I should’ve done this news post a long time ago to displace the previous one about my hiatus, since it’s not relevant anymore. I finally got through my semester and published both of my scientific articles two weeks ago. I wanted to write here as soon as I finished, but I underestimated how much I needed a break. Good to see all people who follow me are still around.

First off, I really realized how much this hobby means to me. Turns out the best way to get yourself out of an art rut is to see how miserable your life would be without it. The break also gave me the opportunity to clear my head to make room for new ideas. Distancing myself from social media and keeping myself from being terminally online also did wonders for my attention span. I wouldn’t go as far as to recommend taking a hiatus from art since going back to drawing right from the cold is quite painful. But self-moderation can be beneficial for your health and routine. Make sure you do other things like breath air, touch grass, pet your cat, etc.

As for art, I have nothing to show. I have been extremely busy the whole semester and just wanted to take a whole breather to enjoy Christmas. The work last semester was quite intense, and I’m amazed I somehow aced the whole thing. I haven’t drawn anything substantial, and I’ve had a hard time getting back to work, as expected. I look forward towards reopening commissions, but I currently have zero workflow and motivation going on, so I will make works for myself for a couple of weeks before getting back to business. I hope to reopen commissions by next month. No promises, though.

Speaking of personal works, I had a mild revelation while on my hiatus. I have mixed feelings about my work this year. I got good at making scenes, backgrounds, adding character and likeability to my work. And opening commissions was a massive step forward that I could only dream of at the start of this year. But as a fan-artist, I didn’t cover much of my interests. I repeated the same characters, franchises and themes. I drew the same things because it was easier to rely on my muscle memory. I was lazy and the result was a lot more drawings that overlap each other.

On my time off, I looked back my old works. And I mean OLD works. Ones that I never posted in my active sites and lie collecting dust in a manila folder in shelf somewhere in my closet. I realized that there was something I lost along my artistic journey. A certain…carelessness? My old self had no expectations on my own art, and I would draw just about anything without worrying about quality. As long as I was doing something, it was good enough for me. The work was erratic and portrayed pretty much anything I was thinking about at the moment. Even if they were just a couple of crappy pencil drawings, I miss spontaneity of those older works. I even had a couple of OCs! I never draw OCs nowadays!

The issue became clear when I opened my projects and saw folder of WiPs: dozens of unfinished projects dating as far back as two years ago. It’s the first thing I see when I open the software. Every time I looked at it, I felt obliged to complete them, rarely starting something new even when I had something new in mind. Ideas from years ago clutter my workspace and hence my mind. I end up drawing over the strokes I made months ago, unable to move on to new things. So, I made a solution: All of my WiPs have been deleted. Nothing remains from previous years (except for one work that was near completion). I can finally start next year fresh, with no load whatsoever. If there was any idea worth visiting in those deleted works, it will come back to me. Believe me.

Next year will be special for me. It will be 10 years ever since I started practicing art. It’s the year for me to show what ten years of practice, observation and sharing have brought me to. I want a change of tone on my art. Once again, I’m setting off to try new things. I don’t like making promises like these as I rarely follow up on them, but I’m eager to see what’s next. These last couple of months have put into perspective that I’m capable of so much more.

Oh yeah. About Twitter. I have been following the whole mess while in my absence. As much as I hate that site, as well as most other mainstream social media, and hope to god that we can someday move to greener pastures, I like the people that I met there. Truth is I don’t get to be in charge. It doesn’t matter how many ToS changes they make, I have to be where the people are. So, I am staying ‘til the end. It is a lukewarm take, but what else can I say. Let’s just hope they backpedal on their crappy decisions. If they don't, well, you know where to find me. As for other social site alternatives, I'm not planning on opening new ones just yet; I want to see which of the new emerging sites stick with people before adding another site for me to deal with.

And that's about everything that I had to say. It was quite a difficult few months, but everything went as I wanted it to. And I'm so glad I get to do what I like once again. Thanks for sticking around and being fans of my work. The support I get from friendly strangers on the internet is something I never thought about two years ago, let alone when I started my artistic journey. In the meantime, I’ll keep going at my own pace with excitement for the future.

Happy Holidays, everyone.