picture diary #003

Missy P with my oldest Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal

So I originally wrote a bunch of things in this post but I decided to re-write it after a week passed since I felt a little different about what I was feeling...

First of all, wow the period between Christmas and New Years this year was really ROUGH. I just sat around trying to get my head into the right place because I guess I burned myself out a bit in October and November... I moved into my new place September 28th, but I had to make hour one way trips back and forth to my moms house for like 2 weeks every few days which was exhausting... Then I spent about a month just, getting furniture, going antiquing and going to thrift shops which was more time consuming than anything. Because of all the new things I needed to buy, I had to kind of open the floor to commissions just so I didn't feel like I dipped into my savings too much and at this point... I really don't like doing commissions.

Beret I felted sprinkles on for my cousin <3

I feel like commissions are so draining for me. No offense to the people who commission me, but I do have to turn down commissions a lot because they don't align with my style at all, and that can always be kinda frustrating especially when I decide to take on the task and instead of it being a 1-2 hour commission, it takes me 3-4 because the concept is so complex and I didn't realize initially it would be. That being said, one of my new years resolutions is NO MORE COMMISSIONS. 2020 is the year I don't take commissions.

Between my comic "Lovely Recipe" and me trying to get into conventions and selling merch more often, I feel like it'll be a lot easier for me to not take commissions and focus more on creating content that directly relates to my interests. Last year, my financial situation was boosted so much from opening my shop, selling my NSFW comic, getting my comic deal and kinda learning how to spend my money, save my money, and yeah I don't know... It took a while to get here but HERE WE ARE.

I want to keep this entry kinda, on track to what 2020 is gonna look like and how I plan on creating content for you guys, how I plan on moving forward.

MID CENTURY MODERN 

Some of my project goals this year are a 2020 Calendar. I've ALWAYS wanted to do a calendar of my own design I'm just having a hard time deciding on what I want to do. I was toying with the idea of just, women pin ups, which has been done before, then I thought maybe I'd stick to the theme of Vaporwave or my own characters, something fun with clowns... I think as I continue to plan this in my head, Vaporwave is going to be the best option. I think it's what is my fall back theme/aesthetic and of course one of my favourites (I've got the friggin Windows 95 logo tattooed on my right wrist lmao). That will be something I'll continue to work on, hopefully do some recorded videos.

My online shop will continue to function as is, though I don't plan on restocking items anytime soon or at least, not on my shop. Depending on which conventions I get into this year, I hope to sell things I order there rather than online, since that's under the table money, and a great way for people who aren't online as much to find my stuff!

I also plan to start self-publishing my own comics. I have 2 idea's right now that have been brewing in my head and I want to definitely have them done for these comic conventions I'm attending, but I would also like to be able to upload them to gumroad, patreon, webtoon, tapas etc; so I can find a new way to share my work.

A while back, I had always imagined that I would be doing illustrations and work on Flirts in Hawaiian shirts, upload to tapas and use patreon as a way to support it, but something I've reflected on recently is that I'm very inconsistent with my style, with the aesthetics and things I like. I'm multi-faceted in that way. I thought I could keep up with uploading sketches constantly so that people could download my sketchbook but I just, don't sketch as much as I used to, and when I do, it's for NDA stuff, or it's personal. I hate to sound self righteous but I'm becoming more and more uncomfortable with sharing my work and I can't see myself doing that anymore. When I do figure drawing sessions and speed paints, master copies and studies, sharing it with tons of people around me, makes me feel very ehhh.... I'd rather have sketching sessions where I can post the work for you guys to see but I just don't do that anymore. I don't really sit and sketch like I used to and I don't like posting sketches of like, merchandise I'm making or unreleased things because I feel like I enjoy the surprise and the hype I can build up.

Pretty mushroom cake my cousin made for Christmas!

Going into 2020, because of my comic, I won't be able to share a lot and I've already been made aware of that. My original idea was that I might shut down my patreon, and only take commissions, run my shop, do conventions and my comic but I feel like I still enjoy making content for Patreon and having it as a place I can make revenue. I think instead, I just won't be doing commissions, and I might tweak some of the patreon tiers a little. I would like to make more of my money doing comics because I'm starting to realize it's something I really enjoy and really love. More than illustrating and designing merch, the process of working on something long form like that is really exciting.

I don't want this to be too negative so I will say something that maybe will offer some of you who are creatives a little, like A-ha moment.

Because I've recently sparked an old interest I had, I've started creating art elsewhere. I won't say the username, account, and I don't plan on linking it to my social media. I've decided to make a new place with no starting position. 0 followers, 0 people looking at me, 0 people making me feel pressured to upload and be afraid of the number dropping. I've... really enjoyed the last week of me doing this, it's like, my own quiet place now. This twitter/instagram/tumblr that I've found for myself, it feels like a diary, that I'm exciting for people to find.

I don't know... I kinda feel like, when I first started uploading art. I had no friends, people who were watching/following me, just myself, my bamboo fun tablet, and such a desire to draw and create. I hope I can create that space for myself again because I've been seeking it for so long, ever since senior year of college and I lost that inner desire to make stuff I wanted without feeling outside guilt or pressure.

WHOOH! That's a load off my shoulders. I might end up sharing the space someday on twitter, but I kinda like the idea of it being like ??? who is this, haha. It's a nice place I can experiment.

OK! So I already set my 2020 goals and I'm not gonna share them so much here because they're personal and based on physical things I want to change and they're honestly, boring to list off.... But I'll put 3 here to start the year off right!

1. Take an art education course to improve (online or in real life)
2. Attend at least 1 convention and sell my stuff
3. Self publish a comic in a physical form (Aka get something printed)

Ok! Sorry for the length and the like, self reflective nature of this post. Like I've said before, I want this blog to feel more... personal, like it's my voice, not so much a newsletter like it was before.

I'll put some honourable mentions of favourites below if you're interested!

Music

missy p and zita i felted with cat hair 

Jason Sanders "Don't Touch that Dial" Vaporwave Mix  Love listening to this while I work on something since it's about an hour and 20 minutes long, so I know once it's over, I need to take a break.

Realiti -- Grimes  -- Weird shit I'm into

Cut Me Loose -- Jethro Heston  -- Some good ole House music

TV 

Yuri on Ice-- Enough said. Finally finished watching this and let me just say, it reignited the fire in me that loved anime I'm so happy I gave it a second chance ; o ;

Podcasts// Youtube Channels

Radio Rental -- People retelling horror stories like some sort of BlockBuster video aesthetic. Actually creepy with the addition of music and sound effects. Ooooh gets me good!

Clints Reptiles -- Reptile education Youtube! I enjoy how informative he is while keeping the mood light and overall cheerful.


Anyways! Sorry this blog post was just me spilling my heart out but it felt good and I hope it kinda gets you in my head ; v ; /

Till next time!

Stay Fresh

~Mo

picture diary #002

My beautiful princess <3

So.... blogging is hard. Hard to keep up with that is haha. So much happens in such large pieriods of time, that when I realized I needed to round up an entire month, I could barely remember what had happened. I'd been against making this a weekly blog type situation, or a... I blog when something happens blog but I also think it might be better and there might be more content, easier for me to document so we'll see how things go from here! Again, apologies for the lateness of this blog post but I hope it's good! If you're in this for the long haul and enjoy the coziness of blogging, stay tuned with a warm cup of tea (or coffee if it's late) and if you're in it for the updates and what's going on for Patreon, zoom down to the last paragraph!

ugh i love her so much

First thing's first....  Say Hi to Bonnie!  She's a 2 year old Cherry Bomb Royal Python (aka the fanciest name for a ball python. She's essentially a leucistic snake with red eyes, a Red Eyed Lucy, as opposed to Sessy who's a Blue Eyed Lucy. She's so friendly and curious and nice. I've had to deal with some medical mishaps that came up so she's being treated right now and I have to bathe her every other day essentially, and give her injections every 3 days but she's been so good and such a trooper. She hasn't bit or tagged me once considering all the handling she's gone through. I can't wait till she's more settled and not on medicine, I have some photo shoots planned for her -- and Sessy too! He's still super tiny right now so nothing planned for him aside from letting him enjoy his enclosure and hopefully upgrading him to a larger tank in a few months!

Sessy!

I have to hold off on designing Bonnie's tank right now too, since I'm having a hard time finding materials that I can bleach/disinfect and won't grow mold since my house is fairly humid. Finding cute items for snake enclosures is very hard, but I'm willing to keep looking!

Periscoping!

Apartment is coming along too, I got a couch which was the most exciting thing! Long story short, the people at the store broke one of the legs on this $530 couch, and gave it to me 50% off because of it so of course I couldn't say no. It's so pretty, it's this teal velvet colour and both my cats love it so it passes this apartment.

I've been so heavily inspired by mid century modern furniture because of decorating my apartment, and with that I really forgot how much I love the 1950's/60's animation style and as most of you have seen, I've incorporated it into my art a lot lately. The whole blocked out colours, simplified lines, angels and curves and fun shapes ah! I love it. I've decided to make my 2019 Christmas card designed in that style. I'm still working on the final look of it, but last year I did a girl skiing I wanted to keep it in tone with "A girl doing _____ in the snow." So I wanted to do Ice skating but I also drew some cute thumbnails of a girl by a fireplace so I'm not sure yet.

The little prince <3

Wow, as I'm writing this I've realized I want to definitely do shorter posts more often because I want to talk more about UPA and 1950's illustration cuz I discovered so much! I went on an antiquing trip with my grandmother and found all these old barbie 1950's vintage boxes and bags and illustrations and they were so fun and colourful that I definitely ran with the inspiration!





Oh! Merch launched this week and wow-- clown hats sold out! I'm still debating on whether I want to open pre-orders and then ship in February, since it'll take at least 25-30 days for me to even get the product due to the busy time of the year for the company I use. I don't know... I also don't want to deal with my online shop while I'm working at my current job which definitely requires more of my time and I've been spread so thin lately due to patreon + my shop + commissions + new job + moving and now the holidays and family this and that...

ZITA

missy peeeeee

It's hard too because I can't just be like "Oh I'm working hard I need to take a break!" I don't have that sort of luxury of money. If I'm not creating and posting, I lose patreons and followers and commission opportunities which means I lose money and I have bills to pay, pets to feed, etc; Freelance is a privilege but also a curse. I wish I could work and then take time off but the reality is I don't have that much money saved up constantly to do that, and the other fact is I can't just ignore these places and then return to them since the point of patreon and social media is to be consistent so people continue to see you and continue to support you. Mehh this is me rambling on how Social Media has helped me but also being my own "boss" and managing my own work can be hard. I'd be lying if I said having a job in an studio setting wasn't something on my list.

Outside my bedroom window (:

Anywhoooo, Christmas is coming which means gifts and I also have to save up some money for that! I just bought my mom a idk.. big? ish gift, something I've wanted to get her for ages but never had the money for and knew she couldn't use right away. I think she'll really like it! I'm waiting for her to say "Man I hate this thing.." and I'll be like, oh shit well good thing no one got it for you for Christmas! and then I quickly return it ;;;;;

Christmas tree shopping in vermont!

Alright so if you listened to me ramble for the last like 10 minutes thank you! If not hi, this is the part where I talk about what's going on and what to expect from Patreon! First off, the Alien NSFW comic won't be starting till next year, I HOPE January, but it might be later because a comic requires planning... script... thumbs... sketches etc; and I want this to be like a 20+ comic with screen tones and shading etc; So I will keep you guys updated but I don't anticipate anything till February at the latest. In the mean time, I'll post sketches and thumbs/process of how it's coming once I've decided on the plot and everything! I have it outlined and I'm starting script/thumbs but I have nothing to really show. I will be doing variants more often! One to two a month, and I'll let you guys help me vote/decide on who to do. And of course, sketches monthly. Nothing too big added to the NSFW side, but once the comic gets rolling, I'll probably most 2 pages a month + sketches/variant just so my patreon doesn't become only NSFW.

Family Recipe for Maple Squares!

I'll continue to upload stuff for my patreon as normal, sketches 1-2 times a month hopefully, I'm also going to start incorporating more warm up sketches and practice tho not too much of it since I honestly don't love showing my process too much. I'm also planning on purchasing Adobe Premiere again since the version I have is kinda janky and I don't feel like using a new program. Hopefully I can try to remember to record myself working more. I just am so bad at it since I often work in 2-3 segments, and will forget to record one or two of the times so I'll just have like one 35 minute segment of me drawing and nothing else and I can't really upload that. Also, whenever I record I always feel like people are watching me, so I mess up more like, how when you'd be doing something and once everyone was watching you'd mess up haha.

took the plunge got a pink christmas tree

I think I'll wrap it up here! I've talked enough and I'd honestly be more interested in shorter blog posts about specific things going forward so I'll see if I can't do a better job of that! I'm going away this weekend so I'll see if I can't take some nice photo's of up north doing Christmassy things!

Oh! Before I forget, some notable recommendations....

Music:

Wiggle -- Binki 

Automatic -- Miquela 

Softly Studio -- Youtube channel for a stationary shop! 

Reptilian Garden -- Youtube channel for reptile knowledge and help! 

Movie reviews.. Frozen 2 -- 0 out of 10 stars
Charlies Angels -- Ehh idk forgettable but cute, 5 out of 10 stars


Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

picture diary #001

W E L C O M E <3 

Poster I liked from this bar

So I'm changing things up! I know I keep doing this and honestly... it's inevitable. I wish I could stick to one style of doing things but as time progresses and my habits change, my scheduling and day to day lifestyle changes, I need to reflect it in my patreon/work as well. I found that updating my patreon with the stylized Newsletters were really difficult to keep up with since I would have to use photoshop for them, reimage and resize the images, photo edit them etc;; and it just took up so much time.

Current bedroom! Can't wait for my new frame to come!

For me, blogging is one of those things that I loved to do when I was 16, had a camera, had a lot of free time on my hands and the ability to record and document my mundane life living in the country. Now, blogging is still that, but it is a great way to reflect, talk to you guys, open a dialogue and conversation, and lets me document my days/weeks/months so I can look back and be like "Oh yeah I did that. I should do that again..."

That being said, welcome to the new format! I'm gonna plop some pictures in from the last few months as well as give y'all an update on what's to come, as per the usual~!

love how clean and bright this room is!

This blog will be private. Please don't share the link, and every few months or so, I will change the link or update the privacy settings so that people who have unsubscribed from my patreon, won't be able to view upcoming projects and things since, I still want this to be an exclusive reward for y'all! And it's $1 so I hope it's incentive enough for people to help support and see my picture diary!

looove the textiles and simplicity 

Alright update time! Biggest thing that happened to me last month... well a few things. One that's REALLY exciting I can't say yet because I don't wanna jinx it haha, but if it all goes well, there will be an exciting update on twitter soon! Second big thing is I finally moved out! The last 3 years I've been living with my mom after being in CA for college, so I've lived away from my family before. It was actually really weird moving back in with her while I figured out where I wanted to be and what kind of apartment/housing I could afford so being on my own again is.... strange. It's all the same feelings of being sad you're moving away and growing up, but the Deja Vu of having done this before when I was 18 but minus the fear of not knowing how to take care of my own space, furnish it, afford it etc;;

Living room area ; o ; it's coming along!

I'm having the hardest time just making the place feel cozy and lived in. I don't have a ton of furniture since at my moms place, I basically made the guest bedroom my bedroom so I couldn't take any of the furniture. I will say, it's fun to go thrifting since prior to that, I would go looking for weird pieces that I had no place for but now I'm on the look out for sturdy bookshelves, end tables and chairs. I just purchased some stuff from Target and Walmart. I snagged some of these pics from Pinterest, but this is the vibe I want for my bedroom. Subdued colours, more organic and cluttery vs. minimalistic.

Baby Sessy!

I got my ball python, Sessy! He's so tiny, I've only had 1 snake in the past, but he was I believe... 2 years old? Sessy is tiny, skiddish and fragile since he's like fresh out the egg. I'm excited to see him get bigger though. He's a Blue Eyed Leucistic so right now he looks very pink and kinda fleshy, since he's got this translucent colour to him which is kinda freakin me out haha. I'm a big idiot though, because I really wanted him and when I bought him, I was informed by a breeder at the reptile expo that he has my d r e a m snake, a Cherry Bomb Ball Python. She's basically, all white with pink undertones and pink eyes. She's two years old already so she's full size and if you've followed me long enough you'd know the main dumb goal I had was to get a black ball python and a pink ball python and name them Bonnie and Marcy cuz I'm that sad and pathetic hi.


We'll see what I end up doing since I already have nightmares on the daily that Sessy is gonna get sick or something. The breeder is in Buffalo NY, which is about a 4 hour drive for me, so I'm planning on meeting him halfway or meeting him where he lives to pick her up early November and then visit some family. It depends on my money situation since I had set aside money for a snake but I didn't think I'd be getting two so quickly. He said he'd be willing to hold onto her until I can make the time/money to get her so there's no real rush, I just don't want to wait too long and possibly lose her. I've wanted a Cherry bomb for probably 3-4 years but they're pretty rare to see at expo's and sell for a pretty penny online so this one is cheaper since the guy says he could tell I really wanted her.

Knife wife pin B^)

Demon girl pin!

The online shop was a BIG success! I ended up putting most of the money into manufacturing new items that I've been slowly posting... hats, pins, socks, stickers etc; I really wanted to do the Certified Clown Patch but I don't think I have the money or time to manufacture them since the company I use usually takes 15 business days to produce and it's already October 7th so I might have to release it at a later date. I'm honestly doing all of this so that when Con season comes around and hopefully, I get into some of them (ahhhh) I'll have companies I can trust, know the quality of, and can already have some items ready to produce once the time comes! Right now I just have the fall launch which is demons, witches and some more clowns! After that, I will be taking a much needed break to work on other projects, but in the BG I'll be working on my Windows94™ stuff FINALLY.

i love this mug thank u tj maxx

Washi tapes!!!! 

I'll be opening the shop with a "soft launch" basically just a couple of my items. I want to avoid doing the preorder thing again, but the only thing that's good about it is I don't have to worry about receiving orders while I'm packaging them which honestly stresses me out and has in the past when I had a shop. I won't be doing prints this time around. It's too difficult and costs more to package prints since if someone just purchases a print, I can package it in a rigid mailer, but if I have to package a print and a pin, then I have to use a piece of chipboard to keep it flat or find a sturdy cardboard box and cut it up which is an absolute pain. My plan is to have a big huge launch in Winter/Spring since I really want to do sweatpants and sweatshirts, but I need to see how much everything will cost. Gonna try to get my friends in the city to help me with some photo's so it can feel fancy and official B^)))

I guess that's it! Oh wait, lemme leave some favourites!

Podcasts/Youtube Channels -- Stephanie Harlowe ! I feel like I might have mentioned her before, but she's doing a Halloween series of true crime and urban legends and just weird stuff over all! I really like her voice and narrative so she's been a treat to watch.
Southern Fried True Crime - Podcast that talks about true crime that happened in the south of the States! Again, really like the narrator, and it's very factual and straight to the point. She says in an advertisement that her show is like, if you turned on an old time radio to listen to a news report. That literally, drew me in to listen and to be honest, curling up with her podcast with a hot cup of tea and some candles lit, a crafting project *chef kiss*

Zitaaaaa <3

Movies/Music-- K-12 the new Melanie Martinez album (and movie). Really fun visuals for the movie, the music is really lovely. Some songs hit harder than others, I really like High School Sweethearts and Strawberry Shortcake. I don't wanna rant here, so I'll just say it's an Art House film so go into it knowing that. The acting isn't great, the plot is confusing, the theme gets lost multiple times. Idk I have really mixed feelings about the film, but I enjoy the album and aesthetics!

My Halloween Set up!

Anime -- Fruits Basket 2019-- I started watching this for god knows why. I will say, the biggest drawback from the original anime was the style, so the new style is a big THUMBS up. It's definitely very cheesy shoujo romance, but I enjoyed it while I packaged orders!

Anyways, I think that's it! I've got a list of things I have planned for this month. I won't be posting the monthly schedule's as of right now, since I keep having my schedule moved and switched around on me and I don't wanna make promises I can't keep. Instead I'll be posting a checklist of things to expect during the month! That way, you guys can keep track of the rewards!

Have a great start to your October and I'll be posting again soon C:

Cheers <3