Thinking is Hard

Unpoopular Onion Time

hbreckel:

endshark:

Yo,

Just got into a bit of an argument over at the VOIDchat about this but I feel compelled enough to write this all out so I can get it off my chest. I will preface this by saying that I am really terrible for keeping on my deadlines, I am getting better, but it still isn’t good enough. It is something I need to work on.

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I gotta echo what Orange said. 

It’s unlikely I’ll be making any friends with this post, but I think it’s good that people get this from the point of view of the person that puts the comics up.  People won’t like to hear it, but people don’t really know who I am or care about me on the site anymore anyway so here goes…

I’ll start off by saying it’s fine to use the site for fun. Even I fall into the “using Void for fun” banner now that I have gone off into pro comics land. So I just want to get that out of the way. At no point do I think Void should be your life, and if you default or don’t meet your deadlines I don’t think you’re horrible.

The number one most important skill you can possibly take away from EnterVOID is the ability to meet deadlines. Even if you have no desire to do comics or even art professionally, no matter what career path you take, you are going to have to meet deadlines. Even people working at Pizza Hut have to meet deadlines to keep customers happy. The fact that people don’t take advantage of the opportunity to essentially get a free course on the art of meeting deadlines, makes me sad.

You can spend money to take a class on time management or pick up some bullshit non fiction self help book, but EnterVOID is pretty much the cheapest and most effective way to learn how to meet deadlines.

Because time management is such an important thing (it fits into just about every aspect of your life), I have many times approached Toast about making it to where the uploader on the site will no longer accept pages after the posted deadline.

Whoa there, Heather! You’re wanting to get rid of my precious grace period? Sorry, but I am. And it’s not to make your life hell, it’s to make you smarter about how you spend your time.

In all my years as a battle manager, I’ve had numerous people come up to me with the following problem “My battle is due in an hour and I’m just now scanning and lettering my comic!” Hoooooooooooooly craaaaap it happens a lot and it’s super depressing. This is the very definition of poor planning. (I could go into the extreme abuse of “the grace period”, but you guys aren’t stupid, you know people abuse it. I’ve gotten yelled at more times than I can count, because heaven forbid I put someone’s comic up on time and they weren’t ready yet)

Instead of relying on the much coveted “grace period”, you should accept that you fucked up, and do better next time. Allowing people to just continually take advantage of a few extra hours makes them reliant on it. When your comic is due at 2 am but you can potentially upload it 1+ hours later, why should you make smart use of your time when it’s like you have another day! Having to accept that you messed up allows you to grow as a person and as an artist.

There is also the fact that I refuse to believe that your comic which you had 1-4 weeks on, will suddenly come together and become a masterpiece with an extra hour. That’s just silly. (again, why are you waiting until the last hour to scan your work? Why on earth would anyone in existence think this is a good idea?)A comic that was completed in the appropriate amount of time will likely be better than a comic that was pulled out of someone’s ass in 2 hours. I would rather someone turn in what they have than turn in a comic with a bunch of rushed bullshit and an excuse page at the end.

Again, I get it’s EnterVOID, it’s a website, why should you want to learn important life lessons from a website that’s for fun? Well, I would honestly rather you learn these lessons on EnterVOID, where there is no down side to fucking up, instead of ruining an important career opportunity which actually does effect your life. 

I’m going to level with you. If your goal is indeed doing comics professionally, “extensions” and “grace periods” are extremely rare. To get any sort of extension you have to go through the editor, who you will likely send into a panic attack if you tell them you need more time (this very editor is responsible for getting you more work, so treat them nicely), and then you  have to go through the company you’re working for. And in the case of IDW, the company I work for, I would also have to go through the people behind the properties I’m working on, ie Hasbro, Nick, etc. That’s a lot of people to beg for extra time! 

Not only that, but you are also effecting when the comic goes to print, and many US comic companies use overseas printers now so your delay could cause a whole massive chain reaction of fucking shit up. When comics get pushed back, the fans become unhappy, some might not even want to buy your book anymore. And in the case of creator owned companies like Image, every sale counts. (in order to actually make money on a book, you have to actually sell books. There is no page rate)

So that’s a lot on the line if you suck at time management! I could go further, but you get the point. The thing about comics, is if you get onto a monthly, you will forever be in a state of deadline crunch time. So I hope you would know how to handle a deadline if comics are your dream!

Again, I totally get that not all Voiders are looking to go into comics and that’s fine. But again, the ability to meet deadlines will be important in all of your lives whether it be crunch time on tax season, bill due dates, when reports are due, etc. Learn how to do this shit now on a website where nothing bad will happen to you if you fuck up!

But omg, Heather, you’re taking this so seriously! Of course I take it seriously. I always took EnterVOID very seriously. I gave every comic my all and met all my deadlines. I don’t think I ever once requested an extension. And I credit the website for getting me good at meeting deadlines. If you don’t want to take the site seriously, that’s totally fine. But by god, at least take those deadlines seriously!

Sorry this is a hilariously long post, but it’s long because I care. Remember I am your Void Mommy. I’m just looking out for you and want you all to grow into  awesome masters of time management.

PS Stop using fun as an excuse. Meeting deadlines *is* fun.

Right now I’m looking like I’m not going to make my deadline (not to say I’m not trying, and I’ll be uploading what I can)… But to be honest I didn’t even KNOW there was any kind of grace period, and that knowledge is kind of shocking.

The deadline hanging over me at VOID has always been an awesome motivator. It forces me to put more focus on comics which is where it really should be if that’s what I want to do as a career. It makes me think about editing my pieces, keeping them short and tight. It forces me to be creative in how I approach a complex story that I might not have time to do as I first envisioned, and still keep the plot and art goals the same.

That’s all before you get to the notion of practising time management, which is just something else to work on, in the same way that you can work on your inking or story pacing.

So yeah, I’m all for getting rid of the grace period.

(via isthistakenalready)

atomicbritt asked: Mistletoe! A goth and a Johnny, por favor?

As if I could choose one.

Alice points out an extra page in the back of the book which points out if you attach a pentacle (after you use some incantation on it, of course) to mistletoe and kiss a boy under it, he’ll be your slave. It’s in English and everything, how fortunate! Hannah’s not too keen on it, but she also has a pile of homework she doesn’t want to do.

emberises asked: MISTLETOOOE

By the time I was done umming and aaahing my computer had cooled down and it was dark, so here we go.

Call it inspiration from a weekend with extended family, but I had this tiny idea that maybe Wizzie was somehow Johnny’s (much cooler) cousin, and went from there.

briandanielwolf asked: Mistletoe for Chimp Change please :D

A bit of a continuation :)