Ah, the joys of having a cat. At least it is easy to clean.

People are always amazed when I tell stories of Frances stealing food from the table. I’ve heard from other basset and bagel (bagle) owners that they get the same reactions. Really it all comes down to big dog, stubby legs. The math is there, all they need is the motivation (and food is the greatest hound motivator).

So today is the first day of the new Hello with Cheese artist and since I don’t think I’ve mentioned him here before I wanted to make sure I did. I really like what I’ve seen of O’s work. I have yet to make it through Commissioned‘s archive but I very much like his work and sense of humor. I think it is a perfect fit for dern and HWC. I’ve sneaked a peek so I know some of what he is bringing to the table and it is pretty awesome.

His first HWC comic went up this morning and while it is a work of art, be warned you can not un-see it. Also be sure to pop over to Commissioned to see how he and dern came to an understanding as to the terms of their partnership.

So here it is, my final day on HWC. I’d love to tell you I have something profound planned to take its place but that is just not the case. Do I have plans? Sure… but I’ve watched (and had) too many plans fall through to start announcing them now.

What I will say is that I have talked to some other creators and have some collaborations in the works. Both in comics and book illustration. What will come of them we will have to see. And who knows, maybe I’ll be pitched the next big thing tomorrow and I have no idea yet.

But for now, a little vacation.

And this sketch blog. I can’t NOT work AT ALL.

Seriously, c’mon now. It’s like you don’t even know me.

Jumping the gun a little on this week’s pin-up sketch. Figured I’d use tomorrow to talk about what my post HWC plans are. Anyway… today’s drawing was done for one Barb Fischer for her roller girl sketchbook this past weekend at Balticon. “Why a roller girl sketchbook?” you may ask. Well, because of her (and Chris Impink’s) new-ish comic SLEDGEBUNNY, of course.

Remember this guy?

It’s been a while since I’ve drawn Frances so I thought that would be a good way to start the week. I like how she has developed into the new style. Good times.