Jamie Roberts, Vlogs, and Graphic Novels

Welcome to another week!

Last week there was Validation, Johnson & Sir, and The Women Warriors Project galore.

For the past two days I’ve been writing the script for The Legend of Jamie Roberts like a madwoman. The odds are high that I can finally have the whole script finished before the end of this month! And then I can start making the art, and it will be glorious.

I’ve also been mulling over the vlog. It’ll start back up again this week since I have some videos recorded already. It’ll be back to updating every Friday.

Sometimes this week, expect a review of Boxers by Gene Luen Yang. I finished reading this marvelous graphic novel yesterday and I’m polishing my thoughts about the work.

Speaking of reviews, I am open to reviewing graphic novels, comics, webcomics, or even novels! If you would like me to review your work or any particular piece of work, shoot me an email at kelcidcrawford@gmail.com.

Expect more updates later this week!

Status Report!

Unexpected post is unexpected.

So what’s been going on lately? Well Validation and Johnson & Sir are still chugging along.

Last week was the launch of a NEW project, The Women Warriors Project! I wrote all about it in a previous blog post, which you can read here.

I’ve been posting some Johnson & Sir sketches over on my Tumblr. Here’s a few for you:

johnson_and_sir_spanish_sketch_by_kelcid-d79o6jp tumblr_n2e66kFhrW1s278nuo1_500

That last one is actually an in-joke on a Validation strip I did before, because half of the audience on Validation’s Facebook page saw this strip and went “I want Rubber Duck The Reckoning to be a thing!”

I want it to be a thing, too! We’re figuring it out ;D

I’m still writing The Legend of Jamie Roberts. With any luck the script will be done by March 30th.

I haven’t been working on Charlie and Clow as much as I should be. I need to fix that. And I hope to get the first 6 or so pages online once they’re done. I’ll let you know when that happens!

And I just might be making a new short story for an anthology soon…

Vlogs, Caricatures, and Comics

So you might have noticed I haven’t been posting vlogs for the past two weeks.

Part of this is: the footage I’ve got doesn’t interest me, and if it doesn’t interest me, you would probably like it even less so. The other part is: nothing of value is really being talked about, and I want to change that.

I was thinking of vlogging more about comics and art books, but I want to know what you think. What should I do with the vlog series?

Talk about comics? Answer questions from readers of Validation and Johnson & Sir? Show how I make comics? Or something else entirely?

On the topic of making things, this weekend I spent some energy getting a caricatures portfolio together. Here are some of them I got finished:

Caricature2014_1web
This guy did a TED Talk, but I missed his name. He talks about learning new skills with 20 hours of practice.
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Brad Pitt playing Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglorious Basterds.
Caricatures2014_3web
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Caricatures2014_6web
…and some woman I spotted in a shopping catalog. I wanted to exaggerate her hair because it was ridiculous.

 

I haven’t drawn caricatures in about a year, so they’re not the best ones I’ve ever made. I’m also hoping to beat my personal record of drawing a black and white caricature in under 1 minute 30 seconds. The only way to do that is PRACTICE.

“Why are you making caricatures?” You’re asking, no doubt.

Because 1) I miss doing them, and 2) I want to get more gigs drawing caricatures at parties and conventions so I’m not so reliant on one stream of money coming in.

There’s nothing wrong with making comics for a living.

As a matter of fact, I’m psyched and so ridiculously lucky to be able to make money drawing comics.

Like Validation, which is still going strong. We even picked a winner of our Facebook giveaway and I gave stickers and a signed print! And you still like what we do, which is just icing on the absolutely delicious cake of luck.

While I’m on the topic of comics, The Legend of Jamie Roberts is going pretty well! The plan got pushed back a bit more, though: I’ll begin making pages in March, but launch won’t happen until late March or the beginning of April.

The Legend of Jamie Roberts is being pushed again (not by much, though) because I still need to finish up the scripts. I’m halfway through the story, if not more. And I want to make sure that I know where the story is going before I start making pages.

That, and I’m redesigning their costumes.

JamieRobertsNewCostume
This is my favorite design so far, but I think I’ll change it again. The idea is she’ll be adding more to her costume as she travels through Corith.

Even though the sketch is black and white, the plan is to make the comic in color. I’ll be sharing colored sketches more as I work on the story.

That’s all for now, so back to the drawing board for me!

P.S. Have you heard of Patreon? It’s a voluntary subscription service to support creators. I’m thinking of getting an account on there. What do you think?

The Legend of Jamie Roberts

Today I want to talk a little about this comic I’ve been working on for the last 5 years. Maybe even longer.

I mention it by title every once in a while on this blog.

It’s The Legend of Jamie Roberts.

Jamie Roberts has been brought up before, but the launch of the actual webcomic has always been pushed back. That’s because I’m still writing and drawing it, and things are always changing.

But now, I’m feeling really confident with this story, and it will be coming out.

But let me tell you a little of what the story is about.

RankiandJamie_web

 

The figure on the left is Ranki. He’s a Dragon King from Corith. 500 years ago he was defeated in the Corith Civil War and banished. But being a dragon in human form that lives a really long time, he hasn’t died yet, and he’s still pretty ticked that he lost.

The figure on the right is Jamie Roberts. She ran away from her home in Touloy by joining a pirate crew, disguising herself as a boy so no one would recognize her. She and her two best friends from the crew, Thomas and Daniel, head for Corith when they discover there are national treasures to be found (and possibly looted).

Jamie and her friends are hired by another Dragon King to be his bodyguards while he travels across the country. I won’t tell you what adventures await them because you should read the comic for that.

Speaking of, the comic production schedule looks a little like this right now:

  1. Write comic, finish before the end of the month
  2. Edit.
  3. In January and February, draw comic pages.
  4. At the beginning of March, launch comic to the world!

I was about to say I would launch it in February – HOWEVER THAT’S NOT TRUE.

The reason I’m not launching in February is because there will be another announcement around that time. Watch out for Rogue KickStarter campaigns!

Still, I’m REALLY excited for The Legend of Jamie Roberts, and I hope that you are, too.

I even made a 7-page teaser you can read at SmackJeeves (though fair warning: it’s at least two years old. The art will look WAY different).

Keep watching this blog. I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes sketches and even some character snapshots!