For an upcoming talk I’m giving to art students, I was curious to see how many “lines” make up Arthur. Turns out: 38. A few more or less, depending on how he’s posed….but most commonly, 38 lines.

Thought that kind of miscellanea would be interesting to share.

A quick note for folks who bought or who are thinkin’ about buying the new Pug book: Our shipping has caught up to demand. There were days when we were getting a few hundred orders a day, and it kinda swamped our not-Wal*Mart-sized staff. But! But! All orders are now out the door and winging their way around the world!

I can’t thank you enough for the overwhelming response to this book. The first reports are coming in from folks who got their copy, and it’s been great fun to read their excited e-mails.

Because your financial support directly keeps Sheldon going, here’s good news you should know:

– If you ever have questions about your order, you can e-mail me directly, and I’ll help solve it: [email protected]

– If your package was lost or damaged in any way, we’ll replace it at no cost to you.

– In fact, if there’s anything wrong with your order, let us know! We’ll make it right, lickety-split… and usually will throw in something extra to make up for the trouble! That’s how we roll. 🙂

And don’t forget! Let me know what you think of your new Pug book! Excited e-mails are always nice!

For new Sheldon-readers still unfamiliar with this lizard-creature, here are some helpful links explaining Flaco’s mementos:

1.) The Olympic Gold Medal, you know about

2.) Emmy for “CSI: Cleveland Nights”: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.

3.) Russian Bear Claw: 1 and 2

4.) Mexican Pilot’s License: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13

5.) Cosmonaut’s Mission Badge: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14

And as for the date with Betty White? Polite lizards don’t kiss and tell.

Lots of colleges are heading back school in the next few weeks, so it’s a good time to remind students ‘n editors that they can get Sheldon in your college paper …for free! Last year, we had schools all over the world sign up: From the UC system, to Texas, to Canada, to Trinity College, Dublin.

Want Sheldon in your college paper? Just read over the info page, then e-mail me to get started! You can be running Sheldon toons in tomorrow’s edition!

(I’m serious: Tomorrow’s edition. It really is that quick and easy.)

A buddy of mine sent this to me under the heading: “The end of video evidence,” which I thought was pretty funny:

Here at Sheldon, we rarely venture into the joyful but groan-filled Land of Puns, but I couldn’t pass up “Czech, Please!”

But now that Flaco’s won gold, I think we’re about ready to wrap up this storyline. I hope you enjoyed it — it’s been one of the longer storylines we’ve had in a while

I don’t normally mention stuff from our Webcomics Weekly podcast on Sheldon, since that podcast is geared to/for/about cartoonists… but this jumped out at me, so I thought I’d mention it to here:

This month, the digital-postage company Endicia is sponsoring that show, and they put together a pretty sweet starter kit for Webcomics Weekly listeners. I’ll be honest: I wish this pack existed a 18 months ago when *I* started using Endicia. If you were thinking about trying Endicia for your office, it’s a great starter.

While working on the Olympic storyline, I started doing a pencil sketch of a triumphant Flaco that turned into something verrrry different. Quite honestly…it turned into something a little more awesome than what I intended to draw. So much so, that I decided to take that rough pencil sketch and ink it up as a finished piece.

Because the final product ended up being a pretty cool piece of frame-able art, I thought I’d put it up on eBay for the Sheldonista who might like it. I’m starting the bidding at one penny, just because I never know what to ask for these things. So if you think you’d like a little extra awesomeness in your life, head on over and throw your hat in the ring.

It’s 13 inches of art on a 14-inch piece of Vellum Bristol cardstock, drawn using archival inks.

The wait is over! Regular and Artist Edition copies of Pugs: God’s Little Weirdos are now available in the Sheldon Store!

It looks like there are about 93 Artist Editions left — so if you hop to it, you should be able to snag a remaining copy pretty easy.

Aaaaand, if you’re just starting your Sheldon collection, there’s even a reduced-price bundle pack with all 5 books .

(Our one request: Please double-check your shipping address before completing your order! Lots of times, folks have moved since they last made a purchase, but they haven’t updated their address with Paypal. Thanks!)

Good news! The “Pugs” book is going on sale Wednesday night in the Sheldon Store. Hooray!

As a cartoonist, there’s nothing that’s more stress-inducing, but ultimately more satisfying, than going through the process of creating a new book. It’s so permanent. So concrete. And it takes so many months of work before you can hold the final product in your hands.

And because my perfectionist streak kicks in on these, I always want the final books to exceed expectations in terms of materials and look and feel. I want people to get their book and go “Snap-a-doo… this IS nice! Dave wasn’t lyin’.”

Thankfully, I’ve been very proud of how the Sheldon books have turned out thus far — and “Pugs” is no exception. I couldn’t be happier with how it came out.

There’s a financial aspect to it, too, that I don’t talk about much: When you pick up a book, it lets us keep up the free RSS feed, the free strip deliveries by e-mail, and the free website. It’s a unique kind of artistic exchange: Give away as much as you can for free, and see if a tiny percentage of readers will find enough joy in it that they’ll buy a book. It’s certainly not the business model that Wal*Mart uses…but as an artist, I find it very satisfying. Give your art away for free, and see what happens.

But back to the book itself: This is the first “theme” book, collecting all the pug-related strips that Sheldon has ever produced. Frankly, it’s a pretty perfect book if you’re a dog-lover, or love a dog-lover, or love to love your unlovable dog-lover. It features an expanded version of the “Little Lost Pug” storyline, with some added tidbits not seen online. And because all the strips in the book are larger and clearer than what you read online, you’ll see fun little details you may have missed the first time around.

So head on over to the store and get yours while the gettin’s good! And thanks!