moving on + some good news

for everyone that's been keeping up or not, i've fallen out of love with the smooshkin persona and, in general, have had a rough few years. it's been hard to come out of an ego death and i really didn't think i'd ever find joy or happiness out of anything again after 5+ years of just wishing it would all end.

my art suffered, i suffered, my income suffered, my life completely ruined itself.

it's only taken so long to tell my followerbase because, as things HAVE gotten better, I needed to be sure it was going to stay better. I told myself if this change of mood lasted 6 months, I'd update everyone and assume my life was finally turning around.

having reinvented myself over this year and experimenting with other personas, brands and work, it's become all too clear that smooshkin isn't part of my life anymore. i got work at a company i admire, my art has changed, my interests have changed and i can't maintain this persona anymore.

I haven't decided if I'll rebrand this one or stick to my guns and keep the new personas "secret" to let me continue to grow my new fanbase organically. likely that.

I want to personally thank my patrons who continued to support me while I was having a sabbatical. It actually helped me tremendously and was my only source of income.

but it's not tenable. people have reasonably lost interest over time and my passion for smooshkin has dwindled. I don't know if i'll ever do patreon again unless i can work out a way to slot it into my new workflow.

i still work on the ARPG over at RoB and for those in the know, I don't care if you share my new personas with your friends or whatever, but I'm not sure i'm ready to share it publicly yet. still a lot of healing i need to do. I've been enjoying having a smaller fanbase and training myself not to think about income and numbers anymore.

i still get stalked by people i wish i'd never met, also. it's been over 5 years, move on please. i hope you understand.

I'll be closing this patreon and the discord once enough time has passed to say goodbye. until then, thank you so much for the support, it made a world of difference for me.

you can still find me on my smooshkin bluesky, ill hang onto it for a bit while i transition things around