Annoucement: I'm back! (Patreon)

Back from my holiday? xD hahaha

First I want to say Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a wonderful chance to cosplay and receive many delicious candies!   As for me, I have to constantly ask myself if I've really been on holiday since my activities haven't really changed much before taking a month's break from Patreon.

For my new friends here on Patreon, I've taken a month break from creating Patreon content last month. Part of it was because I kept running into frequent artblocks but also partly because I wanted to take the month off to pursue some other things that's been on my mind but couldn't pursue due to the severe lack of time.

One of the two things I wanted to pursue was to spend more time on creating personal art, stuff that I want to draw, or things I just find interesting rather than doing commissioned works. As much as I liked the latter, how do I put this... it felt like I just didn't really have room to stretch out my creativity muscles. I think for a long time, I wanted to do a lot more pinup style art but they're generally not what comes to mind when people think of commission artworks. Lately, I've really been enjoying the Genshin Art I've been drawing too as well as the HoloLive girls. Ironically, it's not as if I haven't been running into artblocks but considerably few compared to months before it. Maybe I just needed to balance things better with my work and personal projects.   The month break has been a blessing in disguise in that regard.

I mean...I haven't taken a single break since I started Patreon haha... ^^;; I've been quite busy and happily so!   And the other personal project I've attempted during the break is, Twitch. I've always had some interest in streaming my artistic practice online ever since I was starting my first streams on Picarto. I briefly considered Twitch at the time but considering most of the artwork I'd be streaming would be NSFW, I'd ultimately chosen Picarto over Twitch since the latter had a zero-tolerance for the genre.

It wasn't until much later that I began to think I wanted to give Twitch a try. Maybe it sounds strange, maybe it doesn't but I found out that I focus much harder when I have you guys watching me draw. It really feels like I'm making this art together with you guys, maybe that's why I try harder and push myself past the limits to reach new heights unseen before. When I look back at the artworks I've drawn, I always think back to the streams, what we shared and talked about during the stream. It's almost as if these little things are weaved into one artistic piece containing the memories and journey we shared over the stream.

Last but not least, I finally had a month to prepare my OC as a Live2D model. I showed the finished illustration much earlier but I've had many "Final" versions made because I had so much things to change and cut... even now I'm still making additional layers as my discussions with Alex always seems to add more unseen elements to the model even before we start the rigging process. Right now, I'm supposed to be drawing two sets of arms and hands before handing it over to Alex, yet here I am, going over the same model and changing things still. No doubt I'll have many more "Final" PSD of my Live2D model to come...

Getting back into gear now that the month break is over. I had to sit down and review what I really want to do with my Patreon going forward. I know this news may be disappointing to some but I would like to lessen the amount of NSFW art I create on the platform. Many of my peers, other artists have stressed that I need to balance between personal projects and commissions or I'll simply feel burnt out much sooner. Having experienced this countless times over the past year, I think there is enough reason to believe there is wisdom in that advice. So I'd like to balance out my personal interest/art and NSFW art.

Ultimately I don't think there will be much change in the amount of art I draw, but they will generally be a split between SFW stuff (I say SFW but you know how I tend to just draw them to be on the gray area... ^^;; ) and the NSFW stuff.

-Are Waifu Poll open now?

The other question I'm sure some of you have been having is whether the Waifu Polls will be back.   Yes, they are back now that the month is over! But I will be resetting the nominations, if you have nominees please post them on Discord! You have until exactly 48 hours from now to submit your waifu to be into the poll! Nominate away!

As for the monthly Animation collab with Alex, unfortunately as nice as it was to have the animation collabs, I don't think it's sustainable when we look at it long term since Alex has been getting very very very very very popular and busy as a result. I think ever since I've known Alex, he's been gradually getting busier each month.

As a result, I think the animations will be a very irregular collab. It will be more accurate to say that the animations will be possible whenever Alex is free and able to finish them in the deadline. He's really busy right now so I'd rather not push for the animation. That said, I'm most likely not going to waste time and resources to find another animator since I feel there's nobody more perfect to work with than Alex.

So recap, Nominate Waifus on DISCORD NOW please~! You have 48 hours! ^^;;

-Gumroad Reward for this month?

Unfortunately, we don't have a Gumroad pack for this month. I've frozen my Patreon last month and took a break. So the next Gumroad pack will be available starting next month around 4~6th December.

-Will you continue with Twitch?

Yes, I intend on streaming on both platforms depending on what I'm drawing at the time.

I think that pretty much sums up all the things I wanted to say in the special announcement. I know some of you may be displeased with the changes I want to bring to my Patreon but I hope you guys can understand why I want to make these changes ^^;;