Update // Wrapping up the year (Patreon)

Well. We’ve made it. Sort of. At least in part. Or in parts.

How are you guys? How’s this year treated you? It’s been a toughy on this end, not gonna lie. There were times when I had no idea where to borrow the energy from to keep it going, but here we are - at the tail end of it.

One thing this year has forced me to learn was the importance of self-care. I’d heard that if you don’t take a break when you need one, your body will do it for you and man… they weren’t kidding. After spending two years in peak health, nary a sniffle, I suddenly kept crashing harder than Windows Vista; physically and mentally BSODed.

It has been a lesson- one that I wished I’d learnt from the advice I was given and not from the consequences of my own actions- but a lesson nonetheless. And it’s why this year I started enforcing changes - from mentorship to rewards - as well as to my own personal work-life boundaries, in hopes that 2023 will be a much more balanced, peaceful and enjoyable year.

And that brings us to my plans for December, which involve a healthy amount of recovery time to figure out next year's resolutions:

Mentorship

For this month - given that it’s notoriously busy for everyone and that Christmas so happens to fall on a weekend - I will only be offering offline sessions.

An offline session is the same as a regular session, except recorded and sent as a private video. Patrons on the Mentor Tier (or those who book a session via StarStickers) will be eligible for a 1 hour video and patrons on the legacy mentor system will be eligible for a 30 minute video. This can be followed up with questions and additional support through the dedicated mentorship discord channel (or via DM if you don’t have one yet).

Those wishing to book an offline session must have sent me their work or questions to review by Friday 16th, as all videos will be recorded during the following week.

Should an offline session not be suitable for you for any reason, please do contact me through your channel and I’ll be happy to discuss accommodations.

StarStickers

As I mentioned last month, and as I did last year, illustrated reward bookings will not be available in December. This will both give me time to catch up to pending rewards (currently working through the September batch) as well as to plan the booking system overhaul, which I hope will be live early next year.

As previously mentioned, the goal of this overhaul will be to provide a fairer system to those booking rewards for the first time or who have difficulty remembering when the booking window opens. More information on how this will work will be posted soon.

Prints

Print booking is still available! That said, please note that the UK is currently experiencing mailing delays due to strikes and that some parcels might take longer to arrive than anticipated.

If your prints haven’t arrived within 1-2 months of being sent, please feel free to reach out and I’ll be happy to see what I can do.

Other

I know a few of you have expressed worries that you haven’t received your reward or commission yet. As I’ve mentioned before, there are substantial delays to everything due to extraneous circumstances as well as spending most of this year flirting with burnout.

That said, you can always check the status of my workflow here: http://bit.ly/ony-work
And the status of the commission list here: https://bit.ly/2022-23CommList

Despite the delays, I have been working relentlessly to catch up. I know delays are always disappointing, but if I can promise anything it’s that even if there’s a wait, I will deliver your project. And if you have any concerns, you’re always welcome to reach out to me via a comment, DM or question in the discord.

—

And with all the official stuff out of the way, let’s bring the sugar in. Get your toothbrushes ready:

I know things have been hard for everyone and that my feelings and frustrations have been echoed by many of you this year. I see it in the Discord every day - the struggle to figure things out and find the motivation to get out of bed in the mornings.

But we’ve also shared the resilience to do it anyway, and to find comfort in the words and compassion of those around us. I know that I would have given up at some point after January if I didn’t have this community propping me up, supporting my choices and cheering me on every time I tell them I’m going to take a “nap day”.

So thank you for your kindness and your support and your patience and all your good will. Thank you for sharing your lives and time with me and letting me share mine with yours.

Whatever 2023 brings, I know you’ll all still be the best part of it. =]