Update! Apologies! Commissions!

First off let me say that I am deeply sorry for my lack of posts lately.

Depression and various maladies have made it very difficult for me to progress with the same level of energy and drive I used to enjoy.

At the beginning of the year I reluctantly took on a commission and while that door was cracked open 2 others managed to squeeze in before it was closed. XD

They have taken me much longer to produce than I had originally hoped and its caused me to drag my feet on them more than is reasonable.  To  T

Project #3 Pencils

Project #3 Inks WIP

I wound up not posting my progress on them nearly as much as I should since in my mind I suspect people get bored quick seeing posts with barely discernible progress being made. Especially when the projects reach stages where only I can really tell how they are each changing one from the last.

The situation has caused me to more seriously start considering why my inking process has been growing as slow as it has been.

So I'm starting to look into trying to find some better methods to speed things up.

What I'm trying at the moment is trying out Clip Studio Paint again to see if some of the different tools they have available could help me out.

I find that the inking tools are much smoother than Photoshop's. The ability to smoothly control line weight is great tho I'm having trouble adapting to drawing longer smooth lines that need to be of a more constant line width.

Some of the tools available are worlds beyond Photoshops while others leave me scratching my head trying to figure out how to get them to behave a bit more like the better aspects of Photoshop.

I'm hoping that once I figure out the nuances of it that it will help to speed matters up quite a bit, as I'll have to dedicate less time into cleaning up my lines as I progress.

Project #2 Pencils

Project #2 Inks

Project #2 Flats WIP

Of the 3 projects #1 is complete! Number 2 is about 80% complete, with #3 being about 60% complete.

That the second project is a character sheet is adding more time than expected needing to go back and forth with the client to work out some of the design aspects and iterate on some of the ideas at hand.

It really brings to mind though that I need to start making some of these for my own core characters.

Unfortunately with #2 I'll have to eventually take on a part 2 later in the year for her werewolf form.

I really would rather have to turn that down but its the sort of thing where it really needs to be designed by the same artist, and I can't crush the clients hopes on their own major project like that.

The third has had the least focus so far but its coming along nicely and should pose the least difficulties of the 3 projects.

Project #1 Complete!

Then as if all of that weren't enough already I decided to get more serious about learning the app called Webflow.

For those of you not familiar with the troubles of web design. Weebly (the platform my website is created on) is a great app for a beginner level website to cut your teeth on.

That said, once you move on to more intermediate skills and needs it quickly becomes a major obstacle that greatly hinders the progress of much more complex projects.

And whats worse since having been bought out by Squarespace Weebly hasn't been given any significant updates or new features in nearly a decade.

So its high time I get off this app and find a new place to build my dream website experience.

Webflow is also a no code necessary website builder that is about a hundred times more complex than anything Weebly has to offer.

That being said you have about a thousand times more potential to create some pretty amazing builds.

So I started watching their free highly detailed yet mostly easy to grasp classes on how to get started on building a webflow site.

It's been a rather slow process at the moment. With some hurdles I'll have to figure out later and a need for new updates to my art asset packs.

What I envision is something more akin to what patreon does, where a person can pledge monthly support as a patron, which is basically what I have down at the moment on Weebly, but I also want it so that when you log in that your then allowed to pick from new art assets that will give the entire site a whole new feel and hopefully give the patron a better sense of their importance to me and my creations.

I'd also like to get it set up so that you wont have to be clicking around nearly so much to find the exclusive content.

I want to have it all housed on the same page with the exclusive items merely being locked till logged in.

I also want to work in a NSFW blur shield so that peeps can be more comfortable browsing with others around.

I want to duplicate the functionality that Piczel has for their galleries, where in SFW mode you dont see any NSFW elements at all. In blur mode NSFW content is blurred out until clicked on. Then NSFW mode where everything is freely visible.

getting even one of these to run smoothly will be daunting enough let alone together so it will be a rather long term project I have to keep tinkering on.

The tech isn't even all there yet for me to accomplish this since Webflow does not yet have built in membership logic functionality. Though they did say it would be arriving this year so I'm hopeful I'll be able to get things pretty close till the last parts of the foundation are put in place.

I'm hoping to be able to make special options too where people can click on a new cursor and be given new functionality on the sight like hovering over works and be able to gain creator insight to the content and or even insight from the perspective of characters in Crimson Dames.

Imagine Orphan mode where you can see funny quips from her concerning what see thinks of stuff u hover about on.

For the now that I'm working on getting basic website functionality working first. Nav Bars gallery layouts etc.

And lots and lots of research and online classes.

I can't wait to be done with these and back to getting real Crimson Dames content created. For the now though I'm doing my best to get these obligations knocked out as fast as I can manage. 

Thank you all so much who've stuck with me in this trying time and I really hope to make it all worth your while. ^_  ^