comics, art, and thoughts by bug & delade
About News
Hey, my Teepublic shop is on sale for like 8 or 9 more hours from the time of posting this! I’ve got licensed Star Trek and Cartoon Network designs and original stuff like animals and characters from my webcomic!
You can get cool stickers and shirts and stuff and I can afford to pay my phone bill next month, maybe!
Here’s a new design I just released based on the project patch for Project Cottontail from Follower!
Hey folks! It’s definitely been a minute since I’ve made a proper newsletter, let alone a news post. It’s been a rough summer so far for me — I thought I was dealing pretty well with the health issues I’ve been having, but a series of coincidental problems coupled with the summer heat have really knocked me flat. I summoned the energy to make a goofy little doodle comic about it, which you can check out here if you like. It might turn into an ongoing series, because sometimes all I can do is laugh at the situation.
I am (as usual) doing my best to get back on track with things like Follower updates, but it’s been difficult. A major part of my problem is joint issues, which can vary wildly from day to day, so sometimes drawing is rough. I’ve been trying to at least put my creative energy into other projects when I can’t draw, like some Tiny Art Vlogs from time to time. You can view those on my Youtube channel here!
Mostly, I am trying to figure out how to work with a body that’s kind of unreliable, when I’m trying to do something that requires a certain amount of regularity, like posting a comic update every week. I haven’t figured it out just yet, but I’m doing my best. I may need to eventually move to a monthly update of a few pages at a time rather than work under the pressure of weekly updates, but I haven’t decided that for sure just yet.
Anyway, on to the news!
Here’s what I’ve got on the table for upcoming projects, roughly in order of priority:
There hasn’t been much new lately in the community, but the Discord is always open and new folks are always welcome! It’s a slow-paced, quiet chat, but we keep it friendly. Click here to join!
Thanks so much for checking out the latest news from us this month! Here’s hoping the next one will be more comic-heavy. 🤞
Sign up for the Chio Chronicles email newsletter and get emails like this every month with all our latest news sent directly to you! We don’t share or sell our email lists with anyone else.
It certainly has been the summer of social media, and not necessarily in the best way. This post is basically about how I’m planning to address social posting from here on out, because we’ve descended into utter chaos and it’s wild out there.
Anyway.
First up: I’m not abandoning Twitter per se, (no, I will not be referring to it by the new name. I was here first and it’s Twitter.) but I’m not thrilled by some policy enforcement decisions that have come down during the past week. The decisions made do nothing to protect users, do nothing to properly punish or remove sensitive media, and I simply don’t want to be part of that in any way. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s probably a good thing, but if you must know, here’s an article explaining what went down. There are a lot of technical nuances about how these types of events should be handled by a website’s trust & safety team, but since those folks were all fired… Sourcing my information from a professional in the field, this was just blunder after blunder, and gives me serious concern about the safety of. Well. Everyone on the platform, including me. (Source is https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3k3kgtcil672w, however, you’ll need a bluesky account to view.)
So, moving on from here, I’ll essentially just be sending outgoing comic and news update posts to Twitter for those who’ve stuck around, at least as long as I’m able to do that through Buffer. I want to keep my username alive, because I don’t want someone else to grab it for inactivity and do something nefarious with it. So unless you hear otherwise here, it’s still me posting there.
Ultimately, I’ve decided that although Twitter is my oldest audience (but not the biggest anymore!) and I would love to bring every one of you with me on my new adventures, it is more worth my time to set up shop in a place that’s stable, with reasonable moderation, a variety of users (not just artists, not just comic readers), where I can actually grow and have a chance. Twitter’s been stagnant for me for a while, even before the changeover, so it feels like time to cut my losses and accept that this cost is, indeed, sunk.
On to the new and shiny!
This is a complicated moment, and I think art social posting can be really fickle. One site becomes the new hot thing for a minute, and then everyone’s moved on to the next thing. I am hesitant to put all my effort into something new, only to have it evaporate due to popularity. Things are wild right now: we’ve got Threads, we’ve got Blue Sky, Mastodon is holding strong. Even Tumblr’s kind of making a comeback, believe it or not.
For the moment, I’m not restricting myself to any given platform. I want to really try them out and see what sticks. Though I haven’t been feeling my best lately, I’ve been trying to spend some time understanding the unique culture and algorithms going on in each place. I’m having a lot of fun with Threads and Blue Sky; they have the feeling of early Twitter, with more minimal features and users who are thrilled to be finding people to follow, old and new. It feels exciting and enjoyable and I’ve gotten so much more interaction with people than I have on Twitter in years. Except that one time last summer when I accidentally made the CEO of a website named after a street that’s made of a sticky, chewable substance upset, and then my phone blew up for a whole day. Even then, people were less there for me than they were to agree with my sentiment, which is fine! But also not what I was there for, really. (I can’t think of a nice way to say “I was here looking for attention for my art and my comics and I’m glad you all agree with me but likes aren’t dollars,” so I’m just going to say that instead.)
I want to find out where my audience really lives, which is probably going to be a more long-term project than a few weeks exploring the wilds of a couple of new social media platforms. But that’s ok. I’m planning to treat things pretty loosely and sometimes duplicate content across platforms, but probably mostly not. (At least until Postybirb supports some of these sites!) I want to find out what I make that other people want to see. If I have to plant some seeds of fan art and comic updates, then that’s what we do. But the garden is expanding, and there are some nice sunny patches all over the place.
But wherever I am, I’m still just Bug, so come hang out with me in some of these new and interesting places. I’ll be playing around for a while until I figure out what works best for me and the people interested in my work. Maybe at that point I’ll settle down to just one primary place for blabs and posts, or maybe the sun will collapse and none of it will matter anyway.
I have yet again updated the Quick Links page on this website, so you can find all the places I am experimenting with throwing metaphorical pasta at the walls to see what sticks. Metaphorically. I would never waste good pasta that way.
I’m still working away on getting my webcomic put together for a print edition of volume one! Collecting everything together into a graphic novel is a lot of work, and can be complicated if you don’t stay organized. So that’s why I’m sharing one of my favorite organizational tips here – making a checklist spreadsheet! I’ve made a file with columns for each major fix I know needs doing from page to page, along with one for specific notes that don’t need to be changed on every page. I used conditional highlighting in Numbers on my Mac to make it easier to visualize how much work I’ve done versus what I have left, and even though I don’t use Excel or Google Sheets, I’m pretty sure you can do that with those apps, too.
Youtube has changed their guidelines for monetization, and it would help us immensely if you subscribed to our channel for free! We just need to reach 500 subscribers to be eligible, which would help provide monetary support for the continued creation of Follower and our other comics!
You can also help support the creation of our comics by joining the Chio Club, where you’ll also get rewards like previews of new pages and other behind the scenes sneak peeks!
This is a short one, but I think I’m going to start making little art vlogs while I work on things sometimes. I’ve gotten back to work on updating and editing Follower pages for the eventual Volume One we have planned. This past year has been super difficult for me with my ongoing health issues, but I really want to make this book, so I’m doing what I can to get there!
You can also help support me while I’m working on the book by joining the Chio Club via Patreon or Ko-Fi. There are even special tiers where you can be in the comic by creating a custom Chio character or receive a copy of the book on completion!
Ha, you read that right! 🥲
Things have been a bit rough with my hands being unreliable for the past few months, and we’ve got bills and a cat vet appointment coming up, so it seems like as good a time as any to put our comics on sale for the next week! You get cheap comics, we get to survive a little bit, so everyone wins!
All of our comics (and CSP brush pack!) downloads are automatically 50% off in our itch.io shop. You can also download everything as a giant bundle for just $15! That’s a lot of comics!
You can also use the code ‘BUGISBROKE‘ in our Ko-Fi shop and get 50% off everything there, too!
Thanks so much for reading this post, and share with your friends if you think they’d be into our work!
Hey Chio Crew! We’re nearly halfway through 2023 already! How?! I guess it goes faster when you’re struggling to be able to update your own webcomic, but that’s changing soon!
Follower starts again this week! It’s been a long hiatus with my ongoing health issues, but I’m going to do my best to keep on schedule! I can’t promise that I won’t occasionally have to take breaks now and again, but I’m at least hopeful I’ll be able to maintain a small buffer.
If you’ve ever wanted to be part of Follower, like, so much that you’re in the comic – now’s your chance! Our Create a Chio project is open once again for takers on both Patreon and via Ko-Fi commissions. For $50, I’ll work with you to design your very own Chio character. You’ll get a custom character sheet with color references and information. This character will appear on at least one page of the comic as a side character. I’ve also added an extra upgrade option that will put your custom character on 3 pages of the comic, with the potential for a line of dialogue, too. Since I’m working on pages right now that feature a bunch of background Chios, the sooner you commission me, the sooner your character will appear in the comic!
April had no takers for the Chio Club Sticker Tier, so I’ll be leaving it up with the same design for May. If it stays this way, I will probably end it and move on to other ideas. That said, if you’re interested, please check out our Patreon and Ko-Fi pages to join!
I’m still dealing with health issues and my schedule is pretty much a wreck week to week, so I haven’t been able to make a solid streaming schedule yet. I’d like to get back to streaming work on book pages, since I was making some decent progress there. As usual, follow me on Twitch to get updates on that.
Join us on Discord to get the latest comic updates and engage with other readers! The Discord is open to everyone, with special areas for Chio Club supporters.
Thank you (yet again) for sticking with us despite this long comic hiatus! Here’s to more new pages!
Hey hey! It’s April! The weather here is trying so hard to start being nicer, and I personally can’t wait for it. I hope that it’s as nice wherever you are! With that, let’s get into the news!
March was surprisingly productive! I’ve been doing well with physical therapy for my hands, and I’m taking advantage of all the new strength I have at the moment. Will it last? I have no idea, but I’m going to work extra hard while the proverbial sun is shining.
There are 5 brand new Follower pages that you can check out right now if you’re a member of the Chio Club. That’s an entire month’s worth of updates! For $1 (or more) you can see these new pages as they’re completed, long before they’ll be released to the rest of the world! I am currently working on early phases of the next batch of pages. I’m planning (tentatively, but fairly confidently) to start regular Follower updates again in May. More on that below!
The Chio Club Sticker Tier has officially launched! You can join the tier via Patreon or Ko-Fi for $12/month. (This price includes shipping.) Right now the design is a secret to everyone except folks who’ve joined the tier, but I’m doing a reveal on Twitter if I can get enough likes on the post!
By joining the Sticker Tier, you’ll get all the benefits of tiers below $10 – book downloads, page previews, and behind the scenes info – as well as a physical vinyl sticker mailed directly to you! And you’ll get the warm fuzzy feeling of helping our comics keep going a little bit more: just this past month, I’ve had to renew domain names, update software, and make my first ever sticker order for the Sticker Tier.
All of that (and a little bit of general survival) is directly possible thanks to Chio Club supporters, so if that’s you, thank you so much! It means the world to us.
If you’ve ever wanted to be part of Follower, like, so much that you’re in the comic – now’s your chance! Our Create a Chio project is open once again for takers on both Patreon and via Ko-Fi commissions. For $50, I’ll work with you to design your very own Chio character. You’ll get a custom character sheet with color references and information. This character will appear on at least one page of the comic as a side character. I’ve also added an extra upgrade option that will put your custom character on 3 pages of the comic, with the potential for a line of dialogue, too. Since I’m working on pages right now that feature a bunch of background Chios, the sooner you commission me, the sooner your character will appear in the comic!
Check out this post for more details about Create a Chio!
Our Teepublic store will be up to 35% off
April 5-9 and April 26-30.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
I’m planning a return to Follower updates starting in May! It’s taken me a long time for my hands to recover enough to get some substantial pages done, but I’m feeling good about the progress I’ve made. I can’t promise that I won’t have to take breaks again in the future due to these same health issues, but I’m going to do my best!
Messenger, my long-neglected first project, turns 19 years old this August, and I have turned to dust typing out that sentence. I am not currently working on new pages due to the issues with my hands. It’s difficult to work on this type of project when you have unsteady hands and no undo button, so I’m contemplating working on a few real-media pieces to practice technique with since I’ve had to change a few things about the way I draw and work, and I don’t want to find out how difficult or different something looks on what should be a final piece.
I’ve been trying to build a more reliable streaming schedule, but due to a lot of the things going on with me health-wise, it’s been pretty difficult to schedule time for it. Looking into the next month, I should be able to find at least a few hours a week to hop on and draw with anyone who wants to drop in. I’d love to have you along! Be sure to follow me on Twitch to get notifications for when I’m live.
I’m also planning on dual streaming to Twitch and Youtube whenever possible, since my YT audience has been growing a bit!
In other community news, I’ve been working on improving the Discord server. (I’m always trying to improve it!) I’ve added a few new bots and features like a Question of the Day channel for fun, and I’m working on plans for a trivia game night of some sort for server members. I’ve toyed around with the idea of adding an in-character RP channel for folks – is that something people would be interested in? There are interesting bots and plugins that could make that fun and interesting. In any case, if any of this sounds like fun to you, please come and join us! Everyone is welcome!
Thanks so much for checking out the latest news from us! Things are looking to get more exciting as this year winds on, and we’re so glad to have you along!
I’ve been in physical therapy for around two months now, and I’ve been slowly working myself back into drawing. Bluntly, physical therapy kicks my butt and I tend to feel sore and awful for around a day afterwards, and doing this multiple times a week is a bit of a rollercoaster. We’ve moved on to working on my shoulders lately, which are a literal sore point, and that’s been rough going. But things are improving overall.
I am still working on comic pages, and have been posting progress for the Chio Club as usual. It’s been a bit more of a mountain climb to get anything to completion than I expected, but I’m doing my best. I most recently posted a batch of rough sketches of ideas for the Chio Club sticker tier (discussed further down this post) including a bunch that weren’t shown during the stream where I started working on them!
Among some of the other less drawing-heavy projects I’ve been working on, I’ve also been dabbling with some fiction outside of the Messenger/Follower-verse. I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in checking out drafts of that story in process, but it might be a future Chio Club feature if there’s interest.
I posted my first ever storytime video on our Youtube channel this month, to pretty good reception! Not so coincidentally, it talks a bit about some of the problems I’ve been having with my hands, so if you want to watch me draw a little bit and listen to me talk, check out my video!
It would also be really helpful to us if you subscribe to our Youtube channel! Like every other webcomic artist out there, we’re always looking for another trickle of revenue to make this whole thing possible, and we can’t even get paid for ads until we reach 1,000 subscribers. We’re pretty close to approaching 100, and while that’s only a tenth of the way, once the snowball starts rolling it gets easier and easier to reach new viewers. It also helps us to have more watch hours, so if you’re interested in our comics, I highly recommend checking out one of the art stream playlists we have and letting it run!
After sleuthing for some opinions and data, I’m tentatively going ahead with the idea of a physical sticker tier for the Chio Club. Whether you join via Patreon or Ko-Fi, I’m planning to introduce a tier where you can get a monthly sticker. You can get all the details in this blog post: https://www.radiochio.com/sticker-club-update/
Our Teepublic store will be up to 35% off
March 8-11 and March 23-26.*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
Our Redbubble sticker shop will be up to 20% off
March 1-6*
*Sale dates are not final and therefore subject to change.
I’ve been attempting to get back into regular streaming, but I’ve been thwarted twice so far: once by weather, and once by health, so I’m shaking my fist at the universe and insisting I’m going to continue anyway. My next stream date will most likely be during the week of March 6th. Keep an eye on my Twitch schedule page for changes!
As usual, some caveats apply: I have to go by how my health and joints are doing that day, even if something is scheduled. I try to move things by a day or two, but sometimes I have to cancel outright. It is what it is, unfortunately. The best places to find out when I’m streaming are on my Twitch page and on the Discord.
I’m also planning on dual streaming to Twitch and Youtube whenever possible, since my YT audience has been growing a bit!
And, as usual, our Discord is always open and welcoming new folks! It’s a little slow and quiet, but that’s not always a bad thing. Pop on in for comic updates, general chat, and potentially some new community events in the coming year!
Once again, thank you so much for reading about our newest stuff, even if things are still a bit slow.
So I’ve been playing around with the idea of a physical sticker tier for the Chio Club for a while. I’ve got over a dozen ideas for a monthly sticker that could be mailed to you, wherever you are, and getting stickers made nowadays is one of the easiest things ever.
I’ve been polling my audience on various social sites for a few days, and so far the results are more in favor of a new sticker tier than against, so I’m doing a bit more research and math to make this real.
I’m planning to do a variety of things with Follower and Messenger characters, and maybe some characters from additional works once I’m able to get those things off the ground. But I’m hoping to either do one big sticker a month, or two smaller ones. I still have to do some math and shop around for printers to find the best price.
Basically, I want an excuse to make cool stickers, and it would be super cool if other people wanted them, too.
Want to share your opinion? Feel free to drop in on the Radio Chio Discord and let me know what you think!
