FA+
Shop
Something must be done
8 years ago
Well... my electricity was shut down today and it almost looked as though we'd have to get by without power for about two weeks, if not a month even.
fortunately we got something worked out, and we ended up borrowing money from a family member.
however...that only just solves one of our problems. the rent is coming do again, the internet bill is drawing near. and we're still in $1700.00 or so in debt through loans, credit card debts. and money owed on other attempts to try and make a difference in our financial situation.
nevertheless, we can budget all we want but in the end, we're just not bringing in enough to actually rise out of this problem. mother is again trying something out in the hopes of a long term payout but I need to do something to try and bring more money in myself. I'm stuck between college and a part time job so getting a third job is out of the question, and after my last post I'm certainly not going to be getting back into commissions either.
Draco-Rex mentioned trying again with the donation series, and maybe even doing what 
kitsunekit does and have a guest star or something with one of my own character. I still have doubt that it would do any better than how the last one with yooka-laylee did. where interest was there but the donations weren't. even then. what characters do I have that would be popular enough to even try with that?
Reagan700 told me that selling comics has been rather lucrative for him. I'd certainly love to try but making a high quality comic for purchase is a very tall order. it's not that i lack ideas because I have ideas, and I'd fancy myself to be an above mediocre writer. but with my biggest incentive being profits, and not profits for something nice. but for basic necessities and encroaching debts; I worry that it would interfere with my ability to make something great. there wouldn't be much passion. just need and possibly anxiety.
I've thought about YCH's before, but I've been very reluctant to do those out of fear that the auction would go way past what I would have expected. and now I have to ensure that I make something that feels worth $80 or so.
in spite of that however, I could probably do fixed price ones. that might work well since I'm presenting a mostly pre-made product that can be altered post payment to fit the payee's request.
Another thing I've often thought about doing was creating black and white (or black and alpha) illustrations for stories to have within the story itself. like you know those old books and how they'd have inked illustrations here and there? the phantom tollbooth comes to mind for one. it may have it's own difficulties since I have to read the story itself in order to get a thorough understanding of what it is I'm trying to illustrate. but it's something I'd like to try nevertheless.
something I recently ran into was a thing
Tyrannozilla was proposing to do out of a few other things.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16244035/
Essentially, one of his possible animation ventures would have been an interactive flash 'game' that consisted of various 8 bit animations of digdug inflating a character with some differing outcome for each. that option more or less lead in the strawpoll but i haven't seen any sign of him taking steps in this idea just yet. I've done sprite work so I amused the idea of trying something similar but in the form of isolated animated Gifs instead of a huge compilation in flash.
The idea sounds fun but I'd still wait until I see his decision on the matter or at least contact him about it since he thought of this first. the last thing I'd want to do is take potential customers from him. especially since things have been rough for him as well it seems.
so that seems to be 2 out of 5 things I could probably do to earn food and gas money off of my own abilities, I'm not sure about what else I can do. maybe I can figure out more ideas by evaluating what my skills and aptitudes are.
well...I can draw!....and that's about it.
...but i'm being facetious, still my strongest skill lies in graphic art in the form of illustration. I've dabbled in sprite work and used to be pretty big in Blender long ago. but I don't feel i'm exactly good enough in those categories to produce good work. Hell, my drawing as it is needs work in of itself. my abilities have deteriorated quite a bit over the months i haven't been consistently drawing. my multiple sketch trades with
darcell1291 has been the only thing keeping me "fresh" to a degree. but my shading and coloring are both still subpar.
doesn't help that I tend to have a bit of a short attention span with inflation art. I mean I'll put a lot of work into getting the form itself right to the point of making multiple attempts after getting results not up to my standards. but once I make a solid piece of lineart I more or less declare that done and move on. I probably could go back to previous work and either color or redraw it to sharpen up in those areas.
long story short. I gotta do something now that I literally can't even afford to eat anymore.
fortunately we got something worked out, and we ended up borrowing money from a family member.
however...that only just solves one of our problems. the rent is coming do again, the internet bill is drawing near. and we're still in $1700.00 or so in debt through loans, credit card debts. and money owed on other attempts to try and make a difference in our financial situation.
nevertheless, we can budget all we want but in the end, we're just not bringing in enough to actually rise out of this problem. mother is again trying something out in the hopes of a long term payout but I need to do something to try and bring more money in myself. I'm stuck between college and a part time job so getting a third job is out of the question, and after my last post I'm certainly not going to be getting back into commissions either.
Draco-Rex mentioned trying again with the donation series, and maybe even doing what 
kitsunekit does and have a guest star or something with one of my own character. I still have doubt that it would do any better than how the last one with yooka-laylee did. where interest was there but the donations weren't. even then. what characters do I have that would be popular enough to even try with that?
Reagan700 told me that selling comics has been rather lucrative for him. I'd certainly love to try but making a high quality comic for purchase is a very tall order. it's not that i lack ideas because I have ideas, and I'd fancy myself to be an above mediocre writer. but with my biggest incentive being profits, and not profits for something nice. but for basic necessities and encroaching debts; I worry that it would interfere with my ability to make something great. there wouldn't be much passion. just need and possibly anxiety.I've thought about YCH's before, but I've been very reluctant to do those out of fear that the auction would go way past what I would have expected. and now I have to ensure that I make something that feels worth $80 or so.
in spite of that however, I could probably do fixed price ones. that might work well since I'm presenting a mostly pre-made product that can be altered post payment to fit the payee's request.
Another thing I've often thought about doing was creating black and white (or black and alpha) illustrations for stories to have within the story itself. like you know those old books and how they'd have inked illustrations here and there? the phantom tollbooth comes to mind for one. it may have it's own difficulties since I have to read the story itself in order to get a thorough understanding of what it is I'm trying to illustrate. but it's something I'd like to try nevertheless.
something I recently ran into was a thing
Tyrannozilla was proposing to do out of a few other things. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16244035/
Essentially, one of his possible animation ventures would have been an interactive flash 'game' that consisted of various 8 bit animations of digdug inflating a character with some differing outcome for each. that option more or less lead in the strawpoll but i haven't seen any sign of him taking steps in this idea just yet. I've done sprite work so I amused the idea of trying something similar but in the form of isolated animated Gifs instead of a huge compilation in flash.
The idea sounds fun but I'd still wait until I see his decision on the matter or at least contact him about it since he thought of this first. the last thing I'd want to do is take potential customers from him. especially since things have been rough for him as well it seems.
so that seems to be 2 out of 5 things I could probably do to earn food and gas money off of my own abilities, I'm not sure about what else I can do. maybe I can figure out more ideas by evaluating what my skills and aptitudes are.
well...I can draw!....and that's about it.
...but i'm being facetious, still my strongest skill lies in graphic art in the form of illustration. I've dabbled in sprite work and used to be pretty big in Blender long ago. but I don't feel i'm exactly good enough in those categories to produce good work. Hell, my drawing as it is needs work in of itself. my abilities have deteriorated quite a bit over the months i haven't been consistently drawing. my multiple sketch trades with
darcell1291 has been the only thing keeping me "fresh" to a degree. but my shading and coloring are both still subpar.doesn't help that I tend to have a bit of a short attention span with inflation art. I mean I'll put a lot of work into getting the form itself right to the point of making multiple attempts after getting results not up to my standards. but once I make a solid piece of lineart I more or less declare that done and move on. I probably could go back to previous work and either color or redraw it to sharpen up in those areas.
long story short. I gotta do something now that I literally can't even afford to eat anymore.
Also, your fear, "I've thought about YCH's before, but I've been very reluctant to do those out of fear that the auction would go way past what I would have expected. and now I have to ensure that I make something that feels worth $80 or so." That makes me wonder...
Hey! Has anyone down here in the comments paid a little... Much, for something they got in an auction? And felt the results were unfulfilling? Like, does that actually happen? Tell me in a reply!
With all that said, don't sell yourself short. You're a capable artist with a lot to offer, and I'm sure you'll be able to figure something out. There's a community behind you.