August New Comic Sneak Preview: The Creative Process (Patreon)

The launch of the new comic is coming faster than I expected. This isn't a surprise- time has a way of getting ahead of you, and I've been busy with a lot of stuff lately. Most of my anxiety about the new strip (OH GOD I'M LAUNCHING MY FIRST REAL NEW THING IN LIKE 10 YEARS OH GOD) has been replaced with a quiet anticipation. This, in turn, will be replaced with an increasing preoccupation with actual production in september. I have to build a website! And get a domain name! And sort out hosting! And ACTUALLY DRAW NEW COMICS!!! The question has become: what will those new comics actually be about? I have a weird quirk. When I'm at a restaurant, I'll pick an item off the menu that I want to eat. But when the waitperson actually comes to take my order, I'll often switch to something else at the last second, without even meaning to do it. I'm never displeased with my new choice, but it's a strange thing. The new comic is in a similar situation. I have two main ideas right now, two different settings and directions it could go in, and while I *think* I know which one I'm going with (represented by those thumbnails I posted in July), there's an increasing chance that I'll switch to the other idea at the last second, or even something entirely different. Essentially, I won't know what I'm doing until I'm actually doing it. You might think this is a bad thing, but one of the great parts of working in a serialized medium is that it lets you come up with a lot of stuff on the fly. And since that's essentially how I've worked for the last ten years, I'm not too concerned about it. One thing I am trying to do with the new comic is think more in terms of concrete stories and arcs, rather than the meandering approach I take with QC. This means I'll likely be doing a lot more writing before I draw a single panel, which is a very different process for me. But it will still be largely exploratory, which is familiar ground. I'm excited about the new comic. I don't quite know what it will be yet, but I have ideas. And ideas are a good place to start.