A few other new things this week:

New fanart from Chu of Slightly Damned!

I helped her put together a few things for her comic’s new website-in-the-works, so she drew me some art. It’s double awesome because no one ever draws my human characters, so Luke is finally getting some love. Thanks, Chu! :D

I’ve cleaned up my Links page because the disorganization finally got to me. This includes a couple of new link exchanges, some new Messenger banners for linking out, and general cleanup.

There’s also a new vote incentive minicomic that’s going to run for the next six weeks! I had some things I wanted to experiment with and decided to do a short comic based on a “deleted scene” from Chapter One. It’s short and uncomplicated, and I wanted to get back into the swing of drawing Aki and some others to mentally prepare for Chapter Eight. Voting will take you to the page, and all the archive pages will be posted for registered members on the forum the following week.

Other than that, I finally got in a handful of new supplies I ordered for general comic work and work on the new Chapter Two pages for Book 2! Exciting. Especially considering the brief moment of panic I had when I couldn’t remember which address I used for shipping. Whoops. At any rate, I’m glad to be coloring Eldora without feeling like I’m grinding my markers to dust, again, so hooray! Stuff like this is where reader donations go! Even a little bit helps me keep my supplies stocked, since the entire comic is drawn using real media – and when you donate, you get an exclusive wallpaper! Also, every time $25 is collected in donations or shop purchases, a new regular comic page is posted! Everyone wins!

That’s pretty much all I’ve got for this update. Thanks for reading! See you next Monday!

It’s been a busy week for me setting things up at my new house, but I finally have a desk and a proper workspace for doing comics again, which is really exciting after drawing at random flat surfaces for the past month or so. I managed to cut my thumb pretty badly earlier in the week, which kind of sucked. I’m just glad it wasn’t my drawing hand. D:

This is the LAST FULL WEEK for the extra page drive! If you’ve been thinking about commissioning me or buying something from the shop, February 28 is the final day of the page drive! All purchases from the shop, book purchases from lulu, commissioned art, and donations (which will snag you a copy of the current donation wallpaper!) in before midnight EST on the 28th will count towards earning a new page. One bonus page has been earned so far, and there’s still hope for a second page before the week is out. No contribution is too small!

The Cast page has been updated to include better descriptions and information, as well as some side characters who are still critical to the story. Everything has also been condensed into one main page for easier reference.

I have changed the policy for comments here this week. From now on, comments on pages will automatically close after seven days. Further commentary can go on in the forum. Any comments or complaints about this change can be taken up on the forums.

As usual, there is a new vote incentive this week, featuring Finnegan! We haven’t seen much of the younger of the Chio duo yet in the story, so taking a suggestion from the forum, this week’s incentive features facts about Finnegan. (Yet another reason to join the forums if you haven’t already! I’m always interested to hear the kinds of things people want to see on the site.)

That’s about all for this week’s update. Get your shop orders/donations/commission orders in for extra pages soon! Have a great Monday, and a fantastic week!

So who exactly is stalking Eldora, anyway? You’ll have to wait till next week to find out, tee hee. (Or sign up for the forums! I usually post panels from upcoming pages in a secret members-only forum!)

Just a couple of news bits this week:

The first (and most awesome) is that the February page drive is a success so far! $54 was reached in the first week, and the first bonus page went up on Friday. The count currently stands at $74.50 – just about halfway to a second bonus page! You guys rock.

I’m not sure what the heck is going on, but I’ve getting HUGE numbers of new readers over the past few days. So, um, hi, and welcome if you’re new! Please drop in on the forums (which are eerily quiet) and make yourselves known! I haven’t even done anything special in the way of advertising lately. This is kind of cool!

The second new-ish thing is an article – About the Chios. I keep a planning notebook (basically a small-scale universe bible) full of ideas and details about the world of the comic that helps me keep the story on track. Sometimes my brain is full of swiss cheese, and I’m always afraid of leaving out a key point or not closing up a loop when I get to it, and this helps out massively. One of the most major parts of the notebook is the story of the Chios, so I thought it would be interesting to do a little writeup about Chio physiology and where they came from. It’s fairly non-spoilery as long as you’ve read through Chapter Two. I made a couple of little illustrations to go with it, and I have a few more on deck to add later. (Which are also sketchblog fodder…)

Votes have also been up for the past week! Messenger is at just about the highest it’s ever been on TWC, breaking into the low 300′s! Thank you all for your votes and your support, I really appreciate it! (Now if you could just do it again and keep voting, I’d be ecstatic!) There’s a new incentive image this week as well, featuring outtakes from the set of Messenger!

That’s all for this week… Remember the February page drive is going on all month! We’re still early in the month, so there’s plenty of time to get in on the action and tons of opportunity for extra pages!

* It’s nearing the end of January, which means that a whole new month of voting is about to begin! If you have a second or two, I’d really appreciate a vote! Voting takes two clicks and helps expose the comic to new readers! Help me out! <3 There's even a new drawing there if you click all the way through. I have plans for new February incentives, as well!

* The Story Guide has been updated to include the conclusion of Chapter Six and the start of Chapter Seven. This is just a running synopsis of the story chapter by chapter for anyone who wants to check up on something without having to re-read the ENTIRE thing. Not that it’s that long. Although I am coming up on 200 pages. :o

* You can now subscribe to Messenger updates via e-mail in addition to RSS. Signing up for updates will send along the latest new stuff from the site. (Also, because I like to know this stuff when I sign up for things, your e-mail is only used for this subscription and won’t be resold or passed on to anyone else.)

* In other miscellany, I’ve been working on adding more useful tags to each comic page for quick reference, as well as transcriptions to make it more searchable. I’m trying to prepare for the day when I have a huge archive to flip through. One day! ;o;

* I’ve taken down the fall donation wallpaper, so if you missed out on it, sorry! I plan on doing another one eventually. Maybe this spring.

In short, there will be a new page Sunday night/Monday morning, because that’s all anyone really cares about, anyway. :B