Category: Blog Posts

JordanCon Bound + Art Show Preview

I’m headed to JordanCon in ATL this weekend, which is one of my favorite local fantasy-centric conventions to attend.  The Art Show there is so warm and welcoming and I’m excited to share more of my Birthstone Goddesses there this year!  

My body of work grows and grows, this year’s showing at JordanCon now including a selection of the designs I created to be used as header images.  I haven’t added prints of these designs to my online shop (yet), so in-person events are the only place to buy them until I have finished rolling their print offerings out (slowly, but surely!):

I’ll also be showing off the original painting of Lady of September as my centerpiece this year!  She looks so stunning in the new frame that my Patreon Patrons helped me pick out last year.

I’ll also be displaying two of the limited edition masks I created for my Birthstone Goddesses, the mask of February and May!  Here they are as photographed by the talented WinterWolf Studios.

Finally, you can see a video of some of the mats I’ve embellished with ink and gold here:

Convention Inventory

For those attending this show who may be considering adding something to your collection, here’s a rundown of what I’ll be offering at JordanCon this year:

 In my gallery bay:

  • The framed original of “Lady of September”
  • Hand-Embellished Prints of 7 of the Goddesses
  • 4 matted open edition prints of their header designs
  • 2 of my hand-tooled Limited Edition leather masks

In the Print Shop:

  • 8×16 prints, 5 prints per Goddess representing each month of the year!

Unfortunately, I will not have a dealer’s table this year, but the Art Show staff will be happy to help you out with purchasing my art.  

You can also still come say hi to me in person at the panel on Livestreaming for Artists (Stream A Little Stream) which I will be co-hosting with fellow artists on Friday at 2:30 pm.  Feel free to come join us and/or chat me up after the panel!

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If you cannot attend the show, I’ll be adding any unsold items to my Art Nouveau online shop, with the hand-embellished mats being made available exclusively through my Patreon Secret Shop. 

I hope to see some of you there!

Re-branding the Ladies of the Months + Project Roadmap!

My astute fans may have noticed I’ve begun referring to my Ladies of the Months intermittently as Birthstone Goddesses over the past few weeks. I’ve had some major revelations happen while prepping my project for a wider arena (ie. Amazon).

“Ladies of the Months” as a title was getting a lot of strange looks!  Some of the misunderstandings about the title have led to some interesting questions, including, but not limited to:

  • Does this have to do with menstrual cycles?

  • Does this have to do with erotic coloring books?

  • Does this have to do with erotic calendars?

Silly, you may say, but if the title of a project requires a lot of further explanation, doesn’t make a good impression, and is too generic to be easily found via search engines, there is a problem!  This is why I have opted for a couple of changes.

Re-Introducing the Birthstone Goddesses!

From this day forth, the LADIES OF THE MONTHS will be called the BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES.  Each individual Lady will still be the Lady of January, etc., but the set of birthstone ladies as a whole will now be referred to as BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES so that it is easier to understand and put out there in the world.

Who are the Gemstone Goddesses?

I’ve had a great number of requests for Art Nouveau styled Ladies who do not correspond to any birthstone, which got me thinking.  Why limit this series to only birthstones?  I have renamed the entire series to Gemstone Goddesses so that at some point in the future I can come back and add more without restricting myself!

Wouldn’t you like to see a Lady of Sunstone or a Lady of Moonstone?  I know I would!

The BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES will now be a subset of the GEMSTONE GODDESSES series as a whole!  Wherever you see the Lady of Eternity pictured above, she now represents both of these series who are now ALL part of the same endeavor to bring the beauty of Art Nouveau to the world through these thematic creations!

Where to Find this Project?

Now that my project has been undergoing some title changes, my social media outlets dedicated specifically to this project have been changed to match.  Please update your bookmarks:

Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that we have a brand new name and a whole ambitious set of items on the horizon, it was time to get this project organized!  Check out this roadmap I’ve created for the rest of the Birthstone Goddesses project in Trello.

(Click here for a closer look at the Birthstone Goddesses roadmap)

The biggest change to the agenda is that the wall calendar has been moved up to next year so that I can create some of the fun add ons like Enamel Pins that can be bundled with it.  I also wanted to make sure my Kickstarter launches were reasonably spaced out so as not to overwhelm everyone.

This Roadmap is subject to change, but we have a good place to start to make this huge endeavor more doable.   We’re going to make great things this year!  

Are you excited? I KNOW I AM!  I’m especially hyped to get these pins out (I’ll have some sneak peeks of the designs I’ve been sketching soon!).

Coming next – I’ll be announcing the new streaming schedule so you can drop in on me while I’m working on making all this magic happen!

Thanks for hanging with me through thick and thin, Patrons and Followers.  You are the best!

♥
– Ang

Re-branding the Ladies of the Months + Project Roadmap!

My astute fans may have noticed I’ve begun referring to my Ladies of the Months intermittently as Birthstone Goddesses over the past few weeks. I’ve had some major revelations happen while prepping my project for a wider arena (ie. Amazon).

“Ladies of the Months” as a title was getting a lot of strange looks!  Some of the misunderstandings about the title have led to some interesting questions, including, but not limited to:

  • Does this have to do with menstrual cycles?
  • Does this have to do with erotic coloring books?
  • Does this have to do with erotic calendars?

Silly, you may say, but if the title of a project requires a lot of further explanation, doesn’t make a good impression, and is too generic to be easily found via search engines, there is a problem!  This is why I have opted for a couple of changes.

Re-Introducing the Birthstone Goddesses!

From this day forth, the LADIES OF THE MONTHS will be called the BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES.  Each individual Lady will still be the Lady of January, etc., but the set of birthstone ladies as a whole will now be referred to as BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES so that it is easier to understand and put out there in the world.

Who are the Gemstone Goddesses?

I’ve had a great number of requests for Art Nouveau styled Ladies who do not correspond to any birthstone, which got me thinking.  Why limit this series to only birthstones?  I have renamed the entire series to Gemstone Goddesses so that at some point in the future I can come back and add more without restricting myself!

Wouldn’t you like to see a Lady of Sunstone or a Lady of Moonstone?  I know I would!

The BIRTHSTONE GODDESSES will now be a subset of the GEMSTONE GODDESSES series as a whole!  Wherever you see the Lady of Eternity pictured above, she now represents both of these series who are now ALL part of the same endeavor to bring the beauty of Art Nouveau to the world through these thematic creations!

Where to Find this Project?

Now that my project has been undergoing some title changes, my social media outlets dedicated specifically to this project have been changed to match.  Please update your bookmarks:

Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that we have a brand new name and a whole ambitious set of items on the horizon, it was time to get this project organized!  Check out this roadmap I’ve created for the rest of the Birthstone Goddesses project in Trello.

(Click here for a closer look at the Birthstone Goddesses roadmap)

The biggest change to the agenda is that the wall calendar has been moved up to next year so that I can create some of the fun add ons like Enamel Pins that can be bundled with it.  I also wanted to make sure my Kickstarter launches were reasonably spaced out so as not to overwhelm everyone.

This Roadmap is subject to change, but we have a good place to start to make this huge endeavor more doable.   We’re going to make great things this year!  

Are you excited? I KNOW I AM!  I’m especially hyped to get these pins out (I’ll have some sneak peeks of the designs I’ve been sketching soon!).

Coming next – I’ll be announcing the new streaming schedule so you can drop in on me while I’m working on making all this magic happen!

Thanks for hanging with me through thick and thin, Patrons and Followers.  You are the best!

♥
– Ang

March Wrap-Up: Health Updates, MOAR Coloring Book Updates, etc.

Happy weekend, all, and hello, hello to all the new folks who hopped on board my Patreon this month during my pledge drive!  Here’s my monthly update post to sum up what’s been happening around here in March.

I have happy news that my husband finished his radiation treatments in March!  His prognosis is a good one and in a few weeks we have a follow-up to learn how effective these treatments have been.  For now, we’re just breathing a sigh of relief and hoping that things can start getting back to a boring state of normal around here! (If I keep saying it, it will happen, right?)

Coloring Book Updates

Another major item I’ve been working on this past month is making a standard edition of my coloring book available to the masses!  This has proven more challenging than I anticipated, however.  

I was going to simply release a version of the book through Amazon’s printing service, but a good opportunity came up that would allow me to print a better quality version myself, so I’m currently negotiating this publishing path.  

There’s a LOT that goes into applying to be a vendor on Amazon instead of merely applying to be an individual seller, as well as printing considerations you must abide by.  Did you know that if your barcode isn’t scannable through your packaging or that if it is placed incorrectly that your book could be rejected and/or a vendor could be fined by Amazon?  No?  Me neither!  

I’m still doing research so I can make sure I do this right!  I’m hoping that when I’m done that it means my book will be available on Amazon for the easiest buying experience and that I would have even more reach than I would on my own!

Posts You May Have Missed This Month

New Additions to My Digital Library

Upcoming Appearances

April 26 – 28 – JordanCon 2019 – Come say hi to me in the dealer’s area and check out my original paintings in the Art Show!

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With a sick hubby still suffering from radiation after effects and other backend tasks (preparing for taxes, getting my Patreon ready for Backerkit integration, etc.) I don’t have a lot of art to show from March, but I’m hoping to change that in April!   

Thanks to everyone who has been here even during the lean art times.  It really makes a difference in our lives, especially during these trying times which we’re hopefully coming out of now!

Much love and inspiration!

♥ – Ang

Jan + Feb Wrap-Up: Month of Love, Kickstarter Completion, & Vacation Time

Wow is it March already???  Time has been flying by while I’ve been running around doing all the things!  I apparently forgot to write my January monthly wrap up, so there’s a lot to catch up on!  Here’s a summary of January and February’s happenings and a look at what’s going on in March.

The most exciting news from the past couple of months is that I finished shipping ALL of the packages for the coloring book Kickstarter last week!  The Kickstarter has been a long-delayed project and I pulled out all the stops to try to get them shipped out ASAP.  

This meant completing all of the Limited Edition ink drawings as fast as I could manage without sacrificing quality!  You can see a collection of all the ink drawings here, with one more collection coming very soon.  My studio was a disaster zone of art and shipping containers.  It was a glorious mess!

I also participated as an official artist for the Month of Love art challenge event during February!  I was so honored to be featured alongside many talented folks I respect and completed two pieces for the event. It was a pleasure to participate, even if things were a bit time crunched for me this February.

After all this hubbub and a stressful period of cancer scans and radiation prep for my husband, I’m suffering from some massive burnout!  I’ve given myself a week or so off to decompress and try to get my energy levels back up so that I can look at art with some enthusiasm again.  Stress and chaos have never been great motivators for me, so I’m hoping some time away from everything playing video games and trying to sloooow down will help me re-energize.

So if you need me, I’ll be haunting my Patreon Discord and playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, which I’ve been looking forward to playing since it came out oh…five years ago.  The art and story of this world has always been so inspiring for me, as the art books are some of my top faves in my collection!  I’m looking forward to immersing myself in this intriguing story and world and hope to come back out of it inspired towards greatness!

Till then, thanks for hanging with me and thanks so much to the new supporters who have jumped on this month!  Every little bit helps keep my head above water so I can keep doing what I love.

Till next time!

♥
– Ang

Coming in March

  • New coloring page release of Verdant Muse for $5 and up Patrons

  • Verdant Muse Coloring Contest hosted over at the FB Coloring Group

  • A Secret Sketchbook Write-Up for Healing Tears

  • Inspiration Trip: SCAD Fashion Museum’s Guo Pei Exhibit

  • Plus more perhaps?

Other Posts You Might’ve Missed

Ladies of the Months Book Sketch Collection I

I haven’t shared new art in here in what feels like forever!  Kickstarter, the holidays, and doc appointments have kept me busy and I profess to having more than a little bit of art block that’s been getting me down.  Nothing I was drawing for myself was coming out the way I wanted!

But the life of a working artist must go on, regardless of art block!  It seems all that I needed to break the dry spell was to let go of my high expectations and let the muse be carried away by the spontaneous nature of the keyword sketch prompts of my Limited Edition coloring books.  Each LE Backer provided two keywords that would dictate the subject of the drawing that would go in the front of their book.  

I present to you a collection of the first 10 of 50 drawings from the books!  Each one has a little bit of flash fiction to go along with it. It seems my writing muse wanted to get in on the action as well!  Each was drawn with a combination of Micron and Tradio pens.

1/50 “Wise Wildlife”

The Great Owl, guardian of this sacred space. He holds the key to the knowledge hidden beyond. 

2/50 “Angelic Angel”

From the grace & fury of smokeless flame, she came into being with the splendor and beauty of a thousand eyes and a thousand wings, taking shape only so our senses could comprehend her.

3/50 “Angelic Eclipse”

Between the darkness and the light, she exists to make sure neither element falls out of balance. She is both and she is neither all at once.

4/50 “Garden Tarot”

With knowledge as old as trees and wisdom of the deep forgotten things, the cards will bring the wind of things to come from beyond the reach of the Grove’s roots.

5/50 “Star Song”

In ages past, the Elves knew a song that could sing worlds into existence in the mind of all who heard it. Such songs, if you heard them, will be remembered until your dying day.

‪6/50 “Forest God”‬

‪They called him the Green Man, the Horned God, the Kindly One. For all the names, he welcomed visitors with the same smile. Be kind to the woods and the woods be kind to ye.‬

 7/50 “Flower Angel”  

As each fleeting bloom dies, so does her breath brings life to new buds. Splendor and decay walk hand in hand in the cycle of a flower, always dying, forever beautiful if you know where to look.

 8/50 “Forest Fairy”  

Falling free amongst the seeds, a forest fairy guides every tiny soul. Infinite as the leaves on the trees and the stars in the sky. 

 9/50 “Veiled Woman”  

If you seek answers, there  lives a seer who can only be sought by moonlight. As the Cereus flower blooms, she can glimpse endless knowledge. However, beware her price, for it is steep! 

10/50 “Angelic Valkyrie”

For those who die in battle, she prays. Their cries become each blade in her wings, their strength the mettle of her sword. They will never die as long as she carries them.

_________

That’s it for this first collection!  As more of my Limited Edition coloring books find homes via my coloring book Kickstarters, I’ll add more here.  I also think some of these will make excellent coloring pages worth adding to future releases!

I think my favorite is the “Flower Angel” for all her delicate details.  What’s your favorite?

PS.

I shared most of these as I finished them even earlier via my private Patreon Discord server. If you haven’t connected your Discord account to Patreon yet, you should try it!  It’s my first stop for sharing art, tutorials, inspiration, and chatting directly with my Patrons!

Inspiration Trip: Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors

One of the goals I have for this year is to get out of the studio more and to start nurturing my soul more!  As much as I do enjoy working alone quietly on art, I feel like after awhile I need to escape my familiar surroundings, constant to-do list, and worldly troubles.

I do believe artists need more than just art to be creative.  We’re problem solvers and its our life experiences that help us make those seemingly unrelated connections that help us solve visual and creative problems!

I really wanted to see Yayoi Kusama’s amazing exploration of lights and space for my birthday last year, but tickets sold out almost as soon as they were released for pre-sale!  I was shattered and the only way to get tickets was to hope you could get one of the 100 they would sell each day (which meant an hour drive and bad traffic without the promise of being able to get in).  I had given up on actually going until a friend informed me that they wouldn’t be able to make their time slot and graciously gave me her two tickets!

So off to museum I went with my mother in tow!  We also visited the SCAD Fashion museum beforehand, but I’ll save that for the next Inspiration Trip post.

My mom and I in the room of Dots Obsession – Love Transformed into Dots. 

Kusama’s art invites you into an obsession with form and shape.  Polka dots abound alongside countless phallic shapes and psychedelic colors!  It is when she discovered the power of installation art that she says she truly found her power of expression.

There are 7 rooms in this exhibit, each exploring the infinite void of vision and the power that losing our sense of self grants us when we realize how small we are.  The very first room, entitled The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away, overwhelms you with a field of stars blinking brilliantly, only to flicker out to complete darkness.  Then, the stars appear once more, restarting the life cycle. (You can see video I took in this room here).

Each room was surprisingly small with room to comfortably fit 3-4 people.  At the artist’s request, visitors only have 20-30 seconds to appreciate this awe-inspiring site before they must exit!  To me, this perfectly reflected Kusama’s message of the brevity of life and enjoying fleeting beauty.

The 3rd room, Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity, was my favorite room!  Countless tiny lanterns float in space, flickering gently and receding into a dark expanse.  I was reminded of the floating lights of Obon, the festival of lanterns, each lantern representing a soul floating back to its place in the underworld.  I thought of my Lady of August, the guide of souls, and thought of her floating among the lanterns.

There was much more to explore in this exhibit that I shall leave as a surprise for those who might view it themselves.  The final room in the experience was the Room of Obliteration.  This room begins completely white at the start of the exhibit.  As patrons complete their experience, they are given a sheet of stickers and asked to adhere the stickers wherever they like!  I chose to continue a chain of hanging stickers that other patrons had built coming off of the light fixture.

Room of Obliteration 

It’s amazing to see how this room has changed and to feel like we’re taking a small part in the creation of a piece of art!  Everything we as insignificant beings do starts as a raindrop that creates a flood. 

My souvenirs from the trip!  I enjoy collecting magnets to remind me of fun times when I look at our fridge.

I could have spent much more time in this exhibit, but sadly all things must end.  If Yayoi Kusama’s exhibit ever comes to a museum or gallery near you, I highly recommend it as an thought-provoking existential and sensory experience.

Organizing the Chaos 2019 Edition

With 2019 upon us and my head full of ambitions, I’m admittedly feeling overwhelmed already with all of the things I want to do this year.  I want to work towards the calendar, art book, etc, but also finish up many of the pending designs on my Ladies of the Months art list (pins, stickers, etc.) that I talked about before.  It’s been difficult to know what to do first and trying to figure that out has left me paralyzed like a deer in the headlights!

I usually do a 10 goals list, but I wanted to try something a little different this year to organize the chaos!  Lauren Panepinto, an art director I had the pleasure of meeting at IlluxCon some years ago, came to the rescue with her priority chain listing exercise.  The gist of the exercise is to write down your biggest goals, then break them down into more actionable bite-sized activities, then prioritize them through their relationship to your big goals that you’ve also put in priority order.  You can read more about how to do this at Lauren’s article on Muddy Colors.

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Without further ado, here is my 2019 KICKASS To Do List!

1.  Paint Ladies of the Months alternates for the art book.

2.  Write/Paint more Song of Exile for portfolio and short stories.

3.  DREAM CLIENT Portfolios 

– Card Game/ Magic the Gathering Portfolio – Song of Exile, Kushiel’s Legacy

– Book Cover Portfolio – Song of Exile, Kushiel’s Legacy, fave books, literary canon

– Tabletop Game Portfolio – Song of Exile, The Uncrucified, Our D&D characters

4. Create videos with my art animated and set to music + stories (Learn MotionArtist)

5.  Create a study schedule, finish classes, keep practicing!

6.  Take an inspiration trip once per month (Atlas Obscura, museums, art openings).

7.  Re-write biz plan and promo schedule.

8.  Expand shop with new products.  Apparel, puzzles, stickers, tabletop aids, cards, bags, etc.)

9.  Create commission samples for private clients (portraits, avatars, etc.)

10.  Increase Patreon engagement with giveaways, pledge drives, tutorials, etc.

11.  Stream more regularly. (Hangouts, study, fan art days, etc.)

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I really liked this take on making a goals list because it helps you be less distracted by random goals and focus on what’s really important to you, while also help you figure out what actually has that importance to you.  For example, I’ve been trying to do so many tasks this week, from updating my shop to working on the stickers, when I realize I need to first write my new promotion schedule and business plan out first, since my tasks have changed this year from painting the main set of the Ladies.

Knowing what releases I’ll have for the year will also help dictate my release schedule, what I can launch in my shop, etc.

I think it’s also helpful to remind ourselves of those Big Goals, those lofty dreams that we’re working towards that we sometimes forget about when our nose is close to the grindstone.  I’m reminded of one of my favorite motivational speeches from Neil Gaiman where he talks about making a wishlist of all the cool things he wanted to create (ie. write an episode of Dr. Who) and he just crossed them off his list as the years went on.  This wishlist kept him motivated and helped him feel like anything he created in service of it was worthwhile, even if the money didn’t happen.

Now that I’ve got some direction, I can start to make sense of the chaos.  And now you guys know how bad my handwriting is ha!

So what do you guys do to get organized for the year or for career/business goals?  I’d love to hear your techniques in comments!

Ladies of the Months Art Book Tease

This year is going to be an exciting time!  With the main set of paintings now complete for the Ladies of the Months, it’s time for me to move on to the next phase of this project I’ve been looking forward to for a long time!

The Alternate  Ladies

When I was first creating my main paintings for the Ladies of the Months series, there were a lot of concepts I had to ditch either because they didn’t fit the Art Nouveau style or there were just too many concepts that I had to choose something different!

Now, the Ladies of the Months art book I’m planning presents me with an opportunity to indulge these ideas and break the rules of Art Nouveau!  I’m planning several alternate pieces for a few of my Ladies that are going to be darker, more surreal, more conceptual, and more painterly in nature.

For example, when I originally thought of Lady of March‘s concept as the Lady of Resurrection, I thought of her connection to water, her power over life and death.  I got the image of this Lady submerged in water, with her reflection showing her connection to death.  This was incorporated as a very subtle skeleton in her original painting, but in her alternate, I’d like to make this theme even stronger.

Lady of March’s Alternate Painting Thumbnails.

This is just one example of how I’m going to push the concepts of the Ladies to be something even more conceptual, more dark and beautiful, and frankly more of the kind of art I want to be painting!

Supplemental Art

In addition to these alternate paintings, each section of the book dedicated to a Lady will feature spot images tied to her theme.  I want each section to be a sacred devotion to Her and the spiritual aspects she represents and to highlight her associated stones and flowers.

More to Come!

I’ll be revealing more of this art as the project evolves, with more creative notes being shared exclusively with my Patreon Patrons.  

I hope you all are as excited about this ambitious endeavor as I am!  It’s going to be the capstone of this project and I can’t wait to show you more!

A Year in Review + Updated Art List

No doubt, it’s been one of the most challenging and epic years here on Patreon!  You guys have helped me through a very difficult personal time with the medical challenges my husband and I have faced.  I’ve also been able to complete the monumental task of finishing my very first physical coloring book!  I took part in another successful card game Kickstarter and have grown so much this year with the work I’ve been doing (just look at that montage above!).

But even that work didn’t feel like enough when I found myself crippled by stress and anxiety over our medical woes and unable to focus as much as I would’ve liked.  The words of encouragement you left us and the fact that many of you have stuck around to support this Patreon has really kept me going this year!  Your kindness goes a very long way.  Here are some of the things you all helped me do in 2018:

  • Pay our utility bills once medical bills became too much for us.
  • Pay for ads to help boost my art biz.
  • Invest in new product inventory for conventions.
  • Successfully Kickstart my first coloring book, which I couldn’t have done without your signal boosting and support!

After the difficult year that was 2018, things are looking up and my husband’s health has continued to improve.  Without that stress hanging over us, I’m hoping I can focus on making a comeback in 2019 with some very ambitious goals!  Here’s what I want to roll out to you here on Patreon this year:

  • More Behind the Scenes videos.
  • More live art streams.
  • The Artist FAQ Video Series.
  • Early Access to Commission Slots for Patrons

With the main series of paintings completed for the Ladies of the Months, I’m hyped to begin building up to the Art Book I want to make happen next, plus some of the other art merch I’m planning!  Here’s a look at the creations I’m hoping to make this year:

  • The Ladies of the Months Wall Calendar (FINALLY!)
  • Sticker Sets of the Little Ladies of the Months
  • Enamel Pins of each of the Ladies of the Months ( + gem-encrusted deluxe versions!)
  • Alternate Lady Paintings for the Ladies of the Months Art Book
  • Cosplay Charts for each Lady
  • New Premium Tutorial Videos (ie. painting walkthroughs of each Lady & her mask)
  • Standalone Paintings of each Lady’s Window Design

Can I make all of this happen this year?  We shall see!  As ever, I look forward to sharing each step of the way with you, my lovely Patrons!  I couldn’t do half of what I have done without being able to focus on what I love thanks to your encouragement and support.

Do you have any crazy ambitions for 2018?  What are you looking forward to the most from this Patreon?  What would you like to see more of from this Patreon in 2019?  Share in comments!

Now let’s start making this year amazing!