Here's an original song that Jack and I recorded recently. It's kinda different from a lot of our stuff but somehow feels like early Pomplamoose. The nostalgic vibe made us want to go through some old footage (on mini DV tapes!), so we included some of that in the video. Hard to believe we've been at it for this long. Couldn't have picked a better person to work with, or a better group of people to share our music with for that matter. :)

... in which Annie challenges Tuan to give up art for a week, while Jackie tries desperately to get rid of music. I'm pretty happy with this last scene, as I got to play around with more silent storytelling – I really should write more silence into this novel, because it's so good to draw, but it's so hard to remember to do it! Pages from this last scene will be going live on the site in the next few weeks.

WALLPAPER AND ROBOT

If you haven't yet signed up for the new Villainette email list ( http://villainette.com/bullhorn ) you'll get an exclusive Failing Sky wallpaper for subscribing. I'll be emailing updates on all my *other* art practices, including mechanical music, punk-rock art openings, drawing tutorial videos, and maybe even some puppetry.

DEGENDERETTES ART SHOW JUNE 6th

If you're in San Francisco, the Degenderettes have an art opening this Saturday June 6th at Mission Comics — we're exhibiting a readymade-patriarchy urinal, a menstrual-blood-stained gang jacket, a trompe-l'oeil restroom door, a page or two from Failing Sky, and a bunch of other gender-disruptive artwork from individual members of the gang. The urinal gets smashed at 7pm-ish.

FAILING SKY GALLERY SHOW TBA

Also, if you're in San Francisco, stay tuned for an upcoming Failing Sky art exhibition at the Patreon HQ Office in SOMA, possibly with a live Daxplains lecture — we're going to try to put it together hopefully as soon as next month.

I'm walking on sunshine because our ALBUM IS OUT. It's call BESIDES and it's available on iTunes (http://apple.co/1K8QKkt) and Loudr (http://ldr.fm/rbtq7) and Spotify (http://spoti.fi/1Hc9kcz)!!!

Thank you so much for making these videos possible. We were planning on posting this earlier today but ran into a PLETHORA of technical difficulties. They seem to be MOSTLY resolved now. Anyhow, thanks for your patience and HAPPY ALBUM DAY!!!

My piece for the upcoming Prism Comics anthology, ALPHABET, is coming together — not quite done yet, but almost, so thanks for letting me take June off from Failing Sky to work on that! I have jumped back into Failing Sky since getting back from Comic Con and have new pages for you.

This is a new chapter, "Fallow," the third in the trilogy of chronological chapters I've been working on this year, in which Khatira attempts once again to meddle in Jackie's professional life. This is a chapter that I've been waiting to get to forever: if you recognize the image above, it is, in fact, a new version of the mock-up page I did for the 2013 Kickstarter - https://www.flickr.com/photos/villainette/9036259158/in/photostream/  The actual page came out surprisingly similar to that mock-up, dialogue included, even though I really had no idea in 2013 what the rest of this chapter would even look like. I have 75% of this scene scanned and uploaded to the Patreon-only section, and will have the last page scanned tomorrow for your reading pleasure (this chapter will start going live to the public in about a month). Let me know what you think!

http://failingsky.com/fallow

Thanks for everyone's support for the Eisner nomination this year! Once again I got beaten out for the award, but with several major-league projects in the webcomics category this year, that was only to be expected, so I could hardly be disappointed. San Diego Comic Con was an adventure, if a bit overwhelming. It was an honor to sit on the Gays in Comics panel with people like Hilary Price (Rhymes With Orange), and the SD Hilton was generous to lend me the use of their hot tub for decompression afterwards, whether or not they knew they were lending it to me ;)

Dax

... in which Khatira and Annie conspire to throw Jackie onto a freight train. I am uploading the pages to the Patreon-only section of the site as we speak, so "Fallow" pages 5 through 9 should all be up for your reading pleasure by the end of today. Stay tuned for the conclusion of this chapter, which I hope to be posting in just 2 short weeks.


With the Prism Comics anthology story and this Failing Sky scene, August has been a packed month, but it's only getting more exciting from here on out. My in-the-flesh fundraiser event at Patreon HQ (San Francisco) is THIS FRIDAY September 4th — free to attend but RSVP required via eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/live-anatomical-drawing-public-dissection-failing-sky-patreon-fundraiser-tickets-18044030180

Stephanie from the Body Appropriate will be dissecting an animal (died naturally) for all of us while I give a lecture on artistic anatomy based on what we find under the skin.


As soon as the dissection fundraiser is over I plan to auction off a premium original page, to raise some last-minute money to get me to the first of 3 comic conventions I'll be traveling to this Fall. Do poke me if you have a particular page from any of the previous chapters that you want to see put up for sale!

If you like advanced warning, those upcoming conventions are:

Sept 19-20 — Small Press Expo (Bethesda, MD)

Oct 3-4 — Alternative Press Expo (San Jose, CA)

Oct 17-18 —Webcomics Rampage (Austin, TX)

And lastly, assuming the dissection fundraiser goes well, I will be stepping up my game this month by returning to the 2-update-per-month schedule that I had in 2014. I'm excited to work on Failing Sky full time again, but do edit your pledge maximums if you need to.

Dax

Hello Patrons! Here's an original song for you off the new album, Besides. ALSO we are opening for Ben Folds on September 16th in SF so if you wanna come see that you can get tickets here! http://www.axs.com/events/280499/ben-folds-ymusic-tickets

Thank you for making all this craziness possible.

In "Fallow," Khatira rescues Jackie from a grim future in medicine, though likely for selfish reasons, throwing them onto a freight train to lands unknown.  As I'm only days away from APE, I won't have this last scene uploaded until after the weekend, but look for them soon! This concludes my brief stint illustrating sequential chapters — starting next week I plan to go back in time to illuminate the childhood of Zdenek, Jackie's first love, in a chapter tentatively titled "The Ancient Gardener." It involves a ghost, which I am deathly afraid of, so this is a bit scary for me ;)

Thanks again for bearing with me through the convention madness — I've been recovering & restocking from Small Press Expo all week, which went sooooo well! I made more sales than I've ever made at a comics convention and met a score of east coast creators. It was my biggest budget show to date (travel, lodging, merch production, table fee and whatnot), and depending on how you slice the cake I broke even — I definitely couldn't have made it happen without your last minute donations and auction bids, thanks sooo much for that!

This weekend I'll be setting up at the west coast equivalent of SPX: the Alternative Press Expo. Normally held in San Francisco, this year it's returning to its old home of San Jose. We're a bit worried that attendance will suffer for this first year out of SF, so if you're able, please do come and show your support for indie publishers and artists — tickets are only $15! I'll have original pages for sale from Failing Sky, the Villainette strip, as well as my short story in the upcoming Prism Anthology. I'll also be selling prints, postcards, copies of FS#1, and a bunch of the infamous Degenderettes merit badges.

My APE table is #317
Sat Oct 3rd, 11am-7pm
Sun Oct 4th, 11am-5pm

South Hall of the San Jose Convention Center
435 South Market Street San Jose, CA

Thanks so much!

Dax