Well, it's definitely come together a bit quicker than I was expecting, but guess who has a book out? Hmmm...?!

Yup, it's true! My first graphic novel, collecting the short stories you've been reading, is now available. Yay! It's titled Li'l Kids and is 88 pages in length and features three short stories plus all kinds of concept art. Plus, there's a lot on the writing side of things, too. Not only did I include the script from each story but I also did a breakdown detailing how each story was put together - right from the brainstorming stage to the final script. Hopefully you'll enjoy the peek behind the curtain!

And I've made it available a few different ways, too. First, you can download a free PDF Ebook version at my website (http://www.vonallan.com/shop.html). The link to the PDF is there and there's also a link to a torrent version of the book, too. So if you're not sure about purchasing it sight unseen or if you just prefer an ebook version, this is the way to go. If you do download it, please share it, too. It's licenced under Creative Commons, so if you like it please pass it around to friends and family. One of the hardest things about being an artist is avoiding obscurity. This is an attempt to avoid some of that so please, I would dearly love it if you pass it around.

If you want to purchase a copy, there are a few ways of doing it. The print version is up on Amazon now as well as Barnes and Noble (I'll post the links in just a sec). It will be in a few stores here in Ottawa, Ontario in the near future (including my old bookshop Perfect Books). I'm not positive about comic shops yet. That should be finalized in the next week or two, but things are still up in the air on that front.

The Amazon links are as follows (and yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I do earn a few cents if you purchase a copy following these links):

Amazon.com:                        Amazon.ca                         Amazon.co.uk:

And the link to Barnes and Noble is right here, too!

I'm still a little dazzled that I have my first book out, too. I hope you like it!

Von

Von

The road to god knows... contest is in full swing and, while there have been a number of good guesses, no one has come up with the right one as of yet. To recap, the question is this: what is Marie's middle name? And the one clue I gave is that her middle name starts with the letter "J."

Since I know guesswork is always a little tricky, I'm going to list some of the more common choices here. That should narrow things down a bit. And of course, when you're ready to make a guess please email me at rtgkcontest@gmail.com with the subject line "RTGK Contest" and your guess in the body. And please just one guess per day, too!

Here's the list:

• Jeanne
  
• Joline
  
• Joanne
  
• Jean
  
• Jane
  
• Julianne
  
• Justine
  
• Jacqueline
  
• Jesse
  
• Johanna
  
• Janice
  
• Jasmine
  
• Josephine
  
• Janet
  
• Jennifer
  
• Julia
  
• June
  
• Julie
  
• Juliette
  
• Joy
  

So again, these are all incorrect guesses. Some good ones in there, but nothing that's bang on correct. So please keep the guesses coming! The prize, of course, is this framed print of my GirlAMatic 5th anniversary birthday card design (I'm holding it in the pic below).

Von
(Cross-Posted from this morning's GirlAMatic update)

This is a lottery-type contest and is open to pretty much everyone (well, save any friends and family that will know the answer. If you know the answer right off the bat then you're disqualified! And I'll know who you are! :) ). Aside from that, it's open to pretty much everyone. With that out of the way, here is the question:

Ok, right. It's tricky. There aren't any clues in the actual narrative to her middle name (well, nothing overt at any rate) and without giving you any direction it's a complete guessing game. Not really fair, I think. So, here's the only clue I'm going to give. Ready?

Her middle-name starts with the letter J and is just one word (no hyphens).

Since I don't want to be deluged by every guess under the sun, here is how this will work. Each individual (um, that's you) can email me once per day with a guess - just one guess from just one person. I'm not going to answer every single email, so when someone stumbles across the right name then I'll post an update on GirlAMatic, on our blog, and change the automatic response on the contest email address (more on that in a sec) so that everyone will know that the contest is closed. The first person to guess right is the winner. In the event of multiple correct guesses on the same day, I'll use the time/date stamp on my email to determine the winner.

Now, since I know privacy can be issue in this online world there are a few things you need to know. Firstly, I'm not going to sell or otherwise release your email address to the world at large or some scurvy company (hell, I wouldn't even know where to start!). But I would like to keep your email address just so I can let you know about my future projects down the road (for instance, my next story is tentatively called Stargazer and I'd certainly like to let you know about launch dates and whatnot when the time comes). On top of it, I would like to be able to announce the winner to the world at large, but you certainly don't have to use your real name. So if you have a handle you like to use and don't mind sharing (even if you just made it up), I'll use that instead. And if you have a website, blog or other slice of the internet, I would like to post that, too. Though only if you're ok with that, of course. Lastly, I'll need a mailing address from you for the contest prize (and again, I'll keep that private).

So what's the contest prize for all this? Well, it's a framed print of the GirlAMatic 5th birthday card design I came up with a few months back. It measures approximately 11" by 17" and I'll be mailing that out once I have a winner. The card design is below, but note that it won't have the GaM logo - that was digital add on and I don't have the right to use it for my own purposes. But the final image (I'm holding it in the next pic) still looks pretty nifty if I do say so myself.

I've set up a dedicated email address that you can use for your submissions. And again, please remember that you each have one guess per day - one guess, per person, per day. That way I can keep it manageable. The email address is rtgkcontest@gmail.com and is active right now (If you click this link, the address should open automatically for you). Please put "RTGK Contest" in the subject line and then your guess and your name in the body. You will get an automatic reply from that address just to confirm your submission (so check your spam filters). You should only receive this once, though, so on subsequent emails don't fret if you don't receive it. If you don't receive the reply at all than I most likely will not have received your submission; in that case, leave a comment here to let me know. I will also get in touch with the winner for their mailing address and the like, too.

That's it, that's all. I have to admit I'm very curious to see what you folks come up with. I suspect a few will be better than what I chose, but so be it! I'm also not sure how long this will take (it'll depend on how quickly the submissions roll in, I suppose) so I may give further clues if the correct answer isn't hit on quickly. We'll see!

Good luck!

Von