Let's go for a walk

In commemoration of this 50th anniversary I present you with this most enjoyable piece of history that I made for fun many years ago…

Mars Needs Women - and We Need Phones

I was sitting at the Girl Genius booth at Emerald City Comic-con, during a lull in traffic; Noodling in one of my many sketchbooks when I first had the idea for this "Mars Needs Women" poster. Taking the title from an old b-movie from the 60's, but stripping out the misogyny and racial panic subtext and turning it into a cool space exploration recruitment poster. 

There it sat in my sketchbook for about two years while I decided the best use for it. I made several approaches at the idea as a t-shirt design. But I was never really happy with the final flat color versions. 

Then about two weeks ago my wife informed me that her beloved Nextbit Robin phone that we had bought for her two years back was beginning to act strangely. Shutting down at half power, taking forever to charge, and eventually refusing to even boot up. Forever caught in a cycle of booting-crashing-and rebooting. 

I had seen this before with my old Nexus 7 tablet (now a paperweight). The battery was dying, but we then realized that replacing it was going to be a major pain. No OEM batteries are available from reputable sources; and the maker of the phone itself has been bought by a new company who only deals with support issues for phones bought in the last six months. 

At the same time my own phone (a Samsung Note 4 from 2014) is beginning to show the signs of it's own onset obsolescence. Four years is a lot to ask of a phone these days - and I've kept mine working with a regular application of backup batteries ( the Note 4 was I believe the last Samsung device that allowed users to swap batteries ) but the simple weight of time and archaic processors has slowed my device to a crawl. Nowadays I can regularly hit the call button and expect it to take a full minute before it actually respondes.

So, with the impending deadline of a total communication blackout I got back to work on getting a new art print done to headline a fundraising push - along with a big sale on all my stuff - for the next 4 weeks on my webshop the code MARSNEEDSWOMEN2018 will get you 20% off all orders.

If we can move 20 posters over the next few weeks it should benough to get at least one new phone. That will let the wife and me be able to stay in touch when she is doing her volunteer work at the local elementary school or out taking care of the stuff that would otherwise pull me away from my freelance gigs, coloring comics, and making kick-ass videos for other peoples 100k+ Kickstarter campaigns.  If we can move twice that. Well then we could be in some kind of magical future world when the sale ends on SEPTEMBER 19 (Talk Like a Pirate Day and... as you my know... my birthday)

Spread the Word!  - Chey

Post #ECCC2018 report.

I had intended to produce a new sketchbook for this con - but a combo of personal doctor visits, other peoples kickstarter emergencies, and general life stuff drained me of any personal production time and as the con grew closer it was clear I was NOT going to get anything new on the table. So I went into the con resigned to just having old stock prints and not expecting much.

In the end I was pleasantly surprised. Sales were good enough that they compensated for not staying home and working, and I got some additional non transactional bonuses like seeing old friends, and making a few new ones.

I had a IRL meeting with Goblins creator Tarol Hunt and talk shop about the comic we do together and help playtest his game - as well as have dinner with him, his wife Danielle Stephens and one of the other forces behind the oncoming Goblins Animated project, the multi talented Phil LaMarr . All that was missing was my good friend Matt King for true epicness.

My one true feeling of sadness was the fact that my wife and daughter could not attend as money was just too tight to buy the badges in the weeks prior to the con. But then on the last day, they came down to the convention center just to look at the cosplay in the lobby and got handed two free badges from a gent that had extra. So much fate.

5am Thoughts on a Fire

My wife Eli spotted the fire, as she stepped outside to get some poke'balls.

It was two days ago as I write this. The monday after Martin Luther King day. The roofers that the landlord hired had quit for the day and the house was finally absent the laborious thumps and sudden slams that we had been suffering under for the past four days.

Eli smelled an odd chemical scent coming from the back yard. She followed it around and saw the deck at the back of the house aglow in the fading winter light.

She ran back into the house at full alarm. I was in my office trying to squeeze in a few rounds of "Heroes of the Storm" with friends. I bolted up to the deck. Earlier that day, I had watched one of the roofers lay down tar paper then "activate* it with a long barreled flame thrower. A practice the fire inspector would later inform me was called "torchdown roofing"

Smoke was billowing into the room off the deck as I got up to the second floor, and I could see a small jet of flame at the door frame. I made several runs from bathroom to deck with buckets of water as Eli called 911. Eventually the tar smoke became too noxious for me to enter the room i fell back to the ground floor just as the first of six fire-crews arrived. The next few hours are a blur.

As it turns out - We spotted the fire early enough that when the trucks arrived it was still just in the roof-space. Most of the things we lost personally were things in the room under that roof-space. Damaged by the water the firefighters used put out the fire. Sadly that room was where we kept our board games and my 30 years worth of comics.

I'm not sure how much damage the house sustained (I overheard a quote for around $30,000) but my guess is that the landlord is never going actually pay that much to fix it. He has an established pattern of going for the cheapest possible repair for any problem. Broken washers and dryers replaced with other dented, beaten down machines. A water heater 20 years old the day we moved in not getting replaced for another 8 years, until the plastic lining of the water tank started sloughing off and actually clogging the kitchen faucet.  We once went 175 days without an oven, because he couldn't "find a guy" with the right parts.

And now, case in point - in about three hours, The unlicensed and unbonded handymen that caused the fire two days ago will be showing up as the repair crew. My guess, at a severe discount.

Moving has not been an option for some time... but now as I lay here at 5 in the morning, unable to sleep. it's become clear that the thing we really lost in the fire was the sense that we are safe in our own home.

In the past 48 hours we've gotten a lot of calls from people asking how they can help or if there is anything we need. We are really thankful for their support and the outpouring of love from friends, family, and fans. Including the over $1,000 they've donated to my PayPal account. 

As ever, people are always welcome to sign up with support on my patreon account -

or buy some possibly (limited time only) charcoal scented art prints via my Art Print shop.

Know Your Robots

For posting in places of public gathering. The following poster has been created to be helpful in identifying the more common designs of rogue automaton found at large. Please report any robot encounter to your local peace officer or to the Tesla Rangers via Fort OHM - Colorado Springs, CO

Gaming Tile Art

One of the itches I've been able to scratch lately is getting back to making gaming tile art. For those that don't know, gaming tiles are one of many names for a kind of map often used  for table-top role-playing games. Usually used with gaming figures at a scale of between one inch of the map equaling five to six feet in the game.

I've done a few of these for clients in the past but most of them I make for myself to use at my own games. I like to print them out on a nice cardstock - Cut them up into useful sections and glue them to pieces of cork board for some extra heft.. I found that with just 4x2, or 4x4 inch tiles I can make a whole plethora of locations to put my witless victims... err... friends and family through.

Here are some I've made over the years in this Google Photos folder 

Also People that are my Patreon supporters, just got early access to two extra brand new tile sheets The Jungle Ruins tiles (header image), and a very pulpy, Sandy Ruins tile sheet, perfect for unearthing that long lost well of souls....

Previously - I got some satisfaction in this arena via Roll20.net. Which is a website that lets you set up online role-playing sessions with other gamers that maybe live to far away from each other or just can't meet IRL for regular games. Roll20 provides a whole host of cool tools for gamers including a drag and drop game board. Roll20 has a robust marketplace where an artist such as myself can produce 'packs' of art assets that GM's and players can buy for use in their games.-- like my line of Steampunk art assets. Sales of those have always been a nice and steady 'beer money' sort of monthly income. (Which if you know my drinking habits, you know that's not saying much). I have plans to expand my offerings soon, I look forward to seeing how that affects the sales of my other sets.