Last year’s article feels simultaneously like a lifetime ago & a single sleep past. Year Two was hard. Though Year Three is bursting with oddities & unexpected directions, it’s worlds away from the dreadful drudge that was Year Two even if I was able to keep up some of my fundamental habits & ways during that time that I no longer commit to now (though I suppose that begs the question of if they were all that fundamental in the first place). Not long after writing my reflections on Year Two did life take a comically stark turn in a number of ways that haven’t all entirely stuck or gave way to other transformations in self-concept & ideals. I was at the start of my zinetober project (a challenge I decided I couldn’t afford to reprise this year for Valid Reasons) which would cement a deep passion for zines that lingered in my periphery for years by that point & would culminate in me tabling at my first ever zine fest at the end of 2024 & at four more the following year (plus tabling three additional times at a local art market). The practice of sharing my work through zinetober, both art & writings, would also lead to me hosting my first ever panel at Holiday Matsuri 2024. This panel would subsequently reignite a fondness for teaching & sharing knowledge that led me to my current job.

 If the Third Year was to be characterized by anything it would be cycles of fevered work & burn out (ironic as I am currently suffering early effects of probably burn out as I write this article). I considered myself astronomically lucky at the end of the last calendar year with how my life & creative pursuits had been going (which was mostly a good thing even though I delayed introspection until I started crashing early in the next). Exactly what I’d done in this personal year is made & sold countless zines, designed 18+ stickers, hosted 3 panels, made a video essay, drawn a super high number of complete pieces, released my podcast (25 episodes to date), made an album (& extra songs), started a writing club, completed 4 cosplays, made a Rat Lore, & (most importantly) started the largest project I’ve ever done in the form of my personal Homestuck: my webcomic Mythoslain.

  At the time of writing, Mythoslain has released 195 pages with 220+ individual panels (many of which are animated gifs), two [S] pages (animations with sound/music for the unaware), & is just shy of 50k words. My current draft is well over this without counting my extensive notes & drafts of planned game segment text. I took my original designs of these 12 characters (plus loose concepts of 2 other related ones I reworked & designed at the start of the year while working on a since abandoned OC zine project) & spirited them before fleshing out their concepts until I had this immense, unwieldy thing I had to do something with. The progression was near comical as it started on Easter, the day I got a Hometuck tattoo on impulse after suffering a wretched state since 4/13. I’d been making sprites of my friends for fun during this time & on the day I got my tattoo I had run out of friends to sprite just before so I opted to sprite my old fantrolls that I never made sprites for. My most complete session with a coherent theme, the Mythoslains, whom I had attempted to write a prose story detailing their session over a year ago came first to mind. Shortly after finishing their sprites I had an idea: what if I made a video about a supposed lost piece of Homestuck fanwork (their comic) so I could tell the story with only the parts I wanted/had the time to make? I wasn’t sure I could execute a full comic to my satisfaction, but this was a clear project I could indulge. I started designing more characters after that, namely the ancestors. I was at a loss for what their exact story structure would be beyond the generic game plots, but as I was working on a second set of ancestors (in brief terms - the adult versions of the main cast prior to the universe resetting into the one we know), I came up with a character concept to order things greatly in a decidedly tragic direction that caused everything to spiral from there. It only took 5 days since I started spriting the trolls for this to happen. It wasn’t long at all (no more than a day probably) before I started to become very sold on the idea that I COULD make a comic.

 Jumping again to the time of writing, Mythoslain now has about 201 characters not included alternate versions of characters that aren’t sufficiently different from a version of themself even if they have a different name/design & non-canon doomed timeline selves. 137 of these characters have set designs, all but 14 of which were designed from April 2025 to October 2025 (under 6 months). I learned a great deal in that time beyond elevating my art skills to a point where I now understand hands/anatomy a lot better. I also learned how to animate in the style using Adobe Animate as well as making gifs, how to 3d model more extensively, music editing, & even basics of making music. I’ve learned a great deal about structuring stories, how to make up for my creative “bad” habits to good effect, editing, making economical use of story/symbolic elements, writing strong character voices, & creating sustainably while sharing with the world. I overcame a lot of creative difficulties with my project & while it isn’t suuuuper easy 100% of the time (especially right this second where I’ve slowed down a lot pushing myself so hard to get what I wanted out in the comic), but I feel so fulfilled by it! I have planned 5 core acts of the comic followed by a split into 3 extra acts with an epilogue one way & 1 extra act with an epilogue the other way before converging in one final epilogue. In this frame I have a number of exciting narrative game segments, extensive animations, & moments planned. I even have a strong concept for Mythoslain 2 if we ever get there. I had absolutely no idea that I would fall so deeply in love with a project like this & while it overshadowed all my other project ideas/goals coming into this year, it’s beyond worth it.

 This singular focus, however, has resulted in other life changes I’m not entirely super okay with just yet. I no longer journal every single day like I used to, often having to catch up on my far more limited journaling practice. I also no longer read every day for I lack the time & find myself too consumed with thoughts of my projects to actively take in more stories. I’ve moved very much away from traditional art in favor of digital art meaning I rarely ever keep up with sketchbooks unless I’m somewhere I have no tablet access. This feels almost like a betrayal of myself, of the self that got me through some very tough times, but I have to accept that these approaches may no longer be necessary, especially if my project does so much good for me.

 It’s also tough to accept that while I’ve produced a great deal more work that I’m satisfied with than my projected goals, I haven’t met so many of them. I didn’t keep up with web development learning as I had wanted (though I am planning to do more code projects for the comic) & I completely dropped opening an online shop after having one briefly up. I also have even less of an idea of an “end goal” or where I’m “going” than I did before, but that’s a consequence of being very happy where I am. Even if I’m very tired right this second & frustrated by the fact that I’ve slowed down with my creative work, I still feel tremendously fulfilled & my biggest complaint is the more palatable one of having too many things I want to do & not enough time/means/energy because I’m so deeply inspired & ambitious.

 My goals moving forward are far more focused than previous years. Even though I’m afraid that the risk of failure will make this age terribly sad, I really want to keep up with the comic! I am having so much fun & it’s everything I ever wanted. It’s giving me a strong sense of purpose & drive in life whilst honoring my past self. It’s art for art’s sake without concerns of trying to do something productive with it all. I am so in love with my work & it’s helping me understand myself more in ways that I had nearly given up hope on. I want to execute on my comic goals & also find a balance where I can work on other things on the side like more zines, TTRPG stuff, & other writing projects. I’d also love to keep up the podcast, of course. I want to be more social with events & efforts to spread knowledge & creative inspiration to those around me like I’ve been doing with writing club. In short, I mostly just want to do more of what I’m doing right now! However, I would most of all like to learn how to do these things sustainably. I don’t want to burn myself out on the regular & I would love to have more control of my creative moods to get a better balance between the art mood & the writing mood. Life is so much about learning about your ever changing self & trying to understand that self without ruinously boxing yourself in to a specific damaging thing. I’d just like to do better, be better, & make stuff that’s at least better to me.