Corgi #3 Cover Reveal

Guardian Corgi has got some real trouble on her paws– she’s in over her head with a feathery fiend! With her normal companion out of action and a mysterious feline hampering her progress, it looks like she’s gonna need to recruit some help to save the world this time!

Let's see that cover finally, shall we?

AND I'm super stoked about what’s arrived in the mail today! I am over the moon to share the newest installment of my comic with y’all!

These vibrant beauties will debut at WonderCon 2017 in Anaheim, CA March 31-April 2 at table B-35! Following previous tradition, the first 50 copies will be signed and numbered! For those of you who can’t make it to Anaheim, there will be online options for ordering it.

Check out more info on the comic here!

 

MANthology Release

It's official, the MANthology is out! This shiny tome is in blazing full color, and features a collection of stories based around flipping common gender tropes in media on their heads. Of course, my story The Mare the Merrier is inside! But everything in it is amazing, so you gotta get your hands on a copy.

The release party goin' strong!

My amazing friends who attended the release party at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach! Thanks for coming out, y'all!

Also, my good buddy Christine Hipp and I were just on the Jack of All Nerds Radio Show, where we did an Interview on The MANthology!

Christine and I are pretty HIPP (haha, get it?) on doing radio interviews

Emerald City ComicCon 2017

Welcome!

Ah, the Emerald City. I absolutely LOVE Seattle! People complain about the overcast-ness and rain, but that's the sort of thing I love. I dislike intense sunshine... which makes where I live a poor choice. Well, dems da breaks, I guess?

This makes me feel like the pro-iest of Pros!

I unfortunately missed the application deadline for the show this year, so I didn't have a table. I attended as a Pro, and got to enjoy catching up and networking with a bunch of comics buddies of mine!

I supported "The Meek" on Kickstarter!

I was also very excited to discover that Der-Shing Helmer, one of my favorite comics artists, was going to be tabling there! I support her on Patreon, so getting to meet her in person was really fun.

Even though I didn't get to exhibit, just attending the show was great for me. I also managed not to spend a zillion dollars in the Artist Alley either, despite wanting to. They tell me Adults must stick to a budget, so that was my one attempt at Adulting for the year, thanks.

Seattle, I got my eye on you, hoping to go again next year!

Kato Chef Tasting: 3rd Course

You see that fish there? It's so soft that it's like eating straight butter. Oh yeah.

And we're back with the amazing Course Three in my Kato Chef Tasting Experience. Be sure to read parts One and Two first!

Something that I thought was remarkable about Kato's dining room was how small and minimalist it was. The walls are light, the floor is wood, and there are absolutely no frills. Artwork sprinkled around and a simple tea light on the tables count as the decor. I'd say there are, what, 10 tables total? 15? I find it interesting that they took this approach, and I expect that it's so you can focus on the food. No gaudy decorations or talking animal heads here! (Apologies to lovers of Rainforest Café, heh.)

I suspect that's also why they don't serve any alcohol, and their drink selection is extremely limited. Green tea or sparkling water work just fine when alcohol could detract from your enjoyment of the delicate flavors they're putting in your face. Plus, realtalk, as a restaurant owner I bet it's just easier to get through life when you don't have to worry about booze permits.

So! The delightful third course of the evening was trout with chili and seared cabbage. This dish, seriously. UNG. I almost died when I put it in my mouth. The trout was cooked in a sous vide so it actually burst apart as soon as it left my fork, and the amazing flavors locked inside are the kind you'd write home to mom about. Or... write about on a blog on the internet.

The chili sauce is apparently fermented, and while it has a dash of heat, it uses it subtly to enhance the other flavors. The seared cabbage* is crisp and its strong flavor sticks with you long after this course is over, but in a good way.

Stay tuned for Course 4! "How many courses ARE there?" you ask. The answer is five, plus dessert, plus additional food we ordered at the end to round everything out. In other words, I've got a lot of drawing to do.

* I am definitely not supposed to eat cabbage. That's that FODMAP thing again that I mentioned before. I'll get around to discussing it, one day. I ate it anyway though, in the name of art!

Trader Sam's Passionate Python

Lemony Snake-it's "Series of Unfortunate(ly Empty Cuz I Drank Them) Drinks"

I went to Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland recently, and ordered this delightful drink called The Passionate Python. "Ah," you say, "NOW I get the joke in the caption." Well ssssspotted, Hungry Reader! This drink is described in the menu as "Dark and Aged Rums, Red Passion Fruit and Tropical Juices garnished with an Orange Peel 'Python.'"

I really enjoy drawing drinks-- there's a fun challenge in their simplistic design. Drawing glass and getting the subtle gradients shifts in the liquids just right can be tough, especially with markers. Markers are a rather unforgiving medium, mind you. One small twitch and it's all over.*

This particular illustration was an exercise in playing with layering techniques. I don't like going straight into a piece with my most vibrant marker-- no no! I'd rather layer a saturated color over a less saturated base to keep the color from becoming unnatural (not... that the color of this drink was natural, but I digress).

To achieve this bright red orange without going overboard, I first put down a layer of Goldenrod (PM-69), put Poppy Red (PM-13) on top, and then finished it with hits of Scarlet Lake (PM-5).

"But what about that ghostly lemon peel and the straws in there?" you wonder. There are clearly no pen lines, so how did I do that? I'll tell you in Parseltongue: Ssssssssssss sssssssssasaaasss sassssssssss shhhh sssssss!

You're welcome.

*Note to self and others: Do not attempt to Marker while drinking the subject of this illustration. The results won't go well! Please Marker responsibly.

Kato Chef Tasting: 2nd Course

There is no ham in hamachi

Welcome back, hungry reader! This is the second post in a series about my Chef Tasting experience at Kato Restaurant in Santa Monica. If you haven't yet, be sure to read Part One first! Kato is a restaurant that specializes in Chef's Tastings, and is a Californian/Japanese/Taiwanese hybrid. And no, Chef Tasting doesn't meant we ate the chef, in case you were wondering.

Kato itself is hidden in the corner of a strip mall in Santa Monica-- it can actually be quite difficult to spot until you're practically standing on top of it. One might even call it a Room of Requirement-- it's impossible to find unless you're desperate for tasty, well-crafted food. The dining room is terrifically small, so you MUST make reservations... and make them, like, a week out because this place is very popular.

So on to our second course, which was hamachi and cucumber topped with a charred scallion sauce. What are the herbs on top? I'm not entirely sure, as I'm not good at identifying these things by sight yet.* Fennel? Maybe? The dish's flavors were gentle, cool, and seemed slightly pickled. This made an excellent pair against the good punch in the mouth that the charred/smoky flavor of the sauce gave you!

Stay tuned for the 3rd Course coming soon!

*I'm learning, I swear. At least, it's on my "To Learn" list. So I'll get around to it. No really!

Heavenly Kibble Guardian Corgi 3!

You guys I am so excited because this installation of Guardian Corgi has been SO long in coming! It’s been worth the wait though, as behind the scenes I’ve leveled up in my storytelling, art, and coloring skills. *tiny yay*

Guardian Corgi 3 is going to release March 31st at Wondercon 2017 in Anaheim, California… I’ve always had a tradition of releasing new issues of the series at WonderCon, and this time is no different. I’ll also be doing the same “first 50 issues are individually numbered and signed” like I have in years past as well.

I can’t wait to share the next Corgi story with you, and I hope to see you at WonderCon!

… and don’t worry, if you can’t make it to WonderCon, I’m planning on reopening my web store so you can purchase copies online. :)

Adventure Time: President Bubblegum OGN

I just realized that I never posted pictures of the Adventure Time Graphic Novel that I colored! President Bubblegum came out last September and was right before the wedding so things were a bit crazy. But here it is now in all its glory!

The Cover

Title Page (maiden name credits)

Princess Bubblegum ends up needing to become elected president of Ooo after the King disappears, and her presidential pantsuit is pretty amazing.

Sweet bunnies it's beautiful

You see I am always looking for ways to sneak rainbow gradients into my professional work-- but this time it was actually requested by my editor! Be still my heart! Don't mind if I do, yessiree! I was even doubly excited because not only did I need to create a custom rainbow gradient, but I also needed to create a second one for (mild spoiler) a dark rainbow too. My inner 80s child is screaming!

A dark rainbow? Is she gonna steal all the color out of the world or something?

Kato Chef Tasting

You can't find delightful piles of fish like this easily

Last month we tried out a highly rated restaurant in Santa Monica named Kato, a Californian/Japanese/Taiwanese hybrid chef's tasting restaurant.

Hungry Reader, you may be asking "Um wat?" which is the exact same question I asked myself because I, too, think in memespeak. Luckily for you, I went and found out! A chef tasting is when a restaurant's chef designs a menu that takes customers on what I like to call a food experience. A Foodsperience, if you will. The flavors of each small course are meant to work together like a team to send you to Tasty Town.

It began with what's called an amuse bouche, which is sort of like an appetizer but smaller. It literally means "to amuse your mouth." It was a tapioca snack with roe (fish eggs), and while it was brownie-like, was also very salty. Think "sea salt brownie with heavy emphasis on the sea and possibly as dark as it is because maybe squid ink?" Regardless, it was delightful and I was ready for more!

We then received our first course, which was tuna tartare with eggplant and herbs over crispy rice. Seriously I put this thing in my mouth and the world stopped*. The rice gave it a fantastic crunchy texture that contrasted with the softness of the tuna. The vinaigrette had almost a minty note to it, and the shallots gave the sauce absolute sass. SASS, I say! The dish was very light overall, which, by the end of the meal I learned is the best way to start a Foodsperience so you can build a flavor symphony over time.

But more on that next time with Course 2!

*"The world stopped" is going to be a phrase that I use often in this series with Kato, because spoiler alert: THE FOOD IS REALLY GOOD

New Comic: The Mare the Merrier

And then outta left field– a preview of my new comic set to release in March in the Ladybugs' MANthology!

“In a world of pastel ponies, only the girls are ever allowed to get their hooves dirty. When the boys decide to canter right into the face of danger, they find themselves in a pretty pickle. Can Twinklebit and his herd save *themselves*?”

Check out the rest of the comic here!