Stream (and post-stream) results.

Thanks to all who came to Saturday's stream! Maybe I was rusty, but it was nice to do it again. I hope for a brighter, more streamy future, but it's likely this one was the last chance of the year.

Here are the results!

This piece is to serve as the cover of a binder that features my art, which is the coolest thing! It's 8.5x11" and super spiffy! Autumn is reviewing her secret (art) files before bed!  With all of these, I may have overdone it on color-correcting. My screen is a bit off on yellow, so what looks right for me would be off for you. In-person, all is great.

It was a Pingo-themed night, so both Soren and Ivy got art cards. Soren's card is based off a sketch over a year old, which didn't get chosen during one of my request stream nights. It's a bit too complex to draw on the fly, so I scanned in the sketch, printed it out card-sized in blue lines, penciled over that and finally used my lightbox to get it onto an actual card.

For Ivy, she's discovering another lawsuit from a wronged magician. Since the client noted he liked Ivy's recent pink outfit, I included it for the card.

This is the long-overdue book art, which had been held until the stream. Ms. Monster tortures her kids. (The original idea did feature Ivy, so this was *almost* continuing the Pingo pride.)

Finally, here's the card drawn for the winner of the costume contest! This wasn't part of the stream, but I finished it earlier today so I could ship out both packages tomorrow. Bud is showing off both his zesty new cold weather outfit, and the setup for the (should be) winning costume!

New Copper Road + Saturday Stream!

I threatened to do this. And then I did it. Doctor Who returns, Doctor Hu returns. (I guess I should have been more specific with my tease...) Anyway, vote on TWC to see this new comic! If you missed yesterday's Copper Road, let this be a lesson to you. Read Precocious and vote for Precocious every day! Comics keep flying around!

And, yes, I did totally break the "Oh, ____!" chain for this impulsive Doctor fun. I'll draw and post that one next week sometime.

One last burst of streaming - Saturday, 8pm

This Saturday, November 23rd, 8pm Eastern time. Come watch: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-sycophant

It's less warning time than I'd planned, because I fell asleep before posting this and writing my emails last night, but it is happening! Let's steam some art!

This is the last of the Kickstarter streams, delayed first because of his work schedule and later because I am constantly near death. I will be coloring art that is featured in this sketch blog post - except for that Bud card up there. That's the costume contest prize, and will likely be drawn off-stream. The only time for a test stream to figure out my new setup is tonight, so I dunno. I may color it tonight, but probably not with an audience.

The stream is set for four hours, so if you have a moment tomorrow night, feel free to jump in and watch at any time.  You do not need a Ustream account to watch, but if you get one you can follow streaming announcements and be able to have your username appear in chat. Remember there is a lag in the stream, plus I can't read the chat window when I'm looking down to color, so there will always be a delay between you saying something, me seeing it, me responding and you hearing that response.  I have a much more stable internet connection for this stream, so I hope things go smoothly!

Oh yeah, no Pony spoilers, and no Doctor Who spoilers. I think those two premiers happen on Saturday, and both your artist and the client won't have been able to watch yet.  BE GOOD.

(You know... I have a Doctor Hu script. Maybe I need to draw it tonight and post it for tomorrow...)

Steaming prep + contest winner prep!

It's been a mess of scheduling issues and poor health, but maybe we can make the last Kickstarter stream finally happen! I remain not in the best of shape, and it's not looking like any good news on the heath front is coming any time soon, but I have medication set aside to cover a stream, so let's go! (Every stream I've done in the past year was also medicated, so this one isn't any different.) I hate owing people work, so I'll whittle it away whenever the possibility arises.

Anyway, here are some sketches from the upcoming stream, and something else thrown into the picture frame for my convenience. I took these photos with an iPhone in weak light, so they only clean up so well in Photoshop. Forgive me!

The Soren card was a possible sketch for an request night stream a long time ago, and it was resurrected for the last Kickstarter stream. I'm glad he gets the chance! There are a lot of great card sketches that never got made, and that's wrong! We must go through those sketches and give them justice!

The Bud card is for the costume contest winner. While his suggestion was my favorite, drawing the costume in action would be somewhat awkward for an out-of-context card. Thus, I drew a good Bud card with the costume. So WE know what it is, and why it's funny that he's eating that apple, but it's also just a nice-looking piece. As it's highly unlikely I'll have the time and strength to do a test stream for this, before the big main event stream, I'll be coloring this piece off-camera.

This is a piece I'm so excited about. It's going to be the cover of a binder that contains lots of my art! It's 8.5x11, though slightly smaller on the page than this cropped image. I left room for titles, which I won't be drawing on the piece, but can be added to the digital print file and then printed out.  As not all details of this one are in/approved yet, it's only in pencil.

This is for the artist edition book sketch. I drew a more elaborate scene, involving Ivy and Ms. Monster, but that would have been tough to fit in that space - especially since it'd be better on a wider, landscape layout. It should become *something* one day, though, because it was great!  This piece is Ms. Monster in front of her chalkboard, announcing some group projects.  (I'll add the chalk text to the board with white ink after I'm done.)

There's also an Ivy card I'll be prepping, but I didn't keep proper notes and now I don't remember which Ivy sketch was chosen. That'll be ID'd and drawn up soon.

New Copper Road! 11/20/13

If you've been following along with recent incentives, you'll have noted an "Oh, Kaitlyn!" and "Oh, Hi!" in the last two. Wen, you're up. Shii Ann helps everyone!  (If you missed those comics, shame on you! You'll have to wait until the first, when I do the monthly Copper Road archive update.)

Vote here to see the new comic! And keep watch for more Copper Roads. Can I keep this silly theme going? (Hint: Yes.)

New Copper Road! 11/16/13

See, this is why I can't have a Copper Road buffer. I forget about them if I don't post them immediately. Ok, so it's only 12 hours late, but it could have been longer had I not been scripting more Copper Roads this morning. (What if I draw them today? THE FORGETTING CYCLE BEGINS ANEW.) Anyway, vote here to see the new comic, and enjoy more Shii Ann antics. (Shii Anntics?) She is a treasure!

New Copper Road! 11/12/13

(First, did you see the costume contest results, and check out the awesome fan art gallery?)

Just when you thought it was safe to not be in Sapphire Lake...  *Jaws music plays*

A new Copper Road is here, and it's joining in on Rules Week fun. Vote here to see the new comic! By the end of this week, you'll know 16 of the 25 rules. Maybe 17. I think one slipped into the archive without being named. (It's a big archive. I don't always remember what's in there.) Anyway, enjoy the event. As all the mystery is gone once they're all named, I'll have to settle for dropping  in some of the remaining rules here and there... over the months and years.

Thanks to my ongoing medical woes, I'm in a perpetual state of playing catch-up - but I'm doing my best to keep up with my Copper Road promises and make a dent in the few remaining commissions and art obligations I have. It's about a 40% chance if I'll be able to do streaming this weekend.So keep checking the home page. Don't worry, SOMETHING good will pop here no matter what, as the next Copper Road has been drawn is will go up once this one has had time to make its way into your hearts.  UPDATE: Waking up two days in a row with my trouble finger angrily protesting has stifled any plans to work ahead, so streaming is bumped again. I do see a hand specialist on Monday, so let's be hopeful.

Sorry for being broken! It's my goal to have no one notice - if not for these damn news posts mentioning it.

Contest Results!

With the grand prize being awarded in the comic's costume contest, that means I can announce the results of the costume contest involving you readers! (See the big costume art gallery here!)

And your winner is...

As you can see, I disagreed with Ms. Monster. Creeping her out is what I call a bonus! Congratulations to Steven Towne for thinking up this wonderful idea.  This one did hit all the right notes. It played into the character's strengths, was super clever, helped inspire some great gags and it was far better than anything I could have planned for Bud! (I actually had no idea what his final costume would be, so thank goodness for clever readers stepping in!) Steven, you win an art piece featuring Bud's costume in action! (More details will come to you via email.)

There is another prize up for grabs too! All those who suggested ideas got put on a list, and I used a random number generator to choose that winner. And the winner of the draw is.... Steven Towne! Again! Hey, I never said winning the grand prize disqualifies you from this draw. Random fate loves you too, Steven! A book, or an art card from the store is yours to enjoy.

Here is a rundown of the story's reader-inspired costumes, in order of appearance, noting the brilliant mind behind the idea. (Costumes not mentioned on this list are from *my* brilliant mind.) Some ideas I seized and drew as is. Others I tweaked somewhat. Some people's ideas matched up with ones I already had in the script, but they still get credit!

Yvette as an invisible woman - Samuel Morehead
Bud as a Muffin of Doom - Samuel Morehead again.
Quincy as a Ghostbuster - DRB
Roddy as a Number 2 Pencil - James Rhone
Dionne as Marie Antoinette - Nefaria
Tiffany as Mothra - Seth Latter
Max as Indiana Jones - Christopher Trumbour
Bud as The Chef Special - Steven Towne
Kaitlyn as the On-Hu Ball - KZero

Congratulations to all above, and thank you to all others who suggested ideas. I feel terrible that so many brilliant suggestions didn't make it in, but this has been a wonderful experience. I hope you all enjoyed reading the Halloween story as much as I did drawing it!

The Costume Contest Gallery!

First off, much thanks to everyone who participated in the contest, be it with text answers or with the art. You gave me so many good ideas to work with! As you can see in the gallery below, some of the best didn't make it into the story - but not for lack of imagination or talent.

Here I put lots of lovely artwork on display, so all can love and praise it! (If I missed uploading your entry, please contact me so I can add it to this post. I tried to file my emails properly, but some may have slipped through.)

Jacob and Tiffany as Fiona and Cake from Adventure Time, Autumn as Black Widow, Vincent as the Pokemon Stoutland and Yvette as the Cheshire Cat, all by Rachel Edwards:

Chef Special Bud, by Steven Towne:

Dionne as Harley Quinn, Autumn as the Red Queen, Vincent as a Rainbow Dash Brony and Bud and Tiffany as witch-hunting Hansel and Gretel, all by Ismael Becerra:

Dionne as a vampire and Roddy as Luigi, by Jonathan Sullivan:

Jacob as a Shark, by Leafpool (you didn't include your name!):

Kaitlyn as the On-Cue Ball, Tiffany as a Christmas Tree, Autumn as Autumn, Bud as Ronald McOven and Roddy as the Silver Surver, all by KZero:

Ursula as a pirate, by DRB:

Autumn as a rebel pilot, by OwenDaHusky:

I'm so grateful to all of you. Contributions like these do so much for motivating me! I know what an effort it is to make something special, and I appreciate it so so so so so much!

New Copper Road! 11/2/13

Yes, normally you get a new comic on the 1st, but delaying it a day meant I could synergize and have two Yvette comics at once! Vote here to see the new comic! I hope you enjoy it!

As it is a new month, that means all of last month's Copper Roads are no on the website archive. You can now go relive all the magic!

So what's up, November? Now that my convention season is over, focus turns to making things nice and happy at the home office.  Book 3 work starts soon.  Currently planning the Kickstarter preorder for January. This campaign will be much bigger than the last one, as I hope to print book 3 in color!

As for the last Kickstarter, there's one owed streaming session left. Now that both parties have compatible schedules, this could happen as early as next weekend. I will also be doing a test stream night before the paid work, so I can try and optimize my new studio setup for streaming.  During the test stream, I'll be coloring a few pre-drawn art cards. Keep watch on the front page to see when those streaming dates will happen.

Oh, and if you click on that last link you'll see that a store update should happen in the next week. I want to bring back the swag bags, so people can get their hands on goodies usually only available at conventions. The store updates slowly when left to me alone, but if you have a craving for original comics, a Cupcake of Bliss or more of the 2" charms from the Kickstarter, write me an email and give me a kick in the rear.