Hello everyone!

I know it’s been a while since I last posted. Whoops, sorry about that!

I’ve been so busy working on a new project I didn’t realise until today that although I’ve mentioned it in a few places, I’ve never actually written a proper public post to update you all on what I’ve been doing. So here is a proper all-in-one post to inform you of everything that’s going on over on this side:

The big news is… I’m making a graphic novel with Li Chen!

You may recognize her from the Detective Beans books and Exocomics (and occasionally appearing in the background of some of my Twitch streams). The book (title still to come) will be a whopping 208 pages (over 1000 panels!), in full colour, and with all new characters and story! It will be available next year through Penguin Random House for New Zealand and Australia, and Andrews McMeel worldwide. This is by far the biggest project I’ve ever taken on and I’m very excited about it!

It comes as a huge relief too, because over the years I had been dealing with increasing feelings of burnout and stagnation. I didn’t know how to progress and I worried that maybe I was just done with comics. But now with this new project in the works, it feels like my brain just chewed some 5 gum and took a huge breath of fresh air.

The graphic novel is currently my top priority and there is still a LOT of work to do before my January deadline. Unfortunately, this means I won’t be making anything else until it’s done. Well, other than the occasional behind-the-scenes update and Twitch stream, anyway.

So consider Loading Artist officially on hiatus… for now.

Thank you everyone for all the love and support you’ve shown me. I really appreciate it, but do not feel obligated to remain a patron (unless you want to keep up with the behind-the-scenes book updates). Or maybe consider dropping to the free member tier! That way you’ll still be informed when I post something publicly.

Thank you for reading and I can’t wait to tell you more about my book in the near future!

🧡 Gregor

This post is way overdue.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I’ve just been finding it really hard to be creative lately.

The short version is I got hit with burnout again. It’s been a bad one. I felt depressed, lost, and I basically ran off into a metaphorical forest to hide for a while.

I started questioning everything. Do I still enjoy drawing comics? Do I still enjoy anything? Do I even have hobbies outside of all this? What’s my goal here?

Eventually, I started making new Plucked Up comics for patrons again. That seems to be my post-burnout ritual at this point. They’re a longer format than my usual Loading Artist comics, and I think that shift in structure makes the wall I’m banging my head against feel a little softer. Maybe doing something different is part of the answer?

While all this was happening, I was also lucky enough to watch Li Chen’s Detective Beans graphic novel series come to life. Helping with edits and seeing the whole thing take shape was incredibly inspiring. It pushed me to start developing my own graphic novel ideas, which I’m starting to get excited about (something I haven’t felt in a long time). But that reveal is still a long way off.

As for Loading Artist comics, I want to return to them. Right now my brain just refuses to hand over any ideas, and forcing it only makes everything worse. So instead I’m putting my energy into other projects, like the graphic novel. I’m hoping that giving my brain something different to work on will eventually loosen whatever is blocking the Loading Artist part of my mind.

On the plus side, I’ve started getting back into streaming on Twitch again. And I’ll get back to posting on social media too, before they close my accounts due to inactivity, lol.

Thanks for understanding. See you again soon, hopefully!