“I’m going on hiatus”
* panicked screams* *Riots break out*
Okay okay, maybe I am being a bit dramatic here, BUT “hiatus” in the world of webcomics is a very scary word. Like all cartoonists that go on “hiatus” I PLAN to return. Will I? God I hope so. I mean, I love doing this strip, it’s fun and the characters are fun to write for. But a combination of things occurred.
First as you all know, I am a proud papa. Any of you that have little ones can attest that they require a great deal of time and attention. Even in the middle of the night.
Second, my comic drawing time (my one hour lunch break at work) has now morphed into nap time and get errands done time.
Third, I am kinda burned out. I have put a lot of time and money into this comic since i launched OH-NO on the web in ’07 with very little return. My photography and art have actually picked up and I feel myself getting close to the fabled tipping point. In fact if it wasnt due to two shows that ran in the red last year (one of them was a comic convention) then I would have turned a profit due to a very succesful Firebird Fest and Canal Fest. So more or less, I want to spend the summer getting back in touch with painting and photography. The cartooning took so much time that i have barely taken a fine art photo and havent painted an oil painting since this time last year.
Now about the future of the comic. I have writen an end to Whiskey Falls. It is still a lot of strips to go before we get to that end, but there is an end. The end isn’t necessarily a stopping point for the characters of Whiskey Falls, especially Amy, Billy and Harry. Bob and Walter will likely come into the next strip as guest stars. Todd, the hardest to write for anymore (he was used to vent my Camera Shop and working in a mall frustration) will likely disapear. I also have another strip I want to work on. Kind of a fictional bio comic mixed with the Oh-No humour. It is still rough, but I have plans. There is also the posibility of doing animation as the future of the WF characters too. I am constantly thinking of my comics and I don’t want to see them die, hence the break. (let’s stop calling it a hiatus.)
Another piece of my plans is to relaunch Whiskey Falls again. Right now I have over a year of almost daily material for WF already drawn and another whole year written. I’m gonna re-launch them in June or July in color (if I can) on it’s own site again and on Sherpa. Plus a book of the first 200 or so strips is in the works with plans for a August launch date. *crosses fingers*
I hope all goes well, I’m taking a break. Lot’s of comics in the archives, feel free to peruse them if you like.
I will see you later.
Watch this blog for any news on the new WF site, a photography project I will be bringing to Kickstarter and of course the status of when the funny will return (and maybe a random sketch here or there).
—Vince
