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Posts tagged Valley of the Silk Sky

Valley of the Silk Sky returns! Chapter 12 commences now

Valley of the Silk Sky returns! Chapter 12 commences now published on

Yes indeed, it is time for the newest installment of my queer YA sci-fi/fantasy webcomic, Valley of the Silk Sky. You can now read page 106 at any one of these fine locations:

“But Dylan, that’s so many options. How do I know which one to choose?”

Well, I’ll tell you. Read it here if that’s what you’re used to and it works for you.

Read it on the VotSS website if you like additional material like appendices, character pages, concept art, and all that jazz.

Read it on Tumblr if you are still on Tumblr and want it to show up in your dash without you having to remember to do anything.

Read it on Patreon if you would like early access to pages by becoming my Patron for a mere one dollar a month; or you can choose to follow my Patreon for free and get notifications of when new pages get posted to the general public. Early access subscribers get pages on Mondays, then they go public on Thursdays.

“But Dylan, you’ve been working on this comic for years now and I forgot what happened three chapters ago. How can I get caught up?”

Simple! You can:

1. Read the story so far online 

2. Read offline via print volumes or digital collections 

Right? Right. See you next week for the continuation of Chapter 12!

Cheers,

Dylan

“Gig in Japan” page 5 takes a bow and exits the stage

“Gig in Japan” page 5 takes a bow and exits the stage published on

The final installment of my Japanese metal show diary comic is here:

That Patreon post includes a discussion of souvenir towels, so hit that link if you yearn to know more.

If you yearn to read the whole comic in one fell swoop, this is the link for you.

Also, don’t forget to check out my soundtrack playlist for this comic, which is on the YouTubes here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYvv_X5qp4EyrOtVkosEwxlxh1e4cVnhZ

Now that this comic has wrapped, perhaps you’re wondering what comes next. Well, I’ll tell you.

I’m about halfway through coloring the next chapter of Valley of the Silk Sky, so that’s getting extremely close to done. I’ve been avoiding setting a specific date for when I’ll start running the chapter as my workflow has been painfully slow (sometimes due to literal pain, mostly due to Anxiety About the World We Live In).

BUT. Know that progress is happening, and new pages shall emerge very soon.

Cheers,

Dylan

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run chapter 11 concludes! Plus more ways to support yer queer comics creator

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run chapter 11 concludes! Plus more ways to support yer queer comics creator published on

Page 105 marks the finale of chapter 11, and you can find it here:

For those of you who like to wait until a chapter is complete to dig in, you can find the whole of Chapter 11 here.

So, what’s next, you ask? I am even now working on Chapter 12: the whole thing is thumbnailed, and I’ve got the first page penciled. 

Whilst we wait for me to get the rest of it penciled, inked, colored, scanned, and lettered, I’ll be running some concept art, character design, and work-in-progress posts for $1+ Patrons. If you want in on that, hit up my Patreon.

TCAF canceled

As far as my convention schedule goes, TCAF has now officially canceled their 2020 festival. Other emails coming in indicate other shows are still weighing how they want to proceed: postponement? full cancellation?

Again, conventions account for about half my income, so this is grim news on the financial front. If you’d like to help support my work during these trying times, here are some options:

IndieGoGo

My friend Olivia Wylie put together an IndieGoGo campaign to help out Colorado creatives during these rough times. Backing the campaign gets you books, art, and other swag, so chip in if you can!

Buy some stuff

Buy some books : http://www.studiondr.com/buy-stuff/

My Feeping Creatures monster art is here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/feepingcreatures

Patreon

You might also consider signing up for my Patreon if you have a couple bucks a month to spare. This ends up being kinda like a “paycheck” for me, and makes it easier to predict my income month-to-month.

Patreon is here: https://www.patreon.com/dylanedwards

Thanks for reading! Back to working on Chapter 12 for me.

Cheers,

Dylan

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 104, and a note about convention appearances

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 104, and a note about convention appearances published on

Greet this new page, won’t you:

So, regarding conventions:

An event I was supposed to table at this weekend was just canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. I think they made the correct decision, but it does represent a financial hit for me that I have no way to recoup.

I strongly suspect this is only the first of many event cancellations to come (and, again, I think cancelling is probably the right move). For the moment I’m not updating my Appearances page because so much is in flux.

I make about half my income from conventions, so right at this moment I’m staring down a pretty disastrous year. If you’ve considered buying books (Gumroad sales get the money to me the fastest) or monster merch from me, now is a great time to do so.

You can find a list of my books here : http://www.studiondr.com/buy-stuff/

Monsters are here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/feepingcreatures

You might also consider signing up for my Patreon if you have a couple bucks a month to spare. This ends up being kinda like a “paycheck” for me, and makes it easier to predict my income month-to-month.

Patreon is here: https://www.patreon.com/dylanedwards

Thank you, and please feel free to share these links with anyone you think might be interested!

Cheers,

Dylan

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 103 has some choice words for you

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 103 has some choice words for you published on

Here, have some words:

Quick reminder that “wis” is a contraction for “who is” or, more specifically, “who is good at [being a],” and that a typical Pocali name construction would be [UNIQUE PERSONAL NAME] wis [PRIMARY SKILL]. If you want more detail, this appendix post on the VotSS website has the deets.

If you are a nerd for background details, you can find out Cobb’s primary skill (at least, as assigned by the relevant authorities) at the bottom right of the last panel on page 8. It’s not an assignment Cobb has made any particular effort to contest.

In other news, I’ve begun thumbnailing chapter 12, oh yes. It took a bit longer than I’d expected to get to the thumbnailing stage, even though the script has been pretty much ready to go for a few weeks. There are some new environments, y’see, and a couple of characters I needed to find out more about [what do you look like? what brings you to this story?], so I’ve been busy concept-arting.

And, sure enough, getting to know the characters a bit more changed the script somewhat. Now that I had a better idea of who A and B were, I could see the places where the original dialogue was no longer appropriate. I also wound up having to add a couple of pages to the chapter past what I’d originally intended.

But! Thumbnailing is now, which means pencils are soon.

And Chapter 11 continues next week regardless. See you then!

Cheers,

Dylan

The Long Run page 102 is cracking up; also, some Feep stuff

The Long Run page 102 is cracking up; also, some Feep stuff published on

How are things going with Hali and that egg, anyway? Let’s learn:

That Patreon post includes a short discussion of how an apothecarist’s egg works, if you yearn for such knowledge.

Speaking of weird creatures (weren’t we?), I added some new tiny art to the Feeping Creatures Etsy Shop. Behold:

Do you need a bear, or perhaps a bat, for your mantelpiece? Well, now you know where to go!

Cheers,

Dylan

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 101 is a ton of fun on a bun

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 101 is a ton of fun on a bun published on

I mean it, really! Just take a look here:

I talk about some of the thought process behind this page over my my Patreon, should such a thing be of interest to you.

TL;DR, characters are squirrelly creatures, and often the only way I can pin them down is by drawing them and actually seeing with my own eyes what they’re all about.

Speaking of which, I was going to work on the thumbnails for chapter 12, but it has two new characters in it, and I had to figure out what they looked like. The act of drawing them caused me to learn a bunch of stuff about them that changed aspects of the script, so it’s a good thing I didn’t thumbnail yet, y’see?

ANYWAY. See you next week for more of Chapter 11!

Cheers,

Dylan

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run turns 100 pages old!

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run turns 100 pages old! published on

We’ve now crossed into the triple digits, officially making this the longest single comics project I’ve ever done. It’s true! And now, the page, for your reading pleasure, is here:

In other news, I was able to snag a table at Flame Con, so I will definitely be heading to NYC later this year. Perhaps I should go update my events page at long last, huh.

EDIT: Updated my 2020 convention schedule with all confirmations I’ve received to date. There are more pending, but these are the known quantities at this point!

Cheers,

Dylan

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 99 is feeling tetchy

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run page 99 is feeling tetchy published on

The latest installment Chapter 11 seeks your indulgence. Grant it here:

That there Patreon post, by the way, has a short little world-building snippet regarding certain cosmetic products one might find in the Valley, should you be curious about such things.

Eventually I’d like to do a whole Appendix post about cosmetics and beauty products in the Valley, though it’s going to be a little bit of awhile before that happens. Just know it’s a thing I think about!

Also, I need to update my convention calendar for 2020, a task which is not particularly difficult, just never *quite* my top priority. I do really have shows coming up this year, though. I swaer.

Anyhow. Until next week!

Dylan

The Long Run page 98 is ready …

The Long Run page 98 is ready … published on

… Ready for what, though? To find out, choose one of the following locations for reading this newest of pages:

If you happen to be a nerd who likes world-building natterings about dialect, that there Patreon post has the goods.

Who knows what challenges page 99 shall bring? Check back next week to find out.

Cheers,

Dylan

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