Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 1 - AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!: Last Minute Doublechecking

Give me just a second.  I need to get something off my chest.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 2 - Oh Shi---: Tweaking (the Way You Want to Go)

We're now in launch week.  Needless to say, this is a terrifying exciting time.  But hey, we're consumate professionals, so we'll take it in stride, bravely moving along with a dance and a song.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 5 - Boom! Goes Our Sanity: Process Lettering, Part Two

Well, here we go: five days left, and things are not getting any easier.  Again, it's time to scream.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 6 - Will the Madness Ever End?: Process Lettering, Part One

So, here we go, process lettering part one.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 7: One Week Left! - Toning: Dealing with the Earthquake Was Easier

Well, today, we had that 5.9 earthquake southeast of us and for Ayne, she really appreciated it; the distraction allowed her to actually take a break and field mails, tweets and posts from people freaked out about something that's considered a minor distraction in LA and/or Tokyo.  

It also let her relax and think about her toning a bit.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 8 - Chaos Continues: Blanco Y Negro (Okay, "Inking", So It Doesn't Sound as Cool)

Okay, welcome back to the Panic Zone formerly known as Megami Studios.  We're getting closer to launch (just a hair over a week now) and we've still got crab-buckets of stuff to do as well as writing these articles.  Yay.

It's times like ths that we could really use a drink.  Or twelve.  And just scream incomprehensibly. 

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 11 - Lrn 2 Advermatize and Market (At Least Better than HP. Ouch, Lawsuit in 3...2...1....)

Aside from merchandising, one thing that you may want to look into is A&M (that's Advertising and Marketing, for those who didn't stay awake during Business Ed.)  If you want your endeavor to be successful, you have to get the word out there; it's rare when they come looking for you from the very start.  So you have to make the effort.

I'll get this right out of the way: advertising and marketing sucks.  It's a specialized skill, and not many have the knack to do it.  There are a very few who are a natural when it comes to it and they usually find new and unique ways of approaching it (my favorite is Scott Stratten's UnMarketing methodology).  Chances are, you're like me and abhor it.  Well, it sucks but it has to be done, and with that in mind, let's get cracking.

(Oh, and forewarning: due to the examples of just sheer wrongness people do, this post is slightly NSFW.  No naughty bits, just lots of language.)

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 14 - Research, Research, Research!

Ever read something that felt like it was cribbed from the Onion?  No, seriously.  I had the "pleasure" (if you can call it that) of reading a cheap 99-cent Kindle book that was theoretically a sci-fi book.  And I mean "theoretical" in the same way I mean that D&D LARPs are authentic period depictions.  The book was about a crack team of scientists trying to save the Earth from overheating, similar to the film The Core.  The difference was, it regarding the sun.  And the author had all these great ways about how the Earth was in danger...yet couldn't quite tie it to the sun.  At one point, he even tied it to "iceberg shifting" though I don't think that was intentional.

About halfway through reading it, this Onion article seemed more plausible than the author's plot.

Clearly, he didn't do his research.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 20 - Fonts, Part 3: Obstructions and Constructions (and Occasionally Destructions)

Yesterday, I was talking about how to choose the appropriate font for your webcomic.  Today, we're going to go one farther.  I'm going to sucker you show you how to create your own font.  Everybody go yay!

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 21 - Fonts, Part 2: Go to Hel(vetica)!

Yesterday, I covered as to why people will never love you if you use Comic Sans.  For those of you who didn't read that, well, shame on you, go bad and read it, before you see monstrosities like this: