The first chapter of Heroine Rises was released back in December of 2019. Back then, I didn't know if I'd be able to keep it going.

Pre and Early 2019 - Starting the Journey

In 2018, I started drawing up the first ever pages for Heroine Rises and other comics I had in mind, just to practice and get a feel for the whole process. I didn't like the art and figured that I'd start on Rises when I became good enough to draw it the way I wanted.

I quickly figured out how stupid that idea was. If I waited for the 'right time', Heroine Rises would probably be gearing up for it's debut chapter release right about now. Sure, I would have been able to make Chapter 1 better compared to the 2018 release but would that have been worth it? Would I be at the same point artistically if I didn't complete all those panels and drawings for the first 10 chapters of Rises?

I know for a fact that I wouldn't have practiced drawing half as much if I didn't have the comic to work on. You can't rely on drawing only when you're feeling inspired or else you'll improve at a snail's pace. I learned to draw every day, even if I can't think of anything I want to draw. Someday I dreaded the feeling of drawing panels for Heroine Rises. I wanted to do something else... but then I would feel strange. If I wasn't working on Heroine Rises and finished whatever little piece I wanted to work on... what else was I meant to do with all this free time?

Thanks to Rises, I spent most of my free time drawing. I could always work on the next page of Heroine Rises if nothing else came to mind.

Chapter 1 dropped and I started working on Chapter 2 - and I quickly impressed myself with how much I'd improved since I drew up the pencils for Chapter 1. Then the release of it on the website felt so rewarding!

Did you know at the start of the year I imagined I'd be at Chapter 30 by now? Talk about lofty expectations!

Spring + Summer of 2019 - Becoming an 'Artist'

By the time spring weather rolled around and I realized that releasing a Heroine Rises chapter once every two weeks was wholly unrealistic - I began to fall into the infamous 'artist depression' state.

I thought that two weeks was too long between chapters. I thought that if I practiced more often I'd become faster and faster - that my rate of producing chapters would skyrocket and I'd be putting out a chapter a week by the end of the year.

And now I was releasing a chapter every 2 months. What happened? Why wasn't I improving? It was rough. I took a long break and tried different things - watercolor, acrylic, digital coloring... it was all fun but by the end of the break I found myself dying to start drawing Rises again. I had finally realized that I wasn't getting slower because I was losing skill, I was losing speed because each chapter got more and more detailed and less rushed.

I bought some new supplies with the intention of making Heroine Rises look like real manga or comics. When I finally saw the finished result of Chapter 8 - I was shocked. After a long break I was finally able to see that I had improved by leaps and bounds compared to where I started. That every chapter was improving on the previous one.

I felt like I was really an artist at this point. I never considered calling myself an artist before this because I felt like that would be an insult to better artists. But I noticed I started to show off my work a bit more. I wasn't hiding it... I was proud of it and I started to show people exactly what made me happy. Not everyone appreciates it or is anywhere near as excited as I am about it... but I found that's okay. If you base your art's worth on people's reactions - that's a recipe for disaster. Art should make you happy first and foremost, everything else - positive reactions, likes, shares, praise from others - that's all a bonus. Just create.

Finally being able to understand that was probably one of the biggest mentality shifts I had in a long time.

End of Year

I started slowing down once more on Rises but seeing that each chapter got progressively closer to my 'vision' for Rises made it all okay in the end. (The fact that I don't really have any readers to pressure me to release the chapters faster helps too!)

I took some time off of Rises to iron out some story plot points that I hadn't fully fleshed out and to branch out and try other mediums as well. I got more comfortable with colors, copic markers, colored pencils, and was finally able to use metallic paints! There's a whole world of art to explore out there and being able to do all of this rather competently because of the practice I got from making Rises.

I'm starting to work on Heroine Rises: Chapter 11 and I'm excited. Excited to see how it'll come out and excited for what's to come after. I'll release the real cover page for Chapter 11 soon and more details for Smoke and Mirrors as I move along.

This year promises to be even better for my art and I hope I can continue to gain confidence and make work that impresses more people beyond myself.

Happy new year!