On the Back Porch – Scott A. Story

I think a pattern is developing between my back porch, nice weather, and blogging. It’s a strange love triangle.

I don’t know if all artists encounter this, but when I get done with a major project, I get a little depressed and lose the creative urge for a while. It certainly happened when I finished that three-and-a-half week acrylic painting I just did. I’ve seen Benita go through it, too, but I don’t know if this is a “thing” or not.

I cleaned up my art studio and recorded a guided tour. Artists quite like to watch this type of video, although I imagine its draw beyond this niche demographic is limited. (See what I did there? Draw?)

I’m confused about the Youtube situation. About three weeks ago, YouTube changed its algorithm again, and many (most?) content creators lost a major chunk of their views. I’m a very small content producer, and it trashed my growth. It made a tenuous endeavor even more challenging.

I post once per week, but I think the new regime rewards content producers who make videos two or three times per week or more. Because of my content, and the time it takes to make videos, there’s no way I can keep a heavier schedule. Nor do I want to. I didn’t ever intend for this to be a full-time job, just a way to share my love of art with others.

I don’t know. If I want to keep it up, maybe I could do a twice weekly warmup sketch with commentary, which would be a low effort video with little to no editing. That’s not a bad thing. Or, a weekly look at an old sketchbook? A combination of both? Perhaps I could do a combination of those things. I’ll give it some serious thought.

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Scott Story

Scott Story is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist who lives in the Midwestern USA. He has been involved in the comic industry since 1992, and webcomics since 2004. He has drawn comics for dozens of publishers including Image, Amp, Arrow, Digital Webbing, Arcana, Spinner Rack Comics, and many others.

Scott is known for the rich detail, clever storytelling, and organic quality to his art. As a cartoonist, Scott is an all-purpose creator– he writes, pencils, inks, colors, letters and designs. Scott Story has also done advertising art; covers for books, CDs and tabletop games; movie, event and concert posters; interior art for tabletop games; logos and website graphics; and a wide range of other media. Scott was trained in traditional media, such as acrylics and water colors, but now he divides his time between the traditional and digital art worlds. He is in demand for his digital painting skills, used on covers, posters and prints.

As the creative director of Story Studios LLC., he has published two graphic novels, Johnny Saturn: Synns of the Father, and Johnny Saturn: Homeland Insecurity, with two more in the process of being completed. Story Studios has also published seventeen comics, a sketchbook, and a pinup book. He has written articles for Blueline Pro’s Sketch Magazine, and prose stories for print anthologies and the web. His webcomic, Johnny Saturn, is a past winner of the Webcomics Readers Choice Awards, and Scott was a speaker at the prestigious Graphic Engagement academic conference hosted by the Purdue University Comparative Literature Program.

Scott is a member of the Indy Webcomic Group, and he was the creator and a founding member of the highly successful Collective of Heroes, a juried collective of indie superhero webcomics.