It's a-me, Skoryx! Welcome to my once-a-year update on myself since I am the kind of person that prefers to post one big update instead of small, frequent updates (But maybe you guys prefer the latter option? Anyway, we're going with the former for now).

Most days, I go to work at 8 AM and sit at my desk doing repetitive tasks and staring at a computer screen until 5 PM. When I refer to “work”, it’s not me drawing, it’s me at either my first job (where I’m working for a water testing lab and getting paid well) or my second laboratory job (where I’m doing research on salamander keratin genes and not getting paid). Nothing very exciting happens during the days when I am working, and when I get home, I have to do chores and eat and I’m too exhausted to do stuff for fun, like making art.

I spend all day staring at screens, and when I get home, the last thing I want to do is stare at more screens. Since digital art is the main form of art I do, me avoiding my laptop means I’ve been avoiding digital art, too. Plus, I earn more working than I do when making art.

So, as you have noticed, I have not been active here for the past few months because I’ve been busy working, and trying to get my life figured out, and also spending time with family and friends, and therefore have thrown my art life in the back drawer and haven’t focused on it at all.

I meant to reopen commissions in June of 2021, as I’ve been telling people for the past year when asked about commissions, but unfortunately, I’m very out of practice and I’m not ready to start drawing for other people for money yet. I have been having trouble drawing for myself recently, too. I have considered doing Artfight this year just so I have some sort of motivation to draw, but I haven’t completely set up my profile on there yet. You can see my profile here: https://artfight.net/~Skoryx

It has also been hard trying to keep an active online presence on so many websites, and now that DeviantArt is falling out of popularity, I’m not sure how to stay relevant. I think a lot of artists are using Instagram and Twitter and Amino nowadays, and so I may need to transition to using those sites, but I’ll still stay loyal to the site I started on, which is DeviantArt. If you want to see what other sites I’m on, you can go here: https://linktr.ee/skoryx

So, while I’ve been exhausted by work and have put art to the side, I do have some positive things that have happened to me recently. My health has improved as compared to last year since I’ve been getting out of my house more and exercising, and now I have taken my hobby of birdwatching and photography more seriously. I have lots of high-quality bird photos to share with the world, but I have not quite found a place to post them yet. Do you have any recommendations for a good place to share photography? I’ll post an update whenever I get a photography website set up.

I am not sure when I will post another update, and I am not sure when I will reopen commissions, and I am not sure when I will be able to draw confidently again, and I’m not sure where my life is going, but I’ll figure it out eventually! I hope all of you are doing well, there are a lot of people I miss talking to, but I am still active as an art-watcher and not an art-creator and still engage with the community when I can.

TL;DR: Working two jobs has made it hard for me to make any art. I’ve been inactive on my websites because of this. Maybe when I quit my jobs/graduate/get my life figured out, I can draw and offer commissions again.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.