Seems like I’ve hit another creative dry spell; let’s hope it doesn’t last too long…
So yeah, not a lot of art happening around here; thanks to a massive project at the day job sapping all my energy and motivation, the comics have slowed to a stop for the moment. I might be able to pick up the pace this weekend, depending on any social obligations that might arise; there’s a good chance that Saturday will be dedicated to a binge-watch party for the new season of Good Omens.
This does mean that it is very unlikely that I’ll have the current Showcase storyline finished before next month, and that also means that August’s story will spill over into September. This isn’t as big of a deal as it could be; I was planning a break in September anyway, in order to potentially accommodate for ComicCon Africa. The jury is still out on whether or not we’ll be attending; the table pricing is utterly insane for small businesses, so we’re hoping that they’ll drop during the last stretch. It also depends on how well The Dragon Wagon does at Dragonfire in mid-August; if we make enough sales to fund our ComicCon table and cover our travel costs, we may still stand a chance of being there. That said, I’m assuming nothing at this point.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since leaving home and becoming (mostly) independent, it’s the art of cynical optimism: hope for the best, expect the worst. It’s a mindset that has become increasingly relevant to me over the past few years; a lot of things I hoped for didn’t happen, but they often turned out better than I expected. I hoped that I wouldn’t lose my job in 2021, but as expected, I did; though I did get my job back a month later. I hoped I would be able to maintain a consistent update schedule when I resumed this website, but as expected, I didn’t; I have still managed to keep telling my stories, even if it’s not at the rate I wanted to. I hope that we’ll be able to attend ComicCon Africa this year, but given the current situation, I expect we won’t be able to; even if we don’t, we know that whatever events we do attend often go well for us anyway. I hope that we’ll be moving to a new house before the end of the year, but all evidence to the contrary makes me expect that we won’t; at least we still have a roof over our heads, one way or the other.
Another thing I’ve been hoping for is to become more active on social media, though I expect it’s going to take a lot longer than I’d like, especially since my art has been slow lately. If you’re reading this, there’s a fair chance you found the link through some form of social media, and are well aware of the whole TwitterX drama going on, and the increasing feasibility of moving to new websites. I myself have signed up for a few of them, and I want to start showcasing (hah!) my characters and other artwork on as many different platforms as possible; one of these places is bound to take, right? I’ll still be on Twitter until the ship sinks completely, but if/when it eventually does, you can find me on Mastodon and Cohost, as well as my Instagram; I may even try revitalising my Tumblr.
You can find me on these alternative spaces through my brand-spanking-new Linktree right here: https://linktr.ee/fifthacecomics. It’s a little bare bones, but I’ll be adding any other accounts I’ve missed as I remember them.
I’ve also signed up for BlueSky, though that waiting list is a mile long, so when that eventually comes through, I’ll add it to the Tree. I’ve also considered signing up for Threads, but I’ve heard it’s a bit of a mixed bag, so we’ll see how that progresses before leaping in. I’ve mostly just thrown up some intro posts with some art samples on the new spots so far, but if this weekend is as productive as I want it to be, there should be more stuff appearing there soon.
So that’s where I’m at this week: lots of hopes held in check by expectations. Let’s see if they go anywhere by next week.
Ciao for now.