Just a reminder: For the three new prints, try to get your order in by Friday, if you would. It’ll be super helpful on our end of things.
If you were waiting for the new books to get into the store to make one big purchase, no need to wait: These are shipped specially anyway, so they’d be shipped off separate from any book order you’ll be making.
All of the prints are professionally made on matte-finish photo paper, measure 12″x18″, and look awesome. Anyway: I you can, try to get your order in by Friday. Thanks!
On Aug. 22nd, the Crescent Lounge, Peligroso tequila and Steaz energy drinks are hosting the book launch party for the new “Literature” and “Drive” books — and you’re totally invited!
There are FREE drinks from Peligroso Tequila and Steaz Energy Drinks, FREE sketches from yours truly, aaaaand FREE contest give-aways at 9PM. It’s gonna be pretty dang rad.
It all takes place in Beverly Hills, at the very cool Crescent Lounge (see below pic). It’s free and open to all Sheldon readers, family and friends…so come on out!
Here’s a Q&A that anticipates your every need:
1.) Wait: You’re being serious…there’ll be free drinks? YES. 2.) And free sketches? YES. 3.) Will there be free high-fives? UNDOUBTEDLY. 4.) Will the new books be available for purchase there? YES: THAT’S WHERE YOUR FREE SKETCHES GO! 5.) Will there be much awesomeness? ONLY IF YOU ATTEND. THIS CAN NOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH.
6.) I’m in! Now how do I get there?
The address for the Crescent Lounge is: 403 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Here is their site, and here’s a Google Map you can use for directions.
7.) Is there a Facebook Event page for this? SURE, WHY NOT.
Before time slipped by too far, I wanted to collect a few memories of San Diego Comic-Con 2010 and share them with you.
San Diego, as you probably know, is the biggest geek-fest on the planet. 125,000 folks traipsing through one big ol’ convention center for five days, checking all the best pop culturey stuff around. Amid all that, I get the chance to meet and talk to Sheldonistas from around the world. Seriously, around the world: This year I met Scots, Aussies, Kiwis, lots and lots of English and Canadians, South Africans, Mexicans, Chileans, Germans, French and a few Belgians, and one Swiss reader. It was the most international “meet-up” I’ve ever had…which was rad.
And in general, this was the high-water-mark in terms of readers coming out and saying “hi”. San Diego has always been a show where I sort of see how Sheldon is “doing,” you know, in terms of readership? A sort of litmus test as to how many folks are reading it? And this year was just much, much bigger than previous years. So that’s nice! Thank you for tellin’ friends about the strip!
As in previous years, I exhibited with my friends and “How To Make Webcomics” co-authors Kris Straub and Brad Guigar.
It was also the debut for two new books, the “Literature” book, and the first ever installment of “Drive”:
I did a quick little interview that starts at the 40-second point and really picks up at the 2-minute point in this video. It’s a bit bouncy, but there’s a fun spoiler toward the end of it:
A lot of Sheldonistas came by for free sketches and the obligatory high-five, but I was really, really touched by all the kind words and gifts that folks brought by to celebrate the 3,000th Sheldon strip last Wednesday. Sheldonista Amanda W. even framed a custom piece of congratulatory art:
Sheldonista Joe C. brought by a copy of (the now pretty hard to find) “Well Balanced Meal” — my first book of comics from 1996:
There were many ridiculous poses for photos, like my overly earnest handshake with Kevin L., here:
And anytime anyone asked if they could get a sketch of me sketching “like I normally sketch”, I tried to recreate my standard pose at home. Just an artist sittin’ at his desk, sketching totally normal. As one does:
But most folks just got custom sketches and high fives, like Stephanie P., here:
Here, let me share some of those custom sketches with you. I only took pics of maybe 1/100th of them (I kept forgetting), but there are some funny ones in the mix:
There were a lot of requests for “Sheldon/Drive” mashups, too, which made for some weird sketches:
But the big theme-sketch for the show this year seemed to be literary figures in folks’ copy of the “Literature” book:
Speaking of the “Literature” book, I should update you on the new books. The big book launch party for both new books will be on August 22nd, after which Artist Editions and regular versions of both books will go on sale in the online store. That’s right, I said both books. There are copies of “Drive” still available!
As you remember, my intention was for this first “Drive” book to be a super-super-limited print run…to sorta gauge interest on whether there was interest. But two things happened: A.) The printer printed 128% MORE copies than I ordered, and B.) The Drive book outsold *all* the Sheldon books at Comic-Con. So, in retrospect, it’s kinda good that the book run got overzealous. Anyway, we’ll have more info on the big book-launch party and books themselves later in the week. For now, a huge, huge thank you to everyone who came out to SDCC!
Whaaaat?! 3 new prints in the Sheldon Store, you say? Tell me more!
FIRST PRINT:
So, you remember this strip from a few weeks back? It was one of the most popular strips I’ve ever done. And I got so many requests for a print of this, I figured, “heck yeah all right let’s do this.” <—My exact words.
The second print is for everyone who plays Fantasy Football or D&D (…or, who has to *deal* with someone who plays Fantasy Football or D&D). This used to be a convention exclusive, but now it’s debuting in the online store!
The third print is for the coffee lovers, who will recognize that, What Coffee Giveth With One Hand, It Taketh Away With The Other. Namely: Energy. It’s the “Coffee: Circle of Life” print!
I’m home from San Diego Comic-Con, and it might just have been my favorite Comic-Con ever. Sheldon and Drive readers showed up in numbers I’ve never seen before (…it kinda blew me away a little).
I’ll complete a big write-up about the show later with pictures…but I wanted to mention a few quick things:
1.) If you have any pictures from SDCC that we took together, please e-mail them to me! It’s fun to share those on the blog.
2.) If you were hoping to snag the huge original art to the 3,000th Sheldon strip, you have about an hour left to try…so head on over!
3.) Today’s strip is a little too real to life: Every once in a while, our pug looks intensely concerned about some major world issue. Like only he can solve it, if he just thinks hard enough about it. Which, now that I think about it…is kind of a worrying thought for the rest of us.
3,000 strips! That’s a pretty good feelin’, right there.
I can’t thank you guys enough for reading the strip, these past eleven years. Thank you for the e-mails and the kind words; the high-fives and hugs at conventions; and all the support you’ve shown through the Sheldon Store. It’s never lost on me what a blessing my job is — that I get to make people laugh for a living. So thank you! Thank you for making this strip possible!
AAAAAND IT’S CONTEST TIME!
Want to win a free piece of Sheldon Original Art from the archives? Be the first one to *correctly name or identify* all the characters in the 3,000th strip, and you’ll get your pick of any strip in the archive! Here’s what you do:
1.) Download the entry form, either as a Word document
or as a
Rich Text Format file.
2.) Type out the correct name of each character next to the appropriate number (as seen in the outlined comic image, below). If you’re entry form lists “33” characters, just disregard that, with apologies. It should be “32”. (I’m on the road in SD, and can’t fix it.)
3.) Get super stumped at the random characters that appeared in only one strip, and curse my name a little bit.
4.) E-mail me the completed entry form. Make sure your e-mail has the subject heading “3000th Strip Contest!”.
5.) Be the first e-mail submitted with all the characters correctly named/identified….and WIN!
EDITED TO NOTE: We have a winner! Congrats to Aaron Smith, who nailed it in record time of 1:45 after the strip posted.
So I s’pose I can just list the names, now:
1.) Ed McMammoth
2.) Master Control Program
3.) Mr. T
4.) Tom Bombadil
5.) Baby Admiral Ackbar
6.) The Duck
7.) Dilly Duck (a la Krazy Kat)
8.) Comic Sans
9.) Adam the A-Bomb (from the Crotchley Labs strips)
10.) Larry the Idiot Bird)
11.) Einstein
12.) Coco the Mime, member of the crime-fighting team, Academie Francaise
13.) Tron
14.) Torvak: Vulcan Party Planner
15.) Alfred Lord Tennyson
16.) George Lucas
17.) Dante
18.) Jeannie the Girl Scout
19.) Mr. Flahco (a la Krazy Kat)
20.) Arthur, from the future, with hair plants
21.) Li’l Baby Duck
22.) The Troubler
23.) Chuck Norris
24.) Gramp
25.) JRR Tolkien (drunk)
26.) Flaco
27.) The Living Embodiment of Wikipedia
28.) Dave Kellett
29.) Zod
30.) The Laughing Buddha
31.) The “Hush” lady from “Goodnight Moon”
32.) Oso
ORIGINAL ART FOR THE 3,000th STRIP
If you’re interested, the original art for the 3,000th strip is up for grabs.
The artwork for this comic was, to put it mildly a tad more labor intensive than the usual. It was a maaaaaarathon, drawing this puppy. It ended up being the biggest inked piece I’ve ever done, coming in at 13″x10″. Most amazingly, there is not a single blemish or mistake on the entire piece…despite there being a ga-jillion different characters on it.
So! Rather than let it go to the Sheldonista who got to the site first at 12:05 in the morning…I thought I’d put the original art up on eBay. You can check it out HERE.
I’m starting the bidding at $0.01, because I’d rather leave it up to you guys to decide what it’s worth.
3.) This year, we’ll have five items new to the show: The Literature book, the Drive book, the “Coffee: Circle of Life” print, the “Fantasy Football vs D&D” print, and an exclusive Sheldon/Dante print only available in San Diego to the first 50 takers.
We’ll also have the other 8 books, all the prints, buttons, Glornak stickers, and FREE SKETCHES for everybody.
Here are the two books premiering at the show:
And here are the three prints — the last of which is the San Diego exclusive:
The last print will be numbered “# of 50”, signed, and can feature any sketch you’d like added to it.
So! Booth #1228! Print out the Sheldon guide, above! And e-mail me right away if you wanted a specific piece of original art!
Tonight, my friends! Tonight I’m signing with an incredibly talented roster of cartoonists: Meredith Gran, David Malki, Jorge Cham, R Stevens and Zach Weiner aaaaand myself will be signing, sketching and selling books at Secret Headquarters — possibly the coolest comic book shop I’ve ever seen.
I will have advance copies of the “Literature” book on hand, too, so folks who come out get first crack at it! Woooo!
