The year of 2022 was probably the most dramatic shift in my entirely lift. It was largely defined by two major things.

The Building Purchase
In January, I made the decision to try and purchase the building my mom’s bookstore was in that had been in an estate battle for over three years since the original landlord died. Barely a month later, the lawyer in charge of the estate came into the store and asked if we would be interested in buying the building. I said yes and made them on offer.

My offer was the maximum limit of what I could manage. Nearly every powerful individual involved in the process could not believe someone like me could even attempt to do this. I’m a full time artist, who works two part time jobs, each nearly at minimum wage for Nebraska. At face value, I don’t at all look like someone who could buy a piece of commercial real estate.

Commercial real estate has much tougher restrictions for purchase compared to a home. It was the hard mode version of real estate. My lack of capital was a huge obstacle to overcome but after pulling strings of people I know, I managed to make it work. The property was mine come June/July.

But the woes didn’t stop there. The building could be viewed as a “fixerup project”. I got the building at a discount price but it had so many issues that needed fixing. The vacant side which was originally the primary office of the original landlord was largely unchanged since about the 50’s after the building experienced a fire and was repaired.

Nearly all money I made across all three jobs, four if you include my mom’s rent, had to go to the building repairs and management. In the coming first half of 2023, this will be largely the same. It will be over when the building has a new roof installed on it, the biggest reason the building was discounted on purchase.

After that, I intend on rigorously attacking my small/personal loans I had to take out for building renovation/repairs.

Debt sucks. It’s so miserable moving from a debt free life, even graduating college debt free with a four year degree in Business Administration and a Minor in Account, and moving into a life drowning in debt.

Knowing what life was like on the other side I know how much I want that again. I won’t be sitting around just paying the minimum until they are paid off while bleeding money in interest.

Becoming the Artist I Always Wanted to Be
The building purchased completely killed my ability to commission art from other artists. This meant if I wanted to have art I really loved I had to do it myself. I had to become that artist.

But to do so meant I had to give up traditional art for digital. Dry media traditional art was impractical for what I wanted to do.

I always knew I would excel at digital if I really committed to it. Progression through the year proved exactly that. In the final months of 2022 I got my style to the perfect way I desire: lineless digital, the digital version of my beloved traditional style.

I would no longer call myself a traditional artist now but for those who loved what I did of that, don’t worry. I did it for so long I don’t think I could ever forget how to do it. Ask me to do a picture near the end of 2023 and even if I hadn’t done one in 10 or more months, I know I could pick it up and do it flawlessly. It’s because of a combination of having done it for so long and because traditional is so simple to do.

If I am ever able to attend furcons, you can bet I will take some of that there.

The Minecraft Modification: Kindred Legacy
No project of mine was hit harder from the changes of 2022 than my Minecraft modification, Kindred Legacy, which I had faithfully worked on for nearly 10 years. With 2022, I did almost exactly zero work on it. I even had to miss the annual 4th of July video because that was at the heart of the most intense building purchase negotiations.

With 2023, more likely in the 2nd half of the year, I intend to return to it. It’s my baby and very important to me.

I’ll be starting over from scratch in likely the newest available version of Minecraft I can mod for. I intend on giving the mod a different name, either returning it to “PokemonMD: Undaunted Heroes” or a different similar name under the Pokemon name. “Kindred Legacy” was originally picked so the mod didn’t sound like it was a mod intended only for Pokemon players, because it really wasn’t.

I also hope with restarting the mod that I won’t be trying to updating all the content from the previous version and releasing it all at once. I intend on releasing small updates for everyone to experience. Kindred Legacy 1.15 was never released to the general public and the most recent update it got was fairly broken due to the implementation of animated “custom furnace” blocks and the mountable Immortal Arcanine mob.

I have not followed Minecraft in any capacity through 2022 so I have no idea what to expect when it comes time to modding, and even my knowledge of the game is almost entirely of what it was like in 1.15. I never played beyond that version as I only play Minecraft with my modification.

When I first played 1.15, my first time playing Minecraft since 1.12, it was like playing a brand new game. I know that next time I play Minecraft, it will be like a new game all over again. A very exciting thing to look forward to!

Overall outlook for 2023
The first half of 2023 will be tough, no matter how I look at it. It will be fairly reminiscent of December 2022 for at least the first four months. Beyond that is a question mark on how intense my work and financial commitments are.

Come mid-year, I hope to be able to return to commissioning other artists again. While yes, I can create the perfect art my heart desires now, it doesn’t change the thrill of the unknown of someone doing something for you that you don’t expect!

I want to return to writing as well. I’ve received several messages from people wanting me to bring back the story blurbs on submissions. I didn’t really realize how much people liked those!

It is my desire to create an immersive world to experience, in the likeness of any other major universe like Sonic, Final Fantasy or Lord of the Rings as examples.

Support on Patreon helps me so much in developing this world, either because financially it lets me spend more time working with it, or in the case of requesters, it helps me develop characters, settings and ideas.

You can support me on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/EclipsisStudios

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I wish you all a happy new year and best wishes from me.

And remember, regardless of what 2023 has to give to each and every one of us or society as a whole, -we- as individuals can make it –better-. YOU can make it better than it would be otherwise.