The Hiatus

Jul15
by on 2015-07-15 at 1:52 am
Posted In: News and Secrets

The story of creating this story is a tale in of itself. Suffice to say, it’s been a while since my last update and I need to address that.

I’ve been trying to get “Ralf” into newspapers since his inception in 2004 (over a decade now) and it has taken from me a great deal of time and effort. When I designed the comic, it was designed as though it were my full time job (because that was my goal) and I wanted to achieve that level of quality.

I have in this process spoken with syndicate editors and cartoon professionals. Nearly everyone has had great things to say about “Ralf the Destroyer”, sadly, everyone agrees that the process is long and “I shouldn’t quit my day job”. I often quipped, “But I don’t have a day job”.

This became a rather heavy stone to push over the last few years. I suppose people just assume if the art looks professional the artist must be doing really well. So, after a particularly soul draining bout of whatever bug hit me in May, I decided to go out and get a (non-art related) full time job, still keep up with my weekend job, try to finish up a few freelance jobs and not neglect my family at the same time.

That’s a lot of time, so, I want to thank those of you who have stuck with Ralf the Destroyer and encouraged me and the work through comments and sharing on various social media. In particular, those who have supported me financially either through one time donations or via Patreon have my gratitude since you’re generosity really did help us get through some tough winters and really did help keep the lights on.

All of this is to say, I’ve been super busy and exhausted most days with little energy to devote to new content. But! I have NOT given up on Ralf! I just may have to wait until my summer (weekend) job is over in the Fall to properly resume updates and reassert my presence as a cartoonist.

I still hope that I can make Ralf full time at some point and that you (the readers) can bare with me until then. As always, thank you for reading and for your continued support.

Scott

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Opportunity Knocked, It Needed Color

Apr04
by on 2015-04-04 at 5:00 am
Posted In: News and Secrets

So, here’s what has been going on…

I have been working with the good folks at the Ink Bottle Syndicate to get Ralf the Destroyer into newspapers. This has turned out to be an epic project (by epic, I mean it’s taken many years). My hope is that 2015 will be the year Ralf gets out of the “gate” because… I really need the strip to turn the corner on making an income and I truly believe it can really take off if it can see newsprint.

The Washington Post Writer’s Group has developed an App that will create a customized comics page for online newspapers. They were looking for material and Ralf the Destroyer was high on the list of choices. This would be a paying gig, but significantly less than physical newspapers. Many online papers have a print version as well so one could lead to the other. I am still in waiting as to when it will actually begin to publish.

Either of these situations would have been monumental tasks to initiate, alone, but they were in parallel and required color content as well. I’m told “color sells”, often and repeatedly. Fortunately, I’ve been unemployed since Christmas! <-- That would be sarcasm. However, the upside for readers (old and new) would be that many strips online are being replaced with color. It’s not fancy George Sellas color… it’s just plain newspaper color, but color none-the-less and I will be adding more as I go. So be sure to go back and check ’em out.

Even though I’m dreadful with social media, I will be ramping up my Facebook Fan Page posts a bit more by posting the color strips and an occasional post card. Those of you who follow me on Facebook please do me a “solid”, if you see something you like, “like it” but, also share it. “Share”s get Ralf in front of people who have yet to discover his story, it helps tremendously. If you’re feeling really ambitious, supportive and want to bring joy to my heart, be sure to visit my Patreon page and consider being a patron of the arts, because every little bit really does count for a lot.

Thanks for reading and your continued support, Scott Lincoln

7 Comments

State of the Feature

Jan19
by on 2015-01-19 at 3:04 pm
Posted In: News and Secrets

I apologize for not posting sooner after announcing I was ill. As of a few days ago I was past the bug that was going around and cleared out my lungs.

On top of that there are several pretty big news items that may be coming to a head in February (that I’m dying to announce but can not at this time) and I had to commit considerable resources to ensure their timely flourishion. As a result, Ralf the Destroyer’s buffer of new strips was depleted. I am in the process of trying to build that buffer of new material back up so I can ensure more timely Ralf the Destroyer updates in February and into the future. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you know that I have been adding Sunday strips that were missing from the archives. Why is that important? “Why”, indeed…?

Lastly, I haven’t really plugged my Patreon page in a while because I don’t like being a pest. However, January through March are particularly hard months for me and my family financially. If you’ve thought about contributing, but haven’t yet, even the smallest contributions can make a considerable difference.

4 Comments