2021 Year in Review

Hello Patron Pals and Happy 2022!

The dust has started to settle from the hubbub of December, the whirlwind promises and dreams of New Years has sifted into the reality of every day. Which means it's the perfect time to wade into my annual tradition of reflecting on the year. 

Every January I like to look back on the projects, themes, and achievements for each month to see (and share with you) how much (or little) I get done in a span of time. Whether you're an aspiring illustrator, a seasoned career artist, or just interested in watching my art career change and grow, I hope you enjoy this reflection on 2021!

But first, let's peek back at the first three years of Ragonia:

• 2018: Left my restaurant job to become an illustrator, but worked part time as a barista to pay the bills! A lot of firsts this year, and a TON of confidence, energy, motivation, and new art.
• 2019: First year full-time illustration, just barely scraped by, but steadily started to gain experience, and establish my art style and interests.
• 2020: Best year yet for Ragonia, worst year for everything else. Got my best sales in my store, and biggest client projects and collabs, but also lots of cancellations, shop closures, and overwhelm from social media. Also, everything in the world, moving back and forth, and ya know, everything. Extremely burnt out.

What a weird combo of experiences for 2020! I wonder what that will lead to in 2021...

(Clockwise from top left) All my Ragonia Stuff fitting into a Roof Bag on top of our car. Pumpkin peekin' out of her hidey hole during the cross-country journey. Fully settled in Ragonia's first studio. Blocking out our new living room with boxes.

• Zach and I packed all our things again, in and on top of our car, and drove back across the country to Seattle. We rented an AirBnB while we searched for an apartment, until we signed the lease to an apartment two blocks down from our first, with TWO BEDROOMS, which meant...
• Ragonia got it's own studio room for the first time!
• Got revisions for the book roughs that I had finished in autumn of 2020.

Printable caterpillar craft for HP, printable Easter bingo. A self-portrait featuring my new favorite color for 2021 (rich green). Enjoying the snow back at our favorite local grocery store!

• Re-opened my shop for the first time since December 2020!
• Finished revisions for the book roughs.
• Got a job illustrating Easter activities for HP's Printables downloads.
• Decided to no longer offer portrait commissions, to reserve time for personal art projects.

More about February here. 

Raccoon DTIYS. Noting in my journal my new art focus. Ragonia 3 Year Anniversary celebration! My newly revamped logo.

• Celebrated 3 years of Ragonia!
• Drew a foraging Raccoon DTIYS to help me get back in the swing of posting online and drawing.
• Started planning ways to pivot my art and art career to feel more "me", since I'd been feeling off and frustrated with my art for months.
• "Decided" to refocus my art on more nerdy themes, and planned a whole slew of projects to work on in April, when I'd have some free time from client projects.
• Updated the Ragonia logo.
• Turned down two client jobs whose budgets were way too low for what they were asking for. At first I felt confident in the decision, but then some imposter syndrome started to kick in...

More about March here. 

Still from my art block animation. Dungeon Master design. More art block self-portraits. Announcement for my PIGSquad talk.

• The big art block month! I said no to those client projects, finished up others, planned a long list of merch I wanted to make, had prepped a big pivot in my brand, and now that it was time to make the art...
• WHAM! Art block and imposter syndrome. I felt paralyzed, and so frustrated with my art. However, through the art block I was able to squeeze out:
• A lot of self-portraits, including a GIF about my feelings on the art block! Ironically a lot of people seemed to relate to the art I made while I felt like I couldn't make art. The gif is still one of my favorite things I've ever made.
• A Dungeon Master drawing that hit a lot of the vibes I wanted in my "new" "brand".
• I also got a small licensing deal with one of my favorite brands, Lucy & Yak, for a doodle I'd made in 2019.
• And did my second Talent Talk on Tabling at Markets for my friends at the Portland Indie Game Squad!
• Got our first round of vaccines!!

More about April here. 

Snippet from the book finals. Drink n' Draw fan art of Chadwick and the Southern Scourge. Seeing friends again in their home! Doodles from the Patreon Movie Night.

• The anxiety of the art block month slowly started to fade as I doodled through, shared with and got great advice from my Patrons, and released pressure to achieve everything all together in one month.
• And got back to work! I started working on the finals for the book.
• Did two illustrations for PIGSquad's online Drink n' Draw, one of which would eventually lead to another exciting client project!
• Had a livestreamed movie and sketch night with Patrons, which also helped me make art through my art block.
• Got our second vaccines and two weeks later got to see our friends in their homes for the first time in a year!

More about May here. 

(Top) Snippet from the book finals. (Bottom) Blocking out the sun during the heat wave.

• Continued working on book finals!
• Yikes! Worst heat wave in Seattle history in an apartment with no AC! 100*F+ for 4 days in a row, but we made it through!

More about June here. 

Snippet from the book finals. New designs for packaging. The Balcony Farm in summer splendor. View of the Space Needle over South Lake Union.

• Nothing but book pages, baby, all the time.
• Collaborated with noissue for my third round of gifted custom tissue paper- which was a big step for me, because I almost turned the offer down because I "didn't know what I wanted my branding to be like". But pushing through the uncertainty to make something helped bring me a lot of the clarity I needed!
• Outside of work: soaking in the PNW summer, gardening, seeing friends and doing regular life things for the first time since 2020!

More about July here. 

Snippet from the book finals. Re-work of an old piece. Zach and me on the Carolina beach. My sister Kenna visiting Seattle.

• Book pages life continues! Wow looks like three months of 75% book page work, 25% Patreon work!
• Just for fun, redrew an important piece for my style development from 2018.
• My sister moved to Portland, Oregon from Boulder, Colorado! She stayed with me here in Seattle for a few weeks and I took the Coast Starlight train down to Portland to help her get settled.
• Took our first flight since the pandemic to fly to the East Coast for a relaxing beach vacation with Zach's family, who we hadn't seen since 2019.

More about August here. 

My Adobe DTIYS piece. My version of CodiBear's piece. Kenna with Pumpkin in my kitchen, visiting Seattle again. A sketch with brush pen and paint pen.

• Only a few pages left for the book, but the due date was pushed out so I put working on it on pause.
• Did a Two Part DTIYS livestream with artist CodiBear for Adobe Live, using Adobe Fresco for the first time.
• Canceled my rolled-over-from-2020 Rose City Comic Con Artist Alley table reservation in Portland due to the Delta variant spread.

More about September here. 

2021 Inktober pieces: Couple from the Black Lagoon. Witch's Flight. Ghost Buds. Monster Self-Portrait.

• Worked more on the book pages, and the due date was pushed further out again.
• Did 5 Inktober pieces for Mab Grave's Drawlloween Club prompt list that I am SO proud of and that were really well recieved!
• Recorded my first PODCAST newsletter for the Patreon monthly update!

More about October here. 

Still from my Black Friday sale animation. Re-work of the Foraging Raccoon. New stickers gifted by StickerApp. Test shirts from Printful.

• Didn't open custom portrait commissions for the first time, to give me time to work on my other projects, and I think it was a great move!
• Got an very fun client project with a new type of subject matter under a strict NDA, but it's been one of my favorite projects so far!
• Prepared and ordered a BUNCH of art for prints and stickers for a (very late) winter drop. Most people do this in the summer, but I was just proud to have done it at all!
• Re-worked some Inktober pieces and ordered samples from POD apparel company Printful... with mixed results. One shirt came out great and the others were poor quality.
• Got obsessed with learning animation in my work free-time, and made a quick little animation advertising for my Black Friday sale!
• Had a Black Friday sale!... with no new items and only a small discount, so it was a pretty quiet weekend. But I was feeling great regardless!

More about November here. 

Re-worked an old HP Printables design. A drawing to announce my Patreon Holiday Party. Zach, Kenna, Jasper, Pumpkin, and me celebrating Christmas together. A Krampus piece illustrated during the holiday party!

• With my spare time and energy from not doing portraits, I was able to draw a few new pieces this month, which you all know is an achievement for me!
• Had the most fun at our Patreon Holiday Party, drawing Krampus on livestream and getting to see your doodles, projects, and versions of my Yule Goat!
• A few workshops from Patreon made me reflect on what I need this platform to be in the future... with your feedback and the experience of the holiday party I decided to remodel the Patreon to focus more on community events and making art regularly!
• Turned 28 and celebrated Christmas in Seattle with Zach, Pumpkin, my sister Kenna and her Australian Shepherd Jasper. 

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This year in Ragonia, I will:

• Make more income! Yeesh, 2020 was surprisingly good, but 2021 was a down year for income. I gotta boost it up so I can do the things I want to do in my life. 
• Create new personal art at least every month. Doodle, make new traditional pieces, make new digital pieces, just create more.
• Remodel the Ragonia Patreon to align with the need to make more art more regularly!
• Table at one convention or market again, (at least!)
• Get at least three wholesale accounts with local art stores (get my art sold in at least three stores).
• Have at least two new product drops, including multiple new stickers, prints, original art, handmade goods, and other products.
• Find a balance with social media that feels authentic and sustainable.
• Experiment in new mediums, including animation and 3D modeling.

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And there it is, 2021. 

If it isn't apparent, this was a year of shrinking for Ragonia. 

Shrinking audience and engagement on all platforms, shrinking income and sales, shrinking creativity and motivation. It's been disheartening and alarming before simmering down to apathy. 

But I'm done being apathetic and avoidant, I want to work in art, and I want to get back just a portion of the energy and confidence I had when I first started. 

It's going to take some real re-shuffling, but I know it's possible. Art isn't the Wild West, it's an established field with plenty of clear cut paths you can take and industries you can find your comfortable place in. You just gotta find the spot that works for you. 

I'm optimistic, I really am. I can do it. We can do it. :)

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I hope you enjoyed hearing my reflections, and if it's inspired you to reflect on your own year, I'd love to hear:

• What's one thing you're proud of that you did in 2021?
• Did you learn anything about yourself?
• Do you have any goals for 2022?

Share your thoughts in the comments, and check out the reflections from your fellow patrons!

As always, buds, thanks for being part of the Ragonia Community. Through the changes, art blocks, experiments, growing and shrinking, this has truly been by favorite spot on the internet for the last four years. It's been fun, it's been support, it's been community, and it's been inspiration, and I can't wait to see what we can do together in 2022 and beyond.

We GOT this.