A new sketchbook zine, a mountain of unfinished business, and a look inside the creative madhouse as FWACATA prepares for a BIG 2027.
BROOOOO…
What. A. Freaking. Month.
You ever been so busy making things that when somebody asks, “Hey, what have you been working on?” you look around your studio, stare at the mountain of papers, sketchbooks, Post-it notes, and half-finished projects, and realize you have almost NOTHING finished to show them?
WELCOME TO MY LIFE.
Things have been absolutely insane here at FWACATA HQ.
Comics are being drawn. Stories are being written. Characters are being redesigned. Ideas are multiplying like rabbits on cocaine, and somewhere under a mountain of hard drives and sketchbooks, a middle-aged comic artist is desperately trying to remember what the hell he was supposed to finish last Tuesday.
That would be me.
And despite the chaos, things are actually moving along rather nicely.
Which brings us to…
THE GREAT FWACATA COMIC BOOK INVASION OF 2027!
I’ve got plans.
Lots of plans.
Possibly too many plans.
But the big goal for 2027 is simple: MORE COMICS. MORE OFTEN.
That means organizing the back catalog, restoring older artwork, assembling stories, preparing new issues, and making sure everything looks as good as possible before unleashing it on an unsuspecting public.
And let me tell you, there’s nothing quite as glamorous as spending an entire evening organizing fifteen-year-old Photoshop files.
FINAL.psd
FINAL2.psd
FINAL_FINAL.psd
FINAL_FINAL_REAL_ONE_USE_THIS.psd
WHO THE HELL WAS RUNNING THIS OPERATION?!
Oh.
Right.
Me.
The idiot responsible for all this.
But here’s the thing: not all progress is exciting to look at.
Sometimes progress is finishing a page. Sometimes it’s writing an entire chapter. Other times it’s finding the correct file, correcting a fifteen-year-old mistake, or finally organizing something that has been haunting your hard drive since the Bush administration.
It’s all part of making the work happen.
And I’m determined to get more of it out into the world.
BUT FIRST… ART TO THE FACE!
ISSUE #32 IS HERE!
For those of you new to this particular corner of FWACATA, ART TO THE FACE is my ongoing sketchbook and art zine. Think of it as an archaeological expedition into the cluttered ruins of my imagination.
Except instead of ancient pottery, you’ll find monsters, superheroes, illustrations, unfinished drawings, experiments, character concepts, and enough random notes to make a conspiracy theorist feel underprepared.
This month’s issue is packed with the work happening behind the scenes.
Some of these sketches are early looks at comics I’m planning for next year. Others are experiments in technique, design, and storytelling. Some may evolve into something much bigger.
And a few will probably sit quietly in a sketchbook until I rediscover them five years from now and scream:
“OH SHIT! THAT’S ACTUALLY A GREAT IDEA!”
That’s one of the things I’ve come to love about these zines.
They’re not just collections of artwork. They’re a record of the process. A snapshot of where my head was at a particular moment, what I was experimenting with, and where the work might go next.
And now you get to come along for the ride.
JOIN FWACATA AND GET INTO THE ART, COMICS & ZINES!
AND THEN THERE’S INKTOBER…
If you’re wondering where a significant chunk of my drawing time disappeared this month, I have one word for you:
INKTOBER.
Thirty-one days of drawing, experimenting, and occasionally questioning my commitment to the human race.
It was another wonderfully exhausting year of filling pages with ink, strange characters, monsters, and the kind of ideas that only seem reasonable when you’re operating on caffeine and stubbornness.
And because apparently one zine isn’t enough, there’s also a dedicated INKTOBER 2026 ZINE coming right on the heels of this issue!
That’s right. More art. More ink. More reasons to question my time-management skills.
WHY SUBSCRIBE TO FWACATA?
Because this is where the whole damn thing happens.
Beyond ART TO THE FACE, FWACATA is home to my growing collection of independent comics, webcomics like FUGLY, original fantasy stories, studio updates, livestreams, artwork, and whatever strange creative experiment I decide to unleash next.
There’s plenty to read and enjoy for free, and paid subscribers help support the continuing production of comics, art, and downloadable zines.
More importantly, your support helps make the bigger plans possible.
Every subscription, every share, every comment, and every person who tells somebody else about the work helps keep this strange little operation moving forward.
And believe me, that matters.
Because making independent comics isn’t just about drawing pages. It’s about building something that lasts, finding an audience that genuinely gives a damn, and creating stories that might stick with somebody long after they’ve finished reading.
That’s what I’m after.
THE WORK CONTINUES.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from making art for all these years is that the finished product is only a tiny part of the experience.
Most of it happens when nobody’s watching.
The sketches. The revisions. The false starts. The discarded ideas. The nights when everything works and the nights when absolutely nothing does.
But you keep making things.
Because sometimes that little drawing you almost threw away becomes the beginning of something extraordinary.
So enjoy ART TO THE FACE #34. Dig through the sketches, explore the madness, and get a little glimpse of what’s brewing for 2027.
Here’s the PDF link.
There’s a lot coming.
And I intend to make every damn page count.
The work continues. The madness persists. The comics are coming.
Thank you for reading, subscribing, sharing, and keeping independent comics alive.
DIG IT!
— J
FWACATA.com
FWACATA is a reader-supported independent comics and art publication. Join for free comics, artwork, stories, sketchbook zines, and ongoing creative madness. Paid subscriptions help support the work and bring new projects to life.
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