Coffee Ramble - Zero

In the last month I've started making a solid list of things I'd like to accomplish over the coming year.  I was never quite able to solidify a schedule when it came to creating anything here on Patreon (Or in general, creating things on any site).  Schedules got interrupted by life and work, and eventually when I got to a project that I had planned, I was either too creatively or emotionally exhausted to complete it/start it, or I had simply lost interest in the idea I had.

And given that today is my birthday (I'm now older and more creaky!  Hooray?) I figured it would be a nice starting point to solidify some of the things I'd like to get on with.  I admit, I'm kind of excited by this..  And a little terrified.  I'm diving into some things I haven't done in so long that it will effectively be brand new.

Coffee Ramble - So, the first new thing is going to be something called 'Coffee Ramble'.  My semi-caffeinated babbling about.. well, kind of everything.  Some rambles will be about thoughts about art style and creation.  Some chatter will be about a game that I picked up and what I think about it, or even just rabbiting-on about TTRPGS, convection oven cooking, or any other things bouncing around my head at the time.  Its a catch all 'hey, so how is everyone?  Here's some shit I'm passionate about right now' kind of category. 

It's not fore everyone, but it's not going to be a huge feature or anything.  Just a post or two each month about things I'm musing about or interested in.  It's a little like the old 'Livejournal' days (Talk about dating myself as OLD now).

The Stars and Horizon - Another in the 'writing' category.  This is a more focused venture into writing for a world that I largely kept to myself for years now.  It's going to serve a couple purposes:  It's removing a deep thorn of anxiety I've had for years, and it's a way to talk about the realms that all of these madman's scribbles are coming from.

The anxiety comes from years ago.  When I ran some online TTRPG games, I had some players that constantly nitpicked about the world and my more narrative style.  And since I was an un-medicated wreck back then, desperate to run something for any group, it only led to me believing that what I imagined and wrote about was a waste of time, and in one player's words 'ridiculous childish fantasy'.

The other side of this is that I've really wanted to just talk about the world and people within.  I wanted to draw mini-pictures showing off scenes and places and all that nonsense.  I had an idea years ago that got derailed which I'd like to bring back:  Making this a bit of a travelogue of the realms.  There might be some 'gamist' things mixed in, but those who aren't interested in that can skip those things and take in the scribbly bits :)

The Chorus of Stone - Remember that comic I was supposed to get under way?  I don't blame you if you don't.  It was something I wanted to start years ago now.  It was delayed both by COVID and the chaos of caring for a parent who was going into kidney failure at the same time.

I'm happy to say that it's actually now being actively worked on.  As in, I have the first two pages sketched out and another five pages (and a half) written.  I should have the first pages to show early next month.  This is planned to be a monthly feature and one of the things I'm stupidly excited about.  I'm actually a little surprised at how quick this is going as well.  Maybe it's just having the free time to draw something that I've had brewing in my head for over a decade now, maybe it's just learning the ins and outs of graphic illustration again, but I really am loving this process.

The comic will be following the story of Cinders, Berrand, Amathos, Ember, Dougan, Anishta (and later, Auldwin) and the epic story spanning from humble roots in Khivesk to the rise of the cultists of an Old God.  And of course, a world threat, because what fantasy story doesn't need some sort of threat to the whole planet ;)

Commissions - I'll be finally putting out a guideline to commissions and taking a list of folks who might be interested here on Patreon first.  I've more or less decided on what my prices will be, but note that this is going to be a broadly general guide to pricing since individual commissions can vary so widely.  Everything from specific size of the final product, to how many characters are asked for, complexity of backgrounds or even if I have already inked the picture as part of the $10 tier illustration can make prices vary.  But I can at least give a 'base' price for the different styles I can offer.

The list is just to reserve a spot.  It's not locking anyone into a commitment, and is fluid.  Its there to serve as a contact list for when I'm ready to start up on commissioned work.  

I regret how long it took me to finally get this particular price list posted, but it's a hard thing to research since artist pricing can vary so incredibly wildly, sometimes in the realm of hundreds of dollars.  I've seen artists who are capable of working in the AAA game industry asking only a couple hundred for full painted works, to folks who mostly do quick illustrative artwork asking for north of $500 for full page works or even comics.  I've set a price-point that I feel is worth the time it takes me in a 'recreational sense' but still remains in the realm of not grossly overpriced for most people.

Of course, this will be somewhat negotiable on an individual basis, but I also have to think of making more of an income, now that my work as a caregiver has come to an end, and I'm not bringing in any income from it.  Getting back into the workforce after six years is going to take time, so this is a helpful cushion to help pay the bills for the next while.

Adult-ish work? - This isn't quite what the statement might imply.  There have been times in the past that I sketched more adult-ish things and I'm still only contemplating this.  Folks here might not really want to see anything of this ilk and that's totally understandable (there are other venues I could add this kind of work to instead).  It also isn't adult in the way most FA work would be.  More 'cheesecake/beefcake' in nature.  Things like 'sultry looks' or pictures of couples that aren't obsessively focused in their 'bits' or any particular 'fetish' and instead show more of the emotion between them.   It's hard to explain what I mean without examples, of which I don't have man.  But if anyone has seen some distant past works I had done, it's kind of along those lines.

Again, if folks here would rather not see it?  That's cool too!  To be honest, this isn't what drives my work either.  But now and then, I get an image in mind that feels a bit more adult than what I normally draw, and instead of filing it away in the forever vault, I might add it as a sketch instead.

I'll add here that the Chorus of Stone comic will have a very few scattered adult elements in it as well, more as a way to show growing relationships than anything, but it wouldn't be anywhere near a focus of the entire graphic novel series.

That's all I can think of for the ramble this time.  I realize this is a long read, and a bit of a long list too when I think of the fact that I'll still be doing people's $10 tier illustrations each month and general artwork as well.  But hey, it's at least a fairly solid foundational list to work from.

Time to fuel with a little more caffeine and get to sketching.

-T.J.