As this year draws to a close, I felt like I should reflect on the events of this year. This was the year of the horse, my Chinese zodiac, and was said to be a year of change for me. There certainly were some changes, some bad and some good.
1. Job Change: I had been working as a driver for about a year, making minimum wage after college and unsure what to do. Then after I returned from TFF, my parents met up with an old college friend who said he was in the oil industry, specifically repairing parts. They talked and mentioned it would be a good opportunity to get into the industry, the guy said he owned his own business with a partner and could show me everything. I accepted and went to work for him. Turns out, it was a metal shop in this guy's backyard, small but decent business. However, working for this guy was horrible; he was belligerent, complained about the slightest thing like parts being even slightly apart from each other, and was just a total ass all around. I almost quit so many times because of him, but he would just try to reset me by telling stories about my parents. After a few months, I arrive at work and see a cop car and him taking his shit and leaving, he had been fired. Turns out, he wasn't the owner's partner and was fired for talking smack about him to clients, along with his sunny disposition. The dude actually said I was intimidated by him, which is bullshit because I was just trying to keep my job and not blow up on him. But still at the job, not what I want to do for a living but it's got great pay so far.
2. Family Issues I don't want to get too much into it, but there was a suspicion of an issue around July that got swept under the rug and blew up in September. It lasted until about November yet we're still dealing with the fallout. On top of that, my mom's dad was diagnosed with some type of rare bladder cancer and he refused treatment due to it not giving him much time. Even worse, his wife was died soon after when the roof of their house collapsed. During this period I was alone in the house for 3 months, working, trying to keep stuff clean, and deal with a new dog we got roped into keeping that constantly chewed up furniture and even broke our fence. Was really depressed during that period, which sparked my new motive to make more friends to keep my mind off of things. At least I did manage to make some new friends, making some use of my Twitter account to keep in touch off of Skype.
3. The Rise of Patreon This site was a bit of a hot topic when it came about. Many artists loved it and many commissioners hated it. Basically, you pay to support artists you like and they draw what they like, but offer rewards depending on how much you donate. At first, I thought it was greedy, I believed if you wanted me to pay for art let me get a commission otherwise it was begging. There was a lot of smack talk about it, most artists saying that those who hated it didn't understand the "economics" of art; that didn't help my opinion at all. However, I broke this train of thought by finding people who I could support that I liked and were affordable, as well as offering some cool bonuses, the very first of which being Kabier for her comics. I had a rule that I would never donate some of the outrageous sums that a few asked for, but even that was broken by one individual who offered up something I couldn't refuse, you'll see soon hopefully. All in all, I support Patreon, but only for artists I like on a personal level.
4. New Characters Managed to get some new characters to the roster this year, namely the cyborg characters: Zada, Nox, Lux, and one more who is currently in the works.
5. Most Recommended Artwork of the Year: A Lesson Learnt by Jasonafex and Kabier I recommend reading Rough Upbringing first as it's a prequel http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11548252/ A Lesson Learnt is the best comic I have read in years, I found it when looking for Milf pics and found something just as awesome, a Dilf. XD If you haven't heard of it, give it a read, it got me to join Patreon http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12443134/
That's pretty much the highlights of my year, a lot of personal drama but it's over now at least. I managed to go to the gym more and trying to bulk up, met some new friends, and made a lot more money this time around. Just a few words of wisdom before closing this out.
There are too many YCHs and Character Auctions, especially when it's coming from one artist. Use these sparingly.
Take the time to read some stories, a lot of great ones go by without getting even a casual glance. Some of these are even better than artwork.
If you have a character idea, get it done ASAP. I made Nox and Lux at the beginning of the year and soon after everyone was making cyborg dinosaurs in mass, especially with Killer Instinct's Riptor. Do it now!
Understand that artists need to take their time with commissions and that outside variables can slow them down. On the flip side I've had a lot of delays with a few artists this year and at a certain point the excuse "There's just so much going on" or "You need to be more patient" doesn't cut it. If you want to be a professional, do what you promised in a timely manner because if it takes months with no progress on someone's commission, or everyone's for that matter, then don't get pissy when they ask for an update.
That said, have a Happy New Year! Get drunk! Make some mistakes! Name it after me! See you next year!
Happy New Year to you as well guess this is a fiting question I could ask since this is the end of 2014 what is your personal favorite work you have gotten this year?
Happy New Year to you as well guess this is a fiting question I could ask since this is the end of 2
