Special Announcement (Patreon)

Hey everyone, how was your September? I hope you've all been well! It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the seasons change around us.  Sometimes it feels like it happens before you realize the changes. 

I thought I'd make this announcement to tell you that my monthly gumroad rewards will be reduced from 6 to 5 artwork per month. Ever since opening my Patreon from May 2019, it was my goal to produce anywhere from 4 to 5 artwork monthly. Gumroad rewards only started around September of 2019 and since then I've been including 6 pieces each month. The reason why I've consistently included 6 artworks every month was due to the lack of confidence in myself as an artist and that also meant that I felt compelled to work myself extra hard to include a 6th in order to make the rewards feel more complete for my audience out there. 

Truthfully told, when I first started my Patreon on one morning of May 2019, I had little to know base knowledge about art. I had no friends in this industry. I didn't know about existing artist communities around me nor was I aware of the reason why some artists actively participate in social media. If I had to give an analogy about how I felt as an aspiring content creator back then. It was as if I was a simple country girl who somehow ended up in a busy metropolitan city of content creation, I had no map to guide me nor did I have any hedge funds to start anything. In a way, it's like you're a level 1 character who took a mage port to the endgame zone while wielding a stick.

When I look back at the road leading up to now during the past three years, it's closer to describe it as struggling to survive. Art for me was like a means of survival, it was a savior in some ways both materialistic and mentally. Finding myself drawing art gave me much happiness and being active as an artist/content creator really help to improve my lost self-esteem which had built up over the years when I wasn't an artist. It felt as though an opportunity had presented itself and I reached out for it without hesitation, learning more about art over the years has been a fantastic experience. 

I think Art in a way is like a series of Prerequisite Quest chains in a never-ending MMORPG where the more you fulfill the prerequisite quests, the more you unlock the next level of quests. Prerequisite quests in my eyes can be things like learning different techniques to study human anatomy, lighting, developing ideas, developing a sense for ideal angles for the artwork, etc. I feel like today I am speaking in a lot of analogy here but bear with me. 

Through the past 3 years of this constant survival game, my skills and quality in art grew, I met so many wonderful friends (you guys!), I've gained precious knowledge about Live2D and these days I'm often finding myself challenging different variations with dialogues for the characters. There are a lot of different things I've found myself being able to expand upon my existing art but the more I attempted various things, I found myself becoming more and more exhausted and my health feels like it's deteriorated considerably due to the amount of time I invest on a daily basis. I'm sure I've spoken about it from time to time but in the past three years, I gave up keeping a good sleeping schedule and I hardly ever had time to cook anything nutritionally balanced. Every day I had this yearning on the back of my mind that I need to find some time to take a break and rest but due to the lack of confidence and anxiousness that gnawed at my psyche, I was always worried that if I took a break, I'd fall behind and so I opted to put work before my own health for as long as I can remember.

After much contemplation, in order to keep myself healthy, I made a heavy decision to reduce the number of art I work on each month. That said, I plan to increase the quality of my artwork and variations as much as I can for the art I work on each month. All in all, I believe by reducing the amount of work I put in each month, I'll be able to start working on maintaining a good healthy life so that I can focus on creating more wonderful works for years to come. 

To sum up everything, I want to continue working passionately and pursue happiness as an artist and content creator. I want to be able to draw with more confidence and have fun doing that with you all. 

Thank you always, everyone, you guys have always been a great blessing to my world as an aspiring artist. I hope to continue this wonderful journey with you all.