Dumb Hiatus

Alright, we've been on a sort of “impromptu hiatus” these past few weeks. I figure I owe you guys an explanation, as it was, entirely, my decision to stop.

If you haven't noticed, confidence isn't really a strong suit of mine. I didn't really want to start Dumb until the infamous date of “later on”, when I would be okay with my work enough to post it online in a formal format (read: never.) But, a sweet, hosting sale allowed us to start early, and didn't impact our “budget” at all. I am grateful. This site helps us stay focused during down time, and shows us, but a taste, of what is to come, if we decide working as artists professionally is what we want to do. Dumb forces me to show my work to others, whether I like it or not. Following web-comics, and the community that surrounds them, has shown me the benefits of stepping out of my comfort zone. I was kind of starting to feel alright about some of it.

But, then I saw this: http://twitpic.com/5836vy

Now, I don't know if you see the connection or not, but this is pretty much what I've done up until this point. And this really hit home for me. Looking back, the advice that had been spoken of before this, was kind of general, maybe not always so, topically, but it was made to a general audience. I saw it's importance, but it's impact on me, personally, wasn't as great. Maybe? I don't know.

But, this was one was for me. Direct, up front, for me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't super-depressed-cutting-myself, but I sure as hell wasn't going to keep working on this project, until I “straightened out,” so to speak. I felt like I was back at square one. All of the drawing I had done previously was for naught. I tried emulating other people's work, to get ideas, but they ended up just being a poor man's version of whomever's art I was drawing. But, over these past few weeks, I realized that it's just another phaze. Freshman year of high school, it was “bad anime”, now it's “bad Disney”. With work and a bit of confidence, I'm going to reach “bad Sam” level, and then “so-so Sam,” then maybe even “good Sam.” This is just a speed bump. Nothing more.

“I may walk slowly, but I never walk backward.”

And that's it. Now, this may seem pretty dumb to you (which, it is), but you're reading a web-comic called “Dumb.” So, you really should have known better.

There will be a comic next week.

Unless, you know, I stub my toe or something.

-Samuel