Hello everyone, can you believe it's March already? Spring is almost here 🌸 I know, I say that kind of thing all the time, but it remains surprising! I guess it's because the weather can't decide what season to present us with here in Boise. Most of February, it felt like March or even April weather, dry and warm. But now that March is here, we've been getting snow almost every day! Indeed, on Tuesday it literally snowed ALL. DAY. It was the best! ☃️ Let's see how the weather changes between now and the point at which I finish telling you what I got up to in February 😆
Patreon
I finished my Autumn Gryphon greeting card illustration on February 7th. It went out to Patreon members on the 29th 💌 Most members also received January's reward, which was a WIP version of this piece, so I hope they enjoyed comparing the unfinished version to the finished!
Patreon is my biggest source of support. At the moment, contributions from members are being saved up to buy and install a utility sink in my studio ✨ The funds also really help out when I need to buy supplies. For instance, this week I needed blue lead for my sketching pencil, ink for my art printer, and postcard paper for future Patreon rewards. Member support helped me get everything!
Even more than that though, the support I receive is emotionally priceless. It's a HUGE boost to my morale, knowing there are folks who really believe in my work! Please consider joining them, helping me both practically and psychologically, by subscribing to my Patreon here 🥰
deviantART
Another way folks can support my creative work is through Buy Me a Coffee ☕✨ One of my wonderful supporters, Wolf, made a substantial donation there (I put it toward the utility sink!!!) and I wanted to thank him with a chibi caricature. So I ended up chibifying his beautiful dog, Ahri 💖 It's currently my most recent post on deviantART:
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Click here to view, fave, and comment on dA! |
If you would like to commission me for a chibi caricature like this, they are available through deviantART or through my Square Shop! It's the same commission on either site, and they both charge about the same in processing fees, so feel free to choose whichever platform you're most comfortable with 😊
Another dA announcement I would like to make is that I created subscription tiers there! There are three tiers and I offer slightly different rewards to Patreon and Twitch, including annual or quarterly chibi caricatures! Please click here and check it out. I'm excited to meet my first supporter there 🤩
Livestreaming
Everything continues to go well for my art streams! Thanks to a suggestion from one of my subscribers, Exie, we've been raiding a fellow streamer at the end of each Twitch session. This has really opened up the world of streaming to me! Not just because new people are finding my channel, but because I finally have a way to enjoy livestreams as a viewer! I never had time before, but now I can watch while I do my after-stream followup work 😄
And for YouTube, Wolf (same as above ❤️), suggested I start making YouTube Shorts. This has helped grow my channel! Again, since I don't have any extra time, little things like this are the BEST because they help Studio Mikarts without hurting me, ha ha. Here's one of the final stream recordings from February:
★ 2024 Birthday Gryphon Greeting Card, Part 5 ★
Something I changed about my livestream schedule, starting in February, is to give myself a week off every month. This year has been really intense and my mental health has started to suffer. I've written about it in more detail on Patreon, so I won't repeat myself here. I'll always turn on vacation mode when I'm taking a recovery week, so you can continue to rely on my Twitch schedule to verify when I'll be live!
Charity Fundraising
Our charity of the month for February was Vegan Outreach! They help animals by helping humans transition to a vegan lifestyle, including a one-on-one coaching program. I am signed up to be a coach for my area 😊✨
My donation formula takes the number of unique Twitch viewers I had that month and multiplies it by $0.10 USD, with a minimum of $10 and a max of $100. So how many unique viewers did we have in February?
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✨🎊 TWENTY-EIGHT!!! 🎊✨
That's a new record!!! Two more than the record set back in June 2022! Thank you so much everyone who joined me and took us to the next level 😄✨ This tallied up to a $10 donation to Vegan Outreach.
As always, I opted to cover the processing fees as well 💛 March's charity is Food for Life Global, an organization whose main effort helps feed the hungry with healthy, sustainable plant-based food. They also promote peaceful, non-violent living, advocating for the right of ALL animals, including us humans, to enjoy such a world. Please help me help them by watching my livestreams this month and bringing your friends! You can also make a donation directly, here.
Gryphia Progress
My first draft continues to develop steadily! In February, I reached 2,900 words for chapter eleven. This is set up to be a twelve chapter novel, with around 3,000 - 4,000 words per chapter. That means I'm VERY close to done with the first draft!
At the rate I'm going, it's possible I may finish this month 🤩 I've been reading Stephen King's On Writing, which suggests putting the manuscript away for six weeks before starting edits. This is to allow your mind to gain some distance and objectivity before diving into revision. I think I will follow that advice, and use the time to catch up on my Japan Adventure posts in the meantime.
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That's all for this roundup, I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading to the end 🥰 How's the weather now? Temps are below freezing but the sun is shining (bring back the snow if it's gonna be so cold!) 😆 I'll be back again with another roundup next month. Until then, may you stay happy, healthy, and safe!
