And the zombie poodle's name IS....

[cymbal crash]

MISTER PUDGE.

SO IT IS WRITTEN, SO IT SHALL BE DONE


The website and Etsy shop have been fixed to match. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some fliers with the old name on 'em to drop down a memory hole somewhere.

PS: we have always been at war with Eurasia

-----

Speaking of skeleton poodles: I may not know Ophelia, but I know a good skeleton poodle maker when I see one. Check this stuff out!

no more Mister Nice Bitch.

Hey! Check us out, all still bein' alive and all!

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.

---

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?

---

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

---

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.)

INCOMING!

Everybody look alive! Fall convention season's coming this way, and trust me, no amount of huffing and puffing is gonna blow it off its course!

So, let's say you've got a hankering to check out what's new in the Grey Bouquet universe AND get in some quality nerd time all at once. Where do you go? Read on, truth-seekers:


SCHOOLGIRLS & MOBILESUITS
http://schoolgirlsandmobilesuits.com
Saturday, October 1: 11am-1pm
Sunday, October 2: 11am-1pm
Bazaar in main building's cafeteria
2501 Stevens Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55404

SAINT PAUL ART CRAWL
http://www.stpaulartcrawl.org
Friday, October 7: 6-10pm
Saturday, October 8: noon-8pm
Sunday, October 9: noon-5pm
Cosmopolitan Building
250 E 8th St.
Saint Paul, MN 55101

FALLCON
http://midwestcomicbook.com
Saturday, October 15th: 10am-4pm
MN State Fairgrounds - in the Progress Center
1621 Randall Ave.
Saint Paul, MN 55108

MIX - MINNEAPOLIS INDIE XPO
http://mplsindiexpo.com
Saturday, November 5: 10am-5pm
Sunday, November 6: 10am-5pm
The Soap Factory
518 Second St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55458


...aaaand pencils down. Everybody got that? Good.


Still undecided? Having a first shot at new GBQ merch not sealing the deal for you yet? Well, we've got snazzy new booth toys this time around, too. Here's proof of one of 'em in progress:



Also, if you've always had a hankering for getting your picture taken with a certain life-sized headless chicken... oh, that's right. Dreams DO come true, people.

-----

...Wha? What the-- we've got FANART?!

No kiddin'! Check out what Grand Master of Cool Mr. Ben Turner sent us last week:


"I'll have four fried me's and a Coke."

Not pictured: like five more Photoshopped Nugget-head pics besides this, including one that involved a truly terrifying gigantic fiberglass head of Eddie Murphy.

The Internet, folks. There are magical people there, and I heart them. Very much.

Still not dead!

In fact, to prove how NOT dead we are, slam your eyeballs against this beauty:



By popular demand-- the wedding greeting card!

Does it need some spit-polish yet before it'll be ready for print? Good gravy, yes it does.

Will this be seen to in the immediate future? You're darn tootin' it will.

Will you be able to pick one up for yourself by the time the next GBQ convention appearances roll around this October? I'm 99.9999% certain, yes. This one's too fun to sit on, am I right?

Will the card have that fugly watermark on it? Naw. Only the best for you fine folks. :D

CONvergence is imminent!

(Translation for folks who aren't nerds for Scrabble: there's a convention about to happen VERY SOON.)

Hey, all! Brush that sleep and/or fallout dust outta your eyelids, 'cause we've got some news happenin' over here!

First off: as the title suggests, in just a few days, you're gonna be waking up, and CONvergence is gonna be ALL OVER YOU, AAAAAA. So you'd better be prepared. Is that it? Over there? IS IT? Maybe. YOU DON'T KNOW, DO YOU.

Grey Bouquet'll have a table there at the Artists' Alley, though your guess is as good as ours as to exactly when. That's con mayhem for ya. Keeps you on your toes. Like the folks with bunny and kitty hats and candy necklaces who run up out of nowhere and tackle-hug you at these kind of things. Builds character, I say.

---

Second: at long last, One Year Closer To Dying greeting cards are back in stock!

So are the Nugget pins, Amnio pins, AND Mister Bitch pins that went and got redesigned all snazzy-like! (True, the pictures haven't changed for 'em yet, but the new photos should show up there in the store by tomorrow.)

Same for Nugget's Diary T-shirts, including for the first time ever: SIZE SMALLS! All you tiny people out there who love wearing headless chickens on your torsos, THIS IS YOUR MOMENT. We even gave the shirt design itself an upgrade and made the back logo big enough for folks to read without them getting all up in your personal space and squinting at it! Terminally shy people who like Nugget with his neck scruff pointing the right way? THIS IS YOUR MOMENT TOO.

Heck, EVERYTHING at the Etsy shop is back online! Silly us for not noticing they expired. again. cough. All of you who like not having to go outside to buy things? THIS IS YOUR MOMENT. ALL YOURS.

...Look at us, handing out moments like we've lost the lease over here. Everybody calm down, okay? We're getting to the bottom of the moment bag for today, and I don't want all of you fighting over the last ones. Remember what happened to poor little Sally last month.



There, that's better.

---

Thirdly, regarding any more updates in the near future: your humble doodle wrangler is still stuck up to the thoracic cavity in busy. There's going to be an honest-to-Pete Grey Bouquet webcomic! Someday...! With, like, pages and a storyline and such. The first part's scripted out and everything.

When is it going to start happening? I wish I had any idea. When I have a clearer answer, by all means, this blog'll keep you covered. I know, sorry, sorry... I hate cliffhangers, too.

---

So apparently it was Father's Day last week. Who knew? (Aside from everybody, I mean. Shh. You weren't supposed to answer that one.)



As always, you might have to click the picture to see the whole thing if it's clipping partway-- and if you're not seeing the dialogue on the right side of it, that means you'll need to click to see it. Thanks for sticking through the technical difficulties.

Huh..? His feet? Of course Amnio's dad has feet. Shh. You're not supposed to notice that, either.

Hey, all! And an extra heapin' spoonful of welcome to those of you dropping in from this weekend's Art Crawl festivities. This week had some exciting news pop up regarding the picture book, which I'm gonna be keeping under my hat until some more solid negotiations get hammered down. You might notice how your humble doodle wrangler is making giddy bounce-up-and-down motions and trying to keep from saying "hee-eee" out loud. Please ignore this for now.

As for what I can talk about, how 'bout the new gag strip up in the main site's Comics section? There's that. It's probably the only time this week you'll see a sockpuppet wearing a sombrero, but I'm not making any promises.

Also, thanks to the on-and-off free time at the Crawl, there's a couple more lines showing up over numbers in the Picture Book Layout Report:



-----

Next on the agenda: FALLCON! It's this Saturday only, 10AM 'till 4PM, at the State Fairgrounds, so make sure you swing by to the Grey Bouquet Designs table while you're there and say hello! Or stare from a distance, then come up and ask questions about the doodle wrangler's 3-D glasses. That works just as well.

job still kicking my free time's ass

but if you head over to the Nugget Online section on the main site (or Nugget's Twitter feed itself), Nugget's got a bone to pick with his beloved clicky box regarding a certain raccoon kicking his ass. Silly Nugget... Pet doors don't play favorites when it comes to who they let in!


PS: Does this week's update mean Nugget's dead? Undead? Plugged into a stunningly inefficient chicken-only version of the Matrix?


- SPOILER ALERT -
Y'know, I'm not sure. He won't ever tell me.
- END SPOILERS -


Glibness aside, I keep thinking of Nugget as just having really, really good luck when it comes to surviving, and godawful horrible luck with everything else.

night of a thousand tennis balls

Every day, you learn something new, eh? For instance, today I learned that I'm allergic to shellfish. (Or maybe mushrooms. Or tofu. Trying new Chinese food combo dishes are tricky like that.)

But don't think a little thing like various body parts going numb would stop me from this week's update! In fact, there's a new gag strip up in the main site's Comics section RIGHT NOW, so you should go check that out. Continuing the "favorite toys" theme from last week, this one gives you the heads-up on how Mister Bitch gets his entertainment.

NOTE: He can do that all day if Amnio lets him.

-----

Hey, that's right, I can add some more to the picture book progress chart, too!



As it turns out, my numbering fail means there's only 40 pages to the book, not 44. I'll spiff up the original chart lines to something less edited-in-Photobucket-at-the-last-minute soon enough.

One last Not A Card Yet design for y'all today. Here's the Get Well card, which might've had "I'd Keep You Around Even If You Were A Case Of The Plague" on the inside. Or maybe not. Never could figure out a good saying for it.



And with that, your humble doodle wrangler has officially burned through the entire backlog of pics saved up for this blog, so updates are going to be scaled back for the time being to MONDAYS ONLY.

You'll still get your cool stuff here, so keep checking back. I'll just be setting to work on the picture book that much harder in the meantime!

Postcards! Get'cher fresh, buttery postcards he-ah!

That's right, baseball's own timeless crunchy snack favorite can now be delivered right to your door THROUGH THE INTERNET! Check out those photos in the link, 'cause there's art on the back, too. Plus a spot for a stamp in the shape of, get this-- an egg. Boy howdy, huh? What'll we think of next?

Also available in the third dimension at Sacred Paths Center, and (a few days from now) at The Source.

---

No sketch today, folks. Sorry to disappoint if you brought your plate. But don't fret, 'cause this next Monday, there'll be a super-sized update to make up for it! How big is it, you ask? Oh, only 'bout as big as THE END OF THE WORLD.


...'Bang' kind of end, not the 'whimper' kind.


Just... trust me, it's plenty big.

Remember that picture book thing I mentioned? Well, I whipped up something for you all to keep tabs on where I'm at with it. Shoulder-snoop to your little heart's content, 'cause here it is:



It's like those advent calendars! If instead of chocolate, there was only SUSPENSE

SAN DIEGO YOU ROOOOCK

Now that I've had my nineteen-hour-long nap to recharge... LET'S DO THIS THING.


Based on a true story. It was either this, the Galactus hats, or the Adventure Time caps they were handing out.

Seriously now: everyone I met at San Diego Comic Con was AWESOME. And I swear, hearing Jhonen Vasquez, Jill Thompson, Phil Foglio, Tavi and Rikki of Studio Tavicat, and Tessa Stone / Shaenon Garrity (the creators of two of the best webcomics out there) say MY stuff was cool is going to have me skipping in ecstatic slow-mo like somebody in the latter half of a medication commercial for the next seventy-four weeks. At minimum. I hope everybody I met had as rockin' a time at Con as I did there Friday!

---

NEXT ON THE DOCK: Oh yeah, the Nugget postcard's all ready to send to print, isn't it? I know what I'm doin' once I get up later this morning.

Plus, I started layouts for three of the 44 picture book pages on the plane ride over Thursday.


...Yeah. This week is gonna be cool.

NEW SHIRT

THAT'S RIGHT I SAID NEW SHIRT

IT'S THE AMNIO ONE

FOR SALE ONLINE

CHECK THE ETSY SHOP

YOU BEST BELIEVE THIS CALLS FOR A 'WOOT'

WOOOOOOOT


cough. okay, that's enough of that... capslock hurts my innernet throat


What are you waiting for?! Go see, go see!

---

Don't let the shirt news make you think I'm cheating you out of a bonus sketch for the day. Have some detail art! This logo's shown up on the backs of the Grey Bouquet greeting cards that feature Amnio on the front.



PROTIP: Older cards didn't have all the nifty shading on the logos. If you turn your card over and notice there's only blank linework there, you'll know you nabbed a card from GBQ's first print run. (Feel free to pause at that point and pat yourself on the back for being ahead of the curve, if you want. You've earned it.)

AND THEN, THE WORLD

Hey, all! Big sloppy hellos to any GBQ newbies coming here from CONvergence. Just finished tweaking some stuff on the main website, and the new Amnio design t-shirts should be in the online shop within the next few days. ALMOST got the hang of this new Monday/Wednesday/Friday update thing. Almost.

As always, if you're local and looking for Grey Bouquet merch, you can save yourself some shipping costs and head to one of these quality Twin Cities hotspots:

* The Source, Saint Paul
* Magus Books, Minneapolis
* Sacred Paths Center, Saint Paul

---

Seeing as this year's CONvergence theme was "Bring On the Bad Guys," I figure it's about time I revealed a nefarious plot of my own. My ultimate goal with this series has been to make a picture book around the Grey Bouquet crew, Dick-and-Jane style-- and this past week, I finished up the second draft of said book's script.

What does this mean? Well, after I turn out the "Nugget Is Confused By Colors" postcard (which looks like it'll be ready by the end of the month), I'm gonna be taking a hiatus from doing any new merchandise. The good news is, it's so I can start working on layout sketches for all forty or so book pages.

As soon as I've got some art to provide, I'll be looking for an inker to help trim down on how long it'll take to bring the book to print. Know anybody who'd be interested? Happen to be an inker who's interested? Drop me an email! All together now: greybq (AT) gmail (DOT) com !

---

Speaking of merch that didn't get made, here's your sketch for the day. This not-card's for weddings.



Same deal applies for all not-card designs, of course; if I hear enough people want to buy a certain card, I can be persuaded. Sort of like a popularity contest, only this one's got a chance at a happy ending!

---

Shameless plug time: heads up, fellow creepy-cute fans! You should check out Poe the Goodbye Puppy, pronto! I met the creators over the weekend-- keen folks, and proud mad scientists, the both of them. We seem to be of similar minds, yet these guys have the added visual bonus of a world that actually has colors in it.

Plus, there's no such thing as too many zombie dogs, am I right?

SO ABOUT THAT WEBSITE

Woo! Slam your eyeballs against that snazzy new site redesign, eh? Should be 100% ready by later tomorrow, and by that I mean "There'll actually be something nifty that displays for the first few seconds when you first visit the site, instead of it sitting there until it goes to the main site by itself."

No completeness for me just yet, as I've gotta jet offline and pack for when I'm over at the Artist Alley booths at CONvergence in a few hours. Stop by the Sheraton if you're in the Bloomington area this July 1st through the 4th, eh? I should be there with a booth from 10AM-5PM on Thursday, 2-5PM Friday, and 10-11AM on Sat/Sunday. Fliers and business cards are always free! Like sunshine. Or a case of rickets.

Those of you in that neck of the woods, feel honored: New shirts are indeed at hand! They'll be available in the online shop soon after this weekend, but you CONvergence folks get first dibs on the third-ever GBQ shirts! (And tiny folks, we heard you-- there ARE Size Smalls this time around!)

All you non-con fans'll have to make do with this teaser sketch for now. Just the linework with no text, but the base idea is still there... even if it isn't as cool as it could be if you got a REAL shirt, one that shows the full-color FINISHED design. Subtle sales pitch am I, ho hoh.



They're so happy.

So anyhow... yeah! Keep those peepers on this space (not the Livejournal blog; we nuked that one, since both blogs pretty much did the same thing anyway). There's a metric crapton of miscellaneous GBQ sketches I'll be updating with on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, knock on wood.

Catch y'all later, if I catch you at CONvergence!
--Gerbil, head scribble wrangler for GBQ


SLEEP TIME IS NOW

What the-- it's spring already?!

As you may or may not have noticed, your faithful scribble wrangler's been on a bit of a break these past few months. No more, though! Like the flowers, the robins, and that odd-colored mold that won't stay away from your bathroom tiles, Grey Bouquet has returned to the Internets after a winter spent studying for med school classes.

So, let's have some updates!

* NUGGET'S DIARY SHIRTS BACK IN STOCK!
We've got your torso covered, so long as your torso is size M to 3XL.

* PRICE CUT ON SOCKPUPPET SHIRTS!
Profit from our bad math skills AND flaunt your pro-sockpuppet ways, all at the same time.

* GREY BOUQUET, NOW ON FACEBOOK!
It was inevitable. Add us, won't you? We won't pester you to come to any awkward school reunions.

---

Plus, coming up within this next week or so:

* 2010 CONVENTION APPEARANCE SCHEDULE!
C'mon down and bug us in the third dimension! OOoOOooOOo.

* THIRD SHIRT DESIGN AND POSTCARD PREVIEWS!
See? We haven't been slacking off ALL winter. Just most of it.

* A RETURN TO TWITTER!
No promises as to whether Nugget's spelling has gotten any better.

Dust off that bag of holly-jolly you've been stashing in the basement, 'cause Grey Bouquet's got a brand new holiday card available! Perfect for that non-specified, non-denominational festival day(s) of choice you may or may not have coming up soon. Whew. Think that covers all the bases...

On sale down at The Source, Magus Books, and, of course, on The Innernets.

Comics. Won't you?

Update over at DeviantArt! Two new gag-strip comics.

Third one's on the drawing board as we speak. ...As I type. You know what I mean.

Post-Con updates!

Big, sloppy welcomes to any newbies who've showed up here as a result of CONvergence traffic, and to the rest of you dandy so-and-sos as well! Now that yours truly's finally managed to shake off this year's strain of Con Plague, some updates are in order.

- Grey Bouquet is now on Twitter! Rejoice, O Internet: you can now read what wonders brew inside the mind of a sightless, voiceless chicken with no sense of hearing. ...Whenever Nugget manages to find the keyboard.

- DeviantArt update! Not able to make it to central Minnesota in time to grab the four GBQ promotional fliers mentioned in the last update? At least you can get a glimpse at the "buildable" picture that came with 'em.

- LOCAL STORE UPDATE! Shoppers at The Source, Magus Books, and Sacred Paths Center [contact info's available in the first blog post] can now pick up THIS stylin' source of skin protection:



* guy not included


Whew. That's it for now! Good game, everyone... let's hit the showers.

Hey there, hi there, ho there! This here's Jonathan, aka Gerbil, emcee and general scribble wrangler for Grey Bouquet Designs. First post for the blog, too-- allow me to bring y'all up to speed, eh?

As you may or may not be aware, Grey Bouquet (or GBQ, for those among us who like not spelling things out) was brewed up in 2004 so that folks who prefer morbid humor and a more creepy-crawly kind of "cute" could find greeting cards they liked, too.

The first six card designs were on the shelves of a couple Twin Cities, MN stores by 2006. By now, Amnio and his Afterworld buddies have their own line of pins and T-shirts, too, as well as a much bigger (and debatably more hazardous) playground to call home: the Internet!

http://www.greybouquet.com/
That's right, the main site's finally online! If you're wondering what this "Amnio" stuff I'm talking about is, go here first. Check out some Afterworld history, served up with a steamin'-fresh pile of character profiles. Edu-ma-cate yourself, already.

From there, you can find links to more free prizes inside: the GBQ@DeviantArt site's been updated with a series of concept sketches. Hopefully, the pics won't be there by their lonesome for long; I have a few 4-panel gag comics in the works, to be added once I get around to polishing the layouts lurking in my sketchbook. (Got a new temp job starting off today, too, but I'll do my best to balance business with a little pencil-pushing pleasure).

On that note: the greeting cards, pins, and T-shirts I've mentioned will be available online soon-like as well. There's a full catalog of item descriptions for the GBQ@Etsy shop sitting here on my desktop, albiet in larval pencil-on-paper form. Once I type 'em up and do the needed copy/paste shuffling, you'll be able to get some swank Grey Bouquet stuff delivered in the comfort of your own home. Youuuu comfy hermit, you.

Of course, for those of you in the Minnesota metro area, finding Grey Bouquet merch is easier than it's ever been. Real-life GBQ territory has only spread over the years, like a fungal bloom of warm fuzzies. Here's a rundown of which local distributors know a good headless chicken product when they see it:

1.) Source Comics & Games
1601 Larpenteur Ave W
St Paul, MN 55113
(651) 645-0386
A full line! Greeting cards, T-shirts, pins.

2.) Magus Books
1309 1/2 4th St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
(612) 379-7669
Greeting cards, T-shirts, pins!

3.) SaraCura
1411 SE 4th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
(612) 253-7272
Greeting cards

4.) Ginkgo Coffeehouse
721 Snelling Ave N
St Paul, MN 55104
(651) 645-2647
Greeting cards

5.) Sacred Paths Center
777 Raymond Ave
Saint Paul, MN 55114
(651) 644-3727
Greeting cards-- also, NEW SELLER! Show 'em a good welcome.


...aaaand I'm spent.

'Till next time, all!