Firefox themes! Book updates! Other stuff!

Hooray! My first three Firefox Personas have been approved, and you can install your choice of Ida, Elsie or Shawnee themes here. There will be more in the next few days. (Their approval process takes a while.)

Firefox themes and personas

And an update on Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow - I've finished the text! Now I'm getting serious about the illustrations, so you may have to wait a little longer for other projects of mine. Not to worry, however. The annual 31 Days of Halloween project will still begin on the 1st. You didn't really think I'd forget Halloween, did you (see last year's)? Blasphemy! I'll find time to update the fan art gallery in there somewhere too. I have some really great ones I can't wait to post.

Now to answer some questions I've gotten recently - haven't done that in a while, have I?

How old are you? - Anonymous

Old enough to rent a car. Not old enough to get a senior discount.

Did you go to a school to learn how to do the movies, or did you use an online tutorial? -B

Neither. Learning how to do these was a process of trial-and-error. That's often the best way to learn.

how old is ida, genevieve, and all those other Skary Childrin.  they look like nine or ten, mabe eleven. -N

They're all under 5 except for Shawnee Jenkins, who's 8. I'm a little concerned about the eleven-year-olds where you're from. ;-)

Have any furries ever suggested ideas to you? well, one who have furres whom are goths (such as myself, though I am no goth.) and finally I noticed you said you worked with preschool children, did any of them belong on the ASD (Autistic Spectrum)? -M

I'm not sure if furries ever have suggested ideas to me or not. Or goth furries. I'm not sure. I don't accept suggestions for story ideas generally, so it's possible that I've forgotten!  I don't know if any of the children I worked with were autistic. Some very well may have been, but it wasn't something the parents discussed with me. Autism didn't have quite the same focus then (this was the late 90s) as it does now, so there was a lot of misinformation about it, too.

How do you handle criticism? I worry about it so much I'm afraid to show people my work. -B

To quote my college graphic design instructor, "Don't fall in love with your work." It isn't perfect. It never will be. Nor will anyone else's. Once you accept this, it's much easier to see honest criticism as a tool rather than a personal attack. Of course, there are those who will make personal attacks, but those people aren't your audience anyway. Ignore the immature jerks and take time to consider the real feedback. It's surprisingly calming to say to yourself, "Yeah. They're right. I should've done this instead of that. I'll remember that next time!" Sometimes you won't agree with the criticisms, but you may be able to see where they're coming from. Whatever you do, don't lash out. I've even lost respect for some of my own heroes who've done that. Keep your temper in check. Go scream into a pillow if you must. Then remember all of the above.

Browser themes for Google Chrome

Do you use Chrome? Do you wish it had more wonky-eyed children on it? I have good news! Or bad news, depending upon your answers to those questions. There are now six Skary themes for you to install! You have your pick of Ida, Casilda, Emmeline, Shawnee, Elsie, or the Plague Kid to dress up your browser. Just make sure your installation of Chrome is current, and then go here to apply your theme of choice. Don't feel left out, Firefox users. Personas are coming soon.

Skary Google Chrome browser themes

T-Shirts now on sale! Auxiliary Magazine interview! Contest results!

There was so much going on in this post that I actually had to break it up into two as I wouldn't want Death and little Elsie (and Barcas, of course) to be swallowed up by all this other news. So, expect that trio later. Now, onto the news!

Skary tees are now available in the store! Mister Creazil and the Plague Kid are waiting to be worn by you, but they're currently in limited supply. Get yours while you can! All orders will be fulfilled by the good people of PrintMojo.

In more news, do you know about Auxiliary Magazine? Rena Finkel recently interviewed me for Auxiliary, and that issue is now available for free online and in print in just a few days. There's lots of other good stuff in there too. Check it out!

Also, the Show Your Allegiance Contest was a spectacular show of talent! The judges and I loved all twenty-two of your entries, and we were sad that we had to pick just one. And that winner was Katrina Pomerance with her handmade doll! Katrina has won a Mister Creazil tee for her adorable creation. Congratulations, Katrina!

Cynthia Cheng's delightful comic about the process of making her submission was the first runner-up, and we couldn't just let her slip by without notice. She'll be receiving a little something in the mail as well. Yay, Cynthia!

The other entries will be posted to the Skary.net fan art gallery soon. Again, thank you to all of you who entered!

Less Than Three Days Left!

There are fewer than three days left to show your allegiance and win your choice of the new Skary tees. Are you ready? I'll tell you now that you may have to step up your game. The entries we've gotten so far are top-notch. Picking a winner will not be easy! See what you're up against? (And these are only a few of them!)

Candace's Music Video:

And this one from Liz and her sister made me laugh:

There are plenty more where those came from, but yours can only be one of them if you submit it by 11:59 pm Pacific, July 29th! Details here if you need a refresher.

Are you readying your proof?

Only a few days have passed since the Show Your Allegiance contest was announced, and already several are vying for their t-shirt. Here are just a few of the submissions that have come in so far. What have you got up your sleeve?

Rory recites "Agony"

Cynthia gives us a making-of comic for her illustration:

Asa's niece is unequivocally Skary:

Show Your Allegiance Contest

A few weeks ago, I asked you all what kind of contest you'd like to win one of the upcoming Skary tees. Your answer: everything! There were so many wonderful suggestions that I couldn't pick one. So, naturally, I've picked everything. Here's how it's going to go down.

What you're winning:

your choice of one Plague Kid tee OR Mister Creazil tee in your specified size.

What you're going to do:

Show us how much you love Childrin R Skary in whatever way your creative brain can invent. Make a video, write a story, paint a picture, compose a song, organize a parade (that one might be a bit over the top)... anything you want! Just so long as no one gets hurt, it's legal, and you can submit some version of it online. Keep in mind that your submissions may be posted to Skary.net, so don't do anything that's going to haunt you when you become a senator in a few decades.

Who will win?

That's to be decided by a panel of judges who will base their decision on your creativity, uniqueness, effort, and overall Skariness. So, don't worry if you don't have any fancy camera equipment, you're not a master ar-teest, or English isn't your first language. If we can tell you really love Skary and worked hard to show it, that's all that counts. But only one person will win! You can get help from family and friends, but you must be the primary participant, and you alone will receive the prize should you win (but do name your helpers if you have any. They at least deserve credit).

Send your entry by July 29th via the form below!

More Rules (we always gotta have 'em):

  1. Your entry must be submitted online with the form below. Not in person or by snail mail; sorry. You may post it anywhere you want, so long as there is a version that my judges and I can view, and you have sent me the link or file. The exception to this is Facebook. DO NOT SEND LINKS TO FACEBOOK. I always get submissions from people's Facebook pages, and 99% of the time, I don't have access to them. So, let's just throw that one right out. No Facebook.
  2. You may only submit one entry. But if you make a mistake or do a better version, you may resubmit. Only your final effort will be considered, however. This is to make sure you're putting your best effort into it. This is about quality, not quantity. This also means you can't just resubmit fan art or previous contest entries you've sent me before.
  3. All participants are welcome, regardless of country. However, my judges and I primarily speak English. So, if your entry depends upon the spoken or written word, we ask that you provide an English translation to accompany it. You may get help with translations.
  4. While you may get some help if you absolutely have to, the idea and as much of the execution as possible must be yours. You may parody something else for your entry, but you cannot copy or steal. If it's discovered that you've stolen someone else's work, OH MAN, you will be in so much trouble. Like, banned for life from ever entering anything of mine ever again. Probably a pox on your house, too.
  5. Your entries are due no later than 11:59 PM Pacific, July 29th, 2010. No exceptions, even if your entry is really superduperawesome. Winners will be announced August 1st, and shirts go on sale for everyone else August 2nd. That gives you two weeks! Snap to it!

Lastly, please remember that you are wonderful, and so is your entry even if you don't win. There are always a lot of entries, and they can't all win! I sometimes get very sad messages from people who feel like they have failed because they weren't picked. Don't do that. It's just a t-shirt. A really lovely one, if I may say so myself, but not worth sacrificing your well-deserved pride over.

Update 7/30/10: Contest is over! The winner will be announced this Sunday.

Almost Contest Time Again

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm putting together the latest batch of (fantastic!) fan art. There's a new illustration in the works as well as a new animation (though that one's quite a while off). T-shirts will be on their way soon, too, which makes me think it's a good time for a contest! But what sort of contest should I do for a Skary shirt giveaway? Is there something you've just been wishing I'd ask for so you'd finally get your chance? Send your suggestions here!

Here there be t-shirts

As previously mentioned, your pleas have been answered, and I'm finally working on some t-shirts! Here are the top designs I'm considering:

This first set will be a limited run, and price is tentatively set for $15 each, so I need your help figuring out which design to run and how many! Answer the following anonymous survey (it's just three short questions) and pick the next Skary shirt!

START

That music!

I'm not too modest to say that I think the tracks I picked out for The Mockingbird Song soundtrack are pretty fantastic, but I had nothing to do with their creation. I just found them, thought, "Oh my gosh, that's IT!" and bought the licenses to use them. That means I can't give them to you for free, but I have good news! You can get them for yourself! And please do; independent artists can always use your support.

Those artists are Gayle Ellett and Todd Montgomery--aka Fernwood--and the tracks in question are "Cimarron" and "Mistral," both of which can be found on their truly beautiful album, Sangita. You can pick Sangita up at CD Baby or iTunes. Enjoy!

Fan Art Contest!

I'm about to embark on a journey to NYC. When I return on Sunday, I intend to post all the fan art I've been late on posting before. But I could always use more! That's where you come in.

You have until 12am, Monday the 22nd to send me a Skary picture in any medium (digitally drawn, pencil, paint, Crayon, photo, whatever you like). But the theme, you see, is vacation. How would a Skary child enjoy a trip away from home? Send me your picture using the fan art form. Judging will take place all next week, and the winner will receive any print of his/her choice (signed, of course) from the Skary ImageKind store!

Rules (gotta have 'em):

  • Your artwork must be original and by you and you alone!
  • You must use a current email address when you submit your pic. Your email won't be shared with anyone, but I need a way to get in touch with you should you win!
  • File type must be jpg, gif or png. No bitmaps, please!
  • Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the world
  • Theme must be "Skary vacation"

Remember: the deadline is 12am, March 22nd, 2010. No exceptions!

CONTEST CLOSED
Winners to be announced soon!

Frequently Asked Questions Answered

I get a lot of email from you all (which I love!), and there are a few questions I get more than others. Once upon a time I had an FAQ page, but I think it fell down the rabbit hole. I couldn't tell you what happened to it, but I imagine it's probably having tea with a festively bewigged Johnny Depp or something. So, here's a new one! [toc title="FAQ Contents:" hint="Click a title to jump down to it!" style="inline CSS style"]

What software do you use to make your movies?

Adobe Flash.

Where do you get your inspiration?

From everything around me. Memories, music, nightmares, things I thought someone said but actually misheard, shapes in the clouds, interesting patterns in half-mixed cake ingredients. There's no one source for creativity. So, if you're hoping to find a magical font of inspiration, all I can say is look around you. It's everywhere!

I have an idea for a cartoon. You could do one about...

No, I couldn't. If you have a story idea, I wholly encourage you to do something with it! Invent your own characters and make your idea come to life. Don't give it away to someone else! I just can't take anyone else's idea, no matter how great it might be. It wouldn't be mine, you see, and that's important. (But thank you for the suggestions, of course!)

Where do you get the music you use in your movies?

Sometimes friends write it for me. I've occasionally found songs in the public domain. Sometimes I purchase a license for royalty-free music, and there are a variety of places to order such tracks. I will not use anything without permission. Unfortunately, this also means you usually can't look up the tracks on iTunes and order them for yourself.

When is your book coming out? Where can I find your book?

Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow came out on August 23rd, 2011 and is available pretty much everywhere. If you can't find it in a local shop, you can most certainly order it online. BookDepository offers free shipping worldwide, so that's usually my recommendation for those of you outside the US.

What's the book about?

It's about a terrible evil that takes up residence in the woods of a small, forgotten town already cursed by dark forces and locked in perpetual autumn. People have vanished! Ghosts shriek desperate warnings! And there are signs of worse to come. It's up to three strange girls and one rather awkward boy to save this town, even though they have been cruelly outcast by it.

How do I get you to autograph my copy of your book?

Send it with return postage, preferably on a self-addressed envelope (USPS priority mail envelopes make this easy if you're in the States) to:

Katy Towell NEW ADDRESS COMING SOON

Be sure to let me know who I'm signing it for and if there are any special messages you want me to write!

Will you make a music video for my band?

How much are you willing to pay? ;-) And, well, no. Probably not. It's not that your band isn't great. It's just that animation is an arduous process for me, and I don't know how I'd manage to find the time!

Can my band make music for one of your videos?

I'm extremely selective when it comes to the music that I use, so unless I've posted a call for music submissions, I've probably already got something in mind. Also, I'd feel bad about asking for a lot of changes, and you know I would ask.

I'd like to offer my talents as a voice actor.

Thank you! ...but, just as with music, unless I've made a specific call for voice actors, I'm not really looking for anybody as I already have a list of go-to people. It wouldn't be an easy job, anyway. I'm a mean director. I made Tim Jones cry when he was working on The Little Girl. Um... don't tell him I said that. It's, uh, very upsetting for him. Yes.

How did you come up with the idea for Skary?

The Childrin were mostly inspired by the antics of actual children. I worked with preschoolers a long time ago. Loved it. But I found that kids really do say the darnedest things. The darnedest, creepiest, most disturbing things. And they have no idea how strange the things they're saying are! Yet they say it all with such sweet, cherubic smiles. Parents don't usually allow their little ones to play with sharp objects. You think that's for the kids' protection? THINK AGAIN.

Who does your web design?

I do!

Can I send you my resume?

Er... okay, but it won't do you much good. I'm a one-woman operation.

Will you answer some questions for my school project?

I usually do, but it can take me a while to get to all my email. So, please don't ask if you've got a close deadline, and I recommend having a backup plan!

Have you thought about collaborating with Tim Burton?

Sure. But has he thought about collaborating with me? I don't know! Let me call him up and ask. Hold on. Got another call. Oh, drat, it's Scorsese again. I gotta take this.

Those are all the FAQs I can think up at the moment! As always, if you have other questions, use the form and ask away.

Evelyn's Puzzle Explained

While I'm working to rebuild the missing minute of The Mockingbird Song (brief summary of What Exactly Happened: the main file and its backup were corrupt. I don't know why or how. Fortunately, there was another version saved in Dropbox that I'd forgotten about, and it's complete except for about 63 seconds, which I'm working on now. It's faster than trying to unbreak the other one), here's some news for you! As announced via Twitter and Facebook earlier last week, we finally have a winner for Evelyn's Puzzle. You thought it would never be solved, didn't you? Well, our winner has asked to remain anonymous because the prize--the original sketch of Evelyn and Mrs. Nattingbottom--is going to be a surprise gift for someone special. Congratulations, Winner (and Winner's sweetheart!) But I did promise I would explain all the clues for you once the puzzle was solved, so, here you go:

1. Find the last of the Micronesians and tell them my name Their beloved songs will tell you the place

The domain suffix for Micronesia is .fm. So, "the last of the Micronesians" means Last.fm. "Tell them my name" refers to my username, which is, in this case, my actual name. Which amounts to http://www.last.fm/user/katytowell. Finally, the location of the piece is given in the title of a track that I have marked as a Loved Track. (It's also right there in Recently Listened Tracks.)

2. go to The place where our every Word Is spoken by the sialia bird, be careful lest you fail, my friend; These birds will carry you unto your end. They'll wrap you up in silken suture Exactly as they did the great sea creature, but never mind this. come follow me... look to the background. you will see! fear not if it seems your skill is bleak. for below the horizon Rests the gift you seek.

A sialia bird is a bluebird. Birds tweet. Who has a blue bird for a mascot? Twitter. So, the piece is hidden at the bottom ("below the horizon") of my background image. Oh, and the great sea creature wrapped up in silken suture and carried by the birds? The failwhale. And just in case this was all too cryptic for you, I also spelled out TWITTER with every capitalized letter.

3. And by the side the horned beast waits with great displeasure on his face 'Tis he who'll take you to the spot where all the words have been forgot Find the treasure at its source Look for a name - and the prize, of course.

In the sidebar of skary.net is a picture of Mister Creazil. Click him, and you'll see what appears to be a page with no content. But view the source of that page and you'll see this hidden somewhere therein:

Evelyn's getting nervous. What took you so long?
http://skary.com/wp-content/uploads/lbp.png

4. Consider everywhere I go. Look in the past and then you'll know.

This one was simple. I posted the location of a piece in a comment on an old, old Facebook post at http://facebook.com/childrinrskary.

5. Find me where the memories flicker How empty is the stream! But if you add my name, it'll be much quicker and there's more than it may seem.

The piece was uploaded to my new Flickr account at http://flickr.com/katytowell. But the piece itself was (at the time - it's public now) accessible only to people I add as friends. To find it, you had to add me first. I would reciprocate, and then you'd see the piece.

6. There was a crooked man, and he had something once, and it bought him a folder containing all things new, within which was another for Evelyn's nickname, which had a ping to it like "pea ell cee oh!"

"The crooked man who had something once" refers to the crooked sixpence nursery rhyme, which was the inspiration for one of my other sites: http://crookedsixpence.com. I added a folder called "new," inside of which was another folder for Evelyn's nickname (actually, three different folders with three different possible nicknames for Evelyn - Lyn, Lynn, and Evey) and placed inside it a PNG file called plco.png.

So, there you have it! All clues to Evelyn's Puzzle explained and clarified. Congrats again to the winner, and much applause for everyone who tried! This wasn't an easy one; I admit!

Tomorrow!

Because True Blood isn't on yet.

Update 2/14/10: Technical problems. I know. Again. The day I can publish a cartoon without issue is the day the Earth stands still. But I'm working on the problem and will post Mockingbird just as soon as I'm able.

Update 2/17/10: This has been one doozie of a technical problem. I've sent the file off to someone who's good at figuring out why things break, and I hope to have a mended animation to show you soon. My apologies!

Some 'Mockingbird' Questions Answered

Two days until The Mockingbird Song! It's been a couple of years since my last long cartoon (Ida's Luck Part 2), so I'm very excited to show it off. I've been getting a few questions about it since I initially announced it, so here are a few of those answers:

  • I'm narrating it this time.
  • It's based on a Sixcast episode I wrote and recorded a few months ago; many of you may already be familiar with it. I've taken the recording down for now so that you'll have some time to forget it!
  • As mentioned previously, there are a few slight changes in the story. They are minor, but they're important without drastically changing the one you already liked.
  • It's ten minutes long! Whew!
  • It's very different from a typical Skary cartoon. Still sad and spooky (I hope), but Shawnee Jenkins is a fairly normal Kansas eight-year-old considering that, well... you'll see what I mean. ;-)
  • Those of you with young children who are also fans (yay!), I would hold off on showing them this one until you've seen it first. There's some violence and gore. Granted, it's very stylish gore with a retro look to it and all, but vintage entrails are still entrails.
  • Can anyone embroider? I would love a throw pillow that said "Vintage entrails are still entrails."

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!