Sta.sh
I'm leaning on the side of axing it entirely. I know that I pretty much owe my online "fame" to the popularity of SYAC, and that despite a small core group of naysayers the vast majority of my watchers love the series... but I personally have always had problems with it. It was never meant to be more than a few strips long, and my attempts to turn it into a full blown series have been awkward and clumsy at best.
Using myself as the main character for SYAC was a huge mistake, one which I realized early on and one which you can see me struggle with throughout the rest of the series. Even after completely retooling it to be a new story with Emily and Jade, I didn't get very far into it before complications forced me to stop. I don't really want to do anything with SYAC right now, but at the same time I understand there are a lot of fans of the series I need to consider. So here are a couple of ideas I had on what I could do with it, but feel free to jump down into the comments section and add your own.
Upload Sketches?
When I retooled the new series I wrote about 30-40 strips before I started coloring and uploading them so that I wouldn't have to worry about coming up with strips every week. I still have those uninked strips... Maybe I should upload them still in their pencil stage so you can all see what might've been had I continued them? It would at the very least be a way for people to enjoy the last bits of the series without me having to ink and color them...
Unreleased Storyline?
There was also a 15 page short story that I wrote but never inked almost 2 years ago now along the same line as the "Persistence of Vision" idea. Again, still in rough pencil phase, never inked, and has a lot of story beat problems and very loose artwork... It's the underbelly 1st draft of a story but... maybe people would like to read it anyway?
Hire Artists?
Another idea I had was to use SYAC as a brand name and hire artists to tell their own jokes about being a cartoonist. That way there would be a wide variety of opinions and ideas and art styles, but all collected under a single unified subject. I'm sure a lot of artists here would love to get their jokes or stories about being an artist out to a wider audience, and this would be a great way to do that.
Your thoughts?
Those are my thoughts right now... I'm not sure what I should do. If you guys have any suggestions I'd be open to hearing them. I wanna know what you all think I should do with SYAC. Should I continue it with Emily and Jade, should I just upload the sketches and let it die? Should I hire other artists to do strips under the name of SYAC? Should I just end it all completely? What're your thoughts and ideas?
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Mood:
Content - Listening to: Escapist Podcast
- Watching: King of the Hill
- Playing: Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning
Anyway, I just wanted to mention I've never really noticed any awkwardness in SYCA. Just my thoughts. Good luck with whatever you decide!
That being said, you are right about how many of your watchers love the series and will be sad to see it go. I know that's the reason why I started following you myself. Go back to how you originally planned it, maybe just add a new strip whenever you get a fun burst of inspiration for it every few months. In the meantime, the hiring new artists idea seems really neat. Or maybe have some sort of submission system or something, so you get a wider variety but still keep it under some control.
But in the long run, it's up to you to decide what to do with SYAC, not the internet's. Good luck.
2. Why don't you draw it all, but have people submit stories?? That's what I'd do, given your situation.
It's easy for you. People send in comments about their personal cartoonist stories, you pick the best ones, and make them into comics, each with a different star.
Or maybe you could turn the site into something for guest artists so they can draw their own versions of SYAC and you could post it on the site, that way you might not have to feel like it's too much of a burden.
What do you want to do? Do you want to continue SYAC? If you no longer enjoy it, if it's more a burden than a pleasure, then I'd say let it go, or at least put it aside for the time being. You may want to return to it later. If not, well, you'll be doing other things.
If you don't enjoy SYAC, then why consider squeezing more of them out? That's a good way to come to hate something, and it's not like you're getting paid to make them.
I enjoyed SYAC in its various forms, but if there are no more, well, I'll still have the existing ones.
We all know you have your hands full, and you have been doing it, Brentalfloss, Formera, and whatever other projects you have planned. It does not have to be once a week, or even a month. Just post whatever extra things you come up with, when they happen.
A long story arc was interesting, but confusing. I thought of syac more of a single strip comic, with some goal far away at best.
I would really like to see the arc end somehow, otherwise it's very dissatisfying not to know. I take your sketches gladly.
And inviting other artist/cartoonist sounds good as well. syac has become some kind of brand indeed.
And maybe, just maybe, you'd like to rant through a comic on syac.
Your fans love your work. Hiring artists would be an awesome way of keeping SYAC alive.
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(w)o
or even just a collaboration since there is no money in the comic
Don't burn yourself out, ignore the trolls, and keep being awesome!
So yeah, I liked comics abot Andy complaining about things. Flamers and haters can go eat a rotten banana or whatever.
Just do whatever you feel like doing now and do not let people burn you. I know it´s easier said than done from my comfy internet anonimity, but still, keep your cool and keep producing those awesome comics you do without worrying that much about assholes.
The idea for multiple artists sounds really good and would be the best solution for the SYAC series.
Cheers
But I do think the idea of making it a brand and hiring other artists is a good one
Pass it on to close friends to help you with it, it gives them some exposure they link it back to you as the idea starter. You can screen the comic before it goes up to avoid certain unwanted content. Everyone kind of wins because the main stress of the strip is taken off of you, some artist get more exposure and the stories can continue for the readers. Ideally it would make a good dA group... after all look at how many people who have commented here saying they would love to be part of SYAC.
Your first option also sounds like it would be fun, but I know scanning (if that's how you upload them) large amounts of pictures can be a little bit of an annoying process. I think you could release them slowly when you felt like it, or possibly let them run when there was a week nobody wanted to make a comic assuming you took the hire other artist idea
Although I would love to see either of these things happen, honestly I would just say do whatever you feel is best for yourself. If that means getting rid of the comic, then so be it-especially if you're not enjoying it or just don't know where to take it. Sometimes it's better to let something die than let it end on a bad note.
I hope at least one of these things proves helpful to you, I really enjoyed the series and whatever happens, thanks for the comics you did make and if there are more then I'll be glad to see them
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the newer ones with Carl and Tenko and even the one about Cleo. They offered good lessons to budding artists. I can't say much about the writing aspect of them since I myself am not much of a writer but after those two, that format of SYAC kind of lost it's momentum. When you went back to the old format as filler between main stories I was overjoyed to see them and relate to them again.
As for the future of SYAC, I think it would be insulting to just end it right now. Finish the current story then stop if you want to. It would be super fun to see some unfinished stuff but, instead of sharing them here, maybe you could publish them into an art book so die hard SYAC/Tom Preston fans could buy them. I know I would.
I know I am not so articulate and I may not sound as intelligent as I think I am but I put a lot of thought into comments like these and I really hope they reach your eyes.
There's nothing wrong with ending a series, especially when it was intended to be something small. I feel like the best series are the ones that actually end and don't go on and on and on. If they do, they get dry and repetitive.
I like the idea of you uploading the sketches and rough drafts, and also allowing other people to use SYAC as a "brand name" type thing. It could be fun
But if you don't feel like you'd enjoy doing it, I'd say don't. If you force yourself to continue doing something you don't like, it'll just wear you down further, and that's no fun for anyone. I dunno about anyone else, but my favorite series are the ones where you can tell the creator is having fun with it. As a viewer, I get a sense of enjoyment out of that, just like creators get satisfaction from seeing their work being enjoyed by their audience. It's a back-and-forth that I think is essential to have in this media, and there's no point in trying to force it to happen. Sure, I'll be sad to see it go, but I'll understand the reasoning behind it and just look forward to the next big thing.
Sorry if that doesn't make much sense, I just got off work and my mind's a bit scattered...
But if you really feel you want it to go on, like in the means you listed, sure.
It's your ultimately decision.
It's always bad when something gets cancelled, but it's mostly fun to see: "What could've been".
I'm an avid fan of Unseen64.net for a reason. I just love to see what people had in mind before they went with something else or didn't went with it at all. =3
Unreleased Storyline? Again, just like my previous answer: Yes.
It'd be interesting to see what went through your head as you were designing the series. ^w^
Hire Artists? Sure, that would seem interesting and I agree with you on the fact that it could provide a wider spectrum of visions on the subject at hand. Everything is fine by me but I vastly support the first two. =3
My personal fav idea here is variation "hire artists" Plus ~jackdude180 `s comment, where he writes about starting a club. But, in this club (as for me) there should be art about other self-based characters, not *TomPreston-based, just to not mix them together, with keeping same style of drawing and panels. Also, with quality not lower than in original, - because SYAC is not some kind of meme-based pics with advise, it has it`s own charm. And part of it charm is in style, too.
In brand, which means selling art, - well, I`m not expandind my "plus" for this variation just because tens of other people here did it before. +.
About Jade and Emily`s storyline - you are really free in your choose to upload or not scetches. The last panels are pretty calm, there`s no some push moments in the last picture (like, for example, somebody throwing a vase in someone, where is logical for audience to wait for vase`s landing in next panel).
If you`ll hire some artists to finish this storyline, then maybe not-inked scetches should be posted after their work. If not - well, it`s pretty interesting to watch how it could continue. The same thing is about unrealeased storyline.
(oh well, I`d like to read them whatewer quality they are, just as a fan... but I`m not the whole audience and not the author. Whatewer, SYAC is fun comic, and big thanks for creating it. )