Day 25 of 31: Drop Dead Vince Updated With Page 29 of Chapter One!

Hey cats and kittens! Hard to believe there's less than a week to go for Halloween. I hope everyone's ready for the big night this year! 

I'd like to apologize for the last few updates days. I finally got the chance to finish the next update for Drop Dead Vince! You can read it on Smack Jeeves and on Tapastic. The next update will be a Double Update with the last two pages of chapter one, and the goal is to hopefully have them both uploaded on Smack Jeeves around Halloween. For Tapastic it'll be online November 1st, which happens to fall on the Day of the Dead!

Thank you everyone for being so patient and for supporting Drop Dead Vince. Take care and stay spooky!

Day 22 of 31: Drop Dead Sketchbook - the First Promo Pinup

Hey cats and kittens! Hard to believe there's only 9 days to Halloween! I hope everyone's plans for the big night are going swimmingly. While there's going to be an entry dedicated to early concept art and sketches for Drop Dead Vince sometime this week, tonight is dedicated to Vince's very first promo pinup! 

The top left was some sketches I scratched out for ideas. At the time I really liked the bottom two but eventually I decided to go with the bottom left. I then sketched out a larger and more fleshed out version of it, went over the lines with PaintTool SAI and worked some magic in Photoshop. This was pretty exciting for me since it was my first "official" illustration with Vince and Betty together and I really enjoyed how it turned out. It was the start of a pretty crazy ride and even after two and a half years I'm thankful that it's still going, even despite the bumps in the road. 

Thank you everyone for your support! Take care and stay spooky! 

Day 21 of 31: Drop Dead Sketchbook Sketchdump Coming Soon!

Hey cats and kittens! How is everyone doing? I hope you're all doing well and getting your Halloween plans taken care of since the clock is winding down.

It's another short entry I'm afraid but I have some news for you: one, I'll be working again soon so that will affect my blog updates depending on my work schedule. And two, there's going to be a BIG entry of sketches and concept art for Drop Dead Vince very soon! I'll be gathering my sketchbooks and scanning them this week so stay tuned!

Thank you everyone for being so patient and for your support. Take care and stay spooky!

Day 20 of 31: Drop Dead Sketchbook - Designing the Logo

Hey cats and kittens! I know it's been a few days and I'd like to apologize for being inactive over the past few days, I've been working on the last few pages for Vince's first chapter and whenever I suddenly remember I had to update the production blog I look at the clock on my computer and it's midnight. Oops. But I promise that I'll make it up to everyone, in fact I'm going to be scanning some material from my sketchbooks to upload for the blog for you to take a gander at. This is the first batch: Designing the Drop Dead Vince logo! 

I do freelance graphic design work and I can tell you that designing a good logo takes a lot of thought even before you put it to paper; although sometimes little things like the doodle I did in the top left of the scans above can inspire a big design or concept. The text was a challenge since while I am experience in graphic design I'm not quite experienced in typography (designing text and typefaces/fonts), but I think it turned out pretty well despite my inexperience. Originally when I was setting up the tombstone I thought of using the broken heart design, but I liked the pompadour skull the best since it represented the main character Vince the best and was much more iconic. I tinted the sketch red in Photoshop and printed it out to go over with multiliner ink and brush pens (the grass was done with a brush pen) and then rescanned it to touch up and color in Photoshop again. And the last image is the end result of the logo!

Thank you every one for your support and for being so patient with me. I hope you're having a great Halloween season and have your plans for the 31st underway, there's only 11 days left until the big night! Take care everyone, and stay spooky!

Day 15 of 31: Drop Dead Sketchbook - Brush Pen Betty Doodles

Hey cats and kittens! I hope everyone's been well and having a good week so far. I know a while back I promised that you would be able to see some special sketches and doodles for Drop Dead vince, but now the wait is over! This is Drop Dead Sketchbook, where I pull out a few sketches of concepts, page thumbnails, or any doodles that might stir some interest.

This here was an experiment around the time I was first starting out the comic, trying to figure out if I wanted to do the comic traditionally with ink or digitally. Unfortunately I still need some practice with brush pens and brush inking and eventually I decided to draw the pages digitally. But these doodles of Betty were so cute I colored them in Photoshop and added the halftones to it (I think this was around the same time I was trying to figure out her color scheme as well).

Expect more artwork and sketchbook goodies very soon! Take care and stay spooky!

Day 13 of 31: Sneak Peak of Page 30 and 31 Chapter One of Drop Dead Vince!

Hey cats and kittens! I'd like to apologize for the REALLY late entry tonight, I've had to do a few things around the house and was working on the next Vince page. And speaking of, check this out: Exclusive previews of two frames from the last two pages for the first chapter of Drop Dead Vince!

As for which page each frame is from and what's going on I can't say for the moment. But you'll see soon enough. You can say that you have gotten a peek at the last two pages before anyone else! As for page 29 it's off to a bit of a slow start this week but hopefully I'll be able to get back into the groove of things soon.

Thank you so much for your support since the countdown and Betty and Vince Month started! Take care and say spooky!

Day 13 of 31: Progress on the 2013 Drop Dead Vince Special Edition Halloween Print

Hey cats and kittens! Tomorrow is the start of a new week and I hope everyone is having a great October so far. Thankfully I was able to get that project I was working on finished (for the moment) and get back to working on some Vince projects!

Here's another preview for the 2013 Drop Dead Vince Special Edition print, which is finally getting some lines! When it'll be finished I can't say, since I'm also working on the last few pages of the comic, but I'll definitely keep you informed on the status of both, as well as any other surprises you might see in the Drop Dead Shop. So sit tight!

Thank you so much for your support! Take care and stay spooky!

Day 12 of 31: A Sketch Just For You!

Hey cats and kittens! I hope everyone's having a nice weekend so far. Unfortunately this is going to be another short entry again for Betty and Vince month. Today was a crazy day for me, I had to do a lot of work but I sadly didn't get anything Vince-related done. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get this project finished and get back to the comic as well as the Halloween print for this year. 

In the meantime, here's a special sketch just for you guys! Take care and stay spooky! 

Day 9 0f 31: Another Preview of Page 29!

Hey cats and kittens! I hope everyone's been doing alright this week. As for me I'm still pretty stuffy but I feel like my allergies are getting better so hopefully I won't be snotty for that much longer.

I've been trying to work on the next Vince page and I thought I'd give you a mini preview of what it looks like when I work on pages. The software here I'm using is called PaintTool SAI, it's a fantastic program with incredibly smooth lineart tools. Unfortunately it's only available for PCs, but from what I hear the lineart tools for Manga Studio 5 took cues from SAI so if you use a Mac I would look into that! As for what goes into making a Vince page I'll make a more detailed entry about that in a future entry.

Thank you everyone for your support and for tuning in for each entry for Betty & Vince Month. Take care and stay spooky!

Day 7 of 31: Page 29 of Chapter One Coming Soon!

Hey cats and kittens! I hope everyone's doing well this month so far. I'm currently feeling a little under the weather but I hope that whatever it is it'll be short-lived. 

Anyhow, here is a preview of a panel from page 29 of the first chapter of Drop Dead Vince. There's still some work to be done for this page but hopefully I'll be able to get this page online soon. As for the last two pages, they're both close to being finished and will both be uploaded together as a double update once the time comes. So stay tuned for them! 

Thank you everyone so much for all your support. Take care of yourself and stay spooky! 

Day 5 of 31: Looking For Drop Dead Vince Questions For an FAQ/Q&A!

Hey cats and kittens! It's five days into the Halloween countdown for Betty & Vince month and nearly a week into October! I hope everyone's gotten started on their Halloween plans, as for me I don't really know what I'm doing for this year aside from Vince-related things. But I'm going to try my best to finish the remaining Vince pages and keep up with this production blog!

Firstly, here's a preview of Betty's Pumpkin Carving Stencil sketch. Vince's stencil is already finished and can be purchased here, along with some other fun Drop Dead Vince goodies. And more merchandise for the Halloween season will be added sometime this month so definitely keep an eye out and I'll be giving previews and first-looks for them on this blog as well!

Also, sometime this week I'd like to compile some questions for an FAQ or Q&A blog entry about Drop Dead Vince. It can be either about the story, the characters, or even about the creative process for the comic itself! Please feel free to leave any questions below in the comments section, I look forward to what you'd like to ask about Vince and Betty! Take care and stay spooky.

Day 4 of 31: Drop Dead Vince Character Playlists

Hey cats and kittens! It's day 4 of our Halloween countdown for Betty & Vince month and I'd thought I'd do something different for once. Music plays a big part in inspiring me when I work on art or projects and for Drop Dead Vince it was no exception. So I decided to make a list of songs that inspired me when creating the two main characters of the series, Vince and Betty! (These links however are NOT download links but to Youtube videos of the songs, but you can find most of the songs on this list on iTunes or other music sites)

• "Venus" by Frankie Avalon
• "The Girl Upstairs" by Alfred Newman (score from the film the Seven Year Itch)
• "My Special Angel" by Bobby Helms
• "(She's) Sexy + 17" by Stray Cats
• "Long Blond Hair" by the Go-Kats (cover of the Johnny Powers song)

• "Surfin' Dead" by the Cramps (featured in the film the Return of the Living Dead)
• "Billy's Dead" by Deadbolt
• "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan & Dean
• "Mr. Sandman" by Oranger (cover of the Chordettes song, featured in the video game Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse)
• "Rockin' Bones" by Ronnie Dawson

I hope that you'll enjoy the tunes and maybe they'll inspire you to create something yourself! Take care and stay spooky!

Day 2 of 31: Drop Dead Vince 2013 Halloween Merchandise Coming Soon!

Hey cats and kittens, it's Day 2 of Betty & Vince month here at the Drop Dead Vince Production Blog!  I hope everyone's having a nice October so far. It's a bumpy start for me, but here's hoping things will look up soon.

As I said before I've not only been busy with the remaining Vince pages but also some special upcoming Halloween merchandise for the Drop Dead Shop. Above this post is a preview of something that I actually just finished last night and will be in the shop hopefully later this week! What it is I can't say for the moment, but I don't know if it's been done by other webcomic artists and I thought it'd be something fun and festive for this time of year. You'll see soon enough!

I'm also planning on doing a new Halloween special edition print for this year. The remaining copies of the Halloween Print from 2011 will available for purchase in the shop also later this week and will still include a special goodie bag that will include two free stickers of Betty and Vince (and there will also be new goodie bags included with the new print as well!) and at a discounted price! You can also get the 2011 Halloween Print in the discounted Graveyard Rock Pack along with an exclusive postcard and the First Year Anniversary Print and sticker! What a screaming deal!

Thank you everyone for your support and I hope that your October so far is a great one this year. Take care and stay spooky!

We're Back (Again)! Let's Count Down to Halloween!

Hey cats and kittens! I apologize again for disappearing for several months. As I said before, 2013 has not been my best year and I've had a lot of ups and downs (mostly downs it seems like). But I'm doing my best to hang in there and keep at it, after all you can't really get anywhere if you just drop everything and give up.

Back on track, Drop Dead Vince is updating again! And actually very close to finishing the first chapter! I've been plugging away on the pages and there's about three more to go until the first episode wraps up. I'm also going to be cooking up some special Halloween goodies for the Drop Dead Shop so stay tuned for more news on that!

And speaking of news, the Drop Dead Vince Production Blog is now participating in the Countdown to Halloween! Along with some other awesome and creepy blogs, I'll be committing myself to updating every day of this month and keeping with the Halloween spirit. This month is going to be Betty & Vince Month so keep in touch for DDV-related news and posts!

Thanks you again for your support and for being so patient with me this year. I'll do my best to update more often, so stay tuned and stay spooky!