News March 2013 (written in April so...)

I don't think I've ever been busier in my life, but I'm feeling more up to juggling it all instead of hiding in my bed and ignoring the things I have to do. The weather is getting warmer, there's more sun, and it's putting a lot of pep in my step. When I have time for pep. I admit, I have had a few days where I stretched myself a bit thin.

So, mostly I've been preparing for the Super Happy Funtime Burlesque spring tour. (Reminder, showtimes and links are here.) It's so much work! There are a lot of group dances with very fast paced moves. So much exercise. Here's a sneak peek of what's in store for you on the tour:

More photos here. A lot of folks are guessing Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space, but it’s more of an homage to Power Rangers/Sailor Moon/Peelander-Z. I also did a photo shoot with the talented Seth Thompson of Epiglotic, and the results were:

Pretty cool. Again, a link to more photos, because otherwise this blog post would get huge.

I've also been working on a lot of projects that won't see the light of day for a while. Scripts for comics that won't debut for a couple years, secret drawings, secret projects. I wish I could share it with you all, but I've found talking too much about projects actually makes me less likely to follow through with doing them. If I keep it a secret, then I work really hard to get it done so I can share it. But oh, I am not good at secrets. Sometimes I think I would like to be a magician but I would be bad at not revealing my tricks.

News February 2013

It's been a crazy month.

Is it really the end of February already? I mean, I know it's the shortest month of the year, but it felt really short. Time flies when you fill it with excitement.

Well, I didn't end any long comic series like I did last month, but I did start scripting a possible new series. Don't worry, I'm going to wait until Meaty Yogurt is finished before starting anything else. Agh, this next chapter of Meaty Yogurt is so difficult to draw. It's funny (not ha-ha funny), I originally came up with Meaty Yogurt as a comic that would be very simple and easy to draw. I intended it to be doodley and each page take no more than half an hour. Somehow, it because my most complicated comic with lots of backgrounds. I wonder if I can dial it back a bit without getting accused of being lazy. I think I might! Hopefully I'll have some time to finish an issue by the end of March.

I'd get so much more done if this didn't keep happening.

The beginning of February brought Hourly Comics Day which I participated in. HCD always seems to fall on days when I don't have much to do. I decided I was going to get back into drawing more daily comics and doodles about my days. I started off with this one:

aaaaaaand promptly got too busy to keep doing it. Ah, well.

But the reason I was so busy this month was a damn good reason! I'm a new cast member in Super Happy Funtime Burlesque, and I had my first two official shows with them. It's literally a dream come true. Well, not quite literally, as most of my dreams involving burlesque are nightmares where everything goes wrong, but I'd rather have those nightmares than ones about my teeth falling out. Anyway.

Photo by Stafford Smith.

That's me! On stage I go by Florence of a-Labia, and this act was about being a mermaid who wants legs and, um, everything in between. ;) Band leader Corey Ruffin wrote me an amazing song to dance to, and I got a lot of laughs. The act is based on one of my dirty comics. For more photos, some of them NSFW, check out my burlesque blog. The link under the photo leads to a bunch more photos of the other acts, too.

The other fun news is that I'll be taking this show on the road! Or rather, the show will be taking me on the road since new cast members rarely get to determine where the tour bus goes. I'm excited to be going! 16 stops on the tour. Am I coming to a place near you? Let's see:

More information is in the sidebar of this blog ----->

I have so many new acts to get ready for. That means figuring out dancing and acting moves, and CRAFTING COSTUMES!! And for once, I don't have to pay for all my supplies. That right there is amazing.

Final bit of news, I'll be interviewed on the Moonhawk Studios Podcast tomorrow (March 1st) at 10pmEST so tune in there.

Until next month, stay classy.

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News January 2013

After I quit Livejournal and started using Tumblr, I saw Tumblr as my new blog, and in a way it is, but in many other ways, it's like long form Twitter. Reblogs abound. I just can't help myself. But it's time to create a more down-to-business blog that focuses on what I'm doing, career wise, nice and streamlined.

So, January news.

The most important, big news is that I completed my webcomic of 7 years, I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space!!!.

The final page of the series!

I had a loose idea for a 4th volume, but suddenly realized I just wasn't up for it. I always write story arcs so they could end or continue at the conclusion of each arc, so I didn't need to rewrite anything. I might still do a few short stories with the characters in the future, but not until I've had time to charge my sapphic space pirate batteries.

So, I'm down to only working on three webcomics instead of four. What a slacker. Whatever will I do with all my free time? I'm trying to get the next issue of Meaty Yogurt going. It's the longest issue yet, with about a dozen new characters to design, and most of it takes place in a new location. I have a 3D architecture program that I use to build all the "sets" for the comic so I can keep the scenery consistent and with a modicum of proper perspective. It looks terrible but luckily it's just a reference. I finished the model a couple days ago, and have about half the characters designed. I might just do the rest on the fly. It's time to get started on this comic again. I miss these characters terribly. I did update it in early December with a couple pages. Hopefully the next update will be the 30 page story I scripted ages ago.

I also have "Eat Me" and "The Lady Eudora Henley" going strong on Filthy Figments. That's keeping me pretty busy these days.

I did some non-comic-series art this month, too.

A short comic about that awful Call Me Maybe song.

A comic about sleeping.

A few pieces of concept art for a possible short story I'm working on about mermaids.

I also drew Fionna and Cake from Adventure Time, which is one of my favorite shows.

I've been working in a cheese shop since November because I was going crazy being a full time comic artist. I was doing fine with money, but I was becoming a weird hermit who never slept or ate or spoke to anybody. That's one hazard nobody ever tells you about going full time with comics. Warning: you will be a giant antisocial weirdo. Anyway, I sell cheese now, which is one of my favorite things. I talk to people all day about cheese, and eat cheese. It's great. For decoration in the shop, my boss hung up a bunch of Mucha illustrations, and I realized he never created anything about cheese (that I could find anyway) so I decided to make this:

The text loosely translates to "The Cheese Lady of Grand Rapids."

Did you know that if you google "art nouveau", one of the top results is a mermaid I drew in 9th grade? Because that's a true thing, and a super embarrassing thing.

Last piece of January news is I'm going to be doing some more burlesque! I've been doing burlesque as Florence of a'Labia for the past year. I haven't done much, but I've been doing whatever I can, sometimes just helping with costumes and video work. But I get to perform again soon. I'm making a mermaid costume because ever molecule in my body told me to.

This is just the dress but it's a good start if I say so myself.

I'll be with Super Happy Funtime Burlesque, some of my favorite people.

Wow, I guess I had a more eventful month than I thought. If this is what I consider a slow month, just wait until the spring when things get more fast paced again!

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