Whew! It's been a while since I last posted an entry here. A lot has happened to me and of course the world itself. I've gotten my vaccine and got my booster shot the day before Thanksgiving. Healthwise, nothing major (although I'm still worrying about things too damned much). I've started a part-time job that has been going well and has put some needed funds in my pocket (although don't look for me buying anything extravagant!) and that means I'm able to spend on Christmas shopping. And I've also gotten my healthcare plans for next year worked out (hopefully!).
But next year, I want to make even further changes to my life. And that means I am looking to sell my artwork (or collections of my artwork) or at least look to earn something from my art. This isn't greed--far from it--but having been doing this for so many years it would seem ridiculous to not try to earn something from it. Plus having a second source of income these days is a good thing. Being that I haven't gone to conventions in some time (and of course, who could do that in 2020 and early 2021?) I'm wondering if the next best place to go is to Gumroad.
If you haven't heard of Gumroad before, it's a site where you can sell your work--writing, art, tutorials--and I've been thinking about it for some time now. I just haven't taken the first step. So to those who've followed my work, here's the question--should I go for it? Or don't bother and look to another platform like Patreon? And what are the advantages/disadvantages of both? Also, should I open a Twitter account as well? A fellow artist friend of mine did just that and ended up gaining new followers AND new clients.
So any thoughts on this? Let me know. And thanks!
And also, best wishes for a safe holiday season, and hope that 2022 is a great year for everyone.
Manga creator Kentaro Miura passed away on May 6, but the news was released on May 19. Finding out about this was a punch in the gut, since he was only 54 (the cause of death was an aortic dissection). Miura created several works during his life, but his best known work--which now will remain unfinished--was the fantasy manga BERSERK, which he began in 1989 and was still working on.
BERSERK remains one of the best manga ever created; its dark fantasy story about Guts, a former mercenary who travels across the country during the medieval age facing off against monsters and other humans won praise for its intricate artwork as well as its story, which at times could get quite brutal. If you think GAME OF THRONES is dark, then you haven't read BERSERK. Taking influences from classic science fiction as well as Kuaru Kurimoto's GUIN SAGA as well as the classic manga FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, BERSERK's influence would be seen in manga such as DEMON SLAYER and VAGABOND and video games like BLOODBORNE and DARK SOULS. BERSERK would also spawn a couple of video games too, including a game on the Sega Dreamcast that reached US shores several years before the manga did.
(Personal note: My late friend Dan Nakrosis did the lettering for the first few volumes of the English-language version of BERSERK that was, and continues to be, released by Dark Horse Comics.)
BERSERK also spawned at least three anime releases--the 1997 television anime and another series from 2016-2017. Three films based on the "Golden Age" arc of the manga were released from 2012 through 2013.
Miura's other works include KING OF WOLVES, JAPAN, GIGANTO MAXIA, and DURANKI.
More on Kentaro Miura:
https://www.cnet.com/news/kentaro-miura-the-creator-of-berserk-has-died-aged-54/
https://comicbook.com/anime/news/berserk-kentaro-miura-cause-of-death/
Creators offer condolences and remembrances:
I'm not going to lie--I am ready to put 2020 behind me. This year was...well, to put it nicely, awful. A pandemic that has taken close to 350,000 lives in the US (and counting), lockdowns, having to isolate from friends and family, rampant corruption in the White House via the most corrupt President in modern history, and his political party openly calling for taking voting rights from people and overturning an election because they did not like the results, smug @$$holes on social media spreading lies and gleefully hoping for everything to fall apart....
I knew family and friends who were affected by COVID, and let's be blunt--everyone knows someone who has been affected by this pandemic. I lost a good friend this year--not to COVID, but to a tragic one-in-a-million complication from surgery. I missed seeing family and friends. I missed going to the movies and places that I used to go to.
I missed seeing someone who I realized--only after things were closed--I had developed feelings for. Thankfully we could still stay in touch through other means, but I hated myself for waiting until an event like this to realize a truth I refused to see.
If there's a lesson I'm taking into 2021, it's this--life is too short, and if you're going to do something, do it. Start it, work on it, push on until it's done. I am grateful for the small bright points during this year, like my niece moving to a new state and setting up life on her own and celebrating her 21st birthday, and also my nieces and nephews turning a year older and somehow managing life with virtual classes and no in-person classes. I'm glad that we will have a new President and a Vice-President who will make history in three ways, and that we will get a government that will work _for_ us and not against us. And I'm glad for all the kind words and favs and watches and hope to put out more work in the upcoming year.
Think of this poem as we go into 2021:
No one will mourn this year's passing.
The dead bathe the landscape,
necrotic drops of rain against which
there is no protection. No umbrella
will halt their fall, nor can you
shelter under a tree.
Fierce, deadly cries fill our ears,
bringing to us rumors of... something.
Fear, threats, the beating down
sleet of hatred, old as time.
This is a year no one will forget,
and this is a year no one will want
to remember. Mere humans aren't made
to absorb so much pain,
roots sucking in water from
a poisoned well, leading
to strange fruit.
I shall shake the dust from my feet.
I shall set my eyes ahead.
I shall lock away this year
and open the box only when
I need to be reminded of lessons.
This final day of an unloved year.
I'll make a cup of kindness
for the new year dressed
in swaddling clothes,
expectant and hopeful anew.
Come 2021, I'm going to hold onto hope, and work towards learning to respect and love myself and others. It's not going to be easy, but nothing ever is.