It's almost time...

UPDATE: The store's email system is broken, but orders are still processing. If you don't get a confirmation email immediately, I will write you with an update. Tech guy has been notified about the problem, so it should be fixed soon!

Now that I have a break from my three-cons-in-six-weeks marathon, it's time to take book 3 into the final stages! Aside from placing one last piece of art, and the final proofing, the book is done. It just needs your support to get it printed, and the Kickstarter campaign will be put together and launch over the next couple weeks (plus review and approval time). I suggest you start setting aside your money, because I am printing in color this time, and that means a higher goal than last year - but also the possibility of more tempting stretch goals should we hit it! I'm going to fold a sale of original comic art into this campaign, so if you've ever wanted to get your hands on one of those, this will be your best chance!

If you DON'T want to save your money for later, and you DON'T want to wait until September-ish for your fresh book-ish delivery, I've re-opened the Precocious store! You can get the final stragglers of last year's printing through the store - and they all will have an extra bonus sketch in them! The art cards and charm sets are available for online ordering too! Book orders in the store will close down once the Kickstarter campaign is ready for launch.

Well, I have more art cards available. Pictured are new additions to the art card family, as well as those I forgot to scan and put in the store before. Since I'm working on all the book stuff, I'll need you all to nudge me about them, as I will likely continue to forget to put everything online.

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!

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.

The Precocious Costume Contest!

It took five years, but Precocious is finally getting a real Halloween story! To celebrate, I am having a contest that lets you get cool stuff AND shape how this Halloween story unfolds.

The fun of Halloween comes from the costumes, and this is where you come in. Submit your ideas for what the kids should dress up as this year, and you have a chance of seeing your idea pop up in the comic! What makes this contest extra interesting is that I've left the ending of this story open, because one good suggestion could fuel some creativity. I'm relying on you to provide inspiration!

(After my weekend trial run, I've update this post to make it clearer and fine tune things. Make sure you read it all!)

What you need to know and do to enter:

-While most entries will be in text form - which is perfectly fine - I'd love to give this contest a fan art aspect. If you can include an image of your costume idea, that will certainly make me favor your entry.  I don't require finished art - sketches like these are fine - but I need to see enough details to understand what you're proposing.  I'm really looking forward to showing off a gallery of costume submission art, so if you have any art chops at all I encourage you to take the time to whip something up.  Submit your text ideas ASAP, and make are if you want to or can.

-The costume I choose for the grand prize gets their idea incorporated into the Halloween story, and I will draw the submitter an art card of their winning suggestion. See the witch Yvette illustration in the banner for an example. (Oh, and I am putting her art card in the store if anyone wants to grab it! Cards are alphabetical, so Yvettewitch will be at the end if she's there.)

-Everyone who enters will be part of a drawing for a second prize. That winner has the choice of a signed copy of a Precocious book, or an art card from the store.  (If the winner is outside of the United States, you must choose an art card due to the high cost of shipping books.)  There will be a third book/art card prize that will go to one who submits art, provided enough entries appear.

-The entire class is in play for suggestions. I have *my* list of costumes for the kids. Your goal is to give me something even better. Have fun with this!  I wonder who will get the most suggestions - and how many will get none? (I hope I get enough entries to have lots of choices for everyone!)

-Check out the contact page for how to reach me. Send your entries to my email.  Just so I can keep track of stuff, I'd prefer you put all your suggestions into a single entry if you're doing text-only entries. While you can do more, aim for around five costume suggestions. Edit your ideas down to the best ones!

-As this is a time-sensitive thing, you are free submit your ideas in text, then make and send drawings for your entries later. I want to make this an easy contest for the artists out there, so I shall be flexible!

-I'm looking for a costume idea, not a script or suggestions on what to do with the costume.  I want the image if you have one, and a description along the lines of  "(character) as (costume)." You can include a description, and maybe a link to explain any reference your making, but don't write a lot to sell it.  Anyone offering their own joke suggestions gets disqualified. This contest doesn't change my policy of not accepting joke ideas. It's possible to submit ideas for costume sets, with multiple characters coordinating, though I'd like the grand prize winner to be a single costume idea.

-I don't know how many suggestions will make it into the final story, as part of this contest is to let your ideas guide me. I could choose the best or the worst ideas for the story - whatever inspires me to write a joke!  The most clever entries might not have an opening for them.  That's why I'm sharing the cool entries on the front page too, because clever stuff deserves to be celebrated!  The earliest possible date for a costume suggestion to appear in the comic is October 24th, by the way.  (Well, there's at least one comic before then with a costume idea that someone will surely suggest, but it's an obvious one and was in the script before this contest was announced.)

-Again, I encourage artwork, and I'll favor the art entries.  Doesn't matter how skilled you are. I like to see the effort! (Blackmailing artists friends to draw for you is good too!)

-You have a better chance of your idea being chosen the earlier it shows up. October 23rd is likely the latest date for you to submit ideas and have a chance of seeing them used, though I won't disqualify a good idea that comes later. Still, if I can get a script out of a good idea sent early, a great idea sent late will be bumped out because I lack the time to write it in.  I'll be traveling to FurFright from the 24th to 28th, so I need comics for those days finished before I leave. I'll accept art all the way through the end of the Halloween story, because I can still show it off even if it's too late for scripting.

-I ask that you not share your ideas and contest artwork with others until after the Halloween story is over. If I do choose your suggestion, I don't want other readers expecting it.

-If your suggestion doesn't make it into the comic, or a similar idea to yours is chosen instead, please don't get upset. As mentioned, I'm going with what gives me the best scripting potential, not necessarily the strongest submissions. I won't know what's right until I see it. Could be highly clever. Could be basic and simple. I could put in a dumb idea to make fun of a kid in a dumb costume! That's the thrill of it. You are the inspiration I don't know where it'll go yet!

Email me with any questions or concerns. If any new notes/edits need to be made, I'll update this post.

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...

Let's try streaming again!

It's been a long time, and I'm not actually better, but I need to test out my streaming chops in order to plan my Book 2 Kickstarter fulfillment actions. Plus, I miss streaming! I'm gonna try it again on Tuesday, 7pm Eastern time!

If all goes well, I will be drawing two or three art cards over the stream. I'll do one Precocious card, then probably work on Animal Crossing or Pokemon cards I started for the recent conventions, but didn't finish. The stream goes until I wear down. I hope for around 3 hours. You can always pop in and check to see if I'm there at later times.

How it works  Click on the image, or the Ustream link on the home page, or the link right here, and you can watch me draw and listen to me jabber on about whatever.  There will be a chat for the stream, so I can respond to questions/comments/whatever.  You don't need a Ustream account to watch or chat, but if you sign up you can chat with a username. (Unless they've fixed it since I last streamed, once you sign in, you have to refresh the page to get your name to appear properly.) There is a lag with the stream, so expect me to respond to your prompts with a delay. It's also easy for me to miss stuff if the chat is moving fast, because I'm, of course, looking down as I draw.

Technical difficulties can always happen. My wifi can go down, audio/video can drop or lag can get bad at times. If things go weird, be patient and allow me time to reconnect. Ustream is a free service, which means it's supported by ads. You will have to watch some periodically. No way around that. If streaming becomes regular again, I might find a pay site to handle my stuff, but for now be happy for what we have.

Once again, this is a test stream. I can't offer you any future plans yet. Still, I hope it's fun, and I hope good news keeps on coming!

Conventions are coming...

In 10 days I'll be on my way to Anthrocon. One week after that, it's ConnectiCon! Wow. I still have so much left to do!

For those who have followed along with my social media and art accounts you can find by checking out the sidebar, you've seen the above cards come into being recently.  I am almost done with my artist trading card portfolio! This year I broke down and added fan art stuff, so feast your eyes on Pokemon and Animal Crossing cards! (No ponies, because it seems like every other artist out there has that covered.)  Now I have to add five Precocious cards and I'll be done.  Those still available after Connecticon will pop up for sale when the Precocious store debuts.

Two more portfolios still need to be put together: One with samples and original artwork, and a special ego-boosting collection of original strips! (So, if you'll be attending any of those cons and you want to own an original Precocious or Copper Road, let me know so I can bring it with me.)

I'm not sure what my table commission situation will be like at Anthrocon yet. I'll be taking some, but maybe not a full load due to ongoing health issues slowing my process way down. It's best to get to me early if you want a badge!

You'll get the in-depth Anthrocon news post at the beginning of next week! For now, I have to figure out how to draw two weeks of Precocious (plus those ATCs) from my bed...

Convention preppery!

If you've been following me other art dumping grounds, you've seen my recent push for artist trading cards. I have this cute binder that looks so good when filled, I wanted to make that happen even if it meant dying before I could even get to the cons! (I never said I was good at decision making.)

With a week of so many vote incentives, extra art and promotion posts had to be pushed aside, but they shall come! It's about time to start reminding folks about Anthrocon and Connecticon!

I'm debating setting little Eevee here loose on tumblr alone.  Is he cute enough, and is his plight poignant enough, to get the reblogs a-fire?

The scary part of Tumblrizing ATCs is the mandatory resizing to 500 pixels. That usually makes the cards twice the size of the originals on my monitor. (And even more exaggerated for vertical cards!) While still time consuming to draw, ATCs are little! They are the size of standard playing cards. It's weird to make them big!

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.

Some card sketches

From what I'm hearing from my doc, I'll have to do more adapting to being broken than waiting until I'm fixed, so I've been trying something inspired by my friend, Becca: Three daily goals. The farther I fall behind, the more frustrated I can get - so this helps break it down.  It's better to make a dent in the work than flip out and stress over how much I have to do, and what order I should do it in. It won't allow me to get far ahead, but I hope I can keep pace and get a few extra things done.

My goals are simple and sometimes vague. (Even then, I don't always get them done, but I'm not letting that get me down.) Yesterday it was 1)Ink two comics, 2)Color and upload two comics, 3)Begin work on two more comics.  Today it was 1)Finish last night's two comics, 2)Sketch out some owed commission work and 3)household chores.  I got 1 done, didn't really do enough to check off 3 (but I'm checking it off anyway) and 2... here you go!

Normally this is something that can be done during a stream, but I've also sketched and inked the art cards as prep work when needed.  As any streaming I make must be limited now - The more I talk, the worse I feel - reducing streamed work to coloring only will be beneficial. (It's not the full experience, but it's better than NO experience, right?)

Usually I'd go straight to inking, but I'm taking a break - and it allows me to show off the idea of the spray paint on the wall behind Roddy.  I'm not sure if it's over the top or not.  It wouldn't be included in the inks anyway, since it's part of the coloring stage, but whatevs.  For Dionne's card, the only change is me including her feet and the platform she's standing on. Well, I played with some costume stuff too, but it'll get refined more in inking no matter what.

Tomorrow's goals, by the way:

1) Brush up on reading Ginpu and sketch out my guest comic. (She's sicker than me, so she wins.)

2)Turning the outline for next week's Precocious into solid scripts

3)Lining pages and starting the thumbnails. (Takes longer than you'd think.)

Yesterday I went beyond my goals. Today I came up short. Tomorrow, I'll probably come up short, but it's a hefty list. I'm hopeful, though.

Thursday art card streaming!

Thursday, December 13th, 7pm-midnight(ish) Eastern time - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-sycophant

As long as you guys keep showing up, I will keep this streaming going! Bonus: I might be able to do this one on minimal painkillers! (Might.) I only have one art card commission lined up so far - Winter Autumn holding a cup of cocoa - so who else wants to grab a card slot? Only $10!  By the way, all cards pictured up there currently don't have homes - anyone want to adopt them? (There's also one more Suzette - guess no one loves her.) Update: Vincent hanging his stocking, Max Bond, Saxy Ursula and the Suzette card that *isn't* in this picture were claimed.

While this stream won't have an art card giveaway - those who were there know why, and those who weren't will learn why in the next stream announcement - I might still be embracing the spirit of Chrispmas and drawing some gift art. If you guys are OK with it - and if I have the pencils ready in time (a big if) - I'm thinking of using the stream time to draw gift art for other webcartoonists. With the tooth thing, the buffer I thought I'd have by now isn't here, so I want to use my time efficiently. I love streaming, and I love talking to all who come, so I hope you will indulge me - and maybe find a cool new webcomic to read in the process! Alternately, you can buy up my time slots and get alllll the attention. That's fine too!

I'll draw at least two cards over the stream - the commission one whenever the client's around to see, and another one based on chat suggestions. After that, we'll see what happens as the week unfolds. (If I write/prep a Copper Road in time, I could even do that!)

Tonight's art cards!

Another good stream! At least on my end. You guys may have suffered, but at least you had plenty of suffering friends to commiserate with this time!

Aside from the new Copper Road (go vote and see it! It hurts my feelings when I slip this low in the rankings) I did these two cards, and they're cool. Totally.

Autumn's card started the evening. This is a recreation of the final panel of this comic with bonus color and double bonus not having to look at naked me to see that pose. Since this was a sequined dress in a sparkly environment, I went ADVANCED and used metallic silver and gold pencils for the shininess. I may have gone overboard in experimenting with colors and polling the chat to settle on the perfect dress color - BUT IT WORKED. What I'm most proud of, though, is how I pulled off the curtain-esque background. I rocked my color theory via means of insanity!

Vincent's card had a very cool origin. While folks seem to enjoy me drawing the Copper Roads, there's also a bit of quiet as I have to do the lettering and ink the borders. This time, I tasked the chat with deciding upon the next card while I did the less-zesty Copper Roading.  It... worked.  Rather than melting down into sectional violence, everyone actually seemed to have a good discussion and came up with the concept of Vincent, in holiday pajamas, hanging a stocking while standing precariously on a wobbly stool.  I admit, I was dubious about fitting it all onto a card - but IT WORKED. The end result was one of the coolest cards yet, and everyone involved gets to take some credit in its creation.

While commissions aren't canon - and even with no owner, art cards count - this does give an interesting view into Vincent's home life. I've always imagined Vincent's dad as doing the best he can - even in areas where he doesn't have the most expertise. Vincent wanted to celebrate the holiday, so daddy went out and got a big tree!  Decorations? Uh... One box of ornaments and no lights or tinsel? Like Vincent, there's something so sweet in that slightly inept attempt to make someone happy.  Anyway, Vincent's probably spending his holiday in the emergency room.

Also, when these cards are placed side by side, it's hilarious.

Autumn card sketches

Since the card piece below took up nearly all the stream last night (which, it was supposed to, as it is big and complex) there was no chance to work on the back-up card.  Yes, I was prepared in case the client had to run and wanted me to halt production while he was gone.  These were the sketches I had for that card.

1 - Horizontal card with Autumn stretched out reading, like in the recent comic. The background would likely be unobtrusive, with her leaning against a wall or something.  (The dunk tank colors would look silly out of context.)

2- Autumn with a refreshing beverage, inspired by this comic. Likely a vertical card, but I'd have to get clever with the background.

3- Winter outfit Autumn with hot cocoa!  I stole this pose from a Roddy sketch! Could be indoor or outdoor, depending on background request.

4 - Winter Autumn playing in deep snow. The deep snow allows for me to show more figure without having the awkwardness of chopping off the feet.

5 - Happy winter Autumn, maybe as snow starts falling around her. I'd have to straighten her up slightly to fit properly on the card, cute as that lean is.

6 - Sitting Autumn looking concerned. The orientation of this card would depend on how the background is handled. Is there something causing that concern? What's happening in this scene?

An Autumn card could be drawn as early as Saturday's stream - although I already promised to start that one with a Kaitlyn - since it was a request *and* I owe someone a Kaitlyn. Saturday will likely go Kaitlyn card, Copper Road, then one more card, depending on who's around.

Texas hold'em!

For those who weren't able to spend six hours hanging out with me in the stream, here's the finished version of the piece I colored tonight.  The Precocious kids are hustling poor Kendall, and he's about to go down to Autumn's all-in! (Or maybe cheating Tiffany will knock him out first.)

Pieces this complex are pretty intimidating for me, since I still consider myself a newbie with marker, but I'm happy with how it came out.

11x8.5" piece, Copic multiliners and sketch markers on Canson comic paper. This image has approximately half an inch around each edge cropped to show how it would look framed.  (No one asked, but I want to prove that I did take possible framing into consideration when I composed the piece.) You can find the full image in my FA gallery.

Kendall belongs to SirKain.

Hey, my 1000th blog post!

I'm not counting the 10 unposted drafts - so this is a legit 1000! Woo!  To celebrate this milestone, we have... a regular post-stream art-sharing post!

The card piece in the post below was pushed back to next week, because the client was sick and couldn't attend, so we filled up the night with the badge (will post it later - 1001!), card requests and an increasingly loopy Chrispy. I fought through the pain for you people, because I love you and want to entertain!

The Ursula saxophone card was the night's warm-up. (She has so much in common with Bill Clinton.) Knowledge Huntress Tiff was drawn during a commission break. She must have been playing with the time machine again, as she seems older.  The Kaitlyn and Quincy one is the result of me not paying enough attention - I thought I was playing with portfolio requests, so I messed around with the idea, but it was supposed to be a commission. (It's easy for me to miss stuff when my eyes are focused on drawing, so I encourage you all to yell at me until I notice.)

These are all up for grabs. $10 each!

Cyber Monday ATC sale!

(More cards here)

Claimed card(s): Ivy and Pingoball, Dionne in snow, LARP Quincy, Running Vincent, Agent Autumn, Kaitlyn drawing and Knowledge Huntress Tiff.

Hey, what the heck? Let's have some shopping fun! This isn't so much of a sale - as I can't reasonably reduce prices any lower than they already are - but a reminder that I have some stock sitting around! So, yeah, I'm calling it Cyber Monday purely to get attention, even though this promotion will go on until I do my pricing reset next year.

As of posting this, all cards in the above graphic are unclaimed and up for grabs. They are first come, first serve. I'll update the text down here on card availability when needed.  To claim a card, send your payment via Paypal to chrispco (at) yahoo (dot) com with a note on which card you desire. You can also email me with questions, or call dibs or whatever. (There's a small chance a card can be claimed between you submitting payment, me checking email and this post being updated . If that happens you get a backup choice, or I'll add you to the queue for a custom card later.)

As a reminder, I also make custom cards for you over my streams. It's wise to reserve one in advance, as pre-sales also dictate *when* I stream, as I'll try to fit your schedule.  Right now Tuesday's stream is full, but you can grab a spot for next week.

Saturday afternoon stream - MFF prep!

Thanks for coming! I may do one more stream before MFF, so keep checking this spot!

Midwest Furfest is next week, and I am sooooo not prepared! I don't know how I'm packing, and I'm low on commission examples. That's where you come in! Streaming is wonderful motivation, thanks to the great interaction with all the chatters! (I appreciate those who just watch as well. So happy for all who come!) I need to make four art cards (last night's haul is pictured above), at least one badge, two watercolor babes and a half-page character commission before I do my final packing on Wednesday. Welp, time to stream! Saturday is the only day I can do it before the full panic sets in, so Saturday it is!

I'm setting the stream time as 4pm, so those meddling Europeans can watch without wrecking their sleep schedules. It'll go until my hand falls off. You can find the stream here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-sycophant

Artist Trading Cards: Collected!

With the swag bags selling out, all that's left to grab are commissions, and these artist trading cards are one of the options! If you see a star in the corner of a card, that means they are still available for purchase. Each is $10, and they come in a hard protective card sleeve.

EDIT: The Yvette witch, Dionne ice cream, scheming Bud, rainy Jacob and Autumn cloning cards are taken. (I am too lazy to reupload the image with the changes. Deal with it!)

Want me to create a custom one for you? No problem! I normally do a couple every streaming session, and paid work gets priority. (Next stream is Thursday, by the way.)

The Wheel of Fortune

As promised, here is the piece I used for my second contribution to The Webcomics Tarot Project: The Wheel of Fortune! Go to the website to see it in card form, and make sure to check out my Copper Road contribution there too: The King of Wands. Both pieces from this project will be for sale soon - I just need to figure out the best method of offering them. I'd like to try an auction, but where and how has yet to be determined.

I did this piece in a special way, too! I STREAMED! It wasn't planned at all. Some organizing left my new webcam sitting on my desk, so I opened it and plugged it in. Hey, it worked! I went to Ustream and logged in, then click the "broadcast" button. Hey, I was streaming! Setup took, like, two minutes! So, hey, check out my streaming page! I don't have a good streaming setup yet - thanks to those who came today, as feedback is very valuable at this point - nor do I have a set schedule for streaming, but the page is there and I'll do more test runs when I have non-Precocious traditional media projects to share. Won't draw Precocious on streaming, as I intend to build a buffer and I don't want to spoil future strips. Copper Roads are fair game, though, as they are normally posted the day they are made. I wonder if these streaming places are also good to use just for chatting. Some days it might be fun to just have a chat session with readers. When I'm arting, I obviously can't pay full attention to questions. Streaming announcements will be made on my Twitter feed for now. Once I get it going for real, I'll have a set schedule, with advertising on Precocious' main page.

Back to the piece, I am rather happy with how this one came out. It's quite close to the idea in my head, and I didn't botch any coloring *too* bad. Watercoloring went well, and the touchups I did with colored pencil really helped some parts pop. As someone noticed, Roddy got left out of the mix. Blame the format. While I painted extra stuff on the side/bottom of the piece, the tarot card is tall and thin, which means it took a lot of planning to get as many characters as I did in the active space. Originally, this was my only tarot card contribution, so I felt no pressure to cover all the main cast. When Copper Road got a card, I went back and made it all the Gemstone kids. Sorry, Roddy.

Giving 'em the business

When I went to the post office today to mail the recent commissions, I had a nice chat about the art I was sending with the lady behind the counter. She asked me for a business card, and I checked my wallet. One left! I handed it over and made a mental note to reload when I got back to the apartment. Once there, I pulled out my box to see... I'm in the market to reorder.

The cards I have now will get me through the next con easily, but it'd be wise to reorder before the next. That means updating the design! I like the "I DEMAND ATTENTION!" idea, and those at the cons seemed amused by it too, so it's staying for now. The art for it is quite old at this point, so today I drew a new attention-grabbing Tiffany.

For the design, I made a few changes:
- I removed the Precocious logo from the front, so I could make Tiffany bigger.  This may or may not be a good idea.
- Fonts switched around. While I kept the Precocious font for Tiff's voice, everything else was upgraded. The new logo font took over the important info, and a non-offensive Franklin Gothic was used for supporting information.
- The Bud and Autumn on the back were upgraded with the recent magnet images. (Poor Jacob remains shut out.)
- The tagline was rephrased to mention the daily updates, and "webcomic" was changed to "comic" so the label purists won't get mad.  (I don't care what you call my strip, as long as you read and enjoy it!)
- Twitter and blog links were added to my information. It gives folks other ways to contact me, and lets them see my personality in action.  (Is that good or bad?) The downside is that the back is now text-heavy.  I do think the black box for my name did a good job of stabilizing everything.
- I made the blue background cover everything.  The original card has a separate white space where the logo and website appeared on both sizes.

I'm liking the upgrade so far, but I'll see what the reaction is before I do any more playing around.  Plus, it'd be silly to order new business cards when the company I'd order from botched my magnet order and hasn't come through with the corrections yet.  (I was promised it'd happen, but I'll still worry until I see the proofs.)