Table of Contents
Welcome Back (0:14)
Event Updates
Thought Bubble This Weekend! (3:55)
Ending 2024 on a High Note (4:40)
Main Story
Artistic Discipline (5:21)
Inktober & Forcing It (6:54)
Elevated Stick Figures (8:11)
Jealousy is a Good Motivator (9:45)
But There Are Only So Many Hours (11:03)
Release Info & Updates
Upcoming on Substack (12:07)
Secret Bonus Epilogue (12:33)
Welcome Back
Last week, I mentioned that wrote and recorded the newsletter on Monday - well before we knew how the US elections would go. I don’t think anyone guessed they’d play out the way they did; regardless of which side you may have been on.
There was a lot of doom and gloom on the socials the day after - which also happened to be launch day for Big Smoke Pulp Vol. 1. We’ll get into how that went, but it was definitely a bright spot through the clouds.
It feels like it’s been more than just a week since my last update. There have been more than enough “debriefs” out there. My podcast queue was exhaustingly repetitive - even on my Canadian-centric pods.
A quick Can-poli aside: The situation stateside can theoretically force a change to our leadership as the Fed, led by Justin Trudeau, will have to choose between upsetting Quebec by opening up our dairy market to the US or facing retaliatory tariffs. Small potatoes in the grand-sceme of things, but an interesting ripple hitting us north of the border.
If there’s anything to take from this, it’s that politics are the worst.
Let’s get back to talking about more trivial matters like crowdfunding books and comic books - and drawing funny doodles…
Project Updates
Big Smoke Pulp Vol. 1 Is Already Funded!
This is going to be a fun one to review as it's been keeping pace with Crazy Latte Thing Called Love so far - which is my best performing launch to date.
I think there's something to be said for timing the market. A lot of readers I know, myself included, really start digging into some fiction as the weather gets cold and you don’t want to be staring at a screen all winter. I believe that might help this campaign.
It also helps that there's forty authors involved in this book and they've been doing their best to spread the word, if not supporting the campaign itself.
There's a big difference when you have the force of a large team behind a book.
If you'd like to check it out, you can find it on Kickstarter until November 29th.
Archetypes 2 Still Needs Help
Archetypes 2 is another project I'm involved in, and although I’m a backer, I'm not involved crowdfunding it directly myself. I do have an ongoing series of articles, called Writing Tools, within and I'd love to keep it going. This book would have to get funded for that to happen.
I've seen some of the art for the comics in this magazine and it's really top-level stuff. Benjamin Morse who has amazing projects, like We Are Scarlet Twilight and August: Purgatory Underground, is a regular contributor to this book. If you’ve seen his work there, you know the quality I’m referring to.
You've got until November 21st to check this one out.
One For The New Year
Just a reminder that our “pre-pre-launch” page is up for Naked Kaiju Woman.
It’s going to get a bit more of a run-up through December instead of doing overlapping campaigns like I have with Big Smoke Pulp Vol. 1 and From Parts Unknown #1. I’m hoping to make a big splash with this one. I’m going to work with Kickstarter to get the proper prelaunch page on KS up soon.
I think it caters to a certain market on Kickstarter that none of my other books have before. That said, if you’ve read my work, you know that I love female leads. If they’re done well, you know they handle things differently than most male leads would - so it’s inherently more interesting off the hop.
Even though the title and cover may seem a bit gratuitous, you can be assured that’s not the way I’m going with this. Think of it as a more European in nature. Yes, nudity is part of the story, but it's not meant to titillate alone.
The “Naked Kaiju Woman” pictured in the teaser image, Claire, isone of my favorite characters I've written in a while. I can't wait for you to meet her. Rafael Chrestani has done an incredible job bringing her to life - and I can’t wait to see the colours, by From Parts Unknown collaborator, JP Jordan. I’ll have a lot more to share leading up to it and I don’t want you to miss out.
Naked Kaiju Woman launches on January 8th.
Event Updates
Thought Bubble This Weekend!
Tomorrow night, after I’ve wrapped up my day-job, I’m hopping on an overnight flight to Manchester enroute to Harrogate.
Thought Bubble is finally here!
I’ve already been given an assignment to go to Primark to grab some gifts to bring back, but I’m expecting to fill my luggage with some great indie projects from across the pond.
More importantly, I’ve figured out what to bring with me. I’ll have samples of all of my comics and a handful to do some trades with folks in person. I’ll also have a handful of stickers and bookmarks to share.
For those of you who will be there, I’ll have an extra special treat for newsletter subscribers. I’ll be wearing my Team Canada hockey jersey so I’ll be very easy to find at Table C14a in Redshirt Hall, which is right when you enter from Entrance 4!
Ending 2024 on a High Note
I’ll be doing a “spotlight day” at Wayside Comics and Cocktails in Newmarket, Ontario. I’m trying to twist Roberto’s arm into joining me, but we’ll see if he makes it.
If you're in the Toronto area, I always recommend visiting the shop and plan to stay a while!
If you happen to be around on December 7th, come on by! Let’s chat and have a beer together. I’ll bring all my current work and, if you insist after reading this newsletter, I’ll doodle something awful for you.
Everyone I've talked to who has done a weekend at Wayside always tells me what an incredible experience it was, so I'm really looking forward to having my shot at it. It's something I've been pestering Omar for for months now, so I'm very grateful.
And now, let’s talk about art and how I’m bad at it…
Main Story
Artistic Discipline
Just having a little bit can make a huge difference in your life. That's why things like Inktober, Nanowrimo and all these silly challenges that are based on whatever month you're in can really make a big difference if you stick to them.
On a recent episode of the Instant Ink Comic Book Podcast, with myself and
, we got into a conversation about what it takes to become a true artist.In short, it's the willingness to fail. It's to know that you're not where you need to be and taking the steps to get there. It’s something I’m not doing regularly when it comes to art.
I've become a lot better than I was as a child, sure, but I'm still very, very far from where I'd want to be. If you supported any of my campaigns or even just follow the newsletter closely, you know that I hire out all my art. That's with good reason because I'm not much of an artist and I insist on putting out a store-quality product that wouldn’t look out of place in between your Big Two books.
I have taken a disciplined approach to my writing. Not that I'm done. I'm very far from where I want to be, but I write every day - and have been for decades now.
I've always done blogs, short stories, articles, comics and whatever I feel like would help me hone my skills. Even if I felt like I wasn’t doing as well as I had hoped, which is nearly every single time, I still powered through and got pieces done.
When it comes to art, if I didn’t like the look of what I was drawing - I would quit and move on to something else. That’s a quick path to stagnation.
Inktober & Forcing It
This is where a challenge like Inktober comes into play.
Drawing isn't my main goal, but it's something I'd really love to get better at. When I start having a hard time with it, I think of all the things that could be writing instead.
I have three comic strips that I have written out over a years worth of daily strips for that I would love to get out there, but I can't afford to hire an artist for that amount of work. At least not yet. If I could draw it myself, I could share it all a lot sooner.
I even announced one in a newsletter a while ago. Once I really started to get into it, I panicked and took it off the schedule. I'm still working at it, but just not at the pace I need to for it to actually be useful.
That’s my reason for jumping into Inktober this year. I had no excuse not to go for it. If anything, it stretches my comic strip muscles as it gives me a chance to write some one-panel gags.
And yet…I failed the challenge. I didn’t end up doing the last 10 prompts as Big Smoke Pulp Vol. 1, another couple new writing projects and editing the Instant Ink Comic Book Podcast took a lot of my free time. I still think it was good to try it this year, but I need to make time for drawing if I have any hopes of improving.
Elevated Stick Figures
I believe to have a style in art, you actually have to be good at what you're doing. That's not me. I can draw things and make them look like something, kind of, and that's worth something. Not much though.
When it comes to my writing, I sometimes go back to read my old work and, even though I don’t feel the difference when I’m in the act of writing, there’s a very clear progression. You can almost guess what book I was reading when I wrote each piece based on my poor mimicry of their style in my stories. Nowadays, there’s a few influences coming together that make it my own. I’m still far from where I want to be though.
The problem with my drawings is I'm not seeing any progression. That said, I haven’t taken the same approach with art as I have writing. I usually just doodle and draw what I'm comfortable with. I do it for fun.
I rarely actually push myself into drawing things that I'm not used to. When I do, I have some pretty disastrous results and get frustrated. But that's OK, that's part of the process — if I were to stick with it.
I often think of the slogan of a brewery in my neighborhood called Steam Whistle. They say, “Do one thing really, really well”. That sounds simple enough. I tell myself I just want to be able to do cartooning really well.
That’s the story I tell myself, but if I’m being serious, I'd love to be able to do pinups too. Being able to do my own book covers and comic covers would be amazing as well. I might even be able to do commissions at my con table if I get good enough.
Basically, I want to win the lottery of drawing. Put little effort in and get all the results.
Jealousy is a Good Motivator
If you've read any of the Con Journals, you know I tend to be a jealous of folks selling stickers or doing art commissions around me.
As a writer, I don't have much to do but be a full on salesman, pestering people to come by and take a look at my comics. I think there's some benefits to that, being able to look people in the eye and have a conversation with them rather than being buried in a sketchbook, but at the same time, nothing draws people to your table like drawing live.
I'll be tabling with Roberto at future conventions and hopefully he'll be bringing people to our table in that way while I'm playing the role of a carnival barker, but I'd still love to be able to do that myself.
The most common question I get at every show is “Did you draw these?” When I tell them that I’m the lowly writer, there's almost always a little bit of hesitation before they say “Oh, that's cool” in that polite kind of way. Just once, I'd love to be able to say that I do draw and have something to point to.
It would also make social media a lot easier. Especially when we're talking about ones like Instagram or TikTok. Even with the goofy drawings I shared for Inktober, I was able to get a few likes and attention that I don't get normally. That's why I think I'm still going to commit a tiny fraction of time to drawing, just so I have something to share every so often and I can keep improving.
But There Are Only So Many Hours
The biggest challenge I have is where do I spend my free time? I still have a full time job that I need to focus on. Plus, I'm doing overlapping Kickstarters for the first time where I just fulfilled From Parts Unknown while launching Big Smoke Pulp.
I'm still not feeling overwhelmed, but I'm definitely feeling the pinch of not being able to do everything I want to do - when I wanna do it. Something has to give.
Writing is my bread and butter. This is how my projects are going to come to life and if I have to keep hiring artists to do it? So be it.
The silver lining is that I have a few writing centric projects coming up (for which, I’ll share more about in the new year) and I want to put as much energy and focus into that as I can.
But I don't think there's any harm in taking 5 minutes a day to do a quick doodle here or there. I'll give majority of my time to writing, but I'll definitely be sure to make time to pick up the pencil. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get good enough to start sharing some comic strips in this newsletter- or at least be better prepared for next Inktober.
Until then…
Release Info & Updates
Upcoming on Substack
November 20
Con Journal: Just Look for the Lost Canadian
The last con of 2024: Thought Bubble
November 27
Fun with Fulfillment: From Parts Unknown #1
The second part of the From Parts Unknown #1 post-mortem
December 4
Getting the Reps In
Reviewing NaNoWriMo - or whatever we're calling it now
Upcoming Appearances
Pesto Comics Release Calendar
Instant Ink Comic Book Podcast
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