Year in Review - 12/31/24
I liked making posts like this on cohost. I figured...having something like this wouldn't be too out of place here (maybe more redundant though. If you're someone bothering to read this, you've probably interacted with most of my major works this year anyway hahaha!!)
The first few months of the year were sparse in terms of tangible project updates. I spent a lot of January and February doing design work for Oskoreia. Then seasonal depression slowed my progress on the stuff I was working on for a few months.
Oskoreia Oneshot (May)
A small comic introducing Mardöll and her weird monster dad. I love the dialogue and body language in this thing...I feel like I've given you fundamentally all you need to know about their relationship to one another in a single snapshot. I feel like I've also given you fundamentally all you need to know about my writing sense and humor in a single snapshot LMAO. The quality of the backgrounds also feels like a real milestone for me.
GOOD JOB, ME.
ArtFight (July)
Yes I am once again counting ArtFight as an achievement. You can see more stuff I drew from it in this previous journal.
I overall did not have very much fun this time! But I made a few things I'm very proud of and also received drawings from friends that I cherish deeply. I am grateful for that.
Jack's Comic: Part TWO (August)
I had a real lingering fear that this wasn't going to meet the same quality levels as the first set of pages, but I'm actually pretty happy with it, even now (I've moved on to fretting about the third update!!!!)
Talked at length about this update in a previous journal.
Halloween Zine (October)
An interactive zine I made in decker! This was my first time making something like this. I think it turned out really good, all things considered. I want to gradually try out different programs/engines to see what would be a good fit for Oskoreia. Decker was my first stop for this exploration. Decker doesn't meet Oskoreia's needs, but it gave me some good ideas for the project anyway!
It IS a fun program though. I'd like to make a choose-your-own-adventure in it someday. Or maybe something experimental/sequential. Just need the right idea.
Xboxmas (December)
I wasn't gonna list this one b/c I """""only spent 20 hours on it""""" but then I caught myself, YEESH.
I described this comic as an "art demon I was trying to exorcise" to my friends 'cuz it's a comic I have tried drawing 3 out of the last 4 years and just kept whiffing on for one reason or another. I was even braced to give up this time around too and then like...5 days before Christmas I suddenly was like, "NO!!! FINISHING IT THIS TIME." I really like how the Christmas tree panel came out.
Daily Dads (In Progress)
Okay I'm not actually done with this update but I worked on it a LOT this year and don't feel good not talking about it.
I've been stuck on this chapter since early 2023. Part of it was just burnout, but part of it was the script had some serious issues and I was having trouble killing some darlings (I'd already drawn a lot and it looked good and I'd spent a lot of time on it and didn't want to delete stuff. You know).
I had actually started finally making progress again in September aaaaaand then cohost announced its closure. My brain just kind of came to a deadstop. After two months I managed to pick up the pieces and start working on it again aaaaaaaaand then Trump won the election. It's something I've really become aware of with Daily Dads; I don't necessarily need to be HAPPY while working on it, but I do think I need to be HOPEFUL.
Anyway I am so close to being done with the next set of pages. I'M SO CLOSE!! (But probably don't expect them soon. I don't really enjoy working on this story during the winter).
Thoughts
2024 has been a mixed year for me. This is probably something that's not deeply apparent from an outside perspective, but my art has gotten much more consistent in quality levels. I used to have to RNG my way to success a LOT, especially if I had a specific vision in mind. I also often had to basically """polish turds until they were diamonds""" which is extremely time-consuming. Lately I've been able to just think "hey I want to draw something that looks like this," and then it just kind of...happens... (mostly). I have partial aphantasia so that's like...groundbreaking to me. I'm not visualizing things better; I think I've just been developing a good muscle memory hahaha. BRUTE FORCED IT.
My main disappointment was not getting anything done on the main storyline of TMatM. There were circumstances to that but it still Feels Bad and I'm aching to get back to it (but also intimidated since I've been away from it for so long).
2025
I don't do "New Years Resolutions" and some of these I wouldn't even say are goals (just hopes). I think 2025 is gonna be a hard year, so I'm not expecting all of these to get done. Just stuff that I WANT to work on and hopefully some of it sticks. :p
-Part three of Jack's comic. REALLY would like to get it done before ArtFight this year. The last two releases got delayed into the fall purely b/c of AF. This one is going to be a slightly shorter one (my other option was an EXTREMELY long update and that felt like burnout territory to me).
-Get literally anything done on TMatM. I'm sort of hoping to either draw all the ending credits in one go (so they're consistent) or finish all the remaining character sprites/etc this Spring. Whatever I'm more in the mood for. I kind of doubt the final release will be this year, but also everyone Please Lend Me Your Power (said like Goku trying to charge a spirit bomb).
-Learn the basics of Renpy with a small project (to see if it's a good fit for Oskoreia). I've kind of already been poking around with this the past month, but then seasonal art deadlines distracted me. I'm not sure this project will actually amount to anything, but I like what I've got so far and I'm LEARNING.
-Finish that scene from Daily Dads. Actually finishing the chapter itself would be nice but LMAO.
-Keep on trucking for development work on Oskoreia. I doubt I will actually start writing it this year. I am sort of hoping I'll have the cast set in stone by the end of the year though, at least.
ANYWAY, thanks for reading!!!! Happy New Year. B')