The best way to describe 2011 was that it was bipolar - with such amazing highs and some serious lows.

Life

The year didn’t end on a massive high, as I was made redundant from work. What this means is that for the first 3 months of 2012, there is a transition period that is not really completely within my control. Obviously I have been working methodically since the day I received the news to try and find alternative suitable work and thankfully I have been very lucky with the responses so far. However it’s a very big decision that may mean uprooting myself (and now family of 1) to another country. The timing is interesting as it frames the next stage in my life really from the start of this year.

Creatively

Creatively I would classify this year generally as good. Not great, but then again in the year that I got married, I really couldn’t expect much more than what I achieved. There was some client web design work. There was a redesign of this site which has not gone live, but that’s because my preferred CMS does not exist at the moment (I’ll hopefully have some news of this in the new year). I got to design our wedding cards.

However the biggest achievement of 2011 for me creatively was a little cartoon strip that I have been drawing consistently since the summer. The characters were created before then (and even have their early life on my iPhone). I’m excited by the work I’ve done on this, as I slowly (painfully sometimes) build this world that these character live in.

Many of the projects that I started in 2011, will only bear fruit in 2012 and that’s fine by me. I’d rather have solid work come out when it comes out rather than just push stuff out the door.

Projects in 2012

Releasing my first online cartooning strip. This is months in the making and it’s something that I talk with Yasmine (my wife) about all the time. Some people in my family have seen bits of this but mainly I’ve kept this under wraps until I’m ready. It’s a definite departure from the type of cartooning/drawing that I usually do, but then again I’ve never written and drawn this much in my life, so obviously I must be doing something correctly.

Releasing our first iOS application. Again this has been months in the making. However these things take time, and it’s being created in my spare time. I’m excited to use this application and seeing where this road takes us.

I’d like to rebuild this website. Writing on my site is a muscle. I never stopped writing, I only stopped posting. There are hundreds of drafts on my computer with various ideas ready to be published once I’ve got my workflow sorted, which currently I do not.

The problem is that my graphic novel has taken a little bit of a seat back, as I do all these other projects. Some of them are personal and important to me, some of them hopefully will provide an added revenue stream. Others offer quick creative release. My graphic novel is a slow burn project. I’m not technically ready for it, however if I continue this way I’ll never be ready for it. So what’s the solution? The idea is to aim low, but stay consistent. So ultimately what I would like to try and do is draw 1 page every month as a minimum. A fully completed and inked page of work. I know that’s only 12 pages a year.

However I can see failure in the year ahead. That’s normal. My path is unclear at the moment and some of these projects might not get completed - and I’m okay with that. As long as I actually complete a few projects in 2012 that I can look back on and frame the year with, I’ll consider it as a success.