CyonixGFX

Buckle up, boys and girls...this is gonna be a LONG read...

So...during my New Year's update, I mentioned some of the things I was planning on working on...things such as finishing the magic show comic, officially introducing characters that I've been meaning to do stuff with for a while now, and even reboot Kira's story. Well, it's already April and so far, I've made ZERO progress on any of those goals...however, that's not necessarily a bad thing....let me explain what I mean by that...

A few weeks ago, my laptop did a system update and then...simply wouldn't boot up. It took me nearly two days to figure out the issue, but fortunately once I found the solution, it was an easy fix. The reason I'm mentioning this is because during the brief period my laptop was down, I started thinking about the April Fool's comic I had made only a few days prior and how a simple 'webcomic' format might work better than the way I'm currently doing things (you know, a single render with all the dialogue/story info in the description - which might go unnoticed by some people).

Anyways, once I got my laptop working again, I decided I'd do a test run of the idea by creating some layout 'templates' in Photoshop. However, after making the templates, I realized the only way to truly test out the idea was to actually create a sample webcomic page...

Rather than try and come up with something new, I ended up going through my existing content to try and find something I could adapt to the new format, finally settling on the beginning of Zoey's introduction....only a few hours later, the sample page was complete, and...yeah, I think this format could really work...

So, what does this sample page look like? Well...it looks something like...this...

So, now that I've got this new format at my disposal, what am I gonna do with it? Well...that's where things get a bit...complicated...the original idea was to possibly use this format to 'fix' some things that I'm not entirely happy with, such as Claire's Photo Shoot (those pages are way too cramped with dialogue) or The Accident (which deserves to be expanded on, considering what happens)...

However, after seeing how this sample page turned out, there's a part of me that wants to give the entire Earth-21 universe (home to Lauren and her friends) a 'soft-reboot' so I can adapt everything to this new format....if that sounds crazy and potentially labor-intensive, well...you're probably right...and yet, the idea of a 'soft-reboot' presents so many opportunities that it's hard for me to simply ignore it...

Anyways, regardless of whether I go through with the 'soft-reboot' or now, there's a few things that I absolutely NEED to take care of first:

1) Finish putting together the character libraries: this is something that needs to be taken care of. I'll admit that things have gotten a bit disorganized lately due to adding new characters, outfits, etc...so for now, this is probably gonna be top priority.

2) Create a definitive timeline of the events of Earth-21: If I'm gonna reboot everything involving Lauren and friends, then it'd be a good idea to know what happens when before I start working on adapting things to the new format...and even if I don't go through with the idea, having everything organized in a single word document can't hurt, you know?

What this means is that - aside from some concept art I haven't posted yet - you probably won't see much new stuff from me for a while as I work on getting things organized. But when I DO start posting new stuff...well, hopefully the wait will be worth it...

I've added a new section to my gallery - Concept Art! In addition to the design comparisons I made for Lauren and her friends a few years ago, I'll be adding a number of NON-CANON 'test renders' I've made while experimenting with new things in DAZ. Some of these 'test renders' are things I've previously shown off on Discord, while others are things I've never shown anyone - until now!

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys seeing all the interesting (and NON-CANON) things I've been playing around with!

It's still 2023 where I'm at (for a few more hours, at least), but I figured I'd go ahead and wish everyone a Happy New Year! Anyways, looking forward to 2024, here's a brief rundown of where I'm at right now...

1) All the computer issues are FINALLY taken care of, and I'm now up and running on a brand new (and SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful) laptop!

2) I know I've said this multiple times before, but this year, I really want (and kinda NEED) to get back to working on the magic show comic again...right now, my plan is to start 2024 focusing solely on working (and hopefully finishing) the comic so I can FINALLY move on to working on other stuff (I'd start working on it today, but I'm actually trying to throw together a New Year's render, so...)

3) Once the magic show's finished, I'm hoping to FINALLY introduce Yuki (the goth girl I introduced over two years ago) and Kai'mana (the one-legged mermaid who I've only mentioned a few times) to the group, as well as get to that meeting between Amber and Lauren that's been mentioned a few times...

4) Oh, and remember Kira? Yeah, it's kinda been a while since I've done anything with her...don't worry, I still have plans for her; however, those plans do involve a complete reboot of her story, so at some point (after I finish the magic show comic, most likely) I'll be removing everything I have posted of her (admittedly, that's only 4 renders lol) so I can start things over with her....just know that when she does return, she won't be alone...

Anyways, that's all for now! Happy New Year!

I've nearly got my computer issues sorted out, just waiting on the new system (and the secondary SSD for storing all my DAZ content) to get here so I can start transferring everything over and hopefully get back to rendering by this weekend!

Apologies for not posting much lately...I've been working on finishing up the 'character libraries' I started long ago (trust me, it'll be worth it in the long run)...

However, recently a rather unexpected issue popped up that's been giving me some problems: about a week ago I was closing the lid of my laptop when I heard something 'pop'...I soon discovered that the outer shell of the lid decided to come apart at one of the hinges, and while I can try to pop it back together, it just keeps coming apart :(

Fortunately, I can still use the laptop, but now I have to be VERY careful when opening or closing it...and as the damage seems to be slowly getting worse, I'm now having to decide whether to: a) get it repaired, b) just replace it (I've had it for 3 years, so a new laptop would definitely be an upgrade; at the same time, the current laptop still works, so...), or c) consider switching to a desktop (or even a hybrid laptop/desktop) setup instead...

Anyways, I'm hoping to get everything resolved within the next few weeks so I can get back to rendering!