Almost August— Where are we at?
So!
It's almost August, and I'm set to go back to work the following Monday (I'm temp part time, so I have to have a break in service). I'm kinda feeling weird about it, but I also wish to finally escape the confines of my house outside of going to the store or getting food. I had a fun time with friends earlier in the month, but now I'm kinda just ready to do something outside of the house again.
I'm kinda up to date on all my appointments, some might need to get rescheduled because... I'm going back to school in September! I'll be in school for 3-4 semesters to finish my BA... nerve wracking exciting!
No I'm actually kinda anxious about it. I'll be taking classes in person, so 2026 overall will be the biggest adjustment I've had life-wise in 2 years. I'll see how it goes, but I'm hoping for the best. A lot of it is anticipation anxiety, to be honest. But! Whatever, I have to continue if I ever want to financially support myself in this economy. I'm just hoping I can maintain an okay level of energy, as I have to wait until October to receive iron infusions. Sighs.
If you're curious to what I'm talking about, watch this video from ConnorDawg. He did a pretty good outsider perspective of what happened. Us players are kind of hoping they say something by the end of this month... the silence has been by far the worst thing I've experienced in regards to a test of patience. At least knowing that people have donated to charity in his name, among other lovely things (naming stars after him, donating to dog shelters, getting an actual wolf named after him, etc), has been a comfort. But it's so bad, I have a daily evening news report about progress on the boycott, it's that serious that it's not even funny. #BringBackValko.
But! Life aside, I also kind of wanted to make an update in regards to my creative endeavors. I've been kind of working and kind of not, with me working on some things, but not working on others. My energy to participate in Art Fight has been super low, but I have been working on miscellaneous comic stuff.
So! Let's cover it, because eventually I'll have to make a follow-up blog post about it:
The Sweetheart Project has been going well!
I've been having a fun time working with this bunch. There's only six characters we'll primarily be following (mostly Bonnie and Dante, of course), which is a huge step down from the 10 in Untitled. I think that I'm really starting to get used to them and their individual interests bit by bit!
The goal right now is just the first chapter, and then I'll see where it takes me afterwards. I have a rough idea for a narrative, but I'm in no rush to get through it. I'm definitely excited to make more after, but to prevent history from repeating itself, I'm making sure that I don't push to do anything in particular outside of what I want, to make sure that I'm keeping my interest in the work the top priority.
Unfortunately in the past, I would disregard things like my sanity just for the sake of the series. Now I'm getting better at walking the path of least resistance (like for example, I spent a bit of time on looking into the design for the website, and decided it would be better for me to just use the simple layout editor for Comic Fury. I can code, I could design the entire website from the ground up... but is it worth it? Worth the headache and multiple weeks of going back and forth before realizing I don't really like it and changing it again (speaking from experience)? And... nope! Not really! So simple is best. You're coming for the comic itself anyway, lol.
But yeah. It's been fun! I'm about 23 pages thumbed, and a ~5 pages scripted! I script by drawing the conversation back and forth on paper before converting them into thumbnails. It seems to be my preferred way of writing, and is easier to rush through an idea when it shoots me with an arrow. It also helps with rewrites, as I'll just pick a spot to start from that was already written, and then just continue from there, ignoring the old writing— but being able to still use it if I see fit. Also it just feels more freeing than writing out a fixed outline. I really feel the freedom of deciding where it should go more than before. Once the first chapter is released, I'll post examples of what I mean, because I haven't really scripted this way since I was in high school!
We're on track to finish the thumbnails soon, hopefully. I have some preliminary school stuff to still finish, and I still want to participate in art fight in the checks watch last 6 days that it's active, so I might halt on it for a bit. But words cannot describe how excited I am to actually see what this looks like on the page!! RAHHHH!!!! I'm gonna stare at those pages forever...
Speaking of pages...
Untitled.
So...
I have some bad news 😭
I finally got in the groove of working on the pages again after the monthly re-read and...
I realized that I have ~140 pages to finish. I know from my last post about this that the goal was to finish Chapter 3 and 4 and end the series but...
I do not want to do all of that.
I'll make another post to share around about it later, but I realized that that's almost double what I've already published online— and THOSE pages took 6 years to get through! So, what I'm gonna do is: I'm going to finish the pages that I've already started work on, and the rest of the pages will be 'clean' thumbnails, all the way up to the end of Chapter 4. The reason for this is some stuff needs to be edited, and the thumbnails were written years ago. Thumbnails are my forte and by far my favorite part of making comics, so I will have no qualms doing this, especially since they're not meant to be final pages. This will give you an idea of what the final would have looked like. As far as Volume 2 and 3... I'll be cleaning up my personal outlines, drawing maybe a few stills, and we're moving on.
This is super disappointing for me especially, because I thought I could handle the work and didn't realize how much past me truly planned (or didn't plan) for this. However, I know better than to attempt to keep dragging dead weight around hoping I can carry it to its destination, even when my back hurts carrying it (to degrade the analogy).
I love these kids. Probably no one will love them more than me, but I'm not the kid who made that series anymore. I can't keep working on it on her behalf. I know this isn't what I initially promised, nor is it the most satisfying way to go out, but... at the very least, I don't want you to be left hanging on the fate of the story. THAT is something I won't do to you, or to them.
I'll need a bit more time to get everything together, and have everything archived properly so it will be accessible for years to come.
I know it's asking a lot but I hope you'll trust me with a new series! I'm hoping that having a better head on my shoulders and it being self indulgent to the max will keep me at it. I'm really having fun with this new bunch.