Sooo… what happened?!

With the new format I quickly found out
that making a comic took a lot longer then before
and I really didn’t anticipate this correctly.

The results were missing deadlines and updates.
But the more dangerous effect was the mental backlash.
Call it a burnout or a light depression but my creativity
and work-flow crashed big time.

I have to admit this wasn’t just work related…
but it was a big trigger.
A major shift in my daily approach and routine
was needed to break a negative spiral.
Especially with a very healthy and VERY active
3 year old son while trying to get work done from home.

And I had to solve a big problem;
how could I speed up the comic making process
without compromising too much on quality and consistency?
Yeah, I know… silly perfectionist me.

It regretfully took a while but I realized I was still
approaching a web-comic too much like an illustrator.
With this I mean my work usually starts out quite sizable
(fit for large printing) and then I size it down for online use.

As a result every panel and character takes a long time to make.
And most of the time put into cleanup work and details
will be completely wasted because readers will simply not notice it.
Again, silly perfectionist me!

After some experimentation I simplified my working process
for the backgrounds to make it less time-consuming.
And the original artwork for panels and characters are a lot smaller now
to force me to not waste too much time on (unnecessary) details.
This speeds up things enough that it’s practical
to produce a whole full-color comic in a week or so
without going crazy.

But my apologies for going silent for a while…
I wasn’t in the right mindset to properly explain
what was going on and my automatic response
was to go real quiet and reflect on myself (too much).

I also want to thank all the loyal fans for their support.
You don’t know how much it has helped me.

And last but not least;
The Beardy Bastards are not going anywhere.
Adventures are awaiting!

Teb

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