Updated site and plans for the year.

Howdy. So there have been some big changes on my site and big changes in the way I make cartoons.

For years my site was set up to just display whatever random cartoons I had made. There was no plan. I just posted whatever comic I made in any order. But finally I have a plan. So after 4 years of making webcomics, I took about a year off to focus on single panel cartooning. I am not done with the single panel cartooning experiment, but it is time to add another cartoonist skill to my arsenal. This will be comic strips.

So for this year I will be focussing more on longer comic strips and series, rather than just random webcomics. My site has also been changed to be more story focussed.

I’ve already started with the first strip, which was called Stupid Street. It was a fun exercise and I have a lot more episodes written, but I made a rule that I will be stopping at episode 20 for each test strip.

I am sort of happy with it, the only regret I have is not focussing more on the Kelly character. She is actually more important to the strip than I show in the 20. I have a lot more episodes of her written, but as I was making the comic I kinda let the characters do their own thing, which lead to the Chicken, The Dad and the robot having like 8 episodes in a row together. I will get back to it but only after I am finished with the next few stories.

The next one is a strip about Zombies. I don’t want to give the name away yet and I will only be uploading the whole series once I’ve drawn all 20 episodes. But it’s one that I am quite excited about. I haven’t fully decided on who the main characters will be, but I have been messing around with some ideas. One thing I do know is, the dog will definitely be in it.

I’ve been wanting to make this strip ever since the Birthday Zombie comic that I made for The Walking Dead. I just love the idea of a comic from the Zombies point of view.

The other longer story that I’m working on is The Story of Daveman. People seem to love my little caveman comics, so a few years ago I attempted a story featuring my cave dude. It was actually too popular, like the response was so crazy that I got overwhelmed and stopped the comic. I uploaded the first 3 episodes and people kept asking for more. I didn’t have time to focus on that comic at the time so I shelved it. Also, there was a lot more to the story that I wanted to tell, so I wrote a longer version with everything that happens before the 3 episodes I showed and then what happens after. It turned into a way bigger project that I expected, but my girlfriend has challenged me to finish the whole thing by September and release it as a book.

So, if you’re a Daveman fan. Set a reminder to look out for his book in September. Or just email me and I’ll send you a message when it’s out.

In between and after these stories, I’ve also got to find time to work on my Simulation James Series as well and start drawing the next 3 Dark Fairy Tales.

The simulation series is one that I’m not in a rush to finish. I’ve mentioned before, the longer I delay it, the easier it will be for me to draw.

I really love the story so far, but what I don’t love is how long the whole thing will take to finish. I have to wait for when I have a big chunk of free time which I won’t have for a while, or for when I win the lottery.

I worry that if I try and fit it in with everything now, by the time it’s done I’ll want to go back and redraw some of the earlier scenes. Which actually happened. By the time I finished page 10, I was like, hmmm, that first page needs a little touch up, and then the next page and the next. So nope. I’m going to save this one till I can make it my main focus.