2021 was the first time since 2000 that I didn’t go to any conventions.
Not a single one.
Conventions have always been my yearly milestones, occasions to meet new fans, hang out with friends, and make some sales.
Even 2020 had a few shows to attend (in the days before the dark times, before the Empire, pandemic).
Conventions used to also serve as deadlines, hard dates to get books printed or new art completed so that I’d have something to show. It became harder to finalize anything in their absence. After all, conventions are where I make the bulk of my sales. With them gone, why print books?
Instead, I found myself cruising through 2021 on autopilot, my head down and trucking along on projects.
So here’s what I’ve been working on.
Salvage Hounds
My new comic, Salvage Hounds, was one of my main focuses in the first half of 2021. First, I wanted to push my comic art forward a bit, so that meant experimenting with some new approaches to the inking. For the gray toning I experimented with a new painterly approach, aiming for a much more three dimensional look than my previous comics.
The pages were actually completed by late April, but that still left 12 pages of “making of” materials to put together. I wanted these pages to be chock full of character and mechanical designs and crammed full of info on the setting’s lore, so it took some doing.
Oh yeah, and also I had to design, illustrate, and paint a wraparound cover.
Meanwhile, I was working on something special for the book: because one of the characters is of Maori decent, I wanted to incorporate a traditional face tattoo (called a Moko Kauae). These intricate designs carry deep meaning and are considered sacred. In order to ensure that Anahera’s was realistic and respectful of such a cultural legacy, I sought help from an expert artist from New Zealand, who provided a wonderfully grounded and faithful design rooted in the character’s history.
Working with an outside designer meant a few unforeseen delays, but it was worth it to work with the moko artist’s busy schedule. The book was completed in the late fall after going back and adding the final design to all the pages.
And then, with no conventions to print books for, I…just didn’t? Which is why it isn’t in your hands at this very moment.
It’s looking like I’ll have books printed for shows this year (knock on wood to the Covid gods). In the meantime, I’m working to set up the Twilight Tangents shop to handle E-Books—look for Salvage Hounds to debut there very soon as my first digital comic offering!
In the meantime, check out the first five pages on the Salvage Hounds homepage.
New Soul Chaser Betty
The ink was barely dry on Salvage Hounds when I immediately started writing a new installment of Soul Chaser Betty. I’ve had this new story idea for a while, and I finally had a chance to develop it, along with new characters, creatures, and lore. By year’s end I had the first draft of the script complete. In 2022 I’ll be working on new character, costume, and creature designs, with plans to get the page art started before spring, so be on the lookout for updates.
What’s it about? The Soul Chasers encounter a new menace: terrifying, feral, animal gods that act on pure instinct as they come after Betty and the Mark of Cain that brands her. Perhaps a new recruit from Grammy’s past will help Betty and the gang fight these ancient, terrifying creatures!
In the meantime, I plan on getting Slumber Party of DOOM! Up on the shop as a digital download when Salvage Hounds goes live, so keep an eye out for that.
Septerra Core 20th Anniversary
Another project for 2021 was completing the Septerra Core 20th Anniversary Retrospective series. By the end of the year I had posted the tenth and final installment, plus a bonus edition detailing the lost concepts for a prequel and sequel. I went out of my way to stuff all these posts with as many artifacts from the archives as possible, so each installment required a deep dive into the past, tracking down assets, scanning images, and in some cases, getting the old tools up and running again.
In fact, I actually took a bunch of the bloopers and outtakes from the recording sessions and figured out how to get them into the game tools. Why? So that I could script the outtakes into the actual game, of course!
Thanks to the many fans who have supported me in this endeavor. This whole series has been for you!
There was also new Septerra Core art piece posted in 2021, a commission for a long time fan!
Fantasy Novel
For those wondering about this long rumored project, 2021 saw a lot of progress. In late spring I was able to get a completed draft out to my “beta readers,” a group of friends and colleagues who agreed to read and give critical feedback within a six week period.
Unfortunately, it was time for Life to rear its ugly head, you know, that thing that happens while you’re making plans. Just as the book was off to my readers, sickness struck. Not me, not my significant other, but our dog. (Don’t worry, this tale has a happy ending)
Maya is affectionate and loving Shiba Inu. But in June she was suddenly stricken with a mysterious illness, with dangerously low platelet and red blood cells counts. For months she was in and out of the hospital, and we almost lost her.
There was no definitive diagnosis, but it was looking more and more like a form of bone cancer. This little girl is the sweetest pup you’ll ever meet, and we were absolutely heartbroken. By Labor Day our vet told us that Maya probably wasn’t going to recover, that perhaps we should make end-of-life arrangements before she began to suffer.
But Maya seemed ok. Down, but still wagging, still playing. And we had become convinced (or at least hopeful) that her mysterious illness was in fact not an illness at all, but a side effect of a medication she had been prescribed.
Maya has since seen the best specialists in the state. Even they were baffled, and there wasn’t much they could do, but they told us to hold fast, cautiously hopeful that Maya would recover given time. And months later she seems to have done just that, possibly even making a full recovery. (See, I told you it was a happy ending).
But while Maya was sick we were constantly caring for her, taking her to the vet, hand feeding her, etc. In the meantime, I hadn’t been keeping up very well with corralling my beta readers into getting me timely feedback, and that meant it all came late.
When it did come, it was excellent and enormously encouraging. It feels like the book is 90% there. But, (there’s always a but) there was some common criticism that needs to be addressed, and will hopefully take the book to 100%.
This rewrite isn’t massive, but does reimagine the details of one of the major plot threads, so it’s still a substantial undertaking. I’m quite excited about the changes—I’ve done my research and I’m already working on rewrites, so wish me luck.
The Future
So there you have it. Look for Salvage Hounds and Soul Chaser Betty: Slumber Party of DOOM! as digital downloads in the shop real soon. Also keep an eye out for updates about the new Betty story over on the Facebook page, as well as updates about new illustrations that I’m working on for 2022!
We’ll see how the convention schedule goes this year, but currently I’m signed up for Anime Central as well as a few smaller library shows.
In the meantime, it’s time to knuckle down and get back to work.