Li'l Donny Curcio draws Roscoe

This awesome drawing of Roscoe was made by my very own nine-year old nephew, Donny Curcio! Great job, Donny!
Donny says he's been drawing some of his own comics. What a good kid! Keep up the good work, you talented fellow!

Steve Steiner Draws Roscoe!

This drawing was sent by Steve Steiner, creator of "Everybody Laughs at the Crocodile Man" and the current Zuda Competitor "Colonel MacTagart".
Colonel Mactagart would like remind you to vote for him on Zuda, or he'll put a hole in Roscoe with his elephant gun.

Night of the Living Owls!

Get ready for the nightmares, kids! These aren't the lovable Night Owls you've come to expect from the Brothers Timony. That's because it's not from us!
This gruesome, spine chilling piece of amazingness was drawn by Daniele Serra, artist of Zuda Comic's Pray for Death!
Thank you, Dani!

Comic Book Club Podcast

Hey everybody, in case you missed our recent appearance on the Comic Book Club, it is now available as a podcast! You can listen to it HERE!

Bobby Timony on Pray For Death

If anyone out there is curious about what a PRAY FOR DEATH Comic would look like if it was drawn by Bobby Timony, head over to the P4D Blog to check out a sketch of Detective Jenkins!

What's that? Never heard of PRAY FOR DEATH? Well click here to go read it on Zuda!

Peter

BIG OWL!!!

There's a new page of Night Owls on Zuda, featuring the first appearance of a new monster, BIG OWL, who features prominently in Ernest baxter's mysterious past! Please go read!

Timony Twins on Comic Book Club

Well, last night we had our appearance at the Comic Book Club in NYC... We had a BLAST. The show was so much fun! They do a new show every Tuesday Night, and admission is only $5 so if you love comics and you are in the area, check it out. Also, they podcast each show. I will inform you when our episode is available.

Also sharing the couch with us was Matt Loux, who's comic, Salt Water Taffy, is in stores TODAY!

Peter

The Timony Twins Next Live Appearance

Here's what Kwanza said about it...

Kwanza says:

For dems of youse in da New Yawk eh-rea, da Timony Twins of Night Owls fame are sittin' down wit dem fellas from Comic Book Club on May 6.

*ahem*

Man, it is difficult to type in that accent!

If you are not familiar with it, the Comic Book Club is a weekly comic book talk show featuring the best comedians in New York talking shop with industry professionals from all corners of the comic book world. Hosted by Justin Tyler, Pete LePage, and Alex Zalben.

Comic Book Club is every Tuesday night at 8:00pm at the Peoples Improv Theater. Tickets are just $5!

If you're around, drop by and heckle.

The RETURN of MR. YOU!

Hey everybody, this is a quick heads up to let you guys know that our Zuda comic, Night Owls, began a new story arc yesterday, featuring a familiar face (or lack thereof). Go check it out! THE NIGHT OWLS

Ellis and Colden draw the Night Owls!

I was pretty busy at the NY Comic Con, but I still found some time to harass some artist friends for sketches! A couple of them even decided to draw some Night Owls stuff for me!
Here's an awesome sketch by High Moon's Steve Ellis:

This drawing of Roscoe is by Kevin Colden, author of Fishtown on Act-I-Vate and Stangle/Switch on Zuda:

Thanks, Fellas!
-Bobby

More 24 Hour Comics!

Peter and I took part in a 24 hour comics challenge a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to posting the results!
Peter's comic is called "Head Case" and it involves a guy who wakes up with no memory and is missing some very important things...
My comic is called "The Ballad of Basil the Bunny". It's about a bunny who gets roped into battling a wolf to save his home, and it's all in rhyme!
I invite you all to have a look and let us know what you think. Here come the links!
Head Case!
The Ballad of Basil the Bunny!
Thanks,
Bobby

NIGHT OWLS updated!

Just a reminder, Night Owls is now twice weekly. You get a page on Tuesdays and a page on Thursday! And, as luck would have it, today is Thursday. So go read some new NIGHT OWLS! Today's page contains rats... LOTS and LOTS of rats!

A link for the lazy: NIGHT OWLS
Peter

NYCC Part Two: ACT-I-VATE

It's time to talk a little about ACT-I-VATE! For those of you who don't know, Act-i-vate is a webcomic group much like Zuda with the following exceptions, they are not backed by a major comic company like DC, they do not get paid per screen, and they do not hold contests. Despite the lack of major backing, they still get lots of great press and are continually updating every week. The reason is because they love webcomics and it shows. That's why I attended the ACT-I-VATE panel on Friday.

The panel was moderated by Dan Goldman, who is officially a Freind-of-Timony. Dan has a comic on Act-i-vate called KELLY and also has a graphic novel in stores now called SHOOTING WAR. As soon as you're done reading this, you should go buy.

Backtracking a bit, last October, Bobby and I did the 24 Hour comic under the watchful eye of Scott McCloud himself, over at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan. Also in attendence was Josh Adams (a link to his blog can be found to your right) as well as three members of Act-i-vate, Dan Goldman, Ryan Roman and Ulises Farinas. Over the course of the 24 hours, we got to know these fellas, and they were all very cool. Sometime during that grueling ordeal that is the 24 hour comic, Dan Goldman mentioned to us that Zuda would be going live soon, so if we were planning to submit something we should hurry up and get it ready. Without that warning, Bobby might not have had Night Owls ready in time for the Zuda launch party, and we might not have become Instant Winners! So, again, big thanks to Dan Golman at Act-i-vate!

So, back to the panel. They talked a little bit about how Act-i-vate came to be. They introduced the members of Act-i-vate, some of who I had met. Besides Dan, Ryan and Ulises, I had met Paul Maybury at a party the previous Tuesday. It was celebrating the release of his new graphic novel AQUA LEUNG, and benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Also at that party we met Dean Haspiel, Mike Cavallaro, Kevin Colden and Molly Crabapple. So, going into the panel, I now knew about eight Act-i-vate members, but like any collector, I gotta meet 'em all!

Some of you reading this are Zuda fans and no doubt recognize the name Dean Haspiel as the new Instant Winner (Congrats, Dean!) at Zuda. He is also the founder of Act-i-vate, and his Billy Dogma comics there are amazing. He's also been nominated for an Eisner, as has Mike Cavallaro for his comic, PARADE (WITH FIREWORKS).

There has been a bit of Zuda/Act-i-vate crossover, starting with Paul Maybury, who's Zuda entry MAXY J. MILLIONAIRE has moved to Act-i-vate. Then came Kevin Colden, who had a Zuda comic called STRANGLE/SWITCH and does a comic on Act-i-vate called FISHTOWN, and lately, Jim Dougan announced that he is bringing his Zuda entry, SAM & LILAH, over to Act-i-vate! Incidentally, my wife is a big fan of SAM & LILAH, so when it starts updating over there (in May, I think) another fan will find her way to Act-i-vate. And now, Dean Haspiel has a comic on Zuda.

Act-i-vate has been around for over two years, and is doing great. One of the things I like about the guys (and Molly) who I met at Act-i-vate is how supportive they have been of us comic creators at Zuda. I met a lot of cool people this weekend. I met some really famous people. But mostly, I'm glad I met the people who create the webcomics I read, be it on Zuda or Act-i-vate. They are comic creators after my own heart.

You will find a link to Act-i-vate on the right. Be sure to read MOTRO, BACKSTAGE, BILLY DOGMA, LOVIATHAN, KID ZERO, GLAM, FISHTOWN, PARTY BEAR, PERSIMMON CUP or any other comic you find. They are all quality.

Peter

Zuda Panel Podcast

The Zuda Panel podcast is online at the DC Comics site now. Here's a link! http://www.dccomics.com/news/?nw=9844

NYCC Part One: Zuda

The New York Comic Con wrapped up yesterday, and I think I've finally recovered enough to start talking about it. I'll start off by talking about Zuda.

First of all, unlike the Wondercon in San Fran, Zuda's table was a part of the larger DC booth. This was cool because of all the great DC talent that was walking around in our vicinity, but a little uncool because we didn't have as much room as we did before. In San Fran, the Zuda booth became a home base where we would hang and meet other Zuda creators, and there was plenty of room to sign stuff, even if you weren't officially supposed to be there. This weekend, we didn't have that luxury.

However, I learned that the Zuda community doesn't really need a home base to hang out in. Every single Zuda creator I met was AWESOME, in the full 80's sense of the word. Here's a brief run-down of the Zuda people we met and/or hung out with: David Gallaher and Steve Ellis of HIGH MOON, Jeremy Love of BAYOU, Nick Doan of PRAY FOR DEATH, Johnny Zito and Tony Trov of BLACK CHERRY BOMBSHELLS, Paul Maybury of MAXY J. MILLIONAIRE, Jim Dougan of SAM & LILA, Greg Delcurla of LEPRINOMICON, Mike Imboden of THOMAS: AGENT OF CHAOS, Chachi & Gabe Hernandez of JOE COMICS, Kevin Colden of STRANGLE/SWITCH, Tony Tobin of YULETIDE and Tyler James of SUPER SEED! Oh yeah, and also Zuda's newest addition, Dean Haspiel of STREET CODE!

On Saturday we had our first ever Zuda Panel! A big thank you to anyone reading this who managed to attend our panel, and an even bigger thank you if you got a question in! If you missed it, no worries. I have a feeling it might be podcast somewhere soon. Anyway, there were four big Zuda announcements at the panel, which you have probably heard by now, but here they are again:
1. NIGHT OWLS is now going to update TWICE WEEKLY!!!
2. SUPERTRON is live and updating!
3. There's a new Instant Winner in Dean Haspiel, and the first page of his comic, STREET CODE, is now LIVE! Congrats, Dean!
4. July is the ZUDA INVITATIONAL! Any comic that was on Zuda and didn't win is eligible for a rematch, with 8 new screens! So go to Zuda and tell them (via the Feedback link) which comics you'd like to see return!

Thanks to Ron and Kwanza and everyone else at Zuda!

That's all I have time for now, but as you can see, there's a "Part One" at the top of the post, which means I have more to say. Stay tuned.

Peter

NY Comic Con Schedule

If anyone is planning on attending the NYC Comic Con this weekend, here's where you can find your favorite Timony Twins!

We will be making sketches, signing comics, giving away a printed Zuda sampler and Zuda postcards at the DC booth (Booth 1627) on Friday, from 4:00-5:00 and on Saturday from 12:30-1:30, and Sunday from 2:00-3:00.

Also, we'll be speaking at a panel about Zuda on Saturday from 4:00-5:00, Room 1E02.

So if you're going, stop by and say Hi!

Peter

The Bestiary

Peter and I have each contributed a drawing into the Amalgamated Artist's Bestiary, which features entries by lots of talented artists!

I drew this Tooth Faerie.

Peter drew this picture of Weird Beard.
While you're visiting Amalgamated Artists, there's plenty of great comics to look at, like Teachers, Untrue Tales, The Passenger, Danetropolis, Starfish, Yuletide, and Two Dimes on the Dollar!

Wow. That's quite an exciting lineup! I'll have to keep an eye on those Amalgamated Artist guys...

Danielle Corsetto draws the Night Owls!

While we were working on the 24 hour comics challenge, Danielle Corsetto, creator of the wonderful comic strip "Girls with Slingshots", managed to find time to draw this truly amazing sketch of the Night Owls! I'm just blown away by how lively and cool this drawing is! Thank you, Danielle!

Here's the Proof

David Gallaher forces me to leave nice comments on his High Moon Comic!

New Story Arc

A new Night Owls story arc has begun on Zuda. I think you're gonna like this one. It's got some vermin, historical New York locations, Jazz, and a touch of German folklore.

Night Owls on Facebook!

The Night Owls have a Facebook page!

I invite any of you mooks on the Facebook to check it out and become a fan.

Gabe Ostley draws the Night Owls!

While we were at WonderCon, we hung out with Gabe Ostley (creater of "Teachers"on Zuda comics) and exchanged Zuda postcards with each other's characters on them.

Here's the one Gabe drew for us.

Thanks, Gabe!

Night Owls at OnlineComics.net

The Night Owls is now listed on OnlineComics.net, a directory of Comics that are... Online. Obviously.

Go there! Make it the Night Owls a favorite and help boost it's ratings!

Thanks!

The long road to comics.

It all started in my Grandmother's house. In a small room under the stairs there was a trunk full of old Archie and Harvey comics from the 60's and 70s left over from my aunt Mary's youth. (Why hadn't Grandma kept any of dad's old superhero comics?!?)

A visit to Grandma invariably featured rummaging through that trunk for buried treasure. Among the Pep Comics and Baby Hueys we would occasionally find an awesome old Horror Comic or even a Superhero comic! The first Spiderman comic I can remember reading was part one of the classic "Six Armed Spidey Saga" featuring Morbius, the living Vampire. It would be many years until I found out how that story finally ended.

Peter and I had little school desks at the foot of our beds, and we'd sit in them and draw comics for hours. Usually we'd draw characters we liked from TV, like Laurel and Hardy or Scooby Doo. I still remember a Mork from Ork comic I drew. I remember it because when I showed it to my sister Rose, she pointed out that it was all backwards. I had made it read right to left. I vowed to get it right from that point on. (I had no idea that they did it that way in Japan, not that it would have mattered.)

Eventually, Peter hit on the innovation of using brand new characters that we made up! Our first original character was a Basset Hound named "McCool". He was the sheriff of DogTown. From there, we drew our own characters exclusively. Sometimes we'd make them up from scratch, and sometimes we'd assign a personality to one of our stuffed animals and put them in the comics.

Our exposure to real comics was sporadic. Aside from the trunk at Grandma's we would occasionally get comics off the newsstands and regularly mangle them, having not yet learned the proper respect that all comics deserve.

One evening in 1984, we cleaned our room. To my delight, I discovered that we had managed to accumulate a stack of comics nearly a foot tall.

A house fire turned that stack into ash, along with everything else in my room. 

Mom was compiling a list of stuff that was destroyed, and asked us what we had lost. "Besides everything?" I thought.

Then I remembered that stack of comics. I told Mom about it. The next day she brought home a box full of awesome comics! There was some Avengers, some Indiana Jones, and some Batman in there too. From that point on, I was officially a comics collector.

A few years after that, Gladstone started publishing Uncle Scrooge comics. I absolutely loved Uncle Scrooge. The wild inventiveness and adventure that Carl Barks and Don Rosa brought to their Duck stories sucked me in. These were the first comics I actually subscribed to. 

As for my own comics creations, they gradually moved from funny animal comics to funny Dungeons and Dragons inspired fantasy comics. 

In College I majored in Fine Arts. Unfortunately they didn't offer any cartooning or comics courses, but that was okay. I was having fun with my own comics and illustrations in the college newspaper.

At this point in my life, a career in art seemed unattainable. The only viable way to make money as an artist (or so I believed) was either by being an architect or a graphic designer. Having a successful career as a movie star seemed like an easier thing to achieve! So that's what I pursued. I switched my major to Theater.

I still made half hearted attempts to find a career in art while I was busy being an actor. At one point I redrew some comic strips and sent them off to a bunch of syndicates, only to receive a steady stream of polite rejection letters.

After college I got lucky and landed a job as a storyboard artist at Bates Advertising in New York City. This profoundly changed my outlook on life. For the first time ever, I was making good money, and being paid to draw! Suddenly a career in art wasn't impossible, it was actual.

I was drawing every day and getting better and better. 

Drawing storyboards was great, but it rekindled my desire to make comics. I took a story Pete had written called "Fat Mitch" and started adapting that to comics.

When I had finished the first issue, I started going to conventions and showing it around. I met a bunch of people that were very helpful and gave me great advice.

Mike Manley was one of those people. He posed this question to me. "What is your goal with comics? What do you ultimately want to achieve?"

It's a simple question, but not one I had ever really thought about. He stumped me with that one.

So I thought about it for a while. I knew for sure that I wanted to make comics, but how, and in what capacity? I felt like I wasn't cut out for superhero comics, but there didn't seem to be a market for anything else.

In the meantime, I lost my steady storyboard job and went freelance. Working freelance is great, but the work was sometimes sporadic. After a few years at that, I was ready to take on another steady job.

But, since I was still making money as a freelancer, I decided I could be a little picky. Since I wanted to work in comics, I would only apply to comics related jobs. If I'm gonna get a full time job, it might as well be in the field that I want to be in, right?

So I applied to every comics job that I was even remotely qualified for. For the most part, that meant applying for jobs at DC. I applied for a couple of jobs at Marvel too, but for some reason it seemed like DC was putting up new want ads alot more often.

I got advice on writing cover letters and resumes, and asked everybody I knew with a comics connection to put in a good word for me. I applied for a ton of jobs, but I never got an interview. I never got a phone call or even an email. I'd send off my resume and never hear from it again. 

It was pretty discouraging. I felt like the world was conspiring to keep me in the advertising business.

So, I thought about my goals again. Although a job at DC Comics would have been awesome, I decided it was distracting me from my real goal, which was still a vague "Make Comics".

After a while I made my goal a little more specific. It wasn't enough to simply make comics. There had to be an end result I was looking for.

I decided I wanted to be like those comics creators that I admired most. I thought about Carl Barks, EC Segar, Charles Shultz and Jack Cole and realized that they were all recognized for creating characters that had a lasting impact on the culture of comics and on pop culture in general. 

So my new goal became "To contribute an original creation to the world of comics." 

Of course, anybody can achieve that goal, without even trying that hard. Just put up some comics on the web, and there you go. Mission accomplished. 

I realized for it to really count, my goal had to have some loftier ambition attached. 

My goal became "To contribute an original creation to the world of comics, and to have that creation receive wide recognition in the world of comics and pop culture in general."

So there's my ultimate career goal. I had that goal in mind when I first heard about Zuda Comics in June of 2007, and immediately realized what an amazing opportunity it would be.

So I worked hard on my submission, and when Zuda launched at the end of October, I was ready with "The Night Owls". I pitched it at Zuda's launch party, where it got a good reaction from Richard Bruning, the Creative Director.

I admit when I saw the comics that they launched with, I was intimidated, but thanks mostly to Richard's reaction, I was reasonably sure I'd get into the competition anyway. 

In the meantime, I started developing new ideas, just in case "Night Owls" got rejected.

I still can't believe I was an instant winner. 

I'm currently only a couple of months into my contract, but it's already been an amazingly rewarding experience. I love being a part of the Zuda community. I love hearing the reactions people post under my comics. I loved seeing "Night Owl" ads in the DC Comics. I loved getting my first check with the DC Spin logo on it.

At WonderCon in San Francisco, I reached a milestone in my career. It was the first time I met someone in person who knew about my comics without me having to tell them first!

Now, I'm not saying I'll ever reach my goal. I don't have enough hubris to actually make that claim. It's a pretty ambitious goal after all. I think as long as I try my best to achieve it, that will be enough. A goal like this is more about the journey than the destination.

From the trunk of comics under Grandma's stairs to now, its been a long road, but really, the journey is only getting started. I think "The Night Owls" is a step in the right direction.

I'll be sure to keep you updated on whatever interesting stops we make along the way.

Timony Twins LIVE IN PERSON!

Here's the latest news on personal appearances! Bobby and I will attempt to undergo the 24 Hour Comic Book challenge once again, this time at the Wild Pigs Comic Book Store in Kenilworth, NJ! We'll be joining a host of webcomic guys and gals! This whole thing is being done to promote Wild Pig's Spring sale, where everything on the shelves will be half off! So come on down and meet the Timony Twins, and buy some cool stuff on the cheap! The event kicks off at Noon on March 29th, and goes until 5PM the following day!

Also in attendence:

Webcomic sensation Danielle Corsetto of http://girlswithslingshots.com (she will be taking sketch requests!)!

The inimitable Jamie Hatton of http://www.inhislikeness.com!

David Gallaher, winner of DC’s online Zuda Comics contest as the creator of the werewolf western ‘High Moon’

Pete Stathis, the creator of the acclaimed Evenfall series published by Blue Feather Press!

Pin-up artist and 'The Key' creator Erica Hesse!

Bill Ellis of http://www.Silver-Rage.com!

All the nitty-gritty details of the event are right here:
http://www.wildpigcomics.com/spingsale.html

WonderCon 08 Wrap up.

Well, the first convention of the year is done! We had a great time, caught up with some old friends, and saw some pretty neat things. We also got some killer new Shakespeare the Traveling Pig photos.

Here's a little sample of our recent adventure.

Here we are with our good friend, Justin Thompson, creator of the amazing comic strip, "Mythtickle".

Shakespeare meets Terry Dodson.

Here we are enjoying the local flora at the Muir Woods.

No trip to San Francisco would be complete without a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Kwanza Johnson and his puppet pals, Monkey Puppet and Shakespeare.

Shakespeare the Traveling Pig

This weekend we're taking a trip to California for Wondercon 08! 

I love to travel, and so does my pal, Shakespeare the Traveling Pig! He's been all over the world, but he's never been to San Francisco until now!

He's been to Ireland. Here he is, enjoying the view from the top of Blarney Castle.

Here he is at Chichen Itza, in Mexico.

In New Orleans...

Man, I got pictures of him everywhere. He's been to Paris, Amsterdam, London, Miami, Las Vegas, Hollywood and a bunch of other places too. I've got the pictures to prove it!

But this weekend, he's going to a comic con, so here's some more pics of him meeting people at previous comic cons!

People like Darwyn Cooke!

Mike Manley!

Bill Willingham!

Jim Lee!

And Lou Ferrigno!

I'll see if I can get some cool new pictures this weekend of Shakespeare with other Comics people. If you're gonna be at Wondercon, and want to have your picture taken with Shakespeare the Traveling Pig, let me know!

Mabel's Wedding

If you haven't seen this week's Night Owls, go check it out! There are a couple cool cameos in the first panel!

Please note the faceless gent in prison garb, he is none other than Mr. You, the villian captured on page 1 of Night Owls! Remember him? Can a guy who steals faces remain in prison for long? Only time will tell.

Also, you may have noticed our favorite is-he-is or is-he-ain't werewolf, MacGregor! He's the star of our second favorite Zuda comic in the whole wide world! HIGH MOON! It's a fun read, so in those long lonely hours between Night Owls updates, go check it out!

Peter

Randy Gentile Weighs in

Randy Gentile is a professional comics letterer, and has a column over at Comics Bulletin called "Font You".
I asked for a little feedback on my lettering, and he was kind enough to give me some pointers.
Thanks Randy!

See what Randy has to say here.

How I letter my comics

I do all the lettering in "Night Owls" in adobe illustrator. With these programs, there's a bunch of ways to do things. This is the way that works for me.

NOTE: I use a Mac. It might be slightly different on a PC, but the gist is the same.

STEP 1: Set it up.

The art is done and saved in Photoshop! I open a new file in Illustrator. 

In Illustrator go to File> Place... select your file and lock it into place. (Object> Lock> Selection)

Now you can work over the art without accidentally moving it out of the way.

First thing I do is add the type.

STEP 2: Add the type

Find a good comic font. Blambot and Comiccraft both offer some good fonts. Blambot has some free ones, but you might want to pay for one of the pro ones anyway. It's worth it.

Set it to whatever point size works for you. 

In the paragraph menu, set it to "centered" and untick the hyphonate button.

Select the text tool and drag a text box. Type in the Dialogue. Add any italics or bolds you need.

STEP 3: The Balloons!

Select your ellipse tool and drag out a white oval with a black border.

Go to the stroke pallete. The point size of your stroke is a matter of personal preference. Where it says Miter Limit, change that to 40. That will make the tails sharp and pointy.

Now take your Direct Selector Tool (the white arrow next to the black one) and click on the oval. You'll see these little blue lines with blue dots on them. Click a blue dot on either side and drag it up (or down). Hold the shift button while you do this if you want the lines to stay straight. Do this for both sides, top and bottom.

Now your oval looks a little squarer and not as circular. 

Why do I do this? Because a perfect oval makes an inefficient word balloon. Too much wasted space. This shape is much better.

Now take your new imperfect oval and put it over your text. Hit Command-[ to send it backwards until you can see the type over the balloon, then resize the balloon to fit.

For the tails, use the Pen tool. That's the one that looks like a quill pen.

You can add the tail with three clicks.

Click once inside the balloon, once near the speaking character's head, and once back in the balloon.  There's your tail!

 

Side note: If you like a curvy tail, use the Convert Anchor Point Tool (hidden under the Pen Tool) and drag the tail anchor points inside the oval to make them curve.

Now select both the Tail and the balloon. Be careful not to select the text box!

Open your Pathfinder Pallet. (Window>Pathfinder)

Click the first button under Shape Mode. That will make your tail/balloon one solid shape. Click the Expand button to the right to get rid of any extraneous points.

You might notice that your text has disappeared. It's under your balloon. Just hit Command-[ to send the balloon down under the text again.

There's a couple of things to look for if you're picky and you bought one of the pro fonts.

In the pro fonts, the capital letters look slightly different than the lower case letters. If you have two of the same letter close or right next to each other, use alternating caps and lowercase, to give your text a more natural look.

Also, mind your "I"s. If you're using the letter I as in "Me" or "myself", use the capital I with the crossbars. All other times the letter I appears, it should be the lowercase version; just a straight line. I incorrectly used the capital I in a couple of Night Owls episodes, and I'm still kicking myself for it. Don't make the same mistakes I did!

STEP 4: Putting it all together

Hit Command-A to select everything (You'll just select the balloons and text, since the image is locked).

Command-C will copy it to your clipboard.

Go back to Photoshop. Command-V will paste the balloons as a new layer over your art. Place it where it belongs and you're DONE! Ta Daaaaa!

Night Owls Promotional Image

Here's something I drew up just for the fun of it.

NIGHT OWLS ads in DC Comics!

Hey Everybody! Be sure to pick up a DC Comic this week, ANY DC COMIC! There is a spiffy new half-page ad for Night Owls and Zuda.com in each and every one!

Peter

We're going to Wondercon!

Convention season is gearing up again!

Looks like we'll be heading to Wondercon in San Francisco, Feb. 22-24, for our first post-zuda convention.

We will be wandering about, but we will also be hanging with the Zuda crew at their booth, so look for us there!

Zuda Comics Feb '08 Competition

Zuda's February competition has gone live and I don't know who to vote for!

So far, Crocodile Man, Strangle Switch, and Reno are in my top three, but I haven't spent alot of time reading the rest yet, so who knows? I've been known to switch my vote around all month long.

Anyways, good luck to all the competitors, and congratulations on getting into the competition!

Timony Twins at 24 Hour Comics Day.

Here's a picture of Peter and me at Jim Hanley's Universe in NYC last October. We participated in the 24 Hour comics challenge. Both of us finished on time! You can see the results here.

Vote for the Night Owls!

I added the Night Owls to topwebcomics.com. 

Show your support by giving it a vote!

You can also show your support by going to Zuda and adding us to your favorites list! You'll have to sign up first, but it's free, and we really appreciate it!

Night Owls Sketches

These are the first sketches I ever drew of the Night Owls. As you can see, I knew what I thought they should look like, and they haven't changed much since, except for Roscoe.

Here Roscoe is shown with big Popeye arms and smokin' a stogie. I ditched the stogie, because I decided my characters wouldn't smoke, even though it'd be entirely period appropriate for them to do so. Besides, Buster Keaton died of lung cancer. There's reason enough to give Tobacco the high hat, if you ask me.

As for the Popeye arms, I'm not sure why I decided not to do that. Looking back, I kinda wish I'd kept them. Oh well.

There's also a sketch for my original logo idea, "the postage stamp logo".

It ended up looking like this, but I ended up not liking it very much.

And finally, here's the first actual comics page to ever feature the Night Owls:

Night Owls review

The Night Owls just got it's first review!

From the Jersey Journal!

Time to meet Danna

Anyone who's met me at a comic convention has probably met my wife Danna first.

That's because I can be a little shy sometimes, especially when meeting new people. Danna is a great ice-breaker at conventions. I see someone I want to meet and point Danna at her. She is freindly, enthusiastic, and immensely lovable.

<--This is her during our recent trip to the roaring twenties. It was a research trip.

I'm bringing her up now, because anyone who likes "The Night Owls" or "Fat Mitch"  or any of my comics should thank her for them. 

Without Danna's encouragement and support, I don't know where I'd be today. 

I think it's incredibly important to have someone like that in your corner. We all get discouraged sometimes, especially when pursuing goals that are important to us and seem difficult to obtain.

Danna is the icing that holds my gingerbread house together.

Here's me during that same trip in the Time-Wagon. -->

I tied that bowtie myself! 

Night Owls #9 on Zuda!

The first new episode of the Night Owls (beyond the first eight pages of our initial submission) is finally up on Zudacomics.com!

Episode 9 starts the tale of Roscoe's sister's wedding.

For those of you who are interested in that sort of thing, here's the breakdowns that Peter drew for me.

And here's a peek at my pencils.

Amalgamated Artists Shoutout

The folks over at Amalgamated Artists did us a solid by posting our newly created banner on their website, so I thought I'd give them a shout out in return.

"HI, Amalgamated Artists!"

One of the guys over there at Amalgamated Artists (Gary Epting) has a comic in the January Zuda competition called "A Spelunker's Guide to the City". 

This is the kind of comic you should really spend some time with, in full screen mode.

If there's anyone else who feels like linking to the Night Owls, and would like a nice li'l banner, here's the one I made for the Amalgamated Artists: