I’m pretty proud of the stuff Lepus Studios has accomplished in 2023.

Last year, I did more public appearances, started or joined in some successful art challenges, and completed another chapter of Draconis Wicked (the longest chapter so far).

Yet, even the best of my triumphs had at least a hint of a dark side. Let’s take a look at what went right, what went wrong, and what I’d like to do more in 2024.

Lepus Rabbits

The Lepus Rabbits were something I started developing prior to 2023. I wanted an art series that was familiar to my style, but not attached to any comics or stories, something a casual fan could just enjoy without having to know any backstories. The Lepus Rabbits were just good-old, charming images.

I wanted an incentive to make more of these little rabbits, so I decided to draw a new Lepus Rabbit for every week in 2023. These were very rewarding, taking little time to make, but yielding some great results. And I easily met my goal of a rabbit a week.

I had intended to just keep going, to continue making new rabbits every week until I ran out of ideas. But, when 2023 came to a close, I just didn’t feel inspired any more. I still want to make new Lepus Rabbits, but I don’t want it to become a grind for more content – I think that will only spoil both the art and the reception.

I’m going to go back to making new Lepus Rabbits whenever I feel like it, but, for now, there are currently 58 rabbits in the galley that everyone can enjoy.

Full Moon Art Challenge

I’m still running the Full Moon Art Challenge, where artists make a work for each full moon (BTW, this project is open to the public, so if any more artists want to join in with their own creations, feel free to jump right in.)

When I make my own additions to the challenge, I try to chose a medium that I haven’t used in a while. In 2022, I did ink-and-water color paintings becauseI do most of my commissioned art in ink and watercolor. But, back in 2022, most of the conventions and other venues I frequented were still closed for quarantine. Without these venues, I was receiving fewer commissions. And, without commissions, I was doing very little ink and watercolors. By the end of the year, things were opening up again, but I was glad to have given myself a chance to practice and refresh those skills before they were called on.

In 2023, I chose animation for my medium, which definitely had it’s good point and bad points. I used to do a lot of amateur animation for myself and for my teaching job. But, once I stopped teaching middle schol/high school animation classes, I found fewer chances to put these skills to use. I started doing little scenes for each full moon – nothing too complicated, just little moving pictures. It was great to get back into animation and to keep my skills from atrophying.

However, animation – even simple animations – take lots of time. I felt as though I was taking too much time away from comics and other art. Also, once I got back into the routine of animating, I wanted to do more ambitious projects than just little scenes. I wanted to put weeks into motion comics or music videos, but the monthly moon schedule kept me too busy for anything more engaging.

I finished my moon challenge without missing a single moon (thirteen moons, since this year had a blue moon), but I plan to go back to a non-digital medium this year. Something quicker that uses my time differently.

24 Hour Comics Day

For the first time ever, I participated in 24 Hour Comic Day, which ran on October 7th, 2023. In years past, 24 Hour Comic Day was usually off the table because of how often I worked on Saturdays. Finally getting the chance to participate was a welcome experience. I enjoyed the frantic rush of meeting a wild deadline without the pressure of Terrible Consequences if the deadline was missed.

I’m very pleased with the finished comic as well. I did a retelling of the Grimm Brothers Fairy Tale, “The Musicians of Bremen,” a story I’ve known since childhood. (You can still read it here). I’m currently putting together a print version of the story, which should be in the Etsy shop sometime next month.

Will I do another 24 Hour Comic Day in 2024? Once again, I worry that these side projects are taking too much time and energy away from the main comics, so I guess I’ll see what my buffer looks like, as well as the rest of my obligations. On the other hand, people have already started pitching me ideas for more fairy tales, and some of them would make dandy comics…

Public Appearances

In 2023, I tried some experiments with art and sales. I had heard that some all-ages webcomics could pick up a little extra business by vending at craft shows in addition to comic shows. Craft show tables cost a lot less to rent and there are enough local shows that I’d never need to pay for travel. The results were somewhat mixed. I encountered a few fans who were very excited to discover a new comic. (If you found me from a craft show: hello there, thanks for reading.) However, setting up for these shows was a big drain on my time and energy. And, as grateful as I am to find and meet new readers, I can’t really justify sinking so many of my resources into these shows when I could have spent on other projects that might to more to either turn a profit or attract many more readers.

Fortunately, tabling at Pittsburgh Anthrocon was my most profitable con ever, so I’d like to keep coming back to that one for the foreseeable future.

Draconis Wicked

Draconis Wicked was off to a strong start in 2023. I posted qaulity pages on schedule for most of the year and brought a close to a long-running chapter. By the middle of fall, I had been using too much of my time and energy on all those various side projects I mentioned earlier. I took a break in October, which ended up going much longer than I had intended. I got sick, my car had problems, my family had problems (don’t worry, everyone’s fine now, but there were some tough days). These kinds of things would have gotten me down wether or not I was running too many side hustles. But if I had scaled back on the art challenges and public appearances, I might have had more comic pages in the buffer to get me further into the hard times.

I’m also trying something different with these new chapters of Draconis Wicked – something that slowed down my return, but should pay off in the long run – I’m working further ahead on storyboards and layouts. I’m tring to conceptualize the whole chapter more completely, which should keep the story a little tighter and quicker-paced.

In Conclusion…

2023 was a year for experiments and expansion. A year for challenging myself and going beyond the permitters of what I had done before, while still trying to keep up established routines and good habits. Going forward, I need to make sure that ambition is put into projects that are more rewarding – both personally gratifying things, and also things that help my studio expand and grow.

I’m taking a lot of what I’ve learned and accomplished last year and rolling it into lots of new projects. Keep on reading. This year is going to be another good one for art.