Space Station Yellowbelly and the Dark Sub 1

Aaand we're back! Sorry for the recent sloppy posts. The last few were so lousy that I LOST a follower. I dropped from 107 to 106. Yikes! I didn't think they were that bad.

The good news is that the final art for 12 BOTS was completed on time and delivered digitally to the folks at Walker monday.

So the comics are back! What is with the dark sub? I hope nothing scary happens...

Space Station Yellowbelly 19/19

Get-Out-of-Post MAJOR DEADLINE deal extended one day.

Phew, I feel like a zombie. A full picture book in under 40 days--that's a record for me.

Tomorrow starts some really fun stuff--I promise!

Space Station Yellowbelly 18/19

MAJOR DEADLINE get-out-of-blog-post card played.

THE 12 BOTS OF CHRISTMAS final artwork is due today.

We'll be back on tomorrow.

Space Station Yellowbelly 17/19

YELLOWBELLY: OH NO!

CHESTER: What?

YELLOWBELLY: I forgot to push the blog post button yesterday!

CHESTER: Well, just push it now.

YELLOWBELLY: I am! (click, click click) Nothing's happening!

CHESTER: Wow, dude, you totally dropped the ball. You're probably never going to be left in charge again.

YELLOWBELLY: Aaaaaaagh!

Space Station Yellowbelly 16/19

Remember, TEAM RAPUNZEL (me, Shannon and Dean Hale) will be signing books at the Orem Barnes & Noble tonight (Thursday) from 6-8! Come see what a sleep-deprived, overworked, basement dweller on a month-long picture book bender looks like! (not pretty.)

Space Station Yellowbelly 15/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 14/19

Ah, here's a relic. I used to fill page after page like this. Little thumbnail compositions, usually without people in them, just little places and shapes. I should do a week of these sometime.

Space Station Yellowbelly 13/19

Hi gang, I'm really crunching the illustrations now! I'm on track to finish 12 BOTS by next Monday's deadline--but it'll be tight.

This coming Thursday I won't be working on 12 BOTS, because I'll be at the Orem Barnes and Noble, signing Rapunzels and Jacks with Shannon and Dean. That's right, we're finally doing a Utah Valley signing! It will be from 6-8, Thursday at the Orem B&N. It's your chance to get a triple-signed Jack, or Rapunzel (or Devil, or Yellowbelly or whatever!)

Now, I've heard that Utah Valley folks are notorious cheapskates. I've heard they bring stacks of books from home, but never buy any from the store. Is this true? I, myself, live in the valley, so I don't think I'm a fair judge. Thursday's signing will be the decider in my mind. If Utah Valley can't turn out as many people as Tooele (a city a fraction the size of the Provo/Orem area--and over 70 copies of Calamity Jack were purchased on signing day) than I will have no choice but to brand Utah Valley as "Home of the Cheapy-Cheapskates." And I will have to make a comic on my blog about the "Cheapy-Cheapskates of Utah Valley," how embarrassing. So if you live in the valley, come out and prove the rumors wrong!

Space Station Yellowbelly 12/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 11/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 10/19

Hmmmm. Where are the guys?

Some more shadowing here, if you look closely, you can see tomorrow's sketchbook page. What could it possibly be?

Space Station Yellowbelly 9/19

Huh, where are YB and Chester? Must have gone out for more chips. If you look really closely, you can see the shadow of the next drawing through the paper. See it? It's one you've seen before.

Space Station Yellowbelly 8/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 7/19

If this dialogue is confusing to you, then you haven't played New Super Mario Bros. This is a very common argument about power-up distribution. I hope you are enjoying the sketchbook posts. These drawings haven't seen the light of day for a good fifteen years, it's fun to dig through them again--I have TONS. And they are saving me all kinds of time to put towards the 12 BOTS book. (17 days to deadline!)

Have a good weekend!

Space Station Yellowbelly 6/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 5/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 4/19

Incoming message from the D.D.H.P.S:

Hey everybody, Nate here, hard at work on the 12 BOTS. I hope you are enjoying the high school sketchbook posts. I was big into the BIC Black Ballpoint back then. I even had a BIC Brand hat I used to wear. I can't do this "smooth BIC" style anymore--I get ink splotches everywhere, the folks at BIC must make a cheaper pen nowadays. I'm sure that's the reason.

Here's a secret, but totally boring, code to watch for. If there is a number needed in a drawing, like a uniform number (above) or whatever, I just use my age at the time. Watch for it, you'll see it all over the place, I'm sure it's in all my books.

Also, HOORAY! We just got our 100th follower at the Station! Yippee! I'm celebrating with a Nutri-Grain Cereal Bar!

Space Station Yellowbelly 3/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 2/19

Space Station Yellowbelly 1/19

Just Push the Button

Back at the space station...

It's true, I've got until the end of March to finish the Robo-Christmas book--which, by the way, has an official title now, "THE TWELVE BOTS OF CHRISTMAS." I just headed over to Amazon to see if there was a place-holder yet. Not yet, the search engine asked if I meant, "Twelve boots." So, there's another idea, the Twelve Boots of Christmas. Number three is an irrigation boot.

Don't worry, though, Yellowbelly will keep the posts coming. To start, I'm scanning some old high school sketchbooks--really oddball stuff that should be good for a laugh. Stay tuned.

Picture Book Marathon 2010: The Wrap Up

Here they all are in one place.

Any favorites? If you were to see one story turned into a web-comic here, which would it be?