Introducing… The Adventures of Captain Bacon!

“Captain Bacon” is a spinoff comic of My Sister the Freak. It will feature the characters Captain Bacon and Mary, but in wild imaginary adventures. It will have nothing to do with the main storyline, or even be featured in the same universe as, the main MSTF comic. Think of it as a fantasy world that Mary has created for her and her kitty buddy.

I will feature Captain Bacon stories in between main volumes, or whenever I have a fun adventure I want to share. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think!

Over 100 pages. Full color paperback.

Signed copy (limited availability)

Print copies at Indyplanet (not signed)

Digital copy (PDF)

Eric Merced can whip out a tough superhero, a nifty icon, or a super cute monster with a wave of his Wacom pen. See his wonderful work at http://ericmerced.com.

Eric produces lots of cool sketches over on his blog http://ericmerced.blogspot.com. If you become an instant fan, you can also buy a collection of his work in his sketchbook here (or sample some of his comic work for free here). He is a talented digital artist who is always helpful with tips and knowledge. He has a collection of tutorials, videos, and ebooks available on his website here. He is a pro at inking in Manga Studio and coloring in Photoshop. He also makes some impressive drawings on his iPad.

I’m intrigued by Eric’s next project, an all-ages comic called Waterhead about a government agent who fights other-worldly threats. It looks like Agent Waterhead will be a super fun character. I had fun drawing him. This is a pinup I made for the upcoming comic. Can’t wait to see it!

Thanks to Eric for the lovely MSTF guest art piece. I love how bold and dramatic it is in the style, composition, and design. It is stunning!

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.

If you are a fan of webcomics at all and do not know Krishna Sadasivam, then shame on you! Krishna is the creator of the long-running tech humor webcomic PC Weenies, which has been online since October 1998.

If you are new though, no worries. Catch a summary on this page or buy yourself a copy of the PC Weenies book Rebootus Maximus which conveniently compiles nearly two years worth of comics in order, a great way to catch up on the story.

As a professional illustrator, he specializes in custom comics, logo designs, and other specialty illustration and has had his work on several prominent tech sites and magazines.

With a background in electrical engineering and animation, it’s no wonder Krishna does such a good job with a comic like PC Weenies. He is also a teacher at the Art Institute of Tampa. He is an all-around helpful and knowledgeable guy, not only in art and comics but also computers, Macs, and other geeky stuff.

I’m so happy with Krishna’s MSTF guest art! I love Mary’s cool attitude and the goofy alien!

Thank you Krishna!

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.

This week’s featured guest art comes from Chris Oatley, and as an added bonus, he recorded the making of this image for his podcast! You can catch part one of the video tutorial here. He gives some great advice about digital painting, character design, and textures.

Chris is one of the THE hardest working and generous artists I know. Check out everything he does at chrisoatley.com.

Chris works at Disney by day as a character designer (see his great portfolio of work here). That alone is impressive enough, but he doesn’t stop there. He regularly writes inspiring and helpful tips, thoughts, and insights on his personal blog, going behind the scenes of his workday at Disney, sharing practical tips for artists, and producing a podcast with interviews and advice.

He has also partnered with comic artist Lora Innes to create the Paper Wings Podcast. Both the podcast and its website are chock full of advice about making and monetizing your own comics. It is a goldmine for any visual storyteller.

And last but not least, Chris is launching a new webcomic GREG THE MEGABEAVER’S PREHISTORIC SIDESHOW. It will premiere in a few days on Halloween. Be sure to catch its debut and be one of the first fans who get to read this from the beginning. This is sure to be awesome!

I am humbled and honored to have this piece of guest art from Chris. Seeing my characters being interpreted by a pro character designer is a treat. I love the wacky creepiness in these aliens.

Thank you Chris!

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.

Mark Harmon is a swell illustrator, comic creator, and artist. He’s hard-working and dedicated to drawing, sharing, collaborating, and creating. I’m a fan. Take a look at his various works on his website harmonillustration.com and blog http://www.harmonillustration.blogspot.com/.

I love that Mark is always making something new, from creating his own children’s books to cranking out fun kids comics.

Mark is one of the prominent members of the Illopond group, a creative collective of artists who have gotten together to make and sell comic anthologies. His stories can be found in 8: A Kid’s Book Anthology, 8: A Steampunk Anthology, and BOO!: Spooky Tales for Kids, and they are always among my favorite of the bunch. For example, check out the amazing artwork and fun story in his steampunk inspired Pest Control (and watch the super trailer video he made for it here).

There are so many things I like about Mark’s MSTF guest art! Great style and design. Al looks super fierce. And I like the shadowy evil aliens in the background.

Thanks for contributing such fine guest art Mark!

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.

For this week’s guest art, I am featuring yet another fabulous children’s illustrator. This brilliant sculpture is the work of Casey Girard. I’m so excited to get to feature a 3D piece. I am told that the sculpture of Al was done with glow-in-the-dark clay, which I think is extra cool.

Casey formerly worked full-time at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and now freelances. You can find her work at caseyg.com. She keeps up a blog which she impressively updates on a regular basis. She is constantly coming up with ways to challenge herself artistically, whether it is by drawing a weekly animal, or enlisting the help of her family to come up with new sketch ideas. Check out her Etsy shop where she sells a lot these fun sketches.

Casey is also an active member of the children’s illustration community. She was recently appointed as the Illustrator Coordinator for the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She has put together the Illustrators Academy at the annual NESCBWI conference for several years running, which involves a whole lot of work and planning. She is also an active and helpful person on the various social networks.

My little “thank you” piece is inspired by a fun project that Casey did at this past LA SCBWI conference where she had a bunch of different artists draw an octopus in boots in a sketchbook. See all the cool sketches she got (including one by Kadir Nelson!) here.

Thanks for the wonderful and unique guest art Casey!

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.

This week’s featured guest art comes from Jannie Ho. Jannie is a wonderful children’s illustrator who has had her art featured in picture books, educational books, activities, crafts, games, and toys. She has a super charming style and draws the cutest animals ever. Jannie is known around the web as “Chickengirl” because, well, she loves chickens. Who doesn’t? See more of her work at her website http://www.chickengirldesign.com/ and her blog at http://www.chickengirldesign.blogspot.com.

Especially check out her latest book Road Work Ahead, a picture book that was just released by Viking. Jannie put up an interesting blog post about the process of making the book here.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jannie in person this past July at the Kids Read Comics convention in Chelsea, Michigan. At the show, she was selling a book called If You Lived Here, a comic about her adventures of moving from New York City to Michigan. The story came from sketches she made for the Sketchbook Project, which she has posted on her blog. All the characters are animals (she drew herself as a chicken, of course). It is hilarious and cute and I highly encourage you to read through it. It is one of my favoritest things on the internets ever.

Thanks for the awesome MSTF guest art Jannie! I want to print that alien on a t-shirt or something.

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.

Renne Kurilla is a fab illustrator and animator. She currently works for Fablevision Studios in Boston and is the illustrator of the graphic novel Zebrafish. I’m a huge fan of her work. It is cute and charming and colorful (three qualities I’m especially fond of). Check out her beautiful work at kurillastration.com.

Renee is always sharing. I admire her dedication to sketching, experimenting, and contributing. Check out all the lovely work going up regularly on her blog. She also produces stuff for projects like Girls Drawing Girls and the new fun blog FANARTICA.

I’m in LOVE with the MSTF piece that Renee has made for me. If there’s anything that Renee is good at drawing, it’s girls and cats. My favorite part is her rendition of Captain Bacon. He looks so fluffy and cuddly that I want to squish him!

In fact, if you take a gander through her work fat orange cats, inspired by her real-life sidekick, make their way into a lot of her sketches. That is why I decided to draw a cat for today’s post. I’m calling it the “Kurilla Kat”.

Thanks for the lovely art Renee!

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.

Tom Dell’Aringa is a super comics maker and swell guy. He is the creator of the sci-fi webcomic Marooned about a a guy named Captain John and his robot sidekick Asimov, who have all sorts of adventures after being stranded on Mars. (For a great overview of the comic, check out the entertaining intro video.)

Marooned is snappy and funny and good wacky fun. Family-friendly too. You can read each episode for free at maroonedcomic.com or you can buy print and digital collections in Tom’s store.

I’m also impressed by Tom’s daughter Amanda who is a talented budding young artist. She’s a pre-teen with a blog, a website, and book already under her belt. Can’t wait to see where you go Amanda!

I’m super excited that Tom agreed to make some MSTF art for me. I was happy to see the tiny alien visitor getting some attention.

Thanks so much Tom!

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This guest art is featured in My Sister the Freak Volume 1! Order a copy here.