As I have launched Spare Parts Press I thought a simple primer on reading epubs would be helpful

Around this time two years ago I launched my new website spare parts press. Initially, I intended to use the site to publish my own anthology comic under the name of spare parts. Spare Parts would be a publication that collected my ongoing comics. I released the title under that name, and as I was working on the second, with most of the content written and about a 1/4 of it drawn. Then the pandemic hit.

I miss the old days of finding unique material in weird places. Walking into a comic store, an old books store or a zine library and finding something weird and unique someone had made. It was then a further challenge to find more of that person's work. It was exciting. While it is true that you get a similar thing with the web, the same kind of serendipitous discovery, it is missing the same excitement, there is less of an urgency to try and track someone down. Maybe it's because we feel that if it's worth seeing or knowing, it will have some sort of presence on the web. A quick google search of any artist and you will instantly get a smattering of their work.

I would like to see it become the norm that comic artists sell copies of their digital work. I’m not sure if everyone is used to this idea. There is often a negative attitude or disinterest whenever the subject of digital comics is brought up. If a digital copy is mentioned it is an afterthought to the print version. The comic book itself is such a revered item, the love of the printed form overrules any other medium.

Chugnut Comics No.3 now available, inspired by 'Free Comic Book Day' I have put together a showcase of some artists here for you to download and checkout, totally free. Clicking on the link will take you to a download page were you will see the file called 'Chugnut_FCBD_2013', from here you can download the file (perfect for a tablet) or chose to read on your browser.  Enjoy!  http://cl.ly/Ojvw  

For the past two years I have put together a digital comics anthology, initially inspired by 'free comic book day'. I love the idea of  digital anthology and it is much easier for artist to submit and I can distribute it worldwide almost instantaneously. Below are the first two issues, and coming next week will be issues No.3! A PDF file which can be read on your tablet, computer or any other device that reads PDF files. It's totally free to download and you will be able to match the artists pages to an to their names by using an index at the front of the book; as well as links to each creators site. The material is mostly compiled from Chugnut  attendees with some guest appearances. Click here to download All new Chugnut Comix Digial anthology 2012! A PDF file which can be read on your tablet, computer or any other device that reads PDF files. It's totally free to download and you will be able to match the artists pages to an to their names by

The four issues of my Sketchbook Comix series, ' Good to Go ',' Stupidity Tries ', ' In the Lost & Found ', and ' Rose Parade '. Each issue is a collection of my daily journal comics drawn in between 2008-2010; With some additional material added as an epilogue. The first three issues also have guest artwork by Chris Downes, Mandy Ord, and David Collier. there are lots of ways you could do to show your appreciation if you feel so inclined, -Leave a comment in this post -Tweet, share, link, post about these comics -Email me and let me know what you thought

How to turn your comic book into an ebook  I was recently playing around with some file formats for comic ebooks. I have had some hit and miss results in the past and wanted to get this monkey of my back. In my last batch of trials I believe I may have hit on the right combination of factors. I'll share them with you here. First some background   I create my digital print files by scanning in my artwork at 1200DPI and then after some cleanup converting it to Bitmap mode (50% threshold) and save as LZW compressed tifs. I then compile these field using Adobe Acrobat Pro for a file I can take to the printers. This is not necessary for the creation of the eBook but rather just demonstrates why I have to shrink my files down to iPad size. This means I have to some how change these files from hi-res bitmaps to low res jpeg, PNG, or GIF files. This would be a slow and painful exercise to do one by one. Luckily you can create a batch process using actions in Photoshop.

The fourth in the series of 'Sketchbook Comix', (Out Soon!) Click here to download

The first in the series of 'Sketchbook Comix', An autobiographical comic which follows my search to fit into a new country after moving to Canada in 2008.  With Guest artwork by David Collier ebook version coming soon

'Stupidity Tries' is the second comic in a series of four comics. With guest comic by Mandy Ord ebook version coming soon

The first in the series of 'Sketchbook Comix', An autobiographical comic which follows my search to fit into a new country after moving to Canada in 2008. With guest artwork by Chris Downes. ebook version coming soon

A bit over a week ago I was reminded that it was going to be free comic book day (FCBD) today. As I've been playing around with downloadable digital comics, I had an idea to round up some comic pages from fellow comickers and offer it as a free download. I know FCBD is about getting people into brick and mortar stores but I think it's also about getting new readers into comics. Why not digital comic then! This is the result,  -download here- It's basically a PDF file with dimensions that are perfect for an iPad screen but can also be read on your computer or any other device that reads PDF files. It's totally free to download and you will be able to match the artists pages to an to their names by using an index at the front of the book; as well as links to each creators site. The material is mostly compiled from Chugnut  attendees with some guest appearances. I'd love to do this again sometime in the future, and I look forward to hearing about what you thi

I have been wanting to offer my comic book, 'This Town' as a digital download for ages now, and I have finally gotten around to doing it. I will have it here free for a short time. If you enjoy it consider leaving a donation, which you can do by clicking the donut donation picture in the footer. It's formatted to work with an iPad but could also work on a eReader, or simply on your computer. http://cl.ly/C57K

Over the past week I have been experimenting with putting together some packages of digital comics. I have been talking about the possibilities with digital comics ever since I saw the first iPods with little colour screens in 2005 . The problems was then and still is now that the technology changes so fast that there is no time for any culture to build up around any of it. You could format a bunch of comics for an iPad and then the next year they bring out a new iPad with different dimensions and features etc; and if not that year the next! I have been lucky enough to have borrowed a Kobo ereader and an iPad from my work, and with both I would have to say that I am not fully satisfied with the screen resolution for hi-res comics. Do not get me wrong, comics look pretty cool on an eInk screen (albeit small) and it's great swiping and zooming on comics in an iPad, but both devices seem to downsample images. After having the iPad for the week it has changed how I read things li

I have been waiting with baited breath all week for the announcement of Apples new product as I blogged earlier. It was almost unfortunate that the hype grew so big because I think everyone, me included, thought that this new device would have everything, you know like steak knifes and a lawn mower. Whilst I can see some immediate drawbacks I am still holding to my conviction that this will be a fantastic platform for digital comics. The name aside (iPad? come on!!) imagine reading digital comics on this! Before it was announced I thought iSlate sounded bad and iTablet sounded like medicine. I think the name iTab would have worked well. It appears that apple will have it's own store called iBook so it will be interesting to see what sort of graphical content will  be offered there, comics books, picture books, art books kids books. There will be other companies like comixology that will continue on with the model they have with the iPhone and no doubt a host of other companies

I Wanted to post about the idea of getting comics out in digital format. No need to convince me that print comics are better, I agree. I also see a huge opportunity to share comics in a digital format (Like here on this blog) I also really like things like podcasts that you can subscribe to. The main problem in this area is that the technology changes to fast for any sort of culture to build up around it. You could spend all your time getting your comics ready to view on a kindle or iPhone then two months later the bring out new versions that make what you have done redundant; Or another company comes out with something even better. Anyone have any interest or experience in this area? Links formatting comics for kindle Clickwheel