Doing another run of Sky sketches. She shall be art carded during Thursday night's stream!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Thursday Streaming!
When: Thursday, August 29, 8pm Eastern Time. Where: My Ustream page. What: Rent-a-Chrispy art!
This session is for another of the great Kickstarter backers who reserved this time and helped make book 2 a success. The stream shall feature an artist edition sketch and several art cards, some of which are previewed in the above sketches.
Everyone is invited to watch and chat with me! The stream is scheduled for four hours, so I will still be drawing away if any latecomers poke their heads in.
Typical stream reminders: You don't need an account to watch, but if you sign up you get a username and can follow my channel for streaming notifications. Ustream is a "free" due to ad support, so sometimes there will be commercials. Finally, there is usually a significant lag in the broadcast, so there will be gaps between asking questions and getting answers, going both ways. I still want to chat, though! Give me something fun to babble about as I draw!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
New Copper Road + InterventionCon!
First off, thanks to all who came to last night's stream! I hope you all had fun! The next Rent-a-Chrispy stream is scheduled for Thursday, August 29th. Be there!
On to Copper Road, where we examine what makes one cheer harder. This was me yesterday, by the way. Vote to see the new comic!
Next up: InterventionCon is this weekend! I will be at table 19, hanging with Ahmed from Silent Pirate (or forcing him to watch my table while I chat with other friends in the vendor room). If you're in the DC area, come check out this convention that celebrates all the cool things that emerge from the internet!
On to Copper Road, where we examine what makes one cheer harder. This was me yesterday, by the way. Vote to see the new comic!
Next up: InterventionCon is this weekend! I will be at table 19, hanging with Ahmed from Silent Pirate (or forcing him to watch my table while I chat with other friends in the vendor room). If you're in the DC area, come check out this convention that celebrates all the cool things that emerge from the internet!
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Tuesday stream + Kickstarter Update!
As the preorders for book 2 keep shipping out, Tuesday marks the first of the Rent-A-Chrispy streaming sessions! Come follow along on Ustream at 8pm Eastern time for some chatting and arting! Scroll down to the other streaming news post for my typical streaming rundown.
For the rest of you backers, work on artist edition sketches is moving along nicely! Above you can see a few samples. Click on the image to see more I posted to my Tumblr.
I'm almost done with all of the tiers marked for August delivery, and I've already started on other tiers. (Sometimes I had a color set out, so I looked for artist editions requesting it.) Everything drawn should be on its way to those backers by next week. The only delay this week is that I need time to prep for my InterventionCon visit! (Come see me, DC-area people!) Bonus: I'm getting the dolls for Cupcakes of Bliss at the con! That means the dollmakers will be there, marking maybe the only time a latecomer could grab an extra doll order. The new button set should arrive next week as well, which is when Cupcake packing begins!
Once I have cleared through the pre-orders, the remaining Precocious books will be going up in the store. Soon! Sooooon! The store will be populated with more and more things as I get time. Feel free to nudge me over it if there's something you're after. Money talks!
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Night of Sketches, Part 3
As this is part three, that means you should be scrolling down to see all the recent sketches and read a story about my house that probably doesn't interest you. Too bad. Do it.
Like all sketches from tonight, these are from someone's Rent-a-Chrispy's ideas. In a flattering twist, I was told he has too much Precocious art, so maybe he should collect it in a Precocious binder. Which would need cover art. OK! Most of these sketches are variations of the same idea: Autumn looking through the art binder and being adorable in the process.
The idea stemmed from a suggestion that Autumn be pulling a book down from a bookshelf. I did attempt that for one sketch, and included a few more sketches that can have that bookshelf added into the background. The Ivydoll and Pingoball were added on a whim later. Autumn does have a fox-style doll on her bookshelf. It is NOT the Pingoball, as it was created before Pingoball was a thing, but it happens to have the same color shirt as the Pingoball by dumb coincidence... so maybe a retcon wouldn't hurt?
Next up is the book sketch! As Ms. Monster played a large role in the book's big stories, she was chosen to the be the featured character. Since this is a commission time and not an artist edition sketch, it can be as simple or as complex as desired. Above is a smug Ms. Monster, standing in front a blackboard that will have some doomeriffic message on it. It's a simple look that fits nicely in the space provided.
If we want to get ambitious, though, a scene was proposed of a parent-teacher conference involving Ivy. My first idea was to have Ms. Monster printout a long list of Autumn's misdeeds. I like the sketch, but it would be a tight fit in the book. (It is doable, though.)
Trying to find a more vertical solution, I drew Ivy and Ms. Monster confronting Autumn. Ivy is angry, while Ms. Monster has the smug tattletale look going on.
Finally, I roughed out some Ivy arc cards because Ivy is fun! The one on top is the "we got sued by ANOTHER magician" look, and the bottom row has the "world's best mug (when full)".
Before my face decided that exploding was a thing it wanted to do, thus removing my ability to stream without heavy medication, we had talked about a Soren art card. I couldn't find the sketch on the blog, and eventually figured out it was a sketch I drew during a stream and never scanned in. As luck would have it, I found what I *think* is what we'd talked about in the first old sketchbook I pulled out. Here is Soren reading in front of a bookshelf. Now that I think about it, I remember turning down requests to draw this card because I didn't know where to crop it, and worried that I wouldn't be able to capture the sitting look correctly on the first try. (It's not good entertainment when the streaming artist has to erase and start over, especially when it's light pencils that aren't easy to see.) So, if this is indeed the card desired, I get a chance to solve those problems before I ink/color it live!
Like all sketches from tonight, these are from someone's Rent-a-Chrispy's ideas. In a flattering twist, I was told he has too much Precocious art, so maybe he should collect it in a Precocious binder. Which would need cover art. OK! Most of these sketches are variations of the same idea: Autumn looking through the art binder and being adorable in the process.
The idea stemmed from a suggestion that Autumn be pulling a book down from a bookshelf. I did attempt that for one sketch, and included a few more sketches that can have that bookshelf added into the background. The Ivydoll and Pingoball were added on a whim later. Autumn does have a fox-style doll on her bookshelf. It is NOT the Pingoball, as it was created before Pingoball was a thing, but it happens to have the same color shirt as the Pingoball by dumb coincidence... so maybe a retcon wouldn't hurt?
Next up is the book sketch! As Ms. Monster played a large role in the book's big stories, she was chosen to the be the featured character. Since this is a commission time and not an artist edition sketch, it can be as simple or as complex as desired. Above is a smug Ms. Monster, standing in front a blackboard that will have some doomeriffic message on it. It's a simple look that fits nicely in the space provided.
If we want to get ambitious, though, a scene was proposed of a parent-teacher conference involving Ivy. My first idea was to have Ms. Monster printout a long list of Autumn's misdeeds. I like the sketch, but it would be a tight fit in the book. (It is doable, though.)
Trying to find a more vertical solution, I drew Ivy and Ms. Monster confronting Autumn. Ivy is angry, while Ms. Monster has the smug tattletale look going on.
Finally, I roughed out some Ivy arc cards because Ivy is fun! The one on top is the "we got sued by ANOTHER magician" look, and the bottom row has the "world's best mug (when full)".
Before my face decided that exploding was a thing it wanted to do, thus removing my ability to stream without heavy medication, we had talked about a Soren art card. I couldn't find the sketch on the blog, and eventually figured out it was a sketch I drew during a stream and never scanned in. As luck would have it, I found what I *think* is what we'd talked about in the first old sketchbook I pulled out. Here is Soren reading in front of a bookshelf. Now that I think about it, I remember turning down requests to draw this card because I didn't know where to crop it, and worried that I wouldn't be able to capture the sitting look correctly on the first try. (It's not good entertainment when the streaming artist has to erase and start over, especially when it's light pencils that aren't easy to see.) So, if this is indeed the card desired, I get a chance to solve those problems before I ink/color it live!
Night of Sketches, Part 2
The sketches here are going to cover what goes down during Tuesday's Rent-a-Chrispy stream!
These commissions are going to cover his character and how his character having fun in other creative universes. I started by doing my Chrispy-style sketching of Errant for a standard character card. I sketched a front view and a profile to choose from - although I guess he can have both if he wants, since there's a character button involved with this project too.
Below those, you see me sketching Animal Crossing Errant and Precocious Errant. I really like the gamers sketch, which will become his book 2 sketch.
The Animal Crossing commission involves Errant bringing Coffee to the always-on-duty (and rarely talked to) Digby, and doing some flirting in the process. I admit I struggled in figuring out how to pull it off, as a kiss on the cheek is meant to happen as the coffee is being handed over. Due the AC's top-heavy anatomy, I felt doing both at once would throw off balance make Errant fall on his face - even with me cheating a bit to elongate the body! Once sketch has both, in which both character ended standing straight up and down to keep balance. The other sketches are before and after the exchange takes place, freeing up the body movement. If any strikes the client's fancy, I'll play around with the dynamics more to create and active composition.
I drew that Digby from memory, btw. I'm kinda worried I was able to get it as close as I did.
These commissions are going to cover his character and how his character having fun in other creative universes. I started by doing my Chrispy-style sketching of Errant for a standard character card. I sketched a front view and a profile to choose from - although I guess he can have both if he wants, since there's a character button involved with this project too.
Below those, you see me sketching Animal Crossing Errant and Precocious Errant. I really like the gamers sketch, which will become his book 2 sketch.
The Animal Crossing commission involves Errant bringing Coffee to the always-on-duty (and rarely talked to) Digby, and doing some flirting in the process. I admit I struggled in figuring out how to pull it off, as a kiss on the cheek is meant to happen as the coffee is being handed over. Due the AC's top-heavy anatomy, I felt doing both at once would throw off balance make Errant fall on his face - even with me cheating a bit to elongate the body! Once sketch has both, in which both character ended standing straight up and down to keep balance. The other sketches are before and after the exchange takes place, freeing up the body movement. If any strikes the client's fancy, I'll play around with the dynamics more to create and active composition.
I drew that Digby from memory, btw. I'm kinda worried I was able to get it as close as I did.
Night of Sketches, part 1
I should probably put this story in the LAST of tonight's updates, since that would be on top, but oh well. Here it is.
It was harder than it ever should be to get these sketches scanned and onto the internet. If you've been following me on Twitter, you know that the AC unit on my level had its drain malfunction. And the emergency shut-off failed. So it flooded. Oh, and the unit's in the attic, so that means lots of fun. I found the water mark around 9pm on Friday night. We shut it down, but the water was already down and soaking through everything. At 4am the ceiling gave out, so that was nice.
Fortunately, insurance covered it. so we had an inspector out on Monday morning. He discovered the damage was worse that first thought. In the end it's nothing too devastating, but the damage spreads through two stories of the house. Water is kinda relentless that way.
Well, yeah, we're filing that claim, and that means the water damage recovery unit came today. If you stand at the base of the stairs, you can hear three industrial-strength dehumidifiers and three blowers going. It's.. amazing. Another consequence is that I can't work in a wind tunnel, so I moved everything into my bedroom, resulting in some tech-hoarder mess that has almost no space to move around in, and that space is a deadly jungle of cords. And, as I had forgotten, the only access to the AC unit is through the attic, so I lost my bedroom too while the workers were here. Oh, and then the dishwasher leaked water all over the kitchen, because why not at this point? And that is the story of why these sketches are so late in getting posted.
Now, on to Rent-a-Chrispy backer sketches!
The sketches here are the last set owed to one of my brave streamer backers. One thing about making art cards of new characters: Realize I don't have a standard pose for them. That sounds lazy, but it's more about being comfortable in knowing who they are, and how they would react in various situations. I haven't truly decided yet where Esme stands in relation to the other characters. She's got an administrator's mentality, of course, but where does her heart truly lie? We haven't had a chance to see her outside of the principal role yet. So here are some attempts to find where she fits in Precocious. I don't think it's too surprising I drew slightly concerned, exasperated, annoyed and slightly more concerned. Imagine if you were in charge of not only those students, but the crazy teaching staff as well.
It was harder than it ever should be to get these sketches scanned and onto the internet. If you've been following me on Twitter, you know that the AC unit on my level had its drain malfunction. And the emergency shut-off failed. So it flooded. Oh, and the unit's in the attic, so that means lots of fun. I found the water mark around 9pm on Friday night. We shut it down, but the water was already down and soaking through everything. At 4am the ceiling gave out, so that was nice.
Fortunately, insurance covered it. so we had an inspector out on Monday morning. He discovered the damage was worse that first thought. In the end it's nothing too devastating, but the damage spreads through two stories of the house. Water is kinda relentless that way.
Well, yeah, we're filing that claim, and that means the water damage recovery unit came today. If you stand at the base of the stairs, you can hear three industrial-strength dehumidifiers and three blowers going. It's.. amazing. Another consequence is that I can't work in a wind tunnel, so I moved everything into my bedroom, resulting in some tech-hoarder mess that has almost no space to move around in, and that space is a deadly jungle of cords. And, as I had forgotten, the only access to the AC unit is through the attic, so I lost my bedroom too while the workers were here. Oh, and then the dishwasher leaked water all over the kitchen, because why not at this point? And that is the story of why these sketches are so late in getting posted.
Now, on to Rent-a-Chrispy backer sketches!
The sketches here are the last set owed to one of my brave streamer backers. One thing about making art cards of new characters: Realize I don't have a standard pose for them. That sounds lazy, but it's more about being comfortable in knowing who they are, and how they would react in various situations. I haven't truly decided yet where Esme stands in relation to the other characters. She's got an administrator's mentality, of course, but where does her heart truly lie? We haven't had a chance to see her outside of the principal role yet. So here are some attempts to find where she fits in Precocious. I don't think it's too surprising I drew slightly concerned, exasperated, annoyed and slightly more concerned. Imagine if you were in charge of not only those students, but the crazy teaching staff as well.
Friday, August 16, 2013
New Copper Road! 8/16/13
It must be the season finale, as our Doctor Hu is facing down with the ultimate evil! Also, I apologize for the terribly-drawn Daleks. I didn't use a reference when inking, and things got... mutated. How can I ever face the Dalek Skittle Brigade after this?
Vote here to see the new comic! (Which is attached to the earlier Doctor Hu comics, because I felt like keeping them together.)
(Also, happy birthday to Dana! And happy day-after-your-birthday to Andrew!)
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Streaming times!
The book 2 preorders continue to be sent out, and I am now into the levels with artist editions. Since I'll be sketching them anyway, maybe I should try streaming one of my drawing sessions?
Tomorrow's stream is a casual one, hence the short notice. I'll be sketching artist editions, or doing owed artwork or maybe even drawing the next Copper Road. Depends on the sketching I get done tonight. Streaming will go for as long as I feel like drawing, but I'll guess 3 hours for this one. (If you ordered an artist edition, there's a chance you might see your book being drawn in if you show up!)
Next week begins the Rent-A-Chrispy rewards, which means a night of streaming devoted to those who pledged for 'em! That also means streaming will continue as the renters get their requests in. Tuesday is when we begin, so come watch me be an art slave for 4-5 hours!
More streams will be announced as my schedule falls into place. I'll be tabling at Intervention next weekend, so I may be traveling down to DC on Thursday. If not, Thursday streaming!
A reminder about streaming: Ustream is ad-supported, so expect to have to watch the occasional commercial. It's the trade-off for a "free" service. You don't need a Ustream account to watch or comment, but if you sign up you get to have a username, and you can then follow my Ustream page to get notifications of when I'm streaming. The stream has a lag, so factor that in when waiting for any responses from me.
I hope to see you around.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Sketches.. on the sketch blog?
Amazing! Yes, Kickstartery sketch times are here!
Today was nothing but unexpected delays, so it took a while to get these sketches down, but here are some! I went a bit overboard with the volume of sketches, but that's a good thing!
Tiffany and Sky sketches! Tiff is going to be sketched in the book, and Sky is the first of what will be many art cards for the stream session. The mission here: Cute. I can do that!
Sketches are, of course, sketches. They are rough and not super detailed - just showing enough to give you a sense of what's to come.
Joseph and Sydney time! Classy looks for a classy couple. Had to put Sydney in a turtleneck, because the lord commanded me. Couldn't figure out what to do with classy Joseph's right arm. Thumbs up?
I still have some Principal Blessure sketches to make, and one more idea-to-be-named-later.
Today was nothing but unexpected delays, so it took a while to get these sketches down, but here are some! I went a bit overboard with the volume of sketches, but that's a good thing!
Tiffany and Sky sketches! Tiff is going to be sketched in the book, and Sky is the first of what will be many art cards for the stream session. The mission here: Cute. I can do that!
Sketches are, of course, sketches. They are rough and not super detailed - just showing enough to give you a sense of what's to come.
Joseph and Sydney time! Classy looks for a classy couple. Had to put Sydney in a turtleneck, because the lord commanded me. Couldn't figure out what to do with classy Joseph's right arm. Thumbs up?
I still have some Principal Blessure sketches to make, and one more idea-to-be-named-later.
New Copper Road! 8/12/13
The adventures of Doctor Hu continue in this latest installment! What devious villain will the good Doctor battle this time? Click here and vote to see the bonus comic and find out!
(At least one more Doctor Hu comic is coming. You have been warned.)
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
New Copper Road! 8/7/13
Oh yes, I finally went there. It was too much temptation, what with the new Doctor hoopla and me finally watching the show (at least, the seasons that are on Netflix). Vote here to see the new comic!
Expect me to Doctor it up a few more times this month, since that Pandorica has been opened. If it's not your thing, no one needs to know that you think you're a better person for not watching. If it is your thing, don't pester me over Who trivia, please. Just have fun with the comic. Comics are cool!
Monday, August 5, 2013
Charms!
Lots to cover in this post, so please read it all!
Look! The charms for the book 2 artist editions are here! That means sketching begins this week, and those books begin shipping next week! I remind you again that the books go out an armful at a time, so it still might take a few weeks to get to shipping your book. Still, things are moving at a good pace! All non-sketched books have been packed. The US books are in the mail, and international books shall go out this week! Reward season is here!
There are a few folks who haven't sent back their surveys yet. Even if you've bought from me before, I need you to fill out your survey so I know the address I have on file is current. If you send your Kickstarter messages to a secondary email, I suggest you go check it!
Look! The charms for the book 2 artist editions are here! That means sketching begins this week, and those books begin shipping next week! I remind you again that the books go out an armful at a time, so it still might take a few weeks to get to shipping your book. Still, things are moving at a good pace! All non-sketched books have been packed. The US books are in the mail, and international books shall go out this week! Reward season is here!
There are a few folks who haven't sent back their surveys yet. Even if you've bought from me before, I need you to fill out your survey so I know the address I have on file is current. If you send your Kickstarter messages to a secondary email, I suggest you go check it!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
New Copper Road! 8/1/13
Bam! New month means new Copper Road! After the end of July deluge.. that's four in a week? I'm insane. I'll try to pace myself better for August! Vote here to see Shii Ann doing Shii Ann things. Which might also be things you do. Which means you are like Shii Ann. I'm sorry, but it's true.
Also, as it's the first of the month, that means the archive page has updated with July's Copper Roads! Go enjoy them again!
Also also, August is Kickstarter fulfillment month! The first wave of books has gone out. The next goes out next week, and more shipments shall follow. Those who reserved streaming sessions should start getting ideas in to me, as I can start on those soon too. If you missed the pre-order, you will be able to get the books from the Precocious store starting in September. (For now, enjoy the art cards for sale.)
Also also also, I'm pretty sure I had another news item or two I wanted to share, but it's 2am as I type this and I've turned into a pumpkin. Curse you, TWC servers, for being on Pacific time! I'm an old man. If I see 3am these days, it's because something has gone horrible wrong!
*thud*