I’ve kind of begun to realize that the pictures I’m making, all the physical drawings and such, are all made with very basic supplies. You know, a bunch of random colored pencils left over from my highschool days 100 years ago, dollar store paper, whatever pens and markers I can find at Walmart or under/inside living room furniture. Those sort of things are what I’m used to drawing with. You scrounge up whatever you can find and do your best to make something awesome, or at the very least, something moderately interesting. Because of the money I’ve received from my super fans lately ($81 sitting in my Paypal account), I’ve decided to find a place online and order some proper supplies.

After a bit of research, I found what I think to be the right combination of pens, pencils, and paper, that should fit what I’m trying to do. All from this website here: www.Currys.com. I haven’t sent away the order as of this moment, because I’m still going through the completion process. I’m also hoping (assuming really) that they use Paypal. I mean, who doesn’t use Paypal as far as online retailers go?

I’m hoping that when I receive my new supplies that I really notice a massive difference in the quality of my physical work. I mean, I’m even thinking of buying the $50 colored pencil set rather than the $30 on I currently ordered. Might as well spend all of the donated money, right? It’s going into something that will definitely help me in the long run. If I decide to go ahead and upgrade the pencils then I’ll probably need to remove something from the order so it doesn’t exceed $81. I’ll have to figure out what I’m going to do. If there are any artists out there with any suggestions at all, please let me know in the comments! I really appreciate all the Facebook likes I’ve received lately and I’m hoping there are some artists in there somewhere.

Today’s picture is a little dull, but hopefully you can see the potential for color. Though some of it will inevitably stay white, there will be plenty of blue when it’s finished! I’ve been finding all kinds of wonderful Japanese style water pictures using Google, and I want to draw them all! I’m not sure why I’m sticking with this style lately, but originally I was just going to make one, but then somebody recognized the style and they seemed to like it, so I thought, “Maybe others will too. I might keep it up for awhile.” I’m also learning lots of new stuff and probably once I’m finished with the current drawing I’m working on, I’ll start to make my own completely from scratch. While also adding in my own style more and more as I go along.

So, I hit a pretty big milestone on my Facebook fan page last night. I hit 100 page likes! Currently it’s sitting at 108. Pretty crazy, right? Seems the advertising money Facebook credited me with is really paying off. I mean, it’s a smart business decision on their part because advertising on Facebook obviously works. Once I’m out of that free credit, Facebook assumes that I’ll want to continue paying in order to get even more likes and post views. Clever there, Facebook. However, I was never interested in officially advertising with Facebook in order to gain followers. I was really hoping my fans would like, comment, and share my content instead, and that would be enough. There are a few dedicated fans that do it pretty regularly, but I’ve noticed that the number of viewers I get for each post steadily drops off. When I started out I had anywhere between 50-150 eyes on my posts, where now I’m lucky to hit 20 per post. I spent $6 of that credit money (Facebook gave me $40, I think it was) on a single post and it’s already hit 1,214 people! Ridiculous. The “post boost” hasn’t even ran it’s course yet! Though I understand what Facebook is doing, it certainly makes starting a business tough, eh? Apparently you gotta spend money to make money.

I’m so thankful for the support I get from my fans, friends, and family though. As far as art and creativity in general, without other people finding value in your work, there really isn’t a solid purpose to making it. It may sound crazy to say that, and it does seem so for me, at least. But, of course, when I build something creatively, it’s exciting and often challenging. I do find value in my own work, but the actual “artwork” (you can find excitement and challenges in many other non creative exercises) is only made for other people to consume. I want to make people feel something. So, in a round about way, I’m trying to say thanks to everyone that’s ever shared, commented on, or liked any of my posts! Getting those eyes on my content, I feel, is impossible without you.

Gift Exchange Progress:

Brad Thornhill’s drawing *mailed*

Meggz Fuller’s drawing *finished*

Rene (Assassin) Moran’s drawing *unfinished*

Here we go. Now this is turning out pretty awesome. I made Japanese style water scene with computer printout paper, a 2H pencil to get things started, various colored pencils, and an ultra thin Sharpie marker. I still have the boat to color yet, and I hope I don’t make it too dark because I actually like it all white the way it is. I’m even considering just leaving it alone and calling this a finished piece. However, I think I do need to add color. The white on white bugs me a bit with the surf there under the boat.

So, today I added a new header today on my home page that now includes a list of supporters that have helped me out financially. I went back and forth, and back and forth again, trying to make a decision on whether I should include the amounts they have given. Ultimately I decided that honesty is the best way to go and so I displayed the full amounts for each person. I know if I gave someone money because I enjoyed their content, I would think it was pretty cool to get my name up there. If I didn’t include the dollar amount that was given, then it would be a little ambiguous what that wall was all about.

I currently have the outlining ideas mostly figured out for the two supporter drawings I have left to do (If you gift me $10 or more, I mail you a personal drawing). So I’ll likely get both of them started tomorrow, as well as mail away the one I’ve already completed. Assuming I receive any more money in the future in this way, I’ll have to figure out a better way to do the drawings. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I would like to find a process to adhere to. Some rules maybe. I want everyone to receive the same quality of drawing and never to feel underwhelmed. I’m sending out the drawings as more of a thank you note, I guess. Yet I’m still spending about an hour on each.

So, Facebook gave me about $40 to go towards advertising last night. I’ve spent $5 today and already gained another 12 likes on my page. That’s 12 more people following my content on Facebook. I’m stoked! That’s 97 as of this moment. I can’t even imagine what a group of 97 people would look like, but all of them clicked the “like” button in order to see my daily updates and content. I’m feeling quite overwhelmed here!

If you like anything I do, please go ahead and “like” my Facebook artist fan page. Share anything you want, or go ahead and comment. I appreciate any feedback or suggestions and would love to know what people are checking out either on my website here, or over there on Facebook. Thanks for all the support and encouragement everyone has given. You all rock.