It’s been a few months again with no RD comic updates. A year ago now I tackled the strip again and redesigned it into 4-panels, gray tone, and migrated it all to my blog at NunoXEI.com.

At that time I had started a new video contract that took up all my free time. I also scripted out three comic book scripts and drafted out an additional 3 more for the comic I’m producing called Raven Nevermore with Emmanuel Xerx Javier, which now is blocked in up to issue 24. Still not content, I wanted to kick start more projects to make the break worth while. I wrote the script and helped layout another new webcomic called League of Aquatic Heroes with partner in crime Rui DaSilva and artist Nikola Temkov. You’d think THAT was the end of it… but no, no… I got another strip off the ground that’s in character development as I type called Fault Line, with artist Pablo Peppino, which is blocked in at 52 strips thus far.

The Lesson Learned

I’m a glutton for new creative works–this is now a sure fact. What I learned though is that, no, I do NOT have the time to do all of it myself. I spent months finding other creative people online that I could collaborate with. I saved some money and I drafted up an expense spreadsheet to see how much of my income I could filter out to the artists I’ve committed to. Along with the three comic projects that were kick-started, I also finished producing an M&M Superlink magazine and am continuing to collect works of short fiction for an anthology I intend to wrap up by next summer as well.

Nothing is impossible. It just takes planning, motivation, dedication and perseverance!

This brings me to today, and to this new RD site. After Comic Con San Diego I decided to re-visit Republic Domain once again in a way that’s been on my mind for about half a year. My time is starting to open up while the other projects are in motion and I am going to attempt to DRAW the strip going forward… even if it starts rough at first! Nothing is learned without practice and repetition–so here goes nothing!

My goal right now is to simplify the characters visually as well as create a story framework that will give the citizens of Rheddville some dimension and direction instead of just being punchline automatons. Because of this, it will still be a few weeks before I actually get the new RD strips up. I’ll aim for September some time after I’ve got a head start!

Republic Domain has once again seen placement in the fine steampunk fanzine “Gaslight Gazette #6“! I wanted to save posting this until I could get a review of the fanzine out with the strip but my time has been fragmented as of late with the whole “finding a house ASAP thing goin on”. Also, I’ve got 4 print projects in development that have me quite excited and quite swamped at the moment. I’m loving every bit of it though. Hopefully I’ll be able to drop some goodness on the site later this month!

I did this special strip last week late at night when my brain wandered into places that didn’t involve going to bed early. It was a guest strip for Dutch buddy, Mindcaster Marc’s Amsterdam-based bicycle blog, Amsterdamize.com. I even got to do a word play with “I Amsterdam” that fit so perfectly that I pondered what comes first with these strips–the subconscious wordsmith concepts or the strip’s written content. It’s hard to tell sometimes…

In order to get this first minibook collection out by a certain date I had to cut down the project’s scope. Writing four extra funny things per page was just taking too much out of me. I’m still happy with the final and it’s at the printer. I’m free again to continue coming up with some more and hopefully collect another 40 strips into a minibook by the end of summer.

Been a while since RD got posted. Last I posted one I mentioned I was working on putting a mini book together. That little project absolutely destroyed my time. Essentially each page is designed so that four other Rheddville Citizens comment on something relating to the strip. It was like creating four new jokes per page!

To cut this story short… it’s moving along slowly… but I got side-tracked with the exploding determination to do a mini book that I started and finished a short artbook over the last week and a half (more about it later). I used twelve pieces of random art from my art studio days from an old book I appropriated as a sketchbook–then I wrote some poetry inspired by whatever I gleaned off the art piece. It’s at Ka-blam POD right now awaiting approval for printing.

At least I got SOMEthing out of me. Hopefully I’ll consider doing more small book projects like that one throughout the year.

This past weekend I got to thinking about art and stuff again. Wondered why I’d given up looking for new shows–ways to show my work–things of the such. Now, this isn’t really related to “marathons” but this thinking DID lead me to finalizing some thoughts on committing to creating the first Republic Domain book.

I’ve got the layout more or less set up for it but resolved that having the strips in the book will only be half the work. Each strip will have a “Rheddville Gossip” section where four other Rheddville citizens will comment on the actual strip. I needed to fill negative space and this seems much more rewarding, creative and entertaining than reading a blurb about what I thought about something in the strip.

Writing for the rest of the RD book should be done by the end of this month–samples will be shown here of course. Hopefully the 48-page sucker will be done and printed by the end of April!

My girlfriend is in school crunch time. She got two scholarships based around her Global Studies degree two weeks ago and is aiming to hit up grad school in the future for global studies / economic development. We run The Green Rocket together (on a bit of a break until she wraps up this tough year… I get to it with a thing or two when I can in the meanwhile).

This comic just seemed like the appropriate kinda joke to make right now while she struggles through exams and papers .

I wish I posted this before midnight so that it could have gotten out the door on a “Wednesday”. Technically I haven’t gone to bed yet, so even though it’s 2am, it still FEELS like Wednesday… so there! Actually, nailed a strip this morning quite quickly but I ended up committing it for the next Gatehouse Gazette #4, a steampunk fanzine coming out in March I believe. That strip will be released here after the fanzine hits the web!

You may be wondering what’s with the ultra-late strips… All I can say is that I have no intentions of stoping RD. Many things in my life have come up that have filled my mind with details and tribulations that make it a mess to sit down and think about coming up with the next RD strip. What I’ve realized through all of it the last month and a half though is that I don’t care if I miss a couple RD postings.

I care about the strip, sure, I care about it FOR MYSELF. That comes first. I know that totally goes against “what it takes to make it as a webcomic creator…” etc etc.–Guess, I’m lucky that I have no intentions of Republic Domain being the creative output that will make me enough green to not worry about any other responsibilities in life.

It’s not. Never will be in fact. Will that lose me readers? Maybe most definitely. That’s ok. Republic Domain is here for those who want to take a break from life once and a while and smile (if RD is your type of humor… if it is not, then I’m surprised you’ve even read this blog post this far). I can’t promise three times a week at this point–I can only hope to achieve that goal for my own personal gratification again some day.