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WIP – Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run – chapter 13 pencils

WIP – Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run – chapter 13 pencils published on

Hi, remember this comic? I don’t blame you if not, I haven’t been able to work on it for awhile. The last time I penciled a page was in January 2022, and chapter 13 of Valley of the Silk Sky has sat at 75% penciled ever since.

In the intervening time I spent 6 months in physical therapy (two rounds, somewhat different issues, the bulk of it focused on getting my drawing arm in working order again). And so VotSS has sat on my cork board, those penciled pages staring at me every day, waiting for the will to work on it to return.

Well, it didn’t return, so I did what you sometimes have to do as a creative professional, and decided to pencil the next page anyway. I can’t make any promises as to when I will actually publish chapter 13. But I do still very much intend to finish this book, and I’m hoping knocking the rust off will help me get it running again. Onward!

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run – Status Report

Valley of the Silk Sky: The Long Run – Status Report published on

Believe it or not, I have not actually abandoned this comic. I know it SEEMS like I have, but I’m still penciling a page here and there as time permits. The trouble is that time hasn’t permitted nearly as much as I’d like.

2021 was an extremely difficult year, both for the obvious reasons and for personal, behind-the-scenes reasons. Trials on top of tribulations. You’ve very likely seen various memes going around, imploring artists to forgive themselves for not being as productive as they think they should be. So I know it’s not just me, but I wish I had new, finished pages to share all the same.

I’ve been posting work-in-progress images periodically, like the one in this post, over on my Patreon. WIP posts are typically for $1+ subscribers, but you can also follow my public Patreon posts for free. That’s a pretty decent way to get a notification when I actually start posting new pages. I’m about halfway through the pencils for Chapter 13, so I do expect to release SOMETHING this year, haha.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing a monthly comic strip for OUT FRONT Magazine, a queer rag based in Denver, Colorado. I started this gig in June of 2021, and have had a comic in each issue since then. You can access each issue online for free over on OUT FRONT’s website.

Cheers,

Dylan

The Long Run chapter 12 – progress report

The Long Run chapter 12 – progress report published on

I’ve been working away on chapter 12, and while I don’t have enough done yet to set a firm start date for when I’ll commence posting pages, I will say I’ve finished penciling and have moved on to inking.

As is the custom, I’ve been publishing work-in-progress updates over on my Patreon, including stuff like this here teaser image. If you want in on that, a mere $1/month gets you the goods.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and let folks know the sitch!

Cheers,

Dylan

Technical difficulties are fun!

Technical difficulties are fun! published on

Looks like every time there’s a WordPress update of some sort (whether core code or plugin), this site goes offline until I manually perform the update. I have no idea why this is happening. It doesn’t happen with my other WordPress site (studiondr.com), and they are completely identical on the back end – same theme, same version, and VotSS actually has fewer plugins, but the ones it does have are the same.

So I am mystified. WP forums are an inscrutable mess, and only seem to cover downtime issues AFTER installing a new update. I have found exactly one PHP setting that was slightly different twixt the two, so I’ve changed it and hopefully that will maybe fix it?? I dunno!

Anyway, all the website troubleshooting is causing some delays with new art, but there WILL BE NEW ART I swear. I’m in the midst of coloring a brand new piece even now.

— Dylan

EDIT 1/11/2019: Wellll, unfortunately the PHP change didn’t fix the problem, as the site was down again when I got up this morning. Reinstalled WordPress core code AGAIN, and we’re back. Made some plugin changes. We’ll see what happens.

EDIT 1/14/2019: Uuuggghh, I thought I’d fixed it – the site actually stayed up without issue for a whole couple of days! – but it was down again when I got up this morning. Made some more plugin changes. Fingers crossed.

I think this thing is basically done?

I think this thing is basically done? published on

The comic pages and appendices are all uploaded. The fancy graphics are in place. It looks like … an actual website round these parts.

There are a handful of things yet to do, and some tweaks to be twoke, but they’re relatively minor and shouldn’t impact functionality.

Some sections are a little thin as yet. I only uploaded a couple of pieces of concept art and a couple of character portraits, even though I have quite a lot of both as yet unpublished. I figured I’d save ’em for general updates rather than trying to get every single scrap of bonus material posted on here before launching this beast.

But so yeah! I think we’re good to go.

Cheers,

Dylan

Nothing to see here … yet

Nothing to see here … yet published on

My webcomic Valley of the Silk Sky has, for the last few years, existed as a Tumblr blog, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

While the webcomic template for Tumblr is pretty good, it does have a number of limitations that have made me want to set up a proper website for awhile. Tumblr’s new initiative to ban all adult content is what has finally pushed me to get started on said proper website.

Now, Valley of the Silk Sky is not an adult comic. It’s intended for ages 13+. However, these kinds of content restrictions always just mysteriously seem to impact queer and trans material to a disproportionate degree. The Tumblr edition of VotSS might be fine for now, but tomorrow? Who the heck knows.

So. Obviously there’s nothing here right now. Building a website from the ground up takes a long time, which is part of why I haven’t gotten around to it before today.

But eventually this will become the official home of Valley of the Silk Sky, and will hopefully be significantly easier to navigate than the Tumblr edition.

Until then, keep http://valleyofthesilksky.tumblr.com/ in your bookmarks, or hit up the streamlined version at http://www.studiondr.com/comics/valley-of-the-silk-sky/ (which is just the comic, no appendix posts or other frivolity).

— Dylan

12/12/2018 UPDATE

I’ve finished adding all the comix pages for The Long Run (which you can now read in one go without interruption, hooray!).

I’m now in the process of recreating all the appendix posts. That’s gonna take a couple few days, let me tell you.

I am NOT going to be updating every single image that has the .tumblr.com web address imbedded. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not the least because I did not actually save layered files for every single image I made for the VotSS tumblr site. So! This is me getting over that particular urge to make everything perfectly consistent.

— Dylan

12/17/2018 UPDATE

Hokay, all the available appendix posts are done. DONE, I SAY. That took a bit longer than I had expected, as I ended up having to do a fair amount of editing of the content. Mostly for clarity, but sometimes to add extra information, or to create new graphics in a couple of cases. I’m not porting those edits over to the Tumblr site, so if you’re really bored and want to amuse yourself you can compare and contrast twixt here and there.

Now that I have all this lovely content, the next step is to smarten the place up a bit. Add some graphics, make the front page not look like an embarrassing disaster, that kind of thing.

Official launch looms ever closer!

— Dylan

12/18/2018 UPDATE

A vastly improved front page emerges. I daresay the original title of this post is no longer applicable!

I still have to put together the character bio sections, and then figure out where concept art and other incidentals are going to live. Buuuuuut … this is starting to look like an actual website at last?

— Dylan

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