I’m turning on my studio camera right now, if you’d like to come watch me draw HERE.

The camera’s mounted over my shoulder, so you can see the Sheldon strip come to life like you’re hangin’ out in the studio with me…like we were best buds. WHICH WE TOTALLY ARE. So swing by over HERE.

(Edited to note: Arrival changed to Friday.)

Guys, I just got a call from “The Printers” in Canada: And much to my surprise, a few hundred advance copies of the eighth Sheldon book are gonna be here on Friday! Hot diggety…that there’s some cool news.

“Delightful Jokes For High-Class Folks” is the follow-up book to last Fall’s collection, “Still Got It”, and has what might be my favorite book cover so far. So keep an eye peeled for it on Friday! New booooooook!

Hey-ooooooo!

It’s sale time! Yessireebob: All nine Sheldon books in the Sheldon Store are on sale!

Individual books are just 10 smackers, three-packs are similarly reduced to 30 clams, and the nine-pack of books is at the lowest-ever price of 90 bits of cheddar.

I totally asked my wife if these were good prices and she totally confirmed that these are good prices, guys. She totally confirmed it.

(Sale ends Monday at midnight: Los Angeles/Pacific Standard Time.)

Guys, it’s Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving, guys! I know 30% of you read Sheldon from outside the U.S., but you know what? I WISH YOU AN AWESOME THANKSGIVING, TOO. 🙂

That’s the kind of stand-up guy I am.

For my American cohorts, I hope the day is a restful and peaceful one, full of much pie, good board games, turkey-induced comas, and the like.

New strips will be running throughout the week, even though web traffic this week essentially falls through the floor. So! When you get back from post-Thanksgiving shopping, there’ll be new Sheldons awaiting. Along those lines: I should mention that, on Friday, there’ll be a bunch of special deals going into the Sheldon Store…so keep an eye pealed for those.

But in the meantime, enjoy your Thanksgiving! And thank YOU for reading Sheldon: It means the world to this li’l cartoonist. 🙂

…where you kinda go to bed wonderin’ if you’ll wake up to a formal “cease & desist” in your inbox. Thankfully, I don’t think “60% McNugget” quite qualifies as being legally untrue, so I’m probably good.

70%, and I’d be pushin’ my luck.

I got an e-mail from a Sheldonista, or wait, no…a Drive-ista? …hold on…did we come up with a name for Drive readers yet? Drivers? Familia? I genuinely can’t remember.

Anyway: Drive reader David C. e-mailed me asking if Nosh was styled after a type of lizard called “Bearded Dragons,” and kindly sent along this pic, which, you’ve gotta admit, DO LOOK LIKE OUR BOY A BIT, DON’T IT?

David and his wife even named their “beardie” (seen below, crawling on Sheldon original art) Nosh, in recognition of the similarity. And apparently, the little dude is an unstoppable eating machine as well.

Thanks, David!

Sheldon reader and fellow cartoonist Mark Largent of The Wannabe Pirates surprised me by putting together 3-D versions of Arthur and Gramp that I had to share with you guys.

(Bigger version here.)

Mark also put together actual, fancy-dancy “real” 3-D images that you can look at with the glasses ‘n everything. Super cool:

(Bigger version here.)

New England Webcomics Weekend is this weekend — and I’m super excited for it. This is like webcomics nirvana: With virtually every big name you’ve ever heard of in webcomics.

I’ll be there both Saturday and Sunday to meet ‘n greet with Sheldonistas and give out free sketches. I’ll also have books, prints, original art and shirts for those seeking them. For original art: e-mail me right away if there was a specific one you wanted me to bring (…as I can’t bring all 3,000) and you can pick it up there for $25 off the normal price!

Anyway, come out! This is the big enchilada of webcomics shows…and it’s my last show for the year.

Friends, let us make the awesomeness HAPPEN.

Do you guys remember these strips ( ONE, TWO, THREE ), where Arthur and Sheldon talk about the real surname Crapo?

Of course you do…because it generated one of the funnier discussions in the Sheldon forums.

Well, Sheldonista Gail K. Just sent this political sign in, with the addendum “I like the way the stars highlight the word ‘Crapo'”. That is awesome…thanks, Gail!

When I was speaking at Ohio State a few weeks back, the curators of the school’s (excellent) Cartoon Museum indulged my request and pulled out some original art from Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes. Aside from being amazed at how small they were, I was struck by how gorgeous his brush-work was.

And it got me thinking…that after a decade of drawing Sheldon by more modern means (read: archival pens), I should give it a go with good ol’ brush-and-inkwell, and see how I do.

So! While lecturing at Savannah’s SCAD last week, I ponied up for some brush supplies, and gave it a go in a park. This first attempt, below, is more than a tad overdrawn (I was experimentin’ with line weights and brush techniques), but it let me know I was at least passable at it.

(Click HERE for a larger version.)

Cut to: Today’s strip. This’ll be the first one I’ve ever drawn by brush-and-inkwell. And it came out pretty OK! So it’s something I’ll be trying more and more of. I figure if I bust out the ol’ brush 2-3 times a week, I’ll be pretty fair at it in five years or so.

So…let’s check back in five years and see whether that’s true. 🙂