I feel so stupid now when I think back to the times I used to go out with a large group of people, and I was always so nervous, especially if it was with people I didn’t hang out with very often. ”Is what I’m ordering cool?” Really? Did I really ask myself that? Yes, I did. So lame of me. This was long before I really knew who I was, and wow am I glad I figured that out.
Happy Halloween everyone! Make it awesome and make it safe!
A special thanks to the magnificent Emily Chan for this wonderful holiday card! Be sure to check out her delightful StupidFox comic – as if you hadn’t already 
.
Writing Zoey is always fun. She’s not a… erm… “sucker” (as Fribble would say), but she’s a person who knows herself so well, that she will never allow the negativity of others to ruin her mood. I think I knew all of one person like this in high school. She was the only person who at that age knew exactly who she was and who she was going to be throughout her life, and she never fell into the trap of putting down others to make herself feel better. Out of all the characters, she’s the one that the phrase “Hot Mess” applies to the least.
What about you guys? Do you think the majority of your friends are “Zoeys” or are they Hot Messes?
UPDATE: As you may have noticed, we swapped out this week’s comic with a new version… one done in our old (and IMO way, way better lettering style). What do you think? Wanna see the difference between the two? Click below to see the one originally posted.
This was the original lettering for #73
Which one do you like better?
UPDATE 2: The new version of #72 is now up! Just click here or the back pointing arrow below the comic!
My favorite part of a long week is when I get to step back and actually evaluate how tired I actually am. It’s always at that very first moment, when things calm down just enough, that I self-evaluate and really take stock of how much energy – both mental and physical – I have left. Quite often I find that when I reach that point I’m running on fumes, and the only thing I have left in me is to get together with friends and unwind.
Here’re two of the most draining periods in my life: Final exams weeks (all 8 times I went through that in college); the first TV production I worked on (3 weeks of 18 hour days, no days off, and I lived on set and never went home. It was like summer camp, but without the outdoors part).
I’m sure there are many more I’m not thinking about. What about you guys? How did you recoup?
About the strip schedule: Yes! Look, it’s a new strip! Also, I have more good news. There are 2 more strips completed and scheduled, so there’s no way they won’t be on time. In addition, I have three more that simply need to be lettered. So we *should* have six weeks of an uninterrupted schedule! I cannot tell you how excited I am to get these up or thank you all enough for continuing to check us out. We love making Hot Mess, and though we can’t do it as quickly as we’d like, we intend on making the comic well into the future.
Again, much thanks, and without a doubt we’ll see you soon!
I sometimes find it pretty crazy what hostesses and wait staff can get away with when their managers aren’t watching. Being a former waiter myself, I know exactly how frustrating the job can be, as well as the impulse to act out. Not that I ever did… much. But some of the people I worked with were downright mean to their customers when they felt they weren’t going to be held accountable.
Any of you waiters out there have funny stories about the “abuse of power” at work? Or any customers want to share your most unbelievable eating out moments?
Yes, we’re still working up to the once weekly schedule, but we’ll get there! Also on tap is our How to Make a Webcomic series of blog posts. I hope everyone is having a great summer!
A new one! (…finally!!!!!!)
Thank you all again for bearing with us. We encountered a bit of difficulty in our production line, but we are absolutely going keep Hot Mess coming! This is a passion project for all of us, and we’re constantly inspired by you, the readers, to keep making more.
Here’s what we intend to do: post one a week until we build up enough that will enable us to go back to our usual schedule of twice a week. Our ultimate goal is to get 3 per week out (Mon/Wed/Fri) as we did earlier this year, but realistically, that may be a ways off.
So, if we’re slow on strips, is there anything else you guys would like me to post? I’ll be your posting monkey.
We had a lot of fun with this week’s pinup. I had been wanting to do a series of homages to movies and pop culture moments that I love and cherish for quite a while now, and how perfect is it that the wonderful artist Robyn Seale had not only the chops, but the inclination to humor me in this silly obsession of mine? I love her style, especially her colors, on this pinup – I think it captures the mood of the film, while of course, letting the characters of Hot Mess have their own fun.
Just in case you missed them, here are links to our first two pinups:
“Scooziecat is Displeased” by Emily Chan, and
“Spring Day” by Ben Chamberlain
Robyn comes to us from her own webcomic called “The Watcher of Yaathagggu” (pronounced yah-THAG-goo) which I love for a variety of reasons. First, I’m a nut for all things Lovecraftian. If you give me a choice between silly slasher movies and “R” rated stuff like “Saw” or visually tame, but psychologically frightening movies and books, I’ll take the latter every time. For my money, my imagination can scare me far worse than anything I see on screen, which is why the works of H.P. Lovecraft, with their insinuations and suggestive language rather than outright graphic horror, work better and stay with me far longer.
Robyn plumbs the depths of the Lovecraft mythos and gives it her own spin, and what I love about her art is the way she uses color and light to great effect. She’s also proof of my “Grand Theory of Webcomics” – if you have a story you want to tell and are willing to do the work, you can have your very own webcomic that has the potential to reach fans around the world. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never had formal art training, or you have no idea how to create a website. Modern technology has made it so easy to create and publish on the web, that the barriers to entry that used to stop a comic from getting out into the ether (i.e. having a publisher, a distributor, advertisers, etc.) no longer exist. It’s something I’m working to cover more in depth in my blog series of “How to Make a Webcomic” which I hope to launch soon.
From the Yaathagggu website:
Yaathagggu (pronounced yah-THAG-goo) is a city surrounded by eldritch horrors and absolute darkness.
Pieta Gaolwynne is a perimeter watcher, tasked with guarding the city by keeping her lighthouse running and survey the ocean, which stands as the greatest threat.
But things aren’t right with her tower or with the city, and one unlikely protagonist is thrust into a plot of mystery, intrigue and madness.
And below take a look at a few of her pages… enjoy (and click through to see them on her website):
I absolutely LOVE Emily’s design for The BC. Its hits that perfect mix between “local hangout” and “cheesy chain restaurant”. I can easily imagine a Burger Cove next to an Applebee’s or a T.G.I Fridays.
Ok, we finished out the month at #1 – wanna try and help us get there again? Just click here: Remember, you can vote once a day
