Monster Soup

This marks the end of Chapter 6. The final panel did have Bo “gasp”, but I felt that just his expression was enough.

As with every end of a chapter, I like to give a rundown of my journey during its production. :D This chapter was filled with personal ups and downs. I started off thinking it wouldn’t take me this long to finish it, but *life*… You can never plan for everything. For six months I lived with my grandmother as her caretaker. It was a stressful time, and while I wanted to continue working on the comic, all of my energy and motivation left me. I did attempt to work on pages when I could, but it was a struggle to juggle everything. After a while, it was obvious my grandmother needed more care and socialization than the current situation offered. Ever since she’s been living at the nursing home (I don’t like that term), she’s been thriving. I don’t think her mental health would be as strong as it is today if she had stayed in her home, nearly isolated except for the few family member visits and doctor’s appointments. It was a tough decision, but it was the right one in this case. I still feel anxiety and stress over all of that to this day.

With me back home, I started working on the comic again, determined to finish this chapter. I know I (and other webcomic creators) talk on and on about buffers, but they are the best thing to have. Without a buffer, you can see how long it can take me to make a page. Sometimes I can manage a page a week these days, but other times I found myself needing to update every other week. I hate having an erratic schedule. When I started the comic, I *think* I had 20 pages already completed and queued to post. (I cringe at the art every time I look at those early pages.) I really, really, REALLY want to go back to updating two times a week. I miss that. But for me to update like that once more, I’ll need to take a couple of months to build up that precious buffer. The word “hiatus” is something else that makes me cringe. I think, however, if I can get back into the routine of working on three pages a week, I’m certain I can build up a small buffer in a month. I’m still debating on what to do.

Then I moved from West Virginia to Texas. It is hot here. I can’t believe I’m going to say this… I miss the snow. I also miss having four distinct seasons.

There has been a small hurdle that cropped up this past week. When I began working on this page, the video card in my computer decided it no longer wanted to live. After freaking out for almost an hour, I started to figure out a plan. Luckily I keep backups of my work on USB drives, and also luckily I have a Surface Pro 4. I usually use it for travel and sketching, but now it’s become my work computer. I tried to ink this page using my new Bamboo Ink stylus, but even though it’s more responsive and sensitive than the standard Surface Pen, it still felt clunky. Sketching is fine, but I needed something I didn’t have to fight to ink with. So I looked over at the Cintiq. Could I possibly use it with the Surface Pro? I needed a mini displayport to DVI adapter to make it work. I scoured the internet looking for one. I did have a mini displayport to HDMI that I use to hook up the Surface to my TV. Maybe I just needed an HDMI to DVI adapter? Then someone I know swooped in a loaned me their Cintiq 13HD. This one uses HDMI. I hooked it up, installed the driver, and was off and running again. I can also use my own Cintiq pens on it. Oh how I’m spoiled by the Wacom digitizer. Of course this isn’t a permanent solution. I have been thinking about building a PC for a while now, and not long ago I knew that time was approaching fast. But I’ve never built a PC before. I do have family members who know how to build them, so I’m not completely on my own. And I’m sure I can get help online too if I have questions. Not sure when I can start building one. I thought about buying pieces one at a time when I get the extra money, but others have told me to buy everything at once. I wish that was something I could do. So in the meantime I’m stuck with my Surface Pro. Now that I think about it, I may just buy a new video card. That’s the easiest/cheapest route. HA! I could just re-buy the same card. It lasted this long, and it should be cheap if I can find it. *searches online* Brand new is $80?! Hmmm, I can keep using the Surface Pro for now. It would be cheaper to get the mini displayport to DVI adapter and use my Cintiq 22HD with it. I think that’s what I’ll do.

So what now? Chapter 7? Well, not yet. I do have an epilogue planned for the end of this chapter. I mentioned before about wedging this scene in somewhere, and it made more sense to add it at the end of this chapter, rather than later. *thinks of all the chapters needing to be drawn* I wish I had clones of myself. One could do layouts and roughs, another could do inks, the cute one could do the coloring, the fourth one could do the lettering and website posting, while I focus on the writing. The Jul Crew.

I’m not sure when I’ll start posting the epilogue. If you want to stay informed on updates, you can either follow the Facebook Page or follow me on Twitter.

UPDATE: I have a new video card!