January Recap & Behind-the-scenes

Howdy, patrons! This is another meaty update, because a LOT happened this month. Let’s dive into it, shall we?

Firstly, I have to take a second and thank you all for such an amazing month. After the struggle bus that was December, I couldn’t have asked for a better comeback. The dog job comics are doing better than I ever expected, the Twitch channel has really come to life, and overall I’m feeling more rested and inspired than I’ve ever been. January 2018 was my best month as a cartoonist to date, and you guys are a huge part of that!

Without further adieu, I’d like to thank and welcome the newest members:

• Beatriz
• Ben Horkley
• Dan
• Daniel Broderick
• Flipy
• Joan Ruiz-Muina
• Jonas Roof
• Jonathas Baker
• MeowMix64
• Mythos
• Robert Giebel
• Samuel Willems
• The Blushing Deer

And a special shout out to these fine folk, who as of this month, have officially been patrons for over a year:

• Dina Rodriguez
• Sarah Forester
• ShenComix
• Versed

Thank you guys for supporting me and my work. For the past two months, funds from my Patreon have helped me cover airfare, hotel, and table fees for the conventions I’m attending this summer. I’m so grateful for your support!

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January Recap:

I don’t normally keep track of how many comics I make in a month. However, I was curious if the new organization and work system I adopted resulted in larger creative output. I counted:

• 15 Webtoon comics
• 12 Doodle for Food comics (Dog job zine)
• 2 Doodles After Dark comics

For a total of 29 comics created since the beginning of the year! 

I’m two comics shy of my original estimate, but it still beats my previous record of 16 comics made in a month. This won’t be the norm, because it’s not a sustainable output for me. It’s just nice knowing that when I need to hustle, the new system works! This month’s goal was to create a buffer for both my Webtoon series and my normal series, and I succeeded.  

I also started weekly accountabilibuddies meeting with my pal Patabot, who makes the cutest dang comics and drawings. We got the idea from a regular livestream attendee, Emily aka mleturner, and it’s been a really great experience so far. Finally! My fear of disappointing everyone is being harnessed for the greater good! I’m working through the huge list of to-dos I always struggling making time for. 

For instance, I updated my social media banners! I might still tweak a few things, but for the most part they all look something like this:

I wanted to be more clear about what my pages were about: comics and art. I also wanted to put some visual samples of my work up so people might be able to recognize the style if they stumbled across my accounts in the wild.

My Twitch channel’s emotes were also approved! Turns out affiliates only get one emote per sub level, so I picked the staring chicken. People are already putting them to good use. Below are all the emotes I created:

When I become a Twitch partner, I’ll be able to unlock more emotes for the basic sub level. Woo, goals!

I also hosted a gold patron-exclusive livestream, where I talked a bit more about behind-the-scenes things and drew doodle requests. Here are a couple of my favorite sketches from that:

A pupper digging up more than a bone

Evil chicken vs fried chicken

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Coming up:

If you happen to be near Seattle and/or are attending Emerald City Comic Con, I’ll be there too! I’m tabling with Cale of Things in Squares comic  in the artist alley at booth Z5. 

Please excuse my Wicked reference. I couldn’t help myself.

February’s gold patron livedraw is next Thursday from 7pm-9pm cst! 

Doodles After Dark 9 (or is it 8?) will be up next week. A mini goal this month will be to build a buffer for that series so I don’t miss an update if I’m traveling or sick.

I was also invited to attend a Patreon creators event toward the end of this month! I'm pretty excited and honored to have received an invitation. I'm not sure what exactly will happen, but I do know there will be free food and drinks, and that's all that matters. I might write up a little blurb about it, if you all are interested!

On top of drawing more comics, the rest of this month will be spent rushing to get ready for ECCC and Awesome Con. I have a few prints I want to finish designing, plus I have to go through inventory, buy some new table display items, and just make sure I have all the things I need. 

Since I won't have time to put together a zine in time for ECCC, I'll be bringing prints of the dog comics to sell and sign along with a few fan favorite comic prints. 

This will be my first time putting together a zine, so I'm making a pretty small order in case readers aren't into it. If you're interested in buying one when they arrive, let me know and I'll be sure to reserve it for you! I always want my patrons to get first dibs.

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Well, that's all from me for now! I might pop in again with another mini update if there are any big or urgent announcements. Until then, I'll see you again soon with some early access work, dark humor comics, and livedraw tomfoolery!