We are nearing the end of the flashback! I always have a lot of fun delving into these characters’ backstories, and especially revealing more about the mysterious hooded individual…

I had a quick question for all of you! For anyone who doesn't know, I started this comic out as more of a vertical scroll/webtoon type comic, until it hit me that I wanted this thing to first and foremost be a physical book someday. Since then, I’ve kind of met you all in the middle by drawing the comic in a page format and also reformatting it into a vertical scroll. I got tired of doing it by the end of chapter two, but am also worried about if anyone likes the vertical scroll format simply for the legibility on the phone. ANYHOW, vote on the poll to let me know!

I hope you all have an amazing week!

The hooded man has made his way across space to Planet Earth. That couldn’t possibly cause any long lasting problems for the people back on Solas that just lost their whole power source… right?

There are so many revelations in this chapter that I can’t wait to get to. It’s been a blast to create! Here’s some behind the scenes pics for things to come!

Have an amazing week everyone!

Hello NOON fans! I’m feeling a lot of gratitude for life this week. I have an amazing wife and daughter. I couldn’t do any of this without them. I couldn’t tell you enough how much joy making and reading comics brings into my life. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to make something as good as possible rather than just letting it flow freely out of me. I feel like my best work comes from some level of relaxation and flow.

I’ve had a lot of realizations about webcomics and what makes them so special. I have put a lot of pressure on myself in the past to put out as much work as possible. I’ve realized that a lot of the enjoyment of a webcomic comes in the drip feed. You’re seeing a story unfold in real time alongside a passionate artist. I’ve also found myself really chewing on an individual page a lot more when reading a weekly webcomic in comparison to a print comic.

In a lot of ways, you guys are the beta testers for my comic. There have been flaws and continuity errors that will no doubt be fixed before this thing ever goes to print, and you all get to enjoy that with me.

In other news, I saw the new Spider-Man movie and loved it. I am a ride-or-die Spider-Man fan and I don’t think I’ll ever truly get enough out of that character. Here’s some fan-art I did as well!

I also finished reading Ping Pong Vol. 1 by Taiyo Matsumoto and I can’t wait to read the second one. That guy knows how to make the mundane feel exciting. There were so many awesome moments that opened my eyes to the power of comics. Please go check it out if you haven’t already!

Have an amazing week everyone!

I’m having a hard time thinking about what to write today. I honestly feel pretty burned out with being a new dad, work, and making this comic. My daughter’s first tooth is growing in, so she is barely sleeping. I’m about to work 12 days in a row with no weekend. I still fight perfectionism every time I work on the comic, but I love this story and I think it’s awesome.

I know a lot of you are trying to turn your dreams into a reality too, even when life gets tough. I hope that you can keep going! Thank you all for helping me to keep going! Have an amazing week!

Hey everyone! Now that I have a bigger buffer, I have a little more freedom with how I upload this comic. I’m going to try releasing two pages a week for a while and see how it goes. Two weeks between posts just feels a little long for me.

I had a lot of fun thinking about who Moe’s favorite band would be. Led Zeppelin seemed like an obvious choice. Music is likely my favorite art form second only to comics, so it’s no wonder that music plays a pretty big role in this story.

I also created this little poster for this third chapter!

I was hugely inspired by Zelda for this one. It was really nice to do something in full color after having worked on a monochromatic flashback sequence for a while.

I’ve also been a more active presence over on Instagram lately, sharing behind the scenes videos and such. You don’t want to miss out! CLICK HERE

Have an amazing week everyone!

We are officially back to new NOON pages every other week! I can’t believe how long it’s been already. I can assure you I have been hard at work behind the scenes. During the making of chapter two, I had absolutely zero buffer, meaning that I was often finishing pages and posting them the very next day. I gave myself about two months to get ahead, and I feel good about where I am now. I’m excited to show all of you what I’ve been working on!

This flashback scene kicking off chapter three is a crazy one. Everyone buckle up!

I’ve been recently getting back into drawing traditionally. I have been drawing 90% digitally for the last five years, mostly due to convenience and being pinched for time. I’ve found myself missing the simple feeling of drawing with pencil and ink on paper. I blew the dust off my microns and did some tests. Here they are! Please excuse my bad photography.

It’s nice to remind myself once in a while that I can make great looking stuff without having an undo button. Needless to say, I ordered some bristol board and NOON pages might be penciled and inked traditionally in the future...

I hope you all have a great week. I’ll see you in the next one!

It was insane to type out the words “END OF CHAPTER TWO.” I posted the beginning of NOON chapter two on May 22nd last year, so it took just a smidge over a year to finish! I’ve learned a ton about my approach to making comics this year. This chapter was full of experimentation. I tried different line-art and rendering styles and even switched from a vertical scroll webtoon-type format to a classic page approach. I feel like I have arrived at a good place for how I want to move forward making comics. I feel confident in my linework style. Color is something I have a more firm grasp on. I also learned a ton about writing and I have a lot of ideas on how I will approach chapter three!

I’ve created these quick sketches for how Alex and Macy will look in chapter three. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting to throw away Alex’s torn t-shirt that he has had for six real life months now. In order to overcome the fear of starting such a big project, I cut a lot of corners when it came to character design initially. I have been stuck in the rut far too many times of drawing characters standing there in my sketchbook over and over again instead of just drawing my dang comic! Having overcome that roadblock, I’m going to have a ton of fun bringing some new life to these characters.

If NOON were already a book series, chapters one and two would comprise the first book. While I am really proud of what I’ve made up to this point, I’m looking at this next chapter as a fresh start. I don’t mean that the story is starting over (we’re going to pick up where we’ve left off here), but I want to take every good thing I’ve learned so far and crank it up to ten!

Thank you all for the love. I’m really happy with this community I’ve built here. I couldn’t have gotten this far without all of you!

Have a good one!

Guys... this is the second to last batch of pages for chapter two! One more update and we’ll be on to chapter three!

I’ve been thinking a lot today about how many webcomics out there don’t get finished and why that is. I don’t think it can be understated how monumental of a task comics, in any form, are. I started this chapter of the comic a year ago!

I ran into a tortoise the other day when I was taking my daughter on a walk. Tortoises would make amazing webcomic artists. Taking one small step at a time, and having the wisdom to eventually reach their destination. I oftentimes wish I could speed up the clock and reach my destination sooner, and then I realize I need to enjoy the journey more.

I am a tired dad, but I’m going to keep doing this thing because I love it. There’s something in me that compels me to keep telling stories in these little squares.

Have an amazing week everyone!

I can’t believe I’ve only been working on these four pages for two weeks! Not in a bad way though, I am really proud of them! I made a lot of stylistic discoveries in these pages, and I love the way they look. I’m not exactly sure yet, but I think we’re only one or two updates away from the end of chapter two. It blows my mind. This chapter was a huge undertaking. I experimented and learned a lot, and by the end I feel like I’ve discovered my way of making comics. Not to say that it isn’t subject to change. It’s all about the journey!

Have an amazing week!

Hello everyone! First, I just want to apologize about this one taking a little longer than usual. Some of you might have noticed a change in my line-art style on this one. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the comics that really inspire me. I find myself gravitating to simpler styles over and over again, yet I wasn’t seeing that reflected in my own work.

As a budding artist in the age of the internet, there are a lot of people giving advice. I think this can be great for new artists if you’re going to the right sources. I think there have been a lot of “rules” that I’ve picked up over the years that aren’t as hard and fast as I thought.

For example, I remember learning from somewhere that a brush/brush-pen type line is superior for comic art. After reading works like Hellboy by Mike Mignola, Birdking by Crom and Daniel Freedman, and a lot of artists I follow online, I’ve realized that monoline inking styles are super dope! I feel inspired by this style, and I feel more like myself when I draw in it.

I feel like this second chapter of the comic has partially been dedicated to visual experimentation. I’ve tried out a few digital brushes throughout. I’ve tried different styles of shading and rendering. I don’t think I’ve nailed it down quite yet, but I feel like I’m getting closer to something I really love.

I’ve been loving building this community here on Substack! You guys are the best! Have a great week!

Hey everyone! This is going to be a brief one. I spent the time I would normally take to write my newsletter to work on something that came from a gut feeling I had the other day. I’ll talk more about it later if anything comes from it haha.

I had a great time making these four pages. I experimented a lot with layer effects. I’m really happy with how they turned out, and the discoveries I made will definitely influence the creation of future pages.

FAN-ART:

An amazing fan named Lewis here on Substack made some super cool fan-art for NOON! Check it out!

This seriously made my day. Check out Lewis on Substack by clicking here! If any of you make fan-art, please send it to me! I will 100% feature it on the newsletter!

SIDE NOTE:

I want to do a Q&A section for the next newsletter, so if you have any questions about my comic making process, or really anything, comment them below or direct message me! I’ll feature them along with my answers next time!

Have an amazing week!

Subscribe now

THANK YOU (AGAIN, AGAIN):

I can’t believe we hit another milestone between newsletters! 400 subscribers! Thank you everyone! I didn’t have time to make an illustration to celebrate over the last couple weeks, so keep an eye out in the next newsletter. Growing this audience has been sop rewarding, and I love that Substack allows me to have a direct connection with all of you, especially after battling algorithms on various social media platforms for years.

TIPS FOR STARTING A WEBCOMIC:

I thought that for the behind the scenes section for the newsletter this time, I would give some tips for starting a webcomic. I’m over a year into this comic, so I hope you can find some value in this advice.

1. JUST START

I see a lot of artists (I used to be this way as well), that constantly talk about their comic they’re going to make someday. Not to be too blunt, but maybe you could use the energy you use to talk about it all the time to I dunno… make it instead? I’m not saying to dive headfirst into a 600 page comic project with no experience either. Make some short comics that take place in the world of your big comic project you have in mind. You can use this to figure out your characters, your world, and if you even have that much interest in this concept in the first place.

2. DON’T PUT TOO MUCH TIME INTO CONCEPT ART

This might be a little controversial, but us artists loooooove concept art. We love looking at it all over social media. We love making it. I won’t lie either, it is super cool! It’s fun to make as well. It is a necessity for film and animation projects, where you have a large team of people working together to bring a vision to life. For a comic, it is often one artist, especially for webcomics.

Concept art takes a ton of time to do, precious time that could be put into comic pages. You have likely drawn these characters over and over again in your sketchbook. I’m not saying to completely ditch concept art, but it doesn’t need to be very polished, and it especially doesn’t need to be posted anywhere. In my opinion, this keeps so many artists from ever making their comics. I would put more focus into making a couple of short comics to prepare for a big comic, rather than being infinitely trapped in the concept phase.

3. RECOGNIZE THAT MAKING COMICS IS HARD

It’s not going to be fun all the time. I don’t feel like making comics some days, but you have to show up anyway. Set a minimum time that you’ll spend on your comic daily and stick to it. There are very few days where I don’t eventually get into that flow state and love the process.

4. FORGET ABOUT THE FOLLOWERS

Make the comic for you first. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make your comic the best it can be, but if you don’t love your comic, it’s unlikely that anyone else will. Let your light shine, and the people looking for the type of thing you’re making will flock to you. The easiest thing to recognize is a phony.

5. A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY

When I first started my comic, I was entering my comic into the 2025 Webtoon Contest, and I was putting an insane amount of hours into my comic to live up to the output standards of Webtoon artists. On top of that, I was newly married, working full-time as an electrian, and going to school for 5 hours a week. I remember weeks where I put 40 hours into my comic. My poor wife… DON’T DO WHAT I DID.

Nowadays I put something more like 5-7 hours a week into my comic. In two weeks, I’m able to get 4 pages done. You don’t even need to do that much! One page a week is great too! Any amount of effort will eventually lead to a finished comic. Something I have also realized is that a lot of the appeal of webcomics is that the audience is joining you in the process of making the comic. Webcomics readers are accustomed to smaller updates.

That’s all for now everyone! Have an amazing week!

BEHIND THE SCENES:

WOOF! This update was a lot of work! It took a lot out of me in a spiritual sense as well. I put a lot of heart into this part of the story. So much has been building up to this point, and so much will be built upon it.

I officially switched to using my own custom brush for these pages and I’m really happy with the results! If there is any interest in me making that custom brush available to the public, let me know!

A quick mention for anyone that doesn’t keep up with my Substack notes, this newsletter is going to be bi-weekly for the foreseeable future. That’ll be four pages every two weeks. Batching four pages together made everything a lot more efficient, and I had much more time to refine these pages. It will be the best thing for everyone!

A BIG THANK YOU (again):

In the last two weeks since the last newsletter, I not only hit 300 subscribers, but I am well on my way to 400. I officially have more subscribers to this newsletter than I have followers, subscribers, or whatever you want to call it on any other platform. The crazier thing is that most of you are total strangers (for now). I can’t thank you all enough. Just the fact that any of you are giving my work the time of day is already a dream come true. Here’s a little illustration to celebrate!

SHOUTOUT:

I wanted to give a quick shoutout to a few of my artist friends that have really been helping out with the process for making my comic over the past few months.

Austin Palozzi- https://substack.com/@austinpalozziart

Dan Dah- https://substack.com/@dandah

Fred Hudson- https://substack.com/@fredzillart

It is next to impossible for an artist to get through such a big project without the help and encouragement of a few great friends. Go check out their awesome art!

Have a good one everybody!

A BIG THANK YOU:

Guys! Since last week, I hit 200 subscribers on this newsletter and gained 40 more beyond that! I am grateful for all of you joining along for the ride. This story means so much to me and I feel overjoyed to be able to share it weekly to over two hundred people. Thank you for reading and for supporting indie creators. You guys are the best!

BEHIND THE SCENES:

I thought I would share the inks from these pages this week, since I normally share the pencils. You can also check out my Substack notes to see some timelapse videos of the creation of these two pages. I can’t wait for next week’s pages!

Have an amazing week everyone!

BEHIND THE SCENES:

I had a big influx of new subscribers this last week from a Substack Note I posted that took off, so welcome everyone! It’s so exciting to be finding an audience for this story that means so much to me!

I feel like these two pages came out so naturally. It makes sense because I have been really looking forward to this specific moment that will take place over the next few pages. I was really excited to draw a scene taking place in a new location. Webcomics are a grind, and only being able to draw two pages a week normally means I’ll be spending months in that one location depending on the length of the scene. It felt really nice to draw Alex’s room, despite the scene being a downer.

I was inspired by Absolute Batman to lighten up the color for the line work for the flashback scenes. I thought it was a great way to differentiate it from the scenes taking place in the present.

WHAT’S INSPIRING ME:

I know I have been sharing comics a lot in this section of the newsletter, but I promise I get inspiration from a lot of other places too, music, cinema, my family, Holy Scripture, etc. With that being said, I’m going to share another inspiring comic this week (ha ha, you can’t stop me)!

I finally read the fourth book in the Head Lopper series by Andrew MacLean. This series is so much fun to read. It follows a brute named Norgal who carries a cursed witch head named Agatha around with him. The world feels very lived in. I love the art style and the simplicity of the compositions throughout it. Go check it out!

All of you are amazing! Have a great week!

BEHIND THE SCENES:

This week’s page went a lot smoother than the last ones. My confidence in making comic pages has gone up so much since the beginning of this project. The more you show up to the drawing table, the easier ideas will flow.

We are getting really close to the end of Chapter Two!

WHAT’S INSPIRING ME:

One word… BONE! Bone was the first graphic novel I ever read. I picked up a random volume of the Scholastic version of it when I was in the 4th grade, and it changed my life. I got the full series in black and white a while ago, and I am consistently blown away by how beautiful this comic is. I aspire to have line-work as smooth as Jeff Smith’s. The pages are so clear, so elegant. That’s all just the cherry on top, Bone is a wonderful and whimsical story that never fails to put a smile on my face.

BEHIND THE SCENES:

Resistance put up a good fight this week. The way that resistance gets to me is through perfectionism. I get caught up in the unimportant, small details and it can keep me from making more progress with my comic.

This week I felt like my inking style wasn’t up to par, and so I randomly decided to switch brushes and the result was something that didn’t really fit the style of the comic up to this point. I almost committed to it, until I had a look back at some earlier pages. Most of the time, being a perfectionist, I just need some healthy distance from my work to really see it for what it is. After looking at one of my comic updates from a few weeks ago, it hit me that I really like the way I’ve been inking my pages!

I ended up inking today’s update again, using the style I’ve used so far, and I’m happy with how it came out. It’s easy to get caught up in the tiniest details as an artist, but I feel like I am at my best when I get out of my own way and just let everything flow.

My comic is not perfect, but I am still really proud of it!

Process photos:

WHAT’S INSPIRING ME:

A couple years ago, my wife and I attended Lightbox! It was an amazing trip. I met a couple artists that have really inspired me over the years, but I wanted to put a spotlight on one of the artists I met there, Benjamin Schipper!

He made a really cool graphic novel called Joe Death and the Graven Image. It’s like Mignola meets rubber-hose animation meets classic American literature. A super cool read that I would highly recommend (he’s working on the second Joe Death right now)!

(I even got a cool little sketch from him!!)

This week I had the thought pop into my mind to re-listen to an interview he had done with SVS learn a while back, and it made me think deeply about why I am an artist in the first place. It made me think about why God gave me this talent in the first place, and how I want to go forward with my storytelling. Go check out the interview here:

Have an amazing week everybody!!

BEHIND THE SCENES:

We’re inching closer and closer to the end of Chapter Two! There are story moments I am so excited to get to in the rest of the chapter. I am really proud of how efficiently I got these two pages done. Here’s some process photos:

LIFE UPDATE:

Life as a dad has been the most rewarding thing in my life. It’s hard to explain how much it has already changed me. Nothing makes me happier than seeing that little baby smile back at me when I say something silly to her. It has enriched my life in every way, especially creatively.

WHAT’S INSPIRING ME:

I was flipping through the first Fantasy Sports book by Sam Bosma this last weekend. It is so creative! The characters are so fun and the world is so easy to immerse yourself into. The art is absolutely beautiful and the hand lettering is such a vibe. Check this one out!

Have an amazing week everybody!!

I’m going to keep this email brief! I was working against the clock to get this one ready in time. I’m working on more time saving techniques. I wanted to thank all of you for subscribing and sharing NOON with others! It has been exciting to consistently find more readers. Have an amazing week!

Happy New Year everyone! I can’t believe it’s already 2026! Seriously, where did 2025 go?

2025 was a big year for me. I have struggled with getting this specific comic project off the ground, and this was the year that I was finally able to get it going and stick with it. A big part of that was making it a daily habit to work on it.

Even though I was pretty consistent with updates last year, I definitely could have done better. A lot of that was because I kept pushing myself to the point of burnout. When I first started the comic, I was releasing roughly eight-page updates every other week, on top of working full time, going to school part time, and being newly married. I burned out, and then I broke my hand at work. It took me a month to heal from the injury, and if it weren’t for that, I might have given up on the comic completely. That broken hand saved it in a weird way.

It took until about the end of the year to realize that I didn’t need to come out with huge updates every week for this project to be successful. I switched to a page format, and I am now committed to doing two pages a week. I want to prioritize consistent weekly updates this year. I feel like I will make more progress through the story that way!

My goal is to finish Chapters Two and Three, along with starting Chapter Four. I definitely think it’s doable!

Thanks for tuning in! Here are the pencils for both pages as well, just to show how messy my process can be. Have an amazing week!