Premise Beach

I’ve been making Premise Beach for five years now, which is just plain crazy.  I’m not quite sure I believe it, especially since the first few years of the comic (the “every character is someone I know” years) have been more or less misplaced.

I want to thank everyone who’s supported the strip: whether it’s by telling friends, commenting on the site, giving me advice on things I can improve on, inspired comics, or even just sticking with me as I’ve altered the strip from its these-are-all-totally-inside-jokes beginnings into the short-story-and-relationship-based mess that it is today.

Thanks to The Argus, the Lakehead University newspaper, for giving me a chance five years ago when I submitted four hastily-scrawled panels that depicted a cartoony version of myself being hit by a leaf and subsequently turning into a raccoon a la Mario 3.  A lot of the student population of LU wouldn’t get that joke today, which horrifies me.  Without The Argus, there’s no way I would be doing this right now.  When they gave me a cheque at the end of that first school year for the comics I had submitted, it was great, but keep in mind that I never thought I was going to get paid.

Thanks to everyone who hasn’t been pissed off when they’ve showed up in the strip without their consent, and everyone who has been, but hid it very well.

Thanks to Andrew Brown, who built my website, tearing Comicpress apart and putting it back together into a horrifying Frankenstein monster of clean code as he did so, and hasn’t made me pay server fees yet.  The day will come, I’m sure.

Thanks to Evan Hodgins, Rachel Olsen, Tom Peotto, and all the other comicky types that I’ve come across and had the pleasure of talking to over the years.  It’s great to know that I’m not the only one slaving away in obscurity.

Thanks to everyone who’s commissioned me to make poster or caricatures, and everyone who’s bought merch!  More Thunder Bay <3s Duluth shirts are coming down the pipeline, so tell your friends, and make my day!

Thanks to all the people who have gotten on my ass those times when I’ve burned out and gone without updating for weeks at a time.  I’m happy to say that those times are well in the past.

Thanks to all the great cartoonists that have inspired me: Bill Watterson, Mitch Clem, Kris Straub, Danielle Corsetto, John Allison, Eight(!), and about a million more.

I can’t imagine not doing this, and I want to thank every single one of you for supporting me and staying with me.  You keep reading, and I’ll keep making ‘em.

Thanks.

Hey, you guys know that I make posters, right?  I’ve been making quite a bit of them the past week or so, so I thought I’d share ‘em!

Clearly, an homage to the cover of Avengers #4.  I like how Jean-Paul De Roover ended up as Namor.  He’s almost exactly like Namor!

I’m going to be working at this one, doing twenty minute commissions.  You tell me what you want, and I draw it the best I can in twenty minutes!  I hope no one asks for nudie picks of anything at all.

The best part about making posters is coming up with ideas.  It’s basically an excuse to draw anything you want, most of the time!  I wanted to draw an astronaut.  And then I did!

I’m so worried that half of the kids at the show won’t even understand what this guy’s supposed to be doing, and that the other half only know because their parents explained it to them.  I’m also worried that we live in a world where parents look at concert posters, apparently.

Not featured: posters I’ve done featuring the Jack Chick depiction of God and Big Mac, the chief of police in McDonaldLand, doing some John Woo falling-while-shooting.

Keep in mind, I am available for freelance work.  Got a show that needs a non-boring poster?  I have two thumbs and no real knowledge of how to put together one of those “what has two thumbs and…” jokes!

Well, my computer is taking a long nap, since its internal BIOS battery (understand that I have no idea what I’m talking about) has died, effectively putting poor little Compy in a coma.  I’ve got a new one on the way, but it’s going to take some time, and I that rather than miss more updates, I would share some lost and/or behind the scenes stuff.  Updates most weekdays until I’m back on my feet!

Monday: 2008 24 Hour Comic
Tuesday: Fight Song, a weird experimental comic/warm-up sketch
Wednesday: Independent study.  I’m not your damn monkey!
Thursday: Beth’s comic, Boo-Niversity!
Friday: Whores! (or How I make them funny pictures with the words.  Probably whores.)