2023 Report (Nov-Dec) (Patreon)

🥂Happy New Year, everyone!🥂

This report is pretty long overdue and I’m REALLY sorry about that. It should have happened in December but I was buried. Here’s the things I didn’t do in November and December 😅

💀November/December🪦

⏹️ Fanart + Theme Poll

⏹️ Libby & Holly Ch3 Pages 9-12

⏹️ CYOA Pt. 10

None of these happened 😭 and it was miserable. It was for the best to pause patreon for this month and last month though, just to get everything back under control.

I did do a bit more for fun animation early in November (hard to crop tho, too lewd) and some Karlach stuff before the deadlines really set  in.

My sketchbook stayed strictly in cute territory over the past month or so.

I'm mostly just glad I had a little bit of time to do some holiday drawings!🎄

Ultimately November and December are a bit of a footnote  in the whole year because look at all the stuff we did!!

🍾2023 IN REVIEW

⭐CYOA PT 5-9
⭐Libby& Holly Ch1, 2, 3 (pg1-8)
⭐Art prints, group show
⭐Original art and fanart
⭐HavocTurbo Collab
⭐Getting back into animation!
⭐Reopened Physical Comics Store

January✅ Libby & Holly Lineart and Color pg 10-18

February ✅Physical Comics Store Updated

March Agenda ✅ Libby Ch1 Released✅ Libby & Holly Chapter 2 Pgs. 1-6

April ✅ CYOA Update 5 ✅ Libby & Holly Ch1 Physical Release ✅ Libby & Holly Chapter 2 pgs 7-12

May ✅ CYOA Update pt6 ✅ Art print illustrations

June✅ Complete Libby & Holly Ch2

July ✅ CYOA Update pt7

August ✅ Libby & Holly Ch2. Cover + Digital/Physical Release✅CYOA Pt8 Update

September ✅ Libby & Holly Ch3 Pages 1-5 ✅ Havoc Turbo Collab

🎃October Agenda🎃✅ Libby & Holly Ch3 Pages 5-8✅ CYOA Pt. 9

💀November/December🪦

💕💕💕💕Thank you for making this possible!!! 💕💕💕💕

Now let's talk about 2024!  Some things went to plan and some didn't last year. Writing these reports are half for progress tracking and half for self reflection, so I'm gonna indulge in a bit of the latter.

This year taught me that the best goal for myself as an artist is consistency.

I am happiest when I am working just enough, not too much, not too little. When I’m not stressed, sleeping well, exercising and living a balanced life, I work more efficiently, enjoy it more, and my mind and body don’t get worn out.

That sweet spot is hard to maintain because I like to take on just a liiiiittle more work than I should and then if anything goes wrong it's not a little hiccup, it's a catastrophic work pileup. That's basically what happened this year. I got behind and stayed behind.

I had to pause patreon because of it and even though it was the right thing to do, it's painful because it feels like losing momentum. That said, I don't like working 9+ hour days…ever. And I had to do that more than I care to admit in the past two months.

So what's my plan for this year?

✂️ Reduce my number of concurrent projects.

I love variety but i think i have too much of it and it makes progress on individual projects too slow, which is demoralizing and makes me lose momentum. It's a bad cycle!

🧑‍🤝‍🧑Get the help of an assistant.

This one is very new to me, but I do end up spending a lot of time on things I really don't need to be doing, and it's worth it to me to pay someone to help me out if it means I get to make more of my art.  I think it'll be better for everyone!

📃Schedule Social Media Posts

I've been experimenting over the past month with using scheduled posting for social media. It helps me not get distracted on the internet but still allows me to share my work consistently. It might make me seem a little bit less accessible on the internet but to be honest, I have more fun interactions on patreon anyways, you all are the best!💕
I never thought I would actually pay to not use twitter, but here we are. Something must have changed about it in the past year hmmmm🤔🙃 😂

My schedule is still winding down so I won't have many updates this month, but here's what I'm hoping to do this year:

🗓️2024 Agenda

✅Wrap up CYOA project. I think this will take around 3-5 more updates. I completely forgot I TRIED to wrap it up in May but then I got all kinds of pesky ideas along the way and I kept going😏But it’s as demanding as Libby & Holly in terms of writing, and that’s what I’m slowest at.

✅Focus on Libby & Holly. I have lots of fun ideas for future chapters and I want you to SEE them. Hell, I want to see them. More time in the time budget for this will mean I’ll just work faster.

✅Continue with collaborations & animation projects. I want to get better about working with other people and if I am working with an assistant, projects like these might become easier to pull off.

✅Make polls simpler, but more consistent. I love doing fanart and theme polls because some of my favorite work has come out of it (see: Greeks, Medusa, witches.) But I often don’t make enough time for it and it becomes stressful. Gotta fix that.

Each year I get a little bit better at making my work and managing as an independent artist and I think I’m finally taking some steps that I’ve been too intimidated to try for a while but I think it’s time.  I’m going to consider a lot of the first few months of this year to be experimental as I navigate these new challenges.

I’m not a natural entrepreneur type, but I am willing to do what it takes to allow me to make the art I want to see in the world. Hopefully in a couple months I’ll have made strides in becoming more consistent in what I’m doing!

Thank you all for your patience and support, and thank you for reading this, if you made it all the way through! 💕I’m looking forward to returning to doing fun work with you all in a month!

Sincerely, Winton