Ozoneocean and I will have a "year in review" Quackcast coming out at year's end, where we ramble about a few of the comics we're reading and other scattered thoughts about 2014.
How was the year of comic making, comic reading and/or life in general for you this past year?
Did you create some of the stuff you wanted to? Were there some Duck comics you enjoyed in 2014? What do you look forward to in the year ahead?
Once again, my questions are fairly vague. Please tell us about your year in comickery (or your year in general) and we can read them in various voices!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Chanukah!
Happy New Year!
Happy Solstice!
Namaste!
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
2014 In Review! How was it for you?
I was pretty happy with the year; 2014 saw the end of the rebuilding of the top floor of my place after the fire. With all the delays caused by the City and hinkey Zoning issues taken care of, this year was about work. Electrical, flooring, drywall, painting, plumbing, windows and doors…I was lucky to have some expert help at a lot of that stuff, and also learned a few things of my own.
It was highly stressful and the financial pressure was pretty intense. But it all came together finally, and once the debts I had to take on are taken care of, things will be better than they were. Or that's the plan, at least.
During all that construction work, I WANTED to be doing my comic. And I managed to do it. It kept me happy during the most stressful times.
In the summer, as the house stuff came together, I began one of the stories I'd wanted to do since I first created the characters/story list for Typical Strange way back when. The wacky tale of a 55 year old midget secret agent and the slacker who loves him like a son was one I thought about so much, and finally figured out how to do.
The response was quite good in the comment section, and some jokes and character beats I'd had in mind for years got some great reactions. With a couple of new supporting characters and relationships in place, I'm right where I want to be with my cast of characters! It's very satisfying. That story (titled "POP") is probably the thing I'm most happy about in the comic for 2014.
I'm rounding out the year with another story I've had in mind for years, a Halloween Special that will probably finish up on Christmas Day or thereabouts.
As of today, 2014 saw 91 pages posted. Pretty much 4 issues. Not bad! I'd rather it was a smidgen more, but not bad!
And I learned that Penelope is a sex-kitten.
91 pages in a year is something I have never, ever managed. That's amazing.
–
This year I went to Europe for the first time. That was a bit of fun. It was nice to see that other part of the world and also very educational. As an artist it taught me a bit actually: seeing atmospheic perspective as an every day thing was amazing to me. When objects fade into the distance here that's extremely unusual and we comment on it, but in Turkey and Germany that seemed to be the normal state of things. It's strange. Like being partially blind.
And the big old buildings in Greece and elsewhere being all made of hand carved stone… and 2000 year old or older buildings made from gigantic rock blocks. Man, compared to the architecture today it makes it look as if we live in tents.
People think that an ancient person zapped forward in time would marvel at our giant skyscrapers and mass produced housing but really they'd probably just laugh. There's a reason those ruins have persisted so long.
And I've almost completed my multi thousand dollar hussar outfit. :D
My year was pretty lame comic-wise. I'm really terrible at finishing comics because I tend to do the exciting panels first and ignore the boring ones, and then never do them. So I have significant portion of a new issue of Izzy partly drawn, but with zero completed pages. Will 2015 see the return of Izzy? We'll have to wait and see.
I started doing newsposts here on DD in November of 2013, and throughout 2014 I've taken on a few other responsibilities around the site. There have been a few stressful, rushed newsposts when I didn't have any news or interesting ideas, but for the most part writing them provides me with a welcome change of pace from my classwork. Hey, let's make 2015 the year where people send me lots of interesting comic tidbits to write about!
Outside of the webcomic world, it's been a good year overall. University feels like exactly where I belong - I enjoy my classes and just the general atmosphere of my school. I'm President of my student group this year so that's somewhat stressful, but it'll look good on the ol' resume.
Definitely the biggest milestone this year was going to live on my own in Montreal for a few weeks while I took a course at McGill. I've never lived on my own for more than a few days, and doing so in a strange city was a pretty big step. It definitely made me feel more like I'm prepared to move away and continue my education after my undergrad.
Also, I got a new cat! He's a big, fluffy black Maine Coone (probably) with a grey mane who we've called Dandy.
This year was SO BUSY OMG, but it was pretty satisfying in term of comics. I managed to come back to the Duck (what was great, because here I have commenters that give a lot of support), I started making better art, I finally could do coloured comics that make me happy and I could work a little in all my comic projects (the three I have on the Duck and an ask tumblr about Spiritism, of all things).
Another thing that makes me happy is that I'm getting my master's degree in comics. I'm researching how comics can help in Chemistry education and it has been very good. The results has been wonderful, I'm now busy putting them on paper.
(Just to clarificate, the comic I used in my master's wasn't from Periodically. I can't post it until I finish my research because REASONS.)
All in all, it was a tiring year, but very productive. :)
Pretty average year for me. I finished a few arcs in Used Books and started a longer one. I totalled 68 pages, which isn't the best. I spent the summer at the lower rate of one page a week. I won't whine about that because it was due to having a 40 hour a week job from April through September.
I had no major changes in my real life. I bought a camper last fall, so I got to live in it this summer with my cat and some pet rats while I was working out of state. Much better than trying to rent a place or staying in work housing. Of course, unemployed, I'm staying with parents yet again. (I have worked most summers in the last decade but no winters.)
I expect much of the same next year, although I am planning a fun vacation in February, and with luck, I should have enough content for another 200+ page printed book in a few months.
Edit: Oh, and a Drunk Duck Award for Best Mystery/Crime. Three years in a row. :) I'll be trying to make my comic worthy of that honor again. If there's another DD Radio Show, I might participate again. It's helping me get over my hatred of my own voice.
Yikes…! You all are talking about Real Life too…!?!?!?! haha
.
When posting online, I tend to be rather private about my
personal life. I did have a very dear
friend die in a tragic accident, and I hit Minnesota, Florida, Texas (San
Antonio – Texas is big - you can’t just say Texas), and Virginia all in the
space of a couple months. Largely pleasure
trips but also took care of some business.
Plenty of time with my
hobbies: hiking, whitewater, and playing
music. Family stuff too – I have
wonderful family. Work stuff continued…
but who wants to talk about that haha. And
of course I continued to work on my art.
.
2014 (actually started in late 2013) is where I finally felt
like I sorta got ‘the hang’ of DrunkDuck, and became more involved in things
like the Awards, Gifts, Casts, etc. I
can’t say I really honed my story ‘the Godstain’ any more, as I’ve had the
entire plot mapped out from the beginning, but I’m still trying new things with
art, although I’ve stuck with watercolor for a long time now (which is saying
something – prior to this comic I’d never touch watercolor in my life). I cranked out a bit over 100 pages for the
year I think… I’m very satisfied with
the year, and winning the Readers Choice award was one of the most rewarding
things in my life
.
For 2015, I’m giving some thought in to what I may do post-Godstrain (I don’t think I’ll
finish it in one more year but I’ll be a lot closer – it has a definite
ending). I do have the rough outlines of
two more large stories, sequels to the Godstrain, but very different in tone
and scope. One is tentatively titled ‘the
Godspark’, the other is ‘God…something’ ;D
I also have another story (not related to the Godstrain at all, although
there are some similar themes) – it’s a novel I wrote a while back (never got
published so it must suck haha), but I’m considering redoing it as an
illustrated novel, initially posted here – we’ll see…
.
I’m looking forward to 2015 – that is all!
In 2014 I lost family. I fell in love, and out of love. I did things with my friends, and made a few new ones. I alternated between months of apathy and inspiration. I created worlds. I killed heroes, and gave villains a chance to repent. And now, at the end of the year, I can't really say that anything important changed in my life.
Life is pain and at times barely tolerable. It's been a pretty hard year in retrospect. I finished a comic that was worth reading and started two that really aren't. Over 100 pages of content but then as it's only photos of dolls and boobs, it's easy to pad out content. And I smile.
Doing something worth a bucket of warm spit still eludes me so I just waddle along in obscurity. 2015 will probably see me top 1000 pages of content which for anyone else would be a great milestone. But I smile.
It's been pretty bad and I find myself backed into a corner I don't like very much and feeling trapped. But I will make the best of where I find myself and muddle through. I made it without the therapist as I couldn't afford it anymore. Came close to break-downs, a lot closer than I ever let on but sleep is a wonderful restorative and work on the comic a good tonic. Few comments and likes but hey I can do some pretty pictures at times and I smile.
And you know what? Seasonal Affective Disorder really sucks. But I still smile and even feel happy. Life isn't easy but feeling warm and content in my ability to cope and be happy is.
Just like in 2013, I didn't make as many comics as I wished! I was able to contribute scripts and artwork to Heroes Alliance, but didn't update my own comics at all. My dissertation was in the way… which is juuuust about to be done. Hopefully, whatever happens afterwards, I'll be able to do a page for my comics every now and then.
That said, I had a blast working on Heroes Alliance, and HA's receiving two drunkduck awards this year was absolutely fantastic! Also, I do love working on my thesis, even though it keeps me from making more comics. So, I mostly enjoyed this year.
Oh, and this year's movies were mostly good! 2013 had so many bad and mediocre movies, and 2014 was far superior. There were TWO new Ghibli movies (The Wind Rises & The Tale of Princess Kaguya), three Marvel movies ranking between good and great (Captain America 2: the Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of Future Past), and a bunch of others I enjoyed a lot (Chef, Snowpiercer, The Homesman, Grand Budapest Hotel…). The only ones that really stood out as terrible were Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Transformers 4, in my opinion.
KimLuster wrote:I wouldn't be so self-deprecating if I didn't intend for you to laugh. Laughter is infectious and the longer and louder you laugh the more tolerable things can be.
@Bravo: I probably laugh at your self-deprecating posts way more than you intend… But I'm not laughing at you - I'm laughing with you :D
I take life one day at a time because to look back at a year like this last one can be mind-fuckingly gloomy. I did what? THAT happened? Holy shit, how did i ever get through it? But I did and like the inevitable bad penny here I am once again. ;-)
This year has been… well I'll be honest, it's not the best I've had.
Last year was ending on a high. I had a new job which I was enjoying, I had a new woman in my life and things seemed to be going well on both fronts, which came after a long and painful year before it. Then right before last christmas the relationship took a nose dive. She was a bi polar nymphomaniac, and safe to say the relationship had its ups and downs. pun intended.
So new years eve I spent with her and it looked promising that we were going to sort things out. How wrong I was.
Since then I've dated a little but nothing of note in the whole year.
Work went south as well, until a few months ago I took a sort of promotion. Well a side step with more responsibility which will help get to a proper promotion. I like the job but it's very stressful and underpaid. long term goal it will pay off though. This last few weeks have been a clusterfuck.
on top of that my ex and kids become homeless.
And I've put back on all the weight I had lost over the previous year or so. fuckdammit!
Comic wise it's been better, although I have been having trouble getting an audience beyond my core readership of about five. Ah well, good job I'm not doing it for fame and glory.
Lore has progressed nicely and after hitting a rut with BASO I seem to have finally gotten that back on track.
Lite Bites came to an end. Although, part of me wants to bring it back, the problem is it takes a fair number of people with time and dedication to make it really work. maybe someday.
I update somed comics after long breaks, even if only for one page… there will be more coming.
Eventful year… My health had not been as good as it should… But I managed to stay alive and keep working…. Having a six days a week work does not leave much free time…. I started a comic that has suffered my lack of free time… I feel more involved in the Duck comunity…. looking forward to be even more involved and being able to actually get a story going instead of the seamingly unconected pages that I've posted so far… A romantic relationship ended, which isn't that sad… I'm currently single (yes, ladies… there's enough Tupapayon for all of you)….
Jeez, 2014 just ran me over like a truck and kept on going. The year's over already?! I did absolutely nothing! Nothing!
Well, okay that's not entirely accurate, but I never would have guessed that I'd end the year without launching a new comic. I wish I could say that I've spent all this time productively, laying the groundwork for some upcoming tour de force, writing and rewriting a bulletproof script, mastering the ancient art of flawless paneling at some temple tucked away deep in the mountains of Tibet. But no, I've just been languishing away doing nothing productive whatsoever. True, a lot's been going on in life around me, but that's the case every year. It's never kept me away from getting things done creatively.
I did finally start working on something a few months back… actually started, quit, and restarted a few times over. I've got easily several months' worth of buffer that will never see the light of day because it's all terrible and needs to be redone. But failure's a good motivator. I guess I've learned that doing comics isn't like riding a bike; you can't just hop back on a year later and expect to be as good at it as you were before. It's showed me that I really desperately need to get something going for next year, something worthy of seeing the light of day. And looking back at a whole year with pretty much nothing to show for it… well, it's a waaaay different feeling from the feeling I had at the end of last year, when I finished Death P#rn. What's the opposite of pride and gratification? Yeah, that. I'm feeling a whole lot of that. Will do better next year.
This year has been a mix. The first eight months were slow. Then everything happened in three months. Then this month has been slow.
Comic wise, I put out about 86 new pages of The Overture. For the most part, I was very good about updating twice a week until about September. Made a printed copy of the first chapter and it sold fairly well at the three artist allies I did this year. Sadly, I still haven't been able to build up much of a readership.
In April, I suddenly came to the realization that I hated where I lived. Deep in the Adrondack park in upstate New York, in a town of 1000 people with no friends and nothing to do. The closest city (Small city, only around 10000 people) was a fifty mile drive and I was in a cushy but dead end job as a night watchmen at a boy's home. I needed to make a big change or I was going to be miseriable.
In August, I quit my job of four years and in September, I packed up my car and drove out west to Alburqueque NM. It took about four days driving non-stop. Got to see alot of America and made many observations. Ohio, Indiana and Illionis are the EXACT same state. Flat, green and endless. Whenever you enter a new state, you are greeted by a giant cross and they just keep getting taller the further west you go. Missouri was the most conservative state I passed through. I must have seen fifty billboards from born again Christians saying to convert to god or that abortion is the devil's tool. Ironically, it was also the state with the most porn shops and all of them were at the enterance/exit point of the freeway. My only real regred about the trip is that I didn't stop at the Precious Moments Chapel in Missouri, dubbed "The American sixteenth chapel". (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35iKf7CJDN8 go to the 6:25 mark).
Been living in the ABQ with my brother for about four months now. A city of half a million is so different from a village of 1000. Best desision of my life. I have a social life, a group of friends and they are actually people here who are into anime, manga, video games, and other geek stuff.
I finally figured out that I want to be a nurse. As I have to wait a year to get residency and finanical aid to go to Nursing school, I'm becoming a CNA in the meantime. In November, I took the CNA class and on the 15 of January, I will be taking the licencing exam. As the class ended the 1st of December, I've been kind of board this last month. I want to start working as soon as possible both because I'm running short on savings and because when I work, I use my free time more productivly. Been playing too much pokemon and smash.
I feel pretty content. Next year should be even better.
Hey Corntown,
Just wanted to tell you I liked reading your post! Kudos to you on taking that step you needed, and having the courage to pack up and move yourself to a better situation! Congrats on figuring out what direction you want to go in, career-wise, too! Happy New Year!
And Happy New Year to everyone!! EVEEERRRRYYYYYOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNE!!!!!!
2014, sucked for me in my personal life Well, my Job Life. Jumping from Job to job doing commisions, and even doing odd jobs just to keep a ruff over my family's head. Really bad year. Being force to leave my job was not my idea but it was my only choice to leave. very long and stressful…
Art wise, I got to create my brand new character SolarCell. Even writing her origin story shadowing the Heroes Alliance story. I got to talk to a few creators about it and got permission to use other creators characters for Her story line. Cool. Still currently, writing it. It finally made my day when someone draw one of my characters for the secret Santa. I never had anyone draw any of my characters before so it really made the end of the year really cool.
I also got to help out my Wife with her scented candle Business on the side….(yeah…I learn to make candles that we can sell). she's happy about that.
Thank you all for helping me during the year. Bless you.
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