Ben Wright-Heuman - Cartoonist Extraordinaire

A Return to LETTERS! BWHComics Newsletter 3/15/2019

3/15/2019

Greetings and salutations!

It has been a VERY productive couple of weeks. Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #87: Child's Play
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #88: Five-Fingered Discount

Upcoming Events

SPACE 2019: April 28-29, 2019, Columbus, OH
3 Rivers Comicon 2019: May 18-19, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA
Otakon 2019: July 26-28, 2019, Washington, D.C.
SaikouCon 2019: August 2-4, 2019, White Haven, PA

I’m also excited to announce another con being added to the list!

This will be my first Matsuricon as a vendor, but I attended last year and had a blast! When I heard they had a mystery theme this year, I knew I had to get a table, and I was successful! Hope to see you August 16-18 in Columbus, OH!

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

Livestreams

I posted when the livestream replays originally went up, but if you want to keep track of them on your own, might I recommend subscribing to my YouTube channel? There’s not a lot of content there yet, but I hope to change that soon.

The Letters of the Devil II

I mentioned this on the livestreams and briefly alluded to it in my last newsletter, but I took a short break from working on Letters so I could build up a backlog on CosPain. This was done in an attempt to lighten the pressure on me; turns out it’s a lot easier to complete two major projects when you only have to worry about one at a time. So I spent two weeks working exclusively on CosPain and was able to complete almost two months worth of strips. Now, with a little breathing room, I am devoting the next couple of weeks to getting the pencils on my beloved graphic novel rolling again!

It’s been a little bumpy restarting the pencils, but they’re going much, much more smoothly than the thumbnails did. I’m shooting to complete 10-20 a week, which means making my June 1st deadline will be tight but doable.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! Back to cranking out those pencils.

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.

SCABS! CosPain Live Draw, Parts 1 and 2

3/8/2019

In case you missed them, here are the replays of my CosPain livestreams from this past weekend! Hope you enjoy!

Art Livestreams this Friday AND Sunday!

2/27/2019

Hello all!

Just a quick update, I'll be livestreaming another CosPain strip this weekend. Instead of having one long session, however, I'm going to draw the comic over two short sessions, with the pencils and inks in the first half and the coloring and lettering in the second. Each session should be 30-60 minutes at most.

The first session will be Friday, March 1st, and the second one will be Sunday, March 3rd. Both will be at 7:00 PM EDT on my Twitch channel. Hope to see you there!

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

GREAT SUCCESS! BWHComics Newsletter 2/22/2019

2/22/2019

With special thanks to the Westerville Library for letting me use their massive table (and the side table for the overflow)

Greetings and salutations!

GUYS. BIG NEWS. I actually accomplished a deadline! Sure, it was a revised deadline, but, um, shut up! Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #84: Elite Clientele
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #85: Patterning

Upcoming Events

SPACE 2019: April 28-29, 2019, Columbus, OH
3 Rivers Comicon 2019: May 18-19, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA
Otakon 2019: July 26-28, 2019, Washington, D.C.
SaikouCon 2019: August 2-4, 2019, White Haven, PA

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

The Letters of the Devil II

As you can see from the photo at the start of the newsletter, the revised thumbnails have finally been completed, with a new page count of 238. Some minor things may still need changing, but I should be able to do that on the fly. Learning to backpedal and revise a story has been invaluable, and I’m honestly glad I decided to take this time to improve the story.

The next big deadline is for pencils! I have a head start and over three months to go, so my hopes are high. I will be giving a little extra TLC to CosPain for the next week or so, since I’ve been relying on my backlog for a little while so I could get these damn thumbnails done, but you’ll be seeing movement on this project again soon.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! Gotta keep working so I can check off another accomplishment! Eventually.

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.

Happy (Slightly NSFW) Valentine's Day! BWHComics Newsletter 2/14/2019

2/14/2019

Greetings and salutations!

Happy Valentine’s Day for those of you with significant others! Happy Discount Candy Day Eve for the rest of us! Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #83: Seek a Way Out
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #84: Elite Clientele

Upcoming Events

SPACE 2019: April 28-29, 2019, Columbus, OH
3 Rivers Comicon 2019: May 18-19, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA

I also have TWO MORE CONS TO ANNOUNCE! First off, I am excited to be returning to:

I’ll be honest with you guys, when I got into Otakon last year, I thought I just got lucky. Otakon was the Unknown Kadath to my Randolph Carter: the ultimate goal at the end of the dream-quest that is my comics career. In more Euclidean terms, it’s a big-ass con and I expected I’d need a couple more years of tabling before I made it there. Instead, it became one of my best cons of 2018. And now that they’ve offered me a table again, I know it wasn’t a fluke. So I’ll see you guys in DC on July 26-28.

If you can’t make it, then fret not! Because the very next weekend, I’ll be at:

This will be my first time attending SaikouCon, but I’ve been to some great conventions in Pennsylvania. Hope to see you guys in White Haven on August 2-4 to keep the trend going!

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

Twitch Livestream

I mentioned this in a previous post, but the replay of the art livestream I did can be viewed here. I’ll be doing another one within the next few weeks, hopefully with a guest and no audio issues this time! I’ll keep you guys apprised.

The Letters of the Devil II

Progress on the thumbnails started slow but has been picking up. I may still be able to complete the 31 thumbnails by tomorrow, but I’d rather they came out late and good than rushed and bad. As I’m working, I’m also finding more places where I may need to make new thumbnails, so the count could increase. I have therefore pushed the thumbnail deadline back a week. I should be able to make up for lost time in later stages, so the overall deadline remains unchanged.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! Hope your Valentine’s Day is full of love.

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.

Livestreams and a new LOTD2 Schedule! BWHComics Newsletter - 1/25/2019

1/25/2019

Greetings and salutations!

Some exciting news this week! An impending livestream, some new cons on the horizon, and a major announcement regarding The Letters of the Devil II. Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #80: Misplaced Modifier
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #81: Out-of-Con Text

Upcoming Events

SPACE 2019: April 28-29, 2019, Columbus, OH
3 Rivers Comicon 2019: May 18-19, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA

I have a couple more conventions that are confirmed but not yet finalized. Expect to see them announced in the next newsletter.

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

Twitch Livestream

That livestream I teased in my last newsletter? Well it’s happening this Sunday, 1/27! Tune in to twitch.tv/bwhcomics at 7:00 EDT to check it out!

For those unfamiliar with art livestreams, here’s what to expect: I will be working on an upcoming CosPain strip and streaming it online for all of you to see. I’ll also be talking a bit about the process of making a strip, upcoming projects, conventions I’ve been to, pretty much anything I can do to fill some time. There’s also a chat feature viewers can use to participate, so if enough people join the stream, I may even be able to answer a few questions.

On future streams, I hope to have guests that can help me keep the conversation going. As it is, I’ll be drawing solo for this one, so we’ll see how well I can juggle talking and drawing. I’m not currently planning to finish the strip during the stream, as each strip takes me several hours, but we’ll see how far I can get!

If you’re not able to make the stream, worry not! I’ll make sure a version is available afterwards. This is also really a test run, to make sure everything is set and ready to go for future streams. In a perfect world, I’d do at least one of these a month.

The Letters of the Devil II

As promised, I have a new production schedule to post! For now, it’s still rough, but I wanted to give you all an idea of what progress was going to look like.

A bit of explanation is in order. I have determined that 31 pages need to be thumbnailed anew, so a New Thumbnails tab has been added. I have also determined that 9 of the pages I penciled will require some alteration, so I have decreased the completed pencils count from 75 to 66. The big change, however, is that the story is now at 234 pages, and this number may change as I thumbnail the new pages and determine what else is needed.

The good news? This project is still on track to be completed before the end of 2019. I’ll be cutting it finer, and if delaying the release until 2020 means that I put out a better product then I’ll do it, but an on-time release is still in sight under the current timetable.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! Wish me luck for Sunday.

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.

BWHComics Newsletter - 1/15/2019 (Happy New Year!)

1/16/2019

Greetings and salutations!

Happy New Year, and welcome to the new friends I met at Ohayocon! It’s been quite a while since I released one of these, but you can expect them to come out more regularly now that the holidays are over. Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

CosPain #79: BUY BUY BUY
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #80: Misplaced Modifier

Upcoming Events

SPACE 2019: April 28-29, 2019, Columbus, OH
3 Rivers Comicon 2019: May 18-19, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA

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

New Year’s Resolutions

With 2019 upon us, I feel like discussing some of my plans for the year, at least in relation to BWHComics. It’s a little difficult with The Letters of the Devil II in the air, but I do want to set some goals beyond that project. With that in mind, here’s what I want to do before the start of 2020:

1. Reach $100/month through Patreon.

As of this posting, I am making $47/month through Patreon. I am immeasurably honored by this level of support. I do, however, feel that I can improve my Patreon and expand my base. I will therefore be doing everything in my power to reach out and bring in more Patrons. That means offering new Patron-exclusive services, increasing my output, and catering to your wants and desires.

2. Start drawing two CosPain strips per week.

The idea of increasing my CosPain output scares me. Writing comedy is difficult, not simply because it’s hard to be funny, but because it’s hard to be consistently funny. I have been hesitant to draw more than one strip a week for fear of running out of ideas and sabotaging myself. Well it’s time to conquer that fear. I have several pages of CosPain ideas just waiting to become strips, and so it is time for me to increase my production rate.

To be clear, this does not mean that I will be posting two strips a week. For now, I want to be drawing the strips so that I can develop a substantial backlog. This is the first step, however, towards eventually changing my posting schedule.

3. Complete one comic project in addition to CosPain and The Letters of the Devil II.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much I miss making smaller comic projects. When I was a student at the Center for Cartoon Studies, my output was substantial, with minicomic after minicomic getting cranked out during my two years as a student. Unfortunately, my longer projects have distracted me so much that I haven’t made a proper minicomic (outside of the CosPain minicollections) since The Man in Green in 2017. This is no longer acceptable to me. So by the end of this year, I intend to release a new minicomic.

CosPain

As I mentioned in my Ohayocon update, I have released the third CosPain minicollection, Never Skip Neck Day. I have taken the opportunity to also revamp the minicollection page on my online store. The new setup lets me offer the same deal online that I use at conventions: you can buy 1 for $10, 2 for $15, or 3 for $20. If you’re interested in taking advantage of this deal, please go here.

Twitch Livestream

I talked about wanting to do this before, but the time has finally come. Before the end of January, I will host a stream on Twitch wherein I will work on a CosPain strip and talk about stuff. I’m still finalizing the details, including the date, time, and whether or not I’ll have a guest helping me out, but I will let you all know once the details are finalized. If you want to follow my channel in advance, you can find it at twitch.tv/bwhcomics.

The Letters of the Devil II

The holidays have not been idle for me. I went back to the script, as I said I would, and it quickly became clear that I made the right call by taking a hiatus. I have done a great deal of writing, and I believe the story is back on track. All that’s left is to write a bit more and thumbnail the new pages. I’m hoping to have a new deadline schedule posted by the next newsletter.

Wrap-Up

And with that, this newsletter is at an end! It’s good to be back.

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.

LAST CHANCE FOR INKTOBER ORIGINALS!

11/30/2018

Today is the LAST DAY to request one of my Inktober originals! Patrons can visit the post at the link below and complete the poll to receive a free illustration in the mail before the holidays!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/inktober-2018-22621099

Inktober 2018 Giveaway ALMOST OVER!

11/26/2018

Hello all!

As a reminder, the Inktober 2018 Giveaway ends at the beginning of December! If you're a Patron and fill out the poll on my website before then, you can receive free original art from my Inktober 2018 challenge. The rules for the giveaway and the link to the poll are available to Patrons here.

Don't delay! Get you some free illustrations!

Rock on, guys, and never stop drawing.

BWHComics Newsletter - 11/22/2018 (Happy Thanksgiving!)

11/22/2018

Greetings and salutations!

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a big announcement regarding The Letters of the Devil II, but I’ll get to that. If you need to read any one thing, please scroll until you see the giant question mark. Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Released this Week

#ThankYouPatrons Day! Video
CosPain #71: Always Use Protection
(Hi-Res Patron Version) CosPain #72: Happy Thanksgiving 2018!

#ThankYouPatrons Day

This past Monday was #ThankYouPatrons Day, and Patreon asked its creators to make something special for our Patrons. My contribution was a timelapse illustration! I hope to do these more often, potentially as a perk for a future Patreon tier.

Inktober 2018

The Patron poll (available here) is still running, and only a couple of the original sketches have been claimed! If you are a Patron by the start of December, you get to select which illustration you want to receive. You can also select backup options. Higher level Patrons will be given priority, but these will otherwise be given out on a first-come-first-served basis.

Commissions

Commissions are still open! Be they original characters, fanart, or whatever, I can accommodate your needs!

My official commission page is through Fiverr, but if you don’t want to go through that site or want to ask for something more specific, just reach out through my Contact page and let me know what you’d like.

Upcoming Events

SPACE 2019: April 28-29, 2019, Columbus, OH
3 Rivers Comicon 2019: May 18-19, 2019, Pittsburgh, PA

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

The Letters of the Devil (NOT the big news)

A smaller announcement, but The Letters of the Devil is now available on Kindle! It’s normally $14.99, but if you buy a physical copy of the book, you can also get the digital copy for only $2.99!

And now, the big news ...

The Letters of the Devil II

There’s a quote attributed to Shigeru Miyamoto that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”

It is with that philosophy in mind that I’ve made an important determination: I’m delaying the production of The Letters of the Devil II.

I was very reluctant to make this decision. I hate pushing deadlines back. Perfectionism is the enemy of progress, and I have seen numerous creators who can’t put out work on a consistent basis because they obsess over minutiae, working extremely hard without actually producing a finished product.

In this case, however, the inescapable truth is that this script wasn’t ready to be declared a final draft. There’s good meat, but a few of the characters are underdeveloped, and I have decided that fleshing them out and expanding the story is worth a short delay.

I want to be extremely clear that the project is still alive, and I plan to have it completed before the end of 2019. My goal is to fix the script issues and delay production by only a few months. Fortunately, most of the pencils I’ve already completed were on pages that won’t need to change or will only require minor adjustments. As soon as I have revised deadlines, I will let you all know.

Your interest and support in my work mean the world to me, and you deserve good quality content in return. Thank you for your patience as I get my script back on track.

Wrap-Up

And now, I have Thanksgiving duties to take care of, in addition to a script to revise.

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.