Miltonholmes
patreon
Fortnightly Update 66: Return of the Plant Update! And Burnout! Dangit!
🕑 Added 2023-05-13 12:05:20 +0000 UTCHey everyone, in this update I'll be sharing both an in progress commission and an update on the Monthly Art. Also, in life stuff i'll bitch about burnout after sharing the first plant update since January (i know that's what you're all here for)
Art Stuff
Since last update i've finished two of the five commissions on my queue and i'm currently over halfway through shading the third (though I haven't forgotten the TG Preg Alt):
After this chonky bat i've got Indiana Jones getting cowed and a demi-Gomamon TF (and i'm really thankful to those clients for their patience!) which are both smaller in scope so hopefully they'll be done before June :)
And i'm making steady progress on the monthly art, while it's slower than i'd have liked I'm pretty on track to have it finished at the usual-ish time.
Check out my cheeky use of 3D Models, i'm gonna try and not lean on that too hard. I'm excited to do some of the alts this month - feels like this layout is conducive to fun stuff :) (perfect views for preg alt, for sweaty alt, for reality shifting macro goodness maybe...)
I've gotten sidetracked with some cute side projects this month already - the centaurs with a couple bonus posts were kinda an apology for delays to the monthly art, and spending a couple of hours on a cute animation felt worth it :)
Life Stuff
Can't believe it's been ages since I shared a photo of my houseplants. But the kitchen windowsill underwent some upgrades last weekend - I repotted my two succulents and binned one of my repainted nettles, replacing it with a healthier looking cutting. Also, has some leftover decorative gravel so I figured i'd add that to two of the pots :)
It feels like winter only just wrapped up, and i've been enjoying being able to mow the lawn and tend to plants again - though my flowerbed is full of grass and weeds and slugs and snails... I've been doing weeding here and there but hff, it's a lot of work. I'll get it sorted.
I don't talk about it much, but i've been running an afterschool club at a local school, teaching them things like Python and HTML. This week's lesson was fun because I got to muck about with images and CSS. I promise that I actually can do advanced web stuff (3 years Angular experience, a couple in React) but this basic mucking about is great fun.
Anyway, I mentioned burnout at the beginning and yeah, i'm kinda completely exhausted. It's not entirely art's fault I think, my day job is getting really rather demotivating and simultaneously busy.
I'm getting better about commission pressure - i'm not crunching myself to deliver them since clients are always more patient and understanding than I expect, but having them on my plate at the same time as patreon is a bit of a stressor. I'll get through this bad spot, but in the meantime I really appreciate your patience!
This update's already late as it is so i'll wrap up - thank you for reading, and for your support! I've nearly filled up a new sketch page, and we'll have more commission rough sketches in the near future, and I'm really hoping to finish the monthly art for Early Access before the next Update too :)
Have a lovely weekend!
Comments
Lymed
The commission and patreon vote look fantastic! you've been absolutely killing it lately with how much you've put out, it's honestly sort of insane. Definitely excited to see your progress over time on these projects! ^^ The plants look lovey, and it sounds like you've had your hands full with the turning of the seasons alone. Especially with the after school club and everything else. Hopefully it's at the very least, a little self rewarding. But I really am sorry to hear about the burn out. I'm glad everyone seems to be being patient with you on the art end, but it really is sad to hear regardless. Hopefully this rough patch ends sooner rather than later. Wish I could offer you some help in some form, but all I can say is take care of yourself, and I know you'll pull through.
Miltonholmes
I really respect teachers and getting to do a little bit myself is really rewarding :) (my BF is a teacher and it's part of what I love about him) Thanks for your patience with the commission - I guess part of the beauty of clients being patrons is that you're able to keep track of where i'm at so you know i'm not procrastinating ;)
Something Tanuki
Chonky bat looks so good!!! And the use of 3d models in the art workflow is really cool, looks like a very practical tool. :D The afterschool club sounds awesome! I have a friend who does similar afterschool teaching/club stuff for teens and I love hearing them talk about how it keeps the kids engaged with something they really care about and the way it keeps the kids out of trouble. It's a real societal good on many levels, and teachers/workers deserve more love for the work they do. I'm sorry about the burnout, hope things clear up at work! You probably know this already, but as a client I have no problem with letting you take your time with the comm. Especially when you have all these other things on your plate! I'm just happy to be here and support your patreon and pick up a cool comm every now and then :D
