Just like everything else in this absurd year, Hackers on Planet Earth 2020 was held online (and you can catch many of the talks from this year there)!
They also had a first for the conference — a five-day film festival / hackathon for folks to make short cyberpunk films on the fly! One of the categories was “Animation”, so go ahead and guess where this is going…
… I made a series of animated shorts!
I’m working on a more detailed after-action report, but for now I’ll just say that for starting from virtually no experience in Adobe AfterEffects, I’m thrilled!
You can see the other films in the festival on the Cyberpunk Now channel, which include some real gems (including a film with its own source code and github repo!)
What would you like me to work on for future efforts? I’d love to hear it!
Introducing Remarkable Artifacts — chock-full of pen and ink drawings, random sketches I can’t seem to fit anywhere else, and things that would probably be a Medium post if I could ever summon the will to actually write more.
Check out Remarkable Artifacts today!
… and yes, there is a reason we’re only going to refer to today as the “Twelfth Anniversary”. A VERY. GOOD. REASON.
Let’s be fair: I’ve been drawing this comic for twelve years. While just sticking around that long is saying something, there’s no prize for sticking to your morals and staying a starving artist.
In Silicon Valley, there is value in persistence, yes, but also in the pivot: changing tack on what you’re doing just enough to not completely scrap what you’ve done in the past, but take what’s been built up to this point and making something new out of it — ideally, something people have demonstrated time and time again they want.
In the art world, that means two things: fanart, and porn. I’m not keeping up with you rascals and your Fortnite Loot Crates enough to do fanart, so…
Say hello to Last Res0rt: Root Access!
What.
You heard me.
So… this is all the stuff you wouldn’t have in the comic otherwise?
So many folks confuse “NSFW” with “uncensored”, and “uncensored” with “you’ll wish you were watching The Human Centipede after you see this”.
This ain’t that.
There’s enough gross, violent stuff online that I don’t need to race to the bottom. In fact, that’s why stuff like Root Access is necessary. This is a calculated, full-frontal assault on the type of material that’s already out there.
This is femme-friendly, consensual smut. The kind of stuff you can fall asleep to right
Root Access exists as a counter to all the terrible stuff the #MeToo movement has brought to the surface. It’s not enough to say “This bad behavior is bad”; it’s also important to say “This is what good behavior looks like. It’s good because everyone involved feels good.” Without that, we run the risk of making the full spectrum of sexual experience look terrible. It only perpetuates the problems we’re seeing.
More importantly, I wouldn’t be able to draw it. I may not believe in sympathetic magic when it comes to things like “prayer shawls” or “kitchen witchcraft”, but cartoons require intention.
I still draw the lines, which means I still draw the line. And my line is “Everyone involved has a good time and goes home happy”.
This is an April Fool’s thing, right?
Be fair. April Fool’s jokes are something I do for free. Who draws this sort of thing for free?
I’m pretty sure in order to do this properly, I’d have to point people to my Patreon so that it’s behind a paywall of some stripe… Or,
I’m sure if you have an opinion, you’ll share it, yes? 😉
I know you’d rather see a comic page… but hey, this is almost as good! I’ve entered this year’s logo contest for B-Sides Las Vegas!
Yes, that art may look familiar — and hey, wouldn’t you like to see it on a t-shirt or 300? Vote for it on this page, and you just might!
You only need to vote once, so feel free to send this information to your friends as well. Act fast, as I don’t know how much longer the voting window will be open!
… Hey, I have to get the engine started back up somehow!
Seriously, though: Emerald City Comic Con. March 2-5, 2017. Table AA-11 in the Artist’s Alley.
Buy books. Order commissions. Heck, give me a kick in the pants (with any nonzero donation, natch).
If you’re there, just stop by and say hello.