Atomic Laundromat

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Advanced Interior Design

30

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated

by Armando on December 8, 2016

I don’t even know where to start this post. So I guess let’s get the obvious things out of the way.

No, the comic is not dead or abandoned.

No, I did not disappear in China (although that almost happened).

Yes, I will take the comic to its intended conclusion (story-wise, it’s at least a couple of years away).

Yes, apologies for the radio silence.

Getting that out of the way… I guess the next thing to address is why there hasn’t been work on the comic or an update. There’s a ton of different ways to express why or how, but it boils down to one simple way to put it.

I just haven’t been able to draw a single thing.

Rather simple/unapologetic statement – but there IS a lot behind it. I’m a notoriously shy/reclusive person online so I’m not prone to sharing a lot (to a fault, where I will go dark… like what was happening right now). But I’m battling stuff from all sides right now. These things include crippling anxiety/depression (I know, a depressed artist – so cliche), increased demands from the day job (including conference calls at all hours of the night, apparently) and other assorted things (notoriously reclusive, remember?). This is not an excuse or an apology. It’s not a call for pity or “woe is me” to fish for compliments and encouragement. It’s a statement of fact. This is what is going on.

There are the artists out there who can do it all (or can mount the bravado of an online persona that can do it all) – juggle full time dayjob, familiar obligations, side projects and a comic without (apparently) breaking a sweat. I’m not one of those people, apparently – I did try for a while. Something had to give, and the comic is paying (part) of the price. This is not a “just sit down and draw” situation – I tried that and I discovered the hard way that’s not really the way to go about it (not for me and not for right now). There’s only so many “sit down in front of an empty file on the cintiq for hours” sessions I can take.

Going forward and the foreseeable future, the best way to describe the update schedule is “sporadic”. I will shoot to update at least once a week to keep the comic moving. The only advantage I can see is that I do envision updates that are longer or more varied — having more time does allow to break free a bit out of the three/four panel structure that is starting to feel constraining for the story I want to tell. Again, I will do my best to post on this frequency — “my best” being the operative word. I’d really recommend subscribing to the RSS (where I post the full comic, not excerpts) or my social media channels so you are aware of updates. I’m not in the business of wasting your time, so you can’t be expected to refresh the page hoping there’s an update.

Thank you for reading. Here’s looking forward to seeing David’s story through and that you are able to stick around.

42 Comments

Adventures in the Far East

by Armando on September 12, 2016

Hi guys – as much as I hate to do this, I have to take a break from the comic from a few weeks. I got the opportunity to go explore China and Japan for a few weeks and it is something I cannot pass up. I was hopeful I could get some buffer strips under my belt – but work and all that conspired to make it impossible. So I’m taking off tomorrow for faraway lands. Keep an eye on my Twitter and my Facebook page for updates (assuming that I don’t land in a faraway jail or ditch). Comic will be back on October 10th, 2016.

21 Comments

B&W Monday

by Armando on May 23, 2016

It was my birthday this weekend, so suffice to say that celebrations ran a bit long. I managed to still get the strip out, but wasn’t able to get it colored in. Will try to do so later in the week!

8 Comments

Cadence

by Armando on May 11, 2016

Since the return of the comic I’ve gotten some questions about the frequency for updates. For now (unless something happens at the ol’ day job) the idea is to publish three times a week on Monday-Wednesday-Friday. This may change if I want to push a special (like a full page or a double comic) but that’s the plan for the time being. It seems everything is pretty sustainable right now and I have a plan, so I should be able to stick the schedule. Thanks for reading!

7 Comments

Overshot

by Armando on July 8, 2015

So I kinda overshot my target return date by a bit. Things have been crazy in the real world so to speak. But well, comics are back. With luck I should finally wrap up Angela and her friend’s very long conversation. Here’s hoping at least. Thank you for sticking around.

8 Comments
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Atomic Laundromat by Armando Valenzuela is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License