Sunday Update - 04/01/26
Hi, thank you for making your way over here!
This post will be the first in what I hope will become a weekly commitment. A way to share what I’ve been up to and shed more light on my plans outside of social media. The new year always brings with it aspirations, plans and such, so I’ve plenty to waffle on about this week:
MONTHLY DOWNLOADABLE ARTBOOK
Firstly is the project that I’ll be working most toward this month (and for the rest of the year if things fall right). As some of you know I’ve grown fatigued with social media. Regardless of how little attention I take of the numbers these days, I still find myself falling into unhealthy cycles with it. I suppose it’s my fault for treating it as a job or practice aid - committing myself to post something everyday at 15:00. It’s been useful on the whole but towards the end of the year I felt as if I was treading water by doing countless character portrait reels/videos just to have something to post. When combined with the uncertainty of being a freelance artist in this climate and an unwelcome visit from doubt's heavy hand on my shoulder, I knew something had to change.
For a minute I thought about disappearing and burning everything I’d done down to ash, but that wouldn’t help anything. Especially when what I love is on the ropes. However small my impact, I feel obligated to stick around and champion the benefits of choosing creativity, now more than ever.
So that leads me back to the artbook. Within it I’ll share everything I create. Every mistake and success. Full transparency of my process. It’ll feature not only my artwork, but also any music, writing and comic strips I create during the month - regardless of quality. Because I believe it’s all part of the journey and that it’s the journey that counts, right.
I could complain about the rise of generative AI or I could turn what I do into the antithesis of it by highlighting my process in full, warts and all. Again, I doubt it’ll make a difference, but I’d be a hypocrite if I complained but did nothing. Plus I’ve been keen on working on my perfectionism and highlighting my mistakes for a while now, so it just feels like an extension of that.
Anyway, I’m sure this format and my feelings for doing it will evolve over time, but the first issue will (hopefully) be available to download from Patreon, Ko-Fi, Gumroad and Bandcamp February 1st. It’ll be pay what you’d like kinda deal, with a free option if you’d prefer. I don’t care to paywall my work but having an option can’t hurt, and it’d really help me buy more pens if nothing else.
And I will still use social media (Instagram/BlueSky) most weeks, but it’s no longer a priority or reason to create something. I’m toying with the idea of approaching TikTok differently than I have been, and I’ll be starting up my YouTube channel at some point next week with an easy going sketchbook tour/vlog type thing. Regardless, all roads will lead to the artbook from now on.
FINISHED WORK
In other news, I’ve begun steps to create some larger or more "finished" pieces. I’ve been sketching for years at this point, but outside of a mountain of sketchbooks I don’t have much to approach galleries with, let alone show for all the effort I put into this craft. It’s funny as I’ve had people commend my commitment but there has been a huge part of that has avoided creating something that feels like a statement. Something done.
I realise this is all subjective at the end of the day, but this current way of thinking has led me down certain rabbit holes of either what has inspired me or the times I felt the most creative.
My approach won't be to change what I do but mould it in some way, with some subtle tweaks here and there. Try new mediums, methods of inspiration outside of just doodling. Use more colour! Write more poems and music, and create visuals for those, or vice versa. Go back to treating my observational studies as an experiment or a backdrop to build over like I did for a period in 2024.
That’s the plan anyway.
I’ve no idea where I’m going but hopefully I’ll stumble over something with enough shuffling about in ink, words and notes. My only stipulation is that it’s honest.
Okay, I could bore you for hours with all my ideas but that’s probably enough rambling on for this week. Thank you for reading and I’ll see you around!
All the best,
Alex