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Weekly Update – 11/09

Weekly Update – 11/09 published on No Comments on Weekly Update – 11/09

Not a lot going on on this page, but no worries: there’s another update coming tomorrow!

In news this week, I’m trying to promote the forums at the request of several fans. As I mentioned in my previous post, the forums have never quite built back up to what they used to be before the comic site was hacked a few years ago, so I’m working on that. I’ve added a new section that’s only available to registered members where I plan on adding sketches, page previews, and other “behind the scenes” extras. As we speak, I’m preparing sketches for chapter seven to upload this week, as well as one-panel-previews for upcoming pages. Come join in! 🙂

There’s a new vote incentive up this week, the second in a series of new coloring styles I’ve been trying out for work on Chapter Seven. I’m also willing to take ideas or requests for future vote incentive drawings, so if you have any characters or ideas in mind, leave a comment or post on the forum!

After looking through the script I’ve got going, and some of the pages I’ve got together, it looks like I’m running short on materials for working on Chapter Seven – specifically, Chio-colored markers. I’ve been using the same set of markers for the past six years, and they’re finally burning out on me. I work as a freelance designer, and business has been slow this past month, plus I’m getting ready to move to a new house which has an assortment of related costs. To try and alleviate the cost of picking up the new colors I need, I’ve added a special donation wallpaper to the sidebar. If you donate any amount, you can download a copy in your choice of two large sizes. Picking up a copy of the book would also help out (there’s a coupon code once again this month, use GREATBOOK when checking out from lulu.com to get 10% off your order. I also have an extra copy on hand that I’m willing to let go for $12 + shipping which I’ll sign and draw in just for you!) and I’m also planning on putting some of my original drawings up for sale, since all they do is sit around and take up space in my drawer, anyway.

I’ve been thinking about doing a little side story thing in addition to the regular comic, just for fun. I’ve drawn so far ahead that I literally feel like I have nothing to do other than a little write up for the new pages as they go up. Being prepared is almost boring!

That’s all for now!

Vote if you get a chance!

As Requested

As Requested published on 1 Comment on As Requested

Certain readers (*coughcoughTypohackcough*) have asked that I try to publicize the forums more and get more discussion going, so here I am, pointing out the fact that the forums are up and running and you should come join them, etc. 😀 I’ve taken down the chatbox, because while it was fun, I decided that it bogs down the site too much when it reloads every time you flip a page, and I kind of like having the story discussion attached to the pages themselves in the comments.

There used to be a small, but regular forum group a couple of years ago, but the problem was that my entire site got hacked and basically the entire thing was really broken for a really long time. There were some things I didn’t have backups for, which taught me my lesson about that. It took a long time to get everything put together the way it should be, and I’m still working on it in some places. The forum was one of the things that got eaten, and I was hesitant to put it back up after losing so much stuff. (I’m fairly certain the whole incident came from a security flaw in the forum software I was using at the time – I’ve since changed that and I’m extremely careful about the new one.) The whole thing made me learn my lesson about keeping better backups, and making sure anything I install on the site is secure and up to date. Unfortunately, the hard way.

The new forums are shiny and clean, and I’ve put a lot of effort into measures to keep the spambots out. (Another problem that plagued the old ones.) So I’d like to point out the fact that they’re there and usable, and encourage you to check them out if you’re a regular on the site!

Weekly Update! – 11/02

Weekly Update! – 11/02 published on No Comments on Weekly Update! – 11/02

Time for a regularly-scheduled update, with an extra heap of news!

I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween weekend, whether you celebrate or not! I celebrated by making cupcakes and sharing with my family. :3

This week Aki is waking up. Again. Have you ever had one of those really vivid dreams where you just wake up with a gasp? I’m not sure it came through, but that’s the general idea behind what’s going on here. It’s such a strange physical feeling to wake up in the dark not totally sure where you are, I wasn’t completely sure how to convey that in pictures.

As I noted in my last entry, I have enough of a buffer set up for the comic to run every Monday through the rest of November, so I guess that makes Monday the new regular update day. I have a couple of extra pages set up to run as well, although they are more of a surprise. (And to help push the story along…) If you follow Messenger on Twitter or Livejournal, you’ll hear about them right away! There’s also the RSS feed right on the site, if you’re into that kind of thing. There’s also the new Facebook page where you can list yourself as a fan and get your updates right in your news feed!

One of the cast of Messenger made a special guest appearance in Slightly Damned this week! See if you can spot her! SD is a great fantasy comic made by one of my hive buddies, Chu! It’s cute and funny, and the art is fantastic. You should check it out!

Voting! It’s the beginning of the month, and Messenger is already coming in strong at TopWebComics! We moved up about 500 places into the 200s, which is fantastic! Let’s keep climbing and go for a spot in the top 100! Realistically, I know I probably won’t ever get much higher than that, but it’s a great feeling to make even this much progress. Help out by voting at TWC! There are new vote incentives for all of this month, which I’ll try to announce on Twitter to remind everyone. The “theme” for the next few incentive graphics are some of my “behind the scenes” work. I’ve been working on a new way of coloring lately, so I’m posting some of my experiments with that. Vote to check it out!

I’ve also been thinking about doing a little commentary on each page as I post it, but I’m not sure. I like the idea of talking about things as I make them, but I don’t want it to turn into a whine-fest about everything I think is wrong with it.

That’s all for now!

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