Yup, 10 years ago today I posted the first (3) page(s) of my first (and really only) comic online! I originally posted them on a previous blog I had – http://studio-catch.com/2009/02/25/hockey-love-guts-first-three-pages/ – though a year later I consolidated it all into this site, so I had to start dating the pages again once I started using the proper webcomic plugins. Either way, while I don’t love tooting my own horn, I still really believe in the ideas I set forth in this work, and they drive me to continue writing and drawing this saga, so to speak. So much has happened both personally and professionally, and in some profound and eerie ways, events that I had planned to put in the story of this comic paralleled my life and vice-versa, so its become not only a vehicle for my personal work to develop, but also a way for me to cope with my life through the metaphors and characters within “Hockey, Love & GUTS!”
I say the first 10 years because after years of starting and stopping, and never quite working on it at the pace most webcomic artists keep on with their works (much less in terms of format and narrative – this is very much planned out as if it were going to print, though I still haven’t committed to that yet) I only now feel that I have a grasp of its story and characters, and who knows, maybe I’ll only get to the end for another 10 years, but I just enjoy the journey too much to think about the end just yet. Also, whatever happens with this idea, and in whatever other format it may evolve, I hope being able to just work on the comic will never stop until the story is done because I really believe in the medium; and however amateurish the first few or the latest pages may seem, it’s something that I can call my own and no one can take it away… well, not yet at least. Moreover, it’s the type of medium that has allowed to me fail, over and over again, and from which I have learned so much through that process of failing, picking up the pieces, and trying again.
Currently I’m at page 245, with about another 30+ to end this chapter (roughed and toned), but in a couple of weeks I’ll probably stop for a little while (mainly to finish the pages of this current chapter) but also to reassess where the story is going and make sure I’m not straying too far off where I originally had started. Of course, I need to actually start thumbnailing the next chapter and see where that one fits into my outline.
To those who have kept up with it all these years, I applaud you and I thank you for your patience, and to my new or recent readers, thank you for discovering and engaging with me online about it. Every like on every social media platform counts and fuels me with more will to continue telling this story. So, for now, here’s to the first 10 years, and to the finish line, whether it may take another 10 or more years!
Thank you!
Régis Camargo
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