Belated Birthday WIP (Patreon)

I haven't done birthday/gift art in years, it feels like. (Without it being commissioned, that is.) So, this is what I'm using my "self indulgent" time for. I hope she likes it. ;o;

I really don't have time to be doing this, but it's already very late, and I want to give it to her before the month is over, plus I don't really feel bad about doing it considering how many other things I'm getting done this week BUT. There's always that nagging thought when you've got a backlog as tremendous as mine; "You could be doing something else."

Trouble with being a full time artist is finding that healthy balance between work art, and fun art. Because you NEED to have that balance. But I always paint myself into corners where I feel really guilty about doing self indulgent things, and that's my fault. Still, I understand that at a certain point I HAVE to make free art/fun art sometimes, otherwise I'll get burnt out and won't want to do anything for days, or even whole weeks. So, maybe just 1-2 self indulgent things a week MAX, at least until the old, grimy backlog is cleared out. 

To my creative friends, writers, artists, etc: Take breaks. If you CAN, find time to do something for yourself, or something fun you've been wanting to do. Just one thing. If you push yourself to keep doing work related things over and over and over, you're going to exhaust yourself and your creativity. It's better to replenish your creative energy whenever you're able to, instead of trying to truck through an entire load of work with zero breaks or "me" time. Of course, don't blow off your responsibilities or obligations for non-stop self indulgent stuff(it's hard to balance, I KNOW, trust me - I'm guilty of going on week long self indulgent benders from time to time. Avoid falling into temptation. Lol.) But be sure to reward yourself with something to keep your productivity going. 

Man, I've got a killer caffeine headache, you guys. I've had two cups of coffee, a bottle of water and ibuprofen, and it's not letting up. Send h e l p </3