Happy September, Wolf Pack!!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 14, 2022 at 06:02:22 AM

Dailen here, with a quick little check-in. Thank you guys, as always, for your incredible patience and support! Team WIFWULF's hard work has been paying off over here, and we have a thrilling announcement:

The art for the main story of WIFWULF is completely done! 

I wanted to personally give you a little bit of insight into these pages, and why this summer has been a quiet one. Basically, comics are typically made by teams—someone writes the script, someone draws it, someone flats it, someone colors it, and so on. (Many comics are still made with a separate pencil artist and inker, too!) This is a pipeline that makes the page creation process a fairly efficient one, as multiple pages in multiple stages can all be worked on at the same time. But once the script leaves The Hivemind's hands, WIFWULF is all me. (Shout out to Drew Wills, my flatter and the one other person involved in the art!) I can't thank you guys enough for being so patient and continuously excited about a project that has taken a lot of extra time and love to get just right. I'm starting the process of print proofing the pages this week, and they're about to head off to lettering. 

In the meantime: Collin, Jack, and I will also be working on our bonus content for the back of the book. We have eight pages to fill with extra comics and prose, and we're so excited to share those things with you. I get four pages to myself and the script is already written; I can't wait to see what you guys think! 

On that note: I also wanted to ask for the wolf pack's feedback on the art. Would you like to see a bonus comic that aesthetically matches the main story, or something that leans more into highlighting the detail in my black and white ink work? If I can figure out how to make a poll on here, I'll post it, but in the meantime please sound off with your thoughts below! 

EDIT: Here's the poll!! Please vote if you'd like to weigh in! 

Our guest art gallery is also in the works, so stay tuned for sneak peeks of that! Plus, lots of concept art and other process work while we compile the book. We're so thrilled to be on this journey with you, and thank you again for hanging on for the ride. 

With love (and lots of howling),

Dailen, Jackson, Collin, and the rest of Team WIFWULF

We're Nearing The Edge of the Woods...
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 06, 2022 at 01:34:58 AM

Happy Summer from Team WIFWULF!

We're so excited to quickly update you on our progress. Dailen is hard at work finalizing the last pages of WIFWULF - embuing each page with color, detail and meaning. With all but a few pages finished, our interior art is virtually complete...

... meaning that we're on track to deliver the book to you in Q4 of this year, as promised - alongside stretch goal stories and art! Here are a few lil peaks Dailen recently shared on their socials!

Beautiful, right!?

Because you are a backer, you don't need to worry about the wider-release edition of the book through Vault Comics - your copy will be shipped the moment the book is bound and ready.

I know there are some in the pack frustrated that the book is not in your hands already. We apologize for lack of updates, but honestly we've just been hard at work delivering the story we set out to tell. We appreciate your support and remain excited to get the book in your hands on schedule.
 

Howling for you,
Jack, Dailen, and Collin.

AT LONG LAST -- WIFWULF HOWLS AGAIN!
about 4 years ago – Fri, Mar 25, 2022 at 11:29:33 PM

The woods are lovely, dark and deep...

Hey, WIFWULF pack! Long time, no howl! What's up with that?

Truthfully: we wanted to wait until we had something new and fantastic to show you. 

And now, we do. Behold... fully colored (and in some cases, rendered) pages from WIFWULF.

Dailen is hard at work putting loving detail into every page. With the entire main story inked and flatted, and much of it colored, we are moving at a steady pace toward our projected Q4 release to Kickstarter backers (and then our wider release through Vault Comics). We're so thankful for your patient support as we run about in the night, making this book as beautiful as it can be for you all.

But what about BackerKit Surveys, Add-Ons, and Tier Rewards?

If there's one question the team gets more than any other, it's this: did I miss the survey?

Don't worry, you did not!

In an effort to not overcharge anyone on shipping, we are holding on releasing the survey until we are ready to print and ship the books. This means you won't be seeing the survey for some time! But rest assured, when it sends out, you will be able to adjust your pledge and add many of the tier rewards to your order a la carte. 

All tier rewards and add-ons will be fulfilled alongside your copy of WIFWULF, so if you have commissions or bespoke short fiction coming from the team, please stand by. We'll be in touch as soon as they're ready to be produced.

Thank you again.

We remain overwhelmed and thankful for the support shown from the entire WIFWULF pack. You helped make this long-held dream a reality - and now we are working hard to make it worth every dollar. Moving forward, we'll be sending out an update once a month, so you can be up-to-date on all things WIFWULF before release.

Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. We're here for you.

Howling madly in a dark forest of art,

Dailen, Collin and Jack

Happy Holidays From WIFWULF!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 23, 2021 at 09:41:39 PM

HEY! LONG TIME, NO HOWL!!

The WIFWULF team has finally come out of our month-long hibernation and we wanted to give you a quick update on how things are progressing!

FIRST OFF: We know many of you are looking for that backer survey - but fear not, it has not gone out yet! We'll be sending it out much closer to our release window in Q4 2022, so that you are only paid the most up-to-date shipping costs! Thanks so much for your patience!

LET'S GET FLAT!

GOOD NEWS: Dailen has completed the inks for the entire book! So we're moving into colors and lettering as we get the print and release details all sorted! As a result, we've got a cool bit of insight into the process below - as we welcome a new member of Team Wifwulf: colorist Drew Wills, who will be flatting the book! 

Flatting is the very first step in preparing an inked paged for color. 

Artists who have the time can opt to do it themselves, but many hire another artist to take it on for them, to save time on the process. Drew Wills is a colorist himself, but he's also the Flatter for WIFWULF!  

For those unfamiliar with digital art software, this step can be confusing. Basically, the Flatter's job is to create solid, accurate selections with NO remaining gaps or white space between them so that when colored pages go to print, they are as crisp as possible. A Flatter does this by creating a separate layer beneath the line work and filling everything up with a rainbow of random colors. Young Charity's skin is green in these panels, and her hair is blue—but that makes it very simple to select and fill them in with the proper colors, when the time comes. Drew's work saves Dailen hours of time spent selecting things as-needed, or flatting herself.   

When pages are flatted, the next step is to fill them with what's known as 'Local Colors.' This is the color that the object actually is, before all the modifications of light and shadow. After that, Dailen does a pass marrying the colors more closely together based on the dominant light and mood of the scene.   

All pages will go through this process before the next step: shadows and lighting! The final pages will be wildly different from what we've shown here—each one will be subject to a lot of fiddling and adjusting before it's finally ready to go to print. Check out Drew's flats in comparison to a finished panel!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM TEAM WIFWULF

We recently got to get the whole band together for an incredible weekend of celebration - and you all made every bit of that joy possible. Thank you all so much for being members of our pack. We can't wait to share WIFWULF - and all the amazing stretch goals - with you after the holiday season!

Howling for you,

Dailen, Collin, and Jackson

FINAL FUNDING UPDATE: THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
over 4 years ago – Sun, Nov 14, 2021 at 02:41:26 AM

YOU DID IT!!

The WIFWULF funding campaign is officially over - and you, our incredible pack, have taken us all the way to...

$51,826 - with a pack 1,458 strong!!

We're seriously blown away by your support, your generosity, and your enthusiasm. We don't even know what to say. Genuinely, we're just sitting here on Zoom just screaming at one another. Dailen is freaking out. Jackson is freaking out. Collin is being a functional human and getting some well-deserved sleep - but in his own way, he is also freaking out.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

With only three pages left to ink before the book moves into colors and letters, Team WIFWULF is going to take a much-needed week-long hibernation while we recover from this absolutely stellar month - but then we'll be back to work making a book worthy of your investment and your trust. That book should be ready to go in Q4 of 2022 - when it will first be released through this kickstarter exclusive to all backers - before releasing the retail version to the entire world via Vault Comics!

We'll be launching a BackerKit within the month so you can adjust your pledges and rewards - but for now, as a final gift from us to the pack, here's a previously unseen page - showing Charity in a dire moment being comforted by Silver Slash. 

In this image, we are charity - and y'all are the wolf.

Once More: THANK YOU

Your support means the world to us. We not only could not have done this without the pack, but we could never have dreamed this book would strike a chord with so many people. You not only helped us believe this book could be made - you helped us believe in ourselves. 

For that, we'll always howl for you. 

Your friends,

Dailen, Collin, and Jackson.