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Its finally up, the first story to Eye Of The Beholder, I have been doing so much that I wasn’t able to keep my schedule for posting, so I just put the rest of the story up.

My apologies to anyone that tried to keep up with the story, now you can finish it,... and WAIT ;-) for the next part. Which is still in the works.

This was my first web comic, everything was done myself, and now I see all the mistakes, and will correct them for the next story, I will also be recruiting help to insure what’s done for the Lord is done right

Hello fellow artist,

I am launching an online relationship cards business and need cartoonist, and/or illustrators. I put up a website recently but it is still under construction and I am not accepting orders at this time; however, if you are interested in considering becoming an artist or illustrator for my company, please go to my website. Your art must be at least up the good quality of my current artist but I need more than one artist. Thanks. Please let me know you opinion.

www.oxanddonkeyrelationshipcards.com

Hey All,

I just recently revised a Tee Design, this one won a contest last year. I thought it about time i revised it :) I thought some of you may like to see it, and maybe even order one for your selves, of someone you love.. I came up with the idea for this shirt while our daughter Sophia was going through Cancer treatment... everytime the docs would wish us LUCK, We would tell them...."We don't believe in LUCK, We believe in GOD" they of course would always say "whatever get's you through", We prayed for these doc's and nurses everyday... anyways, this design has alot of meaning to us... so that's why i revised it and i am offering it for a limited time at my cost.. just goto the link below and use the customize buttton to put it on any shirt, or colour you choose... And may GOD bless anyone who even reads this blog... :)

http://www.zazzle.com/i_beleive-235302319685287708

In his peace always

Don

Funny, we had a not-too-dissimilar discussion here not too long ago.

This morning I shared with the Webcomics.com community that I was having issues getting links to my latest comics to show up on Reddit.  Thanks to some helpful insight (I was using my site's URL repeatedly instead of specifically linking to the page's URL) I was able to get the problem fixed.

But a new problem, one that can't be solved via technical troubleshooting, soon reared its head.  Within an hour of my putting my post up, someone there had voted it down (and getting downvoted to "0" makes your link disappear).  A couple of friends from the Webcomics.com community said they'd experienced the same trolling, and went out of their way to upvote my comic to get it visible again.  But one member brought up a point that I knew I would probably hear someday, yet nevertheless made me bristle somewhat:

"It's possible that Reddit's just 'not your crowd'", he made in reference to the currently ongoing Creation vs. Evolution dialogue happening in my comic.  "These are not pages that a strongly atheist crowd like Reddit will love".

I tried to defend my position by stating that this ideological/faith disparity between them would be the crux of a lot of suspicion and conflict between the main characters and toward their Atlantean hosts.  They're coming from a world where everything has become secularized and where even right and wrong are considered subjective (our present/near future society) and now suddenly they're minorities in a culture with very defined beliefs and a vastly different version of history from what they're familiar with.

The moderator stepped in to say that the other member had made a valid point; some "other" places might prove more favorable for promoting my work, he said.  My hope from the beginning was to merge an entertaining story with Apologetics to hopefully encourage lost readers to pause and consider.   Deep down I knew I would likely encounter apathy or outright opposition; I guess in my head I wanted to think it'd be AFTER my comic had established a decent readership and notoriety, not while I'm still struggling to break 200 readers per week.

The question I would ask is, just because my comic isn't getting upvoted on Reddit, does it necessarily mean that no one is reading or that the "door has closed" there?  If so, where does that leave me and other Christian writers who want to make our faith part of our work but constantly have to walk that fine line of tolerance many folks have before labeling us as "preachy"?  Roddenberry, Straczynsky, Lucas, Herbert...TONS of secular science fiction writers/creators have woven their own worldviews into their stories, and the world loves them for doing so, calls them visionaries.  Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dune are chock-full of religious allegory, albeit seen through an atheist/secular lens.  But if a Christian tries to do so the door slams shut and we're told our stuff doesn't measure up by default.  I John told us it would happen whenever we try to make a statement for the glory of Christ (obviously this rejection isn't limited to comics for certain), so I'm not surprised; it still hurts though, I admit.  We're still human and this is still a dream for us.

So where DO we go if the door is shut to us as Christian creators, whether sharing our stories and especially ever making a living from them is concerned?  Submitting every outcome to the Lord's will is of the utmost necessity, obviously, but from a practical standpoint when people are telling us to find "other places" they know good and well there are no such places out there.  We give and receive encouragement and feedback here at the Christian Comic Arts Society and that's a great thing, but the interaction is from the standpoint of mutually struggling creators, not a tangible, reading, paying audience.

I had to learn early and often to submit whether I'll ever make a penny from my work to God's will.  I've always had a burning desire to share the stories of Tomes of Atlantis because I felt the Lord had a purpose for them to affect someone's life for His glory.  But the next level of faith-testing comes when someone actively discourages you (even if it's well-intentioned); do you block them out and keep slogging forward, or do you listen to determine if their words have merit?  Submitting to God's will means that we and/or our work may be taken in directions we never thought of...and maybe never wanted, truth be told.

For now my intent is to keep the status quo; my posting on Reddit and other secular sites isn't really helping my readership, but the advantage of having a tiny readership to begin with is that they don't really hurt it, either.  And maybe, just maybe, there may be a site or two out there that actively promotes and encourages Christian-themed comics for readers.  If anyone here can offer any suggestions, I'm all ears.  Thanks for hearing me out.

A few of us discussed the idea of having a online book club, a comic book/graphic novel book club to be more specific. I'd like to kick this off this month and our first book will be 'The Book of Revelation Graphic Novel'. I'm going to wait to set the date/time until I hear from those wanting to participate what day during the week works best. Looking to do this the week of Feb. 17th - 23rd. Wanting to keep things simple, so if you want to participate just let me know, no need to commit to a book club right now, just getting together to discuss this awesome book. I'll wait a few days to get a sense of who's interested and what day seems to work best for the most people. Finally format, I'm thinking that I'd like to try to do this on Google+, using the google hangout.

I felt that sharing this page (which is currently up at the website) from my initial storyline would help to illustrate how I am hoping to use my comic as a form of apologetics to reach an audience who are likely to be mostly non-believers.  The immediate discussion takes place solely on this page before the story moves forward again, which I hope will keep readers engaged but at the same time give them reason to pause and think.  I'm optimistic that it'll prove to be a way to plant some seeds without being "overly preachy", which is many seculars' complaint regarding Christian-based fiction.

The web comic The United is expanding to other online comic sites to spread the word of God. To promote this Justin Martin of R-Squared Comicz is doing 7 reasons to read The United. Check it out.http://www.rsquaredcomicz.com/2013/01/28/reason-1-why-you-should-read-the-united-its-free/

Hi guys! check out my Kickstarter campaign first Graphic Novel titled SIDEWINDER, help us spread the word!
 and let me know what you think?

Thanks
Dennis C.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cyberworks/sidewinder

Now everyone can read the 4 issue mini series of Spirit Knight. Please go to http://spirit-knight.com and check it out. It's all free! Please send me your comments, thoughts, etc.

I want to thank the CCAS for the support over the years.

Bryan

Hi everyone, I will keep this short, I am looking for help, I have posted pictures of projects I am working on and need help with, I am looking for colorists and someone to do all the lettering.

I hate to say it but my spelling sucks.

Anyway, These are all part of a series of books I am doing, children’s comics and how to draw books.

All the books will go to print so profits can be split or you can get paid up front.

I’m not rich yet,... so I can’t pay top dollar,.. yet.

Take a look at what I am doing and let me know if you are interested.

If you're looking for an AWESOME Inker, I HIGHLY recommend Mostafa.  He's worked for Marvel, Image, and more and I was very lucky to have him work on my project.  He's available for work, please check out his work on his deviant.art page.  Even if you don't need an Inker now, keep him on file for when you do.  Cool guy and very professional.

http://www.htownfan13.deviantart.com/

 wanted to share these thoughts with this community for discussion.

I find that as a fan of christian comics (using the term as an umbrella to the genre, including graphic novels, bible based works, faith based works which may or may not be explicitly Christian, and even mainstream projects done by Christian creators).

The comic book industry is a relatively small market, and christian comics is one of the smallest of the small in that market. 

Yet as creators we can spend so much of our time searching for this small market. We search and find out what we already know, there isn't a large market.

The reality is that we are the audience, and we need to grow ourselves.

So let us consider how how to build our audience.

I can think of several people that I know who might enjoy comics, but don't currently read comics. So what is keeping them from becoming fans of comics?

A few obstacles that I've observed.

Foremost seems to be that no one is introducing and inviting them try comics. I think that getting into, or getting back into, comics is intimidating. 

We need to be the ones inviting those we know to read comics. 
Having someone listen and recommend titles to a newcomer based on their interest would do wonders.

Another obstacle is that money. There can be a hesitancy to go out and spend money to find out if they like comics.

Lend out books, give books as gifts.
The public library often has many great graphic novels available and can be a free way of introducing others.

Start a graphic novel/comic book club.

A once a month meeting where we read and discuss graphic novels sounds awesome to me. This can also be done online (chat, google + hang out, etc).

Support & Promote other creators.

There are several reasons to celebrate other creators success, but the success of any christian creators builds our genre as a whole and thus benefits us all.

Thoughts?

while checking out Manga Studio products recommended by D.L. Maffet I discovered this great link to do perspective in photoshop for digital artists. http://www.freddieart.com/quicktools/index.php?page=detail&get_id=1&category=2 -It's free and easy to learn.

I'm going to try the free trial of Manga Studio 4 once I get a tablet. Been contemplating about going completely digital in a year after some good advice from D.L.

could you guys please help me win a contest if i win i get the comic book Blood Red Dragon signed by Yoshiki

Yoshiki is a japanese musician & songwrite

so mmm please help me win all you have to do is like my comment on this ---> here <---- oh mm and im rosetta mcbride

DON'T MISS: " The GOD SCENE Radio Show hosted by Mel and Nicole " TONIGHT TUESDAY Jan. 8th, 2013 from 8:40pm - 9:40pm on Prolifick Radio / www.prolifick.com. Tonight an interview with Shandra Koger creator of Lightning Prophetess-http://cyberlightcomics.com/lp/index.html

Just a quick update, prizes will be going out this weekend, sorry I'm so slow right now. C. Souba, I'm terribly sorry I didn't get your gorgeous line art up in time for David to judge, we shall consider you a winner too!

Thank you everyone who participated in the contest! May 2013 be a great art year for you all, and full of all kinds of blessings:)

I -think- all the entries are now posted at Angel Lite Contest

Hello! Thank you everyone who entered the 'Angel Lite Comic' December contest! David has announced the winners, if you are one of them, please email me at tempest_raiko@yahoo.com with your Paypal payment email address, or with your snail mail address if you prefer to be paid that way:)

You all are winners in our eyes! 'Til next time:)

Gerry Lee