Life

[subbes]

Cabot is at the specialist today.  They will knock him out, then do a chest X-Ray, then do a CT scan.  This will reveal any metastases on the lungs and which (if any) bones the tumour is coming from.  If there are no metastases and the tumour is coming from the scapula (shoulderblade) or not coming from any bone, they will then operate to take out the tumour, which will mean amputating his leg.  

 

I'm trying to think positive thoughts and also keep my mind on work, and neither is really happening.  Here is a picture.

 

 

 

[elmuerte]

clearly the cat is thinking out side of the box (WHICH IS WRONG!)

[syntheticgerbil]

I might have a sort of plan to do something art related with my life. My girlfriend kind of offered to support me being broke if I were to get this going. I might take some shitty part time job even though I thought I was done with those type jobs for the rest of my life after graduating.

 

So the plan is to get together some sample pages for one of these comic universes I've always wanted to flesh out but have never gotten anywhere due to working on art crap for video games and other things. Too many hours or just not enough will left in me to work on anything I want to finish personally. All I've done so far for a few different character universes is knock them around reoccuring appearances in sketches and various media as some kind of semblance in the story I have floating around in my head. I've been making shitty comics since the 2nd grade on and off for my own personal pleasure and then kind of stopped trying with comics when I made it to art school and realized there's no money in comics. I even e-mailed Evan Dorkin back and forth a few times then and he pretty much told me that it's really tough to pay the bills especially for an unknown. So I gave that up.

 

But either way it was always my dream to just kind of work on a personal comic project and get a nice little book published even if it sells no copies, because it could be something I could look at and feel proud of that I accomplished a story with characters all on my own. The idea would be to have enough materials and information in the next few months to get together a Kickstarter for myself. I wouldn't know how much people would give but I imagine it would take me a year to finish my project (I want to get like 200 pages of story) and I would need money to help pay the bills so as not to completely bankrupt my girlfriend in the process. Plus I'd have to figure out what all it costs to print full color tpbs.

 

I don't know, I'll have to think a lot about all of this. It would be nice to ask just slightly less than my last year's salary from Kickstarter backers but no one knows who the hell I am and the chances of anything I would do going viral are nonexistent. I would hope I could possibly make an okay amount in donations based on the quality of the sample pages and my concept for the story I have in mind but I realize Kickstarters usually only work if the person has already made a name for their self.

 

Strangely, even though I'm now a deadbeat and have found no jobs, my girlfriend is really on board with this idea and is already encouraging me. When I met her 9 years ago, the dream was to always create worlds and stories much like my art at the time. It was all kind of killed into process through school and jobs which she's never neen interested in except in a few cases where she would remark, "This project seems like you're allowed to be you." Maybe after making a bunch of concepts for years and having it all committeed to death, it's time to just make something from my head the way I want. I sometimes feel sad looking at my professional portfolio and seeing how it's all been completely watered down on purpose for the sake of marketability and then looking through some of my older work and wondering if I "lost it" or forgot how to create like that.

 

And ramble ramble ramble, I don't feel like proofreading this post... Anyway, I'm excited, I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me. If I get hired in the meantime at yet another shitty video game company before I get a Kickstarter up, I guess it's abandoned again.

[Hermie]

I will already pledge to backing this Kickstarter based on three reasons:

 

-You're a cool guy

-You make cool art
-I dream of someday making a similar move, and I would use you as a canary in a goldmine to see if it's wise or not.

[Thrik]

I don't think a Kickstarter will only succeed if well-known people are involved, I've seen numerous ones that don't fit that requirement. What's really important is that it's a truly awesome idea that instantly captures people's imagination — if you need more than the opening paragraph and a few pictures to do it, you're probably in hot water. So you need to have the confidence in your own creation, as well as a keen marketing pitch with the right people being made aware of it so they can hype you up (this bit is absolutely critical). If you know people who do that kind of thing, ask them to help. Or just get ideas from a fun group like your Idle Thumbs buddies, show us your proposed pitch and get some QA on it.

 

If you're currently unemployed then of course now's a great time to start preparing something that'll make people go 'yeah I want that' within seconds, once you've done whatever job hunting you need to do. Don't be afraid to reveal your stuff to small groups of people to get them interested and solicit feedback, you don't need to save it for a 'big bang' Kickstarter launch. This could also help to build hype as you can gauge interest on multiple concepts without launching a Kickstarter, by drip-feeding mini-pitches.

 

While I'm reluctant to say this because I don't want to dent your motivation, is this really something you couldn't do while also getting some kind of other income? I personally find it quite easy to do hobby projects, as my girlfriend gives me plenty of time alone (largely thanks to her crazy shifts) and I love my job so I don't feel sapped of all desire to do anything outside of work. If this is something you can do without becoming completely dependent on handouts and backers then that will reduce the risk if it ends up going tits up.

 

Not that I'm saying don't do a Kickstarter, but you could reduce the funding goal (and thus the chance of it failing) if you had a part-time income or something rather than going all-in. And is it even practical to treat making this book as a 9–5 job? I know my creativity would wane with that kind of relentless dedication — which is why I like staggering my hobby projects over more time.

[dibs]

Your girlfriend sounds the best. I'd kickstarter a ring for her. In exchange for a cool comic.

Sounds trite, but maybe working part time would give you some cash and a breather from enforced creativity (even with the full support if your gf, I'm reading that you would still feel that pressure to produce), leaving your off time to get down to what you do best in a more relaxed mental state. I kinda miss working at that second cup those many years ago.

[syntheticgerbil]

I don't think a Kickstarter will only succeed if well-known people are involved, I've seen numerous ones that don't fit that requirement. What's really important is that it's a truly awesome idea that instantly captures people's imagination — if you need more than the opening paragraph and a few pictures to do it, you're probably in hot water. So you need to have the confidence in your own creation, as well as a keen marketing pitch with the right people being made aware of it so they can hype you up (this bit is absolutely critical). If you know people who do that kind of thing, ask them to help. Or just get ideas from a fun group like your Idle Thumbs buddies, show us your proposed pitch and get some QA on it.

 

If you're currently unemployed then of course now's a great time to start preparing something that'll make people go 'yeah I want that' within seconds, once you've done whatever job hunting you need to do. Don't be afraid to reveal your stuff to small groups of people to get them interested and solicit feedback, you don't need to save it for a 'big bang' Kickstarter launch. This could also help to build hype as you can gauge interest on multiple concepts without launching a Kickstarter, by drip-feeding mini-pitches.

 

While I'm reluctant to say this because I don't want to dent your motivation, is this really something you couldn't do while also getting some kind of other income? I personally find it quite easy to do hobby projects, as my girlfriend gives me plenty of time alone (largely thanks to her crazy shifts) and I love my job so I don't feel sapped of all desire to do anything outside of work. If this is something you can do without becoming completely dependent on handouts and backers then that will reduce the risk if it ends up going tits up.

 

Not that I'm saying don't do a Kickstarter, but you could reduce the funding goal (and thus the chance of it failing) if you had a part-time income or something rather than going all-in. And is it even practical to treat making this book as a 9–5 job? I know my creativity would wane with that kind of relentless dedication — which is why I like staggering my hobby projects over more time.

Hmm, I don't know, I figure the idea would to get 6-12 pages ready, some paragraphs, some concept art, and make a hammy video with dreamy music. I don't think the idea I have will be subversive, novel, or blow IGN away, but I think I can execute it well and treat it special. Hopefully what I get together can show that.

 

But yeah a full time job anywhere makes it really difficult to concentrate on personal projects, especially if I'm already doing art all day. It's just tough since an average work week at a game studio is 50+ hours and then I have done stints where I was doing things for other people or personal outside of the job, especially this animation for a documentary over three months last year, and it is just really tough to keep that kind of motivation going without incredible amounts of stress an exhaustion. At least for me. I don't know, there are other artists out there who are amazing and prolific and have a ton of things going on and then others I also like that tend to put out work every once and a while even when it's their full time job (often wonder how they survive). I tend to take a while on the slower end just because I get really detail oriented and want things to look as nice as I can.

 

Plus the idea behind getting it to be a full time project is just so I can get it done. I'm so used to doing art stuff as a 9-5 job that its become what I'm comfortable with. Leaving personal projects unfinished or working on them in chunks a few times a year always get abandoned because I see I've become a better artist and I might as well just start over because it looks so ugly to me now, or I've just gone through somewhat of a style shift.

 

But it sounds like you guys think I really need that crappy part time job at 20-25 hours a week. I would just like to find an "easy" one. My worry is every time I took a part time job during my time at college, they were all easy enough but every single one ended up at 40-50 hours a week even though I never wanted to go over 30. The three main jobs being LaQuinta, Kinko's, then Walgreen's. I guess it was a combination of me being competent enough and other employees always flaking (since the pay is shit I guess you should never put in a two weeks?), so it was always the same story where I constantly asked to cover shifts or take on more tasks making me stay late. I also tend to have a problem saying no when people are nice to me. So all three of these jobs, when I did tend to say no I would be guilted over it. LaQuinta had a manager threatening to give me almost no hours if I didn't take everyone's shifts, Kinko's had a manager wanting me to skip classes for him so that I could work all day, and Walgreen's had like 6 managers who would call me multiple times a day to pick up whatever dumb highschooler's shift because they quit the same day. Walgreen's actually became so unbearable that I ended up unplugging my home phone since they wouldn't stop harassing me (didn't have a cell then) even when I had just worked 10 hours over night and got home finally sleep at about 9 AM. Come 10 AM, the jerks would be calling me to come back and work another shift because yet another cashier quit. So there's a lot of fear there in doing those types of jobs again. Although it seems like I should try to find something that works well with 25 hours tops without managers getting all manipulative on me. That must exist somewhere.

 

Thanks for the kind words though guys, I'm still excited!

 

Also dibs, the plan is to get married next June. I'm hoping to propose in the next week (maybe this weekend?), even though she's knows it's been coming for a while.

[Thrik]

It does sound like you've had some exceptionally bad luck with jobs. I'm a firm believer that no company should be asking their employees to regularly work in excess of a standard working week, and if they are it's a sign of bad management. Where I work now we fully utilise Agile/SCRUMM planning and it's incredible how much work we can get done without running into overtime, and when we do work extra it's because of exceptional circumstances. I guess many places aren't so lucky though, I know because I've worked for them — it was such an eye-opener when I realised, holy shit, not every company is ran like crap and burns its staff into the ground.

 

Of course I'm not in your discipline so it might be your options are severely limited, although I do know that passionate creatives also sometimes dig their own graves by doing extra hours they really don't need to (done this myself). I've no idea whether or not that applies to you, but if you do end up with another job don't let them pressure you into working retarded hours. It's almost always not worth it from a health or a career point of view — if anything, I find that companies tend to disrespect and treat those hard workers worse. Working endless extra hours earned me precisely nothing.

 

Anyway! My feeling is that a low-commitment part-time job would be good because it gives you a daily mission aside from sitting there at your desk feeling under pressure to get the book done. You'll probably come to your book more energised and looking forward to it because of the contrast, and it's a phenomenon that when doing relatively mindless work your creative mind tends to explode with ideas. But you definitely wouldn't want one that exceeds 15–27 hours a week, as that should be enough to keep things ticking and relieve some of the pressure.

 

I don't know about over there, but there're endless (fancy) bars and restaurants offering part-time hours here. In fact, my girlfriend's biggest problem right now is that no one place is offering enough hours so she's working two and potentially three jobs. The work is relatively stress-free so long as you're OK in that environment like she is. I wouldn't like it though, but there are other part-time things I could do more suited to my skills.

[Justin Leego]

That is picklin' sweeeeet! The comic project kind of reminds me of the Symbiosis Kickstarter. I guess that guy already had loads of stuff done before launching the Kickstarter.

 

Is there any viability in first creating an IndieGoGo fundraiser as a kind of seed fund for what would then become the Kickstarter material, or is that against the rules? It seems a bit better suited towards artistic patronage in some respects (but at the same time that can affect a project's perceived buzzworthiness).

 

The other project kind of reminds me of things that are super-ace. Nice one!

[syntheticgerbil]

Where I work now we fully utilise Agile/SCRUM planning and it's incredible how much work we can get done without running into overtime, and when we do work extra it's because of exceptional circumstances. I guess many places aren't so lucky though, I know because I've worked for them — it was such an eye-opener when I realised, holy shit, not every company is ran like crap and burns its staff into the ground.

Funny you should say that, the last company I was at started using SCRUM for a while, but they just implemented it like complete idiots. It just meant hour long meetings every morning with every employee speaking (instead of leads only like SCRUM outlines) leading to personal conversations. Then the "sprint" portions meant everyone needed to do a ton of overtime closer to the end of every month to get whatever idiotic update for their Facebook games out in time only be generally ignored by the public. Repeat every month over until they forgot they were doing SCRUM and went back to the usual disorganization that was there when I first arrived. I think they just felt SCRUM was a nice buzzword that made them seem like a legit studio even though they couldn't do simple things like pay for software for artists, since almost everyone was running pirated Adobe products.

 

Of course I'm not in your discipline so it might be your options are severely limited, although I do know that passionate creatives also sometimes dig their own graves by doing extra hours they really don't need to (done this myself). I've no idea whether or not that applies to you, but if you do end up with another job don't let them pressure you into working retarded hours. It's almost always not worth it from a health or a career point of view — if anything, I find that companies tend to disrespect and treat those hard workers worse. Working endless extra hours earned me precisely nothing.

This is kind of why I'd like to shift away to try my own comic for a while. The same company I was just speaking about, I went through stints where I would refuse to work a bunch of overtime because they worked on games that constantly needed updates and I was seeing over and over how much my long hours of work didn't make a difference. A few months ago, after animating a fuckload for many months on end, the CEO sent out an e-mail asking everyone to test the newest game during evening and weekend hours and to always be on call to do so. Even though he asked for a personal written letter from people to give a reason why they couldn't (guy was a bully), most people just said they would and passive aggressively did not, resulting in no consequences. I however made the mistake of writing a letter saying I've already been doing all of this overtime to animate and did not think it was fair. When I was fired, during my exit interview it was cited that the fact the I wrote this letter meant that I was not a team player and did not contribute enough to the projects while everyone else worked hard. D:

 

But on the part time job, I have been recently applying for full time courier jobs with the plan to quit if I found something good careerwise, but no call backs yet. A lot of them require a car manufactured 2008 and beyond, but mine is a 2001 even though it gets a good 30 miles a gallon. My girlfriend did courier work for two months once and it was a good low commitment gig. Might be able to find one part time.

 

Justin, I think I'd feel really bad using an IndieGoGo to fund my Kickstarter stuff. I think I can get the materials together enough. Some of the concept art for the comic I want to make has actually been floating around my portfolio site throughout the years and I have pages I've written before of the story arcs, so a lot is already fleshed out. I don't think I could produce quality at the level of Symbiosis though, that guy is a much greater artist than I am. I'll give it all my best though.

[Justin Leego]

Oh ok, it's cool there's a supply of material already at hand. Sorry for any suggestion of duplicity, I'd meant that the IGG fund would be raised with the explicit aim of then going on to KS for a greater amount to fund production but I can see how that might not come across as the best of ideas. Great to hear that wouldn't be required anyway, internet high-five on a sunny beachside boardwalk to you.

[Hermie]

What about jobs that would live your mind and hands idle for periods? Parking lot attendant or such?

[dibs]

I did love the coffee shop. Would the people watching help your art (caus peole be crazy) or would you rather be alone with your thoughts on a mindless grind? I left because I wasn't getting enough hours.

I'm just musing. I was unemployed for a while and my parents were graciously supporting me, but even though I was being productive (job hunting, learning programs, picking up odd jobs) the sheer psychological pressure of knowing that I was leeching off them was horrible to me.

[Thrik]

What about jobs that would live your mind and hands idle for periods? Parking lot attendant or such?

 

Heh, the concierge of my apartment block literally just sits watching YouTube all day. The building has a 24-hour presence for security, accepting deliveries, etc. 

[Thrik]

That SYMBIOSIS thing is pretty cool, and a good example of how to grab attention. Literally within seconds of reading the one-sentence blurb and seeing the quality of the art I was hooked, and after that point the video and extra text was largely superfluous. That's the key I think.

 

It's interesting that his project works as a product for writers, too. While I'm sure many people will enjoy it for its own merits, everyone considers themselves a bit of a writer and there are plenty of guys actually getting paid for it too. He specifically outlines that his book is great for people to look at and get ideas for stories, and that they have his blessing to take those ideas and do anything they like with them. He's not just selling the idea of gorgeous art, but also the idea of thought-provoking material that significantly benefit someone. Hell, if I were writing some sci-fi story I'd be poring through this shit.

 

And more than anything else, not showing too much works in his favour. He shows enough to evoke the imagination, but there's a small enough amount to cause your imagination to fill in the blanks. You're buying into an ideal concept rather than a tangible product. Maybe holding a lot of your stuff back is a good idea with Kickstarters, but determining the right balance is best left to someone far more suited than I.

 

Good stuff to keep in mind.

[syntheticgerbil]

Hah, I don't know how easy it is to do a job where I can sit around and work on my own stuff in secret. Security Guard? But a lot of the work would be on the computer for the coloring and cleanup stage, which I would have to do in my own home.

 

I think though after looking through a bunch of comic Kickstarters right now I need to lower my scope and any funding ideas. The story I want to make needs about a good 200-250 pages, but I could just do a half or a third on Kickstarter, spend way less time, ask for way less, and then see how it all works out. The people who tend to make a up to crazy amounts in funding their comics are already super famous, but I see some really bad comics getting 5k and up. I also see much better drawn comics getting only 1k.

 

I'm not clear on how the general comic funded Kickstarter audience feels on funding someone to work on the thing or if they'd rather just fund printing costs of finished products... I'm bookmarking Symbiosis though. Everything I've funded comicwise on Kickstarter has involved well established artists, so it's not going to be much help to me. Not saying Symbiosis isn't by a well established artist, as  Steven Sanders has a decade of comic experience, but he's not as well known as a lot of "creator" comic artists.

 

I have a lot to consider, but either way I'm going to just be working on sample pages just to get an idea of what exact pipeline I will use and then get a gauge on how long it takes me. Plus probably need some feedback from other artists I know to ensure it doesn't suck.

 

But thinking about what Justin said, IndieGoGo might be the better route, since you don't have to reach a goal. But I get the feeling no one goes to IndieGoGo anymore.

[Twig]

lol i just had a phone interview

 

WHAT IS A STACK AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM A HEAP

 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A POINTER AND A REFERENCE

 

and i know the answers to all of these questions (because they're the same stupid fucking questions every interviewer asks) but when you spring them on me in my first semi-technical interview in a long while my brain gives up

 

ugh i don't want to live anymore

 

...

 

He also asked me what interests me about mobile development and I had no answer because nothing does I hate it and I want out forever but non-mobile developers take months to respond, if they ever do, so I'm fucked and stuck in mobile development hell for the rest of my life kill me now.

 

Of course now that the interview's over, I can think of the answers to every single one of the questions he asked me, including that one. Even if "because smaller teams, faster production" is true, though, I still hate mobile development. Maybe I'd like it more of the companies that were actively hiring weren't all the worst kind of free-to-play exploitative BLEH but they are.

[subbes]

Checking in to report that the surgery went well;  it finished after 6pm last night.  They had to take the leg, of course, but they also had to take a ton of muscle, so it was a pretty major amputation.  The vet will be calling this afternoon to let us know how he's recovering and talk about visiting him.  

 

Hopefully the report on the removed leg and tumour will show that they got it all and with a good margin.

 

The vet says he will still be able to kittyloaf with only three legs, but it will be a bit lopsided.  Like the below.

[Twig]

Hurray for good news!

[Patrick R]

lol i just had a phone interview

 

WHAT IS A STACK AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM A HEAP

 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A POINTER AND A REFERENCE

 

and i know the answers to all of these questions (because they're the same stupid fucking questions every interviewer asks) but when you spring them on me in my first semi-technical interview in a long while my brain gives up

 

ugh i don't want to live anymore

 

...

 

He also asked me what interests me about mobile development and I had no answer because nothing does I hate it and I want out forever but non-mobile developers take months to respond, if they ever do, so I'm fucked and stuck in mobile development hell for the rest of my life kill me now.

 

Of course now that the interview's over, I can think of the answers to every single one of the questions he asked me, including that one. Even if "because smaller teams, faster production" is true, though, I still hate mobile development. Maybe I'd like it more of the companies that were actively hiring weren't all the worst kind of free-to-play exploitative BLEH but they are.

 

Job interviews are the worst. It's like a date with the most boring person you've ever met except you are trying to get them to marry you or else you won't have any money.

[Argobot]

Job interviews are the worst. It's like a date with the most boring person you've ever met except you are trying to get them to marry you or else you won't have any money.

 

So just a normal date, amirite ladies? *ZING*

[Twig]

Haha yeah. At least if I was interviewing with a company I cared about, though, I'd have some motivation. Let's say, Telltale. I've been a fan literally since Bone, and I could talk all day about why I'm interested in working there. Hell, I could even talk about things I'd like to improve (albeit, with a bit of ignorance on whether or not they're actively trying to improve there, 'cause some of it would cost money BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT, the point is I'm interested!). Double Fine. Irrational. Any wild number of smaller indie game studios. Valve, too, but they're insane, so that's not gonna happen for a long time, if ever!

 

But then I get connected to Yet Another Mobile Game Developer and I just cry on the inside, because I'm actively applying to companies I want to work at, and they take so long to get back to me that I have no choice but to interview with these mobile developers that I would otherwise never even look at.

 

And it's not like I even think mobile games are all bullshit. Just the ones that want to interview me.

[elmuerte]

A pointer is a stick you can hit people with. A reference is the mark the pointer leaves on the person that was hit. If you have a heap of pointers you can stack them.

 

No wait. The difference between a stack and a heap is that you want to keep the stack as small

 

Or was it that a pointer is the worst part of C/C++ and a reference was poorly implemented.

 

did I get anything right?

[Twig]

Yeah that all sounds legit.

[tegan]

Hey subbes, I used to live next to a neighbour with a tripod cat who was otherwise perfectly healthy and happy.