A very kind well-wisher dropped me an email today lamenting that there was only one update per week here (the compliment was appreciated!) Why is this? Well, folks, because I have a more-than-full-time job that supports this little site. I’m an architect, you see – well, technically, an “Intern Architect and Master Draftsman.” At least that’s what it says on my AIA card. And that means that I work about 40-60 hours a week drawing buildings, and all the stuff that goes inside them. Anyone who thinks that sounds easy: try it.
So the result of this is that I have found that my current limit is a single full page per week, and at that, less detailed than I would normally think of making a comic page. But this is a good thing, two ways (at least, that’s what I’m telling myself). First, I’m a believer in the idea that art thrives on restrictions. Given the opportunity, I’d ponder and ponder and sketch and erase and ponder some more, laboring each page to the utmost. And while the result might be pretty cool in the end, I’ve found that a lot of the fun goes out of it, and my recreation becomes more of a chore. Moreover, though the art itself is far more refined, it’s lost a lot of the spontaneity that makes the story fun to write (and, I hope, to read!), and more often than not I’ve ended up in corners that I have no interest in working my way out of.
The second good thing about my current setup is that I happen to love my “real job” as well! Even when I hate it I love it. It’s high-stress sometimes, sure. To encapsulate what it is that I do, think abut the building you’re in right now, and then think of a book that describes, with diagrams, everything inside that building, with measurements to the 1/64th of an inch (1/2 mm, for those not on the Imperial standard). I write that book. It’s hard work, I’m here to tell you. But it’s unbearably rewarding. And so, even if I could draw comics full time, I doubt that I would. Designing buildings is the same kind of bug as drawing comics, and I like them both too much to drop either one. At least, not yet.
So I’m flattered by the comment that I should do this comic full time. But it’s not likely that I will anytime soon. Maybe that makes me a dilletante in the webcomics/comic book world, and if so, I accept it. But that’s just the way it is, I guess.
You’ll still get your page each week, though.
