So I was reading Blindsprings a few weeks ago, and in one of the blog sections for a particular page, I miss read a comment from the artist. It said she was trying to make the comic "more like" a movie. I took it to her thinking she wanted to make a Blindsprings movie, which I felt was a little too ambitious at this stage.
Still, it got me to thinking about all the other projects comic artists tend to work on, and the fact that it often derails the part that I tend to follow, namely the comic. It's not as bad as a stretch of hiatus, as these projects are usually at least talked about, and there's some good reasons why the comic might be sidelined for a bit while they're worked on. Sunstone (NSFW) has been on a regular cycle of this as Stjepan Sejic is often working on a variety of art projects and of all his projects, Sunstone makes the least money (directly anyway). But there are others.
The first one I thought of beyond Sunstone was Elsie Hooper because at creation it was meant to be a story board for a movie. One that at one point was being worked on. I don't know if it was ever finished, I do know that long, LONG stretches of time went by without an update due to it and the various other projects the artist was working on. The fact that it has been more or less regularly updated (every 3 weeks it seems sometimes) is actually a step up from where it was only a couple of years ago. It does make it annoying, however, when one considers that the comic does have a scripted ending and even after 10 years it hasn't yet finished.
Dead Winter is having the same issues. The game project they're working on seems to be sapping all the energy to make the comic. I do want to play this game, I love side scrolling beat'em ups, I love the comic, so putting them together can only make me happy. BUT, it does cut deeply into the comic, especially the patreon which, surprise, is mostly for backing the comic, not the game. Hopefully it'll start updating more regularly soon.
That's not to say other projects can't still be done. Sandra and Woo, for example, have a game in the works, but it isn't interfering in the production of the comic. I guess that makes sense as they're already juggling two projects, Sandra and Woo and Gaia, so throwing another one into the mix isn't that big of a deal. It's also not a self created thing, as it's being made by an actual game developer rather than a couple of comic artists in their spare time.
Cyanide and Happiness' other project is their shorts, short videos that are basically just more of the same. I don't watch too many of them (checking comics takes long enough, even a 2 minute video can hurt at 2 am when I'm getting ready for work), but the few I have watched have been quite good and often are offshoots of regular strips. More of the same, and while it replaces the occasional strip, it's not that big of a distraction from the main comic.
And then there's, well, EVERYTHING Howard Taylor does outside of Schlock Mercenary. Games, conventions, books, movie reviews, etc, etc. I couldn't even hope to list all that he's up to. Guess he gets bored having that big fat buffer keeping his comic up every day.
I do like other projects by the artist, even if they aren't comics, I just kind of hope they don't interfere with the comic. As for Blindsprings as a movie, not yet, give it a couple more years.
Next week, hopefully, another Retrospective that oddly enough is an other project. Until next time kiddies.
Still, it got me to thinking about all the other projects comic artists tend to work on, and the fact that it often derails the part that I tend to follow, namely the comic. It's not as bad as a stretch of hiatus, as these projects are usually at least talked about, and there's some good reasons why the comic might be sidelined for a bit while they're worked on. Sunstone (NSFW) has been on a regular cycle of this as Stjepan Sejic is often working on a variety of art projects and of all his projects, Sunstone makes the least money (directly anyway). But there are others.
The first one I thought of beyond Sunstone was Elsie Hooper because at creation it was meant to be a story board for a movie. One that at one point was being worked on. I don't know if it was ever finished, I do know that long, LONG stretches of time went by without an update due to it and the various other projects the artist was working on. The fact that it has been more or less regularly updated (every 3 weeks it seems sometimes) is actually a step up from where it was only a couple of years ago. It does make it annoying, however, when one considers that the comic does have a scripted ending and even after 10 years it hasn't yet finished.
Dead Winter is having the same issues. The game project they're working on seems to be sapping all the energy to make the comic. I do want to play this game, I love side scrolling beat'em ups, I love the comic, so putting them together can only make me happy. BUT, it does cut deeply into the comic, especially the patreon which, surprise, is mostly for backing the comic, not the game. Hopefully it'll start updating more regularly soon.
That's not to say other projects can't still be done. Sandra and Woo, for example, have a game in the works, but it isn't interfering in the production of the comic. I guess that makes sense as they're already juggling two projects, Sandra and Woo and Gaia, so throwing another one into the mix isn't that big of a deal. It's also not a self created thing, as it's being made by an actual game developer rather than a couple of comic artists in their spare time.
Cyanide and Happiness' other project is their shorts, short videos that are basically just more of the same. I don't watch too many of them (checking comics takes long enough, even a 2 minute video can hurt at 2 am when I'm getting ready for work), but the few I have watched have been quite good and often are offshoots of regular strips. More of the same, and while it replaces the occasional strip, it's not that big of a distraction from the main comic.
And then there's, well, EVERYTHING Howard Taylor does outside of Schlock Mercenary. Games, conventions, books, movie reviews, etc, etc. I couldn't even hope to list all that he's up to. Guess he gets bored having that big fat buffer keeping his comic up every day.
I do like other projects by the artist, even if they aren't comics, I just kind of hope they don't interfere with the comic. As for Blindsprings as a movie, not yet, give it a couple more years.
Next week, hopefully, another Retrospective that oddly enough is an other project. Until next time kiddies.
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