2019 Updates: Commission Changes & IRL Stuff
Hey everyone! I know I update my website's blog so infrequently, but I'm finally getting around to it. I wanted to make a post just to update everyone, client or otherwise, about things that have been going on with me for at least the past six months. First, I want to talk about the change in commission pricing. Commission Price Changes The title is pretty straight forward: I've decided to raise the prices on certain commission items. I hadn't raised the prices much in the last two years and I figured that it was time for me to, especially the level of demand that 1) it takes a bit of time to finish even just one commission due to my schedule with full-time school and family stuff, therefore my time to work on commissions have been scattered and scarce. 2) I am paying for school out of pocket, so that's definitely a good reason as to why I have to raise my prices.
The reason for the price change, to summarize, is my change of lifestyle, my time availability which I'm learning to value more, and consciously putting away with each commission because a lot of people don't seem to realize that the rule of thumb for self-employment is to always put 30% of the commission total away into savings for taxes (federal and state). I understand that sometimes commission prices racked up has a sticker-shock effect, but do understand that art is a luxury item and respect a creator's self-worth. If you feel that a certain commission is too expensive (not just with me, but with any artist in general), please don't make a stink about it and simply don't commission especially if it's outside of your price range.
Slice of Life
Some of you might have already read about it when I posted on Twitter, but my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer back in August (she came out and told us about it in mid-October). On top of being a financial help to her, I'm also trying to be here for her emotionally and I think the latter is the harder part. Consider that my mom is that type of person that never allows people, especially her loved ones, to see a weaker side of her. In the recent months, she's been kinda... better-ish about it, but she's not easily disclosing the status of her health. She finished her last round of chemo a few weeks ago and now she has to do a CAT scan to see where the cancer is and how it fared the treatment in the last five months. Fingers crossed that it all goes well?
Besides all that ugliness, I've been going to school again since this past August. It's definitely been a transition from going to school, taking care of family life and trying to strike a balance with work stuff. I knew that my work productivity would take a hit when I started with school, but definitely for this semester, I got into the swing of things. It really helps to make a schedule out for myself through a to-do list on a daily basis so I'm not so easily overwhelmed with all the things that I have to do work-wise and school-wise. It's bode well for me so far, and it's definitely helping me along with the backlogged stuff from last year, even.
I'm looking forward to reach the point where the backlog has disappeared and I can come up with a more regulated commission list which would be better for me as an artist who is doing this full-time and my main source of income as well as going to school full-time in a paralegal program. This, on top of the family stuff I have to manage as well (because my brothers are butts and don't know how to handle situations like this so it's up to me to keep the family together).