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‼️LIFE UPDATE, COMS, STREAMS, & KO-FI! (OH MY!)‼️
2 days ago
General
Heyo Everyone
It's been a while since I touched base with you folks about things, and just a few days ago I got some great news. So why not take the opportunity to go ahead and fill you folks in. There is also gunna be some VERY important news for you commissioners out there too, so please take the time to read through all of this! And if you do, thank you very much! Now, on with it!
I got a job!
Yep, after a full year of unemployment (aside from Twitch, Ko-Fi, & Commission Work) I've finally landed a job. I'm going Part Time, so I'll be working only 4 days a week which works very well for me. (The reason behind this will be clear soon.) The only down side is that this is a 2nd shift job, so I'm looking at 2-11 pm on the days that I work. Not a fan of this, as i worked that shift years ago and hated it cause it felt like you could never see the sun. But, it's a steady income so I'll deal! If my schedule goes as planned, I'll be working on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, & Mondays. But we'll see if anything shifts.
This leads me to my next point...
Art, Streams, & Commissions Going Forward
As you can probably already figure out, having this job does cut a bit into my time to do art a bit, this is why I'm glad it's only part time. That being said, I'm still not gunna have a lot of time to dedicate to doing coms all the time, work on Ko-Fi rewards, Stream on Twitch, & still be able to do my personal projects at the same time. So something is gunna have to give.
Currently, Ko-Fi Rewards are on a pause this month due to wanting to catch up on the coms I owe, and I'm happy to say I've almost blown through all of them! So Ko-Fi Rewards will be coming back next month in full, and ALL MEMBERS IN THE WILDS & ROYALS UP TO GRAND DRAGON TIER MEMBERS WILL GET A REWARD! As a thank you for all of them sticking with me though all this. And if you read this far, and you where worried about be closing up my Ko-Fi, don't! I'm not going anywhere! Ko-Fi Memberships will still be open and you folks will still be receiving your monthly rewards, the way my rewards are set makes it to where keeping up with them every month, even with this work schedule, more than doable!
Now some of you might have noticed that I stream on Twitch now, and am affiliate. I tend to stream on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. With Sundays being a gaming stream and the other two are art streams. Well, I have no intention of giving up streaming, but the amount I'll be streaming is now probably gunna be only one day a week and probably alternate between a gaming stream or art stream. I'm also not too sure at the moment which day I'll choose to stream. And due to all this new inconsistency, I wanna make one thing clear going forward. If you really want to support me and my art monetarily, and you like watching my streams, please consider joining my Ko-F Memberships rather than subbing to my Twitch! I hate the idea of people paying to watch my streams without adds, to only then have me stream only once a week. It just doesn't seem worth it to me.
Meanwhile on my Ko-Fi Memberships , you gain access to my Discord! It's 18+ only, we share a lot of art, play games together, goof off, and I get to show off all the things I've been working on. You also get a say in monthly fan art polls, and in the higher tiers, you gain accesses to my more spicey artwork! You also have the chance to get some personal art made as well in the higher tiers so, there's that. And, if you can't pay monthly anymore, you don't have to worry about being kicked out! As long as you're behaving yourself, you won't be turned away from my community. But the most important perk is this next one, and it leads me to my final talking point.
My commissions piled up, and I'm gunna be honest, I got burnt out FAST. Faster than I thought. But, when at the time coms where the only thing keeping a roof over your head and food in your belly, it didn't matter how you felt about it. You had shit to do, and if anything came up that put you in a hole, welp better open more slots and deal with it. Until I opened my Ko-Fi and started streaming, then I didn't feel as stressed anymore about them, I didn't need to take so many anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love doing art for others, but with all of this and what I'm guess is major imposter syndrome, I didn't feel like my work was worth it anymore. I pushed through, but...I didn't believe a word of the good things people where saying about my work. But I suppose, when you feel like crap, you start to see everything you make as crap. Even when others don't see it. On top of that, orders where taking longer and longer to get to people and I hated that the most.
Not gunna lie, there were a lot of times that I just wish I had the money to refund every com I had and just never draw for others again. But, I couldn't. Pet's need food. I need food. Lights need to be kept on. Bills need to be paid. And while Blu shouldered the load of helping me do some of those things, he couldn't do everything alone. And I hated relying on him for anything, perhaps that's the pride talking, but I hate solely relying on others for help. But I'm grateful for all of it. The help, The patients, and love everyone has given me this past year. I really couldn't have done it alone.
As I said before, I'm almost done with my current list of coms, I have three left in the To-Do list and seven in WIP. (One of which should be done by today). But, once those coms are done...that's it. I won't be taking anymore public commissions. I won't be advertising them publicly when they do open, and unless your a close friend, Ko-Fi Member, Prior Client, or someone I know and recognize, I won't be doing business with you. And if I EVER have to take public coms again, I'll probably take them on an application bases and select the ones I want based on what I feel I can work with. I know that's probably gunna upset some people, but as selfish as it sounds, frankly I wanna keep my creative and mental health in check. I also don't wanna hurt anyone anymore by making them wait so long for coms, so it's best that I just limit the people that can get them and the amount that I'm willing to take!
And I'll be using the time that I would've been working on coms to something else I've always wanted to start working on....
I've talked about it before back in my DA days and if you've seen some more recent streams of mine you'll know that I've been slowly working on some lore and art about my dragon story, The Dragon Chronicles. It was a comic I've been wanting to and slowly building the world of since I was 13. And now that I'm 30, I'm sick of being worried about it being perfect, I wanna make the damn thing! I want people to see the characters I used to annoy my bestie Knife about for years on the bus to school! I have a few short comics associated with the same world too that I wanna make. Some linked to the main story, others are just for fun world building! But, I wanna finally so you all the land of Tyrose and it's lovely dragon inhabitants! War, Peace, and all! (If you wanted a dumbed down feel for what the comic is, it's TLoS, meets ATLA, meets Megablocks Dragons: Fire & Ice, Meets Magi-Nation. If you know the last two, then you get a cookie!)
I plan to show off more content with this project along with other personal work on my Ko-Fi once Coms are done! Including the first mini comic I'll be working on, "The First Hunt", a comic I originally posted on DA years ago called "Memories", but now with a better name and WAY better visuals and writing! I'll be sure to share the cringy OG pages on Ko-Fi as well!
I still plan on posting art like always and showing the comics I work on to the world, but if you wanna support the projects I make and the art that I do & and see everything well before it's posted along with other goodies, I recommend joining the Ko-Fi. While I have a job now, I would still like to work towards the goal of making a living as a webcomic artist. So if you have the means, you like my art, or just wanna see the insanity that is my little Ice Cave Discord Server, then I welcome you with open arms!
Sorry if that went on for quite a while, but I wanted to get some stuff off my chest and try to remember everything I wanted to say! I'm going in for orientation tomorrow and I'm gunna be buzzing around my house making sure I have everything prepped for tomorrow! (Gotta love being the chronic planner!) So I'll see you folks around, and if you read all that, Thank you all so much!
VDragon Out!
Osiras_the_dragon
~osirasthedragon
I wish you the best of luck in your new job. Hope everything goes well ad you'll feel better soon. And the twitch sub will always be there, I like using your emotes
VDragon-Creations
~vdragon-creations
OP
Me too, I'm sure getting out of the house on a more regular bases will help quite a bit. I appreciate it, and it's very kind of you. Happy you like them.
Jam5022
~jam5022
Congrats on your new job
