It’s really been a while, hasn’t it!
June 5th will mark the one year anniversary of the completion of the Dark Side Project. For those that have read this blog and followed entries of the past, you should be familiar by now with the story this large-scale project has encompassed. The Dark Side Project—or DSP—for those that are unaware, was a five month long final project I undertook in my senior year of high school, telling the story of two young boys in a world of demons and fantasy, who, after being stripped from their homes and tossed into a nomadic-like lifestyle, trek across their home country to find a long lost sibling.
With this project, I took on two tasks (which, arguably, at the time, were naïvely planned out). I began by illustrating a 15-20 page manga, taking care to plan out each character’s design and environment. I then moved on to writing a short story, detailing the majestic world these characters resided in. The story, being the densest section of the assignment, took up about 70% of the timeline itself (and, regrettably, cause many sleepless nights and grumpy mornings from editing day after day!). By the time the project was ready for presentation in the days before graduation, I was exhausted beyond belief, but reasonably satisfied with myself for the endeavors i had accomplished and the efforts I had put forth. The project was complete, and I could finally rest well knowing I had gotten so far.
On June 5th, 2012, I promised that I would not leave the Dark Side Project as a “one time assignment”.
” I’ll still be working on this project. I’ll continuously be going over the written story even more than I already have, and illustrate the other six manga parts over the course of the year. This won’t end here. This is only the beginning. “
“Over the course of the year” was wishful thinking, at best. In that time period, I was preparing for college and for the next steps in life. Where would I have found the time to continue such an undertaking as DSP? DSP was placed on a back burner, and with the beginnings of my first months in college coming into view, I soon forgot about the project entirely.
It has been approximately ten months since then. Now that I’m closing in on the final few weeks of my first year of college, I’ve begun to look back on projects like DSP and wonder why I bothered to put them on hold at all.
The Dark Side Project was not just a “school assignment” to me. As I wrote in a blog post many months ago, the Dark Side Project was a world that I had “created, lived, and experienced within the realm of my imagination as I brought its characters to life”.
In the coming weeks, I will bring the Dark Side Project out of its recesses and pull it back into fruition. The blog itself will go over a minor makeover. I have not stopped here, nor do I plan to. I can’t guarantee that this project will be consistently updated over the next few months, but I can say that I have not left it to gather dust. There are various plans in store for the Dark Side Project, and if I can leave you all with anything to get excited over, it would be these words.
This is just the beginning.
~ vertica
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