Fan Art by Keong Chan
April 7, 2009 - Tuesday
I'm typing this post while wearing a pair of sunglasses with an outdated prescription. You see, I was horsing around with my daughter tonight, and I thought I would put my glasses to the side to keep them out of harms way (seemed like a good idea at the time). But when I took my daughter off my shoulders, I placed her directly on my glasses--crunch! Smooth move Daddy! Hopefully once the family is awake tomorrow, I'll be able to find a better pair of glasses to wear. If the next few comics have unusually bright color palettes, at least now you'll know why.
To help congratulate me for reaching my 200th comic strip, Keong Chan sent me some fantastic fan art, which you can view below (click it for the full-size version). Keong works on the webcomic terence n. tijuana, which updates Monday and Thursday. What I really admire about Keong's work is that for each comic he chooses a different art style. This adds even more anticipation to each update, because you never know what you'll see next.
Okay, I'm going stop writing this post before I start getting a headache from eyestrain.
The 200th Calamities of Nature
April 6, 2009 - Monday
Don't forget that today's the last day to enter the caption contest. After tonight, I'll start finalizing my list of favorites so that you guys can start voting later this week.
I noticed that today's update is actually the 200th Calamities of Nature comic strip. If nothing else, this is a pretty clear sign that I've been spending way too much time on this comic stuff. But it also means that I've been getting some great support from you readers, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to keep this marathon going this long (and believe me, there are a lot of parallels between running a marathon and regularly updating a comic strip). So would you mind me asking you for one big favor to help me celebrate this day? Could each of you e-mail one friend or relative who enjoys comic strips, and tell them about this thing called Calamities of Nature? Feel free to even go through my archive, download your favorite comic, and include it as an attachment. Alternatively, you can use the "steal this comic" link below your favorite comic to add it to your blog or website. Sometimes I don't think you readers realize how much power you have. Your sincere endorsement of my work can do WAY more for spreading the word about this comic than I could ever do alone.
Anyways, thanks for all your support over the first 200 comics. I hope I keep giving you reasons to come back reading in the future.
Wait, Are We Still In Iraq?
April 2, 2009 - Thursday
At times I've commented on current events in Calamities of Nature. The downfall is that it can be difficult to stay relevant. This can especially be a problem for someone like me who takes a couple of nights to finish a comic (and is a slow writer to boot). Take the Iraq war for example. I can't remember the last time I've seen a headlining news story about Iraq. But just last fall, it was still on everyone's minds, so I wrote a series of comic strips about it. I actually completely finished one of these strips, but before I had a chance to post it, the bottom fell out of the economy, the presidential race really heated up, and ever since there never seemed to be a right time to post it. So it's still sitting on my computer, and more likely than not, the first chance to see it will be in my second book collection. Below is another comic about Iraq from my sketchbook. This one never got promoted to being a finished strip (and I'm not sure it's funny enough to deserve to be), so I figured I might as well share it with you now.
Calamities of Nature Caption Contest
March 30, 2009 - Monday
Alright, if you've ever wanted to write Calamities of Nature, here's your chance. I'm excited to announce our first ever caption contest. Just post a comment to this blog entry and tell me what funny thing Alp is saying in today's comic. The winner will get a book or t-shirt along with the original art to today's strip. That's right, this is the first ever chance to get original Calamities of Nature art, so give me your funniest punchline now.
Here are the rules:
- Each person gets up to three entries, so take time to think about your punchline before you post it.
- Entries must be posted to this thread. Don't e-mail or tweet them to me; it's much easier for me to keep track if all the entries are in one place.
- The entries much be submitted by April 6th.
- Please keep your entries consistent with the tone of the site. No foul or explicit language.
- Once all the entries are in, I'll choose my 5-10 favorite and we'll have a reader poll. The grand winner will be the entry with the most votes.
- The winner will get the choice of receiving either a book or a t-shirt, and in addition, will get the original art to this comic with his or her winning caption written in by yours truly. Just to wet your appetite, here is the line work without the coloring (note that I do use blue pencils in the original art). The total size of the paper is 17 inches wide by 7 inches high.
Guest Strip For Imagine This
March 22, 2009 - Sunday
I had the honor of doing a guest strip for the fantastic webcomic Imagine This, by Lucas Turnbloom. It's up now, so you can head over and read it here. Imagine This is about a 30-year-old guy who has rediscovered his imaginary friends from childhood: Clovis, a bear with anger management issues, and Dewey, a dopey dinosaur. Lucas has a great inking style and a wicked sense of humor, so I highly recommend checking it out. Over the next two weeks his site will be featuring guest strips to give him time off while on paternity leave. He has some great cartoonists lined up for this, so I can't wait to see what they come up with.
Next Week's Updates
March 20, 2009 - Friday
This is just a heads up that I won't have my normal access to the internet next week. Don't worry, there will still be three new comics, sooner or later. They just might not be on time as usual. Hopefully you won't mind too much, because I'm cautiously optimistic that you guys will find next week's updates to be pretty fun.
