The Chronicler's Notes - Biggest Month Yet and a New Shop!

Greetings Chroniclers!

Welcome to another week here at Chronicle!

Wow. May was huge. Seriously guys, I am humbled by the response my four-month old website has received. Whether you came here for the comic, the Character Codex, or my Fun Art Friday Drawings (or hopefully all of them!) I want to thank you so much for stopping by to check out what I have to offer. I hope you keep coming back and that you like my work. Comments are always welcome, I leave the comments on at the bottom of every page for you to leave your input, so feel free to do so if you have some.

Here's some quick numbers for you, to show how awesome you guys are. 17,794 page views total, 7191 of those were just in May. 8104 unique visitors total, 3162 unique visitors in just May.  719 page views just on May 22. We will pass out 10,000th site visit most likely this week!

Seriously. Thank you.

Now, onto new stuff.  

Preview of Strip 20

• The World of Chronicle kicks off Halfling Month with a look at Chronicle's spin on halflings, the Caun.
• The Character Codex moves into Halflings on Wednesday with the Halfling Barbarian and Halfling Bard
• This week we hit Strip 20 in the comic with some big revelations about our mysterious adventurers.  Make sure to come back on Thursday for that!
• Friday, we'll have another fun drawing! I got a LOT of great response from Rocket Jayne. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to go check it out. T-shirts are now available in the Artist's Shop. 
• Which brings me to the NEW Artist's Shop! I've added more items and made navigation a bit simpler. Please consider purchasing something. We've got a great thing going and I want Chronicle to support itself.

Have a great week and thanks again!

Than

The Chronicler's Notes - Biggest Week Ever! (and then karma comes along.)

Greetings Chroniclers!

Wow! We broke all the records last week! Over 700 page views on Thursday! Over 6000 page views for the month and we still have a week to go!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and if you have come back for more thank you especially!

Of course, when Chronicle's biggest week ever happens, something has to happen to even that out.  There has to be balance in the Force.  So, my computer died.  I've drawn Chronicle so far on an old HP tx2000 tablet PC.  It never had a lot of power but it did have a Wacom Touchscreen and it worked great with Manga Studio. It was clunky and heavy, but so am I!

On Friday, the second power adapter in 3 months blew.  I rushed a third power adapter (thanks Amazon Prime!) and plugged it only to discover that the Wacom screen was dead.  I had been having a lot of trouble with it coming on after a power-off.  So, I was keeping it in sleep mode when not using it.  With the power adapter shot, the battery died and that was that.  I spent an hour trying to get that screen to come back on. Nothing.  The data was fine, no art lost (cloud backup, kids!). But I had no way to draw the comic and get it to you guys.

First (really) quick sketch of Autumn on the Surface Pro.

So, I got a new tablet.  A Surface Pro 2 (I know the 3's are coming, but I couldn't wait).  It's fantastic.  I'm sure many of you have heard Mike Krahulik over at Penny Arcade rave about these things so I won't go into great detail about it.  But, let me assure you, as a small time cartoonist who is not getting free hardware, Mike's on the level.  It does everything he says it does.  I couldn't afford the 8gb RAM models, but I have yet to notice any problems with the 4gb. This thing is much more responsive than the old HP, so I have to retrain my hand a bit.  So bear with me if the art shifts around in quality for a bit.

The thing is this came at a tight time in my family's budget. It had to go on a credit card (with no interest for a year, but still).  It was worth it to continue doing something I love and to bring something that clearly people seem to be enjoying (almost 200 direct visits last week!)

But, I have to put my hat out there again and ask that if you truly enjoy what I'm doing, then please consider clicking on the Tip Jar button or at least one of the Google Ads at the bottom of the page.  Even better, let me learn this great new tool by drawing for you!  Go buy a character sketch from the Artist's Shop.  It's cheap and I would rather do that than launching a crowdfunding campaign (which I had planned to do in the second year).

Tip Jar

Also, SHARE, SHARE, SHARE!  Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. Re-share those posts and let's recruit even more Chroniclers!

Again, thank you all so much for coming here and seeing what I do. It fills me with encouragement to see so many people from all over the world looking at my art.  I wouldn't still be here if it weren't for that.

Thank you.

Than

The Chronicler's Notes - May 19th, 2014 - Schedule Update and The Tennessee Renaissance Festival

Well met, Chroniclers!

It's another week here at Chronicle, and we've got some good things planned for the week.  However, I want to give you guys a heads up that there will be no World of Chronicle update this week. I'm going to use the time I normally devote to that material to the comic instead.  Last week's art was not my best and I want to make sure I'm delivering quality material.  Also, if any of you are webcomics artists or are aspiring to be one, you will probably know that having a buffer of comics to post is very important.  Mine is getting kind of low, so I need to build that back up.

The Tennessee Renaissance Festival

Now then, it's not comics related (but definitely inspiration material for me), but I wanted to talk about theTennessee Renaissance Festival.   If you are within driving distance of Nashville this weekend, you need to go. It's open the first four weekends in May (including Memorial Day) and it is a must-do at least once in your life.

It's not as big as some of the other renfests around the country, but it makes up for it with heart and dedication.  The people that put it on work hard and you can tell that it's a labor of love.  Also, there is dedication in the regulars who attend.  There are faces of strangers that I recognize year after year because they go that often.

I first went in 1994 with that big D&D group of mine I've talked about in the past.  I've continued to go fairly regularly every year and some of those old friends of mine go every single year.  It gets in your blood and you look forward to it.

There are some things I wish would change.  I wish there was some sort of covering over the jousting field seats.  I wish that there were new  "anchor events" (I love the human chess match, but it's gotten stale).  I wish that there were more lines for Jester Chips and less lines for pulled pork sandwiches.  I really wish I-840 would magically move about half a mile southeast and Mr. Freeman could get the original fair grounds back.

But, there are also things I never wish would change.  Turkey Legs. Questionably-authentic period garb.  Geek boys walking around with their freshly bought replica swords strapped to their backs.  Geek girls walking around with fairy wings and swords strapped to their backs. Axel the Sot.   That wonderful exhaustion sitting in the line of traffic at the Triune four-way after leaving. Mr. Freeman and his passion for wanting to live in a castle and open his home to people who enjoy this time period.

This year I added one more thing to that list.  I never want the look of wonder in the eyes of children (especially my own) to change.  Watching my two boys watch the joust was amazing.  Seeing a little girl kneeling in front of the Queen to be knighted was heart-warming.  Kids love this stuff.  I want to see that encouraged more and the Tennessee Renaissance Festival does that very well.

So, do yourself a favor and go take a stroll through the Renaissance for a day and make sure to thank everyone there for the work they do.

The Chronicler's Notes - Request For Comment - May 12th, 2014

Greetings Chroniclers!

Wow, last week was great!  There were so many new people stopping by to see what was going on here at Chronicle.  If you've found that you like what's going on and you've decided to stick around, you will not be disappointed!

Here's what's going on this week:

Tuesday - The World of Chronicle - The Gnomes of Chronicle.  We've been visiting the gnomes in  the Character Codex, here's your chance to read about the similarities and differences between the gnomes of Chronicle and the gnomes of other fantasy settings. For you gamers, there will be racial stats for them that are fully compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Wednesday - Character Codex - Gnome Fighter, Monk, and Paladin.  As I've said before, I'm having a blast drawing the gnomes and this week is no exception.  Check out this  sneak preview of the gnome fighter!

Thursday - Chronicle - Questions continue to rise as the leaders of the Haven Thieves' Guild deal with the unexpected visitors that have arrived on their doorstep.

Friday - Fun Art Friday - I've got a couple of different ideas for this week's entry.  However, I would love to get some feedback from you guys.  If you have something you want to see me draw, please leave a comment below.  Keep in mind that this is a family friendly site and that I like to use Fridays as a chance to draw something other than fantasy-related.  So, if you've got a superhero, sci-fi, anime, video game, or movie/tv that you want to see me draw leave a note below!

Additionally, I want to ask for some feedback from you all about one other thing.  The World of Chronicle seems to be one of the lesser popular features on the site, but it's one of the features that takes a bit of work to update.  So, here's my question:  What aspects about the world that Chronicle takes place in do you want to see?  More background info or more gaming info?  More races and classes? More Character Bios?  Do you want to see more artwork and less writing, or vice versa?  Here's your chance to ask about the world!

Finally, if you guys really like what I do, please click on the Tip Jar button below and donate a little bit to help run the site or even better, hit up the Artist's Shop and get a commissioned drawing!  There's more stuff coming to the shop soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thanks so much for coming to Chronicle and please spread the word!  Share the site on Social Media and make sure to follow me on Twitter,Tumblr, Facebook, and Google!

Have a Great Week!

Tip Jar

The Chronicler's Notes - Three Months in and Free Comic Book Day Report! - 5/5/14

Greetings Fellow Chroniclers!

Sketch of the Gnome Cleric from this week's Character Codex

The Chronicler's Notes has returned!  We've got several items to talk about today, so I'm just going to dive right into it!

We just passed the three month mark!  Chronicle is growing by leaps and bounds and its all thanks to you guys for coming by the site and seeing what new thing has been posted up.  Last month I gave you guys some rough stats and I'm going to do the same this month so you can see how much your support has grown.  Last month I reported that the site had just passed the 7,000 page view mark and 3500 unique visits.  This month we just passed 11,000 page views and 5,000 unique visitors!  We're still small potatoes but I appreciate every one of you coming by and seeing what I have to offer you.

Speaking of appreciation, I want to express a huge thanks to everyone who came out to see me on Free Comic Book Day!  I nearly ran out of stuff to hand out!  It was so nice to meet all of you and do sketches for you.  Also, I want to thank Rick's Comic City for putting on a fantastic event and for providing the space for local artists to have a spot alongside the industry veterans.

So, if you're one of the 1500 new visitors that have shown up in the past month or you are checking out the webcomic from that guy at Free Comic Book Day let me tell you what goes on here!

Mondays - The Chronicler's Notes - This blog, where you'll get updates from me about what I'm up to, how the site's going, and where we're headed.

Tuesday - The World of Chronicle - This is where I take the opportunity to let you step into the world of the comic a bit more.  Whether it be background information about what you're seeing, RPG material, or short fiction based in the world, Tuesdays are where I flex my world-building muscles.

Wednesday - Character Codex - My continuing project through the classic races and classes of fantasy RPGs.  There are 77 combinations and we're only through 24 so far!

The gnomes are currently invading the Codex and I'm having a ton of fun with them!

Thursday - Chronicle - The main feature of the site is the comic.  The comic is currently following Autumn, a young thief who is dealing with magical powers she can't seem to control.  She and her adopted family are getting involved in the drama of outsiders stepping into their hidden world.

Friday - Fun Art Friday - This is where I draw whatever I feel like drawing.  Most of the time it is something completely "un-Chronicle".  Whether it be characters from other genres or commissions (which, I am currently accepting) you'll see what else I can do, every Friday!