Curse of the Eel has 1 Million Views on Tapas!

 Hello everyone, I wanted to post this before but my end of the year has been hectic, but Curse of the Eel has hit a really cool milestone! My comic has 1 million views on Tapas, which is amazing! I'm really lucky to have made a story that can be enjoyed by people, and I hope everyone will continue to enjoy Eel as the story enters its final acts!

https://tapas.io/series/Eel/info

Here is an illustration I made for the occasion! Thank you for reading!

Curse of the Eel Chapter 14

 Today I began posting chapter 14 of Curse of the Eel on Tapastic and Tumblr, and I'll be adding a link to my menu to those pages so people can read them. This chapter was a little hard for me, I was trying to draw it while being having my tank completely on empty. I just had little to no energy to do any real drawing, and anything I did draw didn't look right or just looked less than what I want or expect from my art. It's a sucky thought process, but that poisonous mindset really hobbled me in 2020.

 

Thankfully, new year brings new beginnings, and while I've never been as busy as I am now with projects, new jobs, and new energy, I'm finally feeling a bit like my younger self who just wanted to draw to make people smile or cry with my weird comics. Today Curse of the Eel returns after a short hiatus, and chapter 14 marks the beginning of the end; this comic that I thought would be 2 graphic novels is now half way through book 3, and I'm really proud of it. I've also learned how much these characters mean to people and that is an honor I can't even begin to comprehend, but one that I'm grateful for. If this comic can bring a smile to someone without one, then it was worth every second it took to dream up. I hope this new chapter finds you all well and that you have a great day, and if not, I hope Eel can lift your spirits if even for a bit.

My favorite works from 2020

 Hey all, 2020 was no joke, a complete nightmare. I wasn't really prepared for how much quarantine and the politics of last year would drive my mental health into the ground like a spike. I'm doing better this year, but I'm still finding it hard to make work with everything going on. Either way, I'll share some of my favorite works that I created last year, comics or otherwise.

Here's to a better 2021!

Curse of the Eel Volume 2

Hello all, I hope you're all doing well despite the quarantine and all the other craziness going on in the world. Unfortunately a number of the shows I was planning to attend this year have been postponed, which is the safe thing to do of course, it's just a bit of a bummer. However, I did get my restock of Curse of the Eel Volume 1 as well as my brand spanking new Volume 2! This book collects chapters 7-11 of the comic that began as my thesis and has become the flagship title that shows people how I write and draw my own stories!

Curse of the Eel is about a goth girl named Connie whom, in volume 1, accidentally summons an Eldritch creature known as the Eel to earth. In volume 2, things have taken a turn for the worse as the cult responsible for all of the madness in Connie's life is making big strides in their dark plan. The question is, will Connie be able to do anything about it, especially now that it looks like she and the Eel are turning into one being?

You can pick up the volumes from my store HERE! I'll still be shipping despite the quarantine, but I'll only be shipping at the end of each week, just to stay safe myself. Also, because this is a crazy time and I appreciate your support, each order with an Eel book will get a free bonus illustration of Eel eating a different food! I'll include some of the ones I've already done here to show what they look like!

Thank you for reading and take care! I'll have more art to post soon!

Volume 2 Cover!

Chapter 7 that I love!

Chapter 8 page of horror!

Chapter 9 page that I'm quite proud of! Environmental storytelling!!

Chapter 10 page of the cult person showing their power and fury!

Chapter 11 page that summarizes Eel and Connie's relationship

Eel Bonus Art: Dippin' Dots!

Eel Bonus Art: Okonomiyaki!

Eel Bonus Art: Buffalo Wings!

Curse of the Eel Ch12 Art and CONVENTION UPDATES

Hey ya'll, making a quick update to my schedule so far! I'll be attending two conventions for sure this year:

SC Comic Con in March in Greenville, South Carolina
MomoCon in May in Atlanta, Georgia

Check my social media for my table numbers! And now, here's some art because I'm trying to get as much done between freelance work and my new teaching gig. I'm also teaching now, that's a new development!

This is a pretty important moment for Frank, who has been questioning his sexuality since chapter 3. Holy crap, that was 8 chapters ago... Love is the most powerful feeling ever, and it conquers all. Take care and I hope you'll enjoy the next update when it comes up!

Curse of the Eel volume 2 cover!

Hello everyone! A lack of updates to this site means I've mainly been working on freelance works that I can't really share, but it's good to be busy! I've also been doing my best to keep up with all my original comics, and Curse of the Eel volume 2 is almost ready to go! Here is my process for this cover and some of my thoughts on it.

Curse of the Eel is my take on a modern day world where eldritch creatures and magic wind up in the hands of some odd peoples. Connie is a goth girl who is bullied at high school, and the only person she's able to trust/talk with, is the weird Cthulhu-ish Eel monster that she accidentally summoned. Unfortunately for Connie, Eel isn't the only weird eldritch abomination wandering the halls of her school and the woods of the surrounding area.

This comic was my thesis for my MFA and has been running for 5 years at this point, and I'm working on the 12th chapter as we speak! It's actually doing well on sites like Tapastic and Smackjeeves.

For this cover, I wanted to mirror the first volume cover but also showing that the earth and the Eel's realm are being smashed together, and the thin veneer keeping the worlds separate are cracking, hence the fun glass cracks!

As always, inked with my Raphael 8404 #3 brush with Yasutomo sumi ink on Stillman & Birn Beta Paper.

 

Curse of the Eel ch7 Cover Process

Here's a little look at my art for the cover of Eel 7. I don't have the pencils scanned, I was really excited to ink this. At first, I did not plan for the cracks on the face of the red side. My theming with these, was to show the difference in planes that was so prevalent in Lovecraft's work that inspired me to make Eel. His thoughts were that the universe was infinitely vast and complicated and humans grasp of it was limited, so I tried to visually show two opposite but complimentary worlds: human and non-human. With the end of Eel 6, that split is breaking, and upon inking this cover, I had the idea to show that cracking here. For the first time, the two worlds are linked, and based on this cover, it can't be good.

My tools here were:
Inks: Raphael 8404 #4 brush and Deleter Gpens with FW and Maxon black inks
Paper: Stillman and Birn Beta paper

I hope you enjoy the cover and Eel 7 when it's out.

Curse of the Eel Chapter 7 WIP

Here are a few pages of pencils and inks from Curse of the Eel 7, as spoiler free as I can make them.

I started drawing these as my work on Spencer and Locke was coming to an end, I'm not even really sure what I can share of that work at this point, so Eel it is. These were a fun break from buildings and such, and I feel like I got to play with my brush a lot on these. I hope that the framing is interesting and that you're left wondering who that person in the hoodie is.

Tools: Prismacolor Turquoise leadholder with Faber Castell B Lead for pencils
Inks: Raphael 8404 #3 brush, Deleter G-pen and FW Acrylic Ink
Paper: Stillman and Birn Beta paper, the best for drawing comics