What I'm working on these days

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Hey friends!

Over the past few to five months I have been working a lot on an anthology of False Knees strips from 2020 and later. I don't know if my publisher likes me sharing much about it, so be cool!

I published my first collection of comics in 2019, and while I'm mostly satisfied with how that book turned out, there were some things I learned during the process of making it that I wouldn't want to do a second time. I remember it being an overwhelming experience, trying to juggle my own expectations with those of the editor, while considering that this was the first big thing I was about to send into the world, into real bookstores, and into people's hands.

I didn't really like the cover that we ended up going with, but I wasn't a good advocate for my own preferences at the time (I'm working on that). I should say that I do like working with my publisher and I think they do a fine job. It's always a little difficult for me to work with others on my own creative projects (I'm also working on that). This time around, I knew I wanted to make a fun cover from scratch, rather than using existing art from one of my comics.

The first idea I had was the sketch posted at the top. I call it the Wall of Birds, and while it won't be the cover for any book (it reads a little too 'reference book', perhaps), I'd like to make it into a print at some point.

I was excited by the idea of redrawing this frame from this strip, and this title was a contender for a while, but both ideas were dropped.

After a few weeks of being distracted by summer, I had the idea that I should make the cover related to one of my most popular strips, and include some crow friends! Because everyone loves crow friends. As we narrowed in on our final pick, I started to think of many iterations on this theme. We didn't end up going with this title, and the colours are very different, though one of these ideas is pretty close to the final thing!
I'm not going to share it just yet because the book is a long way from being available (~mid 2025), and I'm not sure if it won't change more before then. 

I'm really excited for this one though! It has some of my best work, lots of new comics, plus some new illustrations that I'm painting just for the book. I can't wait for it to be a physical thing that you'll be able to read!

-Joshua