Welcome to the special 1st Anniversary poster. Sorry it is late. I had one completely finished but asking TB’s opinion left both of us shaking our heads at it going, “What was I thinking?” I put over 7 hours of work into it but at 2:30am last night we both decided to can it and sleep on it instead of delivering a less-than-adequate piece to display for this momentus occasion.

And so, we present the two last lovelies for Shards: Goldie and Cindy. It was more than a great idea to have them as the spokesladies modelling their full glory to announce the end of our first year. The last strip, where Alice falls asleep in her room, marks the end of Chapter 1. We decided it was about time so I am putting the rest of the planned strips, and the last two prologues, into Chapter 2. Monday will be Chapter 2’s exciting cover and the strips will continue from there. Big things ahead so we hope you’ll stick with us!

As promised, Cindy and Goldie will be up shortly after this post. Their bios are done. Just need to round out the artwork. I am a little behind in posting all the previous voting incentives under the Gallery but never fear, it shall be done!

Ah, yes. I have been waiting to spread the news. It was good advice I read in a webcomic-making book which stated that your readers don’t want to hear you whine. That doesn’t mean that you should keep ALL drama away. It adds familiarity, comradery, and most people enjoy a little inside info. I am indeed 4 months pregnant with our second child. I have been diligent in keeping our many life problems we’ve faced out of the blog/news for the comic. It’s been a rough year. It’s hard not to get teary-eyed reading TB’s post:) I’ll try my darnedest to keep up with the schedule I’ve set for the strip and the promised extra content whenever it appears, and to keep any baby comments to a minimum LOL. Unless ya wanna know. If you do, I’m on Facebook just as Jade Griffin and you can usually find out stuff there. But here, I try and keep the writing on its own level. I am, after all, a writer as well as an artist;) Just not published anything big for money.

So, to close out, I hope you’ve enjoyed a year of Shards. Here’s to at least a few more, eh? There’s lots to tell, lots to learn (for me as an artist and for you as a reader!), and lots more to do to make Shards as good as it can be.

Thanks for a great year, all of you:)

JG