Launch Party Hangover

Up top are the two pictures I drew and gave away to viewers as part of my Virtual Launch Party webcast. The lefthand drawing of my characters Pop and his little buddy was won by "Futureboy." The righthand drawing of the Cosmic Kid is on its way to "Changeling," who I subsequently discovered is someone who really deserves it in one of those cosmic "Circle of Life" ways. As I explained during the party, I drew these with a brush pen instead of my usual brush and ink. As much as I love dipping bristles into real India ink, I kinda liked the pen. It made my line a little looser and livelier than usual. I may have to reassess my prejudices.

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I mentioned that there was only one thing I regretted not getting to during the webcast, and that's directly below. My girls made it for me out of cloth and fake leather, whatever fake leather's made of. They composed the facial features in Photoshop, printed them onto transparent iron-on transfer paper, and ironed them to the face. It's my Cosmic Kid, and it couldn't be any cooler.

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If a miracle happens and the book really takes off and the toymakers come around and ask to license my characters for plushes, I'll just show them this and say, "Here's your prototype, fellas."