Tag / Matt (Comic)

by sixlakesstudios

Update 11/12/21

Personal: Eric Horsted, sitcom writer and producer, came to speak at my college about a month ago! I was pretty stoked because it was pretty cool to hear about his work in the industry, how he got started, and the challenges of being a screenwriter. It was also very cool to meet a gay man who had worked his way up in the industry to earn a resume that includes shows like Futurama, the Simpsons, and Reba. After taking this picture, he said “I hope to see your name on the screen someday.” This was amazing. I am now even more inspired to pursue my writing and screenwriting goals. Of course, I will stay in college as a Geoscience major, but I am keeping my Screenwriting minor, and will take his advice of finding time every day to just sit down and write. Thank you for coming, Eric!

The Runaways: Stay tuned for more information regarding an expansion of this story. Hint: It will be a novel, but not the kind of novel you might be thinking of… 😉

The Aviary of Henry Weston: The novelization will be commencing over winter break, and I’m setting a goal to have the first draft ready by next year’s winter break.

Unfortunately, the short story didn’t make it past judging at the Writer’s Digest Contest, but don’t worry, I’ll be reposting it on Tapas and Wattpad. I’ll also be writing something for the upcoming contest. 🙂

Comics: TVOV, Parker and Luca, and Matt are being drawn, but some delays are expected with the rest of fall quarter coming up.

Also, I just got the new Windows 11 upgrade, and Paint got the biggest update it’s gotten in years! It finally doesn’t look like it’s stuck in the mid-aughties! So, I may have a smoother time drawing, but I have yet to try it, so let’s see how it goes.

There is also a fourth comic in the works, but more information on that later.

Oh! And make sure you follow TVOV on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Blurred Lines: Updates will be slow. Forgive me.

Other Projects: More work is underway, but the biggest project right now:

The First Anniversary!

Thank you all so much for viewing my work over the past year. Since SLS’s debut (as “Cascades Stories”) on November 12th, 2020, I have started a comic and a few books, gotten my poems shared by Impromptu Writers, and worked up the nerve to submit to the WD contest.

So, please, keep an eye out for the SLS First Anniversary Video, premiering Thursday, November 18th, 2021 on YouTube!

Thanks for reading!

-Matt

by sixlakesstudios

Update 10/31/2021 (Halloween!)

ARRRRRRGH, MATEYS!!!!! I be Four-Eyes the Fabulous, and this be my color-changing pumpkin friend, Jack O’Lantern! We be takin’ over this here website!

Just kidding! It’s me, Matt! Happy Halloween, readers!

If I’m being honest, I didn’t used to like Halloween (sensory overload), but I’ve grown to it. I just have to avoid anything that would cause me to freak out, shut down, or have nightmares. But I’m getting better! In fact, I am even watching the 1978 John Carpenter classic slasher: “Halloween!”

Now, onto the news:

The Vikings of Vancouver: More TVOV coming underway! I will only post a few more comics on WordPress, before shifting distribution exclusively to Webtoon and Tapas. Most likely, I will stop posting TVOV on here after the New Year.

Parker and Luca: I am getting started on Parker and Luca comics right now. I will try to create a character sheet for them as well.

Matt (Comic): I will be starting work on this comic soon.

Mason and Eric: I am one of those people who tries not to get all “Christmassy” (or “Winter Holiday-y” overall) until the Saturday after American Thanksgiving, but what the heck! I’ll announce this year’s Christmas Special! The 2021 Christmas Special is: “Mason and Eric!” More information to be coming next week. [Postponed, not canceled]

The Waterfall: Don’t worry! I haven’t forgotten about The Waterfall. Updates will resume sometime in December.

Tales of Human Nature Serial Killer: Coming May 2022!

Blurred Lines: Well, the story is coming along now, and will be updated as much as I can through November.

Max Fields #1: Coming February 2022!

Blue City Mysteries: I am in the process of writing stories for the series right now, but I’m still trying to figure out the characters, plotlines, and each individual story. I have some of my fictional version of Lakewood, Washington built up right now, but it’s not complete yet.

Also, I am not trying to put Lakewood in a negative light. I just wanted to set the series somewhere that is a) A diverse, medium-sized suburbia in the Pacific Northwest and b) close and near to my heart. I love that city. I lived there for a few years as a young kid, I have family and friends there, and I have a lot of memories there.

Voldensfjordian Murders: If you follow my work on “Chapters” I am so sorry I haven’t updated “A Voldensfjordian Murder” or its sequels and spin-off in a while! I am trying to get back on track, but it’ll be easier when I’m out of school for Winter Break.

If you haven’t seen them, please be sure to check them out!

Other Works: I have so many ideas in my mind, I can’t keep track of them! But I will be sure to keep you updated, and whenever I start truly working on a new project, you, dear readers, will be the first to know!

Personal: I am doing well in the Geosciences Major, and can’t wait for my winter quarter Screenwriting Class. I am also doing better, mentally, now that I am doing in-person classes. I am excited for what comes next for me in college, on this website, and in life! Also, my brother turned 15 years old TODAY! A Halloween birthday, how about that?!

P.S. Yes, those are real earrings. My Ears have been pierced since February of 2019, and earrings are one of my weird, random interests. The strange part, though? I’m not a fan of piercings elsewhere. Just ears. Not sure why.

Bone-us: Here’s a picture of my dog, Pizza, in 2019, dressed in his Halloween Costume.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2021!

BE SAFE, EAT CANDY AND HAVE SOME FUN!

(Hey, that rhymes!)

by sixlakesstudios

Upcoming Comics (As of August 2021)

Comics will be available on Tapas, Webtoon, and this website (for select strips only).

The Vikings of Vancouver follows Norwegian-Canadian chef and restaurateur Marcus Halvorsen, his wife Mary, a retired police officer who currently works in retail, fraternal twin sons Marcus Junior, a musician, and Marvin, an autistic Food Science student at Davie University, daughters Trina, who plays for numerous collegiate sport teams, younger daughters Green, founder of the Eco Club at every school she’s been attended since preschool, and grandson Mark, Junior’s son from a high-school relationship. They live in a fictional version of Davie Village, Vancouver, in a large townhouse across from Voyager’s Landing, the Scandinavian cuisine restaurant Marcus co-owns and operates, along with the Halvorsens’ Norwegian Buhund, Gjørmete (“Muddy” in Norwegian), and Marcus’s American sous chef, Frankie Morales, who is also Marvin’s Boyfriend.

The Vikings of Vancouver primieres on 9/20/2021, which also happens to be my 20th Birthday!

TVOV is rated 14+ for strong language, social commentary, sexual references, suggestive dialogue, slapstick humor, and references to alcohol, gambling, pot, and adult media.

Parker and Luca: The shortest way to describe my second comic, which premieres on New Year’s Day 2022, would be “Baby Blues meets Husband and Husband.”

Parker Johannsen and Luca Braz have been married for years, and have been raising two daughters and a son in the fictional Monroe District of Spokane, Washington. Luca works as the athletic director for Hell’s Canyon University, while Parker works from home as a graphic designer and podcaster. Their children are 12-year-old Xylon, 8-year-old Ruby, and 5-year-old Morgan.

Parker and Luca is rated PG for mild language, suggestive content (involving the adult characters, not the kids!), social commentary, and alcohol references.

Matt is just some “slice of life”/social commentary comics I draw about my life, including my expiriences with ADD, Asperger’s, body image issues, social awkwardness, navigating college during COVID, and my coming out.

There will be many characters featured here, but mainly, the comic will showcase me and Blue, a baby blanket with a plush dog head who I have held dear since my uncle Mike gave him to be when I was born.

Matt premieres on Valentine’s Day 2022.

Matt is rated 14+ for language, social commentary, suggestive dialogue, and references to mental health issues and adult media.

by sixlakesstudios

Update 7/23/2021

The Waterfall: I originally started writing this as an entry for Reedsy’s weekly prompts contest. However, I got so into the story, I realized it might go over the word limint, so I just found a good place to stop it, and said “To be continued” at the end before I submitted it. When the judging round is over, I plan to break my submission up into two parts, publish the first part on this website, but the full story will be published on Tapas and Wattpad.

Here is some information to know about “The Waterfall:”

Patty Newman and her wife Tess are cleaning out her late grandfather’s house in 2022, when Patty finds a note from him written on the back of a picture, in which he reveals himself as bisexual. He tells her the location of a diary where she learns about how her grandfather, Murray, had a secret relationship with his best friend Fred in 1950s Oregon. After this revelation, the plot switches back and forth between 2022, where Patty and Tess are searching for more information, and the 1950s, where Fred and Murray navigate being in a very secretive male-male relationship during the age of McCarthyism.

The story is set mainly in the fictional town of France, Oregon, which is based on the real life Seaside, Oregon; Cannon Beach, Oregon; Long Beach, Washington; and Ocean Shores, Washington.

The Waterfall is rated PG-13, for alcohol, language, outdated terms, and suggestive content.

Tales of Human Nature: I have scrapped the cult story in it’s entirety, and and going for a new angle with volume one. It will still be set in the fictional town of Rhododenron Heights, Washington, which is based on the real life Poulsbo, Washington; Steilacoom, Washington; and Astoria, Oregon. I am not sure if I will have it ready in time for Halloween, but fingers crossed. If not, at least Christmas, as the story starts just before Christmas, or maybe for Halloween 2022.

Here is the new idea for volume one of Tales of Human Nature (each volume will still be standalone, as previously stated):

Volume one will be titled “Serial Killer.” It is set between December 2007 and February 2008. Autistic high school senior Ryker Whitman lives with his parents and older siblings in Rhododendron Heights. His parents, Jane and Lewis, used to have high paying jobs until the Great Recession (a financial crisis that greatly affected the world in the late aughties). Now, they’re working two minimum wage jobs each to scrape enough cash to get the family through the holidays. If that wasn’t enough, a serial killer has become active in the area, dubbed the “Heights Glossectomist,” or “H.G.” by local media. The case gets more complicated, as H.G. leaves a letter for Ryker the morning after every murder explaining his actions.

What is H.G.’s Modus Operandi? What is their motive? Why are they telling Ryker about their murders? Find out in Tales of Human Nature: Serial Killer.

TOHN: SK is rated “R” for violence, language, alcohol, and sexual scenarios.

Comics: Three comics are in the queue for release during the 2021-22 Television Year (for those who don’t live in the United States, our Television Year is September to August, so the comics will debut between September 2021 and August 2022).

Comic #1: The Vikings of Vancouver: Follows the Norwegian-Canadian Halvorsen family: Marcus and Mary Halvorsen, their aduts children, their grandson, their dog, and their younger son’s live-in boyfriend, all of whom live in a townhouse in a fiction version of Davie Village, Vancouver, British Columbia. Even though this is a comic about a family, it is not family friendly. It is more of a cringe-comedy and sitcom-inspired comedy. 14+, 9/20/2021

Comic #2: Parker and Luca: Follows married couple Parker Johannsen and Luca Paiva, fathers raising three children in Spokane, Washington. I got the idea for this strip years ago, actually, after realizing that while there has been more LGBTQ+ visibility on television, there aren’t many shows with same-sex parents. The percentage of shows featuring same-sex parenting, in my perspective, goes down even further if you only count comedies. I am not a parent myself (I plan to have four kids in my thirties, but there is no place in my life for a kids right now), but I draw inspiration from my expiriences babysitting my younger brother, as well as stories from other people. PG, 1/1/2022

Comic #3: Matt: This is just some “slice of life”/social commentary comics I draw about my life, including my expiriences with ADD, Asperger’s, body image issues, social awkwardness, (self-diagnosed) mild social anxiety, navigating college during COVID, and my coming out. 14+, 2/14/2022

Blue City Mysteries: I’m working on fleshing the first few stories out.

Youtube and Patreon: I am hoping to start making Youtube content on both the Matt Slater and Six Lakes Studios Youtube pages, and get the Patreon Page up and running by the time SLS turns one. I plan to have the Patreon page membership charge by creation, rather than by month, just in case I get some slow months during the upcoming school year.

Tapas: I have set up my short story collection to premiere with “The Friend Lock” and “The Curious Store” on Saturday, with the former at 9 AM PST, and the latter at 10 AM PST. “Carousel, Carousel” will follow at 11 AM PST. They are already on Wattpad. Here are the links for Wattpad and Tapas.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

-Matt