Hello hi everyone, so here's a pretty important development.
Uh.
So I kinda made a short comic. I have a lot to say about it, so I'll just dump everything here and hope people read my impassioned mad ravings, okay? I'll stay (mostly) quiet for the rest of the pages, promise; I just want to explain my motivations and why I care so much about this. In short: I've wanted to make comics ever since I started drawing, and never got around to it; this one is significant because it's my first long one that I've finished.

Also, quick plug: I'll be posting two pages per week on FA (there are 8 total), but if you want to read the comic in its entirety, right now, it's available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ArmedDillo

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This is my first serious, multi-page comic that I made from beginning to end, all by myself - script, layout, sketch, inking and colour (does grayscale count?). And even though the art quality isn't stellar (I took many shortcuts to make the whole thing more manageable, and it shows), I'm still very proud to have done it. If I can do this, I can do more, and that's an amazing thought.

I grew up on Tintin, Asterix, The Smurfs, Billy The Cat and other Franco-Belgian comics from the 90's and earlier, and I read a lot of manga as well (Dragonball and Ranma 1/2 were my favourites). The format always spoke to me, and I knew very early on that I wanted to make my own one day. It's been my goal from the very start: I wanted to do like the big names, and create comics that excite and inspire people, maybe make them laugh once in a while. And for some reason, I never thought to mention anywhere publicly that this was such an extremely important goal for me.

Until now, I'd always been so scared to commit to making a comic. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to tell a good story, mostly, and that I might not be able to keep up with my projects, that no one would care, etc. So I stuck with what I was already good at: illustration. I knew I could make decently pretty pictures, so it was the "safe" option. But it wasn't going to lead me anywhere I actually wanted to be. I made some limp-wristed attempts at writing in the past, but always kept falling back on illustration; I didn't have a shred of confidence in my writing skill.

I'd been working more seriously on writing a script - any script - since May, more or less. I kept getting an idea and then dropping it halfway because I didn't know where it was going, or it was getting too long, or something. It wasn't until I heard of a certain James Kochalka, and what his thoughts on comics were (for the curious, look up "Craft is the Enemy"), that it just clicked.

I don't know why; I know it wouldn't have clicked if I had seen it at any other time. It was just what I needed to hear, just when I needed it. And that's where Tea Rush comes in. I made it as short and simple as I could, while still trying to create a whole story out of it. It's my "write something, anything with what you have" story, that I stuck with until the end, even going as far as to rewrite 3 whole pages 'cause I didn't like them. It's deeply flawed, the story is mundane and pointless, but it's mine and I love it for what it is: my own attempt at capturing the spell that comics put on me.

I hope you love it too. Let me know what you think.