Going on a Social Media Hiatus- Patreon Newsletter January 16th (Patreon)

Friday night, I ran a livestream where I swatched all 120 of Da Vinci's colors from a really lovely sample set and talked about what's been going on during 2022- both across the art world, for many comic artists, and for me personally.  If you missed the stream and that sounds interesting to you, please check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0iCf4jbI78

Before you click, I want to warn you that I talk about depression, burnout, and death- not in extreme detail, but if you don't have the mental bandwidth or emotional spoons for that, I completely understand.

If you decide not to watch, lemme summarize things quickly:

Taking a Social Media Hiatus

I have been struggling with burnout for a while, so I am going to take a hiatus beginning AFTER Lunar New Year lasting about a month.  

This means I will not be sharing long-form videos on Youtube during that time.  I will probably also limit my use of social media.  

I will be posting to Patreon, and I'll be on Discord, so I'll still be around, and I plan on making art and comics.  

I may also do a couple of lowkey streams since I enjoy hanging out with yall- I'll keep you updated on the community tab, Patreon, and on Discord.

My relationship with social media has been rocky over the years, and changes to different platforms' algorithms has been difficult to keep up with.  In my effort to try to keep up and just maintain the engagement I usually see, I'm spending increasingly more of my day on different social media sites- not drawing, not painting, not making videos, not learning.  This has been especially true since Twitter is in a state of flux and liable to go downhill at any point, and I don't know that anyone has the hot ticket on what the Next Twitter will be.  So to hedge my bets, I've tried over the past few months to focus more on other social media platforms, which is daunting.  

These struggles have taken an obvious toll on my creativity and mood- as someone who works from home it can be easy to spend 13 hours a day in front of a computer, or on my phone, or checking Twitter and not actually get anything done during the day.  Social media, for the self employed, often FEELS like it's productive when it's distractive. 

I want to decouple how I feel about my art and how I feel about making art from the dopamine slot machine- something many others have done and have highly recommended.  And while I have taken hiatuses before, in the past, there were algorithmic ramifications on my audience and reach that took me months of posting to rebuild, so it's always been a last resort.  I wish all of these platforms; Youtube included, allowed creators to take breaks and step away, almost regardless of the reason (minus violating community guidelines or harming others) without algorithmic penalty.

As a freelancer who would like to find agent representation for my stories and illustration, I know visibility is important. I worry that living in Louisiana, if I'm not hyper-online, I'll never have a shot.  While it is is my justification, it isn't a healthy solution, and I'm willing to see if being kinder to myself and taking some time off will yield the same or hopefully better results.

Hope to Come Back Strong!

I have some interesting ideas for the channel, but I want to see if I have more energy after my hiatus before starting anything major.  

I want to wrap up the Student Grade Showdown and do a tiered ranking live stream.

I have a bunch of cool professional watercolors I want to review.  

I plan on doing more tutorials and classes in 2023.

 I also want to try more things and learn more skills outside of drawing, comics, and watercolor.

I want to bring back the craft streams because I enjoyed just kind of relaxing and making something without worrying about if it's good or not.

Sometime in 2023 I want to redo my intro and outtro cards and my Patron thanks clip

I want to start regularly sharing art and posting to Discord and Patreon again

Locking up Twitter

Just a heads up- if you check my Twitter but aren't following it, I've locked my account.  You're welcome to request to follow- I'll add you immediately, but I'm testing out a rumor that locked accounts see better engagement from their followers (I guess the algorithm ACTUALLY SHOWS THEIR TWEETS) than non-locked accounts at this time.  I feel like I don't have a lot to lose- my Twitter engagement has been really low, but when something DOES pop off, it tends to pop off most with people who have never interacted with me, don't follow me, and are here for the absolute worst interpretation of what I said, so I feel like locking my Twitter may be a win-win solution, at least while I'm on hiatus.

Early Access and Backer Exclusive:

During this hiatus, I plan on sharing videos that I've already recorded and am in the process of editing with you guys, so Early Access should still be coming out!

Louisiana Magnolia Watercolor Tutorial: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-77295060

Tombow Fudenosuke Pastel, Sennelier Brushpens, Kuretake AI Liner- Reviewing a Bunch of Pens: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-ai-77285155 (this has been scheduled, so it will be up as public tomorrow)

New to the Public:

Saturday, January 7th: Trying Out A New Store! Stationery Pal Haul: https://youtu.be/_CX6rWFjaxs

Tuesday, January 10th:  Swatching Da Vinci Watercolors, Talking about Burnout, Talking about Channel's Future: https://youtu.be/y0iCf4jbI78

Saturday, January 14th: Definitely NOT A Copic Dupe- Molotow's Sketcher Markers & Aqua Color Brush Unbox & Swatch: https://youtu.be/MUsPK7Q2NZM

Favorite Shorts:

Cleaning & Refilling My Watercolor Palette: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8JR62fziXGk

Recovering Watercolor Paint from Dried Tubes: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sy_onrYeDGI

Cleaning my Ceramic Palettes: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HFxlMOdWLSY

Washing Watercolor Brushes: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bhv26MAEXMU