A day of relaxation…well…A Week.
By Paokens Keeper on December 29th, 2009Posted In: Blog
First of all, to anyone who actually muddled through those wrecks that were my short stories, I’m sorry. I am truly and utterly sorry. After taking that creative writing course last semester I discovered how truly and utterly horrific I managed to make them. They were good stories, don’t get me wrong, but dear god they were so poorly laid out it was ridiculous. Not to mention the huge number of spelling and syntax errors that I should know better. Stupid shit that I have no excuse other than ‘I was lazy’. I’m sorry. I really, really am.
But they’re all fixed. Really. They’re cleaned up and proof-read to Hell and back. I know that they’re still not perfect, but without an editor (I’ve enlisted both my mother and grandmother) they’re as good as they’re going to get. So, if you read them already, you don’t have to go back and read them again, they’re not that different. But if you were one of those people who took one look at them and left, give them another try. I promise that they’re better.
Check them out. If you care to.
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Second. I’ve finally changed hosts, yet again. I wont tell you who (I want to actually give them a few weeks before I say they’re good or not), but they have a good rating and they’re even cheaper than that massive pile that was Dreamhost. Never, EVER use Dreamhost. EVER.
But these new guys promise to be much better. And is it my imagination, or is the site moving faster? I think it’s moving faster. But I also removed some stuff that might have been bogging us down. But I’m happier. Much happier.
I’m saving something like $80 a year.
@#$% Dreamhost.
* * *
This also leads me into my next point: The site is done. I’m not @#$%ing with it anymore. After ComicPress 2.9 comes out (which I’m running a beta one) and I make the switch I’m done. I’m done until Book Three.
I spend entirely too much time messing with shit here and I need to stop.
So I’m done with the site unless something explodes. But that what I’m hoping this new host helps me with. That way I’m not coming and checking on the site ever two hours wondering ‘is it dead?’ and my buddy isn’t texting me every few days saying ‘hey, your site’s down’.
Seriously, @#$% Dreamhost and the @#$%ing horse they rode in on.
* * *
Now for the stuff that doesn’t really pertain to the site, but you might find enlightening (IE: I’m bitching, walk away now).
Oh, thank god this arc is over. I actually really enjoyed it but I think that I jumped into it too quickly after the massive beast that was Book Two, Chapter Four. I needed a longer break and I didn’t give myself one. That and I really need to start taking the week of Christmas off. If it wasn’t one thing it was the other.
That and I had orientation for my new job the day that my Grandmother flew in and I had to drive to the other end of town.
So that sucked.
I won’t bore you with the smelly details of my life, I try not to, despite the fact that this is a blog. But basically I’ve been busy and feeling a little stressed. So I’m taking this week off totally (I’m only doing comic related stuff if I feel like it) then next week I’ll get to work on building a good and proper buffer, then we’ll see where I go from there.
But I’m actually feeling much better already (I send of a slightly frazzled Email to my friend yesterday, and if you’re reading this I’m feeling much better, haha). I’ve rearranged my room, so I have a little more space (though my drawing table is closer to my computer than I’d have liked…) and I also picked up some aroma therapy smelly things (the first one who laughs dies. Eventually. At their convince. Of old age more than likely) and I’m doing some stretches (again, first to laugh dies at their earliest convenience).
I also tried a new way of working on the comic that seemed to work quite smoothly. Basically I start to feel rushed when presented with a totally blank canvas, and I get bored of doing the same thing for too long (inking, coloring, shading, etc…) so I tried to do something I haven’t done in a long while, I did each panel individually, then combined them on the page.
It only took me an two hours and felt quite natural.
So I’m going to try that for a while and see if it sticks.
Anyhow, enjoy your New Years and I hope your holidays kicked ass.
-Peace
So, first of all, I’m extremely happy with the way the title page came out for this Chapter, seriously, very happy. This is a short and goofy arc that I feel like doing. I got the idea in my head about two years ago and now I’m finally getting to do it.
Don’t worry, there are only ten updates planed (maybe eleven, I don’t remember at the moment). So if you hate it, it’ll be over quick.
OK Time for some explanations…
I’ve been going through a few crises of artistic faith, basically I thought that I would be able to work better and more productively at a drawing board, so I decided to get totally away from the computer except for coloring. This made sense for a few reason, but the big one is that when I’m sitting at the computer I have a tendency to wander away from my comic and start doing other things (like read other comics or browse forums). That’s not good.
But over the course of the last few weeks that I’ve been experimenting I’ve come to the conclusion that I really just don’t like the way that my inking looks when I do it physically. No matter what I tried it never quite looked right. So I’m back at the computer to do my inking with a few new resolutions:
1. Don’t sweat the small stuff: You guys won’t notice that a line went slightly askew or one line slightly overlaps an adjacent line once I shrink it down from 600 DPI to a more web-friendly number.
2. Control my self inflicted ADD: Twitter goes off. Photo-shop goes into full-screen (no distractions) and I’m not aloud to leave my chair until I’m done (save tinkle breaks, a man’s gotta pee, right?). I have laser focus when I want to, but other times I wander off…
3. No more than two ctrl-Zs per line: Some times I’d go over the same line a dozen times. If I @#$% it up twice I pull out the pen tool and do it right, and I stop my BITCHING (this also goes back to number one a lot of the time though).
4. Next time I take a week off to ‘get a buffer’ that’s all I’m doing: No more of this ’spend a week messing with the site’ shit. The site needs to be a totally separate project to be done when I have nothing but free time. I need to stop messing with it when I should be working on the comic. Enough is enough.
So far I’ve been able to do well with this system. I’ve still got no buffer, but I’m working on it. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
The next thing that’s been keeping me from my duties is something more personal, which I don’t normally discus on the site, but I feel like I should. I’ve been to the Doctor a lot lately and he basically said “You’re 300 pounds and lazy, get off your fat ass and lose some weight or you’re going to die young.” So I’ve gotten off my ass and I’m down to 250 pounds. Now, I’m Six-feet-three-inches tall, so I was never ‘obese’ but my family has a history of high blood pressure and heart disease. So at twenty two and 300lbs I was basically pumping syrup though my veins.
Not Healthy.
So for the last few months (read: since updates got erratic) I’ve been going to the gym two days a week (three hours a time, give or take) as well as eating better. So I’m now less likely to drop dead. Luckily for me I’m not a naturally fat guy, hell, most people called me ’scrawny’ when I was little. But between Junior High and High School I became less ‘run around and play’ centered and more ‘let’s watch TV and play video games’ centered.
So I’m trying to be better. And I have been. Fifty pounds is nothing to sneeze at (also, I have biceps now, which is cool…). But it cuts into my already slim personal time. Which is what those rules will hopefully help with (especially 4, I really spend too much time on the back-end and not enough on the comic). So wish me luck.
Next semester looks like it’ll be a TOTAL bitch too. So I’m going to try and get a serious buffer going this winter.
Thanks for listening, and at least I’m trying to be proactive in my troubles rather than just bitch to you lot about how hard my life is.
-Peace
(Goes off to work on scripts…)
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