'18 going on '19

Xmas and new year are around the corner so I think it's best to do a write-up before everyone takes off for the extra-long weekend.

It's been a rough year, dad recovering from his bypass, Cookie's passing, 2 failed monitors, legal things here and there. I still live. Battered, but alive.

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Started commission runs late but I should be able to reach $1000 by early next year and will face 2 purchase options that will alter content to come:

• A Cintiq 13HD
• Toonboom Harmony lifetime license

I've always wanted a Cintiq for the longest time, where I can draw and work on more comfortable places ((I've planned for a floor chair)) than tied down to a desk, and 13HD is a portable size to take with me wherever. I have faith in Wacom products, as an owner of a very-beaten-but-still-working Graphire 4, a Intuos 4 small and medium ((it's got pedigree, used at Rhythm & Hues))

So why not a Surface? A Cintiq can live on paired with any new laptop or rig. It's an investment with good resell value.

And Toonboom is a software I've worked with at my last job. It's like super-advanced Flash and as long as I hold a license I'm legible for all the updates. There're concerns about its ever-growing system requirements, but who's to say I won't have beefy specs in the future to match?

Flash is still useful as a barebones tool but it's got no rotation and I currently have no elbow room. I can make do with its crappy exporting options by converting raw AVI with Handbrake. 

To summarize: it's a choice between more efficient direct-to-digital arting/coloring/editing/covering -OR- more animations.

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I guess I have no other plans besides the possible Becoming-Uncle shutdown. Might happen, might not happen. I don't look too far into the future anymore, if 2018 taught me anything, but am preparing for the worst.

Like how it doesn't rain when you take an umbrella with you, despite the rumbling and dark skies.

I very much appreciate the voting participation, it helps direct the art towards doing 1 thing well than trying a dozen small things badly. Will be using polls more often, yessum.

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Guess that's it, take it one day at a time. Draw more, draw better. Be less grouchy.

Have a happy holiday, happy new year, and happy 36th birthday to me.

And thank you for your support.

EDIT: And gotta be more diligent with the whole delayed release thing. I'm probably breaking my rule by uploading even the censored stuff before delivery date.