Log 06 - The ArtVenturers Progress Bar

Today I want to share with you something that brings me a fair amount of pleasure - the progress bar present on the ArtVentureZone website.

I added this after starting with book 3 just for the fun of it. I imagine thousands of eager fans are on the edge of their seat, checking said progress bar weekly as they wait for the next release in this ongoing saga. Ha ha! But wouldn’t that be nice, though?

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No, really, I added it because I get a little jolt of dopamine when I go to my own website and see the progress. It’s for that part of me that sometimes feels in awe at what I’m creating, and I need a visual testimony and reassurance that things are indeed progressing.

And they are. Slowly but surely, at snail’s pace most times, but we get there eventually. And really, what else am I going to do? Might as well do this.

Doing a page count in Excel I counted 92 pages for this third volume, approximately 16 pages more than the first two. I’ll go into why that is in further posts. This is subject to slight adjustments as the book evolves, but that’s the estimate as it stands right now.

This is the draft phase. The intended information is added in little boxes that I can move around, as notes of what will be discussed or presented here. I’ll add the character needed for the page and icons I’ve created as part of the iconography of our system. It’s rough but the essence of the page is coming through.

The page is for the most part done. The text has been trimmed and cleaned up, the visual landscape of the page is in place: character, icons, arrows, boxes, colors, etc. are pretty much done. Images or illustrations are still only place holders with either empty boxes labeled to indicate what will go there or an image grabbed off the net as an idea of what I want in that space.

Ah, that final moment when it is done. The page is perfect! Or as perfect as it will be, including all illustrations, paintings, or other art used for the story or concept at hand. At last, I can put the check mark on that page and update the final count. Do not underestimate the satisfaction of that small action.

As an aside, I am a ONE person show here. Everything single detail of this endeavor is done by me, including all the art. I’m it. No A.I allowed or involved. Just good old human creativity.

Or total percentage done towards the final product.

For this, I came up with a formula on the page count spreadsheet, which you can admire here:

Each page is tabulated in the upper right section of the spread sheet.

• Each Rough Layout page gets 0.25 points.

• Each Final Layout page gets another 0.25 points.

• Each Completed page gets an additional 0.50 points.

Pages in the Rough Layout are not removed once added to the Final Layout, nor to the Completed. This progressively gives a full point to each completed page, giving me a reasonably accurate percentage of progress.

Gotta love being a nerd, LOL.

Thank you for humoring me if you’ve made it this far.

This book series is truly a labor of love. Please give my little progress chart little love by checking it out for yourself at ArtVentureZone… and feel free to check in on the progress anytime, now that you know.

Have a most wonderful day.