What's up with the radio silence? Well, again, most of the effort going into Grey Bouquet these past months has been stuff involving the picture book. Parted ways with one artist, presently working out test pages with a new one... The character design sketches are lookin' awesome! Wish I could show some around, but you'll have to make do with this for now:
No, that's not from the book. That's a teaser sketch of the new greeting card in the works! Three guesses what occasion this one's celebrating.
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Speaking of greeting cards... awkward cough. Some bad news on this front.
Not naming names (especially since I don't know what they were), but it's come to our attention that a couple folks were sending the Mister Bitch "Happy Birthday Bitch" card to gals they knew, specifically with threatening or harrassing messages. And while it would be easy to shrug and reply with some knee-jerk excuse like "His name is meant to be a joke!" the fact remains: it's only gals who've been targeted, and NO, THIS IS NOT OKAY.
So. Time to own up to my naivete-- just because I meant it to be a joke, some folks aren't joking when they talk against women like that, and by selling this card, I've made it easier (and worse, made it seem more acceptable; 'hey, there's even a card I can buy that agrees with me!') to do stuff like those couple of folks did, unintentionally or not.
This ties in with the writers' critique meetups I've gotten feedback from re: the picture book script, where everyone so far has agreed (unanimously!) that "Mister Bitch" probably isn't the best name to use for a character in a book where all the names come across as meant to be jokey and cute.
Well, I agree with them. I may not have a new name picked for Amnio's zombie poodle just yet, but there will be a name change coming in the near future.
I've pulled the "Happy Birthday Bitch" card from all stores in the area, as well as the Etsy shop. I'll still have a few on hand at conventions, but if you buy one, I'm going to ask you to look me in the eye and say: "I solemnly swear I won't be a jerk."
Thanks in advance for understanding, yeah?
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Speaking of conventions, let's get to some happier stuff! This spring, Grey Bouquet will have a booth at:
SAINT PAUL ART CRAWL
Cosmopolitan building
250 E 6th Street, Saint Paul
Friday April 27, 6-10 PM;
Saturday April 28, 12-8 PM;
Sunday April 29, 12-5 PM
SPRINGCON
MN State Fairgrounds, Saint Paul - Grandstand building
May 19 & 20, 10am to 5pm
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One last thing: if you want to see all the stuff I've been drawing lately that isn't Grey Bouquet, swing by the webcomic I've been updating every Monday and Friday since October.
Autobiographical, with a cast of animal blobs representing different folks. (NOTE: Not work safe if your boss has a problem with occasional swear words.)
