The Chapter 11 Script Is DONE!
You read that right! I finally got the whole thing written out, start to finish just like the old days. This thing is LONG. I think it reads well, but I will still be taking some time in the start of July to do some editing (I'm letting it rest right now) and then I'll hop right into thumbnails, which act as the 2nd pass at edits. I hoped to have the comic itself updating by the end of spring, but I think that was a bit too optimistic for someone who has other shit going on besides comic making. It's very likely I might not even start updating before the end of this year.
Going by the length of the script chapter 11 of Act 2 looks to be well over 100 pages, which is a length I haven't yet broken with any previous chapters. I could try to condense it, but this is also the 2nd to last chapter and I feel it deserves the space to breathe. This is something I can finally do now that I have complete control over how I release this story. I felt like I had to finish Star Trip fast when the comic was a part of Hiveworks, because of the looming possibility of printing the comic into a book. Now that I've decided that won't be happening at all, and I'm only beholden to myself and anyone still reading this comic (who are free to come and go, it's chill) and not a digital publisher that needs to make ad money off of my site traffic, I think I will just let the end of story air out as it needs to.
I know I will also need space to make the final chapter (Chapter 12) happen. There are a lot of high emotions in that one. I have also been dreaming about the insane sequence of events for quite some time.
This is a long and rambling way of me saying that I'll keep working, but I'm not going to beat myself up for it being long. I do have a timeline in mind...
Late June - The script has been completed.
Early July - The first pass of edits.
Mid July - Start work on those thumbnails.
Now, a single thumbnail can take me between 10 and 20 minutes to finish, and if I can get three of them done per day (dedicate and 30 mins to 1 hour to them) in between day job plus the shit I have to do to keep myself alive and happy as an adult human, and assuming that this chapter could be as long as 120 pages, It'll take me around 40 days to get all of those done sooooo...
Late August - Finish thumbnails (here's hoping!)
There will always be the chance of something slowing me down. Life happens, right? But if I get the thumbnails done by then, I can take a breather and then move on to pencils in September.
Mid September - Start Pencils.
I have now entered into the realm of long term forecasting. Penciling takes me a lot longer than thumbnails, and I am at a point in my life where I just don't have as much time to spend on them. This is where my prediction that I won't have this chapter finished before the end of 2026 seems more and more true. I highly doubt I'll be finished penciling 120 odd pages in half a month while working a day job and taking care of domestic errands (and have a social life). I'll be lucky if I even get all that done before the start of winter. Yeah :/
Oh god, and the inks!
Alright, this is not a spiral, this is just me laying out facts. This chapter will take time to complete. It'll not be done until 2027. I'm going to keep working on it, and the best I can do is keep giving updates whenever I complete a step. Thankfully, I do love to blog, and I love having a reason to post more to this site's blog in particular. That's incentive!
I no longer feel ashamed about this elongated timeline because Star Trip is no longer attached to a publisher and is once again something I do for fun and for learning, just like when I started it 13 years ago. This new website is a testament to the return to that mentality.
So to sum it all up. My work on Chapter 11 is progressing and I have finished writing the full first draft of the script. This will be a long chapter (over 100 pages) that I will need lots more time to finish it than I originally (optimistically) thought. Chapter 11 will likely be completed in 2027. I will be sharing updates through this blog (as well as my Patreon) about each completed step. I am ok with this taking longer than I had anticipated. Thank you for reading.