Jinxed: the End of an Era

by on April 17, 2018 at 11:47 am
Posted In: Uncategorized

After over four years of weekly updates, I have decided to stop producing Jinxed as a weekly webcomic. This isn’t the first time I have ceased work on a comic, it probably won’t be the last, but it is a rough thing to do nonetheless. It comes as a surprise for many readers, who expected the adventures of Kon, Aria, and Kiba to continue for a few more years. But for those (few) of you who did read it, I did want to explain why I’m putting Jinxed down for a while and moving onto other projects.

  • Change in publishing schedule: Because of my pregnancy and later having a little one around the house, I need to change my publication schedule to accommodate being a new mom. My comics will be coming out twice a year in large episodes instead of the demand of weekly page updates which does wonders relieving stress.
  • Plot based stories are not my thing: Since working on Jinxed I have discovered that long form plot based stories are not what I am skilled at writing. More episodic and character based stories, like Witches & Sorcerers and Zombio, are what I am skilled at writing.
  • Inconsistent art design: This is a huge issue that I’ve suffered with and I don’t know many other artists who do, honestly. My style of illustration is constantly changing as I learn new techniques and gain inspiration from others- but sometimes it comes off as whiplash for readers. Plus my color choices and ability to color the panels is outright horrible. Those need to improve and I’m working on it.
  • Dwindling readership: A big reason why many stories get cancelled in the publishing world, not enough readers. This past calendar year was rough on my publishing schedule, moving across the country, Wheatley having major surgery, and finally the rages of morning sickness in my first trimester decimated my routine schedule. I am not surprised that so many readers left, but now I have nearly as many readers as I did when I started four years ago. Without growth, it’s time to stop a series.

Jinxed will be returning at a later date as (most likely) a Comixology completely redrawn graphic novel series that will appear either quarterly in 24 page stories, or twice a year in 50 page stories. Although it won’t appear this year, more Witches and Sorcerers and Zombio: A Space Adventure, will be out in 2018!

Thank you for your understanding,

Kat

Lymphoma Part Deux

by on October 27, 2017 at 7:33 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized
If you have followed Klockow Comics for awhile, on any social media platform, you probably have seen more than a fair share of Wheatley photos and comics. He’s my six year old doggo, and has been battling Lymphoma for the past year.
It started last year when he had an anal sac carcinoma, a tumor which grew in the anal sac and duct (I know, not a pretty place to have a tumor, but cancer is never pleasent.) He has surgery last year and had it removed, thankfully early enough not to have spread.
Or so we thought.
His March and June blood tests came out clean, but when we did our October check up they found another tumor, this time in his sub-lumbar lymph node. This is located much more internally than the previous tumor, and currently it is 4cm in diameter and pressing up against his bladder causing a lot of discomfort for Wheatley.
We have an oncology visit and consulation this upcoming Wednesday. He is abnormally young to be dealing with cancer, but here we are. Surgery is a likely thing to happen in November, and possibly chemo treatments for the rest of his life (taken as daily pills, not the hook up human cancer patients may recieve.) But until the consult on Wednesday, it’s all up in the air.
As for Wheatley, he still has his appitite and energy, but with cancer that can fade quickly. He is starting to walk slower during our daily walks, which is concerning and randomly chattering his teeth (how dogs express pain.) Mickey, our other dog, has been attentive to Wheatley and taking things slow around him too.
We will keep you updated on Wheatley and his cancer journey. Hopefully we can stop these lymphoma flare ups so he can live a long and happy doggie life and so he can complete social therapy dog training. 
-Kat

(Re)opening Day!

by on October 7, 2017 at 3:44 pm
Posted In: Events, Travel

Back in 2009 I had the oppurunity to tour the guts of the Cincinnati Music Hall and interview staff about the haunted happenings in the enormus building. It was a facinating trip through Cincinnati’s darker past of grave robbing, poor houses, and pauper’s graves which have resulted in the hauntings of both Washington Park and the Cincinnati Music Hall (CMH.) For the past two years CMH has been closed for a 129 Million dollar restoration project, which saw a larger stage put in, the box seats removed, and all new chairs for the auditorium, plus cosmetic and internal renovations of the structure itself. At 9:30AM today the doors were opened to the public, with free tours and hourly performances by the Cincinnati Opera and Cincinnati Symphony Orchastra.

Ironcially, that’s not why I was downtown today- I was there to welcome back friends to Cincinnati who are here for a wedding. We met up at the Taste of Belgium in Over-The-Rhine (neighborhood in downtown Cincinnati) and learned about this CMH event during brunch. We had a fabulous time touring the building and admiring the new paint job that the has been done! The walls have gone from a guilded gold/red/ cream colors to more relaxing and contemporary platnium/ warm-gray/ white colors.

But I am sure the ghosts still haunt the hall.

After touring the building, we picked up some Holtzman Donuts! Holtman’s opened shortly before we moved away from Cincinnati in 2015, and I had yet to try out their famous maple-bacon donut. Stay tuned for an update, I haven’t had it yet but will eat it as an afternoon snack.

All-in-all I’m happy to see the Cincinnati Music Hall back up and running and open to the public. Next week is the Blink Festival, and the CMH is a fixture of that event. Naturally, we’ll be going to that too, and hopefully I’ll have plenty of photos of that next weekend.

Cheers,

Kat

 

└ Tags: , , ,

Inktober 10/5& 10/6

by on October 7, 2017 at 3:19 pm
Posted In: daily sketch, Inktober

Although I’ve been keeping up with daily Inktober illustrations, I have sadly been very bad at posting them daily on social media- so here we go!

October 5th’s topic was “Long,” so keeping up wiht the monster theme I went with the female yokai (monster) known as Rokurokubi, or the long-necked woman. Like many yokai in Japanese mythology, Rokurokubi just like to spook humans by enlongating their necks or having their heads fly off their shoulders and chase unsuspecting humans.

October 6th’s topic was “Sword,” and man, this was a difficult one to draw for a monster topic. I could have sworn that I had come across a haunted sword in past literature, but sadly couldn’t find anything when searching yesterday. I ended up doing another Japanese yokai, this time a Tsukumogami of a sword. Feel as if this is cheating though, tsukumogami are said to be inanimate objects that have reached 100 years old or older and thus gain a soul and become haunted. There is a huge long list of tsukumogami, anything from umbrellas to tea pots and shamisens.

I’m thinking that I’ve done enough Japanese monsters so far, and will turn to drawing some other folklore in the coming days.

-Kat

 

└ Tags: , , , , ,

Cartoon Crossroads Columbus 2017

by on October 2, 2017 at 4:41 pm
Posted In: Events, Travel, Uncategorized

Yesterday was an awesome day, Mike and I traveled up to Columbus, Ohio to attend Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) 2017. CXC has been around for three years, and for two of those three I lived in Rhode Island and wasn’t able to easily attend. Hearing nothing but great things about the show, it has been on my convention bucket-list since reviews started pouring in to me in 2015. I was not diappointed.

For those who are not aware, CxC is a four day event heald in Columbus, Ohio on both the campus of (the) Ohio State Univeristy and at local attractions across the city. At first it sounds daunghting, travelig across the city to attend the different events, but it really isn’t. Thursday and Friday events are all located on OSU’s campus and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum (someplace else I hope to travel to soon) and Hale Hall. The events on Thursday and Friday are mostly exhibits, professional presentations, and SOL-Con workshops. SOL-Con is a Brown and Black comics expo that run simuntaniously with CxC and celebrates the works of African American and Latino comic creators and writers.

Saturday and Sunday sees what most people think of with an indie comics convention, a huge artist alley!

The artist alley is located in the Columbus Metropolitian Library’s main branch building downtown, but there is also an art exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art, and more exhibits at the Columbus College of Art and Design. Unfortunately our time was limited, so we were only able to attend the artist alley at the library. Mike and I spent three hours walking around the the tables and talking to local and visiting artists. Ran into a new favorite artist of mine, Natalie Andrewson, who I first met at the Rhode Island Independent Publishing Expo last year (that was a good expo as well, but it seems they didn’t hold it this year?) Anyway, I love Andrewson’s method of basically screenprinting her illustrations through layers of color, and have multiple illustratiosn of hers up in my studio.

I also met a fantastic writer and illustrator duo, Ananya Vahal who writes Lung Girl and Carlos Perez of Prime Vice Studios. Vahal writes Lung Girl and runs the Sid Foundation, which is a non-profit that raises funds and awareness for lung transplant research. Lung Girl is a comic published by the Sid Foundation to help spread awareness of lung transplants in a exciting and new way.

At the show I met illustrator Tim Jackson and his book Pionnering Cartoonists of Color which came out last year. It is a look on the works of African-Amerian cartoonists and comic creators from post Civil War until 1968, and has been a captivating read thus far. It had always bothered me that society had only paid attention to a certain portion of artists throughout history, Pioneering Cartoonists of Color really digs into the stories of those who were largely ignored, but still persisted to have their voices heard. This book comes highly recommended for everyone to read, and should be included as a part of art history programs and at local libraries across the country.

And that was my day at CxC + SOL-Con 2017! Again, this is a wonderful indie and small press conference that people who are into comics should really attend. I’ve been to many small press expos (SPX, MICE, and SPACE) and find this to be just as large, but have that cozy feel as the others. Here you can enthusically talk at length with artists and share thoughts and ideas without the feeling of being pressured to move onto the next table quickly. Artists who were exhibiting mentioned that CxC has hands-down been one of the best expos they have ever attended, I’d agree with that statement.

Cheers,

Kat

└ Tags: , , , , , ,