The September Newsletter: New Day New Name New Way

Lots of updates! A comic writing class! More drawing!

I fricken love fall!! Especially after a global warming ass record breaking heat ass hot ass summer! Here in New Orleans, we’re all super happy for the temp to have dropped to the low nineties and we’re absolutely thrilled not to catch fire every time we walk out the front door. 

But besides relief from spontaneous incineration, Fall is also a time of new beginnings! Tito started daycare for the first time, and damn wow what?! Everything is so different, so suddenly. We talk about more on last week’s INKBOTTLE, but mainly it’s like this ongoing mashup of intense emotions — incredible to actually have more than an hour or two of free time on our hands to get work done or even (gasp) not get work done! (still working on that one) and also we miss him! We’ve all been around each other basically all the time for damn near two years and now kaboom — he’s off to his dayjob basically, got so much learning to do, friends to friend with, naps to take. And we got our own fifty million deadlines and this is the new new. So we do what we do and move with it. 

Truly, this parenting gig is a master class in emotional whiplash and I wouldn’t trade it for ANYTHING! 

In other exciting news of things brand new: 

Making moves here on Substack, and by moves I mean a new name: SKETCHBOOKS AND SCRATCHPADS (more on that in an upcoming post) and with it, an officially official paid tier and officially official perks that go along with it! 

For $5 a month, you get: 

—Exclusive drawings and original mini-comics
While I’ll still be posting some of these on the free section, there will be others that just go in the paid tier. Essentially, I’ll be inviting the paid subscribers deep into my own learning process, explaining the steps along the way and posting my thoughts on the connections between writing and drawing. And of course, random dad thoughts to tie it all together. 

—Art Commissions!!!
Okay, this one I’m especially excited about. Since I’m at this early stage of my (re)learning to draw journey, I’m temporarily offering all paid subscribers one (1) free commission request. How often do you have an opportunity to get a Star Wars writer to draw your favorite character? Rarely, that’s how often. Rarely. (Definitely doesn’t have to be SW characters tho!) Full details at the tail end of this post. 

—Exclusive episodes of INKBOTTLE including Q+As, interviews and more
To accompany our latest episode on the experiential process of beginning a book, Brittany and I recorded a bonus episode about how to navigate the actual content of beginnings — there is so much that a beginning has to do (and not do) and did a deep dive on all of it. There’s a LOT to think about in this episode and we had a great time putting it together.  In the months ahead, we’ll be posting more special content just for paid subscribers. 

—Behind the scenes look at my art process
Personal reflections and process videos of the comics I post. This will be a regular feature. I love that Procreate makes these videos easy to create and download — it’s really great to demystify the process and always hilarious to see how many different times i had to draw and redraw certain things (HANDS) (MYSELF) (JFK) and what reference photos I used. 

—Exclusive discounts on master classes. 
This is also something new we’ll be doing on this Substack, and the first one is really exciting — my good friend and High Republic teammate (and ESCAPE FROM VALO co-author) the legendary Alyssa Wong and I will be teaching a class on writing comic books! Stay tuned for more details.

—Vouchers to send mail-ins for me to sign and personalize
This is for books, comics, and posters only (unless given special permission) for me to sign and personalize, including with a drawing if desired. Signing is free, subscribers will have to pay the shipping fees only. More information to come shortly. 

And down the road, we’ll add monthly live chats, which will both be casual chill sessions and also a chance to chat about/follow up on how y’all’s creative endeavors are going, ask questions related to process and the industry. 

We have some other perks planned for added later on, but for now, damn — that’s a lot! Writing it all out like that really brings it home: we’re doing this. I’m excited. And don’t worry if you’re not up to joining the paid tier, the monthly newsletter and a good amount of other content will always remain free. 

Okay moving on to…

Assorted News and Announcements of the Month

 

If you haven’t yet, do go check out our latest INKBOTTLE episode — we had a really amazing conversation on how to begin your book and how to know when you’re ready. I somehow always learn a lot talking to the woman that I talk to every single day and this episode was no exception! 

Book Riot included my first YA novel, Shadowshaper, as one of “THE 20 MOST INFLUENTIAL FANTASY BOOKS OF THE LAST 10 YEARS.” I briefly spoke in this last Inkbottle episode about how many drafts of Shadowshaper I wrote before lending on the finished product, so it means so much to me that it resonated with readers this much almost ten years later. 

I was a guest on AeroEspecial chatting with some brilliant people about Latine representation in Star Wars. It was so much fun and an honor to be featured, so make sure you listen in. 

On September 29, I’ll be a special guest in Norristown, PA, outside Philly, where the WHOLE TOWN collectively read two of my books! Huge honor; I’m still reeling. The adults read BOOK OF LOST SAINTS and the kids read SHADOWSHAPER and have been working on the absolutely stunning mural pictured above which was inspired by it. Thrilled beyond words. 

Immediately after that I’ll be in Chicago for an event with Rick Riordan celebrating the release of his new Percy Jackson novel, The Chalice of the Gods (it’s SO good!) and talking Outlaw Saints. It’s already sold out, amazingly, and I’ll be bouncing back home that very night. 

Over on Cav’s substack, I drew some of my Sunday faves! 

And let’s chat Star Wars for a minute. 

Tales of Light and Life, the High Republic YA anthology hit shelves last week. Thanks to those who got the early SDCC copies for keeping things under wraps until now. I love this book so much — always awed and honored to be alongside the rest of the stellar High Republic team, and it was such a joy to be writing Ram, Zeen, and the gang in all their Phase I glory again. This was also the one and only Alyssa Wong’s THR debut!! I’m ecstatic to have Alyssa on board team Luminous, and their story in this anthology is one of my favorite High Republic stories ever and includes a new character who is one of my favorite High Republic characters ever — one we will definitely be hearing more from soon(ish). Grab the B&N exclusive to make sure you get that story. 

I’ve been flying through writing the first arc of  The High Republic Adventures Phase III, which will begin in just a few months from Dark Horse. I can’t even begin to describe all the emotions that come with charting through this new territory. I’ve been thinking about these issues and all that would happen in them for so long, literally YEARS, and there’s still so much I don’t know, have been shocked by, can barely believe. I have already laughed and cried a ton writing these issues, they are so special to me, and I’m so thrilled to be watching the great Harvey Tolibao bring them to life, panel by panel. 

And speaking once again of Phase I, check out this adorable (and exclusive to this newsletter!) Qort drawing by Andy Duggan, whose awesome work you can find here.

And for another fantastic Phase I flashback, here’s Ram and Reath, best buds, by Lev on Twitter. 

Thanks and happy fall, everyone!

D

See below for the details on those art commissions:

Image Description: a riff on that Trade Offer Meme — a cartoon version of me, a bald and bearded Latino dude looking sly, hands steepled.

Text: TRADE OFFER: COMMISSIONS OPEN!

I receive:

—You sign up for my Substack for $5/month

—written/visual references for the character you want drawn

—https://danieljoseolder.substack.com/

You receive:

—One (1) commission request of character art of your choice*

—All the other perks of the paid submission tier

*in solidarity with the WGA/SAG strike, I won’t be drawing characters from struck work. If the character originates in books/comics/games, they’re ok tho.

ALSO: No NSFW requests, but a kiss between characters is ok and if you want to team up with another paid subscriber to request two characters in one drawing, go for it!