Tag: artist blog

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New Free RPG Drops June 17!

There’s a new RPG coming on June 17.

For fans of Kiki’s Delivery Service, The Owl House, and all things cats – it’s Toe Beans and Broomsticks, the latest RPG from Fantasyville Productions!

Play as a cat, who is also a witch, in this Saturday-morning cartoon game. Practice magics like Neko-mancy, cast spells like Purr-suasion and Meow-maturgy, and defeat the Madam and her forces of evil with your friends.

This game will be available in my email newsletter on June 17. Sign up for free today to get behind-the-scenes updates and sneak peeks of the game before its release!

When you get on my email newsletter, rest assured that I won’t be selling your info to anybody, and you only get updates once a week.

You can sign up to get Toe Beans and Broomsticks the Free RPG by clicking the button below, yo.

FREE RPG? YES PLZ

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Getting Ready to Move

AT LAST! My roommate and I found a new apartment! We are signing the lease in the next week and a half. So, in the meantime, I’m getting ready to move.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

For one thing, this means a new, re-designed studio space. I’m clearing out the supplies I don’t use, and getting ready for new stuff. Like a new office chair (because Mister Moony the kitten has torn the crap out of my old one, which wasn’t in the best of shape to begin with).

This also means more creative time! The new apartment is closer to the office where I work, so less commuting time = more drawing time!

Unfortunately, this move also means that a lot of schedules are going to get disrupted until things settle down. So…

HERE’S MAY’S UPDATED SCHEDULE

New Punk Signal updates on the Tiny Dinos Discord are going on hiatus until June 6.

The Legend of Jamie Roberts will update as usual on Wednesdays. (Behind-the-scenes content for the Clubs will also continue as normal). I will clue you in if this changes.

TikTok will update sporadically, if at all (same as right now). The same is true for Instagram and Tumblr. I am NOT on Twitter anymore because Twitter is broken AF.

Validation on Instagram is going on hiatus until June 5.

Validation on Webtoon is going on hiatus until June 5, as well.

Vanita and the Demon King will update as usual on my email newsletter. (Behind-the-scenes content for the Clubs will also continue as normal). I will clue you in if this changes.

Any blog updates will be saved only for big news, like a convention appearance being booked or needing to extend the hiatus.

Email newsletter updates will continue updating once a week on Fridays, so readers can get the latest from Vanita and the Demon King in their inboxes. Also, Subscribers to my Clubs will continue getting Sunday updates.

YouTube videos are a special case because some are already in the pipeline. One video is going live this Friday, and I hope to get the other one done before May 15. (It’s halfway done already). Don’t expect regularly scheduled updates, though.

I appreciate your patience while I’m moving to a new home. With any luck, I hope to resume things as normal around June 1.

That’s all for now. Thank you very much!

You. Are. Awesome.

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What’s This? A Queer Nonfiction Book In the Works?

books used as jumping off points for my new nonfiction book's research

Last night, I got struck with an idea.

It came about because Star Prichard announced they’re making How to Webcomic version 2.0, a book they made about how to create and publish webcomics in 2023. (Go back it on KickStarter if this is something you’re interested in.)

The thing is, I had the thought of doing something like this before, but I’m glad that Star is doing the labor for that, not me.

But it got me thinking, “What can I offer that hasn’t been brought up before?”

Because here’s the thing – there are tutorials and how-to books all over the place about how to write stories. Heck, it’s not just How to Webcomic – There are also books about world-building, screenwriting, and the “hero’s journey.” Heck, I started drafting a book about how to write better characters. But I wanted to offer something else.

Then it hit me last night.

I thought, “Has anyone written a book about Queer Storytelling?”

A LOT of how-to books about writing focus on the same story beats and story types, claiming that they’re “universal.” But they’re “universal” to straight men. Stories made for women and LGBTQ+ people have different end goals, different story beats, and different aesthetics.

I thought about my own background in writing, especially in nonfiction. What I wrote in college focused a lot on social deviance (if it wasn’t focused on African Art History). And in our culture, LGBTQ+ people are considered social deviants, because they don’t fit the Straight mold.

That train of thought got me thinking – “A lot of stories exist to prop up OR challenge social expectations. So what do queer stories look like?”

Now I’m inspired to work on this book.

I’m gathering sources already, I have books from the library to start with, and I have an outline written.

This book is NOT going to be immediate. Heck, it will likely not come out for another year. I need to research, gather sources, and take lots of notes, and that’s even BEFORE writing the dang thing. It’s going to be like writing a research paper, but longer.

I’ve done it before, though. It’s been years since I did, but I think I can do it again.

If there are queer stories you would like me to look at (for research purposes, of course), shout them out in the comments, yo.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Alternatives to Patreon

In case you didn’t see it, I had a chat with comics buddy Jade, creator of Ask the Werewolves and Fox Me Gently. In the video (now on YouTube), we discussed why we left Patreon and alternatives to the platform we found.

I highly recommend giving it a watch! It’s less than an hour and a half long. But if you need cliff notes, here are some highlights.

Jade and I Both Left for Security Reasons

I left Patreon in 2018-ish, returned in 2021, and then left again last year. And I did that because Patreon had laid off their security team.

Jade left on March 1 (just over a week ago!) for the same reasons. On top of that, she found out that Patreon is outsourcing its security to an outside company. One that may sell the data of any NSFW creators at any time.

Not only that – Patreon requires creators who make NSFW content to post their IDs for face recognition software (already a YIKES). But patrons are not scrutinized to the same level. Any patron can check off a box saying, “Yes, I’m over 18,” even if they aren’t. If Patreon’s goal was to stop underage consumption of NSFW content, this policy is a failure.

What a Platform Deems as NSFW is Often Never Defined Until You’re Punished

Ko-Fi is a Patreon alternative, but it has its faults. The first of which is that yes, you can mark your page as NSFW. But you’re not allowed to post NSFW content on Ko-Fi.

This is already a “…What?” But don’t worry, it gets worse.

I’ve shared this story in multiple places, but I’ll repeat it here – back in August 2022, my Ko-Fi page got taken down by the platform. They did not email me about it. They did not tell me why they did it. I had to reach out to them and ask why. They only responded, “You’re posting content we disapprove of. Please remove it.”

No specifics. No details. Just that.

By process of elimination, I figured it had to be one of two posts I did shortly before the take-down. It was either this page of The Legend of Jamie Roberts that dared to show off male nipples. Or it was a product listing with the words “Fuck off” in the title.”

To be safe, I removed both. And my page was immediately up.

That scared the hell out of me. So I researched alternative platforms in earnest.

Alternatives DO Exist.

Thankfully, there are sites like Buy Me A Coffee, Stripe, and Big Cartel. Jade and I discuss other options in the video (which you really ought to watch). But we do hope that these are just the start. We both hope that there are innovators out there who want to build alternatives to Patreon and Ko-Fi.

(And now for the shameless plug.)

I chose to build my own alternative from scratch, using Stripe to process payments. I’m calling this Subscribe.

By going to Subscribe, you can choose a Club that works best for you and your budget! To check out the options, head over to Subscribe. Members get early webcomic updates, exclusive crowdfunding rewards, and discounts on commissions. The more you pledge, the more rewards you get.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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I’m Off To Detroit Zine Fest!

I’m off to Detroit Zine Fest this weekend!

March 4, from 11 am to 7 pm EST, at The Jam Handy in Detroit, MI.

This time I’m sharing the table with other members of the Columbus Cartoon Coalition!

Be sure to check out Samir and Nick. They have cool stuff and they’re coming with me to the show! Find Samir on Instagram and their website, and find Nick on his website, Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter.

Now, I’ve never been to Detroit Zine Fest before. I think this is their first year as a zine fest in existence.

But hey, this could be another Feminist Zine Fest Pittsburgh – a cool show with cool people.

Hope to see you there!

Thanks for reading.

You. Are. Awesome.