Have you ever noticed how in the 'Bottles of Beer' song they're passing those bottles around? Are they all drinking from them? That doesn't really stand up in a post-2020 world really, does it? Oh, also, hello.
We begin, as we often do, with me mongering my apologies for the last fortnight's dearth of fruit. Partly this can be attributed to my entire body deciding to spend 11 of the last 14 days waking up with the same energy level as when I went to sleep. I have, to help stave this, begun gentle but regular exercise, even if I have some choice words for the instructor I'm following.
But more importantly there are practical obstacles in the way of progress: Less than six months after acquiring my otherwise lovely drawing tablet it's already developing quirks. I've narrowed the cause down to pressing hard and / or moving the stylus too quickly, but the effect is that some lines don't. They just don't.
The proportion of strokes affected is inconsistent and most of the time is still perfectly workable. It is thus, often, only a minor practical nuisance. It has however, I'm sorry to say, ballooned into more of a psychological nuisance. I've been avoiding drawing where possible simply because I don't want to have to face the next in a long line of things intent to stop me. It is only a small deal, but a deal it is and it's sitting firmly atop a growing pile of variously-sized other deals that are collectively making quite a deal of themselves. Very much the straw that cricked the camel's back. The drop that overflowed the bucket. The final toothpick from Kerplunk. The last of whatever it is you do in Buckaroo. Something, something, Pop-Up Pirate, etc.
I am slowly pushing past this mental barrier though. Whilst for the moment it seems the technical problems have briefly abated, as soon as they rear their jittery heads again video evidence will be procured and hopefully warranties will be enacted. Until then we take it slow and perhaps grasp the opportunity to delve into traditional work, a la my most recent batch of Pokemon RPG doodles.
So that's what I haven't done. A peculiar place to begin an update with, in retrospect. So what have I done?
Editing on the aforementioned highlight videos is coming along swimmingly. Or walkingly, since I'm quite a poor swimmer. Then again I can't tread water and that's all I seem to do with work, so that analogy just sort of sinks. Regardless I hold with firm confidence that the first part of the forthcoming highlight duology shall be ready and out before the next update.
A gaggle of sewing projects have been undertaken for practical purposes. To manage the heat a 3/8-circle skirt (1/2 is too much fabric, 1/4 is too restrictive, and I wanted to remind myself how to do trigonometry) has been made alongside a brand spanking-new drawing glove to replace the tattered rags my first one had collapsed into. Both were made with cloth I refused to throw away when their original purposes failed, thus permitting me to conclude once and for all that it doesn't count as hoarding.
Despite mental inertia drawing hasn't been impossible. Besides a few doodles here and there, I managed to push through a commission. The actual work only took four hours but, uh, see above.
The appeal of distraction took me to developing yet another little card game. One day I'll pluck up the courage to ask friends to test this small pile of games to see if they're not enough of a disaster to put into a little compendium. But until then my gamey brain might as well make progress on that still-running video game demo, so let's hit us up with another tricky-to-read devlog!
Now I know I'm pretty good at keeping the more personal aspects of my life separate from work, but I feel it's time I should come out and share this all with you: I stream. I know, I know, some of you may not think of me that way, but it's true.
Since last I nattered over this we have begun and concluded our jaunt through American Arcadia, a game whose humour and story I had a lot of fun with, but depending on your preferred flavours of disbelief-suspension and cynicism-tolerance might not be right for you. So to replace that with something we can all agree on, we have begun our janky Journey to the Center of the Earth to find what might just be Frogwares' worst game to date. It was also essentially their first, so I'd consider that a win if I were them.
Weekends have seen more variety than usual of late: Saturdays have us hopping between my self-indulgent travels through time and space with the Doctor Who Boss Brush and colliding with the horror that is Grim Hollow. Sundays naturally find us winding down with some group doodlage, although yesterday's scribbly sojourn saw us sauntering straight into the silliness of Gartic Phone.
And that's all she wrote. Yes, she: I have a ghost-writer now. Her name's Hazel. She writes a lot better than she speaks.
As far as future plans are concerned I actually have them. Physical plans. Pencil on paper, no less. I've taken to deciding that a bit more physical organisation is in order to help me both understand what I need to do, choose what to do next, and internalise exactly how long something will take. It was also on my yearly bingo card, so it's rather overdue.
From these plans I can conclude that, barring more mental or technical issues, the next update shall see both a new comic and a new video land on your collective laps. The remaining time will be taken finding and undertaking commissions, working on game demos and generally trying to remember how to be productive.
Thank you all for your gracious generosity. It is highly, stratospherically, astronomically appreciated and shall be reflected as such at the end of the forthcoming video. For now though, go and do something nice for yourself. I suggest listening to something weird, but that's just me.
Look after yourselves,
Crispy 💜