Freebie Friday 001
It's really refreshing to get a notification that ISN'T about a scheduled livestream. Isn't it?
I said I would provide a free weekly newsletter on Fridays, and I am happy to provide! It’s been a long week, and I am feeling the itch in my thought and hoping it’s only allergies, so I’m going to make this quick.
COMIC STUFF
I wanted to share a finished journal comic with you this week, but it’s only half finished, and not yet ready for human eyes. My wife and kids got sick one after another between Sunday and today, and as the primary caregiver to the kids, they took priority over my art.
To give you some behind the scenes content, here is a picture of the sketch layers I made in CSP on my iPad last Saturday. I have most of it inked and shaded. I think all that remains is the last three panels, then I have to do the lettering and decide if I want to colour these.
I’m doing these journal comics to keep myself familiar with CSP while I write the next project. I’m using robots as avatars, because I don’t like drawing people I know, and robots don’t age, so I don’t have to revise these “characters” every year like most people would. I really want to keep these strips to nine panels and post them to a nine panel grid, so each update can be a stand alone page, but also a full page if I ever publish them as a collection. If I can make them legible at the size I want to publish a book, then I may finally have a template for how I’ll do longer stories as well.
As long as no one else1 gets sick, this will be posted on my personal website by the time the next newsletter comes out.
WRITING
I’ve been working on a novel on and off since 2020. It was tentatively called The Upstairs Neighbour.
Here is the summary I wrote for it:
It’s not every day you find yourself being taken in for questioning. Usually just once a week. Maybe twice around the holidays. Today, private investigator Arthur King is certain the most excitement he is going to have involves collecting the drops of water from his leaky ceiling. Little does he suspect he will be knee deep in a gruesome murder mystery before lunch. Normally he would be far too busy to look into a case like this without being paid, but he is already in too deep, and needs to see it through. Besides, it’s not like he has any clients banging on his door at this very moment.
Every couple of months I will write a chapter or two and then I’ll put it on the back burner while I do something else, like getting a job, drawing a comic, having a kid, etc. I came across it again this week, and figured I should probably start working on it again. To get back in the right state of mind to tell the story, I wanted to reread what I had already written. I printed it off, and realized I have writing a lot more than I thought I had.
One thing that struck me early on, was that I did the most work on this story when I had two things:
Weekly Deadlines
Weekly Feedback
When I was in university, I had weekly2 writing assignments and constructive feedback on those stories from everyone in the class. Now that I’m no longer in university, and not part of any writing groups3, I don’t have those deadlines or feedback on my work anymore.
That got me thinking: If I’m going to keep this newsletter free on Fridays, and allow comments, how do you feel about me posting a chapter a week in this newsletter? It’ll be a first or second draft of each chapter. All I’m asking for is some constructive feedback on each chapter in the comments, or direct message me with them. Is that something you would be interested in doing?
IN THE NEWS
America is in the news. We all know why. Let’s skip ahead.
Now we have a 72 year old Liam Neeson playing Leslie Nielsen’s son, and I could not be happier. At least it looks like we will have something to laugh about in 2025.
Val Kilmer passed away this week. Someone in Winnipeg did this as a tribute to Val Kilmer last night. Honestly, I’m not sure I could think of a better way to honour the guy.
The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released on June 5/25. It looks like the perfect family console. My kids are already thinking of ways to beat me at the new MarioKart. The only downside is the $699.004 price tag that Canadians will have to pay for the MarioKart World bundle.😬
UNTIL NEXT TIME
That’s all I’ve got for this week. Next week’s newsletter will have the finished comic attached to it, along with the first chapter of The Upstairs Neighbour, depending on how the poll goes.
Mark
Me.
Sometimes daily.
I just don’t have the time to commit to them right now.
$629.00 for the base unit without the game. Still: 😬