Everyone has Monsters.

They’re those voices in your head that whisper discouragement and negativity, those stucknesses and blocks and fears that keep us from moving forward. I’ve got a few of my own, and I bet you do, too.

The little guy on the left there is one of my Monsters — he just wants to be friends, but his big scary teeth can get in the way of safe snuggling. Still, having seen him out in the light, I know he doesn’t really mean any harm.

The brilliant Havi Brooks has an awesome-looking new product in the works: The Monster Manual and Coloring Book*. And I really, really want it! But it’s tax time and money is tight, so I’m doing a limited-edition offering to help fund my own Monster adventures:

Draw Your Monster

We’ve all got our Monsters, real and imaginary. Do you have lurking fears that you’d like to bring out into the light? Is your dog sometimes a wicked creature? Do you just really want a cartoon of a cute monster?

I’ve got you covered!

For $59, you, too, can have your very own Monster — I’ll even mail you the original, or a high-quality print if we end up going digital.

What I’ll need to get started:

• A snail mail address for your original monster to be mailed to you.
• To talk about your Monster! If you’ve already got a vision of your Monster, great! If not, we can email back & forth until we have a clear idea of your Monster’s form. Questions to start with:
  • Fuzzy? Lizardy? Bat-winged? Multi-eyed? Insectoid? Tentacley? Fog? Wall? Creeping Black Void?
  • Is your Monster growling, hiding, making puppy eyes? Sheltering, blocking, posing nonchalantly?
  • Color preferences?
• Generally speaking, I will decide the medium (ie, pen and ink, watercolor, whatever) based on the special needs of your Monster.

I’ve temporarily reopened commissions for these — if you’d like one, just buy my Be a Cartoon package and let me know you want a Monster instead.

*Not an affiliate link so there nyeah.

Actually, it’s two contests in one. I’m promoting both Not Dead Yet Studios and its sister site, Antemortem Arts, so I’m giving away a prize from each site.

The Prizes:

• Be a Cartoon! Get yourself made into a nifty cartoon character, for use in web or print, however you want to do it. Since it’s a giveaway, I’ll even send you the original free! A $45 value.
• Tiny Painting! Brighten up a corner of your world with a teeny little painting on its very own wooden easel, of nearly anything your heart desires. A $60 value.

The Rules:

• Comment here to enter, and include a valid email address so I can contact you if you win!
• Let me know in your comment whether you want the Cartoon, the Painting, or Either. It will be two separate drawings, with two different winners.
• Random numbers will decide, probably using polyhedral dice for maximum geekiness.
• Drawing will take place at the end of the day on Friday 1/8/2010. Unless I forget, and then it’ll be Saturday.
• Winners will be notified and, once they’ve accepted, posted here so you all know who got lucky.
• Prizes are good for 6 months, though of course I’m hoping you’ll be so excited you’ll want to get started right away!

Got any questions? The comments are good for that, too, or you can email me privately.

Good luck!

Entries are now CLOSED! Winners announced soon.

I’ve added a new service (actually, I had it all along, but it didn’t have its own page) — Cartoonified You.

I’ve been developing my own style as an illustrator over the past few years, and I’m finally feeling comfortable enough doing little comic-art people to offer it as a service to someone other than me.

I’ve done pets before, and I’m happy to add them in, but pets are as individual as people, which is why it’s on the “extras” list. A few props are fine, and in fact expected to add to the you-ness of it, but your giant mad science machine for summoning the Elder Gods to this dimension would definitely require an extra fee. Your laptop, on the other hand, would definitely be included. Unless it’s got Cthulhu on the screen, because risk of insanity is always extra.

So how much, you ask? A mere $40 for a cartoon of you, for use in web or print.

Come on, you know you want one.