TLDR: I got a full-time job! So, things are going to be changing - I want to keep some aspects of my art freelancing going but some are going to come to an end for now (if this all goes ahead as planned), as I won't have the time to continue them.
Hello!!!!!!
Apologies for so many emails this week - things have been a bit of a whirlwind and I'm only just getting a handle on everything that is going to have to get sorted. Essentially, I interviewed for a full-time job on Wednesday the 5th, and I got an offer for it! It's just a slight-above-minimum-wage admin job (in a genetics lab, woaoaoh~), but it lets me pay rent and do the things that have been worrying me since I stopped getting that doctorate money.
It does, however, mean I'm going to have to take a step back from a lot of my art stuff as I simply won't have the time for it anymore - it's saddening, but with everything in mind, it's for the best. I've never really wanted to be a full time artist; I don't know what I want to be, really, but turning my art into something I stressfully have to rely on, especially in this economy, isn't in my list of desires. I still want to make art - as much of it as I can! - but there has to be something else supporting me if I want to be able to do the things I dream about.
I don't have a confirmed start date yet, but they estimate that given that HR will take a while to onboard me, I'll be starting around late May to early June. Enough time to finish up my PhD work at the end of April (another thing to worry about...) and to tidy up loose ends beforehand. With that, I wanted to make a list of the (fairly loosely) planned changes to my art stuff if this all goes ahead!
Changing:
No more streams. I'll continue streaming up until my start date, and may do some special streams around birthdays and whatnot, but aside from that I'll be keeping my weekends all to myself. Once I stop streaming, please remember to cancel your subscriptions! ❤️
Reduced commissions. I'd like to keep doing commissions, but these will probably be a lot less frequent, since I won't have the time to do pieces as large as I have been doing! It's more likely I'll offer smaller commissions in future. I have one slot open at the moment, so if you would like a fully shaded etc. piece from me, now is the time to get one!
My plans for doing more cons. As everyone knows, I'm quite a busy person - and now weekends are going to be the only time I have to see certain folks, I'm going to slim down the planning I had for doing a handful of cons a year (especially since I'd need to use annual leave, too). I'm still hopefully going to be doing Em-Con in June, as long as I can figure out any conflicts with my new start.
Newsletters like this! I'll be still sending these out whenever I make art, or merch, or am taking on commissions when I can - I just won't be doing the usual monthly update like I normally do. I will do my best to still send out reminders about sketch club rewards, as long as those are desired and my sketch clubbers stick with me. 07
Continuing:
Sketch Club! I think I'll still have time to attend my sketch club requests as usual, as these are designed to be small and quick. I will say however, if you have long-term subscriptions on here and you'd like to stop those (especially if you aren't claiming your rewards.....you know who you are....), feel free to do so!
Etsy - but with extended shipping times. Now that I won't be able to run to the post office whenever I get an order, I'm going to be extending my shipping times so that I post out orders once a week at the weekends.
My Socials. I'm already quite the lurker - that's how I lurk it (like it, hehe) - but I'll leave things like my discord open and make more of an effort to post my art/check in with everyone from time to time, and update you all about commissions and Etsy updates and whatnot. If you'd like an invite to that, please let me know! I'll also still be updating my socials (Twitter etc.) probably as frequently as I currently do, to be fair.
As for the rest of this month, here's my current streaming/work schedule, as this month is a bit of a mess anyway - what with my family visiting next week and my viva at month's end - and I wanted to clarify when I'll be going live.
Please just bear in mind that if my viva on the 26th goes appallingly bad, I likely won't be streaming on the 27th!! ( >﹏<。)
With all that, I just wanted to say again that I've really appreciated everyone who has supported the growth of my freelance business over the last three (3!) years. You really have kept me going and I've been blessed to have such wonderful commissioners and stream friends, etc.! 🥺
I'll update you all again soon when I know more.
Grace