New Project Announcement!

I'm a firm believer in first impressions... so, rather than whip a bunch of "words" and "sales pitches" at you, or "beg" for your interest in my musings, lemme hit you with an image that lands EXACTLY what my newest collaborative project is all about:

He's fancy... he's high society... he's a gentleman... and he's judging you.

What you are seeing here is the FIRST piece of concept art for Judgmental Giraffe, pencilled/inked by the ridiculously amazing Leslie Gauthier and colored by the equally as amazing Sara Sowles of Killustration Studios. This is the product of what happens when you put a whole bunch of creative-types in a room together after a convention (or in this case, the officially unofficial after-party of the MSU Comics Forum).

Now that I have your attention, allow me to officially announce this project. *Ahem*

Coming late summer/early fall 2014, to an interweb near you: Follow the exploits of Judgmental Giraffe and a host of other equally ridiculous characters in Animal Nature, a new collaboration between myself and artist Leslie Gauthier.

The "Elevator" Pitch: Animal Nature provides a unique, tongue-in-cheek look at the best and worst of human nature through the eyes of an anthropomorphic cast of animals who live, work and interact side-by-side with their human counterparts.

The backstory: Leslie and I have talked off and on about working on a side project together for a while. After a phone conversation a few months back, the wheels began turning. I awoke the next morning with an image of a fancy, tuxedo-wearing, monocle-rockin', smarmy giraffe in my head. I frantically called Leslie back and explained in a completely rational and not crazy-man-rambling sort of way what it was that I had thought up... and the concept was born. Over the next few days, I began getting a lot of ideas down on paper... mainly for an entire cast of characters, including my personal favorites: Dapper Dolphin and Emotionally Unstable Elephant. There's much more in store, but a lady can't give away all her secrets now, can she?

When and where can you expect to see more? We're really just getting started on this, and we'll want to build up a backlog of content before posting begins... so likely not for a few months. Both Leslie and I will be at Cincy Comicon in September, so I would expect that we would be up and rolling by that point. As for the "where"- our good friend, artist and webmaster over at Two For One Comics Sherief has offered the comic a home on the Two For One site when we are ready to go, which is way cool of him and super exciting! However, if you want to be one of the lucky few to pick up a limited "sneak peek" preview pack... read on.

Next weekend, at Cherry Capital Comic Con, Leslie and I will be offering an EXTREMELY limited number of sneak peek preview packs for sale to officially launch the comic- stop on out, pick one up, and be among the very first to jump on board our new project! In the sneak peek pack, you'll get a Judgmental Giraffe pinback button, a super-cool 16 oz can-shaped Judgmental Giraffe glass, and an Animal Nature preview comic! Here's a look at the button and glassware artwork:

Again- these will be limited, and will NOT last long. Be sure to grab 'em while you can!

As we get closer to a launch date, I will keep everyone updated through the normal channels... Facebook, Twitter, and right here at my poor neglected blog.