2025 was a year of “focus”, specifically on creating comics. I finished Beyond the Road, my graphic novel memoir, and made progress with my next big project: Angel Chronicles. I also expanded on Adventures with Titan and have it in a place where I can continue to make episodes when I want.
2026 is the year of “transition”. While these last 2 years have been focused on creative output and exploring those paths, this year I’m more focused and ready to look at my options for building a more sustainable lifestyle. In other words, it’s time to look at income options more earnestly.
Comic Projects & Art Goals
Launch Beyond the Road’s Kickstarter
I completed Beyond the Road at the end of 2025 with the intent to self publish. Now all that’s left is figuring out that publishing part. After a lot of research (digging online, asking people questions, watching tutorials), I’ve decided to use Kickstarter to fund a first print run of the Beyond the Road graphic novel, starting in January. The exact dates are TBD, so if you’re reading this and are interested, I recommend signing up for my newsletter to be notified of when the Kickstarter goes live.
Start Angel Chronicles
Last year I made a lot of progress on plot maps, thumbnails, scripts, and creating a world-building bible to reference. I did some test renders but then stopped in order to focus on completing Beyond the Road within 2025 (which I did!). For 2026, I want to finalize the visual direction of Angel Chronicles and start drawing the comic pages for release online.
TBH… I’m still not sure if I should go B&W like the original (White Angel), or go full color. And if I go full-color… what is my rendering process? I know a lot of people like when artists have an identifiable “style,” but the truth is a lot of artists are style-adaptable. It’s how art teams work together.
Let me know if you see something in my portfolio that you think would be a good basis for a comic style. My goal is to make it easy to render 1 page in 1 day which still letting the artwork showcase a voice that I’m proud of. If the pages take too long to create, I think updates will be too slow for the serial epic that Angel Chronicles will be.
Explore Rendering Styles
Similar to the above, but more generalized. There’s things I like, and things I don’t like about how I render. And it feels like some muscle memory has been lost over time that I’d like to get back. Sometimes I wonder if it’s the tools? So there will be a period of just playing with different drawing mediums and digital applications. Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up deciding the best way to draw Angel Chronicles is with real pen & ink and watercolor! XD Maybe I’ll end up moving entirely away from expensive digital tablets and swap for… equally expensive reams of artist paper! XD
Transition Goals
Secure an Income Stream
The realities of the comic industry aren’t great and as someone who left a corporate tech job to pursue a creative life, I knew from the beginning that even if I did get a comic industry gig, it wouldn’t pay near to what I used to make as a UX Designer. I’d still like to try, but I am aware of the realities and am looking to return to UX Design employment in 2026 as well. I do miss the teamwork and collaboration as a designer on a dev team, so I think this will depend simply on which project catches me first. However, I am currently leaning towards UX.
Experiment with Patreon
I follow a couple of Patreons, but I think the noise of “how to make a successful Patreon” gets extremely muddled by the people trying to sell guides (the “why are you trying if you can’t make $20K/mo?” people). A lot of it is contradictory. What I notice is the ones I’ve actually given money to don’t do a lot (or any of) that. Their Patreon Pages are small communities that just engage, share their joys, and chat. As someone who is not a fan of the shouting into the void that social media has become, that level of small-group engagement is the most appealing kind of social media I’ve encountered so far. I’d like to try building one once I start Angel Chronicles, but… baby steps right?
In Summary
I plan to keep making comics in 2026, but I’m aware of the realities of needing income streams. I have goals for the immediate months in 2026. For the tail end, I am playing it by ear and looking to see where different things land.
