So i really want to start focusing on regular blog updates to the website and posting new art here.
Some years ago i use to keep a blog under Drawlikecrazy.net which is now the home of my caricature business. I basically shut down and I stopped updating. The old archive is still under blogger however.
Truth is maintaining a website became more and more complicated. I was selling art on website like ebay and etsy, I was trying to maintain multiple social media outlets like facebook, deviantart, blogger, patreon, twitter, and on and on! And it just got overwhelming on top of doing commissions, working full time, taking care of my mom, running a small caricature business, and trying to do comic projects at night.
I was just burning myself out.
The problem with that is I tend to eliminate the things I love first when I get overwhelmed to support the needs of others. So I abandoned my blog and stopped posting on DA. Two very near and dear platforms for showing my work.
Daily sketches stopped. Personal work stopped. Animation stopped. Commissions stopped. Comics stopped. I just stopped everything for a while because life was just beating me up way to much, and it was winning.
I have to say that now things have changed a lot. The last couple of years I have started to control my life much more and it has reignited a passion in me to be creative.
I was so excited to sit down at the drawing table today and draw. New ideas are bubbling up, new opportunities are coming and I just feel so much more enjoyment in being a artist and creating.
I finished Tornado Alley: Night of the Were-Rabbit. I have new story ideas in the works. I’m drawing my own stuff for fun again and I just feel like being an artist again. For the first time ever in my life, I feel like I have my own life.
In the words of old school Janet Jackson, “I got my own life, I wanna make my own decision. I wanna be the one in control.”
Anyway, I am taking small steps over time to work on the site. Adding new content and art, putting fun stuff in my little gumroad store. ArieMonroe Art will be a regular space for regular updates of my work.
No more Patreon, no more constant posting on every single social media site on earth, aside from announcing updates. No more stressing myself. Just being creative and enjoying making new projects in whatever time frame I see fit.
At the moment I am just updating the blog, but at some point you will see more comic pages in the clean scanned form here on the website. Not just photos taken and put on Instagram. Art will become available for purchase on my gum road along with other small items.
I highly doubt I will be doing any commissions unless I really feel inclined. I’m not chasing fame or popularity. I just want to be creative and share my work. If you want to support my work there will be options for that. And little by little I hope to grow my catalog of personal achievements through self publishing and Indy products and merch.
So if you are reading this, thanks for making it to the end and going on this walk with me. I hope you will stick around to see what comes up in the future.