I've always had a strange relationship with commissions. They can be so fulfilling, and yet so frustrating at the same time. I'm truly anxious to finish these so that I can carry on with Witch Warp, I'm tired of putting it off, but at the same time I'm glad that I've made these.
The cosmic buccaneer is a character by 2023-08-26 03:16:51 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll let Vibrissa and Lion do most of the talking this time. They're our up-and-coming stars, after all, and they need to get used to the spotlight. I hope you like the cut of their jib!
Incidentally, I would like to mention what an absolute relief it will be not to have to draw Zandra's freaking stripes all the time.
- Joe
Charity Parade:
World Food Program for Haiti...
2023-08-09 19:43:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey everyone! I hope you're safe as we trudge through this wave of heat and storms. Sorry for being out of touch for so long, but the climate's been slowing me down too! Well, as always, I could give a dozen reasons for my slow pace. The backlog of commissions being one of them!
This erotic picture of Zandra and Betty was requested as a tattoo, believe it or not. For which I'm deeply flattered. Someone's going to have this on her body. Forever.<...
2023-07-18 21:27:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Gotta make ends meet! And I'm still not done with all the jobs I took on over the past few months. Man, being in demand can be exhausting. But it's better than the alternative!
As you can see, most of these are finished versions of the work in progress I posted previously. Sally Sou...
2023-06-04 13:13:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The goal's been met! With the Patreon campaign reaching the $1,000.00 a month threshold, Witch Warp is going into production! Go team!
Thanks everyone. It means so much to have this kind of wind at my back! I've begun making the script and thumbnails for upcoming pages. I estimate that the comic will launch in a few months, depending on my other responsibilities, staving off 2023-05-28 16:59:42 +0000 UTC View Post
First off, let me say thank you and welcome to any and all new patrons, and to all my returning customers who have increased their donation amount! It's so great to have your help, it's already made a huge difference in my life and art. I'm glad to know you!
It's so inspiring, in fact, that Witch Warp is coming to life more and more in my imagination. The world is building, as you can see!
Panda is another character who 2023-05-03 08:49:02 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll be posting this on all my social media warrens. But somehow it feels presumptuous to ask, especially here, on my Patreon page, where I've had so much patience and generous support from all of you already, in spite of my halting pace. It's hard for me to feel like I deserve this kind of support.
Still, self-effacement aside, I ain't lying! Everything I wrote up there is true! I'm under pressure right now, and if I want to hope to get this next comic going (al...
2023-04-27 20:17:21 +0000 UTC View Post
He seems nice. Happy Easter/Passover/Ramadan, everyone! If you don't fall under that umbrella, I just hope you're having a good time. And what better time to preview a Pook?
Zin is a sibling of Black Betty, and the first of his kind that we saw in Zebra Girl, practically six years ago to the day. He's a character who's very close to me, the first Pook I created back when I as...
2023-04-10 00:40:54 +0000 UTC View Post
It seems like a good time to post some more of what I've been doing! I'm working on ten commissions in all, but these are clean enough to show off as works in progress. Character portraits of Philomela for our good friend Simone Spinozzi, the mysterious Ze for SueZeev, a curvaceous demoness for Hat, and MihoshiK asked me to revisit Sally Southpaw as she leaves the shower.
This is fun and ...
2023-03-24 04:25:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Ooh. Who's that guy? Another traveler in the Outlands whom Vi and Lion are destined to encounter. Is he good? Is he bad? True neutral? Wait and see.
For the charity list this week I'm adding a GoFundMe for a trans woman and her wife who desperately want to leave Florida before things go even further downhill for folks in their position. It seems like a worthy cause, so give it a look if you have the inclination.
This is getting fun! Starting to spread into the ancillary cast now. Meet Beat and Bite, the Orthrus! Because obscure mythological creatures deserve to be monster girls too. Expect them to cause trouble for Vi and 2023-02-28 07:57:13 +0000 UTC View Post
More of the same, though I think I've vastly underestimated the value of sketch pages up to this point. Just these few drawings of Vi have fleshed out her personality. I now have a much better idea of who she is, and what she wants. Gotta keep this up!
Charity Shoutout:
Doing some sketch work to warm up. This is Lion, one of Witch Warp's lead characters! I really want to show you who she is. I want to show you a lot with the new comic! I hope I have it in me.
It occurs to me that cats are the most drawable animals of all. They're like living liquid lines, all butts and grace.
While I'm here, I should mention I've been busy with ...
2023-02-21 22:53:59 +0000 UTC View Post
The first of a series of commissions. I was asked to come up with a doodle from anything in this Something Awful forum thread. I saw a jack-in-the-box gif and said, "Why not?"
If you're looking to give someone other than me a hand monetarily, today I'll point you towards Turkey, where the need is truly great after the recent devastating earthquake.
I had a mind to polish these POOK! pages. Added a "texture" layer that makes them feel more finished. I think.
By the way, if you missed the message, my commission slots are full! Which certainly helps me out to keep me and mine afloat. Thanks to everyone, and I'll have some new art to show off soon!
Oh yeah, and happy Year of the Rabbit! Always a good time to think of folks in need.
2023-02-02 16:18:39 +0000 UTC View Post
1/29/23: Okay! Slots are full, store's closed. Thanks so much to all customers, I look forward to showing off your characters!
I got mouths to feed before I can focus on my next comic. So for a limited while I'm offering character portraits! E-mail or DM me if you're interested!
Of course, this actually doesn't apply to some of you Patrons, since you may already be on a monthly tier which would qualify you for such a request. It's onl...
2023-01-27 23:52:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Ahh, I thought I was done with this Amphibia stuff. Funny how your muse can leap out like a swamp creature and pull you back into the muck of your imagination, and suddenly you're stuck flailing in obsession for one more thrashing struggle as you fight to breathe. But I clawed my way back, puking the art water onto the deck of my ramshackle social media riverboat. 2023-01-18 03:56:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Yeesh. And after posting something as kid-friendly as an Amphibia fan comic! You'd think after a few Black Betty pinups I wouldn't be squeamish, but let's admit, they're pretty tame compared to some of what you'll find online.
Case in point, I'm attempting to match the astoundingly bawdy farcical stylings of Raven Perez, a friend and author of Raven's Dojo, in recognition of its 25th anniversary. Raven's be...
2023-01-05 08:57:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy 2023, everyone! I hope that it treats you well. You deserve it, friend.
So, hey, finished my fan comic! It...
2023-01-01 08:55:14 +0000 UTC View Post
If this gives you the absolute creeps, I feel it too. Hey, I didn’t come up with Krampus! You can blame Alpine folklore for that. It only occurred to me that he may be a Pook in disguise, and I had to incorporate him into the mythos.
Happy holidays, everyone! I’m sorry I went out of touch for a while. I hope you’re doing well, and avoiding harsh wea...
This turned out to be surprisingly popular on Twitte...
2022-11-27 23:23:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Well, here it is, that pet project I mentioned. I was ashamed to not have done anything for Halloween day, and I rushed it a little so the style's ...
2022-11-03 20:35:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Luvva God, why is art always so much harder than I think? Do I really want to strap myself back onto this wheel??
Now, I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what you would’ve expected from a poem dedicated to Black Betty. But I want kids to be able to open this book, y’know? No nudity! And more to the point, as someone observed back in the day, for all of her implied threat, we never actually saw Betty do anything really malicious before she hooked up with Zandra, ...
2022-10-19 03:38:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Renowned artist Kim Jung Gi passed away recently, and his family asked for drawn flowers to be sent instead of real ones. If you're interested, you can read more about it here.
2022-10-09 20:57:41 +0000 UTC View Post
I couldn't imagine a better time than the Halloween season to kick this particular project into gear. I've grown really fond of these freaks, and I've written a series of poems that I intend to illustrate, based on the idea that each of the Vorpal Pook has a signature fairy-tale to their name. It's my hope that I can make these into a hardcover book someday soon, which, in Joe Time, probably means at least five years. But who knows? Maybe I can surprise myself.
R...
2022-09-20 07:20:24 +0000 UTC View Post
That's what I call it. It comes in various forms, whatever takes me away from my work. Negative feelings, obsessive-compulsive distractions, or just mundane obligations.
You ever have one of those Summers when everything needs to be fixed? The stove exploded, we had to sell a car, we're babysitting dogs, the deck needs painting, the gutters had to be repaired, the garage has to be emptied, and the backyard....
We have a pool. And a spa. Which makes it...
2022-09-11 19:16:15 +0000 UTC View Post
I don't know why I never got around to posting this, but do you remember Tiger Boy? It was fan fiction by Stacy Dooks, set in the Zebra Girl universe, about a guy who experienced a similar transformation to Sandra's. I liked the character so much that I 2022-08-23 05:44:46 +0000 UTC View Post
I think Betty can forgive us for leaving her out of a picture or two. I hope!
“Southpaw” Sally is a character whose story very much deserves to be told, but I never quite found enough room for her in any of Zebra Girl’s chapters. She was introduced as a friend of Mike who later vanished after stumbli...
2022-08-05 04:25:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Woof. This one was a beast! A commission of a very, very unique and fascinating character, this took an elephantine amount of time because I initially misunderstood the properties of the character (composing its body out of "ferrofluid", a real-life magnetic substance), and also because I settled on rendering her with speckling. All those tiny dots were a nightmare, especially since I spent so much time putting them on my wrongheaded initial sequence! See, I thought th...
2022-07-28 18:29:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Ugh. Was that the best thing to call this picture? Well, it's Doyenne and Black Betty about two seconds from tearing the room apart. Don't ask me who comes out on top.
And tearing things apart seems like a nice segue back to reality, as it's certainly been a Hell of a month here in America. You may have noticed, I write and draw women as protagonists far more often than men, and it cuts me to know that in about half of the country I love their reproductive organs...
2022-06-30 03:32:44 +0000 UTC View Post