HAPPY 2024!! 🥳

I hope everyone had a good New Year! I wanted to make a bulletin to give a quick update about me and stuff. I'm still working on commissions, and I swear to god I will actually open them publicly eventually LOL. I have a couple of regulars, so I never have slots to announce publicly 😅 Commission work has been extremely slow because I'm going through a slump right now. I've been trying to draw more personal art for myself recently because it's something I don't do as much as I used to. My OC galleries lack art made by me smh. I'm working on a few new projects that I can't wait to share publicly! One of them is aboutangels,s and the other is about hitmen hehe. 

Anyway, you guys should tell me your new year's resolutions! I'm super curious to see what everyone's goals are this year. It makes me feel inspired when I hear what other people are working towards. Here are my resolutions and goals:

1. Make more OC art that I personally enjoy. This is a really big one for me. I'm not sure exactly what caused this, but I became scared of drawing my OCs in 2023. Every time I drew them, my brain would start to think, "Why are you drawing your OCs when you should be drawing commissions?" 2023 was the year I decided to become a full-time freelance artist, so my mind was always focused on trying to make a career for myself with my art. Guilt constantly loomed over my head when I drew personal art. I want to get that mentality out of my head this year; it's totally okay for me to draw for myself. In fact, I'd say it's important that I do it so I don't burn out lol. My perfectionism also became awful in 2023 as my projects became more developed. Any picture of my OCs that wasn't 100% perfect in my eyes became unacceptable. I miss the days when I could scribble a messy doodle of Mai and be satisfied with it sigh. It's funny to think that art used to be my escape from graphic design, but now graphic design is my escape from art. This resolution also refers to my goal of wanting to explore darker subject matter with my art. I made this goal a few years ago, I think, and never really pursued it. I'm hoping that this is the year I can draw out all the monster ideas I have in my head LOL 
2. Launch a Patreon. I've been wanting to launch a Patreon for ages. This is the year I do it!! In general, I just want to do more with my career than commissions. I want to sell products, make merch, and create more adopts! 
3. Make a visual novel. Ideally, I'll make a really short visual novel as a test, then go on to make all the other visual novels I want to write. Coding scares me, so I've been hesitant about using Renpy, but I'm going to try to delve into it anyway. Surely it's not as difficult as it seems if so many people are able to make visual novels.
4. Save up to move out. I NEED AN APARTMENT OF MY OWN SO BADLY. I won't be able to move out this year, but dear lord, I hope I'll have at least 80% of the funds I need to move out. 
5. Be more independent. This goal applies to every aspect of my life. I want to stop depending on others as much as I do now. I used to be really independent in the past, but I have slowly lost my ability to think for myself and do things for myself. I don't understand why I've become a person who cares so much about other people's opinions when I didn't care in the past. I want to go back to my old self (but only the good parts of it, haha). I don't want to give up my values for the approval of people who don't have my best interests in mind.

2023 wasn't the best year for me, so I'm going to try to make 2024 a better one!