A post of pure frustration [delaying a bit + pausing the billing from mid-October] (Patreon)

😒 I hate to make emotional posts because I strive to keep my galleries a place for pleasant feelings and thoughts, but… it’s impossible to keep this inside once again. I’m starting to think that I am cursed. First of all, the past month and a half, I have been feeling constantly sick and exhausted — dealing with complications after my surgery, catching a food poisoning, and colds, colds, colds in between … But ok, that’s a routine.

😓 The last week has been simply absurdly unlucky! Every day something has to break, get canceled, or lead to arguments. I’ll describe just the most recent thing:

😵 My Apple Pencil that I use for art creation, suddenly died. I bought it only six months ago for $110 and treated it more carefully than I treat myself; I didn’t drop it or get it wet. But it suddenly started glitching, and at first, I didn’t realize it was the Pencil’s fault.

🤔 So, I tried restarting my iPad, reconnecting Bluetooth, reinstalling my drawing app. Of course, when I reinstalled the app, I accidentally deleted all the artwork in progress!!! And that didn’t even solve the problem with the pencil!

🥲 Later I figured out that the issue was indeed the pencil, and after a diagnostic test was made, I found out it couldn’t even be repaired — I would need to look for a new one. Okay, I thought, I’ll just buy a new one.

💸 I had to visit several stores, but that model of pencil was nowhere to be found. At the Apple store, they told me it had been discontinued, and now instead there was a next-generation model— the Apple Pencil USB-C. It cost $150, and I asked the seller about the difference with my former pencil a few times, and they convinced me that the only difference was that this pencil had to be charged via cable instead of magnetically. I couldn’t test the device in the store, I was also too exhausted to google about it, and decided to buy this stylus…

🫤 Later, when I unpacked it, I couldn’t understand what was wrong: it only draws uniform thick lines, just like if I were drawing with my finger. I thought again that the problem was with the driver, the app, anything, but no!!!

It turned out…

🤯 In the technical specifications, it states: NO PRESSURE SENSITIVITY!!! (Means: useless as an art tool)

🤬 An expensive, recent high-tech device from Apple is just an absolutely useless plastic stick! It has all the functions of your own finger and you still have to charge it THROUGH A CABLE! I can’t remember the last time I was so bewildered and furious at the same time!

🫠So now I need to return this useless stick and get my $150 back. But unfortunately, due to another ridiculous set of circumstances, it’s turns to be also a very complicated quest now! Moreover, I need to find a normal pencil somewhere. And I’ll also have to redo the work that was lost due to this ridiculous accident, now using my old drawing tablet …

😟In general, I was very happy and impressed with Apple devices at first, but now I am very disappointed. And I am even more exhausted.

So unfortunately, I won’t be able to send out the September archive before ~October 5, and the comic pages will be added to the archive until ~October 8 as I need to recover some lost files.

After that, I would really need to take a break if I don’t want to face the fate of my first pencil, too…

So! The plan: you’ll be charged early October and then you’ll get the September reward as usual, after that I will pause the billing cycle. You won’t be charged early November yet you will still have access to my patreon: in October I would like to continue conducting surveys and sharing thoughts and some personal drawings, so we will stay in touch ❤️ Next billing cycle will come early December and you will get the November archive + the October personal work as a bonus!

As some of you know, I started my Patreon in 2015, and since then I have not had a vacation longer than a week! For almost 10 years I’ve been drawing full archives (at least 8-9 artworks per month) of cheerful pictures for you (okay, and for my own enjoyment too ^^). Only in 2020 was one month missed - and that was only because I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital that month, and you can’t use devices there.

Thank you so much for your support, especially to those who have been here for years! You have always made me happier, you gave me a sense and a goal for my art life and life in general, and I hope I have made you happier too! ❤️❤️❤️

- Iskra