Last call for magnets! And a SECOND CHANCE for calendars!

stick around

I will be shipping the final orders of the year very soon and then shutting down my store for the holidays! UPDATE: That time has come! You can still order something if you like, but it will sit patiently in a queue and ship out when I return to the office in January.

If you would still like to get magnets (pictured above), greeting cards, stickers, etc., please place your order by THIS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18. Orders placed after that date will ship in January. Thank you as always for your kind patronage!

My TopatoCo store is still shipping shirts, books, comic prints, and other gewgaws as well, although time is drawing short over there as well.

pictured: Ilda Fritt, Hero of the Sport

Our calendar project on Kickstarter wrapped up spendidly, and the first batch of those orders will (hopefully) be leaving my hands on Monday! UPDATE: They have indeed!

If you pledged for a calendar in the first wave (i.e., you didn’t choose the “No Rush” option) but you haven’t given me your shipping address yet, please look in your Kickstarter account messages; there should be a survey waiting in there from me.

While I am pleased with how the campaign went, I’m still hearing from a lot of people who missed out! Usually I cut off the orders because there simply isn’t enough time to get everyone’s order sent out before year’s end.

But this year, I am ALREADY planning on sending a second wave of orders in early January (for folks who very graciously indicated that their calendar didn’t necessarily need to get there by Christmas). I’m also super proud of this year’s calendar and of course want everyone to enjoy it!

So, today I am opening up extra slots for anyone who missed the Kickstarter but would still like to reserve a copy in the second wave.

This will be the only other chance to get one — once these are gone, that is it until next year, FOR REALSIES. You can still order the special deluxe stand if you choose, too (I won’t rehash all the specifics from the Kickstarter; you can read all about the different options over there if you like).

Once all the Kickstarter orders ship, I will do one last roundup shipment for this final batch, and you can expect them in January. If that sounds okay to you, then here you go!

SECOND CHANCE FOR CALENDARS ]

Check out: Podcast interview on ‘Comics Manifest’

SO MOTIVATIONAL

I just linked to an interview I did for a podcast! Now here’s ANOTHER ONE!

It’s called Comics Manifest, and it is about giving inspiration to and sharing war stories with creative people:

Comics Manifest is a podcast that interviews amazing and influential creators in comics. Guests share their creative journey, express what excites them today, share their worst creative moment and most memorable successes. The show aims to inspire, giving you the insight and inspiration to take your comics projects to the next level.

Did I tell some of the same stories as the last podcast? Only if they asked the same questions!!

Comics Manifest Episode 64 : David Malki ! ]

 

LAST DAY for the 2017 Wondermark Calendar!

It’s the LAST DAY to reserve your copy of the 2017 Wondermark Calendar! The campaign closes at 6:30pm Pacific time, Tuesday, December 6.

Since I last mentioned it, I posted a 30-second version of how I will be making the special deluxe edition desk stands:

And, I just posted a Kickstarter update with a little bit more about the famous athletes that will be populating this year’s calendar.

All the world's an irregular diamond

I’m very grateful for all the support so far in this new way of doing the calendar (on Kickstarter) and I look forward to sending them out later this month!

SPEAKING OF SENDING OUT: I’ve just gotten confirmation from the printers that our two newest greeting card designs are ready, and all orders including “Song” and “Snowman” will now ship out ASAP. Sorry for that brief delay! (I think they had to actually make the snowman to see if it was workable in real life.)

Check out: Podcast interview for ‘The Art of Engineering’

I made that tower, I designed it

“This podcast series explores the evolution of a career in engineering, the overlap of art & engineering, and also promotes engineering outreach and STEM / STEAM in schools.”

Recently, I was pleased to chat with Chad Harden for his podcast “The Art of Engineering.” We had a lovely talk about my background, how I got into this weird job that I have, whether I am actually an engineer (no) and many other things!

The podcast episode is here!


OBLIGATORY REMINDER:

The 2017 Wondermark Calendar is on Kickstarter this year, and the campaign closes next week, Tuesday, December 6! (I have to cut it off kinda early so I can get all the shipping and everything sorted in time.)

I’d really like to hit 250 backers (which is as many calendars as I’ve produced the last few years), and we’re about on pace for that, with a few days left to go! If you are interested in getting a copy of this year’s calendar, you have until Tuesday to back on Kickstarter.

Fork you very much

History of the Wondermark Calendar

TEN YEARS AGO

Some of you have been around a very long time and remember the first Wondermark calendar (above), offered lo these many years ago!

Others of you have picked up a calendar in one or more of the intervening years; or perhaps never at all!

Well, for ALL OF YOU, here is a photo-filled history of the Wondermark calendar, featuring thrills, spills, and some BEHIND THE SCENES on how the process has evolved over the years.

The notion of a loose-leaf desk calendar, in which a stack of individual cards rest in an easel, is one I’m surprised we don’t see more often. I stole the concept from a calendar a co-worker had on her desk, back when I worked at an advertising agency…

Each calendar page required three different prints from the Gocco (black ink on left side, black on right side, and gold title).

Making a calendar in a limited edition makes it special, but also in a practical sense it saves you from having unsold inventory that grows progressively more useless as the year marches on. I made 100 copies of this first calendar and managed to sell them all, thanks in part surely to the slick, persuasive video I linked above.

I continued in this manner the following year, careful to seek out and use artwork I hadn’t already used in Wondermark, and composing dark little stories in verse for each month.

Read the whole thing right over here!