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My 2020 Retrospective (TL;DR at the end)
4 years ago
Remember to take time to Love Yourself.
This is gonna be a bit of a Recap, as well as a bit of an explanation of my workflow. It'll also include how I want to handle things moving forward.
So, just to get it out of the way, this year was pretty bad for obvious reasons, that being the Backstreet Boys Reunion Tour (Y'all get a free cookie if you get that reference). Jokes aside, this was actually a pretty big year for me. I got my Patreon up and running, and have had a blast working with everyone's ideas. It's given me a bit more of a streamlined method of handling my work, though even then there are setbacks. It was only in the past few months that I've realized just how much of a chain and shackle living in this house can be. To preface, I live with my family. Parents, sister, and a brother who has now moved out.
Ever since the beginning of Quarantine, my mother's been trying to develop a sort of "Paid Cleaning System." She'd always want to take weekends to clean the house up, and I figured if we have more time at home, we could keep things tidy in a more manageable manner. I mean, nobody wants to spend their weekend cleaning, and it would be even better if I had some extra pay. But that's where the good stopped. Each and every month since, we've had a different ideration of a Check-List. Each one has only had more and more things tacked on for chores. Eventually my mom got the amazing epiphany that certain chores needed to be done at a faster rate than just "Monthly." So she added weekly checkmarks, which is only ever a good idea on paper. I mean, does the hardwood need to be fully vaccumed and mopped every single Monday? It was only this December that my sister and I (Who currently handle all chores) realized that the checklist wasn't consistent for what we should divy up for the month, nor was it consistent with the agreed upon payment for the work.
Chores aside, there's an entirely separate problem that arose from Covid-19, and that's my lack of privacy and time to work on artwork. At first it seemed like I would be the one least affected by Quarantine. I was a home-worker prior to 2020. With that being the case, I always had the time to work on my works, whether they were furry or not, NSFW or not, and so on. That, sadly, hasn't been the case since March. With my sister now being home 24/7, and with my parents' schedules shifting because of Co-Workers getting exposed (Thankfully neither of my parents, nor me and my sister have ever tested positive), my time to work on art has been significantly reduced. Not only that, but thanks to this time, I've come to know just how little my boundaries of privacy matter to my mother. Never in my life, has she knocked. And the times she has, she would rap on my door without end and trying to rattle my locked doorhandle until I would open up. If my door's not locked, she has a self-proclaimed free reign to enter. I can only hope that I can try and stand up to her for my sake of privacy. Because whether or not I'm working on some art that I'd rather her not see, I have my rights.
Now at this point, I think you've had enough of my home life. That would make two of us.
As mentioned, my workflow's very much stifled, but that doesn't mean I haven't found work-arounds. Most of the hours I spend in front of a screen have diverted to Night Hours. It's the time in which I know I can have uninterrupted time to draw. Uninterrupted as those hours are, they're still limited. If I could spend all night working, I would, but I've gotta sleep at some point, and it wouldn't do my body well to sleep through the day as I've come to find out. Nor would it help me in my case of handling the chores list, and I can only hope that I can get that streamlined.
One particular goal for me this year is to streamline my workflow by investing in a Screen Tablet. Yes, I am still working with the first ever tablet I got back in high school, a Wacom Intuos Tablet (The Silver model that they stopped producing back in 2016). I do have a model in mind, but as of right now I'm working to get my card paid off. Patreon has very much helped me in that manner.
It's at this point that I want to get into the Goals and Ambitions that I wanna go for this year.
First thing's first, I want to talk about the very first BIG PROJECT that I want to dedicate my Patreon toward. it has recently dawned upon me that 2021 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the release of the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie. I really wanna do something special for that. And what I hope to do is create an Animation, though not like the animation that RediculousCake and fellow artists put together as a Reanimation. This one, I'm hoping, will be something more akin to a Recasted Parody. Starring myself and likely my Patrons as well.
Depending on how this goes, I wanna start producing Comic Pages and Stories funded by my patrons afterward. I've got quite a few ideas that I've already begun storyboarding, both on paper and in my mind.
All in all, this is sort of somewhat dependent of how Patreon works out for me, so another thing I am planning on doing come January, is to start building a consistent Branding for me and my work, as well as re-evaluate my Patreon tiers so that everyone can get their money's worth. There are already some solid foundations for such, so you can expect those soon.
But yeah for those who made it this far, I wanna thank ya for reading through and giving me your time. Big things are coming in 2021 and I appreciate your support, whether you're a patron, or whether you're just Watching and Faving. Every little bit helps.
TL;DR
Covid Sucked, My mom has developed a cleaning obsession that she's trying to get me into, my sleep schedule's shit, my mom has no sense of privacy, 50th Anniversary Willy Wonka Animation, Patreon Funded Comics to come, and Thank you <3
So, just to get it out of the way, this year was pretty bad for obvious reasons, that being the Backstreet Boys Reunion Tour (Y'all get a free cookie if you get that reference). Jokes aside, this was actually a pretty big year for me. I got my Patreon up and running, and have had a blast working with everyone's ideas. It's given me a bit more of a streamlined method of handling my work, though even then there are setbacks. It was only in the past few months that I've realized just how much of a chain and shackle living in this house can be. To preface, I live with my family. Parents, sister, and a brother who has now moved out.
Ever since the beginning of Quarantine, my mother's been trying to develop a sort of "Paid Cleaning System." She'd always want to take weekends to clean the house up, and I figured if we have more time at home, we could keep things tidy in a more manageable manner. I mean, nobody wants to spend their weekend cleaning, and it would be even better if I had some extra pay. But that's where the good stopped. Each and every month since, we've had a different ideration of a Check-List. Each one has only had more and more things tacked on for chores. Eventually my mom got the amazing epiphany that certain chores needed to be done at a faster rate than just "Monthly." So she added weekly checkmarks, which is only ever a good idea on paper. I mean, does the hardwood need to be fully vaccumed and mopped every single Monday? It was only this December that my sister and I (Who currently handle all chores) realized that the checklist wasn't consistent for what we should divy up for the month, nor was it consistent with the agreed upon payment for the work.
Chores aside, there's an entirely separate problem that arose from Covid-19, and that's my lack of privacy and time to work on artwork. At first it seemed like I would be the one least affected by Quarantine. I was a home-worker prior to 2020. With that being the case, I always had the time to work on my works, whether they were furry or not, NSFW or not, and so on. That, sadly, hasn't been the case since March. With my sister now being home 24/7, and with my parents' schedules shifting because of Co-Workers getting exposed (Thankfully neither of my parents, nor me and my sister have ever tested positive), my time to work on art has been significantly reduced. Not only that, but thanks to this time, I've come to know just how little my boundaries of privacy matter to my mother. Never in my life, has she knocked. And the times she has, she would rap on my door without end and trying to rattle my locked doorhandle until I would open up. If my door's not locked, she has a self-proclaimed free reign to enter. I can only hope that I can try and stand up to her for my sake of privacy. Because whether or not I'm working on some art that I'd rather her not see, I have my rights.
Now at this point, I think you've had enough of my home life. That would make two of us.
As mentioned, my workflow's very much stifled, but that doesn't mean I haven't found work-arounds. Most of the hours I spend in front of a screen have diverted to Night Hours. It's the time in which I know I can have uninterrupted time to draw. Uninterrupted as those hours are, they're still limited. If I could spend all night working, I would, but I've gotta sleep at some point, and it wouldn't do my body well to sleep through the day as I've come to find out. Nor would it help me in my case of handling the chores list, and I can only hope that I can get that streamlined.
One particular goal for me this year is to streamline my workflow by investing in a Screen Tablet. Yes, I am still working with the first ever tablet I got back in high school, a Wacom Intuos Tablet (The Silver model that they stopped producing back in 2016). I do have a model in mind, but as of right now I'm working to get my card paid off. Patreon has very much helped me in that manner.
It's at this point that I want to get into the Goals and Ambitions that I wanna go for this year.
First thing's first, I want to talk about the very first BIG PROJECT that I want to dedicate my Patreon toward. it has recently dawned upon me that 2021 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the release of the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie. I really wanna do something special for that. And what I hope to do is create an Animation, though not like the animation that RediculousCake and fellow artists put together as a Reanimation. This one, I'm hoping, will be something more akin to a Recasted Parody. Starring myself and likely my Patrons as well.
Depending on how this goes, I wanna start producing Comic Pages and Stories funded by my patrons afterward. I've got quite a few ideas that I've already begun storyboarding, both on paper and in my mind.
All in all, this is sort of somewhat dependent of how Patreon works out for me, so another thing I am planning on doing come January, is to start building a consistent Branding for me and my work, as well as re-evaluate my Patreon tiers so that everyone can get their money's worth. There are already some solid foundations for such, so you can expect those soon.
But yeah for those who made it this far, I wanna thank ya for reading through and giving me your time. Big things are coming in 2021 and I appreciate your support, whether you're a patron, or whether you're just Watching and Faving. Every little bit helps.
TL;DR
Covid Sucked, My mom has developed a cleaning obsession that she's trying to get me into, my sleep schedule's shit, my mom has no sense of privacy, 50th Anniversary Willy Wonka Animation, Patreon Funded Comics to come, and Thank you <3
-Arin Hanson