Status update

Hello everyone,

Its been roughly 2 months since my work came to a standstill, and one since my hiatus proper. In that time, a lot things have happened, and many are still developing. The next paragraph may feel like a stream of consciousness, because it more than likely is, also because things are still unfolding As a brief summary, my mother has died in the middle of September, and discounting ensuring an appropriate funeral for her, the overall situation me and my brother were left in was far from ideal. In the weeks of chaos that followed, it was often difficult to find the time to process what even happened. I announced that my work is put on an indefinite halt as a consequence of this, since, to put it plainly, I had much more important things to do at that point. Giving my mother her final honours and ensuring a degree of security for myself and my brother took top priority during this time. Even if I wanted to, I was preoccupied with everything else that I found neither the time nor the room for thought to sit down and continue working. To you, this was a time of nothing but reposts and silence. While I would have loved to continue with my projects and create more paintings, it was simply not in the cards. Even now, I am occupied with a lot of other business. They take time I'd much rather spend working on KERKA and vice versa. The upside of (some) of these businesses is that they involve working on improving my situation in the overall, like job hunting and studies. I intend to get into a much better situation than I currently am, to be able to secure myself financially and professionally for the future.

An overview

Before the events of September, there have been a lot of positive developments, oddly enough. I have actually landed my first publishing gig at ANVIL magazine #2, with the short comic "Corpse Fishers" for their Halloween lineup. With leaving the hiatus this week, I have picked up work with clients again as well, and will likely continue to work with Richard on ANVIL for the foreseeable future, providing illustrations and collaborating with featured authors. I have also opened my own website as a hub for my portfolio, blog, and possibly future host for the KERKA comics. This was opened in large part for a portfolio proper to send to Displate, but also in reaction to Musks mismanagement of Twitter. The course of moving out of the twittersphere is still on its way, where I intend to focus more on Instagram, Bluesky, and here. Patreon current course is actually very beneficial for offering free posts and updates to unsubscribed followers, and I intend to keep status updates and public art posts 100% free. Right now, I have plans to continue working on my "platform", but moving it more and more outside of Twitter. The exact ins and outs you will see soon, but expect a lot more "personal" engagement.

What's to come?

The big one first: KERKA is still in the works. I am reviewing the story where I picked off months ago and plan to pick up working on it again within the coming weeks. Needless to say, the prior release date is no longer valid.

I am planning the digital launch of the comic within late February to early March 2024. This period will allow me to bulk up a sufficiently large backlog to provide you with regular high-quality updates, while also giving me enough time to complete the remaining pages in the meantime. During the production, I will reveal more and more about the story, its world and its characters.

Paintings are also coming again.

Discounting commissions, the first three paintings I have planned are the ones I left in the drafts since September: The 3 piece painting series for KERKA. All of the paintings will also be available as a collection in full on Displate once done.

"CAWNTENT" wise, I will continue to migrate out of Twitter and onto Bluesky and Instagram (and BONSAICRAFTS, of course). The full picture of how I want to move on isn't fully formed yet. I am looking at this as an opportunity to mix things up a bit and connect with you and others in a different and maybe better way. it will definitely change from "just" WiPs and public uploads though.

With this update, my hiatus is considered over. I hope that you will continue to follow and support me going forward. It will be difficult, but despite everything I remain hopeful for what is to come.