Chapter 12, Page 4
Hey! Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of Blitz Phoenix! I know I haven't always been able to make every update, but this is still the most dedication I've ever put into any project and I'm so proud of what I've been able to create. Thank you all for being here while I try to share my story.
Last year I didn't have the time to do anything fancy for my comic's day, but this year I've got some goodies for you. :) And since it's the anniversary, I'm going to make a massive post to explain basically what's in the comic's future, too. (Kudos if you make it through the whole thing.)
Goodies
When writing this chapter, I wrote a small scene that would immediately follow the current one where Terry talks to Charlie. I ended up cutting it because I try to follow a 30 page limit per chapter (I usually fail). I've had to cut a lot of Charlie's conversations in the past, which really sucks since he's the most fun to write and seems to be received very well.
So, I decided to draw the scene anyway. It's not in the chapter, but you can download it as a PDF over on GumRoad. This is a short five page scene. It's set to pay-what-you-want - which means you can grab it for free, or toss me a tip if you want.
Additionally, I've put the original four page Christmas special featuring Blitzen up as an ebook. So if you started reading after that and aren't sure where the reindeer that randomly comes up is from, you can grab that!
Higher Production Schedule
In related news: If you've been following me on twitter or reading the posts on Patreon, I've basically been able to increase my page production by a good bit by switching to making pages in batches. My schedule when I started the comic, which I've been using for years, has been to make two pages over the weekend every week. This doesn't always work out, though. I had also hoped when I started the comic originally that I would get fast enough at making pages that I would be able to set up to three pages a week - and while my art skill and speed have improved over the years, it just wasn't enough to reach that goal, and I'd still sometimes be finishing up Wednesday's page on Tuesday night.
So last November I did some math, plotted a spreadsheet, and came up with a new schedule for making pages. I'll spare you the details, but to sum up: in five weeks, where I'd normally get about 10 pages done, I've gotten 18 done.
(The weirdest part is I also seem to have more time to do other things outside the comic, so... I guess I've managed to create a distortion in time. Or maybe being more organized in this area of my life has just helped organize the other areas... But it's probably a time distortion.)
So does this mean we're going to three pages a week? Not yet, but eventually. I have some loose ends to wrap up first. I still want to redraw chapters 1 and 2, and I may be adding 3 and 4 to that list as well.
I was using the Charlie pages above as a bit of an experiment to see if I could produce some extra pages on the side while still creating enough new content to keep posting without interruption. The answer to that seems to be an aggressive "yes", which means I finally have a (realistic) means to focus on redrawing chapter 1.
That's all I have for now - I've been working hard the last two months and I'm pumped for what's ahead.
Thank you all for reading. :)
