Interview with the Cast of “Seeing Him”

The following is an interview I had with the cast of Seeing Him, which is currently on KickStarter raising funds to launch it online. There’s also an extended interview, but you can only read it by claiming it (and other swag) as a reward on KickStarter.

Interviewees: (From Left to Right in the image below) Kate, Adam, Julianne, and Greg.

seeing him cast bust shots for mock interview for kickstarter
Click to enlarge.

KELCI: So what’s your day job?

Kate: I am a small business owner.

Adam: I’m a doctor. Specifically an OB/GYN.

Julianne: I’m a personal assistant to Ms. Betsy Brookes. You might have seen her face on benches around town. She runs the number one realty agency in Nagadan.

Greg: I teach high school Spanish at Charles Strite High. Go Hawks!

What are your hobbies outside of work?

K: I like to hang out with my friends. Play video games sometimes. Plus, in the winter I like to crochet and sew things.

A: Every other Wednesday we have league bowling. Greg and I are on the same team. I also go to the gym a good bit. Sometimes I go out to the movies.

Juli: Outside of work I like to do puzzles and books of brainteasers. I also like to watch horrible TV movies sometimes.

Greg: Well I do a few after-school groups as the faculty leader. I teach sign language and I manage the sci-fi club. Completely non work related I go bowling, I hit the gym, and I like to cook. Particularly baking.

Have you always lived in Nagadan?

Kate: I grew up here, but I went away for college.

Adam: My mother and I moved here when I was 2. Since then the only time I’ve lived anywhere else was when I was in med school.

Juli: Born and raised here, but then I went away to school. That’s where I met Kate. We were roommates freshman year.

Greg: I moved here after college. I grew up in a little town in the south end of the state. You’ve probably never heard of it. I always wanted to live in the big city though, so when I got the chance, I moved.

Favorite animal?

Kate: Ocelots. They are just too cute.

Adam: Dogs. They aren’t called man’s best friend for nothing.

Juli: Narwhales. The fat unicorns of the sea.

Greg: um. I don’t know. Penguins?

Favorite food?

Kate: Chicken and broccoli. Preferably from Mr. Wong Wong’s in Ostmeadow.

Adam: Mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Julianne: Definitely ham. I love having it for dinner and then getting to have real ham sandwiches all week.

Greg: Butterscotch muffins. Big ones.

How do you feel about musicals?

Kate: I love them but I haven’t taken the time to watch a lot of them. I’d love to see one live one day but right now I just watch my DVDs on repeat.

Adam: Meh. They aren’t the worst thing but I’d rather watch something else.

Juli: Some of them are good. Some of them are godawful. No one is that happy all the time.

Greg: …I’d rather not answer that in an interview. My friends might read this. So, on the record, I’m not a big fan.

Adam responding to Greg: You’re going to stick to that when I know for a fact you own at least 5 original cast CDs?

Greg: Yes, that’s my story.

Who is your role model/idol?

Kate: Adamantine Woman. Playgirl, philanthropist, badass.

Adam: My mom. She’s the reason I got into medicine. She’s made me who I am today.

Juli: I don’t have one. I am my role model.

Greg: The teacher from that one movie in the 80’s. You know, the one about the English teacher, they call him captain? That guy. Oh and Professor Y from the Y-Guys comics.

What is the nerdiest thing you have done?

Kate: I went to a comic convention dressed as Madame Majesty once. It was really fun.

Adam: Does being on dean’s list in college a lot count?

Juli: Kate made me dress as Monsieur Majesty at a convention once, but it turned out really fun actually.

Greg: I regularly played Orcs and Oracles with my friends in college. We had a campaign last 3 semesters once.

The following are questions about which of the options you prefer:

Ketchup or mustard?

K: Ketchup.

A: Mustard.

J: Neither. Mayo.

G: Ketchup.

Dandelions or dandy lions?

K: Dandy lions. All day.

A: Dandy lions would be a sight to see.

J: Dandy lions. All day.

G: Dandelions. I don’t want to make someone dress up a lion. Sounds dangerous.

Pancakes or waffles?

K: Why not both?

A: Pancakes.

J: Pancakes.

G: Waffles. Not the frozen ones though, real, homemade waffles.

Cupcakes or muffins?

K: Cupcakes.

A: Cupcakes.

J: Muffins. Cupcakes have too much icing on them.

G: Cupcakes.

Small gatherings with close friends in your living room or big dance parties with lots of people?

K: Small gatherings with friends.

A: Smaller gatherings are more fun.

J: Definitely big dance parties. I can meet new people that way. Plus show off my moves.

G: I like big parties, but house parties rather than dance parties. I like to be able to hear people.

Santa or the Great Pumpkin?

K: Great Pumpkin. Hands down. If I believe, he will appear someday.

A: Santa. I never did understand the great pumpkin idea.

J: Santa. He shows up more consistently.

G: Santa. I like how excited all the little kids at the mall are to tell him what they want for Christmas. If I ever get fat I’m going to be a mall Santa during the holidays.

Dinosaurs or dragons?

K: Dragons. They breathe fire so that makes them cooler.

A: Dinosaurs. The real life dragons. They actually lived so it makes them cooler.

J: Dinosaurs. I was really into them when I was a little kid. I even had a little stuffed T-Rex.

G: Dragons. I wish that scientists would splice them in the lab so that we can have fire breathing air travel. That would be badass.

Nerd or geek?

K: Me? I’m a geek.

A: I was always called a nerd, but I think I’d rather be a geek. They seem to have more fun.

J: Nereek. Everything is better when it’s a hybrid. Cars, dogs, ligers, everything.

G: Jock? But if those are my only options, I think I’d go nerd.

seeing him webcomic logo work in progress
Click to enlarge.

There’s also an extended interview!

The extended interview is available as part of our new rewards, available only on the KickStarter!

The KickStarter is barely to $300, and we have 10 days to go. If you can contribute, awesome! If you can’t financially donate, donate by using your words and telling everybody about it!

Thanks for reading, (thank you for contributing to the KickStarter), and I’ll see you again on Tuesday.

Today is My Day Off

connections comic day off laying in bed with cat

There’s actually quite a few house-keeping things I want to take care of in this blog post.

First, I’m taking December off from making comics.

I’m doing this for a few different reasons.

  1. So I can make presents and finish up private commissions for folks.
  2. So I can get some writing done for next year.
  3. So I can spend more time with my family for the holidays.

Second, though I’m taking a break from making comics, all of them will still update regularly in December.

This is because I worked extra hard in October and November to make extra pages.

So don’t worry! Validation will still update Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir will still update on Tuesdays, and Charlie & Clow will still update on Wednesdays.

Third, I’ll still be promoting the “Seeing Him” KickStarter.

Speaking of which, we are down to 13 days left and we’re not near our goal! Please help by spreading the word and contributing if you can.

But yes, there will still be a lot of posts about Seeing Him, mostly because Kia and I are super eager to get this story out. While Validation is a cool webcomic about a trans girl, Kia and I don’t feel like there are enough webcomics about and starring trans men. We’re hoping that by making Seeing Him we can make a story to fill that gap.

Those are the major updates at the moment. There will probably also be tweaks made on this site, like updating Sketches.

Hopefully, too, there will be more, better blog posts here. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in comments below.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.

New Rewards, New Sketches: A KickStarter Update

seeing him webcomic logo work in progress
Click to enlarge.

The Seeing Him KickStarter is still going, and so far we’ve raised $102. We still have a long way to go until December 15th. (I know I’ve been saying the 14th in previous posts. My bad.)

To that end, Kia (the writer on the project) and I added a new reward option: if you contribute $10 to the campaign, you can get an ebook of behind-the-scenes sketches, including…

  • character designs
  • sketches of Nyan Noodles Restaurant (where Kate and Adam meet)
  • behind-the-scenes development of comic pages
  • and more!

We also lowered the prices of some of the higher-priced rewards. To contribute, check it out. And help spread the word!

Here’s one of the sketches that will appear in the eBook sketchbook reward:

julianne character sketch for seeing him trans webcomic kickstarter
It’s a development sketch of Julianne, Kate’s best friend! Click to enlarge.

P.S. Thank you for putting up with all my blog posts about the KickStarter. Kia and I are just really hoping we can get this webcomic out into the world, because that would mean more positive trans representation – trans men need more comics for and about them.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

“Seeing Him” KickStarter News

In this post, I’ll be talking a lot about the “Seeing Him” Webcomic KickStarter project, where Kia and I run a KickStarter to jump start our new webcomic.

Don’t know what “Seeing Him” is? Go to the KickStarter Page, or go here!

Did you look? Cool. Anyway…

This update will come to you in THREE PARTS.

PART 1: NEW ART!

seeing him kickstarter promo art trans man webcomic
It’s Katy and Adam! The stars of “Seeing Him”! (Click to enlarge)

I drew the image above because I realized that Kate and Adam should be shown together, because they are adorable.

I’m planning out the sticker ideas, and hopefully you can see them soon.

Speaking of the stickers, that makes me think of rewards, which leads to…

PART 2: MORE REWARDS COMING SOON!

Kia and I realized that a lot of backers are going for rewards that are under $25, so we’re looking to include more options to choose from that are between $1 and $25.

Our current rewards include Thank Yous at $1, a desktop wallpaper at $5, and wallpaper and commemorative bookmark at $10.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave them in comments!

PART 3: WE GOT A HOST!

Deven from Pink Dollar Comics has so graciously offered to host “Seeing Him” on the Pink Dollar Comics website!

That’s awesome news, because they are a lovely LGBT hub, and Kia and I feel like “Seeing Him” would fit right in with the work Pink Dollar Comics does.

That’s all for now!

Thank you for reading! Please contribute to the KickStarter and spread the word!

I’ll see you on Friday.

Breaking Artsy Comfort Zones, Plus Trans Remembrance

This has been an odd, odd week.

I took some steps out of my comfort zone again, by drawing this gentleman with long hair and sideburns, as requested by my friend Sean.

warm up sketch sean's character
Click to enlarge.

I’ve drawn guys with long hair before, but never shoulder-length hair.

An even larger step out of my comfort zone was with animals.

warm up sketch black swan and tiger cub
Click to enlarge

I drew these two because they are characters in my genderbent Swan Lake story (I talk more about it here). The swan is what the prince becomes cursed to turn into, and the tiger cub is allied with the Princess, who can talk to animals.

The third thing I drew out of my comfort zone was not a subject matter, but an emotion. It’s one I don’t tackle very often.

Grief.

validation transgender day of remembrance
Click to enlarge

I drew this in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance yesterday.

Sharing this image online helped guide me towards some helpful resources for trans folks, like hotlines and this master post of charities and fundraisers, which includes a fundraiser by my old college classmate Cherno Biko.

Speaking of trans awareness, though, I’m still running the KickStarter with my little sister to get our new webcomic (co starring a trans man as romantic lead Adam) off the ground. Info is here and here.

Trans people deserve positive visibility. Trans folks deserve to be heroes while they are alive, not when they are dead.

…Sorry for the morbid end line there.

On a more positive note, I’m here for you if you need me. My contact information is under the Contact tab above, if you ever need to reach out to somebody. I’m not a health care provider, but I’m willing to listen.

Thank you for reading! I’ll see you on Tuesday.

warm up sketch jessie tattoos
I almost forgot to add this sketch I also did this week. Click to enlarge.