June Sketch: AndyCoop Nap (+ Announcements/Updates)

?️‍??️‍⚧️ HAPPY PRIDE CREATURES!!! ?️‍??️‍⚧️ I hope that you have an amazing month full of love and friendships and connection :3

Some info and updates for you on what's going on over here:

I hit over 60k on twitter!

Wow! It snuck up on me after a very gradual climb, but that's pretty neat! I wanted to do something for it, but I think I need to wait for another milestone. I REALLY wanna get Springing Back up regularly again and I need to resist the temptation to take on more projects. This is especially hard with it being Pride Month, but I gotta retain focus! Thank you so much everyone for giving a follow that got me to those crazy numbers, and you can find me here (or Bluesky) if you hadn't already.

I am finally doing it... I am going on vacation!

Let's be honest, I've never, in the 8+ years of doing comics for you guys, actually taken a fully unplugged vacation away from work. The longest time I've been NOT doing furry work was when I was experiencing an emergency or tragedy, and it never really lasted longer than a week ? So... I'm gonna do my best to make it unnoticeable for you guys and queue up posts for when I'm gone, but I am going off-tablet and away from home from June 16th - 23rd (one week, Sunday to Sunday). I'm hoping to write, meditate, go for nice walks, and just allow myself to breathe uninterrupted. Wish me luck!

Next con?

Next con is most likely to be MFF'24, though my tablemate ScrubFiend and I did apply to BLFC'24 so we'll see if that happens too!

Plushies?

So, I'd been thinking... y'all ever heard of MakeShip? I have no experience with it, but from what I can see, you can campaign for 28 days to gather enough pre-orders to get a plushie made. How would you guys feel if I did Andy, Cooper, and Waldren ones? Possibly my sona, Jack too. It's just a thought! ^^

What happens when Volume 4 ends?

There are still maybe 20-30ish pages to go for Volume 4, but the end of this volume is definitely not the end of the series. The reality is that I couldn't fit everything neatly into the 4 books even if I tried! That being said, you will see a closing of the "interns" title, but NOT the end of the comic/stories/characters/universe. "Interns" coincided with the seasons of the character's timeline (hence Vol 1 Fall, Vol 2 Spring, etc). So Volume 4 has a natural "full year" circle to it.

Without attempting to spoil too much... the title, by the end of this volume, will no longer represent the characters like it did in the beginning ? and before you make a joke of "now it's gonna be called Employed!" (which would be funny and dumb of me to do), we're gonna shift into "Rail" as the titles of the future volumes (so think "Rail Volume 1", 2, 3, etc). This doesn't mean that the story is gonna be completely focused on the club Rail, it's just more of a central hub that all the characters have some level of ties with in common. The Rail volumes will also be shorter than the Interns volumes (think 40ish pages long instead of 60-90ish like Interns) so that the books can be more affordable at cons. I didn't realize how much the price goes up when I overly pack each volume, so I hope that separating the story into smaller bites helps!

At the risk of being vulnerable, I was actually afraid to talk about this with you guys. Closing the Interns title gives me some level of anxiety because in a way, it does feel like an ending, you know? Yes, the story is gonna plow forward as if nothing even happened, but I worry that a title change is going to make readers assume that the comic will be over or won't be enjoyable anymore and drop off of it. You guys have always been really supportive though and I need to remember that. Thank you for still cheering me on despite my fears and worries about performing well enough for you!

Thank you everyone!

Alrighty! Plugging along with working on the main and side comic, and all current commissions in the batch. Again, a very Happy Pride to you all and I'm ready for another week of the art grind! ??