Hey everyone!
It's that time again! That time where lots of things happen to me so I have to rearrange my life and priorities, and well that's something I'd prefer to keep you in the loop about lol.
So we have a few different things going on, they all sort of effect each other, but lets start with the biggest one that sorta connects them all:
Work-
(To sum up- My store got sold again, new company is shit, I'm not sticking around.)
Okay, so about three months ago I got promoted to store manager where I work, and it actually sounded like a rad way to do things!
I didn't hate this job by any means, the retailer that had bought our store a few months before had really turned things around for us and helped a ton.
I figured I would just stick around and do that while working bit by bit on art and save up to take another shot at freelancing down the line.
Wellllll we got bought out again. That makes two times in the 10 months I've worked at this store that my store, myself, and my employees have been tossed around by different retail companies.
That alone was grinding on my nerves quite a bit, but I wasn't about to just abandon ship because of it.
The new company had promised that they would be keeping our hours and pay the same, so I figured I would stick it out a little and see if I can manage with this company too.
There's a few problems with that though...

It's week two since we were purchased and finished the acquisition process. I have no idea if my employees or I are making commission on our sales, and the company is "working on it"
and refuses to answer any further than that. I am also not receiving the manager bonus that I was promised would "carry over" from the previous company.
We have barely any inventory, constantly upset customers because we have no inventory and/or because these shitty middle-aged white Kansas people just don't know how to treat retail workers properly,
and no problems have been fixed at all. I have no HR to contact, no work Email, I just filled out the LEGAL HIRING PAPERWORK a few days ago despite having been working for like 5 days before that.
Apparently this company has only been "open" for about 2 months now, and it's all sketchy as HELL. With all of this going on, I really can't find any motivation to want to stick around.
Even if they do fix everything, they won't compensate or treat me nearly as well as the other company would have. Even my spouse is urging me to ditch this job, and they don't tend to like spur-of-the-moment decisions like that.

(end of work rant/explanation)

Before and while all of this has been happening, Ive actually thankfully been finding myself growing into a better, healthier, less-stressed mentality. My urge to get something done with art, to start my future doing the
things I actually love to do has been growing bigger and bigger, igniting in me.
I'm sure most of you have seen the crap I've been putting up with over the last two years. Well, after the death of my grandfather more than a month ago it all suddenly flooded me. I hit a peak anxiety and depression point,
I knew I was about to break if I didn't do something, and thankfully I found a way to get myself back to fighting shape. I'm back and better than ever, my most genuine self and I'm ready to start doing the things I ACTUALLY WANT TO DO!


So then, Whats the plan?
THE PLAN-
I'm ditching this shitty retail job. I got some management experience at least, so should I need to job hunt again, at least I have that and good references. I am going to be putting my two weeks in sometime this next week.
From there, I am going to finish my queue up and open for commissions again with new prices and structure. I am also going to be doing some reworking on my patreon! Some additional bonuses for different tiers and a
few changes to the other ones that nobody pledges to.
I am also going to be using a new type of "mini YCH". When I make one of my YCHs, I usually go through a few rough draft ideas and sketches either to warm up, or find the one that works best as a full picture,
but I realized that the drafts are kinda just laying around otherwise. These sketches would make great flat color sketch YCHs as a cheaper option, and I think that a few people may want to jump on them!
I would be charging just single prices for the slots in the mini YCHs instead of the auctions I do for the main ones, which would be first-come, first-served.
I am also going to start messing around with 3d modeling more! This is probably the part that will impact my Patreon the most, because my patrons will get to see the entire WIP process of this depending on the tiers,
while I would only upload small WIPs and the finished products on FA and Twitter.

I think that should be just about all I needed to update you guys on, I cant think of anything else at the moment.
I can't thank you all enough for the support you give me! I didn't expect to have to jump back into freelance stuff again so soon, but honestly I'm kinda glad. This stuff brings me far more joy than any other job I can imagine,
and seeing you all enjoy my work keeps me eager to keep going!
Thanks so much!💚