I’m sure there are many readers who are wondering why the updates have slowed down as of late. I do want readers to know that my resolve in Ralf the Destroyer remains, but much has occurred to slow me down and the reasons are not capricious.
I often suspect that when many people see my art, they assume that because I produce high quality art and have a professional presence, I must be making a comfortable living. I would like to believe that too, but in the past it has not been so. For the most recent two years I have been working a low paying, third shift job (2am – 9am) that I took because our 96 Ford Taurus reached the end of it’s life expectancy and it was the only job in walking distance (20min). Even though I had taken different freelance jobs, very often the amount of work I put into them was superseding the income I required week to week.
Up to this time I had maintained my update schedule of three days for the comic strip but had to cut it back to once a week because I only had a few hours in the afternoon to do it and freelance work before eating and getting into bed by 5pm. Later, I managed to find a cheap car and re-procure my summer job as a caricature artist at a local theme park, which pays significantly better. While good news, my schedule has recently looked like this: wake up at 1am, get to work at 2am, work on my feet until 9am, go home change, drive for an hour, work at the park from 11am to 5-8pm, drive home for an hour, eat, go to bed by 7-9pm, lay in bed with my eyes open until 8pm-10pm, sleep until 1am, repeat…
This schedule was depleting the reserves of any energy I had left. While one might be inclined to imagine creative energy is always relaxing and fun, the truth is… it can be, but requires enormous amounts of mental a physical resources. This is why my online presence has been sporadic at best as of late.
The good news! I recently received some very encouraging feedback about Ralf the Destroyer and potentially another feature! I can not disclose much at this time, but either or both would be a game changer for us. To this end I am focusing on the day job, returning to a normal sleep schedule, formatting Ralf book 3 for Pittsburgh, preparing for what could be a monumental shift by years end or the beginning of next, and trying to finish up some long standing freelance jobs. Hopefully, this will steady the update schedule now and lead back to updating Ralf the Destroyer three days a week.
All this to say, although the internet is home to many abandoned webcomics, Ralf the Destroyer is not one of them! Though Ralf may disappear from the corporeal plain from time to time, he will always return to finish the mission and face his conscience.
Thank you for reading and your continued support!
