Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. First, I’ll give you the bad news. There will be delays with Sunnyville Stories #13. It may not be finished until the end of the year. I haven’t had time to work on it because of two reasons. The first is that I’m straightening up my place as I’m expecting some visitors this week. I haven’t been able to draw any more pages to Sunnyville right now. However, this is going to tie in to my good news.
The good news is that the visitors are those who will be conducting an interview with me for the local newspaper! This exposure is very important because it will help me gain attention and increase sales of Sunnyville Stories. Exposure right now remains the greatest weakness of my work and having more attention will be a boon to me.
The other reason there are delays with Sunnyville is that next weekend on Halloween (October 31st), I will be undergoing the 24 hour comics challenge. Within 24 hours from a period lasting from 12pm Central Standard Time on Oct. 31 to 12pm CST on November 1, I will create an entire 24 page comic.
Granted, this won’t help finish Sunnyville but I feel the experience will be good as it will help my planning and writing skills to (mostly) improvise a story. This story for the 24 hour comics challenge will not star the Sunnyville gang; it will star my vampire hunter, August Von Herling (his first adventure is still available on Amazon and in Kindle format).
That’s August Von Herling you see there. I did shopping yesterday to pick up supplies for the challenge and I came across 8×10 inch Strathmore brand printmaking paper. I bought some and decided to test it out when I got home to make sure it could take ink okay. This drawing was done with Staedtler fineliner marker with Uniball pen and a little bit of acrylic ink applied with a brush. This turned out good.
This was the second test of the printmaking paper I did as well as some lettering practice. I rendered this with acrylic ink and a Speedball C6 nib (my usual choice for lettering). To those of you outside the USA who don’t recognize this text, this is the preamble to the Constitution of my country.
I will be sharing updates next week on both Twitter and Facebook about my progress once the 24 hour comics challenge gets underway. Wish me luck as we’ll see if I can join the ranks of those who finished the challenge!
Copies of Sunnyville Stories Volume 1 are still for sale on Amazon, both in print and Kindle formats! While you’re there, be sure to pick up Sunnyville Stories Volume 2 and (if you love Gothic horror) Von Herling, Vampire Hunter!
Copies of all the above titles are available to the library trade via Brodart Company and to retailers from Ingram and Baker & Taylor (via BCH Distribution). Copies are also available direct from the publisher. For ordering information, contact maxwestart(at)gmail(dot)com or write to:
Different Mousetrap Press LLC, 1100 19th Avenue N, #108, Unit J, Fargo ND 58102-2269 USA
