So, people might be wondering why I haven't been as active, and I know I have many clients who've been waiting a very long time for their commissions. I am not going to defend my lack of work on commissions, but I do want to explain what's been going on in my personal life. I also want to explain what I have planned for the future, as well as projects I am currently starting.
Personal Issues (i.e. Why My Commissions Are Taking So Long)
So, in March 2022, I finally moved out of my parent's house to move closer to my boyfriend, who I met online in 2020. Everything went well, and it seemed like everything was going to go smoothly as I got settled into my new life.
Then 2 months later, I was told by my landlord that I was basically getting kicked out because my roommate was terminating their lease early, and he wanted entirely new tenants who would pay more for rent.
This basically upended my life, and the next 4 months were complete chaos. I had to quickly find another place that would take me. Thankfully I did in a very short period of time, but I also had to pack up my stuff in preparation. And as anyone who knows anything about Massachusetts knows, moving on September 1st depletes every single rental truck and moving service in the state. So, with the help of my boyfriend, I had to move everything piece-by-piece into his apartment over the course of several weeks.
Alongside this, I also ended up accidentally stabbing myself in the foot with a bread knife, because I knocked it off the counter while cooking breakfast. The knife severed a tendon, and as a tendon injury gets worse over time, I had to make sure I got it diagnosed and repaired quickly. Sadly, the accident happened right before my 26th birthday, so I was no longer covered under my Dad's health insurance.
Luckily, I was still eligible for his health care under COBRA coverage, however, getting covered under it was an extremely infuriating run-around to deal with, and it only delayed the surgery. What also delayed the surgery is the fact that I couldn't even get an MRI to properly diagnose it for months. By the time I was able to get my surgery I was already settled into my new apartment, and the time where I could've made a full recovery was long gone. But I was finally able to get it in October, and the ensuing recovery process involved me being 100% house-bound (and mostly bedbound) for multiple months so that I wouldn't bear weight on my foot and also keep it elevated at a specific angle.
Because I was unable to work during surgery recovery (despite my best efforts), I had no way to make money. This caused my credit card debt (which was already in a bad spot prior) to grow astronomically. Once I recovered, I realized I needed to find a job fast. I ended up snagging a full-time retail sales job. While I tried my best to work on commissions while working full-time, the job proved very physically and emotionally taxing, which made 3D modeling difficult. As a result, my output slowed drastically and I had barely any free-time to spare for my art.
After a year, I quit my job. I also got a ton of psychiatric diagnoses and the meds to help with them. I am now back to working on commissions full-time, and I am so deeply sorry to those who've been waiting for so long. I promise you, I plan to complete my queue by the end of this year and I will try as hard as possible to make the wait worth it.
Planned Commission Info Overhaul
Once I get through my current queue, I will reopen commissions again. However, I am planning on drastically overhauling my commission info once I do. This will make things a lot easier for the client, as well as make things easier for me.
Current plans include:
- New website: Carrd is extremely limited by design, and part of why my commission info is weirdly laid-out is due to its limitations. I am planning on moving to neocities, and the new website will be live once my commissions are finished.
- Different import method = different cost: I mainly do commissions for people who want their character in a video game. Since I do imports for a wide variety of games, ranging from games with official custom character support such as VRChat and Tower Unite to any game with unofficial custom model support via mods, the importing process can vary wildly. Therefore, I am going to start charging upfront fees that increase based on how complex the importing process is. If you want me to do an import for a game I'm unfamiliar with, then you will have to message me for a quote. If it's an import method that I've never done before, then I will upcharge for the time taken to learn it.
- Full NSFW is now offered: When I started as an artist, I felt that I didn't want much to do with the NSFW end of the scene, partially due to personal hangups about my sexuality, and partially because I was trying to maintain a squeaky-clean, all-ages brand. However, that has since changed. Full NSFW is now 100% on the table. Public NSFW art will only be posted on my 18+ platforms, which are currently only Cohost and FurAffinity.
- Physbones are now free: I thought it made sense to charge extra for physbone complexity, however, physbones aren't very difficult to set up and I often end up adding some to commissions whose clients didn't ask for them, so I will now make them free. The only limitation is that the physbone setup doesn't plunge the performance rank to Very Poor in VRChat, as I try to avoid that ranking regardless unless the client is deadset on me making a model with enough features to achieve it.
- Various other pricing changes: This doesn't just mean price increases. The main thing I want to focus on is proper itemization. As alluded to in the "Different importing method = different cost" bulletpoint, every importing method is different, and every game's limitations and features are different too. Therefore, the main page will list base price/polycount, and the website will have separate pages for game-specific upcharges. More info coming soon.
I plan on launching my revamped commissions once my queue is empty. If you have any issues with my plans, then feel free to bring your concerns up to me.
Regular Twitch Streams
As you might have noticed last week, {I am starting Twitch streams again.](https://www.twitch.tv/sockpuppetkingdom) Due to sleep schedule and time management issues they are currently irregular, but I plan to stream 3D modeling multiple times a week for 4-6 hours per day. I have dropped the facecam/fursona Vtuber and instead adopted a handcam: A webcam pointed directly at my mouse/keyboard, with a solid color deskmat and proper lighting to chroma key the background out. Since I'm not a fan of my face being on camera for a prolonged period of time, and Blender's hotkey-based interface results in a lot of hand movement, I feel this setup works a lot better than what I've been doing previously.
Possibility of Selling Character Designs/Outfits
Since full-time commission work is unreliable, I am looking into ways to generate passive income through it. I was never a fan of the "base" style of model selling, where you just sell the nude model and sell clothing separately. However, character design has always been a passion of mine, and I am strongly considering making character designs solely to sell as models. I am also considering selling clothing that people can put on their own base avatars. This is currently only in the "idea" stage and no work has been started on this project yet, but it's something that I've thought about for a while and I'm currently considering what would be the best platform to use for this.
With that out of the way, I'm now going to dedicate my time to finishing up my commission queue and finally put these past few chaotic years of my life behind me. Thank you to everyone for your support and patience, and I can't wait to show you all what I have in store for the coming months.
-sockpuppetkingdom