On Comics, Projects, And Lucky Number Three.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like my particular health situation is going to be clearing up any time incredibly soon. But! I said I'd try to keep up with this blog again and I'm going to do just that. This week's post is going to be dedicated to projects I've had to shelve over the last year.

When looking back, my current webcomic-to-be (located here) is not the first comic I wanted to portray. It's the third. The first (and ultimately, the second) was a project I titled Feathery Wings. In it we had the shapeshifter angel-type (Aske) and an Italian student studying abroad in the States and trying to keep her head above the water. I wanted to go for less of a Judeo-Christian route and explore other versions of the guardian spirit aspect, so I delved into the Norse concept of Vordr, tree-spirits that protected a family or place...and a less-than-happy one that was now treeless. However, as promising as this story seemed (and how borderline Supernatural some of my issues were) I shelved it because I couldn't find a real overarching story. But Aske wouldn't go - they had been one of my first solid designs outside of college, and they weren't going away. I wanted to experiment with a series that had a genderless character as the main character or a strong part of the main cast.

The concept of basing a series around mythology has always been a big draw to me, even moreso with reading American Gods around Christmas last year. So, the world slowly built up around the idea of Gods on the Earth, but something holding them back from tearing the world apart - a pact of non-interaction, of sorts. This left (most) of the deities free to choose lives past the humdrum of their mythos, and integrate with normal society. In comes Ashe - a bouncer at a Mead Hall that acts as a safe haven for otherworldly types. Again, this concept was shelved because of the sheer amount of backhistory I've had to research to date on the world. I felt that until I got a solid connection to the roots of the environment itself, putting it to page was going to be on hold.

So what now? I wanted to start smaller, build in the same universe but without as much interference from the deific standpoint. Humans, and their foibles, and the smaller scale.

That's where I'm at now, that's where Stacked Hand comes in. Aske will still come back at some point, but for now, well...once the comic is introduced, I'll speak a little more about the character creation.

Busted Wrists, Distractedness.

So, I know about a month ago I said I'd start posting more regularly again. Time has a funny way of slipping out from under you and slapping you on the face as a parting gift. To attempt to make up for this, I figure, I'll try to do a bit of a recap of this year so far (since a few of you are indeed, folks who kind of know me.)

Earlier this year the bf and I had a conversation that basically ran like this -

Boyfriend: Man, rent's going to go up when we renew our lease again this year.

Self: With the way rent and utilities are, hell, we could probably afford a mortgage on a decent house.

Boyfriend: .....

Self: .....

Self: I'll start looking.....

Fast forward to April and we've closed in on this lovely ranch-style home that I'm currently sitting in. There's still bits and pieces to the place that need to be fixed up. (Bathrooms, deck, downstairs, etc) But so much of it is cosmetic adjustments that we've been happy with so far. Hell, three months down and I've gotten settled in here nicely, myself. Just sometimes feels a bit...empty. We're working on fixing that. If any of you know of a (reputable) Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder in the Midwest States, I'd be happy to hear of it. We've already gotten scammed once. I should've figured out beforehand but the idiots wanted us to pay in Bitcoin. Bit. Fucking. Coin.

Anyway. There have been enough personal changes in my life that started me thinking about trying to publish my own work. I got serious about it, as opposed to sitting back and worrying that my art/writing/etc isn't good enough to put something out there for the world to see. It's been two years since graduating Bradley University, and I can definitely say that my work has gone up leaps and bounds since then. Plus, it seems like that's the advice I keep seeing from several artists: Keep doing what you love, the work will come to you. Or something similar. I know I'm chasing down leads as fast as I get them, but in the meantime, I'm pushing to launch my comic and it's website by the end of the year. If I can get it out sooner, well, the more's the merrier for me.

I've started working with a couple of local groups, Start-up Peoria and Dr. Ardonaut's Lab, on some various projects. If even a singular one sees the light of day, I'll be delighted. I'm hoping that with the locality of each group I'll see some responsibility taken on all ends - the last few projects I was asked to work on left me incredibly jaded about pro-bono work, to the point where I think the only way I'd consider it is if everyone had an equal stake/amount to lose in the process. That and I have extensive knowledge of the person. Too many times it's been a start and stop - on my part too, admittedly - and several times I've produced a few pieces for a group only to have the people involved stop returning my e-mails.

As of late, I've had a carpal tunnel flare-up in my right wrist, so things have been somewhat slower. Even though I'm left-handed, the medication they gave me is incredibly draining. I will be posting commission prices within the next month for things inbetween comic pages, so be on the look out!