2022 Art Resolutions and Updates (Patreon)

Hey Artnerds!

I've got a new community art class! 

I'm really excited that in 2022, I'm going to be teaching art classes for adults and older teens again!   Since Covid, my classes have mostly been for kids, tweens, and younger teens, but I really enjoy teaching older teens and adults, so I'm really happy to be able to offer these free art classes through the St Charles Parish Public Library!  I know most of yall don't live around here, but whenever I'm creating or polishing a new class, I create a lot of supplemental materials to help me prepare- supplemental materials I'm happy to share with yall!

This is a three-installment class aimed at teaching the basics of volumetric drawing- the keys to the kingdom of art for many people who struggle to translate the world around them onto 2d paper.  It's how drawing finally clicked for me, and the method that allowed me to improve, so it's dear to my heart.

I really want this session to go well because then we can offer more in-depth drawing classes and also start offering watercolor classes, which would be awesome.

In other news...

Artsquad is retooling a bit- earlier time, half the meetings will be via Zoom.  I'm hoping this transition helps us meet the needs of kiddos who don't have transportation   We did pretty well when we were Zoom only, and decently well during the summer when we were midafternoon, but when we resumed after Hurricane Ida, we lost almost all our artists.  An art club with no members is no fun, but hopefully, this allows more young artists to tune in and draw with us.

The end of 2021 is upon us, and although it's a bit overwhelming to think about, it's time to start setting goals for 2022!  I'm a big fan of setting achievable, actionable goals (so no hit 1million subs on Youtube sorta stuff), so here are my art goals for 2022!  Lemme know what your goals for next year are in the comments or over on Discord!

Artgoals for 2022 and January

Get back to doing art sketches, art studies, and warmups again, and really practice dynamic poses.  I fell out of practice with this when we moved from Nashville to Norco, and haven't prioritized getting back into the habit, which is a shame.  I feel like drawing from life and reference on a regular basis is an important part of learning and improving your art.

Seriously start working on comics and 7" Kara again.  This is kinda a touchy topic for me. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it, and haven't discussed it publicly much because I feel like if it isn't handled properly, I might alienate people I care about.  The past few years have been difficult in a lot of ways with two moves, a pandemic, house hunting, getting married, and a family member's mental health deteriorating and helping out two family members were being treated for cancer, and I've been really struggling with feeling isolated, anxious, and depressed.  I feel incredibly isolated from the comics and webcomic community, and while I genuinely think the world needs lighthearted escapism comics (the worse things get, the more you need joy), I struggle with the feeling that 7" Kara isn't providing that for anyone and often battle really vicious intrusive thoughts that have kept me hostage and made it painful to work on the project that currently means the most to me.  I'm really working on detaching myself from how my work is received on social media (nobody is harsh, it's just a lot of silence) and finishing 7" Kara for my own sake and the sake of the story.

Finish up the Kickstarter.  This ties in with the above.  While Volume 2 has long since been sent out, I know I still owe a lot of original art, coloring pages, and classes.  I've definitely been working on several of those things, and need to just call it done and get them sent out!

More long-art.  I want to go back to working on lengthy and more detailed marker and watercolor illustrations that don't necessarily do well on social media, just for the joy of creating more elaborate pieces.  The pandemic made reaching an online audience even more important, and the demands of different social media algorithms have changed how I work and what I make.  I'd like to reclaim my art and prioritize what I'm making and who I'm making it for.

Finish up the Student Grade Showdown.  This means finishing up the reviews, creating a ranked tier list, creating a video to sum it all up and explain what to look for and what to avoid, and maybe a video on how to buy art supplies on AliExpress with confidence.

Improve my Youtube views.  Or at least, try not to overwhelm yall with content, and give things time to grow.  This one seems almost Sisyphean, because last year, I tried all sorts of new things- vlogs, loads of different types of livestreams, reviewing budget craft kits, livestreamed art classes, and nothing really seemed to help.  I'm terrible at interpreting analytics, so unless a video is stand out popular, it's difficult for me to see what trends I should follow to make content yall will enjoy.  If I'm not able to turn things around next year, I'm really going to have to reconsider utilizing Youtube to share reviews and tutorials and reevaluate whether this is even something people are interested in seeing me do.

More art livestreams/unbox & swatch livestreams.  While live unboxings are a longer view for yall, they're way more fun for me, and gives us a chance to interact!  Yall can ask me questions directly and I can answer them (or demonstrate them) immediately, which is really cool.

Stop spending so much time on social media.  This tends to be a bad self-soothe habit for me.  When I start getting anxious, I pull out my phone, looking for that little hit of dopamine.  It's going to be a challenging habit to break, but maybe I can replace it by doodling or drawing the world around me in a mini sketchbook.  This is what I used to do, and it worked well for years AND meant I was getting extra sketching in!

Some of these goals sound kinda counterintuitive, but it really means I need to start being more intentional about how I'm spending my time.

A Favor to Ask

After talking to a couple of people at Youtube, one of the main issue seems to be that people who are subscribed aren't really watching what I release.  So here's where yall come in- if you enjoy watching my videos, please do me a HUGE favor and make sure you've clicked the Bell notification so Youtube lets you know I've updated!  It'd mean a lot to me if you took a moment to double-check your settings even if you think you've got notifications on- Youtube analytics show that only 2.8% of yall have All Notifications (from me) turned on AND have Youtube notifications enabled!  This means that the rest of you either don't have notifs turned on for my channel, or you do, but you haven't enabled Youtube to send you notifications.  So even if you have the bell notifications turned on for me, you still won't receive notifications, because they're turned off for Youtube in general.  You could be missing a lot of great stuff from your favorite Youtubers!

The other issue is that the vast majority of my views are coming from nonsubscribers, which is cool!  But if you like my content, please remember to subscribe too!  I sorta fall into this trap where I'll watch a channel A LOT while I'm working or going to sleep, never hit sub, and then when they stop showing up in my Recommendations, I wonder why they quit posting- so I'm definitely guilty of it myself!

And if you're not interested in having notifications from Youtube pop up on your phone, I getcha- I'll keep sharing weekly updates here on Patreon!

January Hiatus

As almost always in December, I'm feeling a bit burnt out and exhausted- although not as bad as last year!  This year, I tried to curate what I created a bit more carefully- but after 'splurging' on Black Friday and Cyber Monday on Arteza products I wanted to review before Christmas, I'm definitely feeling a bit depleted and defeated.  This year, as with last year, I'm going to take a bit of a hiatus during January to sorta think about the direction I want to take the channel, work on Fanuary, a month of Fanart prompts (with the intention of fleshing them out throughout the year), work on Kickstarter fulfillment, and hopefully start thumbnailing Chapter 9.  Hopefully, this will also enable me to start creating Early Access content for yall as well!

End of the Year Reflections

I have a love-hate relationship with year-end recaps.  It's SO satisfying to look at everything you've done- good and bad- and be like, hey, that was an entire year!  This is true for art, videos, and definitely sketchbooks.

The past couple years have been so weird and difficult for most artists, myself definitely included, it's challenging for me to remove myself enough from the situations and struggles we've been through to look at my art with fresh eyes.  I've also struggled over the years (and this is something I'm continually working on) on decoupling myself from looking at my art and judging it the way social media judges it.  I'm working on just enjoying my work for the pleasure I get while creating it, and for how it turned out in the end.

This decoupling has been essential for me to continue to produce art and illustration, and my struggles with it are one of the reasons I'd stopped making comics for a while.  It's vital that I continue to do this though- as the demands of social media (make art daily!  really pump it out!  but you have to be charming and authentic!  but you can't complain or struggle with depression or show us anything we don't want to see!) have a tendency to rob artists of their desire to really spend time focusing on a piece and honing their work, and I want to actively fight against that pressure so I can make things that are legitimately cool, well-drawn, and a joy to look at.   I also want to make more art that I feel proud of and return to making art that tells a story.

Early Access and Backer Exclusive:

Snowgirl Printable Lineart: https://www.patreon.com/posts/60240824

Frost Child Printable Papercraft- Lineart & Watercolor: https://www.patreon.com/posts/60046733

New to the Public:

Tuesday, December 21st: Comparing Two Giorgione Watercolor Palettes- Unbox & Swatch- Student Grade Showdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDMaukU5f28 (student grade showdown, watercolor review, budget watercolors)

Wednesday, December 22nd: Ice Princess- Start to Finish Papercraft Activity:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faBzgc0UGeY&t=3s (papercraft, papercraft tutorial, sketching tutorial, drawing tutorial, watercolor tutorial)

Thursday, December 23rd: Arteza Everblend Brush Markers & Bullet Tipped Markers Unbox and Swatch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsrhzoDY2ys&t=32s (alcohol markers, alcohol marker review)

Saturday, December 25th: Winter Weather- Adorable Papercraft Activity- Start to Finish Art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH3mJlQa0Tc&t=92s (papercraft, papercraft tutorial, sketching tutorial, drawing tutorial, watercolor tutorial)

Sunday, December 26th:  Let's Color a Snow Girl! A Wintery Alcohol Marker Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OzXeFIKcx0 (tutorial, art tutorial, marker art, marker tutorial)