The second video, which will upload soon, will be a video Kia and I recorded for our KickStarter. OR WILL IT?
Speaking of the KickStarter…
It’s Katy and Adam! The stars of “Seeing Him”! (Click to enlarge)
There are less than 6 days left and we need your help.
The KickStarter is to help fund the first 42 pages of our new webcomic, Seeing Him. It’s a romantic comedy starring a trans man named Adam and a nerdy lady named Kate.
If you back the project, you can get cool rewards, like an ebook of behind-the-scenes sketches (and an extended version of this interview), being drawn into the comic, and more!
The following is an interview I had with the cast of Seeing Him, which is currently on KickStarter raising funds to launch it online. There’s also an extended interview, but you can only read it by claiming it (and other swag) as a reward on KickStarter.
Interviewees: (From Left to Right in the image below) Kate, Adam, Julianne, and Greg.
Click to enlarge.
KELCI: So what’s your day job?
Kate: I am a small business owner.
Adam: I’m a doctor. Specifically an OB/GYN.
Julianne: I’m a personal assistant to Ms. Betsy Brookes. You might have seen her face on benches around town. She runs the number one realty agency in Nagadan.
Greg: I teach high school Spanish at Charles Strite High. Go Hawks!
What are your hobbies outside of work?
K: I like to hang out with my friends. Play video games sometimes. Plus, in the winter I like to crochet and sew things.
A: Every other Wednesday we have league bowling. Greg and I are on the same team. I also go to the gym a good bit. Sometimes I go out to the movies.
Juli: Outside of work I like to do puzzles and books of brainteasers. I also like to watch horrible TV movies sometimes.
Greg: Well I do a few after-school groups as the faculty leader. I teach sign language and I manage the sci-fi club. Completely non work related I go bowling, I hit the gym, and I like to cook. Particularly baking.
Have you always lived in Nagadan?
Kate: I grew up here, but I went away for college.
Adam: My mother and I moved here when I was 2. Since then the only time I’ve lived anywhere else was when I was in med school.
Juli: Born and raised here, but then I went away to school. That’s where I met Kate. We were roommates freshman year.
Greg: I moved here after college. I grew up in a little town in the south end of the state. You’ve probably never heard of it. I always wanted to live in the big city though, so when I got the chance, I moved.
Favorite animal?
Kate: Ocelots. They are just too cute.
Adam: Dogs. They aren’t called man’s best friend for nothing.
Juli: Narwhales. The fat unicorns of the sea.
Greg: um. I don’t know. Penguins?
Favorite food?
Kate: Chicken and broccoli. Preferably from Mr. Wong Wong’s in Ostmeadow.
Adam: Mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Julianne: Definitely ham. I love having it for dinner and then getting to have real ham sandwiches all week.
Greg: Butterscotch muffins. Big ones.
How do you feel about musicals?
Kate: I love them but I haven’t taken the time to watch a lot of them. I’d love to see one live one day but right now I just watch my DVDs on repeat.
Adam: Meh. They aren’t the worst thing but I’d rather watch something else.
Juli: Some of them are good. Some of them are godawful. No one is that happy all the time.
Greg: …I’d rather not answer that in an interview. My friends might read this. So, on the record, I’m not a big fan.
Adam responding to Greg: You’re going to stick to that when I know for a fact you own at least 5 original cast CDs?
Adam: My mom. She’s the reason I got into medicine. She’s made me who I am today.
Juli: I don’t have one. I am my role model.
Greg: The teacher from that one movie in the 80’s. You know, the one about the English teacher, they call him captain? That guy. Oh and Professor Y from the Y-Guys comics.
What is the nerdiest thing you have done?
Kate: I went to a comic convention dressed as Madame Majesty once. It was really fun.
Adam: Does being on dean’s list in college a lot count?
Juli: Kate made me dress as Monsieur Majesty at a convention once, but it turned out really fun actually.
Greg: I regularly played Orcs and Oracles with my friends in college. We had a campaign last 3 semesters once.
The following are questions about which of the options you prefer:
Ketchup or mustard?
K: Ketchup.
A: Mustard.
J: Neither. Mayo.
G: Ketchup.
Dandelions or dandy lions?
K: Dandy lions. All day.
A: Dandy lions would be a sight to see.
J: Dandy lions. All day.
G: Dandelions. I don’t want to make someone dress up a lion. Sounds dangerous.
Pancakes or waffles?
K: Why not both?
A: Pancakes.
J: Pancakes.
G: Waffles. Not the frozen ones though, real, homemade waffles.
Cupcakes or muffins?
K: Cupcakes.
A: Cupcakes.
J: Muffins. Cupcakes have too much icing on them.
G: Cupcakes.
Small gatherings with close friends in your living room or big dance parties with lots of people?
K: Small gatherings with friends.
A: Smaller gatherings are more fun.
J: Definitely big dance parties. I can meet new people that way. Plus show off my moves.
G: I like big parties, but house parties rather than dance parties. I like to be able to hear people.
Santa or the Great Pumpkin?
K: Great Pumpkin. Hands down. If I believe, he will appear someday.
A: Santa. I never did understand the great pumpkin idea.
J: Santa. He shows up more consistently.
G: Santa. I like how excited all the little kids at the mall are to tell him what they want for Christmas. If I ever get fat I’m going to be a mall Santa during the holidays.
Dinosaurs or dragons?
K: Dragons. They breathe fire so that makes them cooler.
A: Dinosaurs. The real life dragons. They actually lived so it makes them cooler.
J: Dinosaurs. I was really into them when I was a little kid. I even had a little stuffed T-Rex.
G: Dragons. I wish that scientists would splice them in the lab so that we can have fire breathing air travel. That would be badass.
Nerd or geek?
K: Me? I’m a geek.
A: I was always called a nerd, but I think I’d rather be a geek. They seem to have more fun.
J: Nereek. Everything is better when it’s a hybrid. Cars, dogs, ligers, everything.
G: Jock? But if those are my only options, I think I’d go nerd.
The KickStarter is barely to $300, and we have 10 days to go. If you can contribute, awesome! If you can’t financially donate, donate by using your words and telling everybody about it!
Thanks for reading, (thank you for contributing to the KickStarter), and I’ll see you again on Tuesday.
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! Validationwill still update Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir will still update on Tuesdays, and Charlie & Clow will still update on Wednesdays.
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.
I took some steps out of my comfort zone again, by drawing this gentleman with long hair and sideburns, as requested by my friend Sean.
Click to enlarge.
I’ve drawn guys with long hair before, but never shoulder-length hair.
An even larger step out of my comfort zone was with animals.
Click to enlarge
I drew these two because they are characters in my genderbent Swan Lake story (I talk more about it here). The swan is what the prince becomes cursed to turn into, and the tiger cub is allied with the Princess, who can talk to animals.
The third thing I drew out of my comfort zone was not a subject matter, but an emotion. It’s one I don’t tackle very often.
Grief.
Click to enlarge
I drew this in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance yesterday.
Speaking of trans awareness, though, I’m still running the KickStarter with my little sister to get our new webcomic (co starring a trans man as romantic lead Adam) off the ground. Info is here and here.
Trans people deserve positive visibility. Trans folks deserve to be heroes while they are alive, not when they are dead.
…Sorry for the morbid end line there.
On a more positive note, I’m here for you if you need me. My contact information is under the Contact tab above, if you ever need to reach out to somebody. I’m not a health care provider, but I’m willing to listen.
Thank you for reading! I’ll see you on Tuesday.
I almost forgot to add this sketch I also did this week. Click to enlarge.
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:
Agents Sinclair and Galileya
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.
