Anyway, a lot of updates and artwork stuff has either slowed down or been put on hold, but things are starting to ramp back up. I’m definitely looking forward to making stuff again! That being said, Procreate’s correction features have been amazing and allowed me to make a few little things even when I could only hold a pen with my index and middle finger. Hooray for tech!

Enjoy!

They also have more cozy cat hoodies (design by Pete Ellison) and RAWR Velociraptor tees (design by Daz Watford) now in multiple cuts!

Check out all the fabulous The Doubleclicks goodies!

LOOK WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL! IT'S A REAL THING, Y'ALL!! So pink! So boney! So many opossums! *does the opossum dance of excitement* --- YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, MAGIC SKELETON, words by Chuck Wendig, art by myself, available April 13, 2021, from all the book places!

The time has arrived for the charity auction for the original blue fox artwork (9”x6” gouache and pen, as shown below—it’s shiny!). If you’d like a chance at acquiring this piece, coming this weekend (Saturday, Feb. 20 through Sunday, Feb. 21) it will be auctioned off via Twitter. If you don’t have a Twitter account and would like to participate, feel free to email me your bid, the same restrictions apply.

How does it work? 

1. The item will be posted under my Twitter handle (@minitotoro) Saturday, February 20th @ 7 AM PST with the hashtag #BlueFox4Friends

2. Bidders reply to the original thread to place their bids until the auction ends on Sunday, February 21st at 12 PM PST.

3. The winning bidder donates the bid amount directly to BINC or Friends of St. Marks Wildlife Refuge (bidder’s choice) and provides the donation receipt to me to claim the original art piece.

And that’s it! A good organization gets some donations and someone—maybe you!—gets a piece of original art. Currently, I have no plans to make prints of this particular blue fox, although I may do a variation at some point. No promises, though.

So, if you’d like to see occasional snippets of an eleven-year-old corgi’s life, the account @supersploots is available for just those needs.

And YET ANOTHER special offer thru @midtownreader : On any order of Dead Astronauts, hardcover or the new trade paperback, you get special reproduction of @minitotoro's amazing art inspired by the novel, signed by me and numbered. Limited to 250. https://t.co/gOuJCScKgn pic.twitter.com/A6CXby31oX

— Jeff VanderMeer (@jeffvandermeer) November 27, 2020

I’m honored to be a part of this special offer and to help support a wonderful independent bookstore! Also, huge thanks to the Vanermeers for choosing my little fan art to represent Dead Astronauts in this way! 💖

The original will be auctioned off at some point as a charity benefit. Details TBD, but keep an eye on this space for that announcement.

This project has been an amazing journey and I’m honored and floored to be a part of such a fun collaboration. Chuck Wendig was amazing to work with and his zany goofball motivational tweets were SO MUCH FUN to illustrate. A huge thanks to Chuck for having me along for the ride! Also a shoutout to Rizzoli USA ,and especially Jessica Fuller, for putting this project together and wanting to make this wild and silly thing.

The book description is up on Rizzoli USA’s website along with links to pre-order the book at ALL THE PLACES.

This is a full color hardcover book.

What is an art drop?

An art drop is when an artist places a piece of art in a location. That location is then communicated over the socials. The person who finds the art gets to keep it!

Wait. Isn’t internet like super expensive on cruises? That doesn’t seem fair.

True. However, this is JoCo Cruise; you’ll never find a more fabulous confluence of fun, geekery, and tech professionals on the high seas. This equates to a custom social media platform—made by JoCo cruisers and run by JoCo cruisers—made freely available to all aboard.

Here is the art:

Just a bot and their cat, you know?

There was an option to make the fruity drinks “undead”.

Because cephalopods, fezzes, and mustaches.

From the worst first page of a book performance… something something the bats aren’t real.

The warmup song for the Ukulele Melee sessions was “Baby Shark”. Needless to say, we made it better.

For one of the performances that was a game show, there was some hilarious confusion about what a magpie looked like.

From the final show, there was a musical about what would happen if Jonathan got sick and everyone had to stand in for everyone else.

From the worst first page of a book performance, Jonathan spun a tale of what the 23000th JoCo Cruise would be like.

From the final show, there was a musical about what would happen if Jonathan got sick and everyone had to stand in for everyone else. Ron the sad giraffe was from a song Amy Mann made in the style of Jonathan. It was getting very confusing and silly towards the end.

What is JOCOBOT 3000 and what in the world are Jokómon, you ask?

WELL.

As most things go for the Joco Cruise, a silly idea was proposed and people said, “Well, I mean, we could make that thing.” Thus, JOCOBOT 3000 was born.

JOCOBOT was a chatbot kiosk placed in the atrium that had an adorable container and was attached via highly technical wires to the full-sized sculpture of Jonathan Coulton that Nathan Sawaya created out of LEGOs many JoCo cruise moons ago. Folks could interact with JOCOBOT via keyboard or by dictating their question into JOCOBOT’s microphone (with convenient cleaning station for use after each use because JoCo cruisers are ever vigilant). JOCOBOT would chat with you for a bit, then it would get bored—as all AIs are prone to when dealing with humans—and ask if you’d like to know what type of Jokómon you were. After giving you a short personality quiz, JOCOBOT would determine your Jokómon type and present you with the image, a short description, and offer a sticker and/or a drawing. The sticker was printed out of a small slit near the monitor and the drawing was drawn by hand… er… bot… on the right side of JOCOBOT’s container.

While you waited for things to get printed and/or drawn, you were free to chat some more with JOCOBOT. It liked making haikus or offering to have you play a little text-based adventure.

Over the duration of the week, JOCOBOT would show up in the daily newsletter and inserted itself where-ever possible. The end culminated with a very touching exchange with Jonathan himself including a song JOCOBOT wrote before it was turned off and put back into storage.

JoCoBot 3000 debuts its song "Sad Feelings" during JoCoCruise 10 (March 2020) - Video by Dithermaster

Here’s the full set of Jokómon I created for JOCOBOT. Which do you think you are? Let me know in the comments! You can also download a little coloring book of all these creatures.

JOCOBOT’s personality was created by John Scalzi who wrote much of the chat responses, the adorable kiosk container was designed by Kristen Bonnalie, the programming was done by Nathaniel Granor, organizing of the thing was done by Storm DiConstanzo, and, of course, Jonathan Coulton made the imagery we all expanded upon to create this project.

Huge kudos for everyone that worked on this project! It was very silly, sweet, and a very fun addition to the cruise. I, for one, am excited to see how JOCOBOT evolves over the years.

Our 7th studio album, Teaching a Robot to Love, is 12 songs about the things we care about. IT IS ALSO: a musical. With a plot. About artificial intelligence and the true nature of "humanity." It's funny, and cute, and real, and all the things that Doubleclicks albums normally are. 

Some of the rewards include this t-shirt and tote design by myself and these adorable pins by the fantastic Meghan Murphy!

Thanks to The Doubleclicks for making another fun and inspiring project!

I will be illustrating an upcoming book by Chuck Wendig! Wooo!

I’m honored and delighted to have been selected to be a part of this wonderful project. Huge thanks to Chuck, Jessica Fuller, and Rizzoli for making this book a thing. It’s scheduled for publication in Spring 2021 and will be a collection of Chuck’s daily motivational tweets.

What is that adorable bat, you ask? Well! It is the Honduran white bat, a.k.a the flying fluff-ball. Here are some fun facts about these too cute creatures of the dark: they feed exclusively on figs and build tents out of large broad leaves in which to roost. Also, their yellow/orange skin coloration is due to high concentrations of carotenoids--the first mammal discovered to have this--which may provide insights into macular degeneration research. 

Have you ever wondered how elves processed wishes or the inner workings of Santa’s reindeer stables? This stocking stuffer sized collection of stories has all those answers, and more!

Subterranean Press is getting down to their last few copies of the limited edition signed versions, so now’s the time to snag your copy.

These sold out, but good news — we finished shipping the initial wave of A Very @Scalzi Christmas and have more copies left that are now available on the site! First come, first serve: https://t.co/p4aJyEVN0g https://t.co/YGAt6E0i1J

— SubPress (@SubPress) November 27, 2019

I was on the waitlist for this as of yesterday, when a few slots opened up. Now I’m officially an artist participant! Woo! I’ll be drawing live during the second hour slot (7pm-8pm). The whole event begins at 5:30pm and runs until 9:30pm. I believe there will also be food and drinks available for purchase.

It’s FREE to ATTEND.

Come by, say hi, and pick up some fun art!

Also, here’s the Facebook event page.

I was honored, overjoyed, and felt incredibly lucky to get to work on another project with John and Subpress. It’s always a fun time working with these wonderful folks. This book follows the same format as Miniatures with a delightful collection of very short works of fiction. This time, as you may have surmised from the title, they are Christmas/Christmas adjacent themed.

Pre-orders are up over at Subpress and you can also read the official announcements on the Subpress blog and on John’s blog.

Take the poll!

View fullsize

View fullsize