On Self Awareness and Progression

Hi Everyone! I've just returned from Los Angeles after attending the Line Weight VII show at Gallery Nucleus and visiting old friends and new. I had a really great time. While I was gone, I was away from most of my usual art tools and unable to participate in various art challenges this month, such as #maysketchaday and #mermay, and #metsona. I enjoy participating in these events when I can, and  having these collective challenges are great for folks who need a prompt, or simply want a way to grow their audiences. Not participating in this challenges caused me to think about my work and time.

At some point this month I began to have a certain feeling that artists suffer from time to time - that feeling that somehow, you're getting worse, rather than getting better. I'm not sure why I started to feel this way. It might be part of the impostor syndrome, it might be seeing peers suddenly leveling up. A combination of a few things. Suddenly challenges like #mermay and #maysketchaday felt like a chore rather than something I'd do for fun or growth. I began to think about the current state of my art, how I felt about it, and what I want out of it in the future. Honestly I think about this all the time but have yet to reach a point where I'm happy about any of it.

The great thing about #maysketchday is that it forces the artist out of their comfort zone to create something imperfect, rather than nothing at all. Last year I was in a mindset where I was barely making any personal art, so the challenge was good for me. This year I felt like I produced a lot of art for other people, produced ok ideas for myself, but not enough finished pieces for myself to be proud of. So even though it's incredibly tempting to participate in hashtag challenges and grow follower counts, I decided to save the energy for later and really think about where I want my personal art to go. Part of it has been seeing other artists progressing like lightning, without the aid of hashtag material. Just a lot of practice and drawing what they want to draw. 

Of course, everyone is on a different path. I encouraging folks who are participating in these challenges to keep going! The art generated during this month is always awesome to look at and for every piece you produce, you're still leveling up. For folks like me who don't want to do challenges to save energy for their own creative products or battery - you're not alone, even though it's super tempting. Everyone recharges in their own way (maybe these challenges are incredibly motivating for you!) and each person has a different agenda. Self awareness and knowing what steps you need to take to progress is a hard thing. Sometimes it's good to take a break from everything to think about your own.

When I left Microsoft, I intended to take the year off to work on my personal portfolio. It’s been almost a year and since then I have mostly focused on freelance, because I was afraid of saying no to work in case my freelance career took off, and to pay the bills. Luckily with the help of Patreon  its potential, I might be able to focus on my initial goal with more of a peace of mind in the future.

On that note I'll be taking a social media hiatus - mostly from Twitter and Facebook. I will keep to Patreon and Instagram for now, so I can focus on upcoming work, commissions, Patreon, personal art, etc.

As for Patreon Announcements:

1. I'm excited to say that I'll be working with White Squirrel to help with future store order fulfillment, and they will be helping me collect information for Founders pins soon. This is great news because they will be helping me find the most economical, fastest shipping for costumers, and because this will free up time so I can dedicate more time to art. The pins shipped from China today, and should be arriving in the next few weeks, which I will then hand off to White Squirrel.

2. I will be delivering a process post and with my brushes to Tier 2 Patrons+ this week!

3. I will be thinking about a calendar so Patrons can get a sense of when rewards will deliver. Probably the first of each month. Thank you so much for pledging while I'm figuring all of this out!

4. Once in a while I'll make these sort of "art philosophy" thoughts / blog posts available publicly when relevant!

5. I've gotten some specific questions in private messages relating to my career, I may start taking questions from Tier 2 Patrons and above to answer.

Cheers!
Jenn