For the followers of Pompfiction, I finally produce for you, a full year’s collection of 50 comic pages, over 50 strips, full colored art AND sketches in the first-ever Pompfiction book, volume 1!!! That’s right! The book is on preorder now, and is expected to ship out in September! So put your money down now while it’s only $18!!! Want a copy!? Go to SHOP at Pompfiction!

It was on this day exactly one year ago, that this webcomic officially went live, but it seems like just yesterday. It’s a particular momentous occasion, and I can’t help but get sentimental every time I remember what finally pushed me to produce my work as a steady and constantly updated comic. My whole life, I have been drawing, even since I was a child drawin’ with my poop on the wall (ask me about it sometime >.> its not pretty). I used to draw comics in crayon and pen with my sister, and later dabbled in digital comics using Oekaki, but upon reaching college at the Savannah College of Art and Design, I began to pursue the real venture of professional comics. My first year there, I saw a seminar by Prof Jeremy Mullins  and Bob Pendarvis on the possibilities of a career in webcomics, and the liberations the medium provides and I knew right then and there, THAT was what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I studied abroad in Lacoste, France, that this website really came into being as I took a class on webcomics with Jeremy Mullins. The class consisted of two students, me included, and gave me the chance I needed to have one-on-one help venturing into the world of site building with Comicpress. Though after the semester let out, and after school was over for the summer, I felt like sooo many other artists do once they’re finally armed with the tools and knowledge necessary to finally do something with their life. “Eh. I’m not ready.”

That single phrase is the killer of every artist’s potential and future, in my opinion. It’s the greatest brick wall you’ll ever face. “I’m  not good enough yet.” And so there I sat all summer, with a comic ready to go, and a site, while not fully polished, ready to show the world my work, but I just never had the drive to get up and do it. It wasn’t until that summer when my professor passed away from a tragic accident, that my life turned around. It hit me. Life IS short. If you just keep waiting to be good enough, one day those doors of opportunity will close. There is NO time like today, to begin your dreams, and I knew if I didn’t start my comic that very summer, and SET a date to launch it, I would never make anything of my life. And so, I just did it. I set the date, August 28th, and promised myself I would launch this comic, if not for myself, then for the man who encouraged me to believe I should. And so I have consistently updated without missing a single date, every Wednesday and Friday since August 28th 2009, and I couldn’t be happier. Yes there were many late nights where I barely met the deadline, yes there were many times I felt like giving up. Afterall, it was my senior year of college and I had no buffer built. I was doing pages the night they were “due,” often staying up till 5AM to get it out there. But every time I thought about giving up, I looked back at the sheer amount that I had already produced and said to myself “I can’t stop here.” It is like a snowball effect, guys, I’m telling you. Once you just start doing it, you will be encouraged by your accomplishments to just keep producing more. When you screw up, or you produce a page you’re not proud of, you just gotta keep on moving, and get over that hump, because before long it will be yesterday’s page and you can move on to better yourself in the next!

AND SO it is because of my desire to encourage every young artist out there, every writer, every reader and watcher of my little comic, that I reveal to you the new Pompfiction Oekaki Board, Pompadoodles! It’s a free online drawing program and forum just like how I started drawing online when I was in middle school! The simple tools make it easy to draw even if you don’t have a tablet! So now there’s no excuse for “not having programs” or “not having a tablet” not to draw! Get out there and draw today! For more info check out the board at Pompadoodles or by clicking the link in the top left, or even by clicking Pompadoodles in the menu bar above!

Aside from that, we now have a digital version of the Character Profile Form! This is a form I’ve created that you fill out about characters you have created either for writing, roleplay, comics, or anything, that will better help you get an understanding for character motivation, history, physicality, and psychological characteristics! It has been a LONG time in the making and thanks to my high school buddy Elaine Butler for coding the whole thing for me from scratch! So check that out up in the top menubar under Links, or just click here!

BUT WAIT! That’s not ALL you get! Maybe you’re not the creating TYPE, and all you want to do is just see more Pompfiction! Well get this! Every Monday, come back and see the collaborative efforts between me and my college buddy Celest (Character designer of Susie B. Goode), known as Comic Libs! These are add-lib style comics, made up on the spot, drawn simultaneously on the same canvas between me and her as we create hilarious situations with some of your favorite Pompfiction characters such as Susie B. Goode and Ernie Aliberti as well as many others! Heck, you might even see some new faces! For more about what ARE Comic Libs, check out the FAQs here! Today you get just a sampling of what’s to come starting Monday, and will continue on for every Monday, giving you a reason to actually LIKE the first day of the week again!

Contest Winners will be posted soon!!!

SPECIAL THANKS:

Thank you to every reader and follower of Pompfiction for your support, for your kind comments or your silent views! I could not have done this without my viewers! From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Thanks to Phil Hofer of ComicPress for practically making this site run! He was there for me when I had NO one to turn to, and when all hope seemed lost and I was on the edge of tears, he was right there to give me a hand. Man, if you like the way Pompfiction runs, please give him a big thanks, donate to Comicpress and/or to Phil himself, show him how much he means to the comic community. Please check out his site here.

A big shout out to my sister, without whom, I would not have ever begun to draw as a kid. She’s been my inspiration, my brain, and my creative partner for longer than I can remember. And a shout out to my supportive parents who actually believe art can be made a career as much as I do.

Thank you to Elaine Butler for all your coding help. We spent the first month or two of Summer just hackin’ away at the character profile form, to get that up and running, and hopefully I’ll continue to pretty up that page, but what you see right now is what you get!

Thank you Celest, for your support. It was drawing with you that really help keep me inspired to pursue Pompfiction, and thanks to your generous donation of a whole character, rights and all. You still can’t comprehend how much it means to me. I look forward to working with you again!

I could go on, but I need to give it a rest. Tis only the first anniversary. Let’s see it through to another!