Long Time No Update and 2022 Convention Schedule
I've finally been able to make it into more then one convention this year!
I was able to find more cons that had first come first serve applications rather then a lottery system or a juried one. I've just had more luck with the first come first served ones. Granted though, most of the ones I've applied to are newer and don't have as large a following as say, Anime North.
Anyway, here is my con schedule for the rest of the year!
March 18th - 20th: Anime New Mexico COMPLETE
May 27th - 29th: Anime Onsen
July 1st - 3rd: Denver Fan Expo (Application Pending)
August 19th - 21st: Colorado Springs Comic Con
September 2nd - 4th: Nan Desu Kan (Application Pending)
October 22nd - 24th: Santa Fe Comic Con (Application Pending)
For the cons where my application is still pending, if I don't make it into them, then I most likely won't be going even as an attendee. I'll def be applying again next year though as I want to do this full time so I can quit my day job. I just wish I had better luck with the Jurried and Lottery ones...
Now for some other updates.
A lot of sellers on Etsy are going to go on strike starting April 11th - 18th, by putting their shops on vacation mode in protest of the increase in fees that Etsy has recently made. There is a ton of info on Instagram if you want to know more, but basically Etsy has increased their fees once again regardless of the fact that the platform had a record of number of sales last year. All of the fees now add up to about %10 of the total sale of any item on Etsy, which is pretty insane if you compare it to say Shopify or even Ko-fi's online shop (Ko-fi literally only takes $1 from each sale you make on there and there are no listing fees).
So in solidarity with the other artists that have shops on there, my shop is currently on vacation mode, and will be until April 19th at the very earliest. I am also planning on opening up a Ko-fi shop as well, as I would like to test the waters with this new shop setting they have available on there. I don't know if I'll actually fully leave Etsy as it has the brand power (a lot more people know about Etsy then Ko-fi), but it's very tempting.
So if you were hoping to buy something from an artist on Etsy, do it now before the strike starts, so you don't cross the picket line. Also, remember you can go and purchase from their other shops to show support to the artists rather then Etsy.
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I'm also planning on closing my Patreon in the future, as Ko-fi has impressed me with the fact they are rolling all of the things Patreon does on their website together with their own tipping system.
To me, It's really nice to have everything all in one place so I'm gonna be testing the waters with Ko-fi's subscription system as well.
I've said this in other journals, but I would love it if more sites would roll features together so I didn't have to have a billion different profiles. It's so time consuming and stressful managing them all.
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New Stance on Commissions:
I've realized recently that I no longer really enjoy doing commission work or at least currently I don't. Ever since I started working part time as a pharmacy tech it's created a huge interruption to my artistic side. My focus is very much torn and I am having the toughest time imaginable getting anything done that I want to. And even though I'm not on the front lines in hospitals treating patients with COVID, we are still helping fight the pandemic by giving people their COVID shots.
Oh, so, so many shots.....
It's so stressful working there, more then I though it could ever be and it's drastically reduced my energy levels to the point where all I want to do is sleep and be a couch potato.
It's retail work and it's medical work. So it's stressful and I've just about hit my breaking point. Even though I don't show it or talk about it much, I'm really miserable right now...
I'm also really embarrassed and ashamed too, you see, I've had 1 commission that I have been working on since November 2021 and I'm still not done DX
It's not like it's even that difficult of a commission either. it's just a line-less style pet portrait.
I still don' t know how this person is being so patient with me, as they haven't asked for a refund nor have they yelled at me for taking so long. They are a literal saint and I'm so grateful for them.
But I still feel absolutely terrible.
So for the foreseeable future, I will be raising the prices of my commissions and reducing the number that I'll take per month to 3 pieces in total. Until things get better anyway.
In other words, if you wanna commission me you're gonna need to make it worth my while. And the increase in price will incentivize me to work harder on commissions as well.
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If you want proof of how stressed I've been over the past year, look no further then how much weight I've lost in that time frame. I've lost almost 50lbs from stress alone.
I've learned that I forget to eat when I'm really stressed. I haven't been dieting on purpose, I just get so sick feeling that I either don't feel hungry or I don't want to eat because of how stressed I feel. Luckily my weight loss has slowed in the last few months and I've gotten to a place where I'm maintaining my weight. And it's not like I'm skin and bones either, I weigh about 130lbs I was no spring chicken before the weight loss, but 50lbs is a lot to lose in a 12 month period when you're not actively trying to lose weight.
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I wanna quit my pharmacy job, but it's my only source of stable income right now, so it would be stupid to do so.
I just wanna be happy and draw, why is that so much to accomplish?....