let me get the news straight out of the way

O.R.B. is back, uploads are resuming on the 25th and they will be biweekly from now on

ahem.

hi! i owe you all an apology. i said id write a blog post to clarify on why i took a break... six months ago. erm, #awkward! i didnt have the energy or time to write one for the longest time, because of pressure from college, especially my final thesis, erasmus+, and a lack of energy and motivation... which are also the reasons why i decided to put o.r.b. on break. i simply couldn't work on it, it was grueling to pick up a pencil and brainstorm ideas every single week while school was hitting my ass, especially because i had to deal with my final projects, me moving to italy as part of my erasmus+ program, working as an intern as part of my degree... my body simply couldnt handle it anymore. i was able to draw a couple of comics during the italy internship, but thats it. but now that ive graduated, and dont have that pressure anymore (i gotta find a job, but thats not the same), ive been taking some time to refresh. get some new ideas, look at what parts of my workflow have been hurting my motivation... i dont think i have everything figured out, but i have figured out a few things. so, yeah, im sorry for the radio silence on this website, or in the server, i just couldnt bring myself to break it

BUT THATS OK because were back and im back and orb is so back and YOU uh. hopefully will be back? but that part is up to you. no pressure (really)

now, is anything gonna change? yes, actually! first off, like i said at the beggining, uploads will now be BIWEEKLY instead of weekly. i originally decided to upload comics every single week, per nomnomnami's advice on the defunct platform known as cohost (thanks again nami!), and while it was fun at first, it eventually became increasingly unsustainable, even after summer vacation started. i have graduated now, and even though i am going to attempt to get a job this month or the next i will still have a lot more free time, but i still want to slow down the uploads in order to both keep myself from burning out, and to give each comic more care, instead of rushing them at midnight. something that also affected my output and energy was my self standards, which kept increasing with every comic - it was very hard for a joke to "convince" me, it had to reach an arbitrary bar of cleverness that i was NOT prepared for as someone with no writing experience prior to orb. so that wasnt sustainable too. i want to start getting sillier with my comics, writing smaller dumb fun jokes, and perhaps be a little more experimental too, and while im not going to abandon the elaborate setups and punchlines i think i need to stop overthinking every comic i write, because then i will stop making comics again. thats not to say im going to reduce the quality - i still want to make people laugh, and when im not trying to do that im instead trying to melt their hearts. its the sole thing i want to do with this webcomic and damn it im gonna commit to it. is this all set in stone for the rest of the comics lifespan? idk. we'll see. i want to at least try making this hobby healthier for me, lest i head explode forever. as for other changes i'm gonna make, i'd like to rework the "MEET THE ORBS" page to better explain the concept of the comic, and also redraw the references!

as for how personal life goes... im better! i think. graduating (with my best grades since before the pandemic) and then flying back to spain lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. so was getting a diagnosis for ocd recently! and visiting my wife was awesome!!!!! life is good right now. can't wait to get a job too so i can get big money to make big plans (saving up for flights to see my friends and my eventual departure from home). i want to use all of this positive energy to make more and more comics while also balancing orb with everything else!!

i also need to make the whimsical button a little less obtuse to find... but i'll worry about that later

thanks for all the support! people saying nice things about the comic is helping me regain motivation a lot!!!!

(fanart by Café con Leche!)

- caramel64