Oddz and Endzzz

Hello friends. Its FRIDAY! Get up and make it happen!

I'm staring at a couple 12 hour shifts over the weekend and then a repeat next week. I've been working over 40 hours at the "part time" gas station job lately. Its good because I need the money really bad. Trying to save for changes needed in my life. Save for the future I want. Long term goals. Things that need to happen, the "Its about damn time" things. I got some stuff lined up this week that hopefully will make it happen for the better. I deserve certain things and protections in my life. And now is the time I start to wake up and make it happen!

Anyway, to be less vague, lets get to some updates!

STARSLAM 2 - I am on an average of getting around 5 pages done a week. I'm crossing into the 100 page mark and I got about 40 or so to draw after that. I hope to get them all in the can by the end of September, get rocking on the coloring and then launch Kickstarter by Octoberish. Thats my goal anyway. Fastest made sequel ever! But man, its really coming together. This book is gonna be a doozy. I got some major scenes coming up. Lots of naughty bits to draw.

NEW JOB! I started my new job a couple weeks ago as a graphic artist at CAP CITY REPROGRAPHICS here in Lansing. Its a business with a lot of history and its really a killer opportunity for me. Great folks to work with, great customers and better opportunites for me. I've even helped them redesign their logo:

So if any of my fellow artists are looking for a name they trust to help them get their printing done, add CAPCITYREPROGRAPHICS from Facebook. Make with the follow and see what we're up to. Or to get a quote on pricing, email me personally there right HERE


CONVENTIONS/APPEARANCES: I will be at the Michigan Comic Expo on  Saturday, Sept. 26th. For info on the show, join their Facebook page right HERE

I will also be at the fall Grand Rapids Comic Con, Oct 16-18th! For info on their show click HERE --

I am already busy doing up new prints for the upcoming shows. Check it out!!!

Gone are the matted smaller prints. I'm now going bigger! 11x17 in nice poly sleeves. I'm also pushing bigger original art pieces. And my books will now get a new display, front and center. I am going to try to have my new backdrops done in time for the show but no guarantees. I'm really excited about my new layout and pricing plans. Its next level shit!

PLEASANT LIFE 2 - I actually took a break from Starslam 2 to do up some Pleasant Life 2 pages. About four of them. So progress happens. Still planning on early 2016 for that to be finished. More page count, but not in color and the art is smaller. More talking heads than dynamic, so it sort of evens out. But this book will be killer. Fans of the first one will have many treats and feels over this one. I daresay it might be better than the first book! We'll see what you think in the coming months.

COMMISSION NEWS: I announced last time that on Sept 1st, my prices are rising for my commissions. So to take advantage of the old pricing, ACT NOW! Email me HERE and place your order to take advantage of the old pricing. I appreciate the support and business!

 Okay folks. Busy weekend ahead of me, I gotta get rolling. Save those dates above and I hope you have a great weekend!

Cheers, T

STARSLAM NOW AVAILABLE and MOVING!

Hey folks! I finally, finally, finally took the time to update the ONLINE STORE and added STARSLAM. So you can finally directly order that book by going there or HERE or the link to the right. Only took me 5 months, right? Shows how behind I am. Now I just gotta get that digital sales push thing going.... but thanks for your patience. Don't have STARSLAM yet? Order now!!

I opted to head to my apartment tonight to apply for more jobs. I also scanned in artwork for STARSLAM 2 and did a few other office related things I keep putting off. I also glued together my mom's jewlery box that was broken in the move here back in January. I moved into this apartment in January and celebrated it as my first solo apartment. Free of any relationship or roommate for the first time in my life. I spent a lot of time dealing with things in this place. Many nights up late upset because of everything that happened this year and also just dead tired from working two jobs as I have. Its been a crazy road. Well, back in February, I met my girlfriend and things have progressed. Oh how they've progressed. And the decision had to be made: Do I renew the lease here or do I move in? We were both skeptical for obvious reasons. But the decision came and went and its true: I'm moving in with her in August.

When I made the decision, I was a tiny tiny tiny bit sad because I do sort of like this apartment. I spent some good time here working on myself. Its a transition place. I have a complete space that is "mine" and I like the location. Close to campus and my favorite spots. Also close to my work and nice in the summer. I will miss it. However working here late tonight, I have a different feeling. Its cold and lonely here. It doesn't feel like "home" anymore. More like a place that is a storage for my stuff I haven't sorted through yet. And sort I shall. Because I have to redecide what to put up and how to put it up. She's giving me carte blanche to pretty much do what I want, but I don't want to go in and ruin what is already at her place. We have two very different styles of design. I think she has a better eye for it. Me, I got a bunch of junk I've been hauling around for 37 years. I'm slowly getting my collection back. Its been nice. We're also getting things TOGETHER. Like albums, Blu-Rays, etc. Its been good to share my stuff with her. And she's welcoming me with open arms. All of me. Its a good feeling. She doesn't eye roll at my things, but thinks it is cool and wants to dissect and learn all about them. Wow!

So yeah, I am left with this feeling of "Man I can't wait to get this move going!" And it shall happen. I've already started to slowly move stuff over. Probably starting next month I will get more serious about it. I have a blazer truck now that I can use to haul my things. No need for a uhaul. Some furniture I am parting with and hopefully a few boxes of crap I don't need for the next phase of my life. So there is work to be done. But I am looking forward to it. And so is she. I think she's grown attached to waking up with me there. And me too. Its a great feeling to have. She digs me and I dig her, a lot.

Here's to happiness and hopefully not having to move again for a long damn while!

T

New Pages!

Hey all! A quick update after a LONG weekend of working all three of my jobs and barely seeing the light of day. I'm flat out exhausted! UGH. Anyway, I thought I'd show you some progress on STARSLAM 2. I got 6 pages done this week! Here's some spoiler free peeks:

A new character, named "BEAR GIRL" gets into some trouble!

Crawling from the rubble...

Starslam don't know her own strength now....

The Doc is back and has a new toy! And yes, I know it looks phallic now, but its not used for that. M'kay? Perverts~!!

The new pages are coming along nicely if I must say. I got a great rhythm going on them. So my recent progress WASN'T a fluke after all. I'm back in the groove as they say! But thank God I got a night job with down time for me to get page work done! Not the most ideal place to draw, but it gets the job done. If something is important you make the time, right? ;)

Also, if you ordered a STARSLAM #1 book, they are all mailed. So they should be getting to your homes soon. Thanks for the support! If there are any problems, get with me via email and we'll fix it!

This week I had a few spare hours in between jobs where I took my girl to the pet shop for the first time. There I saw my first ever Jellyfish!!

they were very cute! These particular ones aren't all stingy and only live for around a year. They have to circle the tank constantly or else they will die. So the tank has a motor that keeps them in constant motion.

I wish I could have or be a Jelly fish! Some Jellyfish never die! They just revert to being young again and can essentially live forever! WOW!!!!! The vampires of the sea!

Once again this week, I got a crapload of hours. But I finally was able to get about 7 hours of sleep last night. A rarity for me! So I am very happy with that! I still got a TO DO list a mile long, but I'm chopping away at it. Looking forward to when classes are over and I might be able to take a little vacation. I haven't gone anywhere since May last year... not counting the couple trips to Illinois for Gloria's passing and all that. Thats not a vacation. But yeah, I'm a bit stressed and tense lately. I'm just ragged and I need a refresher. I'm thinking about going to Chicago and seeing the Art Museum and maybe the aquarium. (MORE JELLYFISH!) Plus there is the High Fidelity filming locations, maybe some sleep somewhere in there... yeah. Lots to do!

Anyway, have a safe, fun week! Cheers, T

STARSLAM wrap-up

Things have been a whirlwind this week and I finally get to sit down and talk a bit about STARSLAM and the Kickstarter experience. We got funded. At last count it was $2,890. I asked for $300. This whole thing has absolutely blown my mind. What started out as a whim of an idea, went through many phases and was completely shelved twice, has now become my fastest pre-ordered book of my career. On one hand you could argue that it was the sexiness of the project that made it get the attention. But I think its one simple answer: CROWDFUNDING WORKS.

When I considered Kickstarting this project, I looked to other folks doing erotica and releasing it on there. I saw a writer who put together a comics anthology. She asked for $5,000, she got $120,000. Another got $168,000. My pal Tim Fischer got over $6,000 for his project. So I knew that there was a potential to not only get funded, but also capture a new audience.... which is ALWAYS my intention. Getting paid is great, don't get me wrong. But I just want people to READ WHAT I DO! I cannot tell you how many free copies I've tossed to people over the years just to get people to read what I do. But I was stinged by older Kickstarters I tried. I tried to fund my ARTBOOK but failed. I barely got funding for both TALES OF SEQUENTIAL MAYHEM books. So it stood to reason that I might fail at launching STARSLAM that way. But I felt like I still needed to try. So I asked. And the people answered.

As of now, the funding process is complete. Sometime next week I should recieve my funds. I'v already handed out the digital book version to my backers. Next week when I recieve my funds, I will place the order for the books at the printer. A month later, I'll get them. Then I got a ton of sketching, signing and mailing to do. Its part of the gig when you are a one man operation. And I'm happy to do it. The majority of the money I raised is going to printing the book, shipping the books. The rest, which is probably around $500 will go to outstanding bills we have at the house. I won't see a dime of it. But that is TOTALLY FINE! Because I proved a point to myself. I proved that I can do this. I proved that I can ask the universe for something and get an answer. I proved that it is always a good idea to chase the whimsies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But when it works, hoooo boy!!

If you kept up with this process, donated, RT'd, sent vibes, whatever... THANK YOU! You have no idea what this means to me. Not only did I have the biggest pre-sale of my career, but I also stepped forward and contributed to the sex positive movement.... which is what I always wanted to do. I hope that people read and enjoy this book for years to come!

SO- what to do if you missed out on the Kickstarter? Well, I got news:

If all goes according to plan, in January, I will have physical copies of the book. You can order from my online store at that time. Also sometime around then, I will be launching digital versions of ALL my books. You can purchase and get them for your tablet devices or read them on your desktop. Your preference. I'm finally moving into the 21st Century with my shit! Also, I will have copies to take with me to conventions. Trust me, STARSLAM ain't gonna go away. Its just beginning. I'm already working on a sequel and I'm 10 pages into it. Its bigger, better and bolder. Sexier. More dynamic. I'm really gonna go all out with this one. So expect that next year.

As for other stuff like ANNA POCALYPSE 2, PORN STORE MEMOIRS and PLEASANT LIFE 2? Thats all in the works as well. You'll most likely get ANNA 2 and the PORN STORE MEMOIRS books next year as well. Depends on my time on when I can get things done. But it is my intention to get them all completed. I've caught a wave of inspiration and success and I intend to ride it! I've also got two more Sketch Card sets I am on currently.

Anyway folks, thats the wrap-up on STARSLAM. Thanks to all who ordered the book. I hope you are enjoying it! Onward and upward!

Cheers, T

Kickstarter: LAST DAY!

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates in a week and change. Been busy! Kids have Thanksgiving week off and thus, I don't get use of my computer all day! This past weekend I took a surprise trip 8 hours south to southern Illinois to see my folks. My step-mom is having some issues with her cancer and so I thought they could use a nice surprise visit, even though it was very short. But I am back after a crazy couple days of driving and no-sleep. Last week also, I was 100% focused on getting my Marvel cards done and out the door. I got two more sets coming I gotta work on, but I got time on them.

For now, lets talk STARSLAM!!!

As of this writing, there's less than 26 hours left. Home stretch. We're now at almost $2700!!!! FAR FAR beyond what I asked for initially. I am really blown away by the support for this book. And best for me, about 95% of the people pledging are people I don't know! So I am gaining new readers with this Kickstarter Project, which is what this whole thing is about.

Crunching the numbers: After I pay for printing and shipping costs, I will not clear much for personal funds. Maybe around $500. I didn't think I'd have to ship so many books. Also, I neglected to charge extra for overseas shipping. But I am happy as hell to eat the cost on it so that people can read my stuff. The fact that they checked me out at all means the world to me. So NO COMPLAINTS at all on my end! This whole thing was about getting new eyes on my stuff and this certainly has done that!

The book is 110% done and waiting for launch day. I got my files in my drop box, ready to place my order with Greko printing. All is set. And guess what else... This last week, I started work on STARSLAM #2!!!

Today I pencilled page nine. So I am already NINE PAGES into it! The sequel will come soon. Don't want to rush it. But I can say its bigger and bolder than the first one. Real good stories and tons of sexy time in it. And to those waiting on other stuff from me: Its still coming. But after the instant success of STARSLAM Book #1, I just had to rush work on starting a sequel. I had the outline of a script already but I fleshed it out after I got initial funding and started thumbnailing and researching. This week, I started on it. I want to stay ahead of the game. So sometime next year, I will launch another Kickstarter for STARSLAM 2, and it will (hopefully) be as successful as the first one! We shall see. One thing at a time.

I urge you all to jump in on this book. Join the kickstarter for Starslam by choosing your reward right HERE - It is done tomorrow night at 10pm. The perfect end to Thanksgiving!!

I want to thank everyone who their notes, RT's, pledges and kind words during the last 30 days. I especially have to toss out thanks to people like Dean Stahl, Brett Pinson and Tim Fischer, all who helped me out greatly in the production of this book. I couldn't have done it without you! Starslam started as a whim idea back in 2008. It was rejected twice at SDCC by two erotica publishers. It was a webstrip that sort of failed to get lots of readers to the site. I didn't have any way to reach out. But Kickstarter has done it for me. I have gained an audience. I hope I earn them by delivering a good book that they all enjoy! I look ahead to all the books I gotta personally sketch, sign, include commissions in and all that, and its quite overwhelming! But I am excited as hell to start on it! Thank you all!

Lets drive this baby home!

Cheers, T