This morning i was working on a Naze Nani Megatokyo strip that seemed funny enough in its conception, but wasn’t coming together as well as i would have liked. The fates seemed to agree because in the midst of struggling with it, Illustrator crashed and somehow the file i was working on was corrupted beyond repair. >_< I took that as a sign.
When you have to really focus on a project, and do it for a length of time (like pulling together Book 4 and the extra material for that book) you have to push a lot of things aside and just focus on the tasks that have to be completed. One everything is done (including all those little things that just keep coming up, small edits, things that need to be fixed, etc - you’d be surprised how much there is for a 240 page book) you’d think that I could finally relax and take a mental break from it all. Unfortunately, things don’t always work that way. For me, almost immediately upon “whew, i’m done! Yay!,” all of those other things I pushed aside to make the completion of the project possible came pouring back in at me. Suddenly I’m in this mad panic just trying to figure out WHAT needs to be done next. Being tired and worn out doesn’t help. 
The biggest problem with this project whas how much i had to put aside Megatokyo. For two weeks i have not been thinking about the rest of Chapter 7 at all. Sure, i know what’s going on, what happens next, i have my notes and sketches and stuff, but i just haven’t been ‘there’ in the story. Getting back ‘there’ isn’t impossible, but it does take some time and effort that i never acknowledge is needed.
I’m trying to regroup, to get myself back into the swing of things, and get my momentum back. I’m working on that now, and concentrating on Wednesday’s strip… and letting Monday’s strip go. I feel its better to have two decent comics this week than three rushed ones.
I always seem to discount the time it takes for me to get my bearings after a big project. I end up in a big panic trying to do things i just can’t manage, thinking i can cram 4 days worth of work into two, and then somehow magically produce a comic on the evening of the last day. Panic is bad for creativity, honestly. I stepped back this morning, took a deep breath, and regrouped myself. The book is done, i can focus on Megatokyo again. It just takes a little time to get it going.
(i wrote this for my fredart blog, but i think i should post it in the MT rant space too. So don’t do a doubletake if you see this same post there
- pirotunes: Mike VanPortfleet - Towards the Blinding Glare from “Beyond the Horizon Line” -
Don’t over work yourself. Bad for your health! When needed… take a 5 minute break then try some more. Great to see your up and going again!
“Spitunks and Thumber bugs”
Worry not, my friend. Physical exercise is often good to alleviate stress, I find. By the way, how can one person “regroup”?
I’m not sure about the rest of everyone, but I rather enjoyed all the guest strips. Not that I didn’t want the story to continue. Just that that was much better than saying “Aw, fuck it, nothing for MT today…”
Besides which, noble as it may be, if you were to die from working too hard for MT, we’d not have any creator anymore. And that would make us sad…
N
Oo dying on us! (please =)
“rainy day” was nice to look at, especially with teh 3vil all cute. why did sparklebunnies just come to mind? (
whatever it takes.
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I think the same situation is happening to me, only in school. (very bad.)
I second, er, third on the Q: how does one regroup, a.k.a., how do you regroup?
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good luck, thanks for your effort. ^_^
After I finish anything half-way creative on deadline — like when I’m trying to write a film or book review for publication — I feel mentally exhausted for a day or so (and that’s just a review! It’s not the primary and much more creative task of producing art and a wonderful manga). It’s all good!
Chris
Thats alright. We all need a break at times. And I do agree that we want comics that will do megatokyo the credit it deserves
You have been working really hard as of lately, you really should not push yourself. There is no need to overdue yourself, and end up getting something wrong with you. Such as sickness, stress tends to cause sickness; weird how that works.
But, I think that is a pretty odd sign, with it basically completely corrupting, I know I would have spazzed and just stared at the file before deleting multiple things out of pure anger. But… that is just me. ^.^;
Everything will work out in time, no need to stress yourself out. And if people do not like the fact that you may just so happen to take a while off, they can get over it. This has been your decision to run this comic.
Yeah.. I am going to bugger off now, so not to seem annoying. You take care.
Yay! The book is done! You will tell us when it’s available for pre-order won’t you? (::chants to self to will a pre-order into existence if it isn’t already planned::) Good job Fred!
I understand the act of ‘regrouping’ (I think) but I don’t really know how to describe the way I see it.
Also…still curious…what is the “rin” in “Fredrin”?
Congrats on finishing the book, will be anxiously waiting to snap it up here halfway around the world. You deserve your rest.