Yet Another Web Comic (YAWC)

Sorry it’s been a quiet month for me, y’all.  I was out in Colorado last weekend, for what turned out to be mostly some very needed R&R.  I will say this: I was impressed to have 3G service hiking between ski towns not too far from the Continental Divide.  I don’t know how seamless it was since my phone was off most of the time.  Still, it was quite impressive.

That being said, I am going to put up something tomorrow.  Hopefully a strip, maybe some gallery stuff, but I’m back and though I have full weekends for a good month I intend to get back on that horse.  Expect more regular updates, probably gallery stuff as well for when I am behind on my schedule.  I will not be able to really slow down until October, but things will be a little easier and that will make all the difference in my update schedule.

There is no comic tonight, but I think you will all understand in a moment…

I will be one of roughly one hundred artists featured at the Cartoon Art Museum’s Monsters of Webcomics Virtual Gallery.  This is huge!  I am at a major cartoon art museum!  Please go visit the site and learn more, or if you are in the San Francisco area, visit the exhibit and take pictures for me.  I will gladly offer up some art for good pictures showing my work on display.  It runs through December 6, and I don’t think I’ll get out there in time.

The exhibit opened August 8, which was also another auspicious occaison: My sister’s wedding!  I was asked to do a custom comic book for her wedding, and I have included it on the site.  Certain parts of the book (liner notes) were left out, but the comic itself and the cover are now up on the main link bar in their entirety.  For a limited period of time, i am willing to sell extras I had around for $5 shipped to pretty much anywhere in the U.S., as long as I don’t lose my shirt on First-Class Large Envelope prices.  A quick survey of the USPS site says this shouldn’t be a problem.  If you don’t think you’re eligible I’ll still be glad to send off a copy:  Shoot me an e-mail and we’ll figure out postage.

I do not have  a storefront set up for many reasons, so if you are interested please send me an e-mail.  That is the only way to secure a copy of these one-of-a-kind pieces.  They are overruns from the wedding printing itself, and have the right edges of pages 1 and 3 cut off because of margin discrepancies.  They are still readable, however, and are actual copies that were going to be distributed at the wedding (overruns and invitees who did not attend).

In closing, I hope you understand why I didn’t post a four-panel comic today.  Enjoy this four-page mini-comic I spent the past month working on and if you’re in San Francisco, go see my exhibit!  Me, I’m going to sleep like a…hrm…hibernating bear?  See, my creativity is totally tapped.  Hopefully it will return in time for Wednesday’s comic.  Good night, and thanks for everything, y’all!

I’ve got a shot to have my work in a slide show at the “Monsters of Webcomics” exhibition! I need to submit three sample strips to be judged by tomorrow. If they’re picked, I’m in! As you can probably guess, this is an exciting opportunity for a guy who gets about 20-30 human visitors per update. Ahh, to be in a museum exhibit!

This is where y’all come in: Please help me pick three sample strips. It’s a simple job, you can recommend from one to three of any of my strips. You can either send me a link or just tell me what you remember about the strip, it doesn’t matter. I know what strips I like, but I want to know what strips have made an impression on everyone else. Experience has shown me the influential strips are not the ones I expect.

Speaking of experience, I’m about to 300 strips! Amazing!

Monsters of Webcomics

Cartoon Art Museum exhibition: August 8 – December 6, 2009

The Internet has revolutionized all forms of communication, and comics are no exception. The Cartoon Art Museum explores the digital revolution in its latest exhibition, Monsters of Webcomics, a showcase of some of the best and boldest work published on the World Wide Web.

I think it’s just a video card, and for $45 I can afford to test that theory. My intention is to save up money to buy a refurbished / surplus Lenovo Tablet PC (they’re a hair over $700), and it would really help to extend the life of my current computer. Currently, I have a bit fat wad of nothing saved towards the new computer. This current kick in the pants has encouraged me to start taking my succession plans seriously, since the newest computer I own is five years old and currently out of commission.

The current plan is to not update this week and to be back on the wagon either next Sunday or Wednesday, depending on when the video card gets here. Also, I will continue the twice-monthly update schedule through August. That is, perhaps I will update three days a week again in September. I have had a lot of time to pursue other projects, both electronic and artistic in nature, and have really enjoyed this time. I’ve got a story to tell: I’m not sure of the specifics yet, but rest assured that this fall I want to be updating 3x/week with another side story.

Thanks for your patience in all of this. Condolences for the late video card can be sent to my e-mail or Twitter accounts. Well-wishes in lieu of flowers.

–Lou

It appears as if my machine is toast. I have some standby equipment, but nothing I can work with (for example, a nearly ten year old desktop). I’m not sure of the near-term future of the strip, but it looks pretty bad. I’ll let everyone know when I know more.

On a completely unrelated note, if anyone is interested in original art, commissioned works or the like, I may need to raise money for a new machine and I might be highly interested. You know, totally unrelated.

A reader was so kind as to clarify the origin of the idiom “had me in stitches”. Find out the gory (not really) details at:

http://www.yawcomic.com/2009/06/03/282-unbelievable/

And no, it has nothing to do with Lilo.

I have updated the gallery (link on the nav bar above) with all of the postings in the archived site. They won’t appear in the RSS feed, because they are back-dated for compatibility purposes. Future gallery posts will show up in the feed, fear not.

Also, over the rest of June I shall be updating my gallery code to make it look and function better. I do have some other projects to work on, but I hope to make significant headway. For those interested in seeing the work evolve (slowly), send me an e-mail for the super-secret development site link and let me know what you think!

Unfortunately, life is getting away from me, so I need to keep things on the down-slow for the next month while I catch up. With the exception of this week, you should expect to continue the twice-weekly update schedule, Wednesday and Sunday, through June.

This week shall be an exception. I missed Sunday because I spent the weekend helping get my late grandmother’s house in order. Airport delays caused packing delays caused driving delays, and I got home at around ten with nothing left for drawing. Today, I have to send out prototypes for a project I promised months ago, so they MUST be done.

However, since y’all have been gracious and I have not received a single nasty e-mail about being late and slow, I’ll give you three comics this week. I intend to deliver Wednesday, some time Saturday, and Sunday.

It’s the least I could do for having such great fans. Once I catch up on my projects, I’ll get back to living life and delivering three comics a week. Thanks for bearing with me.

–Lou

For the month of May, I will be posting twice-weekly: Once on Sunday night and once on Wednesday night. This change of schedule is necessary because I have lots of other projects I need to get finished. The strip, nothing more than a hobby, must be sacrificed. I don’t foresee a problem with getting two strips a week up, but things may happen and the schedule may need to extend in to June.

Sorry for the late strip. In exchange, I have updated the process page from the archived site. It’s also available on the nav bar at the top of the page! Yay!