Hey guys… I’ve been absent from the site for a while… Which I feel awful about, but I haven’t just been cooling my heels.  I’ve been hard at work collaborating with a pair of writers in Vancouver on some long format comic work!  The stories have been fun despite the heavy workload.  But if you miss seeing my work stop on by at

Condo Of Mystery

Rawb

Autumn has made landfall in the realm and has established itself a beachhead.  Slowly weakening our defences so that when mighty winter rears it’s head it finds our resolve weak and pliable as the woollen garments we so futilely armor ourselves with.

The tides of frost and ice come, and we are but brittle fodder in the face of its FURY!

But luckily there’s that great fall line up on TV to get us through the worst of it.  Am I right?

Rawb

Hey doods!

Sigh, its funny how life works isn’t it? So I was back on track this past Tuesday. Had the comic written, sketched, lettered, inked and the colour started… Then Wednesday rolled around and I did something horrible to my back.

Last year in April I slipped a disc and it looks like that injury decided to come back for a return performance. Having had this injury before I tried to do some of the stretches I was shown in physio last year, but that only seemed to aggravate the problem. So when my wife got home from work we headed out to see a doctor… only to find out that every walk in clinic in our area was closed for the evening… yeah… that was awesome.

So I finally found a place that was open, the waiting room practically bursting with sick folks ( honestly most of them didn’t even look like they had the sniffles ) . An hour or so later when the doctor saw me he spent a whopping 2 minutes with me and sent me out with a prescription for some seriously under powered meds. That first night was joy personified.

Went and saw my regular doctor the next day and actually got something more appropriate for my condition as well as a ‘script for some physio. I was laid up on the couch and in bed for a couple of days. Being off work like that probably should have been fun, but honestly it’s diminished when your stuck in bed not wanting to even roll over.

Sigh

Anywho, I’m back up and about. My back discomfort is now tolerable, as is evidenced by my completion of the comic! Hopefully this little setback wont effect me too much, I do want to keep up with the comic.

Rawb

My absentee streak from making webcomics has finally come to an end!

Working on this strip I went back and checked the date of my last update.  Imagine the shame I felt as I counted the weeks, nay MONTHS it has been since an update.  But that’s all in the past now.

I’M BACK BABY!

So over the past couple of months I’ve been working on a great little comic by début writers Jay Cormier and Tim Reinert.  Jay is one half of a design team that is bringing us a brand new worker placement / resource management boardgame called “Belfort.”  The comic I was illustrating takes place in the same universe and is the first instalment in what I hope becomes a whole series of comics called “Tales of Belfort.”  We’ll be releasing the comic one page at a time starting sometime soon.  Keep your eye here for the URL once the site is up and running!

Rawb

I’ll be back with some more information as soon as I can.

Rawb

So there’s a Canadian Election looming… This is the kind of thing that usually doesn’t grip my attention in any profound way.  Don’t get me wrong… I’m an informed and active citizen, I vote in every election I can.  But elections here in the great white north are rarely the event they are in the States.  But this year things are a little different.

  The difference is two fold.  First of all, one of the candidates is a lively, likable guy with some really great sounding promises.  He’s Promising the kind of things that I would have jumped at in College.  Better Healthcare, Employment Insurance, more social services, better education, greener energy sources… pretty much everything every Canadian family wants.  But here comes the second difference…  There’s a part of me these days that asks the question, “who’s gonna pay for all of this?”  The answer is of course… Me.  I’m gonna pay for it with my taxes.  Now maybe it’s because I’m getting cynical as I’m getting older, or maybe now that I have a family I’m looking further to the future.  I’m starting to care a little less about what the government can GIVE me, then what they can do to HELP me keep my job so I can feed and shelter my family. 

  I’m caring less about the fact that there are people out there (business owners and the like) that are getting paid more, and maybe doing less to deserve it.  It doesn’t seem as important to me anymore.  If it wasn’t for people like that running corporations, I wouldn’t have a job to go to every day so I can bring home a paycheck.  Sure there are other ways to make a living, but a lot of them seem to involve a lot more time and effort out of an individual, and I’ve been doing my best lately to find as much time as I can to spend with my family.

  So it looks like I’m leaning a little to the right in my political view these days… And although a part of me finds it a bit unexpected… the rest of me is comfortable with my decision.

Rawb

- Insert appropriately shocking / funny untrue statement here -

- Follow with declaration of April Fools -

This strip should have gotten posted last Friday, but I got sidetracked and the colouring ended up being postponed until today.  But hey, better late then never right?

So I posted an idea I had on twitter last week and I think I’m going to put it into action starting this Wednesday…

I get a lot of requests for extra content in the form of tutorial and work in progress shots.  I know that a lot of comic creators stream their comic creation live via ustream and similar services, but I don’t have the time to do a comic start to finish any more.  I came up with an idea that is similar, but more manageable for me to accomplish.  Instead of videos, the plan is to take screenshots as I work and form mini tutorials I can post each week of last week’s comic.

Hopefully this idea works out and all you process junkies out there will enjoy the little taste of the creative side of working on the comic.

Rawb

So I’ve finally decided to get back to working on the comic more regularly. In earnest this time… Between Mason finally getting to the point where he goes to bed at the same time every night, and structuring our evening a little more strictly, I’ve found some time to do some of my own work for about an hour each night. Now at the moment I’ll be splitting the days of the week between the comic and teaching myself to animate in 3D. I’ll be alternating nights for the next little while. Regardless though, you will all be seeing a new comic far more frequently!

 There is a certain amount of wrestling you do with yourself as a creative individual. The great thing about being creative is the steady flow of interesting things that cross your mind on, for the most part, a daily basis. In fact, the only thing that seems to be able to stop the deluge of ideas seems to be, actively seeking one.

Now the thing about these ideas are, they all tend to involve a good deal of work for them to be fully realized. The reality of a good idea, is that it is nearly always “half baked.” I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. I have a lot of hobbies, most of which are on semi-permanent hiatus at the moment. But pretty much all of my hobbies have their root in my desire to “make things.”I have no allusions about being alone in this particular affliction. My current operating practice to deal with these compulsions is to humour myself and indulge in the activity for a while, but thus far all I end up with is a room full of half finished projects. I’ve been thinking that it might be better if I just recorded the ideas in some sort of journal and then come back to them when I have the time. If anything I might be able to relieve some of the stress of dealing with this creative diarrhoea.

If there is anyone else out there who has the same issue and has discovered a good way to deal with it, I’d love to hear from you!
Rawb

The thing with preparing yourself for the arrival of a new baby is, you make these lists… mental or actual physical lists, of all the things you need to do before the kid is born.  Almost without fail the magnitude of said list is daunting.  Safety, cleanliness, home repair, tax returns, bank account management, preparing the nursery… its amazing what can be left on the back burner if you aren’t careful.

Hey!  Wouldja look at that?  I actually updated!  You know every time I think I’m getting a handle on this whole baby thing… Mason turns it on it’s head.  These days I’m finding it hard to find the time to sit down and doodle, let alone flesh out an entire comic.

I’m sure that things will all fall into place sooner or later, but for now it’s still a bit trying.  I’ve been figuring out ways to cut down on the time I spend doing the more mundane sides of some of my other hobbies so I can squeeze them into my limited time… for instance, I’ve been running my D&D game in a more “free form” style lately which has allowed for less prep time.  I’m still trying to figure out how I can apply this new philosophy to the comic… but as yet it has borne no fruit.

Hey guys!

Now I know that a lot of you were enjoying the new “long format” pages I was working on recently, but they are going to have to be put on hold for a bit.  As much as it pains me to cut them short in the middle of an arch like this…. I just feel like I cannot produce them fast enough to be posting them as a “weekly” strip on the site.  I’m going to keep working on them here and there in my spare time and when the story is complete, I’ll post them on the site.  Until then it’s back to the old four panel adventures!

Rawb

Sorry that this week was short a comic… for those of you who saw the updated blog post and my twitter followers, my grandmother is doing fine.  She had a break in her upper arm right near the shoulder joint.  She’s doing alright, but still in a lot of pain.  Thanks for all the well wishing.

Rawb

So life is becoming easier by the day as we are adapting to the new miniature human who is currently sharing the house with us… So much so that I’ve finally scheduled in my first Post Baby D&D game!  I’ve given myself a little over two weeks to prepare for the event, so I better get crackin!  I’m thinking Ninjas, Burning Buildings and a Corrupt government with a monstrous secret agenda!  I’ll post some of the stuff I’m going to be putting together for the sessions, including some maps i’ll be making on my brand new Easel sized pad of 1″ square ruled paper!

Rawb

Update:  Sorry there was no comic yesterday.  My Grandma had a bad fall and fractured her arm, and with my Dad out of town for the weekend, I was the emergency contact.  So I spent a good chunk of the day at the hospital with her.  She’s doing okay now though and my Dad is coming back today so he’ll be able to look after her.

I finally got something pretty important done this week between the screaming, feeding and cleaning of my first born child.

The process of creating a comic is time consuming to say the least.  And in order to make the whole thing happen as efficiently as possible, I have located and exploited a few shortcuts.  One of which involves creating a new photoshop file for the next strip.  I tend to open an old strip and then “Save As” a new file… but every so often I accidentally forget that first step and proceed to just work over top of the original strip, thus losing the original… Well hopefully those blunders are a thing of the past!  Because I finally got around to clearing off an old hard drive and enabled Time Machine for my Mac!  Hooray for backups!  I’ve gotta say the sense of security is quite satisfying.

Rawb

Hey! Look at that!  Against all odds I was able to get the comic done tonight.  Well I’m glad it worked out, because Tuesday’s comic being late really set me back on my comic making schedule.  Hopefully I can find some more time to squeeze in more work on the strip between wiping up spit up and changing diapers… I’ll keep you all posted.

Rawb

Phew! Finally done the comic!  Sorry about the delay folks… A crying baby does not a productive Daddy make.  Unfortunately taking care of our spawn takes priority over the comic… or so my wife tells me. 

It’s amazing how easy it is to lay out a plausible schedule for getting something like a comic accomplished on a regular basis.  It really doesn’t take much.  A pencil, piece of paper and the knowledge that each week comes with 7 days and each day 24 hours… minus time for work, eating and sleeping and WOW look at all that time!  What is even easier is for that schedule to be derailed by a tiny event like some friends or family stopping by!  I find myself railing against the ticking of the clock, trying to find time to do the things I love to to, like drawing the comic… so far I believe I’m breaking even on these endeavors… we’ll have to see how long that lasts.

Rawb

Hey guys and dolls!

I’m typing to you from the 50s…. apparently…. So seems like La hose Intéressante du Jour is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  I can’t seem to get through the day without someone telling me that I need to see this movie.  Well I got news for ya.  I KNOW it’s a great movie and I WOULD go to see it but I CAN’T.  Having a child that is less then a month old tends to hamper one’s potential for movie going… Sigh, yeah I’m a little bitter…. but watching my kid gurgle and burp is infinitely better then any cinematic adventure right?!  No… I had a child, not a frontal lobotomy… Ah well, I guess this one is a DVD purchase.

Rawb

Finally got around to uploading this image to the site.  It was sent to me by Lou Manglass of “Yet Another Webcomic.”  Lou’s been reading the comic for a long time now and I actually got to meet him at PAX East this year for an evening of Beer and Munchkin.  Lou sent me this piece of fan art just after my son was born and I’ve been meaning to get it up on the site for a while.  Either way it’s up now for you all to enjoy!  Also, be sure to check out his site to read his comic and check out his process page and gadgets!

It’s a peculiar thing having a baby… my time is becoming ever more constricted.  Despite the fact that I’m reducing as many non-mandatory commitments as possible in order to care for my spawn, the available time for shenanigans seems to be decreasing at a steady pace.  It turns out that in order to function in any acceptable capacity while at work, the human brain requires sleep…. yeah, who would have thought.  So I find myself going to bed at about 8 pm every night so that I can amass as close to eight hours as possible… I say amass because said sleep comes in random increments lasting anywhere between one and three hours.  I asked some other parental units I am aquatinted with about this phenomenon and the majority of answers I received seemed to be delivered in some form of code that resembles laughter quite acutely… a mystery to be sure.  Regardless I continue to wade through the turbid waters of parenthood and will continue my attempt at creating something I hope will entertain you.

Rawb

I’m Back!

So today was my first day back at work as well, and wow!  I was super tired.  As any parent knows, the first few weeks of a baby’s life with you involves getting up every 2-3 hours to feed the kid throughout the night… Needless to say, I have not completely adjusted to the broken sleep schedule…  It was a rough day energy wise… I’m sure it’ll get better
Rawb

PS:  I added a picture of Mason to last week’s post about his birth! Click to See

Hey guys!

Sorry about falling off the grid there this week, but as my sister in law said in her comment on the comic, we finally had our baby!  Mason Brady Lundy was born Monday morning at 3:15 am.  He was 7 lbs 3 oz and 21″ in length.  Unfortunately he ended up having to stay in the hospital till Thursday morning, and they did not have internet access available, so I wasn’t able to update the site while I was there.  They kept telling me every night that we’d be able to go home in the morning, but every morning they told us it would be another day.  Needless to say I was a little frustrated by that.  Anyway, he’s home now and doing fantastic.  I’m off work for another week to help Amanda find a little bit of a routine with him and figure out his needs a little more.  I won’t be posting a comic until NEXT Tuesday… so I can spend as much time as possible tending to the little guy.  That’s not to say that I won’t be doing some writing for the strip… I just don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself at the moment.  Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and for understanding that I need a little time off.

See you guys in a week!
Rawb

So today was officially my wife’s Due date… which means that the baby has until the 28th and then our doctor has planned to induce labor.  Which is actually kinda neat, cause it means that I can plan for the baby to be born in the next seven days… cause that’s the latest it’s gonna happen.  I’ll keep you guys posted!

Rawb

Hey guys!  I’m sorry I wasn’t able to upload a comic last Thursday.  My Wife is rapidly approaching her due date and I find myself scrambling with the last minute stuff that is so important, like prepping hospital bags, installing the car seat… that kind of stuff.  I’m going to do my best to get another comic up this coming Thursday, but if the baby comes before then there won’t be one.  When the baby is born I’ll be taking a two week break from comic updates, but I’ll do my best to post some pictures of the new kid and I’ll try to get a little ahead on the writing.  Hope you guys understand!

Rawb

Hey guys!  I hope you guys are having nice weather this summer!  It has been hot as hell here in Ottawa.  This whole week has been around the low to mid 30s (mid 90s for all you Fahrenheit users)  and last week we even had a day were we hit 41 degrees with the humidity! (105 F)  Buh… thank god I sprang for the AC unit with the new house!

Rawb

Hey guys! I know I have been a little absent from the Twitter Sphere as of late… I’ve been trying to get a little bit of stuff done that I’ve wanted to work on before the baby gets here… and I’m making some progress on it, but the weather has been so god awfully hot here in Ottawa, that it’s slow going… I’ll post some pictures of what I’m working on later on.

Rawb

Hey guys! Canada day was a blast, hope all my friends south of the Border enjoyed their 4th of July as well!

Rawb