March of the White Mages

in which our hero is teetering on the brink of… something

Dear Readers,

Well, here I am: days late. I mean for these things to go out to you on Fridays, after all, and it’s Sunday. And it’s not that I lack things to show you. I actually had all of the sneak peeks ready to go on Friday. I just didn’t have words. I find that’s my problem a lot lately.

Anxiety attacks are becoming more and more frequent and more and more intense. My ability to calm down when I have more than one thing on my plate is severely compromised. And I’m feeling burned out and ready for a nap from nearly the moment I wake up each day.

It’s time for a break, and thankfully that’s just what I have planned: a break from illustrating the comic, so I can get my bearings and fix some of the processes that have been posing a real problem for me. Trouble is: that’s not really a break. It’s just a different kind of work. And while I’m for sure a workaholic—at least when it comes to my own, personal shit—being a workaholic is not a good thing for me. I should probably be taking a month off to “just be”—something my therapist and I work on fairly often. Alas, I’m still not comfortable “just being.” There’s too much to fucking do!

At any rate, I’m nearly done with the art for issue #4 of The Blood of Seven Queens. I feel confident I’ll hit the May release date no problem. And I’m giddy with excitement to show off the cover to you all soon. But these last few pages have been a bear, and my inner critic is working overtime to convince me that I have completely lost my touch.

That’s all the venting I’ve got for you for this week. I hope you enjoy the sneak peeks I’ve been peppering in between my paragraphs of complaining, and I hope I don’t lose too many subscribers by being honest and open about the struggles of making something like this comic. I figure at least some of you are down for this kind of content. If you gotta peace out though, I understand

Paid subs, keep on scrolling for your full look at pages 17–20. Everyone else, I’ll see you in five to seven days, depending on how this week goes!

Yours,
Chris