Happy New Year! 2024 Round-up + Looking Ahead to 2025
Happy New Year everyone! While it's still a few hours from 2025 here, I hope you'll all have a good time this evening, be it with friends or family :>
Like last year, I wanna do a final 2024 round-up before 2025 starts, just talk a little bit about the old and the new so you know where my head is at for the future! I'm afraid it'll be less focused and much more of a word salad without much in the way of solid plans on some parts, but let's go ahead nonethless~
Before going any further tho, a huge thank you for the incredible support you've given me throughout 2024 <3 Your help has been immense, and many of the things I will be talking about are only possible thanks to you, no matter the amount, no matter the time you've been pledged for! You've given me peace of mind where I would have been in distress. I owe my dream to you, and I'll never stop being grateful!
Now, let's talk 2024! This year has seen the consolidation of previous perks like monthly pin-ups and voting, and the implementation of the Discord server and streams. I'm very happy with how the server slid into my routine, and I'm very glad I got around to finally making it :> I've had to course correct with the number of alts for the monthly pin-ups (you can refer to here for the full explanation! https://www.patreon.com/posts/possible-change-112891765 ), but the less numerous, more "mini-story" oriented alts, I think are heading in a good direction!
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with all the new stuff, I think we're in a good place! I'd say it's been a good year for the Patreon~
The year has been less kind to my mental tho, and this is were the word salad part starts, as I'm just kinda processing through how I felt. Overall, this is the year I'm finally starting to feel the effect of the constant art grind wearing me down, and I've had to take a break multiple times from commissions to catch my breath, the most notable being these last couple of months.
So let's use it as a springboard to talk about 2025! The overall feel from November and December, and my thoughts towards the new year, is that I'd like to give a new routine for myself. The monthly cadence of commissions I've given for myself is too short and rigid.
So, while I'd like to try out some different ways to implement commissioned work into a new routine, I'll continue to not take commissions at least for January, likely for more time. Because right now, I'd like to switch all my attention to one thing: the comic!
I've been working on the comic for months in the background throughout 2024, but with how tired and worn out I've felt lately, production has slowed down. In 2025, I'd like to strongly focus on it and just... drawing for fun and for the love of the game, rather than focus so much on drawing to "work".
Honestly, I don't have any solid plans other than "I wanna work on the comic and draw whatever I want for a while". Right now, I think it's time for me to be happier, rather than more financially secure :>
I do apologize to anyone who planned to try for a commission in the near future.
So yeah, big word salad for 2025! No plans, but a direction I'd like to go for myself, and a comic I wanna bring to you as soon as possible! It's grown a lot bigger than I thought, but I look forward to when I can finally start showing stuff, so much :>
I'm gonna close it here before I write 3 more paragraphs! Thank you all for bearing with me, throughout all the ups and downs and my silly struggles~ I hope you're enjoying or have enjoyed your time here, and that this Patreon has given something worthwhile back for the support and help you provide me :> Without you, I'd never be able to casually think about not taking commissions and investing a lot more time on the comic, and I'm forever grateful for the opportunity you're giving me. Again, I owe my dream job to you <3
Have a wonderful New Years and I'll see you all in 2025 :3