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.

MarsCon appearance canceled

Due to my continued health problems relating to my ill-fated tooth extraction so long ago, I have been forced to cancel my appearance at MarsCon. I was looking forward to being a panelist and hosting my first talk, but I have been advise against taking that on in my current state.

My deepest apologies go  to the wonderful people behind the convention, the panelists I won't be there to support and anyone who wanted to visit me. My heart breaks having to do this. I hope to make amends next year.

For those wondering about my future, all the healthy hours I have are being devoted to keeping Precocious going. When I find extra windows of energy, I will work on the few remaining owed commissions, as well other projects that need attention.  Commissions remain closed until I'm healthy enough to stream at my prior pace.  Any streaming in January, if any, will be short coloring streams for the owed commissions only, and likely done with little to no warning time. I'm going to be *very* cautious going forward with easing myself back into a normal schedule.

Sorry to everyone. I'll be a fighter, and I'll get healthy again. If I could blow up my drawing finger and only miss a week of updates, I can survive my head exploding too.

Glitter Abuse

In what was supposed to be a fuller focus on commissions in the new year, I ordered a bunch of fun pens, including glitter pens! I've never had use for the before, but I've seen enough of the commission world now to know how fun they can be. This is the first thing I did when they arrived:

This also happened to be the mystery gift I was giving out during my recent "Too hurt to stream" giveaways, and the last art card I was able to complete before things too another turn for the worse. Enjoy your GlittUrsula, Brighttail! (I held off posting this until he got the card in the mail.)

Twitter and FurAffinity people got to see more of my glitter shenanigans. When the new Pokemon starters were announced, I marveled at how Fennekin took over the internet so quickly. The Glitter Pennekin was my stupid response. (Behold: About four minutes of HARD work!)

So I haven't been able to act on many of my fancy ideas for the new year yet, what with the old year doing all it can to destroy my head. One day, my friends. One day...

New Copper Road! 1/10/13

Oh, hey, this! I was supposed to post this Monday, but I was too busy writhing in agony. For several reasons! My head is the RG3 knee of cartooning right now. (So, an 8-10 month recovery time? At this point, I'd believe it.) Vote here to see the comic!

Precocious will continue as normal, by the way, but I'll be very slow with everything else. I'll do what I can when I feel non-screamy, though.

Convention update! (Edited)

UPDATE: Due my continuing health problems, I have been forced to pull out of my MarsCon appearance. You should all still go to get your sci-fi fix, though!

Since my convention stuff is currently buried on the Buy Stuff page, I'll toss out a reminder here. Make your plans, kiddos!

MarsCon - January 18-20 - Williamsburg, VA
(appearance canceled)

Fur The 'More - April 5-7 - Baltimore, MD
This is an upstart furry con, trying to get something going in the mid-Atlantic region. As this one *also* happens to be nearby other dear friends, I hope it has great success! I will be hanging around the dealer's room, hopefully selling stuff and drawing continuously. Support it if you can, because it's totally convenient for me if it can grow!

Anthrocon - July 4-7 - Pittsburgh, PA
This is the big one! The second Precocious book will debut here! (For those wondering, pre-orders should start in February.) I will be at Table N19, in the far-right aisle of the Dealers Room!

Those are my confirmed conventions. Other likely appearances will be at Intervention (August 23-25, Rockville, MD) and MidwestFurFest (November, Chicago, IL).  I'm trying for Connecticon, SPX and FurFright too, but it's harder to get a table with those.

New Year! New Copper Road! (UPDATED!)

Update: Another Copper Road is up! One more to go! I'll edit this post again when it's up. The archive gets updated Friday night.

Update again: The final Copper Road of the week is up! I know you all think the strip is autobiographical, but it's really more about me using my life events to write something funny. This new one was written BEFORE I had my surgery, back when I thought it would be comedy gold. Haha. Who knew?

Oh yeah, and THE COPPER ROAD ARCHIVE HAS UPDATED!

*current**current*

It's a big day! 2013 is here! Copper Road is here! Oh, and Precocious is FOUR YEARS OLD TODAY! It all began January 1st, 2009 - and it all continues January 1st, 2013! Can we get to five? (Yes.)

Anyway, on to Copper Road! We're gonna wrap-up the Ursula story this week. New comic today! New comic Thursday-ish? ANOTHER NEW COMIC SATURDAY-ISH? Hey, sure. We can do that! Get your vote on to keep me motivated, and get Precocious some fancy attention!

By the way, the 100th Copper Road is appearing this week, so more celebrating will happen! Once the Saturday(ish) Copper Road goes up, I'll update the archive page with the recent strips.

The Winners!

Thanks to all who participated in my giveaways this week. It might not have been a free art stream, but it *was* free art. Maybe next year I can fulfill my Santa Chrisp dreams!

Here are this week's winners:

Monday#1 - Jess 

Monday#2 - Emi 

Tuesday - Unolup 

Wednesday #1 - X-Strike 

Wednesday #2 - Alexk 

Thursday #1 (giving) - Brighttail 

Thursday #2 (receiving) - MacareuxMoine 

Friday: @ShivaeStudios 

Emi, if you see this, please drop me an email with your address and your request. The list of prizes is over here: http://chrispco.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-giveaways.html

Chrispmas Giveaway #5!

Last contest of the week! And this one's for me! I spend far too much of my time on Twitter, either catching up with cartoonists or doing drive-by tweeting while working - and this contest is for you other folks who have been sucked in!

There are share buttons on  today's comic page, and let's use them! Friday's comic is good and THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW!  Use the Twitter button to share your love, and you're entered into the drawing for free art!  While you can certainly use any of the share buttons, I'm focusing on Twitter because doing so includes a @chrispco mention - so I can *see* who shared. I can't do that on the other sites. When the day is over and Saturday's comic is up, I will look over my mentions and randomly choose the winner!

(You should still keep sharing, though. Use those icons if you like the current comic, and help bring new readers into the fold!)


Monday#1 - Jess
Monday#2 - Emi
Tuesday - Unolup
Wednesday #1 - X-Strike
Wednesday #2 - Alexk
Thursday #1 (giving) - Brighttail
Thursday #2 (receiving) - MacareuxMoine

Chrispmas Giveaway #4

The theme for today is helping out! Be like Ursula and make things wonderful for your fellow Precocites!

Two prizes are up for grabs today. One is a choice of art, and the other is a mystery! And here's the thoughtful part: The winner of today's draw will THOUGHTFULLY choose another commenter to receive a prize! But which prize? Will they give their chosen one the art and take the mystery gift - which could be bad - or take the known prize and give the mystery gift - which could also be awesome - to another? DUN DUN DUN!

How do you enter? Simply comment on today's comic (12/27) and you're in - well, as long as you've provided an email address, so I can contact you. One entry per person. I'll do a random draw of all who qualify to determine the gifter.

Just remember: This is your chance to make a good impression and be chosen to receive a gift by the winner! How can you win over that person's heart? Insightful commentary? Razor-sharp wit? Impassioned plea? Reverse psychology? It's your choice! (And theirs.)

Oh, and you winners had better check your spam folder. I'm guessing the word "winner" in an email title gets it filtered pretty hard. Haha. Oops.

Winner tally:


Monday#1 - Jess
Monday#2 - Emi
Tuesday - Unolup
Wednesday #1 - X-Strike
Wednesday #2 - Alexk

Chrispmas Giveaway #3

Hello, folks! Are we all recovered from the fun? Wanna blow off some excess energy? Let's do silly things. Together. It's how we bond.

Today is another drawn-while-sick comic, so please enjoy it the best you can and distract yourselves with silliness otherwise. (The progression is kinda interesting. Too pained to think, I broke many comic laws in Tuesday's art, was shaky for Wednesday, started to pull it together as the pills kicked in for Thursday and I'm back to regular skill for Friday and Saturday.)

Anyway, it's contest time again. Since Monday was fully nuts, let's do that stuff again! This time, the goal is to mention a FRUIT in today's comment section! You can be clever (but don't be tried-too-hard clever) or you could simply post "apple" and run away. All fruity posters go on the list! (One entry per person, so listing every fruit ever won't help you.)

But, wait, there's more! I'm using a random number generator to pick out a number between 1 and 1389 (the amount of Precocious updates in the archive) - and a *second* prize is available to the one who guesses closest. All you need to do is add a number to your post. Don't be *too* clever here, as it must be clear to me what your guess is. This is also one entry per person, so if you're chatting in the comments don't toss out extra numbers and confuse me! If there's a tie between two people, the one who posted earliest wins.

If someone hits the number exactly, they win and the contest resets with a new number and a new, smaller prize. (Probably a magnet set.)

As always, there needs to be an email attached to your post so I can contact you if you win. Contest runs from when the comic appears to when the next update happens.

Good luck, folks! Thank you for having fun with me!

Here's your winners list so far:

Monday#1 - Jess
Monday#2 - Emi
Tuesday - Unolup