Updates + tentative commission slots (Patreon)

Hello hello everyone!

Wow, it's been... a year, for sure. Definitely a year. No further comment.

(...Okay I'll try for more updates/summary further down.)

But that aside! As this crazy year comes to a close, and we look ahead to the (hopefully less crazy) next, now seems as good a time as any to - again, tentatively - open for some commissions! I've been saying I would (for a year), and it's a bit cheaty to do so right before the year actually ends, but I'll still count it, okay? It still counts.

For now I'm only announcing it here; patrons will have first dibs but anyone who sees this can send me a request, I'm just not going to post it elsewhere yet! As I'm still trying to ease back into this sort of thing, I'd like to keep it a little more down-low and focused on you folks, the audience who's been supporting me for all of this time and I know will want stuff that's at least close to what I usually do.

Send me an email request at saftkeur@gmail.com or send me a message on here, either should work! Emails are easier to sort and archive, but you can message me here first to get started if that's more comfortable. You can find a bit more info on my personal site as well, right here.
Please just give me at least a small summary of what you're wanting from the start, so I can give you a proper yes or no without a lot of back and forth.

If you've already talked to me about commission plans, please still send me a request/reminder! I'm not going to take on much at first, and I don't want to be messaging everyone who's ever asked to see if they're still interested in a slot. I will give you some priority if you've been waiting on me for a while though, don't worry. ^^

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As for updates... I'll probably have to do a bigger post later to make sure I'm properly covering things, but overall I have to say it's been hectic but going well!

Job-wise, I'm actually starting today (short notice) with some tentative training at the Lego shop I'd previously mentioned, so that's exciting; very part-time, as I wanted, but it'll be a potential for both income and experience alongside everything else I do.

Life-wise, I've been biking pretty much every day for at least a mile or two, and honestly surprising myself with how tolerable the cold has been. I don't know if it's because I've invested in better gear, or learned to layer smarter, or if I'm just getting better at dealing with it... Or if it's just been unseasonably mild so far, which is actually true but there have been some pretty bitter cold days as well. Regardless, it's another thing that's helped my mood considerably, you don't realize how bad it is to stay inside day after day until you start to make changes to that.

And finally art-wise, this year's projects are of course closing up now, and I'll probably give myself a bit of a break heading into the next year (even if I'll be spending that time getting commission plans sorted at the same time). I'm hoping to take the opportunity for more practice on subjects I don't often touch, like resuming animation experiments and such, though not putting any pressure on myself! Wouldn't be much of a break if I did.

I've got one last new character to share for the year sometime hopefully today, and I want to end the year with the same sort of art summary I did last year, so there's still that to look forward to before 2024 comes around. But I think, overall, I'm pretty satisfied with how 2023 has gone, despite all of its difficulties and challenges.

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I hope everyone has had at least an okay year! It's been tough for a lot of people I've seen, so many random challenges coming up out of nowhere. But if you're reading this, you've already made it this far and I'm proud of you.

Let's go tackle 2024 together. <3