While playing around with the Artrage 3 demo, I took up @fuzzytypewriter’s challenge and took a shot at drawing the Muppets. I might come back and ink this at some point.

One of the problems with not drawing for a while is that getting back on the horse can be a pain, especially when you’re just not mentally in the game.

In the case of Jorge the Mutant Boy here (suggested by my buddy and Ten Ton Studios compatriot @Reilly_Brown ), this meant a few more drafts than planned. So as I’m sure you other artists can attest, working (and re-working) on a sketch can tax your confidence when it doesn’t come out how you want it to.

Ultimately, I’m happy with how this came out (even if it took longer than my usual 30 min speed sketch). I see places in my technique that needs work, but that’s all part of the learning/evolving process.

Incidentally, those that aren’t familiar with Jorge should check out the Ten Ton Studios Jam. This was something that we did back in 2006 (?) as a means to telling a story and passing it along to the next person to continue. Lots of fun.

This was the end result of playing around with Sketchbook Mobile on the iPod Touch, and then cleaned up in Sketchbook Pro 2010. I should really get around to reading The Goon at some point.

Well, to say that things haven’t gone according to my plans this time last year would be an understatement. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing — well, it is if you’ve been reading Chibi Cheerleaders.

Well unfortunately for the Chibi fans, things aren’t going to be changing much. Due to a lack of time (on Stacey’s part –she has a lot of new responsibilities at Utah State) and, more importantly, desire (on both our parts), Chibi Cheerleaders is being put on the shelf. And this time, it’s going to stay there.

It’s really for the best. We took much longer to tell the story than we planned, and lost a lot of momentum that we never really gained back. Live and learn, I guess.

That doesn’t mean that there won’t be any new material on the site. In fact, I know there will be at least two new comics posted here in the coming months, as well as more daily sketches and commissions. I don’t know if I’ll keep the blog around since I barely use it (I’ve been much more proficient with Twitter, oddly enough). Maybe I’ll keep it around, but just not have it be the focal point of the front page. We’ll see.

The point is, yet again, there’ll be some changes around here. But while Chibi might now be (in)completed, I’m not quite done yet.

Stay tuned.

Originally this was intended to be an entry into a contest for iFanboy.com. We didn’t win…mostly because Josh is a founding member of iFanboy. (conflict of interest and all that). But in some really good news, it’s now been posted on Top Shelf Comic’s 2.0 site, which showcases a variety of webcomics).

Needless to say, we’re all pretty psyched up about that.

Check it out here!

The program isn’t something I’d use for hi-res work (it seems to really tax the system), but for working at 200-300 dpi, it’s really not that bad.

Anyhoo….click on the image, and it should pop-up on the screen. Laterz!

Chibi Cheerleaders From Outer Space: The webcomic that I’ve been working on with my wife since 2002. At the moment it’s on hiatus since I got swamped with some projects both art and website related. I’m hoping to get back to that quickly (or at least sooner than the previous hiatus that lasted two years).

PNH: The Comic: My first webcomic which ran from 2001-2002. Another one of the “based on real life” type webcomics that helped me get my feet wet on this whole producing online thing.

DeviantArt: Yep, got one of those, too. It’s a bit neglected (much like this site), but it has a good cross-section of art and sketches.

Ten Ton Studios: Started in 2005, this site is for the collection of artists and writers (myself included) that banded together to create Ten Ton Studios. I highly recommend checking out (and participating in) the weekly Sketch Challenge!

Social Networks: I’m a terrible blogger. Terrible. Hence why this site gets neglected — I never feel like I have anything useful/interesting to write. I have become fairly good at using some of these social networks like Twitter , if only because I don’t have to write much. So, if you use Twitter you can find me at @PNHComics (for site/comic updates) or @HavokDH (for my stream of consciousness).

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

For those that want a bit more info on Manga Studio (man, I did a lot of pimpage for that program this weekend), here are a few links to help you along:

Smith Micro’s website (the company distributing the program):
http://my.smithmicro.com/win/graphics.html (Windows)
http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/graphics.html (Mac)

My Manga Studio For Dummies blog:
http://ms4d.pnhcomics.com (there’s not much there at the moment, but if you have questions, e-mail me. I’ll post a an explanation there (and in e-mail)).

At the MS4D blog, there is also a link to where you can purchase the book from various online retailers.

Thanks again for making the ECCC a blast. I’ll definitely be coming back next year!

PS: A big thanks to the folks at the Wacom booth for letting me demonstrate Manga Studio on their Cintiq displays on Sunday! And of course, big props to my Ten Ton Studios cohorts who made it to the Con, and let me grab a chair at the Artist Alley table (I didn’t get one this year myself…something that I’ll be remedying next year).