Ben Wright-Heuman - Cartoonist Extraordinaire

WHODRAWNIT?! BWHComics Newsletter 8/14/2019

8/14/2019

Greetings and salutations!

A quick one this week, but some important news! Without further ado, let’s begin!

Recently Released

CosPain #109: Out of Frame
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #110: Acceptance

Upcoming Events

Matsuricon 2019: August 16-18, 2019, Columbus, OH
WV Pop Culture Con: September 7th-8th 2019, Morgantown, WV

If you know of any events that are accepting artists, let me know!

WHODRAWNIT?

I mentioned in my last newsletter that I’d be hosting a panel at Matsuricon! Well, now I have more details that I can share!

Hope to see you at the panel! And even if you can’t make it, stop by my table in the Artist Alley!

Livestreams

The replays for my live draw of CosPain strip #110 will likely go up next week. I need some time after Matsuricon to edit them.

If you’re interested in seeing them as they come out, the best way is to follow my YouTube channel, or my Twitch channel if you want to join in on the livestreams, well, live!

The Letters of the Devil II

Work on Letters has hit a major goal! There are only 100 pages left to ink! With the new deadline in 18 days, that is admittedly tough, but I believe it can be done!

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! I have a con to get ready for and pages to ink!

If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fiaccounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

I'M BACK, BABY! BWHComics Newsletter 8/6/2019

8/6/2019

Greetings and salutations!

WOW. It has been over a MONTH since my last proper newsletter. Sorry about that, guys, but I’ll be breaking down what happened to cause such a delay below. Also, welcome to all the new friends I made at Otakon!

Without further ado, let’s begin!

Recently Released

CosPain #108: Backseat Reading
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #104: Introvert Booth

Upcoming Events

Matsuricon 2019: August 16-18, 2019, Columbus, OH
WV Pop Culture Con: September 7th-8th 2019, Morgantown, WV

If you know of any events that are accepting artists, let me know!

WHODRAWNIT?

I have had a panel approved at Matsuricon! I will be talking about mystery comics and the process of writing one! The official schedule has not been posted, but I will let you all know when I have the official time slot information available.

Livestreams

I will be livestreaming the drawing of CosPain strip #110 this coming weekend! Tune in Friday, August 9th, at 7:00 PM EDT for the first half, and Sunday, August 11th, at 7:00 PM EDT for the second half!

If you’re interested in seeing them as they come out, the best way is to follow my YouTube channel, or my Twitch channel if you want to join in on the livestreams, well, live!

What’s Been Happening

The last few weeks have been absolutely incredible. I have stayed in seven different states, driven over 2,000 miles, and flown twice. I had two weekend-long conventions, my aunts’ wedding, and a family reunion. It’s been nuts, to say the least.

As much fun as I had with the whole experience, the highlight had to be Otakon. This was far and away the best tabling experience I’ve had to date. I went from barely making back the table fee on the 3rd day last year to surpassing it handily partway through the 2nd day. It broke every record I’ve set for a con. I had incredible interactions with customers, with other tablers, with staff … it was just the complete package. I absolutely plan on attending again next year.

Unfortunately, these events have put me behind schedule. I detailed this in my last update, but in case you missed it, I have included the revised schedule below.
The Letters of the Devil II

To put it simply, I have pushed Inking and Penciling back a month. Since I am also going to be working on assembly as I go, I have reduced the Post-Production working window to 15 days.

This also means that the final date of completion is unchanged. I still intend to finish the book by 12/1/2019, or at least to give it my best effort. I really want to finish this book before the end of the year, and I won’t throw that towel in until I absolutely have to.

I hate pushing back deadlines, but I’d rather give you all a good product late than a subpar one on time. Thank you all for your support, for holding me accountable, and for just being awesome.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! Time to get back on track.

If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fiaccounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

New LETTERS Schedule

7/31/2019

Greetings and salutations!

This is not a full newsletter. I’m currently out of town and do a more comprehensive post when I get back. I do, however, have one big announcement that couldn’t wait.

As anyone keeping up with my posts will know, the deadline for completing the inks for The Letters of the Devil II is 8/1. I have been concerned that I would miss that deadline, but I have been unwilling to push things back. There was already buffer time built into the schedule, and I figured it would be better to miss by a few days and adjust the schedule once I knew what the damage would actually be.

Unfortunately, life caught up with me the last few weeks. In a good way, thankfully, but my work did get significantly held up. As a result, I find myself having to release an updated schedule.

To put it simply, I have pushed Inking and Penciling back a month. Since I am also going to be working on assembly as I go, I have reduced the Post-Production working window to 15 days.

This also means that the final date of completion is unchanged. I still intend to finish the book by 12/1/2019, or at least to give it my best effort. I really want to finish this book before the end of the year, and I won’t throw that towel in until I absolutely have to.

I hate pushing back deadlines, but I’d rather give you all a good product late than a subpar one on time. Thank you all for your support, for holding me accountable, and for just being awesome.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! BWHComics Newsletter 7/4/2019

7/4/2019

Greetings and salutations!

Happy 4th of July! Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Recently Released

CosPain #103: Biohazard
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #104: Introvert Booth

Upcoming Events

Otakon 2019: July 26-28, 2019, Washington, D.C.
SaikouCon 2019: August 3-4, 2019, White Haven, PA
Matsuricon 2019: August 16-18, 2019, Columbus, OH
WV Pop Culture Con: September 7th-8th 2019, Morgantown, WV

If you know of any events that are accepting artists, let me know!

Livestreams

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my last livestream! The replays will go up this upcoming week.

If you’re interested in seeing them as they come out, the best way is to follow my YouTube channel, or my Twitch channel if you want to join in on the livestreams, well, live!

Goodreads Giveaway

I'm giving away 100 Kindle editions of The Letters of the Devil through Goodreads! I know many of you already own a copy of my book, but if you don't, this could be your chance to get a free copy! And even if you do have one already, you could really help me out by spreading the word.

The contest runs until July 29th. To sign up, click here.

Backburner Party

So I mentioned a few newsletters back that I was planning a backburner party. I even listed a date, which happens to be this Sunday. Unfortunately, I have to postpone the event for now. Ironically, I just don’t have time right now. Letters is at a critical stage and requires too much attention.

I’m currently planning to reschedule it for this coming Fall, when things calm down a bit more. I’ll keep you all posted!

The Letters of the Devil II

Inking has picked up significantly, as I had hoped it would. I was able to knock out 12.5 pages in a single day last week! I’m still considering pushing back the deadline, but for now, I’m keeping it as-is.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! I’ve got a cookout to go to.

If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fi accounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

Goodreads Book Giveaway: The Letters of the Devil

7/1/2019

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Letters of the Devil by Ben Wright-Heuman

The Letters of the Devil

by Ben Wright-Heuman

Giveaway ends July 29, 2019.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

PODCASTS AND ZINE FESTS! BWHComics Newsletter 6/23/2019

6/23/2019

Greetings and salutations!

A few very exciting things have happened since my last newsletter! A quick shout-out to Tiny Papers for hosting a fantastic zine fest! Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Recently Released

Comics:
CosPain #101: The Cosplay Paradox
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #102: One-Woman Makerspace

Videos:
THE 100TH COSPAIN COMIC! CosPain #100 Live Draw, Part 1
TABLING WITH FRIENDS! CosPain #100 Live Draw, Part 2
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES! CosPain #100 Live Draw, Part 3
A HUNDRED IN THE BAG! CosPain #100 Live Draw, Finale

Upcoming Events

Otakon 2019: July 26-28, 2019, Washington, D.C.
SaikouCon 2019: August 3-4, 2019, White Haven, PA
Matsuricon 2019: August 16-18, 2019, Columbus, OH
WV Pop Culture Con: September 7th-8th 2019, Morgantown, WV

If you know of any events that are accepting artists, let me know!

Livestreams

My next livestream will be this upcoming weekend! The first half will be this Friday, June 28th, at 7:00 PM EDT. The second half will be this Sunday, June 30th, also at 7:00 PM EDT.

If you’re interested in seeing them as they come out, the best way is to follow my YouTube channel, or my Twitch channel if you want to join in on the livestreams, well, live!

The PVDCast

I was recently interviewed for The PVDCast! It was a lot of fun and turned out great! Shout-out to John Orlando, who is a fantastic interviewer. You can find the episode here.

The Letters of the Devil II

Unfortunately, progress has been much slower than I had hoped. Inking with CosPain is very quick, but the art style for Letters is more detailed, which has hindered progress.

As of right now, I am not altering the timetable. I hope that, once I really get rolling, the process will get faster. There is a very good chance, however, that I will have to adjust the deadlines in the near future.

The good news is, I have room to maneuver in this case. Post-Production is basically the final stage, so the month between the current Post-Production deadline and the Total Completed Pages deadline is pure buffer. In addition, I spent part of last week setting up the InDesign file for the book, which will auto-update as I complete pages and drastically cut down on the time I need for the Post-Production stage. In other words, I have almost 2 months of extra time already built into the schedule. Even if I do end up pushing back the Inking deadline, the overall project deadline will not need to be changed.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! Time to get back on track.

If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fiaccounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

TINY PAPERS! BWHComics Newsletter 6/10/2019

6/10/2019

Greetings and salutations!

It’s been a good couple of weeks! Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #99: Forced Enjoyment
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #100(!): Hospitality

Upcoming Events

Otakon 2019: July 26-28, 2019, Washington, D.C.
SaikouCon 2019: August 3-4, 2019, White Haven, PA
Matsuricon 2019: August 16-18, 2019, Columbus, OH
WV Pop Culture Con: September 7th-8th 2019, Morgantown, WV

So the dates for SaikouCon in my newsletter have been adjusted. Don’t worry, the con is still going all three days. Due to a family conflict, however, I will only be tabling on Saturday and Sunday. It was either miss a day or drop the con, and I appreciate that SaikouCon gave me the flexibility to still attend.

I also have a last-minute con to announce!

Tiny Papers will be my first outdoor con! I’m excited to see how it goes! Stop by Gahanna, OH on June 22nd between the hours of 11 AM and 3 PM and join in the fun!

If you know of any events that are accepting artists, let me know!

Livestreams

Thank you to everyone who joined me for the live draw of my 100th CosPain strip! It was a long one, but I was excited to hit this milestone with all of you!

I haven’t had a chance to prepare the replays, but I hope to have those completed and posting by the end of the week. I also plan on hosting my next livestream in the next couple of weeks. I’ll keep you informed.

If you’re interested in seeing them as they come out, the best way is to follow my YouTube channel, or my Twitch channel if you want to join in on the livestreams, well, live!

The Letters of the Devil II

The last couple of weeks have been VERY nice. I’d been working nonstop for a while, and since I finished my last deadline almost a week early, I took some time to not make comics. I love my work, but everyone needs a break on occasion.

The next deadline is to have the inks completed by August 1st. That’s gonna be tough, not gonna lie, but I’ll be able to make it work. I successfully built up a backlog on CosPain that I plan to supplement on weekends, so I’ll have the room to breathe that I need.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! I have quite a bit of inking to get back to.

If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fi accounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

THE PENCILS ARE DONE! Can I sleep now?

5/27/2019

Greetings and salutations!

Yes, you read that correctly. I, Ben Wright-Heuman, notorious procrastinator and misser of deadlines, have finished the pencils for The Letters of the Devil II almost a week ahead of schedule! Please, hold your applause, you’re embarrassing me!

Digital pencils have been an incredible time-saver, and the writing changes I made during the thumbnailing stage really paid off. We’re looking at a crazy story, guys.

What Comes Next?

My next deadline for the book is to finish the inks by 8/1. Only about 2 months, but inking goes significantly faster than penciling, and, unlike with the first book, I will be inking digitally, which should speed the process up even further.

Before that, however, I will be taking a much-needed break from Letters to work on my other big project, CosPain! A major part of the new work schedule that allowed me to finish these pencils on time was the fact that I had established a large backlog of CosPain strips, which meant that I only had to worry about one project at a time. Well, that backlog is now empty. Before I can get back to work on Letters, I need to get my wiggle room back! I expect the process to take about two weeks.

As part of rebuilding that backlog, I will be livestreaming the 100th CosPain strip this Sunday, 6/2, at 1:00 PM EDT on my Twitch channel! Join me for the celebration and watch as I draw the entire strip right in front of you! That’s right, no breaking it into two streams on two different days! No skipping the lettering and post-production! Everything in one day, and we go until it’s done.

Anyway, not a full newsletter, so I’m keeping this one short. If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fi accounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A BACKBURNER PARTY! BWHComics Newsletter 5/22/2019

5/22/2019

Greetings and salutations!

Hello to one and all, and welcome to the new friends I made at 3 Rivers Comicon! Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #97: Punching Bag
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #98: Before it was Cool

Upcoming Events

Otakon 2019: July 26-28, 2019, Washington, D.C.
SaikouCon 2019: August 2-4, 2019, White Haven, PA
Matsuricon 2019: August 16-18, 2019, Columbus, OH
WV Pop Culture Con: September 7th-8th 2019, Morgantown, WV

If you know of any events that are accepting artists, let me know!

Backburner Party!

For the last few weeks, I’ve been playing with an idea: a Backburner Party. Much like events such as 24-Hour Comic Day, the idea is to get a bunch of creators hanging out and working on their backburner projects. You know the ones. The ideas you always wanted to implement but never had the time, energy, or resources to really delve into. Well, this would be a block of hours where people could sit down and just do it.

The first Backburner Party is Sunday, July 7th, from 1:30-5:30, at the Westerville Library, Meeting Room B. Come on by with whatever backburner project you want to work on and get started!

CosPain #100 Livestream!

The next livestream will by my 100th CosPain strip! In addition, I plan to have it coincide with the completion of the next Letters deadline (see below), so I’m extra excited for it!

While I normally do these streams in two days, I will instead be doing the entire comic in one day. I will be going from pencils all the way through to a finished strip, not just through the coloring.

The stream will be live on Sunday, June 2, starting at 1:00 PM EDT and ending when the strip is done. If you’re able to join me in this celebration, I’d love to have you.

If you’re interested in seeing them as they come out, the best way is to follow my YouTube channel, or my Twitch channel if you want to join in on the livestreams, well, live!

The Letters of the Devil II

You read that correctly. Less than two weeks left, but 200 pages have been completely penciled. My current goal is to average 5 pages a day until the pencils are done. It’s so close I can taste it, guys. And it tastes GOOD.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! Next time you hear from me, I will likely have completed an incredible milestone. And be very tired.

If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fi accounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

DO YOU EVEN LYFT? BWHComics Newsletter 5/1/2019

5/1/2019

Greetings and salutations!

Hello to one and all, and welcome to the new friends I made at SPACE! Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #94: There is No Preparing
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #95: Tase Me, Bro

Upcoming Events

3 Rivers Comicon 2019: May 11-12, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA
Otakon 2019: July 26-28, 2019, Washington, D.C.
SaikouCon 2019: August 2-4, 2019, White Haven, PA
Matsuricon 2019: August 16-18, 2019, Columbus, OH

I also have one more con to announce!

I will be attending WV Pop Culture Con alongside the fantastic Kelci Crawford! See you in Morgantown, WV on the weekend of September 7th-September 8th!

If you know of any events that are accepting artists, let me know!

SPACE Panel

Thank you to everyone who showed up for my CosPain Live Draw panel at SPACE this past weekend! I had a great time, and a lot of people gave me positive feedback. I definitely plan to do this again.

I have video footage of the panel, but it may be a little while before I can make it available. The audio is a little hard to hear, as the panels at this con were in an open venue with a fair amount of traffic. I also STUPIDLY did not use the microphone, since I figured everybody was pretty close together and could hear me fine. I will be working on cleaning that up, so hopefully I will be able to post it soon.

Livestreams

It will probably be a couple of weeks before my next livestream, as I have a family commitment this coming weekend and 3 Rivers Comicon the weekend after that. That livestream, however, will be my 100th strip. Expect some exciting things from that one.

If you’re interested in seeing them as they come out, the best way is to follow my YouTube channel, or my Twitch channel if you want to join in on the livestreams, well, live!

The Letters of the Devil II

Progress has slowed down a little bit due to my weekend activities, but I’m still going strong and am on track to finish the pencils by 6/1.

Lyft

So recently, the freelance game has been a little light. I’ve signed up with Upwork, which will hopefully help improve my luck with getting creative gigs, but it has yet to pay off, and I still need an additional source of income while working on my own projects. It is to that end that I have signed up to be a Lyft driver.

So far, it’s been decent. I can set my own hours of operation, so I’ve been able to continue doing comic work without any real interruption. In fact, I’ve found ways to work while waiting for fares. This change should not have any effect on my creative output.

I debated whether or not to even mention this change in my newsletter, but I decided that it represents a significant-enough shift that I wanted to make you all aware of it. This is the first non-creative job I’ve taken since I left customer service to attend the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2014. It was hard to “go back”, even for something as flexible as Lyft, but reducing my financial burden even a little will allow me to keep doing what I love.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! I’d better get back to preparing for the next two weekends.

If you want to support my work further, please visit my online store. I also have Patreon and Ko-Fi accounts if those are more your speed.

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.