Update challenge completed, what happens next

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Late last night, I completed today's Abúi's Travels update, the 31st in 31 days, completing the challenge I set myself to update daily across my many different comics hosted on ComicFury. I added
14 updates for Abúi's Travels, 5 of which were new (9 were drawn back in April and early May);
9 updates for Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan, all of them already drawn but in some cases cleaned up significantly;
6 updates for The Lives of X!Gloop, newly completed in collaboration with myself 25 years ago;
1 update for Spun Off (warning: Goblin phallus);
1 update for White House in Orbit.
In total, I have uploaded or caused the upload of 234 new items to ComicFury this year, without double-counting comics that were published in two different places like the first 9 updates of Abúi's Grand Tour

I promised myself a reward at the end of the process if I won. Halfway through, I found out that the item I wanted as a reward was discontinued in all but name by the manufacturer, so I ordered it and got it delivered before the challenge was completed. I can now say I've earned it though! The reward is an OP-1 synthesizer from Teenage Engineering. I hope to eventually post music here and elsewhere, but it could be a while, because (state of affairs as of July 23, 2017) I don't play keyboards and know next to nothing about synthesis in general or using this tool in particular. It'll be a learning curve, but I was ready for something new. I also got a small MIDI controller as an early birthday gift, so I have plenty of new toys to explore.

As if learning a whole new instrument/approach to music-making won't keep me busy enough, I also know what my art challenge for the next two months is going to be. Here it is: 

Draw 9 pages of Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan before September 19, and another 10 in the five weeks after that.

Yikes! Here's why that's a thing I need to do:
Back in 2007/8, when skycladstrega and I had just met, we took over each other's comics for a few months because we were a bit stuck and unmotivated for our respective projects. We both had a lot of fun playing in each other's world, but in the long run, there were some drawbacks: both comics got a lot of criticism for the change in style, there were long sections where the comics looked vastly inconsistent with what came before and after, and skycladstrega didn't keep any master files so if I ever wanted to print the comic, there's a whole chapter that I won't be able to. Time to fix all that. It's gonna be difficult. Skyclad has her surgery later this week, and the updates themselves will be comparable in complexity with the 6 X!Gloop updates I cranked out during two week's vacation. I've got more vacation time coming up in August, but only a week. So I'll have to draw nine of those without having as much extra time, while looking after my wife as she recovers. Plus there was probably a reason why I got stuck on those in the first place. If I win this challenge, all that means is I won't have missed any regular updates; I may need to come up with some additional motivator.

Back to the challenge I just completed. What have I learned?
Well, that I can plan strategically to maximize updates. I will use that ability in the next challenge.
Also, that I miss black and white. The way my style loosened up as the Abúi updates went along wouldn't have been possible if I'd colored them. There will be more black and white projects in the future, particularly the Jungle Girl story I have planned. That story will be very unlike any others in the genre as I'm making a point of turning overused tropes on their head. But that's a topic for later.
That I can really crank them out if I put my mind to it, but that I'm still much slower than I used to be. Something to do with working in digital, for the most part. Some people get faster, but I mostly get cleaner and slower.
That I do have more than one style in me. X!Gloop, WHIO and Abúi all look very different. Good, because the Jungle Girl comic will have a different look and feel, or at least it does in my head.
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prettydragoon's avatar
w00t! That's quite a lot you got done! :hooray: