Quick Brown Fox Writing

I post materials relating to my writing, and share fun stuff from friends.

[everythingfox]

”Not sure if laughing or yawning 😸”

📷: Ossi Saarinen

[kurlyfryz]

Mickey Mouse says:

[draconicmonsterfucker-deactivat]

I'm bad at art but someone make some "help Hong kong" art with micky, get it goin

[kurlyfryz]

Is this what you're looking for?

[kurlyfryz]

Hey, boost this? Actually?

[fags4cowboys]

Disney is fucking huge in China so yeah. Fuck shit up.

[werewolvesversus]

Dobescrusher on werewolves and WEREWOLVES VERSUS as a way to explore identity

We continue our series of testimonials from WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Volume 1 contributors with this missive from illustrator, comic artist, and thrifter Dobescrusher, who speaks on the project and werewolves in general as an outlet for queer expression and exploration.

Werewolves Versus is so much fun because it invites endless possibilities and interpretations of werewolves and what werewolves mean to us culturally. The werewolf is a pop culture icon, a historical figure, a folklore tale, a cryptid, and in a lot of ways a very personal monster we can examine ourselves through. As a queer person I’ve always related to monsters and the idea of “the other” in media and the werewolf is such a figure that is always so interesting for me to explore. Participating in Werewolves Versus has always been a chance for me to be playful and creative with my illustrations, imagining tongue-in-cheek takes on how werewolves would navigate the “human” world- perhaps as a mirror to how I navigate the world myself.

Dobecrusher’s illustration “Hollywolf Boulevard” can be found in WEREWOLVES VERSUS: HOLLYWOOD (available on Gumroad and Itch.io), and of course in our massive print collection, WEREWOLVES VERSUS: VOLUME 1. We’ve got less than two weeks to go on the campaign, and some ground to cover, so if you can pledge (or even just share this post), please do!

[werewolvesversus]

The Murder Puppy Pin

Hey everyone! For today’s #WerewolfWednesday I thought I’d show you the process of designing the Murder Puppy enamel pin, which you can get as a reward by pledging to the WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Volume 1 Kickstarter at the “CHOMP” tier, or higher.

I’d known for a long time before the campaign that I wanted to make an enamel pin as part of the reward offerings. I’m a big fan of pins – I have a denim vest that’s got what feels like 40 pounds of badges and enamel pins on it, and I love adding new and weird pins to the collection.

The idea for the design came from the same place where so many of my creative notions take root: a dumb throw-away Twitter post in which I referred to werewolves as being “murder puppies”. I like the juxtaposition of cute and monstrous, so the idea of a ravening lycanthrope being presented as something superficially cuddly was very appealing. I knew for certain that the artwork would need to be done in the 1920s “rubber hose” character style recently popularized by the beautiful game Cuphead. Then, as with many of my ideas, I did nothing with it for a few months.

In June, with all of the other reward art assets ready and the campaign launch fast approaching, I knew it was time to actually design the pin. At the time, I was at Layers, a design conference in San Jose, and I’d received a nice little notebook and pen as part of the conference swag. Inspired in part by Andy McNally, a prolific taker of sketch notes who sat near me during the conference, I closed my laptop and began to doodle some ideas in my notebook.

The first even remotely successful design.

A little more refined, with the right balance of cute and dangerous, but still working out the teeth.

Refining the nose shape. My previous “mushroom-shape” noses were all too cat-like. Side note: image searching for “wolf noses” gives some wonderful results.

Figuring out the pin background. The pin needed to have a less jagged shape than the wolf head alone, and the text needed a place to sit. A full moon was the obvious choice.

Once I had a concept I liked, it was time to turn it into a digital image. Given the roughness of my sketches, I knew I couldn’t simply use Photoshop and Illustrator to extract the lines. I needed someone who could Actually Draw to create a digital illustration that I could then manipulate, so I turned to my wife, Tandye Rowe (whose art is also on the Werewolf Jaws bandana and one of the stickers offered as rewards). In short order she delivered a hi-res PNG file for me to work with.

No more sketchy pen lines!

From this crisp image I was able to create a vector file in Illustrator, and then work on refining the details and joining some of the lines – a requirement for the way colours work in enamel pin production. The result is a pin design that fulfills my original “cute/deadly” concept and which will look awesome on my vest – or yours!

You may be tempted to pet him. Do not.

To get this pin for yourself (plus so much more, including a massive book of werewolf art, comics, stories, and other content very much in line with the “murder puppy” ethos, check out the WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Volume 1 Kickstarter.

[werewolvesversus]

The many werewolf worlds of Quebecoiswolf

Quebecoiswolf is the closest thing WEREWOLVES VERSUS has to an on-staff contributor. The process for choosing which submissions go into an issue involves a lot of impartial ranking, and Quebecoiswolf’s stories have made the cut for every issue he’s applied to. He’s in four of the five issues in WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Volume 1! His tales range from the air-conditioned stalking grounds of vampire-owned casinos to the banquet halls and bars of an interstellar cruise ship, all populated by werewolves whose depictions are both clever and classic. Here’s what he has to say about WEREWOLVES VERSUS:

Werewolves are often held as the epitome of lowbrow pop culture: mindless monsters in low budget horror movies or teen heartthrobs from trite supernatural romance anthologies.  However, Werewolves Versus proves that werewolves can be so much more.  What’s so special about this project isn’t just the sheer skill of the creators, who are truly talented, nor the quality of their content, which is exceptional, but the sheer diversity of presentations of the werewolf myth.  Werewolves Versus is defined not by blood and gore, but by different werewolf species, different genres, different thematic interpretations, and different art styles. There’s nothing else like Werewolves Versus in publication and I’m honored to be a regular contributor.

To read Quebecoiswolf’s four stories – and the work of many other dedicated werewolf visionaries – in a physical book, check out WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Volume 1 on Kickstarter.

[werewolvesversus]

Ash Cinder on how WEREWOLVES VERSUS does what Hollywood won’t

Next in our series of testimonials from WEREWOLVES VERSUS creators whose work is in WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Volume 1, here’s Ash Cinder’s take on what being in WV means to him, and what role the project serves in the werewolf fan community. Ash’s story “Negative Exposure” can be found in WEREWOLVES VERSUS: HOLLYWOOD.

I love Werewolves Versus because it gives us amazing werewolf content when we’re not really getting it right now from mainstream outlets. Hollywood and TV are not giving us anything so it’s up to indie outlets like WV to pick up the torch. When I got the message that my story I submitted for their Hollywood issue got accepted, I was star struck! I’d worked so hard on “Negative Exposure” and I’m still super proud of it and consider it one of my favorite stories I’ve written. I had so much fun writing it and still feel humbled that it’s included among the other amazing works from all these other talented people!

To read Ash’s work – and the work of those dozens of other creators – in a physical book, check out WEREWOLVES VERSUS: Volume 1 on Kickstarter.

[werewolvesversus]

Help turn the first 5 issues of WEREWOLVES VERSUS into a book!

I’m proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with Make That Thing and launched a Kickstarter to turn the first five issues into a giant 780-page book!

Here’s the campaign video:

This book has been four years in the making, and it shows off the incredible work of literally dozens of amazing creators. I’m thrilled at the chance to put it on shelves! Here’s a mockup of what the final book will look like:

That’s a Photoshop render, but if you want to see how big this monster really is, check out the “blank” the printing company sent me as a proof. This has all the properties of the final book – page count, dimensions, and stock. It’s huge.

In addition to the book, backers will also receive some rad rewards created especially for this campaign by WEREWOLVES VERSUS contributors. We’ve got stickers, an enamel pin, a bandana, a new and extremely rowdy song by Colin Janz, and a print of the amazing cover art by John Keogh (whose work you may remember from this stunning poster he did for The Mountain Goats). Have a look at these rewards:

I’ve worked harder on the contents of this book than just about anything else in my life, and I’m incredibly proud of it. If you like WEREWOLVES VERSUS or just want more great werewolf content in your life, consider checking out the campaign. If you’re not in a position to make a pledge, even just sharing the link is a huge help. Thanks so much!

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

The Werewolves Versus book printing Kickstarter is now live! Each book contains the first 5 issues (my story is in #3) of the online 'zine, but backers can also get some sweet rewards, too. With over 60 creators and hundreds of pages of content, this project is a must-see for anyone searching for new and diverse fiction and art.

The individual issues are also all available to download now for $1, so you can check them out to see if you like the project. The Kickstarter off to a great start, but you can help by pledging and/or sharing this project with anyone who might be interested!

[artykyn]

I have a handful of subtle speech habits that New Zealand somehow managed to permanently install in me despite the fact I was only there for one semester of college. And one of them is that I never say “oh no.”

What actually comes out of my mouth is more like “ah nu” and I had originally started doing it as a joke because it sounded funny but now it’s my natural response to anything going wrong. Most people don’t really notice and even I don’t realize I’m doing it half the time.

Sometimes it slips out and one of my friends who Knows™ will just start laughing and I have to sit there wondering what the heck they find so funny until they’re like dude you just said aahh nuuu and i gotta be like goddammit am I really still doing that

[artykyn]

this FUCKER

[artykyn]

[werewolvesversus]

A change to the WEREWOLVES VERSUS pricing model

Hi, everyone. Angela Quinton, editor of WEREWOLVES VERSUS, here. I want to let everyone know about an upcoming change to the pricing structure I’ve applied to this project since its inception. Starting April 4th 2019, every issue of WEREWOLVES VERSUS will cost at least one dollar. No more free downloads. This is contrary to the spirit of the project up until now, but the distribution and sales platform I use, Gumroad, has tied my hands.

What’s changed?

At some point after the release of WV06 (Fashion), Gumroad changed their policy so that for users of their free tier (like me), products with a starting price of $0 cannot have more than 25MB of files associated with them. I imagine this is to make sure they get their % of the sale price on larger downloads, to cover their file hosting costs. This restriction applies to currently-existing products, too. For instance, WV06 is 75 MB, so if I try to make a change to the product page within Gumroad (like updating someone’s name), I get an error message telling me to make the price $1 or more, to make download smaller, or to start paying for a premium account, which doesn’t have this restriction.

After considering the ramifications of each “solution”, I’ve opted for the first: charge at least $1 per issue. This option strikes the best balance of honouring the work that all of the contributors have put into each issue (remember, they share 90% of the net sales from each issue), maintaining the integrity of each issue’s artwork, and maintaining some level of affordability for me.

Why not pay for a premium Gumroad account?

As of this post, WEREWOLVES VERSUS has over 4,200 customers in Gumroad’s system (this includes people who downloaded stuff for free), which means the monthly fee for a premium account is $50 USD. Paying that much is out of the question for me. Frankly, even the entry-level premium tier of $10 per month would consume well over the 10% of each sale that WEREWOLVES VERSUS keeps to cover administrative costs and PayPal fees incurred by contributor payouts.

Why not compress the large issues so they’re under 25MB?

I always want WEREWOLVES VERSUS to look as good as possible. The JPEG compression settings I’d need to apply to a large issue like WV06 would result in such mangled, over-processed artwork that I’d be embarrassed to publish it. Readers deserve to get the best possible product, and contributors deserve to have their work shown as pristinely as possible.

Why change the price on all of the issues when not all of them are over 25 MB in size?

Value and fairness. I firmly believe that if one issue is worth paying for, they all are. I don’t want to hamstring a particularly media-heavy issue by making it cost $1 or more while other, slimmer issues are still free.

Why not move to a different distribution platform, or make my own?

The last time I checked (and I’ve checked often), Gumroad is still the best option for this project. It’s fairly well-known, it accepts credit cards, and it handles the distribution of files well. There are also hundreds of tweets, toots, emails, blog posts, and forum posts that link to each issue at its Gumroad URL. It would be harmful to the project to break those links, and impossible to update enough of them to mitigate the harm.

I’m probably technically savvy enough to build something like the subset of Gumroad features that I actually use, but it would take me at least a year to do it properly and securely, and the third-party fees (hosting, payment processors, tech support) would murder me. I would rather dedicate more time to making the next issue or planning the print collection.

Your support means the world to me.

WEREWOLVES VERSUS has always been a strange monster. I’ve learned a lot during the four years I’ve been running it, and I know there are still lessons to come. The lesson here, I think, is that when a situation sucks no matter what you do, the best option is the one that maintains the integrity of the project. By setting the minimum price of WEREWOLVES VERSUS to $1, I’m ensuring that readers hungry for great werewolf stories, comics, poetry and artwork can get the best quality material I can provide, and I’m ensuring my ability to keep making new issues in the future. I value the hard work of every contributor and the patronage and readership of every person who’s ever downloaded an issue – whether they paid for it or not. Thank you!

With appreciation,

Angela Quinton

[werewolf-news]

Love, Death and Robots: "Shape-Shifters" Flash Review

I looked up next to nothing about the rest of Love, Death & Robots, an animated anthology series that just premiered on Netflix. However, I saw there was at least one episode that involved werewolves, and the short films can be watched in any order, so I leapt right for Episode 10: Shape-Shifters.

Animated via photorealistic motion-capture (which didn’t fall into the uncanny valley, in my…

View On WordPress

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

I wrote a super quick review of the werewolf episode in the new animated Netflix anthology "Love, Death & Robots." It was the first episode of the series I watched and I didn't know what to expect besides that the material could be pretty intense. The episode combines a war vignette with some gory monster horror elements, so be warned if that's not your (red) jam. But if it is your thing and you like the genres involved, you should check out Episode 10: Shape-Shifters and the other shorts.

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

“As Breckenridge said, I was a medic during the war. You’d think between Apex and werewolves’ naturally accelerated healing, my job would’ve been easy, right? Well, like Breck’s story demonstrated, it rarely was.” – Larkspur, from “Scraps” in Werewolves Versus Fashion

Action scene character art commission done by Kiaun from DeviantArt, reposted with permission. Check out his page here for more cool art: https://www.deviantart.com/kiaun and go here for the original post: http://fav.me/dcorqvi. Going to have to share more commissioned art from other great artists soon!

Larkspur is the third main character from my short story in the pay-what-you-want online zine, Werewolves Versus Fashion (get it here: https://gumroad.com/l/wv06 ). She starts the war as a rebel medic, but her knack for clothing and costume design eventually play an unexpected part in saving lives. You can read her story and more in the zine. The artists and writers behind it receive a percentage of every sale. If you like what you see, please consider supporting us with a paid purchase. Thank you!

@werewolvesversus has some exciting announcements about future Werewolves Versus projects, so follow the page to stay updated! Related site, @werewolf-news is also a great site to follow for more info!

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

A portrait of Littleton, one of the main characters from "Scraps," my story in "Werewolves Versus Fashion." Original art by Pixezure, reposted with permission. Link to the original on DeviantArt http://fav.me/dct6oo9

The zine is planning some big announcements, so check out the main site at http://werewolvesversus.com and #werewolvesversus for more!

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

Just wanted to share these before winter passes. Plus, it did just snow a lot! These are some cool custom designs made by AnnaKitsun3 from DeviantArt (https://www.deviantart.com/annakitsun3) that I commissioned and turned into tree ornaments for my girlfriend. They're the winter versions of our characters, a snow leopard and an arctic fox, and they appear on our tree every year now! The original is here http://fav.me/daqc070. Check out her art on DA or here @annakitsun3 . Thanks for the art!

[entpscarleharrrr-deactivated202]

Everyone who reblogs this before Nov 5 gets a doodle based off their blog url. Probably. Don’t reblog after Nov 5!

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

Worth a shot!

[neil-gaiman]

I just read Good Omens and its now my favorite book. It turns out many of my friends have also read it and never told me about it. I feel betrayed, it’s literally everything I have ever wanted in a book.

There is a moral to this: Friends don’t let friends not read Good Omens.

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

@artykyn

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

“I never imagined my future when I was sick, or really thought about who I was. Becoming a werewolf was my chance to choose. I didn’t know who to be at first, but I’d always been a fighter. It turned out that was good a place to start, because there was a war on.” – Littleton

“Like the rest of my family, I was born a werewolf – a secret I kept for 17 years. They all died getting me to safety and, like Littleton, I lived alone for months before finding others. Fortunately, I found good people.” – Breckenridge

Original art by Pixezure on DeviantArt, reposted with permission. Check out the original here: http://fav.me/dcmiylm and check out her other fun art!

Art based on my latest short story, “Scraps,” available in WEREWOLVES VERSUS: FASHION. Rebel squadmates Littleton (left) and Breckenridge (right) enjoy a moment of peace in an abandoned mountain town. They aren’t a couple, but they share similar sorrows in their pasts that unite them somewhat. The way they see it, when most of the world is out to get you, sometimes having just one person to watch your back is enough to keep the fight going.

You can read the rest of their story in WEREWOLVES VERSUS: FASHION, and also check out 149 pages of art, comics, and fiction from over 30 awesome contributors. The contributors and contributors are highly diverse, so the issue showcases a variety of styles, voices, and genres. The issue is pay-what-you-want, so you can download it and see if you dig what we made. If you want to see more, you can follow Werewolves Versus (@werewolvesversus) and check out the other issues of the zine here.

If you download out the issue, let me know what you think! We have big plans coming soon and feedback is appreciated. Be sure to share with anyone you think might enjoy these zines, or just comment with what you think Littleton and Breck could be listening to.

[quickbrownfoxwrites]

DUDE. HI. Okay I've got one for you. What is the first song that comes to mind when you think of each of the following: happy, relaxation, adventure, melancholy?

Hello! Sorry for the long delay! I hope all the links work!

Happy: Nothing Stopping Me by Vicetone ft. Kat Nestel https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HFuR8WJTkGM

Relaxation: I See Fire Kygo Remix by Ed Sheeran https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F3o1izxjCkM

Adventure: Spirit of Freedom by Peter Crowley https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lkpG-_v0yPc

Melancholy: House of the Rising Sun by The Animals https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WjsGFM-sVbE