That’s the end of Chapter 3! Whew! Thank you all so much for reading. If you’ve enjoyed the comic up to this point it would mean a lot to me if you helped spread the word. Ashflight will go on hiatus as I prepare for the next chapter, give or take a couple of character/author Q&As that I will announce on social media shortly. Stay tuned for those!
I truly had not expected this chapter to end up so long when I was writing it, nor had I expected to spend nearly two years drawing it from start to finish, in part due to the production of this chapter largely taking place throughout the latter half of my college years. Speaking of which: I’ve graduated! Let’s go!! As I enter a new stage of my life, lots of things are changing, and unfortunately that might extend to Ashflight as well. Please bear with me as I talk a bit about the future of the comic.
Truth be told, making this chapter has been quite difficult for me. My mental health and relationship with art have both been going downhill for quite some time (My primary social media platform imploding during this time did not help matters either. cough imonblueskybtw cough), to the point where I often felt myself pushing to complete an update even though I was burned out, only because I had a self-imposed schedule to meet. I had hoped this would not happen after I’d written the fairly well-received Swansong chapter, but I guess I made its conclusion open-ended for a reason. Luca’s issues, like my issues, are not ones that will likely ever have a clear happy ending. The path of an artist – of following any dream – will always be full of ups and downs and uncertainties.
The story of Ashflight is very dear to me, but I am at a point of my life where I must focus on keeping myself afloat in the unforgiving world of employment and money, and if spending 4-5 days a week working on a comic for no profit and no particular accolades is going to be detrimental to that, then perhaps it is time for a change.
To that end, I will be looking into ways for you to support the comic starting next chapter. To be clear – I will never make you pay to read Ashflight, it will always be free. However, an optional avenue of support would help me greatly in keeping this comic going, such as paying regularly for behind-the-scenes content and early access to updates, as I’ve seen other webcomics do. I’ll let you know what those will be as we approach the next chapter (likely near the end of this year or early 2025). Depending on how well that does, I will decide whether or not I’ll continue making this comic in the future. I know that probably sounds scary for loyal readers, and I’m sorry. I don’t really want to give up on it either, but it’s a choice I must face if a time comes where I can no longer keep updating with the same passion or energy that drove me to start this comic in the first place. If nothing else, I will make sure you all get to see the end of Chapter 4 and the first major arc of the story.
I’d rather not end on such a pessimistic note about it, so I’ll just say… we’ll see! Thanks for reading this thing to the end, and for all of your support over the years. Phi out.
