My Dreams Pooped On My Face [2023 Recap]

Here is the Draw and Talk 2023 Brutally honest Recap :P

Welcome to 2024! We did it everyone! This is going to be a MASSIVE newsletter so buckle up. I’m going to showcase the books we’re working on in 2024, and then give a brutally honest 2023 recap of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Also! SUPER PLUMBER SISTERS #1-2 launches January 17th! Make sure to sign up to become a day 1 backer! CLICK HERE!

---

I’ve got a SUPER BUSY year planned for 2024! Lots of books to work on! Wanna see?

I added two new books onto the list which I’m excited for, and all the artists I’m working with are hard at work on their various series.

---

THE 2023 RECAP…

I’m going to be brutally honest with y’all, this has been the best and worst year of my life. From creating 3 new amazing series that did way better than expected on Kickstarter, to getting laid off from a job because of a lie, to making comics full-time only to go back into the work force (which I’m super happy about), 2023 has been a roller coast. So. Let’s just get into this.

At the beginning of this 2023, I was told my salary was going to be cut by 20% but that this was temporary. I was working for a book publisher and was loving the job. After 5 months however, my personal bank account was hurting, my savings almost depleted, and I needed find a new job. To save myself, I launched a new book called MY SEXY WITCH ACADEMIA and it was extremely successful.

This success would lead to more new releases.

I then spent a month trying out for a marketing job in the AI Tech world. After brutally parading myself for this particular company, I was eventually hired. I really liked the job. I loved the opportunity. I was on top of the world, and then it came crashing when I made a simple tweet on Twitter, and got canceled two days later and lost my publishing deal. I felt super betrayed by many creators, and I was extremely angry.

I launched SUPER PLUMBER SISTERS #1 the next day and that campaign ended up being my best launch and Kickstarter ever and it was awesome. I was at a job I liked, my comics were doing great. What could go wrong?

Well, after working my butt for 30 days at this new company, I was let go due to “poor performance.”

Angry and frustrated, I went home and I talked with my wife. I felt so betrayed with the workforce. I was giving everyone my all, and felt like I wasn’t getting anything back. My wife suggested I try doing the comics thing full-time.

From July to October, I was a full-time comic creator. I put out THE GIRL WITH THE MEGA FISTS Vol. 4 and THE CTHULHU MURDERS and both campaigns were successful. However, something unexpected happened.

I stopped enjoying making art. I stopped enjoying tell stories.

Not just that, but I felt this immense pressure to succeed. If I had one bad book release, it could screw my family over for 3 months. On top of that, although we had enough money saved up until February, we were having to live a different lifestyle than we were use to due to the fact that we didn’t have constant cashflow coming in. Because of this, I needed to find a way to do more Kickstarters, which meant I needed to put out more books, which meant I needed to work with more artists.

There were all of these factors that started building up. But the worst one was that I started not having fun anymore on my stories. I scrapped 40-pages of THE GIRL WITH THE MEGA FISTS Vol. 4 because they were absolute trash. But now because of that, I had set myself back another a month!

I didn’t understand what was going on. This was my dream! For the last 8 years I wanted to be a full-time creator…and yet…I’m now freaking miserable!

After talking with my wife, we made the choice for me to start looking for a new job, and that was grueling. That’s a rollercoaster ride I don’t want to talk about lol.

In October and November, I fulfilled SUPER PLUMBER SISTERS and MY SEXY WITCH ACADEMIA, and then I launched another new series called BULLET ASSASSIN LIVING IN A FANTASY WORLD.

In December, I said yes to a Director of Marketing role, and feels like (for the first time this year) that my life is finally back to how I want it to be.

---

LESSONS LEARNED?

• It’s okay for comics to be a hobby that you do on the side for fun. The goal to become a full-time creator doesn’t need to be the end all be all.

• If I do ever want to become a full-time creator, I need SEVERAL more pieces of the puzzle functioning.

• I learned that ultimately the biggest priority in my life is my children and wife. Comics will always take a back seat to them. The people I look up to who were able to make indie comics their full time job typically were single with no dependents under them. That’s great that they can make that lifestyle and job work for them. For me, I have a family, and if that means I can never do indie comics full-time because of that that’s fine because my love for them is more than my love for comics.

• Have fun and silly goose time. After my cancelation I lost a lot of contacts and few job opportunities. Because I’m not “hireable” anymore per se…I’m just doing my own thing my way and I’m happy

---

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

THE GOOD: I learned a lot of valuable skills this year. I grew my audience and I sold thousands of books. I created 4 successful new series, and because of their successful launches in 2023, I’m hoping to ride that wave throughout 2024 with their sequels.

THE BAD: I lost my publisher and left a book that I really enjoyed doing with a writer I am friends with. The series is still going forward and I’m excited to see where they take it. But it’s still a bummer.

THE UGLY: Because of the train wreck of Q3 and Q4 of this year, I am extremely late on THE GIRL WITH THE MEGA FISTS Volume 4. That book should be finished and at the printer right now, so I can ship it at the end of the month. Unfortunately that isn’t the case, as the book is not finished. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get the book printed and shipped by April of this year which pains me. With that being said, for ALL my titles going forward, they need to be 80% completed before we Kickstarter, and for Mega Fists, the book needs to be 90% completed before I Kickstarter.

Luckily we’re already doing this with SUPER PLUMBER SISTERS #2, which is at the 70% mark currently, and MY SEXY WITCH ACADEMIA #2 is already 100% completed.

---

All in all, this was an amazing year for me in comics, and a shitty year for me personally, and you know what?

I wouldn’t have it any other way. The lessons that I learned this year were invaluable and without them, 2024 wouldn’t be as amazing as it’s going to be.

So. Here’s to 2024. Thank you so much for being here. Let’s make some awesome comics and have a silly goose time :)

Tyler :)