Today’s incentive sketch will be sure to enthrall no one.

It had been a little while since we last saw Victor and he wasn’t really used to much effect. I thought it might be time to bring him back. I’m really happy with him as a character from a conceptual standpoint and I think there is a lot that can be done with him.

You’ll notice that Victor received a bit of a physical upgrade since his last appearance. What can I say? He’s been hitting the gym hard.

Actually, part of the change was due to the fact that I couldn’t really remember how I drew him originally and suck when it comes to consistency. But once I made him a bit bulkier and more intimidating, I kind of liked the look. One could perhaps also argue that it’s just the way Tom sees him. But that’s probably getting a little more metaphysical than we need to.

I am happy to report that progress on the Theater Hopper: Year One book is coming along swimmingly. Cami recently finished proof reading the first draft and I am now going back in to correct spelling errors, typos and broad generalizations that she thought might offend people. Saucy!

I am also happy to report that I have finished penciling and inking the cover for the book – a first draft of which can be viewed here.

The polished inks look a lot better than this. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I need to start assembling things in Photoshop, but before I start to fill anything in, I want to try and get my hands on this book. I think it might have a lot of insight into helping me make this special. I really want the artwork to jump out at you and coloring is one area of my skill set that I find a little deficient.

Now all I need is to get a little money so I can buy the book!

Something else I want to clue you guys in on: I’ll be selling two new shirt designs VERY SOON – except I’m having a little trouble deciding on the colors. You can view the color samples in the THorum here. If you’d like to leave an opinion about which color scheme you think is best, register for an account and let me know! Or, if you’re not into the whole online community thing, send me an e-mail. I’d love to hear your feedback.

I have a bunch of exciting projects lined up right now and I’m very pumped about working on all of them. I think the little mini-vacation I took on Friday did me some good. The book and the t-shirt designs are things I’ve been working on for a while. Doing that in addition to the strip three times each week really wore me down. Drawing today’s strip, though… I really enjoyed doing it again.

Sometimes you just need to take a little breather before jumping back into the marathon!

Thanks, guys!