fox-teeth

[fox-teeth]

Sketching out ideas (top) for a second series of medieval illuminated manuscript stickers (first series shown on bottom).

Open to suggestions; which beaft would you like to see? Tell me in the comments! Open to all creatures from your favorite bestiary or manuscript margins--not just the ones I already sketched!

(bat, salamander and murderous rabbit are happening)

[fox-teeth]

Riso printed new business cards for cons and thank you cards for online store orders the other day.

I wanted to match the “”branding”” closer to my website, which if you haven’t visited it, is made to look like one big comic. Next step is matching my con table to this look!

[fox-teeth]

Sharing this announcement from the NYC Cartoonist Meetup--if you need a space to hang out this Monday please come by 💜🐦

[fox-teeth]

Apologies for going right from heartfelt end of ShortBox Comics Fair posts to my horrifying Halloween costume. Unfortunately as an artist I contain multitudes.

[fox-teeth]

Why do people keep on giving me horrified looks in the train station. It’s Halloween, I’m a bunny 🐰

Cute little medieval bunny 🐰

[fox-teeth]

In the final minutes before ShortBox Comics Fair closes, I just want to thank everyone. This was an amazing experience and getting to create "The Maker of Grave-Goods" and share it with the world through @shortboxcomicsfair was a dream come true.

(Don't worry, while the Fair closes at 8PM GMT my comic will be back eventually!)

[fox-teeth]

You have about TWO HOURS LEFT if you want to read about and/or boop Mazu.

You can Halloween boop me all you want but you have to at least consider buying me and my colleague's comics on ShortBox Comics Fair before it closes on Oct 31st 8PM GMT >:3c

[fox-teeth]

Reminder for the final hours of SBCF! You have until 8 PM GMT today (Oct 31st) to make any purchases. If that's not in the cards right now, you should follow the cartoonists you're interested in for news of future re-releases.

And if you missed it, my second SBCF recommendation post is here!

ShortBox Comics Fair/The Maker of Grave-Goods FAQs

I've been asked these questions a few times in things like post notes, so I'm putting them here so everyone can see:

Q: Is The Maker of Grave-Goods a digital or physical comic? A: Like all ShortBox Comics Fair comics, its is a digital comic. As soon as you buy it you get a download for a DRM-free PDF!

Q: Will the comic be available digitally after October? A: It will be available again sometime in the future when I decide the time is right--get it now so you don't have to wait!

Q: Will the comic be available physically? A: While that would be really cool it's too long to print myself, meaning I would have to raise funds to outsource printing or get it picked up by a publisher with more resources than me. Uhhh...I wouldn't count on either of those things happening.

Q: What's with the mini printed copies? A: Those are a promotional zine containing the first eight pages (you can also read those here) I printed to give away at SPX and with purchases from my store (yes, even if you get a $3 sticker during October, you get a free zine).

Q: What other ShortBox Comics Fair comics do you think I should get? A: I wrote a post here with recommendations of comics for readers that liked mine. Stay tuned for more recs as we close out October, or check out my Bluesky (yay) and Twitter (bleh) accounts for shares of other SBCF artists' promos.

EDIT: updated some wording for clarification and accuracy purposes regarding future digital releases.

[fox-teeth]

You have SIX HOURS left!

We're almost at the end of @shortboxcomicsfair ! Make sure to check out "The Maker of Grave-Goods" and the rest of the SBCF '24 comics before 8PM GMT on October 31st!

www.shortboxcomicsfair.com

[fox-teeth]

You can Halloween boop me all you want but you have to at least consider buying me and my colleague's comics on ShortBox Comics Fair before it closes on Oct 31st 8PM GMT >:3c

[fox-teeth]

Are you still looking to fill your SBCF basket before it closes on the 31st? Here is a post of rapid-fire recommendations of some comics I really liked for you to consider:

Being Useful by @laurark: This is a comic about having your sense of self and agency warped by extreme forces outside of your control. This is also a comic about a hot, horrifying vampire. Absolute banger.

Blade of the Fane by @theoplum: Do you want to read the absolute apotheosis of medieval fantasy comics? This right here is it, in 200+ beautiful pages. If you liked my comic Basilisk, you have to check out this one.

BLEED ANY% by @bluedelliquanti: Blue has an impressive track record of mind-bending sci-fi and near future comics and this is no different. If you love seeing inventive visuals only comics can pull off this is for you.

Bobo Has An Offer For You by Pavina: Do you, in this world of morals and feel-good tales, ache for someone that is terrible and sucks? Then you need Bobo, who will never learn nor improve.

Clair de Lune by @takitakos: This is a comic both about the transcendent beauty of music and the annoying realities of playing a clarinet. Enjoy gorgeous art while listening to the soundtrack. As a former clarinetist I think this is a MUST for all musicians.

IMPASTO by @sjmillerart: I say this with the highest praise: by page 6 I was ready to be sick, and it only got worse from there. A disgusting, beautiful mix of Edwardian splendor and horror.

Lapis Blue by @birbyarts: All the twists, turns, and asking of big existential questions of the best of New Wave science fiction told by a cartooning master of the pre-page-turn gut punch.

Offering by Jocelin Kee: A sweet, wistful slice-of-life story about sharing an office with a god. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into this strange, dream-like magical world.

Aquatic Lives by Pepe Reyes and Pacific Dream by Vincent Lau: I am declaring these two a DOUBLE MARINE BIOLOGY BANGER. I know I have followers here that follow fish-a-day blogs and have had big, weepy feelings at their local aquariums. You have to get both these comics. Trust me.

See also: my recommendations for SBCF for readers that liked my own comic.

[fox-teeth]

We're almost at the end of @shortboxcomicsfair ! Make sure to check out "The Maker of Grave-Goods" and the rest of the SBCF '24 comics before 8PM GMT on October 31st!

www.shortboxcomicsfair.com

[fox-teeth]

A bit from today's newsletter, as we enter the last 24 hours of the fair! www.shortboxcomicsfair.com

[fox-teeth]

Continuing my final days of ShortBox Comics Fair posts (first post here) about the process of bringing "The Maker of Grave-Goods" from idea to completion here, where I'll discuss how I take a page of comics from outline to final art.

So after writing an outline I create lots of these messy stream-of-consciousness "sketch pages" where I write/revise the script, sketch out potential panels, and start fitting them into thumbnails simultaneously. I've never written a script before drawing--the two are too thoroughly linked for me.

I then draw big thumbnails (layouts?). I usually do these at print size on templates I print out as a way to make sure all the text and details will fit/look OK at the final size. This comic was digital and this stage was mostly done in a library so I just roughed things, 2 pages to an 8.5x11 sheet.

After I completed the thumbs and did some revisions on the script, had it copy edited, etc. I moved on to pencils. I printed templates with different divisions (fourths, thirds, etc.) for reference on legal size paper, hand lettered it using an Ames guide, and drew the art using 2B and col-erase pencils. (Unfortunately the paper I used for this was awful, too thin, just the worst)

I inked the pages on nicer paper (Strathmore 400 vellum bristol) using a lightbox. I mostly used Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes sized 000-0 and Winsor & Newton india ink; but for the lettering and small details I used Japanese nibs (Nihonji for lettering, g nibs & maru for drawing) and speedball ink. And Delter 2 ink for white fixes.

Next is what I think is the most boring part: scanning, dropping images into templates, cleaning up, re-kerning a lot the hand lettered text, to get the traditional inks ready for digital coloring. (Thanks to my partner Sam for assisting with clean-up!)

For the coloring, I wanted to bridge what I'm known for (risograph comics) with digital so decided to treat this comic like a faux two-color riso. I made up two ink colors, "grape" and "phthalo green" and created a digital riso color chart to colorpick from (left) Compare to a real printed one at right.

The coloring uses only colors on that chart and lots of color holds, gradients, big flat spot colors, and even some simulated overprinting like the 2nd panel on the left page. And a noise filter for texture on top. Overall I'm really happy with the coloring--it looks exactly how I wanted it to.

This is pretty typical of how I make comics--I hope it was informative especially if you're interested in traditional media comics making.

Buy "The Maker of Grave-Goods" on ShortBox Comics Fair

[fox-teeth]

In honor of the final days of @shortboxcomicsfair 2024 I wanted to write a post about "The Maker of Grave-Goods" journey from vague sketches to final comic!

This comic started with a single idea in 2020: how would sci-fi tech like faster-than-light travel effect the life of an artist?

At the time I was writing a lot of outlines for adult sci-fi comics and dreaming about ways to publish them. Two things stalled that project at the end of 2020--struggling with how to get them "out there" in the current US comics landscape, which is very focused on kids' comics and autobio/nonfiction as the main adult genres, and me becoming a frontline covid-19 healthcare worker.

(I have wondered if people read this comic as a reaction to genAI "art"--no, it's more about what's happened to webcomics since the early 2000s)

Some things in the original 2020 sketches stayed the same--compare this sketch of the intro pages with the actual page one--while others changed a lot. Originally the story focused on Mazu meeting other unfamiliar aliens in the space station more and her backstory was less fleshed out and told quickly. Also at one point Mazu's species had technology like telephones, and the species name was "Mazu". They always looked vaguely like dragons though.

I was frankly shocked when I got into ShortBox Comic Fair! And after much hemming and hawing I decided to resurrect one of those sci-fi comics for it, because I figured if any audience could appreciate difficult, literary genre fiction for adults in my ~indie comics for girls~ art style it was SBCF's.

I didn't really get started in this comic in earnest until May (dayjob stuff). I wrote most of the comic in the AMNH's Gottesman Library, both because it's the quietest most beautiful library in Manhattan (IMHO) and I could wander the halls looking for inspiration. Much of the look of this comic--especially the clay objects Mazu makes--were based on drawings I did of artworks in the AMNH and the Met.

As I worked on the outline and script/thumbs the story began to take shape, and became more about Mazu's life story within her extant culture contrasted with the precipice of complete social upheaval her people were standing on with the introduction of FTL travel. It also became twice as long as I estimated...

PART TWO: page from outline to final art

Buy "The Maker of Grave-Goods" on ShortBox Comics Fair

[fox-teeth]

I am so grateful for everyone that has shared their thoughts on my SBCF comic with me 💜 I am collecting them all together so I can cherish them forever 💜💜

Thank you for giving "The Maker of Grave-Goods" a chance so it could touch you emotionally/transport you to another world/make you cry!

You can get "The Maker of Grave-Goods" on @shortboxcomicsfair through October 31st (link)! Then you can tell me what you thought and I can add it to my collection. Getting to share this story with you has meant so, so much to me.

[fox-teeth]

ShortBox Comics Fair ends on October 31st!

Remember to check out "The Maker of Grave-Goods" and the rest of this year's comics before then!

Hundreds of years in the future and thousands of light-years away, Mazu from Three-Hills practices her culture’s ancient art of sculpting spirit guides for the dead. But when technology from beyond the stars encroaches on her people’s lives—and deaths—what will happen to her art?

Read the rest of my new graphic novella "The Maker of Grave-Goods" this October exclusively through ShortBox Comics Fair--the innovative all-digital comics convention! @shortboxcomicsfair