Before we jump into the interview, if you already haven’t read the first interview that we had with Latex-Acolyte, be sure to check out our first Interview with the creator of Collar6 for context. Today I focused this follow up about updates on Latex-Acolytes currently situation, and the reaction of his fan base.
For more updates on Collar6 check out his Facebook page.
BiC: Thank you Latex-Acolyte for taking sometime out to allow us to follow up with you!
Latex-Acolyte: My pleasure entirely! Thanks for the chance to be heard by a wider audience!
BiC: Can you give us any updates about the situation with our site since last we spoke?
Latex-Acolyte: As my readers know, I had to move over to Tumblr after my previous host (who gave me free space for seven years, and I’m grateful to her for it) came under fire from what we now believe to be something called a Syn attack. After taking the site down for the initial first week, the attacks went right back up when the site did, and neither of us could swing the cost of good protection, so we agreed it was best to move it to a public hosted place. Tumblr was the one that didn’t have restrictions on sexuality (which is kind of a theme in BDSM as you might have heard!) so I went with that.
The move to Tumblr went easily enough, though everything seemed to go down right when I caught the flu, so it wasn’t pleasant uploading all those pages and figuring out how to set up the webcomic theme (I’m using Simple Webcomic Theme V4 for anyone looking to start their own Tumblr comic). But once it was all in place, I was happy with the simple but clean presentation.
I’ve stepped back up to three updates a week in an effort to get this thing rolling and gain more readers and at the same time please my old readers. It’s a lot of work since I’m not fast at producing art, but worth the effort.
I plan to set up a Patreon sometime in the near future, and probably should have already gotten it set up, but again, it’s been a lot of effort keeping pace with the updates.
BiC: How has been the response of your fans?
Latex-Acolyte: My fans have been ultra supportive and nothing but kind to me. A creator couldn’t ask for a better following. I mean that sincerely, cliche as it may sound.
BiC: Have you seen any negative feedback from other groups or people?
Latex-Acolyte: Not recently! Here’s hoping whatever I’m doing right I have the good sense to keep doing!
BiC: Has anyone come forward to claim responsibility for DoXXing your site?
Latex-Acolyte: Not a soul. I’m still scratching my head over it. With a strip like this, there’s any number of people or groups I might have ticked off. Add that to the fact that I can be pretty open with my views on anything and everything (and have been) and there’s really no telling who it might’ve been.
Latex-Acolyte: How do you feel about the future of free speech and artist expression as of today?
I’m very concerned about where things are heading in the creative medium. We’re seeing a lot of pressure on artists to ‘stay within the lines’ when it comes to handling everything from sexuality to social politics. There’s not much of value I can add to this hot topic conversation that hasn’t already been said by people far better than me, but I am concerned that we’ll wind up seeing more generic products and less genuine creative works in the future if aspiring creators become too afraid to take risks or tell the stories they want to tell.
BiC: How has this experience affected you?
Latex-Acolyte: If anything, it’s just pushed me to try harder. I hope my readers have seen some improvement.
It was strange to go from waking up everyday to work on a story I’ve been at for so many years, then suddenly find that it might not have a future. I guess, more than anything I learned how much this thing means to me. How much it means to me to have an audience willing to read it.
BiC:Do you think that the last few months has altered your artist style in anyway?
Latex-Acolyte: Not especially. I’ve been reading a few Batman comics and a lot of Sunstone recently and that’s made me try a few more minor elements, but I think my style hasn’t changed that much. I’m a product of 90s-era anime art and DC comics stuff and I don’t think I could do it any other way!
BiC: Has this whole event made you re-think any projects?
Latex-Acolyte: Well, when I realized I had to set up another Tumblr for my side comic, Owned, it got me thinking about more potential storylines for it and I’m now trying to hammer in some time to get some work done on it.
BiC: Speaking of projects, do you have anything new coming down the pipeline?
Latex-Acolyte: I’m primarily focused on C6 and how to make it less crappy. As I mentioned above, I’d like to get started on this little story arc I came up with for Owned, and additionally, I’ve had about 10 strips worth of scripts down for a third side comic I started last year that I called Magical Rubber Girl Julia (of which there was one page up at the time of the old site’s demise). When I find time to get another page or two of it drawn to stand alongside that first, I’ll probably put up another Tumblr and update it sporadically.
But again, C6 remains my focus.
BiC: Do you have any goals in the short and long term for your work?
Latex-Acolyte: Like all comic-making-sorts, I hold lofty dreams of making this a fulltime job and dedicating myself to just pushing out comics nonstop. I doubt it’ll ever happen since I’m well below average in terms of arting and storying, but hey, anyone can dream, right?
BiC: Finally can you tell the readers some advice about being a content creator, what do you wish you were told before you began?
If you’re really serious about making comics, you’ll do it just for the love of it. The only real trick is just to convince yourself to keep going. And at first, it’s pretty discouraging. But once you do something long enough, it’ll become a part of your life in such a way that you won’t be able to stop, no matter what. So just… start. And see where it takes you. 🙂
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