Episode 36 is coming soon
The wait is almost over! I'm on the intense last ten days of production for the next Pepper&Carrot episode. The longest! Twice the length of a regular episode: a project I started last summer. Here is a compilation of spoiler-free panel sketches 🥰
6 comments
Great deal! Can't wait for it.
I really appreciate your work. Also I like that you are supporting open source that much. There is one thing that bugs me all the time: How do you get your bills payed? (The episodes are tends to be longer and patreon supporters are paying you per released episode - do you still work as an freelance artist or do you receive enough one-time-payments?)
If you don't like to answer, I respect your privacy.
Hi, thank you. Yes, it's tricky. Last two or three years (after moving) were mostly a process of doing freelance comissions between each episodes to fund extra maintainances (like the refactor of the website, or improving my video setup, the new computer, or funding the development of the printed book project, the eshop...) and also the increasing lenght of the next episodes and collaborative steps and validations (CI/Pipeline/Transcript) on the process.
My main source of additional income comes from the non-profit org Framasoft; you probably saw many artworks ( https://www.peppercarrot.com/xx/files/framasoft.html ). I also very like to work with them, I'm always eager between episodes to make new illustrations for them.
Other sources are too minor to speak about it (selling book or merch, youtube's views,etc) but still appreciable to round up the budget.
All in all, I'm pretty bad at managing money: I usually sees it as buying extra time to make more amazing project later xD. I really started to struggle recently, because of the big lenght of episode 36 and the time I spent on refactoring the website and travel I had to do because of health issue in family... Fortunately, I received in November a very generous direct donation that really helped me to focus back on the production of the episode and not stop it half way to redo freelance.
Lessons learned, I'll probably not do 15 pages long episodes again after that and go back to 5 to 10 pages long format. I hope it gave you the big picture!
Thank you very much for your clear explanation. Because it don't find the right words to respond (they are not sounds like a cliché), I just say thank you for your contribution!
I'd much rather see the comic strip turn out well than learn that you are getting creative burnout from churning out comic strips too quickly. Be thankful you're not working with a Japanese Mangaka's schedule. If I'm not mistaken, Hajime Isayama, the creator of the Attack on Titan manga got burnt out when he wrote the last volume of his series attempting to finish it within his deadline.
Thank you Ryan! I have unfortunately a similar (no)life style; painting all day long, sometime nights, always a part of sundays, and too often full week-ends too. I burnt out last June/Jully and it wasn't first time...
I'll have to find something post episode 36 to get a healthier life (I'll start with a break for end-December to recover and brainstorm about it). I still love to do comics, tell stories, FLOSS community, tutorials and I'm not planning to stop at all, that's sure. But I have to find a trick or a way, because doing that rythm from 30 to 40 y/o was somehow physically managable, but nowaday this doesn't feel like a long term plan for a good life and I must prepare from now on what I'm planning to live for my 50 y/o .
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