[Patron-Only Feed] First Month Completed!

January was a productive month, and I'm glad to see that it went so well -- I was even able to take an entire week of this month off.

Don't forget to check out the Monthly Dropbox Archive ($7) if you have access to it!

A Brief Reflection:

This month saw the most NSFW uploads in a single month, as well as the most consistent completion of Patron Sketch Suggestions. I think posting them in batches has been a smart decision, as it ensures ample time between major posts. 

I also wound up enjoying every single one.

Taking it slow seems to have been a great decision. It's resulted in higher quality sketches, and it's given me plenty of time to relax and spend my time playing video games. Drawing has been a much more relaxing experience when I'm taking it easy and not trying to force new drawings simply to maintain a near daily upload schedule.

More Reflection:

I think I would have liked to produce one more visually interesting $3 Illustration during January. I might even like to spend even longer on some pieces to create work that is significantly more dynamic & ambitious.

During my second week, I did briefly overwork myself. Not too much, I just happened to draw additional NSFW content when I had PLANNED to take it easy for a weekend. I think 3 weeks worth of NSFW Sketch Suggestions are the optimal value to shoot for, but I produced enough content to say it was 4 weeks.

Maintaining a good boundary between my work & relaxation will be key in ensuring high quality in both my work and my life.

Even More Reflection:

I think the coloured sketch style I've been dabbling with in recent months has definitely hit a point where it's starting to feel really high quality for what it is. 

It's easy to appreciate these works, as they incorporate two appealing elements: colour expression & energy. The line work is not the cleanest, most refined, so it still has that sketch-like look, and even the colour shapes are relatively loose. It's also a manageable workload.

The Concept Art & Discussion threads have also been met with an adequately positive response. I don't imagine it's something EVERYONE cares for, but a decent number of people do. These also take an ample amount of time to create, but they offer a unique experience to my Patreon, and shake things up so it's not JUST purely sketches being shared.

Overall, a good month.

How did you feel about the Patreon Experience this month?

Takin' Care of Business:

I've grown pretty negligent at taking care some of the things in my life, having focused so much of my time on art -- it also happened this month too, though to a lesser extent. I did begin preparing to discard a bunch of old boxes, but then I stopped... I'd like to spend more time improving the quality of my environment (and my life) -- at least as much as I can given the circumstances of my existence. 

With much more free time, a major overhaul of my environment feels just a bit more within reach, I just need to spend some time in making it happen. 

I'll try to be better with that element of my life; perhaps I shall incorporate some of that into brellocomics or something. Those are supposed to be dumb & mundane, right?

VIDEO GAME STUFF

Monster Hunter World:

I haven't played it much as of late, but I always drop in to play Monster Hunter World when there's an event period -- right now, it's the game's anniversary; Appreciation Festival. I'm sinking my teeth into that, with the intention of dedicating myself to it until the period ends -- or at least until I get the rewards I'm interested in. I haven't played in a while though, so my character build is probably not as good as it could be.

I started modding MHW, but I don't want to indulge too much. I'm especially cautious of a particular mod that I'm using to save my Layered Sets - the Transmog Mod. It's primary use is to change your outward appearance to any armor, regardless of the actual armor you have equipped (like a more expansive Layered Armor Set system). The actual in-game Layered armors are few in number, but I don't want to completely defeat the purpose of that system, or remove value in unlocking them in-game. 

But I replaced one of the armors with summer wear, because y'know, yeah. It does bother me a tiny bit that other people will see what this armour USUALLY looks like though, and with contrasting colour combinations too... Oops.

Kingdom Hearts 3:

It finally came out, so that's cool. I used to really like KH, but I can't say I was necessarily the most hype about the franchise. Glad that more avid fans are getting another installment though - one that's arguably more vital than the side games we've seen since KH2.

I think I'm going to play through all of the other games before starting 3, however. I never played Birth by Sleep or Dream Drop Distance. I just started KH1 yesterday.

Resident Evil 2:

A long-awaited remake to what was easily the best Resident Evil game in existence. I really enjoyed the game, though I still have more to play through!

It feels like a nice mix of modern & classic Resident Evils. I had to frequently remind my muscles that I wasn't playing RE6, and was thus, not quite as empowered as I have been trained to feel by modern RE titles.

Though the remake doesn't have the original's classic fixed camera angles, it still capitalizes on it's ability to frighten and create a sense of unease just as effectively, if not more so. It does this with claustrophobic environments, obscuring your vision, and it's use of lighting.

Anyway, good game. 

I've also started playing Nier: Automata and a bit of my SNES Classic. It's nice to devote my time to playing video games. I used to find it difficult to freely spend my time playing games when I had work to do, whether it was school or art. I even spent a lot of my short vacation this month streaming through Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 5 (on Professional difficulty), and some of Resident Evil 6. As well as Resident Evil 2 on release.

I'd like to make a habit of enjoying myself with video games from now on.

Don't forget to eat and sleep! I hope you enjoyed this month and stuff. I'll think of more things to say in the upcoming month; my mind's still kind of in relaxation mode.