Yeah! Or let us know if you’d like to do another round of guest comics so you get a break to get a buffer together. We can’t have good art without a healthy creator!
That was very politely put, what Kilyle is saying so nicely, is that that we’ll never find out what happens to Scar, or Pants it you work yourself to death. Which happens around age forty (40) for guys who haven’t learned to heed the sirens’ call, “Come,” they sing, “Come to Lethe’s luxurious warm embrace, Morphius’ mind numbing nattering, cause if you don’t come with us, we’ll send Cerberus to hound you to the Ferryman. Bring four pre-1960 dimes with you, also… You’ll need those to get back.
not sure if you keep up with a comic called erf world. but they started as an all drawn comic book style but have moved to a mix of essentially every other one is a drawn comic while the ones in between are mostly text with just a couple of generally sketched one frame images to give the text a bit of context.
they have some issues with some of the back story (short version the main character is from stupid word, ie here, and basically knows nothing of how that world works) and need to be wordy to catch up the reader with the setting so that works fairly well for them.
this could be a way for you to get some of the foundations of the sarnoth culture/history into the comic maybe without having to spend lots of comic frames of text walls. as well as maybe reduce the drawing load a little bit.
something like phol remembering his wedding all in text with a single sketch of the ceremony at the end type thing.
I wouldn’t really say it “worked so well” so much as “man have they had problems with life.”
When they switched to it, I was kinda annoyed; it didn’t seem to work so well. Eventually, I got used to it as a facet of that comic, though I still thought it was sub-par, and I treat the text updates as like supplemental info rather than the actual updates — sometimes I’ll read the actual pages, and later go take the time to read the texts.
However, once I learned about what was going on in the lives of the artists (I don’t recall the specifics, but “losing a parent” was just one facet of the problems that made them drop content for long stretches and switch artists a bunch), I was shocked that they had managed to keep going as well as they had.
(There’s a webcomic I mourn, “No Rest for the Wicked,” whose creator was in the middle of a major tropical storm at one point — more than enough excuse to stop updating! — and I still don’t know if they are still alive or not, although they did make it through that storm. But eventually the comic just stopped.)
There’s actually a lot of artists I follow who have various issues that they’re dealing with, and I admire their ability to keep going despite it all. Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary) started the series due to a medical problem, and has to take pills for some mental/emotional issues. Pam (HarvestCraft, a Minecraft mod) has mental/emotional issues as well, and has been having trouble getting the right meds to deal with them. Markiplier has ADHD. Tarol Hunt (Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes) had to get surgery on his drawing hand (and people were getting all shirty with him on Twitter for not updating fast enough). Various fanfic authors I follow are dealing with social anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, phobias, even chemotherapy!
So while I used to get unreasonably upset at authors who couldn’t produce content in a consistent manner, I’ve learned to be far more patient — you never know what’s going on in their lives! And that’s not even counting that the artists have their own jobs to hold down and/or education to pursue, and the sheer amount of time it takes to create a comic — El Goonish Shive was awesome in color, but eventually the artist had to admit that they couldn’t keep up the workflow and still update three days a week, so they dropped back to black and white. (Freefall apparently lets fans color the strip instead of the artist worrying about it.)
Erfworld is an example of doing what you can with what you have, and trying to make the most of it. I wouldn’t hold it up as a good format to mimic unless you have to, but it’s certainly one option, especially if you have facility with words (narration, not just dialog) as well as art. Better to have regular updates in an unusual or unfinished format than to lose the flow of the series because the full-fledged updates can’t be made in a timely manner!
Yeah, the whole team has gone through some serious boop.
But if I remember correctly, the text updates, in particular, started about the time Xin started having family issues and couldn’t keep up. So the text was something Rob could do himself to take pressure off of her. (At least that’s how I remember it.)
And yeah, I hear you about comic creators just up and disappearing. There are a bunch of comics I used to follow that just petered out. Real Life was probably the one that hurt the most, though I’ve heard rumors of misbehavior on the artist’s part, so perhaps it’s better this way. Pink Parts (a NSFW strip, in case the name doesn’t make that obvious) also kinda faded away, right in the middle of a storyline. Illiad (of User Friendly) used to pride himself on posting a comic every day, on time, for years on end… and then just sorta vanished. I might have missed part of the story there, because I’m kinda persona non grata in the comments there.
I’m genuinely surprised that Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content) is still working, given the things he’s had to deal with. And Scott Kurtz (PvP) has a newspost about his recent update irregularities (and the issues that caused them) on the front page right now, in fact.
The one I’m most sad over is Elf Only Inn, and that’s because it had started getting really, really good — moving from chatroom setting to World of Warcraft, basically, with hugely improved art and fascinating hints about future storylines — and then the artist stopped. Artist is alive (or was when I had researched this), is going through life, but for whatever reason not only is not going to come back to the comic, but (IIRC) hates having people mention it.
For all its quirks and oddities, that was a darn good comic, and it captured timeless characterization in the form of dated pop culture references (control freak in charge of the chatroom, annoying jock playing Duke Nukem, energetic kid playing Goku, attention whore playing a demon lord, even quirky guy playing tentacle-monster janitor). It was also solidly set in the early internet era. Gave me nostalgia for some of my earliest ‘net experiences, even if they weren’t quite the same. And then having the cast migrate to an MMORPG — once chatrooms were comparatively obsolete — was such a nice touch, and allowed for a whole new variety of humor and storytelling.
Also, I’ve mentioned this a couple of times: maybe a buffer would be a good idea. I’m sure you can get 3-6 guest comics (not from me, I can’t even draw a stick figure) and keep drawing comics as normal, giving you a few comics’ buffer…
Eh, when ya needs sleep, ya needs sleep. No worries! Nothin’ ta be sorry for!
Dunno bout anyone else, but I’d rather wait on the inked version. Take care of yourself! Hope all is well otherwise.
I second this motion.
Chill dude, you’re fine.
To sleep, perchance to dream? Ah, there’s the rub, it catches you by the heel and drags you under.
If you wind up slumped over asleep, you needed the sleep. Take a sleep day.
We’lll wait. If your body demands that much sleep, then you should listen to it before you get sick.
You’re working too hard. Go to Mondays and Fridays if you have to, but get some sleep.
Yeah! Or let us know if you’d like to do another round of guest comics so you get a break to get a buffer together. We can’t have good art without a healthy creator!
That was very politely put, what Kilyle is saying so nicely, is that that we’ll never find out what happens to Scar, or Pants it you work yourself to death. Which happens around age forty (40) for guys who haven’t learned to heed the sirens’ call, “Come,” they sing, “Come to Lethe’s luxurious warm embrace, Morphius’ mind numbing nattering, cause if you don’t come with us, we’ll send Cerberus to hound you to the Ferryman. Bring four pre-1960 dimes with you, also… You’ll need those to get back.
Rest up. Stay well. We have patience.
Sleep is good for you. Get what you need, we can wait.
Sleep is always the preferred option. 🙂 Take all you need. We’ll still be here when you’re done.
not sure if you keep up with a comic called erf world. but they started as an all drawn comic book style but have moved to a mix of essentially every other one is a drawn comic while the ones in between are mostly text with just a couple of generally sketched one frame images to give the text a bit of context.
they have some issues with some of the back story (short version the main character is from stupid word, ie here, and basically knows nothing of how that world works) and need to be wordy to catch up the reader with the setting so that works fairly well for them.
this could be a way for you to get some of the foundations of the sarnoth culture/history into the comic maybe without having to spend lots of comic frames of text walls. as well as maybe reduce the drawing load a little bit.
something like phol remembering his wedding all in text with a single sketch of the ceremony at the end type thing.
Erfworld is amazing stuff. I’ve been a reader since the middle of book 1.
The text updates started out as a stopgap while they were going through artist issues, and as best I can tell the text worked so well it was kept.
I wouldn’t really say it “worked so well” so much as “man have they had problems with life.”
When they switched to it, I was kinda annoyed; it didn’t seem to work so well. Eventually, I got used to it as a facet of that comic, though I still thought it was sub-par, and I treat the text updates as like supplemental info rather than the actual updates — sometimes I’ll read the actual pages, and later go take the time to read the texts.
However, once I learned about what was going on in the lives of the artists (I don’t recall the specifics, but “losing a parent” was just one facet of the problems that made them drop content for long stretches and switch artists a bunch), I was shocked that they had managed to keep going as well as they had.
(There’s a webcomic I mourn, “No Rest for the Wicked,” whose creator was in the middle of a major tropical storm at one point — more than enough excuse to stop updating! — and I still don’t know if they are still alive or not, although they did make it through that storm. But eventually the comic just stopped.)
There’s actually a lot of artists I follow who have various issues that they’re dealing with, and I admire their ability to keep going despite it all. Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary) started the series due to a medical problem, and has to take pills for some mental/emotional issues. Pam (HarvestCraft, a Minecraft mod) has mental/emotional issues as well, and has been having trouble getting the right meds to deal with them. Markiplier has ADHD. Tarol Hunt (Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes) had to get surgery on his drawing hand (and people were getting all shirty with him on Twitter for not updating fast enough). Various fanfic authors I follow are dealing with social anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, phobias, even chemotherapy!
So while I used to get unreasonably upset at authors who couldn’t produce content in a consistent manner, I’ve learned to be far more patient — you never know what’s going on in their lives! And that’s not even counting that the artists have their own jobs to hold down and/or education to pursue, and the sheer amount of time it takes to create a comic — El Goonish Shive was awesome in color, but eventually the artist had to admit that they couldn’t keep up the workflow and still update three days a week, so they dropped back to black and white. (Freefall apparently lets fans color the strip instead of the artist worrying about it.)
Erfworld is an example of doing what you can with what you have, and trying to make the most of it. I wouldn’t hold it up as a good format to mimic unless you have to, but it’s certainly one option, especially if you have facility with words (narration, not just dialog) as well as art. Better to have regular updates in an unusual or unfinished format than to lose the flow of the series because the full-fledged updates can’t be made in a timely manner!
Yeah, the whole team has gone through some serious boop.
But if I remember correctly, the text updates, in particular, started about the time Xin started having family issues and couldn’t keep up. So the text was something Rob could do himself to take pressure off of her. (At least that’s how I remember it.)
And yeah, I hear you about comic creators just up and disappearing. There are a bunch of comics I used to follow that just petered out. Real Life was probably the one that hurt the most, though I’ve heard rumors of misbehavior on the artist’s part, so perhaps it’s better this way. Pink Parts (a NSFW strip, in case the name doesn’t make that obvious) also kinda faded away, right in the middle of a storyline. Illiad (of User Friendly) used to pride himself on posting a comic every day, on time, for years on end… and then just sorta vanished. I might have missed part of the story there, because I’m kinda persona non grata in the comments there.
I’m genuinely surprised that Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content) is still working, given the things he’s had to deal with. And Scott Kurtz (PvP) has a newspost about his recent update irregularities (and the issues that caused them) on the front page right now, in fact.
The one I’m most sad over is Elf Only Inn, and that’s because it had started getting really, really good — moving from chatroom setting to World of Warcraft, basically, with hugely improved art and fascinating hints about future storylines — and then the artist stopped. Artist is alive (or was when I had researched this), is going through life, but for whatever reason not only is not going to come back to the comic, but (IIRC) hates having people mention it.
For all its quirks and oddities, that was a darn good comic, and it captured timeless characterization in the form of dated pop culture references (control freak in charge of the chatroom, annoying jock playing Duke Nukem, energetic kid playing Goku, attention whore playing a demon lord, even quirky guy playing tentacle-monster janitor). It was also solidly set in the early internet era. Gave me nostalgia for some of my earliest ‘net experiences, even if they weren’t quite the same. And then having the cast migrate to an MMORPG — once chatrooms were comparatively obsolete — was such a nice touch, and allowed for a whole new variety of humor and storytelling.
I miss Elf Only Inn. Still peek at it every once in awhile.
Post the picture of you slumped in your chair and drooling… thats always good for a laugh
I was actually more worried when you didn’t post a “whoops, I dun goof’d” post by morning EDT. I thought maybe something had happened to you.
Good to hear it was just sleep deprivation.
Also, I’ve mentioned this a couple of times: maybe a buffer would be a good idea. I’m sure you can get 3-6 guest comics (not from me, I can’t even draw a stick figure) and keep drawing comics as normal, giving you a few comics’ buffer…
I can relate. I fell asleep navigating to this page. Two clicks, and I didn’t make it. Time to sleep I guess.
Take care of yourself Mr. Dave.