Kelci D Crawford

Soon it will be November, and soon it will be the start of the gloriously creative and chaotic National Novel Writing Month (those of us cool people in the biz call it NaNoWriMo – or if you’re Master-Level Lazy, NaNo).

Starting Tomorrow I will be embarking on NaNoWriMo, along with my older sister Kristen, aka @TheTwitchingEye on Twitter. She will be working on FINALLY writing a full draft of the novel she’s been making for the last 15 years.

I, in the meantime, will be writing a full draft of a story in the making for a mere 5 years.

The story I will be writing is my new draft of The Legend of Jamie Roberts. (I know, I know, I never stop talking about that darned story, but trust me – the wait will be worth it, and I will make it worth it no matter what).

The reasons for the new draft are actually pretty important. For starters, Jamie and friends are no longer soldiers – they’re pirates.

(This change actually makes the Snowball Fight poster moot. Could you help me get them off my hands please? They’re not bad posters, they’re just not accurate to the story anymore. Think of them as an alternate universe and let your imagination run wild.)

You can get the poster at the Store.

Another thing – some of my characters from previous drafts have left (which makes this mini-poster moot as well. Darn it!)

Could you help me get this off my hands as well please?

However, a character leaving the plot has changed one character’s entire story, not to mention that the ending of the story overall is now different.

Ok, on to other NaNo business before you get bored.

This year Kristen and I are not writing alone – we’ve joined a NaNo writing group based here in Phoenix, AZ. We actually went to a pre-NaNo party just a couple of days ago (there was a person wearing a Toothless hat there but I didn’t get a picture because I thought it would be rude_. We both met some cool people and a great support group for our endeavors.

If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo this year, you should go to the website and sign up. Signing up means you commit to the challenge and want to join a group for support. There are tons of groups based in different locations and genre, plus there are pages of plot, character, and writing ideas in case you get stuck.

NaNo starts tomorrow (I am the master of short notice!) – so if you’re hesitant to join and haven’t heard about this event until now – wait until next year unless you’ve got a lot of ideas, serious cajones, or both. But if you think you wanna do the challenge, join us!

SHAMELESS PLUG SQUARE:

Of course there are the posters mentioned up above.

Also! Earlier this week I added 2 new prints for sale. Both are made with the help of my fabulous friend Chloe and are part of our Doujinshi studio, MACPILT. So go check out Brotherhood and You Are Not Alone.

That’s all for now, but thank you for being awesome!

Hey there!

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I recently moved to Arizona. You would also know that I work on a lot of comics, and when I’m not doing those, I’m in the “real world”.

Here’s the thing: the “real world” mandates that I need money for rent…and food…and clothes…and things that generally make life less miserable. Plus, there are conventions that happen in the “real world” where I can meet all you fabulous people (outside of the computer).

Ergo, I am offering to draw commissions to raise money for these things.

That’s right! I draw one of the offerings below for you in exchange for moneys for food and conventions and T-shirts and other generally awesome things.

First, the offerings:

• $15 for a pencil (or ink) sketch of head and shoulders of a character of your choice. (Example 1) (Example 2)
• $20 for a full color sketch of head and shoulders of a character of your choice. (Example 1) (Example 2)
• $25 for a pencil (or ink) sketch of full body of a character of your choice. (Example 1) (Example 2)
• $30 for a full color sketch of full body of a character of your choice. (Example 1) (Example 2) (Example 3)
• A spot color for the background in any of these comes free.
• A detailed background in any of these is an extra $10.
• Any extra characters or animals are $10 apiece.
• If you want the character(s) to say something, there’s no extra charge.
• If you want this delivered digitally, there’s no shipping charge (but I need your email). 
• If you want to own the drawing for yourself and hang it on your wall/ceiling/etc. shipping is an extra $5 in the U.S. $8 Internationally.
• (Don’t forget to add your address if you want me to ship it to you!)

Want me to draw you something different than what’s above? Just ask!

But here are a few things to keep in mind. Please:

• Keep it PG. No sexual nudity or violence (especially the blood and guts kind)
• No porn.
• Remember I have the right to say “No I won’t draw this for you” for whatever reason (and I will give you one if I need to).

You can pay with either PayPal or check (but I really prefer if you use PayPal).

I hate to include instructions, but this’ll just be easier for you and me.

1. Figure out what you would like me to draw for you.
2. Send me an email at kelcidcrawford at gmail dot com with a subject line that says something like, “I’d Like to Commission You!”
3. I decide whether I can draw it for you or not (I reserve the right to say no and/or direct you to somebody else).
4. If I decide to draw your awesome request, please pay half of the cost before I get started. I will give you the PayPal link or mailing address to send payment to on this step.
5. Once I get your payment, I’ll get started!
6. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of your art, and I will ask for your feedback (especially if the piece is really complicated).
7. Once it’s done, I will email you your final amount of fun tickets owed.
8. You exchange fun tickets with me.
9. I send you the finished art.
10. JOY!

The Legend of Jamie Roberts now has a six-page preview! To read it, go here.

And just in case you missed it, I started posting “Mermaids” to Mini-Comic Theater. To start that, go here.

Don’t forget, too, that Validation updates tomorrow, and then Johnson & Sir updates on Tuesday.

Plus! Another new comic will be premiering this week! I’ll be sharing a link once it’s ready here, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

You would think I’d get tired of making comics all the time, but I don’t. That’s the fun part.

I can hear you asking, “You’ve been hyping up The Legend of Jamie Roberts for months now! When will it launch?!”

Here, I’ll do it in bullet points, because it’s easier for me to do it this way:

• Jamie Roberts launches in the first week of November
• Once we get closer to launch, I’ll set a date and announce it.
• The comic will be full color
• The comic will update once a week…to start.
• Once I feel comfortable, I’ll increase production to twice a week.

Oh hello there you fabulous person you.

So you might have found me through Validation, the webcomic I make with the ever fabulous Christian Beranek (we’ve been getting some good press from that. Did you see the article on Comic Vine about us? Of course you did. That’s probably what got you here, too).

Or you might have found me through the illustration I did for the ever awesome Tumblr blog Cool Chicks From History (I drew the illustration for Rafaela Herrera, who is a badass lady).

Or you could have found me from Johnson & Sir (the webcomic I do about an Odd Couple-like pair of elf cops).

Any way you slice it, there’s more of you lovely readers out there.

So hi!

As you can tell, I’m pretty busy with webcomics and making art for cool people.

I’ve also been busy with moving from Ohio to Arizona. I’ve been settling into my new place (which is sharing space with my older sister) and then my mom came to visit from out of state, so I’ve been on vacation to be with them.

So, my apologies for not welcoming you sooner.

To gain your favor, here’s a picture of the Grand Canyon the same day that the government shut down. The blurry hand is a bonus, I guess?

Will there be more comics?

Of course there will be!

Keep your eyes open for a new semi-auto-biographical comedic comic soon! I’ll be announcing the launch here and on my Twitter and Facebook pages.

I’ll also begin producing my latest Halloween-inspired comic, Charlie & Clow!

And of course, my hyped-up, never-shut-up-about comic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts will launch next month! I’ll be releasing a six-page prequel on SmackJeeves on October 6th.

So you came in at the right time. :D

Thanks for stopping by! I do my best to update my blog every Sunday. So please bookmark this page for more news about my comics (I also do comic and book reviews here, so if you think I should be reading something, drop me a line at kelcidcrawford at gmail dot com).

I also post the occasional work-in-progress and art/writing tutorial here, so let me know if you would like me to tackle anything from character design to plot development.

Thanks for your support, and don’t forget to be awesome.

First: I know I promised a blog post about my opinions on whether college was worth it. I’m still working on that. It’ll be posted next week.

Second: This blog post!

I left Ohio around 10 am this morning to start my road trip to Arizona!

I was hoping to get to St. Louis before I stopped for the day, but traffic delays and construction on I-70 prevented that. (Grrrrrr…) Now I’m staying in Illinois at the exit that boasts the World’s Largest Golf Tee and Wind Chime. And I WILL check those out before I hit the road again tomorrow!

The update for Johnson & Sir was late today because of that, and because I forgot to set it to update automatically (I’m a dippy bird sometimes). Next week that won’t be an issue.

Thanks for reading!