Final 2019 Life Update!
Hopefully this will be my last big "Life Update" for the year!
Just letting you guys know what happened with finding an apartment/moving plans, art-related stuff, and what next year should bring for prices!
This is a long one, but I have lots to talk about, and I'm kind of organizing my thoughts as I go.
IRL Moving
So it came down to the last minute for finding an apartment before we gave our 30-day notice, but I couldn't find anything of reasonable cost nearby that would be in our price range AND allow my chinchilla as a pet AND had an open apartment/house on December 1st. I was panicked, of course, until I had the sudden epiphany to just call the office of our current apartments and see if they had a cheaper one that would open up soon, since we were downsizing anyway. DUH.
Thankfully, they're going to let us stay at our current rate through Dec (instead of jumping up to $1100/mo) as there's a 1bed/1bath that opens on Jan 1st. Huzzah!
Now I don't have to stress about scraping together deposits or anything crazy at the last minute, since we're just switching apartments, and we don't have to move very far because it's in the same complex! WHEW!
With that stress lifted, I can focus more on my art, and less on apartment-hunting between drawings. I still gotta pack and downsize/donate stuff through the next couple months though.
Amount of Artwork
I've been looking at my work habits and how often I get art done in general, not just time per piece.
Looking back on things, and counting what I drew/uploaded last month,
simply by the numbers, my average SHOULD be...About 4 pieces done per week
In order to get myself on an actual, strict, regular schedule, I'm going to try and stick to that, even if it sounds like a small goal.
I can't really change my actual work time until I finish up the stream schedule based on the art slave buyer's needs, but after that, I'll let you guys know what I expect to be doing in Dec/Jan (after we move). For now, things stay the same, and I'll keep pushing through my list as quickly as possible.
2020 Price Updates
I'm going to simplify and adjust my pricing again and reorganize my price page.
It's offsite, which I know bothers some people, so I'd also like to get a simple visual guide posted here just for the basics.
Then, I can have it posted to my profile as well. c:
What I'd really like to do is remove all the headshot-fullbody prices, and list them simply as a few categories with a flat price, for quick readability:
Icons, Lined, Painterly, Speedpaints, Chibis, Refs and Comics.
This has been gnawing at me for a few weeks:
I often make the mistake of calling my Lined Style 1 my "Simple" style and that often affects how I treat the artwork - sometimes I use the excuse of "well it's 'simple,' so I don't have to put the extra detail..." and other times I make an amazing piece and feel "I can't use this as an example for 'simple' with how detailed it looks!" or alternatively "I can't believe this is a 'simple' piece, as I put so much work into it..."
I tried to use the terms "Style 1" and "Style 2" but that's too vague, even for me, and I had a hard time using it outside of my own to-do list. So from now on I'll call them what they are: Lined and Painterly. Regardless, I will put the full detail and highlights in, and backgrounds will be determined case by case (sometimes I line them, sometimes they're painterly/abstract, but the character is lined).
Family Drama?
For those that care, drama is zero at the moment- Not really by choice, no. No one has heard from my sister since... Oct 10th-ish, when she was released from the state hospital, abruptly told us all off, and cut us off from contacting my nephews (although they message me on Steam sometimes to play games).
Her 29th birthday was Oct 24th. Sad. We'll see what happens. *shrug* Some day, deep down, she'll learn I still love her and just want her to get some help.
MY BIRTHDAY???
I left this at the bottom? Aw jeeze. Well, speaking of birthdays, mine is December 21st, and I'll be 27. mlem.
That said, I was thinking about doing a big birthday group YCH thing for myself (mainly on FA, since they're my active buyers) where ych slots are cheap ($10?).
Drawing would be pretty cute/simple and the funds would be my birthday money!
If anyone reads this far, lemme know what you think! :D
Well, I think that's it for now! I'll let you guys know when prices get updated, etc, but I think that's it for big updates for now!
Thanks for stopping by to read my wall of text, and consider buying a commission to help support a starving artist!
Halloween Clown Incoming!
For anyone who's spooked by clowns, I'll be uploading a scary clown drawing on Halloween morning with a trigger warning on it. Just figured I'd give a day's worth of heads up, because I myself am terrified of clowns. Even though I'm glad I faced my fears and drew it, I know it's still pretty creepy!
Why draw it then??
Well, I've always been terrified of scary clowns, but usually it's not a common problem I deal with. I've got a certain style of clown that really freaks me out, and I feel like it's specific enough that I can ignore it most of the time.
However...back in August we had a lot of... family stress, and I guess it really got to me one night. I had this awful, hyper-real nightmare about a clown, which my fiance had to wake me from because I was whimpering in my sleep. It was that bad. *shivers*
Anyway, as for the drawing: It's not a very impressive drawing or anything, just a fullbody portrait, but I still wanted to warn any of my clown-fearing watchers beforehand!
Life, Moving, Etc.
I only bring it up to clarify for my buyers that I use the term loosely to refer to all the events that occur in my family.
My sister has severe depression and stays with her abusive/manipulative boyfriend. Our mom is having blood pressure problems again too. Enough said.
Family comes first, but I know the bills still have to get paid too, so I often have to choose between the two and juggling both can be stressful some weeks.
We can't extend our lease to give us time to find a place, as the price jumps from $976 to $1100+ if we go monthly.
We're still looking, but moving is going to be a real struggle, considering we need rent, deposits, and fees to move utilities.
I'd like to do some stream-only commissions, adopts, or even some kind of nsfw drawing stream/fund, to gather some last minute funds in November, so watch out for that!
I'm focused on commissions, but I'm doing thumbnails and refs in my sketchbooks so I've got progress made offline!
I've even had some new buyers recently, which is always awesome. So thank you, and welcome to my little space! c:
Until next time~
Amanda / Razrroth
Discord Server - Contact / Comms
INVITE LINK: discord.gg/QRumYHM
Also, I stream art: picarto.tv/Razrroth
The discord server is not a place to spam or ping me constantly, but should give us all a place to gather if FA or DA goes down and I still want to give commission updates or take orders, or just to update people on my situation. It's also easier to have all my contacts in one place.
I may add a channel for commission orders later?
Hm. I should do that, but I've already mussed around with it for an hour and I gotta get some artwork time in.
Please, feel free to join, just to have it as an option.
PS - I am looking at apartments for moving by December 1st.
It's imperative I start trying to save up some money for a deposit, so please spread the word on my commissions! Thanks!
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