Wow.  New pages 24 & 25 today.  And I must say I’m happy to give ‘em to you.  The bad thing about being both the writer and the artist is that sometimes I write things that I don’t know if I’ll be able to draw…  I surely hope I pulled it all off this week.  Mike came in on Monday, looked at my pages, crossed out three panels and told me to redraw them.  And… I think the pages are stronger for it.  (So thanks, Mike, even though I was grumpy at the time!)

(So much for Knowlton’s suggestion to “take care of it without noise.”)

On a practical note, I know the past two Fridays the site crashed around 1 or 2 EST.  We’ve been trying to figure out the problem, but tech support for our server takes it on a case by case basis, so we haven’t been able to figure out anything for sure.  I certainly hope it doesn’t happen again, but if it does, we’ll be looking into it and hoping to get it taken care of once and for all.  I sincerely apologize and promise we’re doing everything we can!

In happier news, the deadline for the Fan Artpollooza Contest is August 18th.  Entries have been coming in, and some are amazing!  Just tonight Mike was bummed because we can only have one winner.  Some really great stuff!  So starting next week, I’ll be featuring entries in my blog, so you all can enjoy them with us.  And get your entries in!  Eighteen days left!  Remember, you can be as creative as you want, and use any medium you like!  I’m so excited to see what you come up with!!

Next week brings with it the exciting conclusion to Issue #4!  I sure hope you’ve enjoyed this one…!  It’s my favorite yet.

VOTE this week to see my roughs for page 26.  Nate and Bea… will you two ever get along…?

Friday again?  New Pages-22 & 23!  Alan sends Bea on her way and all is well.

(For  now.)

It’s been a crazy long couple of weeks, so I’m not very chatty right now.  Apologies!  I’ll just let the pages speak for themselves.  And I think they’re good ones.  I love the above drawing.  And Hessians at last!  Mwa ha ha haa!

I’ve already received a few entries for the Fan Artpolooza Contest!!  And heard ideas for a few more which all sound great (and some sound mysterious.)  I’m excited to receive them all!  Get your entries in by August 18th!

Voting incentive is a cute little Alan & Bea sketch I doodled one day in Photoshop.  When I get a minute, I’ll hopefully finish it.  It’s wonderful, cutesy, fluffy d’awww!

I met Jeff Ritter at the Pittsburgh Comic Con and he was kind enough to interview me in his column on Trades.com.  Read it here!

Get workin’ on your Fan Art Pallooza entries… I already got one!  Naturally, she’s in the lead.  ;)

Yes.  You saw that right.  A three page update this week!  New Pages 19-21!  I thought in light of our big IDW news that I’d give you all a little present as a “Thank You” for making The Dreamer awesome!  So… an extra page for all of you!  And it’s a good one.

Bea finds Alan at last.  Congrats to all you super sleuths out there who picked up the clues along the way and did a little research on that Trumbull painting in Issue #3.  The Warren in the painting was not Alan Warren, and I tip my tricorn hat to your investigative skills!

As a second part of our little celebration today, Mike and I decided to run a contest.  My friends  Jenn and Terry run a tote business online (Tote Yourself), and back when they launched their company, they made me a custom bag.  A bag that was star spangled, of course, and lined, no joke, with the U.S. Constitution.  (Yes, I have a tote bag with “We the People…” written all over the inside.)  They were kind enough to donate another such bag for our contest, and I’ve taken it upon myself to stuff it with Dreamer goodies.  Specifically, a printed copy of issue #1, issue #2, my 2008 sketchbook, a Dreamer-heart pin for your bag and… I’ll do a personalized sketch for you of your favorite Dreamer character!

So… the contest?  FAN ARTPALOOZA 2008.  The rules?  You have 1 month.  All submissions must be sent to me by August 18th.  This is not a fan art contest limited to people who can draw.  You can use any sort of media you want:  drawing, photo-collage/photo-manipulation, fan fic, poetry, song, sculpture, cosplay, YouTube video… You name it, you can enter it.  Warning, I’m a pretty busy gal and really long prose entries I won’t have time to read, so you might want to keep it to just a few pages.  Other than that, fair game!  Have fun!  I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

I’ll feature my favs here on my journal.

And VOTE this week to see my lettered roughs for page 21.

(Thanks for all the congrats this week, everybody!)