Guest Week 3!

To help keep me sane through my move ordeal, a bunch of supremely great folks have stepped up and provided some wonderful guest comics! Every day, you'll get a guest comic AND a bonus comic/art piece as a vote incentive on TWC! Don't miss anything!

This post will be updated every day to list all the contributors as their work appears. Make sure to go check 'em out and be lovely to them. They saved my skin this month!

Monday, September 3

(What? I'm not starting the back to school arc on LABOR DAY. That would be tacky!)

Comic: Carl Sjostrand, of Ginger's Bread! Slowly but surely, we're warping each other's canon, even though our comics clearly don't take place in the same universe. Stuff like this is why webcomics are neat!
Incentive: I'm leaving Sunday's incentive up an extra day, because I was so late in getting it up. (Check the sketch blog tomorrow for the story behind that.) I'll put the last bonus art up on Tuesday.

Sunday, September 2

Comic: A lovely reader comic by Jess! Is it not adorable!?
Incentive: This time, Iron Ed takes on Copper Road! Vote here to see it!

Friday, August 31 + Saturday, September 1

(I will be driving all Friday and Saturday, with almost no internet access, so I'll post both now.)

Friday's comic: The amazing Heidi Black! She is a wonderful friend and a wonderful artist and just the best at everything. (We'll be at Intervention together, btw, so come and express your appreciation in person!)
Friday's incentive: Erick Amill, of Biff the Vampire, has drawn probably the best pic of my characters ever. I should retire, because I can't top that.


Saturday's comic: Michelle Van Zandt of Ginpu! Her style is so adorable, and she was at the top of my guest comic wish list! Yay! Maybe it's best that you get day's head start on reading her comic. It might prepare you!
Saturday's incentive: Enjoy a guest comic by readers Jeremy and his sister!

Thursday, August 30

Comic: Lemmo, of Blank It! This man is a rare gem. He melted my heart with cartoonist generosity, and will melt your mind with cartooning excellence!
Incentive: A cute guest comic by reader Iron Ed!

Wednesday, August 29

Comic: This one comes from reader Ms. Dark! It's her second guest comic, so, for you scoring at home, that means she's in the lead!
Incentive: Once again, the bonus art goes hand-in-hand with the comic! This one comes from Precocious' part-time colorist and full-time savior, DRB_II!

Tuesday, August 28

Comic: Jackie Wolenhaus of Between Failures! This is one of the dudes that make you feel better about yourself when they talk to you and don't attempt to stab you in the face afterwards. I feel honored to have him contribute to this week. I wasn't face-stabbed! (Yet.)
Incentive: Bonus art from Lucy Lyall, the wonderful creator of Spare Keys for Strange Doors!

Monday, August 27

Comic: Ahmed Fahim of Silent Pirate! This is one of the cutest strips out there. A young lad who is not much for words ends up aboard a very odd pirate ship. Silly adventures happen. It is so delightful, you want to hug it!
Incentive: A bonus guest strip by Jordyn Jensen!

(By the way, if you missed a vote incentive, the guest art will eventually be compiled into a post for the sketch blog.)

Thank you, Anthrocon!

Ask me a few years ago if I'd ever be in a pic like the one above, and I'd laugh at you. Whaddaya know.  Turns out furry cons are good times! I had a lot of fun at my first Anthrocon, and I'm already looking forward to coming back next year - and rocking it even harder!

After two conventions now, I have to say it... I really like this dealers room stuff.  Everyone yelled at me to go see panels and get wubwubwub'd to death at the raves, but my joy is in meeting fans (old, new and future), fellow artists and throwing my art around to all who want it.  I'd do that every weekend if the travel expenses and all things logical didn't make it impossible.

This con was extra special, because it was the unexpected debut of the first Precocious book! (Which is still available for pre-order by the way!)  I finally got to hold it in my hands and it was so very lovely!  The first thing I did when the dealer's room opened up was rush over to the great Bill Holbrook, who made my life by agreeing to write the foreword for the book.

Bill got the very first artist edition, and was kind enough to let us gush all over him for a bit as we took photos. It meant so much to me to have someone I've idolized so long give me support, and I hope we con together often so I can hear more and more stories from a legendary veteran!

Anthrocon was wonderfully welcoming to me.  I had lots of traffic for the first half of the con, and enough free time to go chat with some friend and favorites after that.  Sundays are always slow, so I filled the time playing with marker experiments and lots of reader meetings. (Apologies to all whose chairs were stolen for that.)

Major thanks go to Matt and Darc of Code Name: Hunter, for being my hosts and my guides through this new experience. Ash, their pet British guy, was sugary sweet and helpful. I'd have been lost without them pushing me along and introducing me to all sorts of awesome people.  (The epic dinner adventure with us, Amber Williams of DMFA and her husband gave me my first con story!) I got to have wonderful conversations with a bunch of great folks, including Jenner of Doc Rat and RedCoatCat.

So, yeah, you furries wore me down with your niceness. I want to come back! I want to play again!  And those non-furry comic cons I'm doing in the future? You have a lot of live up to now.

As I recover more, I'll be posting a lot more about Anthrocon on the sketch blog and Twitter, and you'll be able to see a lot of my AC artwork over in my FurAffinity gallery.  (When people upload my commissions, I'm favoriting them like the narcissist I am.)

More book teasers!

With every day that passes, we get closer to the big debut! Mark your calenders, everyone, because we've decided preorders will begin on May 14!

There's so much good stuff in this book, folks. This isn't merely a collection of strips. The book has bonus art, some commentary and, oh, a GIANT BONUS STORY. To whet your appetite, allow me to give you a taste of what you can expect:

The biggest triumph for this book, however, is that it contains a foreword written by the legendary Bill Holbrook! His syndicated strips, On The Fastrack and Safe Havens are brilliant and have been favorites of mine for so many years. Oh yes, did I mention he's also one of the major webcomic pioneers? Bill was the first major cartoonist to embrace the rise of the internet, and his webcomic, Kevin and Kell, did so much to get the webcomic ball rolling. Bill has been one of my inspirations for as long as I've been trying to draw comics, and it is the greatest honor to see a master giving me his approval.

This is so awesome!

24 hour comics day: SEMI-SUCCESS!

I am 12 hours into 24-hour comic day, and, shockingly, I FINISHED 12 COMICS! And they don't even suck! Sure, they may not be as substantial as a regular Precocious update, but they are sweet and tasty bites, like comic candy! I can't wait to let you eat them up!

So the plan to make this project into a daily vote incentive is a GO! The first page is up now, so go vote for me to see it! I'm so excited for this! I met my goal! I WAS IN THE ZONE!

Oh, and did I mention... I GOT RETWEETED BY SCOTT MCCLOUD! He is a cartooning god and *the* 24-hour comic day guy! This was the greatest experiment, guys. What a great day.

I know I didn't do the full 24-hour task, but with my finger and obligations, it would have been foolish to go that far. I may still do a few more tonight if I'm up to it, but for now I will bask in my semi-success.

A night for hero worship

Today the latest Peanuts collection reached my mailbox. I was really excited for this one, as the strip had finally reached the 80's - meaning I would get to see the strip that ran on my birthday. That's it, up above. It's not an iconic one, but it's mine. (The strip that followed was the one chosen to represent the entire book on the back cover! I missed it by one day! Dang it, Sparky! My birthday was a Monday - you always lead with the best strips on Monday!)

Even though his bite was wasn't always as strong by the 80's, Schulz was still able to knock it out of the park. As I read through this collection, I keep hitting strips that make me laugh and think. In one, Peppermint Patty is happy to be at a library. When asked what book she'd like, she isn't sure, finally asking for a blue one. That hit me because it's exactly how I felt when visiting libraries as a kid. I had no idea what book I wanted, so I'd wander around and grab a book with a pretty binding. I never knew what I was looking for, so no sorting system could help me find it. Eventually I did figure out what I wanted from the library: I found the shelf with a bunch of Peanuts collections.

I'd love to read all four years' worth of material tonight, but I've got to make comics of my own now!

Living the dream!

Some fan art for a birthday girl!

Today is the birthday of the lovely and talented Darc Sowers, of the excellent Code Name: Hunter. To commemorate such a grand occasion, I am fan arting as best as I can!

Here we have Ruby and Max about suffer the consequences of angering Gadel. (Something I assume happens hourly around the offices.) I can't tell you how intimidating it is drawing someone else's characters - especially if it's someone you greatly admire, who is also a FAR superior artist. (Oh, Darc, I wish I could have done better for you!)

Anyway, much love and positive vibes for you! May this birthday be truly excellent!