Mascara Volume 6

This week I'll start posting volume 6. I'm not saying much about what's in it, but to me this volume feels a lot like, coming alive.

Like I've said before, I've been working on Mascara for two whole years, and when working on a story for that long, it's not a question of if I will burn out. It's a question of when. That's why I have the entire plot planned out, so when I do burn out, I still have my old ideas to fall back on, and I won't have to stop creating pages. I don't suffer from writer's block, because it's all done already. It's like saving the creativity I had for a moment, putting it in the freezer, and then pulling it out to defrost when I run out of spark.

So I have to confess, for that past few months or so I've been running on defrost. I know exactly where I'm going, but it's so easy to lose that...that stuff. That extra emotion and feeling that comes along with it. Okay, I can draw these pages because they suppose to come next. But they don't make me feel as much as they used to.

After the last chapter of volume 5 and before the first chapter of volume 6, I've been grappling with this idea of doing a prologue. For months I've been like, “Should I do it? Or maybe it's giving away too much too soon. Maybe I shouldn't. But I want to do it. But what if the timing is wrong ?”

But last week, I realized that the timing is perfect. So I immediately stopped work on whatever chapter I was working on, and revisited the point of the story between the end of volume 5 and the start of volume 6 and wrote the prologue. And as I started drawing it, I realized that it's one of the best decisions I have made—for myself.

It sucked me in. Working on this unexpected prologue pulled me in. The psychologists have a term for this. They call it, “flow.” I drew pages and pages and pages, and for the whole time, I was totally plugged in. I felt what the characters did, and even when I left off drawing, their emotions in the situation still lingered with me. At this point, even eating is a distraction. It's like, “Ugh, I have to eat...” So if it may seem like I'm updating this blog less, and I've disappearing for awhile, that's what's going on. In fact, much like when I first began Mascara, the characters have started visiting me in my sleep again—something that hasn't happened in awhile.

Usually the dreams pop up at night as I'm drifting off or early in the morning when I'm between sleeping and waking up. At night the dreams are short and kind of fuzzy--they're not very clear. But in the morning when I'm starting to come to, they are very vibrant. I had one yesterday morning and this morning as well. Let's just say, they will be very useful. The dreams come in color and in live action. Addison and Ian are like, real people—I don't see manga pages, just in case you're wondering. ^_^

The only thing about this prologue is since I drew it two weeks ago, and I drew chapter 6, uh...months ago, the art may match at first in certain places. By the end of chapter 7 or so, the artwork will start to resemble the art in the prologue.

The first four pages of it will be up on Wednesday <3