#my goal is to have one webcomic per day of the week (like as in when it updates) but the webcomics i've got so far only update on

[eclipsesalign]

my favorite hobby is reading through multiple hundred chapters of a webcomic all in one go and then forgetting all of the lore by the time new updates drop

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

Late and short again, 2024 is kicking my ass already again

- Velocipastor (Movie) - Way to pass the time while helping a friend move, it looked stupid in a fun way and kind of succeeded? There were some genuinely really funny moments, such as when they just put the text "Car exploding visual and SFX" ontop of a peaceful street and had the actor react like they were actually seeing something, when that lady exploded out of nowhere, and the Frankie Mermaid character, but there were also plenty of moments that just kind of dragged - namely anytime they were trying to be serious without any tongue in cheek gags. So I wouldn't rank it on the top level of bad on purpose movies but it was a fun single watch.

- The Boy and the Heron (Movie) - Hmm While I definitely don't think its a bad movie as the visuals alone are worth the watch, I don't think this was one of Miyazaki's strongest either. The plot was hard to follow and even after browsing through analysis and understanding more the intent behind the themes of pushing an unwanted legacy onto someone/dealing with grief, I really don't think it was done in a very cohesive or powerful way even if I respect the artistry of it. Overall I feel like most of the elements were done better in prior films (Cool tough lady done better in Princes Mononoke, Cute little creatures done better in Totoro, Thrust into a strange magical world done better in Spirited Away, troubled protagonist done better in Kiki, ect) Which I would rather just rewatch, which I know isn't exactly fair to this movie but it's the truth. I don't regret having seen it and would maybe rewatch it a while later, I'm open to reavaluating it on a second watch, but for now my honest opinion of it is that its just okay.

- Pokemon Concierge (TV) - cute little stop motion mini series, the plot isn't anything special but the visuals are really cute and interesting and the setting of a Pokemon resort is the definition of wish fulfillment. Good on them for not exclusively using the most popular pokemon either, though of course Pikachu couldn't not be there.

- Dr Stone (Anime) - Exciting to have Tsukasa back and have a larger goal as well as some clues to the mystery of how everyone was turned to stone. I don't really talk about this series as much due to the 1 episode per week rate and smaller fandom but I do quite like it, it's very cozy and I do really love my aroace cocky but sweetheart protagonist Senku. Looking forward to see how stone age America will be depicted.

- Lower Decks (TV) - Yup.

- Strange New Worlds (TV) - Yes.

- Mage and Demon Queen (Webcomic) - Looking over all the webcomics I read in 2024 I noticed a distinct shortage of yuri so I aim to rectify that this year. This one is quite promising so far, the beginning being funny enough with the "Hot demon vileness being confused and put off by the human hero being super into her even when her life is being threatened" setup, and then pushing into more heartwarming territory by addressing this and actually diving into the reasoning/backstory/emotional intelligence of the characters beyond the setup. I also just adore any "friendly demon family" setup so I quite like the Demon Queens entourage and how cool they are with the human with a crush on their boss. Super cute, liking it a lot.

- One Piece (Anime) - The pace my sister and I have been watching this show is frankly insane. I was going to use this blurb to talk about the pros and cons of Thriller bark, which had a neat aesthetic but overall was one of the weakest arcs so far thanks to the gross comedy and lackluster villains, but in the extra time its been since I paused this we've also blown through all of Sabaody, Amazon Lily, Impel Down, and Marieneford - All of which were way more interesting and frankly some of the best One Piece content so far. Maybe I'll do a bigger elaboration one day but as a short roundup, Sabaody was fun with a cool environment and introduced a lot of interesting new faces, Amazon Lily was surprisingly pretty funny, Impel Down was a blast and I'm starting to see why Buggy is so popular, Marieneford was full of tension and while I do think it went on just a little too long the overall emotion and impact it will have on the world and series is incredible. It's so hard not to get sucked in to making this myy whole personality.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Thanks to saving up to try to guarantee the 5 stars I wanted I've recently gone from having no five stars to having Navia, Raiden, and Qui Qui, as well as now having a C6 Cheveruse, multi constellation Rosaria, Candance, Bennette, and Sucrose, and several decent weapons, which is very exciting though bad for my experience papers and primogem stash. I accidently rose my adventure rank so I guess I'll be doing some character stories before finishing Sumeru, though I've quite liked the environment and time loop story so far.

Listening To: Turn the Lights Off and The Bidding by Tally Hall, How Did You Love by Shinedown, The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives, L'oiseau et L'enfant by The Schlagerflowers, Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift, You Happened from The Prom Musical, All the Boys by Panic! at the Disco, Can't Catch Me Now cover by Annapantsu, Ways to Go by Grouplove, As it Was cover by Reinaeiry

[the-aesthetician-writes]

September Writing Review

(Also a short update.)

Hey all! I've been gone for a while, I know. I've been trying to keep active in the midst of finding work and life being well... life. So the short and quick version of this is, I'm back-ish!

I have decided to really buckle down and have a try at building up my writing habits. With a couple of months filled with some horrendous experiences I won't detail here, I have realized what I want to do more than anything is writing. I have been attempting the process for the passed couple of weeks and the results have been more than I had expected.

Last month's goal is more or less having a decent amount of work done on all WIPs. And while that can seem overwhelming. I think the way I had set this up this time could hold results. So prior to my recent experiment, I've been writing with the goal of finishing one thing with no deadline (probably not the best method now that I'm thinking about it.) So what I decided to do now is to have a deadline along with tentative goals by the end of the year(NaNoWriMo) and some taking place during the first half of the new year (AroWriMo).

Some of these goals range from solid word counts to more abstract concepts in writing but for transparency (and accountability, really) I'll share them below.

Poco-A-Poco (Webcomic)

Poco-A-Poco is a web comic I set out to make at the beginning of the pandemic. Hoping to create something while in lockdown. It has been abandoned for a couple of years but I have decided to work on it to help build my discipline.

The goal for the last two weeks was to create a total of around 30 "pages" for the web comic. Thinking pages for web comics are often subjective and since I have a passion for graphic design. I felt it would at least work as a warm up when working on it.

The goal after September would be to work on a "page" daily for Poco-A-Poco. Just to build a rhythm and if I manage the time, some day update the comic with what I have worked on.

By the end of 2023, the total should amount to around 122 "pages".

By April 2024, the total should amount to around 243 "pages".

@bybyebitheway

Bi The Way is my ocean punk baby. Also started in 2020 and has had the unfortunate ratio of one chapter released per year it's been alive. With my new motivation with these goals, I decided BTW needed a concrete goal to hit. This was not only to build discipline, but also to build stamina in my writing sprints. I will be trying the Pomodo Method when writing BTW chapters along with the modified Kitchen Timer Method.

The goal of these past few weeks was to write around 4 chapters. I really attempted to give my all these passed few weeks, but haven't managed to work on Bi The Way. However, knowing I had planned beyond these two weeks made me feel better about the initial failure.

This October, I plan on playing catch up on BTW and other WIPs I fell behind on. By the end of this month, I plan on having written 5 chapters along with the four chapters that carry over last month. I feel like the carry over factor will help in building that stamina in terms of writing. After all, the only reason I had set 30 pages in two weeks for Poco-A-Poco was to build in routine. I'll talk more about that later on, but for now my goal with BTW is to have written 4/5 chapters each month. Each chapter having a minimum word count of 1,500 words. BTW will have a hiatus in November for NaNoWriMo.

By the end of the year, I would like to have around 14 chapters.

By the end of April 2024, I would like to have around 30 chapters.

@tobeaspected

To Be Aspectec is another product of the pandemic and also my first dive into AroWriMo. Having failed to achieve what I originally wanted for AroWriMo multiple years in a row, I plan to finish at least one character interaction just in time for next year's AroWriMo.

The goal for the last two weeks was to have two "scenes" written for TBA. With the goal being more subjective and similar to my goal with Poco-A-Poco pages, I opted to have a definition set for what counted as a scene (for my overthinking sanity's sake). A scene would mean any amount of writing needed before the player makes a choice. (Oh I forgot to mention TBA is an interactive fiction piece, didn't I?) Besides the quantity, anything else was up to me.

By the end of the year, I would like to have 6 "scenes" written for TBA.

By the end of February 2024, I would like to finish one "volume" of TBA. A volume would be a total of two characters and all their interactions, including endings.

By the end of April 2024, I would like to have 10 "scenes" written.

@thehuntersacethetic

The Hunter's Ace-Thetic is another interactive fiction project that started during the pandemic. It has been through many different mediums as a way to experiment and learn about different media, but I will focus on ChoiceScript for now.

My goal during the past two weeks was to write out one "episode". Again, with the goal being to build stamina, I added THAT work load into the two weeks as well. More so, the focus these past two weeks was to organize the "episode" structure, with the real priority being on an outline for it.

By the end of the year, I would like to have 4 episodes of THAT.

By the end of April 2024, I would like to have 8 Episodes of THAT.

NaNoWriMo 2023 Project (OMS)

For the month of November, I plan to take on NaNoWriMo and work on one of my abandoned attempts. I hope to write to full 60,000 words by the end of Novemember. If anything, I hope I learn how to be a better writer. The name of the book will be: "Oh My, Starsigns!"

"Oh My Starsigns!" is planned to be a sci-fi/ crime drama(?) taking place in the future where the space police have technology that can take over a suspect's body. Along with the police themselves, suspects also posses different abilities. The story will begin when a prison ship crash lands on a distant planet. Really trying hard to not give anything away just yet.

By the end of 2023, I would like to have Oh My, Starsigns! finished.

By the end of April 2024, I have no further plans for OMS other than maybe self publishing on Amazon or somewhere else if I'm able to find a better alternative.

What I've Written So Far (End of September, 2023):

Poco-A-Poco: 20/30 Pages

Bi The Way: 0/4 Chapters, 0/6k Words

To Be Aspected: 0/2 Scenes

The Hunter's Ace-thetic: 0/1 Episodes

What I Plan to Write (October 2023):

Poco-A-Poco: 40/30 Pages

Bi The Way: 8/4 Chapters, 12k/6k Words

To Be Aspected: 4/2 Scenes

The Hunter's Ace-thetic: 2/1 Episodes

Reflection:

I think these past two months have been a great experiment in knowing what to do different for the next couple of weeks. Hope to update you a month from now with good results.

[soopscoop]

life adventures log 6

january 7, 2024

you could’ve sworn you made one of these a few months ago. not the prior one but a secret, lost log, erased from the naked eye and hidden between the pixels and code of the tumblr universe. its gone. or you’re crazy. you don’t even remember what was in the post lol, but you know for sure that you were up at 3AM cooking up something great.

its the new year! lots of things have happened since the last log. firstly, school was a delight. it was so refreshing to be in classes you actually had interest in. hopefully you’ll bring the same energy to the next semester. you’re finding more friends in the major and growing more in what you want to do. more on your future job later.

you feel as if your circle of friends has grown smaller and larger all the same. its like you’ve made more friends, but the number of close, talk-and-text-a-lot-to group feels like its getting smaller. maybe. or maybe you feel like there are more people that you’re friends with that you wish to talk and text a lot to now. options are growing!

the winter break has most definitely been an eventful one. you’ve had family over for the entirety of it, making it your main priority, without much time for anyone or anything else. although you’ve enjoyed your time back at home, you will not be mad that you’re headed back to school. your introverted bones ache for solitude, although you’re sure you won’t feel this way for long. give it like two weeks lol.

you gained a lot of weight over the break…. like damn girl!!!! you’ve set a goal for yourself. its a far off and a long term goal, but you hope one day you can do a pull up! this is a secondary goal, second to the one of losing however many pounds. fifty for sure. this year is to get to the 100s. embarrassing! the gym at your apartment complex is closed for renovations, but there are plenty of options. this year is for growth and discovery.

speaking of this year, you are turning TWENTY. in the past you’ve been wary of the number. however, now you’ve found a newfound spark and hope. this year is going to be great. this year you’ll pursue (hopefully) all the things that you’ve wanted to. you’re hoping to start the webcomic! you’re gonna get a job finally and get money (currently dead ass broke). you’re gonna love your school and love your friends and maybe even love someone? crazy! the future is bright! your twenties have never looked better! you’re gonna be rich and successful just like you always wanted. here’s to the next decade, darling!

back to your future job: the future is definitely moving closer to you very quickly. there’s plenty that you are excited for in this upcoming decade, but the whole career scene is filled with doubts and uncertainties. you still aren’t 100% sure that speech therapy is what you want to do, but at least the percentage is larger than it was with nursing. during your classes last semester you started formulating a plan. well, not a plan per se, but a more solid idea of what you want to be. in this field, the dream is to work with trans patients. my niece is to help them in their transition, mainly with voice and the surgery for their optimal voice. like isn’t that so cool. amazing even. working with kids was the initial plan, but this feels so much cooler. you’re currently not sure how to get there, but this year you’ll start finding ways how!

back to the whole losing weight thing: you’ve challenged mom and your sister to losing one pound every two weeks. you recently (re)watched that one CGPgrey video about maximizing misery and in the video he mentions that making shorter, more easily obtainable goals is better for encouragement and feeling like you’re achieving more rather than a long term goal. something like that. keep up with this, okay?

closing thoughts: you got this babes. live your best life. there is a good life ahead of you and you know it. keep up the good work!

songs:

tulips - stranger club

paler, still paler - bo en

with high hopes and regards,

past you

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

Dobson's Patreon: An Addendum to His Monument of Sins

(The following is a submission from @soyouareandrewdobson, meant to be an addendum to the multi-post submission @ripsinfest made a while back. Ironically, this one also had issues when being submitted, so I’ll be copypasting it here with all the images and links originally intended.)

In 2018, user @ripsinfest wrote a multipart series of posts for THOAD, recounting Dobson’s attempt to establish a patreon in 2015 and how it resulted in failure on a massive scale, to the point that his patreon is arguably “a monument to all his sins”.

Personally I think the post series is extremely well researched, rather “neutral” in terms of tone (letting the posts provided as evidence speak more for themselves than the opinion of the writer) and gives a detailed but quick rundown on what went wrong. Primarily that Dobson overestimated his own “value” as an artist and did NOT attempt to give his few supporters what they wanted through his artwork posted around the time.

I do however want to use the opportunity to also point out at certain obvious things that in my opinion (and likely the opinions of others) added to the failure of the patreon account, that were not accounted for in detail and are primarily related to how the internet perceives popularity and Dobson’s inability to understand, how to “sell” and make himself look good to the public.

To begin with, let’s just point out a certain truth about making money via Patreon: To do so, depends a lot on your popularity as a content creator online. That is simply because the more popular you are, the bigger your fanbase is and as such the more likely a certain percentage of people may be willing to donate money to you and your work in hopes they get something out of it, even if it is just the altruistic feeling of having helped someone they “like”. It doesn’t take a genius to see, how e.g. internet reviewers such as Linkara or moviebob (around 2800 and 4400$ earnings via patreon each month respectively) can make quite some money, while other, more obscure content creator or artists barely make money to go by, earning essentially pocket money at best.

In addition, popularity is fleeting. A few years ago e.g. internet personality Noah Antweiler aka The SpoonyOne managed to earn 5000$ a month via patreon, just shortly after establishing his account. But his lack of content over the years AND his toxic behavior online resulted in a decline of popularity and with it people jumping off his Patreon. As such, Antweiler only earns nowadays around 290$ a month via Patreon and most of that money is likely form people who have forgotten they donate to him in the first place anyway.

And Noah is not the only one who over the course of the last couple of years lost earnings. Brianna Wu makes barely more than he does, despite having once been the “darling��� of the internet when the Gamergate controversy was at its peak. Many Bronies who once made more than 2k via video reviews on a show about little horses at the peak of its popularity (2013-15) earn less than 300-800 on average nowadays because interest on the show as well as people talking about it has declined.

Heck, in preparation of writing this piece I found out, that one of the highest grossing patreons nowadays is “The last podcast on the left”, a podcast that earns more than 67k a month by making recordings on obscure and macabre subjects on a regular basis.

So there you have it folks: As the interests of the internet users change, so does the popularity of certain people online and -in case they have a patreon account or similar plattforms- their chances of making money via their content.

Which now brings us back to Dobson, who was not popular at all at that particular time and managed to become even less popular as the months and years passed by.

Sure, Dobson had his fans via deviantart, people knew who he was. But the later was more because of “infamy” than popularity and the number of fans he had accumulated online were representing people interested in him at least since 2005 and did not quite represent his actual present day numbers of supporters at the time.

And mind you, the number of supporters was less than 100k, most of them likely underaged deviantart users. And if my research indicates something, then that most content creators with a halfway decent patreon earning need at least 100k+ followers in total. Because of those fans, only around 1-3% will on average then spend money on you, if you actually create content they enjoy and on a regular basis.

Which brings up the next major problem: Dobson did not create content people enjoyed and that in more than one meaning of the word.

On one hand, as pointed out by ripsinfest, he barely released any content at all over 2015 after a few initial months, despite the fact that he was obviously active online a lot, as shown by his presence on twitter. On the other hand, the few things he did create were not the stuff people wanted.

As an example: If you go to a restaurant and pay for a pizza, you expect the cook to give you a pizza. If however for some reason he just gives you a soda, you get ripped off and never come back. In Dobson’s case, the thing people wanted was not pizza but comic pages. But what he delivered was mostly bland fanart, such as of Disney and Marvel characters crossing over or KorraSami. Sure, a few strips of “So…you are a cartoonist” were still released at the time, but not really many.

To give an overview: Taking the release dates on Dobson’s official SYAC site into account, he released around 16 strips of it between March and August of 2015, the last two being “No Leia” being titled “Zip line”

Afterwards, the next official strip released was “Anything at all” in October of 2016.

Now to be fair, there was at least one more strip at the time Dobson released via patreon, that is also save to see on kiwifarms and other plattforms, which has not been uploaded to his official SYAC page. Likely because he simply forgot about it.

But I think that in itself should tell you something about Dobson’s work ethics when it comes to his webcomics. He promoted his patreon in his own video as a way to ensure he can make comics in a timely fashion again for others to enjoy, but in an environment where certain artists are capable to create multiple strips per week at minimum, Dobson could overall not manage to produce more than 16 over a course of six months, which means an average production of 3 strips per month.

For comparison, Tatsuya Ishida of the infamous sinfest webcomic (a garbage fire of epic proportions from a TERF who I think should be put on a watch list) has produced on average 4 strips per week, including full page Sunday strips, for years and nowadays even releases stuff on a daily basis to pass the covid crisis. So a mad man who wants to see trnas people die, has better work ethics than Dobson.

In other words, people expected Dobson to actually get back into creating comics (with some even expecting a return of Alex ze Pirate), but he got in fact even lazier than before, releasing only SYAC strips and random fanart as a product. Which he then also tried to justify as his choice to make because a) he had mental health issues and b) no one can tell him what to do.

And sure, people do not need to tell you what to do. But when people pay/donate money to you expecting to get a certain product in return, they should get the product. Linkara e.g. by all means doesn’t NEED to review comics to have a fullfilling life, but he got famous for his reviews, people want to see his reviews and they pay him for those reviews. So obviously, he will continue those things.

Then there is also the fact that despite Dobson’s claims how he wants to create comics for everone to enjoy and that he aims to keep his artwork online for free so anyone can view it…(his exact words in his promotional video AND text on his patreon once upon a time)

…the reality was, that he wanted to use patreon as a paywall. Something I actually kinda pointed out at on my own account (shameless self promotion) once, but want now to elaborate a bit. Basically at the time Dobson opened up his patreon, he also was on the verge of leaving deviantart as a platform people could look at his work behind. Which he eventually did.

Meaning that the only major platforms for people to watch any “new��� stuff by him were his patreon or art sites such as the SYAC homepage or andysartwork. Which granted, he did EVENTUALLY put his stuff on.

But unlike other content creators who would put “patreon exclusive” new content up on more public plattforms often within a few days, weeks or a month after making them “patreon only” at first, Dobson waited longer and did barely anything to promote his sites as places to look his stuff up for a public audience. In doing so creating a “bubble” for himself that hurt him more than it helped, as Dobson made himself essentially come off as a snob.

A snob who did not create content for everybody to enjoy, but ONLY for those willing to pay him at least one dollar per month. As evident e.g. by the fact that as time went by, certain content was never released outside of his patreon at all, such as a SYAC strip involving Dobbear screaming at the computer because he saw a piece of art that featured tumblr nose.

Lastly, there is the issue of his patreon perks and stretch goals.

See, his perks were essentially non existent. Aside of the beggars reward of “my eternal thank you if you donate 1 dollar”, two other perks that come to my mind were the following: If you donated up to 5$ at minimum, you got your name thrown into a lottery to potentially win buttons and postcards of his artwork. Unsold cheap merch from years prior he failed to sell at conventions basically. There was just a problem with that thing: That lottery thing, which he also was only going to initiate when he reached a stretch goal of 150 dollar a month? It was illegal!

Patreon itself has in their user agreement a rule that forbids people from offering perks that essentially boil down to “earning” something via gambling, which this lottery by Dobson was.

(THOAD chiming in here to add that, in addition to all this, he fully admitted he would be excluding Patrons that he “knew were clearly trolls” from the lottery. Which made the already illegal lottery also fixed, so...yeah.)

The next thing coming to mind was his “discount” on previous books of his he offered online, if you donated at least 10 bucks per month to him. Or to translate it: You would get a bare minimum discount at pdf files of books such as Alex ze Pirate and Formera (you know, the permanently cancelled Dobson comics) if you paid up 50-75% of their original price on Patreon already. And considering the quality of his early works, he should have given you at least a book per month for free if you dared to donate him that much.

As for the stretch goals… lets go through them, shall we:

100$: A wallpaper per month. Something he did provide with eventually, but barely. And after less than five of those he stopped to make them overall

150$: Monthly Gift basket Lottery, which as I stated, was illegal and almost got him into serious trouble with his account. Also not an initial stretch goal he made up but instead came up with a few months into his accounts existence. Finally it got temporarily replaced by Dobson playing with the idea to use 150$ per month to open up a server and art site where people could upload stuff for free similar to deviantart, but under his administration. Promising a “safe space” for other artists. Which considering Dobson’s ego and inability to accept criticism or delegate responsibilities would have likely ended like this:

175$: Establishing a Minecraft server for him and his fans to play on. Meaning Dobson would have just wasted time he could spend on creating comics to endulge in his Minecraft obsession.

200$: Writing a Skyrim children book. Aside of the legal nightmare that this could have been (I doubt Valve would have been happy of someone else profiting of their property) I have to ask, who was even interested in Skyrim by 2015 anymore? Sure, Skyrim was a popular game and it had its qualities, but it was also a trend that had passed by that time. So in other words, there was not a market to cater towards here.

300$: A strip per week guaranteed.

… are you fucking kidding me? 75$ per strip essentially? Something people expect you to produce anyway if you want to be considered a “prolific” creator worth supporting online? Imagine if certain internet reviewers would do that, telling you that if they do not earn at least a certain amount of money, they will not produce anything, period, or less than usual. And Dobson had already proven that he can release more than just one comic within a few days, if he is motivated by enough spite.

600$: Starting a podcast with his friends to talk about nerd culture. In my opinion could only work under the assumption that people even like the idea of listening to Dobson and his opinions. Which considering how very little people like talking to him sounds doubtful. Also, considering how Dobson tends to be late to the party when it comes to nerd culture, likely tending to be out of date faster than he could upload. Finally... what friends?

700$: Returning the love, as he says it, by donating some of the money patreon users gave him to other content creators. This in my opinion is the most self defeating cause possible. On one hand sure, being generous and all that. But essentially Dobson admits here he would blow the money people give him to support HIS art on others, essentially defeating the purpose of HIS own account. He also does not clarify how much of that money he would donate, meaning there was a high chance that he would spend less than 10% of it on other creators, only creating the illusion of support while putting the actual earnings/donations into his own pocket.

2000$: A massive jump ahead. 2000$ per month would result in him getting better equipment (as in a new computer e.g.) and as such “potentially” make more comics. Mind you, only potentially.

This goal in my opinion is also the most fucked up one. Primarily for the following reasons:

Lets say Dobson would have achieved the goal and actually earned over 2000$ per month for at least a year. His annual earning would have been 24k, minus whatever he had to pay as taxes and payment for using the patreon service. And what would he do with this money? Get himself a better computer and equipment by paying a minor fraction of it once. Then he could use that computer for years to come while still having over 10k in his account, plus his monthly earnings. And he may still just produce 3-4 comics a month of a series that has as much depth to it than Peppa Pig if not less.

Sure, many patreon users have 2k+ as a stretch goal on their accounts to signify that if they could make that much monthly, they could have the necessary financial security to focus their time primarily on their content instead of a regular job. And if the content they create is actually well made, many people would support that or be okay with it.

But 2000 dollars to buy ONE computer and not account for how this money will add up over time? And that in light of such profits people may actually expect you to create more than you barely do already? That is either a case of narcissism, plain stupidity because you can't look further than 5 feet or just shows how Dobson did not understand at all the tool he had at his disposal.

Bottom line: Dobson, like many times before, fucked it up. He overestimated the potential support and resulting profits he could make, he expected that his name alone would be enough to assure gainings instead of creating content to justify support and he was unwilling to really give his supporters anything worthwhile back.

And while I am sure that there were also many other factors guaranteeing his failure, those at least to me, were his "common" mistakes most other people familiar even with the basics of internet popularity would ahve avoided.

[in-the-mines-of-veingadd]

Happy birthday to me! To celebrate it along with you, here is the height comparison chart of the major characters that will appear in ItMoV! 

Right now, I’m in the process of drafting Chapter 2 and making character sheet of the main characters to keep my work consistent! 

Will be updating you guys about the state of the project under ‘Keep Reading’! c: 

‘In the Mines of Veingadd’ actually is in a state that I think is acceptable and something I’m proud of, despite still feeling around stuff. I’m sure you all know that the quarantine is happening at the moment... but I’m using my time to learn 3D stuff while working on ItMov at the side. Chapter 1 is finished and fully rendered, and now Ch2 is being drafted! I’m glad for my progress, and I’m very thankful for my mini team of beta-readers that have been supporting me through this! (that I won’t name right now, but their credits will be visible in the website’s page later! c:)

Right now, my biggest concern is upload time... My final goal is to be somewhat like a manga (one chapter per month instead of one page a week like most webcomics). However, since I have yet to start my (pending) job, I will not be able to speculate my progress with a main full time job. I’ll try addressing this later in the future, but I hope I will be able to get stuff done on a timely manner!

I sincerely thank everyone who are still waiting patiently and following this comic. Sorry for lack of updates, too! I want to make sure I have something to deliver instead of updating too much, but so far I’m somewhere I’m happy with, and I hope to launch the comic right on time. 

If there are delays (if I need more time to plan things through), I will update you all here.

Thanks again, and have a nice day!! <3

[enigmalea]

DA Fandom Resolutions 2021 Update

Holy crap, February flew by, and I barely managed to meet my resolutions. This month was a legitimate struggle for me. I did find out that my vitamin D is low (and likely has been for a while), which could absolutely explain why all of my chronic conditions have been worse.

I also got derailed by other fandom projects (I... coded a Discord bot? Like... I have no idea how I managed that in a couple of weeks. I didn’t even know python when I started).

So, my frantic attempt to hit my goals has really been concentrated on this weekend, and I made it - but with minutes to spare. Here are my original resolutions. Let’s take a look at my progress:

WRITING RESOLUTION: 100 words per day

I think I actually did worse on consistency this month than I did last month. I didn’t even bother to keep track of how many days I hit my goal, and I basically spewed out 2300 words give or take today.

total word count for the month:  3015 progress score: 10/10 on the amount of words written. 1/10 on consistency. adjustment: I think I’m going to have to be okay with a lack of consistency for now given how unpredictable my health has been. The good news is that I have felt better the last week or so since I started supplements, so I’m going to make a decent effort in March to aim for the consistency that was the spirit of this goal, and I do have a new project in @rare-egg-hunt​ and a new challenge on @hangedmandisc​ to try to help with that.

I switched to a weekly goal halfway through February and did much better with that, so I’m going to continue with that for March aiming for 700 words/week.

GENERAL FANDOM RESOLUTIONS:

participate in @DAPOLYSHIPPINGDAY​ every month.

Done! My February post was reblogged here. The March queue is open now, and I plan to write my post for it tomorrow.

read/watch all the DA side media this year.

Done! I finished reading The Calling yesterday. I wasn’t great about livetweeting this time as I did most of my reading before I fell asleep, but I did post some summary tweets yesterday after I finished.

I also rewatched Dawn of the Seeker this month. I know it gets a lot of crap, but I do enjoy the movie. It’s not the best, but it definitely could be worse, I think.

March’s Schedule includes the Penny Arcade Webcomics (Dragon Age: Origins, and Dragon Age: Awakening) and watching the webseries Warden’s Keep.

BONUS RESOLUTIONS:

post at least one WIP Wednesday a month

Oof. I missed this one this month. I sort of turned around and February is over. I’m going to try to do two in March to “make up” for it.

[mszegedy]

30 Days of Autism Acceptance 2020: Days 1-10

This is a list of questions by @autie-jake (full list here), where you’re supposed to answer one per day for every day of April. I learned about it a few days into April and intended to start doing it but I forgot, I guess, or maybe decided against it. But I wanna do it now, so here’s the first ten days really quick.

April 1: Introduce yourself. Talk about who you are as a person.

This is kind of a hard question for me. I think my younger sister (by 3¾ years) would say this, if she just made a new friend the same age as her and she asked about me:

“Well, she goes to college, but she’s graduating this semester. She does something with proteins, but honestly she should really be a linguist. I actually really hate discussing linguistics with her, because she gets so annoying and overbearing about it. I don’t understand why she’s doing whatever she is. She’s a pretty weird person. She has all sorts of problems with, like, depression and amnesia and stuff. Oh, but, she’s trans, so, like, that’s a thing, yeah. I don’t like talking about most things with her because she thinks she’s always right. And also, she’s kind of mean to our mom. I don’t know why she does that. But at the same time she’s, like, really sensitive, and will be offended by the stupidest things. Okay, this is making it sound like I don’t like her, but I do, okay? She’s my sister, of course I love her. We’ve bonded a lot. She’s moving to DC in October, so we’ll be able to hang out during the school year, and that’ll be really fun. I think I’m just a little fed up with her right now from having to live with her for a whole month.“

April 2: Post your red instead selfie today! Alternatively, you could talk about why you choose to go redinstead and what it means to you.

I don’t know what “redinstead” is. I googled it and it sounds like you wear differently-themed stuff from what’s recommended by Autism Speaks, to dunk on them. Like a lot of people, I’m stuck inside this April, so there’s no point in me wearing pride clothing, because nobody will see it. But I do disapprove of Autism Speaks, because they don’t treat autistic people like people, and they try to spread that ideology. If you trick them into thinking you’re a person first, they won’t change their mind; instead, they’ll say you’re not autistic. People defend them by recounting the problems that nonverbal autistic people face, as though nonverbal autistic people have an inherently worse neurotype than everyone else, and not just one that’s more difficult to accomodate for society, and as though that justifies the abuses levied against them by Autism Speaks. I could go into details, but I won’t, because it would be emotionally draining for me as a writer, and you as a reader.

Suffice to say, I love being autistic. It has inspired a lot of people to treat me very badly, and probably led to a degree of abuse and neglect in my childhood that resulted in dissociative identity disorder. But all of my autistic traits are things that I love about myself. I like how emotionally expressive my stims make me. I like how I’ve learned to dissect a lot of social stuff and I can explain it. I like how I can just dispense with all of that social stuff around autistic people. Hell, I think it gives the neurotypical people I hang out with some relief, too, when I’m straightforward and explicit all the time. I like how good I am at linguistics, and how I can use it as a way to relate to the world.

April 3: Talk about special interests. Do you have any? What are they? How long have you had them? What does it feel like to have special interests? What does having special interests mean to you? Talk about your past special interests

My special interests are unusually slow burns. I’ve had linguistics-related special interests for the past ten years. They’re peripherally useful for language learning, but mostly I’ve just accumulated academic knowledge. They’ve, however, also led me to reconnect with my Ugric heritage culture, which is very important to me. (It wouldn’t be important to me if language weren’t my primary way of relating to the world; paradox?)

I have a wide variety of other interests, but few of them are really “special”. As a kid, my special interest was marine life. Unfortunately, I haven’t retained much of that, although I do have the privilege of having a diver’s license, which I’ll use again someday when I pass better naked. I also briefly had a special interest in… building computers, or something. I didn’t have the money to make anything particularly powerful (not that I had anything at the time to use computational power for), but I did run some workshops for middle-schoolers.

I think maybe my interest as a kid in Homestuck was special? It ran pretty deep, anyway. It’s hard to say, when you can’t remember most of your life.

April 4: Do you consider your autism to be an important part of your identity?

Because we have DID (or something like it), we don’t have an identity in the traditional sense. We do have a system identity, but that’s built around our mutual goals and guidelines. However, we’d be very sad to lose our autistic traits. Also, it might mess with the standard of consistency we’ve established for ourselves; we might not be able to predict our future actions, because losing our autistic traits may interfere with our ability to follow the aforementioned goals and guidelines, which are what help keep us focused and consistent.

April 5: Talk about your living situation. Do you live with your parents? Do you live on your own? Have roommates? Etc. If you live on your own how hard was it to get used to?

Right now, I’m quarantining with my mom, my sister, and my brother (who is actually my sister’s boyfriend), at my mom’s house. The mess that’s accumulating in the house is slowly causing my mom more and more stress, I think. I’ve never really lived on my own. For a lot of college, I lived with roommates or housemates, but I don’t think I was very good at that. Also, my mom lived nearby, and I stayed at her place on the weekends. The closest I’ve come to living on my own is watching my mom’s house for up to a few weeks at a time, and that wasn’t sustainable. (To be fair, what kind of house has a lawn? When I get a house with a lawn in the future, I will make sure that it’s a wild lawn that I don’t have to mow.)

The third to last time that I house-sitted for my mom, I ended up getting hospitalized for self-harm. It took her a while to let me do it again after that. Although, not a very long while, I guess. That was at the end of last September.

April 6: Are you able to drive? If you can, was it hard for you to learn? If not, what alternatives do you use, if any

I’m not able to drive. Driving is scary and difficult for me. I went through the motions of learning it in high school, but my track was interrupted by a move across state lines (I lived in the US at the time), and I never recovered. I’ve failed the NJ written driver’s exam, which grants you a one-year permit with restrictions, a total of roughly ten times. I’ve never been this bad at a subject; it’s like I have the opposite of a special interest in driving. A special lack-of-interest. My brain won’t retain any information about NJ driving laws whatsoever. It doesn’t help that I had a traumatic car crash when I was very young.

So far, I’ve just gotten my mom and coworkers to drive me places, or taken Ubers or trains. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that if I leave NJ, I’ll probably have to get a driver’s license. Although, I’ve already got a carpool set up at my next job in October.

April 7: Talk about autism in the media. Do you think that autism is typically portayed well? Badly? Is there anything you’d like to see more of when it comes to autistic representation? Who are your favorite autistic characters? Do you have any headcanons?

The media that I consume doesn’t really have autistic characters, so I can’t comment on how autistic people are portrayed, except that I’d like us to be portrayed more, period. I’ve only really seen us in teen dramas. To be fair, one of my favorite webcomics, El Goonish Shive, is a teen drama, and has a great autistic character (Susan). I’d say I identify with her, but not really. It’s very hard for me to identify with people, fictional or nonfictional, because my neurotype is greatly influenced by autism, DID, chronic depression, and gender dysphoria, and you don’t see combinations of traits in media that come even close to that.

Speaking of another teen drama, I wish I were half as cool as Matilda from Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. I guess that makes her my favorite canon autistic character, but that’s pretty easy, because I don’t know any other ones. I can’t say that I wanna hug her, because she doesn’t like that, but her general substitute for hugs is dancing, and I can’t dance. I guess I’d learn how, to show my appreciation for her.

Archer from Archer is probably autistic. I like him a lot.

April 8: What are some misconceptions/stereotypes about autism that you hate?

“Hating” is not something I can really do, even when it’s recommended to do it. I haven’t been open about my autism, so I haven’t been exposed to too many misconceptions or stereotypes about it firsthand, anyway. I guess if I had to pick, it would be whatever made my dad call me autistic as an insult and use a bunch of ableist slurs at me a whole lot. I don’t know how he understands autism, however. He doesn’t seem to realize that he has it himself. (It’s not usually one’s place to diagnose other people like that, but one of the most degrading things that my mom says to me very often is that I’m exactly like my father. He even has some traits that I don’t, like touch-aversion and samefoods.)

April 9: How sensitive are you when it comes to touch? Are you pro hug or anti hug?

I’m hyposensitive. I’m really losing it here under this quarantine. I had a girlfriend who always made me feel so respected whenever she responded to my touch-based needs, by squeezing me, hugging me, or otherwise cuddling me very tight, but then she broke up with me because of my mental health issues, and because her parents hated me and her friends were made very uncomfortable by me.

April 10: Do you have trouble understanding when someone is being sarcastic or joking?

It depends. I think I’m as good at it as I’ll ever be, and my false negative rate is under 0.5 (and my false positive rate is very low, but not 0). But I don’t think the same thing goes on in my head as in neurotypical people’s heads when I determine something to be a joke. I almost explicitly do a Bayesian calculation; “Based on what I know about this person and this context, how well can I imagine them meaning this statement unironically in this context? How well can I imagine them meaning this statement ironically in this context?” It’s pretty automatic now, but sometimes it doesn’t work very well, when I’m not so familiar with the person and/or the context, and occasionally the intended interpretation of the statement.

[comicteaparty]

March 28th-April 3rd, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble   chat that occurred from March 28th, 2020 to April 3rd, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

How many hours do you work on your comic per week, and how do you manager to balance that with other responsibilities?

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

heheh So we are.. cheating a bit Both me and my coworker are unemployed, and is working on hour comic, like was it a full time job. It is our passion project, and dream that we can work and live of makeing comics. In Denmark you can apply for grants from the government, but you need to have releashed a book before that is possible. We are useing the comic, to show potentional clients in the future what we can do. For now we are working on it from 09:00-17:00 ish (with a long lunch break) while applying for other kinds of grants, and also does all the things we are supposed to to get our unemplyment money, and searching for jobs, and freelance gigs, gathering the courage to start our own small company (not right now though) and yeaah time will tell

carcarchu

@Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS that doesn't sound like cheating to me? more like using the tools at your disposal to turn your passion into a viable career

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

hehe it feels a little like cheating! there are some debates about if it is okay or not, but we think that strengthening our skills is a good use of our time

eli [a winged tale]

Haha also not cheating! It’s great you’re using the time to chase the dream I’m curious what’s your breakdown for those time working on the comic? As for me, usually 1-2 hours a day with a bit more on the weekend if time permits. These days with the quarantine it’s about 2-3 h a day

DanitheCarutor

Since I'm unemployed until who knows when I've been working on my comic between 40-50 hours a week about 6 to 7 days a week... most weeks. Some days, like update day or chore day, I hardly work on the comic or don't work on it at all. Admittedly I'm not the best at balancing drawing with other responsibilities, sometimes I get so into it that I forget about daily house chores, other weeks I do the opposite and only do house chores which makes me totally behind of comic stuff. I can't seem to find a good middle ground, it always turns into completely focusing on one or the other.

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah when I get in the zone, time flies and life gets put to the wayside

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

So I have no school or work, so the webcomic has become almost a fulltime project for me

I average about 10 hours per day working on it, not counting on chores and exercise

Another thing I worry about is the possibility of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is why I've been relentless with exercise, too

I guess it's just a combination of relentless reminders and also sheer willpower that gets me to do other responsibilities haha

@eli [a winged tale] also I know that feeling

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

So since my school had to cancel, I have to be more responsible for my online course. Sometimes I give myself 2 days off each week to work more into my upcoming webcomic but I have to switch my mind for school work, online classes. Also extra time for food. I need to get back into exercise or I feel exhausted more easily. I keep a wall schedule so that I make it a routine to write what I'll do every 3 or 5 days, to keep my active brain reminded(edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I spent the majority of last year (fun)employed (partially by choice, partially not! my previous job let me go rather unceremoniously... and I needed a hiatus anyway... so it worked out) so I poured a lot more hours into that chapter of Phantomarine than I usually did. I worked on it almost every day - at least for a couple of hours, but sometimes up to a full eight-hour day. That number has dipped tremendously since I’ve gone back to work, but I’m spreading the same amount of time out in a broader way. I’m trying to get a good buffer during my hiatus, so I can work and draw in a healthy balance. I don’t have crazy overtime at my current job like I did at my last one, so that’s already a comfort. I’m confident I’ll be able to hit a good stride once the comic returns in June (edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Can’t wait Lady!!

Feather J. Fern

Two part time jobs, and school killed my comic, but I been working on getting one panel done a day, which is around 30minutes to an hour if possible.

eli [a winged tale]

My routine used to be rendering on the commute but now just once in am and once pm until this limbo time is clarified

That’s awesome Feather! It’s so rewarding when everything comes together after putting effort everyday

Feather J. Fern

Once school is done in two more weeks I will be more free to do things so I hope to get maybe two panels done in a day XD

Online school, stupid quarantine

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Due to the pandemic im mostly off school and my part time job so i spend like 4-5 hours on my comic per day. Still would like try to get a page done per day but lmao digital painting is slowwww

eli [a winged tale]

What’s everyone’s tips for breaks/stretches/balance? I feel like I certainly need to revisit these to avoid burnout and continue feeling motivated!

Feather J. Fern

Actually there was a cool manga artist who's tip was literally he only worked working hours. His mornings are free and since manga was his job, he worked form 12-6, giving him 2 hours to do other work he needs to get done, and takes morning walks and stuff.

Another person I know had "No working weekends" as a thing becuase they are a freelancer.

I personally have try to make sure I ahve a routine, and actually, stretch before drawing.

Streetch before, during a break, and then after, to keep that body nice and warmed up

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Health-wise there's this hing for your : every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. I'm not good at following this, but when I do it, it helps a lot.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Despite the current pandemic, my work-life hasn't changed much (unless you count stress getting in the way). I am currently "unemployed," but I do consider comicking my full-time job. I am also not very good at balancing work and life. Something's always gotta give. Last year, I worked at a job that basically ruined my ability to work on my comic. I worked 30-40 hours typically, ruined my sleep schedule, took work home sometimes, and was constantly exhausted. This is what resulted in my year and a half long hiatus, and it's what drove me to work like hell on my comic when I quit. Now (when I'm in the groove and not suffering from art block), I typically spend 60-70 hours on my comic and get 2-3 pages done: - 30 hours sketching (I know, ridiculous) - 5 hours filling in base colors - 20-25 hours painting - 5 hours adding text, speech bubbles, sfx, and finishing touches - 1-2 hours formatting for Webtoon I also spend some time throughout the week typing up the script, doing concept art for things coming in the future of the comic, and preparing for conventions, but I can't tell you exactly how much time.

eli [a winged tale]

Thanks for the breakdown! I’m always keen to learn from everyone and seeing how the workflow is like for different people

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

oh don't forget to do wrist stretches!

eli [a winged tale]

Ahh formatting time is always so tedious for me!

Yes wrist exercises! Any recommendations?

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

hmmm well the easiest one is literally just shaking it out

like every hour

and I also like to hold my arm out parallel, point my fingers up and using my other hand to pull the fingers back so i'm stretching the wrist

then I point the fingers down and pull on the fingers until my wrist is stretching

eli [a winged tale]

Awesome. Will be adopting those!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I'm pretty fast. 2-6 hours per page, depending on how detailed it is. Average of 3-4. I could probably do 2 pages/ week easily enough, but don't want to do more than that. I'm the kind of person who always needs to be doing a million different things. I need to leave time for my other hobbies and my paintings and my academics and extracurriculars. Otherwise I'd get burnt out doing one thing only

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

@eli [a winged tale] So since it is both me and @Q (Wayfinders: Off Course) working, we start with working on a rough each, our goal is one step (so rough, ink, color) for two pages pr day, pr person. So in a weak the goal is four finished pages a week, and then we upload 3 pages per week. So it is divided that in the morning we start at 09:00 in the morning, maybe checking mail, being practical or whatever. Then we work until 12:00 were we eat lunch, go for a long nice walk and then we go back to work between 13:00 and 14:00 ish and then work until 17:00 when we begin to prepare dinner. Then of course breaks inbetween

Q (Wayfinders: Off Course)

It’s pretty wild to be able to dedicate your entire day to comics like that

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

damn you all work fast

do you guys have any tips on how to work on a webcomic faster?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Lol, I wish!

Still looking for those magical secrets

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@shadowhood (SunnyxRain) You know the 80-20 rule? You can get 80% of the result with 20% of the effort? My comic is very messy if you zoom in. I don't spend time making sure the linework or the coloring is perfectly clean. Also, I'm pretty fast at drawing figures. I used to practice figure drawing a lot by rushing to draw strangers irl before they moved, or by drawing a bunch of fast figures from the free figure drawing model websites online. I've also taken a figure drawing course (didn't even have to pay because it was part of my university! Even if you don't have that option you can probably find free life drawing sessions on Meetup or similar!) which really helped me streamline my process for drawing people

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Oh I see! Yes, I used to take life drawing classes too! And your response makes me feel a lot better

I tend to be a bit messy with inking, and since i'm a perfectionist a lot of my time is wasted on editing/clean up

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've seen cronaj draw, and while I think the results look excellent, I think her method is a kind of inefficient. She draws like a printer, nearly finishing one detailed body part before moving on the the next. I think maybe if she drew in a more classical way, going from a gesture drawing to progressively more detailed, it might help her be faster and her poses more cohesive and dynamic. Maybe working on 1 or 5 min figures would help? Practicing things like this?

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah I try to do figure practices for efficiency

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I heard that there are some online life drawing vids you can follow too

but what are your experiences with online life drawing vids versus the real thing

like is there a real difference?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

found some of my old 1 minutes

To me there's not too much difference

I've heard some people say that life drawing is either way easier or way harder though. Because of your depth perception when looking at a real person

But the bruises on my legs can attest to my horrid depth perception haha. That might be why I don't notice a difference

Actually those previous sketches might be 30 seconds? I don't remember

I would recommend you try both but right now we pretty much only have the online option haha

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah I’ve done both and I think irl creates complexity with depth and the interactions with others etc is helpful but online is my go to for flexibility

I think having a process streamlined will make things more efficient. The downside is that it might feel tedious and I do switch it up from time to time for variety

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Might feel uncomfortable but that's how you know you're improving

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

There is a TON of difference for me. I HAVE to look at a physical model in front of me.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Can't get better if you always do the same things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

This is what my brain does.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I wonder- could drawing yourself in a mirror be a decent substitute?

If youre lucky you might also be able to ask an SO or roommate to model for you. Should probably pay them back by cooking for them or something though

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Brain: sees a real model in front of me Brain: translates 3D to 2D, result: drawing Brain: sees a photo/video of a model Brain: SHIT. That's supposed to be 3D, isn't it? Brain: Translates 2D to 3D (basically re-constructing it in my head, or attempting to re-construct) so that it can translate it back to 2D Brain: BSOD

There's some online resources out there that have "3D" photos... you know, two near-identical images side by side, so if you look at it cross-eyed, it becomes 3D?

But I can't do those because I get a headache X'D

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Just thinking about drawing from that makes me dizzy

eli [a winged tale]

Oh interesting!

Yeah maybe looking out the window to draw people would be the way to go...

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

But maybe figure drawing in VR exists?

eli [a winged tale]

Balcony figure drawings

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I live on the top floor so those are going to be some very small figures

eli [a winged tale]

For ants

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Once this coronavirus thing is over, there's lots of ways you can do gesture drawings from just random people -- bus stops, cafes, museums (I have not done this, but people who have done this report this is really good because others assume you're drawing the artworks. XD)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've done this a lot

Sometimes I've even shown people drawing of themselves if they've turned out particularly nice

They've always taken it well

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I like drawing my professors because they use hand gestures a lot when they talk

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Airport was REALLY good for finding people stuck in one pose indefinitely

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

they alwayas laugh when I show them

eli [a winged tale]

Shadow omg I do that too

Draws classmates

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

yeah the only issue i have with drawing classmates

is that they're always doing the "i'm using my phone" pose

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Become the master of drawing people on their phones

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Maybe try drawing children on the playground?

This works better if you're a woman

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

oh thank jesus

I also like going to the zoo or the museum

or the aquarium if i'm feeling adventurous

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I am a University student so I also have some pretty interestng drawings of people asleep in weird poses

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I really need to start going to weekly figure drawing sessions once this is over (there's one here... 20 min drive... 8AM Saturdays )

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

ditto or just go to the park and draw

and @Eightfish (Puppeteer) I've had some.....weird poses from all my profs

one guy was incredibly hard to draw; he was VERY enthusiastic about showing us knife skills

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The parks here are too spacious, to a degree where it's weird to get close enough to people

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Bring binoculars

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Don't worry ma'am I'm an artist

nothing sketchy

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

(except my sketch)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

A+ pun right there

another place to go for figure drawing

theaters

like.....opera/plays

I once tried drawing the men dancing in the Newsies musical

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Tried that once, but it took me out of the performance

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

same i was dazzled by dancing men

aaaaand then i abandoned sketching at all when they started throwing newspaper strips into the audience

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

But they were giving you free paper!

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

THEY WERE

i'll take what i can get

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) While I agree that my method of drawing is "inefficient," I do not draw like a printer. There are videos of people drawing like a printer and it's not what I'm doing. I have done gesture drawing before, but it always looked incredibly abstract, and not quite like people, which is fine, but not what I'm going for. I treat gesture drawing like a warm-up exercise. It doesn't really do anything for my end result, but gets my drawing muscles stretched out.(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Gesture drawings are definitely a good warmup!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Perhaps it was an inappropriate analogy. What works for me I guess wouldn't work for everyone. I was trying to offer advice because whenever you talk about how much time you spend on art and you work life balance it's commendable but also dismaying. I hope you find something that works for you in the future

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Oh god.. I sometimes work 6 hours a day. I guess thats like 30 hours a week? Crazy to think about, it's like a full job

Oooh you guys are sharing figure drawings... I swant to show some of mine

Behold

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

My figure drawing usually breaks down into like, medical anatomy study. I feel like I understand body shapes better by including the muscles & bones

carcarchu

ABS the most important figure study

Deo101 [Millennium]

ah figure drawing? I love figure drawing ^^

I do like a lot but this kinda thing is most of it

anyways as for the question at hand, I do a lot of different things for my comics weekly. My millennium pages take me 2-6 hours i would say, but I also have patreon things I need to do so I'd say i spend 10-15 hours on it a week. for my other comic, I spend about 6 hours an update, and it updates every other week. but honestly, all of my free time goes to assorted comics. If i'm not working on school work or chatting with people, I'm working on things for patreon, potential merch, or other comics I want to start sometime.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Oooh nice poses!!’

Deo101 [Millennium]

thanks!! I have a ton of gesture/figure drawings but these ones are my most recent that I have saved to my computer i think

10 minutes im pretty sure. very good for speeding up

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Those look really nice, good values

Deo101 [Millennium]

thanks ^^ I really hate working in charcoal honestly, it kinda always winds up hurting my body somehow, but its very quick sooooooo

kayotics

My answer for the prompt question has changed a lot since I started quarantine lmao... I used to do about 10 hours of work throughout the week on my comic page (usually after work, I have an office job) but ironically it’s gotten harder while I work from home. I’ve been struggling to find time since I don’t have a separation between work and home now, and putting the boundaries up of “I’m not always available” to coworkers is difficult.

Also on figure studies: they’re a great way to practice speed. I use the concepts of figure drawings all the time.

RebelVampire

@kayotics As someone who always works from home doing remote contract work, I have to say I think this is something a lot of people underestimate about work at home life. In that it's sometimes really difficult to establish boundaries with ppl and make them understand you aren't always available and also aren't gonna work billions of hours of overtime. So I'm sorry to hear that's affecting your comic work.

Shadowmark Productions

I work anywhere from 6-8 hours a day on comic stuff. That’s an average though. Sometimes I slack and need to pull all nighters to make up for it. Yes, I am terrible at time management. They say entrepreneurs are the only people willing to work 80 hours a week for themselves so they do not have to work 40 hours a week for someone else. I guess webcomic creators are the only people willing to work 80+ hours a week so that they can... go to work for someone else afterwards

AntiBunny

4 days of procrastinating, 1 of procrastinating and hating myself, and 2 of actual comic drawing seems to make up my weekly comic making schedule. :p

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I can only imagine how stressed I would be if I forced myself to update weekly

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

This is a hard question to answer because it varies a lot depending on my energy levels. Ideally I’d spend several hours a day on comics, but realistically I draw as much as possible when I have the energy (5+ hours a day for as many days in a row as I can handle it) and then go weeks or months too tired to do comics. On average, barring any long periods of exhaustion or other interruptions from RL, I spend about 20+ hours a week making pages for my comics.

sagaholmgaard

I prefer to work on my comic for about an hour ever morning and maybe 2-3 hours in the evening, that's the ideal routine for me. Right now I sadly have a lot of schoolwork to do (writing my thesis) so i might get less than 30 minutes in the morning and then feel rlly tired in the evening so I dont get as much time then either. but oh well!

I can still work for 4-5 hours on the weekends so I manage ^^(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

The whole stay-indoors order's currently completely wrecked my pattern, but before that I did between 3-4 hours a day.

Shadowmark Productions

Can’t imagine the stress of a daily or even weekly posting schedule. Hats off.

[bitterjellydraws]

hey it’s this time of the year where I start to ramble about art for a bit

I have this habit of looking at how I did with the art goals I set out last year and then set some new goals for the past year, but first of all I want to adress the fact that last year at this time, I was being all excited of having 200 followers and receiving my first nice message. Now there’s more than 2500 of you. That’s scary. That’s also really fucking cool.

also, my mutuals ? All fucking rad, all super talented. I’m still ????? at the fact we’re mutuals, and I should interact with you more. Mark this as a resolution.

This post is pretty long already, I will put my rambly resolutions under the cut, but I want to once more thank you all for sticking around and everything you do, be it silently enjoying my stuff or liking/reblogging, sticking around despite my interests shifting, and encouraging me on anon, in comments, tags or IM. It’s sincerely what keeps me going despite everything, and I look forward to a whole new year of new content with y’all

tally ho 

So last year my art wishes/resolutions were 

to be more self-indulgent and guilt-free ✔︎ you seen all the non-stop self-indulgent JoJo, not even talking about all the oc stuff. For a while I felt bad for doing so much fan art but I eventually came around and realized it was ok, as dumb as it sounds.

continue to improve my anatomy ✔︎ slowly but surely, it is getting better, and I’m finally tackling actually learning muscles. I’ve also been steadily doing a study page per week for a while now so I don’t fall out of the habit 

even more backgrounds ✔︎ not really in my doodles, but 30+ pages of webcomic with backgrounds do damn count. I also started adding backgrounds or backgrounds element from time to time, and just now started the bedroom serie which is focused on backgrounds. 

get started in freelance ✔︎ I made money. With my art. Real, cash money. People exchanged currency for my goods and services, which is, my art.

sketch every single day ✔︎  FUCK YEAH I DID and it was honestly easier than I thought, even tho some day I was just dragging my heels to my desk to sit down and doodle something. There’s nothing more satisfying than having filled two and more than a half sketchbook in one year, when usually a 60 page one lasted me like what, one year on good years, two on very bad ? It’s also good to just, draw random things for the sake of drawing, not for a portfolio or a big project, just mindless, ‘I like drawing this shit’ stuff.

Alright, that’s good, that’s a good year. It’s hard for me to see it because for almost half a year, the only ‘big’ project I did was SCAPEGOATS, with a sprinkle of the monster girl AD serie, so I have lots of doodle, and fewer big pieces. That’s what comics do to you.

So, next year I’m gonna set my goals to continue improve anatomy (always), give backgrounds a bigger place in my art, experiment more with colors, participate in zines, get back on track with comics, go back to animated illustrations and animation in general, do the Spacecakes mini comics and the Ghost Boy project, continue to draw every single day, and AT LEAST one illustration per month, since I feel this year has been a bit lacking on this side. 

This should keep me busy now that I am out of school.

[killfaeh]

TGCM Comics

Hi everybody! A few months ago I announced that I was starting to develop an online platform for publishing and reading webcomics and webtoons named TGCM Comics. So I give you here some news about the progress of the project.

The development blog

To start, note that I've opened a development blog that I update as often as possible (in French). It is accessible at this address: https://tgcm-comics.blogspot.com. My schedule being very busy, I won't be able to put all these news on Tipeee and Patreon with all the translation work involved, so feel free to have a look at this blog from time to time to keep you informed about the progress of the project. Note that it has a suggestion box, so if you have suggestions to make in terms of features or ergonomics, do not hesitate to share them in the comments of this section, this does not require any registration.

Reminder about the concept

The last time I mentioned it in news I made a very brief presentation of the project. I'll give you a more complete briefing here. The idea is to propose a platform that takes the opposite of what currently exists, in particular 2 flaws that make the despair of independent webcomic authors. Popularity rankings: they are based on the number of cumulative views per page, the number of comments, the number of likes and mathematically favor the authors who arrived first on the platform and/or who post in large quantities and this at the expense of the quality. In addition, about half of the Internet traffic is due to bots and not real visitors, so these statistics are skewed by default. Icing on the cake. Such a system is easy to hack from both inside and outside. So, it's unfair in more than one way and it creates an unhealthy competitive atmosphere. This kind of mechanism will therefore not exist on TGCM Comics and will be replaced by the random playlist principle in order to guarantee an equal rate of visibility for all comics and leave the reader the real choice to read/discover what he or she wants. Most creators/developers of webcomic platforms try to make a living out of it and create a business project around it. The problem is that webcomics, especially in the French-speaking world, are not profitable, therefore to try to make ends meet, these platforms sometimes use questionable methods of financing and obviously to the disadvantage of the authors and which cost them more money than their art brings them (paying to appear on the front page of the site, paying to be able to display links to crowdfunding pages and other support systems). For my part, I'm developing TGCM Comics on a volunteer basis and I'll take care of the financing of the hosting. I have enough means with my dayjob for that. At the very least, I might place a small rectangle of ads to try to amortize the cost just for the principle, but that's all. The income will surely be derisory, let's be realistic. The objective is not to make the platform financially profitable but to allow authors who are struggling to build an audience elsewhere to do so while publishing their comics at their own pace, without stress. I would like it to be a small garden for them and for them to feel good there. If this goal is achieved then that's where the victory will be. :) In addition to these 2 main problematic points there are often ergonomic points that are lacking and a general tendency to weigh down the web interface with lots of useless Javascript modules which consumes the bandwidth and electricity of the users and sometimes forces them to change computer just to have the latest browser. So I want to develop an interface as pleasant and efficient as possible for everyone, take care of accessibility and also make a platform as eco-responsible as possible by choosing a green hoster and optimizing my code so that it consumes as little energy as possible and does not load unnecessary data to your browser. So, the idea is to offer a platform where both authors and readers will feel at home.

Progress of the project

Now that you know what it's all about, I'll give you some news about the progress of the project.

Blog and author details

I started with the spaces that will allow the authors to express themselves and give their news. Each author will have a presentation sheet which will contain a short biography, the list of the publications on the platform as well as all the external links.

Each author will also have a blog where he will be able to enter his news either with the good old BB code from the 2000's or by using an WYSIWYG interface. His external links will be recalled in small at the top of the blog.

Private messages and friend system

As I'm going to need it to contact the authors to let them know when their comics will be validated I also developed the private message system that will look like this.

It comes with a system of friends. Far from me wanting to imitate social networks (I hate these platforms) this system will be used mainly to choose who you allow to send you private messages. Only members of the site with whom you will be friends and the administrators will be able to send you private messages. In short, it is an anti-spam and anti-harassment security system.

Submit a comic

I don't expect to be very demanding about the level of quality required to post a comic, but I don't want TGCM Comics to become hyper-saturated either. To submit your comic book, you will have to go through this form which, once sent, will notify me by email. Don't worry, I won't ask you to be the new Alan Moore or the new Jim Lee. If the art is correct, the layout is clear and the text readable (and interpretable by the machine translation system) it will do the job. :)

The list of genres is currently not complete. It will be enriched by the time the first version of the site is online.

The comic settings

Once your comic is approved, you will automatically get the author status and you can edit various settings at your convenience. One of the setup screens allows you to change some of the information that you have already entered in the submit form.

The following will allow you to indicate if you want the publication to be automatic or not and if yes, to set the days and hours of publication of your pages.

Then you have the translation settings. On this screen, you will be able to translate the title as well as the synopsis of your webcomic and also ask for your pages to be translated automatically or not. The automatic translation will not start at the same time depending on whether you send pages with text or empty pages.

And finally, I also developed the chapter manager for a series. If you chose to publish a one-shot or an extract, a single chapter will be created and instead of the chapter list the pages manager will be displayed directly.

So, everything I have just presented to you is already developed. Currently I'm working on the pages manager and this is the biggest piece of the whole project at least the most complex one. That's all for today! I still have a lot of things to show and tell you, so we'll meet again very soon! Have a nice week! :D Suisei

P.S. If you want miss no news and if you haven't already done so, you can subscribe to the newsletter here : https://www.suiseipark.com/User/SubscribeNewsletter/language/english/

Source : https://www.suiseipark.com/News/Entry/id/300/

[jr4de]

Tagged by @genderfluidintake​ (holy cow a thingy! I was practically confused when I saw something in my activity log, heh :D)

1ST RULE: Tag 9 people you would like to know better

2ND RULE: BOLD the statements that are true

APPEARANCE:

I am 5'7" or taller

I wear glasses

I have at least one tattoo (Nope, but I’d be happy to get one, I just haven’t)

I have at least one piercing (Nope, but I’d be happy to, I just haven’t. Lots of people think I used to have an eyebrow piercing because I have a scar there)

I have blonde hair (Nope, brown!)

I have brown eyes (Nope, kinda slate-y blue)

I have short hair (Can I like... opposite-bold this one? Because it’s so long and beautiful and I love it)

My abs are at least somewhat defined (because I’m skinny af so you can just see all my muscles)

I have or have had braces (past tense)

PERSONALITY:

I love meeting new people

People tell me that I’m funny

Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me

I enjoy physical challenges

I enjoy mental challenges

I’m playfully rude with people I know well (uuhhhhh that’s a long story but I guess suffice to say I often forget myself and try to be? And then it all goes wrong when I cross a line I didn’t know existed to begin with, heh. With time it seems like it might be getting better? Although it always seems like it’s getting better until it suddenly runs aground again, heh)

I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it

There is something I would change about my personality (Hmm. If this isn’t a question I’ve lost a lot of sleep over, I don’t know what is - but I think I’ve settled on “not”? Depending on what one counts as a personality, of course, but hey)

ABILITY:

I can sing well (I think so, at least! I was in vocal jazz for a few years and it went pretty well :D)

I can play an instrument (Alto Saxophone! Or really basic guitar but I don’t know chords or fingering or tabs, I just pluck at it until it makes the right note and then I remember it and move on to the next note, and keep going until I know a song. Heh yeah it’s a shittily slow way to learn :D but I managed Sunshine of Your Love? So that’s cool!)

I can do over 30 pushups without stopping (thanks to my time in a paramilitary organization, yes! My record remains 107 at a stretch as far as I can recall, although those were admittedly not cadenced and called so that’s not as impressive.)

I’m a fast runner (I loves me some sprinting, and marathon stuff is fun too! Treadmills=bestmills or something)

I can draw well (Ehh? Decently, I think - I had a webcomic that was decently popular, but art was never its strong suit. Still, I think I can definitely draw *decently*, but not *well*)

I have a good memory (for useless things. Not like, birthdays - but I’ll remember that one time you said you like lavender more than lilac. Of course, I’ll also remember it even once your preferences have changed, or if you misspoke in the first place, heh >.>)

I’m good at doing math in my head (Define “good” and “math” but yeah probably. I cannot estimate a number of items for shit - if there are fewer than eight but more than two, I say five; otherwise it’s just a crapshoot - but I can math, regardless!)

I can hold my breath underwater for over  a minute (Well, I could last time I checked. I didn’t try today, so...)

I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling (yeah but I mean some of my friends have been like really tiny, folks. I’ve also lost to like fifty :D)

I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch (chicken sandwich, ham sandwich, baloney sandwich, done. Heh, nah, just kidding - I make a burger I call the Nutty Jerk; it’s beef and chunky peanut butter for the patty, with Jerk spice mixed in, topped with a slice of orange and a small dollop of smooth peanut butter on top of the patty that melts over it. I really like it, it’s tasty!)

I know how to throw a proper punch (Technically, two of them - boxing through personal training, Shotokan Karate through my marvellous black-belt wife :D)

HOBBIES:

I enjoy playing sports (but don’t conflate that enjoyment with skill >.>)

I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else

I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else (Past tense? I was in one)

I have learned a new song in the past week (I mean, I looked up lyrics that I didn’t know and now I sing them when the song comes on, so...?)

I work out at least once a week

I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months

I have drawn something in the past month

I enjoy writing (so much. So so much.)

FANDOMS ARE MY #1 PASSION

I do or have done martial arts (for like a year and then they wouldn’t let me break the boards because I was too little and that was sad. I learned way more from my wife)

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss (and my second! And third, and fourth, etc.)

I have had alcohol (Heck, I had some today! If you ever see a white Reisling from Germany, imported, in a black bottle shaped like a cat? Give it a shot - it was delicious; light and fruity and surprisingly sweet, but not quite to icewine levels)

I have scored the winning goal in a sports game (my sportsball matches were rarely winning ones, be it soccer or lacrosse. It’s likely I have, but I can’t recall for certain.)

I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting (I mean, it’s not hard with Firefly, it only takes like three hours >.>)

I have been at an overnight event (what, like a sleepover? I think, no matter what, the answer’s yes)

I have been in a taxi

I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year (Thankfully, no! Maybe I’ve broken my streak! For a while there I was averaging out to once every two years, which some people might suggest is pretty frequent.)

I have beaten a video game in one day (Uh...don’t think so? Maybe.)

I have visited another country (Several!)

I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts (Arrogant Worms, Barenaked Ladies, Blue Man Group, Tragically Hip - not in that order, per se, but I loved and love them absolutely.)

RELATIONSHIPS:

I’m in a relationship

I have a crush on a celebrity (Uhhh... define crush I guess? I think there are lots who seem like really cool folks, and pretty, but I don’t know if that counts. Sorry, attraction’s always been an odd one for me to discuss, heh)

I have a crush on someone I know (again as above? But I think I’m safe in saying there’s a yes here. Pretty sure if you and your wife have discussed stuff like that it probably counts as a crush, eh?”

I have been in at least 3 relationships (not unless the definition of “relationship” is very different to what I expect)

I have never been in a relationship

I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them (I’ve done both! It’s gone multiple ways :D)

I get crushes easily (???? I don’t know? Crushes? I think people are great and cute easily. Or maybe I love them? I don’t know!)

I have had a crush on someone for over a year (crushes?? Ahhh it’s all about crushes and I don’t know, but I’ve liked someone for more than a year? So I’d say it counts. Probably just overthinking it as per normal, heh >.>)

I have been in a relationship for at least a year

I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE:

I have at least one person I consider a “best friend” (more than one, even if we haven’t talked recently - but that’s indicative, to me. Sometimes we won’t talk for a year but then when we do, it’s comfortable and wonderful all over again. That’s how I know :D)

I live close to my school (I live close to the empty lot where my school used to be when I went there and it still existed? Also near my old Elementary school. I don’t live near my post-secondary stuff, that’s on the mainland)

My parents are still together

I have at least one sibling

I live in the United States

There is snow right now where I live

I have hung out with a friend in the past month (we went bicycling!)

I have a smartphone (now, although it took me a long time. My dad literally bought one for me while I was at work, heh >.>)

I have at least 15 CDs

I share my room with someone (I share everything with her! She’s great!)

RANDOM SHIT:

I have breakdanced (took Ukrainian dancing when I was a kid, and there’s a move called “the Coffee Grinder” [or at least that’s what they called it for us heh] that’s pretty much a breakdancing move, and I’ve pulled it out on a few occasions. It’s like, eighties breakdancing, but hey I think it counts)

I know a person named Jamie

I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce

I have dyed my hair

I’m listening to one song on repeat right now (nope, a whole playlist on repeat! Fad Gadget, A1 people, Art Vs Science, Shiny Toy Guns, Pendulum, Barenaked Ladies, Arctic Monkey, Kristin Andreassen, MIKA, Maximo Park, and uh... I think another one or two but I can’t remember. Heh.)

I have punched someone in the past week

I know someone who has gone to jail

I have broken a bone (really big! Broke a few, actually - hairline fracture, three bones in my right foot; spiral fracture of the left femur that nearly took my life, but I made it through! And now I have some metal rods that used to be in my bones, so that’s cool :D)

I have eaten a waffle today

I know what I want to do with my life (I know about a million things I want to do with it, heh >.> That’s not the hard part <.<)

I speak at least 2 languages (I think my conversational decency in French would count? I’m not nearly fluent, but I’d say I speak it - more than enough to get around town, certainly. Enough to talk over letters or in a slow conversation, but not enough to watch an action flick, heh)

I have made a new friend in the past year 

Uh... tagging people. Yeah, that’s a little bit anxiety-inducing, so I’m just gonna pass on that? Sorry, I know it’s not playing by the rules and that kinda sucks but I honestly wouldn’t know where to start, heh, but anybody can do it if they want and say I tagged them! Thanks, it was fun!