Spongebob!! (well, kind of)

Hey everyone, if you're heading to your local comic shop, check out Spongebob Comics #9.  Why, might you ask?  Because I wrote a one-page marine bio comic in it!  Draw by Nate Neal, it examines in the wonderful world of cephalopods!  It's all fact, so no actual Spongebob characters show up in the story (hence the "kind of" in the title of this post).  The issue is chock-full of other great art and stories, so check it out!  You can also look forward to more Maris-written marine bio comics in future Spongebob issues.

Here's a little look at what my process for writing the script looks like (I also include a rough pencil sketch for layout):

This project has been a pleasure to work on, and I can't wait to share more sneak peeks with you soon!

Process: Sketchbooks

I've been keeping a sketchbook since senior year of high school, when my AP Portfolio teacher had us make our own (before that, I just drew all over EVERYTHING). Since then, I've kept a devoted sketchbook...with the exception of the year after I graduated college; I needed a break from drawing after 4 solid years of art school.

During college, I went a little nuts, filling sketchbooks (like the one in the top right corner) every 3 months or so. I know there's a huge jump in sketchbooks between '02 and '10; I filled 13 more little guys before I switched to those larger, floppy Moleskins. I figured you might start to worry about my sanity if I posted 13 more pictures of me holding tiny sketchbooks...

The bigger Moleskins were originally meant for work-related drawing (as opposed to recreational drawing), I loved the paper and size, so they became the standard. That is, until now. I'm going back to the smaller, thicker-paged Moleskin. It holds ink a lot better (nib inking on the bigger ones bleeds like crazy), and it's a bit easier for traveling. Here's the first page of the new dude:

Most journal comics, fan art and doodles will be coming from this sketchbook, done with the following materials:

Process: Time Management

Ah. the exciting topic of...time management? Yup. This post is about how I schedule my time. (BORING) I have to admit, I love when artists/writers share their methods for getting stuff done. So I'm sharing mine. Take THAT, internet.

I've kept a daily planner/pocket calendar thingy since the days of college; I wouldn't really know how else to keep track of all the crap* I have to do. My current (and favorite) planner so far is this little number from Moleskin. I've used this type of planner for the past three years...:



It's about 3.5 x 5.5 inches, so yeah, I like to write SMALL. I love seeing the whole month! Since my days at my non-comics (Aquarium) job change week to week, I use red pen to outline shifts.

For comics, I will make deadlines for the week, and check them off as I go (or reassess my schedule if I don't meet them).

Food, travel and social stuff go on here too. I also enjoy anytime I can use stickers (see the tiny fruit ones on the top? those were to remind me to pick up the farmshare that month).

With all that said, I feel like I'm just finally starting to be more efficient with my time. Up until last fall, I was still working 3 - 4 days at the Aquarium, so my work-from-home time was only about 3 - 4 days a week. Now, it's more like 5 - 6, so really planning out each work-from-home day is important (for me at least). Here's 2 versions of a-day-in-the-life-of-Maris:

DAILY WORK SCHEDULE (average)

9 AM wake up, work out

10 AM coffee + breakfast, maybe some planning for the day

11 AM shower/clean

12 AM - 2 PM work

2 PM - 2:30 PM lunch

2:30 PM - 7 PM work

7 PM - 8 PM dinner

8 PM - 11 PM work

11 PM - 1 PM tv/movie/video game/doodling

TOTAL WORK TIME: 9.5

DAILY WORK SCHEDULE (crunch time)

9 AM wake up, work out

10 AM coffee + breakfast, maybe shower

11 AM - 2 PM work

2 PM - 2:30 PM lunch

2:30 PM - 7 PM work

7 PM - 8 PM dinner (sometimes takeout)

8 PM - 2 AM work

TOTAL WORK TIME: 13.5

Things like breaking a bigger project into little mini-deadlines, and establishing daily/weekly/monthly expectations are helpful to have on there too (and they can help to prevent going into "crunch time" mode). Basically, if I get to check something off once I've done it, I feel good. For really big accomplishments, rewards like going out to fancy dinner, or starting a video game (SKYRIM!!!!) are nice little perks (haha Skyrim pun). I'll save the Skyrim post for another day though.

All that said, I am always looking for ways to work more/faster, but without sacrificing my sanity. Cooking, taking walks, working outside (when possible) are all little ways I try to not become a total comics zombie. Also, having a part-time job that engages me in a completely different way than comics has been integral to my well-being. Plus, I am more than happy when those two worlds meet (I'll be posting soon about some Aquarium comics I'm doing!).

Ok. Hopefully that's helpful or interesting. I know it helped me to put this in writing...Oh, and speaking of which, I have been curious about digital calendars, but for now I will keep it strictly physical (call me old-fashioned).

*note: When I say "crap", I am referring to paying bills, car maintenance, appointments, meetings, etc. It's not ALL crap, I promise.

Process: Writing

Prior to this past year, I had either written and drawn all my comics, or drawn comics while working from a script. For the work both written and drawn by me, most were mini comics, or short (2-12 page) stories for anthologies. I had never really given much thought to separating writing and drawing, but a number of opportunities presented themselves...like writing a one-page story for Mike Allred's Madman: 20th Anniversary MONSTER! Actually, he asked both Joe and me, so we worked together (awwww). In this post, I'm going to outline the process that I used to write the script. I'll be doing this with future posts as well, since I've recently written some other comics-y things.

BRAINSTORMING...or IN WHICH MARIS AND JOE TALK ABOUT NERDY THINGS OVER COFFEE



This might be my favorite part. Joe and I spent many walks and coffees discussing what may happen in the story. We do this for each other's respective projects as well; sometimes it's good to just talk stuff out.



FIGURING IT OUT...or IN WHICH I MAKE ILLEGIBLE MARKINGS WITH A WRITING UTENSIL ON A FIBROUS SURFACE


I should mention that I wrote a brief synopsis to send to Mike before we started laying out the panels. Also, I re-read o bunch of Madmen comics to get my head in the story. Research = fun! (Especially when it involves reading comics!)



THE ROUGH PANEL LAYOUT...or IN WHICH I MAKE ILLEGIBLE MARKINGS WITH A WRITING UTENSIL ON A FIBROUS SURFACE (part 2)


I guess this would be the second draft (but who's counting); scrapping things that don't fit, and tweaking the dialogue and settings to make sure it flows.



THE SCRIPT!! or LOOK, MA! I'M USING A COMPOOTER!!




Yup. Looking a bit more...professional? I really like using a pen and paper (stubborn and old-fashioned, I know), but typing it out is nice. I can make those final edits, and even scribble on the script some more. After looking at the final script, Joe combined a few panels/lines of dialogue. When you look at his layout sketch, you can see how ridiculously dense it is (sorry, Joe):


If you'd like to see more about Joe's process (including some very silly reference photos), they can be found here and here and here.

Mike Allred's Madman: 20th Anniversary MONSTER is out now! I'll be posting more about my writing process for other projects, as well as my pencilling/inking/coloring process. Until then...bye bye!