Howdy!

I've been asked this question a lot - there's a lot of folks here in Portland whom I know, but don't see very often. We're all fairly active in the local cartooning community, but it's a large community and only a small portion of them are at any given event at a time.

Lately, though, it's a question I've been having trouble answering. I don't know if it's a creative drought or what, but my motivation has been on the wane again for several months. I have the next page of Ellie scanned in, but just can't bring myself to finish coloring it so I can post it. Likewise, I've got the page after that started, but don't have the drive to finish penciling it.

I have been spending a lot of time focusing on contract projects and trying to get a little ahead financially, but between that and my volunteer work for Stumptown, I haven't had the energy to do much else. One of my long-time regular corporate clients sent me a bunch of new work last month, which is nearly wrapped up now. A second client came to me with a long-term project which should carry me through well into January, and I also did a couple small illustration commissions - one of which is a cover illo for one of my all-time favorite magazines (I'll definitely be talking about that when it's available!). AND I'm busy redesigning a couple of the websites that I manage, which should take another month or two. So it isn't as if I haven't been busy, I just haven't been busy on Ellie.

I've been saying for years that I hope I can work on the comic more 'next month', or 'next year', but I know that just saying it doesn't mean anything unless I actually do it. I'm still trying to figure out exactly HOW I want to continue Ellie, but that's a topic for another day.

So, what have you been up to lately?

Hey, all!

This week I created a minicomic to give away to any trick-or-treaters that come by my door this halloween. Thought I'd post it online as well for anyone who wants to check it out! You can read the whole thing over here on lunarbistro. Enjoy, and happy Halloween!

After it became clear to me that the Kickstarter I'd launched to raise funds to continue working on Ellie was not going to reach its goal, the idea of accepting donations via Paypal was presented to me by internet-bud Danielle Corsetto. So, I thought to give it a try for a while and see how it goes!

The way it works is simple: Click the thumbnail for any desktop wallpaper or activity page here, and you'll be asked to make a donation via Paypal. You can donate as much or as little as you want, but please keep in mind that donations less than a dollar will get absorbed by Paypal's fees. You'll then be redirected either to a page where you can download your wallpaper at one of eleven different sizes, or to a pdf of the activity page you chose.

I'm hoping to have a new desktop image or activity page each month or so, and the activity pages won't be limited to coloring pages. I've got mazes, puzzles, word searches, all kinds of fun things in mind. To celebrate, I'm releasing a recent design, the first in my 'Graphic' series of character portraits, Ellie in Green:

Thanks for your support, and enjoy!

I really enjoyed the process of making these Roger Rabbit prints last month, and I'd like to bring the two Ellie prints I've designed into the store, rather than continuing to sell them through ImageKind. Not that it's a bad service, I just prefer to actually manage my own stock and would be happier having a limited edition print available for a short time than letting ImageKind handle it all. I'm very proud of these two designs, and I believe I would do better at marketing them than ImageKind has done so far. Plus, I don't like sending people away from my own site to order my merchandise!

The question I have is, which one would you all rather see made available first? These prints would be 12x18 (ish), digital prints on 100# cover stock, and would be signed and numbered, limited to an edition of 50. They'll cost $10 each, just like the Roger Rabbit prints I just put into the store. Comment below and let me know which you would prefer. If there's a clear winner I'll order them up and have them available by the end of the month!

If you're in the Portland area and looking for something to do tonight, come by McMenamin's Bagdad Theater for a cheap screening of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?! Presented by local podcasters Cort & Fatboy, the doors open at 10 and the show starts at 11. Get your tickets now for only $3 and while you're there you can trade me $5 for one of these posters I designed for the show:

That's all, folks!