Suit wips, future plans, and 2024 review

Made a new nose for Darius's head, aswell as the eyelids. With the head fully complete I've now started on the sockpaws. I managed to get quite a bit of the sockpaws done, leaving only the soles of the feet which I will do tomorrow. So with any luck I'll be fully finished this suit tomorrow, so expect some pictures of this cutie in action soon!

Once this suit is done it'll be time to work on the bodysuit for Zion. Poor bloke had his suit lost in the mail for months, causing a huge delay. Finally the suit (and the DTD) is headed back my way so I can make his requested alterations and make his bodysuit. It hasn't arrived yet but I'm expecting it any day now *fingers crossed* once it does I can get to work. In the meantime, I'll finish up Darius's suit and hopefully finish up a premade I started back in August. While I didn't get a table at FE or this past MFF I am still hopeful I can atleast sell the one premade I had started in preparation for those cons. Lord knows I need the money.

2024 has been extremely rough on me, not only emotionally, and financially but physically aswell. I had 4 surgeries this past year, and while 3 were minor surgeries to remove some benign tumours one was major and took me far longer to recover than expected. I'm still not fully recovered, and while the surgery is for something I not only want, but need its taken a huge toll on me, and it was only the first of 4 surgeries. The next one will be in May and is expected to the hardest one with a long recovery period. That long recovery period will mean less time to work on commissions making it even harder to pay the bills. But I digress, 2024 has been a rough year for a lot of people, for a lot of different reasons. The art industry as a whole seems to be suffering huge losses right now, I could go on about the downfall of AI and the declining economy but rants will get us nowhere and you folks are here for art, not drama.

That said I'm hoping 2025 will be better. If nothing else that major surgery is something I'm looking forward to, despite the finacial anxieties. That surgery will be a huge step forward for me, one I hope will create a lasting positive impact on my life. Regardless of what 2025 brings me I want to come out of it better than I went going in. I want to make postive changes in my life such as improving my overall health (physical and mental) and developing a better work routine. I want to be able to while make the time to do the things I enjoy without the guilt of putting work aside to do so. I wasn't able to get as much work done on commissions as I was hoping to this past year, and 2025 won't be any easier due to my aforemention surgery in May.

With that in mind I wanted to post a loose schedule for commissions between now and May. I tend to complete about one fullsuit a month, so depending in whether I get a last minute table at FE or not I'm hoping to complete 4 suits. That would make the scheduel look something like this.

Jan - Zion
Feb - Cucumber
March - Galia
April - Megan

If I get a table at FE, I'd have to instead use Feb/March to do as much con prep as I possibly can. I still have a decent amount of stock left over from last FE, so aside from premades for the table I shouldn't have to work myself ragged like previous years. Well that's the plan anyways.

Welp that's enough yapping from me for one night. I will try to finish up Darius's suit tomorrow and take some suit pics. I got a photography backdrop at the binstore the other day so I should be able to get some nice shots of the suit! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I wish everyone a safe and fufilling new year. May 2025 bring us all the joy, love, and prosperity we all deserve. Cheers to 2025!