Another small heatwave, another migraine, GEEZ...

BUT while I'm at it, there was something else that I was considering and planning on doing for a long while now - I'm thinking of making a small Discord server with the help of a friend!

I know a lot of folks do it, and as far as I go, I want to both have a place where I can really share art more and often, both WIPs of what I do, the process of work, learn, talk about art, give sneak peeks for things like adopts and whatnot, and possibly eventually stream if I get over my shyness... BUT also I want to meet more people from the community and make friends, both art-wise and also to hopefully meet folks who I can play games with and talk fandom stuff, and just hang out. Since, again, I am a very introverted and generally shy person, but I feel like I'm finally at a good place where I can try to be around people more on a consistent basis... Maybe lose some of that stage fright lol.

So I'll be doing that pretty soon!

Hope everyone's doing well this summer so far and are recovering from the whole quarantine and virus ordeal! And handling the heat, too.

I've been busy with art-art-art, as usual, and also dying from our first heat wave, BUT. I was able to finally buy an air conditioner and now I can actually. Exist in my apartment without being cooked to death dfdfgfh, it's been interfering with work a lot and making my cats super miserable.

Gonna be posting more finished comms and other things in the coming days, as well as the additions to the adopts folks got from me! Excited to show off the full refs...

Sometimes around the end of July/start of August, I'll be posting the next round of big space dragon adopts, this time it'll be full anthro + feral ones again, and they will be nebula-themed :> My favorite thing in space.

I will probably post a small flatsale of werewolf/wolf adopts sometimes in July if I'll have enough free time to finish them, too~

Stay safe y'all!

All of the adopts have been claimed, thank you!

These were the last ones in my adopt reserves, these guys were actually sittin' in my folders even longer than the other dragons, since last summer haha. So now I'm out of everything, but I have a lot of ideas for more - I'll likely get to working on next ones bit by bit in my spare time after the current commission batch is finished.

Which is what I'll be posting next, have a lot of comms incoming soon, along with some older works. Excited to share all of it!

Okay, finally posted the guys!

Apologies again for the delay, my head allowed me to live just now;;

Hey!

A bunch of apologies for the delay with these, I've been dealing with a migraine the past few days that just doesn't want to go away, so I'll be posting them either later today or tomorrow, so I can keep an eye on things.
The moment my head stops killing me!

Hi again everyone! I hope all's well and everyone's safe so far with all that's been going on.

Just wanted to drop a few updates for the next week - first, I'll be putting out a new batch of dragon adopt series Monday evening, that I had saved up. It's another one from a hopefully ongoing adopt series sometimes in the future - all based on various celestial objects and things in space! This batch I had saved for a while too, and the first one'll be based on some of our very familiar stars in the night sky.
Dragons and monsters + space? Two things I adore.


Second - gonna be doing some art spam next week from the current commission batch, excited!


Things have been relatively stable for me and the workflow the past few weeks otherwise tho, hand is completely okay and not giving any trouble too. Now if only the quarantine'd finally end.

Another quick update on my hand situation - so I got the meds ( Diclovit's what I'm using ) I needed three days ago, and they've made things better very fast, the inflammation is almost gone and the stiffness and pain aren't bothering me anymore. People were right about saying I'll probably end up needing a week to get better haha;;
So I'll get back to work fully on Monday, but start out on the weekend now.

Apologies for this unexpected week off I ended up forced to take!;

Okay I am BACK with PC fixed, got 7 changed to 10 ( yes, yes don't laugh, I've been running on 7 bc I hated 10, but here we are )
Should finally have Photoshop... Not that I NEED it to draw, but it does just have some features I really really like

Still with brace, I'm going to give my arm a day more to rest, and then start going back to art on Sunday slowly, and fully on Monday. Even if it doesn't get better, I'll have my meds for it by then, SO THAT'S THAT

Just wanted to thank folks for all the interest in the adopts!
I'm def planning to make more in the future, I have a ton of ideas, but since I only work on them in my spare time outside of my commission work hours, I'd say new ones'd be coming out every 2-3 months or so.

I ALSO got my hand brace, and will get some meds for it, so hopefully in a few days time it'll be in a decent working condition again.

ALSO ALSO, will be reinstalling my Windows so GUESS WHO'LL HAVE PHOTOSHOP AGAIN in a day or two, FINALLY

AND FINALLY posted the guys!

The past days have been very hectic again, but I'm glad to have them out finally, they've waited for several months haha


Another small update is that I will be taking a few more days semi-off to limit my work hours because my art hand doesn't seem to be getting better and starts hurting very noticeably if I do my usual 6-8 hours workday;;

Hey!

Just a heads-up that I'll be posting the adopts tomorrow, not today, because my art hand's been acting up all week and I've been trying to let it rest and not touch the pen and tablet ( or anything at all that strains it ) the past few days, gonna give it one more day today before going back to work x_x I need to organize some of them.
Apologies, they'll be up tomorrow evening!

Whew, I'm gonna be finally posting the adopts next Friday (on the 20th)!

They were originally supposed to be posted during winter because they're winter-themed, but I got very busy in the past couple of months haha;;;
And these will be big chonky dragons with full ref sheets, both anthro and feral versions!

Gotta post some updates here too!

Things've been going pretty well, work's been steady and it's finally spring here and the weather's getting better.

I'm still without Photoshop and my PC's freaking out a bit but I'll have that dealt with soon hopefully.

I did want to tell that things have been improving on my health side a lot - I recently got back to riding horses again because I desperately needed exercise and something to clear my mind, it used to help me and keep me in a good working state years ago, and I know it'll help me again - it already is.
I also finally was able to go to the dentist and get my worst tooth fixed that's been hurting for months now. I still have many to go, but this was the worst one... It's surprising now how I let my health get neglected so badly, but I guess when you're depressed and in such a bad headspace, and can't afford it, you just begin to... ignore these things.

But now they're being picked at one by one so! I can't wait to be back and working at my full capacity soon, things have definitely been improving in bigger strides now.

Gotta post some updates here too!

Things've been going pretty well, work's been steady and it's finally spring here and the weather's getting better.

I'm still without Photoshop and my PC's freaking out a bit but I'll have that dealt with soon hopefully.

I did want to tell that things have been improving on my health side a lot - I recently got back to riding horses again because I desperately needed exercise and something to clear my mind, it used to help me and keep me in a good working state years ago, and I know it'll help me again - it already is.
I also finally was able to go to the dentist and get my worst tooth fixed that's been hurting for months now. I still have many to go, but this was the worst one... It's surprising now how I let my health get neglected so badly, but I guess when you're depressed and in such a bad headspace, and can't afford it, you just begin to... ignore these things.

But now they're being picked at one by one so! I can't wait to be back and working at my full capacity soon, things have definitely been improving in bigger strides now.

Okay, uh!
I got much more forms filled out than I expected this time, so I need to close them now!

I'll be sending out E-mails soon, but I will have to separate the comms into smaller batches ( 3-5 depending on complexity) per week to fit everything in without overdoing it, so some will have to go on the waiting list for a bit, because I don't want to force people to re-apply every time, so for those who'll be okay with waiting, they won't need to fill out the forms again once I get to them. If most people'll decide they want to be on the list, I won't be opening any new comms for 4-6 weeks.

It's also totally okay to be on the wailist but cancel it whenever desired if something comes up - just let me know beforehand.

ALSO also, just in case - don't send me any money beforehand, if I accepted your piece! The invoices will be sent out per current batch, no upfront payments for being on the waitlist, only for when I'm starting the piece and have confirmed it's still desired.

I didn't expect this many apps dfgfgfh, but I'm very excited to draw all of the things.

Alright, since people asked, here's the commission opening I have for February's upcoming 2 weeks!
I'm not aiming to take a lot on for this one, 3, top 4 pieces per week, because my head's been a bit iffy. If there's something left I couldn't fit into these two weeks, I'll move it to the third week in a wait list to avoid having people to re-submit 10 times in a row, but that's the longest I'll do for a waitlist.

My ToS did change quite a bit, I wanted to implement this stuff for a very long while, so please read this through if you're thinking on getting one, as well as check the prices here:

https://tinyurl.com/GaleToSandComms

And this is the Gdoc form to fill in:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13T.....QvsO9jGNKcSbU0

Comms will also be put on Trello for tracking, after they've been submitted and chosen~


On a related note, I will be posting a lot of art now - I still have a few older pieces to show off that I'm getting done, as well as the newest batches, so get ready for some steady influx of art~

I've said this before, but just another heads-up that Trello has now been cleared of all old commissions and updated to be ready for use for 2020 commissions I'll be opening shortly, but as I've stated before - don't be alarmed by it, I still have all the old commissions even from years back safe on my PC, including all PSD files, as well as a list for those I needed to fix/finish, so nothing is lost or gone! I will still keep them for a good while in case anyone'll need anything or can't find their high-res file.

I also won't be posting the commission files themselves on Trello anymore starting now, just to be safe and make sure the client's privacy isn't invaded and the high-res files can't be downloaded by others; all high-res pieces will now be sent to the clients via E-mail only.

I will be taking a small break from work in ~ 2 first weeks of January ( as in, I won't be taking any new work on, but still work on what remains if there is any left past New Year ), but!

I do want to try and do a few auctions for several dragon adopts I've had sitting in my folders form months, I want to finish those up.

Since they usually get snatched so fast if I do flat prices, I want to try and see how an auction goes and if that's more fair? It seems more fair in some cases, since people have more time in case they want it.

But I'll see how that goes! I'm just super excited to finish them because working on designs is so, so fun.

Okay, so some updates on how things are: now that I've gotten my hands on everyone, I can start tidying up my place here and making it feel like home again, since it was almost abandoned for several years.

One of the things I will be cleaning up and getting ready for proper use again will be Trello, so I wanted to warn everyone that old queues and art stored there will be taken down!

BUT do not worry about not being able to get them if something comes up - I will still have them on my PC for a good while, and I have things like comms still needing fixes written down, so nothing will be lost.

I will also be updating my ToS and general info regarding art and commissions and moving everything onto a simple website for ease of access and consistency.


Another thing I'm planning to do more in 2020, is to do more adopts - I've done some and really enjoyed making them so far, they're really fun to do and good for imagination muscle flexing. I imagine it'll mostly be dragons and monsters and some anthros, ranging from full ref sheets to more simple options. I'm not sure if folks would be interested in seeing more of these from me?

And possibly some YCHs later in the year once I feel confident enough in how I do poses, another thing I wanted to do for a long while but had neither time or strength for.

There's a lot of improvement I need to do with my art in general, I have to pick up the slack and get those wasted years back, and a new decade feels like a good time to start hahah.

SO, I've been itching to post a good update with some nice news for a while, and I can do that finally!

Now, there's a couple things I want to tell about: first thing's first, I'm finally done with my backlogs! There's a couple more things I need to finish for a few people, but otherwise I finally did what I set up to do and it's a giant burden off my shoulders.

Today also marks almost a full year now of me not having any serious issues with my health - I still get an occasional chronic headache or migraine, but it's better now. My mental health's been stable, I'm slowly recovering from the weight loss that happened last year, and in general feeling pretty good. So things are finally paying off.

Second, now that it's over, I guess I can share some of my opinions on this whole ordeal.

Some folks know the details, but the gist of it was that a few years ago I had some unfortunate events happen irl and also in my social life at the same time that messed up my mental health big time due to the sudden and consistent stress - something I wasn't expecting to happen as it's been several years since last time I had a serious breakdown. But it wasn't getting any better and dragged my physical health along with it eventually, as I started getting very frequent headaches that lasted for days on end, issues with sleep, stomach acting up due to a messed up eating schedule, and it all was piling up. All of it damaged my social life greatly, but even more it damaged my ability to work.
Needless to say I was not anywhere near being in a good state to do consistent work and was in a dire need of rest, but couldn't afford it as family and finance issues put me as the person to be paying the bills and bringing food on the table both for me, and my mom and my cats, with my brother dealing with his own new family and his work problems.
So that put me in the position where I kept taking on big amounts of work, on top of undercharging, despite not being able to finish it in time, to make ends meet. And that's how I ended up with very long backlogs, depression, health issues and struggling to fix everything. It felt like I was taking one step forward, two steps back and for a couple times, every time I set a deadline for myself to have everything done, something happened to completely stall it again ( i.e: last year where I lost about 7 months of time due to sudden weight loss and fever, and stomach issues, resulting in constant doctor visits and more stress ).
And having these backlogs hanging above my head were adding another layer of stress because I hate failing people and making them wait, and yet it just kept happening and was this constant feeling of shame and anger at myself.

And on top of it, it felt like I'm losing time with my art - I wasn't getting any better at it, I was totally burnt out, wasn't practicing as much as I should have, and it seemed like I'm stagnating when I should've improved so much in that span of a couple of years, but instead I was stuck.

But it did get better eventually, and I dug myself out of that hole, and now that I'm here, what I can say is... This is still my fault. None of the things mentioned absolve me of the responsibility and failure at communicating with people in time and overall making sure whatever happens to me doesn't damage other people. I still should've found ways to work around these problems and, well, get over myself instead of letting them pile up more and more and causing stress to other people.

And I said it before and I'll say it again: I am really sorry for failing to do my job and having people wait on me, but I'm also incredibly grateful to everyone who gave me time to get through this mess and helped me along the way, it means the WORLD to me.

But now, at least I am finally standing more or less firmly on my feet again, and I'm really excited for what I can do next year - getting back to working on commissions again, practicing and improving my skills since I have a lot to catch up with, doing more adopts and fixing things that still need it.
The last few years have been a complete blur and I'm just so happy to finally be able to go back to living and not existing, and working on being better both as an artist and, well. Human being hahah.

THIS ENDED UP being kinda long, apologies! I just wanted to share my thoughts on things now that I can reflect on everything more.

There hasn't been a journal here for a long while, huh...

Well, on the bright side, I finally have some good updates and news. It's been several more months, but I can safely say now that I'm almost done with every old commission and sketch I've had in my backlog, as I've been snipping away at them one by one. All but a few people have been accounted for, and every piece I was concerned about being lost has been taken care of! Which I'm, very glad about. I set out to have everything done and no one missed out or forgotten, and it'll be so. Just a couple more to go.

After I'm done with a couple that's left and get the few last people, I can finish the things I needed to fix with some older pieces, and. It's done then.

I will make a longer post once everything's finally out of my way, but I will mention that I had another health-related dark period from summer to winter, that put me in a bad spot for over half a year, though it thankfully passed. I'm still recovering in more ways than one and at times it feels like I'm taking one step forward, two steps back, but. Ultimately I'm moving forward and it's getting better.

This took me... Forever and a day and much longer than I hoped it will, things don't go my way how I want when I plan them it seems haha. And I am sorry for the inconveniences it caused everyone, but.

Soon I'll have everything wrapped up and can move forward with less mishaps, hopefully.

Not dead, not dead, I'm still alive and kicking and working my way through the queue. Slowly... WAY too slowly but I am chewing through it.

I just wanted to remind that I put all the high resolutions of anything I post here that's done in the dropbox, unless it needs fixing - so you can pick them up from there~

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aol25nnp.....qfkUd5z6a?dl=0

So the move was successful, settled in the new place late Friday evening~ Still have lots of stuff to unpack, but for the mot part we're done.
I was doing all that while being sick, though, and it turned into sinusitis and general gross as of now, so I'm still taking today and possibly tomorrow off from any work, and then I'll be back to posting/sending stuff~

This is just a warning that I won't be available in any way really tomorrow, but I should be back to existing and work on Friday if nothing goes wrong, worst case a couple days later. I won't have internet access of any useful kind 'cause we're moving to new apartment on Friday.

Family suddenly decided that we have to move pretty abruptly a couple weeks ago 'cause a place was found very close to my brother's place, which basically means it'll be easier for me in case something happens to mom, and there's two hospitals nearby. The bills for utility stuff are also like, twice as low as they are where I am now, so it's good for me.

Downside was that the apartment needed fixing which we were allowed to do, but had to move there at the end of the month and have everything done by then, so those weeks were spent on painting walls and fixing floors and bathroom stuff and even a window lol, so that's the reason I only did one update with art and wasn't around as much. Once we have moved, things will be back to normal, and I will let you know when my computer is workin' again.

Oh hey, so this journal entry isn't about art, but rather about that stupid law Article#13 EU is trying to enforce now.
These things circulate around all the time, last was the Net Neutrality thing in the US, but this one's arguably worse as it threatens people's freedom online, pretty much, with that copyright law. It's. Not good. It's really not.

So I highly suggest reading up on it and see if you want to do anything about it. Here's a couple of links with info:

https://saveyourinternet.eu

https://edri.org/eu-member-states-a.....ernet-uploads/

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2.....internet.shtml

*rubs head* I'm so tired of all of this.