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I'm taking my life back
11 months ago
General
I realize that due to my childhood I express my excitement internally. I've decided that I owe it to myself to be loud about my excitement this year.
I dropped out of high school in 2019 and got my business license to pursue art as a fulltime career. I was selling merchandise at conventions and on Etsy, also while working on commissions, and making big plans for my future when COVID hit, shifting my entire life. Just since 2020 alone I've moved SIX times. I moved across the country from Washington State to Georgia, moved once again in Georgia, and in 2023 I moved from Georgia to Portugal. The remaining 3 moves were all done in the same year, 2024. I've been in a constant state of instability for years and I only just started processing how insane this all is, especially for being only 21. This is the first time I felt like I have control and a choice over the path of my future since pre-COVID.
This year I'm putting more time into my community and trying new things in my business. I was never meant to just be a commission artist but due to the circumstances, that's all I had the time or energy to manage. Now, I'm already trying new things. :)
In December, I started making a calendar that would organize the next year of work and events. So far I've mapped out 12 community events, three special community events, six commission prompt months, and six themed adopt months. I have other ideas I'm still smoothing over but these are the ones that are confirmed! One of the three special community events is already in-way right now, and that's the Secret Valentine event.
Admittedly I was really scared to even attempt this event because I was so worried that nobody would sign up and I'd be embarassed and have wasted hours of time...but as of yesterday the event closed with 20 participants!!! HOW COOL!!! I spent over 4 hours yesterday pairing all 20 participants individually. I assigned every name a number and then began randomly pairing different numbers, but I very quickly found that I strongly disagreed with these pairings. I scrapped the work and decided to restart with manually pairing the participants myself based on their kinks, interests, design preferences, etc. It's funny that I did this for a Valentine's Day event because I honestly felt like I was matchmaking for artists! xD
I have to admit that planning these events has been really hard for me (although something I've always wanted to do). It's very different from commissions. With commissions, you do the art, you send it to the client, they give you feedback. But with this, I've been planning since December and only just yesterday, January 18th, did I get the first bit of feedback from the participants. There's nobody but myself to tell me "you're doing a good job", "just push through it", "it's going to be fun". Because that's the biggest thing, is it going to be fun?
When I delivered the Secret Valentine's to the participants, I was reminded why I'm doing this. Multiple people have said that they're excited and that they know that they're going to have fun with the design that they were given. And that is what matters to me. Bringing the people together, creating positivity, and having fun. It's incredibly fufilling, and I know that this is what I'm meant to be doing. All my worries vanished when I saw the excitement from the people. And now all I can think about is how excited I am to see the big reveal on February 16th!
What an honor it is to live at a point in time where we have the power of the internet to host international events that bring diverse people together for one common thing: creating art together! Now that I am finally living in a stable and emotionally safe household, and I dont plan on moving at least until November (god, hopefully it will be longer than that), I'm going to make the most of my time and create great things with and for you guys, and I'm going to be loud about it! Pretty much everything I have up to this point, I have because of this community. Some of the community members have been supporting me since 2017, we've literally grown up together! I really owe it to you guys, thank you for everything.
Let's see where this year takes us!!! ୧(＾ 〰 ＾)୨
I dropped out of high school in 2019 and got my business license to pursue art as a fulltime career. I was selling merchandise at conventions and on Etsy, also while working on commissions, and making big plans for my future when COVID hit, shifting my entire life. Just since 2020 alone I've moved SIX times. I moved across the country from Washington State to Georgia, moved once again in Georgia, and in 2023 I moved from Georgia to Portugal. The remaining 3 moves were all done in the same year, 2024. I've been in a constant state of instability for years and I only just started processing how insane this all is, especially for being only 21. This is the first time I felt like I have control and a choice over the path of my future since pre-COVID.
This year I'm putting more time into my community and trying new things in my business. I was never meant to just be a commission artist but due to the circumstances, that's all I had the time or energy to manage. Now, I'm already trying new things. :)
In December, I started making a calendar that would organize the next year of work and events. So far I've mapped out 12 community events, three special community events, six commission prompt months, and six themed adopt months. I have other ideas I'm still smoothing over but these are the ones that are confirmed! One of the three special community events is already in-way right now, and that's the Secret Valentine event.
Admittedly I was really scared to even attempt this event because I was so worried that nobody would sign up and I'd be embarassed and have wasted hours of time...but as of yesterday the event closed with 20 participants!!! HOW COOL!!! I spent over 4 hours yesterday pairing all 20 participants individually. I assigned every name a number and then began randomly pairing different numbers, but I very quickly found that I strongly disagreed with these pairings. I scrapped the work and decided to restart with manually pairing the participants myself based on their kinks, interests, design preferences, etc. It's funny that I did this for a Valentine's Day event because I honestly felt like I was matchmaking for artists! xD
I have to admit that planning these events has been really hard for me (although something I've always wanted to do). It's very different from commissions. With commissions, you do the art, you send it to the client, they give you feedback. But with this, I've been planning since December and only just yesterday, January 18th, did I get the first bit of feedback from the participants. There's nobody but myself to tell me "you're doing a good job", "just push through it", "it's going to be fun". Because that's the biggest thing, is it going to be fun?
When I delivered the Secret Valentine's to the participants, I was reminded why I'm doing this. Multiple people have said that they're excited and that they know that they're going to have fun with the design that they were given. And that is what matters to me. Bringing the people together, creating positivity, and having fun. It's incredibly fufilling, and I know that this is what I'm meant to be doing. All my worries vanished when I saw the excitement from the people. And now all I can think about is how excited I am to see the big reveal on February 16th!
What an honor it is to live at a point in time where we have the power of the internet to host international events that bring diverse people together for one common thing: creating art together! Now that I am finally living in a stable and emotionally safe household, and I dont plan on moving at least until November (god, hopefully it will be longer than that), I'm going to make the most of my time and create great things with and for you guys, and I'm going to be loud about it! Pretty much everything I have up to this point, I have because of this community. Some of the community members have been supporting me since 2017, we've literally grown up together! I really owe it to you guys, thank you for everything.
Let's see where this year takes us!!! ୧(＾ 〰 ＾)୨
AlfaFilly
~alfafilly
So excited to see what the future holds this year for you!! :D
