Lum Portrait! + What's next?

I thought twice before posting this cause it's a bit long and I don't know how many of you will read it, but I still wanted to share it.

So it is that time of the year again and I'd like to share some thoughts with you guys now that 2024 is over. Nothing too deep, just something for the couple of you who might be interested in me and my possible future plans with Mixplin.

I feel like this year I achieved the bare minimum, my only accomplishment was not going on a long hiatus like in past years, but other than that I feel like I haven't made much progress. I can notice a bit of improvement in my art, I'm getting to the point where I dislike fewer pieces I make, so I guess that's positive. But I feel like I'm still far away from consistency and what I truly want.

It's a shame, not just from the perspective of you guys not getting more and better content. But because I'm always thinking of all the things I'd like to do with Mixplin and things that I don't do cause of my lack of commitment, organization, etc.

As weird as it sounds, I've thought of streaming, making Youtube, merch, getting into 3D, full animations, and a couple more. And even though I have most of them already planned, I do none, and they all end up in nothing but fantasies that probably will never become a reality.

I know that a lot of those ideas require me to be a bit more vocal, to have more personal content, OCs, and to engage a lot more, things that I've yet to do. But if can barely do the minimum, I don't know how all those ideas are gonna come to life.

I've also even turned down various offers from game developers, companies, VAs, and other artists, to work on really cool projects, cause I don't want them to work at my pace and have them waiting for me all the time. And overall I just never commit to long projects.

None of this is really necessary, I could probably just stick to art/images and that's it, but I've always liked to add distinctive things even if they are dumb and little. That's also probably the reason I started making femboy alts, cause I saw no one else was doing it.

And I'm not trying to do something completely different, but I want to make things the best I can so you guys can remember me.

But instead... I settle for doing the bare minimum.

A reason for this is that I want everything to be perfect, and I know it is dumb and I've said it multiple times, but it's hard to fight against this. That's the reason I haven't released an animation yet, even though I've made a couple.

I don't like that, but I also recognize that this perfectionism and discomfort is what has made my art grow ever since I started drawing 5 years ago.

And so, this leads me to the current 'problem' with my art and the way I work: it's getting harder to begin each piece unless I'm fully motivated. It's just rough. Getting into a piece knowing that I'll be spending the next couple of working sessions on it is a bit frustrating, because I don't know exactly when it will be finished. It adds to my burnout, and then the time I have for my art ends up with me doing nothing.

The worst thing is that each set/piece doesn't take that long in itself, but it does when I can't fully work on it and I spend half the time in a mental burnout, and then I have to get back in the mood/mental in each working session.

Sounds dumb, but that's really how things are.

So I kinda want to be more sketchy' with my style, a bit less detailed, more rough/"careless". I think simplifying it, in the long term would be better since I would be able to work on more pieces. And even though by this I don't mean "quantity over quality", I still don't know if you guys would like that, since I believe that one of the strong aspects of my art is my current style.

But idk, maybe I just need small changes, working on things I like, start posting animations, doing things without thinking too much, and maybe that way I learn how to overcome that art block that's been haunting me for years now, and that you're probably tired of hearing of... Or maybe is just part of the process and I just need to get good at it.

So this year I really want to get consistent, make more pieces each month, more polls, more variety, care less about small things, and at the very least, an animation even if is not a full short film.

Also, I still dont know how to feel about AI, some people have recommended that I should use it to speed up my process, but it just doesn't feel right.

Seeing so many people use AI feels demoralizing, even in my position that I already have an audience, so I can't imagine how it feels for someone who is just getting into art.

Unfortunately, AI is here to stay, so it is what it is. But for now, I won’t use AI in any part of my process, and I'll be transparent if I ever do it.

But to finish.

Probably nothing will change in the near future (or ever) but I just wanted to take the opportunity to share how I feel, my plans/projects (fantasies), why pieces take so long, and just me yapping now that the year has come to an end.

Means a lot to me if you got all the way here!! I really appreciate you taking the time to read all that. And I just wanted to thank you for supporting me another year or if you're new here. I hope to have you here for the years to come, and know that I'm always open to feedback of any kind!

I said it before, but I never get tired of receiving love from you! I receive DMs with nice words almost daily and every single one means a lot to me.

So even if it is at a slow pace, with different content, or anything else I decide to make, there will be more Mixplin to come! Love you guys and happy new year!

Btw, I know I tend to sound negative sometimes, but I'm not at all!! I feel happy with all I've achieved, I just want to keep growing, that's all.

Hope you like that Lum portrait!! I'm currently finishing Aqua's set, should be up in a few days