under the sea .•⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚+ some chonky news

hihi patrons! long time no chat!!

i do apologize for the radio silence - it's been a crazy back to back con time from end of june to early july and honestly the prep was so much more than i expected... i think for anime expo i was running on three hours of sleep for the first couple days?? i want to write a more extensive post on my AX experience and just tabling in general soon so i'll save that for another time!

in the meantime, here's the very belated sketch for the may/june rewards! i think it's coming out really cute~ something about under the sea x fashion x plushies feels so comfy!! i think i might try to make these stickers clear! it's been a while since i've played with a fun finish for stickers~ i've also made the executive decision to make july beach themed gyaru girls bc i REALLY need a moment to just draw something extra self-indulgent and gyaru fashion has really been living rent free in my mind the past few months!

august billing may be paused so i can catch up on july rewards as everything has been pushed back due to the workload that the cons took as well as fulfilling plush preorders. i haven't 100% decided yet, but just giving a heads up in case that happens!

in other very important news, my full-time job is finally ramping down... i'll be done in two weeks! this means that patreon + shop will become my new full time job~ i've been meaning to try to take the independent artist route more seriously... the first time i did this back in 2021-22(?), i think there was a lot of growth for me both as an artist + brand, but unfortunately due to my cat getting severely sick i decided to return to the animation studio for more financial stability - and also bc i love working in a team! this time around, now that a lot of things have settled, i really want to give myself a proper shot at the independent artist path, wherever that leads me. of course, this might be the worst(?) time to go solo due to the state of the economy and greater concerns regarding AI in the entertainment and art industry right now... but we'll see how it goes! at the very least i want to try. you miss all the shots you don't take, yaddayaddaya.

i'm so eternally grateful to have everyone's support through patreon, whether you're a one-month patron or a long-time patron. not to be cheesy, but patreon has truly been a special place where i've gotten to explore all kinds of themes for my illustrations and allowed me to creatively grow as an artist. in the beginning, i was so scared to run a sticker club, and now four years later it's become the thing i'm well known for :'3

okay lastly to wrap things up... i'll be having a shop update with some of the new merch from AX this saturday 7/20 at 10 am pst! dumbiis + caramelos will be sold (i have limited stock) so please be sure to set your alarms! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

<3

baomii