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Posted March 20, 2024 at 03:19 am

On March 14, 2004, I posted the very first page of Slightly Damned online on my personal website. I built the site myself from notepad and updated it manually for years. Every page of the comic was a separate .html file, and it as inefficient as heck! I remember getting emails from folks telling me their internet speeds couldn't handle the high quality JPEGs I initially put up. Those could exceed 500kb EACH! So I decided to replace them with lower quality ones that were under 200kb for a while...

Wait, where was I? Oh, excuse this old fart for reminiscing. With the current state of the modern internet, I can't help but feel wistful for the world wide web as it was when I first started Slightly Damned.

Slightly Damned is 20 years old now! I never imagined I would keep up with it for this long. When I first started, I was just an ambitious teenager with no real thoughts about the future. I didn't even think about collecting the comic into books. I assumed no one would want one.

So much of this comic was made under the belief that I would one day be forced to drop it. That day never came, but it sure tried. I've thought about quitting several times. Through the darkest times, I thought about quitting more than just the comic. But still, despite everything, I pressed on. I loved working on Slightly Damned too much to stop. I gave up a lot and risked a lot to keep going. I closed doors that I still think about to this day. No regrets, though.

Over the years, several kind people have told me that reading Slightly Damned helped them through hard times. That alone makes the effort worthwhile. It's easy for me to get fixated what I haven't achieved and feel frustrated and down on myself. But in the end, it fills me with a great sense of fulfillment knowing that my art can make people happy. Making Slightly Damned helps me through hard times, too.

I think we are past halfway through Slightly Damned's story. I can picture the conclusion, and I want to reach it within my lifetime. But if I fixate on the fact that I have 10-20 more years to go before I can conclude Rhea, Buwaro, and Kieri's tale in a way that satisfies me, I'll be overwhelmed by existential dread.

So I will continue as I always have: I'll take things one step at a time. I will not deliberately stall, but I will also not rush just for the sake of concluding things sooner rather than later. I'm in a position that allows my serialized story to come out at a slow and steady pace; a pace that would make most publishers turn inside out. It's not a privilege I want to take lightly.

I am dedicated to seeing Slightly Damned's story through to its natural conclusion. At this point, it has proven to be my life's work. I love this world and its characters. I'm as passionate as ever to keep heading towards the finish line for the story for as long as I am capable.

Thank you to everyone who ever gave me words of encouragement, supported my business, was patient with me, spread the word about the comic, attended my streams, made fan art, and otherwise lent a hand, even if just for one moment. I can't say it enough: I would not be able to keep being an artist if it wasn't for your help. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!

Love,

Chu

P.S. I'm planning to give the Slightly Damned website some love soon, starting this year. The info pages about world history and the different races are long overdue for some new art and new lore. It's going to be a huge undertaking, so I don't know how long it will take. But it's something I've been needing to do for a long, long time. Please look forward to it!

P.P.S.

"But when's the comic going to start updating again?!" Oh, yeah! I am a bit behind schedule because I was sick for a week following my vacation to Japan (which was otherwise fantastic). The anniversary poster also ended up being much more labor intensive than I planned, but I think it was well worth the trouble. New Slightly Damned pages are literally the next thing on my work queue as I write this, so rest assured, they are coming as soon as possible. Thanks for being patient as always!

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Anniversary goodies!


The poster I designed to celebrate Slightly Damned's 20th anniversary is available as a high-res file! You have two options:

On my Patreon, $2+ patrons can access the file here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/slightly-damneds-100572486

(I am planning to sell this poster as a physical print in the near future. And perhaps a blanket and/or wallscroll, if I can swing it one of these days... I just think it would be cool.)


It is also included with the 15th anniversary poster and over 160 wallpapers in the Slightly Damned 20th anniversary wallpaper pack! This pack collects all the wallpapers I made for my patrons from August 2014 to June 2023, with a few bonuses. https://ko-fi.com/s/0f793eae5e

I also made a short music video celebrating 20 years of Slightly Damned art, which you can check out on my YouTube channel! I wanted to encourage people to keep going with their own artwork. Improvement can be slow, but it does happen if you just keep trying. A time-lapse of the poster's creation will be uploaded soon.

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Upcoming In-Person Events:

Anthro Weekend Utah

July 19 - 21 // Layton, UT

Support:

Community:

  • I stream 3x a week on Twitch! http://twitch.tv/hyenachu I stream art on Tuesday & Thursday, and video games on Sunday. Come hang out with me and the regulars; we'd love to meet you!
  • There are Slightly Damned communities made and run by fans on both

    Discord
     https://discord.gg/pyVrJz7

    and Telegram https://t.me/SlightlyDamned 

    If you know of any more and would like to share, just let me know via email or DM on social media!

Find me elsewhere:

Posted January 6, 2024 at 08:16 pm

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you know that Slightly Damned's main comic is officially on a short hiatus until March.

Next week, I am going to Further Confusion in San Jose, CA for what is currently my only planned convention appearance of 2024. When I get back, I'm going to spend the next three weeks finishing up all the work that I have left to do on Book Three. The end is in sight! I can feel it!

I've been posting previews of the bonus content I created on my Patreon, X-Twitter, Bluesky, Telegram channel, and tumblr, as well as streaming them on Twitch. Go check it out if you're curious! If you're hungry for Slightly Damned content in general, it's a good idea to follow one of my art gallery or social media accounts. Although the main comic hasn't had any new pages in a while, I am still drawing constantly.

After those three weeks are up, whether I'm finished or not, I am going to vacation to Japan. I'm finally going to visit an old friend of mine after our plans were pushed back for several years. I can feel it deeply in my soul that I need some rest. I've been fighting off a lot of fatigue, stress, and depression these last few months. No matter how badly I want to jump back into updating Slightly Damned again ASAP, if I push myself any harder, I'll break!

I'll take some additional time to recuperate from the trip when I return since overseas travel is exhausting. I plan to be ready to start updating the comic again on or shortly after March 14, which also happens to be Slightly Damned's 20th anniversary!

Thank you very much for your patience and support for all these years! I seriously could not have made it this far without you.

Posted December 8, 2023 at 12:00 am

Hello, folks! I just wanted to write a brief message about why the comic's updates have been sporadic lately. In short: I'M BUSY! I just got back from being a vendor at Midwest Fur Fest 2023 in Chicago, and it was great! And I've got another convention/possible family visit coming up fast in January when I head to California for Further Confusion in San Jose!

I am also hard at work on Slightly Damned: Book Three's bonus content! I really don't want to make people wait too long for it, so Slightly Damned pages are on temporary hold right now. And uh, in truth, things don't get much more uplifting in this flashback for a while, anyway... *weeps*

I didn't intend for page 1111 to be the last new page for the year, but I am just one slow artist who can only handle so much at once. So I want to spend the rest of December focusing on the book. I really wish I could post the new content as I finish it because it looks really good, but they're book exclusive!! So if you want a sneak peek at what I'm working on, you'll have to check it out on my Twitch streams on Tuesday & Thursday nights! http://twitch.tv/hyenachu

P.S. I'm going to start using my Patreon http://patreon.com/raizap to post new Slightly Damned pages for free once I get back to them.This feature could be useful for anyone who'd like to have new comics delivered right to their inbox each week. All you have to do is sign up for an account and follow my Patreon, free of charge.

Thanks for your patience and support!

Posted September 8, 2023 at 01:59 pm

Hi folks! You may have noticed I haven't been as consistent with weekly Slightly Damned pages as I used to be. I know I've noticed, and it sucks! My passion for making this comic burns brighter than ever, and I want to make making pages my top priority again!

I probably should have just taken an official chapter break now that we've reached the end of Part 11. (I think.) However, in classic Chu fashion, I believed I could will myself through an inhuman workload... but alas, it was not meant to be. Part 12 of the story is important and somewhat heavy, so I don't want to rush things right before I leave for Megaplex in Orlando, Florida next week!

I've recently announced some changes to my Patreon in order to get more breathing room into my work schedule. You can read the details here, but the short of it is that I'm not able to keep up with the Suggestion Box. I started to feel like it was holding me back from other things that were more important, including but not limited to: updating the lore & art on the Slightly Damned website, making better merchandise, and keeping the weekly update schedule steady. All patron rewards pertaining to Slightly Damned pages will not change, and in fact, stand to benefit from this change as I try to become more consistent again.

This autumn, I have three goals:

  • Finish the remaining Suggestion Box sketches and wallpapers for July 2023 and August 2023
  • Draw all the bonus content for Slightly Damned Book Three with the cooperation of Kickstarter campaign backers (and hopefully complete the book so it can be printed)
  • Get Slightly Damned's weekly page updates back on schedule!

If all goes well, I'll be able to draw a wider variety of things while also giving Slightly Damned its fair share of love in 2024 and beyond.

Thanks for sticking with me for all these years! I'm looking forward to the 20th anniversary next March!