Caraid

Thank you all for your applications! There were more of you this round than last time so I may need a little longer to get through them, but I will see to it that I respond to everyone eventually. Signing off for a bit now. Take care everyone .

I've had a few rough months food wise, but the ladies in this this thread are one hell of a motivation to get back on top of my intake.

I will put up the form for the next round of BIPOC portfolio reviews tomorrow. After that I will be signing off again for a while. I DO plan to stream the portrait commissions on Picarto (account name = Caraid), so stay tuned for that :).

Again, thank you all so much for how much kindness you've shown me, for how you've educated me and in many ways encouraged me to be a better artist, mentor and person. I'll strive to always continue to be better, and for now I think that means I need my head to be a bit quieter.

I don't want to abandon this account or you guys, but it seems that in order to preserve my mental health and stay on top of my responsibilities I will have to completely step away more often. I don't know how often or for how long exactly, for now I guess I'll just announce it.

Before, I ascribed those things to undiagnosed ADD, and I still plan to get diagnosed for it regardless, but it's become very clear to me just how much this place fucks with my brain. And attempts to use the platform more positively or in moderation just don't work as well.

My time away from this place in August was an awakening. My energy levels and overall mood stabilized drastically in just a few days. I got started on work more easily, stayed focused more easily, my thoughts were more organized, I slept easier. I was less irritable.

Twitter makes me so tired. I appreciate how many of you like what I do and say, and I'm truly, grateful for all of your kind words, your support and your positive interactions. It sucks that the negatives just hit that much harder. It's not fair to you or me.

When people say "it's easier to learn stuff you're young" we think of time, energy, responsibility etc. and that's all true, but a big part of the reason is also that as kids we don't give a sh*t about what the "right" or "most efficient" way to learn is. We just do what's fun.

The most important thing is that you get into the habit, that you figure out how you personally absorb and retain information best, and that you keep finding whatever new cool thing you want to excel at. Which is considerably easier when you're actually enjoying yourself.

I promise you whatever skills you pick up as you're doing this fun thing that you actually want to do will carry over into the next thing you want to learn. Don't worry about style, don't worry about "being unique", and if you don't have to, don't worry about monetizing yourself.

Did you pick up art because you watched a series whose characters you really love and you'd like to be able to draw them? Then do that! Use references as you go, do your research, do studies relevant to drawing those characters and immediately apply what you've learned.

The notion that you can't learn within your comfort zone is absolute bogus and I don't know who perpetuated that myth, but improving your work is hard enough without purposely making it less fun as you go, certainly in the beginning.

I see a lot of aspiring artists burn themselves out and lose every bit of enjoyment they had for doing art by forcing themselves to just focus on studies all the time, and I don't know who convinced you to do that, but PLEASE go back to drawing stuff you actually want to draw!