Steam Power shirts have arrived
They're here, they're here! Our new Steam Power: 100% Practical for Everything t-shirts have arrived, proudly sporting famed cat inventor Theophilus and his various inventions, including the world-famous steam-powered sandwich.
The whole thing is based, of course, on Miracle of Steam strip from a few weeks back. A lot of you really wanted to see that strip morphed into shirt form, and I hope the finished design scratches that itch with maximum effectiveness. If you'd like to nab one, you can find it in the Sam and Fuzzy Topatoco store, along with all our books, shirts, whiteboards, magnets and other swag.
In other news, our latest twitter Sketch-Off was a big success! You can see all the pics I wound up drawing -- all of them based on reader suggestions -- right here. It was a ton of fun, especially now that we could video-stream the drawing process. (There are archive videos of the drawing sessions here, if you are actually interested in watching someone silently draw to music for four hours.) We'll have to do it again sometime!
-Sam Logan
(PS: At the moment, all of the originals are sold or spoken for except for "Samus Devahi", which is up for grabs for $25 to the first person who emails me about it. Lies! It's gone, too. Thanks!)
Twitter Sketch-Off Today, Starting at 11AM PST!
Today's the day! Starting at 11, you can tweet (or email, if you don't have twitter) me your suggestions of Sam and Fuzzy characters cast as various other fictional stars, and watch as I draw some of them live! (A video will be streaming here, barring any technical difficulties.)
I'll be sticking to one or two characters per drawing, then selling the finished drawings for the abnormally low price of $25 each (+shipping), either to the original suggester or first-come-first-serve to whoever asks for it.
Can't wait to see what you all come up with this time. It was certainly a lot of fun the last time we did this!
Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: ALLCAPS Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!
"You said you've been using a custom font based on your own writing since 2004), but do you ever think of doing a few word bubbles by hand? "80S" in today's strip is kind of hard to read so it made me wonder if you still love the aesthetic of uniformity all the time." -Matt
I actually do use some hand lettering, usually when I want the words to have some kind of special visual emphasis. But you're right, that "80s" was computer-lettered and it does look kind of weird, probably due to the lack of lowercase letters in my dialogue. I'll probably go back and tweak it later.
Acronyms and abbreviations can also be an issue in all-uppercase lettering. After all, when everything is uppercase, you can't use capitalization to distinguish them from regular words! That's why you'll spot me using weird cheats, like writing NMS as N-M-S.
""MCfishypants"? As in "mc fillet-o-fish" or "M.C. Dr Dre"? " -Dave
See? See? There's another one!
I mean Mc as in McJagger, the famous Scottish rock star.
"At what point does Aaron become Jackson, or vis versa? I assumed Aaron was a name change to avoid the Ninja Mafia, like Sam becoming Crush and so forth. " -Jackson
Well, Jackson -- if that is your real name -- there are two possibilities!
One is that "Aaron Mills" (the name he currently goes by) was always his real name, and "Jackson" was just his fake ninja codename. The other is that his real name was "Aaron Jackson", and that he changed his last name when he went on the run at the end of the "Empire" storyline. I like the first option, better, but... it's not like it really matters one way or the other. Choose your own adventure!
(Side note -- Sam didn't change his name to avoid the Ninja Mafia. "Crush" was just a roadie nickname he earned after dropping an amp on his foot. And his change in appearance can be chalked up to weight gain and attempting to impress Nicole, rather than trying to hide himself. Becoming "Crush" may have been an effective disguise, but it was also a totally unintentional one!)
Anyhow, that's a wrap for this week, team. Come back on Monday for our next comic!
-Sam Logan
Twitter Sketch-Off this Friday!
Remember a few months back, when I spent a day doing drawings based on the suggestions of folks on twitter? Well, I'm doing it again this Friday!
Last time, the theme was casting Sam and Fuzzy characters as various video game stars. This time, I'm going to open the dress up suggestions up to characters from other media. (Or you can suggest regular costume-less Sam and Fuzzy character as well, if you want!)
Tune into my twitter feed on Friday at 11am PST if you want to follow me as I draw, or make suggestions yourself! (If you can't or don't use twitter, email also works.) I may try to set up some sort of video stream as well. I'll be going for at least a few hours, so it's OK if you can't get on right at 11.
Like last time, I'll also be selling the finished drawings, either to the original idea suggester or to the next person who asks. I do my best to make them look pretty, but because I do them in quick succession with minimal input, I can let them go for much less than my usual commission rates -- $25 each +shipping, if you are interested. Just let me know by twitter or email if you would like to buy your drawing, or if you see another one you would like.
These draw-offs are a ton of fun! I get to spend a day tackling new art challenges, hook readers up with some relatively inexpensive art, and making a pretty solid day's wages to fund my newly full-time cartoonist lifestyle. I hope lots of you can tune in!
-Sam Logan
