Just doing things

It never ends.

You think you're done, and you're not.

I thought Strung Out was settled enough to start drawing. Two pages in, I realize there are some seriously weak characters, and set out to fix that. And, as a result, I'm overhauling the story. Boo.

This happened to Collide, you'll recall. I got tired of the weaknesses, and paused it. On that same vein, I've been making progress with Collide. I hit on the very things I was missing, and the modified story is coming together quite perfectly. It's a lot shorter and has less characters. I'm addressing some serious stuff, too, as well as fun stuff. It's going to be amazing.

It'd be easy to feel discouraged at myself for not drawing my comics--to tell myself I'm not progressing. But really, I am. I'm making my stories better, and that's progress. Things happen differently for everyone, and for me, I don't feel comfortable starting unless I have a script for the story. I do that because I want to make sure dialogue doesn't insinuate the wrong things, or that I include the right hints and allusions. I want my readers to reread later and gasp when they realize what a merry chase I've led them on. I have comic friends who know where their story is going, but don't write dialogue until the moment the page is being made. I can't work like that. I do leave myself room to adjust dialogue, though, if the moment feels right.

Strung Out, starting the engine

Since I'm basically graduated (one fluke of a class to take), I'm on the hunt for a real life job. And between hunting, I'm putting together Strung Out stuff, starting with the website.

http://strungout.allicomics.com

So far, it looks pretty good. It even has stuff in the 'about' section. I'm trying to decide to what to put elsewhere, but I figure that'll come together with time.

I'm going to start drawing Strung Out when I clean out my room. It's unbearably cluttered, with junk crowding my walls and spilling on my floor (literally, metaphorically, and figuratively). I'm going to clean it out, put everything away, and clean off my desk. I'm also going to start making use of my lap desk (less a lap desk, more a large-foot-breakingly-heavy-flat-thing-with-a-handle). 

The fact is, though, I could easily make an excuse to put off Strung Out more and say, "Well, there's no space to work. I'll start it when I have work space, which will be when I eventually get my own place." But let's be honest, when will that happen? WHO KNOWS. And I am miserable not drawing comics. 

So there we go. My two goals are to find a job and start Strung Out. ASAP.

Strung Out

I am almost done with school. I took my last final (hopefully) ever today. I have only one more paper due, and two tests to pass that will excuse me from a class; if I don't pass those tests, I have to take another semester of school.

But.

As soon as it's all done with, I will be able to start working on Strung Out.

The deal with Strung Out is simple:
It's short enough that I will not spend my life working on it.
It's not my "baby" so I won't be crushed if I eventually look back and cringe.
But I fully intend to pour my all into it, which means no planned update schedule.
I also will be uploading fully fledged scenes, rather than individual pages. I dislike how disjointed things can get with webcomics, and I want my readers to experience each scene right.

That's what's going on. I'm almost done with University, will hopefully find a job, and then dive into comics again.

Change

I've been unhappy with Collide lately. I don't feel like I'm doing it the justice it deserves, and I feel stuck drawing it in a style I don't want to draw it in. I don't want know what style I do want to do it in, but this isn't it. It's wrong.

The problem is... If I continued to draw Collide in this style, I'd put myself in a rut. I wouldn't be able to change my art style. And my art style wants to change. It's trying, but it gets dragged backwards whenever I work on Collide. And when I have to take breaks from Collide, my style progresses (only to slide backwards when I start up again).

So, after consulting a few comic friends and voicing my concerns, I've decided to put Collide on hold until I know what to do with it. I'm going try different things, privately, and see what I like.

In the mean time, I'm going to start a new comic project, Strung Out. This one is more nailed down. I know the style I want to use, the script is done, and I know what everything looks like. It's ready to go. It's also shorter than Collide. Maybe I'll be ready for Collide once this one ends.

I am sorry that you all have to wait to know what will happen. I really am. But this is the right thing to do, and Collide will be better for it.