Low power mode
After two years of quite intense comic-drawing, I'm returning to drawing smaller strips for an indefinite period to rebuild my strength. I wrote a 32-page follow-up to Destroy History: NEMS, did the roughs and everything, and it was very good (I promise), but it was the last rattle of the machine. I never realise that I'm spent until I'm really spent. It's hard when drawing is both your work and a sort of daily art therapy. The medicine turns into poison and I don't know what to do with myself. The answer is always to do less for a bit. Doing nothing at all is horrible.
So starting in May, I will be drawing up some of the low-key Steeple ideas I've been stockpiling (what are "Brian's Insides"? Who is the "Master-ess of Puppets"?) that won't fit into the tightly plotted Dark Horse series. You can finally spend some quality time with Brian, whether you want to or not. I want to get a little deeper into local lives and visit parts of Tredregyn that have thus far gone uncharted.
I also have the Steeple special with Max Sarin almost ready to go. I'm not sure if that will appear on the web. I suspect it will manifest here in May or June.
Comments (10)
Take a break and relax. I'd love to see your shorts though. Oh wait, what?, that came out wrong.
Seconding all of the above! Tredrygen shorts sound like a delight.
I hope your rest isn’t too frustrating for you! You’ve been giving us riches all pandemic, I’m not surprised you need a rest and a change! Plus I’m super looking forward to reading small stories going on in Tredregyn, I love that kind of thing.
I will visit Tredregyn any time, under any conditions. And all your artistic iterations are fabulous. Message ends!
Looking forward to it. And a nicely calibrated mis-use of "literally"!
Quality time with Brian will be great - a nuclear bomb for our eyes!
Tredregyn tales! You pretend this is a downshift R&R for you, but actually this sounds like a huge treat for us readers.
Do what works for you. No-one’s going to blame you for changing down a gear. Also: tales from Tredregyn sounds like a good change of pace. I think I speak for us all when I say that we need to know more about the Cornish drill scene. (apart from that Boscastle rubbish, obviously)
Take good care of yourself, John. If history is any guide, we'll love this material as much as the big stuff.
I know there are machines that just keep going and going and going but I bet if any of them could draw, their comics would be rubbish. Sounds like you're the exact opposite of those, John. Good job too.