Yo! Y’all can find me at two DC-Area shows this weekend: DC Zine Fest, and the Richmond Indie Comics Expo (aka RICE).
DC Zine Fest is Saturday, Nov 1 from 11 am to 4 pm at the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Library.
Then, on Sunday, Nov 2, I’m at RICE from 1:30 pm to 7 pm! The event is at the VCU Commons in the Richmond Salons and Commons Theater. (907 Floyd Ave).
AS A HEADS UP – because of campus policies, RICE is a cashless event. So get your Venmo, PayPal, cards, and Cash Apps ready.
Both events are wheelchair accessible and mask-mandatory. So be prepared.
I will be at DC Zine Fest milling about with the crowd unless they take me off the waitlist. I won’t know until the day of the event, probably. But keep an eye out for The Himbo’s Guide to Cooking Chicken and other zines I’ll have on my person. I’m bringing extras with me to trade with folks.
At RICE, I will be behind the table and showing off my wares. This will be my first cash-free event, so we’ll see how it goes!
Also, the KickStarter campaign is still running, and we hit out 20-backer stretch goal! Can we make it to 30 backers? Want to help us get there? (Even $1 racks up!)
Jamie, Thomas, and Daniel found an unfinished treasure-map to a land they had never seen before. Once they took the map, they left the seas and became bodyguards for a wandering king. Now, after encountering strange spirits, fighting Eldritch creatures from another plane of existence, and bearing witness to their boss become A MOTHER-FUCKING DRAGON…
There is more adventure to be had!
This! Is! The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 3, continuing the fantasy adventure epic that started as a webcomic back in 2018 and that has grown since then. While the webcomic is free to read, print editions like volume 3 feature re-touched art, bonus material that’s not on the website (like concept art and a peek at the process of making comics), and even additional comics exclusive to the print editions.
The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 3 is 110 pages of full-color glory, continuing the adventure from where it left off in volumes 1 and 2 (those are also available in this KickStarter campaign, so if you’re new here, you have a chance to catch up). Volume 3 also features bonus content like extra character bios, concept art, and an exclusive short comic that will *only* be in volume 3.
WHY NOW?
I’ve said it before in past KickStarter campaigns, and I will say it again – The Legend of Jamie Roberts is the story I wish I had growing up. As a teen, I wanted stories with genderqueer leads, dragons, magic, and fresh challenges on gender stereotypes. I wanted to see adventures featuring someone I could relate to – and most importantly, I wanted a story where the main character had best friends who would stick by them no matter what.
Turns out, a LOT of readers felt the same way! This comic has gotten successfully funded on KickStarter *and* Crowdfundr, and gets regular support from members on Ko-fi. Thank you, members! (You’re getting a special, exclusive reward included if/when you back this campaign.)
It is by the grace of support from fans like you that The Legend of Jamie Roberts exists. I cannot get this to print – let alone send it off to the far reaches of our readership – by myself. That’s why I ask patrons like you to chip in and help bring this book to print.
This might surprise you, considering the political moment of being a genderqueer artist in the United States making a webcomic about a genderqueer pirate…but I’m not stopping anytime soon. Come hell or high water, I’m making this comic, and I’m going to get this comic to as many readers as I can reach.
Maybe I’m biased, but I think MORE people need to read this comic. And with your support, we can make that happen.
This campaign runs UNTIL NOV 13. If we hit our base goal before then, then there can be a 24-hour late pledge grace period.
With any luck, once we hit our goals, all rewards will be shipped out in time for the holidays! I will post regular updates in the Campaign Updates (as well as in my email newsletter) to keep everyone in the loop. After backers get their rewards, volume 3 will be available for the general public.
So if you’re ready to nab this treasure, ya’ best be grabbin’ it before it sails away!
Broke? Share this campaign far and wide! Good pirates know to spread the word when the gettin’ is good, and shares help more than you know. Use the link tinyurl.com/tlojrvol3 when you spread the word on the virtual seas.
You all know about Jamie Roberts, the genderqueer pirate who left the sea with their two best friends to go treasure-hunting in a land full of dragons.
But what if they weren’t pirates? Believe it or not, in very early drafts of this comic, Jamie and friends were not pirates at all!
In SUPER early drafts (we’re talking back in 2011 to 2013), they were students at a military school. In those versions of the story, they discover the top brass held an earth-shattering secret plan: to release a demon king and destroy their enemies. They would flee the military school and get refuge in the land where the demon king was sealed away.
In hashing out one draft, I had it that they were military school students, then turned pirate to escape. And the feedback I got was, “Why don’t you just…make them pirates?”
Honestly, storytelling 101: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Besides, I really wanted to get to the pirate bits more than the military school bits. People love pirates more than school, anyway.
So that’s how they became pirates!
Some of these concept sketches, though, will be making it into the bonus material of The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 3…Which is coming to KickStarter on October 14.
Be sure to sign up for my email newsletter to be the first to know! The newsletter is free and private, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
The top two books are the sketchbooks that contain The Legend of Jamie Roberts’ script. The bottom sketchbook contains the majority of the world-building notes. Not ~all~ of them (because many notes are scattered across other sketchbooks). But this one has the majority of the notes, from initial concept to current day. Many of the notes in that one are held in place by paperclips and tape, so it doesn’t leave the studio.
But what do the scripts look like? Well, in the top two books, the pages look a lot like this…
They’re rough on purpose! I like doodling around to get the layouts right. As I work on pages, they go from script to a more refined sketch…
…Up to the finished page.
But it all starts with those rough sketches in the sketchbooks. I’m not going for “perfect” (whatever that is), I’m going for “out of my head.”
Believe it or not, this has worked for me since 2018. Now, I’m going to need a THIRD sketchbook soon, because The Legend is still going, but I’m approaching the end of that second sketchbook. I’m excited to draw what comes next!
Speaking of which, The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 3 is coming to KickStarter on October 14. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to know!
We are one week into the Ko-fi Membership Drive and we have already unlocked a goal!
Now that we have 10 members on Ko-fi, everyone of these members are receiving a Little Caticorn 4×6-inch mini-print!
The next goal is 15 members – when we hit that, everyone will receive the Little Caticorn mini-print AND the Forest Spirit 4×6-inch mini-print!
For the folks who have joined recently, thank you for your patronage. Your rewards will mail out on/after February 1st, 2025. Also you can start receiving early access to The Legend of Jamie Roberts already!
There are more benefits to membership – like shop discounts, exclusive zines and mini-comics, exclusive art, first dibs on commissions, and more. To get these perks, head to my Ko-fi page and join!
Alternatively, you can give just once, and get access to shop discounts and first dibs when I’m available for commissions.
If you want to get your hands on some goodies, I now have some bundles for you to check out:
Keep in mind, you can ONLY get these bundles during this membership drive. So you have UNTIL JAN 31 to claim these. Once the drive closes, the 2024 bundles are gone forever.
So can we make it to 15 members? Who will claim the 2024 rewards? Stay tuned for more updates next week!
