Autumn's Adventures + Store is back up!

In the previous post, I said I'd fix the store once I remembered my password. I did, so the merchandise and art card sections are live again, PLUS I added a pile of book twos for a clearance sale, as I unearthed an extra box of them from a previous printing during my move! If you don't mind a handful of typos (which were corrected in later printings), get them cheap - signed and sketched too!

I missed this while was all exploding-headed and traveling, but the Precocious/Ginger's Bread "exchange program" has a new entry! Head over to Ginger's Bread to see that comic! (Warning: Some curse words.) And, yes, I made fun of Carl, the creator, for not including The Desk gifted to Ms. Monster by the Precociousverse's take on Ginger. (FYI: There's no actual canon connection between the two comics - treat the character "swap" as more like a crazy coincidence. It's just two cartoonists taking a joke TOO FAR and loving it!)

For those who are playing Pokemon Rumble on the 3DS, Carl also created a Gingerverse Autumn Mii and decided to have some fun with her! It was enough to get ME to play the game, but I just started last night and don't know what I'm doing yet. Do you play? Are we friend code buddies yet?  If not, find my codes on my Tumblr page, and send me YOUR friend code in an ask. (Nudge me if I don't add you within a day or two. Sometimes Tumblr doesn't give me new ask notifications.)

Oh, and Carl shared the scanny thing for the Gingerverse Autumn Mii. Once I figure out how to use it, I will steal her for my own 3DS fun!

Store update + New Copper Road!

I'd like to dedicate this Copper Road to my mother, who wrote half this comic for me when I told her about my new Amazon Fire TV. So far, I'm liking it much more than Chromecast - if only because I had a TON of music in Amazon Prime, and it shows me the lyrics for some when I listen! It also gives me a way to stream The Americans that didn't make my computer super angry. Anyway, vote to see the new comic, and enjoy a look into our dystopian futurepresent?

In other news, with Kickstarter fulfillment finally finishing up, I can now offer the goodies from the campaign to the those who want more. I've created special Cupcakes of Bliss gift boxes for my last remaining amigurimi dolls. (Some have already sold, so if you want one, act fast.) You can also grab a set of the double-sided clear acrylic "Friend or Foe?" charms, and a collection of all the window clings offered through the campaign.  I also added the recently-drawn art cards that I had posted to my Tumblr account. (People following me there and on Twitter got word of the store upgrade first, and top doll choice. It's rewarding to love me!)

If you're a Kickstarter backer and you'd like to complete your collection, you'll have to contact me for individual items. Individual charms and clings are $4 each, plus $1 for shipping to the US, and $3 for international. Because I gave so many away as apology gifts for late delivery, supplies are very limited.

Thanks for your support, everyone!

New Copper Road! 3/1/15

So this has been up since last night, but I was too tired to write the news post about it. And then I forgot! But it's there, it's real and it's spectacular! Vote here to see it!

I've been sending a lot of packages out lately - almost done with my Kickstarter catch up! - and I'm so glad I have self-sealing bookfold mailers. They cost more than I should spend, considering my income level doesn't give me much wiggle room, but me versus packing tape is just sad. (On the plus side, it may be my dispenser, as others who've tried to use it have met Shii Ann-style fates.)

This Copper Road is a combo of the last two unused ideas in my idea file - that aren't the complex things I'm saving until I get the script *just* right. I'm sure funny-stupid things will start happening around me again, and the ideas will flow once more, but the point is I forgot February was short and I got lucky I had something ready to go!

Last month's Copper Road can now be found in the Copper Road archive. Sorry you only got one for the month, but the Kickstarter-fueled extra updates have expired and we're back on "as I can do them" grounds. I'm sure you'll get an opportunity to unlock more Copper Roads soon, as lord knows recent brutal medical bills will require fundraising of some sort. I'm still unsure about the direction to go with this. A patron system with minor rewards, and boring tiers like "I have health care!" or "paying for utilities!" is one option. I already have my book 3s on sale. (Because I forgot to undo the sale at the end of January. Heh.) Hey, the next person to order a book 3 will get an artist edition with two sketches, because I read someone's request wrong and had to start over.  (If you order a book 3 after the first person, I apologize, as you only get an EXTREMELY AWESOME BOOK that's on sale anyway.) I also have discounted original comics for sale in a grab bag format, set up as a fundraising option. And then there's the extra charms sitting around from a misprint, which are now "collector's items" to be used as a donation incentive? Man, I am bad at this marketing thing, but maybe I'll figure it out soon enough to, y'know, stay alive.

On the plus side, I've been doing a lot of work recently, so it's not like I've been slacking off. (For another 10 hours, I have a three-week comic buffer!) I'm still pretty darn broken, but I'm generally improving, and using any healthy window to maximum potential. It's been six months of hell, since the fall that caused the flare-up, and I continue to climb out of the pit.

Copper Road + Lots of News!

Quick rundown, for those with low attention spans:

-Vote here to see the new Copper Road comic!
-The epic Precocious/Curtailed crossover reached an amazing end! Go read it!
-I'll be at SPX in DC, Sept 13-14, at the SpiderForest tables, E10 and E11!
-Oh yeah, I reached 2000 comics. And I updated comic 1000 into a cast poster!

EXPANDED NEWSING: It's the first of the month, so a new Copper Road is here for your enjoyment! Vote here to see it! Also, since it's the first, that means the Copper Road archive was updated with last month's comics, starting here. (The bonus Precocious comics from last month can be found here and here.)

The new comic is another one taken right from my life. Read it, then imagine me answering the door and finding the woman brought her young daughter with her.

I hope you've been reading along with Curtailed! Every week, Mandy and Fox have surprised me with a new epic Precocious crossover! I cannot thank her enough for this incredibly experience. If you want to re-live the glory, start here. (And if you click the "previous" link on that page, you see the guest strip I made for Curtailed!)

So, I hit my 2000th comic a couple days back, and that's kinda a HUGE DEAL - but I had to spend the day in bed after re-aggravating the injury that took my August away. (You know, it turns out you need your hip to do JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IN LIFE. This has really sucked!) So here I am celebrating it now! Wanna rock strip 2000? How about celebrating it with strip.... 1000?  I reworked that fancy comic with the post-1000 characters for an 11x17" poster! Don't like that? Look around the store for art cards, charms and the Precocious books!  (Yes, I know there's already a banner on the front page for this, but I have a LOT of doctor bills piling up, since I'm super broken at the moment.)

The Con Calendar is up!

And that means the store banner gets replaced on the front page, so I'll put it here instead! The banner above links to the comic collections page, but you can find art cards, merchandise and original art on there too! (There's nothing on the comic originals page as I wrote this post, since we may implement another system for purchasing those, but you can contact me if you want to purchase a strip.)

Anyway, here is the current master list of conventions I will be attending this year, along with my con wishlist and other comments. Once this blog post goes up, I will link the con calendar banner on the front page to it, so people can get more information long after this news post has scrolled off the front page.

The current convention calendar (updated as needed, and when I remember to do so)!

Fur The 'More - March 14-16 - Baltimore, MD
This is a second-year con that was a blast to show at last year! If you are in the area, I highly encourage you to come check it out. I've been looking for a solid local-ish furry con I can make my home, and this one has an amazing staff and a wonderful vibe to it. (And it's 20 minutes from one of my best friends' apartment, so I get a cherished visit in as long as I keep attending!)

Furry Weekend Atlanta - March 20-23 - Atlanta, GA
The birthday con! I'm introducing Becca of Nattosoup to the furry con scene, and we both have birthdays that week. (She's the 19th and I'm the 24th, so we *just* miss out on exact days.) This means you must be EXTRA NICE to us! This is also my return to the first con I ever tabled at. I don't live in Georgia anymore, so FWA is usually too out of my way to attend, but this year we're making it an event!  Treat us well, however, and you might lock me in for the future!

Awesome Con DC - April 18-20 - Washington, DC
Look, another "home" con for me! This is my first year showing at Awesome Con. People who attended it last year had nothing but good stuff to say, so I'm really excited about it! If my hometown peeps don't show up to cheer me on, I'll be so distressed! (It also looks like a fairly powerful con for fandoms - what a guest list! - so there's lots to amuse you when you aren't fawning over me.)

Anthrocon - July 3-6 - Pittsburgh, PA
This is the big special furry con, and also marks the estimated debut of Precocious' third book! This is always a super-fun even for me. I cherish my time with my cartoonist buddies - our hotel room alone will have the combined powers of me, Mat of Badly Drawn Kitties and the Bittersweet Candy Bowl team - and I love checking in with all my con regulars. Even if I keep getting sick and die before this, my stuffed corpse will attend and be propped up at the table. IT WILL BE MY FINAL WISH!

Mechacon - August 1-3 - New Orleans, LA
After I drag Becca to a furry con, she's taking me to her hometown con, along with lots of my SCAD buddies. I'm really looking forward to this one. I've heard nothing but glowing things about the con itself, and it is only enhanced by it being New Orleans once I walk out the doors!

I ended up missing out with lottery for Small Press Expo (SPX), AND the SpiderForest crew I'd be with for SPX needs to murder 28 people for any of us to get it, so I expect to miss it this year. (Hey, I won every other con lottery I've tried, so I can't really cry about bad luck.)  FurFright, the Halloween con in Connecticut, has closed its doors - but there's a chance something new may rise from its ashes. It was such a positive con, I'll check out the new version too. (Wishing the best to the FurFright founders, by the way! Thank you for everything!)  I adore Midwest FurFest, in Chicago, too, but it's very hard to justify the travel costs unless I have lots of buddies there to make it worthwhile. I wish I was more popular, guys! It would make these trips so much easier! One of these days I'll be powerful enough to justify a west coast con! I don't expect to be at any shows mentioned in this paragraph, but they remain on my radar for future years.

I don't have an interest in returning to ConnectiCon or InterventionCon this year. As much as I enjoyed the attendees I met, both those cons have awful staff and I don't wish to deal with them again. I don't appreciate people refusing to reply to me and never paying back money I'm owed (ConnectiCon, which did this to SEVERAL of its guests) and a shyster outright lying to people to get their money when they fully know it's a ripoff (InterventionCon).  I made profits at both last year, but the people behind the cons DO NOT deserve support. I don't like being negative, but artists have to pay and put in lots of work/travel hours to make these trips. Ripoffs are devastating, especially to those with less-known names, and thus a smaller margin of error.

Back to the happy, I really hope to see a lot of you around the shows!

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!

Hey, the store is here!

UPDATE: Store should be working! Let me know if there's still any problems.

Thanks to all who came by last night's streaming session! It wore me out, but it was a lot of fun! Now, let's show off the rewards from that event!

As promised so long ago, I finally have the store up and running. It's all art cards for sale at the moment - I linked directly to the art card page for you - but eventually it will be populated with original artwork, original comics and, of course, the books. (Kickstarter backers get their orders first, so latecomers have to wait!)

As for the store's current population, the art cards have proven to be loved by all!  The current offerings are  a mix of Precocious, Pokemon and Animal Crossing pieces. I don't have them broken into themed sections, so browse all the pages to see if the design you cherished is still there.  A few available cards haven't been posted yet, but they will be once I track down the art files or re-scan them.

I still have to work the kinks out here or there. I'll attempt to fix the links on the top menu shortly, and other bugs may be running around. If you find something that's not working right, please let me know! I'm new to this store system, so it's easy for me to make mistakes. If you see an item that is magically free or with free shipping, no it isn't. I messed up. Don't think you'll get away with it! Also, to the first person who uses the store, I really hope checkout actually works right...

Sketch cards!

I don't know if I've shared many of them here yet. If not, please enjoy this selection of sketch cards that were drawn for Kickstarter backers and convention attendees. The bottom pic shows the front of the sketch cards, along with the new magnets.

By the way, the gold and copper markers died out pretty quickly, so all newly-drawn cards only get silver for highlights. Also, there are several more cards that never got photographed. Gotta preserve some mystery!

Making custom buttons!

My June vow: Get back into art! This is easier said than done, as my lack of arting isn't due to laziness. My health problems have continued - and I've been a mess of side effects while trying out new treatments. A necessary step, if a frustrating one. Still, con season approaches, and my portfolio need upgrading! I want to do something artsy (beyond regular comicking) every day, although it's doubtful I'll be able to pull it off. Denial only goes so far, but it's all I have!

I'm doing warm-up and sample pieces at first, even though I owe commissions still. Gotta get myself back into a groove before doing proper paid work.

Today: Playing with custom buttons! I don't have a button maker, as it's far too expensive for far too few sales, but I *do* have snap-together button pieces - and all the ingredients to make magic happen!

Above you see the button pieces, marker paper with designs, a circle cutter and a template I put under the marker paper to let me know where the edges are.

Of the drawings, I decided I only liked Autumn and Bud's drawings well enough to take to completion. I markered them up (Bud got a faint coat of glitter, just because) and prepared for the next step!

In order to fit in the circle cutter, I had to cut out the drawings from the page. I used the template to make sure everything would fit on the button correctly.

And, since it's all good, I put the paper in the cutter and out came the perfect circles!

And, ta-dah, the circles snap into the snappers - and buttons are created!  These two will be giveaways to lucky Kickstarter backers.

As for the future, I must figure out how to price these things. Even though only 2.5", it's still custom art, and all custom art requires development time. But that's the future. For now, I'm just happy to have some art done.

Now, back to Precocious! Let's keep that buffer up!

Continuing charm/button work

No new finals to show off, but here's a new wave of sketches for the book two preorder Kickstarter rewards! Enjoy the sketches, and my musing on said sketches.

Above are some button designs for the kids who haven't been buttoned yet. Kaitlyn and Max are hard, because their personalities are hard to distill into a single button-sized quip.  The sweet "Friend?" for Max is the best bet for him. It's cute and useful even to non-readers. Kaitlyn's both require Precocious knowledge, but they're interesting designs.

Yvette, being silent, is hard to tackle, so I tried a sketch where she's be peeking into the button frame. Not sure I can pull it off, as the space needed to show all important Yvette features might be too much for the peeking idea. It would work better if her hands were up, holding onto the border - but that is not how button-making works.

I have said I'm only including three buttons with each Cupcake of Bliss (plus a special one), but I guess I could make a pile of buttons and just give a random three in each gift box. No, I cannot simply give people more buttons this time around. The same total amount of buttons would be produced, regardless of the number of designs used, as I'm hiring someone to make these and I have to stay within budget.

Here are some charm ideas. Instead of putting in the labels, as with the first designs (see below), I'm going to simplify things. Charms are only 1.5" in size, after all.

For the finals, I will draw full figures, then crop them to a circle.  Only Vincent is poofy enough to possibly fit his whole body into a circle - but I played with poses that would cut his legs off too. SOLIDARITY! The premise for the most-sketched pose was that Vincent was facing the wrong way and just noticed - possibly paired with Tiffany being upside down on the opposite side? Not sure it'll work, but worth a shot.

Since I rejected the design of Kaitlyn showing off a sketch, I went back to the On-Cue Ball pose again. What can I say? It's a good one.  Yvette's charm sketch was also simplified. A bunch of small dolls would be too tiny on the charm, so again I went back to an old standard of her and doll-Kaitlyn.

And here I drew Autumn holding something with text, knowing that wouldn't work. I wanted to keep the theme of having everyone with an accessory. The book may stay, but text will be gone or very simple. (Like changing "BLACKMAIL" to "INFO" on the first Autumn charm.)

Tiffany and Quincy both got alternate designs here. Wizard Quincy will probably still win out, but shovel Tiffany could supplant artist Tiffany in the end.

Might as well include the first sketches here too, making this a master post. Here are the original designs. Some will win (ice cream Jacob is definitely in, and both Quincy and Autumn's first designs are solid) and some will be replaced or redrawn.  (Roddy and Dionne won't get a double-sided charm, by the way. I drew them for fun.)

For the sake of completion, here's some inks I recently posted:

More doll temptation!

The Autumn and Jacob dolls have been designed, completing the set!

You can get a doll through the Cupcake of Bliss package in the Precocious Book 2 preorder Kickstarter campaign. Since I have to hire someone to make these for me, once I place my final order, that will be it for a while. Anyone aching for a doll - or possibly a set, which is not currently being offered but could be - will need to grab a Kickstarter package (you can select a tier or add one on to your tier, as explained in the post below) or contact me and let me know.

And, for good measure, the Bud and Tiffany dolls that were previously shown off:

New Button ideas + Kickstarter info

Here are some button ideas that should eventually populate the Cupcakes of Bliss gift box, available through the Book 2 preorder on Kickstarter. I can still play around with ideas, but the current plan is three regular buttons and one papercraft button (probably of Tiffany). By the way, the red outlines and green circle on Quincy are guidelines on the template and won't be on the actual buttons.

And here's a reminder: While some items will be available in the upcoming Precocious store after the preorder ends, others will not. The Cupcakes of Bliss will be very limited once the campaign ends. (Well, they will become convention-only Precocious swag grab bags of random goodies, as opposed to gift boxes that always contain a doll and the button set.) Dolls, the new buttons and the "Two Sides of the Same Coin" charms will be scarce once the Kickstarter ends. Once they sell out, they might not return to the store for a long time. I will have a photo of Autumn and Jacob dolls soon! The prototypes are being worked on! By the way, all Cupcakes of Bliss will ship late August, as that's when I'm meeting with Duae Cat designs to pick up the dolls.

If you are part of the Kickstarter already and want to upgrade, you can do it via add-on. This means you add the total for the item to your pledge (plus shipping, if your're international), then let me know about the add-on when I send out backer surveys once the campaign ends. (You should always review the tiers first, to see if the option you want is available. You can also message me to asking about creating new tiers, or confirming the add-on is ok.)

Add-on options are:
$22 - One extra book. (International orders add $10 for shipping costs)
$30 - Cupcake of Bliss gift box. (International customers add $10 for shipping costs)
$16 - Complete the 'Two Sides' charm set. (Option only for those with an artist edition. International orders add $5 for shipping costs)
$5 - A sketched Precocious cast postcard. (All orders over $80 will get one for free. No extra international shipping charge.)
(If I told you a different international shipping cost add-on earlier, you don't have to update your cost. That was my bad math and I'll take the hit for it.)

If you are not part of the Kickstarter campaign for whatever reason, you need to email me with your requests so I can factor them in to my orders. Even if you've already informed me, a reminder at the end of the campaign will be handy.

The glory of stretch goals!

Enjoy this preview of what could come if the Precocious book two Kickstarter campaign hits $5000!  (Thanks to Duae Cat Designs!)

Edit: Poster designs will happen too around this level. Sketches and ideas will begin once we hit it!

Charm change?

(Since there's been a flurry of news posts, I'm obligated to remind you to read down the page and see them.)

Working on final charm designs today, and I decided to see what I had to make an alternate to the Bake Sale one, since it seemed to lag behind in support. Going through the art done for the book, I found Dionne pulling a Nixon and decided to try that.  My guess is it would get more love, so I'm likely to keep it. Oh, and those little dots are where the holes are going to be punched in the charm, of course. I'll surely make some tweaks here or there before I'm done, but please enjoy this preview.

Book and Charm Survey! (Updated!)

If I did it right, and I have no idea if I did, there should be a survey over here you can fill out! Please do! It'll help guide my decisions over the next few weeks, and into the rest of the year.  I need to know what you guys want to buy from me, so I can provide it! Even if you aren't intending to spend cash on Precocious any time soon, I'd like to hear from you too and get feedback on why. (And please ignore scrambled writing and potential typos.)

If you need more context, read the news posts below for info on proposed Precocious charms, my health issues, and check the buy stuff page for examples of buttons/magnets and the commissions that I hope to start up again in a few months. All prices listed in the survey are estimates and can change.

UPDATE: Thank for you the responses everyone! I'll be collecting surveys for the next few days, so those stays can get in here. More responses the merrier, be the feedback good or bad.

On the charm front, the feedback seems positive enough that a basic order should be worth it.  A friend pointed out that I was estimating prices with 1" charms in mind, but designing for 1.5" charms. The increased production cost is going to boost the final price.  I also found a service that makes better-quality charms - clear acrylic and DOUBLESIDED - but those charms would be based at $6 each. What does it all mean? When charm designs are done, I'll be giving you another survey before placing any order. Mwa ha ha. Surveys forever. (They're really handy!)

Charmed, I'm sure.

This is what I do on my "day off." Using the feedback I got, I went ahead and drew up two demo charm sets. Set A features the kids being cute.  Set B features beloved Precocious in-jokes. Look, you goof off your way. I'll goof off mine.

Not in color, and I haven't cleaned up the line work, but you get it. The tilting is so I can maximize the charm size in the template. Bonus: If your monitor is the same size as mine, and set at the same resolution, the sketches appear near the exact sizes of proposed charms! (I'm not telling you my specs. You guys have to guess.)

This will all remain a dream unless I can get around 15 folks willing to offer up $15 $20 for each/either set of 4.  (Updated cost estimate, because these are 1.5" charms, not 1" charms.) I'm just testing market interest now. (If you only have money for one Precocious goody this year, save it for the book. Also, increase your Precocious budget, tightwad.) Throwing money at me will not get you any charms, unless you are throwing enough money to get 15 of each charm.  (And if that was the case, I'd be kinda creeped out. Why do you need so many?!)

If you're wondering about me printing these things on my own and selling them as a bundle with the new book, other cool stuff is planned for that - and managing multiple artist bundles at once is a great way to end up paying for a lot of unsold merchandise.  (It doesn't move *that* well at cons.) If I don't think it's financially viable right now, I'll sit on this idea and pounce when the next custom charm printing site appears.

In the end, it was fun to sketch fancy things on the day between finishing the comics for the Fall Festival arc (I have a comic buffer! Woohoo!) and doing the glorious grind of business junk this upcoming week. So there!

Do you find me charming?

I've considered the idea of Precocious charms as luxury merchandise. I have no idea how my readership overlaps with those who charm it up, so I have no clue if I could earn back the expense it would take to create them. Still, if I want to make charms, I have to decide soon, as the window closes at the end of the month. Thing is, I am *awful* at coming up with proper merchandise ideas.

My vanity says people should desire to show off my cute characters alone, as that is enough. My brain says, haha, no. I'm so very far away from that kind of popularity.  I'd do better with something clever and fun - that serve as conversation pieces and be likable to those who don't know Precocious.  More logic says such a marriage of ideas is impossible in tiny charm form, but whatever. We're speculating now. Besides, I prefer a dreamy optimistic post to be atop the news section.

So what do we have?  Well, these would be a set of four.  Doll versions of the main four would be easy as a set, but purely for Precocious readers.  To go even deeper into my vanity, I'd love people to desire comic in-jokes such as the Muffin of Doom, Pingoball and Chrisp-Cola can.

It depends on you guys to tell me if I want to keep sketching ideas, refine ideas or let the luxury item go. I can play with this project, or go back to random sketches when I have the time and energy. I don't consider this a likely success, but what the heck? I felt like sketching tonight, so I did! (There are more merch ideas that will come later in the year, so no one has to hitch themselves to this particular fancy.)

Charm ideas.

After hearing Printcess is shutting down at the end of the month, my Precocious charms goals have to be fast-forwarded.  (There are surely other charm-making sites, but Printsess has a great reputation.)

The goal for Precocious charms is not just to make them desirable to Precocious readers, but have extra appeal for those who don't know a thing about the comic. That's where I'm having issues. What you see here is a first attempt, with me turning the kids into the suits from a deck of cards.  (Current setup: Autumn=diamonds, Bud=spades, Tiffany=clubs, Jacob=hearts.) I need something that people might want, that also comes in a set of four - and doesn't require a label to identify, as these are charms.  These things can't be too complex in design. (I could, in theory, also design them as jack, queen, king and ace cards.)

If I was less egotistical, I would design cute charms for the conventions I attend, but I know so many others who could do a better job.  (I'm hoping to set up a deal, where I can have the adorable charms from Becca and/or Heidi with me at Anthrocon this year.)

These charms are my first idea for little table trinkets people can grab at my convention tables. I have other plans that I'd like to pursue, but with my health issues I have to tackle these things when I can.  If I'm on the ball, maybe I'll create a reader survey for Precocious readers and test the market a bit. Every promo I do costs a hefty chunk of change and LOTS of development and drawing time, so I need to pick my projects wisely.

Chrispstarter! (Get some fun stuff!)

So it's not quite a Kickstarter project, but it does have lots of the love involved! Here's a way to get some fun stuff and keep me out of a pauper's grave. I've had lots of expenses lately and very little income, so let's fix that problem! Read to see all the options you can take to support me and Precocious!

I will be editing this post as slots are claimed.

SWAG BAG - All Swag Bags claimed - $25

Can't make it to conventions to see me? Let me bring that fun to you! This item nets you the complete Precocious pin set, the full magnet set (or whichever ones you need) AND an artist trading card commission of your choice of a Precocious character! These cards are drawn with ink and marker and are the size of a baseball card. (The Kaitlyn demo card has already been claimed!)

WATERCOLOR COMMISSIONS - 10 slots remaining - $30

Character painting (mine or yours), pet painting or cute animal painting - it's your choice! Pieces are 5.5x8". (Larger paper sizes are available, but limited. Email me if you are interested.) These are one-character, limited background pieces. When you claim a slot, we will work together to develop a sketch. Once a sketch is approved, the piece goes into a queue for completion. I will be doing these paintings during scheduled livestreaming, and we can coordinate times for you to witness the painting of your piece! (A post about streaming times will appear on the front page when slots are taken and/or a weekly schedule is set.)

CAST CARDS - All cast cards claimed! - $5

Want to support Precocious on the cheap AND get original art? For the upcoming cast page revamp (yes, it'll happen - hopefully by the end of October) I am drawing each character's portrait on a 4x6" index card. (What's pictured is the colored result of the cast page drawings. The card will be black ink on white.) If you claim this option, you will get one of those cards, randomly chosen.

OTHER COMMISSIONS - By request!

I can do individual artist trading cards for $10, character badges for $15 and larger quick commissions up to 9x12" - prices on larger commissions depend on what is involved. Ask me!

BONUS COMIC PAGES

For everything $100 raised in this promotion, a double-sized bonus comic will be unlocked! But here's the catch: It's a story, so you're only getting it if all 15 are unlocked. I've pulled back the offer to sell the originals, as you probably want to SEE what I'm doing before you buy it, but this bonus story WILL happen once the donation bar is full!

BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY!

Hey, it's ok. Sometimes we can't help out. There are ways to support this comic without financial contributions. Commenting builds a community, and it helps me know you're paying attention. Cartoonists are fragile beings. We give a lot for very little in return, so it's always great to hear from readers. Sharing the comics over social media, using the buttons on the archive pages, helps. Spread the word! Vote for Precocious on TWC every day and give my ranking a boost! Active readers make cartoonists very happy!

CLAIMING A SLOT!

You can grab a slot using the donation button, or send a Paypal payment using my email of chrispco@yahoo.com. Be sure to specify what slot you are claiming in the comment box. I will send a follow-up email to the donation, so make sure you're checking the email account linked with your Paypal. Also be sure the payment includes your current address.

If you want to stack and claim multiple slots, you can do so. Bonus donations are, of course, accepted.

I accept payment by check, if needed, so you can email me and arrange that.

SCHEDULE AND SHIPPING

Shipping is included if you are in the US. International buyers should add $1 for character cards and $5 for swag bags.

I'll let you know when your artwork will go out. I usually make a weekly run to the post office. If you need a piece by a certain date, please let me know.

Thanks to all for reading. More thanks if you choose to take part in this promotion. ;-)

The book! It exists!

Earlier tonight I was commanded to show up on Skype by the good folks at RCSI Publishing. Why?   Because the proof of the first Precocious book was in! It's real, and it's spectacular!

That would be Matt, of the Code Name: Hunter team, holding a VERY REAL book in his VERY REAL hands!

The first good look you folks have gotten at the back cover. I love the layout.

Bonus art! Bonus art everywhere!

And, oh yeah, an introduction from one of the founding fathers of Webcomics, the great Bill Holbrook!

Also: Those comics the people seem to be going on about.

A look at the Sunday strips in their book form. No color, alas, as that would have more than doubled the printing cost. I hope we made up for that with the giant 48-strip print-exclusive bonus story!

Guys, this thing is happening.  They checked over the proof and it looks FANTASTIC! We'll be putting in the print order for the pre-orders soon (they'll ship out to you early August) and the amount of pre-orders is going to determine the print run. Unless you're planning on grabbing a book at a convention, get your orders in now!