Fan Comic Project Cancellation
If you read this post's title, you're probably wondering why I would cancel the project. It's been something that I've been passionate about - even if I don't show it - and I've been working on it whenever I can - the latest completed draft page was page 40!
Simply put, I don't live in an environment that lets me focus on my project without worry.
That probably doesn't make sense at first, but let me explain with a story:
Back in the day I was a really big fan of Mega Man Legends - I still am btw - and it was then I developed my first everr ship: Denise Marmalade X Tron Bonne. The interactions between the two are adorable, and I feel that under different circumstances the girls could've developed feelings for each other.
So I started writing a fanfiction about it. This was my first ever fiction writing project and I enjoyed every second of it.
That is until a certain family member found out about it. From then on they kept pushing me to take the fic -as is, unfinished, with the copyrighted characters and all - publish it on Kindle and profit big time. I refused because that's a lawsuit and a half and so I kept writing, but my family member NEVER LEFT ME ALONE ABOUT IT.
They kept saying I was wasting my time and talent on something that'll likely be stolen by some schmoe for billions, when I could be making the billions myself, and a whole bunch of other demoralizing stuff.
In the end, I stopped writing because of them and my drive to do so has never come back.
And I always fear the same will happen to my comic.
While my family member hasn't found out about it, that's because I work late at night on it specifically so they don't find out. Doesn't leave me with alot of energy or focus to get much done, and it's having an affect on my health. I feel much more tired and I'm waking up too late. And waking up too late feeds into my family member berating me on how I'm lazy and not a capable person. That, plus a number of of things they go on about me makes me feel incredibly depressed and the general worsening of my mental health. The peak of which being yesterday where it came ahead and I had the worse bout of ideation since December '22.
In short, I'm not in the best place - location, health, and mental -wise - to work on this project, so for the sake of myself I am cancelling the due date and expectation.
I'm sorry if you were anticipating or wanting to see this project, but I can't work on this in my current environment. I might work on this comic in my off time. Who knows? Maybe there'll be a day where it's fully truly complete and everyone can read it. But for now, don't expect it any time soon.
I'm sorry.
Going Forward
So, with the fan comic being cancelled, what now?
Well, I'm still going to do casual art stuff like I always do but with the environment I'm in, my work is constantly being pushed in anyway possible. I have a job and my family isn't in a financial crisis, but at every turn I'm always being questioned on if my art's made some type of profit. I don't want to be useless and worthless so I'm forced to do something to actively monetize my work.
I've decided to make a Ko-Fi where you can commission and donate money to me if you want. I wouldn't have made one if not for the pressure to make money off of nearly everything I do, so here we are.
But while I plan to cancel this comic, I don't want to stop making comics period.
It was so much fun to make! It's inspired me to make my own original comic myself based on my own original characters (Audrey and them fyi).
I've learned alot from my time with the fan comic, and I want to put it to good use. I'm not gonna put a due date on it because that just spells disaster, so you'll see it when I want to show it.
I hope everyone understands, and things get better.
Thank you.
- JKflay, Azealia