I had been hoping to bring both comics back at the end of January, but there have been a lot of commission orders in the past two weeks as I made my last call for Monday. Typically, I get 3-5 of these last minute orders, but this time I got about sixteen, several which are large group orders, and one order prospectively with 17-34 characters. So… a little more work than I planned for, but I think I can get back to making comics in mid-February, with a late February return date.
When the comics return, they won’t quite be the same format or the same pacing. I am going to be dropping the quality of the art so I can focus on the writing and catch up to where I want to be. I’ll switch to a sketchier style for both comics, with decreased panels/characters per page, and increased posting dates.
Longer post under the cut, in the typical jeinu fashion.
You may be frustrated with my decision, especially if you enjoyed the art specifically, but I hope you’ll at least hear me out. I really tried to justify my time on these comics with Patreon, with commissions, with bending over backwards to make room in my schedule. But I’m changing careers professionally and literally won’t have the time to devote to this as I used to. I still plan on drawing and creating and doing commissions, but it won’t be my main income anymore. It’s not sustainable with my larger life goals.
Why not post the same quality art, but monthly or twice monthly? Well, the pacing was strangled by my schedule and utter stubbornness to create ‘print-worthy’ pages. TotS is supposed to be having this trickle-truth turned deluge of reveals right now, and Miamaska is supposed to have its plots start domino-ing into one another. That won’t be effective with one or two updates a month. People aren’t engaged when the story dragged along at the rate it was either. I’m not sure many miss it now even.
Ergo, sketchier style. It won’t quite be like the Patreon bonus comics, nor the colored sketch options I offer for commissions. Probably something looser, that I can realistically maintain part-time on a Saturday for the week’s buffer. I’m sure I’ll make some fancier panels here and there for emphasis. I do not plan on changing my approach to writing; both comics will still be pretty inscrutable and inaccessible in many places. I will probably be experimenting with story ‘density’ as the change in updates will affect the rate of the story.
The comics therefore won’t have a print version with this abrupt style shift, but they haven’t been ‘print quality’ at any point of either comic’s production besides. My art may have surface level polish to look presentable, but I’m missing a lot of fundamentals in understanding sequential art and basic anatomy. I’ve been scraping by on a freelancer’s schedule for so long that the only time I have to practice is to draw fan art on my time “off,” which is itself, often quite rushed. I had my chance to be where I wanted to be, and even if I can’t get there with art, then maybe someday I can get there someday with writing.
But yeah, long story short, I’m moving on from drawing as my main career with sustainable personal projects as a long-term goal. Not moving on from drawing entirely, can’t stress that enough, and not moving on from the comics. I’m committed to getting these stories done, even if it’s not the way I had always imagined. I cannot have them haunting me forever.