As you all probably know already, the Coronavirus scare is taking a toll on the convention and live event circuit. This resulted in the cancellation/postponement of next week’s Planet Comicon in Kansas City. A large event I was counting on to recoup some production costs. To compensate, I’m promoting a sale on the Astray3 Big Cartel shop.
All purchases will come with bonus goodies! Either a free cover print or mini-print with your order! Get them while supplies last!
Branson comic con is now in the past. A great and fairly profitable experience. Special thanks to the crew who put the show on. Next, will be Planet Comicon in Kansas City It’s bound to be a busy weekend of comicy goodness.
Now, down to Astray3 comic business. As the last week proved, we are entering the time of update hiccups. Conventions and other businesses have started to gnaw into comic production time. There are three completed pages in the pipeline for the next three weeks. With another page currently in production, we should have at least four weeks of uninterrupted updates. I will try my best to make it five weeks of uninterrupted updates; no guarantees though.
That is all for today. I will leave you with a WIP of a new small Spider-verse print I’m working on. The new page of Astray3 should be posting momentarily.
A Hellion from Darkest Dungeon. Not a minor reason the comic has been postponed.
Bad news A3 faithful,
Regrettably, there won’t be an Astray3 update this Monday. Due to the prior hectic week, I wasn’t able to get the lettering and compositing finished on the next set of comics in time. Rather than posting the page later in the week, I’ve opted to push the next update to the following Monday. Sorry for the wait. Return next Monday for a brand new installment.
The comic convention season has started in force. Following is a picture of my current booth set up at the recent Fayetteville Comic Show. Next weekend will be Branson Comic Con. ….or Kevin Sorbo con with how much they advertise him. ( Oh, the above piece is a Hellion from Darkest Dungeon. Not a minor reason why the comic is postponed this week. )
I’m going to try to make these updates more of a regular thing. We will see how long that lasts…
The above image is a creature design for Assorted Geekdom’s upcoming RPG project. The mysterious aquatic race known as the Uku’ Bant. I experimented with the rendering approach for this piece. Created it as a grayscale then added the color via blending layers. I’m fairly pleased with the result.
Next weekend I will be taking Astray3 to the Fayetteville Comic Show. Promises to be a fun event with a ton of cool guests.
The weekend directly after the Fayetteville event, I will be heading to Branson, MO for the three day Branson Comic Con. Or as the Simpsons put it…
And have I shown you guys the current booth? Probably not. Here is a pic from the previous Neosho Artscon.
My first set of rad stickers is now up on the big cartel shop! https://astray3.bigcartel.com/ Beautiful high-quality KISS cut vinyl stickers! And a reminder, Patreon patrons get discounts and other perks for new merch releases.
The above art is a revamp of an old Procreate favorite. It’s going to be part of a small series of prints I’m making for upcoming conventions. It’s kind of tough reworking an old piece rather than creating a whole new one. Go figure…
That’s all for now! Be back soon with more art and comics!
Just a quick sneak peek at my first set of stickers! These will be available on the big cartel shop soon. Patreon members will get a discount on the whole set.
Yes, soon Astray3 chapter 4 will begin! In the wee hours of Monday morning, a fresh new page will be posted! So, let’s update a few things.
There are a few changes to how pages and translated versions will be posted for 2020. There will no longer be a waiting period for translations. When a new A3 page posts, it will be followed shortly by the decoded version. ( This will last until no longer necessary. ) Thus, the reading order for chapter four will be the original page, translated page, next alien lingo page and so on. As much as I enjoy my vision of creating an immersive foreign world, I get that it can be annoying to folks who just want to read the work. How this will affect the future printed versions? I don’t know yet.
New pages should role out consistently for the next couple of months. I do, sadly, predict a lot of irregularities in posting. Most of you already know that last year I started attending conventions and art events to promote the comic and work. For 2020, I’m pushing to attend triple the amount of events. ( Almost a convention a month; sometimes more. ) Obviously, this means more time away from the drawing table. This will result in some short months. But, I will try to keep them rolling out.
What else can you expect from me in 2020? There will be another art book about mid-year covering part of 2019 and 2020. Also, look for new merch items in the Astray3 store. I will be creating a ton of new stuff for my con booth. On that note, If you use Patreon, please consider supporting Astray3. I’m too busy to put exclusives there. However, I do provide subscribers with discount codes for merch releases…and sometimes physical freebies. Alternately, consider buying some books from the Astray3 store. Any support is much appreciated.
And that is all for now! Look for a new comic post soon!
Page posting will largely follow the previous chapter. The main update will post on Monday with the translation following on Saturday. ( If necessary…wink…wink. )
I have a fair number of pages prepared as an update buffer. This should provide about three months of consistent updates. However, I have an aggressive convention/event schedule planned for 2020. That means loads of crucial art time spent traveling and schilling books. I will strive for at least one page a week, but we will probably have to settle for two to three pages a month. Sigh…C’est La Vie.
No need to end on a downer though. Astray3 is back! This will be the biggest chapter yet; along with an epilogue to round out the first part of the new adventure! Be back soon with more art and comics!
