Milestones celebration!

What's cooking, and what's new?

It took me ages to write this post about my latest story. It has been a few weeks since I finished the draft of my new graphic novel and sent it to my editor. I was so pumped I wanted to make a little comic to celebrate. But then, after I sent the email to my editor, I suddenly felt utterly wiped out. This book was one of the most complicated projects I've ever worked on. I was already two months behind schedule. And to make things worse, my computer gave up at a very bad time!

I knew my computer was about to die, but I hoped it would hold up for a few more months until I finished the draft. Then, I could take time to set myself up with a new computer, but NOPE! That didn't work out.

I tried switching to my old iPad, which was fine for random sketches but was too old to handle a "serious" file close to 1 GB. *Sigh* I had to order a new computer from Apple ASAP! 

OMG, the new iMac is so freaking cute and powerful! But just my luck, right after I got everything set up and ready to rock 'n' roll, my freaking modem died on me! Like seriously?! All my apps and files are in the cloud, so you can imagine how ticked off I was. I had to haul myself to BestBuy and buy a new modem. Long story short, it took me a couple of days to get my new workstation up and running at full speed. I was freaking out the whole time because all of these tech issues made me fall more behind on my deadlines. Ugh!

I had to work my butt off to finish the draft, so I worked super long days, like 10 to 12 hours. It was tough, and it left me feeling burnt out. I took a much-needed mental health break and chilled. That's why this post took forever to make!

250 pages lined up in Adobe Bridge

Making a graphic novel is hard because it takes a lot of planning to develop the story. Then, the written words need to be turned into illustrated panels. After that, the whole book needs to be colored. Each step can take months to complete, and it could take almost two years to finish the book. 

Now, I’m ready to dive into the final art for the graphic novel! Above are all the pages lined up in Adobe Bridge. I have to blur the images and text because of the NDA, but I am super stoked about this new book. This is my second graphic novel. I discovered more about myself as an author and pushed myself out of my comfort zone as an illustrator. There are days when I feel motivated and get a lot done, but there are also days when I feel stuck and tired. But I try to keep moving forward one page at a time. And when I reach a milestone, I celebrate it! I can't wait to share more about this new book, hopefully, towards the end of this year!

I've got an exciting news to share today! The French Edition of my book, Marshmallow and Jordan, is finally available! When I first came up with the idea for the story, it was just a random idea in my sketchbook. I never thought I'd be a published author one day. But as I worked on Marshmallow and Jordan, I discovered that I love writing and have slowly found my writing style. 

I was over the moon when Hachette Romans wanted to publish the French Edition of my book. This is a HUGE milestone for me! If you are a French reader, I hope you will enjoy the French edition of Marshmallow and Jordan.