CoA stuff and Sallyhot news! (Patreon)

So first I just wanna share with ya some new stuff for the game. Blazeymix is still hard at work on her end as best she can, hiring help and getting us more stuff for the CoA game, we've recently been talking to a new sprite artist who is interested to help us out and can give us some better battler sprites for each gal at the 6 frames per action we're lookin to go with. Above is his rendition of Sally in his style and we're really diggin things so far! We do have battler sprites for each gal currently but we always knew they'd just be place holders, until we could get some more detailed sprites done, so we're super excited that he's offering to come on to the project! His rates are also fairly affordable for us, so it's definitely a possibility we're hoping to roll with. :) 

As well Blazey has been working with our level designer to flesh out the main map for the Halloween update. We really want get this done this year for ya'll, so we're gonna focus our attention on the game for next month and make that happen! Here's a screencap of part of the mansion so far. 

And now that I got your attention, I wanted to give ya some more news. Blazey already filled ya'll in roughly with what's been goin down on our end of things, but she didn't mention to much of what's been happening with me lately, so I figured I'd fill ya in a little more on my side of things. 

As she said in her message to you guys, things haven't been all to good lately, Blazey with her health and me with stress and financial troubles. I had a lot of savings that have since dried up, about 4 months ago actually and because of that it had forced me to go back to taking on commission work in order to get by every month. Problem becomes though, that I can't really do both commissions and Patreon, I had tried that in the past and found that I couldn't keep up, and the same thing has happened again. I was doing OK for a little bit, but it got to a point where the rate of commissions being finished per month wasn't keeping pace to what I needed to have finished per month and so I started to fall behind, which meant I kept putting off Patreon duties to catch me back up, but the work flow of commissions is an on going thing and once you start sinking...it gets harder and harder to catch up. It brought me a lot of stress, which made drawing even harder for me...which made finishing even harder, which piled more work on...and it's a downward spiral from there. Drawing is a very mentally taxing occupation and if you're not all there mentally, it just gets harder to the point where drawing becomes almost impossible.  

So I failed again at trying to juggle both and I kinda knew I would...cause I've made the same mistake in the past. I wasn't being very realistic with the work load and it beat me down, as it has before. I've been really stressed about it a lot lately and it's made even seeking help for it really hard...I don't wanna say I'm depressed lately, but I probably have been, because it does bring me down not keeping to my end of things here and it weighs on me knowing that I haven't been able to get you guys anything completed, in almost 2 months now. v.v It sits in my sub conscious and it beats me up...and it's not a good feeling.  

Luckily I do have some great friends who have been kind enough to help me out, even if just by talking with me about it and helping me unload the stress, helping me to admit to myself when I'm over my head, but some have done even more then that and I can't thank them enough, ya'll know who you are, thanks guys. 

But I'm still very much behind and bills still need to get paid, that's life. I'm not a quitter though and I built this Patreon for a reason, because I do love drawing this stuff for you guys and I wanna continue. Blazey is a bit right though, my interests have also changed a little bit, and smut doesn't exactly feed my interests as much as it used too (at least when it comes to the more hardcore smut, I don't think I'll ever get sick of drawing sexy stuff and smut will be an itch I'll neet to scratch from time to time not matter what xD) and so the TSP comic has been a lot harder to work on for that reason. Lately I've really been questioning whether I want to continue putting that sort of work out into the world...but I know some of you guys are here for that reason, so I really don't want to let you guys down. So I'm gonna find a way to finish it for ya, whether that be as a simpler image series or as a black and white doujin, we'll see what I come up with. Point is, I am going to find a way to finish it, but for now I just need to take some time for me and rework how I'm approaching everything here, cause it's not working as it is, and I owe it to you all to figure it out so that it does. 

I've currently stopped taking commissions and I've decided I'll be getting myself a simpler part time job someplace close to home, something that gets me outta the house...cause cabin fever is another thing about what I do that can drive a person nuts I've discovered. xD So getting out, getting exercise and being around coworkers will do a lot for my mental health for sure. Plus, I just need a more steady income to keep me up, so it's definitely the best option for me and one that I should have done from the start...but I'm a real  dum dum and I tend to over estimate my abilities until I'm finally in over my head...I'm a bit stubborn, so I tend to only learn things the hard way. ^^; 

So that's the plan. A part time job will mean less hours drawing, but I think with my peace of mind restored and my financial stresses lowered, drawing will become a LOT easier again. Which will make burning through my backlog, much easier. 

I want to continue doing this for you guys so I'm going to, as Blazey said, the game is something we really want to work on and see through to the end. It's a passion project for us and out of everything I do work on for you guys, it is my favorite and even as defeated by stress as I have been lately, it is still the thing that motivates me the most! Working on the game is not a chore for us, it's always been fun, so we're gonna continue that for sure. Comics I've found I'm not as cut out for, but I'll maybe dabble in it from time to time and do short comics from here on out. TSP was a good lesson in what NOT to attempt your first time writing and second time drawing a comic. xD So I'm going to take that lesson and hopefully never forget it. The game is a little easier I've found, because it's easier to break up into chunks. It doesn't take me long to finish a character concept and when I finish one, it's done and I feel accomplished. Comics are a lot of work and they can be taxing...so I've found the game to be a lot less stress and a lot more fun to work on. It will take longer to finish, but for some reason I never really feel like there is a mountain of work ahead of me...with comics I do. It's strange really...maybe I'm odd, but that's what I've found. xD

So, that's it I guess. I hope that clears things up on my end of things. It's been a rough couple of months for us, but we're moving forward cause that's what you do, when things aren't working out, you figure out what's broken and then you fix it...or you give up, but I'm not one for doing that, so that's not an option.

I'll try my best to get some pinups done this week for you guys, I'll more then likely work on something just for fun to help get my morale back up, but I do still have a couple obligations I've promised you guys and others, namely an Emerald Tier pinup and the last pinup poll with Bunnie Rabbot and Jerry, plus my commissions. I never forget these things, so they are coming...I just need time is all. Time to get myself back on my feet. So I'll start with a just for fun pinup I've always wanted to draw, I think you're gonna like it! ^_^ 

As for next month, I hope to have my part time job figured out and then I'll be putting my efforts into the game. October is my favorite time of the year after all, even just knowing October is coming gets me excited, so that boosts my morale just knowing that Halloween is around the corner! I luv Halloween as you all know, so I'm gonna make damn sure to get at least 1 Halloween pinup done for you guys for October, but yesh, the game will be our main focus for next month and it's already in the works. :) 

Thanx for sticking by us this whole time peeps! The only thing that's really been keeping my head above water lately, has been the Patreon and all of you guys, so I can't thank ya'll enough for all you've done for us and all the support! I plan to make it up to you all and so the first step towards that, is admitting there's a problem and then fixing it! So That's what we're gonna do! :)