Update // Groundhog Day is over! (Patreon)

“Almost” over. I feel compelled to insert that lest I get cocky and the last deadline decides to snipe me in the arse.

If you’re wondering what I’m talking about - and you’d have to be very new or have (rightfully) stopped paying attention to me circa 3 months ago: for the last few months I have been working on a ball-busting NDA project involving 20+ pages of highly detailed linework for an upcoming big-publisher coloring book.

This project, on top of all my usual work and my recent showing at MCM Comic Con - has been nothing short of brutal on my schedules, my body and my mind. To put it simply, by the last week of May I was clocking in over 80 hours of work and going to bed no earlier than 1am most nights.

It has been unrelenting, to say the least, and not particularly joyful for a lot of it. Although I’m reluctant to pound negativity into this update, I believe those of you who are more active in the Discord have seen the crunch happening in real time and can appreciate the sheer intensity of it all. I honestly can’t say thank you enough for the understanding I received throughout the process, because I know that for a lot of it I wasn’t the presence that I’d have liked to be amongst my supporters and friends.

Having said that, the good news is that with the deadlines just passed, the worst of it is (hopefully) behind me. Although I have one last deadline left (whereby they’re meant to send minor feedback by June 12th and I’m meant to send any final tweaks by June 19th), the bulk of the work is done and I can now go back to focusing on Patreon, commissions and my lovely community.

So, basically our regular version of chaotic and hectic. But with extra love.

New Artbook on StarStickers!

As I mentioned in my previous update, I am incredibly pleased to announce that the production of my first artbook was a success!

The Art of Onyrica: Spectrum 1 is a 68 page, full-color compilation of my best work from the last 3 years, organised in a way that scales chromatically from the book- from less color, to more, to vibrant blues, purples, reds, yellows until slowly dipping into the dark and moody and closing in a flash of white.

I put as much love into the creation of the book as I did into the art itself, and I’m incredibly excited to make it available to you as a reward via StarStickers!

You can see a wee page-flip video here: https://twitter.com/Onyrica/status/1658807696756203521 

The artbook will be available on Starstickers from Monday as a bundle costing 100 points and including:

• 1 Artbook
• 2 hand-signed A4 prints
• 2 unreleased bookmarks
• Surprise merch

Please note that there will only be 25 artbooks available to purchase on launch, and that these will be allocated first come-first served. Should there be further interest, I will open up a pre-order request in July to produce an additional run based on the number of sign ups.

Commissions & Rewards

Surprising nobody, my work on the NDA (as well as MCM prep) sat like a boulder atop everything else on my list, which has resulted in a serious backlog of every commission and reward pending on my list.

With that out of the way however, I am honestly really excited to get back on the horse and resume activity from Monday, so although I don’t have more of an update for you than what you’ve already heard - and what you can find on my workflow board - please expect to hear from me in the near future if you’ve got a piece in the works.

With that said, in order to actually give myself the room to feel like I am making progress and not just adding twice the work to my pile for every piece I finish, I will be not be opening illustrated rewards availability in June. This will be reviewed in July, depending on the amount of progress I manage to make this month, but please note that this lock is likely to continue until my workload has stabilized and I have met enough current expectations.

Needless to say, I will also not accept any further contract or external work until my current responsibilities to my patrons have been fulfilled.

Resuming art events

On a lighter note, I am also excited to be able to resume our little art hangouts and FFXIV events very soon! As June’s already underway, it’s most likely I will be looking to organise some kind of art party for July - featuring some kind of event, prizes and more to celebrate the return to summer and (mostly) normality.

More info on this will be posted in the Discord soon!

Quick Links

• Patreon Guide
• StarStickers Guide (please note you must be logged in to access this link)
• Workflow board (all booked rewards and current batch commissions)
• Commission list
• Mentorship calendar

—

Over the last few months - and especially the last few weeks - I have flirted extremely hard with burnout; not just the mental kind, but the physical too. I have injured my body in ways that I’ve never done before and that, if anything, has been a pretty serious wake-up call to treat myself better and make dramatic changes to my lifestyle going forward.

While I don’t know what shape that will take yet, I am committed to having a better relationship with my work so that my life is not impacted in the long term. And as I write that, I can practically hear everyone in the Discord server throwing their hands up as if they hadn’t been telling me this for years.

For that, and for your endless patience with me and my dilemmas, I have nothing but the utmost gratitude and appreciation. I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve you all, but I’m thankful nonetheless.

Much love and sunny days,

Ony

Also thanking the 20lbs of concealer carrying my face in this picture