City of Cards C3.35-36: HERE!

Yeah, two pages this week because these were so quick to get through it seemed like I might as well.

So follow up from the last week, this sketch was drawn in response to a friend's comment about Ace's attire (or really, lack there of):

Because He Can

To explain Ace's current mental state, I'd simply say the guy is in shock. Pretty much all of his behavior can be attributed to the fact that he doesn't know what the hell is going on in his life right now.

Which reminds me, I'm just about done with the Chicken Shack picture. Here are the two color palettes I'm debating between. Other than some inevitable tweaks, though, I'm ready to put this one to bed:

This has been an interesting process. Really, I think the big difference between what I normally do and what I did for the coloring this time was this time I spent way more time just playing around with what photoshop can do. That's definitely not something I usually do.

My hope when I work is that the lineart should be the core that holds a picture together, and that if the foundation is weak, no amount of filters and airbrushing can make something good (general thoughts, nothing about my feelings about how well I executed this one way or another). And, consequently, a really bad coloring job can ruin what decency the lineart might have had. This is a large part of why I'm taking the steps to learn how to do this.

That said, I did feel that I was able to use the skills I'd learned as a designer in a way I never had before, and eventually I hope to be able to do more pictures along these lines.

Maybe they'll be something other than a Chicken shack photo-op.

Anything is possible now that it's almost 2013.

City of Cards C3.34: HERE!

I am very glad that the next chapter and a half does a good job of showing Ace's personality. The guys got secrets, but he's definitely not the complete brooding mysterious type.

Hey all! So the family came to visit last week and left me with a pretty nasty cold. No fun, so I'm playing a bit of catch-up on my plans to get everything ready for the next while. This includes a bit of course-work I'm behind on.

I posted the thumbnail a couple weeks back of my drawing plans. Turns out I decided to go a different direction, but one that'll probably be A LOT easier to color.

I'll probably do a little more editing on it, but right now I need to get it to the finished ink stage and get to coloring. I figure a lot of the detail work can be done in that stage (adding grit, texture, graffiti).

Other than that, I'm only my last three pages of pencils for Chapter Three. It's crazy, and I still don't feel like I'm totally ready to tackle Chapter Four, but I'm going to take the next couple of weeks to make sure my thumbnails are all done. If I can have Chapter Three completely penciled by mid next week I'm going to spend the rest of December doing inks and finishing drawing my mini.

Oh, and doing all the other stuff I need to do.

Hope you're all keeping warm and having a good holiday. Best to you guys!

City of Cards C3.33: HERE!

First note: Family is in town for early holiday celebrations so that's eating up a fair bit of my drawing time. Things will be back to normal in a few days, and comic will continue as usual.

Am I backing down from the Reno thing? No way. I am taking the Neon Babylon idea to its fruition.

I've mentioned Reno before, but now that I am establishing this idea more in the comic itself I want to go a bit into why I'd choose that as the location for this story.

Reno was a city whose success was built on its decision to legalize divorce. That, combined with gambling, lasted the city a good many years and helped build the economy it has today. While divorce is a fairly common practice in modern society, at the time it was a revolutionary idea that shook the foundation of what was traditional marriage and personal freedom for men and women.

Think about what it meant to be able to choose to not remain in your marriage during the 1930s? Nevada was the only state that allowed this and people flocked to churches and casinos to get unmarried just like they might do today to get "married".

So, the foundation of the city was built on casting aside the past. It redefined love.

Now look at the city's secondary nickname of "Neon Babylon". First off, it just sounds that damn cool. Also, Babylon is a holy city. It is a bedrock of civilization, as well as calling up images of ancient civilizations that are now mounds of dust.

Society is built out of the ashes of the past. The very clay we use to mold our bricks is formed by the burned out remnants of generations past.

And, most importantly, Reno is not the most important city that has ever existed. It's not even Las Vegas. But there are more Renos than Vegases in our own lives. There will always be more not quite the bests, the once greats, the fifteen minutes (at that), than there will ever be New Yorks or Londons or Constantinoples.

Be proud to be Reno, through the good times and bad, and let the river run its course through your once brilliant main-street.

City of Cards C3.32: HERE!

Yeah, okay, there's a lot I like about this page but mostly Plato's expressions. Actually, I always like Plato's expressions.

Summary of this past few days:

1) Kitchen sink not draining, water and gunk everywhere, repairs needed.

2) Burbank con thing where I met some very nice people, but was in general not at my peak communicative skill level. Also, Alpha Flag does some pretty cool stuff with color that I like.

3) Jeremy Bastian's artwork is surreal. It's the kind of art that is so beyond my comprehension that it ceases to be intimidating because it's something created by an un-duplicatable genius.

4) Massive power outage that pretty much ate Tuesday. On the plus side, I got to hear Christmas Carolers at the library while I was inking and charging my phone.

Summary of my work schedule:

1) I have so much to get done....

The online course I've been enrolled in has been interesting, though part of me is wondering if I'm doing it completely wrong. Who knows, we'll see, but at least I'm playing around with Photoshop in a way I hadn't before. Also, I hope to use the final version of this image as a special cover/print for Emerald City Comic Con:

You know, on top of everything else that I have to do. Oh yeah, and the holidays are coming. I can't promise any holiday art, but I'm a huge sucker for colored lights and excuses to draw festive stuff so we'll see what happens.

And once again, take care people. No matter what this time of year means to you, wherever you are keep warm and keep good friends close.

City of Cards C3.31: HERE!

Okay, so it's basically December (not quite, but darn close). The next big convention I have on my plate is Emerald City Comic Con, where I will in fact be tabling with the awesome Jamie Fahlgren.

This means I have basically three months to prepare (though I barely count February because that month is going to be dedicated purely to printing and prepping).

Here's a quick run-down of my goals:

December - Complete all the pencils for my mini-comic, finish all edits for Chapter One (at least until the final book print), and complete one limited edition print that will also be the cover for the ECCC copy of Chapter One.

January - Complete all art for the mini-comic, finish all edits for Chapter Two (there aren't as many big edits for Chapter Two as there are Chapter One), and finish the limited edition print/cover for Chapter Two

February - PRINT EVERYTHING, order my banner, get all table supplies, make buttons, maybe make some bonus postcards, update the CoC site's about and character pages

I'm really psyched about the mini-comic. I still have a few details to figure out about how I plan to print it, but it's a twelve page story about Plato's success and failure as a wrestler. I couldn't think of a better way to work this story into the main narrative, but I think it's worth sharing.

It's also visually going to be done a bit differently from how I normally work.

So anyway, here's the first two pencils for this comic:

 

City of Cards C3.30: HERE!

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the States. I tend to try to remind myself throughout the year of why I'm so lucky and fortunate to have the people in my life that I do, the family and friends that have been supportive through this crazy journey, but it's good to take any moment to reflect.

I'm grateful that during this time I got to work with the great people at Boom! Studios. They're an amazingly hardworking crew and I hope 2013 is a great year for them.

I'd like to thank all my CCS colleagues for keeping in touch and continuing to inspire and encourage me.

In this past year, I've made and reconnected with some amazing people. I'm excited for next year, with a lot planned and lots of traveling ahead.

I've also signed up for a class to help develop my comic illustration and coloring skills (especially to get myself more comfortable drawing in photoshop since I still pencil by hand). I'll probably end up posting some of that stuff in the coming weeks.

For those of you getting a break, enjoy the holidays and take care.

City of Cards C3.28-29: HERE!

I assume at some point I'm allowed to say that these two are ridiculously cute, right? I know I'm biased, and I try very hard to keep my comments fairly low-key, but if you're finding your winter weather to be tough this year I'm pretty sure the next few months of updates will warm your weary heart.

I'm also still amazed Ace bothers to attempt to share the mattress considering how much space Plato takes up, but I figure the floor is uncomfortable and it's probably freezing out on the couch.

I posted it a few weeks back, but once again I recommend that before you read this part you read this three page interlude from Plato's perspective.

QUICK NOTE: ASHAYTA has started updating again so go check it out!

I also completed a quick animation of my panel drawing process: HERE.

It goes from thumbnail, rough sketch that I use to make my perspective grid in Manga Studio, that I use to do my pencils (often in multiple layers), that I use to do my inks and then grey tone. I've actually stream-lined the process pretty well at this point so even if it still takes me awhile I'm not having to figure everything out again each time.

I've tried not to over-address story elements on this blog, partly due to the fact that I don't want to spoil the reading experience, partly because when you're working on a project that has such a long development and execution you tend to be mentally consumed by events that are in the far future and you need to remember that your audience is about a 1,000 pages behind you.

At this point, though, I've hopefully established that Ace and Plato's relationship, how it develops and how that effects their personal judgements, is going to play a major role in the story. I've definitely fought to make sure that I maintain a strong focus on the narrative, the world that these characters are involved in and not to overwhelm the story with romance.

But it's there, and it's important, and it's something I've come back around on after originally considering trying to write the story with as little detail on the personal lives of the characters as possible. Plot can be fun and interesting, but what keeps people reading is the characters interpersonal and internal conflicts and how those develop along with the narrative.

I bring this up because even though there is going to be a lot of plot and a lot more to the mystery of the city and Ace's past in the upcoming story, this is also the start of Ace and Plato starting to explore their feelings towards each other. I'll write more about this in the future, especially what this means when your emotions are challenged by the cultural system you've grown up in and what is the value of another human being.

City of Cards C3.27: HERE!

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with this page.

And with this we'll be returning back to The Cave next week to dig deeper into what Ace was looking for.

I've been feeling a little bit under the weather so I haven't really prepared much for the blog this week, but if you haven't seen it I finished a piece of Missing Monday fanart:

Foyle and Monday

And also a quick shout out to two of my favorite fellow cartoonists who are celebrating their birthdays today.

Micah - Djinnborn

Kari - Bird Seed

City of Cards: C3.26: HERE!

So, there's technically no Halloween image this week because, well, I already did four creepy images this month I did a new Ace and Plato Q&A comic that you can see by voting here.


I also actually wanted to do something for November 1st (Ace's birthday/All Saints Day).

So, I present the scariest thing of all: young stupid love:

Those are Maple leaves

I'm working on some more blog posts about the comic making process so hopefully throughout this month I'll have those up.

*EDIT*

The bulk of this post had been composed before all the events of the hurricane and I just wanted to add an additional note of well-wishing to all those out there on the East Coast (and any area affected by the storm in general). I have a lot of friends living all the way up from Connecticut, to New York, and throughout New England. One of my friends living in New York, the amazing Lena Chandhok, was fortunate to not lose power and even updated her blog during the events and you can see what she's written so far here.

Again, there are a lot of you out there and many I still haven't gotten updates from so I'm hoping you're all well and that we'll all be able to get in touch over the next several days.

City of Cards C3.25: HERE!

Okay, this is probably one of my favorite pages so far. I don't even know how many hours I spent working on this page from pencil to finish, but I can guess it adds up to at least a full 24 hours. That may seem ridiculous, but it was worth it to me to figure out a lot while doing this page.

And besides, it's always nice to draw Ace looking smooth in his element.

I also did another Halloween creepypasta sketch and definitely had a lot of doing this one:

TV Man

You can listen to this story here: "TV Man by CreepsMcPasta"

City of Cards C3.24: HERE!

Decided to go with one page this week to help with building my buffer, and because these next three pages are definitely time consuming. But, on the bright side, this page signals the return of a familiar face.

I also did another quick creepy drawing this week. This time it's Mr. Widemouth:

Mr. Widemouth

You can listen to his creepypasta story here: "Mr Widemouth" by perfectcircle35

COMICS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Missing Monday

It's been awhile since I've done a write up for another comic and I've been wanting to get back into the swing of things. I just read through the archive of Missing Monday and I have to say this is pretty much everything I could want in a comic. It's a character driven scifi-fantasy with a a gorgeous setting, great characters, and plenty of mystery.

The world that Elle creates feels fully developed and she's very good about giving the reader just enough of a hint at how the society works to keep you intrigued and never feeling mystified.

But really, that's not what this story is about, and this is why I love this story. The main girls, Monday and Foyle, are just too lovable (and yeah, I'm not going to pretend that if you look at them and start reading you won't immediately understand why I like them). I also have a fondness for Foyle's cousin and the fact that we've just gotten a good glimpse into his backstory. All the people that show up in this story feel like actual people and one's that you hope you get to know more about.

I love the art style and the pallet. The soft earth-tones really suit the world and the story and Elle has a style that is the perfect balance between simple and defined that allows for a great range of subtle emotion in her characters and gives the reader plenty of room to bring in their own emotions.

So yeah, to sum it up, this is a new favorite of mine.

City of Cards C3.22-23: HERE!

And with that, we will be leaving the girls for a bit. They'll be back, but for now it's time to check back in with Ace and Plato and see what's up with them.

Speaking of which, one thing I'd been wanting to do is to finish this three page interlude from Plato's perspective. I wanted to make this part to help explain a little bit more about the world that Ace and Plato live in and the impact this has on their relationship.

I also wanted to do something that clarified the eventual nature of their relationship because even though I was pretty sure I wasn't being subtle, I'm also not trying to pull any surprises here. I know I've labeled this comic mature content, and it'll still probably be another chapter or so until any real mature content shows up, but the story will progressively get darker with each chapter.

So I've decided to continue my creepypasta sketch thing going by drawing something from one of the more well known and possibly one of my favorite stories: Candlecove

Skintaker

Skintaker Static

Seeing as Candle Cove is a story about a lost children's show I figured I'd play around a little bit in Photoshop on this one, even though I think I still like the original better because the static washes out the details. Still, there's a lot I love about this story and this was a lot of fun to draw.

And because I'm trying to force myself to get into good habits, I've started doing character sheets for my upcoming side story based on an Aesop's fable but that still takes place in the City of Cards universe. There are ten characters total and I'm hoping to do one sheet a month while starting the script process.

First up is Coal, who I decided to completely redesign from any of my previous versions of him.

CoC BBB Model Sheet 1: Coal

I still have to design his tattoos which take up half his torso and are an important element to the story and his character. I also want to do to a couple of different outfit designs as well, but this gives me something to work off of.

And you know what, I've got to say it feels damn good to be this productive. Not only have I am really happy with how this weeks comic pages came out but I've managed to keep up on pretty much all of my side work while dealing with home stuff. I still have a lot more I want to get done, but giving myself weekly/monthly goals makes a huge difference. After October I'm going to figure out a new weekly drawing exercise to replace the creepypasta images. I'm thinking I should probably do some color work and I really should do some fanart.

Also, speaking of accomplishments, I've briefly mentioned him before but Dakota recently drew his 1,000th daily comic strip. Even though I take a pretty different approach to my own work, he has amazing perspective on what it takes to grow as an artist and it's really worth a read.

October 2012: 1

City of Cards C3.21: HERE!

This past week has been pretty good. I still have a lot of work to do at home, but I got to Knott's Scary Farm for the first time and it was fantastic. The mazes were fantastic, the costumes were really well done, and I had a lot of fun. It was a great start to this Halloween season, something I hope to take full advantage of. One thing I've been wanting to do this month is sketches based on scary stories.

Knocking

This one was inspired by this piece, which is short and worth a listen (and may make the picture make a bit more sense): "Knocking" - By Wedgeff7

I know in the past I've mentioned how horror has played an important role in my art and how certain specific works have had a real impact on the kind of horror I not only enjoy but hope to create.

I just watched a film I'd been wanting to see for awhile last night called The Innkeepers. I'm not going to say this film was perfect, but it did do some things very right that in my mind not only make up for many of the film's shortcomings, but are the aspects of not just horror but any really solid storytelling. This is a film I want to watch again.

If you're looking for something with a lot of gore, this probably isn't your bag, but if you want really well written and likeable characters then you'll enjoy this. It also has a really great music score that while not overly present throughout the film does a great job of setting the mood.

Other than all this, I'm hoping to get the three page side story that takes place in between the events of Chapter Three done by next week. I'm also continuing work on my redrawing and the latest batch I've put up are pages 1.12-13 in which I added another page to help spread out all the dialogue from the original two pages. No new text has been added, but it's a lot easier to get through.

City of Cards C3.19-3.20: HERE!

We're back to a weekly schedule so there will be a new page next week as well.

So, because I'm in the middle of the get-my-shit-togetherathon I actually have more time to work on my art. This is actually really good for my health and sanity while I figure out what's going to happen next.

I'm also super psyched for the next few months because it means holidays which means excuses to watch horror films, draw monsters, bake, and make holiday cards for friends. I feel like I've missed out on a lot of that in the past and I really want to make it up people.

I'm also digging into the development process of the CoC side story and I'll be posting stuff for that along with the usual stuff.

So first, here's the rough for the crest I'm designing that'll be the logo for the story:

CoC BBB Crest Rough

The theme of the story is based off of the Aesop's Fable The Beasts, the Birds, and The Bats. Eventually it'll tie into the main story so I want to make sure that I really get the writing on this tight.

And I'm also starting to thumbnail Chapter Four, but before I do that I figured it was about time I start working on some new outfit designs. First up is Lily:

CoC C4 Lily Design

It just feels good to really be drawing again.

What's Going On?!

City of Cards C3.16-3.18: HERE!

Three more pages up and a little bit of news as to what is going on in my life.

As of the end of next week, I'm taking leave of my full-time position at Boom! Studios in order to take care of some personal business and to refocus on my art. They're all a great bunch of people and I plan to work with them in the future if the opportunity arises. So, on one hand this'll be good news for City of Cards because I'll have more time to dedicate to it.

And that's actually about it. I have a lot to figure out and a lot I want to accomplish in the next year or so as I get my life back together. I have a lot of conventions that I plan to go to and right now this is the best opportunity I have to put it all out there. I've already invested a lot of time and energy into this project including across the world and this country multiple times. I know what it means to me and I know it can become something I'm really proud of.

I'm an artist and it's time for me to start making some art.

Xander Sketch

Sorry everyone, dealing with a loss in the family right now so I haven't been able to compose much of a blog entry. Instead, I'll recommend listening to Burgess Meredith's reading of Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" from The Martian Chronicles.

Take care everyone.

City of Cards C3.13-15: START HERE!

Three pages this month and I'm reasonably happy with how they turned out. I'm glad I took the extra time to work on them, but I'm mostly just happy to start uploading pages again.

We did another Joy Reflex podcast talking about character development this past weekend, so if you're curious you can check it out here:

I also had some time to sketch a picture of my friend Kari's character Loraine. I'd been planning on doing it before she sent me that sweet piece of fanart last week, but it definitely motivated me even more:

I hope to color this in the future. Kari's comic Bird Seed is done with such great colors that it would be only fitting. I grew up loving the Oz books and that's what Loraine makes me think of.

I'm starting to get deep into planning my 2013 convention schedule. My hope is to travel to a bunch of conventions all over the states to prepare for an end of the year (2013) print goal for the first part of City of Cards. I'm pretty psyched about this. I have a lot of ideas for extra content and I can't wait to get started working on all sorts of fun projects.

New comic pages go up next week, this week I talk a little bit about San Diego Comic Con and go over my progress thus far.

But FIRST I got this awesome piece of fanart by the amazing Kari, artist of the comic Bird Seed:

Ace by Kari

She understands the importance of empty beer bottles when defining Ace's personality. If there is beer around, he will consume it. And yes, this totally made my day.

I had the benefit this year of a professional pass so I decided to go down to SDCC for one day on Saturday. SDCC isn't something I usually get excited about. I don't follow a lot of big entertainment news, I don't have a lot of expendable income, and right now I have to spend a lot of my free time working on my art. That said, knowing some good friends of mine would be there, ones that I rarely get a chance to see, was more than enough of an excuse to head down.

It's been years since I'd been to the convention. I'd heard the even described a bit like a pride parade, to which my friend added "Yeah it's like, whooooo! fly your freak flags, my bretheren! But also AAAH MOM HELP MY BRETHEREN IS TERRIFYING!" add in all the scantily clad costumers and the Bible protesters and I think we're not too far off. Except, in my opinion it's a bit more like a pride parade at Disneyland where either pick one or two rides to go one, wait in long lines to see them, and spend a lot of cash doing so. OR you just go on a bunch of less popular rides and spend a lot of cash.

I'm not trying to be too negative here. Hell, I think the experience can be a lot of fun. I actually like going to Disneyland and SDCC has the benefit of gathering a lot of really smart and skilled people within a large range of pop culture industries. I don't plan to table there any time soon, at least not until I've really established myself. As far as comic book conventions go, SDCC is an entertainment convention. That fact, though, shouldn't be news to anyone.

I did pick up some books I'd been wanting to get, though. Three volumes of Wandering Son, the fourth volume of RASL, the latest issue of Papercutter, and a mini by MK called Bull that you can check out here.

Other than that, I posted up a comparison picture of the old C1.18.1 and the new version:

You know, it's a good to remind yourself that if you work on something long enough you'll improve and to not let yourself get too caught up in self doubt all the time. I look forward to seeing where I'm at in two more years.

Pre-SDCC 2012 Post

Not going to lie, I'm going to be SO happy when SDCC is over. I'll only be there for part of the day on Saturday to check in with a couple of friends but it's really not a convention I'm really looking forward to. I much prefer smaller conventions like SPX that are really about getting to meet fellow artists and not about being a big Hollywood event. I'm happy for those that enjoy it, really, but even the thought of going for a partial day already has me exhausted.

Also, I think working at a comic book company and prepping for the show might have to do with why I'm so worn out. *laughs*

But anyway, Joy Reflex hosted another podcast this past weekend where we started a discussion on character development. We'll continue the discussion next weekend with two different cast members. Two watch/listen to the most recent cast go here:

And for those interested, here are the first two episodes in mp3 format:

http://www.cityofcards.com/podcasts/JoyReflex_00.mp3

http://www.cityofcards.com/podcasts/JoyReflex_01.mp3

Also, for the heck of it, here are a couple of sketches of Ace and Trump:

I do love these two. They definitely have their own personalities. It'll be interesting when/if I get to write them actually meeting.

Oh, and I think I'm addicted to Swedish pop music. I fully admit, when I draw I like to listen to pretty questionable music, but the beat really helps build up a kind of zen pace when working.

Joy Reflex Podcast and More Art

First week of no new comic? Well, I'm still being productive so don't worry about that. There will be new pages soon. I took the time to redraw what was going to be page 13 and I think it's much better. There will definitely be new pages on the 28th.

My new schedule has also allowed me more time to sketch (having today off also helped). I've got the third card in my set with Candy:

And a sketch I hope to turn into some kind of a print or at least as a cover photo for the podcast I've been doing:

Speaking of the podcast, there's a few ways you can listen to it. The pilot episode of Joy Reflex launched this past Saturday and we started off talking a bit about our world building process. The next episode will be this Saturday and I'll link it here afterwards as well. If you want the full visual experience you can check it out here:

Or if you just want the audio experience you can go here:

I also have an mp3 version made and eventually I'll set up a site to host that so people can download and listen to the podcast on the go. Also, we've got a G+ page setup so you can updates through there as well.

City of Cards C3.12: HERE!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

I am changing my update schedule for at least the next three-four months. Instead of weekly updates, I will update on the final Thursday of each month. Weekly blog updates will continue and probably have more process content.

The number of pages will probably stay close to the same, maybe around 3-4 pages seems reasonable, but it will all just go up on one day instead of once a week. I am doing this so that I can give each page more attention and not feel compelled to put up subpar work. Also, as has been painfully obvious, my day job workload has been wearing on me. I wish that weren't the case, but for now I have no control over that.

I hope I don't lose too many readers because of this. I truly appreciate every one of you and I am doing this so that I can give you work that I am proud of.

On a lighter note, check out Plato looking like a smug bastard in the second of my card set:

And here is an awesome piece of fanart by the amazing Astrid:

Speaking of Astrid, she'll be one of the artists at the launch of a new podcast I'm a part of.

Alright, announcing this during the daylight hours. This Saturday 9:00PM PST/12:00AM EST on G+ will be the live podcast launch of Joy Reflex. It'll be a round-table discussion hour between a group of about 6 artists of various backgrounds on the creative process. We'll be starting out with a talk on world building dealing in fantasy, realistic, and collaborative settings and anything else that feels relevant.

City of Cards C3.11: HERE!

First off, thanks for the well wishes. You guys are always awesome.

And guess what, not only is there new comic, I have some stuff to share here as well! First, here's another panel from the three page side comic I'm working on that takes place after the events of Chapter Two and before the second half of Chapter Three:

CoC C2.5_2_3

Really, the benefit of this side story is that I can spend all the time I need to experiment with on backgrounds and details. As I go back and work on the main story this is what I want to have more of.

Next, I was playing around and finished this picture of Ace:

This was pretty fun and didn't take too long so I might go ahead and do a set with the other characters. I've also learned I really like flat colours.

I'm also still coming to terms with the influence that manga has had on my art. If you've ever heard the strong reactions people have to anything remotely manga styled you'd understand why I've spent so long trying to distance myself from that style, only to realize that my strongest influences and favorite comic works are still manga. That's because if you've ever read the works of Junji Ito, Katsuhiro Otomo, and Osama Tezuka you'd realize that good comics are good comics no matter where they came from.

City of Cards C3.10: HERE!

For real this time, we're back on schedule.

Unfortunately I've been a bit under the weather and all so I don't really have a blog ready this week.

Take care all, next week I'll have something together.

City of Cards C3.9: Here

Okay everyone, apparently I scheduled pages 8 and 9 to go up at the same time last week instead of just one page. I honestly can't put up a page this week without putting my buffer down to zero. I'm really sorry for this, things have been really crazy lately and I haven't been focused as much on little details as I need to be. I promise, I'll figure out a way to make up for it. Thank you.

First and foremost, I just want to say that if you have read my comic, thank you. You might not realize it, but it means a lot to me. Even if you don't care for it, simply giving it a look makes a huge difference and helps fuel me to work harder every day. So again, thanks.

Next, one of my fellow CCS classmates, Andy Christensen has been posting some amazing work on up at his site. It's a surreal post-apocalyptic comic like you've never seen before called "The Stag". Andy is an amazing artist and you won't regret giving his work a look:

The Stag Part 1 page 10

City of Cards C3.8: HERE!

So one thing I've been wanting to talk a bit about which I will only address briefly here is idea of a webcomic versus a comic on the web. Back when I first told my friends that I was going to be putting City of Cards up online I was told to always keep the book in my mind. When I design my pages, I design with that format in my brain. It means page turns, spreads, chapters... sometimes this translates fine to an online reading experience, other times not so much.

It also means, much like with writing a novel, I'm constantly in the revision stage. While I keep drawing and writing, I'm always going back and tweaking pages. Webcomics tend to let their archives age because once it's done it's done. I love that idea because it forces an artist to move on and not dwell on past work. I, however, am not doing that.

A few days ago I uploaded a new version of C1.19: HERE. (old version here)

It's not the first time I've messed with that page and odds are I'll be back to mess with it a bit more when print time comes around.

Another thing, my schedule right now makes it really hard for me to be able to give my work the attention it deserves. I've always found that it often takes multiple tries for me to get a panel the way I want it to look and sometimes it takes months before I actually know what that is.

And to finish things up, here's a quick sketch of Candy: