march 2008

mar.04.08

Staplin'!

Staple was... I mean, WOW!! You guys know I heart that show like family - it's the ONLY show I fly to, the first one I do every year, and one of my favorites overall. But wow, I've never felt so welcomed (and well-known!) at a show before, even at Staples past.

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who came up just to say that you read and love GWS - it may seem like a small task to you, but it means the world to me. And of course thank you to everyone who took Volume One books off my hands! I look forward to NOT stumbling around with three enormous pieces of luggage at the airport Wednesday thanks to you guys.

So now I'm in COLD, NASTY DALLAS, chilling out with Daredevil artist Michael Lark (there would be a link there, but I haven't finished creating his website yet, which he's been waiting patiently for since 2005). Despite the crappy weather, it's great working with another artist in the room. He picked out things in today's strip that were awkward which I re-drew, and I picked out the one single awkward drawing among his pages and pages of Daredevil art (very needle-in-a-haystack, trying to find shit wrong with his art). Made me all too aware of how much of a handicap it is to live in Shepherdstown, as much as I love that town, so far away from other illustrators and cartoonists to draw inspiration from. I'm sure my visit to Halfpixel's studio tomorrow will have the same effect on me, Scott being such an inspiration to my work. *sigh* If any of you discovers the secret to safe, non-life-threatening teleportation anytime soon, I'd sure appreciate your sharing it.

So meanwhile, I'm going to be starting a completely new donation format soon. As many of you know, I haven't had the time to dole out the donation incentives as I'd wanted to, and that's not fair to you incredibly generous supporters. Also, I've barely enough artwork to give out as donation prizes for last year's winners, let alone a fresh batch of 2008 monthly winners.

So anyone who donates between now and whenever the new format begins (hopefully as soon as next week), you'll be added to the fancy-pants drawings for 2007 (five winners from each month, $50+ donators being given special separate drawings for first claim on prizes). As soon as the new format is announced at the top of this page, donations will go as described at the donations page, which will likely just be wallpaper art (albeit, RELIABLE wallpaper art that you'll receive immediately instead of "in six months!").

Anyway, more on that later. Stay "tooned," or something cheesy like that!

OH! PS, hello, did anybody else realize how badass David Malki of Wondermark is? I didn't! I found out on Saturday. He joined us on the Webcomics panel and I later got to pick his and his friend Todd's brain about filmmaking, which was REALLY great. If you haven't already, please check out Wondermark - FUN!!

mar.10.08

Wonderful!

No shit, I'm finally offering AD SPACE!!

I spent my weekend reading up on a bunch of back-end stuff for the website, and FINALLY activating Project Wonderful ads for you guys. I have to admit, so far all of the ads have been for websites that I'd highly recommend to you guys anyway, so I'm very pleased!

Please spread the word if you know someone who wants to promote their webcomic, art site, coffee shop, tee shirt company, Etsy shop, home-brewed beer, hand-made butt plugs, used underwear, whatever, for a decidedly cheap rate on a high-traffic and relevant site (the numbers posted at PW may be off for the first week since I'm new)!

Oh ALSO!! I'm trying to figure out the wide world of RSS feeds. Thanks to everyone who's voiced their vote for this - it's coming, it's just gonna take some time! I assume most of you understand that I can't just pull an RSS feed out of my ass and that I'm not a programmer. As soon as I get a chance, I'm simply going to move everything over to ComicsPress so that I won't have to spend a week trying to hand-code the feed myself.

Since I didn't really understand what an RSS feed was in the first place, I've subscribed to a few of them to see what all the hubbub is about. Changes are on the way!!

mar.11.08

The ocean.

The photo in the background at the restaurant is (c) Kris Thacker, my old roommate. You should click that link. His photography blows me away.

mar.13.08

The ocean, corrected.

There WAS in fact a photo in the background in those last two restaurant strips, it's just an EXTREMELY subtle photo: See? I wanted something quiet to as not to disturb the foreground. It was just a VERY quiet photo. :)

Yeah, I know, looks a lot better in color. Either way, I thought you should know that you're not crazy, and neither am I. There IS a photograph back there!

mar.16.08

Haywire

If you plan on jerking off to girls who you think are dumb and slutty, let this be a lesson to you never to tell Clarice about it.

mar.17.08

Wallpaper art!

You can thank Howard over at Schlock Mercenary for this brilliant idea. Donate any amount by clicking on the wallpaper thumbnail at the top of the screen, and you'll get the full-sized wallpaper (at any resolution) IMMEDIATELY! That's right, you don't have to wait a month for me to do it for you. :) Unbelieveable, right? Well, try it. I dare you.

Spring's a hard time for us self-employed people, which is why you're seeing so many changes here. I needed help back in February, but let's face it, begging your readers feels a little like holding a coffee cup out on the street. I'm a little nervous about making the switch without telling you guys whether or not I'm covering my bills, but I want to try some more legitimate avenues, particularly those which will reward you guys instantly (such as the wallpaper art). I'll be doing a new wallpaper design every few weeks (at least monthly), and may start selling original art (a la Wapsi Square) soon as well.

Check back beneath the fold (this, by the way, is beneath the fold) for new stuff!

mar.20.08

Plastic Farm signing at Beyond Comics this Saturday!

Hey y'all! I'm going to be at a signing on Saturday at Beyond Comics in Frederick, MD from noon to 7pm with Plastic Farm creator Rafer Roberts, helping him celebrate the release of his new trade paperback! Here's the super-creepy promotional poster!

Fellow artist Jake Warrenfeltz and I will be there because, as some of you may already know, we both contributed to Plastic Farm along the way. This is easily the sickest story I've ever illustrated (note: Rafer wrote it, it's his fault). You've gotta check it out. Let's just say, it'd go well with a nice tossed salad.

I'll be selling and signing/sketching copies of GWS Volume One - my first signing! So if you're in the area, please stop by! Especially if you want a copy of the first edition of the book (there aren't many left)!

Most importantly, it's me and Rafer's COMBINED BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!! So yeah, that's another reason to come out. Because who doesn't glow on their birthday.

Beyond Comics can be found at 5632 Route 85 (Buckeystown Pike) and you can call them if you get lost: 301-668-8202. Yeah, they have a phone. Neat, eh?

mar.24.08

Happy birthday, happy art sale!

First of all, thanks to everyone who came out to Beyond Comics on Saturday! We had a blast and I got rid if some of my books. Good times.

Secondly, yeah, I made Hazel's birthday the day after mine so I wouldn't forget it. Hey, that's good news for you! Assuming you like original art, that is.

This week only, you can purchase original GWS art (the actual ink-on-bristol strips) for just $50 per strip! (That's a whopping $25 off, y'all.) Sunday strips, which usually go for $95 apiece, are being reduced to $80, and shipping will only be charged once for multiple orders. Check the list for the one you want, e-mail me the strip # and your address to receive a PayPal invoice, and your favorite strip can be yours-all-yours.

I'm also selling off these fancy original pin-up pieces, featuring Hazel in the gas mask, Jamie and her kitty, and Clarice reading *ahem" The Great Gatsby. All three are ink & marker on 9x12" bristol. Auctions end in one week!

Speaking of sales, I hope all you New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania folk are prepared to come out to Wild Pig Comics this Saturday and Sunday for the ENORMOUS 50% off sale! I'll be there, along with Bill Ellis, David Gallaher, Erica Hesse (hell yeah!) and some other special guests whose names I'm forgetting because it's like 2 in the morning and I'm seriously gonna pass out on the keyboard. Lucky for us, owner Chris Eberle is a frickin' genius and put links and info all over his website, which was linked a few hundred characters ago but here, I'll link it again for you right here.

Anyway, I'll be doing 24 sketches in 24 hours again, as I did last year, for way cheaper than my typical convention price! Naturally, I'll also have the last of my GWS Volume One books available for y'all. Last chance to get the super-special non-ISBN, messed-up pages and typos version of the book!

And just in case you're still all like, "God I hate Jersey, I don't want to go to a stupid comic book sale," let me assure you that Chris's store is top-notch and he carries a bunch of awesome indy books on top of the regular mainstream books, statues, and back issues. And did I mention freakin' 50% off?? That's like, HALF the price!! On like, EVERYTHING!

So quit wondering what you're doing this weekend. You're coming out to Jersey, with us. Because you love us, and/or you love comics. Or just Jersey. Because that's likely.