#actium update sunday

[kirnet]

actium update sunday

yeah it's been a hot minute since I did this!! Actium has currently released 112 pages (not including covers and other illustrations), which mostly shows poor pacing and a lack of experience on my end lol, but is also an accomplishment! i am almost done with chap 3, i just have one more update to release for that... which is unfortunately in the sketching phase still. whoops.

speaking of massive page counts being a symptom of poor planning lol, i am currently rewriting a lot of the future chapters i have planned, with special attention to chap 4. chap 4 introduces the main conflict that every character going forward will be competing for, and so i need to make sure it's solid, that i have no possible questions or vagueness about it. other than that, i'm rescripting a lot of things, cutting down on page counts and learning to use my panels more effectively. this is something that i will continue to get better and better at the more i do it, so i'm okay with the fact that it will probably change in the future as well.

to be completely honest, i was really throwing myself into a wall trying to rewrite, just getting stuck because i was so attached to certain sequences and ideas. i've finally gotten over that, and a part of that was changing the way i thought about actium's story structure! actium was always going to have three acts, but my problem was that i was looking at them as three acts of one "book," so to speak, and thus the structure wasn't really working. actium is big, it has a lot of ground to cover (a lot that i should cut probably lol), and thus the 3 act structure was leaving me treading water in some places... so i just changed it from 3 "acts" to three "books"! Thinking of actium as a trilogy honestly helped me slot a lot of my puzzle pieces into place? no idea why, but it's given me a clearer idea of that i want to accomplish going forward. it will all be released under one account and such, i'm not splitting it up other than mentally.

actium was always going to be an amateur passion project, something i love and embrace. it will show my flaws as a writer and artist (to an almost unbearable degree lol), but the only way for me to ever do or get better at anything is to dive in head first. I've learned a lot already from these 112 pages, and I know that it will just continue to get better and better as I go on. but, of course, making sure that my foundation is solid and fixing up my outline now will really help with that.

in terms of uploading, it will happen when it happens lol. im job hunting for a second job unfortunately rn, so my time will just be what it is. i might start uploading just the lined uncolored pages on patreon when i finish them, or i'll just put all my pages on patreon until i have enough of a chapter's backlog to start releasing them publicly. in terms of the website, it is still down, i just need to dedicate the time to rebuilding it off of wix, and i've been more focused on creating the actual pages to learn neocities or wherever i'm gonna host it. it's all very messy lol

as always tysm to everyone who reads it!! you all mean the world to me <3 i 'm spending the entirety of my day today (fingers crossed) on writing and editing, so I hope to have this phase wrapped up soon!

[kirnet]

actium update sunday

CHAPTER 2 IS COMPLETELY DONE!!!!

chaps one and 2 are fully drawn, colored, and have all their text and effects. wow that feels good to say. there’s definitely parts that are wonky to me, but ultimately im so proud to say that 85/209 target pages for release are completely done!!!

did i expect to do in 2 months what i did in over 6? yeah. is it a little embarrassing? also yeah. but now i have a much much clearer idea of how i need to structure every part of my process, so i think the struggling was worth it. i also dont have any friends who make webcomics, so i dont know what a reasonable pace is, so maybe 85 pages and over 400 panels is really impressive for 6 months of on and off work? im gonna choose to believe that lol

im giving my wrist a break tmr and will focus on exporting everything and setting up the site im gonna host actium on to (hopefully) give patrons access to chapter 1 before the month is over. again, it is rough. but it is also my baby and im excited to start sharing it!

other than that, my pc parts came in and i currently have them strewn all around my feet as i work on assembling it. hopefully it means i wont have to put the computer i work on down for times naps bc my laptop has been reallllyyyy struggling lately (i have all of the actium files backed up to a cloud, my ipad, and a thumbdrive just in case lol).

tysm for being so patient with me and for being so enthusiastic!!! on to chap 3 next week :D

[kirnet]

actium update sunday

its been a hot sec! i was really hopping today would be the day that i announced that both chaps 1 and 2 would be done, resulting in a total of 85/209 pages completed for release...

and i am so close! just need to finish flatting and shading which i am very excited for! but it’s spring, and spring means fog, and fog means joint pain, and mixed with the side effects of my new meds... yeah

im manifesting that the first 2 chaps (and hopefully the website!) will be totally done in 2 weeks. i am so excited for this milestone you have no idea. tysm for all of your patience and excitement and support and ily ily ily!!!!

[kirnet]

Actium update sundayyyyyyyyy. making slow progress. but progress nonetheless!

[kirnet]

actium update sunday

howdy!! progress is happening! i had a slump where i was feeling really crappy abt my art and writing in general, but literally just switching to a new brush for sketching fixed it lmao.

chapter 1 is... pretty much done! i just need to color a few pages and get them spot checked. tysm paris for being my editor! (i missed halin’s lip scar sooo many times lmao). chapter 2 is being penciled right now! im playing a lot more with unique and dynamic paneling and camera angels (a lot of fight scenes in this one) so it is a bit of a challenge but i’m feeling much more confident about it!

im also working on the cover for chapter 2 (i’ll post it on patreon when im done. im actually really proud it). i’m also getting the website set up!

ultimately... i’m a month behind schedule. i really thought i would have chap 2 totally done by the end of february, but alas. still aiming for my late june release date though! chapter 1 was a struggle bc i’ve just. never made a comic before. but now im really getting the hang of my workflow! tysm for hanging with me!

[kirnet]

Actium Update Sunday

still going slowly but surely with the chapter 2 inks! really all i want to do is fucking color these things, but i know that doing it all at once is gonna be so much faster and easier so im waiting for all of the inks to be done before hand ;-;

the image is hopefully blurry enough that you cant see anything thats going on but you can still get a feel for my color blocking. I do it as I go so that I can quickly tell where a panel is set/ what vibe im going for when I go back into color. im really proud of a lot of my panel compositions and use of perspective this chapter (which is also slowing things down a bit rip) and im really excited to get them out!

target is still June! tho I’m not totally confident in that but I’m trying my best!

[kirnet]

this isnt an actium update sunday its an actium ramblings sunday. i keep thinking that THIS is the sunday that i can announce that chap 2 is totally done but, no. it keeps dragging on.

i already knew this before i started, but i do not like long form project lol. i need instant gratification. its the reason i post everything i paint and write the second i finish it. i get very obsessed with something for a few weeks or months (right now its dwta) that i can work on endlessly and then the fascination stops. now, projects like dwta and grave and weep are easier to get myself to work on bc 1) writing takes less than than illustration full comic pages and 2) i get feedback and comments every time i post a chapter. and once i get into that place in actium where i’m actually posting, i will have SO much more motivation omg. i really do feed off of that engagement

i know i will work faster if i treat every page as its own separate artwork and sketch, line, color, and shade each one in one sitting. but that just isn’t a good practice for the consistency of the comic. right now im doing all of a chapters worth of sketching, then all of the lines, then colors, etc etc. which while it is the best way is also the more boring way. im working to find a happy medium, and the more pages i do the more i learn to streamline my process, so i know that this frustration is only temporary

it doesnt help that im having chronic pain flare ups and that my computer keeps crapping out and that im trying to get more hours at work lol. (i did figure out the tremors situation though so yay!)

suffice to say, comic will not start coming out in june lol. new target is december and hopefully HOPEFULLY i will have more than the 5 target chapters worth by then. we’ll see. currently i have 160 pages out of the 209 needed to finish, but i should complete another 40+ very very soon. (im just in flatting hell rn lol). i have also created a lot of assets and references over the course of the first two chapters that i can reuse which will really help cut down on time.

anyways. i just wanted to thought dump about how it’s going. when it does come out i plan for it to update every other friday, and chapters 1-5 should be about 17 updates worth of content, so i should have a buffer of 34 weeks. hopefully by then ill have my shit together lol. thx for reading and all of your encouragement thus far!

[kirnet]

forgot to do actium update sunday. my bad. progress can be summed up as: erin with a crowbar

[kirnet]

i actually have something to say for actium update sunday tmr :D

[kirnet]

Actium Update Sunday :3

Hello! I remembered to update yay!

Actium currently sits at... still 26/209 pages completed lol. However, this week I’ve been focusing on penciling, so an additional 17 pages (aka the remaining bit of chap 1) are ready to ink!

 chapter 2 is the same length as chap 1, so hopefully my experience with working for a few weeks will speed that process up. I’m planning on doing the pencils for chapter 2 before i go back and do the inks and coloring for chap 1, but i might also get bored and forget that plan lol

[kirnet]

Actium update Sunday will come out late tonight (possibly bordering Monday) but it will be a very special update :D

[kirnet]

Todays actium update Sunday is that I didn’t feel great yesterday and took a big nap so big chunk of stuff I meant to do yesterday I did today. So yay. But instead of keeping that momentum I’m drawing mr rowan infamous

[kirnet]

I have a feeling the next actium update Sunday will not have any discernible progress from the last one lol

[kirnet]

Someone remind me to do the first actium update Sunday this weekend