Weekly Update - 127

First of all, I'd like to thank JRedWolf for joining us as our newest subscriber!  Thank you very much!

Secondly, do you guys know what day it is? Do you?

It's August 8th.

Today marks the 4th anniversary of God Slayers, which officially launched its first page to the public on August 8th, 2018.  So yay!

(crickets)

..... Yeah, I didn't really plan for it to happen this week, I actually wasn't paying much attention at all.  I was thinking about doing something special for it a month or two ago, but then it snuck up on me... so I don't have any special art to share or anything.  But, honestly, it's still pretty cool to me!

Who won our character poll?  Well, it's Max, of course, though it ended up being a much closer race than I ever expected.  I figured Max and Kiera would get roughly an equal number of votes, so I wasn't sure who would win between the two of them, but I was surprised at how many people voted for Twitch.  But seriously, like, were you guys just memeing or are you actually interested in seeing more of the little guy?  He hasn't been featured in the comic since Chapter 2 and probably* won't show up again for another several chapters, but there's some flexibility on that.  IDK!  Let me know in the comments!  Or on Discord or whatever.

Max's page will be going up in probably a couple of weeks.  First I have to draw the art, then write the commentary, and lastly I need my husband to do his website code wizardry.

Comic This Week?  Yes!  I think I should be able to get it done.  At least, I see no reason why I shouldn't be able to get it done this week.

Drawing: Page 147 and Max Character Page

Playing: I'll be playing Cult of the Lamb when it comes out on the 11th, for sure.  Until then, prooooobably more Warhammer 2? Idk.

Ramble:

Every week, I use the ramble to offer you all a glimpse into the madness from which my creativity is born. Seems like no better time to reflect on said madness than on the anniversary of the day all my creativity finally congealed into something.

I knew when I started this that most comics don't really get any attention for their first four years of existence (there's exceptions of course, and I'm not talking about big webcomics or comic companies with a team of professional artists and giant marketing budgets).  So I knew I'd have to be willing to commit for at least four years. But the question that I kept asking myself was this: Can I keep working on my comic for the next 10 years?  The question was born from the idea I had at the very beginning, where I thought it might take me at least 10 years to draw Kiva's story from start to finish.  It's become a question of commitment more than anything else.  I don't really know if it will take me six more years to finish telling Kiva's story, or another ten years, or if it will be another twenty or more, and that doesn't really matter so much.  It's mostly a question of, where do I see myself in 10 years?  Will I be smarter? Will I have more experience? Will I be a better artist? A better writer? Will I regret the things I've already done and published, or will I be proud of them and see them as stepping stones for whatever heights I may eventually reach?

The answer I come up with, most often, to my ten-year question is "yes."  Yes, I can keep going for another ten years.  Sometimes the answer is only "maybe" depending on how I'm feeling, but those weeks are thankfully few.  I'm committed to seeing this through to the very end.  Even if it doesn't work out the way I hope and ends up being something really bad that everyone hates by the time it's done, it's my hope that maybe I'll at least learn a thing or two from the journey, or better yet, inspire someone else to create something much better than I ever could.

What's kind of funny is that I look at this Patreon and I see these dozens of people who have committed to supporting this thing I'm making and a part of me is like, "wow, I've done it." I've already come way farther than I ever expected to.  I've succeeded, simply because people exist who like the thing I'm making, and I never expected that to be true.  And yet, the rest of me can't help but wonder what happens if I keep going? If I keep working and trying to get better, how far will we go? Will I be able to reach the heights of the comics that have been on the web for ten or fifteen years and have thousands and thousands of readers?  That's a dream, for sure. Or is it? What if, some day, as long as I keep going, as long as I keep pouring my time into this thing, we could get there? It's almost scary to think about.

I dunno!  There's a vague chance we might be big someday.  There's also a vague chance that we'll stay small, maybe have a little cult following.  I don't really know that I mind either way. As long as someone exists who likes what I'm doing, then it's all worth it for me. And that someone is all of you.

I still don't know what I'm doing, and I don't know that I ever will. But what I do know is that I'm going to keep drawing comics for the next ten years, at least. So thank you for reading them!