The Anaether

Finally released pages 21-30. Here’s some progress shots of page 13.

Okay, here’s what I’ve learned this year. Quietly working on 20 pages with almost no progress shots mid-way and then releasing it was exhausting. Then doing the same thing with 10 was also exhausting. As I probably mentioned before, I was thinking I’d give a more optimal reading experience if I released more pages at once instead of each one every time I finished another one. This isn’t to say I ever want to stop working on this project or take a break from it at any time. Whenever I stop working on it, it’s pretty painful for me. I only ever pause work on it because of other obligations.

For this year so far I’ve just been experimenting with my work flow and seeing how I feel about it. Producing comic pages versus concept art and even animations. It’s looking like what may appeal more to me is to work on a batch of comic pages, then work on some illustrations, then back to comic pages again. It’s annoying to me because I really want to work on all straight up comic pages so that I can finish up this chapter ASAP and get to the main story line, but whenever I work on one, I always get the urge to work on the other (comic pages vs. illustrations.) I want to make sure that anytime I’m working on this project, I’m always producing something and creating finished products in a “timely” manner. In order to do that, I have to make sure that whatever I’m working on is what I really want to be doing.

I’ve been trying to work against my paralyzing anxiety for years now, and this project has been going the most smoothly for me so far. If it were any other project, I’d get stuck. Almost every single time. Just stuck, anxious and less motivated. Artwork that could take me a week would end up taking me weeks or months, with me always forcing myself back into projects I nag myself to finish. I’m always so afraid of that happening with The Anaether, but so far it really hasn’t and I hope it stays that way.

My plan for the coming week is actually to mostly take a break from The Anaether, not because I really want to, but because I’ve been putting off other projects that I’ve been “needing” to do. I’m always eager to get back to working on The Anaether though. Hopefully after this week, I’ll start on another illustration. Perhaps a bunch of smaller ones too.

I’d also like to start a Ko-fi and a Subscribestar, but I just have to figure out a few things with the payment arrangements. I feel as if I should get a Patreon too because its user base is so much more saturated, but it’d be more of a hassle to deliver all of my content to my audience since it’s meant for adults.

I’m pretty tired. But I’ve never been this tired and this eager at the same time. It’s like an eagerness I’d have while binge-playing a video games, which is what I’d been wishing for with making art for years. Before this project, I’d just get tired and want to stop. Now I get tired but still really want to keep going.

Thanks for bearing with me on my pace of new content releases.