Mad Rupert

SAKANA pages #639, #640

WOW, 40 whole pages into Volume 4??? WE'RE DOING IT, FOLKS! 

I'm finally back from my BUNT book tour, but, unfortunately, I'm immediately going BACK out of state to Vermont to speak at the Center For Cartoon Studies! And THEN, THE VERY NEXT WEEK, my partner Gannon and I are going to Scotland on a business trip with her company. I'm hoping everything finally settles down in the second half of March and I don't have to go anywhere else for at least another month or two ;__; 

SAKANA #638

This is how people make friends in their 20s and 30s, right? 

Also, totally unrelated, my favorite meme. 

SAKANA #637

Whoops, the very two characters who react poorly to intimidation? Right here? TOGETHER? 

SAKANA #635, #636 and Chapter 26 title page

Just posted 635 to the site, but here's next Tuesday's strip as well! I'm going to try and finish 637 before the end of the day and upload that here too, because TOMORROW I have to fly to Austin, TX and start the Bunt! Book Tour with Ngozi! 

Billy finally gets the chapter title treatment! You can expect to see a lot of these guys in Volume 4 :) 

BUNT! signed preorders ending this Friday! (2/9)

Hey! In case you haven't seen across every one of our socials, Ngozi Ukazu (Check, Please!) and I have a new graphic novel coming out NEXT WEEK! If you want a copy signed by both of us shipped to your HOUSE (domestic or international!) you have until this Friday, Feb 09 to order a book through Blue Willow Bookshop! 

Here's the link! >>> https://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/pre-order-bunt 2024-02-06 16:03:11 +0000 UTC View Post

SAKANA #634

And that's it for chapter 25! WOW!! The longest chapter in Sakana history I think? 34 whole pages, I really need to cut back to the normal 24 from here on out or this final volume's gonna be massive lol. (I will not cut back because I'm dumb and work too much!) 

I can't believe this part of the story is finally over after like 10 years of teasing it. I CAN FINALLY MOVE ON TO THE REST OF THE STORY! We're starting off with Taro next chapter baybeeeeeeeeeeeee 😎👌

SAKANA #632, #633

HEY, hopefully back on early updates for at least the next week or so before I get slammed by BUNT! BOOK TOURRRRRR! I'll make a formal announcement with dates and locations soon! 

So, here we are, nothing bad happened to Yuudai he just doesn't want to give Jiro any credit at all! He's an asshole and that's why we love him <3

I wasn't able to finish the last two pages in time to upload them early, but here they are just for easy reading: 

2024-01-24 22:39:53 +0000 UTC View Post

Demon Gate concept art piece

Hey everybody! 

Sorry for the spotty SAKANA updates lately! I got a lead on a potential concept art job opening and I needed to finish up this piece for my portfolio before I apply. It's a super long shot, so I'm not holding my breath on it, but it's been a good opportunity to kick my ass into gear, get some stuff up on ArtStation, and cobble together the first formal resume I've had to make in maybeeeee 10 years??? 

So, this is what I've been working on! You may have al...

New Sakana merch?

I've been meaning to make some new merch for SAKANA since its return, but I'm not exactly sure what I want to make! Each one has their pros and cons, but I'm interested to hear what you guys would be most excited about! 

SAKANA pages #628, #629

Hey everybody! All of my work plans are about a week behind at this point, so I'm sorry for the lack of early pages! You've probably already seen page #628 on the website, but I thought I'd upload it as well to keep the flow going (and you can see it in higher-resolution too!) The real event here is page #629, which will post to the site tomorrow! 

In other news, I've been working hard at the concept portfolio! My goal is to start applying to jobs within another month or so. After ...

Taking a comic break for the next few weeks!

Hey everybody! As you may have read in my previous posts, I've been trying to put together a little concept art portfolio and painting a bunch of mimic chests towards that end. 

It's been a bit difficult to switch back and forth between comic pages and concept art, so I'm going to give myself an early christmas present and take the next few weeks off of comic production to focus on concept. I'm VERY proud of my nearly 30 new uninterrupted Sakana updates (a personal record, probably...

SAKANA pages #625, #626, #627

Page #625 just posted this morning, but I wanted to post it here as well to keep readability flowing smoothly! I got my latest covid booster shot Monday evening and it took me the hell out for all of Tuesday, putting me a day behind where I wanted to be this week. But regardless, here are next week's pages for your consideration! Sorry it took me 4 years to get back to Sakana when the big "this could actually happen???" moment was a mere 25 pages away! 😞🙏

I've been restraining mys...

SAKANA pages #622, #623, #624

The Kaiji is really popping out in these pages, wow. 

AN EXCITING DEVELOPMENT, in which a character actually just comes right out and says something very obvious instead of everyone dancing around the issue forever!! PROGRESS??? PROGRESS!!!!!!

Concept practice: Diva (plus random wizard doodle)

As I've mentioned a few times, I'm trying to level up my art skillz a little and teach myself some new tricks. Eventually I'd like to apply for some concept art jobs in the games industry, but that's probably a while off still. I have to make a whole portfolio first! 

Here's an attempt at drawing a higher-fidelity (i.e. more detailed) character. I started with an idea for a famous villainous ballet dancer and ended up here! I might add some shadows eventually, but I've been staring...

SAKANA #619, #620, #621

The universe is testing its most wretched and sleepy little creature. 🔪🔪🔪🥱

It's finally November and I can finally REST after 4 conventions and a Halloween costume frenzy. Now that I'm a few pages ahead again, I'm going to take a short break from Sakana and work on some concept art practice next week. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to show here?? It's definitely a skill I am not yet proficient in, so there's been lots of false starts and frustration, but I'm LEARN...

SAKANA #618

Hey everybody! I'm finally FINISHED with my whirlwind convention tour this fall, and I am...tired lol. I've been to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Washington state, and finally Missouri, all in the past few weeks. I'm easing back into the swing of things and trying to decide how the rest of this chapter will play out. It'll probably be a long one! I'm estimating at least 10 more pages. 

What's gonna happen within those 10+ pages? YOU'LL FIND OUT! 

Unfortunately, instea...

SAKANA #617

Hey, we did it! All the pages I had half-finished are now FINISHED and I can go to my next convention in PEACE. This buffer will take me almost through the end of October, so I'm safe to focus on other things for a few weeks! 

Looks like everything went well at the family dinner! But wait...why was Yuudai so reluctant to tell Jiro about it...???? I GUESS WE'LL FIND OUT??????

SAKANA #614, 615, 616

I finally did it! I had a bunch of pages half-finished for a while and I finally got the chance to sit down and knock them all out. So here's a nice juicy 3-page update! Look at all these EMOTIONS! Tasty!! 

Hoping to have one more page (617) finished and uploaded before I head to Geek Girl Con this weekend! 

SAKANA 613

Hey everybody! Sorry for the silence lately! As I mentioned a few times, I'm smack in the middle of 4 back to back conventions, so I've barely had a chance to sit down at my desk, let alone get some new comic pages finished. HOWEVER...Gannon had covid last week which ACTUALLY gave me some extra time to work on the next few strips while I was huddling in the kitchen as far away from my poor sick spouse as I could be. So I got a few pages half-finished and now I'm trying to wrap them up one by ...

SAKANA 611...again??

Hey everybody! Sorry for the lack of posts in the past few weeks, I was swamped getting ready for, and then attending SPX this past weekend! I had a blast at the con and now I'm gearing up for Superstar Comic Con in Savannah, GA on the 23-24th! 

This isn't something I do very often, but...I decided to slip another page in between two I'd already made. I guess that's the benefit (curse???) of having a big buffer like this, I have more opportunity to go back and make edits before the...

SAKANA 611

Trying to jump back into SAKANA for a little while to prepare for the SITE RELAUNCH! Which will hopefully happen Tuesday, September 5th! WHICH IS SO SOON!! 

I will probably start out on the normal 2-per-week update schedule, but I may drop it back to 1 a week at some point if other work starts taking up my time. As always, all of you will get to see whatever I've finished well before it goes up on the main site! 

And finally, not sure if you can tell or not, but I switch...

Wizard Barn Party cover FINAL

And the final cover with the title! 

Also included a little bit of PA Dutch folklore on the inner back cover, in case you were wondering what all those weird discs all over the barn were! I'm using them in a very witchy way but they're a real thing you can find all over the place where I grew up! 

Wizard Barn Party cover WIP

Honestly it's pretty far along already, but here's a look at what will soon be the cover of Wizard Barn Party! I'm also trying to teach myself to render in color, so this was good practice! 

Thank you to my dear partner Gannon who basically paints wood planks in video games for a living and helped me out a lot with this. Unfortunately still no news on Gannon's job hunt even though we're hoping for a yea or nay from one place this week. The vibes are very low in our household right ...

Wizard Barn Party: pgs 17-24 FINAL (end)

And that's the end of it! I'm super happy with how this little project turned out, and also SUUUUUPER happy that it's finished now! It feels nice to finish something small vs working on huge never-ending projects lol. 

I'm going to figure out a cover really quick and send this off to the printers asap! Thanks for sticking with me through this dicey time while Gannon's been job hunting and I've had to take over a lot of household tasks to help them out! Hoping to be back to normal S...

Wizard Barn Party: pages 9-16 FINAL

8 more pages finished! Only 8 left and then I'll have finished my VERY FIRST MINICOMIC in who knows how long! It feels very good to work on something short and manageable and best of all FINISHED (soon) vs the enormous comic projects I've been working my way through for basically my whole career. Hoping to do more short stuff like this in the near future! 

Wizard Barn Party: pages 1-8 FINAL (toned)

Hey everyone! 

We're still in "finding Gannon a job" land over here, but there's been lots of very cool progress along with lots of jitters about making the right decision and gambling with different potential offers. Because Gannon's been working hard on tests for various companies, I've been working hard on housework, meals, and dog walks on top of my own work. Understandably, I hope, I haven't been able to get as much work done in the past few weeks as I wanted! 

So, ...

RR Chapter 2: ROUGH pages 12-14

ENHANCE: 

I'm trying to get 3 more pages roughed out before I skip back to Sakana, so I'll hopefully have some more RR to show by next week! 

RR Chapter 2: ROUGH pages 9-11

Hey, looks like RR pages were on the docket after all! I'm in talks with my wonderful partner to help me block out the Bug Garden interior in 3D, but they're still neck-deep in job hunting/interviewing/making new portfolio pieces right now, unfortunately! I don't want to put any more work on their plate just yet, so I'll probably move ahead with more rough pages until I can circle back and start finishing these. 

Here are some sketches I made to give Gannon a better idea of my Bug ...

SAKANA 609, 610

Finally! WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?? 

I had the idea for strip #610 ALMOST TEN YEARS AGO, as evidenced by this comic doodle I made in January 2014: 

I've been waiting forever to use that splut sfx. Sakana has been, uhhhhh, let's say a VERY LONG labor of love. 

Well, we finally made it to 10 new pages! Over a month's worth...

SAKANA 607, 608

The mood for this chapter: 

I feel like I'm still finding my groove a little with these pages, but we're GETTING SOMEWHERE lol. Is this an ok format to post the pages in? With the split-up panels first and then the long strip after that? I figured it would be easier to read separated panels at a larger size than just one long strip (especially on a phone) but if this way of post...