I wanted to hit 100 comics, that was my goal. It has taken me quite a while to do it, mostly because I've been putting it off. This is why.

Firstly and most influential in it was I just haven't wanted to draw lately. By lately I mean like.. the last year? I definitely lost my drive to draw a serial comic. I might be okay drawing one-offs or whatever, but stories and plots and characters are just not my thing anymore. For a while I've figured I would probably end the comic at 100. You would think that I would try and get it out of the way so I would stop worrying about it and move on to other things. But I guess a part of me didn't want to see it go. Say what you will, 100 comics is a lot. A lot of work put into this site, and I don't want to just drop it off into a field and not turn back. I can't have it continue in its current state though. I just don't have the drive to do so anymore.
I've also known for a while how I was going to end the story arc. You might say it's a shitty ending, or it's too depressing, or doesn't make sense or anything like that. Well tough, life sometimes has shitty endings or is depressing or doesn't make sense. The comic has always tiptoed around the line of expressing my feelings about life and trying to tell jokes at the same time. I just ran out of ideas, I think. It was frustrating and depressing and I knew I couldn't pick up the comic to where I wanted to take it, so that's why I ended it the way I did.

Anyway, thanks for joining me on this journey. Glad some of you got some laughs out of it. We'll see where I go next, or what happens to this site, blog, the whole package.

The Concept

So here's the scoop.
For the last few months, I've been pretty disillusioned with the whole comic thing. I felt like I didn't have a good grasp on it, I was running out of ideas, and I just didn't enjoy drawing anymore. Drawing isn't my job, it 's a hobby, and I sought out other hobbies to help me get through the day. I still drew a little, mostly at work, but never anything serious, and I never got that urge to start drawing comics again. My ads were pulled, because of low traffic volume, and I didn't have the energy to put them back up. I was feeling pretty depressed about the site in general. Then I had a talk with one of my friends about my comic, and my spark returned. Let me explain something to you: the original concept of BearHockey.

Originally, I created BearHockey as a programming project. A website that ran itself, and users would just give it things to host. The original (and pretty much only surviving) aspect would be a comic site; one where different people would submit their own comics as part of a collective comic archive. There'd be no plot lines to follow, no drawing styles to adhere to, no updating schedules. Just the basic image requirements, and an account. I didn't want just anyone uploading comics, I wanted it to be people I knew could do some quality work. To spring-board the whole thing, I started off basically re-tooling a comic I did back in college called Life 101. Same characters, similar art style, but just some puns and gags for kicks. It was fun, but no one else seemed to want to join in. They were either too busy with school, or their own projects, or just didn't want to commit to anything. So, since I was the only one doing any updating, I got a little ambitious with my comic, starting doing some more in-depth stories, while at the same time trying to expand the site. I started putting more and more effort in the comic though, both in writing quality and drawing quality. I realized I wanted to tell a story, in a humorous way, and be able to do it artistically. Started putting money into the site, and people actually were visiting it. Started advertising, etc etc, and soon it got to become bigger than I expected a hobby to ever really get. Then of course, it all kind of went south.
Two things have never really changed however. I still want to tell a story, but I've also never wanted to quit on the original site's goal of being a collective of works. I believe I have found a way for those two to work out now, and will be rolling that out soon.
For now though, I want to do one last thing, a self-imposed goal to strive for. I want to draw 100 comics, by myself. If I can do that, I think I will feel a lot better about anything else I do afterwards. So sit tight and enjoy the last few comics up to that point; after that, things are going to be interesting.

Stupid Work

Sorry, I've been on call for work this week, and haven't had a lot of time to work on anything else. I have scripts written, so I'll try and push myself to do two next week. Wouldn't that be something.

Assassin's Creed is Tearing Me Apart, Lisa

I decided to start playing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, so I can finish up the series before the new one comes out. Big mistake. Now I can't stop playing it, and it's got so much to do that I'll never finish it. My only hope is that I will get bored of it eventually like I did with AC:2 and stop playing. If this wasn't enough indication, AC: Brotherhood is a great game. I recommend it.

I am struggling with writing a cohesive story line, so right now I'm just going to be drawing some random stuff. As summer goes away I should be more inclined to spend time on my comic.
On a related note, revenue from ads has been rather good lately, and I have a good chunk of change now. I might start using it, or I might put another ad up. We'll see.

Also, sorry for the lateness of this. Didn't remember I had to update this on Fridays until this morning. Whoops.

St. Louis is a Ghost Town

It totally is.
I went there on vacation last weekend, and there was almost no people around. Don't get it. Regardless, it was both fun an relaxing.
Now back to work.

Remember when I said I was going to work on some scripts? I lied, I totally haven't. But I really want to get work done, so I'm going to try and write some now, finish a comic tonight, and then do another one tomorrow. Wouldn't that be something?

I also toyed around with introducing another character, and sketched it out, but I don't think I will. Not soon, anyway. Figure I should develop my current characters a little more because I start branching out so much. Quality, not quantity. Or something like that.

It's in the eyes

I am in a constant state of trying to improve my "artwork" in my comic, and the latest thing I've been working on is eyes.
Specifically, my cartoon characters don't have irises, or eyeballs for that matter. Just big pupils, staring into the abyss. So I've been trying to come up with an eye design that isn't just a pupil, but also isn't freakishly detailed or looks like anime-eyes. This is what I came up with:

So, if anyone has an opinion on it, let me know, because I honestly am not 100% sold on it yet. But, I do want to do something, since I feel like better-drawn eyes can convey emotions better.
In other news, I have scripts written, but have not had a lot of time to draw. I am trying to fix this, and vacations aren't helping, but... hopefully we should be back on track in August at the latest.

New Blog, old crap

So I decided to move my blog stuff over to here, because Livejournal love the ads, and they were annoying for a variety of other reasons. You can read my old stuff here.
New plan! Will try to comic Mondays, and Blog Fridays. Except for today, since I'll be on vacation tomorrow, so yeah.
Sound good? I think so. Let's get started.