Year three of the journal comic was a bit on the tumultuous side. I had fully dedicated myself and the comic to the traditional webcomic format. I was following the formula to a T, was updating the website regular as clock-work, and had been for nearly three years by this point, but to very limited success.

The art continued to improve, and I continued to experiment. Using gray markers to render background elements instead of using photoshop. No longer removing all saturation from the comic. Instead allowing the warm and cool grays to interact on the screen as they always had on the paper.

What’s more, my creative bug was starting to get itchy. I had stories I wanted to write. Fictional stories. After handling my domestic duties as the at-home father, the comic’s format and update necessities left almost no time for sleep. When I was lucky enough to secure client work, there was no time for sleep at all. This didn’t go well.

For a few days at a time, I would think, “Boy, Ivy has been really a handful for this week. I guess the Terrible Two’s are upon us.” However, after a rare and blissful full night of sleep I would think, “Wow, Ivy is being really sweet today!” It took far too long to put two and two together and realize that my work schedule and lack of sleep were making me a bad dad.

Furthermore, I was growing bitter that my little webcomic was garnering such little success. What few reviews and what little press I could garner always came back positive, for which I was grateful, but they never translated into a wider readership or more books sold. In my naivety, I figured after a few years of following the formula, some measure of outward success, not matter how small, would make itself apparent.

It did not.

That’s not how it works.

In creative work, there are no guarantees.

At all.

It was a hard and heartbreaking lesson to learn, and during this time I was learning it.

I began writing stories again, and began looking at my webcomic with more and more sadness and disdain. One day I decided I’d be better off sleeping than I would making the next comic for the next update. I felt the same way for the next day, and the day after that.

The journal comic never had a conclusion or a nice bow wrapped on it to signal I was done. I just stopped making it. However, I didn't stop taking notes for more journal comic entries right away, and I always reserved the right to pick it back up again.

I still do.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the journal comics here.

These never made it into a book, so this is the only place to read them.

Share and enjoy!
-Gabe D.