This is gonna be a short post, but a good one! Last weekend I got interviewed by Kurt Sasso of TGT Media regarding Slightly Damned!

"We are joined today in Studio TGT by Chu from Slightly Damned comic. We talk about Kickstarting a Plushie, What is really going to happen to make Slightly Damned come to an end and of course characters, Big ass bugs in Japan and why you should always read a comic creators bio before interviewing."
You can download or listen to it here: http://tgtmedia.com/podcast/259-slightlydamned/

Hope you guys get a kick out of it!

So Slightly Damned and Soprano of Time are both back to normal. New Slightly Damned pages are uploaded on Wednesday and Saturday, and new Soprano of Time strips are uploaded on Saturday. The only thing left to get back to normal are commissions. I have a couple of loose ends I would like to tie up before I re-open, though. Perhaps I should take the time to make a comics buffer as well. Ha! Yeah, right. We all know how much I suck at that.

Anyway, I think I'll start accepting orders in the first week of July. I don't know if it'll be the 1st or the 4th or the 7th or what have you, but I'll make an announcement to let you guys know when I'm ready. I'll accept no more than 10 requests in the month of July, first-come, first serve.

...Maybe I'm being too optimistic about how many orders I'll receive, but it never hurts to be prepared.
So if you want a commission, get prepared!

I know there are a lot of you out there who have been wondering what's been going on with my life to make it so chaotic. Contrary to what some may believe, the reasons I haven't been able to keep up with Slightly Damned are not because I'm ending it or that the twice-a-week schedule is too hard for me. A lot of real-life crap has gone down in a past few months, which made it difficult to impossible for me to keep up with pages, commissions, and finishing off the damn book. I'm gonna take the time to explain what happened... and also give a report on Fanime! Because I like to write about what I've done when I go to conventions.

If that's too much reading for you, then here's the gist of it: a number of real-life problems and events came to a climax in May, but now they've been resolved. I still have a lot of loose ends to finish up, but things should be getting back to normal soon. My June 16 deadline for the return of normal updates is still valid.

For those of you who want to read all the juicy details of what's been going on for the past few months, just [click here]!

If you're reading this, you might be wondering, "Hey! Where's the new comic?" Well, it's time for me to face the facts: I just don't have the time to do the comic twice a week this month. Due to a stroke of good luck followed by a stroke of extremely, extremely bad luck, my friends and I are moving this month. If things go well we'll be moving again within the next few weeks/months. Sounds fun, huh?

Not only that, but I really need to divert some of my energy into preparing for Fanime. Yep, I wouldn't miss it for the world, so I'm hell-bent on going come hell or high water! I've already bought my table and everything, but I don't know what space I've been assigned yet. When I know, I'll make an announcement. I'll also be there with my friend/roommate Arborwin, the creator of Grayling, who'll have a table right next to mine.

If you can make it to Fanime, you totally should! I'll be selling Slightly Damned merchandise at discounted prices (and of course, you wouldn't have to pay for shipping), as well as accepting traditional commissions. I'm also going to be selling non-SD buttons and artwork. I usually don't sell those sorts of things online; only at conventions.

What this means for the comic: I'm temporarily going back to the old schedule of one page a week. I'll do my best to update every Saturday, and I won't be making up the missed Wednesday pages later. However, I'll try to upload a new drawing on Wednesdays instead. Why? Because I ant to show you guys I'm still alive and I'm not slacking off. It's just that single drawings take a lot less time to make than a Slightly Damned page.

Unfortunately, I'm also going to put "The Legend of Buwaro: Soprano of Time" on hiatus. I'm not giving up on it; I just don't have time for it right now. I don't mind if my TWC rank drops like a rock because of this, because after all, I won't be providing incentives.

tl;dr Drawings on Wednesday, comics on Saturday, no Soprano of Time until at least my birthday on June 16.
(Why my birthday? Because it's easy to remember. *3*)

I know this is super, super lame, but believe me-- life has given me a series of sucker punches and I'm not happy about this either.
Thank you for understanding!

[I've re-opened my commission services.] Probably only for a limited time; I'll close them again if I get too busy.

Just like the title says, the Slightly Damned store is open again! Well, the Zazzle portion of the store was always open and it remains unchanged for now, but as for the section that I personally control...
There are new pins!

And new magnets!

And new charms!

And durable stickers suitable for indoor and outdoor use!

... And more!

[Please, come on down!]

(As for commissions, I'll make an announcement soon; possibly tomorrow. Promise!)

Here's a little preview of some of the new Slightly Damned merchandise I've been working on:

Note: items pictured are not to scale.

And there's more than that coming your way in just a few weeks!

You have no excuse.

[End Piracy, Not Liberty]
[SOPA STRIKE]

I wrote up a journal entry about my recent trip to Anime Los Angeles 2012. It was too long to post here, but you can read about it either on my deviantArt account or my FurAffinity account.

So what is the big announcement I've been keeping secret these past few... man I don't even remember without looking at my previous post. Whatever, then, here it is:

From now on, Slightly Damned will be updating twice a week! This isn't like the donation drives or "drawing this is really easy and I want to get this super fast so let's do this" events in the past. I intend for this to be a permanent change. So now you can look forward to new Slightly Damned pages every Wednesday and Saturday. I chose those days because: 1) everyone is already used to the Saturday updates, and 2) I originally considered Tuesday and Thursday, but the wait between Thursday and the following Tuesday is too long. The wait from Wednesday to Saturday to Wednesday is a little more even, I think.

You got that? Slightly Damned will now update regularly every Wednesday and Saturday instead of its old once-a-week schedule. I think this addresses the most common complaint about the comic I've gotten these past 7+ years. (From the people who actually like the comic, anyway.)

I'm also going to take the time to address some of guesses I saw for what the announcement was going to be:

You're going to make a book!
Yes, that's true. I AM going to make a book. My previous goal was to get one done before the end of the year, but I admit I'm not going to meet that right now. I haven't worked on the book very much lately, which is my bad. I've mainly been doing brainstorming. I pretty much know what printing company I'm going to use, what format the book should be in, how many comics the first book will include, and what bonus content I'm going to make for it. However, there's a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of resizing, cutting up, and retyping dialogue (NOT rewriting. I just want to fix typos and make it legible). I'm not giving up, I promise! It's just slow going.

The Buwaro and Kieri figures are done!
Not quite. I think we have enough votes on Patch Together by now, so I think the next step is to let them know we're serious about wanting those figurines made. I sent them an e-mail about a week ago asking if there's some sort of requirement we've failed to fill, but I haven't gotten a response yet. Buwaro and Kieri have WAY more votes than any other design on the site, but if you still haven't voted for them, [please] [do]! If you already have voted for them and are impatient like me for progress, then please e-mail Patch Together to let them know. I don't want you guys to be malicious or spam them or anything. Just tell them that you want these figures!

You're going to make plushies!
Sorry, I really don't have the money to make those plushies right now. If Slightly Damned became more popular and I had more readers to sell merchandise to, then maybe I could justify it. That's part of the reason why I decided I needed to work harder and update more now that I have more time to do so (time was the main reason I couldn't do it before). Short of a very generous plushie company giving me a business deal out of pity, these guys are going to have to wait.
However! I have made steps in negotiating getting hats made! They'll be a little different than how they were in the past, but we'll still all have to wait a few weeks to see how things turn out.

And I think that about covers it. Remember, Wednesday and Saturday updates!

I'm going to have a special surprise for you guys on December 3rd! I'm making this date well-known because I want to be held to it. I've been pretty lazy these last few weeks, so it's time for me to get my ass in gear. Save the date!

Also... I'm not going to be taking any commissions starting Black Friday (that's Friday, November 25th for you readers not in the United States). I'm already pretty busy and I'm only going to be more busy from now on. I may re-open for orders in a couple weeks or months, though, depending on how things go.

I don't update this space very often, as you may have noticed, so I encourage you all to follow me on Twitter at @sdamned! I'm a fairly active Tweeter and I'm always sharing cool stuff, site and comic updates, and Zazzle store discounts. I also promise not to spam you with inane updates about how hungry I am or what my cats are doing... much.

Finally, the [Slightly Damned store] has been updated!

In addition to the updated system for buying the new charms and stickers, you can now buy shirts, drinkware, bags, and mousepads from the [Zazzle store]!

Let's capitalism! I appreciate your support to help keep the comic going!

P.S. Don't forget to vote for the [Buwaro] and [Kieri] figurines on Patch Together! It'll take at least 200 votes on each design to get them approved for pre-orders.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention:

BanditFly and Nexus, you two are in danger of losing your roles!
Go to the forums ASAP!

Hey guys! I've got a lot of stuff to tell you about!

First, some bad news: I can't afford to make the plushies right now. Thanks for all the interest you showed, though! I'm not going to give up on them forever. Slightly Damned simply needs to become a lot more popular before I can afforrd to make them. It would really suck if I paid the thousands of dollars necessary to get them produced only to discover I couldn't make that money back. The good news is that if I DO make plushies, it's more cost-effective to make ALL THREE instead of just one. So if Slightly Damned has become more successful in about a year's time... we'll see!

Soon I will get the ball rolling on getting hats produced. I hope to have some available for sale by Christmas, although at this point I can't make any promises.

The stickers are finally getting produced and should probably arrive next week!

As for the charms...

:3 The straps will arrive next week, probably around the same time as the stickers.

You may have noticed that I'm making a bunch of shirt designs. I'm trying to get a bunch of product designs done soon so I can completely revamp the CafePress store with a lot of new stuff. I should be done no later than the end of the month!

The book is still is one of the lower-priority items. I still plan to get it done by the end of the year.

Figurines: I decided to go ahead and submit designs for Buwaro and Kieri figurines (separately) to Patch Together! You know the drill: if the figure gets enough positive votes, it will be opened to pre-orders. If it gets enough pre-orders, it will be produced! Go for it, guys!





Lastly, and this is IMPORTANT:

We are excited to announce that both the forum and the chat have undergone an overhaul! They now feature new and improved terms of services-- that means that the rules are now much more lax than they were in the past. Yes, that includes stuff about spelling and grammar. The forums also feature new boards such as Forum Games and even a section for Roleplaying. Everyone is welcome to come share their thoughts and comments.

ALSO, if you were banned in the past for something, then you may discover you can post again. We are quietly giving you a second chance. Please don't take advantage of this by spamming the boards/chat with negative comments or OMG I'M FREE!!!! Just... be cool, okay? ;3

See you there!

Hey guys. I know there's a lot of site maintenance I still have to take care of, but I'm also working behind the scenes to create new merchandise. It's a bit slow going for now, but in the next couple of months I hope to have a lot of great new stuff to offer you guys.

Stickers: I made sticker designs for Death, Sakido, Iratu, Lazuli, and Azurai. I am currently communicating with a printing company in order to get the stickers printed the way I want. Because of budget restraints and the fact that the printing company I commissioned to make the SD trio stickers no longer exists, these stickers will be a little different. They should look just as good, though!

Figurines: the next two figurines I will have made are going to be Buwaro and Kieri. However, I'm not going to be submitting any designs for about another 1-1 1/2 months. A different offer for figurines came up, but it's too soon to tell whether or not it's safe for me to go for it. I'm going to bide my time and see how things go. If it doesn't work out, then it's back to Patch Together.
By the way, did you know you can get a refund for your Rhea figurine if its tail arrived broken?

Shirts: let's face it, the Cafepress stores look bad and they're full of outdated crap. If you see anything that catches your eye, though, you should buy it soon. I am planning to revamp the store before the end of the year with a ton of new designs, but I want to do it all at once. This could be your last chance for some of those t-shirts or mugs!

Charms: believe it or not, these are currently in production! I should have photos of them to share in about 1-2 weeks.

Hats: next month I'm going to use my *ahem* connections to try to get more of these made. Because I am inept I am unable and unwilling to spend the time making them by hand by myself, so I need to outsource production. I don't know how well this is going to work out, but rest assured I have not forgotten about them. If things go well, maybe some can be made available by Christmas?

A book: yes, I still want to make a book before the end of the year. This is my most requested item, and I have some ideas to make the book worthwhile despite the poor quality of old pages.

PLUSHIES!!!: Yeah, you read that right. I want to make plush dolls of Slightly Damned characters! I'm going to need your help, though. Making plushies is an extremely pricey and risky venture, so first I'm going to need to know what Slightly Damned plush design you guys want the most. Hop on over to the forums to vote in the very important poll that will determine which plush gets made and to get more details about the situation. Forum registration is required.

Oh yeah, and I wanted to remind you guys that I'm open for commissions, too. Phew! I've got a lot to do. I've really gotta learn how to manage my time better.