Hi everyone!
It’s been a while since my last update and dodging Covid plus Family Issues plus a MUCH NEEDED vacation have been keeping me CRAZY. I hope you all have been staying safe and being well in spite of the world being a mess right now.
So there’s a big ol’ update here that, for once, isn’t school related. Go fig!
The most important update is the portfolio! I’ve finally added the covers for Sonic the Hedgehog #48 and #50 to it. A special note on Sonic #50, I’ve also taken the time to include the full colorless inks AND the full inks to the interior part of the cover as well. I’m particularly proud of this one since it was so freaking complicated so I hope you have a chance to appreciate all the work that went into it!
Next, I’ve FINALLY **FINALLY** updated the sidebar with my most recent works for both IDW Sonic and Fantagraphics’ Disney Masters series. Particularly with three books not part of the Masters collection — “For Whom the Doorbell Tolls”, “Bear Mountain Tales”, and “The Disney Afternoon Collection: Vol.1”. The first is a collection of of loose comic adaptations of Ernest Hemingway tales featuring Disney characters, the second is a collection of all the Bear Mountain related Uncle Scrooge stories across a gigantic number of decades, and the last is a collection of Disney Afternoon/Disney Adventures comics of which I did the official translation for “A Goofy Movie”. I’ve got localization work in all three books! Hope you enjoy it!
LASTLY
I’m thinking of updating Chip and Walter and Time Trouble again. I’ve built up a pretty decent buffer but haven’t found the time to really do so. Real life writes the plot. Hahaha! All I need to do is color the pages and I’m wondering if its worth it to do flats so I can go faster? We’ll see how it turns out. I’ll let you know here what I decide to do but I thought it worth mentioning.
AND THAT’S THAT. Hope the remainder of the year treats you all well and I’ll update this when I have more to say! Take care of yourself
Posts tagged Updates
Massive Update: Principles of Cartooning I (Fall 2021): Syllabus + Portfolio & Solicits
Hello to all my new students and to everyone else who happens to see this update!
It’s been a LONG pandemic and with everything and anything that’s happened since our last update, I’ve admittedly let my website fall a bit behind. Time to rectify that!
First of all, to my new students, welcome! I hope you’re enjoying your first days of school!
As we discussed in class–you can find your new, updated full-color class syllabus (as a PDF) as well as a proper breakdown of my office hours to the left sidebar. Alternately, you can also download the PDF here just in case.
We should be able to discuss everything that we’ll need in both Canvas and our weekly Zoom meetings. If you have any questions, please check the discussion module created on our Course homepage, ask me in class, or email me directly! Let’s make some great comics!
As for everyone else — there’s been some key updates to the portfolio portion of my page. I’ve added the bald covers for Sonic 31 and 37, as well as the raw inks for 37 as well! Enjoy!
Also, the sidebar solicits have been updated entirely. As IDW no longer has the rights to standard Disney comics, that section has been completely removed. In its place I’ve updated all the Fantagraphics Disney Masters with all the four most recent books that I’ve localized and translated to date. I’ve also updated all the IDW Sonic solicits up to 37. A new one is coming, but I can’t post it for a while.
As far as webcomics go — Chip and Walter and Time Trouble will remain on pause probably until the month is up. By then I should have my deadlines done and completed. Then I’m going to start working on it again as well. Updates wont resume for a while but if I can get the backlog that I have in placed colored they’ll most likely resume before years end. And that’s that!
Take care! I hope you all have been well while we each personally deal with what’s happened in our lives lately. I hope my little corner of the internet brings you some joy.
Take care!
✪ Patreon is a GO!
Hiya, gang!
As promised, in addition to today’s Time Trouble update, I’ve finally finished the second part of my website launch and opened my Patreon! You can find a link to it here and on the right sidebar of each page!
From now on, when you see the symbol to the right located anywhere on the comic, you’ll know that there’s a corresponding patreon post that will go with it!
Beyond that, everything that you need to know about my Patreon is on the page itself! I’ve taken the time to outline all my current goals and reward tiers. In addition to that, the first blog post is free to everyone! This way you can get a good idea of what to expect from it, and me, in the future!
I hope everything there is sufficient and up to snuff. If you have any ideas or special things you’d like to see on it, please respond and let me know!
I hope Labor Day finds everyone well. take care!
✪ Thunderbirds are GO!
Happy birthday to me! So here’s my present to you!
Ladies and gentlemen! After a very long time, a lot of hard work (plus an admittedly embarassing lack of sleep): Welcome to my three websites!
And my personal blog... and the relaunch of my two webcomics, Chip and Walter and Time Trouble…and eventually my portfolio, Patreon/Commisions Hub, writings plus everything else that I can conceptually fit here!
I’ve been in need of a professional venue that I can maintain for a looooooong time. This joint still isn’t completely moved into but it’s definitely at a point where I can comfortably launch and not feel awkward about doing so! This is a rare time that I’ll be cross posting to all three of my websites so I’ll break everything down accordingly. Please bear with the long post…
The Main Website: www.jongraywb.com
This will be my primary, personal, professional website. Here you’ll find info containing my bio, my published works (specifically dealing with licensed materials like Disney Comics and Sonic the Hedgehog!
If you are one of my Principles of Cartooning students at the School of Visual Arts, you can find a copy of the syllabus as well as a direct means of contact should you need to ask me any questions about assignments or general advice after school hours. IMPORTANT NOTE: The new syllabus will most likely go up next week in anticipation of the start of classes. Currently I’ve linked the old one just so you can get a rough idea of what it will look like. All school related info can be found on the left sidebar.
The right sidebars of this page will be updated with all my current Disney Comics solicits for IDW Publishing.
Beyond general updates the news feed here will double as blog entries whenever I feel the need to discuss random things, announce events (conventions, new books coming out, etc), travel plans or talk about general things that are on my mind.
FAQ sections for all three pages are interlinked depending on content. I’d debated on consolidating them into one big page but it seemed to massive and cumbersome.
WHAT’S MISSING?
The next major things to integrate here will be a full image/portfolio gallery of all my non web-comic work plus a working Patreon/Commissions Hub for donations/any work you’d like me to do. I’d liked to have launched with this but time was of the essence for the start of school and freelance work. PLEASE NOTE THAT COMMISSIONS ARE NOT OPEN YET! They won’t be until I’ve finished this project and specifically gotten these things launched. This is the next major thing I will be working on following this update.
Chip and Walter: http://www.chipandwalter.com/
Time Trouble: http://www.time-trouble.com/
After a long time, my babies have finally been re-launched.
I promised these comics would come out ages ago (2014 to be exact) and I’ve sat down plot-mapping, character redesigning, planning, thinking, re-plot-mapping and drawing and redrawing a buffer that I’ve slowly been pecking at for years. It wasn’t until the past year and a half that I finally overcame my personal worries, buckled down and pushed myself to do it. I don’t think it’s prideful to pat myself on the back for having finally achieved that goal.
Before I say anything else…
A lot of you have messaged me about wanting to see return to doing my personal comics/doing original work. I can’t thank you enough for both your patience, your inquiries and for the needed words of encouragement. Artists are sensitive and, personally, I’m always exceedingly nervous about putting myself out there. My comics are representative of my personal grow and improvement since my earliest days. The more I got into the groove or drawing these for myself, the better I feel like I got. I can’t wait for y’all to see the stuff that hasn’t even gone up yet.
I can only hope that you enjoy the story as much I enjoy creating it.
Both comics have launched with their respective 15 strip Chapter Zero prologues including title/cover pages (for the prologue itself and ending on the cover for the following chapter), a bonus cast page (the plan is to end all chapters with some sort of bonus page) and a rudimentary archive for easy browsing.
Updates for each comic will individually occur once a week barring any pressing freelance or professional work that comes my way (My pro work always comes first. Gotta pay my bills.)! As with my main website, all updates will be announced on my social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr) and noted on their individual pages as news posts when necessary.
WHAT’S MISSING?
While cast pages currently exist as makeshift tags, these only show what strips (plus a counter) each individual character has appeared in. As the stories progress and new characters are introduced, I will add in proper cast descriptions with new individual artwork as I see fit.
I will definitely be replacing the large top header banners for both comics with more intricate illustrations like on my main page in the coming weeks. Right now I have a several “placeholder images” up in spots to suit my needs.
I’ll probably also add outgoing links to other comics I like read. I have no earthly idea how RSS feeds work, so I’ll be looking into that in the coming week.
As a sidenote: I know the dropdown menus for each comic are currently acting weird. I’ve been tutoring myself in CSS on the fly and while the background color for individually selected comics on the dropdowns work, I have no clue how to get the chapters to have the same background color as the rest of the menu so that they’re actually readable. If you have any idea on how to fix this problem I’m all ears. I’ll probably also ask some knowledgeable friends later once I get ample sleep. And I think that’s that.
Finally, if you’d like to comment on any of the comics or even the individual blog posts feel free!
Again, I have no plans on cross posting to all three pages like this, preferring to keep news worthy things separate and organized, but this is a special occasion and I want to cover all my bases. Do note that I’ve set up an approval system on comments, so nothing will show up yet without my say-so. That said, my twitter and facebook accounts are always open (check the Social Media Portal on the left sidebar of all pages!) If you post with “first” nonsense I’ll most likely ban you outright. I’ll approve any commentary once I’ve gotten decent rest and celebrated my birthday proper. 🙂
Thank you so much for being patient. I hope you enjoy what you see and I hope these pages will eventually do everything I intend for them to do. Have fun and enjoy the comics!