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Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:33 am
by Arent
I have to say I like the regular schedule. And judging from the patreon, which has gone over 1000$ per page, others seem to like it as well.

Thoughts?

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:14 pm
by dragoongfa
Personally I prefer the weekly updates, I just hope that Arioch will manage to stick to the schedule.

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:28 pm
by Arioch
It's hard to imagine that anyone would not prefer more frequent updates. Unless the quality of the pages was suffering, which I don't think it is.

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:59 pm
by Krulle
Sofar it seemed the big delays were caused by the generation of the setting/scene/background.
Currently we are in a small shuttle with few details.
I hope you can somehow get a headstart with next scenes setup, or the next scenes are less detailed than the bridge of Tempest...

Also, thank You for sharing this story!

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 8:23 pm
by Arent
Arioch wrote:It's hard to imagine that anyone would not prefer more frequent updates. Unless the quality of the pages was suffering, which I don't think it is.
Well, I thought you might be the only one who would not prefer more frequent updates :mrgreen:

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 8:44 pm
by CF2
Depending on how easy a page of characters chatting is to polish off, Arioch might attain every webcomic artist's dream: a buffer.

Which would hopefully keep updates weekly while new environments get made.

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 12:29 am
by Arioch
Arent wrote:
Arioch wrote:It's hard to imagine that anyone would not prefer more frequent updates. Unless the quality of the pages was suffering, which I don't think it is.
Well, I thought you might be the only one who would not prefer more frequent updates :mrgreen:
If the original question was directed at me, I have found being a few pages ahead to be beneficial. It's nice to be able to work ahead on something that interests me instead of always having to stress about the next page; things like designing future assets, writing ahead in the script, etc.. I find that I work better doing a little bit at a time rather than letting things pile up at the last minute, which is where I tend to get into trouble. If I can stay ahead of the curve instead of falling behind it, I think weekly updates could be a sustainable pace.

After so many years after doing things in a somewhat inefficient way, I have finally over the last two or three months managed to improve my workflow a bit, and I'm using some new techniques that make some of the most tedious and time-consuming tasks (i.e., flatting) go much faster. This helps to make the pay rate per page at least as good as other options; I'm very grateful to the Patreon supporters for their contributions. I still have other work to do, most notably on Stars in Shadow, but my partner Sven is also working mainly on other things, so there aren't any pressing deadlines there.

I'm a little bit wary of setting expectations too high, as life has a way of intruding. But I guess that horse is probably already out of the barn.

The next big potential roadblock is the new set(s) required at the beginning of the next chapter, so we'll see how things go. It's still a ways away, so hopefully I'll be able to chip away at it over time as I get closer.

I'll just add that I'm really excited about the upcoming pages. There are scenes that I've been daydreaming about for more than a decade that are about to come into being.

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:56 am
by Werra
Arioch wrote:The next big potential roadblock is the new set(s) required at the beginning of the next chapter, so we'll see how things go. It's still a ways away, so hopefully I'll be able to chip away at it over time as I get closer.
Do you still plan to evaluate the state of Outsider as a whole after chapter 2? I don't mean to tell you how to run things, but switching to drawing everything in the comic might help hasten scene transitions and offer you more opportunities for more colorful backgrounds or more locations.

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:33 am
by Arioch
Werra wrote:Do you still plan to evaluate the state of Outsider as a whole after chapter 2? I don't mean to tell you how to run things, but switching to drawing everything in the comic might help hasten scene transitions and offer you more opportunities for more colorful backgrounds or more locations.
The delays in creating new sets have as much to do with the design of the set as it does with modeling it in 3D, and that design work still needs to be done even if it's not going to be fully modeled. I'm now confident enough in my painting skills that I can create a decent quality background in this style by hand, but this takes quite a lot of work. There are cases where a set isn't used in many panels and so there's no need to fully model it and it can just be painted by hand, or use a mixture of 3D modeling and overpainting, and I've done this in some spots and will continue to do so where it makes sense going forward, but this easily doubles or triples the amount of work required for each panel. If a set has to be used in more than half a dozen or so panels, it makes more sense just to model it out. But I am learning to be a little more loose in the models where I can get away with it, and cover over imperfections by hand after rendering, or hide them through careful camera placement.

One of the other time sinks involved in building new sets has been the need to re-learn some of the tools or techniques I'm using because they had been disused for so long, and the frustration which fueled avoidance of the work. This is less of a problem if these skills are more frequently used.

Evaluation of the practicality of techniques is continuous and ongoing. I had originally intended for the ship exteriors to be fully rendered, but I have so many different ships, some of which only appear a few times, that I figured out pretty early on that this would be impractical, and so most of the ships are only roughly modeled (which is often a part of the design process) and then drawn by hand. This takes a lot of work, but it makes logistical sense. I also think it works stylistically, as it sort of makes the ships seem more like characters than backgrounds. But going to fully hand-drawn backgrounds, and simplifying them in order to make them faster to draw, would mean a radical change in the visual style of the comic.

What I think I said before is that if I get to the end of chapter 2 and it looks like continuing in the same format is just not sustainable, then I would consider radical changes to the format. I'm not there yet, but I'm getting close, and from this position, I don't think it looks unsustainable.

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:58 am
by Arent
Arioch wrote: If the original question was directed at me, I have found being a few pages ahead to be beneficial.
At everyone including you. Since you are doing all the work, your opinion is obviously the most important one ;)
Arioch wrote: I'll just add that I'm really excited about the upcoming pages. There are scenes that I've been daydreaming about for more than a decade that are about to come into being.
Wow, now I'm curious.

Re: Are the weekly updates ok?

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 1:11 am
by NOMAD
Arent wrote:
Arioch wrote: If the original question was directed at me, I have found being a few pages ahead to be beneficial.
At everyone including you. Since you are doing all the work, your opinion is obviously the most important one ;)
Arioch wrote: I'll just add that I'm really excited about the upcoming pages. There are scenes that I've been daydreaming about for more than a decade that are about to come into being

Wow, now I'm curious.
Here too Arent, Looking forward to this chapter. Loving the weekly schedule but do want you can Arioch. Your work has been good quality and I can stand a delay or two ( months)