RESOURCES 3

hi everyone! there was no wrap up last month because my resources were pretty sparse, and this month has also been A Mess, but two sparse months make for a decent monthly wrap up! so let's go!

i haven't really picked up resources per se but i have made some changes regarding how i organise my work, and there are two things i'd like to recommend that have helped me a lot, especially lately. those can apply to work or studying, not only doing artsy commissions! 

GMAIL ORGANISATION:

mail organisation:
if you use gmail and email back and forth between people i cannot recommend this enough and i've been using this for around... 7 or 8 years now? it's one of the essentials and first things you can do to help you organise your schedule and threads:

you probably know that you can mark important emails by toggling on the little star next to the name; this pins the emails at the top, making them a separate category, like so:

but you can also go to your settings, then scroll down to see stars, and add another markings if you want to differentiate between different types of emails in the starred category:

(my gmail is not in english so instead of subjecting you to a lot of indecipherable text i straight up stole this example picture from pcworld.com, don't sue me) 

you can arrange them to however you need, and this is how i use them when doing commissions, i'll explain what each means:

star:  a simple waiting list. these are emails that i will get back to when it's their turn.
green check sign: paid for AKA task at hand! the most important marking in the list.
red exclamation mark: i'm on it, and we are brainstorming, but the payment haven't gone through yet.
purple question mark: missing in action, awaiting response after the first draft, or generally anything else that requires attention.
 

you will see i also use labels to help me arrange them by months or type. this helps me not take 16 commissions in august and then 3 in october because i guesstimated wrong.

tip i wish i had adhered to before: if you estimate the commission will be done in the middle of august, tell your client it'll be done in the middle september. it's better to bring the finished product earlier than anticipated, than have to explain yourself why it's late.

GOOGLE SPREADSHEET

because next to regular commissions i also do patreon ones, i like to keep them separately in a spreadsheet. for some it might be redundant to use both the gmail organiser and the spreadsheet, but it works for me if i need to glance quicky at what needs to be done without having to spend time to read through every email to see where we're at. 

this helps because i do patreon commissions in a batch, one after another, and i can check the one that's done, and quickly see which is ready to go next.

i hope these make sense!
they also help me alleviate the anxiety whenever i feel like i have so much to do a certain day; if i look at the number of tasks and their deadlines, it's no longer SOME BIG AMOUNT but, say, 4 pieces to draw + 1 zine piece. now that it's a sepcific number and sort of tangible, i know how much i have to do and i can organise my days to do it.

LIL TUTORIAL!

panoramic dart + quick grid: this tutorial is mainly for panoramic drawings, but can also be helpful if you need to create a quick perspective grid for your drawing! this cuts down the time you would spend drawing the grid by hand, or searching for a ready grid of the perspective you need online. i still use either of those methods, but if there's a tool to make your life easier, why not use it?

toodles! 💕