Alright, the last page of this arc is up. I’m done for a while…I can’t believe it took two months to do it. Thank you all so much for your support, your hits, and your links. I’m already contemplating the ways that I can come back. Schemes and ideas. So keep half an eye on the site, and follow me on Twitter and Deviant Art for my triumphant return.

I’m not putting a date on it, but wander in during the Summer and I’ll at least have some kind of update for you. Until then: Peace, love and everything else.

-Paoken’s Keeper

End update.

I guess I should just stop pussy-footing around it…I’ve been trying to deny it to myself for way too long.

But I’m done, for a while at least. I’ve got no time in my life right now for the comic, and as much as it pains me to say it, I need to hang up it up.

It’s been building for a while now. Since I started Book Two, I think. But I just don’t have the heart for it anymore. I love The PKF, but it needs to be put aside for a while so I can decide my next move.

See, I thought I’d be able to hire someone to work on the art for me, but the more I look into it the more I realize that for what I’d be offering, I’d be lucky to get a decent penciler. Which would leave me with inks/colors/post work (lettering, bubbles, etc.).

And I don’t think that I could even keep up with that. So I’d be doing a disservice to the artist, myself, and all of you.

Back when I started this comic I was a bored senior in high school who’s more strenuous activity was marathon gaming sessions with his friends.

Then it was college…and let’s all be honest here, the first two years of college are a joke. I mean, I barely had to work for anything other than an odd project here or there.

But the last two years it’s been work, studying, preparing for a career, finding a job that starts said career, and now trying to maintain that career and excel at it.

And now my living situation has changed (I’ve never been one to whine to you, so I won’t go into it), and I need to concentrate on saving every penny so that I can move out as soon as I can.

So the comic is getting taken off the burner officially.

I hardly have time to sit and relax, let alone force myself to do something that I no longer have a passion for.

And that’s just it, really. I’m sick of keeping a schedule, the only times I’ve really enjoyed drawing lately were when I was doing for giggles.

And that means I procrastinate working on the comic.

Worse, it means I put off doing things I WANT to do, like write.

See, I wasn’t lying about that. I still love to write. But I’m sick of drawing. I’m sick of watching my stories stagnate with a weekly (if I’m lucky) update.

So my illustrious twelve month plan is dead.

But I’ve got a new idea. Something vaguely crazy, but I think it will work out better for everyone.

I’m going to start work on a new story, a new comic. I’m going to prepare, and work, and write it. Then I’m going to find an artist, and pay them decently. And I’m going to publish it online.

It’s not The PKF, it’s something else. Something that I came up with five years ago, but ignored, but now I’ve got the angle.

I’ve got the idea right.

And I’m going to go for it.

I’ll tell you a little secret, when I started the PKF in 2005, I had no idea what I was doing. I had twenty or thirty stories written over a ten year period that I decided I was going to make into a comic.

Since then it’s expanded as I learned more and more about what I wanted my stories to be. But I’ve always been left with those early comics that I hadn’t planned out well enough, and they make my life hell.

But not this time. I’m going to have this new story totally planned out. And ready. So when it hits the intertubes I’ll know exactly where it’s going.

Sadly, this does mean I’m hanging up my PKF hat for the time being.

But, and here’s the honest to god truth, I’ve never stayed away from it for too long. The PKF has been around since I was seven years old, and this was the biggest, longest, period of my life that I consistently work on it.

It’s always been there, and will always be there.

And when I’m ready, The PKF will continue. Maybe with a time skip. Maybe from right here, right now.

But it will continue. You have my word.

Just…later.

As it stands, I’ll finish this arc (I’ve always hated with web-comics end midarc), but then I’m going on extended hiatus.

I won’t ask the few of you to keep checking in, that wouldn’t be fair, I don’t know when I’ll relaunch. But if you keep an eye on My Deviant Art, or My Twitter, I’ll keep you appraised and you won’t even have to check the site.

But if you do stick around, I’ll keep the blog updated from time to time, and maybe I’ll even post a picture or two.

I don’t know.

But for now, it’s goodbye.

Thanks for an amazing six years.

And all the fish.

Peace, love, and all the other good things,
Paoken’s Keeper
(Keith Thomsen)

Lol, so this week was a total bust as far as ‘comic’ things go.

As far as new job/life related things go it was pretty sweet. I love the people at my new school…seriously, aside from a few quirky individuals everyone has been fantastic. And even they’ve been pretty cool. Now if the kids are half as awesome I’ll be in for a good year.

But the week was hectic as all sin. I worked on the summer fun pic a fair amount, but it’s not really done yet. I’ll try to finish more of it tomorrow, but today was spent working on more school (work? Not sure what to call it now…) stuff. But I’m totally ready for the first three days, and mostly ready for Thursday and Friday. Just need a few more things printed.

In any case it will be up before August is over so help me Gods.

I’m still planning on going back to two a week starting September 6th. Until then the comic is on…Hiatus? I don’t know if I’d call it that.

Temporarily suspended due to life overload.

TSDtLO?

Lets go with that.

I want to get the last three comics done that would get me through the month, then there’s only another month or so before I step down as artist (hopefully…we’ll see how the whole ‘work for me for jack’ thing goes). In any case The 12 Month Plan is still on.

If I think of anything important I’ll update this post, but otherwise all information stands until further notice.

Thanks again for hanging in there.

-Peace

Now, keep in mind, I don’t want to live off this comic. I’d love to, but I don’t really care about that.

What that means is basically this: If it can pay for itself, The PKF will continue expanding and growing until it either tapers off or I die (or run out of ideas…which seems unlikely).

I want the comic to not be a financial burden on me, but I’m also willing to put some time and effort and money into getting it there.

So without further ado…the steps.

Step One, starting in August:
Free advertising, anything latent that will take time to build up.

-Webcomic Directories
-Load More comics into DA (late August)
-More Facebook, more twitter
-Mirror Sites (Drunkduck, CG, comicfury, smackjeeves, etc…)

Step Two, Starting in September:
Any advertising that involves instant interaction, IE: post on other’s blogs/reading sites (redit?)

-Back to Two days a week…eight comics a month.
-LINK EXCHANGE! Any takers?
-Article sites (Bukisa and Hubpages), lots of articles, maybe a short series, I don’t know yet.
-Shetoldme (I’m told its a very good platform to advertise your URLs or website address.)
-Reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/webcomics
-Webcomic news sites:

http://www.fleen.com

http://www.comixtalk.com

http://www.webcomicoverlook.com

http://www.stormingthetower.com

-Other

http://entervoid.com/news.php

Step Three, starting in October:
Find assistance

-I will looking for someone to help me sometime in October, I want someone to take the weight off of me. Realistically, I’d like a full-blown artist, someone who’ll draw/ink the comic and I’ll do the coloring. However, I don’t know if this will be possible on my meager salary. I’ll have money saved up between September and October and I’ll start my search.

Step Four, starting in November:
New artist/Paid advertising

-With some new blood in the site I’ll begin updating more often. My short term plan is to have ten pages a month, maybe bulk update each Friday? I’d love to have twelve again, but that’s totally up to my budget/artist.

-Here’s where I start shelling out some cash, just a few dollars at first. I don’t know what my advertising budget is going to be, but it should be decent. With the new help/regular updates I hope to have major retention of readers.

Step Five, starting in March (2012):
Reader driven advertising

-I intend to have a some incentives, little things, nothing huge. Maybe a print. I don’t know. Basically if you ‘donate’ your time to me and post some ‘check this shit out’ stuff around the web/your campus (don’t spam, please) I’ll give you something.

-This is where you guys really come in, if you love the comic, pimp the hell out of it!

Step Six, starting in May (2012):
Donation Drives/Products for sale

-By this point I’ll have SOMETHING for you guys to buy, unless this just explodes and I have to get on that sooner. It’ll likely be smaller stuff, maybe buttons, or something tiny for donation reasons. Like: Donate four dollars and get a button set.

-I’d also like to get prints up and running properly. IE: Buy a print of this page.

-I also wouldn’t mind some kind of shirts or something. Maybe King of No Pants (though that’s mostly because I want one…).

Step Seven, starting in August (2012):
Rounding it out/expansion

-I figure that by this point I should have a clear view of the future…or, at least, a less muddled view. If readership is up and I’m not totally shouldering the burden I’ll likely ask the artist/assitant if they’d be willing to continue on after the year is over.

-More merchandise if there’s a call for it.

-Expand/remove donations. If there’s enough coming in from sales I might shift the donation incentive into the merchandise category (the buttons, for example, would be for ‘sale’). If donations are still a huge part of the thing, I’ll probably just go ahead and make more donation incentives, more buttons, more stickers, etc…)

-Beg like a son of a bitch if we’re not doing well.

Step Eight, starting in November (2012):
To infinity and beyond…

-If everything goes well, it’s mostly going to be more of step seven. More expansion, maybe another assistant (if I’m coloring, get someone else/pay current artist to color), etc…

-If this has bombed horribly, then, well, I’ll probably just take over myself and start updating once a week again…or I’ll shelve The PKF for a while and reconsider what I’m doing. Though the former is much more likely…at least through Book Three (which gives an ‘acceptable’ ending).

-Conventions? I don’t know…that might be interesting, haha.

—————————————————————–

Alright, there’s my plan, my rough plan. I’m thinking that it might behoove me to have some merchandise sooner (small stuff) than my current plan. So I’m going to have to look into that.

Maybe as early as December/January I’ll have buttons or patches for you guys to buy.

If ANYONE has anything to add to it I’d be appreciative. Or, hell, if any of you are decent artists that are willing to work cheap, I’d love to hear from you.

As it stands, this is what I’m going to follow in hopes of getting this comic to a place where it’s not hemorrhaging money out it’s severed neck, so we’ll see.

I’m thinking that there might be a minor website design change in September…one that highlights this plan so that new readers know what’s going on.

Either way, thanks again for sticking it out with me, you have my word that I’ll be doing everything I can to return the comic to a normal update schedule.

And bring in some new friends.

-Peace

So much major stuff happened this arc it’s kind of insane to think about…but I guess that’s what happens when you’ve got eighty pages to cover everything.

Chris is gone…faded away, stolen, or just plain gone if you’d rather. Either way Tom is free from his snide comments and general hate. Though how Tom will fair without said distraction is yet to be revealed.

Well…since he bailed like a little bitch I guess something was revealed, right?

Either way Tom has opted to abandon his duties as The Peaceman and leave his life behind.

For how long?

I totally know. But you don’t. It could be forever. Or he might wise up and turn around in the next comic.

Maybe I’m just @#$%ing with you.

Maybe the Spiker actually hit him and the whole thing has been one big coma dream constructed by Chris so that he can gain access to Tom’s body.

…

Damn it, that would have been awesome…why didn’t I think of that before?

@#$%.

Anyhow, the chapter’s over…so it’s time for me to start thinking about the next one. Well, start thinking about drawing it, anyhow, since I’ve had it written for the better part of six months.

Like I’ve said, I’m going to finish out the next arc myself, then I’m (planning to) pick up an artist, in some capacity, to help me out and lessen the load.

This is all contingent on how much money I’m making next fall, but after looking at my budget I think I’ll be okay.

More on that later (maybe next week).

Either way, there won’t be any story comic updates in August as I try to get a buffer ready so I can go back to two pages a week in September.

So keep an eye here, I’ll have a full information dump sometime in the next few months.

-Peace

No new art or anything psychotic like that, but I’ve resized all the pages, redid all the dialogue/sound effects in the new fonts, and I reworked some of the dialogue. Nothing severe. That’s one thing I will never do, retcon things in the past to fit the future.

Mostly I just scrapped out some bad lines/wordy lines that weren’t needed. And edited a few jokes that either just sucked ass or were unclear.

Best example is here. Originally when Tom introed Sam, he said that he hated being called ‘Electrin’…which made no sense. I think Sam mentioned that he didn’t like the name once, then never again. That was really me expressing my distaste for it…so I scrapped it since it added exactly jack-crap to the comic.

I also cleaned up the exposition about Jalom a little. So that it makes a little more sense and doesn’t sound as convoluted.

So I hope you guys will forgive me for that. I’ve been working on it on and off for about two months (with some pretty big breaks in between). I plan to do this to every comic in the archives by November.

Why?

Because by November/December I’m planning on stepping down as the artist for The PKF, and I’m going to make a legitimate go at making this comic something successful. I kind of mentioned it in April. But I think I’ve officially decided that I don’t want to draw this anymore…all I’m doing is dragging it down.

And I want my old art to look as clean as possible.

So I’ve begun to hunt around for an artist who’d be willing to work in my price range…I’ve found a fair few, but I haven’t contacted them quite yet. But starting in September I’ll be switching back to two days a week for the comic while I round out the Night Jewel arc (it’s black and white…I think I can handle that…).

And while I’m finishing the NJ arc, I’ll be (hopefully) working with a new artist to pick up when Chapter Eight starts.

I originally wanted to start them ON the NJ arc, but I realized that if I did that I’d be picking them up for more than a year if I wanted to finish this book with them. And I don’t want to dedicate myself to that right now.

I’m still working out my plans, but the idea right now is to hire someone for one year. One year to make the comic something that pays for itself. One year to advertise, get links going, and start making money back.

I’ve only got a few thousand to spend on this, but I think that at two or three days a week, with an artist doing only the pencils/inks (I’ll color at first) I’ll be able to find someone.

Anyhow, I’ll talk more about it when I finish my business map of vague logic.

I hope you guys enjoy the weird little update for today…and thanks again for sticking with me.

-Peace

Ding Dong–

Okay. I’ll stop. Anyhoo, I apparently lied when I told you that I was done messing with the site. I wasn’t lying at the time, but a few days ago (Friday? I think Friday) I asked the good folks at the Comic Press Forums what they thought of my site, and the prognosis was what I feared:

Too Complicated. Too much scrolling. And why the hell do you have two separate archives?!

See, about a month ago, my friend (and reader, SmallWonder) mentioned that he didn’t notice I was still updating…he didn’t notice the ‘latest pages’ thing changing…so I knew I had a problem…I just didn’t know how to fix it.

BUT, I took it to heart, and with the help of the illustrious Frumph (At this point I should have a Frumph tag…man’s helped me out a lot) I’ve whipped the site into shape. I was originally against the whole ‘splash entrance page’, but really, what was on the old main page that isn’t here, just more accessible?

My Blog?

I don’t fool myself. You’re all here for the comic, if you reading this right now, thank you. But I’m not so infatuated with my wordsmithing that I feel it’s some high-brow art and that you’re here just for this.

Basically, it’s all here, just easy to get to. There’s little to no scrolling, everything looks nice and clean (seriously, that twitter button I was using bugged the hell out of me).

Now, I know I’m missing that shout-box, but honestly, that thing was a resource hog and the people that ran it seemed shady (I hardly had control over it…). I’m going to try and find a place for it, because I know some people enjoyed it, but right now, it’s hidden away. Sorry, I’m working on it.

I make no promises about it, but I’m working on it.

Finally, a big thanks to the folks (folk?) at MilkAddict for the snazzy new buttons that I’m using to point people to DA, FB, Twitter, and RSS. I was originally scrambling around trying to find buttons that looked kind of similar, but found nothing for Deviant Art, then lo and behold, I found a whole set.

Anyhow, I’m still playing with it a little, but for the most part, we’re done. Again.

Hopefully for good this time…heh.

-Peace

But I just wanted to point out that comic number four‘s background is slightly blurred out when compared to the foreground. I decided to give this a shot for multiple reasons, but mostly because I wanted to see if it looks more ‘professional’.

Soo…does it? Haha!

It didn’t add much (any) time, and wasn’t all that hard, but if it doesn’t do anything for yah, I’ll likely just abandon it. Or I’ll keep going because why the hell wouldn’t I?

But things are really heating up in the PKF, and I’d like to get another update out soon. So I’ll be going right to work on the next sequence. I hope you all bear with me once again as I muddle through this season. Things will get better…hell, you’d have likely had this update on Tuesday (or Monday) if it wasn’t for this bloody flu I’ve gotten. Even now I think it skewed my perception a little on that fourth comic.

Bah.

Enjoy, either way.

And check back on Friday night for some special holiday happy. I can officially call it ‘holiday’ this year as it doesn’t even remotely involve Christmas…hell, it’s not even on this PLANET.

-Peace

————————-

Three months on the 12th. That’s how long it’s been since I last posted a blog.

And for that I’m sorry.

I’ve been abusing my little ‘emergency message’ dealie at the top of the site, rather than sit down and type a cognizant piece of news. But my life’s been hectic and I haven’t really had much to say that couldn’t be summed up in a few choice sentences. But today…well…today’s a different story.

First, what likely lead you down here in the first place:

The site’s been ‘redesigned’ again. Brought back a few months to what I’ve called the ‘Starry Night’ design, this is, fundamentally, my favorite design. It’s funny, when I set out from comic genesis two years ago it wasn’t because I was unhappy with the site design, it was because I wanted to have a more ‘personal’ hosting of my site. I wanted a host I could control, one I could improve.

But somewhere along the line I became obsessed with the appearance of the site.

I mean, literally, it’s kind of sad how much time I’ve spent in front of this thing. Tweaking this, futzing with that. But this should be it. Really this time. Why? Because this is a child theme, attached to the core ComicPress theme.

Which, in layman’s terms, means that I can update ComicPress when the new version comes out without losing my layout. When I first switched to CP (ComicPress) it was version 2.5…since then it’s become 2.9. That’s, roughly, a major update every six months…with dozens (seriously) of minor updates between. For example, it’s technically version 2.9.2.26. And for a while I was updating almost every change. Sometimes because I had to, other’s because I just started it and got caught up in it.

That was a lot of HTML @#$%ing every year. And I started to focus more on the site, than the content…

Why did I do it? I don’t know. I don’t have an answer for why my mind works this way…I think I’m mildly OCD…I have to check the lock three-four times before I can leave the house. I’ve even driven back home ten minutes and check it because I didn’t feel like I had locked it.

It’s kind of a problem, actually.

In some ways I regret leaving Comic Genesis, because when I was there, there was so little I could mess with that I just didn’t give a shit. There was no personality in your page…not without some serious work. But CP…it opened up a whole new world of PHP and CSS and HTML that I got lost in it.

But it’s over now. The site is perfect. There’s nothing I want to change (save that the navigation needs to be centered…but that’s easy…I just want a ‘right’ way to do it).

I look at it and, for the first time in two years, I’m happy. I’m not going to stress the site. I just don’t have a reason to. Everything is the way I want it.

So, for the first time in two years I can walk away from it and really relax. There’s not going to be little bits of code dancing in my head. There’s not going to be me deciding to play with it as I’m working on comic pages.

I’m happy. It’s done. The site almost looks professional. On every browser (you’re welcome, Internet Explorer users -_-)

And when Book Three rolls around, and it will, I’ll just have to update the child theme with new images. But that’s a while off yet.

What I’m trying to say is, combined with school, work, and life in general, I’ve forgotten why I started this comic. I started it to tell a story that I’ve been writing since I was five years old. And in three months, I’ve hardly finished eight comics. I need to get back into the swing of things.

And for the first time, in over a year (since school started to really kick my ass) I feel like I can do that.

No, there won’t be a set of story comics on Friday. But there will be a short, that I promise you.

But I’m going to be trying new things out. New methods. New ideas. I’m going to try and start getting one page done a week again, and I’m going to try and keep it up.

Because for the first time in a long time, I feel like I can focus on the comic. Not the site.

Thank you, and I’m sorry for all the shit you’ve had to endure.

-Peace

Decided to take the plunge and just do it. There’ll be more said when I can think straight again. It’s not perfect yet, but the site is getting there.

/EDIT

So…I’m thinking of doing something a little…crazy. It’s no secret that I haven’t been updating on a regular basis.

Or a basis at all, really.

But lately I’ve been entirely too busy to try and update more than one page a week, and even that’s been shaky the last few weeks. So I’m thinking of updating each week with a ‘shorty’ comic like you see above, then updating every few weeks with a larger update of ‘main-story’ comics.

Basically, I’ve been really unhappy with the pacing as of late. It seems like you’re all waiting a week for a page that contains, at best, two seconds. Throw in the fact that there are a few comics coming up that really need to be together.

It’s hard to describe without spoiling something story-wise. But just look at the last few pages (from here to here), wouldn’t those five comics have read much better in a series, like they are in the archives?

And there’s only more ‘cliff hangers’ coming. And I think it’s bull-shit to make you guys wait for a week, or two, to see where the next punch lands and who gets throw into what.

So it’s an idea I’m tossing around.

Before you say anything, let me tell you a little about the ‘shorties’: Yes, they’re going to be in black and white. But not always. Sometimes they might be art, or a ‘special’ comic (holiday, special occasion, etc…). Most of them will be cannon…yes. This page actually happened as far as I’m concerned. But they might not always be cannon…some pages will be too absurd. I’m not going to stifle any ideas I might come up with just because they aren’t ‘feasible’ in the context of the comic.

They will ALMOST always be stand alone. One week = one joke/awww moment. But, on the VERY rare occasion they might have mini-arcs.

They also will fluctuate in size. This one only called for three panels. The next may need four, or five. They’re totally up in the air as for size and shade and color. Whatever the piece needs, it will get.

And, finally, they will be ways for me to expand on the characters and the world without spending massive amounts of time on them. I’ve always had a few ideas that I’ve really like, and wanted to do, but when faced with the staggering fact that the comic will never end unless I move the story along I’ve avoided a few ideas…that’s what the shorties are for.

Anyhow, let me know what you think. I’m probably going to start doing this, but if it sucks I’ll stop. Or if I find myself with more time and the ability to update more than once a week I may drop it. Unless it kicks ass…then…yeah.

-Peace

I don’t know why the hell I made them different to begin with (probably thought it helped with the look? I dunno). But I’m tired to trying to remember that they’re differnt.

Seriously. Relearning the way to draw the agents in costume has been a bigger pain in the ass than I thought it would be. But I’m nearly there. So hey, cheers.

Also, I’m debating a Tuesday/Friday schedule. Mostly because I still don’t have an effing buffer and one day between them kind of sucks. I don’t know. Depends on this week I guess.

Finally, Hunter is going well. Nearly done with the first chapter of the comic (it’s become four or so chapters of the book). I’m also exploring the minor characters a bit more…I’ll keep everyone updated.

-Peace