Plans for 2026
My last post was all about what happened in 2025 so I thought this year I’d book-end things by posting a loose plan for the coming year and then in December I can see if I manage to do any of it! I wanted to post this last week but time got away from me so I’d best crack on before another week passes me by.
Splorers
In my last post, I also eluded to the fact that I’m pivoting from my initial plan for Splorers, which was to get issue 2 done by the end of February before taking another break to work on other projects.
If I count from when I first came up with the idea for Splorers, this project has been going on for more than 10 years now and I just want to see it through. I don’t want to keep dragging it on year after year with long breaks in between issues.
So! I still plan on starting to deliver new Splorers comics by the end of February but rather than it being a single issue, I’ll first drop a few opening pages online then will post a page a week going forward until the story is done.
As I write this, I’ve got about 16 pages thumbnailed so if I can get these pages ready in the next six weeks, I’ll have a bunch of pages ready to go which will give me plenty of time to continue working at a rate of a page a week until it’s finished.
I have a loose ending in mind so how long it goes on for will really come down to appetite from you, my audience. While I won’t be swayed too much by engagement stats, it’ll certainly help me figure out whether its worth wrapping the story up to a suitable conclusion within a set time frame or whether it could/should spill over into 2027 and beyond.
I also figure that once I’m into a good rhythm of doing a page a week, it should free up some time to work on other projects alongside.
With that, I will post some sort of schedule for the coming weeks to try keep me on track.
Do some online courses
Over the years, I’ve picked up various online courses, some I’ve watched through but not really done much to implement or work alongside, rendering it a pointless exercise so this year I’m going to actually work through at least a couple of courses with the aim of improving my comic-making game.
How to Paint Light with Aaron Blaise (can you see a theme here?)
When I get around to these, I’ll most likely write about them as I go.
Possibly find a new home for this Substack
This is something I’ve been wrestling with for a long time. There are many aspects of Substack that I really like but there are some things which I don’t so I need to weigh up the pros and cons of taking this thing elsewhere. If I do end up moving somewhere else, I’ll keep you up-to-date with how you can follow me (if you want to, that is!). For now though, I’ll be posting here which brings me to…
Posting more regularly
I got into a good routine of posting in the early part of 2025 and then it sort of fell off a bit as I found myself transitioning from one project to another. I’ve got other types of posts I’ve been scribbling down over the years so I’ll look at getting those out among comic-related updates.
Take next Christmas off
While I did have a break and didn’t work all that much during the holiday, I did still feel that pang of guilt that I “should be working” when I had my feet up watching a film or reading. There was a lot to do over the holidays, hosting parties which required preparation, looking after kids and between Christmas and New Year, that included building lots of Lego and other cool things…
I figure if I get myself on a roll with Splorers and manage to get a few other projects on the go too, then by the time I break for Christmas in December, I’ll have earned a break where I can switch off and allow myself the time to properly recuperate and gather inspiration to throw me into 2027 with a bit more gusto than I’ve had coming into 2026.
I’ll park it there for now. Time to start trying to attack these projects before time gets away from me.
Looking forward toore Splorers!