Tag: comic artist blog

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The Silly Tale of the Smith Family Commission

I was first approached by Mr. Smith, at the Pittsburgh Witches Ball. He asked me if I was available to do commissions.

That made me ask, “What would you like me to draw for you?” And he said, “I was thinking of getting my family drawn as superheroes. But let me get back to you on that.”

About a month later I was approached by Mrs. Smith.

She asked, “Can you please draw my family and me as super heroes?” To which I said, “Absolutely!”

That resulted in this:

While I was drawing this, Mr. Smith contacted me again. He said, “Hey! Are you still available to do commissions? Because I would really like you to draw my family as superheroes.”

Before I could reply, I contacted Mrs. Smith and said, “Uh…your husband just asked me to make the same thing you asked for. What should I do?”

She laughed.

So I said to Mr. Smith, “Sure I can make the thing!”

And that’s how I drew this:

They were both surprised when the presents were unwrapped.

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Gods & Spirits: A Sketchbook, Now on KickStarter

Gods & Spirits was the theme I did for this year’s Inktober – the artist challenge to make a new ink drawing every day during the month of October.

Last year I had done Inktober, themed with Witches. Once I was done I gathered the sketches into a book (Witches: The Sketchbook), put it up on KickStarter, and it got funded.

This year, after I wrapped up the sketches…

(The above is just a sampling of the sketches done during this year’s Inktober)

…I thought, “Hey! Let’s put THESE sketches into a book, as well.”

And that’s why Gods & Spirits: A Sketchbook is on KickStarter, looking for support.

This will be a SHORT campaign – it ends on November 12th.

However, there are Early Bird Special rewards that are only available until the end of TODAY, November 7. Here’s a link to the campaign to check out the early bird rewards.

I realized upon launching this that I may have put the asking goal too high, especially for a 7-day KickStarter campaign.

I DO hope we make it to the goal! But if we don’t, expect a few modifications to the campaign to lower the asking goal and a relaunch of the campaign shortly after.

Still, I DO hope you back this campaign, because if we make our goal by November 12th, the sooner this book and the rewards can be done for the holidays!

Rewards for this campaign include commissions – HOLY BANANA PANTS there are so many commission slots available!

There’s also copies of the book, prints, and something new I haven’t offered before…STICKERS.

These will be printed through StickerMule and measure roughly 4 inches each, so be sure to make some space on your sticker surface of choice.

If you can give to this campaign, PLEASE do!

If you’re broke, share this campaign with your friends. Every share helps.

Thank you for your support, however you give it!

You. Are. Awesome.

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The Legend of Jamie Roberts’ Newest Print

Awwww yeah! This print got finished not too long ago to showcase my new upcoming webcomic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts. (Coming online mid- to late-November.)

Illustrated here, from foreground to background, is Jamie Roberts, Ragun Ranki (pronounced Rah-Goon Ra-N-key), and the dragon shape of Ragun Basho (pronounced Rah-Goon Bah-show).

This took a little while to illustrate, especially with the waves of The Way in the background. The Way is the spirit world, where souls rest after death and before birth, and where Ranki was banished after The War of the Leaders 500 years before the start of the Legend.

Here’s some clips of the progress of the piece:

The colors of the background and Ranki were done in Clip Studio Paint to save me some marker ink.

This image will do double-duty as both a print and as the cover art for Chapter 1’s online serialization.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

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Panel Pandemonium at Imaginarium

For a show I was invited to at the last minute, Imaginarium Convention in Louisville, KY was worth going to!

There were a few things that helped:

  1. I shared a table with two very cool authors: Neal Sayatovich, writer of dystopian psychological affair, and Joshua Hampton, writer of epic and high fantasy. Neal covered my table fee in exchange for some art (thanks Neal!).
  2. The folks at Imaginarium gave me a free pass in exchange for doing panels. 4 panels, to be precise.

Holy banana pants did I meet a LOT of cool folks at this show! From mermaid/pirate lesbian fiction writer DB Francais to Justin and Cory at Purvis Games, from Glenn Porzig to Mackenzie Flohr, holy jeez were these people super approachable and fun to chat with!

Most importantly, I learned a lot.

If there is one thing I can commend Imaginarium on, it’s their panels. While it’s kind of silly just how many there were (often having four or more happening in the same time slot), the breadth and depth of topics was hugely commendable. Plus, the panelists themselves knew what they were talking about. One author described the panels as “iron sharpening iron,” and he wasn’t lying.

Here’s a blog post listing the ones I presented in. I think the best moderated ones that I did were LGBTQ Characters in Fiction, Healthier Habits for Creatives, and Composing Newsletters for MailChimp and Beyond. The first two were moderated by Janie Franz, who is a marvelous lady. (Check out her stuff.)

Those were the ones I presented in though. I also attended a panel about Military in Fiction (Neal was in that one), Audiobooks, and Freelance Writing. The Freelance Writing one covered basically what I already knew – but the Audiobooks panel was immensely helpful.

Why? Because I want to get into voice-over and voice-acting. (Yes I’m aware the two are very different.) The Audiobook panel covered a lot, from authors finding and hiring talent and what they look for (always a plus) to knowing how to set up your own DIY recording space.

I’m REALLY jazzed about what I learned in these panels. The best thing is: these panels are giving me some new blog post ideas.

And with that, I’ll make my temporary leave. Hopefully next time I’ll have a tutorial for you.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

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The Online Store is Getting a Makeover

It’s that time of year – time to look at old designs of things and think, “Hot dang this needs a makeover.”

And that was what crossed my mind when I looked at my Storenvy shop. I mean, look at this screencap:

It’s SO OLD.

The photos need redone. So do the product listings, the link sidebar, the colors of the shop, and…well, the entire thing needs redone in my eyes.

So here’s the deal:

You have until September 30 to get anything from my online shop.

The shop will be taken down from Sept 30 until October 6 – one whole week.

That week is when I overhaul the whole thing.

So you have until then to take advantage of any deals, or get any of these comics, prints, or miniprints or minicomics (outside of conventions).

As an extra, if you buy something from the online shop, I’ll throw in an extra piece of art from my art-bin that will fit in the package. The art piece can be anything from a sketch from my sketchbook, to the original art for a print.

So yeah! Buy something from the online shop before Sept 30, and get a piece of art included for free.

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

You. Are. Awesome.