Using cons to find your audience

Discovering who your comic resonates with was mentioned briefly on a forum earlier. Since I didn't want to sidetrack the topic, I thought it would be best to let my thoughts out here instead.

I'll admit, everything I've learned - including which groups are interested in CN:H - has been though trial, error, and research. I've been doing CN:H for almost ten years now - eight of those as a comic - so I've made a lot of mistakes. And, I will continue to make more than a few new ones, I'm sure. As long as I learn something and apply what I've learned, each mistake is worthwhile.

One of the things I've figured out is to pay attention to the reaction con goers have to your work. This goes beyond them buying something from you, it's also their reaction to your presence. It may sound a bit underhanded, but being able to read people's body language is helpful. In fact, it's the first step to figuring out who's in your potential reader base.

If the body language when they spot your work is positive, you have a potential reader. While you're talking with them, observe and note what you see. Good things to keep a look out for are their age, gender, and if they're wearing/carrying anything that clues you into what they're interested in. Do this for the negative reactions as well. By the end of the con, you'll have a database in your head of the positives and negatives. This should allow you to come up with a basic idea of who your reader demographic is.

Positives should lead to thoughts of, 'okay, I had a good reaction from people within this age bracket, of this gender, who seemed interested in these things. Great, where do I find more of them?' Same with the bad, 'I had a negative reaction from people of that age bracket, of that gender, and who enjoy those things. Okay, how do I get these people interested in my work? Furthermore, should I try to engage them or would it be better if I focused on the ones who reacted positively?'

As to that last question, I'll be quite honest... it's usually best, especially when you're just starting out, to focus on the group who reacted positively. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first one is that when you're just starting out, you need encouragement and an ego boost now and then. (There's nothing wrong with this, so please don't deny it.) Trying to engage a group of people whose first reaction to your work is negative is a very draining experience.

Think of it like walking against the current of a river. The harsher the initial reaction, the stronger the current you're walking against. Meanwhile, exposing your work to a group who has a positive reaction is like walking with the current. The stronger the reaction, the stronger the current pushing you forward. You will get more encouragement from the second group than you ever will from the first.

"But Darc, I don't need encouragement! I'm not a hubristic, whiny little artist!" Really? Okay then, hot shot, here's reason number two... time. It takes time and effort to walk against the current. Meanwhile, walking with the current allows you to move faster and with greater ease. Time spent trying to convince people who are just not interested in what you have to offer could be used to build up the group who is. The time, money, and effort could be applied to other activities, including creating things for your current readers to enjoy.

Am I saying once you find your core audience you should never try to approach people outside it? No, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that the effort may be best left for when your comic is more established. You know, when you have a good sized audience already, you're familiar with the con and marketing aspect of things, and you're interested in expanding into new areas.

For example, Matt and I have made the decision not to vend at anime cons. While we both like anime and manga, we've discovered over the years that most anime fans do not fall into our prime reader demographic. Does this mean we'll never try to convert anime fans into CN:H readers? Not necessarily. We may one day. What it does mean is that, at the moment, we feel the effort required would not yield a strong enough result to make it worthwhile. There are plenty of other cons we can look into first. And, since cons are expensive, both in time and money, we'd rather focus the resources we do have at conventions that are not solely anime based.

Can you figure out who your reader demographic is without going to cons? I'm sure there are ways of doing so online, but I'm not certain how. Since it's often hard to get a response from people, it can be difficult to learn more about your readers. Seeing cons as a marketing and research option instead of just as a source of income is merely one way of approaching this. Again, cons are expensive, true. At the same time, trying to find your audience using the net only can be confusing and frustrating. At the vary least, conventions get you out of the house and away from the internet for a bit.

Just remember to keep your finances in mind. Don't expect to do ten cons a year if you're just starting out. Don't expect to make a killing sales-wise either. Just go in with your eyes open and see what you can learn.


"That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning."
-- Richard Bach

Issue 13, page 5

Just sketching. It may be slow going with the wrist acting up, but it is going. And that counts for something, eh?



Bad Puck, you should know not to get too close to someone an agent is ordered to protect. They don't like that. Not one bit.


"Stubbornness does have its helpful features. You always know what you're going to be thinking tomorrow."
-- Glen Beaman

From Issue 13 (wrist & Kuroshitsuji)

Once an issue, I'll post a finished page as a little sneak peek. Here's Issue 13's offering. I was going to wait for a later one, but I really like how Puck turned out in the first panel. Not to mention, the three panels where he's walking around Max.



As to why this one took so long, my wrist has been going numb more often lately. I can only get a few hours of inking in before I start to lose feeling. Which, is a little worrying to me. I was thinking over the weekend that maybe I should drop back down to a clean sketch version instead of the inks - it would certainly go faster and relieve some of the tension on the wrist. But, while I found I could do a complete clean sketch in under four hours (compared to the almost ten it took to ink this) I really didn't like how it looked. While the original turned out fine, the scan was not aesthetically pleasing at all. And I refuse to present something as finished unless I'm at least somewhat satisfied with it. So, no sketch pages.

Hmm... still, the wrist trouble needs to be dealt with. I may be looking into that Manga Studio program. I've heard it has a slight auto-correct feature for lines. Since most of the strain comes from trying to keep the lines smooth and even, a bit of help in that area might be nice. I should probably start wearing a wrist brace when not working as well, though I'm so not looking forward to that. Ick.

As for today, I've been fairly unproductive, I'm afraid. Instead of sketching, I've spent the day watching the remaining episodes of an anime I recently found called Black Butler / Kuroshitsuji. It was very good. The only thing is, I'm really unhappy with how the second season ended. Poor Sebastian... after everything he went through, too. *sigh* I don't want to get into details in case anyone reading is still watching it, but yeah, not fair man. Not fair at all.

Seriously, Sebastian, couldn't you have just consumed Ciel's soul when he wasn't looking? You have the cutlery! Honestly, how many sets of fine silver flatware can one person have hidden in a tailcoat? But then, if you did that, you wouldn't be Sebastian, you'd be closer to that Claude fellow. And he, quite frankly, was a dick.

You know, it's odd. Most people I know online (guys especially) are entranced by the current My Little Pony series. Me, I'm watching an anime filled with blood, murder, Gothic imagery, demon butlers, deranged angels, and bratty pre-teen nobles. I'm so not in with the It-Crowd. *cries*

And yes, I have tried to watch the new My Little Pony series a few times. It's cute, but I just can't get caught up in it. Which is a little weird, considering how big a MLP fan I was as a kid. I swear, I must have had every pony made for a while there. I still remember playing with the big, pink castle. I do like that they gave Applejack a country twain, though. Nice touch.


"No more important duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theater of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions."
-- Edwin Hubbell Chapin

Proof that anything can be offensive

I just ran across a comment about CN:H on another site that made me chuckle. The comment in question...

I recommend against Code Name: Hunter. It had my interest at first, then lost me forever partway through. I'm all for nudity in comics of this nature, but DAMMIT, not like that!

It took me a bit to figure out just what they were referring to. It may be "The Streak" segment, but somehow I think it's more likely page fourteen from Issue 9. You know, where Joshua and Marilyn share a one panel, darkly shaded, can't see much of anything moment. *laughs*

If we look at it from a religious angle, it could be seen as offensive because they're having sex without being married. Unfortunately, Cedric's not exactly the type of person to allow his "property" to engage in a holy union like marriage. We've gone over the whole, 'he's a complete wankstain' bit before.

Or, it could be because they engaged in unprotected sex. Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood isn't a big institution in Astoria. And popping down to the pharmacy/chemists for a pack of Trojans is right out.

While it's true that the offensive page might be the 'Max in the shower' bit from Issue 11, I'm not convinced it is. That hasn't shown on the main side yet and I don't think this person was ever a Supporter. (I can see both currently active and dead accounts.)

Now, before anyone gets upset at me no, I'm not offended at all. I'm actually quite amused. After having furries gripe at me demanding sex and nudity for years, this was very refreshing. It also proves the old adage true, no matter what you do, someone will be offended. All you can do is tell the story you want to tell and if you lose someone over it, well... it's probably for the best. You shouldn't expect everyone to like what you do, just as they shouldn't expect you to tailor your work to their desires. Let others choose what's comfortable for them and you do the same.

But yeah, that's the first time I've ever had anything I've drawn referred to as offensive sexually. Storyline, yes. Religiously, yes. Sex, nope. It's a new experience. *laughs*

(edit: Matt told me just a bit ago that it apparently was "The Streak" that upset this person. They disapproved because it didn't fit with the rest of the comic. Hey, what can I say, creators get the urge to do silly things now and then. I'm not the first, and I sure as hell won't be the last. No offense, but if I 'lost you forever' over something so frivolous, then please do me a favor... stay lost.)


"I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine."
-- Bertrand Russell

Issue 13, page 4

Hey, guys! Another page sketched with two more planned for this week - Friday to Friday. I don't know what it is about Fridays, but I like to sketch on this day more than on others. Eh, I'm an odd duck. We all know this.

More Puck goodness here. And yes, Max is short. He's suppose to be around 5'6".



There's another page with Puck after this and then a shift to the ballroom for page six. I hope I can pull that page off. I want it a little creepy at the end of the page.

Now to letter, then sketch a bit more. Later!


"I feel as if I were a piece in a game of chess, when my opponent says of it, 'that piece cannot be moved.' "
-- Soren Kierkegaard

Max and Ruby year by year

They say a person's characters will evolve over time. I thought, 'well, that's neat,' and decided to see if Max and Ruby had done any of this evolving. Unfortunately, they haven't changed much over the last ten years. Personality-wise, oh yes, definitely. But visually, not so much. I can see some subtle things from year to year - sometimes issue to issue - but there hasn't been anything really drastic.

Pre-comic: 2001 - 2002
CN:H was a series of short stories before it became a comic. Most of the drawings from this time were doodles and story covers. Main medium - Photoshop.




Version I: 2003 - 2004
The first version of the comic was sketchy and done on typing paper. Main medium - pencil.




Waiting: 2005 - 2006
The Prologue of the current version. Max and Ruby didn't show up until near the end of the Prologue. Main medium - color pencil to Prismacolor markers.




Issues 1 - 4: 2007 - 2008
More marker work. The full, marker color was dropped in late 2008 due to printing cost and wrist trouble. Main medium - Prismacolor markers.




Issues 5 - Present: 2009 - now
A Cintiq was bought in late 2008. Since then, the comic has been completely digital. Main medium - Photoshop.




Hopefully there will be more improvement as time goes on. While I'm doing the best that I can, I'd really like things to look better. It's still not quite what I want. Getting to where I want will require time, patience, learning, and practice. I am trying to do more with the facial expressions, especially the mouth. I really need to find a place for my mirror near the computer. It's hard to watch your facial expressions while drawing without one. *laughs*


"All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed."
-- Sean O'Casey

Running away? How unheroic!

I've still some inking to do before starting on the next batch of pages. Inking is a good time to just let your mind wander and think. Which, led me to some nervousness about the scene I'm currently working on. It's not that I'm worried it'll turn out wrong, my concern is that many people won't approve of Max's behavior.

Without giving too much away, Max is confronted by Gavin (he's the big, fey fellow from "First Encounter" and the cover of Issue 13). The trouble is, Max has the young prince with him. He also doesn't have a sword and has to follow a certain set of rules put in place by the treaty with the fey.



So what does he do? He runs. It makes sense and he's actually doing what he's suppose to do - ie, keep the young prince safe - but I just know there will be some complaints about how unheroic it is. The thing is, Max knows that sometimes doing your job has to come before personal pride. Unfortunately, you have to let the characters behave how they actually would if they were living, breathing people. Even if that means one does something that will make your readers unhappy.

Matt and I were talking about this last night, which led to Matt pointing out that the only thing Max has available to use against Gavin is the prince himself. Which, led to a joke about Max lobbing the prince at Gavin. "Here! Catch!" Yeah, that wouldn't go over well with Moraine. *chuckle* It was a funny thought, though, like something from a bloopers reel. Ooo, those could be funny little extras to do! Blooper comics. Keep them sketchy instead of fully inked and it might just work. Hmm... that's something to think about.

But for now, I've been procrastinating long enough. It's time I got back to inking. Later, guys!


"I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom."
-- Bob Dylan

It's guest art time, baby!

Welcome to Monday, guys! How are you all doing? Good, I hope. I'm getting a late start this morning. Seems I overslept. Oops! I'll get to work here in a bit.

But first, I wanted to mention that we have new guest art to share! Tiki Man sent us this cute drawing of Ruby a while back and with all the various things Matt and I are working on... I forgot to post it til now. I'm sorry!



Ain't she a doll? I love how he draws women. They're so cute! Be sure to visit Tiki Man's site for more of his art! Thanks, Tiki Man!

If you'd like to share your CN:H art with us, please send it along and we'll post it on the site and in the gallery. Nothing above a PG-13 rating, please. Thanks.

Okay, I've comic pages to do so, I should hop to it. Later, guys, and thanks for reading!


"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."
-- Eddie Cantor

Issue 13, page 3

Hey, guys. I've another page sketched out, which means this weekend will be devoted to fun with inking. Or pixels, if you want to get technical. That's the annoying thing, while I do work on the computer, I'm still moving that stylus around just as I would a pencil/pen. In other words, with my hand. Yet I can't say it's hand-drawn. But, saying it's done by computer doesn't fit either. It's not as if I push a button and Photoshop siphons the image out of my head. It'd look a lot better if it did. It'd also probably be animated.

I swear, I see the story as an animated series more than as a comic. Except the voices. I still can't quite peg down how everyone should sound.

Puck is fun to work with. Much more so than Gavin. Gavin's trying a little too hard to be intimidating. Puck, meanwhile, is just Puck.



Enjoy. I've lettering to do. Later!


"I've been close to nervous breakdown, sheer exhaustion, or profound existential crisis several times doing this stuff, and somehow, I always bounce back refreshed with new ideas. 'Bend, son,' my mother told me when I was young, 'bend and you won't break!' "
-- Grant Morrison

Dude, our favorite comic shop's on a cover!

Matt and I went out to That's Entertainment up in Worcester last night. You know, a chance to get out of the house and have fun. Neither of us do much in the way of drinking, and being around loud bar patrons didn't sound fun at the time. While we where chatting with the lady behind the counter, I noticed an ad for Godzilla, Kingdom of Monsters Issue 1.

It wasn't Godzilla that caught my attention, it was what he was doing. He was stepping on a building. Not just any building, but the That's E store itself! Our favorite comic shop is on a cover. *laughs* Neat!

I went looking around the net today and found out there are eighty variant covers for this issue coming out, seventy-five of which involve Godzilla stomping on individual comic shops. Eighty covers! I didn't think variants were that popular anymore. I mean, I've seen them done now and then, but that many? Wow.

You can see the covers here. I love the one where the guy's running away from the store, clutching a comic box. "Not the first editions, man! Nooooo!"


"It was gratifying when I went back to Hawaii for my first [Usagi Yojimbo] book signing. It was crowded. There were kids everywhere. My dad said, 'okay, I guess you can make a living...' "
-- Stan Sakai

Planning changes

We've been finding a number of people seem to be confused about the 2003-2004, Version I archive. So, we'll be doing some reorganizing soon to figure a way of making things a little clearer. We're thinking of offering the Version I archive as a CBR for download all at once (yes, free of course) and no longer doing the weekly/bi-weekly updates. We may also add a page at the front of each section explaining that they are non-cannon.

As to why they are non-cannon, the series has gone through a number of changes and rewrites since starting in 2001. Some of the changes include...

Mrs. Pennyworth no longer being a hen. Birds are not morphed in the current version to avoid the, 'OMG a hen is eating a chicken sandwich' issue.

Max no longer has an issue with women. His extreme shyness - which to some meant he's a gynophobe - is now an uneasiness towards most people he does not know well. This was brought on by an event with Vicky that will be explained at a later date.

Ruby is no longer as violent. Furthermore, while she did injure an agent - Picket, who will show up at a later date - letting her get away with doing so much damage to her fellow agents makes no sense. The current version of RCSI would not permit such behavior, nor would she still be allowed to work for the agency. (And yes, I noticed the old character notes mentioning this for Ruby ended up in the Volume I trade. That was a mistake that will be fixed in future reprints.)

The Talbot arc which started in "Blood Ties" will not be restarted or finished in the current version.

There are also a few smaller inconsistencies which, while some will not notice, others will. Especially as the series goes on.

Oh, as an aside, I do not have the original files of these, just the web versions you see online. As a result, they are not going to be edited. Please take them for what they are, our first attempt at making a comic, and be thankful that we've improved since then.

Thus, the 2003-2004 Version I comic is non-cannon. It's for the best. If you insist on seeing it as cannon, you have no right to complain about being confused when certain details do not match up. *wags finger* Sound fair? Good.

I've also finished the edits to the Prologue, so we'll have that up as a series of CBRs in a week or so. I'll let everyone know when they're available in the store and on the Supporters side.

We're also brainstorming a few new ideas for the site. I don't want to say much at the moment, since nothing has been decided on, but I'm getting a little tired of working in a vacuum. I've closed myself off due to the rudeness of a handful of people. This isn't fair to the rest of you, nor to myself.

So, if you guys are willing to deal with me smacking down people who behave in a disruptive manner - and help me to create a fun, welcoming atmosphere - I'll find ways of making things more interactive. Yes, I want you to have fun. But, I'd like to have fun as well. I've seen others take a no-nonsense approach to comments and interactions. I see no reason why I can't. Especially when the result is a chance to save my sanity and increase the comic production. I'd still like to increase the update schedule for you guys this summer. We can all win here, when you get down to it.

But, like any change, it takes a bit of getting used to. Let's work on it together.


"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better."
-- King Whitney Jr.

Issue 13, page 2

Ugh, this page drove me nuts. I just couldn't get it laid out right. This probably wasn't helped much by the fact that I've been down and twitchy all day. Hey, I'm like most people, occasionally I'd like to know that people enjoy and appreciate what I do. I don't hear that often. After a while, you start wondering if you really and truly just suck intergalactic biker cock and your readers simply don't want to bother telling you. Logically you know you can't really suck that bad because if you did, no one would be reading your comic, period. Though you would probably be very popular with any intergalactic bikers that just happen to be roaming around in your area.

So yeah, it's been a strange, strange day. As for the page, I'm still not thrilled with it, but it works. Prince Matthew is not amused. Neither is Max, apparently.



In the 'strange but true' file, I gave myself a two inch scratch on the middle finger of my left hand while opening a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade. How? Cause I'm special, that's how. Seriously, what's with the crinkled metal bottle caps? And why don't we have a bottle opener? Ah, the great mysteries of life.

I'm off to letter. Later!


"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline -- it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."
-- Frank Zappa

Omniscient characters? Not here.

I mentioned this on the forum a bit ago and thought it was worth repeating here. On page two of Issue 10, Doodle says that none of the founders had magic. Yet Queen Moraine (Princess Moraine then) does. Was Doodle lying?

No, Doodle doesn't know Moraine has magic. All Doodle knows is the basic history of RCSI. Gadel would know many of the same things as Doodle if she bothered to read through her Employee Handbook fully. Doodle knows a bit more than Gadel because she talks to people, true, but about Moraine knowing magic... that's not mentioned around Doodle. In fact, it's not mentioned around many in RCSI.

In other words yes, Moraine has magic. Does most of the agency know this? No, only a select few do. Is Doodle one of those few? No way, baby. Remember, Doodle is an American who's there temporarily. One does not tell people who are only around for a short amount of time all of the secrets. The interns at a corporation aren't let into the 'inner circle'. RCSI is no different.

While reading CN:H, it's helpful to remember that none of the characters are omniscient. They only know what they know and have personally experienced. Some will even give out false info because their expectations and background are coloring their view of the world. Gadel is a good example of this. (I wrote about this a year ago or so. You can see the post here.) I'm doing my job, as the writer, and giving you clues and hints. It's your job, as the reader, to put the pieces together in order to discover the truth. Yes, this means work on your part. But I want you to work. More importantly, I want you to think. It's good for you. An active brain helps keep dementia away, after all. (No, seriously, guys, this is true.)

We've already shown that RCSI didn't tell its agents what's actually been happening in Astoria. RCSI has a few more secrets up its sleeves. The agency itself is a character, when you get down to it.


"A man's most open actions have a secret side to them."
-- Joseph Conrad

Issue 13, page 1

Hey, guys! Welcome to the new week. I'm getting a bit of a late start on Issue 13, but progress is being made. I'm not sure what it is about beginning an issue... I always freeze at the start. Anyway, sketching has been started which means, we're finally underway.



I'll letter and start inking here in a bit. I got caught up in sketching and forgot to eat lunch. I should probably go do that before this headache blossoms into a full migraine.

In other news, the new banner came in this last Saturday. It's huge! I'll have to take a picture of it later to share. Speaking of which, I still haven't snapped a shot of the new Cintiq rig yet, have I? Sorry about that. It just keeps slipping my mind. That, and the fact that the office is usually a little disorganized. Papers everywhere.


"In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: 'oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And, God granted it."
-- Voltaire

The history of the Supporters area

I was thinking yesterday and just realized something... it's been four years this month since I left my library job to do CN:H. In fact, the anniversary was this last Monday. Weird. It's a little hard to believe that much time has gone by already. Which means, the Supporters area of the site is going on four years as well, soon. Despite claims from fellow webcomic creators that it was doomed to failure it survived, and is actually doing quite well for us. We make more income there than we do through book sales, that's for sure.

Admittedly, a lot of this is due to the fact that the Supporters area doesn't carry an overhead (production cost) with it. It cost money to print books, money that has to be remade before a profit can be counted. The Supporters area... no such cost. I suppose you can say hosting counts as a cost. But, the way I see it, as long as CN:H is online, there's a hosting cost. Completely for free, the method we have now, or completely behind a paywall - either way, there's a hosting bill. Adding the Supporters area didn't change the cost. All it means is now CN:H pays that bill instead of me personally. Add to that the fact that I get paid, and I'm quite the happy camper.

Can I make it work for anyone else? No, unfortunately I can't. In fact, I don't remember all the details behind how it developed to where it is now. The whole thing is sort of a blur. I do remember it started with a failed donation drive.

You see, Matt and I were trying to sell the house in 2007 with the plan of moving out of Massachusetts. I'd recently left my library job due to health and being fed up with all the niggling small town politics.

We'd seen donation drives work for others so, thought we'd give one a go. We'd even had a bit of success with one ourselves earlier, though on a smaller scale.

(If you've ever wondered just what "The Streak" has to do with CN:H, there's your answer. It was a donation drive incentive.)

I don't remember how much the goal was, I think around $2,000, but the end result was that I'd do three pages a week until we moved and figured out where to go from there. We met about half the goal rather quickly and then... nothing. I had readers who'd sent me money and I couldn't give them the prize because the goal hadn't been met. It was a little uncomfortable.

Eventually, Matt and I decided on an alternative. We gray-scaled the pages and split the site, one side offering the gray version for free, the other the color for a small fee. Anyone who had donated was immediately let into the color side. And, the schedule moved to three times a week.

We did this for a while with okay results. Then something happened which knocked us on hiatus for a bit. I can't recall exactly what at the moment, but it was most likely wrist related. When we came back, we decided to restart the Supporters area a few months before the Main, so they were a full issue ahead.

In the summer of 2009 my student loans, which are on a graduated plan, jumped to the next payment scale and... we were faced with three options, find a way of making the Supporters area bring in a bit more income per month, start looking for a publisher and risk removing CN:H from the net, or I return to librarianship and CN:H ends prematurely.

We decided to drop the updates down to one a week on the Main side and two a week on the Supporters. The goal was to make the Supporters area look more appealing, help cut down the strain on my wrist, and free up time to do other work. And, we've been doing it this way ever since.

As I said, my memory is a little loose on the details. It never occurred to Matt or myself to take notes on what we were doing. We just kept trying various things until we found what worked for us.

Maybe that's the secret, trial and error until you find your own path. I know many people are trying to make the Halfpixel model work for them, but maybe searching around and experimenting will yield better results. Remember, just because something works for one person doesn't mean it will work for everyone. Yeah, you may get some flack for rocking the boat. But, if it leads to a method that makes you happy and produces results, then it's worth a shot. You never know until you try.


"Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you."
-- Aldous Huxley

Finished - Issue 13, cover

I finished this up yesterday afternoon and didn't get around to posting it until now. Here's the final cover - minus the imprint and title...



ISSUE 13 : GAVIN - 24 pages
Gavin's returned, and he has Max in his sights. With the Treaty Night rule of "no blood is to be shed" hanging over his head, Max's only option is to get the young prince and himself to the ballroom as soon as possible. Can he outwit Gavin at his own game?

It's not quite how I pictured it in my head. I planned on a lot more lighting effects. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with doing light effects such as this so, I worked with what I knew. Still, the glow itself stumped me for most of yesterday. I spend a good three hours or so trying various ways of making that green ball of magic look at least somewhat shimmery. Here's a close-up of Max and the Prince, still not at full size.



And, before anyone asks, yes, I did try the Outer Glow option in Layers. Tried it on a few different layers, actually. But, it caused this weird, multiple halo effect on the background colors so... I decided to do something else. I finally settled on making another green circle slightly larger than the magic ball and running it through a Gaussian Blur, then lightening the layer down to sixty percent opacity. It seems to have worked.

I do like how Gavin's eyes came out. Too bad they're a little hard to see in the web version. They should turn out nice in print, though.



Now that the cover is done, I can finish up the inside back cover of Issue 12, do the inside front cover of Issue 13, and continue mapping out this issue's storyline. I just realized, once Volume II is finished (Issue 15), we'll be one-fourth of the way through CN:H! Neat! We're talking comic party, baby!

But for now, it's back to work for me. Later!


"There was something about the eyes. It wasn't the shape or the color. There was no evil glint. But there was... a look. It was such a look that a microbe might encounter if it could see up from the bottom end of the microscope. It said: You are nothing. It said: You are flawed, you have no value. It said: You are an animal. It said: Perhaps you may be a pet, or perhaps you may be a quarry. It said: And the choice is not yours."
-- Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett

Welcome new readers!

Hey, guys! Darc here. We've been seeing a number of new readers popping in over the last week. That's wonderful! Welcome! If you have any questions, please drop Matt and myself a line and we'll answer them as best we can. Or, you can ask us on our Formspring and have your question and answer posted on the site (and possibly in upcoming print issues).

For those curious about our update schedule, CN:H updates once a week on the Main side, on Mondays. We also post a page from the old Version I of the series, done back in 2003-2004, on Sundays. While my plan is to get the Main side updating twice a week by late summer, I still have some more buffer building to do first.

We're currently just starting Issue 10: "Internal Affairs" on the Main side of the site. The synopsis - Four weeks have passed since their mission in Astoria, and Max and Ruby are finishing up their disciplinary rotation duties. Meanwhile, Queen Moraine is discovering that the Commander's been hiding a secret from her for years.

If you've read through all the archives so far, don't despair. We also have a Supporters area which updates at a faster rate (Mondays and Fridays) and is over fifty pages ahead. In fact, they're currently in Issue 12: "Rules to Live By". The synopsis - There are rules one should follow when it comes to the agency collars. There are also rules to follow when dealing with the fey. When a certain fey from Max's past comes looking for him, will these rules be enough?

In other news, Matt and I are starting to finalize ideas for the tenth anniversary of CN:H this August. We've some fun plans we think you all will like. It's just a matter of getting all our ducks in a row before announcing anything specific. Though that doesn't mean we can't drop some hints now and then, eh?

As for our Formspring, we still have a few questions waiting in the wings - Matt and I only answer one a week, after all. So, if you've asked a question and haven't received an answer yet, please don't worry. We'll get to everyone eventually. Thanks for the questions!

As for myself, I'm currently stumbling around the house like the Bride of Frankenstein. Somehow I managed to sprain both of my knees and they hurt like hell. The worse part... I don't know what I did! So there's lots of ice for me in the near future. Hopefully they'll be healed by the end of next month. I'd like to be able to walk around Boston Comic Con and see everything.

Speaking of cons, we just received word that our application to Intervention has been accepted. So, we'll see you there as well!

But for now, I have some work to do and ice to sit under. Later, guys, and thanks for reading!


"The only thing that should surprise us is that there are still some things that can surprise us."
-- Francois de la Rochefoucauld

Issue 12 is finished!

Hey, guys! The last page of Issue 12 was finished earlier yesterday evening! It's now off to Joanna for editing and, once I've made the changes, it'll be heading to the printer. Here's a mini version of all the pages...



Health issues slowed the production of this issue way down. Let's see if I can't speed things up with Issue 13. I've a few action scenes coming up, which I'm both excited and a little nervous about. They're not my forte after all. Still, I'll make it through and learn as I go. Anything's possible, as long as you're willing to work at it, right? Right.

The rest of this week will be spent inking/coloring the cover to Issue 13, finishing up this issue's recolors, mapping Issue 13 out, and (hopefully) getting some work done on my dad's car drawing. Which reminds me, I need to hunt down some 9x12 Bristol board. The art store was out the last time we stopped by, and my Bristol didn't hold up so well in storage. The climate around here is a little wet. Not a good combination with porous Bristol. My smooth paper becomes rough and tends to make the markers bleed after a few months. I should really start wrapping it when I store it away.

But that's something for another time. I've a few other things to knock out first. Which, I will start tomorrow. It's much too late tonight. Later, and take care!


"If I have accomplished anything good, then it's mainly because I've been driven by the need to know whether I can accomplish things I'm not sure I have the capacity for."
-- Vaclav Havel