Category: Uncategorized

Today is the official launch of the webcomic Validation!

Written by Christian Beranek (founder of The Webcomic Factory), the story follows Ally, a transgender girl trying to love a normal life with a little help from her friends.

I hope you dig!

I’ve been pondering this question for a while, mostly because I’m debating whether I want to start one of my own.

See, back in the olden days before blogs became non-eyesores and everything looked like basic HTML code and CSS was barely conceived of, newsletters seemed like a cool option for keeping interested persons in the loops, concerning the goings-on of whoever ran the newsletter.

Newsletters also became relatively quick and cheap tools for selling one’s stuff through. Often messages would say something to the tune of, “Hi! I’m that artist that does that thing at the Brick and Bot festival you went to months ago. I made a thing! You should get it!”

Some newsletters I see today still have that structure of “Hi I’m that person I made a new thing come and get it PLEASE come and get it.”

But I don’t want to be desperate.

Thankfully there are some newsletters out there (like Marie Forleo’s) that don’t have sales pitches every chance they get. They’re often just like blog entries or just have a video clip. Heck, Todd Carey sends newsletters where the only message is, “Thanks for your support because you’re totally awesome!”

But I also wonder who signs up for newsletters anymore?

Am I the only person who still signs up for those things when I come across an interesting person?

Because I would LIKE to MAYBE have a newsletter of my own. Nothing fancy. Have you seen the John and Hank Green newsletter that launched recently? That’s the epitome of “nothing fancy”, but it gets the point across.

I want to do something similar to THAT: a newsletter to let you know what’s going on on the interwebs with me and some cool peeps I know (like Chloe or Jeff), clue you in on things you maybe never knew you wanted, or just point you in the direction of how to decrease the amount of suck in the world.

I honestly like sharing that kind of stuff, with as many people as possible.

But I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter before I jump the gun, get onto MailChimp, and sign up for something phenomenally disastrous.

As I’m writing this, it’s the eve of July, which means you’ve probably been out of school for a while. But I know there are some students who aren’t finished until the Summer Semester or Fall Semester.

Hey, it’s college. You can graduate when it’s best for you and your degree.

For me, it’s been a full year since I graduated from college.

And within that year, for me, a lot has happened:

I’ve gained and lost jobs, I started paying back student loans, I got a boyfriend, I moved twice, and I started freelancing and got some good gigs.

But I realized: when you graduate from college, nobody really tells you what your life will be like within the first YEAR outside of school. They just give general, life-long advice, like do what you love, empathize with others, and all that other bull.

Instead of doing that, I want to share with you what I wish someone had told me when I graduated from school last year. I hope that this can help you with the first year after you graduate, because that year is the toughest.

1. Keep your college friends. With Skype and email, it’s much easier.
2. Keep calm, but it’s still ok to cry.
3. Don’t Forget to Be Awesome.
4. PLEASE don’t forget who you are. It’s really easy to get caught up in petty grievances in the “real world” (like, arguing with someone about your place in the ticket line, or fighting over the last biscuit). Those grievances don’t matter. But don’t forget where you stand on the things that matter to you.
5. About the subject of work and employment: CALM THE FUCK DOWN RIGHT NOW. You will figure it out as you go in life. Just because your current job sucks or even if your job is the best thing ever, it doesn’t mean you’re stuck with it for life. You WILL change jobs. And sometimes you will change jobs a lot.
6. Remember: we’re young. Most of us traditional students are in our twenties by the time we graduate. We have at least another 70 years to do shit. DON’T BE IN SUCH A RUSH.
7. Ignore the philosophy of YOLO, unless you’re actively avoiding dangerous events. i.e. “I think I won’t go skydiving, because YOLO.”
8. You’re not a grown-up until you decide it for yourself. Adulthood is not an achievement to unlock in a video game, and it’s not easily broken up into stages. Life has no hard edges. Life often blends in together. But it’s a wonderful, chaotic, beautiful blending.
9. The sudden realization that you and your parent belong to the same societal ranking of “legal adult” may take some getting used to, by all of you. And that’s ok. Take your time and respect each other’s boundaries.
10. If you have a problem, SAY SOMETHING.
11. Welcome the idea of getting lost.
12. Life is not what happens to you. Life is what you choose to do about it.
13. Always carry napkins with you.
14. For god’s sake, learn to cook something that’s NOT mac’n’cheese or Ramen. Your body will thank you.
15. Eat some goddamn fruits and veggies.
16. You know how school (both college and pre-college) instilled in us that we should do what we’re told and be good workers and push pencils and we’ll be rewarded for our efforts? That system doesn’t exist (unless you’re in the military). We have to learn an entirely new system of doing things, one that everyone else conveniently didn’t tell us. I think it involves doing things we’re not asked to do and not being dicks to people. But we have each other to help us figure out the rest.
17. Collaborate.
18. Communicate.
19. Read all those books that you said you would read while you were in school.
20. Do all the things you said you would do in your undergrad years.
21. If you don’t know how to do something, ask Google. If you don’t know how to do something but don’t want to read words, go to YouTube.
22. Please keep in touch with your old professors. They’re probably worried about you.
23. The traditional way of doing things (getting a job, getting a significant other, etc) are no longer relevant. Set your own rules, be a good person, and go into the world. If you need encouragement, I’m here.

Shmerg! I was without internet for, like, a week until yesterday. It was an inconvenience, but now I can actually DO THINGS now! You don’t realize how dependent you are on Google searches, email, and YouTube until they’re gone.

Blurry photo. Sorry. But this is a caption of how I develop my story’s history of cultures.

Occasionally I like to engage in the Daily Sketch Challenge. It keeps me artistically limber and lets me try new things.

Today I thought I would try something new with drawing digitally and lighting techniques. And also, somehow, my brushes became textured to a degree, which was also fun to play with.

Here’s my rendition of Christopher Lee’s Dracula.

If you’d like to take part in future Daily Sketch challenges, just go to this link.

In case you missed it, here’s my video showing Part 1 of my sketchbook I finished last week. Part 2 is coming soon!

Johnson & Sir also updated today! Go here to check out their latest antics (and reblog to your Tumblr, if you so wish). I tweaked the site a little bit so it should read easier. The last design seemed clunky to me. This time it should be easier to read the comics.

Don’t Forget to Be Awesome, and I will see you again soon!