13Aug

Captain T and Prompts

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It has been a while since I’ve updated. Ciaran has been diligent behind the scenes getting things working so I CAN update the site again. His work has allowed my frankensteined system to work with the new WordPress 6.3 update, which it is doing so now.

Captain T

Captain T pages have been worked on and are being posted to Keenspot. The website code there is a little funky as well, but I’m proud of the pages so please focus on them. If anyone knows pearl as well as web code like HTML, CSS, and PHP, I’m looking for help. Below are some snippets from panels.

Prompts

Between 2020 and 2022 I would periodically do daily drawing prompts. I’m finally uploading them up to the site, where they’ll be updating in the archives section of this website. I’ve posted a few of them here before in the blog, but now I’m putting them all up in all of their glory. I still need to figure out where I’m going to put Red Dahlia as that’s nowhere online and I have 2 chapters (ironically the beginning and the end respectively). Probably in the same archive.

Patreon

I’ve been updating my Patreon more as well as opened up the Discord server to patrons. I’m going to start using that server for Philo episodes when I get a chance. You can sign up here and get stuff.

Youtube

I have a youtube channel now. I mean, I have a few others I haven’t maintained, but now I have one dedicated to the artglych handle on the internet that has episodes on Captain T progress. Here is the latest one which is a timelapse of page 17.

Twitch

I’ve also been very active in twitch. The plan is to have a “currently live,” link on this site, but dreams are dreams. Right now, what’s functional is me telling you to check it out periodically as I update there several times a week. Here’s the Twitch link.

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14May

Upgrade update

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There are ongoing legacy issues on this portion of the site, that will take some more time to fix. I am continuing to work on it, but will focus on getting CaptainT and the other comic areas up and running first. ~ Ciaran.

19Feb

Update on the site update

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Still working on the site update. Much progress behind the scenes – mostly to do with multisite stuff. I’ll work to get some of the changes live this week. ~ Ciaran

03Feb

CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY

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Hi, This is Ciaran. I’m helping Amber get the site modernized. The work is starting today, Friday, February 3 2023, and should be done during the day on Sunday, February 5. UPDATE: Looks like I need a couple more days to get the new WordPress blocks set up. Should be done on Wednesday.

For those interested, this is going to be an update to the latest Big N of WordPress, which starts with throwing away literally all the concepts around which this site was original built. And that includes so much custom code … oh my gosh so much tweaking of PHP to get things in place, and then keep them working as things around us changed.

For anyone curious about ComicEasel on WordPress 6 please let me set your mind at ease. In the words of The Mighty, it is super easy. Barely an inconvenience. I’ll keep notes on how we set up, configure, and integrate with ComicEasel, and will share those with Amber’s permission when the site is up and purring.

On a personal note, just creating this post using the old WordPress format makes me wonder how we ever survived. This is horrifically painful.

Here’s the log for anyone playing along at home:

  1. Can has full backup?
    1. I use the mighty and powerful FETCH for FTP. It’s been my constant companion and bestest buddy since 1989. I remember meeting the team at MacWorld ’93 after the show was over and trading them a whole box of tradeshow fu-fus for a personal Fetch of my own. You can’t buy loyalty like that – it has to be bartered for in the dark of the night after substantial drinking.
    2. Backups successful.
    3. Exports successful.
    4. WordPress 5.8.6 -> WordPress 6.1.1 … working.

HA HA HA oh my god that was painful. Like, HOURS of painful. I got to learn so much about core_updater.lock and all its marvelous friends and relatives. Woof. Ok, that is going to be a story to tell in the white paper that comes out of this update process.

THEORY: I believe that we had so much custom code in the guts of WordPress that the update just gave up. That the start of this post above can’t be converted and had to be wrappered to preserve it might just be the tip of the iceberg.

Now on to the next steps:

Post WordPress 6.1.1 Upgrade steps:

  1. Move to WordPress 6.1.1 savvy theme.
    • OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
    • ABORT ABORT ABORT

HA HA HA this is going to take some extra typing.

Please note: None of this has anything to do with ComicEasel. This is all just the normal noise of going from hand-cut WordPress 4 & 5 hacks to a WordPress 6 site with blocks.

I will be back on Monday to do more work on getting this all fixed and working.

03Feb

The State of the Panel 2023

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Hello, Fellow Human!

In this brave new world of AI-generated images and Chat GPI, I think it’s important to remind people I, too, am a people. So with that being said, where are we?

Website

WordPress has changed behind the scenes from version 4 the site is currently built upon versions 5 and even 6. The site needs to update with the times, so we’re going to see a lot of under-construction stuff over the next month or so as we switch everything to the new block format WordPress is using for their page designs. I have an extensive plugin system for my comic archives called Comicpress which also needs to update to the new system. Frumph, the original designer, is working with my web guru Ciaran to rectify the issues.

Comics

Holy shit, we’re finished with page 5 of Captain T as of this writing. It will be published on Keenspot first before eventually making it over to the site here. They’re printing the comic. I’ve been streaming the art creation on my twitch channel at Twitch.com/artglych. I try to stream several times a week. As of this writing, I have 72 followers but am not an Affiliate yet. I guess I need to chat more. Most other comic projects are on hold right now until I can get the site worked out. I do plan on bringing Red Dahlia to the site in its own section as well as separating the archives into a better format than they are currently (if I have to change everything, I might as well change everything).

Other Projects

I have some commissions to finish as well as a kid’s book written by Shawn Ray called Rosie the Salamander. I might make some more coloring books this year if I have time. It might be a passive income for me as an artist. I’ve also been updating my Patreon more and more. Chuck Whelon also invited me on as a co-host for his weekly Planet Urf Podcast which re-streams to my twitch channel if you ever want to check it out.

19Jul

Updates Since January

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The Usual

Howdy! It’s been half a year since I’ve posted. I have been mostly Mom since January. Annebelle will be 2 in November, so she’s right at that fighty, bitey, tantrum stage. I hold her, and wait them out. She’s been fighting her naps in the afternoon. This has preventing me from getting a lot of artwork done, though I did continue doing prompts for a while. I stopped because I broke my wrist and couldn’t draw for something like two months. Below are some select prompts. I broke my wrist as a paid Ice Sculptor, by the way. Read that over all the times you need.


So why the update?

Well… I’m plunging into Captain T in August 2022. I have the comic sold, I have a publisher, I have to do it. SO! We’re going to make a development blog while I make it. I’ll have some updates here but a lot of them over on my Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/artglych). Aside from sketches, scripts, and designs, I have nothing done for it, so we’re starting at the beginning.

In the background, my friend Ciaran and I have been working on Panel2Panel.com’s WordPress theme. WordPress updated to this “block” system that takes some getting used to. We’re building a whole new site for the new format so we don’t have as many glitchy issues. I would prefer Glychy issues! 

Prompts!

Below are select prompts for February and March of 2022. I started doing them in color for a bit because I got some new texture packs from TrueGritTextureSupply.com. When I broke my wrist I had to stop doing them for a while.

23Jun

Wow, life hits you hard.

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Huh.

I haven’t been on this site in a few years to update it. There was a slew of updates waiting for me on my WordPress Dashboard, so I installed them, and it kind of broke my website on the back end. So far, the front end seems fine, but I’ve lost access to my media files on this side of the screen. That being said, here’s an update on my life since the last post.

Art Update:

I did a few commissions during the gap I have not yet uploaded to the site including a Deadpool and a medusa. There were also a few paintings I have to upload as well.  I haven’t really made any comics since the Lump comic, which I’m angry at myself about. I’m rusty. I need to start sketching again. Drawing again. Painting again. Being creative again. I have a million unfinished projects I just need to tackle as perfection is the enemy of done.

Moving Update:

Since the last post, we’ve changed apartments twice more. This involves packing, moving, unpacking, living, packing, moving, unpacking, etc. Through these moves, we’ve parsed down the library from over 3000 books to just over 2200 as well as put a lot of my art supplies in storage, which had made using them hard. After all this time I feel like I finally have room to breathe in my creative space to start updating again.

Mental Update:

I have a bipolar disorder as well as depression and anxiety. I’m not going to dance around it or hide it or feel embarrassed about it because -for the first time in a long time- I feel like myself again. I’m on a good medication cocktail that has me reflecting back on times when I was on different meds or none at all and wondering who the hell that person was. I realize my most toxic years were during college. They reflected poorly on others of who the person I was then versus who I am now. I don’t talk to a lot of those people now because they have only seen me at my worse and I don’t blame them for it. I hate that person I used to be. I’m starting to come to terms with myself and become the person I want to be today instead. This Glych is much happier; laughs at life’s misfortunes rather than take them personally. This Glych has let go of a lot of grudges and has forgiven a lot of people. This Glych has mellowed and is starting to feel inspired again. It took a re-diagnosis and a new batch of meds (as well as a lot of therapy work) to change into the person I am now versus the person I was. I let go of that toxicity I used to hold onto. And I feel better.

I think it’s important to share because we often hear about the difficulties of a mental illness and how people struggle with it but we rarely hear about the stories of improvement and getting a grip on one’s mental health. It’s possible. It happened to me. But it also took a lot of work, good medical science, and good doctors.

Employment Update:

Between that last post and this one, I have had between 3-5 jobs, depending on how you classify freelance. Some of those day jobs have included instructing children in animation and film making for 3 companies, being a regional manager for a company that taught children how to animate and make movies for one of those three companies, being a gallery art curator, an art director, a cartographer for AT&T, a dishwasher, an item specialist, a data analyst, a classic art teacher for kids, a sublimation printer, and finally a budtender. Out of my entire mixed career between art and day jobs, this job has paid me more than I’ve ever made in my life. I have medical, dental, vision, and daily tips. If it weren’t for this job I would be in a lot of hot water. That being said, my day job is 40 hours a week, 4 10-hour days which leaves me little creative time. I’m going to try to squeeze it out. But this job finally affords me the ability to climb out of debt from student loans and when I was forced to live off of credit cards during lean times.

Family Update:

Annebelle

Everyone, meet Annebelle. In this photo, she’s about 5 months old but by the time of this writing, she’s just turned 7 months old. I gained about 30 lbs over the pregnancy I’m trying to lose, so no photos of me for a while, but she’s adorable. That’s happy news. The sad news is that my father is extremely sick with stage 4 melanoma right now. He’s been fighting for years but the cancer drugs have been very rough on him the past year or so. Ian, Annebelle, and I are going to visit in late September so he can meet his granddaughter. Last year in 2020, Covid took my grandmother as well. I’m dealing with a lot of mixed emotions right now.

Archive Update:

This last move, Ian encouraged me to parse down on my stack of CDs, DVDs, movies, games, programs, and various comic files accrued over the years. I am finding SO MUCH I want to upload to the site. I’ve spent the past 2 days just copying it onto a 2TB hard drive so I can toss the disks. I’ve also found a lot more Philo’s and Philo art. Those will be coming to the site soon.

 

 

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04Jan

The ol’ drawing board.

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Glych
Glych

It’s been a ride, the last few years since I left California and came to Denver. Things came like monsters at us, one after another. Losing a job here, breaking an arm there. It’s been a tough 4 years. I told myself that, once things stabilized, I would make comics again! This was my rally call I used to psyche myself up for the challenge.

So I made a plan. During the 4 year storm, I would sneak time away working on a secret project called Captain T and the Search for King Ollie’s Gold. The first chapter is written and I’ve started on the second. Notes and charts for the rest of the story are joined by maps, character designs. I even have storyboards for when I wanted to make it a cartoon.

A pile of finished comics

For the past few months, the time I stole was for the part of comic making that I find much more fun than the building part. It’s all in watercolor, but it is taking me a long time.

Drawing has always been a joy of mine and I’m disappointed in myself that I let it slip away from me so easily after college. I’m rusty. I know this. I see it in my linework. But practice makes perfect and I am out of practice. It’s time to change that, and work towards perfection.

Ian asked me what would speed up the process or make it easier to work and I told him maybe a Cintiq and Photoshop (which I am currently without -wow Amber, right?), which is an expensive piece of equipment married with an expensive piece of software. The last four years have made both out of my reach.

Well, Xmas came this past year, and Santa brought me a new Huion screen bigger than a Cintiq.

An infinity void in a screen repeating into the netherverse.

Ta da! (In a trippy display fashion as an homage to my friend Hamil Griffin-Cassidy, whom I used to make Philo with.). There’s was little XP-PEN remote in my stocking too. Santa got a refurbished one off Amazon, but when it arrived it was still broken. Amazon replaced the screen in two days. Huion has excellent customer service and were right on top of it a day later (there’s a dramatic time difference between their part of the world and mine). We also had a snag with the XP-PEN driver and their customer service was excellent as well. Five stars, both Huion and XP-PEN. Highly recommended. Tell your friends.

I’ve only been playing with it, for now. I’m getting used to a digital screen again. It is both familiar and alien. but it’s time to get down to business.

I log back into the admin part of my site and the content manager I use had a dramatic update I’m not used to yet. The update broke some code here and there, so I noticed that several of the comics weren’t displaying properly.

I’ll be honest. I haven’t been maintaining my site as well as I should be. I’m probably speaking into a void right now and there isn’t anyone looking at my little comics. That’s okay. Sometimes amazing things happen when no one is looking.

I’m going to review the site, pulling at the code here and there, dusting off the archives, spring cleaning the comments, get the comics displayed right again… It’s a long list and I’m not going to get to it all at once. I have to perform triage a bit.

But I’ve made some comics so far this year. I have paintings to share from last year. I have lots of Captain T to share. Thank you for your patience with me, world. I think I’m ready now.

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31Dec

Temporary Start

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There is a lot of backend development I’m working on to get the site back up to its former glory. For now, please enjoy by clicking on the links on the main page.

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