Ray – Hell, Inc.

Here There Be Monsters

I’ve drawn weird monsters on bathroom signs in a couple of series now, and every time it’s because I’m imagining a fantasy map with “here there be dragons” written on it and applying that logic to toilet signs. I think I used it first in Hockeypocalypse, but regardless of which was first, it’s appeared in that and in Hell, Inc. In this week’s Patreon preview, I talked about how early the geography of the office was decided on, but how the reader gets that information much more slowly.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

“Game Time” Art Middleton is Employee of the Week! Follow him on Twitter, if that’s still a thing you do, or check out his Twitch streams, OR… do both of those things. Also, head over to the Hell, Inc. Patreon, where you can support the continued existence of your favourite office demons and read new strips early (see above!). It turns out that humans, like demons, need money to live! Me, specifically.

In other news, social media’s slow collapse strengthens the case for Top Webcomics. The Old Internet becomes the New Internet! Click the banner below to vote daily.

Next Week: Hey, so if you didn’t know WHERE the bathroom was… Read it early, and with author commentary, on Patreon!

But First, Cerberus

Sometimes I forget that Doris is the receptionist for the office, and can be used in that capacity for joke delivery purposes! It’s also fun to bring the janitors back, because I like drawing those green weirdos. They’re a department, like I.T., that could probably carry their own comic. Not them, specifically, because they’re barely characters, but I think the ideas of “I.T. Crowd but in Hell” or “demon janitors” have something to them as workplace comedies.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Sebastian is Employee of the Week, and you can, too! It’s how I have predictable money, which is both Cool and Good because we live in capitalist hell-world. If everyone who read the comic in a month chipped in $1, I’d be able to turn down most freelance work and focus on doing Hell, Inc. stuff and my own graphic novels! That would be preeeeetty cool. Especially now, because I am brooooke.

You can help Hell, Inc. for free by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which has been a great way to draw in new readers. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: And now, non-Cerberus business. Read it early on Patreon!

Huffing Misery

You probably shouldn’t huff misery – like any inhalant, it will kill a whole lot of brain cells. Like sadness whippets. This week’s Patreon preview is about the amount of time it takes to make a comic compared to the amount of time it takes to read it.

This strip is the “Halloween” one, which I put in quotes because all of them and none of them could be considered Halloween-y. It’s a story where everyone is monsters, which is a point in favour of Halloween, but it also doesn’t really have what I would consider Halloween energy. I haven’t really thought about how Halloween might be reflected in Hell, Inc. Maybe I should? If nothing else, drawing everyone in dumb costumes might be fun.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Barrie Deatcher is Employee of the Week, and will get to read my next graphic novel as I draw it! It was intended to be Rent-A-Thug, but now it might end up being a different thing, depending on how some things pan out! Freelancing is chaos, as I often say, and part of that means pitching a lot of things, and almost all of them being rejected! In this specific case, it also means getting offered an illustration job completely unrelated to all of the work I’ve been doing on pitches. Patreon is my predictable source of income, and I would very much like it to grow to the point where I can get into a workflow of webcomic + graphic novel, without worrying about pitches and the publishing industry.

Remember Top Webcomics? That’s still a thing, so if you want to boost Hell, Inc. in the rankings and funnel some new readers in, click on the banner below. You can vote daily.

Next Week: Important Cerberus Update. Read it early on Patreon!

The Infinity of Helens

In this week’s Patreon preview, I wrote a whole big thing about how many drafts it took to get to Helen’s dialogue in the last panel, then it gets eaten by posting gremlins. So then I wrote another thing that’s mostly about coming up with props that add to the world of the comic, like the mugs with art on them.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Brien Aronov is Employee of the Week, and you can too! Get Employee of the Week shoutouts, read my next graphic novel as I draw it, or commission digital art! All of those things also help provide a level of predictability to my income that basically doesn’t exist otherwise, because freelancing is chaos.

If you want to keep up with what I’m working on, what my friends are doing, and (most importantly) see cute photos of my pets, sign up for my monthly(ish) newsletter!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a helpful source of new readers! It’s early in the month, which means votes are more valuable as the rankings reset.

Next Week: The Infinity of Helens causes doubt about Ray’s patented Stay Awake Juice. Read it early on Patreon!

The Bee Tooth Rule

The bee tooth rule is a very good one, I think. If you’re doing anything and your teeth start to feel like they’re full of bees, you should probably stop doing that thing. That line is courtesy the time I forgot that I had already taken my ADHD medication, and the accidental doubling of the dosage made it feel like my teeth were vibrating. I don’t recommend it!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

If you want to keep up with what I’m working on, what my friends are doing, and (most importantly) see cute photos of my pets, sign up for my monthly(ish) newsletter!

You can also vote for Hell, Inc. on Top Webcomics, which is a helpful source of new readers! It’s early in the month, which means votes are more valuable as the rankings reset.

Next Week: Ray’s Stay Awake Juice. Read it early on Patreon!

The Bus Waits for No Demon

This week’s comic made me hyper-aware that my buffer is down to two weeks, which means I need to get drawing again. My efforts lately have been focused on a new pitch packet (one of those will land, one of these days) and BURGERPunk stuff. There was a loooooot of BURGERPunk stuff to draw.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

You can help Hell, Inc. for free by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which has been a great way to draw in new readers. Click the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Getting Helen OFF the bus isn’t easy, either. Read it early on Patreon!

Bat-Steve

Da-nanna-nannaaaa *spinning Steve face transition*

This week’s Patreon preview was about the two important questions that need to be answered by the scripting process, which stemmed from a conversation I had with some other cartoonists.

In other news, I was sick with a cold last week, which is the first time that’s happened to me since 2018. I don’t recommend it!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Ben Hamlin, host of Syndicated with Lesley and Ben (among other casted pods), is Employee of the Week, and I just made my fourth appearance on the show, this time discussing crime drama Better Call Saul! If you want to hear me talk about how artfully executed BCS is, then good news, you’ll have a great time listening to that podcast!

Patreon! It’s a predictable source of income, so if you like things that I do, check it out.

Also check out the newsletter, which is how to hear about what I’m up to without needing to subject yourself to things like Twitter.

You can also support Hell, Inc. for free by telling your friends about it, because that is infinitely better than any promotion I can do. Also voting on Top Webcomics by clicking the banner below is very helpful!

Next Week: Return of the Mack? No, I don’t think they make buses. Read it early on Patreon!

Hell Transit, Inc.

The Patreon preview for this strip features talk about the process differences between physical and digital drawing, and how this page would have probably been significantly easier if I drew Hell, Inc. digitally.

Spiralling Wildly

I’m trying to keep up the habit of writing about process in the Patreon early looks, and this time it’s about what goes into deciding where to place the “camera” for panels and an unusual factor that can influence that.

I’m typing this in the wee hours of the morning, having returned home from Calgary Horror Con. I’m always a bit nervous about first time shows, but thankfully it was a rousing success!

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week AGAIN, because she helped sell a bunch of books at Calgary Horror Con. If YOU want to be Employee of the Week, you don’t have to sell any books at Horror Con, you can just toss a dollar into the tip jar that is the Hell, Inc. Patreon! It is a much more predictable way to support my art, because conventions are like a very tiring form of gambling.

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which helps bring in new readers. Click on the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: The spiral, it keeps spiralling. Because it’s a spiral, and that’s really the only thing they do. Read it early on Patreon.

Time Keeps on Ticking

I wrote another Patreon piece about the process of making the strip, in this case focusing on different ways that the same scene can be broken into panels and why those different choices might be made. It’s been fun to get back into the headspace of creation and think about what other versions of the strip might have looked like.

This weekend, I’ll be at the Calgary Horror Con with Hell, Inc. (in RPG and comic form), Hockeypocalypse, GWAR, and probably some other stuff that has interest overlap.

EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK:

Cait is Employee of the Week, and will ALSO be at Calgary Horror Con. If YOU want to be Employee of the Week, and also help me keep making art you like instead of continuing to flail about in the chaos that is freelancing. Patreon is the most convenient way to do that, and you also get to see a bunch of cool art way before other people!

You can also help Hell, Inc. by voting for it on Top Webcomics, which helps bring in new readers. Click on the banner below to vote daily!

Next Week: Doug is in control of his life, right? Right? Read it early on Patreon.