New Year's Roo'solutions 2025
Added 2025-01-18 16:00:08 +0000 UTCNew Year's "Resolutions", but more Roo'd...
Roo 'solutions
Yeh, it's that beginning time of year (and 18+ days...). It's that post where I look back, talk about the last year, try to learn something, tweak things on Patreon, and try again for another year X3
Last time was a three-parter and was a lot of talktalktalk. I'll try not to fall into that trap again...
Starting with an art retrospective
Last year, I had some statistics about pictures and posts. I think it's relevant, and deserves exploration. This year, lets upgrade it, with a GRAPH
(why graph...?)
In total, 2024 ended with:
2 commissions* (one is private; not my proudest work)
1 MASSIVE 7-page Patreon project (BADEND - I still owe a post-mortem post)
5-6 personal arts* (idk, does Girafarig count as 2 because of two heads?)
36 finished "Ideas From a Hat" sketches for patrons-only! (some postponed ideas, but a lot of sequential stuff!!)
79 sketches on Patreon!!
In some ways, I did a lot less that I had done in '23, in some ways more. Getting back to the swing of juggling against full-time work is a necessary evil, and it took me some time to build back momentum. I also hugely cut back on official commissions in order to focus on Patreon commitments. "Ideators" ideas also count as significant commission projects, and I'm extremely grateful ^^.
Lessons Learned (about time I learned...)
One of the hardest lessons learned from 2024 was time and time commitments.
Time commitments are made hard by working a typical 9-5. I had been unemployed and taking remote odd jobs to get by for so long, that I forgot how much time disappears in an office cubicle. I also wasn't expecting a job at all, so the rush lead to a lot of lost sleep.
Immediately in January, I had to cut out a lot of things I didn't want to cut. By May, I had some health scares that, thankfully, turned out not to be as severe as initially thought. I learned very quickly about the power of stress and what it does to one's health.
I'm better now, but it gave me a harsh life lesson about self-care. I learned I have a bad tendency of going too large, over-promising, over-pushing, and sometimes getting a wild idea with no outlet or time to apply it. And then pushing on it anyways. Lots of sleepless nights. Not good when I have to work next morning.
I have to not burn out. I love doing this kind of kinky art, and I'm extremely grateful to patrons for continuing to support it. But... I have to do it at a pace that's comfortable. I have weird and crazy ideas, but those will just have to come as I get time to try them.
I guess the short version is: expect me to take small breaks once in a while, do smaller projects, and make less deadline-specific projects and promises this year.
I'll still keep to my monthly commitments of sketches, ideas, and WIPs, intermixed with occasional art polls. That's actually pretty doable still.
The "NNN!" Project is still very close to done, and I will give the time it needs to feel finished.
As an aside, at least one person on FA ask me if I died... (not literally 'died', but still), so another lesson learned is that I need to make an effort to share things publicly from time to time (one sketch at a time). Patrons know I'm alive. I just need to keep reminding folks outside of here as well. I didn't died x_x
Official Patreon Changes / Updates
I have already communicated some of these updates outward, but to make them official:
Ideator "Ideas" have moved to one idea guaranteed every two months. If I have time, I'll crank that dial back higher. This was actually pretty on-pace with 2024, but I made it official.
Sketch tier: I removed offers to 'suggest' ideas or themes. The perk was just under-used, and I think folks prefer art anyways. I may plan to take more of a "quality-over-quantity" approach to sketches, with less sketches but better looking.
I may also broaden sketch sharing to the public from month to month. Patrons will always get first dibs treatment though.
Process (WIP) tier: expect WIPs to have fewer slides, but WIPs will still be monthly.
Supporters: No changes needed. Thank you for your support <3
Free tier: I never promised anything, but maybe discounts one day! Thanks for watching!
Looking forward
I always have weird thoughts going on in my brain. There will never be a shortage of bizarre art, needlessly horny experiments, and the occasional questionable bout with incoherence.
Sadly, I sometimes have to come to reality, in between the works. Still gotta pay the bills...
I have a lot of plans I WANT to announce I'm diving into next. But I have to make sure I have time for them. I'm trading a lot of my time to bring myself back to financial independence. The worst thing I can do to you is offer something big, and then drag it back slowly to a disappointing crawl.
The future will involve a lot of 'surprise and delight' instead of premature promises. That will be a running theme for a lot of this year... It also means going quiet a lot and then a surprise post as I gain traction on something. I hope that's okay!
I'm very thankful to all of you for watching or even supporting this kind of thing, and your encouragement for the occasional oddity. You all keep this madness kindled! <3
This is a public post, for patrons and watchers alike... thank you!
