interview of Alex (Yandere Simulator‘s developer). I was really into the game, and wanted to learn more about it. He was being interviewed by a YouTuber named Bijuu Mike (I also like watching Bijuu Mike, who plays Yandere Simulator sometimes). I really enjoyed listening to the interview. I also liked learning about Alex’s creative process when he comes up with video game concepts. He said something along the lines of, “I come up with ideas that stem from some sort of taboo.” I thought that was interesting. Then I thought to myself, ‘I wanna try that.’ Watching the video made me want to create something new. Specifically using the approach Alex uses.

Link to interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHx0Bi3gdjE

Link to Bijuu Mike’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BijuuMike

The start of the clip that inspired it all! This screenshot was taken on 9-28-2020. The vid has more views now.

The end of the clip that inspired it all!

To get ideas for what “taboo” I wanted to based my new story on, I decided to Google a list of taboos. I should also mention that whatever taboo I would choose would have to have some sort of comedic spin on it. Meaning, I’d have to make a dark topic funny. When I looked at the list of taboos that I found, I seriously has no idea of what how to make any of them funny. Infanticide, racism, pornography, etc. How on Earth was I gonna make a goofy story based on those things? I mean.. I still had a dark sense of humor before Space Grind, but I also have STANDARDS. Like.. I could probably crack a few jokes about something as dark as “suicide,” but there’s no way I make a whole COMEDY STORY around it!

Link to the List of Taboos that I Used for Reference: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-taboo.html

The definition of “taboo” on the website I founded.

Some of the examples of taboos that I saw.

I remember actually taking a break from brainstorming that day. It took me a few hours before I settled on what taboo I wanted to base my story on. That night, I remembered the list of taboos I read earlier. I decided to give the brainstorming another go. After reading the list another time, the word “slavery” caught my eye. It reminded me of a Futurama episode called “A Pharaoh to Remember.” The episode had a dumb, goofy plot about the main characters being slaves on an alien planet. That made me think, I can probably make ‘slavery’ funny. It’s definitely a dark, taboo topic. One that isn’t usually depicted in a lighthearted way. Making something like that “funny” would be an interesting challenge. I soon brainstormed story ideas based around the topic.

I knew I didn’t want to make a story about slavery in America. That idea would hit wayyy too close to home. Especially with all the current events on the news, I’m pretty sure this was a good choice. After I crossed out that idea, I started to think of other possible stories about slavery. Perhaps I could make a fictional setting where people are enslaved. I started not liking the idea of humans enslaving humans. That’s when I suddenly thought: What if aliens enslaved humans. That’s when it suddenly felt right. I felt a surge of creative energy when I thought of that. It’s the same topic, but didn’t feel like it was insensitive. The idea also kind of reminded me of the show Invader Zim. It’s a hilarious story about an alien that tries to conquer Earth and enslave humanity (in vain). That’s when I felt like my new idea could possibly work.

I started to play around with the idea. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. I began thinking up of jokes that were related to my chosen topic. Jokes that were actually funny to me. After awhile, I began thinking about what kind of characters I wanted my story to have. Who would the main characters be? Because I knew my story would be sci-fi, I automatically thought of one robot character and an alien master (who would later be: RSL and Trax). After that, I wondered who the unfortunate slaves would be. I settled on their personalities before I settled on their appearances. The only slave character I settled on quickly was Neuro. (The only thing that was different was that he originally wore goggles, not glasses). Dimwit and Onion’s final appearances came later.

To help me flesh out my main cast, I began drawing characters. As I did that, my new idea was getting closer and closer to being complete. Not long after that, I had a solid idea for a brand new comedy. HOORAY!! I came up with a story using Yandere Dev’s method! (note: Yandere Dev is what Alex usually calls himself online)

The drawings I made when I first came up with *Space Grind*. I never even finished it lol

Thinking back, I can’t believe how random it was of me to create a whole new story based around someone else’s method. It was basically self-imposed homework. However, I’m so glad I did it! ❤ If I didn’t, I most likely would have never come up with Space Grind. After nearly 4 years of working on it, it’s soon going to be my first ever PUBLISHED work. I am so excited for you guys to see it! 😀

The first title for the story was *In Thall*. Take a look at the dates, too. That’s how I was able to figure out how long ago I created this idea.

Here is a “TV poster” for *Space Grind* that I made 10-24-2020. I even added an alien baby character named Radmu! ❤ Look how different the characters look! lol

The front cover for the first *Space Grind* comic book. It will come out this Summer on Amazon.

Even though they didn’t directly/personally contribute to Space Grind‘s creation, I would still like to thank Yandere Dev and Bijuu Mike for how they’ve inspired me. They’ve even inspired me in more ways than just SG’s origin story. I look forward to seeing Yandere Simulator when it is completely finished. It is so fun following along with the story! It makes me laugh. I also enjoy Bijuu Mike’s videos in general. He makes me laugh, too! XD I just finished watching all his Danganronpa 2 videos. It was awesome! I am currently watching “Ultra Despair Girls.” I will probably watch him play Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony after I play it, if I decide to buy it (I couldn’t afford the second game at the time, which is why I watched Bijuu play it).

I hope you enjoyed reading about how Space Grind was made. It was fun to look back on it as I was writing this post. I love seeing how far it has come along (and there’s still more to go). I can’t wait for you guys to learn more about it as the blog posts and comic books come out.

Incase you wanna learn more about my comic books, here are 3 good links you can go to:

About

The “About” page on my website

Upcoming Comic Book In The Works

Info about the first comic book to be released.

Introduction To The Ensemble Cast of Space Grind

The perfect blog post to start getting to know the Space Grind main characters.

I hope you have a great day! Bye!!

Live Streaming!!

I am finally able to live stream videos!! ❤

On April 14th, 2021, I went to Best Buy and bought a Flexible 24″ Ring Light set-up from Bower. The same day, I streamed for the very first time. I’ve literally never done it before. It was a positive experience, and supportive people watched 🙂

I made some mistakes when live streaming. First of all, I had the camera angle all wrong. People tried to tell me how to fix it, but I unfortunately didn’t understand till after the stream. I also learned that I should read comments out loud. Instagram doesn’t show the live comments after the stream is over.

Other than that, we all seemed to have a fun time together. The people who watched were mostly people I knew, but I think that really helped. After all, it was my first time. I don’t have much of a following yet. I consider it a successful night full of good practice.

If you want to see the first live stream recording, check it out here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alexandra Nelson (@alexzendraw_comics)

😀

I hope you enjoy the video, if you’re interested in watching it 🙂

3 Key Things I’ve Learned As A Writer

I have been writing for a long time. It’s only been recently that I’ve been putting my writing out there, so there’s not much I can show you just yet. I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. Of course, the stories you write as a 6 year old will be way different from what you write as a 22 year old (or at least that’s how it should be). My stories had very loose structure during my early teenage years. I began learning more solid writing skills when I turned 17.

I’ve learned so much about storytelling over the years. Of course, I’m not perfect, but there are some major stuff that has greatly improved the way I write. I will share with you 3 examples of things I learned.

Example #1 – Diversity/Representation

I didn’t realize how important this was until I was 18 years old. I took a class about ethnic representation in movies. This class made me pay more attention to how minorities are represented in media. I never noticed how much minorities are portrayed negatively. The Mexican drug dealer, the stingy Jew, the angry black woman, etc. This made me upset. There are so many white protagonists in movies and TV shows that get the positive spotlight.

One day, I took a look at my own characters. A lot of the characters were white. I had a few Asian and Hispanic characters, but they were pretty outnumbered by my white characters. My POC characters weren’t always the bad guys, but they didn’t get the spotlight as much. This felt wrong to me. I wanted to make more diverse characters. Ones that are intelligent, positive role models, realistic, etc.

Diversity is very important for (most) stories. We need more stories that represent POC in a positive light. We need heroic black people, hispanic people, native americans, etc. Not only when it comes to race, but also gender and disability. Yes, I believe there are exceptions. I know there are people who disagree, but I still think this. Take a look at the Pixar movie Coco. All the characters are Mexican. It’s a very good story. There can also be good stories that feature a majority Caucasian cast. I think this is acceptable when the setting of the film has a population of mostly white people, just like how Coco has mostly Hispanic people. With that said, most movies in the U.S. take place in the U.S. Because of that, I believe there should be way more movies that have diversity. There’s not much excuse.

After I became more aware of the need for good representation in media, I became way more intentional about having diverse characters. The first time I put this into practice was when I was figuring out who my protagonists should be for Space Grind. I decided that I wanted Neuro to be a Mexican-Colombian aerospace engineer. If I were to make a top-ten list of my characters that are the most rounded, one of them would be Neuro. He’s also very fun to work on.

I am determined, as a storyteller, to make lots of diverse characters that are portrayed positively and authentically. I’m still learning and practicing, but I have way more diverse characters now. Ones that are carefully thought out. I hope you guys like them and root for them ❤

Example #2 – Argument and Counter-Argument

This is something I learned in Robert McKee’s book Story. Basically, when determining the moral of your story, you must give an equal amount of energy into supporting the opposite message of your story. What? How does that make sense? If I’m writing a story about how “love always wins,” I also have to argue that “hate can win.”?

Correct.

One big reason to do this is conflict. Every story needs conflict. For example, if you want to write a story about “forgiveness,” you must also counter that message with arguments supporting “resentment.” And this can’t be reasons that are portrayed as “dumb” or “dismissable.” You must write a story in such a way that supports “resentment,” just as much as you write a story supporting “forgiveness.” Why? Because the character must be have their beliefs challenged. You must put to the moral of your story to the test. Is your message the truth?

Back to “Forgiveness vs. Resentment.” Even if you wholeheartedly believe that forgiveness is a moral absolute (like some people truly believe), you have to answer the tough questions (note: through showing, not telling). “What if the person I have to forgive murdered someone I love?” “What if the person I have to forgive abused me?” “What if the person cheated on me?” You must answer these questions (through actions and outcomes) with believability. At the same time, the counter-arguments need to be believable.

In the end, when you exhaust your arguments, stick to your convictions. If you still believe that your initial message is true, show or prove that it is the winning argument. If you believe, deep down, that the counter message is the truth, show that it is the winning argument. No matter what, tell the truth. That is one of your number one responsabilites as a writer. Your audience won’t accept a weak argument. And they usually won’t like a one-sided one.

Example #3 – Pay Attention To Both Content & Form

This is also something that I learned while reading Story. “Content” is what is in your story. The characters, the ideas, the events, etc. “Form” is how your story is told. When I read this, I realized that I create a lot of content for my stories, but there’s not much structure in how I arrange the content. I knew I needed to work on “form.” A writer may have a ton of interesting content, but if the form is weak, it’s hard to follow the story.

A writer/storyteller must carefully arrange how they reveal parts of their story. For example, foreshadowing should not make the story predictable. It’s vital, but if handled incorrectly, it can give away an obvious event that will happen in the story. Foreshadowing is a clue that something will happen, but must be subtle. When the plot twist happens, the audience will look back at the foreshadowing, and think The answer was right in front of me! Cliques or overused tropes will be boring to watch, so watch out for those, too.

Writers also must arrange events that are easy to follow. They must remove or shrink the dialogue or scenes that make the story confusing. With music, if the musical notes are all over the place, the song won’t be enjoyable to listen to. Similarly, if story content is all over the place, the story won’t be enjoyable.

Summary

Diversity is important
The moral of the story must be challenged
A story’s form is just as important as a story’s content

I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you are a more experienced writer and already knew this stuff, I hope you still enjoyed reading it. Or maybe even gotten a refresher 🙂 If you’re a beginning writer, like me, I hope I was able to help you improve your skills. Have a nice day! 🙂

March Progress Report (2021)

Hi, everyone! I know it’s April 5th, but there is a reason this progress report got delayed. For some strange reason, I couldn’t access the WordPress website. At all. I even tried going on other websites made with WordPress, but I couldn’t look at any of those either. Luckily, I finally was able to fix the problem (I think). I came to Dunkin’ Donuts, and I was able to log on using their WiFi. Perhaps I had WiFi issues at my house. It’s strange, tho, because I had access to other websites. I honestly don’t know what the problem was. I encountered a lot of problems that I won’t get into. Thankfully, I’m able to use WordPress right now.

Now then! Onto this month’s Progress Report:

Things That Got Done

Page 13 (3-9-2021)
Finished the last comic script (3-11-2021)
Page 14 (3-12-2021)
Wrote an organized plan for future blog posts (3-12-2021)
Began Page 15 (3-14-2021) 6 out of 7 panels completed
Made a comic book page that will announce the next book (3-24-2021)
Began setting up the new “Alex Zen Draw Comics” website (3-24-2021)
Posted the first blog post for the new website (3-24-2021)
Made changes to my professional social media (March 24 – March 31)
Updated comic books pages by replacing the links to the old website with the new one (3-25-2021)

Like last February, I didn’t reach my goal of finishing 5 pages for the month. I have private reasons for this. Toward the end of the month, I was focusing on getting the new website set up. It was very important to me to make the changes ASAP. The first comic book will be published this Summer, which is very close.

Why Did I Make A Brand New Website?

I wanted a website that encompasses all of my creative work, not just Space Grind.
Space Grind: House Havoc didn’t really have a “publisher name” attached to it. Oni Press and Dark Horse Comics are publishers. Even though Space Grind is going to be self-published, I still want a name.
I want to have a memorable name/brand. “Space Grind Stories Blog” did not sound very “memorable.” It also felt too bland.
When I thought of “Alex Zen Draw,” I really wanted to make it my pen name.
When I made the “Alex Zen Draw Comics” logo, I fell in love with it! ❤ The Space Grind logo was just a boring black star, with a solid orange background. Other people really liked it, too.
I want to make other comics based on my other stories. I wanted to create comics about Celestial Circle, Gate City, Jack Potter, etc.
The AZDC brand seems like a more effective way to market the comic books.
“Space Grind Stories Blog” just doesn’t sound interesting.
The first comic book is coming out Summer 2021. That’s coming up very fast. I wanted to have my official website ready before that happens.
I didn’t want to delete my Space Grind website and lose all my blog post content. That wouldn’t be good. I needed to copy and paste them. I had about 11 posts to transfer onto the AZDC website. I didn’t repost some of them because the branding changes made them irrelevant.

The first half of this month wasn’t as productive as I hoped. The second half was way more productive, at least. Anyway, I hope you all have a blessed day (as always) ❤

Upcoming Comic Book In The Works

(Date of Original Post: January 19, 2021)

I am working on a Space Grind comic book to self-publish. It would be a collection five stories combined into one book. I am leaning towards using Barnes & Noble Press to do this. As of now, I have 25 pages complete. 28, if I decide to include a bonus comic about a different TV show idea I have. I’m not so sure yet.

The brief descriptions of the stories in Space Grind: House Havoc

(Story One) “The Thoughts of RSL: Robot Sexy Lady” — RSL talks to the reader in this story. She tells the audience the basic premise of the story in her own way.

(Story Two) “Just A Little Longer” — Trax needs to figure out a non-violent way to get sleepy Neuro, Dimwit, and Onion out of bed. He needs to do this fast so they can assist him in a project for an important client.

(Story Three) “I’m Angry” — A one-page comic of all the characters getting angry over something.

(Story Four) “Punching Bag” — Trax can’t find his punching bag.

(Story Five) “Corona is a Cabrona” — A full-length comic book story. This is the longest story in the comic book. There is a COVID-19 outbreak on Planet Zeyrion. Zeyrians are immune, so there is no mandatory quarantine. However, Neuro panics about the disease and decides to impose strict rules on everyone in the house.

(Story Six – the bonus comic) “Razor’s Edge” — This is a story about my other TV show idea Gate City. It features an emo teen character named Terrence who grows a hideous mustache. His talking knife companion fails to convince him to shave it, so he takes matters into his own hands.

Here are five images of the comic:

A conversation between Trax and RSL regarding Neuro, Dimwit, and Onion. This is from “Just A Little Longer.”

The first page of one of “Corona is a Cabrona.” “Cabrona” means “bitch” in Spanish, which Neuro speaks. He is a third-generation Mexican-Colombian man. So I guess you can also say that the title is: “Corona is a Bitch.”

The introduction page for the bonus comic. I hesitate to include it in the *Space Grind: House Havoc* because the main protagonist is barely in the comic. Please let me know if you are interested in seeing a comic about *Gate City*.

Those are the spoiler-free pages I felt like sharing with y’all 🙂 If you decide to purchase the book when it’s complete, you have my gratitude. I hope you enjoy it a lot.

I also plan on making other comic books after this one. Space Grind: House Havoc focuses particularly on stories that take place inside Trax’s home. I would like to make a comic soon about the more action-packed side of the show. As well as stories that take place in Zeyrion City and other alien worlds.

What I Accomplished So Far For My First Comic Book

(Date of Original Post: January 22nd, 2021)

Hi, guys. I felt like making this blog post was important. This is because I want you guys to see how dedicated I am to getting this project done. I wouldn’t want you to guys to follow this blog wondering if I’m just some lazy butt that hasn’t gotten anything done. I don’t ever wanna be “all talk, no walk.” So, I’m gonna give ya a brief log of what I’ve done since starting this comic. (Warning: this may not look very brief due to a bunch of images I included to show my progress)

Firstly

I will confess that I wanted to make a comic book since January of 2019. I started working on a digital version of a sketchbook comic I made back in February 2018. However, I stopped working on it on May 3rd, 2019 (with only seven pages accomplished, smh).

By the time I paused on making the digital comic (which was actually the story “Just A Little Longer”), I was getting my very first apartment. I started a job at Amazon, which was the first time I ever had a full-time job. I had bills to pay and adult errands for the first time. I also met a notable Hollywood producer the year before. When we met in-person for a second time, I asked if he would give me tips on how to move forward with Space Grind. This man actually offered to read TWO OF MY SCRIPTS and look over FULL-BLOWN TV SHOW OUTLINES for Space Grind!! I spent most of 2020 working on the TV outlines, so I didn’t have the time to work on my optional comic book project. I got them done in the Summer, and got good feedback.

In October of 2020, I decided to quit my job at a grocery store. I don’t have a driver’s license, and kept having to use Lyft to get to work. When I was living at my apartment, it was literally just a four-minute walk from my home to my job. After my lease was up, I moved back in with my parents. It was a 15-minute drive to get to work. The Lyft rides were a lot of money. I was basically paying the same amount of money that I was making. I was lucky to leave on good terms, thankfully. I had good managers that understood.

Now that I didn’t have a job anymore, I had a bunch of time on my hands. I remembered the comic book I wanted to make back in 2019. I decided to work on the project. This time, I had the intention of actually getting it finished. Back when I first started, I had other commitments. I wasn’t as determined to get the comic book done. It was just for fun. In October, I decided to actually commit to getting the entire comic book done in a timely manner. So.. what have I been doing since then? Lemme tell ya:

October 2020

I started working on my comic book again. I completely finished my 10-page comic on the 14th. By the 19th, I completely finished a 3-page comic. After those got done, I had the desire to make a full-blown, 25-page story. It was around that time that I got the idea for “Corona is a Cabrona.” On October 24th, I started writing the script for it. It’s basically just a bunch of jokes about COVID-19. Pretty much a parody of all the ridiculous things that went down in 2020 (not the serious stuff, but the super dumb stuff like the TP crisis). I literally finished the script within 3 days! (with the exception of editing here and there as I was drawing the panels) It was so fun and everything went so smoothly! I sent it to some friends, and they all got a kick out of reading it! I was super excited to make all the drawings 😀

Here is the first page of the “Corona is a Cabrona” script. I wrote it out as a TV script. The look of the script is a lot like how it looks for the screenplay *Get Out* by Jordan Peele. To be honest, that is the only Hollywood script I’ve ever fully read. Scripts for animation don’t always look like this. In the *Invader Zim* comics, the writers actually type out the scripts like actual TV episodes. That’s the method I decided to use.

Here is how the first page of the script looks in comic book form 🙂

November 2020

November was super stressful. The “Corona is a Cabrona” script was a breeze. However, the look for Trax’s home wasn’t finalized. I had no solid vision for what the interior nor exterior looked like. You’ll even notice in the other comics that Trax’s house looks different each time. For “Corona is a Cabrona,” I decided it was time to make an official design for Trax’s home.

I looked at countless references, drew up several amateur blueprints, and even spent money on a Steam game called Home Design 3D to try to get ideas. Guys.. I literally spent SEVEN HOURS trying to figure out what the damn house should look like!! And that’s just the time I spent in Home Design 3D. I don’t even know how many hours I spent doing other things to get the final look decided upon! Research, drawings, references, etc. Usually coming up with these type of things is fun for me, but this was actually quite stressful. I wasn’t even able to move forward with “Corona is a Cabrona” until the look was finalized. I only got one page done. Artist Block hit me pretty hard, too. That’s how I spent the majority of November. It was painful..

A drawing I made of Trax’s living room. I was not satisfied with it *at all*. It looked too much like a real-life living room as opposed to a sci-fi looking one. This was before I settled on making Trax’s house a retro alien saucer.

Here is the super crappy look of Trax’s home using *Home Design 3*D. It was not the most fun experience I’ve had with world building.

A “blueprint” of a possible layout of Trax’s home.

This was actually a pretty cool thing to learn about. As I was doing research for Trax’s alien saucer neighborhood, I learned that there is an IRL one in FRICKIN’ TAIWAN!! I definitely looked at images of the actual houses. Sadly, the neighborhood is abandoned 😦

This drawing was made around the time Trax’s home was finally looking somewhat decent. Trax’s home used to belong to a group of aliens that would do classic alien tropes like abducting people & animals, and then ass probing them. I decided this retro style should contrast with the most “sophisticated” look of Zeyrion City. I actually have plans in place to make a future comic book that focuses on Zeyrion City.

Here’s another screenshot of me using *Home Design 3D*. As you can see, I *did not* have much to work with. This is supposed to be Trax’s office.

This was made on May 24th, but just another example of how long it took to make Trax’s home feel right.

Here’s how the men’s bedroom looks in “Just A Little Longer” vs. “Corona is a Cabrona.”

December 2020

December is where the real action is. Even though the work I did in November was necessary, this is when most of the pages got made. I got EIGHT pages completed during this month. I got so much done! 😀 I can’t really show you any of the pages I made during this time (ya know.. spoilers n such). But take my word for it that a lot got done during this month. I also got eight pages printed using Ka-Blam.

I use *Clip Studio Paint* as my main drawing program. That’s what I’m using to make this comic. In the program, I’m able to use a 3D posing tool. I’ve used it several times, and it works wonders! 😀 I also use a *Wacom* Cintiq as my main drawing tablet.

The screenshot of the file info for the last page I got done in December. I think 9 out of 25 pages is not too shabby for a first-time comic book artist 😛

By this time, I had enough pages finished to print some of them.

One of the printed pages in the Ka-Blam preview comic.

January 2021 (This Month)

I will give you guys a progress report for this month on February 1st.

So, that’s how hard my dedication has been for this comic book so far.

I hope I convinced you that I will get this comic book done in a timely manner. I’m pretty sure I convinced myself of this (even though I’ve never done it before). Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. I know I post a lot of images for you, so I’m glad you bared with me. I feel that each one is important to give you an idea of how much I’ve worked hard on this book. I know that for some people, it’s kinda frustrating to read a blog post with a bunch of images. Particularly if your internet is slow. Then the images take forever to load. If you did like seeing the images and reading the captions, please let me know 🙂

Final Notes: Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t begin truly working on the comic book until October 2020. I got a whole year to work on my idea and flesh out the story and characters more 🙂 I also made TV show outlines for an actual Hollywood mentor! I will write a blog post about him in the future. The outlines really helped me figure out my own show. Plus, without 2020, “Corona is a Cabrona” probably wouldn’t be a story for my first comic book (even though the pandemic is unfortunate and horrible). At least I can say humor gets us through hard times. It did for me. Looks like it all worked out 🙂

Have a good day! 😀