Tag: blog

Another week rolls by with little to talk about; I could complain about my sleep schedule being thrown for a loop, but reading back such a thing might actually fix the problem, yawn-inducing as the subject is…

Progress is being somewhat made on the art front; I’ve gotten my next round of Critical Role postcards printed and ready for ComicCon, and will be picking them up on Friday. Hopefully these will be just as big of a hit as they were in September last year, as these are a different batch of characters; I printed a bunch of last year’s ones as well, hopefully they will shift too. No chance of getting the ashcan origins issue of the Showcase done, I haven’t had nearly the time or energy to draw that, but it was very much in the “maybe” pile of stuff anyway. I’ve had to focus on the things I can complete that would at least give some more immediate financial relief, such as my paid D&D gig.

Any additional cash coming in right now will help, as it’s been quite an expensive month; having two kitty cats that need checkups is obviously a lot more pricey than just the one, and there’s also the additional food costs involved. I’ve also had to pick up an additional bill here and there, with the need for dice to stock the ComicCon table also requiring some investment. We’re really hoping for a big haul when ComicCon rolls around (only two weeks left to go!), though if last year was any indication, we should do just fine (fingers crossed).

All of this makes me keen to get back to creating; I still intend to pick up the Showcase and Magic Beans again next month, though potentially staggering out the update schedule a little. I was on the verge of burnout with the last Showcase issue, so reducing the upload schedule to twice a week might make it a little more manageable; it would mean the stories come slower, but I do have my mental health to consider. It’s not a set-in-stone decision, we’ll see how I progress.

It’s telling of me how as soon as I typed those words, I considered how staggering the schedule might allow me to insert updates of another potential project into my routine; this is how my mind works to destroy me from the inside out, people. There is so much I want to do, that any free time might hold potential for additional content; my inherent need to get my ideas out is inversely proportional to how much energy I actually have to spend on doing so. I think the past couple of months focusing on brainstorming and writing have let the other ideas rise to the top and compete for my attention, which doesn’t help when there are barely enough hours in the week as it is. Maybe when I find a day job that is more accommodating, or leave it behind entirely, I’ll have the time to do whatever I want; I’ll still need a decent office setup so that I’m not forced to work sitting up in bed like I currently do, the actual desk being overloaded with other stuff, so add finding a new living space to the other necessities, and now I’m being a broken record again.

Bottom line: as a creator, I want to create, and if something is preventing me from creating (whether that something is internal or external), I get frustrated. As such, to one day be able to create what I want, whenever I want, is the ultimate dream, even if it is just a pipe dream at best.

Ciao for now.

Okay, the coffee is finally kicking in, time to type.

Kitten update: Sparrow went for his shots on Tuesday; he’s put on 0.6kgs of weight in the month since his initial checkup, a growing boy. He’ll be due for a rabies booster in another month, so we should be able to swing that as an excuse to keep him around a while longer, fingers crossed. He also spotted our landlord’s dog for the first time yesterday and was NOT impressed; I think Sparrow may have had some bad experiences with dogs during his brief time on the streets. Nevertheless, he’s still full of beans and enjoying life, so let’s keep hoping for a new home for us all in the near future.

I mentioned last week how I’ve been tinkering with some old ideas, one in particular that I’ve had knocking around since at least 2015, according to the dates on the old files still lurking in the corners of my hard drive. I did concept art, character bios, pitch documents, sample pages; it’s quite well developed for something that I haven’t touched in a while, or the basic premise is, at least. There’s a lot of interstitial stuff that I’ve brainstormed but haven’t fleshed out much, but that’s been mostly down to the nebulous nature of what media format it gets developed for; I’ve conceptualised it as an animated series, a graphic novel, a webcomic, and even a prose novel, but I’ve held back on settling on one. This concept is one that I feel could work in multiple media, and I don’t want to give up on pitching it around in various formats, just in case. In addition, revisiting it after several years away, now with fresh eyes and new concepts, I think it could benefit from some revisions, and even complete overhauls in some areas.

Enough with the vagueness, here’s as much of the pitch as I’m willing to reveal publicly:

On an alien planet, a newly ascended young queen must learn to navigate the politics of her position following the death of her father, and the splintering of their former empire, while also hunting down the traitor that caused it all.

A sci-fi action adventure political drama, if you will; think of it as being like the She-Ra reboot, with (relatively) harder sci-fi instead of magic, and if season 4 Princess Glimmer was the main character instead (if you know, you know). 

The overall setting draws on a lot of different inspirations, most of which are derivatives of older sci-fi stories anyway, so originality is in the eye of the beholder. The most recent influence has been Stellaris, like I said last time, but a lot of the older ideas came from Will Wright’s space sim Spore, which wanted to be Stellaris before it existed but fell short. However, the entire premise came from playing around on the Seventh Sanctum random generator website; one of the generators showcased there is a “merchandisable cartoon” generator, which produces titles for stuff that echoes back to the 80s and early 90s, the days of the original He-Man, Silverhawks, Biker Mice from Mars, etc. I gave the generator a spin, and it showed me the most glorious title ever:

Queen Midnight and the ChronoBats.

That’s mine now; everything about this concept sprang from that title, and it has remained unchanged from the beginning. I don’t know if it will ever be a merchandisable cartoon, but I’m sticking with that title. What is a ChronoBat? Sorry, I’m keeping that to myself for now; suffice to say, it’s something awesome, by my standards at least.

That’s all I’ve got for this week; hope everyone enjoys the long weekend, Happy Easter to those who celebrate, and I’ll see you next time for something else.

Oh, and the Dungeons and Dragons movie was amazing, go see it.

Ciao for now.

Oh wow, yesterday was so dull that I actually forgot to make a blog post! That’s an indicator of the day job if there ever was one…

So, my blogging streak hits a bump; I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, to be honest. One of the reasons I used to give for not blogging back in the day, was that I lead a fairly average life, so I didn’t figure I’d have much to talk about in this space. In fact, I often still don’t, which is why you’ll notice me repeat myself a lot week to week; we’re still trying to find a new place to live (the townhouse we wanted to place an offer on got snapped up already), which will determine whether or not we can keep our little kitten Sparrow. He’s due for his next round of vaccinations on Tuesday, so his time remaining with us is limited if we can’t secure a deal on a home. To say that we’re upset is an understatement, but we’re not the ones in control of the money, so it’s out of our hands; all we can do is suggest properties and hope for the best, not that it’s helped so far.

Maybe the reason nothing much else has been happening is that I’m trying to keep myself distracted from all the “what ifs” surrounding our living situation; I’m tired of not knowing what’s going to happen, so I turn to things I can control. I tried doing it with art, but I’m still in a bit of a funk regarding that; I have a quota I need to fulfil before ComicCon next month, but I’ve been slacking on that too; really starting to miss those load shedding breaks at the day job…

My main distraction has been gaming instead, and I’ve been on a bit of a sci-fi kick lately. I’ve been attempting to pick up Ironsworn: Starforged again after a long time away; I backed the Kickstarter, I should probably get my money’s worth for it. It’s a solo tabletop RPG, like Dungeons and Dragons but for a single player, and with a used-future sci-fi theme. I did a few videos of my playthrough of the classic Ironsworn over on my YouTube channel, and I’ve wanted to get started on Starforged for a while, though I never seem to get beyond the setup phase: I get my universe built, my character created, my inciting incident plotted… and then never get round to playing it proper. Maybe I’m trying to look too deep into the fiction too fast, but it’s meant to be a story based game, so perhaps I just don’t want it to feel like more work when I’ve already got enough on my plate.

In digital terms, I took a deep dive into Stellaris, a space empire simulation game that is incredibly intricate and detailed; in basic terms, you try to get ahead in a galaxy full of alien empires, and you have approximately 400 years of game time to get the highest score before the end. I’ve bounced off of it a few times due to the mechanics being difficult to work around, but I’m well on track towards my first real finish; I’ve placated two ancient empires, fought off a legion of psychic space squids, and proclaimed myself God-Emperor of the Galactic Imperium, so all that’s left to do is wait for the endgame crisis and hope my economy doesn’t collapse before then. Yeah, it’s that kind of game.

Both of these games, Stellaris especially, has got me thinking about a concept I came up with several years back, one that I’ve been tinkering with on and off ever since. It was a sci-fi story that I pitched around as both a graphic novel and an animated TV show, but never got any bites. With the intricate level of politics involved in Stellaris, I’ve since come up with several new concepts to add to the original idea, and might try pitching it again from a new angle, even if only to myself.

I’d explain more, but I seem to have actually managed to talk about something enough to fill space (hehe, space) for this week, so maybe I’ll get into it properly next time.

Anywho, time to get through the work day, and then it’s off to see the new Dungeons and Dragons movie tonight; see you all next week for…something, I dunno, but it should be on schedule this time.

Ciao for now.

I’m one day away from turning 34; another year and matriculating from high school will officially be the midpoint of my life.

There’s really not a whole lot to talk about this week; we’re still waiting for word on any new living situation, and not much else has really been happening. Sparrow is getting on better with Silver, and some friends have offered to look after him if we cannot find a place in time to keep him, so that’s good at least.

So I’m just going to go into the weekend and enjoy my birthday as best I can; after my 21st, I haven’t been all that enthusiastic about my birthdays since, but I already glurged out all my angst about it in the previous draft of this blog entry, so you won’t have to read it. All you need to know is that I’m doing okay, and no matter how I feel about my birthday, it’ll pass just like any other day.

See you on the other side.

Ciao for now.

So much for recovery time, I think this past week has seen me the most tired I’ve been in a while; beware the Ides of March and all that…

I don’t want to blame all of my fatigue on the new kitten, but I can’t deny he’s been a contributing factor. Sparrow is a very energetic little guy, especially in the evening when we want to go to bed, so we’re often up an extra hour or so just to let him burn off steam. It might not sound like much, but you start to miss that extra hour of sleep when it’s not there. Silver is also being slow to warm up to him; she’s either perpetually grumpy with us, or hissing at Sparrow whenever he gets close. If we’re going to get these two used to each other, and let Sparrow explore without climbing every surface in our two-room rental, we’re going to need more space; Sparrow’s arrival might have even expedited something on that front…

I mentioned earlier in the year that we’ve been looking into a new place to live, and we might be on the cusp of finding one at last. I don’t want to jinx anything, but a very nice house showed up on our radar, and although it already has an offer on it, we’re not out of the running yet. We’ll hopefully know by the end of the week if we have a shot; put out some positive thoughts for us, we could do with all the help we can get.

It’s funny to think about moving again; we’ve been comfortable in our little space for a while now. We moved in shortly after the initial pandemic lockdowns started to alleviate, and though the space couldn’t grow, we’ve made good use of what little there is to fill up both the space, and our lives. It’s especially odd to think about how much I’ve moved about in the latest phase of my life. Growing up, I lived in the same place until I was in my mid-twenties; the same city, the same house, the same room for twenty six years, before moving across the country for study and work. Since then, I’ve lived in various different spaces: a friend’s spare room, a hole-in-the-wall by the beach, an inner-city apartment, a semi-detached in yet another city, back in my old room at my parent’s house, my future in-laws’ spare room, and finally our current space. All in all, I’ve changed living quarters on an average of about once per year since 2016. For someone who prefers a reasonably sedentary lifestyle, I don’t think I ever pictured myself moving around so much.

Where we are now has been home for nearly three years, which is the longest I’ve stayed in one place since leaving my hometown; I’ve enjoyed it, appreciated it, but it really has become far too small for our little family. We need room to breathe, to craft, to grow; we are becoming stifled by our lack of space, and it’s only a matter of time before we start to get resentful of it. I can only hope against hope that we can cinch this new house, because we need it now more than ever.

Will let you all know next week if we missed out or not.

Ciao for now.

Okay, head is above water again, let’s try and take a breather…

So, as you may have surmised by last week’s blog post, things have been busy, and not in the areas I would have preferred. I think I can confirm that my comic hiatus will last through April; I just have not found the time and energy to do everything I want so far in March, and at the rate I’m moving I will need the extra month. I’m slightly disappointed, if only in that I won’t be back to telling my stories as soon, but I have to remember that I’m running a marathon, not sprinting to the finish, and I’m allowed to slow down occasionally.

The blitz of stress from last week has mostly abated; a lot of it was just me overthinking things and worrying too much, as usual. I had been called upon to do some 3D rendering for a work project, which is something I have done at my previous job. However, I’m a little out of practice, and I’m more familiar with Maya as a program; having to switch to Blender was quite the experience, due to the different control schemes. Blender has an option to switch to industry-standard controls, but that just makes learning it twice as hard; I had to find the methods for doing what I wanted in Blender, then find the translations for its industry-standard settings. I did not even consider using the standard Blender controls, because they are just too different from what I’m used to, rusty though my skills may be; it’s like trying to drive a car built for the opposite side of the road, while facing backwards and steering with your feet. In the end, though I didn’t manage to get a full render out before the deadline, I was able to supply enough that the sales rep was happy with the results, which was a huge relief.

While the level of work being thrown at me by the day job is balancing out, there was another little curveball that got thrown my way on Monday. One of the sales reps found a kitten wandering around outside the building and brought him in to keep him safe; why he decided to leave the box in the studio department, I have no idea. Thing is though, no-one in the studio could take the kitten home, because they all own big dogs… except for me.

This is Sparrow. He’s just a little guy.

This is by no means a permanent situation; he needs a place to stay, and while he is quickly winning us over, my fiancé and I have to look at this practically. We are living in a rented space, and our landlord has already made an exception for our cat Silver; we have been allowed to foster Sparrow for a month or so in order to make sure he gets his vaccinations and is in good health. There’s always hope that we will have found a new space to live in by that time, but it’s very unlikely, and we’ll have to give Sparrow over for adoption elsewhere. Of course, we would prefer to give him to someone we know and trust, or even better, have them house him temporarily until we get our new place; we’ll have to see what happens. It also depends on whether or not Silver will accept him, since she’s a very solitary cat and doesn’t trust Sparrow being around just yet; ironically, we’ve been talking about adopting a kitten to keep Silver company when we’re out, but we were hoping to have a bigger space first. Life comes at you fast, sometimes.

So yeah, moods are a little all over the place right now; check back next week to see if we’ve figured it out.

Ciao for now.

Almost the end of the month, and the schedule finally slipped out from under me. No worries, I’ll have it realigned before I take a break.

Yeah, I’m officially running out of steam, but that’s okay; the plan was to take a break from the comics during March, so after I get the last two done for the month, I’ll be doing just that. I don’t know if I’ll upload them on the correct days (tomorrow’s one may only be up by Saturday), but the story will wrap up before February ends. Honestly though, at the rate I’m going, I might extend my break through April as well; it’s a long time to step away from the comics, but it would give my intended social media campaign a bit longer to gain momentum. Plus, there’s a different piece I might work on alongside it at the same time…

At the end of April, Comic Con Cape Town is finally happening, properly this time; I’m naturally going to be there all four days. In the past, I’ve often attended as part of the Artist Alley, but like the last Comic Con Africa, I’ll instead be behind my fiance’s table in The Block, selling dice at The Dragon Wagon.

(By the way, if you’re local and want some cool RPG dice, check out thedragonwagon.co.za, order now, beat the rush!)

I’m obviously happy to be a part of her business, though I do miss having my own table. Not that I ever really turned much of a profit from the last few Artist Alley’s I attended; I’ve never been on the kind of level where I stand out compared to other artists, and buying full comics over art prints is often not in most people’s budgets, not to mention the printing costs. That said, I will be bringing a bit of my artwork along; I had a bunch of postcard prints that I sold through The Dragon Wagon at the last convention that a lot of people seemed to like (by virtue of the fact that they sold out!), and part of my March project is getting more of those done. In addition, there is a little something else I want to work on, for a bit of networking and advertising: my own promotional ashcan zine.

Ashcan comics are great little nuggets that get handed out, often for free, at conventions; they’re usually no more than a few pages with a little bit of artwork, promotional material for artists about their current projects. I’d like to get one of my own done, something that I can pass on to the other tables and anyone who happens to walk by, advertising this website and getting my readership up. In tandem with the social media campaign, it might be helpful in getting a bigger spotlight on Fifth Ace Comics, and allowing me to implement new things. On the other hand, I’m going to need time to get the zine ready, and that may include April as part of it; if need be, I can always upload the zine pages on the website, since they will be canon with the rest of the Showcase. I’m thinking of it as an origins issue, something that introduces the characters of Apex City, and a brief narrative describing their abilities and where they come from; nothing that can’t be figured out from context, but neat and encapsulated in print form.

Still, got to finish up February’s stuff first; if I need the longer break, I need the longer break, and the only person busting my butt over it is me.

Ciao for now.

Schedule is slipping, but not falling through, so that’s still something.

Yes, granted, there was no Magic Beans this week, but if I’m going to let something slip between the cracks, it could be a lot worse. I never thought my social life would be well-developed enough to the point that I would actually be missing out on “work” in some form; the Showcase pages have been delayed in production, but were still uploaded day-of, and I’ve got a good feeling that I can still keep the schedule on track for the rest of the month. The inverters at the day job are more or less online at this point, so instead of two-hour set intervals of working on my laptop battery, I can now use my laptop while plugged in, albeit in short bursts whenever I get a free moment. I won’t say it’s just as efficient; I’ll make it function as I need to.

Given that there are times when I cannot work on artwork directly, I’ve also been looking at my writing a bit more. Most of my comic scripts are very free-flowing; I prefer using the Marvel Method when it comes to my own work. It’s a lot quicker to plot out a 12 page comic with simple descriptions and thumbnails, and then working out the exact details as the pages are completed. This can sometimes lead to being written into a corner, but that’s less of an issue with shorter stories, and because I’m not collaborating with anyone but myself, there’s no chance of mis-interpretations. That being said, for longer scripts, having a more comprehensive breakdown is a lot more helpful; yes, I am indeed working on a longer script.

So far, through the Fifth Ace Showcase, I’ve been introducing characters and hinting at a larger mythology in my superhero universe, though the short story format doesn’t leave a lot of room for character and/or plot development. That’s because the Showcase is exactly that: a showcase, displaying all the little pieces that are going to be used in a much grander design. Not all the pieces involved in that design are going to appear in the Showcase, and there’s a chance that not all of the ones displayed will last; such is the nature of the beast. The longer script that I’m developing is going to be the official “main” storyline of my universe, intended to be an ongoing series featuring my characters teaming up and taking on the world together. I had the basic outline for the first issue done almost a year ago, and now that the Showcase has had some development, it’s almost time to get the ongoing story started in earnest. Naturally, this is going to take a LOT of work…

I have NO idea when I’m going to find the time for my longer stories, while still maintaining the Showcase and Magic Beans, and also working a day job. The ongoing series might only manifest several months down the line, or more than a year from now, but it is most definitely coming. A large, ongoing, ever-evolving universe of stories has always been the goal of this project, and that’s not something that just happens overnight. These things take time, effort, energy; all things I have in limited supply, and I accept that fact. No matter how long it takes, or what form it eventually takes, this project will continue through stumbles, burnouts, hiatuses and whatever else comes. And I can only hope it will be entertaining.

Ciao for now.

When does relaxation become an obligation?

When does the thing we do for fun, that we use to unwind and put ourselves out of the real world for a while, become something that we are obligated to do, no questions asked? Is it still relaxation at that point? Are we still gleaning fun from it, if it is something that we are forced to do? Does it lessen the experience, or make it any more or less important that it be done?

For the record, I’m not questioning whether or not I’m still having fun with this website and my artwork in general; I’m absolutely still enjoying it and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. But in a sense, it does relate to what I’m thinking about. I’ve set myself an upload schedule, and I get disappointed when I deviate from it, and sometimes the artwork doesn’t flow the way it should when I need it to. This can very easily sap the joy out of creating, and this craft that I love can seem like a chore. Yet after it all, I’m still here doing it; it remains relevant, because my upload schedule may be disrupted soon due to a bunch of social obligations that are the real focus of this philosophical musing.

As I’ve mentioned before, my primary hobby outside of art is role-playing games; I got into Dungeons and Dragons several years ago, and have since become the de facto Dungeon Master for my friends, and I’ve made many new friends through the hobby. I enjoy the creativity, the collaborative narrative, the improvisational nature of the storytelling; it’s my no-holds-barred creative downtime activity. However, I was slated for no fewer than three evening D&D games from tonight through Sunday, each one different from the last; in tonight’s game, I would get to be a player instead of DM, Friday’s game is a paid gig, and Sunday night is me running for a group of friends. Naturally, this may set my artwork back a touch (I’ll still be uploading; tomorrow’s page is done, though Monday’s might be late), but I don’t mind so much because I enjoy playing the game. That said, the motivation levels for each of those groups is variable.

Sunday is a long-running game that we’ve recently returned to, so I’m happy to be back at it; it’s a fun time, the players are great, etc. I’m getting paid for Friday’s game, so by default I’m obligated to be there, but I’m okay with that, because the vibe is still good. Tonight, on the other hand, where I have the least responsibility, somehow feels the most mandatory of the lot; due to some bizarre rules that were supposedly in place before we started, there are certain people in the group that make it feel like missing the game is a criminal offence. Now, I hate missing out on a session as much as the next person, but the last time we cancelled on this group was due to some very real health concerns, and we didn’t want to progress with half a group; we were still made to feel like the guilty party for backing out. It sparked some rather nasty passive aggressive arguing, and we all agreed to let it go, but it was still enough for me to jump on any excuse to worm my way out of going tonight. I didn’t do so because I’d get more free time (as nice as that would have been), rather because a Shakespeare play of all things, sounded more appealing.

So in comparison, the game that I’m the most obligated to be at feels like the freshest thing on the menu, while the one where I have the least responsibilities feels like the leftover sandwich that’s been in the back of the fridge for several weeks. I guess that means that a hobby only starts to feel like a chore if it is actively treated like one. I may have an update schedule for my artwork, but if it slips, I am the authority that can give myself some slack; I may be paid to run a D&D game, but if I have to cancel, I know that the people involved will understand. It’s when someone else tries to put the yoke on me, someone seemingly less understanding and more entitled, that they cause the thing I would normally enjoy to become a thankless task. It’s probably why day jobs feel so exhausting, and why so many kids hate school; having the power and agency to decide when and how you have fun is what makes it fun in the first place.

Guess this means I should keep a close eye on games in the future; if this Thursday group is still as tense as I suspect it might be, it may be worth cutting that thread completely. There are less toxic ways I could be spending my free time, like say, getting more comics done.

Ciao for now.

The smouldering continues, but the fire is still alive; not burning out this time!

Won’t lie, it took some proper downtime this past weekend, but I was able to avoid burning myself out; I was incapacitated for most of Saturday, spending the morning in bed, while rounding out the day by running D&D, and getting my creative mindset back on track. I felt right in doing so by having the remaining pages of January’s Showcase story completed ahead of time, thus keeping the schedule running at least until after the weekend. 

It feels good to be a page or two ahead; by the time of this being posted, I have finished tomorrow’’s page and next Monday’s one as well. There’s an important birthday this weekend, so I’m going to need Saturday free once more, but no other major social obligations are on the table until next week, so I’ll have plenty of time to get more pages done. Also, luckily for my personal productivity, the inverters that were supposedly installed at the day job continue to be non-functional; unfortunate for the office, incredibly helpful to me in getting stuff done. 

Having that little extra wiggle room allows me to be more experimental in my artwork, trying new things and improving on what I’ve done in the past. Last month, I was focusing primarily on lighting techniques, which I am carrying over into February’s story; even from the first page, I’m already pleased with the subtle improvements that it has brought, adding that little extra depth and pop that wouldn’t be there otherwise. This month, I’m focusing on perspective and panel layout; my figure work has been satisfactory for a long time, now I’m going to get my backgrounds up to snuff. My continued experiments with art programs have yielded some fun results; the perspective ruler tools in Clip Studio have been a joy to work with, and you’ll be seeing the benefits of them from the very next Showcase page.

As far as panel layouts go, I’ve been told in the past that I have a good eye for flow and continuity in my storyboarding, but I have noticed that I tended to stick to the grid format a little too rigidly in the past. I’ve been attempting to loosen up my panels a bit more in recent pages, and now with February’s story, I want to go a little more wild. The setting and imagery is meant to be really trippy and weird, and I’d like the panel flow to reflect that; it’s going to be a fun challenge getting everything to look coherent while still giving it a surreal vibe.

All this to say: I am really excited about my own artwork right now, more than I have been for some time. I’m excited to be trying new things, I’m excited for the stuff I’ll be doing in the March hiatus, and I’m excited for the stories to come afterwards.

Plus, if I can pull far enough ahead, and my social media boost functions the way I hope it will, I may even be ready for the next stage of Fifth Ace Comics; keep a close eye out later this year…

Ciao for now.