Monday, April 28, 2008

Alright. This is popping up above the comic because I want everyone to read it. It's sort of a very, very big deal, and I want to know what everyone thinks about it, because I'm still a little unsure myself.
For a while, now, you may have noticed a certain laissez-faire attitude towards update schedules that was not previously present in the comic. Long gaps, missed days, and general bad updating has become the norm, instead of the exception. Late Thursday night, I caught myself thinking, "I was busy doing things instead of working, and now I have to make a comic. I wish I didn't have to." And then I stopped, and realized that this was a pretty big problem. The whole point of the comic was to do something awesome, and somewhere along the time it became an odious chore.
The thing is, I'm not an artist. Pixel art is a fine medium, and one that a talented artist can do wonderful things with. I am not one of those people. I just sort of bumble along and see what'll happen on the artistic front. What I am, is an author, and the 'art' of my comic has always been a sideline to my goal. This isn't really a good way to draw a comic, because comics are inherently about art.
So, I had a realization - I don't want to keep drawing my pixels. On the other hand, I love Patchwork Champions and I love the story that I'm telling here, and it's nowhere near over. This left me with something of a problem; what do I do if I don't want to draw the comic, but I still want to write it? I could look for an artist, but asking a complete stranger to work on your baby, a task for which there will be little reward and they have no initial investment in, isn't really a great idea.
Instead, I have decided to do something a little different. And by a little different, I mean very different and possibly kind of silly. After "The Perfect Crime" storyline ends, I will not be continuing with art. The following storyline, "Tear The World Apart", is going to be presented as a serial. I intend to update three times a week to start, and will possibly increase my update speed if this all works out. Updates will be in the format of fiction pieces running a few hundred words (I think five hundredish, but they may need to be longer, I'm not sure), which will be sort of self-contained but will primarily work as a fiction series.
Obviously, this is a massive, massive change for Champions. I may well lose readers. Possibly a lot of them. But I can almost guarantee that I won't lose as many as I would if I closed the comic down and left forever, you know? Hopefully, you guys will feel that this is the lesser of two evils (or even, if I'm really lucky, an improvement).
I would like to hear what you have to say on the matter, either via email or on the forums. You won't convince me not to stop the artwork, but if you have ideas I'm happy to listen.
Thanks, guys, and sorry about the giant textblock. On with the comic.

- Friv Yeti