New Year, New Changes
A new year has come!
But first
A big apology to everyone involved with Rational Comics. This includes all of you readers, artists, and the writing and support team. I’m sorry that I haven’t posted or made any responses for about 1 and a half months.
The reason for the suddenly hiatus is because I received an offer to study a 2 year masters programme at an overseas university in Feb. This happened on 3rd Dec last year, and I have been spending the time preparing for the programme. I didn’t expect just preparing to study overseas would take up so much time. Everything from deciding whether I should accept the programme, to the paper-work took up most of my time. Not to mention meeting all my friends one last time before I leave. And I still haven’t even packed my bags yet!
I do believe me suddenly going quiet on the website and online is pretty irresponsible. Again, I apologise. Next time, if I ever have to take a sudden hiatus, I’ll at least mention it here or on social media before it starts.
This changes everything
To be frank, I wasn’t expecting to get into the masters programme. This change of life path is going to effect not just my life, but the future of RC.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I was looking to get a job. One reason for getting a job was to find (self) funding options for RC. Well, at this rate, I won’t be able to self-fund RC for at least 2 years. This means I will have problems paying the art team to do the comics on the site.
In short, I won’t be able to afford the well drawn comics you are used to seeing here.
In the future
Meanwhile, the good thing about the hiatus was that it gave me time to think about the future of RC and what I can do. I thought long and hard, and I decided that I shall create the comics myself.
“What? How is that possible?” I hear you say. “Joshua can’t draw to save his life!” Also true. Well, I will create the comics the only way I know how: be posing ready made humanoid templates.
So you will seeing a lot more of Euphrons and comics drawn in that style from now on.
You’ll be seeing more comics like this
The obvious disadvantage of these comics are that they have a lower graphic quality, and I’m limited to certain poses and facial expressions. I can’t have the character doing whatever I want them to. Objects and background in these comics might be limited too.
However, there are surprisingly quite a few advantages with them. I can more easily translate the idea in my head into visuals. And I can not make longer comics. Long comics mean I can delve into creating comics based on book reviews, explainers, and the long narratives. I can even make comics based on business/entrepreneurship news.
Previously I was limited to only simple quotes and business concepts, and also the dreaded “Entrepreneur Porn”. These weren’t exactly the topics I wanted to cover in the past, and I’ve always wanted more educational comics rather than the inspirational variant. As such, the target readership is actually not who I intended, seeing as to entrepreneurs being the minority of readers. (Based on our Great Survey.)
Now I can create comics on the topics I want to focus on. The kind of comics I envisioned for RC from the start. I’ve been reading up a lot lately, so expect to see book reviews on all the business books I’ve read.
Concluding thoughts
In many ways, my life situation has forced a ‘pivot’ for RC.
Many of you will not like this decision. A majority of you who want to see the inspirational stuff would probably be turned off by this and leave. That’s fine. I can understand where you come from. Sad to say, I can’t cater to you anymore. Inspirational comics wouldn’t work with the kind of graphic quality I’m going to use. There is no shortage of inspirational comics on the web though, so enjoy yourselves out there!
Those of you who were here to read the “business non-fiction” comics, well, that’s where we are headed anyway. My plan to convert an entire non-fiction book into a comic is still in effect. Although it will be delayed till I’m settled down in my new university.
Will I ever go back to weekly custom made comics? We will see in 2 years time, after I have graduated and gotten a job. In the meantime, custom comics will only be for special occasions.
I will start posting the remainder of our custom made comics. After that, it will all be comics made by me. I can’t say for certain if I can stick to the every Monday schedule however. I will be a full time student after all.
I know it’s a lot to take in, so take your time. I took a lot of time thinking about this too. If you have any comments or suggestions for RC, please let me know in the comments below.
Happy New Year everyone! Have a great one.