The Teddy Has Spoken.

Well, now the bear’s said it, it’s official… Tomorrow I’ll be posting two pages, but just a reminder that after that, I’ll be updating Saturdays only from the 15th. Considering we’re one chapter in now, and all the characters have been introduces (well… except you know who), I figure as a reader you’re either in or out at this point. Chapter one was very much the set up.  Now everyone knows the score, things can get a little darker and a lot bloodier in Chapter Two.  

A web-comic is an ongoing thing, and I’m slowly feeling like I’m getting organized now. I’ve still got a million things to do to get Babayka-Lives out there, but with the first Chapter finishing today, I feel like I’ve taken my first couple of steps and I’m well under way now. Hope people reading Brides Of Babayka feel the same way.

Please send any and all feedback to the usually Email address. I have readers, but I don’t know who a single one of them is yet? Currently you’re all just statistics on a webpage. So please, feel free to drop me a line and say “Hi!” If you’re feeling brave. I promise to respond to all (troll free) correspondences. Considering I’ve just unleashed my first ever cliff-hanger today, I’d love to hear what people thought?  

I’d like to end this blog post by asking for a moment of silence for poor Colin Mack. We hardly knew thee, Mr Mack.(Also I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but I included the character sheets in the extra’s section at the back of the graphic-novel, as a bonus with the exclusive pin-ups and cover art for anyone sitting on the fence about buying the book, who might want to see those character sheets in print. There re-jigged from landscape to portrait, and I think they came out looking pretty snazzy.)

Page Upload Update.

There’s good news and bad news. The good news is I’ll be uploading three pages this weekend, instead of two. The last page of Chapter One on Saturday, then on Sunday, a solid black page with ‘Chapter Two’ written on it, and the first sequential page of the second chapter (complete with partial nudity.) The bad news is that next week I’ll only be uploading a page per week after that. I need to give myself some time to draw new pages when Brides Of Babayka ends, so I’ll be posting one page every Saturday from the 15th of March onwards. I really want to post something every week without hiatuses, rather than blow-my-wad (of reserved pages) and then go for weeks without posting anything as I draw new material. I’m playing the long game with Babayka-Lives, and part of that is no gap weeks or hiatuses if I can help it. Plus a page-per-week seems to be the norm judging by most other web-comics. 

It’s not a 100% certainty there’ll be a second Babayka book. We’ll just have to see how the next couple of years play out. But just so people don’t think I’m not doing any new artwork, here’s a photo I took on my phone recently to show I am generating new sequential pages. It’s in black-and-white because I got a new mobile for my birthday last month, and the camera had a black-and-white filter on it, and I wanted to test it out. It gives my snaps a classy look, I think. By-the-by, if you accidentally get a shadow outline of your head at the bottom of the photo, does it count as a selfie?        

Feeling The Love.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been running an ad campaign over on Project Wonderful these last few days, or (hopefully) maybe it’s because people have been reacting well to the climax of chapter one. But whatever the reason, this weekend I’ve got my highest site visits rating since starting my web-comic back in December, which was a nice surprise. I’m sure some of those hits were things like people looking for a place to dump spam and so on, but it’s a big buzz to know I have returning readers. It was a massive worry of mine that I wouldn’t be able to build up a readership with this web-comic, so I was really glad to see so many tune in this weekend. It feels very awesome to have an audience.

Anyone who hasn’t checked out this weekend’s action, should get over to Babayka-Lives, where things are going from bad-to-worse for poor Colin.

Vote Now.

I mentioned this on my deviantart page over the weekend, and I’ll just give it a quick mention here, also. I’m fast approaching 10,000-hits on my deviantart profile, and don’t know if I should mark the occasion with some artwork? I’ve noticed a lot of people do, and while I am working hard currently on new sequential pages, maybe I could free up a little time to do something… but what? So I’m just putting the call out for any potential ideas. See if there’s anything people would like to see me draw as a pin-up to mark this event. Maybe a yana pin-up? a self-portrait? some monster pic (possibly with a side-order of damsel in distress?) or maybe a follow up pin-up to one of my previous pin-ups? or something else completely? (obviously I can’t do a Babayka pin-up, as it would be a massive spoiler for the web-comic reading crowd, but any other suggestions are more than welcome.) You can simply put any requests below this very post in the comment section. Or if you have a deviantart account of your own, you can private message note me (it’s always nice to sign in and find you’ve got a note waiting.) Or best of all, use Babayka-Lives Email address. Put something like ‘10,000 hits art ideas’ as your subject heading. I would love to hear any-and-all ideas.    

Speaking of deviantart, anybody wanting to check out my profile can find my page here.

Unofficial Soundtrack.

Yikes! I guess this weekend’s scene on Babayka-Lives, is the scene where the worm really turns in this tale. I have to say Page 21 is another one of my favourites from Chapter One. This page is maybe a few years old now, but I still have a soft spot for it, as imperfect as it may be. I just wanted this shot to shout “TIMBER!!!” at the reader.

I thought I’d post this tune this weekend, as I heard it in late 2012, and I think it complements Brides Of Babayka really well. If I had to make an unofficial soundtrack to go along with this web-comic, this would be track number one. If many years from now, by some vast miracle, someone ever made a movie out of this book, this would be the tune I’d personally pick to go over the opening credits. I think there’s a weird crossover in tone. Ridiculous, but kind of creepy, too. Maybe it’s a British thing?



Also, I know this is a pretty unrealistic request, and the chances of this actually happening are very slim to say the least, but any musicians readers who fancy doing some (is there a name for fan-fiction done with music?) Babayka inspired music, are more than welcome to have a stab. I’ve just been listening to a lot of Murray Gold Doctor Who music this week on youtube, and I’d get a massive buzz if anyone reading this with some musical talent, could put together a half-decent creepy theme to go along with this web-series. If anyone fancies it, by all means let your inner John Carpenter off the hook, and write this comic a jingle. Jaws and Michael Myers have their own theme-tune, what would Babayka’s be? Submissions, as always, to this Email address.

Mould Man.

Wow… a lot of art coming your way this weekend. Not only two fresh, new sequential pages on Babayka-Lives, but also a sketchbook drawing I did a while ago over Xmas. I haven’t really solved my recent blogger\posting images problem, but I think I may have found a way to wriggle around it. I’ve been trying to post this image (or any image) for over a month now, and hopefully if you’re seeing my drawing posted above, I’ve cracked the problem.

Speaking of cracking problems, I finally figured out how to turn the comments off on Babayka-Lives. Like I said last post, please don’t think I’m being aloof, you’re more than welcome to comment on here, or even better yet, send feedback Emails here. I just got tired of signing in to my web-comic and seeing there was a ton of comments that needed approving, then finding out they were all spam. Ideally, in the far, far future, if I can get some big time online love going for my web-comic, maybe one day I (or even better someone else) may start a forum for this web-series. We’ll see how it pans out.

Feedback Welcomed.

I’m probably gonna try and switch off the comments on Babayka-Lives in the coming weeks (when I can find a spare five minutes to figure out how.) Policing all the unbelievable amount of spam that’s coming in is a nightmare, and I also have been secretly a little worried that people who have bought the book might leave spoilers for the web-comic reading crowd (not that I would let that happen, I police those comments like Robocop, but still.) I was kind of open to the idea of comments when the site went up, but now I’m wondering if anyone would really miss them?

With that said, I don’t want to come across being aloof. Readers are always very welcome to leave feedback, and can do so here. We’re now eighteen pages in, and I’d love to hear what people think? Or maybe if you have a question you want answering about the series? You can use the Email address or comment on here. And that goes double for anyone kind enough to buy the book. I’d love to hear feedback from people who have read the whole story (no spoilers, though, please, if you comment online.)

It’s probably way to early to be asking for Fan Art, also, considering my web-comic’s only just under two months old. That said, I might give a signed copy to the first person who does the first piece of official Brides Of Babayka Fan Art. Please send a link or copy and let me know if anyone does draw\make anything, and I’ll check them out. Maybe even post a link to them on this very blog. I get the feeling any Fan Art this series does generates, however, will must likely be when Babayka himself turns up.

So far I’ve had a couple of nice comments online and a review on UK Amazon, so a massive thank you to those people. 2014 is gonna be all about me pimping this web-series, so please feel free to mention Babayka-Lives on your blogs\journals if you feel like showing the series some online love.