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.

Seeing Him: Now on Kickstarter!

A few months ago, my sister, Kia, approached me and was like, “I have a new story I’m writing and I want you to draw it because it would look awesome!”

Ok, maybe she didn’t phrase it like that. But it was close.

So we worked together to build up this story a bit, and now, we’re raising money to get it off the ground!

seeing him webcomic logo work in progress
Click to enlarge.

What’s the story about?

“Seeing Him” is the story of Katy, a young lady who runs her own skating rink, but wants a little company in her life. So she meets a trans man named Adam at a Japanese noodle restaurant, and so begins a romantic comedy of unique and silly proportions.

Of course there are plenty of friends to help them along, like Greg, Adam’s friend and a tough guy who loves baking cupcakes.

greg from seeing him the trans man webcomic
Click to enlarge.

I love drawing Greg!

There are other friends, too, including Katy’s friends, Rachel and Julianne, who work at the skating rink.

character sketches from seeing him the trans man webcomic
Click to enlarge.

So what’s going on with this story right now?

Well, Kia and I are now raising funds on KickStarter to get this up and running as a webcomic online. The money raised will help pay us for making the project, as well as get you awesome perks, like stickers, bookmarks, and even posters and other cool prizes!

To give you an idea of how the comic will look when it’s funded and made, here’s a preview of page 9:

seeing him trans man webcomic comic page preview
Click to enlarge.

The both of us would love your support, whether you donate, spread the word about it on Facebook and Twitter, or share the project with your friends/family/readers/sentient pet dinosaurs.

The KickStarter will be up until around December 14th, and with your awesomeness, hopefully it can be funded!

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

Outside of My Comfort Zone…In Sketches

Earlier this week, I updated my blog with the following warm-up sketch:

warm up sketch of nautilus and riley, original characters

I then looked at it and went, “Man, I need to practice more variety in body shapes and types!”

That prompted me to sketch THIS:

warm up sketch of galileya, original character

Her name is Galileya. She’s an agent of a super secret organization that destroys planets and does other intergalactic missions. I want to write a story about her and her coworker, Agent Sinclair:

Agents Sinclair and Galileya
Agents Sinclair and Galileya

The problem is I have no story for them that has anything resembling a plot. So they’re still a work in progress.

Back to this week.

After I drew Galileya, I was like, “But man, I need to practice drawing things that aren’t people! What can I draw?”

Well, one morning my cat was on my bed, grooming herself. So I got out my sketch pad and my ink brush, and got to work:

warm up sketches of cat grooming

That was tricky to do, since she kept moving on me.

I should probably just wait until she holds still, like this:

gray cat bree bree

BUT EVEN THAT IS FLEETING BECAUSE CATS DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.

So I went, “Dude, I gotta practice drawing things that hold still! But I’ve drawn most of the objects around me twenty times. What’s new on Pinterest that I can use as a reference?”

I found this image:

If you took this picture, please let me know so I can give you credit!

And I went, “PERFECT! I need to practice landscapes so I don’t have crap that looks like this”:

JamieRobertsEnvirons1

So I took the reference image above and drew this (with some artistic license in rendering certain things):

landscape practice sketch from reference

 

I still want to practice landscapes and environments, though. Because

a) It would make my current comics projects even better, and

b) the projects I have in mind for the future are sci-fi/fantasy works that require a LOT of visual development and technical know-how, which I don’t have a lot of yet.

So what do you draw for practice? Let me know in the comments below! And if we keep the conversation going, I think we can find new things for us to practice drawing so we don’t get too comfortable.

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

P.S. I actually drew MORE than this stuff this week, but those other sketches are exclusive to Patreon subscribers only. If you’re interested in supporting what I do, go to Patreon! There are tipping plans for as little as $1 a month.

Also, I am aware that the Patreon page is under Christian Beranek’s name. It’s our joint effort under the umbrella of Validation. Any money raised there is split evenly between the both of us so we can both keep producing the comic.

If you want to go the more direct route or support my other work, there’s also a tip jar over at Johnson & Sir‘s page.

Ok, that’s it for now! For real this time!

Youmacon Fast Approacheth

So in my hurry to get ready for Youmacon and also keep afloat on commissions I’ve been asked to do, I…lost track a little with Johnson & Sir. I missed an update last week. But rest assured! It’s back to a normal update schedule now! You can read the new page here.

Here’s a preview to further entice you:

johnson and sir page 61 promotional panel for webcomic

I’ve also been working really hard on my new webcomic Charlie & Clow…

And it launches tomorrow! Read it at its own website. It even comes with a surprise!

charlie and clow header image bar
This is not the surprise I’m talking about. This is just to show off a taste of what’s to come.

And in other product-launching news, Validation is now on Patreon!

patreon screencap

In case you haven’t heard, Patreon is a voluntary subscription service where you can donate as little as $1 a month to your favorite creators. In exchange you get gratitude and really cool perks! Christian and I would really appreciate any support you can give over at Patreon (and if you’re broke, spread the word on social media! That helps, too).

In even more product-launching news, I added a new listing at my store: Avengers Assemble! In bookmark form, of course:

avengers assemble in bookmark form, available for sale
Click for fuller view.

If you’re interested in ordering a set, click here.

The rest of this week, I will be MIA, as I’ll be with my family and then immediately going off to Youmacon. I won’t be a special guest there, but I’ll be attending (probably in costume). I hope you can find me!

As such, I won’t be updating on Friday like I usually do, because I’ll be either on the road or at the con. So you’ll see another update on this blog next Tuesday!

In the meantime, I’ve got comics for you to read: Validation on Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir Tuesdays, and now Charlie & Clow Wednesdays! So there you go.