Oh hey, didn't see you there.
I'm just enjoying my new shirt, which happens to be available in my Gumroad store!

I don’t usually do this but I need to blow off some steam.
This is a personal angry rant.
I’m on a nice holiday and having a great time, only to be FOLLOWED into the toilets by a weird old man who stared at me the whole time.
I’m washing my hands and he looks over, making sure to be washing his at the same time so he can talk to me.
“You know this is the gent’s toilet?”
I just answer ‘yeah’, though I’m thinking Nah mate, I totally missed the signs and the urinals and the fact that you took out your shrivelled tootsie roll at that urinal just now.
So he (for some reason) continues even though I just told him I know which toilet I’m in.
“So you’re a gent, are you?” (A slightly challenging tone.)
Nah, I’m clearly a cis woman, wearing a binder for a laugh and feeding my kink for sharing toilets with creepy old freaks like yourself.
“…Yeah.”
“Oh right, I thought you were a lady.”
I hadn’t guessed, thanks for clearing up that you enjoy making guesses about people’s genders. Lovely to hear your assessment of my appearance and to have confirmation that you felt I was in the wrong place.
“I just enjoy wearing eyeliner.”
(Visible confusion)
Yeah, sit on traffic cone, dickwad.

…Sorry for the vent.

Hey peeps!

I am very sorry about the lack of commissions being open.
A lot of people have approached me about commissions and it’s been a lot of pressure. This is partially due to my hands being so unwell and partially just due to a lot of life issues which I won’t go into here.
I recently visited my doctor and had a blood test which came out just fine. I was also examined for arthritis and they didn’t find anything. Given this, we believe it could just be that my fibromyalgia has now entered my hands.
As you can imagine this is pretty detrimental to me and has been a big shock. I actually broke down front of my doctor over it because I’m terrified of being an artist with fibromyalgia in my hands. On the one hand (pun intended), I’m so used to having health complications that it just feels like yet another challenge that I’ll have to approach in the same way. I just have to find the things that will help me to work through it. I’m slowly getting there already but it’s obviously going to be a little while before I’m at full capacity again.

Even so, I obviously still need to pay my rent so I’m opening commissions for now and am just gonna take on a bit less than usual. I look forward to anything you guys bring me!
Look out for some YCHs and character sales too!

So as some of you guys know, I have been suffering from tendonitis for a month or so now and recovery is taking much longer than expected.
Because of this I haven't been able to draw and have been relying on passive income to carry me through. To help with things, I've made a Gumroad where I'll soon be putting up my full HD wallpapers which were previously only available on my Patreon. I also made a KoFi for people who just want to donate without worrying about specific rewards or companies taking a cut (KoFi don't charge a fee, but paypal do take a small amount).
I do plan to add physical merch to the Gumroad and do some more loose creative things like songs and sketches on the KoFi but that will have to wait until my hands are all better.
https://ko-fi.com/eponart
https://gumroad.com/epon
https://www.patreon.com/ePonArt

Hey everyone

Some of you may know already but I've been suffering from tendonitis for a few weeks now.
It's absolutely devastated my ability to work as I can't use my hands at all, even to tie my laces.
I'm doing everything through voice software and getting experimental with using my wrists/elbows.
While I'm recovering, I'm not able to work so as you can imagine, March was a very tough month.
Luckily I did have some savings to handle it, so I'm not in any trouble!
But if you did want to give me a boost while I'm off sick, I've made a KoFi!
I put a little goal on there to make things more fun, I've wanted a case for me uke for a long time.
Please check it out as even if you can't donate, I'll be posting more personal little things on there including little songs!
https://ko-fi.com/eponart

Thanks for all of your support!
One last thing; don't worry about Ample Time!
I have been planning things in my brain during my sick days so chapter 3 will be the best so far!

EDIT:
We did it! We already hit the goal!!!

I'M SORRY

So the short story is; the other day I finished up my new commission sheets and posted them.
I didn't make an announcement that I was open but just set my profiles to 'open' to let people know they could commission me.
I figured I wouldn't get much notice at first and could make the announcement the next day (yesterday) but on that morning I had received 7 requests overnight!
I then got even more over last night...
It was a bit of an oversight on my part... I didn't realise this many people would be interested in my work.
To those who were hoping to commission me and haven't gotten through this time, I'm really sorry I didn't make the announcement.
I'll be closing for about two weeks while I work on the commissions I received and will definitely announce when I open again.

Prices
Prices have been updated to suit the hours I work better, however I've already noticed a lot of extra time put into PR. It takes me over an hour every morning just to tackle all my emails.
I'm gonna try to fix this by streamlining work instead of raising prices any further. You can expect the new prices to stay fixed for at least six months.
I added a new shading option which is cheaper, to help those with smaller budgets to still commission me.

Valentine's YCH
A YCH will be released today so keep an eye out! It's going to be Valentine's themed and will be completed by the 14th.

Thanks for reading everyone, sorry that this is a short one but I'm a little rushed to prepare for all these commissions!

It's that time again!

Thank you
First off I want to say THANK YOU so much to everyone who has supported me these past few years, especially in 2020 what with all the troubles we had.
To anyone who favourited, watched, commissioned, pledged on Patreon, tipped or left a motivating comment; I am seriously grateful for it all.
As an artist who gets all their earnings via commissions and online support, it's a real struggle to make a living and I was scared I'd never get this far.

Pon's Personal Plans
Now for my own little schemes!
Well in terms of my personal life, I have a few things I'm doing/aiming for. I'm going to bullet point these to ease reading.
-Get a driver's licence; this will help me with my mobility issues and help me get jobs.
-Apply for active jobs; I didn't spend all that time at uni and get into debt for nothing! This will also help to treat my illness as I need exercise to reduce my pain. This means I'll eventually be making art more of a side job than a main job, but I'll still create my comics and occasionally take on commissions!
-Exercise more; I have not done this enough in the past few years despite taking up jogging and going to the gym. I plan to take more breaks from work to go on walks and be active.

Plans for Galleries and Commissions
You who follow my online galleries will notice some tweaks this month; I'll be reorganising the way my submissions are displayed and the folders they're kept in.
I'll also be deleting work that is more than a couple of years old that has low interactions in order to streamline my galleries for y'all.
-Commission prices will be edited. I do this every year to make sure my prices reflect the amount of work time. Currently, I do a lot of overtime so I'll be increasing prices for the specific things that take extra time, but to avoid having to do this much I'll also be streamlining my methods and making sure not to obsess over small details too much.
-Commissions will open and close more often. I have had many more commissions last year and I'm at the point where I need to control the incoming flow of work.
-Commissions will remain closed throughout all of January. This is to allow me to finish leftover work from 2020 and to prepare for the year.
-I will be doing a lot more YCHs. I work much better using these as I get to draw what I feel motivated to draw and what I'm comfortable with. I see a lot of art lovers saying that YCHs work well for them because they can't always think of what they want but a YCH can spark something for them.
-I will trial a more expensive wingit option. Wingits are my $30 commission option in which you provide a character and nothing more, then I create an art piece completely from my own inspiration. It's a good way to save some money and get some nice art, as well as making it a fun surprise. These are pretty popular and sometimes get turned into full pieces so I will keep the $30 wingits available and also trial a $50 wingit option which will be a more in depth piece.

Stream Schedule Changes
-The Saturday Stream is ending. I really liked having very varied stream times to accommodate many timezones, but sadly streaming on weekends has taken a toll on my health. I will still try to stream on some weekends but these will be sporadic and based entirely around when is healthiest for me.
-I will be streaming randomly throughout January to figure out the best times and days for me. Wednesday streams will continue as always.

Pon's Patreon Plot
I'm so so SO amazed and happy with my patreon community. I really can't express enough how much I love all my patrons and what a great time I have running the Patreon and the discord server.
We had some ups and downs a couple of years back on the discord server which I'd put down to teething problems, but this really helped me learn how to better manage a group and work with others.
Now the server is a really great and warm place, filled with a great cast of characters. I couldn't be happier and more thankful to them all.
Anyway! I have some planned changes to the Patreon which I'll outline below:
-The Patreon tags will be heavily edited. This is to streamline the search system so people can more easily find what they're looking for. I have hundreds of posts now so this is very needed!
-I will follow a strict schedule for pinups and suggestion sketches. I really enjoy letting the patrons vote on pinups and fanart as well as suggesting cute sketch scenes. For the pinups; I will run a pinup poll at the beginning of each month and post the final result at the end of the month. For the sketch scenarios; I will take suggestions fortnightly on Mondays and post them fortnightly at the middle and end of each month.
-I will create more lineart bases for patrons. I've always wanted to do this and I'm almost at a high enough pledge level that I would be able to do this!

That's all folks!
Thanks for reading!
I hope you all feel updated and everything is clear. I would really like to keep you all more up to date on what I'm doing, so I'll try to write more updates in journals and posts where I can.
If you have any questions then feel free to comment or message me and I'll be happy to answer them!
Now get out there and kick 2021's ass, everyone!
You got this!

Hey pals!

While my commissions are closed, I wanted to briefly make you guys aware of some cute extra pieces you can see over on my Patreon.
Don't worry, it's free! You only need to have an account to view.
Basically I do a little slice of life scene or something to that degree of my Ample Time characters every couple of weeks.
The theme or scene is suggested by my patrons and I randomly pick one to illustrate!
Here are some past examples:
Fallout 3 Ripple
Marilee getting a booty pinch
What Quin looked like as a cub
That one Lilo and Stitch scene but it's Ripple
Dew doing push ups!
Yoga buds!

Hey everyone

I haven't done this in a long time but I really need a break for a short while to get through my backlog of work.
I also have a couple of things to do for my patrons that have been piling up and I want to be sure I have the time to come through on my pledges.
I'll most likely be opening up again next week so keep an eye out if you were hoping for a commission!
If you're in the process of commissioning me at the moment, don't worry! It's still valid and will be completed!

Best wishes everyone!
Pon

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to finally say a big 'thank you' to everyone who has followed, liked, commented, commissioned or supported me in any way.

A year or so ago I was a pretty invisible artist and often went unnoticed. There's this sort of 'zone' you get to with art where your work is a bit rough and goes under the radar. You tend to have a few very wonderful supporters who see your potential and help you grow. Those people to me, know who they are and I hope they can feel my love!

But lately I've been getting more commissions than ever and even random comic fans supporting Ample Time on Patreon! I've actually managed to get pretty comfortable and buy myself a house plant, a beer or some other treat here and there. This is a far cry from how my life used to be and without wanting to sound pitiful, it was a tough life getting to this point.

I'm just so overwhelmed lately with all the support and love my art gets now. I randomly think about it and tear up sometimes. I get nice comments and messages from people, I get emails just asking about how to support me, I get commissioners telling me they love working with me. It's all so positive and warm and I can't express my gratitude.
I'm very aware that I wouldn't be here without all of you.

I wish I could get a coffee or something with each of you individually but I'll have to settle for this. I just hope you all know how thankful I am.

Best wishes to you all and your families!

I'm sick!!
It's also my 7 year anniversary.
If you've commissioned me, please be patient.
I was expecting to be better by now but it's been four days and this cold is only getting worse!

The New Year is proving a tough one so far, but I'll get everything sorted!
I'm working on a new comic which will be vastly different from Ample Time, as well as a new version of my old comic; Living with Leo.
I've also started searching for a career with the help of an adviser. I'm really trying to change my life.
Honestly though, my illness is not playing ball and is worse than ever at the moment. I'd really like to thank my supporters and those who pledge on patron or donate ink. Without you, my bills wouldn't get paid.
In good news, I've been given welfare support for mobility (after four years of applying). This means I'm off to buy a new wheelchair and household aids! I'm focusing on this positive for now.
I could really use support on my patron, check it out if you want to see behind the scenes concepts for my future comic!
https://www.patreon.com/ePonArt

Okay well this has been a long time coming.
Honestly I'm disappointed in myself for taking this long to make a decision and some changes to my life.
Either way, here we are!

For a long time I've had a major problem and recently it's become unlivable. I wake up every day and spend practically all my time slaving over commissions to pay my rent. I'm not making enough to put any savings towards a future, I'm not making enough to pay for my medical needs and I'm not getting anywhere in life. This is also unfair on my partner, who works so hard to make up for all the rent I can't pay. I don't have free time, I don't go outside and have a life, I just sit at my PC all day.
This is really affecting my mental health. I constantly feel depressed and when I do feel much emotion, I just want to cry. I feel trapped, not just here at work but in time, because my life is going nowhere.
I am easily working full time hours, yet when I did my recent tax return I calculated that I'm making not even 30% of minimum wage for a full time job.
Considering that I work every day including weekends, this just isn't right.
I never have any time for even my closest friends anymore. There are many people I've love to spend more time with or at least send a message every now and then, but I've just fallen out of touch.
I have many personal projects that I wanted to fund via my Patreon but I haven't been able to find enough support to cover the time, nor have I been able to give my Patreon page the attention I want.

This is entirely my own fault. I've been under selling myself for years because I'm too afraid of losing commissioners or having people miss out because they can't afford a commission. But at the end of the day, I still offer sketches and plenty of other options which are more affordable. Art is a luxury and a commission is a unique piece of art, made just for one person or small group of people. Commissions aren't like mass produced items which can turn a huge profit at a low price. I really shouldn't let myself feel bad for charging what I need to, to have a normal life. I shouldn't feel bad for expecting at least minimum wage.

As such, I'm going to make my prices what they should be. They're going to increase a lot, but honestly I know that my followers and commissioners want me to have a normal life.
I know you'll all stick with me, even if some have to commission less often or commission smaller things.
I'm sorry I can't just have infinite hours to draw all your lovely faces and characters, believe me I'd love that!
But this is the real world, and it's time I got real.

Having said that, I've made another decision.
Though I'm going to continue working on my own projects into the future, I'm also going to look for a part time job.
I'm still not really well enough to work but I may be able to find a job that suits me well. I'm mainly going to be looking for work in illustration, concept art, storyboarding and such OR an animal job such as an animal technician or welfare officer.
My life could go in one of two major directions but I'm going to always work on my own projects and comics as I go.
I have big plans for my personal work and I can't wait to show it off.

I'll be paying more attention to my patreon as time goes on. I want to do more fanart, I want to show off behind the scenes work on my future comics and I want to do more tutorials.

I'm also going to post fun videos on my youtube channel, it seems like a more personal platform, where you'll hear my voice and thoughts as I work.

I'd like to note here, that I have a certain direction that I'd like to go with my art, a clearer direction than I used to. I want to make more cartoonist art and yet more realism too, I want to draw more humans and more fandom related work. I'd love to one day work in character design or animation and to do that I need to build a portfolio, so this is the best way I can achieve that.

Being evicted from my house.
Please help by looking at these!
http://ebay.us/2vtGJH?cmpnId=5338273189
http://ebay.us/TppEgN?cmpnId=5338273189
http://ebay.us/1V8Rke?cmpnId=5338273189

Just so you guys know, you can read the webcomic I have on here over on Tapas where it's more up to date.
https://tapas.io/series/Ample-Time

It's Inksgiving over on Tapas

Tapas is a comic hosting site where you can read hundreds of upcoming comics.
You can support creators by giving them ink which they convert to currency.
Ink isn't something you have to buy with money, you can watch ads to earn ink.
Tapas is a great phone app if you like reading comics on the move.

Right now we have 13 hours left of Inksgiving which is an event in which depending on the final count of ink raised, you get a certain percentage given back to you.
So if you want to support Ample Time on Tapas, now's the time!

Hey guys!

So I closed for commissions a week or so ago because I was just overwhelmed, I intended to open sooner but I've had some personal issues.
To summarise the situation; I'm now open but there have been some price increases for the larger commissions.
This is because I lowered all my prices at the beginning of the year but I quickly found that larger commissions had gone down far too much and I was doing way more hours than I was being paid for. I also get a lot of large commissions and I actually prefer smaller ones such as chibis, sketches and headshots. The low prices for the smaller commissions have stayed.

I'm gonna be accepting smaller commissions for a while and keep the bigger commissions in moderation.
I'm also probably going to seem a little slow for a while due to personal problems (which I will talk about eventually but need to sort things out first). I really am sorry about that.

Wow!

The thing is, I've not had to do this in a LONG time (not counting the thesis period)
Since I came back I've just had way more commissions than I expected and I could not be more happy about that.
But sadly I can't keep up with demand right now and my body is not doing well, so until next month I'm gonna close.
Thanks to everyone who's commissioning me and if you were hoping for a commission, please hold onto it!
I look forward to any future commissions I get!

The commissions I've had have very much been large ones and this has been pretty difficult for me as I am still struggling with some techniques.
I hate to say it, but I may have to consider raising the prices of the full effects commissions as a result, having said that I'm adding more appropriate increments to complex commissions now so this may not be necessary, I'll look at time VS rate and see what can be done.

It does feel amazing to be at a point where I know my commissions can keep me afloat, this is the first time I haven't been panicking about having enough to feed myself since I had to stop working regular jobs. Thank you all so much for supporting me!
-Pon

I want to put my feelings into words but once things start getting complicated, they only get more-so. What kind of web have I spun myself into?
I need to be honest with myself; for the past few years I’ve been gravely unhappy.
I have very poor memory, so if things change over time I tend not to notice,
I just accept things how they are and think they’ve always been this way.
This might be why I let myself get into such a mess.
Recently my feelings have been throwing themselves to and fro like some kind of seesaw.
I’m not talking about mood swings or going from one extreme to the other; but how I feel about things.
One day I love drawing and I can’t wait, the next day I can’t stand the thought of even sketching something.
This only gets worse because I have to draw to live, which might be why there are days where I just can’t stomach it.
I love art, I love working on cool ideas with customers and I love learning more skills, but the life I have around it is so negative and stressful that it’s impacting my work and my work ethic.
It’s the same with people. Some days I want to be with all my friends and talk nonstop while the next I can’t bear to write even a short text to someone.
I end up falling into depression and loneliness due to the nature of my own mind.
I just want to stabilise everything. I want to have a healthy social life and work life, even if my body can never be fully healthy again.
I always used to be an expert on my own health and lifestyle;
I ate well, exercised and studied the right amount, I had a good social life at some points too.
Developing a chronic illness just rips all that out from under you and leaves you in a heap on the floor, quite literally.
I went from being a young and capable person with prospects to waking up at 11:30am, crawling over the floor to get some cereal, doing as much work as I could manage before the pain overwhelmed me and then crawling back into bed.
I stopped eating because getting food was out of my energy range and I ended up losing weight, I cut off all IRL socialisation because I cannot drive and wouldn’t have the energy even if I could so meeting up with people was a no-go, my house became a mess because I couldn’t clean or tidy, my hair split and faded as I failed more and more to take care of myself.
All pride in my appearance bled away and I only became more and more miserable.
The depression and frustration made me a misery to be around so my online friends started to pull away, some even targeted me and accused me of faking, using me as a scapegoat for their awful behaviours and forcing me out of friendship groups (Many of them had their own problems).
During all this my boyfriend was working overtime and nightshifts to keep us afloat while having to clean, dress and feed me like a toddler because I was so helpless.
I was made to leave my Masters because I had to move in with my mother and it wasn’t convenient for my supervisor so I then spent two years living at home in this state, without appealing because I was so defeated and truly believed it was all over.
The £5,000 I saved up to pay for that Masters was gone and so was any hope of getting the degree.
I had to leave my part time job and had no money before I was rejected for welfare support because I ‘Wasn’t sick enough.’
I became nothing but a burden to my friends and mother, just a useless lump with no prospects and very few friends.
It’s destroyed me to go from the old version of myself to this, not just because I used to be so independent but because I used to have hope.
In the past I had a chance at landing an animal job, I had the energy to keep up with an art business and I could travel.
Now there’s very little hope for those things.
I’ve been failed by so many people; family, the university, the welfare system, friends but most of all myself.
I wasn’t ready to go through all of this and despite having been through some difficult things early on in life; nothing could have prepared me for all of this.
I crumbled, I fell apart and without a doubt, I gave up.
Things started to change one day though, when an old friend from university messaged me on facebook and found out about me being thrown out.
She was furious and insisted I stand up for myself. She could see I’d given up and wasn’t content to let me lie there moping, she gave me a serious kick up the arse.
Everything that happened after this I can only thank her for. I think sometimes it just takes one person to say the right thing to make such a huge change to your future.
I am absolutely not criticising the other friends who stuck with me, I am thankful for them too, but this one just happened to come at me with the right attitude.
This happened a year ago now and I’ve just been told by my new supervisor that she passed my dissertation and I should be receiving the Masters.
It’s been a real uphill struggle; this year has probably been the hardest of my life, not the most painful, but the hardest.
This is because I was trying, I was fighting and kicking and screaming to get things back together.
I use a wheelchair now and I go out once a week to play D&D with some new friends.
I am putting things in motion on my Patreon so I can make a living wage despite my illness and I have the most amazing supporters imaginable.
I also get the minimum daily living allowance for my illness so I can afford a few bus journeys and some decent food.
The issue is that right now I’m still climbing this hill, I’ve hit some particularly rocky points lately.
I’ve fallen down and cut myself in places, I need to take some time to heal and fix a few things, particularly inside my own head.
I still struggle to take proper care of myself and my house but worse than that; I still struggle to like myself.
I’m still holding myself accountable for being a burden to my mother and close friends, especially my boyfriend.
I hold a grudge against myself for becoming sour and negative from the pain and ending up pushing away my friends.
Some days I still think I push people away a bit because my mind is telling me “you’re not worthy of them, they’d be better off without you.” and I find it so hard to argue with that.
I didn’t buy any Christmas presents this year except for my boyfriend and mother, I didn’t even make or draw anything for anyone. I don’t reach out to people still.
I see the mess I’ve become and I still want to reject it because I’m scared I’ll never be able to climb this hill and be anything better than I am now.
But I have to be strong and try. Maybe I need another kick up the arse...
Now that the Masters is done I plan to focus on fixing the other parts of my life that fell apart with it.
I’m going to have myself assessed for community care so someone can help me keep my house clean.
I’m going to appeal for mobility welfare as well as daily living so I can get a better wheelchair (mine already has a warped wheel...) and have a blue badge.
I’m going to use the savings I have to learn to drive so I can feel free again.
I’m also going to try to make new friends, hopefully ones that will understand me better this time, but also I hope to be better this time too.
I have a plan to overcome this great hill and I just need to stick to it, I’m going to tell myself everything’s going to be fine every time there’s doubt in my mind.
It could turn out to be wrong, maybe I’m lying, but I’ll never know unless I keep trying and telling myself it’s all going to be fine.
Now I’m going for a walk, because my legs are working okay today and the pain won’t go down unless I keep moving whenever I can. Every moment I get I’m going to take a few more steps up the hill. Every time I need to stop I’m going to look after myself and love myself, even if my relationship with myself isn’t at its best right now... we’ll be friends again, I’m sure.
Climb your hills, love yourself, everything’s going to be alright.