I’m back from Comic-Con International and, given enough naps, I think I might even recover!

While there, I kept a little sketch journal of some of the wackier things I encountered, or, more factually, my reactions to them.

Click the picture to check out the whole set on Flickr!

It was a crazy time – wonderful to see so many friends, colleagues, and readers, crazy costumes and bizarre set pieces.  This was my first time going as a Professional Cartoonist ™ and that added a certain amount of angst – am I annoying everybody?  Will I sell enough?  Am I talking to the right people?  How many boxes did I ship?  But it was exciting to be at a point in my professional development where those were meaningful considerations.  Six years ago, I was looking up to people like me!  Pretty cool.

Thank you to everybody who spoke to me, bought a book, or gave a friendly smile at the convention.  It’s a pleasure.  Even if my feet still hurt two days out.

Animals at ECCC

Those of you who’ll be at the Emerald City Comicon this weekend will get first crack at these sweet little 5×7″ giclee prints from my Heifer International series. Come get ‘em at Table F-07!

They are easy to frame and easy to love, and they won’t go on sale at my store until after the convention.

If they do well, I’d like to gradually release the whole series in print form and donate a percentage of profit to Heifer.  So stop on by!

Art sale!

Hey all!  I’m experiencing one of those Freelance Moments(tm) where I’m short on cash despite being heartily employed.  Solution:  art sale!

I traditionally hate parting with original art, particularly from comics projects and especially when it’s not an in-person sale; it’s a little easier when I design something to be given away or when I get to meet the person taking it home!

So this is your excellent chance to snag some art from me if you don’t typically make it to conventions.

Up for sale on Etsy, everything from convention doodles to original art from Click.

The scans are on the murky side so that you can see the pencil lines underneath the inking!  These are slightly visible in real life so you and your friends can TELL it’s original art.

Animals for Animals: Concertina Bat

Here’s the last Animals for Animals painting that went up for public sale – a fruit bat!  A tip of the hat to Jenn, who suggested the concertina.

Thanks to everybody who purchased one of the animals this month; thanks to you I’ll be able to donate at least $550 to Heifer International (I had to raise a bit past that to cover all the transaction fees from Paypal, Etsy, and my postage service).

As soon as the deposit clears, I will be donating the money to Heifer for a Knitting Basket, which represents two llamas and two sheep, and a Hope Basket, which will go towards some rabbits and chickens.

You’ll also be seeing an owl and a dormouse posted here soon (if the people who asked for them are okay with the world getting to see them once they’re finished!).

If you’d like more information on Heifer International, they’ve got a great website, and their print catalogue is the only charity publication that elicits smiles from me when it turns up in the mail.

Family Man update!

Page 164 of Family Man, now online!

A little bit late, but better than never!  It’s rather hard to draw Ariana smiling.

I’ve had A Trying Week between some runaway freelance work and putting all the orders I can into the mail before Christmas hits.  Tomorrow’s probably your last day to order something from me and have it turn up in time (barring USPS complication, mind you), so go nuts.

Thanks all of you who’ve bought something from me!  That money goes directly into the Keep Dylan From Starving fund these days, and it’s a pleasure to send nonsense out into the world.

Animals for Animals: Three French Hens

The penultimate Animals for Animals watercolor!  Next I’ll do a bat, and then I have one or two that have been specifically commissioned (I’m workin’ on em gang, don’t worry!) and won’t be for sale.

FOR SALE NOW AT ETSY.

…why, what else did you think hens would read?  Tolstoy?  I doubt it.

This piece does double-duty as part of 12 Days of Periscope Christmas over at ComicsAlliance.  Thanks to Laura Hudson for coming up with the brilliant notion of hiring us all on to illustrate the classic carol all comic-book style.

Animals for Animals: Musical Bees! (and Gaming Rats)

Today’s Animals for Animals:  musical bees!  Once I had the Morning Glory Victrola idea I couldn’t help myself, even though I know that fewer people are obsessed with cute insects. Up for sale at Etsy.

Bees are the second animal I’ve painted that Heifer International actually deals with (although granted, not bumblebees like these)!  Apiaries are apparently an amazing income supplement in rural communities, and with honeybees on the wane, encouraging cultivation is more important than ever.

Wednesday’s animal was: Gaming Rats.

I realized after painting it that it’s a chillingly accurate psychological portrait of my family’s game nights.  My dad is a tender-hearted pacifist who refuses to adopt the ruthless capitalist strategy necessary to win at Monopoly.  Whereas my mom is a heartless predator, and I’m her cheerful apprentice.

I’m knocking at the door of my $500 goal!  Yay!

Family Man update! And more!

Page 163 of Family Man now online!

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Oh, little Ariana.  You are going to be making that face a whole bunch more as time goes on. And so will I if I have to draw too many more pages of grass.  (I’m kidding, it’s actually kind of a relief to do something loose; it’s just a pain to ink all those blades.)

And hey check it out, kids, if you order a copy of Bite Me! between now and Christmas you get a free drawing inside.  If you order the fancy package that already includes a drawing, well!  In addition to a drawing of one of the main characters you ALSO will get the complimentary addition of a chicken looking on at them.  I know how to bring it.

Animals for Animals: Knitting Hedgehog

Today’s Animals for Animals original watercolor fundraiser is a Knitting Hedgehog!

What a sweet little fellow.  Maybe he’s knitting a full-body scarf for a weasel friend.

For sale on Etsy!

Animals for Animals: Connected Otter

Today’s Heifer International fundraising painting-for-sale:  a Connected Otter!

It’s not a MacBook.  It’s a ShellBook!  (that’s why it works underwater.)  This otter understands that in today’s wired world, being down on the river bottom eating a fish is no excuse for being out of touch.