Sorry I'm late, but even though you've already apparently made up your mind to do one, I'll share my story anyway:

I'd read a few dios here and there, but I wasn't really that into them. I used to post on JoeCustoms occasionally, and while I was there, Hammerfel offered to host my G.I. Joe music files on this site. So I signed up for JoeDios, and I looked at pictures here, and after a while the bug sort of bit me. I started with a one-off, two- or three-page meeting between some Joes (Barrage, Bombstrike, and Hard-Drive) and the Autobots Hound, Wheeljack, and Optimus Prime. Then I started gradually adding bits to the story, jumping around, just doing it for fun. After a while, I got carried away and turned it into a full-fledged dio-story! I went back eventually and filled in some of the blanks from the earlier, unplanned segments, but that first story is still kind of a disjointed read for about the first half.

After that first story, I was getting some really nice feedback from everyone here (though many who used to comment on my stuff are gone now), so I decided to turn the story into a three-part epic. I actually planned out the second and third parts (albeit loosely), and set to work photographing. Now here we are three years (!) after I posted that first page (Barrage was brand-new when I shot it!), and I'm nearly done posting the final segment of the trilogy.

I'll admit, there were times when it got to be a bit much, and I started losing interest. But I always see things through to the end-- And whenever I convinced myself to dive back in and keep working, it would immediately become fun again. I love the characters I'm working with, so that makes a huge difference. Plus, after I finished the first story, I took about four months off, and after I finished the second one I took about five (I think) months off there. It always helps to refresh yourself!

I think that about covers it. I've talked about my process many times on this site, but in a nutshell-- I come up with a plot, I shoot pictures that tell the story I've written down, I choose the best shots and write the script for them, then I throw it all together in Photoshop and eventually post it here!

Anyway Dave, I look forward to seeing whatever you produce! And for some reason I have a feeling Flint is going to be a main character...

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is on indefinite hiatus...