Update: Plans for 2022 and 2023

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Max West

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated. But I do have some news to share today, Sunnyville fans.

As you know right now, I’ve haven’t had time to work on Sunnyville Stories lately. All my energy is going into my next picture book Hilda and Richie’s Wizard. That is scheduled to go to Kickstarter on Wednesday January 5, 2022.

I did mean what I said in the past. It is my goal to redraw Sunnyville Stories episode 1 completely and release new versions of the trade paperbacks. So how long will these take to do?

It is likely that next year in 2022, I can start drawing the new remastered version of episode 1. I’ve also made it a top priority to keep liquidating the old Sunnyville books; for the rest of this year and all through 2022, I will sell off all other remaining copies until every last one is gone. It will be a major aim in 2023 to launch a Kickstarter to fund a new print run of new editions. These will be done with offset printing, have print runs in the thousands and will be a smaller size, namely the 5.5 x 8.5 inch paperback book size. As discussed before, redrawing parts of the older comics and retouching them will be a big priority. There may even be new content as a bonus to get the fans buying these books!

As for new comics…that may have to wait until 2023 and even that is not certain. In addition to the work on the redrawn Sunnyville comics and a possible Kickstarter to fund the same, a third book with Hilda & Richie is planned that same year. Creating, funding and selling that book is a top priority; I’m doing good so far on my Hilda & Richie books and producing more children’s books could be very lucrative.

On top of all that, I really want to make more comics with Dominic & Claire, the Sunnyville spin-off with Rusty’s cousin. I even have notes for more stories but it is hard to do so many things at once.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more news. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and check out the Hilda & Richie blog for more updates on that. Until next time!

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Celebrating Eleven Years and Delays

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Max West

First, today is August 1st. You know what that means?

It was eleven years ago today back in 2010 that this blog for my independent comic book series, Sunnyville Stories, launched!

Happy birthday to the Sunnyville Stories blog!

Now I have to go onto the bad news now that the good news is out of the way.

The planned redraw and continuation of Sunnyville Stories will have to wait. It has been my intention to redraw completely Sunnyville #1. Unfortunately, I am very busy. Besides my webcomic Poison Ivy Gulch, I am also working on Hilda and Richie’s second book Hilda & Richie’s Wizard. That will be going live on Kickstarter in January along with the first planned book collection of Poison Ivy Gulch to also be funded via Kickstarter in June 2022.

This means the planned redraw of Sunnyville #1 has been pushed back again and may not happen until next year. However, this journey with all my comics and picture book illustration has been beneficial. My skills greatly improved from when I started out (contrary to what some losers out there think); we only learn by doing and I learned from experience. That is NOT something you can learn at an art college or from a university degree.

Stay tuned to this blog as I still plan to update it, share news and share artwork of Rusty with friends!

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Redrawing Sunnyville Stories Number 1

Posted on April 3, 2021 by Max West

Now that my taxes have been taken care of, I can advance my plan to redraw the first Sunnyville Stories comic.

Here is my plan. The focus will be on completely redrawing the story with my stronger drawing skills as well as a little editing on the script; as I said before, I want to work in Rusty mentioning his cousin Dominic to help link my two works – Sunnyville Stories with Dominic & Claire – together.

Of course, I can’t just start drawing the comic right this minute. What I need to do is actually go back to the comic and look over it. I mean, not literally look over it but carefully examine it, read it, study it and plan what I can do differently.

The overall structure won’t change. This is meant to be the first episode of Sunnyville where Rusty and his family move to the small remote village. That will happen as well as Rusty not being happy with his new home. He will also meet Sam and she just might be the reason he wants to stay.

Looking back at the original story I drew back in 2010, the drawing is weak and really needs an overhaul. That is something I need to address; I’ll be generating new thumbnails to work from in drawing the new story.

It is my plan to share the sketches and ideas here on the blog as well as videos on my YouTube channel (subscribe to that please).

Stay tuned here to my blog as I have plans for Sunnyville. Until next time, fans!

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New YouTube channel now up! Please subscribe!

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Max West

Just a short announcement – I have a new YouTube channel up!

The purpose of this channel of mine is meant for two primary purposes.

The first will be to help promote my work such as Hilda & Richie (naturally!), Sunnyville Stories and my other creations.

The second will be to provide demonstrations and tips to people who want to try, namely beginners and even total novices.  I honestly believe anyone can draw.  It is a skill that anyone can learn.  Drawing is not an inborn talent that you either have or don’t have.  Anyone can draw!

I now sit at 17 subscribers and am working towards 25.  Then I aim to get to 50, 75 and 100 subscribers…and so on until I keep growing higher and higher!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel today!

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Hilda and Richie Electronic Editions Available Now!

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Max West

I’m still working on getting the print edition of Hilda & Richie ready. In the meantime though, I do have the digital edition ready!

Hilda & Richie Cover

Digital copies are for sale on Amazon Kindle.

They are also for sale on Payhip.

Be sure to grab those today. Check back here tomorrow for news regarding Sunnyville!

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Contents of the Sunnyville Stories Reprint

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Max West

Continuing where we left off, here is the exact plan for the reprint of Sunnyville, known as Sunnyville Stories: Beginnings.

First, there will be a brand new prologue to open up the saga of Rusty Duncan. It’ll deal with our wisecracking cat learning that he’ll be moving from his big city home to a small town (Sunnyville of course). It will be based on the Sunnyville Stories Zero zine I did years ago. In fact, I will be serializing the new prologue here on the blog soon!

After that, the next part will be the redrawn version of the first episode “Beginnings”. As I said before, I will be redrawing the whole story over again to reflect my vastly improved drawing skills. I also want to rework some of the jokes, redraw some of the character designs and add in references to Dominic, Rusty’s small cousin, in both this story and the prologue.

There will be a brief vignette, probably two, last a few pages set in between the first and second episode. Planned vignettes include Rusty learning he has to go to school here and Samantha showing him more of the the town.

The second, third and fourth episodes will also be included in the reprint along with a brand new cover. Also in-between those stories will be more vignettes, including that one segment I discussed before that establishes Hilda & Richie (my picture book characters) as part of the Sunnyville universe!

I repeat – this will be a DIGITAL only release at the moment. If all goes well though, I plan to crowdfund print copies in 2023 or 2024.

In addition to the new prologue, it is my aim to share the pages and progress on the redrawn first episode. I will not be posting it in its entirety here nor will I get rid of the old version. That will remain here for archival purposes.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned here for more news on the Sunnyville comics.

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First Sunnyville Stories Comic To Be Redrawn

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Max West

And now it is time for the announcement I wanted to make in regards to the planned Sunnyville reprint and following up on where I left off yesterday.

I have decided that the very first episode of Sunnyville Stories, titled “Beginnings”, will be completely redrawn!

I originally said I wasn’t going to do this. I did change my mind though my other earlier comics will simply stick to retouching and minor edits.

Why am I doing this?

The first Sunnyville comic was drawn over 10 years ago. It is showing its age back when my drawing skills were much weaker. I honestly want to go back and redo the story now that I am much better at drawing.

I also want to rework some of the scenes and redo the jokes. Among one of the items on my list is to have Rusty reference his cousin Dominic, meant to establish the Dominic & Claire spin-off as being part of the Sunnyville canon.

I plan to start work on redrawing Sunnyville #1 once I get the Hilda & Richie Kicsktarter and reward fulfillment out of the way.

Stay tuned for more news on that as well as my plans for the Sunnyville reprint!

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Updates on the Sunnyville Stories Reprint

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Max West

Last night, my Kickstarter for my debut picture book Hilda & Richie ended. The campaign was a resounding success and I am now a picture book author right up there with greats like Dr. Seuss, Beatrix Potter, Richard ScarrJack Keats, Mercer Mayer and many more! But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. (Hilda & Richie has its own blog anyway.)

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I have big announcements to make regarding Sunnyville Stories. Sometime ago, I announced a planned reprint of my original comics. I want to expand on that; as a committee of one, I came to a series of decisions after lots of thinking and several cups of coffee.

First, the reprint I planned – Sunnyville Stories: Beginnings – will go ahead as planned. I’ve left my Sunnyville work on the back burner for too long and it’s high time I get back to it.

Second, the planned Sunnyville Stories reprint will be digital only! In fact, there will be a small Kickstarter later this year to help cover costs; we’re talking $100 to 300. I will put this up for sale on Amazon, Comixology and Payhip.

Third, there still may be a print edition in the future. I may run Kickstarters in 2023 and 2024 to fund new runs of Sunnyville Stories books.

The next question you may have is why I am doing digital only and not print editions. My plan was to crowdfund print copies; the recent Hilda & Richie Kickstarter proves I can raise funds in the $1,000-4,000 range. The problem? During said Kickstarter, my resources were badly mauled. I need time to rebuild and strengthen my email list. This is a necessity if I ever expect to fund more books and comics. I also need to review marketing. Besides my own sources, I’m going to need additional help on that so I’m consulting with outside assistance. I meant to overhaul my email list last year but made the mistake of putting it off.

Another reason why I am sticking to digital only? I still have print copies of the older editions. My plan was to liquidate the older copies during 2020 but the events of that year stopped all events like conventions. To be honest, I want to get rid of all the old print books first before moving onto reprints.

So you should be expecting the Sunnyville Stories reprint later this year. I have one more decision to announce in regards to that…but that will wait until tomorrow.

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Five Days Left For Hilda and Richie

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Max West

Five days remain for my picture book Kickstarter Hilda & Richie. We have since funded and we’re working towards our first stretch goal. Once we hit $3100, all backers get a digital sketchbook of Hilda & Richie wearing various outfits.

On the Sunnyville front, I’m still thinking over how to handle the planned Sunnyville reprint. Fighting to get this picture book of mine funded was not easy and I don’t want to risk the same challenges with funding a reprint of a remastered Sunnyville book.

This is not an easy decision; it’s a big one to make and I want until Saturday 2/6/2021 to think things through. On that day I want to make a final decision about how to proceed with Sunnyville.

In the meantime, please go back Hilda & Richie on Kickstarter!

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Mulling the Sunnyville Reprint

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Max West

Earlier today, the Hilda and Richie Kickstarter fully funded. My first picture book will be a reality! I am now a picture book author.

My feelings on this Kickstarter are mixed. Yes, I am pleased that it funded and I was able to raise more money than my comic book Kickstarters.

However, it took A LOT of effort to get to this point. My resources too were badly mauled in the attempt to get funded. My mailing list has suffered and will need to be rebuilt. Sadly, I put that off as I meant to do it last year; I will need that to fund future picture books and more comics.

Another problem I had was that some backers did not support this Kickstarter. It may be because it’s a different type of work, being a book for children rather than a comic. Current events also played a role in some of my past backers not returning this time.

While I still plan to go ahead with the planned Sunnyville Stories reprint, I need to think things over and decide how to proceed given the challenges of this Kickstarter.

Once the Kickstarter ends, I will make a final decision. Stay tuned for more news.

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