First 3 pencils

I know we already have the finished first 3 pages posted up here, but unfortunately due to some coming changes in the creative team those finished pages are no longer the finished pages. So here are the original pencils for those three, so our new inker candidates can see what they're getting in to.

yes, we're still alive

As you may have noticed, Steel Rising kind of went away for a while. There are many reasons for this and I'm going to explain a few of them.

The first and probably biggest is that I (Brad HP) started a new job just before the begining of Small Press Idol round 3. I was away from home in training for 11 weeks and didn't have a whole lot of free time, and pretty often didn't have a great internet connection (especially in the crap-hole hotel where I spent 4 weeks in DC).

The next big reason is the disappointment and frustration of not advancing past round 3 of Idol. It was pretty crushing. The entire team put in a lot of time and hard work, and it seemed like nothing we did could get our voting numbers up to advance us into the final round. Then there was the numbers scandal (where it appeared that other projects may have had inflated votes from fake accounts) and all of this piled up and just made me want to put this whole project down and step away for a while.

So I did.

I've tried to come back to it and work on it a few times over the last few months, and seemed to find myself with a Steel Rising specific writers block. I stared at the script pages for hours and couldn't add more than a few words at a time to them. I wanted to work on it but part of me must not have wanted to work on it because I couldn't work on it.

But then I discovered that I couldn't really get work done on anything else either, because I felt like I needed to get back and finish up that SR script first. Then I was really stuck. So I said screw it. I started catching up TV, started playing more video games, reading more.

And then the magic happened, and all of these other things started inspiring new story ideas and made me want to write again.

So I did.

But it wasn't Steel Rising, it was something completely different and new. And even though I'm very excited about working on that one, it doesn't have a whole lot more to do with this story except that it started me writing again and by starting writing again I started looking for ways to get this new project the exposure that it needs.

And through that I started talking to some very talented people who have some very awesome ideas. And this talking led to my renewed desire to start working on Steel Rising again, and some very good plans to get the book the exposure it needs.

I don't have much else I can say about it right now except that it is coming back. There is a plan and it is a good one. Like I said, these are some very talented guys I've been talking to. It's going to take a while because there are some SR issues I need to work through before we put these other plans in motion.

But Steel Rising is still alive. More info coming soon.

Pages 1-3

Here they are, the first 3 completed pages from Steel Rising #0.

TANTALIZING TIDBIT'S part 2

Now here are the TIDBIT's from our Round 3 thread.

#1 Fire magic is the most commonly used form of magic and one of the first that most Mages learn. It's very emotion based and easily accessible, and can be greatly amplified by extreme anger or rage.

#2 Want an inside peek into the creation of Steel Rising? Take a look at the first 3 pages of the script here.

This is very different that any other script I have ever written, mainly because this is the first time I knew exactly who would be doing the art. I changed my writing style quite a bit to mesh better with Brad T's strengths and style.

This is probably one of the thinnest comic scripts I've ever written, partly because so much of it was discussed among the creative team before I started committing it into proper script format. I had already given them a full page plot point breakdown of the #0 issue and another 4 page breakdown of all the major plot points for an entire series (probably about 60-80 issues worth of story). I also put a lot of trust in Brad T's creativity and tried to give him as much freedom as I could to do his own thing while still following the story I laid out.

I'm still amazed at how close some of these pages came out looking almost exactly how I pictured them while writing.

#3 The Mage Enforcement Agency (MEA) was originally developed as a special task force of the FBI under the guidance of J. Edgar Hoover. It eventually branched off into it's own separate agency and is currently run under the Department of Homeland Security.

#4 Dad's dialogue in Page Two Panel Eight is an important clue to some questions that will come up in the next few pages, and also to another major event that takes place shortly after the #0 issue story.

That's all of them for now, I'll update with the next batch at the end of the week.

I'm back...for a few days

Hello everyone!

As you can see I've completely neglected this blog for quite a while. I'm not exactly sure where I lost it, but it was somewhere between getting the script finished for Steel Rising, promoting the hell out if through Round 2, and starting a new job.

I'm currently at the beginning (2 weeks done, 9 more to go) of a very long and intense training program for that new job that has me far away from home and living in hotels. I was able to get home his weekend for the long holiday weekend (the only time this will happen) so here I am trying to update.

The first thing I'm going to do is collect all of the STEEL RISING TANTALIZING TIDBIT's that I posted in the Dimestore forum during Round 2 and started again for Round 3. Then I'll post the first 3 completed pages of STEEL RISING #0 that are up for voting right now, and the 3 pages of my original script that go with it.

Look for it soon.

Tomorrow is the day

My amazingly talented colorist has promised to have the last pieces of completed art for Round 2 in my inbox by midnight.

If everything goes right we'll be up for the judges tomorrow morning and then open to the public vote shortly after they're done with us.

Until then, here's a pretty new banner to look at. You might find this one out on the internet somewhere, its's one I created as a trial run for Project Wonderful.

Round 2 update 4/4/09

Haven't posted in a while, partly because there hasn't been much news to post and partly because we've been working hard getting ready for Round 2.

Small Press Idol Round 2 began on April 1 and so far 3 projects have posted: Faction, The Machine, and Hometown Heroes (formerly Clean Slate).

As of now we're expecting to have Steel Rising make an appearance around April 10. The assembly line is cranking and all of Brad T's pencils are moving on to Joe for inks and then Mike for color. Brad has 2 character action poses left, and they may even be done as I write this.

Now, why the delay? Why didn't we have these ready to go for day 1 to start getting the most votes possible as soon as we can?

One word--QUALITY.

I've been through the entries from the last 2 years of the contest (and there was some really great stuff), and I'm confident to say that our entry is going to blow away anything that's been seen before.

That may make me sound like a cocky jerk, but I truly believe in the skill of this creative team, and every one of us has given their absolute best and beyond.

So, April 10 is the day to watch for. Or maybe a day or two later, depending on how long it takes to send everything out.

Whatever day it is I'll be sure to post (over and over, here and on Facebook and Twitter) and let you know where and how you can see it.