Fall Festin and Fashionable Tinies- Patreon Newsletter October 24th (Patreon)

Hey Artnerds!

How are yall enjoying the cooler Fall weather?I thought Louisiana was in the clear for wildfires, but this week proved me wrong.  We know how to deal with hurricanes down here, but wildfires, while a natural part of the forest cycle, are typically not a huge problem due to how much rain we normally get.

Third Week of Lilliputian Living:

Just one more week to go!  It's been fun exploring Lilliputian fashion this year, and has felt like kinda a break to past years.  Every year I challenge myself to explore something- drawing interpersonal interactions, environments, or animals.  This year, my challenge is to juggle my life- Sjogren's Syndrome has certainly made things more challenging, but we're working on getting the meds in place to at least help with the pain.

New Prints in Shop!

I'm really trying to update the Nattoshop with a new print design every day!  I'm posting the updates on social media, so if you see something you like, get your order placed while prints are still in stock- I have my big show for the year coming up in November!  Prints are printed through Catprint on their felt paper, stamped, and signed! 

A Trove of Art Books

I've really enjoyed this opportunity to read through so many different art books from so many different artists.  It reminds me of my undergrad years- I'd come back from class and pour over PDF's of Andrew Loomis and Glen Vilppu, trying to fill in the gaps.

I'm so good at talking myself out of things that end up being good for me.  It's easy to make excuses- too busy, not sure if these books will be helpful, my library doesn't carry them.    That last one is a bit of a problem for sure- it's kept me from reading many of these books and has definitely prevented me from buying them, as art books are a mixed bag in terms of helpfulness.  Reviewing them and sharing what I think with yall makes it a little easier to swallow the cost, but I do wish there were better ways to sample books to see if they're a good fit.

Reaching 19K subscribers

What a milestone!  I realize that its no 100k, but for me, even reaching 19k is impressive!  My channel gets a lot of views- folks coming by for specific product reviews or looking for a particular technique, but not a lot of subscribers, so it's been an uphill climb since 2015 (when I started the channel) to grow!  Last time I started to gain steam, COPPA rolled out and steamrolled me, but we're in an uphill swing again, and I hope we can continue to grow! 

I think my proudest projects have been:

Making Comics and Zines 

This playlist was created for the students in my Making Comics and Zines classes at Nashville Community Ed.  This six week course, taught three times, really inspired me to explore my own education, fill in some gaps, learn new skills, and create tutorials to help my students with these skills.  Each in person class was only about an hour in length, with six sessions, so creating these tutorials allowed me to create demo materials as well as additional resources.

This series was not make or break for my channel, but it's a series I'm quite proud of and I feel it covers topics that many drawing channels don't have a chance to touch on.  I would love the opportunity to create a playlist of helpful tutorials while teaching a longform relevant class again.

How to Draw Anything 

A playlist with a similar premise- created to help me prepare for a series of 3 one hour classes taught with St Charles Parish Library.  This series was designed to show how Volumetric Drawing can be applied to almost anything you'd want to learn how to draw- people, animals, objects, places.  This playlist is set up as online classes and each 'class' has several exercises and challenges to help viewers learn the basics, hone their skills, and learn how to see the world around them volumetrically.

Neither of these playlists are what I'd consider real moneymakers- the views are pretty low, so its thanks to yall's support here on Patreon that I can spend the time creating these kinds of tutorials!  While I love doing reviews, I particularly love sharing what I've learned through art school and over the years.

When I was accepted into graduate school, I promised to use the knowledge and education I acquired pursuing a degree to help other artists- artists at all levels, particularly artists who couldn't afford formal art education.  While I know my style isn't everyone's cup of tea, it makes me happy that I can use my experience and time to help other artists figure out if an art supply is worth their time.  I am so happy that my experience and education can be used to test and demonstrate products and let others struggling with their art supplies know that maybe it's not them; it's the tools.  I love how there are so many options out there and how many just aren't for me- but ARE for another artist.  I love how much variety exists in the art world and how all these different opinions can simultaneously be valid.  Just like the human experience- there are so many different and valid ways to be a person, and I think that's really beautiful.

Youtube isn't a viable living for me- I have to juggle a lot of balls as an artist, but knowing that yall enjoy what I do, and would like for me to continue to do it really means a lot to me.

I will probably never get big enough for a Youtube Play button, so at 20K, I'm thinking of making my own. It's important to celebrate your milestones and victories wherever they might land.

A Tough Year for Craft Fairs in South East Louisiana:

October is Festin' season in Louisiana- which means most of our wonderful food and culture festivals are scheduled for October.  On weekends when we aren't tabling at craft fairs, we're usually attending them for pleasure.  Joseph loves looking for unique gifts for family and talking to people, and I'm all about searching for fellow artists and trying tasty food.  If you've never had the pleasure of being in Louisiana for a festival (and I'm not talking about Mardi Gras), I really think you should plan a visit down during our beautiful fall.

Last weekend, we went to the Poche Fall Festival for fun.  Although the Festival officially closed around 6pm on Sunday, people were already well packed up when we got there around 3:30.  At the ticket booth, we were told that many vendors had sold out of stock and were heading out early, but talking to vendors told us a different tale- sales were too low to justify spending the extra time waiting it out.

This resonates with my experience the weekend prior at the Peculiar Market.  It was a slooowww show- very little foot traffic, and nothing to attract attendees other than the vendors themselves.  Most of the marketing was done on Facebook and Instagram, and onus was put on the vendors to promote the show.  I almost always promote the shows I'm tabling at- I learned from years of tabling at anime cons that its important to use the relevant show hashtags and let people know where you're going to be, but I'm frustrated that so many shows charge hefty vendor prices and offer very little in return.  My livelihood doesn't come entirely from vending at shows, but I have friends who are entirely reliant on show sales for their income, and I feel like shows, and the event companies that often host them, can do better.

Unfortunately, I think as a vendor, this year's fest season may be a little bit of a struggle, as many Louisianians impacted by Hurricane Ida a couple years ago are struggling with huge jumps in the cost of homeowner's insurance and flood insurance, and just don't have the disposable income.  I only have one more show on my schedule for this year, but its an important one- the Destrehan Fall Fest.

No Early Access- I'm working on several longer-form videos that are taking awhile to come together!