2020 review / 2021 goals

Happy New Year, my gemlins!! 🎆🎇🎉

I hope you arrived in 2021 safe and sound~ Did any of you celebrate in some way?

Personally, I went to bed around 11pm and attempted to sleep through the countdown, because I honestly didn't care about giving 2020 any kind of special send-off LOL;; 

2020 wasn't all bad for me, not a lot has changed in my day-to-day-life and I'm very lucky to be able to say that. I was able to work on my comic in peace throughout the year and got to spend my days as the hermit crab I was always meant to be, without feeling guilty about neglecting social contacts, since those weren't allowed for most of the year anyway, lol.

But of course the overall vibe of the year wasn't a good one in the grand scheme of things, so I'm not sad to see it go. Things won't magically change for the better from now on but I will continue to do my best to at least maybe make a few people in my small bubble and circle of influence smile every now and then :')

Now, I'm not super into thinking about the past, so let's move on to the future:

A lot of people have asked about #MUTED books!

I 100% want to open my shop again this year! In 2020 it didn't make much sense because international shipping was limited for a while and most of my customers are from all over the world, so there was no point in trying to sell anything.

I'm hoping this year things will be different.

However.

Before I reopen my shop, I want to rent out a small studio/office space! I have to have my address visible for everyone on any website I make, and so far it's always been my private address, which, as I learned in the past 2 years, isn't something I'm comfortable with. Also storing merchandise at home is so annoying, I don't want my home to look like a warehouse anymore XD So, office it is.

I'm currently in the process of moving into a new apartment, which I will hopefully be done with around mid/end February. Afterwards I'll start looking for an office. I'm hopeful that won't be too much of a hassle and won't take too long....

Once everything is settled, I will prepare merch and shop. I'll have volume 1 and volume 2 of #MUTED available, as well as some prints and maybe? Something else? I've been thinking of acrylic charms or standees of the #MUTED cast, but I'm open to suggestions if you have any!!

This time I probably won't do preorders, but order a specific amount of the products and once it's sold out it's sold out. Patrons will get first dibs of course, and a nice discount as well :3c

Now, about the future of the comic itself.

#MUTED is slowly entering its final phase, I am fully planning on finishing it this year. As much as I love my boys, I am ready to move on to different projects that have been with me for way longer than Jasper and Kai, and are itching to get out of my brain.

I'm working on new pages every day, the panels above are the beginning of the next episode, which I can hopefully post for you next Sunday!

#MUTED has taught me a lot about how to make original comics, about the work and discipline that's necessary to succeed and not give up halfway through, and also about the "industry" that's attached to it.

I've accepted (and declined) deals with platforms here and there, but realised towards the end of the year that none of them really sit right with me. 

I've felt increasingly annoyed with all the talk on social media on how webcomics are supposed to be made, how fast you should be, how much energy you should invest; seemingly all based on what contracted creators are churning out week after week. I don't like being put in the same box, because I have no desire to follow that standard, it's not why I chose to make comics in the first place.
Also, I feel like what all these hot takes are referring to are webtoons, it's become such a blanket term for everything these days, but what I'm making is a comic, not a webtoon.

My goals are different, so I don't feel super comfortable working with platforms x _x) I'm not sure if I will regret my stubborn principles in the future but for now it's the only path I'm willing to follow.

The only thing I'll be sticking with until #MUTED is over, is the Tapas Early Access, but even that is something I'm struggling with. I'm not sure how much I should get into that tbh, so let's just say - it hasn't been super beneficial, which I already expected from the start, I've been treating it as a learning experience. I've been losing more than I have gained, but it's okay, luckily I'm in a position where I can experiment a bit without worrying too much about the consequences. (and hopefully improve things again once #MUTED is done)

What's important to me right now is to offer you guys on Patreon more again than I could in the second half of 2020. Being one episode ahead of Tapas isn't enough, I will work on steadily increasing your early episodes to at least 3. I won't be able to do that right away probably, but my gemlins deserve more 🥺💜

This year I also want to draw more than just comic pages, I've noticed how much I missed drawing other things, fanart, just doodles of anything else,  ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶I̶g̶n̶o̶c̶t̶. 

It will require some reshuffling in my schedule but I am determined to keep #MUTED running at a good pace, while also exploring other things that are close to my heart, and sharing more of my work and non-work art with you again. 🙏

(I hope all of that makes sense XD I'm very grateful for the opportunities offered to me, I'm in a super privileged position to even consider saying "no" to anything and I'm not taking it for granted ever, but I do not wanna sell myself out for moar moneyz, because that's not my priority and never has been, I don't have super high goals for myself. Being able to do what I do now basically already is my goal in life and I just want to keep it like this :'))))) And since I mostly have to thank you gemlins for that!!!!! I wanna put my focus on you, make sure you get the good stuff, and get it often. 😤)

So yeah, that's basically all of my plans for 2021 so far. Move, make cool merch, draw cool things, and chill with you more often.

For now I will crawl back into my art cave and work on the next episode, so I can show it to you on time~~

Thank you all for reading and see you soon!! 💙