Comic Finished. My Thoughts.

After having taken a few days to reflect on my experiences developing Beaumont, I thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts with you.

So, I spent the last month working on the comic, and this affected the general flow of my day. Not only that, but it also changed how I interact with Patreon. The type of content & interaction offered this month is noticeably different from previous months. 

Focus on a Single Product

SIMPLER SCHEDULE

I found it much easier to focus on my work during this period of time, and even easier to know what I had to produce during the week. In this case, I had to produce 9 pages per week, and I built my schedule around this. However, because it was a singular goal, it was also easier to know when I could take a break from work.

As long as I produced the work required of me in a single day, I knew that I could rest until the next work day. I didn't have any other responsibilities which prevented me from relaxing, unlike my usual schedule, which features multiple simultaneous responsibilities.

There is something of value, I think, in this kind of routine -- one which helps separate work & relaxation.

SENSE OF DIRECTION

There was an actual sense of direction in that we were actively working towards a specific goal. Each day required a certain amount of work, and it eventually piled up into something bigger.

You knew EXACTLY what your support was going towards and so, there was a product to look forward to. This is very different from my usual scattershot approach, where you're often left in the dark as to what to really expect during the month.

It creates an opportunity to make your investment feel worthwhile, which is something that may be lacking in my Patreon.

Though projects such as this are slower to finish, which means it may be longer before you're able to see the payoff for your investment. It took an entire month to finish this comic.

LESS VARIETY

This focus, however, also meant that there was much less variety in what I produced. While this is not inherently a bad thing, it DOES pose a concern. 

Elayne Beaumont dominated October, and that was pretty fun. But what about the people who have absolutely no interest in Elayne? Then this month had very little, if anything, produced that actually interested them on a personal level. So it becomes harder to make EVERYONE happy…

There's a lot of value in this focus, but there are also some pitfalls we'd have to be wary of too.

Overall, I think the month offered a pretty interesting experience. I think it might be worthwhile to make a habit of embarking on more personal projects and building towards actual goals in the future. Though I'd probably have to make some adjustments to the overall pacing.

During the development of this comic, I was generally producing 2+ pages per day, and each page could take as much as 4-5 hours (or more). This didn't leave me with much free-time. As I said before, if I was not sleeping or eating, then I was working. Anyway, something to fiddle with.

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure what more I expect to do this month. I'm feeling a bit drained, and I'd also like to determine what to do next… It's kind of a big shift, having finished that comic.

Don't forget to eat & sleep.