Two months since there has been any activity on this site; one would almost think I’d dropped off the face of the Earth again. Not happening, people; I aten’t dead.
After my birthday in March, things just started happening that were too fast to keep up with, but in hindsight not worth dwelling on, so I didn’t bother to record anything for blog posts. I fell back into routine, just keeping my head down while still trying to keep it above water. I’ve been brainstorming, doodling, jotting down notes and concepts, but not a lot has manifested in the way I want it to, and despite the vitamin supplements I haven’t felt the right energy to create intensively. This wasn’t helped by the changing of the seasons and the workload at the day job playing up my anxieties. That being said, it’s not like I’ve been doing nothing at all.
The 30 Day JLX Amalgam Challenge during March was completed successfully; I was immensely proud of myself for finally finishing a month-long art challenge, having failed several times in the past. Here’s the full compilation of art pieces, stylized as trading cards and a fold-out poster; this was a very 90’s sort of challenge, so I went with the trends of the times:
It felt good to check off the first block of my Art Bingo card for the year. I also hopped onto the 100 Original Characters Challenge; that one’s taking a bit longer, but I’m 66 characters in and spacing them out so that they aren’t overwhelming me.
March in that regard was super productive. April… ugh, where to start with April… I think this is why I didn’t want to blog so much; April was when stuff started to go wrong. My car needed some major repair work, I had to take several days off work to accommodate it, and I cringed every time I looked at my credit balance. My saving grace is that with the end of the month came ComicCon Cape Town. While I was there primarily in a supportive capacity once again, and the stresses of making the convention work were relentless, it sorted itself out in the end, and the profits are going a long way to clearing our debts. Like I said, I didn’t want to dwell on it so much, but I inevitably did, and I think that contributed to my low-power, safe mode-bootup existence for the past few weeks. Prime example: last Saturday I napped from 9am to 1pm with a cat on my lap, then spent the afternoon painting miniatures and binge-watching X-Men ‘97, my brain effectively running on background power.
Through it all, my ambitions have only increased, and I may be making myself unnecessarily depressed by not being able to do all of the things, not having the time or the energy to create everything that passes through my head (and there’s a lot; I must have conceived another six different stories in the past month). In my mind, I feel like I could churn out so many comics if they were my full time job, if I could work from home all day, if I had a fancy Cintiq tablet to make the drawing more natural, if I wasn’t shackled by the constraints of the day-to-day, if if if if if if IF. All of the “ifs,” the “ands,” the “buts,” rattling around in my head and telling me that there’s no way I can do what I want, because that’s just the way things are. Well, in the words of a surprisingly eloquent duck: ““The way things are” stinks!” To change that, I’m going to have to make it happen; I can’t do it alone, but I’m going to have to be the one to take the first step. Once more unto the starting blocks, dear friends, once more; time to get a real routine going again.
First priority: clear the debt; that should be sorted come next month, but I think it might be time to open up commissions again. Any little extra income is going to help; I’m going to have to self-promote like never before, as well as set up a proper payment system. If you came here from Bluesky, my DMs are open; I’ll be posting a commission pricing sheet sometime in the next week.
Second priority: new day job; I’ve set up an account with a recruitment agency, so it’s time to follow up on every recommendation they send my way. Anything that I can find that is closer to home (or better yet, remote work) and can improve my net income for the month will be a welcome relief.
Third priority: get the comics flowing; I’ve been able to squeeze pages out in the past despite everything, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to now. Even if I only get two pages out a week instead of three, or heck even just one, I need to start getting the stories out of my noggin and online.
Everything else is more long term; by the end of the year, it would be nice to buy something like a Cintiq tablet to make the work easier, or a Nintendo Switch to have something to play more casual games on in my downtime, but those are non-essentials. I can still do what I need to do with the equipment already at my disposal, so no excuses on that front.
Maybe one day I’ll have the time, energy and freedom to become the comic producing juggernaut that I’ve always wanted to be; if Jack Kirby could churn out six pages a day, why shouldn’t I be able to eventually as well? Until that day comes, the marathon continues; I needed to sit and rest for a while, but now I’m back at the line, waiting for the starting gun to fire.
BANG.
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