I’ve silently working on the Pixelton interactive graphic novel over the past few years. It has been much tougher than I ever expected and I hope it is worth all of this effort. If I can stick to my current schedule, Book 1 will weigh in over 400 pages and land in 2015. If you enjoyed the little comics here, I hope it would be the unfulfilled promise of these internet halls.

Here are some samples of a recent inked splash pages:

The animation work for Pixelton also continues. I’m working with a few other supremely talented animators to make side-stories in this universe. The work that these artists inspires me to make the book worthy of their art. I’d like to have ten or so animations, and I believe I have 7 – 8 right now.

I’m also working with a brilliant musician in the UK to develop the soundtrack. As Pixelton will launch primarily digitally I feel this will really add to emotional experience. On my own I’ve been creating music for this project for years too. I have about 2.5 hours of music created!

Two years ago I worked with a developer to build a digital comics platform for interactive comics called Infinite Panel. My goal was to allow independent comic artists an easy way to launch comics digitally. The app was designed, developed, and worked great online, but failed when it came to the iPad app. Honestly, it wasn’t until we were working on a revised edition that I realized “Who the hell else needs this but me?!”. Infinite Panel was killed, but I learned a ton and many of these ideas found their way back into the comic.

Many years ago I started thinking up a comic class. Cubicle Ninjas is relaunching in the next month we’re going to begin releasing this class on YouTube, and I’ll post the updates here. While many artists are discussing “How to Draw” this course will be more a step-by-step guide to the tips and tricks of the industry. Planned topics include comic art tools (traditional to Cintiq), writing, interning with comic artists, self-publishing, shows, webcomics, negotiating rights, to even publishing in Diamond/Comixpedia. My hope is that it is a single resource for the less spoken about industry topics.

The long story is: the story continues.

I may not update often, but I’m here working. Dreaming of the comics I was promised when I was a kid. Trying to make something worth your time. Aiming to push something forward an inch. Once the main chunk launches I want to go back to web comic releases for book two.

Virtual hugs and hoping all is well in your worlds!
- Josh

This is a sample page from my upcoming graphic novel, where you’re in control.

The gong sounded last night, and so, I awoke from my cartoonist’s hibernation filled with ink and vitriol (and a small amount of boom boom). “To my blogging room!”, I declared in a exclamatory tone. And as I slowly walked from the one side of my vast empire to the other only to see that my whole eastern wing, known lovingly as “the place the maids go” had been burnt to the ground. “Noooo!” I cried verbally before I cried literally. (Luckily, I keep an extra blogging room available for said emergencies.)

In reality here is a random list of items I have done since last post: (sadly this part is all true)

1. Rammed my car at another going 60mph down the highway while cackling and staring at the other driver
2. Barfed in a dinosaur themed ride made for little kids
3. Shook a guy’s hand who had no thumbs
4. Went to Disney World
5. Saw a plane write “Smile JF” in the sky (It turned out to be “Smile Jesus loves you.” but I like my version)
6. Watched people laugh at a plane writing “Smile Jesus Love You.”
7. Hired two new studios to produce “Welcome to Pixelton” Animations
8. And I’m looking into a flash dev for a new game
9. Fought something in my attic with a butcher knife. Still unclear.
10. Realized my greatest fear is Anubis
11. Last but not least: The entire ant town of Fred became zombies! Seriously. The almost pushed open their container! Some sort of fungus simply devastated the whole colony…so sad.

I’m so selfish – what’s new in your life? [insert your stories here]

And good news regarding the upcoming graphic novel, it grows. I may have finished up many new pages just this weekend alone. I’m getting cautiously excited about everything. I know that it will be all for naught but if it makes your day I win.

Where are the Pixelton animations/games? Well, I’m kind of waiting for the book now. But you’ll see at least two new games in the next few months. I may release “Wish” this year if I can edit it in a way that don’t completely hate.

I do have a new web comic that is nearly complete. I need to finish it up so here’s hoping a new biggies side strip appear this week, though I can’t muster up a promise. I apologize to everyone and thank you for hanging around. It will be worth your while should I not die before the book comes around.

Profit? WHERE?!
- Josh

It seems like just the other day I was evading a large pack of wild dogs as they nipped at my heels. And instead of the usual flashbacks of repentance, I wished for Apotheosis. At the time I assumed my monkey brain was making up nouns again in a hopeful attempt to survive, but lo-and-behold it was a real word! Once I recovered from the deadly jaws from the wall of sentient “woof woof”, I looked up said word.

A-P-O-T-H-E-O-S-I-S:
Apotheosis (from Greek), deification or divinization is the glorification of an individual to a divine level.

Wow. Wouldn’t that be cool? To have God-like powers of your own choosing? Kind of crazy though. Unless maybe someone had – say – a choose your own adventure graphic novel in the works. Then it might be relevant. Hmm…

In unrelated mind rambling, the image above is from one of the few pages right now with Fil in it. What I find interesting is that Fil is simply more fun to write for, so he kind of needs to go away for you to invest yourself in Kirby. Here’s hoping it works.

OH – and just to prove I have no idea what I’m doing – I went back and updated the last book sample. It looked a bit plain so I began to fuss with it. *emo comic artist sigh*

IDON”TKNOWHOWTOUSESPACEBAR,
- Josh

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The old saying “You can never return home” is wrong. Sure, the carpet looks a little worse for wear, and the cat still hates you, but overall the experience remains overwhelmingly wonderful.

Hero of the week: Lovetoread! Many huzzahs for recommending the wonderful Mateki which was illustrated by Yosjitaka Amano. Plus 100,000 geek cred for good classical music taste and a Final Fantasy related artist tie-in.


Art that is contrasty:

Art that is shiny:




My new segmented overlords:
Within a foot of me I have a tiny army, and each member of this clan is named Fred. They are building something special. Yep, you guessed it – I have an ant farm. So if you have any questions or requests for the Army of Fred please let me know, and I will pass them along!

Awash in present-tense,
- Josh

The first 140 pages of the future Pixelton graphic novel are 100% inked. It took longer then I imagined, but I’m happy. It looks and reads well, and once I add some extra shine to the gaps I think the first section does exactly what it needs to. For once in my life I have something I’m proud to stand behind.

And of course now that I’m getting somewhere, I’m entirely changing how I do things. The rest of the book will be roughly written/sketched on paper but drawn from the start in the computer. I feel I used my sketches as a crutch and with less emphasis on copying I can make faster pages. This is the same method I’ve used with the online comic, and I finally think it is looking good enough to bring to the book.

After replaying ICO I’m dedicated to building more atmosphere. If I have the time you will get to explore many parts of the enchanted island, even if just to enjoy the view. Having a sense of place and weight is a big push that I feel worked in Nothing Left to Lose, even if the story was crap. I’d like the same gravity but with a child’s sense of wonder.

If I get my way I’m half done. So much more to do, but to be honest, this end section goes insane. When I started this book I never imagined it would end up being such a strange and heavy project…

GOOD NEWS/ BAD NEWS:
I finished two pages today but the first won’t get colored until tomorrow or Tuesday. This next page is nice but the second page could be one of my best drawings ever. It was the reason (outside of the book) that I stopped drawing here, because each time I realized what I was doing my mind became lazy. But both should hit within a week!

HELP ME PLAY A PRANK ON THE KITTEN PEOPLE:
So when you type kittens into Google the first image you get is Pixelton’s image of a kitty sniper. And this isn’t Google Images…just regular old google search. And while I enjoy the thousand people a day coming here for fuzzy cat love, I wonder if Google would notice if I say, swapped this image for another the same size and name?

Wouldn’t it be funny if they searched kittens and got an image of Hitler in a monster truck? I need your genius to make this prank fully epic. Please share any ideas/images in the comments.

If you’re happy and you know it write a blog post,
- Josh

Why has it been so quiet around here lately?! I totally hate that Josh guy. GRRRR!

Sorry Pixeltiers, I apologize for the lack of updates lately. This weekend there will be a new comic and a detailed look at where the book is. But here is one of the reasons for the abscence…

Introducing Cubicle Ninjas. This is the rebranded version of my personal portfolio. Cubicle Ninjas are like design and illustration warriors. Check out my design blog, or what some nice people had to say about us.

More cool comic related crap coming this weekend or I live-blog while I commit hara-kiri.

Kick, punch, chop, block,
- Josh

I’m sitting in a library right now. Not five feet away are a mother and her young son. He looks close to six years old and doesn’t appear to be enjoying this place to much.

Not ten minutes ago they registered to join the Summer Reading club. Kids earn little toys and stickers if they read so many books. I love the thought of kids reading, but can’t shake the concern that once the short geniuses find they could easily whine and get better stuff, they’ll push these books off like a bad dream.

The reason I’m writing in, is the librarian picked a few books for the little boy’s grade level. They were comics. As the librarian pitched these I saw the familiar face glaze over the mother. This was going to be a hard sell.

The mother said she’d rather have him read books, but these comics would do. The librarian corrected her and said these were now called “graphic novels”.

“Sure”, the mother said and chuckled while rolling her eyes. “Sure.”

The little boy is now being drilled with phonics flashcards. “What’s this? What’s this? What’s this?”, says mom in a shrill tone. Clearly she is annoyed. Within seconds he hates his existence. “You need to learn this to get into Second Grade. You do want to go to Second Grade don’t you?”

No wonder he hates to read.

Sad,
- Josh

My human needs your help. Would you like to be a production assistant on the future Pixelton book? This would be a paid project and a chance to get your name in a published book.

Send a link to your samples, your contact information, your hourly rate, and your favorite animal’s name to: josh@cubicleninjas.com

With my superior dog abilities I will determine the winner so my master can sleep at night. No hard feelings if you don’t get chosen, as I also prefer to eat bugs instead of food. Go figure.

Signatures are for losers,
- Peka (Josh’s fuzzy overlord)

Wooooo – what a month! The interactive graphic novel now has 110 finished inked pages and growing fast. Dare I say too fast…(looks around, pokes dog randomly).

This top-secret sample is from the great bike race you have against a giant monster foe. While this path is completely optional, it is a literally a ton of fun (the book will need to be flown in by helicopter.) But anyone could JUST DO A BIKE RACE. Why not make it more interesting…

Let’s see how predictable I am. While riding your sweet motorcycle can you also?

1. Duel with fishing poles
2. Jump numerous chasms
3. Escort a hamster to victory

Dramatic answer: It is all three! HA! HA! IN YOUR FACE INTERNET. I WON YOU. I WON YOU.

Oh wait – you guessed that? Hrm. I guess I have to start drinking more absinthe.

Humbly yours through time and space,
- Josh

I’m bashing against a keyboard instead of a window, but we’re similar you and I. Maybe you know this though. It would explain why you keep saying “hi”.

Anyways, I’d like to keep this brief as both our lives are short enough as it is – but I wanted to let you know I appreciate your visits and do not find you a pest.

Sincerely,
- Josh

P.S. Please write back.

Books are tiny people. Delicately simple, yet filled with ideas bound to their particular culture and time. Made with only themselves in mind, they are passed hand to hand until they wind up on a dusty shelf for a nickel.

But I like ideas. And I have a few nickels.

So I went to Chicago’s Printers Row Book Fair this year in hopes to fulfill my overflowing lust for used expository passage. The stranger and more weathered the cover the better – books like people, get better with continued love. Stepping into the first block filled with vendors as far as the eye could see, I knew that however great my desire, this was far too an overwhelming scenario to properly hunt.

A few old D&D choose books, a set of 1980′s cartoon comics with fuzzy animals in various hijinks, and a wonderful conversation with a vendor about how Graeme Base’s “The Eleventh Hour” changed my life.

And then I ran into Chris Ware. Provider of the ACME Novelty Library. Creator of Jimmy Corrigan Smartest Kid on Earth. Savior of the independent comics scene. This is the exact moment I crapped myself.

Of all my places my horrible addiction to collecting books had taken me, I never expected it to lead me to the author of the books I save. You see I love Chris Ware’s stories, characters, and design, but more often then the rest I find myself saving his books from the hands of the undeserving.

A dark reseller in the west suburbs has two copies of Jimmy Corrigan for a dollar. I save them. A pop culture store has one copy with a 80% off sticker. It now belongs to me. This happens again and again – until today I have a copy of this book in every room of my house. Two original hardcovers, a few of the first softcover, and even more of the second print run. Jimmy Corrigan is safe in my home.

But it gets even stranger. He was five feet away signing books, and here I was (for once) empty-handed. Damn fate and its bittersweet symphony of evil. So I bought a recent book, waited in line, and proceeded to lose my mind.

Chris Ware thinks that a choose your own adventure comic is a good idea. He had always wondered why no one had ever done that before. After mentioning that he was the reason I’m still doing comics (way too true), he said “I’m sorry.” Finally he wished me luck, shook my hand, and pushed me on my way.

I toddled to the nearby sidewalk to catch my breath. CHRIS WARE. . .KNOWS ABOUT MY BOOK. . .THINKS IT MIGHT NOT SUCK. . .

So this is why the mysterious post drought of the past few weeks. The CYOA graphic novel is pushing forward at a breakneck pace. By far it is the best thing I have ever touched.

It hit me a few months back that I should no longer try to create the best book I can anymore. Or the best graphic novel. If I can’t try to create the best book EVER then I’m wasting my time (and yours). Because, no doubt, I will fall very short. But the crazier I aim the greater chance I have to make it something magic.

(New webcomic coming this weekend tree pirates!)

Thanks as always for reading,
- Josh

Creating a CYOA novel has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. (Really, it hurts.)

But I’m out of the gloom state, and each day the book is gaining speed. I’m no longer in control. The novel is putting itself together now, and frankly, I’m in the way.

The main obstacle in this adventure is the ominous “Gorgon the adjective”. Your journey with/against him is best described as an action-mystery, and your job is to solve the questions you have while you fight a giant monster. And to be honest, there are way too many answers to be had if you’d like to explore. The key is that each answer feels satisfying as well as fun to read.

Funny thing is, it never started out this way. The story told you everything at the outset about this beast and simply asked you to take him down. It makes sense now, but at the time the whole set-up felt strangely empty. You had no reason to care. So pulling back the “why”, injecting a few questions, and letting the reader go play seemed the best bet.

If games are wish-fulfillments, and stories are meditations on actions, then CYOA books are somewhere in between. You need something meaty to play with along the journey, and for this first bit, what the heck you are fighting is perfect playground material.

But this Gorgon is just the first 150-pages of your journey…. You have so much more to explore!

Yes, yes, yes, no,
- Josh