Good Times, Bad Times, and Thankfulness (Patreon)

Some days just really come at you without any warning. 

Today I took my lovely, sweet wife Lisa to the dentist, on account of persistent tooth ache. Seems my love has two impacted wisdom teeth on the right side of her lower jaw, so we are going to have to travel out of area to see a surgeon specialist to have them removed, as they are riding a major nerve. It's a dangerous operation too, due to the proximity to the nerves. We are doing our research to make sure we make the best choices, moving forward. 

After the dentist, we came home to find a homeless woman scoping out my house, and the rest of the neighborhood. Burglary has escalated in my local area, due to drug use. Drug addicts are looking for things to steal, so they can get their fix. They usually don't come into our neighborhood, but seems this lady was scouting new turf.  I took a picture of her, and she left.  

Then I find out that one of my patrons has uploaded a lot of my Patreon exclusive work to a site. Fortunately, it seems the terms and services of the site do not allow such things, so I reported the gallery, and we shall see how it goes from here. 

Dental stuff happens, and we are on the road to fix it. Such is life. 

Sometimes people want to invade your home and take your stuff. But fortunately, nothing happened, and we are wiser for it. 

As an artist, art theft happens. It doesn't rock my boat, and as long as the majority of people who support me here remain honorable, I will be fine. I trust you guys! 

..well, at least those of you who aren't betraying me by posting my work for others to get for free... What kind of person does that? It's not like I am a rich rockstar or anything! 

,,,*cough*

Anyways, the Patreon platform has really given me the freedom to push myself to try new things and improve my art. things like anatomy, lighting, backgrounds, color theory, composition and camera angles... As an artist, it's hard to experiment when you are constantly working on client jobs to pay the bills, because the client expects a certain standard. Change isn't always welcome. However, with Patreon, I can choose what to draw, and so I can actively root out my weaknesses and work on them, which allows my work to constantly evolve and improve. I look at my work from this time last year and I can see a big improvement. Patreon gave me that. You guys gave me that. I am truly grateful for this opportunity, and I will keep doing it as long as it's a viable way to support my work. 

Anyways... Haha despite the strange, obstacle ridden day, I am in a good mood. Just found it to be an odd day. At any rate, I can't wait to share my ideas for this month's art pack! 

See you all soon with some sketches!
~Ray