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Mysteries of the Arcana

Birth of an arcana!

Published on: 2012-06-08 | Author: J Gray

And here we see the four Aces combining their powers to create the very first arcana. In fact, the arcana they are creating is one we have seen before. Can you guess which one it is? I bet you can!

JSmith (Guest) (2012-06-08)


The Disk World!

JSmith (Guest) (2012-06-08)


But, seriously: Turtle Island, am I correct?

Oh what'dya know, a turtle is the button I need to find to submit this message.

Ayshara (Guest) (2012-06-09)


Does that mean the Turtle is the Fool?
Also, see my note on twitter.

Ayshara (Guest) (2012-06-10)


J/k, but from a tarot standpoint wouldn't the Road/Fool come first instead of the Turtle/Magician?

adamas (Guest) (2012-06-26)


A road needs a place to start from, my dear Ayshara. Wink

Ayshara (Guest) (2012-06-27)


True enough...

Venalitor (Guest) (2012-07-04)


I suppose this is supposed to be why we so often use aces as the highest cards?

rachel (2012-07-11)

Just thought I'd post something here to say I hope things are alright. The site hasn't updated in over a month, now. I haven't even seen any posts about something being wrong or things being delayed. Which is not to say that the only value this site or its creators have is in providing content for me to mooch off of. But historically no news is a clear indicator of lots of bad news, and I thought perhaps it would be worth at least offering a supportive hug, and my thanks for a really wonderful story. Even if it never continues, I'm glad to have gotten as much as we have.

JSmith (Guest) (2012-07-20)


I was also wondering about the contest results from last month.

Gennifer Bone (Guest) (2012-07-28)


I wish I knew what was going on, myself- and I'm the artist!

Questions and Answers

Published on: 2012-09-21 | Author: Keira

Greetings, boys and girls and others; Keith W. here. You guys might remember me as that one guy who drew the first 2 chapters and such.


I realize, with everything going as it has been, there are a lot of questions, though two big ones seem to be in the forefront. We will answer those in this post.

Firstly, and most importantly, is J okay?

The short answer is yes. Which leads us to the second question.

Is MotA dead?

No. MotA is alive, and J still plans to continue it. Referring back to the first question; J's suffering pretty bad burnout. The best and biggest thing I think any of us can do is be supportive and understanding. He's been pushing this coming out for over 3 years, with nearly no failings to get the writing done.

Once he's able to find his footing, the comic will continue, and I sincerely hope all of you guys are here, ready for that to happen.

Thanks for your time, and stick around, I'm pretty darn sure much more exciting things are coming.

P.S.
The picture above...it was tons of fun to revisit characters I helped bring to life, and incorporate a few of the more recent stylized changes (Theresa's hair).

Hope you enjoyed!

Regards,
Keith W.

Genthar (Guest) (2012-09-22)


Thanks for the update!  Glad to know everyone is OK.  Burnout happens to the best of them.  Will be patiently waiting for the comic to return.

Flinn (Guest) (2012-09-23)


Wow...I just popped in for the usual nothing's-happening and got a new page :D

hydrocow (Guest) (2012-09-23)


Glad to hear that this is not died. I started reading this comic the day the last page was posted and have bean coming back every now and then hoping for an update. I just want you to know that I believe that this comic was worth waiting around for even if I have only just found it.

David T (Guest) (2012-09-24)


I, too, am glad to hear that nothing seriously (physically) bad has happened to you, J, and will keep watching for updates.  I look forward to the continuation once you are ready to do so.

Fairportfan (Guest) (2012-09-25)


Glad nothing's wronger than writer's block/burnout.
I waited close to two years (as i recall) for "The Wotch" to restart, so i can wait a bit longer here, especially since i know that there are plans to continue.

David (Guest) (2012-09-30)


Great to see that J (and by extension, MotA) is alive. It was a pain in the backside not knowing what was going on IRL (seriously, not even a blog post...), but knowing that he is well is satisfying enough.

Us readers would understand if you let us know about it. I am a follower of another webcomic that is going through a similar hiatus (personal reasons cited), but the author posts the occasional blog to let us know that he is well.

Well, anyway J. Now that my rant is over, I just want you to know that we are still behind you 100%. You take your time to get yourself in the right mindset to continue with this amazing story.

Thanks for the update as well, Keith. Great to see you out and about again (or at least online Smile )

Ayshara (Guest) (2012-09-30)


^ hit the nail on the head.

Fay (Guest) (2012-10-08)


Knowing what is going on is really helpful! I'm sorry that things are being rough on you J, but I'm really glad nothing worse is going on. I was getting really worried you died in a car crash or something. You have an interesting story and I am patient. You do what you need to do to take care of yourself, but please keep us in the loop this time.
Best wishes, Fay.

Cyril (Guest) (2012-10-10)


Health is the more important than anything. J take a good rest, we'll waiting Smile

a french fan

Piro (Guest) (2012-10-31)


Not a problem. Im not a long time fan but i fell in love with arcana almost instantly. The only thing I ask is that you get better but take as long as you want for rest, true fans will always wait.

Mysteries of the Arcana *is* Returning

Published on: 2013-09-26 | Author: J Gray

Hello, everyone. Its J. Not sure who is still reading this, especially since Google Reader shut down and I'm sure that screwed with RSS feeds but here's a status update. I'm going to break it down into two parts. First, what happened. Second, what's going to happen.


What happened

I could go into a long and complex explanation about insecurities and depressions but that would be whining and complaining. The truth is, I punked out and I got scared and it was just easier to pretend the comic didn't exist than deal with my inner demons. 

I'm sorry about that. The readers of Mysteries of the Arcana, who supported the comic through thick and thin, deserved better than I gave them.

What's going to happen

What's going to happen is the comic is returning. We're going to finish out this chapter and continue. Gennifer has, since our last page, become something of a hotshot in the RPG art world. Seriously. Go to RPGnow.com or Drive Thru RPG and enter Gennifer Bone in the search field and a ton of books will pop up! She's got some serious art chops going and a lot on her plate in terms of work. Because of that, I've had to search for a new artist. Luckily, Keith W just happened to have a hole in his schedule that needed filling.

That's right. The original artist of MotA is coming back to help out. He's been very gracious about agreeing to "return to his roots". I'm thrilled to be working with him again.

I'm in the process of writing and rewriting. Then he'll begin drawing. We're going to try to get some pages under our belt and build up a buffer before we begin posting so please bear with us for a few more weeks. It might not be until the beginning of November before we are ready to go.

But we WILL be ready to go.

In the meanwhile, we'll post a few updates. Examples of art. Things to show we're alive and not flaking out again. 

Also, and I hate to do this without real proof that the comic is back, but art isn't cheap. Keith's being very nice about working with a down payment and a promise of full rates ($20 a page) down the line. Once we have this chapter done, we're going to try a Kickstarter to raise operating capital and maybe even get a print edition. Until that time, if anyone can see it in their heart to donate funds, we'd appreciate it. That will help make sure Keith has art supplies and food. However, given the long hiatus the comic had, if you want to wait until there is proof that the comic is coming back? We understand that. The important thing is that you come and read Mysteries of the Arcana when it returns.

I promise, the story will continue.

Gunsolo (Guest) (2013-09-27)


I'm glad to see you returning. Smile

Drachefly (Guest) (2013-09-27)


What a coincidence! I read to the end of the archive last year, noted it was on hiatus, and left.

Two days ago, I remembered this comic and wondered what happened to it. Yesterday I found it and thought, "Aww, still on hiatus? Too bad" but I signed up for it on comic-rocket just in case... and then today you say it's coming back.

Wow!

Aleena (Guest) (2013-09-27)


Wow. Welcome back. Smile

Felix (Guest) (2013-09-27)


Welcome back! And don't worry, it's better late than never. I'm just glad you're all right again.

JD (Guest) (2013-09-27)


And awesomeness shall now ensue...
Wink

Jarin (Guest) (2013-09-27)


Looks like the RSS migrated fine for me, since I got the update. Awesome to see that the comic isn't dead yet. :D

Genthar (Guest) (2013-09-27)


Glad you seem to have worked everything out!  Welcome back!

WW (Guest) (2013-09-30)


Hey, great to see the comic returning! I don't remember when I started reading, but I've been here for some time. I've just never commented anything.

I actually stopped reading few pages before the hiatus in order to build a buffer, so I never even knew about it before this summer when I suddenly started thinking about "that tarot comic". But because I'm terrible when it comes to names, I just couldn't remember the name. The closest I got was Realms of Arkania, but that turned out to be a DOS game I tried out once.

I tried pretty much every variation of "tarot centered webcomic" on Google search and even dug through an entire webcomic review website, but nothing turned up. I was kinda terrified.

As a last resort I turned to the character names, but all I could remember at first was Blue, which wasn't very helpful. Then as I dug through my memories I remembered William and Chrys. I finally found MotA again when I googled "william chrys elf" which brought me it's a TV Tropes article, only to find out the hiatus. It was quite an adventure. Smile

I really have no idea how I even could forget the name. MotA is one of my favourite webcomics.

Ceridwen (Guest) (2013-10-02)


I never doubted that you would be back J. I knew you had to find what you were looking for first. Welcome back!

A warm merry meet to keith as well. I look forward to your guys awesome work/story.

I would defintely support a kickstarter of this.(once I get the funds ofc.) If you could convince keith to draw some MoTa tarot cards...I would totally buy those as well.(just an idea)

welcome back again. May your spirit be one with the spirits around you.

David T (Guest) (2013-10-03)


I found out about this story before the first comic had been posted and before the current website.  I had a nearly two-year hiatus from webcomics myself - I had been reading around 150.

Status Update

Published on: 2013-10-08 | Author: J Gray

I just wanted to drop a note and let everyone know our status.


I've finished the scripts for the second part of chapter 4. We'll be picking up right where we left off, just after the creation of the first arcana. The scripts have been written, proofed, and edited. They are now in Keith's hands. He's in the middle of reading through the scripts and making his own notes before he starts in on the art. I've also started plotting out chapter 5 with new character profiles and plot trees.

We're not going to begin posting right away. Rather, we're going to try to build up a buffer so there's less pressure on Keith. Right now we don't have an exact timeline on when the comic will start posting again but my hope is it will be within the month. There are 25 pages left in the chapter. With two updates a week, that's three months of comics. We'll be putting up a few updates, previews of the pages to come as Keith works on them. 

Once we've got chapter 4 posting again, we'll set up a Kickstarter to fund chapter 5. Unfortunately, finances don't allow me to fund the comic myself and I can't ask any artist to work for how much I was paying before. It was just too little for quality art. I'll be posting more information on that when I have it.

Today's update piece was done by Jesse Justice. An awesome picture of Theresa and the Beast. Thank you, Jesse!

Haruko (Guest) (2013-10-10)


Yay ^^ happyface more comics. glad to hear you're doing better J <3 

Adamas (Guest) (2013-10-11)


Great! Can't wait to see what's gonna happen!

David (Guest) (2013-10-13)


I'm just glad to see the resurrection of both yourself, J, and Mysteries of the Arcana! We'll happily help out any way we can.

Seriously, though, the lack of communication is what lost most dedicated fans. I myself had you in the "Almost Dead" folder of webcomic bookmarks (the only other occupant of which has disappeared into the voids of the Internet completely, sadly). You got some work to get back to where you were, but I trust you will get there.

Talking does help when shit goes down. Trolls notwithstanding, you will find a bunch of support from your followers, if you just say what is going on. Keith's last post confirmed you were at least alive, which relieved us during that time. That is sometimes all we need to hear, and (regardless of what most media tells you) people are actually supportive, even online. Particularly if they are active, loyal followers.

Fairportfan (Guest) (2013-10-14)


Darn.  I hoped that was by the new artist...Waiting eagerly.Now if only "Cheer", "Venus Envy" and "Evil Diva" were showing such signs of life.(Well, "Diva" may be...)

Fay (Guest) (2013-10-25)


Glad to see life coming back! I'll start checking back more frequently. This is a great comic and I'm sure people will start finding their way back again.

I second what Guest David said.

Progress!

Published on: 2013-10-14 | Author: J Gray

Here's a weekly update to let everyone know we are making progress. As I mentioned before, the script for the rest of chapter four is finished. Keith is working on the arting as we speak.


As proof that there is progress being made, I've posted a page of the script. Consider it an advanced preview of the rest of the chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

I should also respond to the comments you've all been kind enough to leave over the last two weeks or so!

Gunsolo, thank you!

Drachefly, I'm glad you signed up for us on Comic Rocket. That's a great service, as is Inkspace, and I'm glad to be part of both.

Aleena, thank you! I think you'll be especially pleased to see Keith returning.

Felix, thank you. I am, indeed, alright.

JD, MotA couldn't be awesome without you!

Jarin, I'm glad to hear that. I'm testing out a new RSS feed reader now myself.

WW, when I typed in "tarot centered webcomic" we were fourth on the list, after the webcomic tarot project and Tarot, the comic by Jim Balent. In the future, I recommend remembering "lesbian elf kisses" for a search term instead. We pop up first under that.

Ceridwen, I'm doing a test run on a MotA themed tarot card (using the art of the Devil card that signifies Theresa's power) right now. We're hoping to use three tarot cards (Devil, High Priestess, and Knight of Swords) as rewards for the Kickstarter.

David T, thank you so much. I'm glad the memory of the story has stuck with you. As the comic's writer, that's very important to me.

Osk, thank you for coming back regularly! We're going to have new comics up for you soon.

Haruko, yep! New comics soon!

Adamas, here's a preview!

David, you're absolutely right. I should have said something and communicated my troubles. I hope you can forgive me. I'm sorry.

Fairportfan, you've seen the work of our new artist. Its the same as the original artist. Keith W, MotA's original artist, has returned!

Eddie, glad you're here! Thank you.

CA Morgan, deep breaths all the way.

I'll have another update next week. Hopefully with an art preview.

JD (Guest) (2013-10-16)


That is one complicated page right there. No wonder you need funds to pay Keith with.  Look forward to seeing it.
ThumbsUp

David (Guest) (2013-10-19)


Glad to see you back on the creative path, J.

TC (Guest) (2013-11-05)


If all else fails, you can see if Hiveworks might be interested in some affiliation.  If I know anything, is that the comics hosted by Hiveworks have a LOT of readership, and their kickstarters tend to utterly explode.  Just ask Chloe from Go Get a Roomie, for example.  I think last year's kickstarter was enough to fund her for the rest of the year in addition to getting her roomie stuff off the ground in the print world.

Update

Published on: 2013-10-24 | Author: J Gray

Keith's hard at work doing the art for the rest of chapter four. We're also working on turning chapters one, two, and three into ecomics for sale. Up above are the roughs for a new chapter one cover. We've got Theresa, a Biohunter, William, and Chrys.


The script for chapter five is progressing nicely. I'm currently doing scene breakdowns.

I apologize for the wait on the rest of chapter four. We want to make sure we have a large buffer so there's no delay once we start posting it.

In the meanwhile, as many of you know, we're probably going to do a Kickstarter to fund chapter five. So, I've got questions - what sort of rewards would you like to see in an MotA kickstarter?

JD (Guest) (2013-10-24)


Hmm, maybe a hard copy Arcana reference booklet. Something that shows various Arcanas, their known traits and associated cards. Strengths and weaknesses, that sort of thing.

Hey, you know, you could potentially make an Arcana trading card game. Kickstart that? ThumbsUp

Fay (Guest) (2013-10-25)


If you want to see what really creative rewards and stretch goals one comic artist did you can check out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexwoolfson/the-young-protectors-vol-1-0
You can also check out what he said about what he learned about kickstarters:http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/10/how-to-succeed-at-kickstarter/
Another tactic that I've seen used to help fund the art is having a page that goes up once a week regularly and then a day that one will go up every time the donation bar gets to a certain level.
Or sometimes people sell the original art for the comic to fans (or use it as a reward).

Fay (Guest) (2013-10-25)


I highly recommend letting the backers vote on the content of rewards (who will be featured in some bonus art, like wallpapers that everyone who donates gets). It gets people so excited and involved. It's lots of fun and you know people are going to like what they get. To add variety to that (which some people crave, because usually the 2 or 3 favorite characters win everything), having one bonus art piece that is only for side characters, or characters who have not yet been in bonus art can really help make sure everyone is happy.

Fay (Guest) (2013-10-25)


Also, if you are worried about asking too much from the artist for the kickstarter, you can go the route of writing a short story about the characters and putting in just a few pictures.

Non-cannon bonus material that is humorous can also be a lot of fun.

Drake (Guest) (2013-10-28)


I was just wondering if the coloring on page 187, 188, 264 and 265 would ever be done and if the color on Theresas dress would ever be fixed on page 388-392?

Keira (2013-10-28)

the four black and white pages will be colored, yes. I have the originals, since I was the artist at the time. Not sure what J's got planned for the dress color thing.

Musical_life (Guest) (2013-10-30)


Another thing you can do is offer printed and signed copies of the Tarot cards we've seen (and even those we haven't) to backers only.

Proof of Life

Published on: 2013-10-30 | Author: J Gray

Hello!


Here's another update to remind ya'll that we're still alive and getting ready to finish chapter 4. As proof, here are the pencils for a page of chapter 4. Keith's hard at work on the art and we're aiming to get up and running soon.

I want to thank those who gave suggestions for the Kickstarter. Your ideas are good ones and the links gave me a lot of ideas to work with.

Now, I have a new question for loyal dreamwalkers! I'm happy to announce that Mysteries of the Arcana will be participating in WAGON's Webcomic Battle CCG. There will be six MotA themed cards in their next theme deck. As part of that, I need to provide quotes for each card. I'm having trouble deciding, so I'm asking you, the readers, to help me out. Which quotes from the comic would you put on a card for each of these:

Chrys
Theresa
William
Mandrake
William's Sword
the Royal Road

I appreciate your input. You are all awesome. Thank you for your patience.

Musical_life (Guest) (2013-11-01)


Theresa: I'm gonna need my gun.

Gunsolo (Guest) (2013-11-09)


Here are a few suggestions.

William: Either "Thou. Art. Not. FUNNY!" or "Creatures of nightmare come forth. I fear thee not!!!"
Mandrake: "Good luck" (from http://www.mysteriesofthearcana.com/index.php?action=comics&cid=49)
Hunger Null Sword: "!GNAB"
Royal Road: "Stand. Visualize. Demand."

J Gray (2013-11-10)

Thanks for the suggestions! I picked one for each card, finally. Smile

Contest Winners!

Published on: 2013-11-05 | Author: J Gray
First, news! Keith and I have worked out a firm date for our return. Mysteries of the Arcana will begin updating again on December 2, 2013. We should run straight through the end of chapter 4 before our next  (much shorter) break.

Now, onto other matters.

Before the hiatus, we ran a contest for fan creations. The entries could be art, prose, photographs, poetry, or anything creative. I'm pleased to say that I've finally selected contest winners. The four winning entries have been placed in our gallery and each will be receiving a Mysteries of the Arcana Devil tarot card. I'm really happy with how the cards turned out and hope our contest winners enjoy them as well.

The winners of the contest are:

* Briela McValan and her musings on the origin of the arcana and the dreamers.

* Dani Katz and a wonderful picture of Theresa.

* James Smith and his parody of chapter one.

* TN Wilson and a lovely poem entitled Destiny.

Each winner will be receiving a Devil card, shown up above, in the mail. I want to thank each of them for entering and everyone for being patient.

Thank you!

TC (Guest) (2013-11-05)


I'm glad everyone's alright, and I'm happy to hear that people are still on board to continue with the comic. :3

Fairportfan (Guest) (2013-11-06)


December second?  That's ... a long time to wait!Wannit NOW!================Take all the time you need to get it right.We can wait less than a month...

J Gray (2013-11-10)

TC, thank you for entering.

Comic Creators for Freedom!

Published on: 2013-11-12 | Author: J Gray

Its the 12th and we're moving closer to the return of Mysteries of the Arcana. Keith's working hard on the art. We'll be ready for the 2nd of December.


In the meanwhile, please consider following me on twitter. I'm fairly active there.

Mysteries of the Arcana will be participating in Comic Creators for Freedom, a yearly charity project that raises funds to help fight human trafficking. Up above, you can see a piece of the wallpaper from the very first Comic Creators for Freedom, several years back. Chrys and Theresa have been circled so you can locate them.

Please check out the Comic Creators for Freedom website to find out more about the project and how you can help!

Getting Closer!

Published on: 2013-11-19 | Author: J Gray

We are getting closer to December 2nd and the return of Mysteries of the Arcana. Keith's working hard on the art as we speak. 


In the meanwhile, I'm working hard on chapter 5 and our upcoming Kickstarter. Today I'm very happy to say I finished chapter 5's rough draft. Sixty-six handwritten pages, not counting the three pages of flowcharts and the seven page outline. To celebrate, I'm posting the first page of the script up above. Its a fuzzy picture, taken with my iPad, but if you can read my handwriting you'll get a sneak peak of chapter 5!

Beekay006 (2013-11-20)

Cheers for the update J, I read "poor Mandrake..." you've got me worried for the wonderful little sprite now!

Gunsolo (Guest) (2013-11-20)


Lookin' good!

JD (Guest) (2013-11-20)


I don't want to alarm you, but it appears a chicken with some ink on its claws has been rumaging around in your notebook.

Seriously though, awesome news. Really looking forward to Dec. 2.

Last Update!

Published on: 2013-11-26 | Author: J Gray

Today's our last status update before our return! Why? Because our first full, new page of Mysteries of the Arcana in over a year will be posted next Monday! We'll be following a Monday-Thursday schedule after that until the middle of February, when chapter 4 will be finished. By that point we'll have run the Kickstarter and we'll know if we have the funds to run chapter 5.


In celebration, here's the first new, full color panel of Mysteries of the Arcana finished in over a year! Its stretched out a bit but up above, please get a nice glimpse of the four Minor Arcana queens holding their very own universes!

See you next Monday!

Beekay006 (2013-11-28)

Looking forward for it all Jay and Keith! Thank you for the preview!