[Jan 2022 update] How I work & my future plan

Hi everyone and Happy New Year 2022! (´ ∀ ` *)

It’s been a while I have done any update post on Patreon. I do active on Discord every day, but I might need to post more updates on Patreon from now on.

Just a quick note, there is an event going on, if you haven't seen it: https://koyo.gay/#event 

Here is a brief of my current life:

I’m still living and kicking with caffeine. I’m totally not addicted to caffeine!

I do have a new fursona now! I will post my fursona on patreon at later day!

I have so many ideas and couldn't do it all! Whenever I have an idea for my parody comic, original comic and webcomic, I will write it down and review it later.

I might create a merch line in 2022, so I can put my emoji and sticker designs on physical objects. 

I’m still working on the become a full-time artist, while I’m preparing all the necessary steps to achieve that.

But I think explaining more would be better, I want as many people to understand how I work as possible. I’m not really good at talking and expressing my thought, so I hope I did a decent job with this one. ┬┴┬┴┤･ω･)ﾉ

For the condensed version:

• I’m doing great and love what I’m doing right now.
• I have day job, and time for creativity is finiteness. My schedule is reasonable, it just some artworks need more time to do than others.
• There are problems that I have to face by myself to become a full-time artist. But there are ways for me to get through that. For the best possible case, I will need to get as many commissions and patrons as much I can within the next 15 months.

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How artist works realistically.

I made these graphs so it will be easier to understand. Not counting social life, here is how my routine as an artist with day job and how it would be if I’m being a full-time artist.

An artist doesn’t draw from morning to midnight. The limit isn’t about time, but about their “energy,” their endurance. Creating is working, even when an artist love doing it, they still have a limit of “energy” to spend on a day.

The “energy” I’m talking about is “decision fatigue,” the real scientific name of “artist burn-out.” I think this quote from The New York Times can sum up what it is about:

“Experiment after experiment proves that the brain can only continue making well-reasoned decisions for a limited amount of time. Each and every person has a finite store of mental energy for decisions whether it is exerting self-control (e.g. resisting M & M's), purchasing, test taking, or (for artists and makers) making aesthetic decisions.” – from The New York Times.

The average adult makes 35,000 decisions every day. The artist makes one decision per second when they are working. That would be 3600 decisions per hour. Another problem is artist can’t full drain their “energy” every day. That is how artist gets burned-out because they think they can.

It’s like draining 10% of battery per hour and draining your phone battery to 0% too much will make the battery die faster. As in, the brain will force you to stop doing the thing that keep draining your decision, hence the burn-out.

My current total time to draw each month should be about 50 hours. A full illustration costs about 30+ hours. Cell-shaded artwork and comic page cost about 10+ hours each. An emote/sticker is about 2-3 hours. That is why posting new artworks more frequently is hard for me.

Because I know about this, I am practicing my drawing with concern and avoiding fatigue. This is how I can keep loving what I’m doing. Each artwork that I have done is an absolute enjoyment because I can manage it.

Sometimes, I have to force myself to not create, because I know where my limit is before getting burned-out. I have to spend time for myself beside drawing, so I can stay healthy. But from the outside view, it looks like I’m slacking and procrastinating. Well, it is way easier to say I’m lazy than explain all of this, so I’m fine with that.
∠( ᐛ 」∠)_ 

On that same topic of decision fatigue. Unlike hobby artist, freelance artist is a professional. Which mean they can’t only focus on drawing, unless they don’t have to worry about their financial. This is a simplified view of how freelance artist works:

I want to focus more on creativity, which is why I’m having a challenging time to find more patron. Most people have really high demand and will only support artist who is already working full-time and infamous (as their right), they use Patreon as a subscription service. Sadly, I couldn’t serve them because I don't have enough time to post more art like a full-time artists. I couldn’t work smart enough to do business as an artist at current stage, so I can only work hard.

Buying adverts is my plan for a while now, but I will have to wait for my schedule to be stable. And twenty-five usd per month isn’t that cheap after running for a while. If I’m buying ads without getting much effect from it, that would be a waste.

I’m preparing for changes in the near future.

In the next 2 year, there will be changes that affect my life soon.

It’s not negative nor positive, just changing situation in life.

Right now, fortunately I don’t have to pay rent and bills because I’m living in my workplace. Thank to that, I’m not much in trouble with money for a while now, despite my modest salary. But within under next 2 years, my current workplace will have to move, and I will have to spend two third of my salary to pay for rent and bills.

That is why I'm saving my money to go full time. My goal has never changed.

My family has a small land. With my current and future saving, I could build a small cottage that cost around 15,000 USD, so I don’t have to worry about rent in the future. With this, I will only have to worry about daily expenses, that I could easily manage from doing Patreon and Commission.

The problem is with my salary, I won’t be able to achieve that goal anytime within under 2 years. After the next 15 months, I will be still lacking 6000 USD. Because of my modest salary, getting a loan is really risky and interest rate won’t be in my favor.

If I get a loan, I could a have a small cottage, but in exchange of keeping day job to pay for that debt in years to come. If I don’t get a loan, I will have to pay rent forever and will never be able to save up for that montage. At the end, to achieve my goal I will have to get help from either side: My patrons, or loan shark.

This is why I need to get as much commissions as I could. The more commissions and donation I get, the less I will have to be in debt later on. In the best scenario, I will get the full fund for my small cottage and going full-time instantly. That is a dreaming, but anything is possible, who know?

This shouldn't affect much on how I work right now. Nothing changes, I will keep drawing and doing commission as usual. I was thinking if I should talk about my situation for weeks now. I don’t know if talking about personal problem would be a promising idea or not. But at least, sharing this makes me feels better and let me stop wondering for a while.

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I hope that after reading this, you understand more about how I work and what situation I’m in right now. I'm looking at my situation in positive light with hope. All of my creation are my enjoyment to make. I make money so I can draw more, that is the circle I’m following.

Thank you for reading! (´ ∀ ` *) 

- Koyo Draka