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Title: Status update
Date: November 16th, 2013
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Hi guys!
I'm not dead! I looked at today's date and figured it was about time for another status update. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone
who wished me a happy birthday this year, especially on DA. I really appreciate it, even though I don't always comment as much as I used to.
Art-wise, I'm afraid everything is still blocked up. The motivation to draw has been returning, but these days I don't have the time.
The dissertation is taking longer than I thought to complete, which I hear is actually normal in the later phases. People just tend to lose
interest, or get a bit fatigued after working on such a project for years. Which I guess makes sense, since most of us spend these late phases
working day and night. I suppose it's somewhat comforting to know that it's not just me. ;-)
It probably also doesn't help that small side-projects keep finding their way to me. Heheh. As it stands, it looks like I'll still be
busy until the end of 2013 at least. I'm afraid there won't be any SoL updates until then. There might be new art every now and then,
which in that case will be posted on my Deviant Art page. But since I know you guys have been missing comics, I would like to end today's
post with some recommendations for great comics by other artists to read.
Paranatural: A great original
comic, with fantastic characters, art and humour. Highly recommended!
Who wants to be a super hero?: A
DBZ fancomic. For one day Piccolo takes over Gohan's duties as the Great Saiyaman. It can only end in tears.
Doctor Whooves: My Little Pony meets Doctor Who. Action,
drama, humour. This one checks all the boxes. And the author is a really nice guy too!
I hope you guys have a great weekend.
- Neko
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Title: Hiatus continued
Date: June 8th, 2013
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Hello everyone.
Thanks for keeping in touch, and for your comments in the chat box over the last few months. Due to popular request, I've decided
to post an update on the website today. You guys are right; it was about time for some news.
Several weeks after the crash, my new parts arrived and my pc was repaired. I now have a new graphics card and two new hard drives - one
main one, and one that constantly creates back-ups of everything. So things should be a lot safer now. After that I spent a lot of time
recovering whatever lost data I could and putting it back where it belonged, and I got back to work on recreating what was lost. Which was
mainly progress on my dissertation.
I mentioned looking into a data recovery service, but it turned out to be extremely expensive (1400 euros or something), and I decided it
wasn't worth the trouble for just two weeks of progress.
Since then I've been mainly keeping busy with work. We had a big congress in February, during which we had to present a website and
a database, and it was a tight deadline. Since then, I've pretty much been working non-stop on the dissertation, which is in the revisional
phase, but still not quite finished. I imagine it will take at least the remaining summer to get it done, if I don't take any vacations.
Like last year.
Yeah, on hindsight perhaps I should have just taken a vacation last year. Plodding along just to "get it done" didn't really work out all
that well.
Art-wise things haven't progressed much, unfortunately. That looming art block I mentioned has finally kicked in fully now, and it's something
that needs to blow over. It always does, eventually. I'm not sure how to describe how it works or feels, but it's just as if all motivation
to even think about drawing has drained away. And when I do draw it just goes painfully slowly, and when I'm done, I'm like: "Eh, not worth
putting online, really." Also, there's the time issues due to work, and I may have gotten myself somewhat re-addicted at WoW again. That
of course doesn't help, haha.
The good news is that I did get the last of the art I owed out of the way. Whenever I do get art (that I like) done, it gets uploaded on my
DeviantART account. That is also still the best way to get in touch with me,
by the way, because I am still rather terrible at maintaining in-boxes.
Finally, people have been asking about this non-SoL comic that I still wanted to finish. I assume they were talking about the PokeVenture
comic about Moche. I still want to finish it, and I've been hammering out the plot for the final two rounds. It's tricky, because the ending
isn't quite what people might have had in mind, and I want to do it right.
So, that's the update for now. How have you guys been?
- Neko
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Title: Hiatus
Date: December 30th, 2012
Today's comic pages: 357-359
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Hi guys.
First of all, I'd like to apologize for this update being so late. Like I said in the chat-box yesterday, my hard
drive decided to crash on me last Friday, and I've been spending most of my time since then trying to recover as
much data as possible.
The good news is that I backed up most of my files only two weeks ago, so the data loss hasn't been as dramatic as
it might have been. But I did lose two weeks worth of work on my dissertation, a bunch of things I was working on
for my job, and also the Photoshop files for pages 359 and 360 of Stuff of Legend. I still have a jpeg of 359, but
360 is gone, unfortunately.
All things considered, I've been quite lucky, really. The hard drive crash came as a complete surprise, since there
were no earlier malfunctions to indicate there was a problem on the horizon. It just sort of happened. 'Thankfully'
my graphics card is also on the verge of packing up on me. It's been rattling fiercely for weeks now, which is why I
decided to be more punctual about making back-ups in the first place. Otherwise I might even have lost my entire
dissertation, which I've been working on for the better part of four years now.
And of course everything else.
That would have been unfortunate ...
So thanks, shoddy graphics card! I owe you one. (I'm not even being sarcastic here.)
All of this also has some consequences for the updates on this site, as you can imagine. I'm currently using my brother's
laptop, so I can still do some work, but unfortunately it isn't very powerful and it doesn't have Photoshop. So I won't be
able to work on digital art until the new parts to fix my PC arrive. Incidentally, I'm thinking of maybe contacting a data
recovery service to get my lost dissertation (and SoL) files back. Even though I've 'only' lost two weeks of work, it's
still something I might consider recovering if the price is right. If anyone has any experience with using such services,
feel free to let me know. I could always use some advice.
How long all of this is going to take, I don't know at this point. However, even after I get my system back up and running, I
think it is still time to take a break. Like I mentioned in previous posts, things have been very hectic lately. My job and the
final stages of my dissertation have been very demanding, especially over the course of the last few months. How I've been able
to keep updating a web comic through all that, I don't really know. Quite frankly, it was starting to become overwhelming. I
started SoL over six years ago as a hobby, and as a means to practice working with a medium that I absolutely loved, comics.
However, lately it had become a chore. And honestly, when something you used to love has somehow stopped being fun, it is
probably safe to say you're doing something wrong.
Which is why effective immediately, SoL is on hiatus. I'm not sure when it will be back; it might not happen until my dissertation
is finally finished (some time in 2013). I just need some time to get myself back on track, if that makes any sense. The maintenance on
this site is horribly overdue, I've been terrible at keeping an eye on my in-boxes, and I don't know if it was showing but I've been
coping with an art block for months now. I don't like leaving things like this, especially after we've been going strong for
over six years.
I'd like to tell you all that you, SoL's readers, are the reason why I've been able to keep this web comic going for so long. Thank
you for sticking with me for all this time!
Today's update is not one, not two, but three pages - the entirety of what's left of my buffer. It's not much, but I hope this somehow
makes up for the fact that I'm leaving you guys in the middle of a battle here.
Also, please know that I'm not going to disappear altogether. I'll still be around, keeping an eye on the chat-box, and I'll also be on
DeviantART as usual. Heck, I might even become better at maintaining my in-box. Maybe. ;)
I'll also start doing some non-comic art again. I still owe some people art (don't worry guys, the Photoshop files of your art survived
the crash), and it's about time I took care of that. There are actually a bunch of things I'd like to do, but never got around
to. All things considered, all of this may turn out to be a good thing in the long run.
So I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you all a Happy New Year. Thank you again, and hopefully until later! Feel
free to keep in touch, because I love hearing from you guys.
Cheers!
- Neko
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