SuperListenMode 271: The Thank You Edition
Wow, it’s over 3 years of this comic and 300+ episodes!
Feb 28th 2016 was when I posted my first SLM comic!
We’re over 300 comics excluding any bonus ones I didn’t number! :0
I won’t do a Special Thanks list because I don’t want to leave anyone out! Apparently there’s ninja readers and others who have only read a few in their lives. I don’t want to stress about tracking who did what ;P
Hey I don’t know if I’ll continue SLM comics in the future.
But what I do know is that this one is dedicated to you if you’ve read my comics before! Thank you (:
Reminiscing about SLM comics
Following from the previous post, this personal comic series first started so I can cope not being a hermit anymore upon joining Mighty, to learn how to accept how I am with others, dealing with my feelings and get better at art and life.
That said I’m not good at it yet. Especially now that I’m a hermit again ;P
Digressing. It went from silly comics about my experiences under the guise of humour to lots of confusing, repetitive and contradictory thoughts, themes and self expression. Lots of personal things I’m dealing with and using the comics as an outlet.
And as a reader noted, yes I did not make time to edit, iterate, plan or group the comic ideas as for me it’s pretty much a selfish “get thoughts out of my head” approach. Not much of a direction when I’ve been doing these comics as I go along in my spare time until last year. A lot of them are reminders to myself as I figure things out ;P
Not a great approach if I actually wanted an audience from this. Plus it says a lot when I don’t get much interaction out of the comic posts themselves.
A kind friend suggested that I should draw a line on what should be public and private in my work. I’ve been pondering on this for a while too. Perhaps my line is to always keep 1 step away from reality and keep things symbolic and professional? I don’t know what that looks like for me. I hope to find a good balance between self expression and not being too personal in future work. We’ll see as I figure things out.
Yes I know how important it is sometimes for people to know the artist behind the work, the public persona and image. Because we’re people and we’re all learning.
On the other hand, I don’t want to be pressured to market myself in a certain, forced, limited way when I want my work and message to be the main focus. It feels disingenuous and uncomfortable when I’ve been doing my comics for myself and not for an audience since the beginning. Trying to change its original intention is not something I’m interested in. I don’t want people controlling and taking me away from what I want to make too much as I’m learning and evolving.
I’d rather let it go altogether start something new.
Whelp I’ll keep rambling and learning about my feelings through my art, comics and this blog anyway! :’D
Time for some slow, gradual changes to my personal art ahead!
THANK YOU ♥
Deepest appreciation and gratitude for your kind support, patience and readership! And special thanks to Patreon peeps!
Thank you so much for reading; I appreciate your support!! Super grateful!
Given that you see and read this at all 😉
Thank you so very much for indulging me, it really means a lot. <3
Also! I will be taking some months off from posting art because I need to slow down.
I need to follow my own advice/reminders and actually just take a longer, creative break to figure out my career, direction, mindset and what I put out there. It’s time to step back from posting, get out of my rut, heal from burnout, replenish my creative tank and clarify my sense of purpose. Go deeper, learn and find my own answers.
Yes I keep saying it because I’m always figuring things out. But this time I’m actually letting go of my posting schedule. And taking a break from everything for a while too.
So I can do this at my own pace without pressure and anxiety.
Still figuring out my overall career direction, purpose and freelancing approach before I can continue forging ahead and get creative again. At the moment I’m learning, reading, listening, taking notes and hopefully gaining some clarity and guidance in coming months so I don’t feel as stuck. I hope to form my own direction and intention of my own along the way. Then I can go deep into exploring techniques, art styles, personal projects and apply the approaches of other great artists to my own studies and experiments with deliberate intention and practice when I’m ready.
I need to do this before things go extremely financially, creatively and emotionally dire, stressful and lonely for me. Yes it’s super frugal now and isolating already as a super hermit and I did a few, rare freelance commissions since losing my job. But hey, I’ve been in this position before. It’s hard especially in terms of mental health but I’ll survive. Hope to catch up with a few peeps when the public transport issues of April are over.
I’ve been posting once to three times a week in the past and I need to change it up as my purpose and life evolves. At minimum I might keep it weekly or so when I start posting again? Something that works for me without being overwhelming. To pace myself.
Perhaps people will start drifting away when I’m gone – I wish them all the best! Hey you don’t have to keep tabs on me, I’m just grateful people care to stick around to support me! Thank you! :’)
I’m still open to freelance projects that I can pour my heart into and do the best work I can! As I said, I’m going to experiment, learn and read in the meantime. Eventually I hope to get back to posting art when I’m ready (:
I might be lurking on social media & platforms, possibly at instagram in bits and pieces the more I figure out my purpose with it. So I’m not completely disappearing! 😉
Anyhoo thank you so much for supporting my work and for understanding! <3 Especially thank you to the 3 kind patrons! Since I’m not art posting regularly right now, I’ve paused billing until I’m back at it again.
Reminder that if you need to reach me, please email. Responses may be delayed but I’ll eventually get back to you when I’m ready.
I shall lurk and retreat now.
Take care. See you on the other side. <3
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