For those of you who are aware of my current situation and wondering why I’m still dinking around with a dumb internet comic, know that I am taking things seriously. But I’ve thought about a lot of things, and this comic is one of the few things in life other than my kids and my faith that bring a kind of purity to my mind that I really need, so I will keep working on it. It’s hard to explain.

For everyone else, sorry about the mini-hiatus, there will be a new comic on Monday and on subsequent Mondays.

-Nick

Last Christmas, some of my fellow webcomickers from the Spiderforest collective did a Secret Santa guest art exchange for each other. Here’s a piece I did for Christopher Paulsen’s comic Precocious. It’s a great little comic about a group of kids who are a tad too smart for their own good. The Charlie Brown reference pretty much took care of itself.

Since the inception of this comic, I’ve had a few readers bemoan the lack of an RSS feed for the site. I didn’t think much of it, unfortunately. Until recently, at any rate. Since I got my iPad, I have come to appreciate the convenience of an RSS feed for keeping up with all of the different blogs & comics I read without having to check several sites daily in the hope that they’ve updated.

I’m happy to let you know that I’ve started a feed and posted a link on the left sidebar of the site and at the top of this post. While I was at it, I put a link to my Twitter feed and the Cooties Facebook page, to boot. I hope this will help those of you who are interested to always know when a new comic or blog update has been posted. I really appreciate all of you who take the time to read my comic.

What started as a fun little experiment six years ago has become something very dear to me. I’m happy to announce that I will begin regular weekly updates starting this Monday. I’ve got a buffer of already-completed strips ready to go, and am excited to finally finish this first story and start some new ones. See you all back here on Monday!

If you haven’t read Denver Brubaker’s great superhero webcomic Tales of a Checkered Man, you are seriously missing out! I did a bit of Halloween guest art for him today with Jake and Lori dressed up as the titular hero and his ally, Squid Girl. Go and see!

Still plugging away at creating pages. Here’s a sneak peek. I’ll keep you posted here on the site when the story will start up again! Thanks for your enduring patience.

So yeah, Cooties has been on hiatus for over a year now. I am happy to announce that it is returning, hopefully within the next couple of months. I want to get at least 20 pages completed before I start updating (above is a small preview of the first 3 pages), so I have time to work on the rest of the first story without feeling rushed.

I’ve been creating the art entirely on my iPad, and doing the word balloons/lettering on my desktop with GIMP. I can’t tell you how hooked I am on being able to draw and color this comic wherever I feel like it. The freedom is very conducive to creating!

Secondly, I’m anxious to start getting Cooties made in print editions, too. The app Sketchbook Pro, with which I create my pages, supposedly can do it in high enough resolution that I can print them manga-sized through Ka-Blam. I’ll print a test issue when I’ve got enough completed pages done to see how it works. Wish me luck, and HECK YEAH I’M WEBCOMICKING AGAIN.

Here’s my very first sketch from my brand new iPad! This was drawn in Sketchbook Pro, and features Jake.

I truly believe that the tablet computer is the future of comics; more specifically in terms of consumption, but possibly in creation as well. I’m looking into the possibility of creating Cooties strictly on my iPad if at all possible. Since it’s now the one device I don’t have to share, it’s likely my best option. I’ll keep you posted!

For those of you who have missed Cooties for the last few months, you may want to check out a short story I have created for Illopond‘s Boo!: Spooky Tales for Kids, an anthology that will be released in October. I think it’s got the same vibe that I’ve put into Cooties for the last few years, and any fan of my comic will enjoy it. I’ll keep you posted as to when it will be available both in print and as a digital download!

No, everyone, Cooties is not dead. I’ve just finished up a fun project for the Illopond, and am ready to jump back in to this project in a more focused and professional way. I’ve learned several different things that I am anxious to incorporate into my work on my favorite characters and end “Infestation” in a satisfying way. I’ll be posting some of my process along the way as well.

In the meantime, here are a couple of Cooties-related fun things I’d like to share!

First, for my birthday a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law made me one of the best cakes possible:

Can I just say how awesome it was to see this on my birthday?

Second, one of my favorite webcomics, Ardra, featured Mr. Bell in the currently-running “Speed Dating” storyline. Go check it out!