Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

I didn’t realize until after I got home from Emerald City Comicon that I had forgotten to mention the 4 year anniversary of The Experiment. I have officially been professionally unemployed making comics for 4 years as of March 31, 2012. People used to ask me all the time, ” How is the experiment going?” To which I would reply, “It’s going. I’m still doing it. There are ups and downs, but I haven’t given up.” The more and more I gave that answer, which I thought to be a bit an over simplified response seeing as how I didn’t want to get into the details of nearly missed mortgage payments, mounting credit card debt due to travel expenses and rest of the struggles that come with self employment with every person that asked, the more I realized it was actually the most honest answer I could give. There wasn’t actually an end goal for The Experiment. I never said, “If I can do this for 5 years, I have won.” The goal was to just keep doing it. To keep making comics for a living. To sustain myself and my family through following my passion and doing what I love. The unspecified addendum to that ideal was that in order for it to be a success, I had to keep doing it forever. So the actual and honest response to, “How’s The Experiment going?” is “As long as this is my job, I am winning.”

That said, so far 2012 and has been far more difficult financially than 2011 was. My readership is actually way down from the end of the last year. This directly affects every way that I make an income. Ad sales are down, merch sales are down, and donations are WAY down while expenses due to conventions and travel just keep going up and up. It’s been a tough few months and I’ve been constantly thinking about what I can do to turn things around. All of the way in which I can make money come down to simple numbers. The more people looking at my comics every day the less I will have to struggle to make a living. With that in mind I started evaluating why someone might enjoy my comic initially then stop reading it, or read it irregularly and eventually forget about it. I listened to what readers said at conventions, I talked with some of my peers and I studied what it was about comics in general that made people come back day after day.

At first, I thought the answer was “story.” Readers get hooked by story and can’t miss an update or they won’t know what’s happening. Well, HE doesn’t have a story, and I really never had any intention of working one in. The purpose of HE is to provide commentary on geek pop culture through the eyes of its characters… DING DING DING! Characters. That was the answer. The most popular story comics on the internet aren’t breaking any new ground. They primarily deal with relationships, jobs, emotional issues – sitcom stuff. These scenarios are NOT hard to come up with, and writing them has never held any real interest for me. So if it isn’t the amazing originality of the situations, it must be the characters and how they deal with the situations they are put into that people gravitate to so much. Now look, I KNOW this is common knowledge and had you asked me in ANY OTHER context than that of my own creative output, I would have been able to rattle off the answer instantly. I’d just never seen my comics that way.

Now here’s the rub. HE used to have a very strong character element along with the humor. I started looking back at old comics and thinking back to the comments I used to get an conventions and the emails I would receive and the number one positive remark I would get is that the “characters are just like me and my friends,” or “I love Josh because he reminds me of my friend,” etc. Then all of a sudden these comments stopped. What changed? I reread my old comics again and realized that as I started traveling more and my daughter got older (requiring more and more time for her extracurricular activities), I started seeing the real life Josh and Eli less and less. In fact, I probably haven’t seen either of them more than once or twice in 2012. Our social realities just don’t align that well any more. It’s a fact of life and a byproduct of having children. I don’t love them any less, and I don’t believe we have grown apart as friends. The time to just fuck around and be silly with each other just isn’t there nearly as often as it used to be.

The result of this decreased exposure to the inspiration for my characters was that I lost my crutch. I had never been forced to create personalities for the characters since I would just observe the real people behind them and exaggerate their actions and reactions. Sometime around the middle to end of 2011 I really started writing in a singular voice. Every character was interchangeable and while I think the joke writing got MUCH tighter as time went by, the character development essentially vanished. This was never more evident than in the fact that NO ONE ever seemed to know the names of the characters. As one of my peers, who I respect greatly, told me, “Your characters are interchangeable. People love our characters and that’s why they love the comic.” I used to say, “The characters in HE are just there to service the joke,” as if it was one of the selling points of the comic. If that was the case, why would I keep drawing the same guys over and over? I didn’t realize I was admitting a shortcoming of the strip and disguising it as a feature.

So where does that leave me? Well, this Friday May 11th is the 5 year anniversary of HijiNKS ENSUE. I think that’s as good a milestone as any to re-evaluate what I’m doing, what I should be doing and what direction I am heading in. To that end, I would like to announce a new experiment of sorts. I am going to start devoting more time in HijiNKS ENSUE to getting to know the characters. Not necessarily their jobs, relationship or other sitcom type stuff (which still doesn’t interest me), but more their characteristics, quirks and view points. I want to teach myself (by doing) how to write in a voice that is not my own. I want to recapture that individuality the HE characters had in the early years before they became prisoners of my own head and parrots for my own point of view. The best part of this new direction is, if I do it correctly you shouldn’t even notice the change. You might just find yourself more interested in checking the site more often and getting your friends interested in the comic as well.

The first step down this terrifying new path involves location. I am going to experiment with having the characters fixed at one location, setting or event for more than one comic at a time. Their conversations might carry over for several days before shifting to another topic. I believe the ancient Greeks called this con… continuity? Yes, I think that’s right. Again, these will not be stories per se, but rather little chunks of continuing subject matter (like the “Under The Bridge Downtown” comics). For starters all of the comics for this week, starting with THIS ONE, will take place at The Avengers (before, during and after the film). Depending on the response to this change, I may do this for a week or so at a time, and intersperse it with one off gags to break things up. Beyond that, I don’t really have a plan other than to try new things and see what feels right.

What do I need from you? Just to keep an open mind. If you are of the opinion that HE is perfect as is and should not change, all I can say is A) Thank you, and B) You are wrong. My audience plateaued over a year ago and hasn’t seen any sustained growth in that time. In order for me to reach my goals of financial stability, toiling in obscurity cannot be a part of the equation. Luckily for this fictional guy that loves the comic and fears change, I have no plans to change the actual humor of the strip. Just the context in which that humor is presented. For each 3 panel HE comic I usually write a page worth of dialog, then trim the fat. With this new format I should be able to write 3-4 pages of dialog on a few related subjects then actually craft that into a 3-4 comic arc. I would also appreciate it if you, after reading the comics this week, shared some feedback with me. I would rather that you email comics (at) hijinks ensue (dot) com with your thoughts than post them publicly, and I don’t necessarily want to know what you think until you’ve read all of this week’s comics, though I will never discourage honest communication (and you are certainly encouraged to comment on this post if you have questions or words of support). Then, if you dig the way things are going, how about telling EVERY SINGLE PERSON YOU KNOW? Post about HE on your Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc like an insane person who is extremely fixated on one particular geek comic and REALLY wants everyone else to read it. I would consider that a kindness.

I am extremely scared and pretty damn excited about trying something new. I hope you (and I) will be pleased with the results. I hope I will be making a somewhat similar post about the continuing future of HE in another 5 years. I hope people are still allowed to make fun of stuff on the Internet in 5 years. I hope the A.I. Arachno-drones that police our homes and monitor our thoughts will take favor with my offerings and allow me to continue to make a living through putting silly pixels on your  computers.

Godspeed, You Fancy Bastards!

~Joel

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

If you were around this nook of the internet last week you have have noticed an unusually high volume of HijiNKS ENSUE Comics. Long time readers know that due to the topical nature of the comic I am unable to have a buffer of finished comics. This has always lead to a sporadic update schedule. One of my main goals for 2011 is to rectify that situation by forcing myself to output more content, and to output some kind of content every day of the week.

Starting now (actually last week) there will be 4 regular HE comic’s a week (usually Mon-Thurs) and a Lo-FiJINKS comic on Friday. There may occasionally be more Lo-FiJiNKS comics over the weekend. I felt it better to “show” before “telling” since my last announcement of “I’m doing 4 comics a week” was poorly timed around my convention schedule and never came to fruition.

I promise you that I WILL screw up and miss updates. I know myself too well to say otherwise. But I also promise you that I will make the best comics I possibly can as often as I can and continue to give them away for free.

If you like the idea of more comics, then how about setting up a donation subscription so I can maybe have less constant crippling anxiety about financial issues? Doing so will get you access to the Vault where I post all kinds of secret, behind the scenes art, photos, bonus podcasts, desktops and mobile wallpapers.

I should note that the decision to make this change has been rolling around in my brain-head for 6 months or so, but the final nudge over the edge came when I saw my friend Alina was doing the same thing. Seeing her step up and put her comics where her mouth is (???what???) really gave me the courage to do the same. Read her comic, Weregeek, and enjoy the LOLS.

Thanks for letting me continue to have the best job in the world. I am extraordinarily grateful.

“Godspeed, You Fancy Bastards”

~joel

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

That’s right, you Fancy Bastards. As of last week I have been professionally unemployed as a webcartoonist for 2 years! WTF, right? Absolutely no part of that makes any sense. I wrote more about it in THIS BLOG POST [under the comic]. Again, I just want to say thanks for making this incredibly unlikely anniversary possible.

If you are fairly new to HE and The Experiment and would like to show your support, please consider getting a book or shirt in the store or making a donation.

As part of the next phase of The Experiment, I am now producing HijiNKS ENSUE 4 times a week. I know it’s going to be rocky at first upping my output like this but I really think it is imperative to the survival of the comic that I get as close to one comic a day as possible.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon. While it is still my goal to produce HE at least 4 times a week, so far it has proven impossible due to travel, cons and other obligations. WAY TO FAIL!

I am also happy to announce that I was asked by Olmos Productions, Inc. to design a new shirt for them based on the meeting that took place last year between the cast of Battlestar Galactica and delegates of the United Nations. Please check it out HERE and send the link to any scifi/BSG blogs or forums that you frequent.

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

HijiNKS Ensue Volume 1: Godspeed You Fancy Bastard is up for preorder in The HE Store NOW!

What’s in the book?

• All of the HE comics from 2007-2008 in full color
• 116 Pages of geeky goodness
  
• “Directors Commentary” on each comic
• A forward by Bill Barnes of Unshelved (it’s incredibly mean)
• Early sketches of the HE characters
• Never before seen comics from my Highschool Newspaper days
• AND MORE!

If the Preorder goes well, the books should ship in mid to late September. The first books is always the hardest, so please bear with me on the preorder and shipping times.

It is available in several tastey flavors:

ULTIMATE SPECIAL FANCY EDITION (limited to 150): $50

• The book, signed and numbered
• A special limited print of the cover image, also signed and numbered
• A “Godspeed, You Fancy Bastard” sticker
• Upgrade to “Artist Edition” for just $10 more and I will sketch in the book, essentially ruining it
  

This edition of the book is for you Super Fancy Bastards that want to help with the printing costs of the book. The price includes a $10-$15ish donation. No other books or prints will ever be numbered so these are one of a kind editions. If I can sell all 150 of these I can pay for ALL of the books I am printing (and sleep at night).

Artist Edition: $35

• I will sign, personalize and sketch in your book

Regular Awesome Edition: $20

• A book, with all that other stuff, minus the fancy stuff

Any long time FB’s who are familiar with The Experiment know how important this book preorder is to the continuation of HijiNKS Ensue. You can read more of the dire details of the situation HERE. The bottom line is (and yes, this is basically me begging) if you enjoy HE and want it to continue PLEASE PREORDER THE BOOK. The next month or so is going to determine the future of HijiNKS Ensue.

Godspeed, You Fancy Bastards

-Joel

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

Holy effin’ crap, guys! It’s been 1 year to the day since I started The Experiment (read the original announcement here)! For new readers or old school Fancy Bastard who may have forgotten, The Experiment is my attempt to make a living from my webcomic. Originally I gave myself 4-6 months to try this out after I lost my day job. Since it’s been 12 months, you might think The Experiment has been a success. Success is a relative term. This is certainly the most rewarding job I have ever had, and I wouldn’t trade these last 12 months for anything, but as of today HijiNKS Ensue only provides a little less than half the income my family needs to meet our basic responsibilities. This income comes from your DONATIONS and store purchases. A tiny tiny tiny tiny sliver comes from advertising (almost enough to pay the car note!), and the rest comes from my personal savings. The savings well has dried up several times in the last year, but has been occasionally replenished by tax refunds and other such unexpected allocations of cash.

So now it’s “do or die” time. Phase 1 of The Experiment was all about “make the best comic you can and see what happens money-wise.” Phase 2 (this is Phase 2) is all about “The comic is pretty good, let’s get serious about the money part!”

A big part of the new money seriousness is that the fine folks at Topatoco will now be selling HijiNKS Ensue Shirts along with the shirts they already offer from all of your other favorite webcomics.

Check them out HERE!

This is a pretty big deal for me and it’s great news for you. Topatoco is a top notch operation and all they do is sell webcomics merchandise. The shirts are cheaper than they were before, the are professionally screenprinted and you can save on shipping when you buy multiple shirts from me or any other artist. I’m extremely excited. I really want the Topatoco guys to see they made the right choice in adding HijiNKS Ensue to their roster and a great way to show them would be to pick up one (or all) of the new shirts (hint cough hint).

What about the old store? It’s still there… for now. It’s run through Yahoo Stores and I have ALWAYS hated their back end and every other aspect of using them, so I will be shutting this store down in the next couple of weeks. You can still purchase any of the shirts or prints available in the old store as long as it’s still there. I will be moving to a different store front service (same URL for your convenience) shortly. You will still be able to buy prints there and eventually it will have the first HE book. Seriously. I’m watching my wife lay it out right now. It’s happening. I will probably still offer some of the non-Topatoco shirts in the store but not many. If there’s one you want I would suggest getting it now.

What about the Donation Drive? Your monthly donations currently total a little over $700. I am so freaking grateful for this, I can barely express it. The original idea was to reach a goal of $1500 in monthly donation subscriptions. Then the economy went to shit and the donations dried up. Anyone who has donated any amount, especially those of you that have stuck it out and continued your subscriptions have my heartfelt thanks. I’m not going to be shooting for a specific goal any more with the donations. Instead I’m just going to post the monthly totals in the sidebar of the site. I don’t want you guys to feel like “we are never going to get there” in terms of donations. What you are doing now is already more generous than I could have ever imagined.

What about The Vault? The Vault is the “premium content” site that all donators and subscribers get access to. I have big plans for it in this phase of The Experiment, but you can already get Post Shows for the HE Podcast, Destop Wallpapers, iPhone Wallpapers, unfinished art, behind the scenes/making of type stuff, and much more when you donate or subscrbe.

So that’s the current “State of The Experiment.” Treading water but hopeful. The new shirts, the book, and a few other things I have planned for this year are really going to decide the fate of HijiNKS Ensue. If you want to help (with money) you can buy a shirt, buy a print or subscribe to The Vault. If you want to help (without money) you can tell a friend about the site, post a comic on your blog, or send me an encouraging email. Every little bit helps.

Thank you all so much for making the last 12 months so geektastically amazing.

-Joel

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

Back in October 2007 i made the first HijiNKS Ensue iPhone wallpaper. Now I’ve worked up 8 more for your mobile device enjoyment.

If you are a subscriber to the Vault or have donated this month you can download them here. If you don’t know about the Vault, or the Experiment, please do read a bit about them and what I’m trying to accomplish with HE.

The wallpapers are formatted for iPhone dimensions but I’m sure you can crop and resize them to fit on other phones.

If you do download and use one, why not send me a pic of your showing off your HE iPhoney goodness?

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

Today we reached $600 in monthly donation subscriptions. Thank you all so much. We are nearly halfway to the $1500 monthly goal. I am so grateful for you generosity.

As of last month I am looking for part time work or freelance/contract work in order to keep the Experiment and HE alive.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

If you know of anyone (your company perhaps) that might require my services (illustration, graphic design, writing, etc) please drop me a line. I am also available for personal contracts like logo design or freelance illustration.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in SPONSORING HijiNKS Ensue, I am working on the details of a sponsorship advertising program now. Please let me know. You know what kind of audience HE attracts, so you probably know if HE is a good fit for your company or organization.

Here’s a new desktop wallpaper for anyone that that donates or subscribes to the Vault:

Thanks, guys!

-Joel

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

Greetings Fancy Bastards and casual readers alike.

Four months ago I began an experiment, provoked by the sudden loss of my day job, to see if I could make a living from HijiNKS Ensue. In that time I’ve focused almost exclusively on the content of HE (the comics, the podcast, etc) and the community (emails, comments, the forum, Twitter), and less so on the capitalist endeavors. I did launch a New Store last month. I also began offering Comic Prints and Custom Designed Avatars for the first time, but I haven’t added to the shirts the way I intended.

I agreed to run that experiment for 4-6 months depending on how my finances held up. I must have run the numbers pretty accurately because in two months I’ll be out of funds (as in unable to pay bills). Considering the job market, I certainly can’t wait 60 days to START looking for work.

I believe in slow, managed growth of a business. This is why I haven’t jumped the gun and plastered the site with ads, put up 40 crappy shirt designs, or rushed a book to print. I want to do these things right. The truth is that this IS going to take longer than 6 months. I feel like if I quit now (return to a day job) I won’t be able to recapture the momentum I’ve gained since beginning the Experiment.  Quitting now would most likely mean the end of HijiNKS Ensue.

So, is this the end of The Experiment? Not necessarily (this is where you come in).

I have 100% faith that given another 6 months to a year I will have no problem generating a full time income (enough to support my family, pay for our modest house and cars, and not be entirely broke at the end of the month).

After much deliberation, the only solution I have arrived at is a DONATION DRIVE.

If we can come up with at least half of the income I need to meet my monthly obligations ($2000-$2500) through Donations, I should be able to continue The Experiment. I don’t plan for this to be a permanent solution, but rather a stop gap measure to buy more time until ads, and t-shirts and such can really take over supporting the site.

To this effect I have set up PAYPAL DONATION SUBSCRIPTIONS. This will allow you to set up a recurring monthly donation of $5, $10 or $20. You are certainly still welcomed to make one time donations in any amount you are comfortable with. The subscriptions will allow me to better gauge how much to expect each month, but a donation of $50 or more has the same effect as a 1 year subscription. Subscribers will get access to The Vault each month. Regular donors will get Vault access for the month they donate.

The DONATION DRIVE TO SAVE HIJINKS ENSUE is starting today. If, at the end of 30 days, things are looking promising I will continue the Experiment for as long as possible. If they are not looking so promising I will have to find a (real) job and scale back my involvement in HE. This will most likely mean less comics and fewer (to zero) Podcasts.

“I Don’t Want to Subscribe. How Can I Still Help?”

Glad you asked.  Again, you are welcomed to make a one time donation. This is very much appreciated. Many of you have given more than I would ever expect and for that I am very grateful.

You also don’t have to contribute and get nothing in return. You can still purcase T-Shirts, Comic Prints and Avatars. I’ll be adding new print packages and shirts to the store this week (if possible).

Since starting the experiment 4 months ago I have received around $1000 in one time donations and $110 in donation subscriptions. The goal is roughly 20 times that number of subscriptions to keep HE alive. Can we do it? I sure as hell hope so, because this has been the most rewarding work I have ever done. I LOVE THIS JOB and I don’t want to give it up without a fight.

Regardless of what happens I want to thank you all, you Fancy Bastards, for you support both financially and emotionally. Your encouragement and generosity never cease to astound me. Often I’ll find myself in a moment of self doubt and at just the right moment receive an email from a reader telling me that HE is the favorite comic or a notification from Payapl saying someone just donated $100. $100!?

I’ll add a counter to the sidebar so you can see how close we are to the goal. The next 30 days will decide the future of HE, so let’s make it count.

Thanks,

Joel Watson

“Godspeed, You Fancy Bastards”

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

If you’ve been following The Experiment you know that HijiNKS Ensue is now my full time job. Thus I am at least mildly interested in making a full time living from this endeavor.

To further that end I have (finally) launched my donation incentives site “The HijiNKS Ensue Vault of Secret Awesome.“

Every donation will get you access to:

• Desktop Wallpapers
  (New Desktops Each Month!)
• Behind the Scenes Art
  and Blog Entries
• Works in Progress
• Original Sketches/ Concept Art
• Exclusive Audio & Video
• Contests and Giveaways

If you have already donated you’ll be getting an email with a password to access The Vault. Also, considering the month’s almost over I’ll be using the same password from now through July.

I’ve posted a few cool behind the scenes things on the vault, as well as desktops, and will be adding to it all through out the month. If you have ideas for Vault content feel free to drop me a line.

You can learn more about how Donations fit into the HijiNKS Ensue Experiment here on the new Donations Page.

If you enjoy any part of HijiNKS Ensue (the comic, the blog, the forum, the podcast or the videos) and you want to show your support, please consider donating through Paypal.

Donation subscribers of any level will get access to an RSS feed with the full comic in it.
I have added $2, $3, and $4 monthly donation subscription options.

Read more about the new direction I am taking the comic in and how you can help HERE if you haven’t already.

“The Cost of Doing Business”

Part of my Video Blog where I record the trials and tribulations of trying to make a living from my webcomic. The end goal is to create a road map for creative people to earn an honest living from their creativity.