Dani Jones • danidraws.com

Happy Valentine’s week! Download and print Mr. Zombie Bunny to give to your beloved walking dead this holiday.

And if you haven’t read my Zombie Bunny comic yet, check it out here: danidraws.com/zombie-bunny

Yesterday, I was reading my internets and started seeing all of these diary comics being posted by a bunch of different artists. Apparently, February 1 is Hourly Comic Day. On Hourly Comic Day, artists are encouraged to sit down and draw a comic for every hour of the day that they are awake. I was a bit disappointed that I missed it, but then I was like, hey I’ll do one anyway!

So here it is, a day late. Forgive the messiness – these are very very quick sketches and I did minimal cleanup and editing.

When I’m not busy making children’s books or comics, I like to make sketch cards for fun, often featuring geeky fan art of my favorite TV or movie characters. (You can check out previous cards I’ve made here, here, and here.) I recently made a set of six cards featuring the gang of kids from the movie Super 8, which was my favorite movie of 2011 (probably one of my favorite movies ever actually). Anyway, I thought this would be a good opportunity to show a little process stuff.

Click to see how I made the cards!

I make a webcomic called My Sister the Freak (if you are unaware of it, you can read the whole first volume in the Stories section!). I haven’t updated it in awhile, but I am planning a triumphant return. After struggling for months with plans and updates for this comic, I can now give you some solid news and dates!

My Sister the Freak will be back to regular updates on FEBRUARY 3, 2012. And with this return, I am implementing a few changes.

New Schedule, Two Times the Fun!

The comic will now update twice per week on TUESDAYS and FRIDAYS. Mark your calendars and subscribe to stay up to date.

Introducing "The Adventures of Captain Bacon"

On February 3, I will not start Volume 2. Instead, I'm going to launch a spinoff comic called "The Adventures of Captain Bacon" featuring crazy imaginary adventures of Mary and Captain Bacon. I am very excited about this idea and hope you'll enjoy it.

The spinoff comic will be a lot quicker, snappier, and black and white, which means it will be a whole lot easier for me to write and draw. This will be a fun way to fill in the time between volumes and chapters of the main comic.

So Where is Volume 2?

I have the story outlined and am fleshing out the full script. I was going to put a rush on it and get it done for February, but as I was working on it I really felt that I should give this every ounce of effort that I can and write the best story possible. So, I'm going to slow down, finish the script, then begin working on a buffer of pages.

As of now, I expect Volume 2 to go up around May. The time in between will allow me to draw and color the whole first chapter, and with that buffer in place, the comic can update uninterrupted on the new twice-a-week schedule for the duration of Volume 2.

Fan Art Contest

While I am working on the comic and posting the spinoff, I am going to take the opportunity to do other fun activities too. First up, I want to hold a fan art contest. I want to see what talented readers I have out there! There will be both adult and kid divisions, and winners will receive signed books, original art, and gift cards. All entries will also be posted to the website with credits and links. Look out for the full details coming up on the My Sister the Freak website, and start sketching up those ideas!

See you February 3!

As part of my commission deal, I will be painting live throughout the month on Ustream. Come by every Friday at 10 AM ET to watch and chat.

View the show here: danidraws.com/danidrawslive

If you are unfamiliar with Ustream, it is a live video streaming service. I will be drawing and painting live from my studio. You can chat in a chatroom and ask questions while I work.

Reminder: Commissions are open until January 31. All the details are in my previous post. Get in your order soon, and I might even draw it on the show!

I recently bought one of these:

Happy 2012 to me! When it arrives, expect a full review and pics here on the blog!

However, this also cost me 2500 smackaroonies.

So for a limited time, I am opening up commissions. I have had commissions closed for a while because I am blessed to be super busy with client work. But I figured this would be a fun way to cushion the blow to my wallet and draw lots of nerdy stuff.

So if you would like me to paint you a picture of anything, anyone, and anyhoo, read below for the details:

• All guidelines and ordering info are here: store.danidraws.com/commissions
• Limited time only. I am closing all commissions again on January 31.
• I am making two sizes available – sketch cards and larger 5x7s. All are full color and painted with watercolors and/or gouache.

Examples:

I made these illustrations for a company called LDS Mobile Apps for an app called LDS Coloring Book. It is a digital coloring book for the iPad and iPhone. These images are part of an extra set that they are selling for Christmastime.