Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... well, I can say that this month's over with, and more than anything, I'm feeling the first relief that I've felt in over a month!
First off, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone that helped, whether it was a vote, or moral support. I love you for it!
To break any tension, I'll answer some of those questions so we get back to normal business of me posting art, and you guys posting comments: 1) Are you disappointed about losing?Yes, I am disappointed about losing, I'd be a liar if I didn't feel disappointed, but I feel good (I'll explain why a little later in the post). 2)Is Hammer Sound going to continue? I'd like to happily say yes, but I'm being honest here. I honestly can't look at answering this for at least a month away from it. I don't like to make drastic decisions, so I'll let the emotions that this month brought out simmer down a bit and look at it logically. But after putting so much energy into this as I did this month, I'm kind of burned out on the property, and shopping it around only to re-do it in the vision to go with a publisher just don't sound appealing right now. I've been given some opportunities and offers to work on some new properties. I'm just toying around with the idea right now. Following this, I almost feel like it's time to just start working on my creation, my dream project as it were, primarily because of writers. I have been open about my experiences of being pushed to the side when the big name artist is available, Doug didn't do that to me, he gave me the time of day and really was great to me. So going through this process was just so much stress on the 3 of us. I was a wreck by the end of week 2 when we started slipping.
It was far too much stress for me, and I looked deep inside myself and I'm sick of being disappointed by projects that I put so much care into that don't take off. So I think I'm going to start working on a creator owned project because then I can dictate when things get done. I have the full script for this project sitting in front of me. It's been tempting me for about a year now, I used it as motivation to do other projects until it was the right time. I'm starting to think it may be the right time. Unless I get a really good offer to work on something, this may be the right time to start. I've given hints about it since the inception of this blog, but it's my statement piece. It really sums up what I'm about, and I love it dearly. All I'm saying is, obviously the approach I've been taking has been making little headway due to resting hopes on other people, I think it's time to really take it upon myself to see this happen.
Okay, onto some thoughts about the Zuda competition. It was exciting, and stressful, and surprising. It was a rollercoaster. Honestly, I came to the computer thinking I'd have all these things to say about the competition itself, but I really don't. It's in my head, but I can't bring myself to say it. I met great people, reconnected with old friends, and even strengthened some friendships. It taught me a lot about promoting. In the competition all you're given is an opportunity, the rest is all you: you make it, you submit it, you promote it. Promotion was the surprising aspect, purchasing ad space was a foreign idea to me and not in the game plan. So we did it through word of mouth and hitting the internet boards. In that respect we did extremely well, and I'm proud of us!
It was just a tough month, lots of competition, probably 3 comics that would have normally been easy wins in other months. Ultimately, it's the luck of the draw, and we pulled the short straw. It was most unfortunate that we got a month with no conventions, and due to the rules, couldn't promote it in Baltimore. Which really could have helped our cause. But you live and you learn.
Either way, it's great to get back to normal life.
Again, THANKS!
