I might not get a strip done for next week. I’m trying! Four pages (8 updates) to go!
Hi all, just putting up a quick note to let you know what’s going on. I was hoping to be updating again by now, but as you can see I’m not. I took a month longer than I anticipated on my last freelance gig (another TinkerActive book that I’m very proud of!) and while I was working on that I got offered another short-term job that I just couldn’t turn down. I’m drawing all the assets for a board game that I can’t talk too much about due to an NDA, but is very exciting and will be paying my rent for the next two years. It’s fun work and I just can’t turn down that kind of pay. As soon as that’s done, I’m starting work on another graphic novel for First Second, but I’ll be drawing Jonny at the same time as that one, so if all goes according to plan this story will be all finished by June!
I promised to let you know when this book was available for purchase, and I failed to do so! In any case, the first Jonny Crossbones adventure is available in print for the first time, in France, from Editions Akileos! You should be able to find it in your finer Bandes Dessinées shops, or at this link from Amazon.fr.
I’ve got a book out today!
Old Souls, written by Brian McDonald, drawn by me, and published by First Second Books, hits stores (in the US at least) today.
It’s a very different sort of comic from Jonny Crossbones! It’s a very adult and serious story about a man dealing with obsession and loss. But if that’s the sort of thing you think you might be interested in, please consider taking a look at it! I’m very proud of the work I did on it and I think the final product came out great.

Hi everybody, just a quick note to 1.) apologize for the lack of a new comic this week and 2.) to share some news!
So: I’m sorry there’s no comic update this week. I’ve been working on a few other projects in the background, which ate up all of the buffer I had, and then I got sick and wasn’t able to get this week’s comic done. I’ve been home in bed trying to fight off this cold for a week and a half now.

But! One of the projects I’ve been working on will be coming to fruition soon, and that’s an actual print version of the first two chapters, coming this summer! One catch– it’s in French. Éditions Akileos will be putting out a real nice BD album version of the first half of the story this year, and another with the second half next summer. The files for the first book are at the printer! This is going to be released in France, which will be good for a few of you, but inconvenient for others. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to import it if you look around a bit, and I’ll share more possible ways once it’s available.
It’s been a long time since I made a post going over my drawing process! The last time I wrote about it here was way back in 2006. My process is very nearly 100% different now.

I draw this very roughly, just to give myself an idea of what I’m putting in each panel. I also have the script written down in another notebook.




I like to print out my digital pencils and ink them with a real pen and ink, so I need a printer to do that!

You can also see my regular inking tools here. Since 2015, I’ve been inking this comic with a Speedball Hunt 107 Hawk Quill pen, using Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay Black india ink. I do use felt tip Micron pens for things like panel borders, but most of the lines are drawn with the dip pen.





During the inking phase, I made a few errors and smudges I needed to clean up.













I hope this was interesting! Feel free to leave a comment if you’ve got any questions about anything.