I'd like to give an extra big shout out to all my backers this month! Patreon is one of the few parts of my job that has not been temporarily shut down or hung up by this virus business, and I'm very lucky to have your support.

If you're looking for a way to help support my work, and/or score a bunch of sweet digital bonuses, I heartily recommend heading over to my page to check it out. This month, we've got some special Sven and Fluffy art for everyone, new behind-the-scenes features and bonus art for S&F Extra and Art Vault backers, and five new pages of NSFW comics for Saucy Hippo backers! (And of course, as always, signing up for any tier will also get you access to all theprevious months bonuses... which at this point, is a lot.)

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Ori Edition

Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"What's the next issue of Invader Zim that you worked on?" -Kim

Invader Zim Quarterly #2! I wrote it and Warren Wucinich drew it. (Warren is the same artist who drew the Plim story I wrote in issue 42-43!) Quarterly #2 is scheduled to come out on June 3rd, although it may be delayed depending on the cornoavirus situation by then.

I think I'm also writing the story that will be appearing in Quarterly #3, too! But that one is a way's off, and presumably isn't going to be coming out until September.

"I saw Ori among all the platforming characters you've been drawing. Have you had a chance to try the new one yet? It's beautiful! " -Cam

I just started it! I don't have an Xbox, so I gotta play it on PC... and I was a little concerned that my aging video card wouldn't be able to hack it, but so far it seems to be holding up. I'm really enjoying it!

But something I find interesting is how much it's making me think about Hollow Knight. The two games resemble each other mechanically more than ever, especially now that Ori has sword combat and a badge system... but they feel so different because they have such polar opposite approaches to player failure. In Hollow Knight, death is a massive punishment that can potentially send you back to the opposite side of the map and lose you a ton of money. In Ori, when you die, you lose nothing and usually respawn instantaneously like ten feet from where you were killed.

Ori's approach makes the game feel incredibly smooth and satisfying to play, and it rarely frustrates. But it also means I play Ori like an insane reckless idiot who checks if things are dangerous by carelessly hurling Ori's body into them, while I play Hollow Knight like a cautious turtle planning a long road trip. I really, really enjoy both of these games, but I Ori is just making me appreciate how much Hollow Knight's brutal approach made me actually learn the world and think about what I'm doing. It's a total blast to race through Ori's gauntlet of platforming challenges, but it goes down so smooth that sometimes I feel like I am rocketing through the world so fast I'm not really fully absorbing it. But maybe that's on me!

For those who haven't seen it yet, I've been drawing a bunch of Platformer charactrers and am slowly posting 'em on instagram and twitter. (A bunch more are already up on Patreon, where I'm also taking suggestions for future additions!)

"I was going to get a pet portrait for my friend from you at Calgary Expo [...] but now that this year's con has been delayed, I was wondering if you did portraits online/by mail?" -Chris

This wasn't sent as a Q and A question, but I thought I'd answer it here since several folks have been asking. Yes, I take requests for art commissions online, not just at cons! And of course, with all these cons being cancelled right now, I'm particularly happy to do 'em from home.

If you'd like to get a pet portrait or a pin-up piece or any other sort of commission, you can email me any time. Most of the pet or character portraits I do online tend to cost somewhere between $80-$250, depending on the size/complexity/colouring style, but I'll be happy to give you a specific quote if you'd like to describe what you're after.

-Sam Logan