Vlog! May 2020 (Patreon)

Hey everyone, I’m gonna use this weird time to do some experimentation… how about the return of the vlog? A bit of a different strategy this time… As you can see this time we’re looking at a view of the work I’ve done this week inking Shenzhen Fast. I’m almost done the inks! Only a few pages left to go, which is really exciting. I originally intended to have this done for TCAF (Toronto Comics Arts Fest), and I’m happy that I’m not too far off that mark. I think I could have gotten it done if things had gone to plan. 

I’m still trying to figure out how to launch and promote the comic without a comic convention behind it. If you launch a comic at a comic show, you can get a significant promotional boost. I don’t really want to wait an entire year to see if conventions can return in 2021. But that’s a problem for future Jam. Right now I’m just trying to stay focused on one thing at a time, and right now that’s inking Shenzhen Fast. My colourist Julia is still making awesome progress and these pages are gonna look amazing. I’m so excited for it. 

Drawing itself hasn’t been too hard for me, but getting motivated to begin drawing definitely has been. I’m really grateful that I invested in some rock-solid habits, because those habits have been the only things I feel like I have managed to do reliably. It feels so difficult to move forward with so much uncertainty. 

I’ve been having fun with the Hyggecast livestream that I’ve been doing with Sfé lately. I originally started at 2 days a week, but unfortunately I’m going to need to bump it down to one day per week. Getting that going twice a week was just a bit more than I can handle right now with my mental health being where it’s at. Also, the good news is my job will be moving back to five days per week in June, and that’s the time that I had been using for the livestream. I think I learned a lot in the process though, and hopefully I can carry the livestream skillset forward into the future. Maybe the new normal can be one where I livestream more regularly :)

As for what’s next for me, I’m ready to start printing the food zine, as all the pages are complete! Patrons can expect that to be released in digital format soon. Once again, not sure how I’m going to print and sell it this time, or if I should wait, but I’ll figure it out. I want to try to mail editions to $10 patrons, however. In the meantime, I can get going on the career zine. I have been dreaming of doing that one in colour, maybe with markers just for fun. 

Ok, I think that’s all I have to say this time. Please let me know what you thought about this format, and let’s see if we can get this process dialed in :)