
After two weeks of no updates, I bet the big question on a lot of your minds is “when the heck is chapter 3 going to start?”
Let me first start off by saying I’ve started it! I have it outlined and I’ll be diving deeper into the actual pages for it this week. It’s a really fun story, much more linear than chapter 2 was, very Westerny, and connects a lot of the plot points from both chapters. Now the bad news: you won’t see any of it until the beginning of next year.
Now before you start raising your digital torches and pitchforks let me explain the reasons why:
FIRST AND FOREMOST, and I think a lot of you know this already, is that I’m having my first child this fall. Well not me physically, but my wife is. And from what she tells me I’ll be a big part of this. This is EXCITING! And I could start chap 3 in a few short weeks like I originally planned and update at my typical page-a-week schedule, but realistically I know that come baby time that schedule is going to get thrown right out the proverbial window. So rather than updating only a few pages until October and then stopping suddenly, I’d rather just hold off and update the comic altogether.
WHAT THIS MEANS: My goal is get enough pages of chap 3 completed to allow me to update at least TWICE A WEEK next year. This should be great news for all of you but also great for the comic since I feel I’m doing a diservice to it by only updating once a week. I think a lot of you will agree the story I’m writing simply isn’t paced properly enough to warrent seven days between pages.
LASTLY, starting a family has shifted my priorities a bit. As much as I would LOVE to spend every waking drawing moment I have working on Cleopatra in Space, the sad truth is this comic isn’t exactly a huge revenue maker for me. I draw it because I love comics and love telling Cleo’s story, but paying work has to come first. Now more than ever since I’ll be having a whole new human being to care for. So I’ll be taking on more freelance. Possibly some extra comic work. Maybe even open up commissions again (which should come as more great news to a bunch of you out there). Who knows? Maybe one day any of those things will substitute the need for my current full-time day job.
This was a tough decision to come to. Especially considering Cleo is more popular than ever right now. But ultimately this will be better for the comic and therefore you, my awesome and hopefully super loyal readers.
And I don’t plan on abandoning this site! I will continue to update with extras, new art, and sneak-peaks at my process. Maybe I can even sucker my friends into drawing some guest strips for me. Best way to keep up with everything though will be to follow me on the various social networks like twitter or my most recent favorite, Google+. And if you have any questions or simply want to yell at me, feel free to do so in the comments below and I’ll be sure to respond.
For now, back to the drawing board!