Inktober But Not

God I hate this font.

Anyway, as I step into the freelance world with both feet and my entire body, I've got to start taking commission work more seriously. And by take it more seriously, I'm afraid that means beg my friends to commission work from me so I can pad my portfolio with *something*. You see the thing is, even though I've technically been a freelancer since at least 2016, I've also had a full-time job with health benefits from 2017 until late 2020, which means I've had no drive to do commission work.

Within that three year period, I've been the artist for a Hollywood Fringe show's promotional work and I've been the artist for the comedy show Arts and Crafts. That's it. I designed some explicit stickers to advertise myself but they get torn down or covered up everywhere I place them. I'm not kidding, they're explicit. I need to design new stickers.

I've taken this first week of easing into full-time freelancing/unemployment by setting up this site, dragging my PayPal back from its grave like some lucre Lazarus to open up a Ko-Fi (by all means, buy me a coffee), and setting myself daily goals as an artist. I'm sure you're aware of the month-long challenge called Inktober. You know, the one where artists follow a calendar of daily prompts and make something new everyday based on those prompts. I've never been able to stick to those prompts, either because I'd be busy or depressed or both. This year I'm not busy, just depressed.

All respect to Jake Parker, but I will continue to not follow the prompts.

Instead, I'll be painting images inspired by the 2014 Cartoon Network mini-series and perennial Falltime darling, Over The Garden Wall. Timelapses of the process will be posted to my TikTok and the final piece will be posted to my Instagram. At the end of the month, all paintings will be available as prints to sell to interested parties. Original paintings will, of course, be in limited supply and be sold at my discretion-- but honestly I'm just hoping folks will enjoy seeing something new every day. I hope you follow along with me on this month's endeavor.