Make Cat Nine Great Again
“Oh look, he’s back again.” You’re darn right I am. Anyway, real talk below, if you want to read that is. Or you can just read the TLDR and skip to the announcements.
TLDR: Boo-hoo, me. Got better. 500 pages or bust. Now updating Friday to Sunday.
I didn’t show it back then, but I was miserable while working on the comic.
I was never really been confident in my art and writing. You guys see the end results, but behind the scenes, I make a lot of mistakes and have a lot of difficulty drawing some panels. On some days, my drawing skills just disappear, or at least be at a lower level than usual.
And somewhere along the way, the satisfaction after a job well done was gone. Obviously, none of these are good for anyone’s sanity. Those feelings of frustration and uselessness eventually builds up, leading to unannounced hiatuses until my confidence comes back (one of the biggest reasons anyway).
But whenever I come back after every hiatus, I’m always afraid (literally heart pumping faster afraid) at reading the comments and the chat. Afraid of you, the reader’s, disappointment, especially from long time fans.
So, miserable while working, and miserable when not working. Vicious cycle right there.
“Screw this, this is no way for a man to live” I said, so I decided to take a real break this time, and take it as long as I needed until I get over those feelings, AND rekindle my love for drawing again.
Just living life: sleeping and waking up on time, eating healthier, taking up weightlifting (best idea ever and I suggest everyone do it too, squatting around 185 lbs now), and taking a walk every day. I didn’t draw much during this time, but I watched and read a lot of cartoons, anime, and manga. I also reflected on what I was doing wrong and what I can do to improve.
Now I’m back, with a definite goal of “finishing” Cat Nine at 500 pages and an ultimatum: if I miss a whole week of updates again, then I’ll permanently stop Cat Nine. Mind you, I’ll only stop at 500 pages if I ran out of steam at that point, otherwise I’ll continue. Who knows, abandoning Cat Nine might be what I needed to do all this time, and I’ll probably just start a new series if I do stop.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, whew, that’s a load off my chest (is that the right expression?)! I’m not normally open about these things. Now then… it’s time to get back to work.
Now for some announcements:
- Halloween 2015 Wallpaper (Xenoblade x Undertale), and other free wallpapers can be downloaded here (Dropbox). Sorry I know it’s super late, and I’ll be skipping Halloween 2016. You guys better think of themes or characters for this year though!
- The website apparently went down since December 2016, which kinda sucks really since I didn’t touch anything. Didn’t even visit here during the break. It was caused by something something about Cloudflare and DNS. Fixed it during February 2016, and I won’t be using Cloudflare anymore. Might slow the site down a bit, but only just. Sorry about that folks!
- Livefyre Comments is gone forever (gee thanks Adobe) so replaced it with Disqus for now. Most of the comments have been exported, but any images or videos are probably lost. Too bad, I like Livefyre and I can’t control the Disqus’ appearance. Might change to SolidOpinion (the one I used for Magicat Girl), but only if the comments can export.
- On that note, Magicat Girl is cancelled, for now.
- Reaching 500 pages would take forever if I update once a week. So Cat Nine will update from Friday to Sunday from now on.
- I’ll only make bonus art/comics for Top Web Comics every first day of the month so I can focus on the main comic. I’ll still be making lots of bonus stuff though, but it will be for…
- Cat Nine’s Patreon page will be launching soon. Look forward to Rewards like:
- Wallpapers (some of the new headers are Patron-exclusive wallpapers)
- Exclusive art and comics for Patrons. Might post Magicat Girl here as a standard comic though, without reader input. Sorry about that!
- Early access/Preview comics (up to 3 pages in advance)
- Downloadable RARs of Episodes (includes bonus art and comics, and chat/comment doodles) in unoptimized Ultra HD (3840 x 1183). Normal comics optimized (lower quality) and in 1536 x 473, so that’s what, six times as large!
- Add your name to the Patrons page. Pledging higher amounts will allow you to add a link to your website, and your name will be listed below the rant/news section on comics that you’ve supported.
- And Goals. Like removing advertisements for everyone or heck, four comics a week. Plus if you were a Patron when a Goal is reached, you’ll be added to the Hall of Fame.
On November 3, 2015 I found a severely injured kitten (with a nearly fatal bite with the flesh around it rotting), and that led to, a complicated set of tragic events. Long story short, I found Shadow a home because I had been intent on killing myself at the time and wanted to secure her a loving home for the next 20+ years…. turns out the woman I found was irresponsible and a liar and despite my terms that Shadow be kept as an indoor cat to keep her safe from the sort of thing that got her hurt in the first place, and the fact this woman lived on the edge of a damn wilderness preserve, she was letting Shadow out. I begged her to stop and she haughtily told me how dare I, and refused, and 2 months later Shadow went missing, probably eaten by a coyote. I saw her posting on craigslist by an extreme stroke of chance, just looking at the lost and found at the right time, and there was Shadow. So I put up competing listings but with a reward for the return of Shadow to me and not to the woman, and got a reply. It looked like Shadow had been found 10 miles away. But it turned out to be another cat who looked almost exactly like her but was definitely not her since he was a boy. Both of them tuxedo cats solid black heads except for white whiskers, with white triangular regions on their chests and white tummies, and with just the tips of their front paws white and their back paws up to their ankles white. I didn’t settle on a name, was thinking Licorice, because he licked me and was so sweet, and sometimes called him “Not Shadow”, and sometimes Mr. Katt. I thought, well I couldn’t save Shadow, but that event led me directly to Mr. Katt, and so I have saved this second magic cat as a result at least. Until he suddenly got very sick and got a urethral obstruction, and then my mother took him to the vet and had him killed without even talking to me! Before telling me that she did it because she didn’t want to pay for his treatment even though my family is rich, when she told me “we lost the kitty”, that was the last time I ever hugged my mother and I can’t see anything but evil when I look at her now after that unforgivable act. After all that, it was a year later, that was November 2016. Because of the timing of all that, I always felt like the hiatus you started around then felt like a sort of deference out of respect for Shadow the kitten, and Mr. Katt. Like even though you had no way of knowing about all this, you were somehow feeling a disturbance in the force, and were putting your webcomic about the magic cat on hold like a flag at half mast for the 2 magical cats I tried to save. No not magical like the cat in your webcomic, but the timing of them coming into my life, and the peculiar circumstances, were at least an enormous coincidence and the only thing in my life that might go any ways to persuading me to rethink my atheism. I don’t know if the comment on this page after this much time will ever be read but I thought I’d share it. This comic resonates deeply with me. It was one of my favorites before the event of Nov 2015- Nov 2016, and the hiatus you took just seemed like more magic from my perspective. Cats should never die. And cats should be magic. That is the way things should be.
The art doesn’t matter. Beating yourself up about that is silly. People make webcomics work with literally stick figures. It is the story that is important. If you have a good story, than I will read it regardless of how the art looks. So far the art has been awesome anyways, but that is just a bonus for an interesting story. I hope you keep it going.
Yes, but I do care about the art (it’s the fun part for me), but maybe a lil too much . At least now I don’t beat myself up that much anymore. Yep, I’ll keep going for you guys!
Welcome back. It’s a good idea to take a break sometimes.
Thanks. Yep, it really was a good idea. *pats myself in the back*
l0l
I’m so glad you’re back and feeling much better about yourself and your art!
Personally, I like your art style! It’s so different from many things and it’s refreshing!
Also, I’m glad you took the time to get better mentally. Your health is always more important than a webcomic that you do for free, don’t forget that! All of the long term fans here will support your decisions no matter what you do ^_^
Heh, maybe it’s because I draw using Adobe Flash, though of course, I’m not the only one who uses it.
Yeah, might be one of my better decisions ever. Thanks for coming back to read!
wb!
wb to you too!
We’ve been waiting in Chatango for literally years. 😀
Ooh I know the feeling (cough cough Rick and Morty Season 3). Well, it’s just a year and a half.
#HangOutTillMyansOut
Thankfully that’s every week now. 😺
Glad I never took off the RSS feed. Welcome back!
Good thing I put that thing there. I welcome you back as well too!
Good to see you’re back! 😀
And it’s good to see “you” back as well!
You’re back! Yay!
I’m back! Yipee!
You can do it. #mc9ga
I’m gonna build a wall… of friendship. Actually forget about that wall, just leave the friendship.