These are the journals of the SimpHoo comic. It took me 3 months to finish the 1,2,3.
During the time I make the comic, every day I write down the important experiences and inspirations, if I can still open my eyes in the end of the day. These A5 notebook from Muji are my favorite notebooks for writing. They are thin so my hand wouldn't dangling while I was writing on the edge. They are exactly the half size of A4 (international copy paper), and they are simple and well designed. It's very easy to carry them, as well as archive them. The left corner one (with rounded corner) was brought in 2016. Unfortunately they stopped selling it. I really liked the rounded corner which preventing the corner of the notebook being hit.
So I brought 5packs this time for those 3 on top. Hoping they won't stop it again. On the moment I write down this sentence, I think I should go buy more.
这是我常用的创作记录本，在这其中我用文字的形式每日记下所做和所想。右边的1，2，3册是今年头3个月所记的。左下角那本是曾经创作辛普猴的一个短篇时所用的笔记本，可惜这个带圆角的笔记本在Muji后来再也买不到了，取而代之的是不带圆角的标准A5尺寸。我很喜欢这种朴素而质优的本子，即方便携带，又很容易归档。这一次我买了整整5包，以备再次断货。
写到这里，我决定过几天再去买10包。
The SimpHoo comic need entire 2 years to finish. That didn't count the time I wrote the story. From thumbnails and storyboards, to penciling, inking and coloring, it does consume this amount of time. So I decided to record my days by writing the journal. Actually they are more like the logs. For example: April 6th, Sunny, Penciling Chapter1 page024. Did 85% of the architecture, eyes turning to red, have to continue tomorrow...etc/
I also write down the "unexpected ideas". These ideas comes from nowhere, like, if you are experiencing some beautiful moment and you want to capture that feeling by drawing. They are very important for artist because they are inspirations. If you just let them go, they will never come again, but if you follow them without any discipline, they would lead you to somewhere else rather than your own route. I've been through it, a lot of times. So I found this way to write down it then check my yesterday's TO DO list, to be precisely, yesterday's UNFINISHED TO DO list. It always set my route straight. The interesting thing is, when you read your journal from 2 weeks ago, they looks like someone else's thought, that's something I didn't know before.
辛普猴的这部漫画，从画出对白分镜，到铅笔稿，勾线然后上色，光是绘制的部分就需要两年的时间。面对这个至今为止最长的项目，我开始用日志的方式记录整个过程，每天工作前：会写下临时突发奇想的项目（我好不容易才找到这个不被奇思妙想打断自己节奏的方法），然后翻阅昨日写下的待做的项目，并确定彼此优先权，再按着日程表进行自己的时间管理，以此校正轨道。每当出门时在地铁里就掏出来翻阅，一两周前的记录看起来完全像另一个人的想法。
Inside pages of my journals, I wrote in Chinese most of the time, but for some technical words I use english. The 1/3 line is for the tips. 创作笔记内页，页面三分之一处划一根线，用以添加备注。
我从小到大从未写过日记，但竟发现用这种方法记录自己的人生，才真正明白时间都花在了什么地方，或者说，浪费在了什么地方。
I have never written any journal since I was a kid, until I just visualized the time we passed by flipping through these journals, or to be more precisely, the time I wasted.
The calendar and idea book 日程本和点子本
日程本 Calendar
点子本 Idea book
Except the journals, I also keep one calendar book and one idea book(the black one). Yes they are all Muji's too! I love Moleskine too but Muji is much cheaper. It threatened me when I'm facing an expensive notebook. Besides, since I learned how to binding my own Moleskine style notebook, I didn't pay a cent. (I will talk about it later)
As you can see, I separate these notebooks by functions: sketchbook for sketching, Pads for finish artwork, and lined notebooks for writings. In the meantime, I control the numbers of notebooks for the same project, archive them by time, and keep them as the same height (21cm or 8 1/4 inches). I know, it's very obsessive, but it's efficient for me.
除了创作日志，我还有一本日程表，用来当做日历；和一本点子本（黑色），这是积累想法和创意的地方。我尽量控制这类本子的数量，将他们与速写本分开。至于尺寸，经过反复衡量，我选择了A5的尺寸，即国际通用的A4复印纸的一半。这是我认为即能方便书写又能方便携带的尺寸。而在使用英制尺寸的美国，唯一能找到的A5就只有Muji了。
The inside pages of my calendar book. A comic artist has to take care of his own body! 日程本内页，请漫画家一定要爱惜身体！
Inside page of my idea book. Sorry I can't show you too much, spoiling alert! 点子本内页，抱歉这里面不小心就会剧透太多，且放这么一张。
Like any other artist, I keep drawing on several sketchbooks at the same time. They are divided by project or sizes, papers. I would like to share my experience of using them, as soon as I finished them:) Next time, I will talk about the very important step of my comic's production- the thumbnails and "Name".
和其他艺术家一样，我也保持着同时进行好几本速写本的习惯，我将它们按照项目或尺寸，甚至纸张分类。希望有朝一日能早日完成这些速写本，希望。。。
下次我将会分享我的漫画创作中非常重要的一个部分：缩略图和对白分镜。
Thank you for the reading!
谢谢你的阅读！