Comments on: Static on the frequency.

By: Bobcat

Bobcat — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:43:47 +0000

Waaaaah! I’m going to abandon something I get for free because I don’t get it fast enough! Waaaah!

Fork ‘em. It’s hard making a living off art, whatever the media.

Until your art pays you a living wage, you need another job to make bills, and that takes time. Then, unlike zombies, there’s the whole “living” thing – taking care of family, cooking dinner, doing laundry, buying art supplies, watching kung fu films, etc. – which takes even more time. Then there’s sleep, which you need once in a rare while to stay healthy and continue your art. At least this is my situation; yours is none of my business, but it’s a common lot. And there’s 2 of you, which doubles the trouble.

So fork ‘em. Blow their safety cap if they wander too far. As for me, I’m going to keep enjoying your delicious braaaaaainssss. I mean art. At your pace. (brains)

By: Sarrah W

Sarrah W — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:12:07 +0000

Hehheh, no worries Clint, you don’t lose any cred with me for it not being a Rush reference. I liked the play on words!

By: yornma

yornma — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:15:05 +0000

Dawn, No worries I run my own blog, facebook page and website.. so I get the joy of not only editing my writings, but researching for blogs and editing and posting photos. Plus working a full time job. I understand and respect the fact that it takes a lot of time and effort plus you both do conventions and what not so it’s not like you just sit around and draw all day. *hugs back* PS: I can’t wait to see how this chapter ends.

By: Clint

Clint — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:48:32 +0000

Do I sound smarter if I say “yes”?

Nah, I do have a habit of sprinkling references here and there in titles and the comic itself… but this was just me enjoying the double (quadruple?) puns on static and frequency. And I think the current slang usage of static for giving someone trouble post-dates “The Pass” by several years.

By: Sarrah W

Sarrah W — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:33:51 +0000

We’ve had a few grumblings along the same lines. I’m crazy proud to say we’ve never missed an update, but in all the time we’ve done our comic, we’ve been trying to produce two pages a week – and we’ve yet to be able to do so. Trying to promise two a week would be an inevitable disappointment to our readers. Instead, we offer an extra page now and then as a bonus, and that seems to help matters. It’s not something we can do all the time, but it’s fun when we can!

I’ve come to consider long form webcomics more as an act of watching a graphic novel in progress. The finished product will always be there, and I absolutely agree that it’s pointless to act offended if someone only drops by once a month to catch up. Heck, I’ve considered offering a special RSS feed that only informs someone when an entire chapter has finished! If I’m enjoying a comic, chances are I’ll go back and read from the beginning now and then to reacquaint myself with what’s going on.

Bearing the grumblings can be difficult at times, but the alternatives are sad and unthinkable. Burning out? Keeping the comic offline until it’s completely finished? Bleh.

Out of curiosity, is the title a reference to a Rush song? I know it’s a common phrase, but it reminded me of “The Pass”. Figured it didn’t hurt to check.

By: Clint

Clint — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:16:51 +0000

Yeah, when there’s only one or two people “on staff” you end up wearing a lot of hats.

I completely agree that where things you enjoy are concerned, it’s only natural to want more. Hell I’ve been waiting for A Dance With Dragons for several years, and actually am still waiting because I want it in paperback form. I’m patient though because I can only begin to imagine the Herculean undertaking each of the Song of Ice and Fire books represents, especially as the story continues to progress and unfold. I half suspect GRRM’s habit of killing off characters is a sanity reflex just to keep the amount of people he has to devote time to in check.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:39:31 +0000

Thank you for bringing up having to maintain the website, yornma. A lot of people forget that I’m not only the artist, but also the web designer for the site and all the time I put into maintaining it. :hugs:

By: Cat

Cat — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:58:08 +0000

And here I was thinking that I enjoyed the strip as it is… I wouldn’t mind more comics during the week, sure. But I would also like the authors of the books I read to put out more than one or two books a year. I mean, I read them in less than a week… (grin) Seriously, I happened on your comic by near happenstance, and have enjoyed it, *and* the pace. I guess I am old enough to have some patience. (Oh, and I like the zombie horse toy, too.) So, I am quite sorry that said person left. I won’t. Thank you for your comic!

By: yornma

yornma — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:41:58 +0000

I can understand the reader’s frustration, but as an amateur writer who just started finishing her stories and posting them on the web I can’t imagine the amount of things that have to be done prior to getting a webcomic posted. There’s a story, drawing, re-drawing, scanning, editing, etc. If you and Dawn find that once is a week is the most you can handle then so be it. One can always come back a month or so later to catch up if they don’t feel like waiting for the updates, I personally like the once a week update because it gives me something different to read from the other webcomics. If I don’t remember what happened last week, there’s a back button.
I understand the reader wanting it to progress quicker but the creative process takes time, as the comic creator you have decide where the storyline is going to go and what’s going to be the next post. Plus you may have a 40 a week job or a convention to go to or some family emergency, not everyone has the spare time to sit there and draw their comic and maintain a website every single day. It’s a shame that the departed reader did not understand the creative process. But thank you and Dawn for you creativity and wanting to share the world of Zombie Ranch with us. I look forward to the next post.