Patreon!!

Heyyy, so this is a more important announcement than usual…
I’ve mentioned in the past that i might do this, and indeed the time has come: i’m pleased/nervous/pleased to announce that in the future, Subnormality will be (crowd)funded via Patreon.

http://www.patreon.com/subnormality

This comic strip has always been something i’ve funded by doing other work (ad-free as it is), but as the comix get longer and the other work gets otherer i’ve ironically had less time to work on the stuff that’s most important to me. If the comix can pay their own way, that would change (things that would NOT change: walls of text, me at Cracked.com, and the content and format of the website in general. I just want to do less of the stuff that isn’t the above) . Please click through for the full announcement (and an explanation of what Patreon is, for those unfamiliar), and thank you x999999999 to the 99th for listening, and for reading, and if you have any questions at all then please let me know in the comments.

with non-creepy love and much respect,

Wr

The Making Of

Hey, so this illustration project i’m working on will be over soon, and as fun as it is to pay the bills it of course still sucks to be away from y’all for so long. Things will resume around here in February anyway, and thanks again for waiting, i know it’s been kind of excessive….

In the meantime… to celebrate the 7th anniversary of The Comix i though i’d post for you a “making of” kinda deal that i put together a couple years ago but held back for the right time. Which is now i think, so check out this link this link right here this one, and keep checking back and clicking “next” as i’ll be adding another page in the series every day for the next little while (there are eight pages in total). Short version: i think of ideas and then draw and color them. Long version: stay tuned..!

2014,

Wr

the benefits of pixelation

Heyy, happy new year. This would be a newOld comic i’ve got for you this week… I made it like a year ago (and shared it unofficially, drawing a surprising number of emails), but held it back at the last minute primarily because the format made it too big to be seen as a whole and simultaneously too small to read the little text in some places. BUT with the new zoom-in-out thing i found recently (after another last minute panic on the floor plan of the mind comic) i’m gonna go ahead and make this an official part of the archive (conventional version available too). Right now! Before i remember any other reasons i didn’t want to run it the first time around…

THANKS BY THE WAY

Thanks y’all for a very pleasant indeed 2012, i cannot stress that enough. And i keep thinking about how to phrase this… i used to have Other sources of income, but of late i’ve gone 100% artist and obviously that’s great for me (it being my goal in life) but bad for you in the sense that it teams up with the increasing-length-of-the-comix to cause some delays in them subnormality comix being published (what with the unpredictable and work-intensive nature of getting paid to draw stuff. Some great stuff, incidentally– more on that later this year…). I dunno, it’s The New Reality of earning a (rather modest) living as a comix person, the coupling of the merchandise income (thank you) and the freelance stuff (and the refusual by me to have ads on the site), and thus it means fixed deadlines are tricky and, as much as it’s the new reality for most comix people, for that i DO still feel bad because i’d sure love to have something huge and new every couple weeks. However, i do promise whatever you wait for will by god be worth the wait. So just wanna say thanks for understanding, and that the delays have zero to do with lack of interest on my part (but you knew that already), and thanks Again for coming back every time with so very many very nice comments and emails (and donations! which i will never not need, to be unusually candid).  So yeah, cheers! Thanks for the self-esteem, for making this comic strip something i’m very happy indeed to be associated with (to somewhat understate the issue…).

COULD BE YOURS

This is awesome: I was recently asked by a woman in Illinois if i’d want to contribute some art to her surgery fundraiser (“Give the Gift of Vagina to Rebecca Kling“), so i was like totally, and thus: if you’d like to own the original art of the “Merry Treemas” xmas drawing (pen and sharpie, 14″ X 17″, looks like this!), just head over to her fundraiser site and it can be yours for only a $125.00 donation. Only one available, obviously, so GET IT BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE DOES!! THEY ARE REACHING FOR THEIR WALLET RIGHT NOW!! And thanks for supporting a good cause.

THIS IS WHY I MENTIONED ILLINOIS

I have (and want) to spend the next couple weeks drawing the city of Chicago (long story, pays well though. Oh, and thank god for Google Earth, incidentally…), so i’ll see you in a few…

Cheers, 2013-style,

Wr

mini-golf hell

Heyy, comix return, possibly somewhat less serious than last time. And you thought the ones with walls of text took a long time to get through…

(source for Regrets of the Dying)

Things i should have mentioned weeks ago

Updated the ol’ t-shirt shop with some new designs finally, for anyone interested in that. A bunch of the designs now use a better quality of printing, so they should last longer than the average made-to-order internet shirt.

And: a few new prints are available in the prints store as well– including the 5th anniversary comic, which you can see a picture of right here (it’s fancied up a bit from the version on the site, so you can at least see what it looks like here):

Just a huge Thanks, by the way, to anyone who’s supported This Here Comix Thing by buying some of the aforementioned Stuff. It’s a Big Deal to me to sell any merchandise at all, so thanks indeed for pitching in. You with the donations as well– holy flurking shnit, your generosity is quite vastly appreciated. Huge, huge thanks in your direction for sure.

Second-lastly

I was Busier Than Usual the past month or so, and would like to apologize to anyone who emailed me and didn’t get a reply. I’ve generally been on top of the ol’ personal correspondence, but not lately, so apologies to anyone who didn’t get a reply or a thank you from me, and i’ll say Thanks now to you and anyone else who writes in because i most assuredly get some obscenely kind emails and am really rather very extremely grateful for that indeed.

Lastly and so not Leastly

Without going on and on about it as we’ve all read the news articles at this point, i do want to at least acknowledge  the horrid and untimely death of Adam Yauch, a really fine artist who was most definitely an influence on me. He showed How It’s Done: how you can start your artistic career as one thing and then evolve into something far more sophisticated without actually losing your sense of humor, and he said things about the world that needed to be heard, and he was remembered above all as just a good human being, and that’s always been something to aspire to, if not the only thing. So cheers, MCA. I would have worked a proper tribute to you into the comic, but it takes place in hell, and if there were a hell you would be a million miles from it.

“I want to say a little something that’s long overdue/

The disrespect to women has got to be through/

To all the mothers and the sisters and the wives and friends/

I offer my love and respect to the end.”

Status Update

Heyy, just checking in to confirm that i still exist. I know it’s been a few weeks, but i’ve got a new comic in the works so things will get back to normal (ie: weird) around here soon. Had a bit of a Mental Vacation over the holidays, went back to the Motherland (ie: saskatchewan), took a step back and just kind of lay around reading the New Yorker (i just read it for the articles, i swear!), and then flew back home and realized anew that i’ve got this kind of unrestricted creative outlet with an actual audience as well, so that was kind of briefly overwhelming. So i had a bit of trouble writing the new one, got a bit overambitious, but things are gradually coming together, so thanks for your patience. I managed to work in orson welles, so that’s good at the very least…

Happy new year, anyway! And here’s something interesting that one of the Heroes out there surprised me with over Xmas: it’s the Subnormality Wiki! This kind of thing can potentially be really pointless and self-serving, but i read through it and it’s done with such thought and detail and humor that i’m definitely proud to have my work been the reason behind it. The things you can do with a chronology! Good times, anyway– i definitely recommend it. As it’s a “Wiki” i assume that means that anyone can go ahead and edit it (or, uh, deface it…), so if the mood strikes anyone for whatever reason then of course feel free to use any images off my site.

And Hurrah also to the return of Achewood! It feels a lot better to have that comic be an active part of the landscape. Some other good stuff: Akimbo (which i keep mentioning, i know) continues to be amazing; and Depression Comix is exactly what it sounds like (and is great work).

Also: got some episodes of a sorta-animated video series coming out with Cracked.com, the first one being right here (script by Michael Swaim, drawings by me, animation by I’m Not Sure but i think it was mentioned in the comments section and i apologize for not knowing). Another 430 million views or so definitely wouldn’t hurt the chances of further episodes being produced, so go for it if you have a sec.

orson welles,

Wr

comic for june whateverth

Okay, i’m back, finally, though i forgot to bring any jokes with me so, uh, maybe next time. Reference point for the title of this one. Was working on something else but it imploded at the last minute like what often happens. I don’t know, it has not been a good week mentally. Anyway, yeah, good times.

-wr

MOVING ON…

The fringe festival play inspired by the fringe webcomic Subnormality is Now Showing in Ottawa– why not take a look if you’re in town! Proceeds to a good cause. Planning to head up there myself soon.

ALSO

Can you believe this custom framing job someone had done with their print of the Maturity comic? Respect. I am literally taking my hat off to the effort as i’m typing this. Cheers to Tyler for the picture and for the support, it’s very much appreciated indeed.

Speaking of prints, hoping to make an announcement soon regarding such things, regarding the selection available, so please stay tuned…

 

MEGAPOST!

Heyyy, new comic for you, sorry for the wait. Not safe for work i guess, unless you work somewhere, uh, Hip. Took a while longer than i thought, but then they all pretty much take longer than i think they will, so maybe i’ll just go ahead and give that excuse a rest in the future. The comix don’t typically exist on a single sheet of paper, but this one does, which is nice, so here’s a picture of it trying to look cool next to a record.

yeah,

wr

MORE!

Additional mentionings/miscellanea/whatever for y’alls:

-One of the Heroes out there has sent in a drawing of the sphynx! Wicked, man. I love it, thanks x10 to Rachel.

-There’s this “Influence Map” thing going around where an artist fills out this template with all the artists who’ve influenced them, ending up with something like this. Kind of neat. Not being one to miss out on things, i spent an afternoon meticulously assembling one of my own, which you may pore over here…

-I don’t know why i’m mentioning this, but in a Purely cash-motivated move i recently achieved my goal of having some comix rejected by the new yorker, so here’s what it looks like when i attempt to sell the fuck out (A chilling vision of another dimension. A grim little grayscale dimension with no text in it). Purely, 150%, a grab for cash (an unsuccessful one, that is), because one needs to pursue one’s avenues i guess and i heard they pay well. I debated whether to write about this because i probably just sound like a bitter fuck who didn’t get a payday, but, uh, oh well. Full disclosure i guess.

LINK OF THE MOMENT!

-In case anyone hasn’t heard about it, let me be the 5000th person to enthusiastically link to the It Gets Better project, which is an endeavor started by everyone’s favorite wise dude Dan Savage to, via the internet, talk to kids in high school who might be having a deeply shitty time because they’re getting harassed for being gay (or otherwise Different). Maybe you’re one of these kids, in which case you should definitely check it out. High school just full-on Sucks for a lot of people, but guess what? It gets better, so don’t give in. I’m not in any minority groups (unless being Strange And Insane counts), and I’m not gonna pretend i had a deeply nightmarish time in school or anything, but tons of people do have an awful go of it, and there are way too many news items about harassed kids killing themselves recently, and this project is an attempt to change that, and is thus The Best Project Ever, so have a look.

that’s it for me! Check you later,

wr