WEBSITE STUFF:

Been taking a week break from drawing in order to complete two websites for friends, and well, here’s what it looks like as I’m finally getting into the code and layout for the second one (spent yesterday working on the embedded gallery itself) :

While I learned the basics of php and obtained a firmer grasp or CSS (style sheets) putting together my wordpress site, I’d actually forgotten a lot, so setting these two sites — the first that needed a video gallery and could be updated by the client and the second that needs a photogallery that can not only be easily updated but also sorted and categorized and would automatically add new pages, links, etc  for new galleries — has been a wonderful refresher. I’ve finally almost memorized the CSS code (which isn’t all that much, frankly, but enough to be a pain if you’re constantly having to look up variables), and instead of tweaking the php and seeing what happens, I’m finally beginning to UNDERSTAND it. I’ve also been dabbling in XML and Flash Action Script. Of them all, the action script is the easiest to understand but honestly, the hardest to change because I still don’t quite understand how it’s all put together.

The gallery I’ve been using is a neat bit of code called Simpleviewer Pro. I wouldn’t embed it directly into a website because it’s pretty rough around the edges, but it’s enough to springboard from and customize to your own design. And it’s clean. No whizzing, whirling gadgets. Just enough to provide a basic function and make it better. :)

It’s a good thing this came along, though. A friend of mine who owes me … quite a bit of money … called me up the week after Christmas to tell me he wouldn’t be able to pay me until next month. Oh joy! And me needing to still make the rest of rent! So it’s nose in work until I finish and hopefully find more work because I need to think of next month if he delays again. :\

COMICS STUFF:

It’s a constant struggle trying to keep ahead just enough to make the bills every month and maintaining enough time to work on my comics. It’s frustrating. I don’t have someone who will catch the bills when I need that extra month, but like many who’ve sung this song before, eventually I’ll learn to balance it on my own.

Or at least enough to get back into the loop. I’ve been out of the comics loop for the last three years now, doing just this juggling act. You think you’ve saved up enough to take time to work on a project. Money runs out too fast (and I don’t spend it on anything beyond the necessities and occasional book, but the necessities add up) and projects get moved to the sidelines. Getting back into stride again after a working sabbatical is no easy task.

But I’ll keep my chin up, look straight ahead, and just keep going. I love writing and illustrating comics. I love writing my novels. There’s nothing I’d rather do. And there’s so MUCH that’s just a month or two needed from completion.

And the horrible true? I’ve never actually been entirely self-sufficient as a comics creator. My first two books were completed because 1) my best friend was supporting me for a year and 2) my parents let me live with them for a year. Since I’ve struck out on my own, I’ve had nothing to show other than piles of art and manuscripts accumulating on my desk, screaming for that last chapter, that last edit, to be done.

I know I’ll make it back in again. Just because I’d hit a low doesn’t mean I still can’t fly. And hey. I’m in the right place to do so. :) I’m confident in how my abilities as both an artist and a writer have come over the last three years, and I’m eager to show it to the world.

Now, back to work.