I create my ‘Dogs Love Bacon’ comic series whenever I get some time off from day work. Balancing the demands of a full-time job with the demands of the comic is a challenge. A lot of my free time is already consumed with taking care of the dogs and maintaining my own health. I ultimately chose to sacrifice some of my leisurely activities for the sake of the comic, such as playing video games, because at the end of the day, I believe the comic was a more productive use of my time. However, my time management is still a bit lacking, and I regularly find myself working well into the night when I have to post an update the next day.

I have a lot of ideas in my head, and I have been approached to work on other projects, but my time limitations are reason enough to pass on most projects, save the Dogs Love Bacon comic, because it is my pet project (no pun intended), and the one project that I know I can manage. I would love to be able to work on multiple projects, but after spending a substantial amount of time in an artistic rut from burnout, I have learned that I need to limit my commitments for the time being.

My style has changed drastically over the course of the 2.5 years that I have spent working on the comic. I previously mentioned a burnout-induced rut, and coming out of it was a struggle because I had gotten rusty and my skills were noticeably hurting. My first comics were done in ballpoint pen because I figured that it would be quick and easy to maintain, but I quickly found myself wanting to clean up my line art, add color, and improve the comic overall... because if I was going to commit so many hours to this, I wanted to see it in its best form.

Working to improve the comic required me to re-learn many things, which is evident in those first comics as I struggled along with re-learning how to draw, then re-learning how to utilize Photoshop and turn my hand-drawn line art into a clean comic strip. Afterward, the comic continued to change as I became more comfortable with the characters and the style that I aspired to. The comic will continue to evolve, and I am sure that it will look a bit different in another 25 strips, ideally for the better!

Feedback from my readers is very important to me since they look at the comic with a fresh set of eyes. It is easy to get fixated on the creative process and miss something, so I appreciate it when someone tells me what I messed up, what may help tell the story, or what I can do better. Also, I enjoy interacting with others who can see themselves in the same situations that I draw and want to tell us their own stories about their lives with their pets.

I decided to start off 2023 by opening a Patreon, with the plan to donate half of the proceeds to pet rescues. I am excited because I will save up a chunk of the proceeds from our generous Patrons, and the first beneficiary will be the rescue that saved Taz from a puppy mill well over 12 years ago. Sadly, the rescue that saved Thor had closed up during the height of the pandemic, but there is no shortage of rescues out there doing all they can to help the animals, and we would like to help!