The wait is over! I stopped by ColorHaus this morning to check out the proofs for Grand Adventure, and I can safely say these comics are going to rock your socks off. The printers have done a fantastic job replicating the watercolor and picking out papers that really make the art shine. Couldn’t be happier.
If you haven’t heard, Grand Adventure is my daily diary comic from a three-week rafting trip through the entirety of the Grand Canyon. I recounted the day’s activities each night we were on the river, generally painting the pages before breakfast the following morning. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip, and I’m really happy I decided to document it like this.
I’ll begin shipping copies of the comic November 7th, but you can pre-order one today to beat the rush. Have at ’em!
Welcome, friends, to my brand new site! After realizing that my former blog theme was no longer supported on WordPress and therefore failing to load images properly, I upgraded to a new theme and have spent the afternoon putting together a more robust and well organized homepage for you all to enjoy.
There are some sections that are still under construction and some kinks that are still getting worked out, so do bear with me as I bumble though, but hopefully the overall experience is much improved.
Since this wouldn’t be a proper blog post without some art, here’s a smattering of doodles from the past week. I’ve been out sick for four days with a killer cold, so this has basically been my M.O. of late:
Then there’s the first wave of backer birds for those of you who were kind enough to support the Cartozia Tales Kickstarter. Thank you!
And a couple portraits from the past month to round things out:
Hello loyal readers! Sorry things have been rather quiet around here lately. I’m working on a bunch of projects that I can’t say anything about on the Internet, so there hasn’t been much to discuss. HOWEVER! I’ve just released a new, high-res comic for you on Gumroad, so let’s talk about that.
Grand Adventure, my 29-page diary comic chronicling a rowing trip through the Grand Canyon, is now available in PDF form. I’ve rescanned and cleaned up all the pages and couldn’t be happier with how the colors turned out. There’s a even a couple bonus pages of illustration and comics from our trip prep! $3 bags you the whole package. Check it out here.
To those of you holding out for a print edition, never fear. I’m getting quotes from printers as we speak and should have those ready to roll in mid-November at the latest. I think they’re going to look fabulous. If you prefer to read your comics digitally, though, today’s your lucky day! Proceeds from the PDF edition will help fund the cost of printing all these full-color booklets, so be sure to share this with your digital comics buds.
I had the immense pleasure of returning to the Happy Go Lucky Podcast this week to talk about my time away in the Grand Canyon. Our theme was “Escape” which led to a lot of talk about how we can create space for making things in our day-to-day routine without running away to the woods. Or maybe you’ve gotta run away to the woods. Or Ireland. There are lots of options on the table.
Anyway, tune in here for an hour of titillating discussion about the creative process and, as always, boats.
Just finished a mad dash to finish line on my latest story for Cartozia Tales. Did I mention WE MET OUR KICKSTARTER GOAL? Holy cow, Internet. You really pulled through on that one and I’m so incredibly grateful. Thanks to all of you who helped spread the word and raise us over our massive goal. You’re all great.
Of course this means that I get to work on this series for an entire year! I can’t wait to see where it goes. Anyway, this is a small smattering of panels from Kevin’s Catch, which will appear in Cartozia #3. Want to be the first to get your hands on a copy? You can subscribe right now! Otherwise I’ll be posting a link when the issue goes live.
What ho, faithful followers! I’m finally back in the land of civilization after 21 days of hiking, climbing, rowing, and getting dunked repeatedly in very cold water-ing. I don’t have adequate words to explain what an extraordinary time I had, but here’s a picture from Day 5.
I know. It’s ridiculous.
Despite my near-constant sogginess, I did manage to draw a page(ish) of diary comics every day during the trip as a sort of personal experiment. They’re a little grubby in places since my sketchbook was subjected to many indignities (most of them involving water, sand, or some silty combination of the two), but I hope they capture a small slice of what things were like. I’ll be putting that up for download tomorrow once I get within reach of a scanner.
In the meantime, here’s some exciting stuff that’s worthy of note:
1. I’ll be tabling at Rose City Comic Con THIS WEEKEND! Come by Table G-03 to marvel at my fabulous sunburn and get your hands on some thrilling new comics. The show takes place at the Oregon Convention Center and runs 10am-7pm on Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sunday. I’ll have several standard titles on the table, including Baggywrinkles 1-4, True Believer, and the last, rare copies of Tales from the Fragment, but I will ALSO be debuting the following new n’ shiny books:
WATERLOGGED: TALES FROM THE SEVENTH SEA features 200+ pages of two-color nautical comics in a gorgeous hardcover package. I’ll be seeing the book in person for the first time on Saturday, so if you come by for a copy don’t be surprised if I’m clutching one to my breast and weeping tears of joy. Inside you’ll find stories by many fantastic Canadian creators, as well as my piece with Shannon Campbell: Navy Ink. By all reports this thing is gorgeous. It’ll be going for $25.
Meanwhile, CARTOZIA TALES is now on its second issue and I absolutely cannot wait to show both of them to everyone who stops by. I’ll even have the paper doll postcards I designed on hand, so you can take a couple and create your own Cartozian Battle Contingient. Or Peaceful Hunter-Gatherer Tribe. Whatever floats your boat.
Each Issue is $6 and includes 40-pages of all-ages fantasy and adventure. (You can find the wardrobes I designed for our two paper figures in Issue 2.) If you really like what you see, I’ll have flyers with rewards and a QR code for our very-close-to-finished Kickstarter Campaign, so you can be sure to sign up for a full subscription and guarantee an issue in your mailbox every five weeks!
2. Speaking of the Cartozia Kickstarter, the campaign is roaring forward and we’re entering the final 5-day push. We have about $14k left to raise, so it’s down to the wire! If you haven’t yet pledged some bucks, now’s the time. Remember: any pledge gets you access to PDFs of Issues 1 and 2, so you can get a sense of what we’re about before you subscribe.
We’ve added some stellar new rewards over the past weeks, including a special package for retailers. If you’re affiliated with a local comic shop, or would like to see Cartozia at a store near you, do check out the $122 Retailer Special tier.
Additionally, one of my absolute favorite creators, Kevin Cannon, has been hard at work on his story for Cartozia Issue 3. The previews he’s posting are making me weep with envy and excitement (THE LETTERING! THE HATCHING! THE PIRATES!), and you can purchase the entire set of original pages through the Kickstarter. The reward even includes a full subscription! Just be careful I don’t save up enough to pledge for it first. I’m sorely tempted.
Thanks to all of you who were patient with orders and emails while I’ve been gone. I promise I’ll be catching up on all that in the next few days. For those of you in Portland area, I hope to see you this weekend at Rose City!
Greetings, dear readers! I write to you from somewhere in the mountainous Utah desert, surrounded by the chaos of packing and provisioning for an important voyage. This will be my last online appearance before a 21-day rafting trip down all 287 miles of the Grand Canyon. I’ve been planning this adventure in one form or another for the past 15 years with my best friend and partner in crime (pictured below) and now our hard work is finally coming to fruition.
Of course since this is primarily a work blog, it bears mentioning that this trip will represent my longest hiatus from the Internet since, well, since the Internet became a thing. This is pretty staggering for me to think about, especially considering how much of my livelihood depends on this beast now. However, I have to admit that I’m really excited. It can be so hard to truly switch off and disconnect when you’re constantly tethered to your work via digital communication. So despite my anxieties about missing out on online excitements, I’m ready.
Before I go, though, there are a couple things I wanted to make sure you all got wind of.
First! The Cartozia Tales Kickstarter is still going strong, and we’ve added some really excellent rewards that I think you’ll all appreciate. We now have prints of our incredible cover art and, more importantly, DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS! This is a great, affordable option for those of you who live abroad and can’t commit to the hefty shipping bill (I know, it’s a pain), or folks who just don’t own that many physical comics.
Just a few of the many characters from Cartozia Tales Issues 1 & 2
More importantly, Isaac has just released a complete PDF of Issue 1 to ALL BACKERS, regardless of pledge level. Furthermore, he’ll be adding a complete PDF of Issue 2 sometime in the next couple weeks! This means that if you back the project at any level, even for just a dollar, you get access to the content we’ve produced so far. I think this is a great move since it allows you all to see what we’re really about, and if you like what you see, you can up your pledge to a digital or physical half or whole subscription and help us produce a year’s worth of really excellent comics.
Yes, I’m a bundle of nerves about leaving the campaign for three weeks, but I trust you all to keep the momentum and enthusiasm going while I’m away. I’ll be back to cheer on the final 7 days at the end of September. A quick reminder of some easy things you can do to support us in the meantime:
If you’re having major Lucy Withdrawal while I’m away, here are a couple things to keep you occupied:
I was delighted to return to the Happy Go Lucky podcast a few weeks ago to discuss a topic near and dear to my heart: artistic insecurity! In Episode 26, otherwise known as “These Hands Look Weird“, Leia, Ben, Jesse and I all talk about our deepest fears and anxieties, spanning writing, graphic design, illustration, comics, and more. If you struggle with feeling like a fake, or constantly find yourself diffusing other’s compliments about your work, this is probably the podcast for you.
You can follow the Happy Go Lucky Podcast team on Twitter and subscribe to the podcast via iTunes if you’re looking for more.
In addition to Leia’s podcast, Alex Dueben was kind enough to post this lengthy interview with yours truly over on Comic Book Resources last week. We talk all about my work in the past year, including Baggywrinkles, Cartozia, my guest strip for Oh Joy, Sex Toy, working at Periscope, and what the future holds. It was a great opportunity to think about all the stuff that’s happened in the past year. So much drawing! So many new faces! So much excitement! I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
SO MUCH ART.
And I think that’s it for media news, which means it’s time to say goodbye. I’ll be back online at the end of September with lots of photos and stories to share (I’m trying to keep a daily diary comic going on the trip. We’ll find out how well that goes).
You’ve heard me shouting about it for months and end, and now the day is finally here! The Cartozia Kickstarter Campaign has launched with an incredible outpouring of support from fans all over the world. I’m so excited to share it with you.
In case you’ve missed it the last fifteen times I’ve gushed about Cartozia on the web, it’s an all-ages fantasy series set in a shared world and brought to life by a core team of eight indie cartoonists. With the guidance of our fearless editor Isaac Cates, we’ve published the first two issues on our own dime, and now we’re aiming to fund an entire year’s worth of 40-page issues. It’s an audacious campaign, but I have faith that we’re going to knock it out of the park.
From story to story and issue to issue, we swap characters and locations via a game of chance, building on one another’s ideas to create a dynamic narrative landscape. Two guest stars per issue help keep things fresh, and we’ve got some incredible names on the project (James Kochalka! Brittney Sabo! Evan Dahm! Eleanor Davis! Dylan Horrocks!).
I’m fairly certain this type of storytelling has never been done before on such a scale, and the results so far have been fantastic — immersive and playful for kids, engaging and complex for adults. We’re making Cartozia Tales because we think the world needs more comics that will attract young readers and let them celebrate adventure, curiosity, exploration, and fun, but we can’t make it happen without your help.
If you want to dive in and make this thing happen, here are some ideas to get you started:
I’ll be posting more news as I get it, but right now the biggest goal is setting this campaign off to a roaring start. I can’t wait to see where it goes. As an added incentive, here’s a full gallery of all the ridiculous dances I was giving away earlier this week to celebrate early subscribers to the series:
In honor of Mr. Tambourine Man making the official selection for Rock Ink Roll’s anthology (out in November from Altered Aesthetics!), I’ve decided to release the comic online for all to read and enjoy. It was great working with writer Shannon Campbell again, and I’m looking forward to the other projects we have planned for the near future. Stay tuned!
Joy of joys! My copies of Cartozia #1 arrived over the weekend and HOLY COW they are bee-yoo-tiful. Isaac did a stellar job with the print quality and paper stock, and the stories all look gorgeous. I just can’t stop touching them.
We’ll be running a Kickstarter for the full year’s worth of issues later this month, but I encourage all of you to order or subscribe NOW, as the price will go up to account for Kickstarter fees and other sundry costs. The more subscribers we get now, the lower our target goal will be and the higher our chances of succeeding. Plus, this is a beautiful and innovative comic, and I’m excited to get it into as many hands as possible.
If you’re allergic to ordering things on the Internet, I’ll also have these first issues for sale in person at Rose City Comic Con next month. No excuses!
