2020 Plans and Projects!

Hey peeps, 

Okay, so this post is probably a little late since it’s like...the end of February, but since I still feel like it’s mid-January, here it goes. XD

There’s going to be a bunch happening this year art-wise for me, and I will need your input on a few of those things, so I thought I’d give you a general run-down of my projects and plans for the upcoming months!

1. Catching up on late rewards

I have a few rewards I am late on delivering, and I am currently in the process of finalising those, which the aim to release them in February and March.
You can expect 3 Process Videos ($5+ tiers) as well as 2 Tiny Tutorials ($10+ tiers).
I will have a video for Bloom, The Thieves, and Fragment, and a tutorial about painting translucent objects. I haven’t decided what the second Tiny Tutorial will be, so do feel free to offer up suggestions if you have a topic in mind. 

This is currently my PRIORITY, I need to get these done asap, so if I’m a bit quiet every so often, it will be because I am working away on those.
I am revamping the Process Videos to make them more sleek, and include more information in them, so they are taking me a little while to put together (that and the fact that each video in its raw form is over 7 hours long, and I have to watch all of it several times). But I am on it, I promise. Bloom is nearly finished, and the others are all in progress. 

2. Reward and Tier changes 

These have already been implemented, and you can refer to this post for more details.
I am hoping that these changes will help me spend more time on creating art, which is what I feel I really need this year. Patreon is an ever evolving life-form and will continue changing as time goes by and I find new and better ways to manage it. Thank you so much to all of you for sticking with me through all these different stages and evolutions! 

3. $20+ Tier Rewards (big print)

This is a minor thing, but I want to mention it :
You may have noticed that I’ve had trouble sending physical rewards every month, and have had to group them into one package every so often.
Smaller rewards, such as rewards for the $10 and $15 tiers, I can keep up with reasonably easily, but because the $20+ tiers require a painting to be done during the month in order for me to have an 8x10 print ready, I have had trouble putting those together when I haven’t been able to either do a painting that month, or finish a painting in time.

Therefore, I wanted to apologise, and be honest about the fact that, from time to time, I may be a little late with sending rewards that include 8x10 prints.
Don’t worry about needing to delete your pledge when you haven’t received your prints yet ; I keep good track of you all, and I will send you your late prints even if you stop pledging at some point before I have sent your rewards. 

Big paintings just take me a little longer to put together sometimes, and I might have to bundle a couple months’ worth of rewards into one package every so often, but I promise that I keep track and I’ll always do my best so that you don’t miss out on your rewards.
Thank you so much for your continued support and patience!

Last year was the first year I really started looking into submitting work to galleries and publications. I had my first art show, that then snowballed into 5 shows, and it was all really interesting and taught me a lot.
This year, I won’t be able to submit work to as many places as I did last year, as I have to be careful with my finances (and most submissions cost money), but luckily, a few really great opportunities found me instead!
Here’s a quick breakdown of what will be happening. 

1. WOWxWOW Online Dark Art Show

I am super thrilled to say that I have been invited to participate in the WOWxWOW “Fiends of the Dark” Group Show in April, and I plan on doing at least one if not two pieces for the show, which you’ll obviously get to see first.
WOWxWOW is an online gallery, so all the pieces will be displayed online for the duration of the show.
I am very excited about this opportunity, as this is a really tremendous collective, that features a lot of my favourite artists regularly in their show line-ups, so I am beyond thrilled to have been contacted to be a part of this particular event!

I have settled on two designs for the show, based on the two below sketches. I want to paint them with similar compositions, so that they will almost seem like they go together. 

I will share the progress of the pieces with you as I go, and you can find the details of the show below.
I will also make a dedicated post once the show launches, that will contain everything you need to know. 

- Gallery website : https://wowxwow.com
- Exhibition dates : 3rd of April 2020 to 24th of April 2020.
- All pieces will be available for purchase via the gallery website. 

2. December US Solo Show with The Dark Parlour

Last year, The Dark Parlour got in touch with me asking if I would be interested in doing a month-long solo show with them. The Dark Parlous is an oddity shop/dark art gallery, that I had heard of before as it has hosted shows from artists I personally admire and have followed for a while, so this is a rather big deal to me also.
This project differs from the WowXWow project though, in that it would be a solo show (only me involved) as opposed to a group show (where lots of artists exhibit together), and it would be a physical show, not an online one, meaning that anyone in the area can visit the gallery and see my works in person. 

Because the gallery is in the United States, I would unfortunately not be able to visit in person, especially since sending work to them is already going to cost me quite a lot of money. I hope to one day be able to attend shows in the US, but for now, I’ll have to settle with watching from afar. If any of you have the opportunity to visit, I would love it if you could send me some pictures! :)

Here are the details I have so far, and I’ll have a full dedicated post about it all, maybe even a few as I prepare for the show.
♥ I will probably enlist your help in choosing which pieces to send, so keep an eye out for that if you’d like to be a part of it! :)

- Gallery website : https://www.thedarkparlour.com
- Gallery address : 118 East King Street, York, Pennsylvania, 17401, US
- Exhibition dates : 1st of December 2020 to 31st of December 2020

3. Infected By Art Volume 8 Inclusion

And last but most definitely not least...I got included in a big art book!
Infected by Art (IBA) is an online platform that hosts art competitions, online galleries and physical art projects such as their highly regarded yearly compilation art book.
Everyone and anyone can submit work to their publication, and 2019 was my second year submitting work to them. And I got in!
The jury selected Bare as a piece to be included in the book! 

I am really thrilled about this, as, again, this is a publication I really look up to, and a lot of artists I respect and admire have been and will be included in the book.
This feels like such a tremendous step towards being part of the professional art community, and means a lot to me.
I am not sure when the book is due to be published, but I will obviously keep you in the loop once I know more!

- IBA website : https://www.infectedbyart.com

1. Inktober Clearance Sale (March)

Some of you may remember the two polls I did last year asking everyone which of my 2017 and 2018 inktober drawings I should keep in my shop. (This one and this one)
These posts were done with the intention to remove 90% of my inktober drawings from my store, as they are slowly taking over my shop and although I love them, it is becoming a bit ridiculous, and I feel like moving on from them and making space for new things. 

So, the plan will go ahead this year, and I will be removing most of my inktober drawings from the store, apart from the 5 most popular ones from each year (chosen thanks to your votes in the aforementioned polls).  

However, before I put that change into place, I will be doing a massive Inktober clearance sale, in which all my Inktober drawings will be discounted (Prints and originals). 

As always, you guys will have a day ahead of everyone else to take advantage of the sale, and you will all have an exclusive Patreon-only discount code, that will apply to every patron (tier-specific codes will be deactivated for the duration of the sale). 

I am planning to have this sale happen around the end of March, right before I go on my Youtube hiatus. (See below for more information on that)

I will obviously keep you updated and I’ll have a post with all the information closer to the date.

2. Store Platform Switch + Relaunch Sale

Once I have done the Inktober Clearance Sale, I will be working to transfer my shop platform from Storenvy to my own online store (Squarespace). 

♥ This is something I will need your help with for sure.
It would be wonderful if I could get a few people to test out my new shop platform and help me work out the kinks by being my guinea pigs.
I haven’t figured out all the details yet, but it will probably go along the lines of asking a few people to buy a print (for a symbolic amount, like $1 or something) off of the new platform, and let me know if you encounter any particular problems. (You would obviously get the print in the mail too, like a normal order).
If that sounds like something you’d be happy to help with, let me know, and I’ll get in touch once I am in the thick of it!

Once the new store is ready, I will have a launch sale, with once again a special code for patrons.
I will have hopefully prepared new products for the new shop, including new stickers and prints, and I will be uploading a bunch of originals too, so it should all be fairly exciting and fun. I hope. :)
It will obviously all depend on whether the test runs of the new platforms work out, and whether having my shop on that new platform is advantageous for my business, but I will be able to figure all that out over the next few months, and I will keep you updated. 

And in theory, I would like this store launch to coincide with my next project : a relaunch of my Youtube Channel. See below.

1. Youtube Hiatus and Channel Relaunch

So.
This one is a big one. 

A bit of backstory :
Since about mid-2019, my channel has been pretty much dying.
Each video gets fewer and fewer views, Youtube sneers at me every time I upload by pointing out that I get less engagement, and nothing I do seems to change that. It’s exhausting, I feel like I’m walking against the wind, or wading through mud.
The algorithm has decided noone wanted to watch my videos, and therefore has been slowly burying me.
And by the way, this is not about « doing this for the views » because this is not what is going on here. It’s way more complicated than that.
Running a business is very tricky, and an art business even more so. Effective running of my business relies on me being smart about how I spend my time, and structuring things so that as much of my time is spent creating art, while also having viable and stable income sources around that.
Youtube is nowhere near my main source of income (that’s you guys <3) but it IS the main source of my growth. I earn less than $150 a month with adsense income (money from ads on my videos), but that is (was) compensated by the fact that it allowed me to grow, reach a new audience, sell products, gain new patrons, and have sponsorships, all of which are absolutely ESSENTIAL to my survival as an artist, obviously.  
Not only that, but the current struggle that is Youtube for me has really affected my mental health, and I cannot have that. That is not ok, and I need to find a better way to deal with Youtube, that doesn't affect me so deeply.

Here’s what’s tricky with Youtube :
Videos take A LOT of time. Even the simpler ones to edit, such as timelapses, take at least 1 or 2 days to put together, not counting the painting process, or the fact that filming a painting makes it takes twice as long as it would normally. That’s 1 or 2 days where I am only editing, nothing else. I can’t work on anything else during that time.
Now, that would absolutely be a good use of time if, in return for the time spent on the video, I got some growth, the occasional new patron, store sale, commission, or sponsorhip.
But that can only happen if my channel grows and if my videos attract a newer and slightly bigger audience every time I upload.
I am not asking for exponential growth, or rapid growth. In fact, I quite like how things were before, when I was growing slowly but steadily. Gradual but stable growth is ideal for a business like mine.  
But unfortunately, lately, nothing has been growing, and the time and effort I spend on each video has been lost. The more time I spend on something that isn’t allowing me to live of my art, the more I lose in the long run, including time, which I could spend on creating more art. So lately, Youtube has been a net loss for me.
Which is heartbreaking, in part because I do genuinely love making videos!! It is a different way for me to be creative, which I love (I love diversity in my practice, it keeps me on my toes and excited), but also because I LOVE my audience! Everyone is so kind, so supportive, so incredibly wonderful. It breaks my heart to be forced to stop working on videos because it damages my business, when I so wish I could simply keep creating content for the few lovely peeps that still make up my audience. But it isn't viable at this point. BUT I am not giving up!
I may not be able to spend as much time on videos as I wish I could, but I still want to create some. So the alternative is to create videos less often. But hopefully, higher quality. 

The main thing you need to know :
Because of all the above reasons, I want to revamp and relaunch my channel.
I want to focus on making fewer but better videos, divided into series and themes, as well as revamp the look and feel of my Youtube « brand »...thing.  
In order for that to happen, I will be pausing my uploads for a few weeks, hopefully at least a month and at most 2 months, using that time to work on videos and content, and then relaunching it all on a specific date. 

This is obviously still a work in progress, but here is what I have planned for the new channel so far :
♢ I want to have a few big series, or overarching themes :

♦ SKETCH TO PAINTING : The main one I want to focus on, would consist of about 1 video a month, focused on the in-depth creation of one specific painting (Similar in concept to this video).
This would NOT be the same thing as the Process Videos I create for Patreon, in that I would not show all my references and sketches, and would not detail all my supplies and techniques. But it would show most sketches and the big stages of the creation of the piece, with a sort of vlog-style structure.  
I am still
♦ LIVESTREAMS : An idea I am pondering, is having a monthly livestream, linked in concept to the big painting video. I would go live on Youtube once a month, after the painting video comes out, and I could answer questions, open packages if I received anything (although I don’t have a PO box and can’t afford one at the moment, but we’ll see), maybe occasionally critique submitted artwork, and we could discuss the painting of the month and talk about
I want to find a way to include patrons in a special way, perhaps by giving priorities to your questions, or something along those lines.
(This idea comes from watching the Youtuber PhilosophyTube. He uploads big videos once a month and then has a livestream to discuss the themes and topics of his recent video. I think it is a wonderful way to interact in a more personal way with my audience as a creator, which I love). 

♢ Other series ideas I have (less set in stone, and would be more occasional uploads rather than regular ones) :
♦ ARTIST COLLABORATIONS : These would only be very occasional, with maybe 2 or 3 a year if that, but I would like to collaborate with a few of my art friends. I want those to be fairly unique and unusual though, and I am pondering ideas on how to make them exciting and interesting for my audience. I’ll probably make a post about this in the future, to detail what ideas I have at the moment, and see if you guys have any too.
♦ ARTIST EVOLUTION : One of my art objectives for this year is to explore my style in depth, and figure out what I want my overarching art identity to be. I would like to make this personal research into a small series of videos, as I think that a lot of people are in or will be in a similar situation in their art journey, and I believe it could be a helpful and/or interesting insight into the world of a burgeoning professional artist like me. This series would be about my style at first, but could then lead to videos about running an art business, and all the trials and errors that entails. 

That is it for now, and I think it is already a lot. I will be focusing on those points for now, and will be building my new channel structure around these ideas.
Having to create videos as often as possible in order to try to stay in the algorithm’s good graces is sucking the life out of me, and I am not ok with it anymore. The changes above are designed so that I can focus on creating videos I really love again. Whether that will allow me to grow again, I don’t know, but that isn’t the objective. I want to enjoy making videos again, and whatever happens next to that happens.
So that’s it.  I’d love to know what you think!

♥ What I would love to have your help with : 

- Coming up with names for the video series.
- Helping me redesign my channel look and video assets (intro, outro, logos, pop-ups...).
- Choosing thumbnails for the videos.
- Ideas as to how I could involve you guys in the livestreams.
- Ideas on how I could collaborate with other artists in a unique and innovative way. 

Enamel Pin Project

Thank you for all your votes on the enamel pin design! (This post)
It looks like the white snake will win, which is wonderful. And slightly unexpected!
A lot of you said you had trouble choosing between black and white, and honestly, I’m glad you made that choice for me, because I sure wouldn’t have been able to, hahaha!
Now, my next step will be looking into manufacturers and production costs.
I am currently low on funds but I am hoping that my upcoming sales will help me build that up again. Regardless, I will be delving into costs, and hopefully will be able to have at least a small amount manufactured.
I’ll keep you updated of course!

Sorry this project has been dragging on for so long, another of my 2020 resolutions is to focus on the projects I have planned, and see those to their full completion, before I start talking about new projects. It’s difficult to rein my brain in when it gets excited, but I really need complete things before I start getting into other stuff, haha. So this pin project is definitely up high in the priority list. :)

And last but not least, I want to talk a little about my general plans for my art this year.
Because ultimately, this is what this is all about!

I think 2019 was the year where I had to come to grips with the harsh realities of owning an art business, and had to learn a lot quite quickly, which led to me not spending as much time on my art as I would have wished, but also being more stressed and tired than usual due to the mental load of having to learn so much so fast. Which in turn obviously affected my art and creativity. 

That meant that I felt really creatively starved by the end of the year.
The good side of that, is that I now have tons of energy to start spending on creating!

♦ This year, I want to focus on painting as much as possible.
I will be focusing less on coming up with new ideas, and more on developing the ideas I already have and want to turn into paintings.
I have this list that I want to start working on, as well as a few extra ideas I am excited about (that I will share with you soon). 

♦ Importantly, I want to take my time with each piece.
I might start working on several at the same time, as I find that having some variety in my creative tasks helps me gain more momentum and energy. As opposed to focusing on one piece singularly for too long, which often leads me to feel more frustrated and bored.
I want to spend more time on thumbnails (which means asking you guys about your opinion on compositions and details of the sort ;)), as well as do colour tests and perhaps digital mockups.
Basically, I want to really explore my pieces and create more complex, more ambitious paintings. I’m excited. 

 ♦  Next to that, I am going to work on my sketchbook more.
I have worked in my sketchbook a fair amount the last couple of years, but in an involuntarily very controlled way. I have been creating fairly complex sketches and focused a lot on coming up with new original ideas and finding concepts to paint.
This year, I want to loosen up.
I have already started experimenting and working on doing less high-pressure sketches in my Daily Doodle Diary, as well as in my regular sketchbook (you’ll see those loose pages in my March Sketchbook PDF), and it feels AMAZING.
So I’ll be doing that more.
I’m going to be messy, experimental, less controlling, and more wild.
I won’t be sharing most of those pages anywhere other than here, so stay tuned if you’d like to see me be a little less of a control-freak, and a bit more of a wild child! 

Okay, this is a LONG post, haha!
I sort of poured my heart out here, and I can’t imagine many people will read it all, so here’s a TL;DR! 

That’s it for now, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you’ll enjoy seeing all these projects come to life!
I look forward to sharing all this with you, and I am so so so thankful for your tremendous help in making all this happen.
You guys. Absolutely. ROCK.

On that note, have a wonderful week,
And see you soon. 

All my love,
M