Life update post! (Patreon)

Hi everyone!!! The next 6-ish weeks of my life are looking mad, let's talk about it!

- Caye and I are moving at the beginning of April!

I've lived in the same area of the US ever since I moved to this country, but we're finally getting out of here, and I'm really looking forward to living in a new state and region!! I'm an old hand at moving; I'm 34 now, and have moved 20 times (three times internationally!), so I'm well-prepared for the stress. But of course there's TONS to do, packing a whole house and managing three animals! (I also might have to get a root canal the week before we move...😅)

So my output is definitely gonna be diminished/inconsistent for the next 2 months or so as we adjust. I've put a pause on my The One and Only updates until May; I'm still expecting to have semi-regular sketchdumps, because I'm someone who can't NOT draw. It's still something of a stress reliever! But posts will be inconsistent until we settle. Thank you in advance for your patience! 💕

- My cintiq decided this would be the perfect time to CAUSE ISSUES!

So imagine my TERROR when I left the room for a few minutes the other day and returned to my cintiq making very loud scary grinding noises!! Caye is my tech support champion, but unfortunately after much wrangling and investigating, it seems one of the interior fans has died. The good news is: I can still kind of work on it!! The fans only kick in when the tablet reaches a certain heat, so if it is shut off overnight and is nice and cold, it has a few hours after starting up that I can use it without issues, so long as I have no other programs open. The bad news is... it has to get sent into wacom to be fixed, and wacom support is taking FOREVER...

Luckily, I CAN cover the cost of repair right now! But I'm expecting to not have it at all for 10-15 days after it does get sent out, so over that period I'll be drawing on an ipad instead. If there's a little period of time where my linework looks slightly different, that's why, lol.

- I'm taking it easy for mental health reasons...! 🥴

This is hard to talk about but I want to be very honest with you guys! January and February were very hard months for me, for a number of reasons. In response I'm making positive changes to  how I manage stress in my life... though it always feels like a constant adjustment. (I'm expecting the move to our own space will improve all this a lot!!!)

To help manage, I'm taking a bit of a break from social media. Caye has been helping me with my main twitter account, and they will also occasionally be responding to messages and emails for me as well, so if you message me here or through email, you may reach either one of us! Relatedly, I've gotten some notes of encouragement over the past few months, and they really mean the world to me... thank you so much, everyone. The kindness you all show me has really made all the difference lately. It feels silly not having much else to say other than "thank you", so I can't always respond, but I appreciate the comments and messages so deeply.

And also, to everyone who supports me here... thank you SO so much! I would not be able to create the work I do without you!! Your support is the reason we can move to our new home, and the reason I can pay for my cintiq to get fixed at all!! I can't express how lucky I feel even when I'm in a rough patch ;w; so thank you all so much.

Well... that's what my life is looking like right now. I hope you're all doing well!! I PROMISE I will put up a suggestion box this month, I plan to use prompts for ipad drawing practice! 💕 You all are the best!!