April (2025) Monthly Update - Take 2
March ended up being much more packed than originally anticipated for better and worse. Worst on the physical-side sadly buit gonna try to not have that detour me. It’s that time again so let’s dive into a few key things.
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But all of that is changing soon! Something happened that is greatly going to change how this is going to go and makes me hopeful for April and May. Let’s get into why…
State of IRL (Internal Screaming Intensifies but some hope)
To be honest, I've been incredibly burnt out at everything that I am doing. A quick summary is a 80-hour work week with barely anytime to breathe. Because of this, a lot of things have been put on hold and (was) looks(ing) to be going on still for the time being. So, here is the plan going forward:-
Is what I would say but an amazing opportunity just opened up! So, there's a great possibility that I'll be getting more hours at the workplace I like a LOT more, and got the green lit to put in my 2-weeks in May. When I first heard this, I had a bit of a harder time processing it but this ends up being such a major win. I would like to go over somethings that “MIGHT" happen. Any areas crossed out were from the first take.
Art CPR and update
At the time of writing this, it’s been… almost a month of no real art worked on. The prep for cons and the “State of IRL” has left me in a crippled mental state that has made it hard to push for anything in regards to artwork. My saving graces right now has to do with several art commissions in the pipeline keeping that creativity alive. It’s hard to think what needs to be changed for that but it’s something I’m wrestling with and will hopefully have a solid gameplan in the near future.
I'm trying to at least still make one art piece a month with many ideas now being saved for probably next year. This is not me giving up, as I do love making art. But right now it’s been harder than anticipated.
Come MerMay tho, things will be opening back up! I'm hoping to do a blitz of art to make up for everything that I missed. I got almost 10 ideas that have yet to be touched too. My hope is to get back to 1 art piece a week!
Commissions will also reopen/recommence around that time. I was debating about rasing the prices again to have a better living condition thanks to my art. However, with how turbulant the world is at the moment, it is not a wise investment to do such a thing until things become more stable.
Streaming Returning
To the one person that missed my streams (at least vocally), I'll be starting those up once again! I was already planning on starting those up again in mid-May but it's looking like that'll be the comback week! I already have one of those days planned out, so it'll be more planned out as more of the days get ironed out.
After that, it's looking more like a lot of these will be Mid-Day art streams; perhaps one or two LPs. Probably some goofing off multiplayer-wise but more collabs would be nice if possible.
Video Production Ramp-Up
One of the things I want to do is to get back into video production and creating shorts and videos of my content. I do have ideas but most of them have not come to fruition thanks to lack of a devotion and wanting to adjust the frames for shorts. The streams before the contractor work opened my eyes into seeing what I CAN do when pushing forward with effort and adjusting the schedule to match it.
I’ll try to form a more complete schedule soon, stay tuned!
Merch Update
- All of the Store fronts
As for storefronts, this has been the hardest decision to go for. As much as I enjoy Ko-Fi, it’s been hard to push people towards it for buying merch. Which the advertising issue has always raised it’s head, something like this needs a better space to sell items at the very least.
In the end, I decided… on a convoluted solution.
Square.Store
After talking about, especially with Imouri shop at Tora-Con, I decided to make the main merch shop powered by Square! It's what I use for the cards but it's one that I feel like would be the most beneficial in the long-term. I do wonder if there's a way to accept donations through it and have those appear as alerts. More research needed but I'll have this going sometime in June at the very least.
Etsy
So, I decided to open an Etsy store but only to help promote myself at the very least. I noticed that Etsy is one of the socials that a lot of artists use to promote outside of the usuals. So the plan right now is that it will be limited, some prices marked up due to the Etsy fees, and to have as a way to entice other people.
VGen
SO, while I was at Tora-Con, VGen released the beta for all Verified users! Right now, I want to get all of the digital goods that are on Ko-Fi over to VGen, have another place to at least share them. I am hoping for physical soon but another place to sell is not a bad thing.
Ko-Fi
I'm going to try my best to keep it updated. It's actually been pretty successful thanks to one buyer but can't deny that it is working! So no plans to close the physical good for this storefront.
Outside of those, I do plan more options like buttons in the future and so many ribbons were at the cons that it's going to be a good idea to do a few.
Quick Update post Syracuse Collector’s Con:
Disappointing to say but the convention was more of a bust. The interactions from other artists tho really uplifted my mood and it was good to hear I wasn’t the only one struggling. Possibly placement or subject matter really hurt my audience grab. But it’s a learning experience I’m glad I got.
Original Character Status Report
I had a plan of 5 characters to make this year, and right now I only have a sketch of 1. OOF! Can't lie, due to all of the stress and business, the OC brainrot has had less of an affect. That upsets me, as OCs are honestly amazing and one of the pillars for me wanting to art! So, this is one of the biggest things that got affected in 2025. All I can really say is that I’m hoping to pick up on it again come Mid-May, and already the gremlins are starting to brainstorm.
Are there ways to help?
Why yes there is! I've been pushing at this but becoming a Monthly Supporter helps out a LOT! Even $1 a month helps quite a bit and adds up no only overtime but with more people.
If you can not spare a buck (understandably so right now), little things like Commenting, liking, and following can also help. Some of these comments help out a lot with pushing forward too when I'm feeling not the greatest. There are more than plenty of ways to help support what I do.
Monthly Support Tier Test Flight
Speaking of support, I’ve opened up a new tier on Ko-Fi to test out if people would be interested in mail/postcard but at a lower tier @ $15. To compensate for this, I’ve added an art print and an extra sticker for the time being to the Express-Taurs slot ($20). I am also hoping this will help in being more productive when it comes to making art pieces, like lighting a fire under my creative ass.
As I mentioned before, this is a test run so if there is no changes by June 2025, the test will be over and things will revert back to the normal stages. I recommend at least checking it out or at least providing any feedback as possible.
Short little Discord Server update:
Wanted to just address this quickly. I added two new things to my server
WIP-Board
I noticed there’s been a lot of flood in Art-and-design of Works in Progresses, so I decided to make a new channel for Artists and Content Creators to show off their WIPs in a better space.
Soci-feed
This is something I wanted to get around to for a while. I added an announcement channel just for Posts on social feeds like Bluesky. This channel is only applied to “Content Supporters” role tho so if you are focused on other aspects, it won’t add to the clutter.
Conclusion:
I am REALLY hoping things stick this time around, this is probably one of the better outcomes I’ve wanted in such a long time! Right now I’m planning everything out to make sure I get what I need before May hits. April is looking like one I need to mentally hold out for but fingers crossed!
