Snarkclaw
Snarkclaw Snarkclaw: Art And Comics by Sheryl Schopfer. Illustrations include characters from Deer Me and Sharpclaw, plus fan art, mostly in a cartoony style.

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Happy New Year, Three Weeks In

Among my many bad habits is avoidance. In fact, inaction is probably my greatest weakness.

When I screw up, I feel bad about it, so I avoid the related situation. Eventually, the avoidance can build into a big problem. If it involves reaching out to someone, then the social situation gets more awkward with each postponement. If it involves a chore, then the work required builds until a manageable task gets complicated.

I do not do this for everything and I try to catch myself, but there are times I feel overwhelmed and I let the problem get out of control, particularly if it includes components I just do not know how to handle... particularly social or embarrassing ones.

I have been avoiding posting, because I am still trying to figure out how to move forward with creating and sharing comics and art.

Deer Me has been on hiatus for literally years now. This is not out of lack of interest on my part. I sincerely have more story ideas I genuinely want to create. In fact, I have so many concepts that they overwhelm me; I have previously written about my need for a "Crazy Wall." Last November, I resolved to get existing concepts sorted and written. I did establish a good-if-rough chronology, but not write much. Rather than focus on the success of making a semblance of a timeline, I focused on my failure to write actual chapter scripts.

Focusing on the negative rather than the positive is another big weakness of mine.

Sharpclaw has been progressing ridiculously slowly. In truth, I genuinely stopped enjoying drawing. I did not want to draw. I did not want to want to draw. I am not sure how many levels removed I got, but I think I hit bottom with "I want to want to want to draw."

Yes, I said "hit bottom." Four days ago, I started sketching the current work-in-progress Sharpclaw comic (that I meant to finish and post today, but more griping later) and felt something I had not felt in months. Elated, I sent this to Hubby:

"Happy news!

I actually felt joy in drawing tonight! I did not work for long and did not start until late, but I actually want to continue. And I actually found myself enjoying what I was doing.

Drawing has been strictly a chore lately. I know I often despair about not getting back into it when it has been a while, but to not even enjoy the act at all... Oof. I was happy to finish the page I finished last week, but I did not enjoy doing it.

This time, I actually want to get back to what I was doing, not out of a sense of 'should,' but genuine want."

It was shocking to realize how long I had ceased enjoying what is my life's passion, but exciting to feel that delight again.

But the work does still need doing.

If you are like me, then you are weary of my oft-repeated statements of, "Comics are coming! Deer Me is not dead! The next Sharpclaw page is coming soon!" These assurances are sincere and heartfelt, but feel empty with lack of fulfillment. I feel that way, anyway, and I am the one making them; I am the one who knows what is happening!

As a consumer of entertainment myself, I have mixed feelings about confession-explanations like this one. I generally find them annoying and would prefer some cute "on hiatus" image, but understand that sometimes it is reassuring to know that the creator genuinely does still want to continue the work. I have seen many, many projects abandoned over the years without even an acknowledgment from the creators, who either disappear entirely or move onto other projects (that often also get abandoned).

If you find this kind of announcement annoying, then I apologize and thank you for getting all the way through it. If you find this kind of announcement helpful, then I apologize that you had to wait so long for it and thank you for your patience.

The Important Part: What Now?

Honestly, I am not sure what now. Obviously, I want to write more scripts. I want to draw more comic pages. I want to draw non-comic art. So, those are all "what now," but establishing a production routine and publishing schedule that works... I do not know the details yet.

I still like my recent idea of sharing sketches that can be voted on for "complete this next," but am still figuring out how to do that. You probably know by now that I am terrible at social media. I also have other issues that conflict with creativity, but everyone has those problems and has to find solutions; I need to figure out mine.

That does not give you anything to expect, for which I apologize. While my top hope is to just get back to creating and posting comic pages and art, I shall try to at least provide better insights as to how things are going. ideas if you have them.

Thank you for your patience, and happy 2025.

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No posts in November! Whuuuuut..?!?

Confession

I am not proud of this. This is a confession, not a humble-brag. I hope that sharing motivates me to change.

I spent too much of this autumn playing games rather than creating. The games I play these days are so-called "casual games" for mobile devices. They tend to be puzzle games with pretty interfaces, often giving me the sense of creating something beautiful without my actually creating something myself.

I did manage to get some writing done during November, as I had planned, but not nearly as much as I could have. I barely sketched, either, and certainly finished no image or comic page.

So, I am climbing back on the proverbial horse's back and trying to return to a creative groove.

To help get back into drawing and writing comics, I plan to spend some time each day sketching. To keep myself accountable until the habit sticks, I would like to post my sketches on a regular basis and let you vote on which sketch from the batch should be continued into a finished image. I think I shall aim for posting and running a vote monthly (or twice monthly), starting in January 2025 with the sketches from the rest of this month.

I hope that you are faring well. Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

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Sharpclaw Comics

Crazy Wall

I know this is cliche, but I swear the days go by faster and faster. I feel like it should still be around the start of October, not the day after Halloween.

As I mentioned last month, I plan to unofficially take advantage of NaNoWriMo to get some Deer Me scripts written. The "unofficially" means I am not actually going to create a project on the NaNoWriMo website or check in throughout the month. I instead plan to simply make a goal of dedicating two or more hours per day this month to writing.

This past week or two, I have been preparing to write. I sat through hours of voice memos to transcribe the ideas I had recorded. After that, I started sorting through my scattered notes, which I am still doing. I feel like what I need now is something between a big timeline and a "crazy wall," since I have so many concepts, but they need to be organized into one cohesive arc.

This is somewhat challenging, since most are stand-alone stories that do not seem obviously interwoven. However, they are connected by cascading consequences. A story about Jared discussing his fur color is going to impact a story about whether Nichole should have a nickname. I have to make sure the Jared fur story comes before the Nichole nickname story. That is the kind of thing I am trying to sort now.

Honestly, sorting such messes is the current reason Deer Me remains on its ridiculously long hiatus. Help!

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