status updates Archives - Page 19 of 20

December 2, 2014January 18, 2015

Today is My Day Off

There’s actually quite a few house-keeping things I want to take care of in this blog post.

First, I’m taking December off from making comics.

I’m doing this for a few different reasons.

So I can make presents and finish up private commissions for folks.
So I can get some writing done for next year.
So I can spend more time with my family for the holidays.

Second, though I’m taking a break from making comics, all of them will still update regularly in December.

This is because I worked extra hard in October and November to make extra pages.

So don’t worry! Validation will still update Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir will still update on Tuesdays, and Charlie & Clow will still update on Wednesdays.

Third, I’ll still be promoting the “Seeing Him” KickStarter.

Speaking of which, we are down to 13 days left and we’re not near our goal! Please help by spreading the word and contributing if you can.

But yes, there will still be a lot of posts about Seeing Him, mostly because Kia and I are super eager to get this story out. While Validation is a cool webcomic about a trans girl, Kia and I don’t feel like there are enough webcomics about and starring trans men. We’re hoping that by making Seeing Him we can make a story to fill that gap.

Those are the major updates at the moment. There will probably also be tweaks made on this site, like updating Sketches.

Hopefully, too, there will be more, better blog posts here. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in comments below.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.

November 28, 2014January 20, 2015

New Rewards, New Sketches: A KickStarter Update

Click to enlarge.

The Seeing Him KickStarter is still going, and so far we’ve raised $102. We still have a long way to go until December 15th. (I know I’ve been saying the 14th in previous posts. My bad.)

To that end, Kia (the writer on the project) and I added a new reward option: if you contribute $10 to the campaign, you can get an ebook of behind-the-scenes sketches, including…

character designs
sketches of Nyan Noodles Restaurant (where Kate and Adam meet)
behind-the-scenes development of comic pages
and more!

We also lowered the prices of some of the higher-priced rewards. To contribute, check it out. And help spread the word!

Here’s one of the sketches that will appear in the eBook sketchbook reward:

julianne character sketch for seeing him trans webcomic kickstarter — It’s a development sketch of Julianne, Kate’s best friend! Click to enlarge.

P.S. Thank you for putting up with all my blog posts about the KickStarter. Kia and I are just really hoping we can get this webcomic out into the world, because that would mean more positive trans representation – trans men need more comics for and about them.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

November 25, 2014January 20, 2015

“Seeing Him” KickStarter News

In this post, I’ll be talking a lot about the “Seeing Him” Webcomic KickStarter project, where Kia and I run a KickStarter to jump start our new webcomic.

Don’t know what “Seeing Him” is? Go to the KickStarter Page, or go here!

Did you look? Cool. Anyway…

This update will come to you in THREE PARTS.

PART 1: NEW ART!

seeing him kickstarter promo art trans man webcomic — It’s Katy and Adam! The stars of “Seeing Him”! (Click to enlarge)

I drew the image above because I realized that Kate and Adam should be shown together, because they are adorable.

I’m planning out the sticker ideas, and hopefully you can see them soon.

Speaking of the stickers, that makes me think of rewards, which leads to…

PART 2: MORE REWARDS COMING SOON!

Kia and I realized that a lot of backers are going for rewards that are under $25, so we’re looking to include more options to choose from that are between $1 and $25.

Our current rewards include Thank Yous at $1, a desktop wallpaper at $5, and wallpaper and commemorative bookmark at $10.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave them in comments!

PART 3: WE GOT A HOST!

Deven from Pink Dollar Comics has so graciously offered to host “Seeing Him” on the Pink Dollar Comics website!

That’s awesome news, because they are a lovely LGBT hub, and Kia and I feel like “Seeing Him” would fit right in with the work Pink Dollar Comics does.

That’s all for now!

Thank you for reading! Please contribute to the KickStarter and spread the word!

I’ll see you on Friday.

November 18, 2014January 20, 2015

Seeing Him: Now on Kickstarter!

A few months ago, my sister, Kia, approached me and was like, “I have a new story I’m writing and I want you to draw it because it would look awesome!”

Ok, maybe she didn’t phrase it like that. But it was close.

So we worked together to build up this story a bit, and now, we’re raising money to get it off the ground!

Click to enlarge.

What’s the story about?

“Seeing Him” is the story of Katy, a young lady who runs her own skating rink, but wants a little company in her life. So she meets a trans man named Adam at a Japanese noodle restaurant, and so begins a romantic comedy of unique and silly proportions.

Of course there are plenty of friends to help them along, like Greg, Adam’s friend and a tough guy who loves baking cupcakes.

greg from seeing him the trans man webcomic — Click to enlarge.

I love drawing Greg!

There are other friends, too, including Katy’s friends, Rachel and Julianne, who work at the skating rink.

character sketches from seeing him the trans man webcomic — Click to enlarge.

So what’s going on with this story right now?

Well, Kia and I are now raising funds on KickStarter to get this up and running as a webcomic online. The money raised will help pay us for making the project, as well as get you awesome perks, like stickers, bookmarks, and even posters and other cool prizes!

To give you an idea of how the comic will look when it’s funded and made, here’s a preview of page 9:

seeing him trans man webcomic comic page preview — Click to enlarge.

The both of us would love your support, whether you donate, spread the word about it on Facebook and Twitter, or share the project with your friends/family/readers/sentient pet dinosaurs.

The KickStarter will be up until around December 14th, and with your awesomeness, hopefully it can be funded!

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.

November 14, 2014January 20, 2015

Outside of My Comfort Zone…In Sketches

Earlier this week, I updated my blog with the following warm-up sketch:

I then looked at it and went, “Man, I need to practice more variety in body shapes and types!”

That prompted me to sketch THIS:

Her name is Galileya. She’s an agent of a super secret organization that destroys planets and does other intergalactic missions. I want to write a story about her and her coworker, Agent Sinclair:

The problem is I have no story for them that has anything resembling a plot. So they’re still a work in progress.

Back to this week.

After I drew Galileya, I was like, “But man, I need to practice drawing things that aren’t people! What can I draw?”

Well, one morning my cat was on my bed, grooming herself. So I got out my sketch pad and my ink brush, and got to work:

That was tricky to do, since she kept moving on me.

I should probably just wait until she holds still, like this:

BUT EVEN THAT IS FLEETING BECAUSE CATS DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.

So I went, “Dude, I gotta practice drawing things that hold still! But I’ve drawn most of the objects around me twenty times. What’s new on Pinterest that I can use as a reference?”

I found this image:

If you took this picture, please let me know so I can give you credit!

And I went, “PERFECT! I need to practice landscapes so I don’t have crap that looks like this”:

So I took the reference image above and drew this (with some artistic license in rendering certain things):

I still want to practice landscapes and environments, though. Because

a) It would make my current comics projects even better, and

b) the projects I have in mind for the future are sci-fi/fantasy works that require a LOT of visual development and technical know-how, which I don’t have a lot of yet.

So what do you draw for practice? Let me know in the comments below! And if we keep the conversation going, I think we can find new things for us to practice drawing so we don’t get too comfortable.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

P.S. I actually drew MORE than this stuff this week, but those other sketches are exclusive to Patreon subscribers only. If you’re interested in supporting what I do, go to Patreon! There are tipping plans for as little as $1 a month.

Also, I am aware that the Patreon page is under Christian Beranek’s name. It’s our joint effort under the umbrella of Validation. Any money raised there is split evenly between the both of us so we can both keep producing the comic.

If you want to go the more direct route or support my other work, there’s also a tip jar over at Johnson & Sir‘s page.

Ok, that’s it for now! For real this time!