Blog
July 2025: Getting Back on Track
I hope you all have been staying safe and strong this summer! I thought it'd be fitting to make my first blog post focus on what I have in the works, and also what I've been doing in my personal life to step away from my main hobbies.
When my job and personal life revolves around art and streaming, I can get really worked up if I'm doing anything other than art or playing video games. Am I spending my time right? Is there something I should be doing to help my business grow? And then when I perform poorly at an event, it weighs really heavily on me. Why could I not make table or hotel costs? Are my skills good enough to sustain an art career full-time one day?
I've been selling at conventions since late 2021, but last year was a particularly rough one in terms of sales. I wasn't in the best place financially either, so each event felt so stressful. Because of the negative mental impact cons had on me, I decided to take a break from most conventions this year to focus on getting Chimera Heart: Arc 3's print edition finished, along with getting new designs and items in my catalogue. Rather than trying to make designs that keep up with trends, I want to keep making things that interest me, not just others.
Now that I'm out of school, have a consistent work schedule, and I'm no longer traveling to or being visited by my boyfriend every weekend, I've been able to work on Chimera Heart much more consistently. I've been able to produce many more updates, and after nearly two years, it feels like the comic is finally back on track as I work on its final arc. I've gotten the pages for the print edition of Arc 3 formatted, but I just need to illustrate the cover. I can send that to print as soon as the covers are completed. I hope to get this arranged in the coming weeks or month. I don't have any conventions lined up, but I'm looking at a local convention in November. Other than that, I'm already looking to begin locking my schedule down for 2026. Stay tuned for updates regarding upcoming cons!
After Art Fight concludes at the end of the month, it'll probably be around time to begin plans for this year's BeakDown! To make things easier on myself, I'll be using the same game and keeping many of the designs from last year. There will still need to be some changes and updates to the rosters, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I'd also like to pick up work on the Starrior trading card project. There are only eight Starriors left that need illustrations out of the forty I have planned for this release. The project has kinda been put aside due to other things, but I'm really close to finishing it that I don't wanna abandon it now.
Outside of my many projects, I've been trying to get into new things to distract myself from work and current events. For example, I've been doing a little bit of herb gardening on my apartment balcony! I've had succulents and houseplants in the past, but this is my first time legitimately gardening outside on my own. It's been a learning experience with successes and failures for sure. My poor oregano shriveled up in the heat wave that swept the country a few weeks ago. On the bright side, I've been growing lots of delicious basil for my boyfriend and I to use in our pizzas and pastas. I saw a local grocery store selling small plastic containers with a few dried basil leaves for $3 each, but I copped my basil plant from my neighborhood farmers market for $5 and now I have more basil than I know what to do with. (Infinite basil glitch...) I've also got chives, parsley, and rosemary in my garden right now. Topping my ramen with fresh chives is a lovely garnish, and last week, my boyfriend used fresh rosemary for delicious buttery steaks.
I've also been trying to read more, mainly in the form of audiobooks! They've been really clutch at work. Just pop on a book and zone out for a few hours while you sew and grommet some banners. I've mainly been trying to listen to classic literature and dystopian fiction, but also rereading some of my childhood faves. I used to say "The Hunger Games" was my favorite novel because it was a safe answer and I really enjoyed the main series in middle school. However after rereading the main series and "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," I'll admit... the series is still pretty good. I'm currently on the waitlist for my turn at the "Sunrise on the Reaping" audiobook, so I'm very excited to check it out.
I'll probably need to work on my blog layout, so that way I can sort posts by year or a tag system or something. This site is a continuous work-in-progress, and I'm currently working on some more experimental webpages in the Treehouse, which have been lots of fun to play around with and learn more about coding. I can't wait to show off the more self-indulgent parts of the site. But for right now, I'll leave it at that.
Keep sharing kindness, love, and color with the world!
Soft Launch!
Finally about to post the site link around to show my friends, I'm so excited! I've been working on this site in my spare time for over 2 months and I feel like it's now in a good state to show off. I've learned a lot about coding, and I hope I can peer pressure some of my buddies to also make a website. Like it says in my About page, the Internet is becoming increasingly hostile toward artists, and there's a lack of creativity and customizability in online spaces today. I've been meaning to make a website for Birdy's Doodles not only so I can have a site to show my art permanently, but also to rebel against the blandness of the modern web. Remember when the Internet was fun? Where every kids' TV channel had a website full of games? And sites like Club Penguin and Webkinz were the fun place to be after school?
I stayed home from work with a sore throat today, so it gave me the perfect opportunity to finally finish up the last bits of the main site. There are plenty of silly things to come for the site, so I hope you all will stay tuned and check back often! <3
Testing, Changing, Rearranging
I'm quite excited. I'm getting really close to unveil this site more publicly! There's a lot to just polish up now. I know I won't be "truly" done, but websites are more fun when they evolve over time, right?
