the trick is to keep breathing

So I'm about to launch a comic called Ghost Avengers, which will be my somewhat silly take on an AU where the Avengers are in the ghost hunting business and shenanigans ensue. This was a story idea I had way back when, like 3-4 years ago -- while I was still working in an office! It's an actual story with a plot, sketchily outlined and everything, but had kind of slipped away into the realm of "ideas that are cool but yeah."

Since I've been trying to come up with material I could make into a comic anyway -- once I remembered Ghost Avengers and the worldbuilding work I'd done, I decided it was perfect. Something fun, that I could work on regularly, where I have plenty of ideas for little scenes if I'm every stumped for plot.

The thing is: why a comic? I'm known primarily as a writer, although I dabble in fanart from time to time, and (IMO, anyway) the act of storytelling is my strength. So why a comic? Honestly, really, it's to force me to continually and regularly draw for an ongoing project in a way that will help make me a better artist. That's the goal: regular practice of a thing that other people will (hopefully) like and get into, which will keep ME invested, to improve my skills.

As such, Ghost Avengers will be a pretty text-heavy "comic" -- it's maybe more like an illustrated story, although it will be told in images, rather than text. Dialogue will drive most of the story, since it's so visual. Part of the reason I'm doing ghosts and spirits is because it'll be fun to draw that kind of thing too, so the comic isn't exactly going to be High Art, either. For the ~10 pages I have now I've been using a posing app and lots of references, so I'm not scribbling, but I'm also not spending 5 hours on each page either. I'm hoping the concept and the story will interest people enough that they aren't sitting there comparing it to some professional fancomic all like, man look at this art; I'm not a professional, y'all. This is a fun hobby I've decided to do something with.

As such it's also likely my art style will change as I go along depending on how the story evolves. Oh well! That's the fun of being an artist.

Anyway. I wanted to get these thoughts down somewhere to give some context for the comic itself. It may be different than other comics with the amount of text vs images, but that's intentional, and will probably change as the thing grows.

It's kind of terrifying launching a project like this. Any time I start a new big fic, it's exciting, probably because writing is my forte and I know I'll be able to finish the things as long as I spend enough time on them. This is my first big art project and my brain is kind of going wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee like a wheel spinning really really fast.

Oh well! I'm hoping the first post will be made on Thursday, for weekly updates every Thurs. Updates will be a few pages at a time, with no set rule -- whatever fits the scene. The very first bit I'll post everywhere; following updates will go to my Patreon first, then my Ko-Fi, then public: I'll be posting on Tumblr, Instagram, and AO3, for as long as i can sustain posting all 3 places haha. (This means Patreon will be 2 updates ahead of the rest!)

Who knows. Maybe I will get bored really soon, but I am excited to get into the story, at least. A fun AU! New ghost-detecting technology! Sassy spirits and sarcastic outtakes! It will be fun, at least. I hope.