…I’d just hoped it’d be later rather than sooner.  But it isn’t.  I had a deadline in my office, followed by a last minute trip out of the state, from which I didn’t return until later than I’d expected.  Fact is, combinations of circumstances such as this happen in the “real world,” and these combined to put me too far behind schedule to catch up.  The page I wish I were posting now is instead sitting on my drawing board, only about 3/4 of the way inked.  Oh, well, I suppose these things happen.

Sorry for the lame placeholder above, but there it is.  Things will go back on schedule next monday, and I’ll take the extra time this week to make some much-needed upgrades to this site and its parent, so check back this week for compensatory goodness in the way of web upgrades and extra content and background material.

And for those of my artistic compatriots who are reading this, next time this kind of thing happens, I’ll try to forsee it better, and maybe arrange some guest artwork to fill the gap (hint, hint, Joost et al!)  My apologies for this week, but this is the world we live in.

“Personnel” and “Glossary” have been added above!  These are the first in a series of unrequired but, in webcomics, typical little extras to make the story easier to get into.  More is on the way soon, and these will be revised and updated as the story moves on.  Enjoy!

A very kind well-wisher dropped me an email today lamenting that there was only one update per week here (the compliment was appreciated!)   Why is this?  Well, folks, because I have a more-than-full-time job that supports this little site.  I’m an architect, you see – well, technically, an “Intern Architect and Master Draftsman.”  At least that’s what it says on my AIA card.  And that means that I work about 40-60 hours a week drawing buildings, and all the stuff that goes inside them.  Anyone who thinks that sounds easy: try it.

So the result of this is that I have found that my current limit is a single full page per week, and at that, less detailed than I would normally think of making a comic page.  But this is a good thing, two ways (at least, that’s what I’m telling myself).  First, I’m a believer in the idea that art thrives on restrictions.  Given the opportunity, I’d ponder and ponder and sketch and erase and ponder some more, laboring each page to the utmost.  And while the result might be pretty cool in the end, I’ve found that a lot of the fun goes out of it, and my recreation becomes more of a chore.  Moreover, though the art itself is far more refined, it’s lost a lot of the spontaneity that makes the story fun to write (and, I hope, to read!), and more often than not I’ve ended up in corners that I have no interest in working my way out of.

The second good thing about my current setup is that I happen to love my “real job” as well!  Even when I hate it I love it.  It’s high-stress sometimes, sure.  To encapsulate what it is that I do, think abut the building you’re in right now, and then think of a book that describes, with diagrams, everything inside that building, with measurements to the 1/64th of an inch (1/2 mm, for those not on the Imperial standard).  I write that book.  It’s hard work, I’m here to tell you.  But it’s unbearably rewarding.  And so, even if I could draw comics full time, I doubt that I would.  Designing buildings is the same kind of bug as drawing comics, and I like them both too much to drop either one.  At least, not yet.

So I’m flattered by the comment that I should do this comic full time.  But it’s not likely that I will anytime soon.  Maybe that makes me a dilletante in the webcomics/comic book world, and if so, I accept it.  But that’s just the way it is, I guess.

You’ll still get your page each week, though.