Something that I resolved to keep in mind this year, is to always acknowledge when I’ve accomplished something, even if it’s something small; whether it’s a piece of art, a particularly grueling workout, or a household chore, I take note of when I’ve done well.
In my current state of mind, those are the kind of things that keep me going when I feel like the world is out to get me.
Anyone who saw my #gentlecomicshabit post yesterday will know what the big event of the week is; for those who didn’t, there’s no beating around the bush:
I’m unemployed again.
My probationary period with the company came to an end, and they decided that the position they had tried to carve out for me wasn’t a good fit with the organization as a whole, and as a result there was no longer a place for me there. While they acknowledged my talent in some areas and pointed out my difference in tastes elsewhere, it didn’t matter in the end because there just wasn’t enough for me to do that could justify my continued employment.
I’m not going to lie: this sucks. I don’t know if the full weight of it hasn’t hit yet, or if I’m just numb to the idea of being let go at this point, but I’m just feeling adrift at the moment. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, got up with a raging headache and was generally out of sorts all morning; thankfully some food, some meds and a nap helped with that by the end of the day, plus my workout involved a lot of shadowboxing in order for me to relieve some stress. No comic upload alongside this blog, call it a skip day, I’ll have something new tomorrow.
On Monday, I’ll be going into the office one more time, just to fill out all the necessary paperwork, and then it’s back into the job market for me. I already have a few ideas where to start, as well as some friends and family that can hopefully point me in the right direction to find something new. On the other hand, since I’ll be at home all day, it’ll be a good opportunity to keep building my portfolio; I doubled down on writing the last time, now I’ve go no excuse not to go all out on art.
To that end, I want to start frequenting my local library at least a few times a week. As much as I enjoy being at home with the cats and having the fridge almost within arms reach, such things are a major distraction, and I think I could get a lot done by spending three or four hours in a quiet, office-like environment instead.
No time to sit on my laurels like before; three months of employment is nowhere near as exhausting as four years without a significant break, so this weekend will be my only grace period. Come Monday, the real work begins.
Ciao for now.
It happened again, just when everything seemed to be going well…
I’ll figure out my next step over the weekend. Right now, I don’t want to think about anything.
I tend to have trouble writing full scripts for my comics; because I tend to think visually, I often struggle when I have to write out all the beats instead of just leaping into the artwork.
No joke, that’s like 90% of my writing process right there. One of the many reasons my current comics are taking so long is that I’m trying to be meticulous and get everything down in the scripting phase, to avoid mishaps or continuity errors down the line.
My sleep schedule just doesn’t seem to allow me to sleep past a certain point in the morning anymore; I don’t know if I’m just used to the cats arriving for food, or whatever else it might be, but I feel like I could be more productive with it.
As someone who uses a lot more physical and social energy than I do on her day job, I would not dare try and rob her of much needed recovery time.
I am grateful to have a day job, but there are days when I feel a bit out of my depth. A chance to draw something for someone else and knowing that they appreciate it is all too rare.
Myself and the person in question did a little art trade over Bluesky, drawing each other’s original characters, just for fun. I was well pleased with the artwork I received, and the artwork I produced seemed to go over well, too. All in all, it was the best part of my day.
The subject of this comic might be the antithesis of a “gentle” comics habit, but the moment I start making excuses, that’s where the slippery slope begins.
I chose not to count any of the hourly comics I drew yesterday as part of the #gentlecomicshabit, so by the letter of the concept, I skipped a day and therefore cannot miss a second day in a row. So even though I was excessively productive yesterday, and my body is sluggish from a large meal followed by exercise, I refuse to break the habit building this early in the game. We press on, in the name of bettering one’s self!
Yesterday (Feb 1st) was Hourly Comic Day, an annual comics challenge of drawing a short comic for every hour that you are awake. Usually this isn’t practical for me to participate in, but this year it fell on a Saturday, giving me a lot more leeway in how I could structure my day.
I’m quite proud of the results, especially since this was my first time taking part, so here are all the strips that came out of this challenge:
Yes, 20 hours; that’s actually not too out of place for me these days, though admittedly this was a very active day, with all the cleaning we got done.
I don’t know if/when I’ll participate in this challenge in the future, but if it ever falls on a weekend again, I may just give it another go because this was fun.
Ciao for now.
It’s Saturday, let’s get back into the blogging habit.
Habit building is the name of the game around here lately; I’ve been sticking with the #gentlecomicshabit for a week now, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. It’s a neat little drawing exercise to follow up my daily physical exercise, of which I have started my second 30 Day Challenge of the year. Going strong on both fronts, I think I can manage a weekly blog post too (he says hopefully).
You may notice that there’s no #gentlecomicshabit post today, which is perfectly normal. The challenge itself allows for a missed day here and there due to extenuating circumstances, though preferably no two consecutive days. The reason for the skipped post today is that I’m working on a different comics challenge, namely the Hourly Comic Day challenge. This one challenges the participants to draw a small comic for every hour of the day that they are awake, optionally posting them throughout the day. This would basically amount to the equivalent of the daily habit building comic, just every hour of the day.
Fortunately, the rules for this challenge are flexible; the comics don’t have to be done every hour, on the hour, nor do they have to be uploaded as such either. People have busy days, we don’t have time to stop, draw and upload constantly throughout; it’s the reason that a lot of people don’t bother with this challenge, or citing that they don’t feel like chronicling what amounts to pretty mundane activities. While I can’t call my days particularly interesting either, to me it’s not about the content itself, only that it gets created; by the time I go to bed tonight, I can say that I created something, which I find myself wanting to proclaim a lot more these days.
As I haven’t gone to bed yet, the comics are still coming; I’ll likely upload them to Bluesky when I go to sleep tonight, or first thing tomorrow morning in a single thread. Despite the mundane nature of it all, I’ve managed to find the occasional bit of humour in a day filled with laundry and cleaning house, so I hope the end result will give you a chuckle or two.
To fill the rest of my time tonight, I’m going to be trying to line up some Magic Beans strips for the upcoming month; that’ll give me some “official” comics to upload at least once a week while I keep working on my mainline books. With a bit of luck (and a lot of coffee) I may have something ready to present to you all sometime in March; if I can get it done by my birthday at the latest, that would be great.
Anywho, I’d better get back to scribbling; will chat again to you properly next week. In the meantime, the habit comics will keep flowing, and you can expect the return of Magic Beans on Tuesday!
Ciao for now.
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