Adventures in Moving – A Change in the Schedule

Because of my adventures in moving, I need to let you know early (and maybe often) that there will be a change in the schedule.

Here’s what’s happening:

  • The Freelance Lifestyle blog post series is going to be paused until June.
  • Writing for Comics 101 will be on pause until June, as well.
  • The Legend of Jamie Roberts MIGHT have some scheduling hiccups. (More on this below.)
  • There will be a livestream on May 23. But…
  • No livestreams will happen May 30.

I’m moving to my new apartment on June 1. We’ll see how quickly things can get back on track after that.

“But wait!” You might be thinking. “You said there might be scheduling hiccups with The Legend of Jamie Roberts! I HAVE A MIGHTY NEED FOR GENDERQUEER PIRATES!”

First, thank you for being so enthusiastic for my adventure story of a genderqueer pirate and their two best friends treasure-hunting in a land of dragons and spirits.

Despite my best efforts, though, I don’t have much in the way of pages made ahead of schedule as buffer. Plus, Beefy McMuscleton – my devoted HP Officejet 7612 printer and scanner – has been forced to retire. So my workflow in making future pages of Jamie Roberts is going to get an overhaul. A decidely digital overhaul…

A bit sooner than expected, actually. I hoped I could stretch the process I’ve been using to the end of Chapter 3, and THEN go full digital in Chapter 4. But it looks like the full-digital comics-making process transition is happening sooner.

Because of this transition, and the move to the new apartment, updates on The Legend will MAYBE not happen once a week on Wednesdays. I will do my best to hold to this weekly-update promise! But I make no guarantees.

Stay tuned to the blog here for further updates.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

May’s Massive Moving Sale

may's massive moving sale on kelci d crawford's storenvy store

I had the idea to post this in the Adventures in Moving slot on Tuesday – but I want to make this announcement SOONER. The announcement being: I’m running a MASSIVE Moving Sale for the month of May.

If you’ve been reading Adventures in Moving, you know by now that I’m preparing to move. However, I still have a LOT of my own products sitting around not being sold, because COVID-19 cancelled convention season.

The thing is, I don’t want to pack all of it. Because I’d rather see that a good chunk of this go to new homes. That way, you get comics to read and art to oggle, and I lighten my load for the move. Wins all around!

So I’m running a MASSIVE moving sale over on Storenvy.

You may remember my price changes from the last few weeks – on things like Johnson & Sir, Charlie & Clow: The Bonus Arc, and Dragons: A Sketchbook. Those sales prices will stay (for now).

ALL of the following sales prices are now on Storenvy:

These price are good UNTIL MAY 22.

So be sure to jump on these soon – the things you want may go out of stock sooner rather than later.

After May 22, the Storenvy shop will temporarily pause until I move into my new apartment.

IF YOU ARE BROKE – share this sale with friends who like indie artists! Make sure your friend give you a shout-out in the memo section of their order. That way, the two of you are entered to win a FREE commission from me! Two winners will be picked on May 24.

TL;DR. I’m running a sale on on Storenvy until May 22. If you’re broke, share the sale with your friends. Have your friend say “(Your name) sent me!” in the memo of the order. The both of you will be entered into a giveaway to win a FREE commission! Two winners will be selected May 24.

Questions? Leave them in the comments below.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

Adventures in Moving – Being Safe

In these uncertain times, I’m making this announcement in the Adventures in Moving: I’m being safe, and delaying my move date.

For folks who are out of the loop, I planned on moving because the house I’m renting got sold. Thankfully, mom (who owned the house before) sold it to my sister. Because of that, the time table to move is more relaxed.

However, it is NOT relaxed for my sister’s current roommate. Currently, he’s renting an apartment from a preeeety shady landlord. This landlord has been demanding consistent rent payments and will kick out anyone whose lease runs out if the renter does not renew. Even during these uncertain times.

And what do you know? This roommate’s lease runs out in the beginning of June.

He also has a dog. An elderly, pain in the ass dog, whom both of my cats HATE. And he also has a kitten.

The house I’m in is small – so fitting 3 people under the roof is a challenge. Add an extra dog and cat, and that becomes my sister, the roommate, me, four cats, and two dogs (because my sister has a dog, too) under one dinky roof.

So I DO intend to move before June starts.

However, with coronavirus still being A THING, I’ve heard through the grapevine that Ohio intends to open the state back up around May 1.

I am of the opinion that this is WAY TOO DAMN SOON.

(Personally, I prefer the relief effort ViHart outlines in her latest video. Go check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.)

So I’m going to be safe.

Right now, the plan is to move out of my current home between May 15 and May 31. There are contingency plans if the move has to be delayed. But this is the current plan.

Where am I moving to? Well, it’s looking like the Toledo area – but Columbus is still an option.

That’s where things are at for now. As things change, I’ll keep you posted.

Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

Writing for Comics 101 – The Beginning

comic script for the legend of jamie roberts page 3

I’m beginning a new blog post series. Called Writing for Comics 101.

I had an epiphany recently, thanks to some new work I do. See, I’ve been hired as the Chief Creative Officer at NeverEnding. (Find out more about NeverEnding over on their website.) This new work has gotten me in contact with artists, because we’re looking to grow the team a little bit.

So I’ve been talking with other artists a lot more often. That’s nice, considering that the coronavirus pandemic has shut down convention season. So my options of chatting with other artists got a bit more limited.

That said, I realized something talking with some of these folks, pre-virus and presently. The thing is, many of them start as comic artists…but then they get frustrated at the lack of readers, so they leave the business. Many of these artists have moved on to just freelancing in general. There’s nothing wrong with that! But it made me realize something.

You can be the most killer comic artist on the planet – but that doesn’t mean shit unless you can write well.

And the thing is, many of these former comic artists…are not great storytellers.

This gave me the inspiration to start the Writing for Comics 101 blog post series. I’m going to keep this series to 4 posts. If there’s enough demand for it, I’ll expand it. But 4 posts (not counting this one).

We’re going to talk about:

  • why a comic is more than just cool-looking characters
  • why one-liners will not save your ass
  • design tricks to make the reader actually read your page
  • how to STOP packing so much dialogue into your pages

I hope with this short blog post series that I can help my fellow artists get more confident in their writing ability. I KNOW you can draw AND write killer stories. You just need more guidance than Google can provide.

So stick with me. And be sure to sign up for the email newsletter so you can keep up with this series as it posts.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.