New page! And, um, last (actual comic) page. Announcement below the links!
https://tapas.io/episode/1105297 http://aether.cfw.me/comics/570 Alright. This is sort of a long time coming, but I gotta be straight with you guys because you’ve stuck with me for the longest time with Aether. I’m so burnt out on Aether. I’ve been doing it for 4 and a half years now and while I’m extremely proud of what we’ve done, I’m just not in the same place I was when I started. When I started the comic I didn’t have anything else going on--I had no job, I was floundering to find myself artistically, and I was fresh and excited to work on an original story. But stuff has changed! Between new art interests, new jobs, some health issues, and just…life happening, I just don’t have the same passion I did when I started. I find myself wishing I had more free time to pursue my other interests in addition to doing other kinds of art, instead of having to pick one or the other (or neither). I feel guilty when I do other kinds of work, and that’s...well, it’s sort of miserable! I still love the story, but trying to get myself to draw pages feels like wading through molasses. And I know Will’s having trouble with scripts too. I absolutely wanted to finish the comic--we’re in the final chapter, and there are probably 60-70 pages left to go. But that’s 30 weeks of comics for me--30 weeks of dragging my feet and making pages that aren’t up to my standards because my heart isn’t in it. Maybe that sounds silly or selfish, but I simply don’t want to make sub-par work just to finish the story, and that’s on top of being burnt out. Hell, we’re having a hard time even thinking of the right way to show the ending. BUT, I also really don’t want to leave it hanging here. This is, possibly, the worst place to stop the story, and these characters do still mean something to me, even if I’m exhausted with the comic itself. And I know (because I know myself very well) that if I stop now with the intent to come back later, I never will. So here’s what I’m going to do, and I hope everyone is okay with it. I’m going to create a series of a few illustrations to show how the story wraps up, and I’m going to write a bit of an epilogue to explain some loose ends. If anyone has any questions, I’m happy to answer those too. I don’t realistically know how many people would be, like, heartbroken if they didn’t see an ending to the story, but I feel bad stopping here, both for myself and for any readers who do care. I know it’s not the whole comic I promised, but I hope you understand why I’m doing this, and I hope it’s a good compromise. I’m gonna try to make the illustrations nice to make up for...the whole situation, I guess, so I’m not sure when I’ll have them done, but rest assured I’ll finish them. I want to send off this project somehow--it’s the largest one I’ve ever done, at over 500 pages of comic, and I’ve learned a lot from doing it. I owe it and you readers that much. Whether you’ve been here from the beginning or just started reading recently, I’m so grateful that you’ve read and (hopefully!) enjoyed Aether. Thanks, as always, for sticking with me.
