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!

New Copper Road! 7/20/13

Bud! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? Copper Road is not you comic! Get out of there! Vote here to see the new comic !

This comic is a rarity, as it was inspired by a reader who was wondering about Vincent's newly-gained potato from the previous Copper Road. Not a bad question, so here's the answer!

(Note: There's a big difference between me getting an idea related to a discussion and someone submitting comic ideas. I don't accept comic ideas, and I don't want anyone sending me anything like that. Be good and trust in your creator, OK?)

New Copper Road! 7/17/13

First off, make sure to scroll down and see the book news if you haven't yet. We had a server outage recently and the result has been some coding weirdness. One bug prevented recent news posts from appearing on the front page properly, and another is messing with my FTP and preventing me from updating the front page Copper Road promo image. (It may be fixed by the time you read this, which would be great!) If you find any other oddness on the site, let me know and I will forward it to the almighty tech guy.

And now for Copper Road! After two weeks of pure conventioneering, I'm doing my best to catch up with everything. I owe you five Copper Roads, and I'm going for it! Vote here to see the first, a delightful tale of fence buddies. It shall be followed up... whenever I manage to draw the next one. Could be tomorrow, could be in a massive comic burst on the 31st. Point is, vote now or risk falling behind!

Look what I came home to!

First off, thanks to everyone who came out to see me over the past two weeks at Anthrocon and ConnectiCon! I had a great time and I hope to rock it even harder next year! Now I get to sit back and relax for a while, until Intervention next month!

Oh, wait, no. THE KICKSTARTER BOOKS ARE HERE! And I owe you lots of Copper Roads! And Precocious needs rebuffering! The grind continues, but everything about it amazing right now.

As I posted on the book page, no one go running out to your mailbox yet. It'll take me a couple weeks to do inventory, communicate with backers who need followups and prep for shipping, but things will start happening very soon! Everything is still set to ship out during the promised windows. Yay! Yay! Yay! Updates to come when things happen, or if anything changes in the schedule.

Oh, yeah, and this appeared in my inbox last night too...

Cupcakes of Bliss backers, you are getting the best stuff! It may talk longer to get it to you, but this might be the only chance to get Precocious dolls. Lord your dolls over the rest of the readers forever and ever!

On to ConnectiCon this weekend!

Get ready, ConnectiCon. I AM COMING!

Anthrocon, you were wonderful! I sold some stuff and had an amazing time with friends, fans and strangers who should become friends and fans! I took a day to relax, BUT NOW IT'S BACK TO BUSINESS!

Those in New England this weekend need to sneak over to Hartford this weekend and find me in the Online Media Guest room! I will be selling books (including some with bonus sketches, as seen above, while supplies last), selling my art cards, taking art card commissions for those who want to see their favorite Pokemon immortalized, selling charms/pins/sketch cards and talking Animal Crossing to all who want (and don't want to) hear about it.  Kicks and Isabelle will be with me again, endorsing the adorable art cards of them!

I don't know if the con updated the map yet, but find me in the Online Media Guest room by looking for that green tablecloth above and my pink Precocious banner! Stop by and grab some goodies! Kids get free magnets. Adults can get cursed Tiffany-style smiley pins.

Note: If you would like me to have an original Precocious strip on hand for you, please let me know. I may not bring the originals binder to ConnectiCon, as I discovered I lacked table space for it at AC. Precocious originals are $75 and Copper Road originals range up to $120 depending on size and complexity. I will provide protective sleeves and backing boards for them. Otherwise, everyone has to wait until the store system gets set up and pay the extra shipping and handling costs.

See you at Anthrocon!

This is the big week! Are you ready? This is what I've been working towards for all these months. BOOK TWO IS HERE! That's just the start, though, as I have much more to offer. I *will* be offering table commissions - badges, art cards and a few half-pages - which makes this one of the few times this year you can get custom art from me.  I'll be bringing along a pile of original art for sale as well, and even bringing original Precocious and Copper Road comics for sale.  (If you're interested in grabbing an original, write me and let me know so I can bring it with me.)

I'm spending almost all of my time at table N19 in the dealer's den, trying to pay off some of those medical bills that keep piling up over here.  Find me by walking into the hall, taking a right and heading to the corner of great comics! (I'm next to Bill Holbrook this year. So excited to be close to one of my cartooning heroes!)   Above is the badge I'll be wearing, to help you pick me out of the line-ups.  Assisting me at my table is the wonderful and magnetic Mat of Badly Drawn Kitties. You can tell us apart because he is blond, with short hair, is haunted by less obvious demons, and is adorable in a way that only Canadians can be. (That means he's probably wearing a Canucks jersey.)

I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces (please don't get mad if I have forgotten your face - it's not only that I meet so many folks, but I also know most of you by your username or character badge instead of face) and meeting lots of new people! Come keep me busy and happy!

Notes: I'm happy to chat with everyone, but remember this is still a business trip for me. If you're just chatting, move to the side to let others have access to the table, and don't feel bad if I have to pause and turn my attention to customers. My prices have increased across the board, which means they've gone from laughably cheap to more reasonable. Increases in small business costs, plus all those medical bills, means I can't be as giving as before. If you pre-ordered book 2, I will not have your copy at Anthrocon. The Kickstarter order of books has not arrived yet. I don't know what my social schedule will be like, but you can invite me to things. If I get an escort (because I'm shy and still don't know many people on the circuit), I'll try to hang in the zoo after hours to do my homework.

Another bonus comic!

I'm still going for it! Here's another bit of extra fun for the last story! I waited until today because it's the first and that means TWC resets and it's time to VOTE HARD! So, yeah, vote right here and get the bonus!

Also, the first of the month means the Copper Road archive gets updated! Head over to the archive page and enjoy June's Copper Roads all over again.

This is a simple news post, as it won't be on top long. I HAVE MORE ANTHROCON PROMOTION TO DO!

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!