Marco

Polo?

jk..

Hello! :D

I'm sorry June has been a bit of a slow month. Truth be told I have been "stalled" by my freelance work, such as working on a big-ass mural (great fun though! Never thought I'd love painting with acrylics this much, and in such big scale too!), as well as a five pages long mini-comic featuring Spike, Sam, Saunders and Terrance that will be in the Norwegian comic magazine, Nemi, next month! :D
And, as my Patreons, you will get the exclusive first peak of the translated online version in August! I may even post little sneak peaks of it in July ;)

But yeah, those two things have occupied most of my time, and my days off have been spent working on SPIKE, or daily chores and whatever, with the occasional break to just... relax. Recharge, I guess.

Summer looks like a busy time for me though, and time is practically flying by, so I am beginning to become more aware of how close November is actually getting. So if I am even more absent from Patreon - and even DeviantART - from here on out, it is not due to ignoring you or being a prick, it is rather due to being VERY focused on finishing the SPIKE script/novel (2nd draft, though, but still.. :O ), and for those who have seen my livestreams, you already know I tend to sort of lose track of everything around me when I am concentrated on creating something ;)

But I miss livestreaming and interracting with you guys, so I really do want to make time for that, whenever I can spare some :) and I draw a whole lot these days - although most of it is just.. unfinished stuff, I guess? I doodle visual notes to the SPIKE story a lot, scene clips and character interactions or whatever, and since most of it won't make much sense without context it is usually for my eyes only :p
I am drawing Charles a lot recently, come to think of it. I am working out his backstory, and there are a few drawings of him in his youth I'd like to share with you all. Just gotta finish them XD

Saunders too; his backstory is one I really really REALLY want to write a separate novel or comic of, in case it doesn't fit in with the SPIKE novel, because  . . . ok, so this is unfair to most of my characters, because I like them all in each their own way, but Saunders is kind of one of my top favorite characters in the SPIKE universe XD If I may say so :p that sounds like self-praise and all that, I know, but it's more to do with how fun he is to write and write about, and how much there really is beneath his surface, so to speak. I love writing characters who aren't what they seem, you know? :) And Saunders is one of the most enjoyable to write in that sense, because yes; I have other characters who match that description. Ray is a very good example, I think, of being "not what he seems", and in a way every character is to a stronger or lesser degree, but the thing is that they are usually characters who are already getting most of the "screen time", the focus and attention. Saunders is one I love writing because he is a character with a life and backstory that could easily fill a novel as large as the SPIKE novel will eventually be - yet he is more or less a "background character". A secondary one. Being the parent of one of the main characters he plays an important role, sure, and he is a huge part of the SPIKE novel, but his past life isn't very relevant to the main story and therefore not really spoken of, not in any in-dept way anyhow.
. . . Saunders is.. I mean.. Okay, imagine if there was a sequel to the SPIKE story, but we followed another character and Spike was there too but he was more of a supporting side-character who we only knew through his interactions with the more important character - and to new readers who just picked up the sequel, Spike would be nothing more than that. But to readers who started out by reading the SPIKE novel, we know that there is so much more to this character that doesn't show in the sequel.

If that makes sense..?

Charles is the oldest character I have (although he is actually far younger than he is credited to be, lol.. Described as ancient, yet is barely in his mid-fifties, lol, how's that for rude). His life and past too could fill up a novel of it's own, but his story connects more to the SPIKE story, so there's a chance that a lot of it could be relevant to reveal in the main story somewhere.
There's also not just one, but several stories within his story that could be turned into independent novels or comics.
But it would be one of a very different genre than Spike or Saunders' stories would be. And quite frankly, Saunders' story would be more fun to write as a spin-off or extra-novel due to all the parallels and certain similarities with his story and Sam and Spike's stories.

Speaking of sequels; yes, I have though about it, and although I am not planning on writing any as of now, I have ideas and material for, well, several XD But for now I try my best to focus on writing just the one, and keeping it "on track" so to speak.
Now and then I contemplate on whether or not I should just write SPIKE as a series, because it honestly could be and in a way the novel will be a cropped version of what could have been. But then I remember that November is right around the corner, so I'll stick to the plan; finish the 2nd draft of SPIKE, and then we'll see what happens after :) 

I have realised though that it is a character universe that is impossible for me to ever be "done" with, so even when the SPIKE novel is completed, I will still want to write more from it, or around it, or relating to it.

My SPIKE project is a ton of work, but it's okay because it's the only kind of work I have encountered so far that doesn't strip me of energy but actually gives me energy, work that isn't rewarded in money but in ways that money could never match the value of, work I don't sigh in relief over when it's done but work I always long to get back to and cherish spending countless hours and every available moment on. It's work where I don't need a break to relax, because even though it sounds exhausting - the SPIKE project is honestly what I turn to when I need to relax. It is what my mind always wanders off to and my hands yearn to get back to working on.
When I think of the deadline in November, I don't get stressed - like any deadline would otherwise have me be. When I think of November, I kind of feel saddened. Cause I don't want this novel to end.
That's why I'm eager to get started on the graphic novel when the written one is done, and why I keep writing down ideas and details for sequels and spin-offs even if they might never see the light of day.

But I encourage myself by thinking that at least when the SPIKE novel is done, I won't be living alone in this universe anymore; I'll finally get to share it with the rest of you <3

I just hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have ^__^

Thank you again for your incredible support all this time <3 big hugs and lots of love to you all <3

. . . 

I digress, as usual XD

I was actually just going to pop by and show you a sketch of Marco! ;)

Marco, the guy who keeps bullying Spike.
Marco, the guy who was killed off in the early draft of Chapter 0 to 15 and whose death was further just shrugged off like some bypassing piece of tumbleweed.
Marco, the guy who is still a bully but is also revived for the second draft of SPIKE, won't be killed (not even a spoiler, it just simply doesn't fit not make sense for him to be killed), and will even serve a rather important role.

Marco, the guy who people keep asking me how looks like and keep hearing me say "I'll remember to post a drawing of him one day" and then I never do XD
Because I honestly haven't really drawn him much at all. He's a rare type of character that has a LOT of story and dialogue and character interractions and all, a family and backstory and all that stuff . . . but not an actual design. :p
Most other characters I have start out with a doodle, a drawing, a design, and THEN their story and personalities come forth, little by little. Marco had all that come without while he was nothing more than a transparent figure, like a memory of someone you haven't seen in over a decade but you have this vague notion that you know at least you'll recognise them if you see them.

Anthro-wise though, Marco was always a cat. Or at least a feline of some sort. Slender, or scrawny looking, but still more "average" in body type than Spike, you know? He would have short hair, and I kind of always knew how I wanted his eyes to look.

Yet in this drawing I'm showing you now he ended up having very similar eyes to Ray :p 

But consider this a Work-In-Progress design of Marco. It is a mashup of previous doodles I have had of him. Marco is actually also featured in the comic on my deviantart account (entitled "snow" I think?) about when Sam and Spike first met. I realised when I drew it that I still hadn't figured out how Marco's design was like, so I just hurried to draw this anonymous-looking gray kittycat. So yeah; the gray kitten in that comic is, in fact, Marco.

Which reveals that Sam and Marco used to be friends before Spike entered the picture.

:O *le gasp!*

but yeah.. Here's a (work in progress/under construction) doodle of Marco, in his freshman college year I think? At least that was the approximate idea.

Curious to hear your thoughts :)

And congrats on being the first to see what Marco looks like ;) XD

AND

Thank you so much for your pledges, feedback and general support and awesomeness <3 much love to you all <3

---Edit----

oh hey look, I found the comic I was referring to :)  This old thing!
http://oomizuao.deviantart.com/art/COMIC-Snow-updated-341352455

---Edit2---

just re-read that comic for the first time since I drew it probably, and realised that it is no secret that the kitten is Marco - since Sam mentions his name XD  sorry for making a big deal out of nothing ^^;