another piece of candy volume 2 print edition...
...is DELAYED AGAIN!!!!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm actually so mad about this. i'll tell you the story. my horrible saga...
i put the pdf together around when i printed volume 1. the main thing that was missing was the cover. i didn't want to finish the cover. i don't know why it took me so long, but i finally got around to it, i showed you guys, it's nice. i like the cover. i can print the book. i thought i could print the book, but actually there was still a bit of tedious work to do: the inside cover pages. so whatever, i started a new webcomic and was focused on drawing that for most of this month, but now it's the end of the month, and this morning i was like ok i'm feeling good enough to finally tackle this. i will finalize everything and figure out how i need to export the pages etc etc so i can buy the books and send the files to print.
i was planning on using the same printing company as last time, because that way the books would be consistent, right? i wanted to do it way sooner but yknow, better late than never. they've updated their site and order process since then. my bookmark to the page i originally ordered from no longer worked. that's ok, i have the emails, i can navigate to the correct type of book i want to print, i'm an adult i'm smart i can do it.
a ton of the options i remembered were missing, which was strange but not unexpected since their whole site changed. ok, that's fine. let's read how they want the files... oh, i can't give them tiffs like last time, i can give them a pdf of the thing and they print that. great, works for me, the version of clip studio i have does actually export pdfs since i upgraded a year or so back. wonderful! i export the pdf, i check the page count, it's 2 pages short of what it needs to be, because to print a book the page count has to be divisible by 4 and i just didn't notice until the dropdown menu did not have the number i needed. fair!!! ok!!!!!!! now i have to add two more pages of comics and not end the volume where i wanted, BUT THAT'S FINE!!! there were less comics overall in this volume so this fixes that! whatever!
export the pdf again (twice because i forgot to update the comic count on page 1), go to checkout to order the books. right as i'm about to put in my card, i realize there's no option for physical proofs. i assume (wrongly) that they just removed this option even though they had it before, because all companies just get worse over time and offer less to their customers to save themselves money these days. that's capitalism! i cry to my wife because i don't want to spend $400 + like $60 shipping on 120 books (last time i ordered 60 and then 80 and i have about 10 left of vol 1) IF I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE COLORS WILL LOOK LIKE??? if i don't know that my handwriting is legible on the page?!?!?? it was for volume 1 but it's really small in some of these so i don't know if i need to rewrite it all!!!!!!! agh!!!!!!!!!!!!! i don't want to commit to a large batch of books if they might all be messed up, i can't sell that to people in good conscience!!!!!!!!
so i gave up. i gave up and started writing this post. but before that, to at least do my due diligence, i check their site again and make absolutely sure i didn't just miss something. they have a custom book option which is different from the standard thing! and that DOES offer physical proofs! so i think, ok, i'm just a dummy, i'm in the right place now, let's make this work. it has all the extra options i remembered, this all seems right. i get to the checkout AGAIN, about to give them my card AGAIN, and what do i see...
the physical proof... is FORTY DOLLARS. FORTY!!! I CHECKED AND LAST TIME IT WAS 10!!! $10, THAT'S REASONABLE, THATS THE COST I SELL THE BOOKS FOR!!!! ALL THE SAME OPTIONS I PICKED AND YOU'RE CHARGING ME 4X THE PRICE TO MAKE SURE IT'LL LOOK ALRIGHT????? IT'S NOT HAPPENING. it's not happening!!!!!!!! i'm insulted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! forty dollars........... smh, i am not doing it, at this point vol 2 is not meant to be i think! i'm not a physical merch guy! it sends me into despair! i'm so sorry!!!!!!
.......anyway, i will be releasing the pdf on itchio at least, that will be free. so whatever... (crying) whatever!!!!!!!
some lighter comic news...
this past week i was pretty relaxed tbh, i have just been listening to youtube videos and cleaning up pages of timber's community service...
here's some finished panels from page 4 :)
i actually have the thumbnails done for chapter 2, but i wanted to wait until march or april to share it in full. give ch1 some breathing room idk... ive been fleshing out the later chapters in my notes and ugh theres some good stuff in this this... having a lot of fun with it.
i will share ONE PAGE from ch2 because it is the silliest one hehe (featuring drop!!)
another piece of candy actually has an ending planned, and i think this year will be when the plot happenings will start really hitting... but considering the update schedule itll probably go on for another year after that too haha. i'm sure something similar will replace it once it's fully over because i like having an excuse to regularly post comics, so don't be too sad when the end comes hehe. it'll be satisfying! i'd rather give a satisfying ending than let it peter out after going on for too long...
one last thing (NOT comic related), but i am considering making drop's game for nanoreno (march game jam). it will be small and probably linear. still thinking about it, i don't want to overload myself, but i think it pairs well with TCS ch2 so now is really the time to go for it. sorry to the SAS fans, i'm sure i'll release session 3 one day...
thanks for reading <3