Mike Maihack
patreon
New Year. New Goals. New... Character?
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 17:37:59 +0000 UTCUpdate: Oops! Meant to publish this post out for free subs as well. That way everyone knows what to expect this coming year. While new art and sketches will primarily continue to be for paid subs, I am aiming to occasionally open up scattered posts for everyone this year. Especially since I plan on decreasing my already minimal time on the socials. No plans to diminish tier benefits though.
1 min read:
Meet Ko! Or maybe a different name! And her pink accessory shapeshifting pal who I haven't 100% figured out just yet! Excited to see what forms they take throughout this new year. π©·π©΅
"Hey I got time" read:
Happy January, my friends!
I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing end to 2024. I know I had a great time taking a short break from graphic novel stuff. Various Christmas festivities. Building some DIY and LEGO sets. More LEGO stuff at LEGOLAND with the fam. Seeing old friends. Trying out some new anime in-between One Piece eps. And catching up on TotK (I will never finish that game).
The cooler air in Florida the past few weeks even allowed for some great running outdoors weather. One of my goals this new year was to run 10k. On Jan 3rd, I ended up running 13k! Maybe I should adjust that goal to running a half-marathon or something. We'll see!
Now it's back to work with the lofty yet still attainable goal of reaching my March 1st deadline on Moonlit Spiral. That'll be my primary focus for the next couple months as I hunker down and get this book finally finished. Can't wait to start sharing more it with you here!
Outside of that, I plan to continue sharing NEW art with you. In addition to those aforementioned physical and professional goals, creatively this year my goal is to begin moving away from drawing as much fan art as I do. I realize that's a sentence some--maybe most--of you won't be that excited to read but, for me at least, I think it's important to develop new ideas instead of pouring my extra time and energy into IPs that mostly result in possibly a few likes on the socials and not much else.
To that end, I decided the best way to go about this was to create a new go-to character that might satisfy a lot of the things I like to draw when I sit down at my Cintiq. Someone I can toss into different fashions (and maybe hairstyles). Someone with a cheerful disposition like [my] Supergirl but occasionally a bit combative like Cleo. Someone who has a pink wide-eyed pal who can shapeshift into various accessories, weapons, and I dunno... animals?... that I can have her interact with. Like handbags, swords and cats. Someone you might never see again beyond this one drawing!
Right now I'm calling her "Ko" only because that's what the half-star and circle on her hoodie looked like to me. Dunno if that will stick. I'm not even sure if that's already a popular character name out there. No clue what to call her pink friend just yet. Or what pronouns to give them. Only that I think I'd like those giant wide eyes to be a constant.
So we'll see what develops throughout the year. And how my ever-growing affection for anime will mesh with my continued affection for western cartoons. I can't think of any better use than this Patreon for that sort of development and experimentation. Expect a lot of misses but hopefully a few hits. I'd also expect a little more posting of art on here that doesn't show up on the socials. All and all, it should be fun journey to go on together. Who knows? Maybe I'll get a new comic idea out of it? I'll definitely need something to pitch when I'm done with my next two Spidey/Marvel team-up books.
And speaking of Marvel, I'm not completely abandoning superheroes and fan art if that was a fear anyone had. I'm self-aware enough to know I won't be able to help myself. Besides obviously working on those two books, I also plan on opening up a few commission slots again (likely as a lotto) once I get Moonlit done. Plus another art related Patreon-exclusive thing if I can ever figure out how to manage it.
But for the most part, my goal for this new year will be new ideas. Like the Cass Elliot song goes: "You've gotta make your own kind of music even if nobody else sings along." Crossing my fingers that's not the case though and it ends up something special.
π©·
Comments
Angela Smith
Awesome. π. Love all the news!!
Craig M. Hinch
You do you! Your true fans will always support you, lots of fan art or otherwise, or not at all. As for Ko, I can also see her getting her name by the K.O. that happens when she knocks out some sort of villain or natural consequence by something her pal got them both into.
Kevin K
I was aiming for a tryptic (sp?) -- and it looks awesome. :-)
Mike Maihack
She does know and loves this idea!
Mike Maihack
That seems like a pretty apt comparison so far! Will see how she aligns or diverges.
Mike Maihack
Three of them? That means the world to me. π
Miy Eterp
Wow great female OC Ko
Populuxe
Iβm all in favor of new original characters. After all, thatβs how we got Cleopatra in Space, and soon, Moonlit Spiral.
Kevin K
This sounds very cool to me -- I mean, I love your fanart, but I also have three of the random women you drew for inktober a few years ago hanging on my wall, so I'm all in on that sort of stuff.
Adam Brenn
Happy new year! I love the design, would be great to see a comic with her !!
Benjamin Paczak
She's like Ramona Flowers meets Vanellope von Schweetz. Looking forward to more!
Wendi Hamilton
Looking forward to seeing what fun things Ko and her Blobby friend get up to! Happy New Year! π
Stephen Williams
Happy new year! Does Ko's pal know that it's the Year of the Snake? Could be fun for some shapeshifting shenanigans?
