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Let's talk about Moonlight Angel...
6 years ago
This is something I've been dreading talking about. But I feel it's gotten important enough that it needs to be addressed.
Let me begin by saying that Moonlight Angel has been a passion project for me, and I've enjoyed every second of my time spent working on it. It has been an absolute delight, and while there are aspects of it that could have been improved upon, I don't regret creating it one bit. I love that the Istrala have become a subject of interest and even fanart and stories for diehard followers, that I hope that continues to be the case.
But that being said, I think it might be time to put the comic on the shelf for a little while. And I wanted to ask all of you.
The truth of the matter is, guys, that Moonlight Angel is not performing particularly well. Compared to a lot of my other pieces - particularly one-offs and commissions - Moonlight Angel's views, favorites, and comments are consistently dwarved. And on top of that, my Patreon numbers have been dipping little by little, likely due to most of the rewards being related to the comic. Simply put, while the comic has its major fans, in general, it is doing very little to engage a wider audience.
I suspect a large part of it might simply be the fact that this chapter is a bit of a narrative slog, setting up a lot of information and having action in the early parts that doesn't focus on our main character. If I had a second chance, I would probably have delayed this particular event and spent more time on studying Rohan's character and his reactions to becoming a demon. I always intended to get to this as time went on, but I admit that I probably dropped the ball in terms of pace.
At any rate, what I'm saying is this. Comic pages take a very, VERY long time to make. We're talking as much as 12+ hours per page. And they also take a TON of effort in terms of the finer details such as panel layout, framing, script edits, effects, etc. And compared to much simpler and quicker commissions and one-offs, I'm not getting much out of that effort anymore.
Now, I want to be PERFECTLY clear about something: I am not holding ANYONE accountable for this. Any lack of engagement is my own failure as an author to connect with the readers. I'd rather have honest disinterest than pretend enjoyment when it comes to my stuff.
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
That's sort of what I'm asking you guys. My intention is to put Moonlight Angel on hiatus and maybe kinda work on it more privately as a background project. But! If you guys really don't want to see it go, this is the time to let me know. It's perfectly okay either way. The point is that I care about you guys' input on this.
WHAT HAPPENS IF MOONLIGHT ANGEL IS SHELVED? IS IT GONE FOR GOOD?
No. I'll just turn my focus to my growing list of commissions, which have needed more punctual addressing anyway. I'll probably still work on pages in the background; I'll just save their release for later on when I feel comfortable bringing it back.
Who knows, I might even get a couple of Pokemon Trainer pages out. Don't hold me to that, though.
WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?
Two things. First, I would like to know if you guys still want Moonlight Angel on a regular basis, or if you're fine with it being put on the backburner. THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWER HERE. Only your honest opinions.
Secondlly, I feel as though my Patreon could use a shift in focus toward more general rewards. I would like to ask you guys' thoughts on what Patreon rewards (if any) would interest you.
DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK THE BUTTER BEAN IS A GOOD BINDING OF ISAAC ITEM?
Dude, Butter Bean is seriously underrated. It's one of my favorite defensive items in the game.
...I think I'm getting off-topic here.
Anyway, one way or another, guys, there's definitely gonna be more art content to come. On top of that, I think I've finally got a passable stream setup so I can possibly do a livestream open arena of Smash Bros. Ultimate. That might be fun! I'll keep you posted.
On behalf of Rohan and the crew, and all of my other comic creations... But in reality; from the bottom of my heart... Thank you. I can't tell you guys enough how deeply grateful I am for each and every one of you. The regulars on my Discord server are a constant delight, and every comment makes me remember why I'm doing this in the first place. No matter what happens, know how grateful I am for you guys.
Lots of love!
-Kat
Let me begin by saying that Moonlight Angel has been a passion project for me, and I've enjoyed every second of my time spent working on it. It has been an absolute delight, and while there are aspects of it that could have been improved upon, I don't regret creating it one bit. I love that the Istrala have become a subject of interest and even fanart and stories for diehard followers, that I hope that continues to be the case.
But that being said, I think it might be time to put the comic on the shelf for a little while. And I wanted to ask all of you.
The truth of the matter is, guys, that Moonlight Angel is not performing particularly well. Compared to a lot of my other pieces - particularly one-offs and commissions - Moonlight Angel's views, favorites, and comments are consistently dwarved. And on top of that, my Patreon numbers have been dipping little by little, likely due to most of the rewards being related to the comic. Simply put, while the comic has its major fans, in general, it is doing very little to engage a wider audience.
I suspect a large part of it might simply be the fact that this chapter is a bit of a narrative slog, setting up a lot of information and having action in the early parts that doesn't focus on our main character. If I had a second chance, I would probably have delayed this particular event and spent more time on studying Rohan's character and his reactions to becoming a demon. I always intended to get to this as time went on, but I admit that I probably dropped the ball in terms of pace.
At any rate, what I'm saying is this. Comic pages take a very, VERY long time to make. We're talking as much as 12+ hours per page. And they also take a TON of effort in terms of the finer details such as panel layout, framing, script edits, effects, etc. And compared to much simpler and quicker commissions and one-offs, I'm not getting much out of that effort anymore.
Now, I want to be PERFECTLY clear about something: I am not holding ANYONE accountable for this. Any lack of engagement is my own failure as an author to connect with the readers. I'd rather have honest disinterest than pretend enjoyment when it comes to my stuff.
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
That's sort of what I'm asking you guys. My intention is to put Moonlight Angel on hiatus and maybe kinda work on it more privately as a background project. But! If you guys really don't want to see it go, this is the time to let me know. It's perfectly okay either way. The point is that I care about you guys' input on this.
WHAT HAPPENS IF MOONLIGHT ANGEL IS SHELVED? IS IT GONE FOR GOOD?
No. I'll just turn my focus to my growing list of commissions, which have needed more punctual addressing anyway. I'll probably still work on pages in the background; I'll just save their release for later on when I feel comfortable bringing it back.
Who knows, I might even get a couple of Pokemon Trainer pages out. Don't hold me to that, though.
WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?
Two things. First, I would like to know if you guys still want Moonlight Angel on a regular basis, or if you're fine with it being put on the backburner. THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWER HERE. Only your honest opinions.
Secondlly, I feel as though my Patreon could use a shift in focus toward more general rewards. I would like to ask you guys' thoughts on what Patreon rewards (if any) would interest you.
DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK THE BUTTER BEAN IS A GOOD BINDING OF ISAAC ITEM?
Dude, Butter Bean is seriously underrated. It's one of my favorite defensive items in the game.
...I think I'm getting off-topic here.
Anyway, one way or another, guys, there's definitely gonna be more art content to come. On top of that, I think I've finally got a passable stream setup so I can possibly do a livestream open arena of Smash Bros. Ultimate. That might be fun! I'll keep you posted.
On behalf of Rohan and the crew, and all of my other comic creations... But in reality; from the bottom of my heart... Thank you. I can't tell you guys enough how deeply grateful I am for each and every one of you. The regulars on my Discord server are a constant delight, and every comment makes me remember why I'm doing this in the first place. No matter what happens, know how grateful I am for you guys.
Lots of love!
-Kat
And the fact it has narrative is great and really helps it
I am happy to see it continue to come out as and when but you should focus on your commissions and life
Also Butterbean is average there are way better defensive items
And thank you so much. I appreciate the observations. They mean more to me than I can say. I'll keep everyone posted!
It is looking like a very depressing part of the world, doesn't actually directly feature the apparent main character, and has left most of the questions I'm interested in hanging while it happens.
I'd say part of this is that I don't really have enough context to understand what is happening here, and while it is giving that context this isn't why I wanted to see more of the comic.
I am mostly interested in the exploration of being a new being made from two other creatures. While I understand that these events are important to give more context on the world and current situation overall, it has heavily removed the focus from my own interest.
I am not in a position right now to become a patron, so I would say that my opinion might not be the best thing to base any decisions on, but I felt the need to be honest about how I was reacting to new pages.
As for your patreon, well, I have no comment there. ^^; I can't really contribute to any patreons right now. I'm still struggling to make ends meet.
For several pages it's been a lot of dialogue, dialogue and more dialogue setting things up for a bigger action scene. This became boring really fast. While from a world building perspective this can be fascinating and helpful without a little action to break up the storyline it just feels like it's....there.
Even though the narrative heavy pages are needed to explain several key plot points, overall it's just not as exciting.
When I'd work on my full-page color comic, it'd definitely take me some 12 hours per page. I'd try tricks and techniques to shorten the time it took, but I didn't have a lot of success. When I worked on a three-panel black and white, I could get it done in a couple hours a day.
From what I remember on Girl Genius, who used to be print and went internet, the task of writing, art, and color are split up among separate people, and they release three pages a week.
I know Schlock Mercenary, a fairly simple "newspaper comic sized" comic, has the primary artist doing writing and lines, but I believe someone else does color and text.
Many comics in Japan focus on black and white illustrations, and push out 30+ page chapters each month. Sometimes writers will participate in two or three comics, but an artist can generally only work on one comic.
So, 12 hours per color page isn't that bad. But speed is definitely life in the comic or animation industry. Some comics even directly use or heavily reference 3D models of the characters to make drawing them at odd angles a fast and painless process.
If you're making this comic as a source of revenue, it sounds like it's not being successful at that. There is definitely a ramp-up time for becoming popular, and updating regularly -- especially daily -- is a great way to keep interest up and keep people coming back.
It sounds like you have also considered indirect benefits already. Sometimes a comic may not draw in revenue itself, but will draw interest to your other work, pulling on commissions and viewers you wouldn't otherwise have. But if the "advertising" isn't paying for itself, that's also unhelpful.
I've enjoyed this comic. It's the primary reason I followed you. But if you're not getting out of the comic what you were hoping to get, then yes it's time to put it aside. As a big fan of comics, this makes me sad, but I do understand the choice. I hope some day, if you're wanting to tell the story, you'll be able to revisit it make a continuance.
I was wondering why I haven't seen a page in a while and now I know. I am bad at seeing journals cause there are more of those every day than art to view. And to be clear, I love both heavy narration and action. They both have their place. I just sadly cannot be a patron right now.
I don't know if any of your watchers are crazy enough to do it, but some people are. Figure what could it hurt, putting that on there? Just make sure if your at a time you won't be up to doing a comic page you remove it from your commissions list, especially since it takes so much work.