The last entry

Hey everybody, welcome to the very last installment of The Switch production blog! It's bittersweet but don't think of it as a goodbye. Think of it as a "THANK GOD THESE MORONS ARE FINALLY DONE."

So yeah, now that we're no longer in production, this blog will get mothballed. Future messages about The Switch will revert back to the official Kickstarter updates so keep an eye on your inboxes. You never know when you'll hear from us (spoiler alert: you'll be getting one next week).

I thought I'd unveil one last full page of art in this final blog entry and show the world our final likeness reward, that of backer Tony Vaccaro. To the best of my knowledge, we only had Tony's profile pic from his Kickstarter ID to work with but I think Tom captured him pretty well, casting him in the role of Bigfoot below. Welcome to the world of The Switch, Tony, and thanks for your support!

We've got two other likeness rewards also represented on this page that you guys have seen before, Matt Deangelis/Transient and Mackenzie True as The Truth. They join the ghost of Ronald Reagan and the mysterious warrior, Aequitas, to round out the roster of our team of heroes, The Brigade.

And on that note, I'm going to wrap up this blog entry. On behalf of Tom and Robb, we can only say that we're excited the book will finally be getting into your hands. Hugs to all of you and you'll be seeing us pop up in your email very, very soon!

Signing off,

Keith

Cameo shout-outs to backers/supporters

As we finalize the post-production of The Switch, I thought it'd be a good/fun time to show some cameos of some of our supporters who either backed out Kickstarter, or supported in person at one of our many appearances by purchasing Switch prints.  This is aside from the major reward levels where certain backers actually became more relevant characters in the storyline.

Of course, the best time to draw real-life people is when there are crowd scenes (there are a few in this book), and I have to come up with many different faces and looks (pro tip for you aspiring artists out there:  DON'T draw the same cookie-cutter face patterns over and over if you want a convincing scene!). I have two things to rely on here: my early training as a caricature artist (helps differentiate features better--highly recommended for ALL budding comic artists), and a slew of friends/supporters!  The reference is there, now it's just getting an appropriate likeness.  So here are a few shout-outs...and congrats to all for your comic book debut!

Thanks Lennea and Jeremy for your support!

Thanks, Kelly, for your support!

Umm....1990s mullet Mark McGwire?  Thanks for all those home runs I guess!

Shout out to PhoBolsa's Lan and Yevato "Old Boy"!

Shout out to Kyle Le

Hey everybody, we're back at it again for another thrilling week of The Switch production blog! I'm handling the blog duties again this week as I'm not really sure where in the world Tom might be right now. I know he was in Thailand because he sent me pics dressed as a ladyboy. I wish I could share them because he looks BEAUTIFUL but I had to swear not to share them...oh, screw it. Tom will be angry but here's our boy putting the bang in Bangkok. 

Anyway, back to The Switch. We're there, guys. Hard to believe but the last pages are being colored, Bill is plowing through the lettering as I type this and we should be less than two weeks away from sending it to the printer. We really can't wait to announce that it's finally done and off to print. As much as The Switch has been a labor of love for all of us, the lateness of the project has been a constant weight on our shoulders. It'll be a huge sigh of relief for all of us, creators and backers and our publishing partners at Dynamite, to get it out there.

So as the book drags itself over the finish line, I've started drawing my share of the headsketches that everyone is getting. I've also started rounding up our guest artists to finish their reward sketches and begun work on the credit/thank you page where each of you will find your name in the back of the book. Just crossing t's and dotting I's, making sure nothing is forgotten.

Anyway, enough rambling. Here's some preview art with fake captions again this week and then something really special. I'm unveiling a two-page spread that Tom and Robb did an amazing job on. Hope you dig it too.

"Give me back my space-binky, dammit!"

"Nom nom nom, Interstellar teething!"

Is it a battle scene or a visual representation of trying to get this book done?

Anyway, that's it for this week. Thanks as always for the support and patience. See you guys next week!

Keith

Blogging once more

Hey everybody, it's blog time again. Thanks to Tom for handling this little slice of digital communication for the last few weeks. I didn't even ask him to, he just took it upon himself to become a blogging machine. You'll probably be stuck with me for the next several installments, I believe Tom has some kind of Vietnamese engagement ceremony this weekend. I'm not sure exactly what it entails but I've been told it's "grueling." I'm also pretty sure, knowing Tom, it will involve a donkey in some way, shape or form. 

I'm currently recovering from surgery on my good ol' leg last Friday. A few of you were nice enough to send me well wishes beforehand or check up on me afterwards and your thoughts were very appreciated. Anyway, let's get down to the nitty gritty and talk about Switch...

Right now, I'm happy to say that (unless I'm counting wrong) we're down to the last 4 pages of artwork being colored. Robb has been a godsend in juggling this stuff in between his other work and he's getting through the pages as fast as he can. He's also brought a level of organization to the various files/versions of the pages that has streamlined the process. So if you've got a project, by all means bring Robb aboard. He's the man!

Once the coloring is finished, it should take our letterer Bill roughly two weeks to letter the second half of the book, handle any dialogue revisions or typos needed, and slap the whole thing together and it'll be off to the printer at last. In spite of all the setbacks, I'm always optimistic that things will run smoothly the rest of the way and we'll get this book out the door.

Anyway, here's some preview art with fake captions to carry us through to next week...

 "Who ate my last goddamn donut?!"

"Do you think I eat donuts with a figure like this?"

"The Moss eat the donut. The Moss not the sorry!"

"The moss can count on the fingers how many the donuts the Moss eats!"

Anyway, that's all for this week, my friends. Thanks for all the support and as always, your patience. No one is more anxious to get this project out the door than we are!"

Quick Exclusive Art Drop

This week is a quickie as I (Tom) have been busy tending to engagement matters here in the hot, humid country of Vietnam.  Consequently, this will by my final update for the next couple weeks as I will be doing ceremonial/traditional affairs with the fiancee and family before I head off to Thailand.  Which is why I "stacked" my turns doing consecutive updates (as Keith and I--with the occasional help of colorist Robb Miller--have usually been doing).  Which brings me to this week: Keith just had his (hopefully final surgery) to take care of his nagging broken leg pain.  This week we'll give him the time to heal up some and come off the pain killers, and he'll be back the next couple weeks.  Enjoy these exclusive peeks!

Moss doing...something?

Lover Boy kicking...something?

Interstellar pointing at...something?

Female Switch angry at...something?

An ominous shot of Interstellar up to no good...

More exclusive new art, mid-January edition!

I'm about halfway through my trip here in Vietnam (oh now time flies).  And yes, it's me (Tom) again.  I'm stacking up my blog updates so that hopefully Keith can help me out when I will really need it after a couple weeks for more engagement ceremonies/traditions to my woman here in Vietnam.  Anyway, I'm excited to show some re-tweaked colors from our colorist Robb.  Well, he's the 90% colorist.  By this I mean that Keith and I were originally going to do the bulk of the coloring.  But when we got behind, we enlisted my artist pal Robb Miller to jump in and lend us his skills to help finish the book.  And we couldn't be happier having him join the team.  Similarly, I was originally going to pencil and ink the entire book, but Keith has also been kind enough to contribute inks on some pages here and there.  So it's definitely been a team effort.  Here are some more sneak preview pages before you see the whole thing in print just a few short months:

Electricia is "smoking" hot (get it?)

Little is known and shown about the warrior 

Aequitas

The Switch ready to kick some ass

Jody checking up on Jenn...

The Truth....kneeling in defeat to Lover Boy?

Happy New Year!

We're hoping everyone had a Happy Holidays, and are off to a great start to 2018! This year is a big one for the Switch team as the graphic novel +10 extra pages (from 80-to-90!) is finally seeing print soon. So when that happens, expect a blast of reviews and interviews for the Switch hype train.  At least it drags our names in the spotlight a little while longer!  And speaking of hype, Keith, Robb, and I are booking appearances for the year to help promote the book.  So far I've got Keith locked for a couple Minnesota shows as we love him dearly there for some reason.  But working on a couple other states as well.  If you're a store or show promoter who is interested in having the co-creators of The Switch  (in addition to our extensive Marvel/DC background) as guests, it's not hard to find us online ;)

Prior to the release of the printed book, I (Tom) have been silently debating on whether it'd be a good idea to release one of our rewards early in the form of the penciled PDF (no words, no inks/colors, just pencils).  I'll have to chat with Keith about that possibility, or whether it might "blow the wad" on the storyline too early. We may just have to wait until the release.  Of course, we'll keep you posted.

Finally, your peeks at new art this week:

what last week's peek of Crom ultimately turned into...!

Lover Boy and his unlovable smirk

Komodo...dead?

Our main star Electricia (Jen) in a contemplative mood

A badass look at someone we haven't seen enough of: Omerta

New Year's Eve (Close Enough!) Post

I'm (Tom) back with a mish-mash of art sneak peeks for our final update of the year 2017.  As I deal with engagement shenanigans from the other side of the world in Saigon (along with 80-90 degree frigid winter, hehe), I sadly read how most of the States are having crazy, almost-record-breaking cold weather.  Hopefully I can put a little smile on your faces with some new art.  Other than that, with things still being in holiday season mode, things are understandably quiet at the moment.  Enjoy, and hope everyone has a Happy (and safe) New Year!!  :)

Glamour Shots: Crom

No, not the Lizard...try a KOMODO

Lover Boy dusting himself off

An early rough of Crom, most likely not in the best of moods

This looks like it could be Electricia in civilian form.  Always has to wear skimpy stuff, huh??

Pre-holiday update

Hey gang, here's your weekly update of the Switch holiday blog. 

As we round the corner into full-blown holiday madness and meeting end-of-the-year deadlines, stress levels around these parts tend to climb to stratospheric heights. Getting married shortly after the new year can certainly add to that stress which is why I'm cutting Tom some slack for failing to chart much progress over the last week or so on this project. The last time I texted with Tom, he was about to have an aneurysm from feeling overwhelmed with life, his other deadlines, and getting The Switch finished. 

Funny digression, real quick. A friend of mind contacted me the other day asking what was going on with Tom. How was he getting married when he's already married to his lovely Facebook bride, Gertrude?! Of course, I quickly explained that now that Gertrude has been missing for several years, Tom was able to legally annul the marriage and is now free to move on and marry again. I do hope the disappearance of Gertrude is solved someday, as well as the whereabouts of Tom's missing children and his former assistant Trong. I prefer to think that Trong and Gertrude fell in love and ran off together. Not that Tom killed them all and buried their bodies in his parents' basement. 

Although while the Nguyen family is in Vietnam for the winter, it might not be a bad time for someone to check that basement...

Anyway, I'm sorry that I can't report any forward progress this installment. I know that the new date targeted by Dynamite to deliver to the printers is January 11. That should leave plenty of time to put any finishing touches on the art/letters/colors after the holidays and finally get this all in the rear view. It's beyond frustrating and I appreciate how understanding all of you have been.

Anyway, here's some preview art for this week...

"THE MOSS FOUND THE MAMMAL HIDING IN THE MOSS'S FUR!"

"I wasn't hiding, you insufferable fool. I've been trapped since you sat on me."

"God, fresh air never tasted so good!"

"These are my boobs. They shoot electricity. If I ever had kids, they're in for a rude awakening if I breast feed them."

That's all for this week, folks. A very merry Christmas and holiday season from all of us here at Team Switch!

With as Many Sneak Peeks As We Show...

...one would think that we're practically giving the book away! Not so fast...even with the 20-page preview our backers received and weekly peeks at the artwork of The Switch, we haven't even scratched the surface of the storyline.  We've been very good about not spoiling the book, and we saved the best for print of course.  Whatever you may conjure in your heads about the images you see, trust me, it's only half the picture without context and Keith's script.  In fact, even Robb's coloring adds an atmosphere of storytelling (as it should) that you may not even expect as you fill in the blanks in your heads with paint-by-numbers.  Here's the thing: some of the art are decoys.  That's right--some of the pencils you see?  Early stages that got changes.  Angles?  Changed.  Some art even scrapped altogether ;)  It's all part of the process--which is what this blog is kind of about anyway, right?

Here's some more for this week....I hope you're enjoying your holidays so far! 

By the way, I'm doing this blog second week in a row because Keith is having father/son time watching the new Star Wars movie---lucky bastid!   But it works out great when he comes back next week because I'll be in Da Nang taking my engagement photos.  Later for now!  

Hello from Vietnam!

Hi, guys! It seems like only a short time ago that I was writing to you from Vietnam....and yet I am back again.  Thanks to Keith for filling in last week and for the props on my engagement.  Not that you care, but today I have to go to the future in-laws to meet that side of the family.  Fun times. 

As Keith mentioned last week...there's not much to report these days as we await final production side of things. It's admittedly slowing down a bit due to the holiday season, but the light at the end gets brighter to print.

So all we can do, other than wait (and you supporters are awesome, you won't regret it), is to throw up the occasional non-spoiler panel and give you updates on behind the scenes stuff/the obligatory art (by the way, I HATE the format of blogspot--am I the only one who has problems with adding photos, and then they jump all over the place??):

It sure doesn't look like an art store...

Not a recent pic, but I picked up supplies just like these at the local art/office supply store. Why?  To work on REWARD HEAD SKETCHES this trip in my spare time :)

Truth looking bad-ass

Electricia looking badass right back

potentially spoiling scene?

Another fun before/after

See u next week....

Hey everyone, it's Friday and that means (for most weeks, anyway) that it's time for another installment of the production blog. I got a message from Tom this morning saying that he was in Japan and asking if I could update the blog for him so here I am, updating the blog. Tom says jump and I update the blog while he continues on to his final destination of Vietnam for the next few months.

I don't actually have much to report today. I haven't heard from Tom in the past few weeks aside from the message I got this morning so I can't give a crystal clear picture of what kind of progress has been made on The Switch since the last blog update. I skimmed through the dropbox folders before posting this and counted about 7 pages that aren't uploaded yet so I'd say we've got approximately 83 pages in the can. I'll bet Tom is cursing me for adding 10 extra pages to the story; without that extra chunk, he'd be done.

There is some exciting non-Switch news according to a video message that our little Tom posted on Facebook/Youtube yesterday morning. Tom is officially engaged and soon to be married! I'm sure hearts (at least one...cough...yaybo...cough) are breaking all over the world as the news spreads and it's hard to believe that Mr Nguyen, who has been a perennially stubborn bachelor from the day I met him, is about to cross the threshold to marital bliss. 

I don't want to speak too deeply into Tom's personal life but I know that preparing for his wedding and also wading through all the red tape from immigration so his soon-to-be wife can return with him to America has taken up a lot of time and given Tom a lot of gray hair over the last few months. Well...welcome to marriage, Tommy! It doesn't get any easier.

Anyway, here's some sneak peek artwork for the week. I'll catch you on the other side... 

Never ask Electricia to give you a breast exam!

Cat fight, Nasty style!

What? There's a giant robot in this book too?

Electricia may have anger control issues

And that's a wrap for this week. Tom will be back next time (I hope?) to announce that he's finished with the book. Fingers crossed...