I bit the bullet and spent $500 on computer parts for overhauling the workstation. It’s now operational, but there are still some kinks to work out – such as the scanner being a complete, utter douche. In the meantime, I am considering opening myself to sketch and ink portrait commissions for $20 apiece. If you’re interested, do e-mail me at NK@fantasia-arks.com!

About the comic itself, it won’t resume updating until late April or early May, depending on how soon I’m able to get back into the work groove. Wish me luck on that.

-NK out.

There will be no updates until the workstation is back online. At the earliest, updates can resume next week.

-NK out.

Before the weekend even starts, my computer kicks it. The video card stopped outputting monitor signals, and it seems to be booting up normally, but I’m not getting anything on the screen. This tells me that the vid card has croaked. Badly.

Which brings me to this. I’ve tried searching for a replacement video card that can actually work with PCI Express x16 slots, but the only ones that appear to be available for that particular slot are not exactly up to my standards.

So I’ve put together a budget shopping list for a Computer Overhaul, the pricetag comes to $415 for a new motherboard, CPU, two RAM sticks, a HDD and a new video card. Total. And that is the best specs for a cheap price point that I could come up with that can meet the heavy demands of the work I do while giving me the flexibility for future upgrades if needed. I can easily cover half that, but the other half…not so much – not without putting my personal health at risk. Credit is absolutely out of the question, as well.

See, I’m unemployed, and like many Americans, I haven’t had much luck finding a job. The only thing that’s been keeping me going is my passion and drive to create Fantasia Arks for the world to enjoy – and with the loss of a functional workstation, that has effectively been brought to a grinding halt. Even though $415 is such an incredibly low cost for building a computer, it’s still prohibitively expensive for me.

So, this is my plea to you, the readers. If you are able to donate even $5, please do! It would go towards rebuilding the workstation so that I may continue to tell this story for you – ultimately, sharing the Fantasia Arks universe for the world to enjoy. You can send donations via PayPal at AFMSean (at) gmail (dot) com. Any and all donations will go towards the rebuild.

Thank you for listening.

-Sean Danielson/NK