Precocious is five years old!

Forget this New Year stuff! The most important thing about January 1st is that it's Precocious' birthday! Five years, and around 2000 comics between the archive, deleted scenes and the book bonus stories. Not too shabby! (Thanks to Isabel Marks of Namir Deiter for the gift art!)

(Want to celebrate the occasion too? Now's as good a time as any to check out all the goodies in the Precocious store!)

When I started, five years was my goal. From all my reading of dailies, I saw year five as when artist competence and character development come together to bring a comic into a golden age. Well, every year I've done this has been precocious to me. Year one of Precocious was fresh and new and exciting. Year two built upon a strong foundation and expanded the universe. Year three is when I took a major level up and committed to the goal of making Precocious my JOB and not just a hobby. Year four is when I pulled out all my tricks. Year five... this was the year I took for myself and drew what I wanted to draw. The stories from the past year were so much fun for me to write, and it was so gratifying to see so many people coming along for the ride. I told myself I'd reassess the comic at year five, and I can't imagine stopping now. I'm not done. I have so much left to tell and so much silliness to share.

2013 was a great year for the comic, but not so much for me. A toothache I thought would be a one-week inconvenience turned into a botched surgery and a year of medical hell. As the year comes to a close, I'm still in doctor limbo, dealing with chronic pain and fighting all the side-issues that come up when lengthy medical issues happen. I've been double sick for weeks thanks to a cold caught due to being in so many doctor waiting rooms, and my drawing hand is in a cast because I aggravated and old finger injury due to me playing too many video games while stuck in bed during pain downtime. (Yes, this means I'll have to be clever with next week's updates, as my buffer doesn't cover the full cast stretch.)  I am so glad to see 2013 go. It was brutal. BUT I DIDN'T MISS AN UPDATE! In you face, 2013!

Here's hoping 2014 brings me health, and chances to do all things that I wanted to do in 2013.  Book 3 is coming, and the preorder looks like it'll start in February right now. (It will be in color, and thus VERY expensive to print, so I'll really be needing your support!) The other plans? We shall see. I'm a one man operation, so I can't put in the extra work needed until I'm healthy enough. My convention schedule is likely to be scaled back, again due to health.  I'm confirmed for Fur The More, Furry Weekend Atlanta, Anthrocon and Mechacon. I'll try for SPX. Not sure about any others.

Thank you all for reading Precocious. Keep coming back. Keep contributing. Keep spreading the word.

New Copper Road! 12/25/13

To all those reading this on December 25th, I salute you! Bonus points if you actually celebrate Christmas. I too believe I am more important in your life than your family. (What have they done for you lately?)

Since my family isn't one that celebrates today, I was supposed to use this week to grind out some comics. Instead I got a bad cold, and I'm so congested I lost the use of one of my ears and gave myself two black eyes from coughing. BUT I FIGHT THROUGH THE PAIN FOR YOU! A new Copper Road is here as a lovely stocking stuffer - or Chinese restaurant side dish, as the case may be.

Unlike your family, *I* reliably add goodness to your life! Enjoy!

New Copper Road! 12/16/13

'Tis the season!

Chrispmas time is here again, and that means casual giving, lots of slacking off and fun without pressure! In my family, we mostly use December as an excuse to buy needed or desired items, then give to ourselves in honor of the rest of us. (I got myself a dedicated art and publishing laptop! Mom gets to take credit for it.) We don't really mind exact dates - just get it when it's needed.  That's my big Chrispmas selling point.  The reign of Chrispmas is officially from December 8th to March 24th, but, really, give when you find the right gift - or work out a give-to-yourself deal with loved ones.

Anyway, the Hus might not be enlightened as my family, but they could be getting there... Vote here to see the new bonus comic!

New Deleted Scene! 12/12/13

So it turns out I wrote nine scripts for seven days, and that means a deleted scene! (Just the one. I hinted at the other in Monday's alt text, though.) Vote here to see the deleted scene! Consider it comic 1741b.

Like all deleted scenes, once this rotates out as the vote incentive it won't be in any online archive. See it now, or wait for the book. (I suggest doing both, actually.)

(Edit: away it goes!)

New Copper Road! 12/8/13

Hey, look, another one! I don't know if the timing of this comic on Sunday night makes it funnier or not. Either way, it's good advice - or just a cartoonist way of life. Vote here to see the new comic!

Hey, Pokemon players! (And Tumblrfolk!)

JANUARY UPDATE: Not that most people scroll this far down, but I'm still taking friend codes.  Drawings got off-track due to an 18-day (and counting) cold. Because of course I get a devastating COLD the one year I get a flu shot. The universe has a cruel sense of humor. Oh, and I can't make up those drawings soon too, since I got my drawing hand put in a cast. Cruel sense of humor. Told ya.

Hello, I am abusing front page news posting!

For those too lazy to check out all the links on the sidebar, I'll point you to my Tumblr page. It's become a place where random sketches end up, when they should be on the sketch blog - mostly because I can mirror the post to Twitter and get more than 10 people to see them. This month I'm doing a Pokemon challenge, with a new Pokemon drawing every day. It's a fun bit of drawing warm-up for me and gives me something to share.

For you Pokemon players, you can see my friend code up there. I've got enough room to add a bunch of you, so if you're playing Pokemon and want access to my fire-type Friend Safari - which does have Autumns/Braixens - let me know your friend code. Easiest way to do it is to add my code, then put yours into my Tumblr ask box. (I also accept actual questions!) I'm looking for a few Pokemon in particular, by the way. Looking for Steel (someone give me easy access to Magnetons!) safaris most of all. Grass, Fairy and Normal safaris also loved.

New Copper Road! 12/5/13

Hooray, it's another comic! More tales of doom and gloom, because those are the best things. Vote here to see the new comic!

While I don't have a script for it yet, I want to have another Copper Road on Monday(ish). Gotta space things out so I can run the deleted scene from next week's comics!  #tease #tease #tease

New Copper Road! 12/1/13

Forgive me for the Doctor Hu interruption. HERE is the last of the Shii Ann "Oh, ___!" comics. Unrelated jokes brought together through one lovable dunce. Bless you, Shii Ann. Vote here to see the new comic!

As it's the first of the month, that means voting is important. TWC is a good source of new readers, and Precocious won't survive unless it expands its readership. Another joy of the first of the month? All of last month's Copper Roads are now in the archive! You can re-read them, comment on them or catch up if you missed some. Enjoy!