The wait is over! Long John, Volume 4 has arrived and, at over 40 pages, is priced at a mere $8 (plus shipping) on the official Long John store.
This volume brings you the entirety of Chapter 4, “Dead Words,” as well as a new, EXCLUSIVE Hellrider Jackie short story, “The Patient Feast.” Josh Tobey, artist on the previous Jackie short story, “Save the Bones” from Volume 1, returns to art duties on this tale, picking up shortly after where “Save the Bones” left off.
As has been the case with books, every purchase of Volume 4 comes with a custom Long John sketch and a Long John coaster. All for only $8 (plus shipping)!
Head over to the official Long John shop right now to pick up your copy. All the other books are still available for purchase, as well, including the $20 Bundle which gets you volumes 1-3 at a discounted price.
This image wasn’t meant to be posted. It’s not the best I can do nor is it particularly pushing my skills in any new direction.
Instead, what this drawing of the X-Men character, Rogue, represents is an exercise––a test. I picked up some new equipment––specifically an iPad Pro and an Apple pencil because I hoped it could help with my comic -making productivity.
With the world under quarantine for the forseeable future, that meant that I’ll be––and have been––stuck in front of my computer literally all day with teaching, comicking, and podcasting. While that is is normal for some people, it is not for me, and it’s not something I enjoy.
The truth is that when I started making comics in 2007, the were completely digitally drawn––every stage of drawing the first year of Eben07 was done on the computer. Such work, however, led to me feeling distant from the art I was making; I didn’t feel like I was drawing as much as I was constructing; a disassociation made worse by the lack of a tactile final product. So, I started drawing the comics by hand and leaving the coloring and lettering (and publishing) to do on the computer. This process informs how I make comics through to today.
The iPad art program, Procreate, also records every line drawn during the process. Take a look at how much I erase while drawing!
Now that the current situation has put me in front of a screen for a majority of the day, and after spending a full work day in front of the computer teaching, the last thing I want to do is work another five or six hours on the computer.
I had heard a lot about how tablets have become incredibly reliable tools for comicking––from the tethered and mobile units made by Wacom to the early entry from Microsoft to, of course, the iPad. Combined with the praise of these devices from artistsIadmire––and who are producingwonderfulwork on them––I figured, getting one of these, I could at least go to a different part of the house and still be working instead of just sitting at the computer.
The drawings of the members of Twisted Sister have probably been the most involved pieces of digital art that I have done recently.
While I’m not shy about digital art––manySketchFridayshavebeendigitallymade––I was wondering how a mobile experience could possibly be more advantageous and useful than using a tablet at my desktop computer. Within days of noodling with the device, I do prefer making art on the iPad to making it on my desktop computer––especially as it relates to comics (for reasons I’ll get into at a later date). When it comes to actually drawing comics, though, I still prefer ink on paper, but I’m seeing ways this can speed up the process significantly.
This drawing of Rogue was my first challenge to make a completed drawing on the iPad. I learned a lot from this drawing and have already learned lessons beyond what I learned here. Currently, I don’t think I’ll switch back to fully digital art; however, as a more robust sketchbook, a place for ideation and discovery, this thing has definitely filled a space that my creativity desperately missed.
We’re approaching Volume 4 a little differently than we’ve handled the previous three books. We’re running a soft launch this week just make sure all the kinks are worked out and we’ll really push it towards the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
To recap, Volume 4 will contain the entirety of Chapter 4 – “Dead Words” – as well as an exclusive 10-page Hellrider Jackie story (with Josh Tobey returning on art duties), “The Patient Feast,” and more!
What we’re doing is running a preorder campaign for Volume 4! Borrowing some ideas from crowdfunding sites, I’m offering three tiers of preorders that, with hope, can accommodate a wide swath of people excited to get Volume 4 into their hands. NOTE: Preorders are not dictating book orders––meaning that low preorders affects printing of the book. The book order is currently in and paid for––I’m just trying to make the release of the book a bit more interesting, fun, and engaging. Read below for descriptions of the tiers OR you can head to NewLongJohnBook.com right away to see what the options are.
$10 Tier – Vol. 4 Book + eBook
This tier reserves for you a physical copy of the book (to be shipped once it arrives) but also includes a copy of the Volume 4 eBook (a pdf) to be delivered to your inbox within 24 hours of placing your order. That way you will have the physical copy (signed) for home and a digital copy for the road. The eBook contains all the content that’s in the book.
$15 Tier – eBook Bundle
This bundle brings you everything from the previous tier PLUS eBook versions of the three previous books. This is probably the best option for those that have already purchased the physical copies of the first three books. This gets you high quality eBook versions of the books that you can take with you on the go or give as gifts to your friends and family!
$25 – 4-Book Bundle
As you can probably guess, this tier gets you all four copies of the physical books PLUS the eBook of Volume 4 (eBook versions of the previous three volumes are available for a mere $5 a piece on Gumroad). The books won’t ship until Volume 4 is in-hand; so, you’ll have to be a little patient––but I promise you won’t have to wait long!
With hope, one of these options gets you excited enough to pick up a copy of Volume 4! Lastly, since these are treated as book purchases from the store, every order comes with a custom Long John inked sketch on a comic book backing board free of charge as well as a Long John coaster.
