Of Badges and Burnout

Hi guys! 

So the past two months have been pretty busy and stressful for me, unlike last year I didn't have the option of taking back hours on my day job. I feel like I may have overworked myself a little so far this year. I'm pushing through, but this has been a valuable lesson on time management and priorities. I forget that last year I didn't have Patreon and my Etsy hadn't started yet, so I'm really doing triple the work!

One of the things I want to talk about a little is Artblock. I tend to get this at least once or twice a year now, and its funny how visibly clear this is (at least to me!) in my own artwork. If you take a look at last year's badges, you might be able to see a block of them that just aren't up to par quality wise than the rest. I had a lot of trouble that week and it shows. I'm happy that the people that commissioned me love their badges and perhaps I'm too hard on myself, but I think everyone is like that to a certain degree. 

I want people to know, that this is totally okay. Every artist goes through this. Stress and self doubt are huge factors for me personally. I've found that the best way to deal with it is to just keep moving forward. Not everything you do is going to be amazing. Don't spend too much time on things that aren't working out well. Just move on, keep trying and don't stop. Its okay to take a break for a day or so as well to recoup and relax too. :)

I feel like I just got over a little artblock, so I present you guys with the current badge group.. that have taken me much MUCH longer to get done than I anticipated. I'll be getting group C sketches out this week though and emailing a few people with invoices.

That being said, I'm going to be closing the Patreon badge form this week. If you'd still like a badge, and need the link, please feel free to contact me! I may not be able to do another public badge group, but I might try to do a pickup only group or an auction again this year. :) We'll see how well I push through this last group this month!