Last Switch Update From Vietnam!

The past few weeks I (Tom) have been updating The Switch from Vietnam.  This post will sadly be my last here as I prepare to head back home to the U.S. in less than two weeks to finish the book.

The original intention was to finish the book here; after all, I had 2 1/2 months.  But nothing in (my) life ever really works as planned.  Being out of the country on vacation, no matter how well-meaning your goals are, makes it less easy especially when there are plans to see and do things with extended relatives.  As you well know by now, the book is pushed back another month.  But things will be smoother when I'm finally in the comforts of home with no distraction/itinerary.

With that said, I've still been very consistent updating my vlog at my YouTube channel where you can see almost-daily snippets of me working on the book.  I know that some of you really dig the behind-the-scenes stuff.  And I know a lot of you have been watching; I've surpassed the 1,000 subscribers milestone.  So THANK YOU!  :)

Finally, what most of you came for: some more sneak peek art!  Enjoy...

For anyone that might be interested, I've started a small online store offering original comic book art and assorted shenanigans. The address is keithchampagne.bigcartel.com. Please continue to scroll down for yesterday's update.

Thanks,
Keith

schedule update

Hey everybody, welcome back to the blog this week. Hope you've all been well out there. Here's what has been going on in the world of The Switch over the past seven days.

I spoke with Tom yesterday who, you'll all be glad to know, survived his adventure through the killing fields of Cambodia and made it safely back to Vietnam, where he continues to produce some nifty artwork for our little project. The problem is that in spite of his best efforts, Tom is still behind schedule. It's an incredible amount of work to produce a 90-page graphic novel while keeping the bar set consistently high for the art. A lot of people who don't draw for a living think this stuff just flows out like water but believe me, it's a painstaking, grueling process. 

Anyway, long story short, Tom asked if he could extend the deadline back into March to finish the art and we decided it would be in the best interest of both the project and his health that The Switch gets pushed  back a bit more. I know Tom feels like he's letting everyone down but I can guarantee no one will feel disappointed when the book finally arrives, which will now be in June or July, depending on how soon it's printed and shipped back from China, which is a 6-8 week process. 

Pushing it back will also make my life a little easier because, unfortunately, I found out yesterday after a CT scan and consultation that I require another surgery on my leg. The metal plates and screws holding me together are a constant source of pain and my surgeon feels removing the hardware now that my Tibia is stable enough will alleviate much or the pain, knock on wood. So once I schedule that, I'll be immobilized for a while again post-surgery. Sucks but in the long run, hopefully it'll be worth it.

I guess this isn't exactly the most uplifting and positive update we've sprung on you so I wanted to include something pretty to look at and end on an up note. Here's the art for Page 45 of The Switch, featuring Nasty Cat. I feel like Tom killed it on this page and hope you do too!

Next week, we should be able to show off the Doug Mahnke alternate cover. Something to live for there, very few people are as talented as the great Doug Mahnke.

Have a great week, everyone!

Keith

The Switch in Cambodia (Tom)!

Remember how I wrote the post about The Switch's mult-national origins having some (er, most) of its production in Vietnam?  Well it looks like we can add Cambodia to that list.  I took an unplanned trip to Cambodia last weekend, and worked on the comic when I could (although attempting to do it on four 6-hour bus rides--although a noble effort--was futile as even Clip Studio Paint's line stablization was no match for country dirt roads).

If you're interested, you can check out some of the video footage of me in Cambodia at my YouTube channel.

And here is some production art, some of it done even in Cambodia :)

Dr. Hate is a cat full of fun expressions

GIRL FIGHT!!! But who?

2weeks ago you saw the pencil version of RR, now here is inked.

This is how loose and crappy my layouts are huhu

Deleted Scenes

Hey everyone, welcome back to another edition of America's Favorite Production Blog for The Switch Graphic Novel! OK, I'll admit we're also America's ONLY production blog for the Switch graphic novel so basically, that makes us America's favorite by default. But it still counts, right?

This past week I've been going through the script with an editor's eye, looking for scenes that are extraneous or that don't quite fit into the proper narrative of the greater story being told. I thought I'd share one that I decided to edit out this week. These pages never made it to the version of the script that Tom is working from, he's never seen them before either.

So here you go, catch you on the other side of these script pages...

PAGE FIFTY-TWO

PANEL ONE

FLASHBACK SCENE. Let's color this monotone to give it a different look/feel than the rest of the book and to help signify that it's a dream/memory sequence.

Night. 

We're on top of a cliff overlooking a rock quarry. A grassy patch of dirt with a blanket, some crumpled beer cans, and TEENAGE VERSIONS OF ELECTRICIA and LOVER BOY. They're dressed like normal kids. Lover Boy, bone skinny as a teen, has the same sense of style and mullet.

But the weird thing is there's a large chunk of glowing machinery embedded in the ground nearby. And all that stuff I described above? It's been blown to hell and back as if that chunk of machinery crashed to the earth here.

Electricia and Lover Boy are semi-conscious, sprawled out near one another.

NO DIALOGUE

PANEL TWO

Closer angle on Lover Boy and Electricia, still sprawled out near each other on the ground.

LOVER BOY: Jenn?

LOVER BOY: Told you I'd--I'd make the earth move.

ELECTRICIA: ...Uhhhhh...

PANEL THREE

A different angle. We can see Electricia, prone, in the foreground. 

From this new angle, in the background, about twenty feet away from E and Lover Boy, Electricia's DAD jumps out of a pick up truck.

Good looking, rugged guy. 90's hair/clothes.

DAD: JENNIFER!

PANEL FOUR

Dad kneels next to his daughter, checking for a pulse. Lover Boy is sitting up nearby, woozy.

DAD: Can you hear me, Jenn? It's DAD, I'm here.

LOVER BOY: Mister Bellino, it's not my fault. That thing, it came out of the sky.

LOVER BOY: Head feels weird. I think I'm gonna puke.

PANEL FIVE

Close on Dad, angry, whirling to face Lover Boy.

DAD: Dobiejko! I knew I'd find you with her.

DAD: How many times have I told you to stay AWAY from my daughter?!

PAGE FIFTY-THREE

PANEL ONE

A different angle on Dad and Lover Boy. He's grabbing Lover Boy by the arm, screaming in his face.

Lover Boy is twisting away, eyes clenched as if he has the world's worst headache.

DAD: You think you can just IGNORE the RESTRAINING ORDER? You're going to JAIL this time, boy.

LOVER BOY: Takes—takes two to tango, chief.

PANEL TWO

Close on Lover Boy, eyes scrunched in pain, but still an asshole.

LOVER BOY: You should tell your precious little baby to stay away from ME. Girl can't get ENOUGH of my stuff.

LOVER BOY: Now stop YELLING, my head is killing me.

PANEL THREE

Dad rolls up his sleeves. Lover Boy is doubled over, grimacing.

DAD: What did you just say to me?

LOVER BOY: I said...

PANEL FOUR

Close on Lover Boy. Red energy is exploding from his eyes as he uses his powers for the very first time.

LOVER BOY: GO TAKE A FLYING LEAP.

PANEL FIVE

In the foreground, the glowing machinery.

Middle ground, Dad walks past Electricia, still semi-conscious in the dirt, on his way to the edge of the cliff.

He looks pretty freaked out.

DAD: Jenn, I—

DAD: I can't control my legs.

PANEL SIX

A panoramic shot of the rock quarry. At the top, tiny, silhouetted, we see Electricia's Dad jumping off.

DAD: HELP!!

So there you have it. A deleted scene that both a) suggests how Electricia and Lover Boy got their powers and b) shows how Electricia's father died when she was a teenager, an event that put her firmly on the path to becoming the villain that she grows up to become.

Why did I delete them? I liked the reveal that Lover Boy and Electricia knew each other in their younger days but I felt they distracted too much from the narrative thrust of the main story. I guess it just didn't feel necessary to include. We don't NEED to know how Electricia got her powers or how her father died to understand who she is or where she's at in life. I mean, you guys kinda know now and maybe that'll add a little subtext when you read the graphic novel but for anyone that misses it, they're not really missing anything.

Plus it's less for Tom to draw.

If any artists in our group want to take a crack at drawing those two pages of script, Tom and I would be glad to show the pages on the blog and give you a special shout out and some recognition. If you're inclined, have a good time!

That's all for this week. Notice I didn't even mention the inauguration? 

Thanks for your time and support.

Keith

Switch Behind the Scenes Movie

One of the Kickstarter rewards that EVERY backer will get when The Switch is released is a downloadable one-hour behind-the-scenes movie on the making of the book.  For those of you who enjoy seeing little various video clips of me drawing or inking, you can now see new video previews every day in the form of my vlogs that I've been posting everyday from Vietnam since January 2 of this month.  You can check out my channel (and should subscribe!) at http://www.youtube.com/TomNguyen to see them.   I'll try to throw up a new vlog from here on out until I go back to the States on February 21 (coincidentally, the book will be handed in by then).  In every daily vlog, you will catch a glimpse of me working.  But don't worry--the exclusive 1-hour behind-the-scenes movie will contain a lot more and unique clips of The Switch process.  Think of these vlogs as little preview "trailers" for the bigger movie.

A screen capture from one of my many Vietnam vlogs on YouTube!

Believe it or not, I still don't know the exact ending of this book!  How is this possible, being a co-creator?  Well Keith has been wrestling with a few possible endings, and right now he's just trying to decide which is the best way to wrap up this chapter (did I say chapter??).  So I eagerly await his finishing touches and genius in the next few days as I will need it anyway to draw.

And before I get back to slave labor, here are some sneaky peeky pieces of art:

One of Keith's favs, good ol' Ronald Reagan ready to kick ass....

I don't know what's going on here

Add caption

Lover Boy and his cohort Crom

That's it for this week.  Oh, and by the way-- we still get messages asking for updates on this project.  Please pay attention to our social media! As originally mentioned on one of our last Kickstarter updates, we only update every single week here.  ;)   This is one Kickstarter that doesn't leave anyone hanging....!   Thanks to all who tune in  :)  --Tom

Special Surprise Guest Star activated

Hey everybody, welcome to another week of The Switch production blog! My name is Keith and I'll be your host this week. Come in, sit down, let's chat!

Tom has been picking up speed lately, pages have been coming in a pretty steady stream. I'm relatively sure that he's got Vietnamese children working sweatshop-style over there on this project, that's the only explanation I can think of so it's gotta be true.

I've had to pick up the pace a bit with the coloring so that Tom doesn't get too far ahead of me. And while I was flipping a page around in Photoshop this morning, I realized while I was coloring that Tom had sneaked a surprise likeness of one of our backers, Eric Marshall, into the book. Eric grabbed the Doug Mahnke alternate cover reward, if memory serves. 

 I had already colored Eric completely wrong when it dawned on me why this character was looking so familiar so now I have to go back and redo some stuff. But here's Eric below, playing the role of...well, an asshole, really. 

He's a nice guy in real life. I promise. I wonder what Tom will do next, he's always up to something, that rapscallion.

We'll see you back here next week with another thrilling episode of The Switch production blog. Until then, we remain your loyal graphic novelists and thank you for your support.

Keith