Hey friends and readers!
When 2018 came to a close, I hoped that I would manage another page before Christmas came around. In the end, the holidays swept me up and I had to put comics on hold to spend time with family and friends. Even a month ago, I know that would’ve made me feel terrible, like a hack. But one development of the past few months, and something that I want to bring into 2019, is to not sweat it so much.
After a few nervous breakdowns, I realized:
My creative work should be fitted around my life. I spent so much time trying to do it the other way around. Unsurprisingly, that made me way more stressed out about doing art! But now I’m realizing that spending time to relax, sleep, and do what I need to do, even if sacrificing punctuality, is often the best choice. It’s still important, vital even, that I get to do my creative work, and I will always strive to find time to do it. But giving myself the freedom and forgiveness to miss an update here and there will do me some good.
This year was slow going: I had a(n unintentially long) hiatus after Chapter 1, and then fell behind on chapter 2. I ended up not making as many pages as I would’ve liked.
But, you know what? I made pages, and I keep making pages! They sometimes go up slowly, but they do so surely, and they’ll continue to. Even if I’m late, I know that they will get done, and I hope you know that too. I’m learning to be more okay with that. Besides, I’ve gotten more than halfway through Chapter 2! That’s a feat and I’m proud of myself for managing to do it around a full-time job and adult life.
This upcoming year, my (conservative) plans for Desendi are to:
- complete Chapter 2, and
- get at least 75% of the way done with Chapter 3 (which, by the way, is already being thumbed!)
But page count is only a small part of it. My meta goals this year:
- Improve my process: finding ‘shortcuts’ that allow me to work quicker, getting more outside help for the parts that sometimes make it hard for me to work, etc.
- Become less of a perfectionist! Be more comfortable with mess, understand that I can clean stuff up later, and that things will always be developing. Basically, get it done and out and stop fiddling.
I am honestly grateful for everyone who’s been reading, and I hope you continue to follow Desendi. But at least for the past year, sincere thanks for sticking around, my guys. It’ll be an interesting road, so let’s keep going.
To end on a positive note, here are my favorite panels from the past year. Enjoy!
