Picture Diary #007

Missy PEE PEE

In the Air wax melts! Black owned (: 

Hey hey hey~ It's been a while haha. I've been up to myneck incommissions and other junk so I've just not made time to write a blog post and well... because everything is still closed down right now I haven't really done too much. My baking days have slowed down because the ramifications of making tons of bread are that I need to eat tons of bread and I really don't maintain a high carb diet so I've had to either give it away or freeze it and my freezer is full ofbagels AH.

Everything Bagel!

Bayguls proofing

My lil pink patio <3

But I did have fun making a couple dozen batches of sourdough bagels! I'll probably make them again soon since I ended up giving away some to friends and I only have like 2-3 left. I'm trying to minimize my morning routine by just having something ready to eat and obviously bagels are super easy to assemble, plus with my big ass gallon sized mason jar of coldbrew I make every 2 weeks, I've finally started getting to work quicker rather than spending an hour dilly dallying in the kitchen and trying to figure out what to eat and drink for breakfast bleh.

Also made pretzels they were OK.

ZITA!!!

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N E WAYS yes, been inside all ofJune and July... and Missy P suddenly started showing signs of one of her back teeth bothering her, and had to have 2 teeth pulled so that was a $500 expense I really hadn't anticipated THUS I've had to kinda take on gosh... I think this month alone I've done at least 30 commissions which is, a lot. I am not a commission artist, in the sense that I make the bulk of my money from commissions, I personally don't like doing them. For me, it's a lot of mental stress to jump around, sending emails, editing illustrations and etc; the money is OK. Of course I get commissioners who tip me and etc; but when it comesdown to it, knowing how much your art is worth vs. knowing how much people are willing to payfor your art can be difficult to balance and figure out. When I need money fast, I tend to try and create a very cheap alternative commission option that's like, something that takes me under 2 hours at least to work on... but I draw very slowly, I tend to take at least 3 times as long to finish things so I'm still figuring out the best way to juggle all of that. 

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In other news, I've been working on a secwet pwoject with a friend <3 I won't be sharing it anywhere so uhhh if you find it, and see it eventually, then you'll know probably. This project is time sensitive sowe have to finish it before the end of the month, hopefully we can. Like I said, I've been busy with trying to cover some surprise bills and some BLM shenanigans that I have had to put a pin in a lot of things and figure out how to better organize my time AH. 

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Coffee Jelly :0

Now let's see... the rundown for the month... Celebrated Juneteenth with some family and friends and made this obnoxiously tall cake that I should have just, not done. It was hellish to cut and I dropped it so I had to fix it beforewe servedit but the whipped cream cheese frosting was really good so taste wise-- pretty good! Ialso figured out how to properly keep the cake moist by doing the lemon water brushing inbetween layers so that was a good lessonlearned. 

it's so pretty

Been messing around with coffee shit... I tried making coffee jelly with my coldbrew and it was pretty good! I don't normally have unflavoured gelatin on hand so I kinda stumbled across a video on youtube and was like "Oh okay yeah I'll make this for no reason aside I'm getting bored of my same cold brew every morning". It was pretty good! I feel like, there's a way to make it tastier but it requires a lot more sugar and I'm trying to cut back on sugar and salt right now.

Missy Peach

WHITE PEACHES ARE IN SEASON! Just for another month or two in upstate ny ))): I was really hoping my grandparents would help me with making white peach jelly, jam, preserves and maybe a chutney but they've been... really weird because of BLM and COVID so I'm kinda keeping my distance, socially and like mentally cuz idk. I don't have time for that. I don't want them making my jelly taste racist lmao. I might see about doing it myself the only issue is my grandparents have like TONS of supplies for canning, including tons of jars and pectin and blah blah which I don't have, and I don't really want to have to buy a ton of supplies to do this. I feel like I might usesome of my clay and paint some fake white peaches so I can just have them whenever I feel like I need to see a pretty fruit since I think, I've finally decided white peaches are my favourite fruit. I love mango and melon like they're up there in the top fave fruits, but White peaches really do come in clutch for me. Like talk about a fruit who can do it all... the flavour, the colours, the texture???? UM yes please. 

Alright onto recommendations... 

Movies/TV

The L Word -- Um... I'll be real with you, this show sucks LOL. I'm watching it because someone highly recommended it to me and it's such a bad show the writing is terrible, every character is in a horrible relationship and yeah.. I think the only reason I'm watching it is it's like, my shitty drama cuz everyone else has dramas, but this one is exclusively WLW so I don't have to look at anything I don't wanna see very often. I'm on season 5... I would not recommend this but if you're bored, give it a shot. 

Youtube

BONNIE!!!!

Zoe's Studio -- Korean Cafe Vlog shot from the table perspective. I've been watching tons of these lately since it's like, ASMR, I like watching people cook and not talk and I can focus on it while working but not worry about looking away any missing anything... it does make me wanna get fun drinks tho. 

Music 

Lady Gaga Chromatica Album -- Listened to it from start to finish and there are some BANGERS. I personally like Alice, Stupid Love, Rain on Me and 911 (including the Chromatica II transition). 

Girl In Red - Girls   &   We Fell in love in October   Very Dreamy music makes me wanna run through a meadow but can't rn 

Ok thanks you guys! I hope you enjoy the pics! 

~Mo 

 

picture diary #006

Hey hey hey! Blog time! To be honest I don't know if anyone really enjoys this as much as I do writing them but this is more like... something I enjoy looking at over time and letting you guys peek into my journal essentially. Hope that's ok.

Bonnie shed this week so she's extra bright <3

made some face masks for family!

Last month was a lot. I started working on my next comic pitch while finishing up the thumbs for my current deal I have. Unfortunately because of COVID19, this and that has changed for my finances so I'll be kinda messing around with ways to hustle on the side so I don't lose my mind. Anyways, cool stuff, I'm pitching 2 idea's for YA comics that I just spent a buttload of time on (one more than the other) so the fruits of those labours will come probably... not for a long time haha. We'll see! I also am working on 2 pitches for a webcomic, don't get excited, they'll be BL so I'm not planning on making it exclusive to Patreon. I might set up my Ko-fi or set up a separate tier on Patreon JUST for things related to that comic (early pages, BTS etc;). I've been toying with making a BL tier for a while, since I really don't want to have people who came here for lesbians have to see that and lose interest. I get it. If I was following someone to see the good sapphic content and they started uploading idk, straight romantic stuff I'd be like *yawning* kinda bored. I don't want that to happen LOL I know some of you are loyal and that's great I appreciate it, but Patreon isn't a hobby for me, it's how I make money enough to cover monthly bills and part of my rent so I gotta make you guys happy to an extent... but ofc not too crazy like I'm taking requests and stuff cuz I'm not like, a factory that can draw only for Patreon and hopefully make enough content to post elsewhere.

souffle omelette!

souffle pancakes! 

I also got the OK that I can post more of my concept/character/BTS of Lovely Recipe, my upcoming YA graphic novel ((((: I'll be posting it to twitter since I don't think it feels right to post it exclusively to Patreon, for contract reasons, so stay tuned for that in the future! It's hard though, since I have to make sure I don't post anything that gives away any story stuff or you know all that good stuff... I hope I can still show fun stuff tho ; o ;

I signed up for a course with Schoolism which is an online art course platform where you can pay monthly or yearly and watch online lectures from art professionals working in like, studios, successful freelance etc; I've actually taken courses from them before that I really enjoyed but I ended my subscription and ran out of time to take courses when I was using it so now that I have more time and I really want to stop feeling rusty and inadequate, thought it was a good idea! I'm taking Alex Woo's Gesture Drawing course to help me better with posing and expressive full body poses as well as simplifying the form better. I only watched the first lesson and he kinda reminded me of a bunch of things I totally forgot about haha. Here's hoping!

pre baked shokupan~

Lots of adventures in baking... I made japanese milk bread so I could make the strawberry fruit sandwiches... I ended up making a whipped cream cheese instead of straight up whipped cream since.. I love cream cheese hi. They turend out really good but I need a proper baking pan since I can't get the square shape without a pan with a lid. Hopefully the next time I make the bread It will be better!

finished shokupan~ 

I wanna thank baking, animal crossing and finally decorating/organizing my house as being distractions from the stress of this entire global situation. Actually no, Animal crossing get off that list because ever since I got terraforming I've just been making my island look worse and worse and none of the ugly villagers who are living there will leave cuz they think this island is ugly, so their ugly asses can stick around. UGH. I don't even have a membership to nintendo to invite people to my island which is totally fine my island is so UGLY. And not like, oh haha no we all think that U V U like i still haven't put paths up, I haven't been weeding so it's just. We're not gonna talk about it anymore.

ANYWAYS! Onto the recommendations!

Movies/Youtube

The Half of It- Netflix - Pretty cute movie! I think it was very good in the sense I wanted to know what would happen, I absolutely laughed and held my face multiple times, and it wasn't too high stakes that I was like feeling really crummy and gross. I'd recommend it!

Long Hair Pretty Nails- Youtube Channel I'm like... low key obsessed with. She just does her nails for like 20-30 minutes and it's so mesmerizing. I don't even do my nails like that, I haven't painted my nails in probably 3-4 months it feels like, but I love watching people do their nails it's so like relaxing to me? She's also just good mom energy she's so bubbly.

Music-

Blood Machines OST-- I'm a like, listen to the whole album kinda person then decide which songs I like, but Intro and Blood Machines Theme are my faves! By one of my alltime fave artists, Carpenter Brut, this OST is for a movie I believe that's already out? I low key haven't seen it cuz idk... it feels like something I'm gonna find boring, but I stan my boy Carpenter <3

Sorry I don't have as much to recommend this month since I was really busy with work stuff that didn't let me like... watch a lot of tv or listen to new music as much as I normally do.

Stay fresh and safe all!

~Mo

picture diary #005 + Lavender Honey Cold Brew

WELL THINGS SURE HAVE BECOME CRAZY HUH. 

Talk about a lousy birthday month. In all honesty, from someone who works from home and loves when plans get canceled (save for certain things) this hasn't changed much for me. The only real changes are when I need to buy something and do errands I just have to see what stores are open, dress carefully and wear gloves etc; I have some face masks like scattered around the house that I use for painting but I feel like it's overkill since everyone is doing a pretty good job of just not being out and staying 6 ft apart.

I am sad that Easter won't be happening since it's my favourite holiday, aka the best food <3 I don't go to church since I'm not very religious in that sense, but for me Easter is having dinner at my great Aunt's house, cooking food with my family, and enjoying the beginning of spring, the beginning of the gardening season, getting flower advice from my much better at gardening family and of course candy, I am but a child.


I managed to do some fun stuff before all this craziness happened however! I got to go skiing for the first time and it was a lot of fun! I would honestly look into doing it more if it wasn't so expensive in terms of equipment, transportation. It's not really a sport I can see myself doing long term, but it was a lot of fun! I forgot how much I love snow, living in California for like... 5 years, I didn't see it except for visiting NY in the Winter and it's a much different experience driving/traveling through snow than just being indoors and enjoying it or going out and casually being around it.

I've been doing a lot of baking which is always fun when you're like... stressed but in need of some nice distractions. I've made maple squares a second time, had the proper ingredients finally, as well as baby's first focaccia! It turned out really good though I will say, I made way too much. I'm kinda, dreading eating it for a third night in a row tonight, but I wanna get rid of it so I can make other things.

WARNING: This is a big rant about snooty people BE WARNED.
Talk about a time to have an epiphany. So... Long ago, some bitch at a coffee shop raised her incredibly long and pointy noise at me when I brought up the notion of "How do you make Coldbrew at home." She SCOFFS at me, her nose hitting the ceiling and breaking the roof as she tells me, "Um you can't make cold brew at home it just won't taste right unless you have the right equipment..." She's talkin about one of these dr.suess lookin ass contraptions she points to the stupid thing in the store window with all this like "DID YOU KNOW COLD BREW BLAH BLAH HERE'S THE HISTORY OF COLD BREW BLAH BLAH" and then turns to me with her "I have been working as a barista for 2 months I know ALL THERE IS about coffee and I gain power by making simpletons like you feel embarrassed for even ASKING how to make my superior coffee," attitude.

Anyways, this is a dramatization, but I've experienced this like elitist attitude from people about shit like this mainly because, well 1 they think they're the best at their job, they know all there is to know and are excited to call you out on being wrong if it means they're right. Second reason, is they want your money. I had a hairdresser tell me never to buzz my own undercut just come in once a month for $15 to get it buzzed by her, I still gotta add the tip mind you and it was in NYC where I would have to take the Q train, transfer to the F (never working/always packed train) then walk about 5 blocks, one avenue which the avenues take like 5 times as long to walk... Time and money, just so I could pay her a crisp $20 i got from working my 3 jobs, to shave and trim my undercut... Now I didn't tell her, that when I lived in California, some buttmuncher told me the same thing and I was skeptical, I went to CVS, used that crisp $20 to buy a hair razor, and I have been doing my own undercut and other people's FOR FREE whenever I need to. Even if I do a bad job, it's like an inch of hair... it'll grow back.

So this story is long, the point of the story is always be skeptical of know it alls cuz guess what... I woke up one morning like "I think... that cold brew barista bitch lied to me?" and you know what? SHE DID! I feel like an idiot because when she told me this I was like... 20? 21? I just started drinking coffee more consistently, since I've always been an avid tea drinker and I worked in a tea shop for a year I knew more about tea than coffee and coffee scares me. I don't really know what I'm doing or at least, I didn't. I thought this barista was wise, making me feel like if I wanted to take cold brew seriously, I should get this $250 cold brew tower if I want to make coldbrew at home... Well guess what. I owned several of these machines and they may look slightly different- they kinda look like mason jars... Insert a picture of me smashing my skull against her coldbrew tower.

This is the tall tale about how I learned I can make coldbrew at home, it's delicious, it's sweet, it's everything I want, and I think it tastes better than the nasty coldbrew coffee I bought that day after the barista lady gave me her finger waggle rude obnoxious i-am-a-coffee-snob talk.

Now I'm here to spread some good vibes... """"Recipe"""" for Lavender Honey Cold Brew...

1 cup course ground coffee beans (I use a medium roast since my darker roasts are very strong)
2 heaping tablespoons of food grade lavender (order online or specialty tea stores sell it)
5 cups of cold/room temp water
Honey
optional Oatly Oat Milk (my preferred brand but you can use whatever milk u want)
Big ole mason jar

1. Mix lavender with ground coffee in mason jar then add water. Stir.
2. Tighten lid, put in fridge for at least 12 hours (I do 24 hours).
3. Next day, strain coffee. There's like a billion ways to do this but I use a chemex pour over and just strain it like my normal coffee. This might take a while depending so be patient <3
4. Wash out mason jar, place strained coffee in mason jar, add 1 cup of cold water and tada it's good in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Now. For the lavender coldbrew, I find the lavender is kinda strong so I make 2 mason jars of cold brew, 1 with the lavender the other just regular. Then whatever glass I'm using, half lavender cold brew, half regular cold brew.

Then, froth your milk a bit, if you have a frother, and before you add the milk, add your honey. 1/2 tablespoon is pretty good, but if you're a sugar fiend, like me, just add till you start seeing stars. Mix it, THEN add your froth and tada <3 Enjoy!

It was very good. I can't wait to make it again. I wanna try doing rose or jasmine, maybe try maple or I don't know... I gotta think of some other fun flavours cuz the infusion process for cold brew seems so incredibly easy. With florals though, I've noticed you should be careful since it can become very bitter if you steep them too long, but because of the cold brew process, it's less likely to extract that bitterness and acidity which is why I really love cold brew coffee now. Hot coffee, is great, but it can really hurt my stomach and sometimes comes out bitter. So far, all my cold brew coffee's I've made over the last few weeks have been really delicious.

I'm done ranting about coffee <3 lets talk about some recommendations!

Movies-- 

Call Me By Your Name <3 -- I feel like I don't need to say much about this other than very pretty, cinematic eye-candy and I love gay romance stories that go the extra mile. 10/10 low key waiting for the library to open so I can read the book.

Music-- 

Algorhythm -- Childish Gambino

Only Silence -- Yuck

Podcasts/Youtube -- 

Abetweene -- DIY/Natural youtuber. She has lots of nice little crafts, does some very thrifty and simple decorating ideas and is just very chill to watch!




Lastly, before I go... Thanks to everyone for sticking around as always! I won't be uploading the Sketchbook Challenge this month, since I ended up spending this entire month working on my comic revisions, script editing and it's just... burned me out. I'll be uploading just a regular sketch dump instead. I'll be uploading rewards end of this month unlike how I normally used to. I'll keep y'all updated and get you guys goodies when I can!

Thanks as always <3

~Mo

picture diary #004

Happy February! Wow okay I just need to say... January was really crazy. I had my first deadline for my comic due, which ended up taking just a lot longer than I had anticipated. What took the longest was, during me working on thumbs, I got the worst eyestrain I've ever had. It was so bad, even when I wasn't on the computer, I couldn't focus my vision it was so blurry and dizzy. I felt like a fool I went out to see a movie so I was like oh I'll wear these cool boots ((((: and the second I started walking in them I thought I was gonna topple over. 

With that dizziness, I've been really struggling with my style lately. I feel like I might have said this before, but I'm just... sick of my style haha. Sick of my style and my content. I feel like, when your brand is what you like to draw, and you draw it for a long time, but then you decide you wanna draw something else, because that's what your gut or your heart wants, you can't because the people who are supporting you are there for a certain thing. I appreciate people who are like "Draw what you want!" blahblah but the reality is, my job, what I get paid to do, is a certain thing and if I stop doing it the same way, I risk losing my supporters and money. When I was in college and I didn't have to care about how many people were getting commissions from me or purchasing my stuff etc; because I had a day job and I was in school learning, it was fine. But now, like the biggest example is I recently got back into BL but I just spent the last like... 4 years of my life, only drawing sapphic content, and now I'm like "I wanna draw boys... no one is here to see me draw gay twinks." 

My new favourite cafe <3

SO THAT'S BEEN ME LATELY just trying to revamp and rebrand as best I can. I just, I don't know. I think I said this too, but recently in the last few months, I've had a lot of interactions with followers and people who support me that made me feel really gross. And I kinda want to just, start over. I want to not have such a connection with my art and my personality. This comic has been really nice and definitely makes me want to pursue more projects and less, me having to constantly dance around online. Or even like, getting a part time job at a store somewhere, to make up for some finances. I just, hate the pressure I have put on myself to draw and create things. I'm already becoming really exhausted again with my NSFW art and not wanting to draw it so forcing myself to make stuff for my NSFW patrons so I can continue to make money and like cover my bills is hard haha. I don't know.

I've been thinking about going on a hiatus from Patreon or Social Media in general for a while. If I could find a summer job or something else I can do that's a little less engaging online, for a few months and then come back a little fresh minded, that might be good. But I have to see how possible that is. I got BILLS I got PETS and I gotta EAT. 

some kinda pothos 

My other option is I really do wanna get more into comics, I keep saying this (as I'm working on a comic) but more, like I have MORE stories and characters I wanna draw. I have always been meaning to get something on webtoons I can consistently stick to so I'm working on that right now. Trying to play around with styles and concepts for something I can long term post online and maybe, use as a new way to focus my content so I don't have to be drawing things left and right but can focus on bigger projects. Tax season this year is gonna be hellish I have so many little jobs and 1099's I have to file, I would love to just... have like 2 but I have like 8 and 1 W-2 IRS please be gentle with me. I'm just a dumb artist trying to make food money.

string of pearls!

Um my plants are thriving? Jk I killed two of them this month, we bid farewell to one of my chinese evergreens and my bella palm. Pour one out. I however, got like 5 new plants! Cuz they were on sale and I apparently would rather spend my grocery money on plants and eat lean cuisines. 

We got a String of Pearls! And some... kind of pothos... thing... A new big regular pothos, a philodendron and.... a Dracaena! And I got this super cute Ceramic pot I love her so much I wanna put my String of Pearls in it once it gets longer so she has like sassy long hair. 

My birthday is next month, on the fourth <3 So I told everyone to just get me like hanging plant fixtures and ceramic pots. I just want more plants in my house, I know groundbreaking, I just feel like they make my space feel so much more inviting and organic especially with the mid century modern/desert chic style I got going. 

Bonnie has been refusing food for like... 4 months? Since October and there were so many things going on that it's not a surprise but it was so frustrating and scary for me. I've wanted her specific morph for SO LONG and when I started handling her she's so friendly I was like ahh this is perfect she's perfect so her getting sick was really scary. BUT she has had 2 meals so far, and hasn't refused either since I switched the type of rodent she was getting. Only the finest meats for Bonnie. God I love her so much she's so cute I die. Sessy is still fucking tiny but I love him, actually I have him in my hair right now since I gotta feed him tonight so I wanted to give him some TLC before I can't touch him for like 2 days. 

I'm still decorating my place... yeah. I keep buying shelves cuz I feel like they fill up the space the best and they let me hang more plants around. I ended up biting the bullet and buying some fake pothos and hanging plants to put up around my house, cuz I just CAN'T HAVE REAL POTHOS HANGING EVERYWHERE it would be impossible. My house doesn't get enough light, I keep my apartment cold and honestly, I don't like taking care of plants. So I would probably kill them. Maybe on purpose. 

my sad little aesthetic corner LOL 

I have all the supplies to do some acrylic pours but I keep putting them off cuz well, it's hard to do any painting indoors during the winter since any fumes I won't be able to air out with open windows and I'm worried about doing any painting cuz my cats are pretty good about not fucking with me when I'm painting and doing traditional media but I haven't done it in so long that once I open up a jar of paint I know Zita is gonna FLIP out and probably try to walk all over it. I don't need that in my life right now. 

ANYWAYS! Not much is going on, I literally drew over 200 thumbnails and wrote 70 pages of script this last month so I'm just burned out, but I wanna draw so badly it's like, not normal burn out where I don't even wanna draw it's burn out like, my body doesn't want me to draw but my brain is like "Okay... what if you wrote a comic about.." and I'm like oh yeah I like that. AH. 

Recommendation time! It's not too crazy this month, I didn't have as much time to find new things to listen/watch so I kinda stuck with sole oldies 

Music 

No Good at Goodbyes -- Harrison Lipton

Beach House -- The Mekanism

Youtube

Silent Hill 1 No Commentary Playthrough  - I don't play video games but I am a little/big fan of Silent Hill and Deadspace and I found this channel that does no commentary playthroughs (which I LOVE listening to when I work) so... I've had this saved and finally started watching it while I finished up some stuff this week <3

NOMA -- Traditional artist! Just a lot of fun and very chill watching them sketch and paint <3

Alright that wraps it up! Thanks for letting me ramble, I hope you enjoyed seeing some photo's of my house :0

Stay fresh!

~Mo

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!