After rereading my 2024 Year in Review, I realized 2025 wasn’t as busy, but I still got a lot of work done. The biggest challenge was that this was the year I ran out of buffer for my Kickstarters. My entire backlog of comics from TALL TAILS and EGORAVEN: HEIR OF THE FIRST UNICORN had run out, and I was in the precarious situation of not being able to run campaigns until the books were completely finished. Despite that, I still released three more issues of EGORAVEN and just completed the campaign for a new batch of sketchbooks from HAUS OF BOB. I would have preferred to get EGORAVEN issue 12 and Volume 3 out as well, but at least they are definitely on the schedule for next year.
Speaking of EGORAVEN 12, I’m still working on the issue with about ten-ish pages to go to complete the inking and shading. I figured I’d leave the flatting for last since it’s the simplest part of the process.
This issue marks another significant milestone for me, as it concludes EGORAVEN volume 3, leaving me with only FOUR issues remaining to complete the entire series. I have to admit, I love my girl, but boy, am I ready to move on to her next arcs. I am so far ahead on Egoraven’s worldbuilding that it’s killing me to still be back here at this part of the story. I’m just itching to finish and get to editing the novelization, the sequel, and all the little stories after that, eventually leading to whatever this is…
Before you continue, check out the pre-launch page for EGORAVEN: HEIR OF THE FIRST UNICORN issue 12 and get notified when the campaign goes live.
HAUS OF BOB became a bigger project than I had anticipated. Instead of being only an outlet for my adult art in collectable sketchbooks, it also allowed me to return to traditional art after spending so much time working in digital. And all those commissions made me realize just how much I missed it. I’m looking forward to doing more of them in 2026.
A nerve-wracking experience that changed my brain chemistry. It was my first convention alone, and I chickened out on using the opportunity to network, but I loved every exhausting minute. A female-dominant space that celebrated erotic fantasy novels and artwork. I didn’t get in as a vendor, but I did score a ticket for 2026. With an understanding of how the con works (it was NOT like a comic con), I have a better idea that will make networking and just enjoying it overall easier this time around.
I decided to de-influence myself from the constant marketing rhetoric in the indie comic sphere. The only thing keeping me from being “successful” is money. Lots and lots of money. All the marketing in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have the funds to bankroll it, and if I had that kind of money lying around, I wouldn’t waste it on Facebook ads. After 11 issues of EGORAVEN, I’m pretty confident that this is where I’m going to be until the end of the series without a significant push, so I’m not going to worry about it anymore. Instead, I’m going to focus on YouTube and my mailing list of the people who stuck around this long. You can keep your “funnels” and “activations”. I’m fine being an average creator on Kickstarter.
I thought I would accomplish more this year, but even I fell for the fantasy version of myself. I was only able to get a couple of panels for TALL TAILS issue 7 before I became too distracted by EGORAVEN to continue. Even with EGORAVEN, I didn’t complete as many issues as I had wanted. For 2026, I want to complete the layouts for TALL TAILS issues 7 and 8. I’m pretty sure my procrastination has more to do with not having any layouts finished than with being distracted. Also, I’m going to use this opportunity to sketch my layouts on paper instead of digitally. I really need to figure out what’s stopping me from locking in.
Another decision I made was to limit my time on the internet. I uninstalled Facebook and Instagram on my phone, and the only platforms I regularly interact with are YouTube, Substack, Facebook Messenger, and my mailing list. What happened when I stopped mindlessly scrolling was that my “imagination” came back in full force. I found myself writing outlines for several more stories and possibly a new book, plus fixing up bothersome details in the EGORAVEN novelization. I also found that by silencing the constant online chatter, the voices in my head that kept fueling my anxiety quieted to almost nothing. I still have a lot of work to do to really stop the negative internalization that being chronically online causes, but it’s incredible how different it feels after a couple of months of staying off most platforms. And trust me, writing more fantasy is a lot more fun.
The biggest game changer for me this year is my purchase of a Wacom MoveInk 11. It’s a completely portable Android tablet that runs Clip Studio Paint perfectly. I have been using it almost exclusively since October, and not being tethered to my office has been life-changing. I’ve worked on my comic pages in bed, at the airport, in an airplane, on a sofa, pretty much wherever I wanted or needed to be. I am completely addicted to the touch screen feature, especially. Unfortunately, my Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 does not have this feature, so it’s a bit of a drag when I have to switch back to using a keyboard for my shortcuts. The Moveink 11 also showed me that I didn’t need a larger screen, just a better one-handed interface. But if my Cintiq poops out, I would still shell out for their 22” model because the price difference between the 17” and 22” models isn’t that much, and I always regretted not getting the larger model from the get-go instead of the Cintiq Pro 16.
The biggest art drama this year was the discovery that I had completely lost my art archive, dating back from 1990 to 2000, which included originals and Xerox masters from my furry fandom days. It was a harrowing several days, tearing apart my office and trying to remember where I last saw this archive, but it remains completely gone to this day. In desperation, I posted on FurAffinity asking if anyone had collected my stuff and could help me rebuild. My stars aligned with a fan who asked if I could take back his entire collection because he was afraid it would be thrown out if anything happened to him. I agreed, but I had no idea what the scope of the collection I would be getting back would be. It was everything that was missing and then some, with art and portfolios I didn’t even remember being in. It truly was a Christmas miracle. I’m currently in the middle of scanning hell with close to 200 pieces scanned in so far. They’re still going to require editing to be printable again, but at least I have my archive back.
The biggest lesson I learned in 2025, aside from marketing is a waste of time on our level, is that it’s all for nothing if you don’t have a completed story. Period. I can count the number of indies with completed series on one hand. Maybe if I asked JD Calderon, I could add my second hand, but the point is, most creators never make it to the end of their series. Most creators fart an idea on a napkin, rush to get the first issue made, then wonder what happened when they flame out by the third issue because they ultimately didn’t know where their story was going. If there’s one piece of advice I would give, it is to write a complete first draft of your series and really assess how many issues the story actually needs. I’ve met too many creators crowing how their series are 128-issue epics when they can barely put out an issue a year. Even if you were to put out four a year, that’s still 38 years to see an ending. Are you sure your story needs to be that long? Are you sure you can even get that far? Leave the hundreds of issues to the mainstream companies. They’re the only ones who can get away with that anyway.
If I have one big goal for 2026, it’s to finish EGORAVEN: HEIR OF THE FIRST UNICORN completely. As I said before, I'm really ready to move on from this story arc. My next goal after that is to finish the layouts for TALL TAILS: TEARS OF THE MOTHER issues 7 & 8, and set the foundation to complete that series as well. It doesn’t sound like much, but after assessing this year, it’s going to be more than plenty of work, and that’s not counting everything else I know I’m going to have to fit in between these two projects. And I still have to run at least four Kickstarters on top of it.
So that’s pretty much it for me. There’s a lot that I didn’t cover, but I’ve pretty much mentioned the most important bits. Time to get back to work.
—Daphne
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