Sorry, folks. Templar will not update this Monday, on account of jet lag, con-related insanity, an inbox at the breaking point, and an accidental nap. Expect the next page on Tuesday.
July 2007 Archives
It will help people buy things from me. Hopefully.
I've been meaning to put one of these together for a while, but I never found the time. Then, I wound up with this surprise free day, and a serious case of ants-in-the-pants caused by everyone and their bald-headed granny whoopin' it up in San Diego and live-blogging every little detail.
Bastards.
But finally getting this shop up and running, along with the previous post's accomplishments, helps me feel that I've made some pretty nice lemonade out of the fifty bushels of lemons I was handed this morning at 7:30.
Anyway, only two paintings are up at Etsy, because that's all I had around. More later; I'm bound to do something of worth over the weekend, if only to kill time in line.
My rescheduled flight takes off in four and a half hours. In theory. Eeesh.
What I did today!
- Sulked.
- Mailed 30 more copies of Templar, Arizona: The Great Outdoors, including a few foreign orders to the UK, Japan, The Netherlands, France, and Germany. HELLO, WORLD!
- Contemplated Etsy. Extensively. More on this later.
- Forced the bank to acknowledge my business license. I am 7-to-10 business days away from a shiny new debit card with "Iron Circus Comics" emblazoned thereupon. And I am dorky enough to be excited about it.
- Decided to drop by the closest Barnes & Noble and look for a book, which I am supposed to be in.
Oh hey, I think I found it.
Scip, Ray and Benny scored a two-page spread on the inside...
And Ben's got the whole back cover to himself.
Call me a goober, but it still excites me to see stuff like this. We all like a little acknowledgment, y'know?
Anyway, back to work.
Or at least, on my way.
But I'm not. Because the crew of United Airlines flight 635, nonstop from Chicago to San Diego, didn't show up for work this morning. Who knows why.
Stay classy, world.
I could have stayed at the airport, crossed my fingers, and hoped to get bumped onto the 9:30 flight. But since the entire flight I was on would have been there hoping for the same thing right along with me, and it would've required me to check my luggage ahead to San Diego whether or not I was there to meet it, I passed. So I'm booked for the 8:00 flight tomorrow morning.
I canceled one day off of my hotel stay and another off of the dog sitter (SHUT UP HE'S DELICATE), so I guess in the end, I'm saving a few bucks. Hooray?
Jeez, I'm glad I didn't commit to doing anything or being anywhere for Preview Night, this year. And I'm REALLY glad I didn't shell out for a table. because if I had, I'd be single-handedly redefining COMPLETELY FUCKING UNREASONABLE right now. I do this really attractive and endearing Hurricane Kali thing sometimes, maybe I'll tape it for you guys one day so everyone can hate me.
So anyway, yeah. See you guys Thursday, hopefully. I'll try to make the most of the delay, maybe mail out summore book orders or sumthin'.
Okay, I am seriously effin' intimidated by this year's panel schedule. My eyes are glazing over, It's too much to take in at once.
So, this here's a double-purpose post.
HAY GUYZ: Who's going to SDCC, and what panels will you be attending? If you don't wanna post in the blog comments, email me and stuff. Gimme your cell numbers, so's we can meet up and figure out what we wanna do. Shaenon, Karen, Tone, Frank, etc., are you gonna be there? Lemme know what's up.
I'm gonna be in town early on Wednesday, won't leave 'til Monday, and I've got no table. I'm as free as the wind and CRAVE DIRECTION. All I've really got my heart set on is "Worst Cartoons Ever!" With Jerry Beck on Friday morning and "The Pitching Hour" Saturday evening.
Hurry hurry hurry!
- The new page of Templar is up here. But unfortunately, since I'm trying to get a buffer ready for my upcoming trip to the San Diego Comic Con, I don't have any new sketches for you. Uhm... please click and vote for me anyway?
- If all goes well, there should be no break in service, and Templar will auto-update while I'm in San Diego on Wednesday, Friday, and Monday. I won't be able to post to the blog to tell you guys that, though. So just check back for the new stuff.
- A couple of people have written to ask me where my table will be at SDCC. I don't have one, unfortunately. The small press tables went really fast this year. I was on the waiting list for one, but that didn't pan out. Next year though, definitely!
- Because of con prep and buffer-building, no book orders will be mailed this week. I'll start mailing stuff out again next Tuesday. Also, I've changed the order page for the book, along with the costs for international orders (after a nasty surprise down at the post office!). If you've already ordered your book, though, the change will not effect you.
Gotta go!
I usually tell you guys when a new page and new vote sketches are up pretty promptly, but today's been insane, so I'm late with the blog post. Sorry.
New page, and new commission pencils vote sketches, this time featuring a Japanese band, some characters from Magnolia Pearl's Twist:Ending, and a sexy nurse Reagan with a menacing syringe.
More later!
Ben's quite an erudite little guy.
This week's gonna be kind of insane. I'll be trying my damnedest to mail out all of the signature-only book orders, build up a three-page buffer so the comic still updates while I'm at the San Diego Comic Con, finish the ironcircus.com redesign and update the comic order page, and generally get everything in order. Hope you guys stay patient, things are kinda crazy here.
The vote incentive sketches are yet more pre-order commissions. Enjoy!
(I can't believe someone asked for Maira and Drimmer. Crazy.)
New page, and the scene changes! About time, huh? For the record, this is the last scene of this chapter we're currently on. Not to say it's short or nuthin', but we're definitely winding down.
This update's vote sketches are the pencils for some of the ink commissions that were ordered during the Pre-Order Project. If you're among the roughly twenty or so people who bought yourself a commission, you might recognize yours. Exciting. I got about half of the pencils done in Boston, too, so there should be more of 'em soon.
Today, I'm gonna hit the post office to mail out summore book orders and my Diamond submissions package, and hopefully finally open that damned business account I've been entitled to for the past month or so down at the bank.
When you register a business, you start getting a whole new class of junk mail and telemarketing calls. Seriously. I thought I was on some kinda no-call list. I hate the phone as it is, the last thing I wanna deal with at eight o'clock in the morning is someone trying to sell me a sprinkler system for an office I don't have.
I've got a plane taking off in five hours, so let's do this rapid-fire!
- New page is here!
- New sketches are all autobio, all the time. My life is just that interesting.
- I won't be here for Friday's update, but the page is ready to go and queued up. Unless I really goofed, the comic should update as usual on Friday.
- Thank you for your recent donations and book orders! Mailing out the last of the signature-only book orders will happen next week, and the ink commissions will be started while I'm in Boston.
- I haven't slept since Tuesday afternoon.
- My dog is coming with me to Boston as carry-on! I have to slip him a little dope in a few hours so the plane ride won't be a fear-inspired fecal tragedy.
OKAY BYE
Yeah.
Anyway, the colors ran a little later than usual (even for me) on account of book-shipping stuff, site redesign stuff, "gotta go to a wedding on Thursday!" stuff, Comic Con stuff, and a crapload of other things that no one cares about. BUT. To my CREDIT: I will be starting on the next update immediately, sans sleep, in the hopes that service can continue uninterrupted while I'm away in Boston watching my brother-in-law get hitched.
Here's hopin'.
This update's sketches are two characters that have yet to show up or be mentioned (but will) and The Twins, a pair of conjoined albinos is sassy mid-Victorian sartorial splendor. They're the mascots of my big dumb forum. I was originally gonna have 'em be the centerpiece of my new site design, too, but was advised against it, since they took up too much space. I didn't mind too much, though. The less I have to draw, the better...
Well, maybe they'll think she's a stuffed animal. She certainly acts like one.
This update's vote sketches? Cars. Because I need the practice. If it's any consolation, two of them don't actually exist. Referenced, but imaginary all the same. We're on our way to a street scene, and it's time I stopped cheating.
...
When Reagan talks, I can't help but picture her sounding a lot like Amy Winehouse.
Yeah, I know. But it fits. For now, at least. And not just cuz it looks like Ray and Amy shop at the same thrift stores.
I do this a lot. Mentally cast voices from music, that is. If I really like a vocalist or group, and I mean "one song on repeat for half an hour" like 'em, you can pretty much guarantee I'm picturing that voice coming out of a certain cartoon mouth.
The voices are always changing, though, because my tastes change. I've been doing this for years. I'm not sure how normal it is. I don't ask other cartoonists if they do the same thing, because it's, you know. Acutely embarrassing.
Drawing Curio makes me glad I'm out of high school. Some people never leave.
Anyway: New page and new vote sketches. The vote sketches this time around are sort of a "Disney characters as tenement dwellers in the 1920s" thing. Nothing particularly new or clever, but sometimes, I just like to think of Mickey as an Irish immigrant skulking around Paradise Alley and agitating the rabble with big talk of rebellion and unionization.
You know. Just to do it.
Back to work.
New page, and new voting sketches. The sketches are another series: Templar moms. The three people featured? The mothers of three cast members that have already been introduced. I think one's a total gimme, one's sorta easy, and the other's kinda tough. See if you can guess who squatted out whom.
Also, I fixed the tip jar! It no longer charges shipping and handling, which was dumb. Sorry about that, guys. But thank you for donating anyway, despite that annoyance. You're the goddamn best.
On to the meandering digressions.
I probably shouldn't have kids. Haven I mentioned this before? I may have. Because I've recently decided that Arkham is the best name for a boy ever. Ever ever ever. I like it lots better than my previous favorite, which was Atomic. The only problem is that people might mistake it for a Batman reference instead of a Lovecraft one, so his middle name would have to be Miskatonic or Reanimator or Dagon or Stygian Cyclopean, and nobody wants that. Weird-name kids need nice, dull middle names, in case they decide to become accountants or something.
But seriously, if I got knocked up and had a boy? Arkham. Don't test me on this, uterus. Everyone involved will be sorry.
And I linked Ian J.'s (and Jim G's!) nockFORCE an update or two ago, because I liked it. I like the new quickie they have up, too. Too early for fan art, maybe? Nah.
Oh, and one more thing.
They're here.
Orders start goin' out the door July 5th. If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.
