Is This Thing On?

My last post here was in 2015. Returning to this page, I was a little surprised to discover that it was even still online, or that blogs were even still a thing. Perhaps they aren't really anymore? I have no idea. It's pretty interesting to see how many of the links on this page are now dead. The world has moved on.

When last we met, I was in the late stages of learning that Nonplayer #2 was not going to provide the magic leverage to turn comics into a full time day job. Given the unsustainability of my schedule back then (drawing the comic in the wee hours of the morning while having a day job and raising a kid), it really was a hail Mary situation -- I'm not even really sure what form I thought the deus ex machina would take. Maybe Nonplayer would get turned into a movie? Maybe I could pivot to Patreon? In the end, I had to stop out of sheer exhaustion. 

I didn't give up. I started a spread for Nonplayer 3, and then stalled out. Here it is:

I pivoted to writing, and got the scripts nailed down for the rest of the (now 9 issue) run. Then for a few months, I fell in love with the idea of making a Korean-style webtoon and drawing one frame a day. I worked on that in secret, but got stuck again before I had enough to release. Maybe I'll post all my progress from that effort in a separate thread.

At any rate, my career in games got pretty exciting -  I got a chance to work on a franchise that I loved, and I poured everything I had into that part of my life for many years. That's still going on, but a few things have changed lately that have got me thinking about comics again. First, my kid is ten years old, and he's independent enough that he's got his own friends and activities, leaving me (in theory) with a lot more time on my own. And second, I spend a lot of free time farting around on my phone, doing stuff that doesn't really bring me much joy. 

With that in mind, I dug up my old Nonplayer scripts last week and was surprised to discover that I was still very excited about completing that story. I never even really got to the good part! 

Which begs the question: how are comics made in 2023? The first issue of Nonplayer was created in Photoshop, and a lot of this blog was devoted to figuring out how to efficiently color rasterized comics pages. In the pursuit of further efficiency gains, I created the second issue in IllustStudio, which in some ways deadened my linework but definitely sped up the coloring process. That tool evolved, over several iterations, into Manga Studio and then Clip Studio Paint. Is that where it's at these days? Anybody have alternate tool suggestions?

Similarly, if I were going to get back to chronicling my comics journey again, should I be doing that here on blogspot or is there some other platform where artists hang out? I am old now, and I entreat you kids (if any of you even still read blogs) to help me shed all the layers of dust and lameness with which I am now encrusted. 

Anyway, hello again. Here's hoping this is the start of an interesting new chapter.