Today is the Summer Solstice.

Today is the second anniversary of this website.

Today is the beginning of the third year of FLOLAS.

I've actually been working on this project for over a decade. It started off as a completely different story, then I reworked the entire plot and setting but kept the characters. It's been a slow process, but an enlightening one.

Working on this comic book has been an attempt to keep me drawing while improving my technique. I never could figure out how to make a living just being an artist, so I separated my career as a technologist from my artistic goals. This website represents the latter.

Looking back over the early pages, I think this project has been a success. I'm much happier with my abilities both to render a character and to tell a story. Plus, I still love it. Making a long form piece like this has been fulfilling in ways I'm not sure I can explain.

And, of course, I'm far from finished.

At this rate, it may take another year or two before I complete the first episode. That sounds crazy, especially considering that FLOLAS is meant to be serialized with multiple volumes and story arcs. Ultimately, I envision it as an animated TV show, comprised of seven seasons, each with ten to twenty episodes. At this point on my journey, that sounds like insanity. It is insanity.

But, I'm not alone.

There are two other projects that rival my ambition, each created by one lone artist. The first is Nonplayer, a really great science fiction comic about the future of online gaming and VR by Nate Simpson. It took him four years to release his second issue. The sheer audacity of his ambition is part of what inspired me to just start drawing FLOLAS with reckless abandon.

The second project is The Wormworld Saga by Daniel Lieske; a whimsical story about a boy who gets lost in a fantasy world. This one is different though because it's not drawn as a book, but rather for the website itself, so it's designed to be scrolled down instead of it's pages being turned. That's something I've considered many times and I still might do in the future.

Both of these guys are better artists than I am. And they're in it for the long haul: both admitting that it may be another twenty years before they're done. It may seem ridiculous, but for some reason, I'm fine with this. In the end, we'll each have our own magnum opus.

Currently, I'm working on Page 29. The first 30 pages of Song One are more or less an introduction to this world and it's characters. The next 30 pages will really dive into the narrative. I don't see Song One being much longer than 60 pages total.

Today is the Summer Solstice.

Hopefully, with a lot of drawing, and a little luck, I'll be a lot closer to the finish line by the next.