Soooo close now...
almost 10 years ago
– Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 06:40:21 AM
Hello, my belfry bats!
Did you have a happy Tax Day (US folks)? I didn't! ;-)
So close now. Sooo cloooose...
To what, you ask? Well, for those who've missed the last couple updates (remember, the newsletter is being updated more frequently than the Kickstarter campaign page these days!) the answer is "so close to the end of Chapter 2." I have one page more after the one I'm currently on, and Chapter 2 will be complete! Unfortunately there have been some computer mishaps in the last couple of weeks, but I'm very much hoping that the Windows reset I've done will take care of them and squish all the stubborn bugs.
And the reason why this is a Thing is that at that time, I will be taking a hiatus on the weekly Volume 2 webcomic pages for proooobably something like a couple of months. (There may be guest art, pinups, making-of bits, perhaps a minicomic, and other miscellaneous updates, though, so don't go to sleep on me now.) During the hiatus, I am planning to, in priority order:
- Eliminate or at least greatly whittle down the remaining slim-but-time-consuming stack o' commissioned art rewards. Thank you all most deeply and humbly for your patience. I'll keep everybody updated on progress in the newsletters, and also via the official Progress Bar on the website. :-)
- Get the Patreon page up. Seriously, it's like I'm leaving money on the table every month that it remains unlaunched, and since I live literally WALKING DISTANCE FROM PATREON, I have made an acquaintance with one of the company evangelists and will be able to solicit her kind advice on the page before launch. (And I do mean evangelist. Her name is Shane, she's fun to talk to and she feels very, very passionate about Patreon's potential for indie creators. I'm also walking distance from Tapastic. Have I mentioned how much I love San Francisco?)
- Try to get Volume 1 into some retail stores. So far it's only been submitted to one, which is pathetic. This needs to change unless I want all my furniture for the next decade to consist of unsold book boxes. ;-)
- Plan my convention schedule for the remainder of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. TIME FLIES.
And that's all. No biggie, right? I seriously need a cloning device. Especially now that USAmerican election is in full "tribal warfare" mode (as the Saudi ambassador once wryly and correctly put it!)...national politics has been a real distraction lately. I can't help it -- I'm a political gal, you can probably tell that from my comic right? ;-P And seriously...I can't remember a year in my voting adult life when I felt like more was at stake. Do y'all feel the same? I mean it's just been total insanity in my eyes. O_o
But enough about that. Here, enjoy the latest fruits of my attempts to learn the Rebelle software, which -- note to my art peeps -- is the most accurate watercolor-emulating engine I have ever encountered. Amazing stuff. I'm trying to get better at colors so that I can begin incorporating some more full-color artwork into the After Daylight canon.
Take heart, Cat -- soon it will be the lusty month of May and you'll be getting a little, ahem, breather! Till next time, friends!
--Sarah
About them custom rewards now. ^^
about 10 years ago
– Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 10:00:49 PM
Hi folks!
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ...And then continues with a lot, lot...LOT more steps.
So I know in previous updates, I've mentioned that I had a couple health setbacks to get over this past fall and winter -- well, the good news is that I'm back on track from those and am getting back up to a reasonable production schedule. I was really hopeful that this past Wednesday would be the one where I could declare that the page went up by 5 am and that I was officially Completely Caught Up. Alas, I'm still a little bit short of that - hopefully this week will be the one. :-) But I have made a decision that I'm going to go forward with regardless of whether I make that deadline or not.
Namely: When I get to the end of the present Volume 2 chapter, I am going to take a short hiatus on the webcomic -- I'm currently thinking 2 to 4 weeks -- in order to get further into the custom art rewards queue. I don't like going on hiatus, at all, but it's time. I really need to get the last of the Kickstarter stuff taken care of. So that will become my focus after I close this chapter! I'll let you all know when that's begun, and will certainly be showing off the pretties that come out of that for you! So watch this space. ^^
In the meantime -- if you haven't had a chance to catch up on the webcomic, I happily invite you to do so. At the moment, Signor Ambrogio and Lord Theo are involved in some slightly tense Elder Negotiations. Fortunately, both of them have a nice cuddly pet at hand to help them de-stress afterward...
Until next time, my little belfry o' bats!
--Sarah
Post-holiday update
about 10 years ago
– Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 03:47:58 PM
Hi folks --
So the other day I was lucky enough to have a business dinner meeting with one of the lovely folks at Patreon, and I was (as I'm wont to do) grilling her for all the advice that delicious Japanese food could make her give up. She was very generous with that advice, and when I asked her, "what's the number one mistake you see creators making on Patreon?" she said "Not being transparent -- disappearing. You have to be real with people."
I'd heard this advice before in Kickstarter articles, and since I started on this whole adventure have tried hard to follow it -- but it was a good time to get the reminder. I have fallen off the radar a little lately, and I don't want to do that. One of the biggest gifts of crowdfunding is its ability to connect makers and enjoyers on a very human and personal level, after all.
The reason you haven't heard much from me lately is that my winter this year has been a struggle. Some of it was factors outside my control (there are always just a lot of extra tasks around the holidays, and every business/retail/personal schedule is jammed), but looking back I can also see a few crucial mistakes I'm responsible for.
It took me longer than it should have, for instance, to notice depression breakout symptoms coming back and get that attended to. It is now attended to, but I need to be more vigilant about catching them sooner. Sleep disorder symptoms coming back I did notice right away, but since the Bay Area is extremely underserved in sleep medicine and the related suppliers, everything takes three times as long to take care of as it should. ::grumble:: That too is now handled, but it'll take a little while for things to get back to the improvement they were seeing in late fall.
But there at least I can say, who asks to have depression or sleep disorders? Nobody. My big strategic mistake was launching Volume 2 too soon. I should've waited till Thanksgiving at least. Alas, I was very conscious of just how long it'd been since I'd put the comic on hiatus for the KS and book production (and readers were reminding me of this!). I'd originally planned to launch with six weeks of buffer ("buffer" = pages ready in advance)...but ended up going with only four. I made the calculation that this would still be OK based on the fact that before Vol 1 finished, I'd managed to bring my working time per page to four days instead of the full week. I knew I'd be rusty, but I figured getting the buffer ready would be enough to shake off the rust and I'd be back to that velocity.
It wasn't and I'm not. I'm still not entirely sure why, although it's been pointed out to me that before the Kickstarter began and AD became an official Business, my only responsibilities were getting out the webcomic and promoting it on the web, whereas now I have the comic, the promo, Kickstarter fulfillment, business and tax paperwork, trying to get the book into different distribution channels, etc etc. I need a secretary, dammit! ^^
But whatever caused it, it's become a reality I need to deal with. So the two major steps I'm taking to not only get back on schedule with updates, but also get enough time back to resume digging through the remainder of the custom rewards are:
1) I've sought, and am now actively applying, some strategies and advice to try to reduce my working time on each page without (and this is the tricky part) a corresponding reduction in quality.
2) More cons and active distribution efforts are on pause until I'm both back to on-time with updates AND making reasonable progress on the custom-rewards queue. This is not ideal for me money-wise, but standing obligations must come first.
So that's where things stand. I am a stubborn, stubborn gal and I never, ever stop trying, so I know I'll get through this. I'll keep you posted on progress. In the meantime, I have added one new feature -- if you're interested in art process and why artists have to spend so darn much time on their stuff, I'm now streaming some of my work at http://twitch.tv/ADComic! Tweets go out to announce when sessions are going live, and in between sessions, recent livestreams are available to view in archive.
Hope everyone is looking forward to their 2016, and having a great new year so far!
-- Sarah
Happy Hanukkah from all the little vampires!
over 10 years ago
– Wed, Dec 09, 2015 at 09:56:54 PM
Ohhhhhhhhh the holidays. Breathing down all our necks like an overambitious Krampus...
Short and sweet for this update! Just a few things.
1) Now that we're back to weekly comic updates, I'm getting ducks in a row for the more complicated custom Kickstarter rewards (e.g. marker portraits and website S/O's for the fellow-comicker reward tier). So keep watching yer inboxes...I'm in touch with some of you already for getting reference photos and so on. :-) Also, after some frustrating Technical Difficulties with my calligraphy pen, I'm back to being in a position to continue the Ambrogio proverbs.
2) Have some teaser art for next week's page!
Yup, we're heading back to the Roxy on the heels of Cat's little Bad Trip to the 60's. I hope he can recover quickly because Lillian and Nando have a surprisingly philosophical difference of opinion on the whole affair. ;-)
3) Also and additionally: Happy Hanukkah!
Thus proving that Cat really is a Nice Jewish Boy...as vampires go. ;-) Hoping y'all's holiday season is experiencing the very highest possible joy-to-stressburger ratio!
--Sarah
Just a taste...
over 10 years ago
– Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 09:50:51 PM
Hello to all the bats in my belfry!
If you hear a ringing in your ears, that's just my inner Quasimodo.
So this week's bulletin is on the short 'n' sweet side because So Much to Do! Here's what's up:
1) For anyone who missed it, work on custom rewards has begun. Starting to send out notices to marker-portrait people to confirm their preferences for their commissioned art, and Proverbs are also being worked on as we speak. So if you ordered a custom piece where reference photos, special requests, etc were a part of the order, be on the lookout and make sure email from [email protected] is designated as NOT spam in your inbox. :-D
2) We are now well and truly into the Volume 2 launch! Next Wednesday (the 18th) be sure to tune in for Page 5! In which the world's Most Awkward Vampire Initiation continues apace, and Cat says something that requires Monica to respond like this:
Iiiii'll just leave you to speculate what THAT could have possibly been. :-D
Patreon page is still in the queue, but I have to prioritize that behind getting a little bit more Volume 2 buffer under my belt and custom Kickstarter rewards, so as of yet I can't announce a launch date. Hopefully not too long though!
3) There are more ways to introduce your friends to the joys of Vampire Funneh than ever! Not only is the After Daylight Web Store officially open, the e-book is now available in two other places besides. You can purchase it at my Gumroad store (takes care of that pesky digital-content VAT calculation for you EU customers, btw!), and also at DriveThru Comics. DTC is brought to you by the friendly folks of DriveThru RPG, which many of you may know as the premier source for digital editions of RPG supplements -- most especially White Wolf/Onyx Path supplements such as the Vampire: the Masquerade and World of Darkness supplements yours truly cut her writing fangs on! So if you're a White Wolf fan, the DriveThru family is one you definitely want to support. ^^ BTW, for you international backers and fans -- I am also exploring the possibility of an overseas POD (print-on-demand) option for Volume 1. It wouldn't be quite as big in format, and it would be digitally rather than offset printed, but the shipping especially to European addresses would be much, much cheaper. I will let you know the developments on that as they happen!
I wish everyone a cozy turning of the year and a most pleasantly spiced holiday season!
--Sarah
