Issue 13 floppies are now in the store!

Morning, guys. If I did everything right (Zen-Cart confuses me at times), the print version of Issue 13 should now be available in the store. As usual, it's twenty-four pages of ink and toned CN:H goodness for the low, low price of $3.00!

Issue synopsis:
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?

You can see a sneak peek of the pages in Issue 13 here.

Issue 12 is back in print as well. The Catch-up Bundle, meanwhile, is still listed as out of stock. Matt and I need to discuss the pricing of that later this evening. With us getting so close to the end of this volume, it may be time to retire the Catch-up Bundle for the moment. Decisions, decisions.

As for myself, I've inking to do despite the Migraine From Hell I'm currently dealing with. So, it's time I got my day started . Later and thanks for reading!


"If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: 'Take two aspirin' and 'Keep away from children'."
-- Anonymous

You find the strangest things on your front porch

Like a box of CN:H single issue floppies. Yep, the first run of Issue 13 and the Issue 12 reprints have arrived.





The cover to Issue 13 printed a little darker than I'd have liked, which makes me sad. But, it just means I'll need to go back and lighten things up a bit for the Volume II trade. Images that are back-lit on a screen occasionally don't turn out as bright in print. I still forget that. Otherwise, everything looks great!

I'm really proud of Issue 13. Maybe I shouldn't be - it has its flaws like they all do - but I still can't help but be pleased. I don't know why. Maybe it's the headache talking.

Either way, we should have them up in the store later this evening.


"Comics will pick you up after it knocks you down. Comics will dust you off and tell you it loves you. And you will look into its eyes and know it's true, that you love comics back."
-- Becky Cloonan

24-Hour Comics Day is this Saturday!

Yep, it's that time of year again. The day when comic people decide to stay up all night and day in a mad dash to create a full twenty-four page comic in as many hours. What am I talking about? Why, 24-Hour Comics Day, of course.

For those not familiar, here's a quick rundown from the official site...

THE DARE:

To create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 continuous hours.

That means everything: Story, finished art, lettering, color (if applicable), paste-up, everything. Once pen hits paper, the clock starts ticking. 24 hours later, the pen lifts off the paper, never to descend again. Even proofreading has to occur in the 24 hour period. (Computer-generated comics are fine of course, same principles apply).

No sketches, designs, plot summaries or any other kind of direct preparation can precede the 24 hour period. Indirect preparation such as assembling tools, reference materials, food, music, etc. is fine.

Your pages can be any size, any material. Carve them in stone, print them with rubber stamps, draw them on your kitchen walls with a magic marker. Whatever you makes you happy.

The 24 hours are continuous. You can take a nap, but the clock keeps ticking. If you get to 24 hours and you're not done, either end it there ("the Gaiman Variation") or keep going until you're done ("the Eastman Variation"). I consider both of these "Noble Failure" Variants and true 24 hour comics in spirit; but you must sincerely intend to do the 24 pages in 24 hours at the outset.

Sound crazy? I always thought so. But it's a lot of fun, too. Especially if you do it in a group. Think about it, five or more comic creators who have been up for twenty hours straight, giddy with mass quantities of caffeine / sugar and a total lack of sleep? You get some crazy ideas out of that mixture, let me tell you. *laughs*

If you're interested in giving it a try, the official start time is 9:00am this Saturday, October 1st. Remember, as the bit above said, you can't do any pre-work, like sketches. All work is to be done during the twenty-four hour period.

So, will I be doing this? No, I'm afraid not. While my wrist is feeling better thanks to Dr. Brian, I can't afford to risk increasing the nerve damage. Unfortunately, gimpy-wrists like me need to sit these kind of things out. *laughs* It's for the best.

That reminds me, if you do decide to take the challenge, be sure to listen to your body. If you feel discomfort or pain, stop and rest. This is meant to be fun, not physically damaging. So get out there, enjoy yourself, and make comics, damn it!


"If you want to make comics, don’t talk about making comics. Just make them."
-- Sterling Gates

Issue 14, page 14

Hey guys! I finished this sketch up yesterday and was planning on working up two more pages today. Unfortunately, I got distracted and... here we are, 6:30pm and I haven't sketched a damn thing. Since this one's going to take a bit to ink, I'll be spending both tomorrow and Thursday on it. So, here's the sketch for page fourteen. Pages fifteen and sixteen will be along later this week.




"They say princes learn no art truly but the art of horsemanship. The reason is the brave beast is no flatterer. He will throw a prince as soon as his groom."
-- Ben Jonson

What's wrong with showing sexy women in comics?

There's been a lot of debate recently about the latest issues of Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws. Many posts have already been written including this one on Comics Alliance and the counter-argument from Panels on Pages.

So, why bother writing another one? Because I'd like to tackle this the way I view it, from an artist's perspective. I see a lot of people in comics - not just print, webcomics also - making the assumption that drawing a "sexually liberated woman" involves focusing primarily on her more... ahem... ample assets.

In other words, her tits and her ass.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I love a well drawn woman. Yeah, I'm a woman myself, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate lovely ladies. The female body is a true work of art. And, I enjoy seeing striking female forms in comics. I'm the proud owner of Adam Hughes' Cover Run, Alex Ross' Rough Justice, and Jim Lee's Icons. I'll admit it, I love how these men draw women. It was Terry Moore's beautiful renditions of realistic women that drew me to comics in the first place. And I can't wait for Amanda Conner's art book to come out.

So, what's wrong with showing sexy women in comics?

Nothing. As long as you do it right.

You see, part of what makes a woman beautiful - a great part of it, in fact - is her face. Her face is where her emotions and her personality live. It's what makes her human and not just a sex object. But, it's not enough to just show us her face, you need to put some action in there, some sense of feeling. If you want me to believe that your character truly is a "sexually liberated woman" then I want to see her enjoying what she's doing. 'Cause that's the point! A woman who is comfortable in her sexuality enjoys the rise she gets out of people. It's part of the appeal to her. She looks good, she knows she looks good, and she wants others to notice. She smiles. She smirks. She flirts and gives knowing glances. She focuses her attention on the people she desires. She ignores those who she deems unworthy. It's this knowledge of her sexuality that makes her powerful. It's that power... that makes her liberated.

She's a living, breathing individual with her own unique personality.

And, we get glimpses of her personality from her face.

For example, let's look at a print of Catwoman by Amanda Conner. Before we look at the whole print, let's focus on what many people believe is the sole key to a sexy female character - her breasts.



Yes, we know it's Catwoman by the outfit - the clawed gloves and whip make it quite clear. And yes, she has a lovely chest - the little bit of peek-a-boo with the bra is a nice touch. But that's it. Her playful personality - one of the things that I, personally, have always found appealing about Catwoman - is missing.

Here's the whole picture.



Now that's the Catwoman I know and love. You can almost hear her saying, "Fine. You want them, Bat-beau? Come and get 'em." Her face shows us that she's not about to let a guy dressed as a giant bat ruin her fun. She's still in control of the situation. She knows Batman's buttons and oh, is she going to have fun pushing them!

I didn't get any sense of that from the cropped version focusing on just her chest. For all we know, she could have looked annoyed, frightened, depressed... hell, even ill. True, word balloons may have helped, but remember, there's no vocal tone in just text. It's not like spoken dialog where we can hear hints of annoyance, disgust, or flirtation. This is why it's important for us artists to try to use as many cues as possible to covey a panel's emotions properly. It's also why we fail fairly often. It's not an easy task, especially when we're tying to keep our pages interesting visually.

Look, there's nothing wrong with sexy women in comics. Hell, many of us women love seeing them too. But, if you're going to do it - and fellow webcomic creators, I'm looking at you as well - please at least have the decency to do it right. Show us all of her. Her face, her personality. Make her live and breathe. Give us the chance to love her for who she is, not just her cup size.


"A woman is sometimes fugitive, irrational, indeterminable, illogical and contradictory. A great deal of forbearance ought to be shown her, and a good deal of prudence exercised with regard to her, for she may bring about innumerable evils without knowing it. Capable of all kinds of devotion, and of all kinds of treason, monster incomprehensible, raised to the second power, she is at once the delight and the terror of man."
-- Henri Frederic Amiel

I have to draw WHAT now?

Page thirteen of CN:H Issue 14 just went live today on the Supporters side. Which means, Issue 14 is over half-way finished. It also means I can finally get the characters out of that hallway they've been in for a few pages now. Toning that was a pain - the floral pattern I've been using is a little off-kilter. While this isn't noticeable on the smaller versions of the pattern, the larger ones needed to be touched-up and repainted. Ugh.

The next scene is the beginning of a sequence I've been both looking forward to and dreading. I'm excited because I get to draw horses again. You know me and horses. Unfortunately, I also have to draw old ruins, action scenes, and... the Royal Mews.



Look at all those curves and angles! Oh boy. I need a good establishing shot of the area at least, then I can pull in and focus on the characters. I also need to design a new character quick. Hopefully no one will give me flack for our new groom fellow not being in full uniform. I couldn't find any good examples that weren't clearly parade dress. Besides, it's around three in the morning or so in the comic. The dude was probably asleep not that long ago. After all, what normal person wants to go jumping through a fey gate on the back of a horse at pre-crack of dawn?

So yeah... lots of potential stuff to mess up these next few pages. But, I get to draw curious horses. So, that makes it all swell. Hi, horsie!



And thank goodness for tourists. If it wasn't for their photos online, I'd be hard up for references. So keep taking and sharing those photos, people! Those of us who can't travel appreciate it.


"Horses have hoofs to carry them over frost and snow; hair, to protect them from wind and cold. They eat grass and drink water, and fling up their heels.... Such is the real nature of horses."
-- Chuang Tzu

Sick. Backup plan engaged.

It's only 9:30am and it's already been a hellish morning. The bad cough from a few hours ago - which I thought was just a 'congrats, welcome to Fall' gift - has turned into a full sore throat combined with dizziness, chills, and sinus pain. I really need to lay down. But, I still have tomorrow's CN:H Supporters page to ink.

I'm hoping this will calm down in a few hours. Just in case it doesn't, I've loaded the lettered version of the sketch into the hopper. So, at least that can go up if I can't get the inks done today.

I apologize. This came right out of the blue. Either something hitched a ride home on Matt from his office or I picked something up at the gym last night. Either way, later guys. I'm going to find more green tea, juice, and some blankets.

edit: It's been a few hours and I still feel like crap, but let's see if I can't get the inking done anyhow. It's slow, but progress is being made.

edit II: Done.


"Red meat is not bad for you. Now blue-green meat, that's bad for you!"
-- Tommy Smothers

Issue 14, pages 12 & 13

Okay, pages twelve and thirteen of CN:H, Issue 14 are sketched. Now to letter. Inking, meanwhile, will begin tomorrow.



While I usually come back from the chiropractor feeling great, every now and then I get a sharp pain in my neck the next day. Probably from turning my head to see Mothra's screen all day. The cintiq sits in front of me on an extend-able arm, but Mothra sits off to my left. And the pain, meanwhile, is always on the right. Still, no worries. Cool pack and stretching in a bit. First, lettering.


"It's not like a job at Microsoft, you've got to be obsessed."
--Daniel Clowes

Comics as drawing practice

Ah foreshortening, my old friend. We meet again. One of these days I'll figure foreshortening out. Until then, I'll keep trying to do the best I can. It's worth a little wonky-ness to try something more dynamic now and then. Well, hopefully it is, anyway. *laughs*




"There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go."
-- Richard Bach

So... what would you like to read about?

While I use this blog for work in progress, news, and updates, I originally planned on posting more informative things from behind the scenes. The reason I haven't is... I'm not sure what to write about.

I've discovered that since Matt and I do this everyday, it's become routine. And, since it's routine, it's hard to figure out what someone not in on the routine would like to read about.

So, I guess my question is, what topics would you like to see? Business? Art? Writing? Research? Resources? Interpersonal relations? Surviving a hiatus? I'm not an expert by any means, but I do know a thing or two. I just tend to keep a little quiet about what I know. I don't want people to think I'm showing off or being egotistical when all I'm trying to do is share information. That's never enjoyable.

One of the things I'd like to do is occasionally share pieces that I find inspirational - whether those be books, songs, places, or what-have-you. But other than that, I'd like to know what you, both readers and fellow webcomic creators, would like to see. If you have an idea, please let me know.


"Fans have been bugging me for years: 'Why don't you do your own comic book?' Easy for them to say! It's a lot of work."
-- Frank Frazetta

I need me some Milton Caniff!

I'm currently reading The Romita Legacy. It's about the comic book careers of John Romita and his son, John Romita Jr. In one of the interviews, John Romita is mentioning his influences, including Milton Caniff - specifically his 'Terry and the Pirates' strip. He's mainly discussing how observing Caniff's work taught him to make every panel interesting, by focusing on things other than just faces and head-shots.

[Interviewer] Milton Caniff was also, in addition to his work looking lovely, quite the formalist in the way he would use perspective and "move the camera" as it were, to tell stories. Even a phone call could be very exciting in a Caniff strip.

[John Romita] Those are the things that I was aware of, and that's where I learned. I learned before Stan Lee told me that you don't show heads and shoulders. If you want to you've got to use hands in the shot, and turn the hands and move them around; otherwise it's death.

And you're right with Caniff. Every panel there was something. He didn't have anybody just talking on the phone. He would have a guy shaving. He would have a guy tweaking his eyebrows. Some little trick. One of his big philosophies is that he would say, "I don't know how to draw hands very well." He'd say, "You can make them look like a bunch of bananas, but if their gesture is genuine, and it's a recognizable, familiar gesture, the reader will be satisfied with the hand." I learned something from him. You don't have to have every knuckle or every wrinkle. You have to make your hands in proportion and with a gesture that's recognizable. And the reader will buy it.

I've been increasingly unhappy with how I'm handling dialog heavy pages in CN:H, especially after some of the more interesting (at least in my opinion) pages from Issue 13. I've been wanting to read 'Terry and the Pirates' for a while now anyway, but haven't had much luck finding a copy. Though maybe That's E has one stashed away somewhere. They've a section of old newspaper strip collections. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky.

See, this is what those of us who are self-taught have to deal with. Instead of a teacher leading the way, we have to look to people whose work intrigues us and track down who their influences were. I'm uncovering a lot of wonderful work this way - not to mention some amazing artists and writers - but unfortunately, many of them are hard to find these days. All this wonderful work of the past, and most people will never bother to give it a glance because it's not slick and Photoshoped. It's sad, really.


"Comics are art. Deal with it."
-- James Norton

The RCSI credit card gateway is down

edit: The gateway is now functional again. Innovative updated their secure certificate, which caused some errors. We apologize for the downtime.

Hey guys. Just a quick note to let everyone know that the credit card gateway is currently not working. Matt's tracking down the problem - it's something on the Innovative office's side. We'll have things back up and running as soon as possible.

What this means is, we can't accept credit card transactions until this is settled. While this shouldn't be too big a problem for CN:H readers, 'Cut Loose' readers are kind of stuck at the moment. Due to the more adult nature of CL, we can't accept PayPal transactions for 'Cut Loose'. Sorry again for the down-time.


"The only reason I made a commercial for American Express was to pay for my American Express bill."
-- Peter Ustinov

Issue 14, pages 8 & 9

Morning everyone! Two more pages are sketched and ready for inking.



In fact, the inking on page eight is already half-way finished. It would have been finished last evening if it hadn't been for the gym and my getting distracted. I'm not sure why I decided to spend a few hours playing with cover designs when I still had inking to do. It's not like I need the cover just yet.

I do like this look. This one may just work. Gavin on the back needs to be in color, though. Also, please forgive the quote on the back. I yanked it from a review of Volume I on Amazon - that review still makes me squee. I'll need to get some review quotes before this hits print.



I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but the cover mock-up is now Mothra's desktop image. Just a little reminder to myself that the end is near. Ooo, so exciting!


"My childhood smells like a box of Crayola crayons."
-- Terri Guillemets

From Issue 14

Once an issue, I'll post a finished page as a little sneak peek. Here's Issue 14's offering. I was going to wait for a later one, but I really like how this page came out. Especially the horse. It's always a good day when you get to draw a horse.



I've still a few more pages to go before I get to draw a horse again. Which, is sad. It's so lonely without the horses.

Oh, I should probably mention... "Part" is the horse's barn name/nick-name. His full name is Partner in Crime. It just seemed appropriate.


"In my opinion, a horse is the animal to have. Eleven-hundred pounds of raw muscle, power, grace, and sweat between your legs - it's something you just can't get from a pet hamster."
-- Author Unknown

Planning out CN:H Volume III

Hey guys! Now that Issue 14 is underway, we're rounding out Volume II of CN:H. I'm so excited! With that in mind, thoughts have turned towards laying out the storylines for Volume III.

While I like the longer stories, I thought a volume of short, one issue arcs might be a nice break. Everyone needs a little downtime to recharge their batteries and all. It'll also be a chance to get to know some of the characters better. You know, how they act when there's not a big mission hanging over their heads.

Not to mention, it'll help us show the passage of time. Issue 1 is set sometime in early August, 2000. Issue 14 is set in late September 2000. While it seems like a lot of time has passed - due to the update schedule - only a month and a half has gone by in the comic.

The proposed titles and storylines are listed below, along with a little teaser about who each issue will focus on.

Volume III - Six Months
In which Life moves forward and Time marches on.

Issue 16 : Meetings and Movments (Part 1)
Issue 17 : Meetings and Movments (Part 2)
(Moraine, Doodle, Gadel, Rashanna, Wynnie, and Cedric)

Issue 18 : October - Leystone
(the inhabitants of the Leystone district)

Issue 19 : November - Stories
(Todd, Max's family, Max, Ruby, Wynnie, Rashanna)

Issue 20 : December - Solstice
(Max, Ruby, and Gavin)

Issue 21 : January - Addiction
(Sassy, Ruby, and Max)

Issue 22 : February - Peerage
(Max and Gadel)

Issue 23 : March - Baubles
(Max, Ruby, Gadel, Rashanna, and Thomas Radigan)

Issue 24 : Bridal Chorus (Part 1)
Issue 25 : Bridal Chorus (Part 2)
(Sassy, Bullet, Ruby, Max, Gadel, and Doodle)

I'm looking forward to working on these. I admit, it's probably weird to get excited about laying down another set of stories, but it makes me happy. Hopefully you'll enjoy them as well. But first, I've Issues 14 and 15 to finish up. Later, and take care!


"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."
-- Carl Sandburg

Issue 12 currently sold-out

Hey, guys. Just a quick post to let everyone know that Issue 12: "Rules to Live By" is currently sold-out. More are on order and should arrive within three weeks or so - along with the print versions of Issue 13. Because of this, the Catch-up Bundle is currently listed as sold-out as well.

Sorry for any inconvenience. We'll have them back in the store as soon as possible. Thanks, guys!


"I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you're able to entertain people, you're doing a good thing."
-- Stan Lee