Chris Schweizer

These are roughs drawn up quick for a video, but they'll give you an idea as to what the folks backing the OUTLAW'S APPRENTICE Kickstarter campaign at the $20 or higher level will be getting with their books at no additional cost. The more the campaign raises, the more extra stuff folks get! Like stickers, fold-out posters, a bookmark, a block-printed pocket sketchbook, coloring sheets, a process PDF collection, costuming guides, etc.

The campaign is almost half over, so there's still time to make it climb and see more goodies added to your pile! (Here's the aforementioned video:

It's finally time!

Hey, friends! The first graphic novel in my new Appalachian-inspired swashbuckling fantasy series, Outlaw's Apprentice, is launching on kickstarter in just a little over a week. I'll be releasing the book in mass market paperback format, because what's better suited to fantasy adventure stories than a chunky book that you can cram into a jacket pocket?

If you're inclined, follow the Kickstarter here, and you'll get a notification when it launches.

New episode of OUTLAW'S APPRENTICE is up!

Read on Webtoons:

Or on Patreon:

Hey there, friends!

I've been working on my new series, a swashbuckling fantasy adventure called OUTLAW'S APPRENTICE, for quite a while now, and I'm VERY excited to announce that it starts (serializing) today!

I'll be releasing a new installment each Wednesday on Webtoons and on my Patreon. I hope you'll give it a try!

Quick process post: the final, colored art for a couple of panels in OUTLAW'S APPRENTICE, the original art for it, and the digital roughs I used to... I was gonna say "write it," but I think I'll say "compose" it. The dialogue, moment choice, the composition, it's all the "writing" but that term suggests that the words and overarching story are driving things, but how the image is laid on the page both affects and is affected by those words.

How much room there is in the compositional space between one character and another dictates how much dialogue either speaks and a necessary line might compositionally suggest that a character has to perform a physical movement in order to provide the space for that balloon, and that movement may well dictate how the scene plays out (climbing a wall, for instance, and thus being in a position to see over it).

Everything affects everything else (or can, if you allow it to do so), and so often the term "writing" suggests a stage that precedes roughs rather than writing THROUGH them. So "composing" might be my favorite term for it.

The final Companions of Christmas figure: Saint Justo, the Christmas Samurai!

Candlemas (today!) is the final day of what the traditional Christmas season, and midnight's approaching! Be sure to take down any remaining decorations, because otherwise you might be visited by Saint Justo.

St Justo was a daimyô during the Sengoku era, but his adherence to Catholicism saw him banished from his beloved Japan. He went into exile, and grew terribly ill from his grief, but wanted to celebrate one last Christmas in full, so he waited until midnight after Candlemas to give up his ghost.

Some PRIDE AND PREJUDICE characters for the Austen fans

For 2026, my Patreon backers will be getting a 100+ character LOTR paper figure set. If you want to get 'em by mail (I'll be sending out a batch on natural card each month for the whole year as a fun bonus to go along with the monthly fine art prints), be sure to sign up at the "Captain" tier by tonight to get January's batch!

Companions of Christmas: Derby Tup!

Many, many years ago, a butcher named Joe Funny, who plied his trade in north Derbyshire, would travel from door to door on New Years’ Eve with his wife, leading a flock of goats a’string. One year, the last goat in this doomed line was Tup.

Over the course of many New Years' celebrations, Joe the Butcher and Mrs. Funny had built quite a demand for a service that they provided: they would butcher one of the goats right at the home of the customer for the customers' New Years' feast, providing the very freshest meat one could get.

As his fellows were slaughtered one-by-one, Tup began to sweat, knowing it would be his turn before long. Finally, he was the last goat a’string, and knew that he had to act decisively if he wanted to keep from having his innards emptied in front of a crowd of cheering revelers.

“You had more custom than expected,” Tup said to the pair as they led him along. “You brought too few goats, and there are at least five more homes hosting parties who would certainly want to buy your wares. Selling out when there are still customers at hand is like throwing money in a fire!”

Joe the Butcher shrugged, and said that it couldn’t be helped. But Tup offered a solution. “You’ve more meat at your shop. Send Mrs. Funny to fetch it, along with blood, and I’ll show you how you might increase your earnings.”

So Mrs. Funny fetched the meat, and the blood, and they went to the next house. The revelers welcomed the pair and their offering enthusiastically, but when it was time to do the actual butchering, the trio put Tup’s plan into effect.

Joe the Butcher slid his knife from Tup’s throat to his belly, and Mrs. Funny caught the blood in a bowl. But Joe had used the dull, back side of the knife, and Mrs. Funny poured blood gathered from the shop. The butchering was an illusion!

Tup employed all of his (rather broad) acting talents, hurling himself from one part of the room to the other in wild, manic death throes, simultaneously spouting laments about his own demise with enthusiastic wishes that the revelers would enjoy the feast his corpse would be providing.

At least, spent, he collapsed to the floor. The couple spirited him behind a curtain, made some chopping noises, and provided the party with meat from the shop.

Then they performed the exact same scheme at the rest of the houses on their route.

This method proved far easier than butchering meat on demand outside the confines of their own shop, and so, the next year, they took their stores with them, and enacted the same sham butchery on old Tup again, at each of their customers’ homes. And again, the year after that.

It didn’t take the people of Derbyshire long to realize that the same goat was being “butchered” each time, but they so enjoyed Tup’s death scenes, which grew ever more stylized and grandiose, that they happily went along with the conceit.