Happy Friday, people. A lot is happening around FWACATA, and it’s easy for something to disappear between the inbox, the feed, and the drawing table. So here’s the first Friday Five: a quick catch-up on what’s out, what I’m making, and what’s coming together.
1. Fresh off the press: FUGLY hits the beach
This Tuesday brought FUGLY: Son of a BEACH. Another installment of the free weekly webcomic is ready for your eyeballs.
If you’ve been following along, thank you for making this ugly bastard part of your week. If you’ve fallen behind, Friday is a perfectly respectable time to catch up. Your other responsibilities will understand. Probably.
2. Art, zines, and a very pointy toy concept
ART TO THE FACE #33 is available as a free zine, collecting more of the drawings, experiments, and ideas that accumulate around here.
Meanwhile, Inktober’s cactus prompt gave me Cactus Maximus, a desert bruiser I’ve been exploring as an action-figure concept: fluorescent green and yellow, prickly pear fruit, and hot-pink spikes. Subtle? Absolutely not. The fun is figuring out how a drawing could work as a toy—with a silhouette, color scheme, and attitude that hold up from every angle.
3. On the workbench: PACHANGA, planners, and making time
I posted a look at coloring PACHANGA Part 3, page 15 as I get back to finishing FWACATA #4. Finding time for the pages is the job right now.
My recent sketchbook-prep video takes you through the pocket-sized system that keeps comics, notes, schedules, and stray ideas together.
There’s cover customization, a pocket for loose scraps, a monthly grid, and PAD: Panel a Day. Twenty minutes and one finished panel can move a comic forward. It also gives you something concrete to point to when the day feels like it vanished.
And yes, the camera overheated and cut me off at the end. Apparently, even the equipment has limits.
I have a meet-and-greet planning meeting for another art show called Imposters on Saturday, first time trying something out in the scene, but let's see what happens and how I read the room!
4. Readers showed up—and I appreciate it
For October 1–7, Instagram recorded 5,406 content views, 250 likes, 19 comments, and 17 shares. As of October 8, the October 4 sketchbook-priority Reel had 776 views, while the latest FUGLY Instagram post had nine shares. Thanks for passing the work along.
Buffer’s October 5 recap also marked a 40-week posting streak and highlighted the FERRO Instagram promotion as its post of the week.
On GlobalComix, the September 28–October 4 report counted 59 readers and 153 page reads, up by 20 readers and 61 page reads from the previous week.
YouTube: ZOMBIE YEARS lives—and the sketchbooks are getting around
From October 1–6, the FWACATA YouTube channel logged 2,726 views and approximately 35 hours watched. Thanks for spending some of your time at my drawing table—or watching the dead do their thing.
The ZOMBIE YEARS short film, “THANKS GRANDPA” led with 1,242 views during that period. Apparently, these zombies still have legs.
Meanwhile, “Make Something Every Day” got 1,059 views, along with Shorts about paper planning, note-taking, and making learning stick. The full sketchbook-prep video is there too, if you want a closer look at how I organize the creative chaos.
Watch a video, subscribe, and tell me what you want more of: comic-making, sketchbook sessions, or short films.
5. Coming next: FERRO’s road to print
The FERRO short-comic preview is intended for FWACATA #4. What’s online is a preview, with room for tweaks before the print version.
He’s a maker and tinkerer fighting fire with fire in a superhero world full of dangerous technology. I want to hear what you think of him.
Drop a comment: what would you like a closer look at next—the comics, the sketchbooks, or the toy concepts?
Thanks for hanging around the drawing table. Subscribe to FWACATA to keep following the work.