the digital cartoonist's code and the state of things now (Patreon)

folks: it's been a tough month and a half. I have been Rather Busy with things that aren't comics, cus comics aren't really the things that pay the most of my bills, if I'm being honest. BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR TO YOU: MY PATREON SUPPORTER! And it's not fair to me, the guy who grew up drawing comics and knows little else!

But I'm working on myself, my life, my body, and (most importantly) my comics. And I'm making a change to "ME AND YOU" (formerly known as "how to stop a problem") going forward. We've switched to digital cartooning! The last 112 pages have been physical paper and real ink, but starting with page 113 (seen above, as mix of ink AND digital) (hard to tell, huh?) I'm going back to the cintiq and CSP and the keyboard and drivers and layers and such. The case for it is to be quicker on my feet making these once the whole project goes public in 2024.

I know that something is lost in moving from one medium to another. I truly understand that, having spent half my life scrawling in sketchbooks and using a wacom of some kind for the other half of my life. Because of this, I've always made little "rules" for myself when drawing digitally. They're not set in stone, but I'm gonna try to chisel 'em out now, as a promise of sorts to you and to me:

•keep my page sizes to actual standard paper sizes. Infinite canvas be damned! my comics need an ending.

•don't over-correct linework. I can make a straight enough line without a ruler, so I won't use one. nor will I constantly make a line, undo it, make a line, undo it, lake a mine, undo it, etc. We use this computer for progress and speed, not to nitpick ourselves to an early death.

•black and white line art only. No half tones, no color. (a specific rule for this project due to the scope of its size) (400 pages minimum, remember).

And the most important rule of all:

•who cares! As long as it's funny.

So, I still find myself busy as the holidays always make everything go 1.5x speed, but I'm makin' room for the things that keep me sane; The things that make the busy months worth it: My work here in comics, with you supporting that. Posting online has become an immense and unfun chore. I've stopped posting on twitter pretty much altogether (save to let folks know about Skulltenders, a new DND podcast I play on and do art for with several talented and hot friends) and everywhere else is being cannibalized like a streaming service. So we have to love and support these little places online we can be together like this on. It's not perfect, but neither was angelfire or geocities or dreamhost or keenspace or drunk duck or smack jeeves or forums or html or php scripts or rss feeds or anything else ever. So suck it up! SUCK IT ALL UP! AND LEAVE SOME FOR ME!!!!!

okay bye (for now)

-kc ✌️

ps: Skulltenders does have its own patreon and some of my doodles and art for the show get posted there. Consider supporting our new podcast cus everyone (me included) are putting our whole damn ass into this thing to make it funny, fun, and cool. And I probably won't post about it too much over here, is all I'm getting at. okay bye bye for real