Isle of Elsi Book One Kickstarter Launches April 2nd!

Isle of Elsi Kickstarter - April 2019

For the last few months I have been getting ready for the Isle of Elsi Book One Kickstarter, which launches next week, on April 2nd!

The goal will be to collect the first three Isle of Elsi stories into a 144-page, hardback, full color book. Check back here for a link to the campaign after it launches!

IOE 3 is Fini!

All 15 pages of Nogard the Dragon in The Search for Spinoza

Last week the third Isle of Elsi story, Nogard the Dragon in The Search for Spinoza finished up!  You can read all fifteen pages of it online for free (here’s a link to the first page).

These first three stories will make up the contents of the first Isle of Elsi book, which I am beginning to design (covers, endpapers, etc.).  I will be documenting that process and getting feedback from my patrons over in the Isle of Elsi Patreon Backer Blog.

I’m also posting a bonus 8-page side story over the next week in the Backer Blog, just for my patrons.  I’ve also continued “unlocking” one post a month, to give folks an idea of the kind of content I’ve been posting in there.  Here are the March, April and May posts:

• IOE Process Post #3 – Layout!
• IOE Process Post #4 – Penciling!
• IOE Process Post #6 – Coloring!

The fifth process post (inking) was already unlocked with a group of sample posts last year. This means that my entire process for a page of Isle of Elsi is now publicly available!  You can check out all of my public posts on this page, and if you like what you see, consider pledging your support! I post every week and it’s a fun time to join in, as the fourth Isle of Elsi story begins on May 31st, and will continue well into 2020 – it’s a whopping 104 pages!

IOE 2 is Through!

Draziw the Wizard and the Menagerie of Messengers

The second Isle of Elsi story, Draziw the Wizard and the Menagerie of Messengers is complete! (This finished grid of 9 pages is slightly less impressive than the grid of 99 pages from IOE 1).  You can read the whole short story online for free (Page 1 starts right here).

I’m taking one week off and then IOE 3 will begin on February 8.

I also wanted to let people know that from now on I will be unlocking one post from my Patreon Backer Blog each month, to give people a better idea of the kind of content that I’m creating in there.  Below are links to the two new posts I have unlocked so far this year, or you can always check the “Public” tag to see all of my free posts!

IOE 1 is Done!

All 99 pages of R.J. Jr. in The Dragon's LibrarianThe first Isle of Elsi story, R.J. Jr. in The Dragon’s Librarian is complete!  You can read all 99 pages of the story online for free!  ( It starts here on page 1 ).

My wife has convinced me that it is a good idea to institute a new rule, where every time I finish a chapter of Isle of Elsi, I take a one-week break. So there will be no update on Thursday, November 23 (Thanksgiving!) but the first page of the new chapter will be up on November 30.

Thank you everyone for your support of this project so far!  I’ve never had so much fun working on a comics project before, and look forward to keeping it going for many years to come.

Dragon Countdown Roundup!

Dragon Countdown Posts

As part of the countdown to the dragon’s first appearance on Isle of Elsi, I have been “unlocking” one Patreon backer blog entry per week for the last month. I thought it would be a good idea to collect all five posts here so that people can check them out more easily!

• Isle of Elsi Process – Inking This was one of six detailed posts I did about my cartooning process. It includes a two minute time-lapse video of me inking page 29 of Isle of Elsi from start to finish (about six hours of work!). This post also includes information about all of my inking tools.

• Isle of Elsi Patreon Livestream 4/26/16 Every month I do an hour-long livestream for my $2+ Patreon backers. In this one I digitally color page 34 using Photoshop while answering questions from my patrons!

• If First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again! Every Saturday I send a small update from my drawing table, usually a photograph of whatever page I have been working on that week. In this update I broke down my multiple attempts to draw a well using some tricky perspective.

• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling Each month I do a write up about some of the books that inspired Isle of Elsi. In this post I talk about the Harry Potter series and the way it not only inspired my story but my also my desire to draw a full color webcomic. It includes many of my Harry Potter fan drawings!

Behind the Scenes – Egalliv As part of my preparations for Isle of Elsi, I built a 3-D model of Egalliv, using Google Sketchup. This post shows a “flyover” of the village. In subsequent posts I show my design drawings of individual buildings as well as their 3D turnaround.

At this point there are more than 70 of these backer blog posts available to my $2+ Patreon supporters, and I am adding more every week. Isle of Elsi will always be free to read, but if you are interested in reading more about the process of creating it, consider lending your support on Patreon. If I reach $500 a month in support I will be able to start posting Isle of Elsi pages twice a week!