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May’s Massive Moving Sale

may's massive moving sale on kelci d crawford's storenvy store

I had the idea to post this in the Adventures in Moving slot on Tuesday – but I want to make this announcement SOONER. The announcement being: I’m running a MASSIVE Moving Sale for the month of May.

If you’ve been reading Adventures in Moving, you know by now that I’m preparing to move. However, I still have a LOT of my own products sitting around not being sold, because COVID-19 cancelled convention season.

The thing is, I don’t want to pack all of it. Because I’d rather see that a good chunk of this go to new homes. That way, you get comics to read and art to oggle, and I lighten my load for the move. Wins all around!

So I’m running a MASSIVE moving sale over on Storenvy.

You may remember my price changes from the last few weeks – on things like Johnson & Sir, Charlie & Clow: The Bonus Arc, and Dragons: A Sketchbook. Those sales prices will stay (for now).

ALL of the following sales prices are now on Storenvy:

These price are good UNTIL MAY 22.

So be sure to jump on these soon – the things you want may go out of stock sooner rather than later.

After May 22, the Storenvy shop will temporarily pause until I move into my new apartment.

IF YOU ARE BROKE – share this sale with friends who like indie artists! Make sure your friend give you a shout-out in the memo section of their order. That way, the two of you are entered to win a FREE commission from me! Two winners will be picked on May 24.

TL;DR. I’m running a sale on on Storenvy until May 22. If you’re broke, share the sale with your friends. Have your friend say “(Your name) sent me!” in the memo of the order. The both of you will be entered into a giveaway to win a FREE commission! Two winners will be selected May 24.

Questions? Leave them in the comments below.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

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Writing for Comics 101 – Why One-Liners Are Not Enough

In today’s installment of Writing for Comics 101, let’s talk about why one-liners are not enough.

If you missed it, I wrote in last week’s installment about how to write good characters. Now, I’m going to let you in on a secret about how to write dialogue for characters:

YOU CANNOT FORCE A ONE-LINER.

Admittedly, this is more of a problem I see in people who want to get into superhero or shonen comics. Both genres are guilty of having characters talking (almost incessantly) on the pages during action scenes. This incessant talking is meant to lead into quote-worthy one-liners.

Don’t get me wrong. I love one-liners. Otherwise I would not love the movie Mystery Men as much as I do.

But here’s the secret about one-liners: They are rooted in the characters.

To have good one-liners, you need to have good characters. To have good characters, you need to know your characters REALLY well. As in, you should know the things I talked about last week. If you don’t, go back to the Word document.

But a story cannot be made of one-liners alone. You need to have connective moments. Even Mystery Men knew that.

So what you need to learn is how to write actual, believable dialogue between characters.

To make that actual, believable dialogue, you need to understand your characters backgrounds, wants, and fears.

And here’s the most important secret about making comics that few people talk about:

Sometimes, the best thing you can say on the comic page…is nothing.

Trust me: silence can say more in a story than any amount of dialogue ever could. Read Cairo and Asterios Polyp if you don’t believe me.

If you still have questions, let me know in the comments. I’m happy to help.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

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Throwback Thursday – Phoenix

x-men phoenix marker and ink sketch from 2013

Today’s Throwback Thursday is going to reveal how much of an absolute hipster I am. Because here’s why I drew Phoenix from X-Men:

I’ve never read the comics that featured Phoenix. I only ever saw X-Men 3 for context for who Phoenix is. (And looking back on it, X-Men 3 wasn’t that good).

I drew Phoenix because of the aesthetic.

I wanted to play around with shadows and light on a superhero figure, and this sketch was the result. This was drawn back in 2013, so I’ve improved since then.

But yep – I’m a freakin’ hipster. Only hipsters would draw a character because they looked cool, not because of anything actually pertaining to the character.

So please forgive 2013 me.

Still, I wanted to share this so a) you could learn from my mistake, and b) because I’m actually pretty pleased with how this sketch came out.

If I ever do a redraw of this, I would change the character to someone whom I actually know and like.

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The Freelance Lifestyle – How I Maximize My Energy and Focus

In today’s installment of the Freelance Lifestyle, I share my secrets on how I maximize my energy and focus.

These are things I’ve been refining for the last seven or so years. And some things are still a work in progress. But these are the things that I’ve found the most helpful to keep up my focus on the tasks in front of me with the most energy possible.

I set routines for the boring stuff

I have a morning ritual, and a night ritual for getting ready for bed. I’ve also set my breakfast to be consistent, with the exception of when I travel.

I set routines, because here’s the trick: routines mean less decision-making. Once routines become a habit, they become one less thing to think about.

Especially as a freelance creative, decision-making is important. Every creative act is a decision. But our human brains are only wired to make so many decisions in one day before it gets tired.

So I make habits out of the more mundane stuff, to make less decisions, to keep up my energy.

I use the Pomodoro technique

The Pomodoro technique is something talked about in a lot of productivity circles, including by the likes of Thomas Frank. It’s a simple technique where you do work for a set amount of time, then take a break, then you repeat the process. The most common time blocking is 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break time.

With this technique you can set your work and break time to however long you want.

You can use timers to make this work. Personally, I like the Forest app. It’s an app that plants a digital tree for a set amount of time for you to focus. As long as you don’t touch the phone, that tree will keep growing. Once the timer runs out, you can set a break time before you sit down to plant another tree and focus again.

I like the Forest app because it keeps me focused, AND it keeps me off my phone. (My phone is super distracting otherwise).

I have a “commute” for the beginning and end of the day.

I hadn’t thought too much about this until I watched this video from The Financial Diet. In this video Chelsea shares tips on how to work from home effectively, which I highly recommend you watch if you want a supplement to this post.

In this video she brought up the idea of a “commute,” even when you work from home. And I realized, “Oh dang, I already do this for the beginning of the day.”

The idea of the “commute” is that you have something to help your brain transition from personal time to work mode. And at the end of the day you do that in reverse.

For me, transitioning INTO work mode looks like this: after my morning routine, I sit at my desk and draw script in my sketchbook for later chapters of The Legend of Jamie Roberts. I do this for ten to twenty minutes. After that, I take the time to write for ten minutes. And once both are done, I can fully get into work-brain mode.

To transition OUT of work mode, I wrap up my timed work on the Forest app/Pomodoro time block. Then I set down my tools, unplug things from my laptop, and take a shower while my favorite music plays from the Bluetooth speaker.

These are small things, but they help my mind slow down enough to shift gears.

I hope these help! If you’re still stumped, leave a comment below and I will do my best to help you out.

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

You. Are. Awesome.

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Adventures in Moving – Being Safe

In these uncertain times, I’m making this announcement in the Adventures in Moving: I’m being safe, and delaying my move date.

For folks who are out of the loop, I planned on moving because the house I’m renting got sold. Thankfully, mom (who owned the house before) sold it to my sister. Because of that, the time table to move is more relaxed.

However, it is NOT relaxed for my sister’s current roommate. Currently, he’s renting an apartment from a preeeety shady landlord. This landlord has been demanding consistent rent payments and will kick out anyone whose lease runs out if the renter does not renew. Even during these uncertain times.

And what do you know? This roommate’s lease runs out in the beginning of June.

He also has a dog. An elderly, pain in the ass dog, whom both of my cats HATE. And he also has a kitten.

The house I’m in is small – so fitting 3 people under the roof is a challenge. Add an extra dog and cat, and that becomes my sister, the roommate, me, four cats, and two dogs (because my sister has a dog, too) under one dinky roof.

So I DO intend to move before June starts.

However, with coronavirus still being A THING, I’ve heard through the grapevine that Ohio intends to open the state back up around May 1.

I am of the opinion that this is WAY TOO DAMN SOON.

(Personally, I prefer the relief effort ViHart outlines in her latest video. Go check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.)

So I’m going to be safe.

Right now, the plan is to move out of my current home between May 15 and May 31. There are contingency plans if the move has to be delayed. But this is the current plan.

Where am I moving to? Well, it’s looking like the Toledo area – but Columbus is still an option.

That’s where things are at for now. As things change, I’ll keep you posted.

Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.