Shimmer has made the jump to the new host with a brand new Comic Press theme. I hope that even folks who said they didn’t care if a change was made to the layout ( 
) will find the site cleaner and faster with a few new neat functions (thumbnail artwork in the Chapter Archives!).
In other news, Shimmer is now officially on “Experimental Project” status.
What does that mean? I’m not sure of all the details exactly… besides the fact that there will probably not be a consistent update schedule anymore.
After making my announcement of how I feel like coming to closure with Shimmer as a whole, I listened to feedback from everyone and started to brainstorm ways that I can continue working on Shimmer while addressing the numerous issues I have with this project. I realize that I can’t keep moving forward under forced conditions – it’s not fair to the project, the figments and the readers. I know that I’m not producing the best work that I can when I scrabble to get a page done the night before an update. But how I’m going to address all this, I’m uncertain.
This is the first time I’ve really experienced a situation of this kind – a very long-term project that started out as something frivolous… but turned into something more demanding… only for inspiration to completely fizzle out, leaving me to try to do my best to get pages together week after week. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy working on Shimmer at all – that would be untrue. But I’ve come to the realization that what I’ve been doing the past year or so isn’t working, so I need to figure out something new.
If at all possible, I want to take Shimmer back to its roots. It was meant to be a very casual, experimental project that allowed me to play around with art style and color while working through a somewhat less involved storyline than many of the other projects I work on. It was never supposed to be on a weekly update schedule, but as I had positive response to the comic in the early days, I ended up making it that way.
I’ve found myself floundering through bits and pieces of storyline that simply haven’t kept my interest – such as it can be sometimes. But I’ve decided that if I’m going to continue working through Shimmer, then I’m going to start drawing what is interesting to me… even if that means skimming over the boring parts in a more “compact” format. Exactly how that is going to work, I’m not completely sure… but considering Shimmer is a narrated work from Aur’s point of view, I have a feeling you’re going to be hearing a lot more of his narration.
I appreciate everyone who has stood by Shimmer and the many other Sygnus projects. Let me catch my breath and see where things go from here.
Thoughts and feedback are welcome, as always.
This site is certainly…less sparkly. XD It looks muchly more clean and I haven’t encountered any problems yet! Go Wren! I hope everything works out okay…Sorry for my lack of positive input in the ‘ideas’ section. That’s the part where I suck. ¬_¬
Actually . . . I almost didn’t read Shimmer because I knew the characters were all going to get beat up and broken. I wouldn’t want to write that, either. I may be being way too bold here . . . but maybe the characters don’t want anyone to see them go through that pain and humiliation, and that’s why you’re experiencing burnout, too? I’d be very happy if you skimmed over the gory parts XD In all honesty, it was the sweet bits between Ben, Aur, and Kip, and between Tai and Kip that intrigued me. It really was the “shimmer”ing that kept me reading. Regardless of what I think, I think sticking to what you find interesting, whatever that may be, is a very good idea. I hope you’re able to figure everything out, and even if you did stop updating right here, it was a fun ride, and I will forever love and remember those that shimmered in the dark.
What? no consitent schedule? NOOOOOOO!!!!!
the new layout is nice
I agree, nice layout. Good thing I am following you on twitter to get updates.
Well, I may be a bit late, (haven’t had almost anything to do with webcomics for about four months), but I’m glad that you’re doing what you want to do, Aywren!
I hope you chose to continue with this story line. Personally, I would like to hear more of the story. I would like to hear how Ben is corrupted and then starts his path to redemption. To see how Kip becomes Omega, and find out more of the stories of each of the characters in the lineup.
Don’t give up on your project or yourself. Taking a break from a project can be a good thing. It may (hopefully) give you time to form the story in a way you will again find appealing, fun, or interesting to you. Forcing it will do you and your story no good. It is the journey not the destination that is the fun.
Thanks for the thoughts and encouragement, everyone. I’m not sure what I’m planning for Shimmer at this moment, but getting my thoughts together is a very good idea at this point. I’m taking a bit of a break… I’m still hoping to come back to this one day when the creativity bug bites. Chances are, I will — Afterall, Darkstar took me a decade to finish. But it DID get done! XD
Again, I appreciate your patience and kind words!