Newsletter, Kinda Sorta

As a young teen with an art gallery, I used to write journals on a weekly basis. My followers knew everything about my life. You couldn't shut me up. As I got older, I decided that no one would care about my personal life, or plans and I stopped being as open with the people following my art. But I've been told by my very knowledgeable manager that people like to know about what's going on with me, so I'm going to try and do a better job of that here.

The summer was rougher than I'd have liked, which is why it's been a little quiet around here. First an intense RSI flare up, then I had an unsatisfactory trip visiting family, and then two weeks after that I caught Covid from a roommate and was down for almost two weeks. I had hoped spending so long in bed resting would allow my hand to rest and heal some, but the moment I sat down to draw again it was painful enough that I spent another week after that not drawing. It's not something I can pop a pill for every time it hurts and I need to work, I've taken ibuprofen so often and in such quantities that I now have to be careful I don't hurt my stomach. Sometimes doing something that requires a different pose for my hand helps- which is why in July I got really into my 3D art for a while. I have an ergonomic mouse suggested to my by a physical therapist, and it helps a lot sometimes to use, but even overdoing it with that hurts, so I have to really balance my projects.

I've gotten a lot done in the last week, and I'm feeling really motivated in a lot of areas that I hadn't been around the start of the year, so that's exciting. I even had some ideas for comic scenes that I outlined. The script is forever a work in progress even though large portions of it are "Finished", but I kinda see that as a good thing. We never stop improving, so going back and reworking old scenes and adding new ones means the story only gets better! I'm really looking forward to drawing those parts. The chapters I'm working on now are a lot of the same- Mort and Noah just talking, Noah complaining, Mort rubbing in the fact he's bigger. I love them for what they are, but things won't always be this way, and I look forward to drawing them in the situations they get themselves into.

But I'm also really looking forward to animating some of these scenes. If I could swing it, I'd much rather animate the whole comic. I'm not amazing at animating, but the things I'm bad at in drawing- consistency mostly, but also human anatomy and buildings or anything human made basically, can detract from the comic art, and I feel like the fandom is really lacking for more serialized 3D animations. One-offs are fine, but they're not what I crave, and I assume I'm not alone. Sadly 3D renders are not an easy feat to achieve. I have the knowledge, but switching focus when you already have a revenue stream for one media style is not easy either. I have this machinery for one thing, and now I need to basically duplicate it and modify it, and it's daunting. I don't want my 3D art to detract from comic time, which makes for a good storyboard and thus would need to happen regardless of if the comic was my main focus or not. So I don't think I'll ever quit one for the other, but its slightly frustrating some days when I need to work on comic stuff and I'm not in the mood, and I'd rather be doing 3D. I'm working on methods of scheduling to better manage this sort of thing, so nothing to worry about, but it's a work in progress still. ^^'''

In IRL news, I'll be (hopefully) starting falconry this fall. It's been a goal of mine for almost as long as I've had my Lemondeer accounts. For one reason or another I've failed to get started every year until now. I've studied up and I'm *almost* ready to take the state test, so we'll see how that goes. If I manage it, I'll have another hobby that doesn't require a computer and a really excellent excuse to go outside and get a ton of exercise which I hope will help with some of my health issues. I'll also have a murder birb to take lots and lots of reference photos of, so I'll be able to up my gryphon drawing game! >:3

Overall a goal of mine through the fall is to just be here more. Be more available and open. Which seems counter intuitive with all my plans to go in different directions, even directly away from my computer, lol, but I'd love to do things like stream more often- for everyone, Patreon and publicly. I miss doing that, but unfortunately my stage fright has become so unmanageable that I struggle to draw in front of anyone anymore. Something I need to work on! I'd also like to offer more commissions. I'll be drastically limiting the number I accept at a time, but then I should be able to offer new slots more often. It's another thing I'll have to juggle with my 2D and 3D dance, but when I haven't over extended myself I really enjoy working on them, and would like to get a healthier balance going where I can do a few and then rest from them.

Anyways, there's my little update. Expect more comic pages soon, I'm working on them today and tomorrow for sure. I'll try to post updates about goings on, and keep you guys in the loop.
Thank you as always for your continued and persistent support, I can't even express how helpful it is, especially when things are going sideways for me. It's nice to remember y'all are here for me! <3