Changes

I created this illustration for a New Jersey ER team.  Happy to work on this project in the midst of the pandemic!  NYC is thankfully at a much better place now, but my heart goes out to others in the country who are suffering from COVID.

I realize I haven’t updated this blog/mailing list in awhile (since May!).  In the past I used to post each time I was in an event, but comic cons and many other events aren’t happening now due to COVID.  Also I got some advice recently that blogging or emailing people on your list doesn’t have to be a super big thing – it can be many smaller things more often, which I’d like to practice going forward.

Our country is going through a lot of changes right now.  Social changes, safety changes, economic changes, & more.  I’m changing some things up myself – I joined a MASTER MIND group!  MasterMinds are great ways to brainstorm with like-minded people who are on the same path as you.  It kind of feels like an independent study where I’m taking courses online, then we zoom monthly to brainstorm on problems we’re facing.  Getting to know others who want to take their comic careers to the next level is inspiring.

I realized I need to take more of my sales online due to conventions being wiped out.  I think I’ve mentioned Tyler James’ ComixLaunch podcast on here before – he’s leading the mastermind.  This dude funded his most successful Kickstarter ever (SHE from ComixTribe) when the pandemic was gaining steam in April.  I was impressed – he knows what he’s doing and seems like a great leader. 

Which leads me to another change.  I’m going to be making changes to my mailing list! 

If you want to continue to get updates from me in these emails, simply reply and let me know! 

Then I’ll make absolutely sure that your email gets entered into the new system.  I’ll mention this in upcoming posts before the change too, as I know people don’t open every email.  It’ll be a transition, but one for the better.  I’ve struggled a lot with various tech problems over the years, and this one is a doozy – the details of which I won’t bore you with.  But after each tech problem I conquered, I was SO GLAD with the results after. I look forward to having better templates, making it easier for people to sign up for my mailing list online, and keeping track of analytics.

Hope that you’re safe and well!  What kind of changes are you making lately?

Patreon Is Where It's AT

NYC is FINALLY mostly “over the curve” and now we’re all in the phase of “NOW WHAT?” Definitely a time of soul searching and exploring career/life choices for many people on Earth. One thing I’m super happy about is that through all this, my wonderful patrons on Patreon have not only STAYED, but I gained some NEW ones and some people even pledged MORE! I’m truly grateful to each and every patron that has supported my work.

Backing up a bit, Patreon is a crowdfunding website, much like Kickstarter, but it’s for ongoing work, not for one particular item. For example, I launched my Patreon so people could see the behind the scenes world of how I create the AER HEAD comic series. Whereas I launched my Kickstarter specifically to print 100 copies of AER HEAD issue #1 once it’s all complete. Building my Patreon definitely helped me understand how to better launch a Kickstarter when the time was right, and I highly recommend artists launching both.

If you’re an artist, musician, or other creative and don’t have a Patreon, BUILD ONE NOW! Now is the time where, even though you may feel like the world is crumbling around you with instability, there ARE actually people out there that still have stable jobs working remotely that would love to support you during this time. I share a lot about the stages of building my own Patreon in the first few public posts. Public posts are posts everyone can see, whereas you’d need to join one of my monthly membership tiers to see some other posts.

For example, here’s a sneak peek of a recent post for the “See the Present” tier (lowest tier level at $2/month) where I went into detail about the scanning and cleaning up process for my AER HEAD comic. If you want to level up your comic creation skills, this is a great tier to join at a low price!

Also, as part of MerMay (drawing prompts where you draw mermaids for the month of May & post on social media), if you join my “Custom Character Artwork” tier, you’ll get a drawing of one of my AER HEAD characters as a mermaid, usually on a surf board!

This is a $50/month tier, but this is the price I normally charge for a color sketch of one character at a comic con anyway (btw MoCCA Fest is officially cancelled). If you’d like a mermaid sketch, you can always sign up for one month, then cancel later. If you’re missing that in-person comic convention experience, this is a great way to get some cool unique art and support me as a freelance artist in these troubling times.

Just go to patreon.com/mindyindy and select a monthly tier. It’s super simple - you can even pay with Paypal. Many thanks, and I hope to see you on Patreon!

Know Your Limits

One of the things I realized in the midst of this pandemic is that I can only do so much in one day. I’m used to geeking out about productivity and trying to squeeze in something into every hour and pushing myself. At first I thought that more time stuck at home would mean exponential productivity for me, but I wasn’t prepared for the mental challenges that “sheltering in place” would entail living in NYC.

The anxiety and overwhelm I’ve experienced, especially in the last week, has limited me to doing only about 3 main tasks per day (instead of 5 or 6). This underlying anxiety is like a program running in the background of a computer that takes up more RAM and slows the computer down. It now takes a lot more mental effort for me to “figure out” what steps I need to do to start a new project like a custom comic or logo. I can still do it, but it takes more time, and I’m learning to accept that. I’m also taking more breaks and making more time for talking to family and friends.

It’s easier for me to continue work on projects I’ve been doing for awhile (like AER HEAD! Almost done inking!), which is good. I’m thankful to even HAVE some client projects and know that many artists are struggling more than I am for the time being.

New York on Pause is slowing New Yorkers down, and I’m starting to be OK with doing less. Last Friday, for example, mid-afternoon I decided to just take the rest of the day off (which I NEVER do!) and start reading The Artist’s Way, a very inspirational book for all people, not just artists. I’ve been writing my “morning pages” daily since then, although it’s in the afternoon but who cares! Morning pages are like a daily journal/writing exercise. I chose the smallest journal size I had so I could more easily fill 3 pages.

This past Monday in the late afternoon I became overwhelmed, and decided to move other projects to later in the week and just ink AER HEAD earlier in the day instead of my usual time. I usually ink a page or half a page after dinner, but it’s OK to break the schedule.

I’ve also switched my news intake to every other day instead of daily, and only at dinner. A few weeks ago (or was it a month ago?) when everything was shutting down in various stages, it was super important to keep on top of things. But now that we know to just stay home as much as possible (I’m only going out once a week for groceries), it doesn’t matter if I “miss” anything because my actions will be the same for the foreseeable future. Setting my limits on news has definitely helped my anxiety. And if I’m having an anxious day and it’s a day I’m supposed to watch the news, I’m OK with skipping that day and I watch Avatar: The Last Airbender instead. It has been one of my favorite animations and one day I hope AER HEAD can be something like that.

Setting limits on work, news, and other things is important because our mental health affects our work. Freelancers are impacted in particular by this because we usually get paid per project, not by a salary. For example, my roomie gets paid the same amount regardless, but if I need to take more breaks, that’s money that I’m not making. This is one of the trade-offs of having the flexibility of freelancing though.

Take care & be well!

Remote Working + Artist Resources + Javits Hospital

News

Of particular interest to the comics world, did you know that the Javits Center is being turned into a temporary hospital for coronavirus overflow? New York Comic Con fans will immediately recognize the iconic structure that has been part of our lives for many years. On Tuesday, Governor Cuomo gave his daily update on the state of the crisis right from the Javits. Details on this will continue to unfold and I hope that all goes well (or as well as it CAN, given the circumstances).

Other news: Tax Day is delayed! Amidst everything, nobody is thinking of doing their taxes right now. Luckily we have another 3 months to get it together. Our taxes are now due on July 15 with no interest or penalties! Again, since I blog once a week this may be old news to some people, but just in case you’ve been taking a break from the news, there it is. I took a break from it yesterday and today too. I’m not sure if I’ll hold an online version of my tax class, but if I do, you’ll be the first to know.

Resources

Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten a bunch of emails & messages that list many freelance artist resources! I’ve gone through some of them and they range from financial help to mental help and more. I understand that many in the artist community have had multiple income streams stopped. My heart goes out to actors in particular, who usually supplement acting gigs with restaurant or bartending work and can’t really work from home on stuff like visual artists. Hopefully you can find some help in the below links:

https://covid19freelanceartistresource.wordpress.com/

https://cutaway.shift.io/assistance-for-freelancers-and-gig-workers-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qo_w8b6u2yXKzE7dIUmSeWqk3FFrqS1KhoCGzqcmZiQ/edit?mc_cid=3e772484f4&mc_eid=4f06a15aee#heading=h.9jxpafwpqf90

https://www.unpopcultr.co/blog/covid-19-artist-freelancer-resources?utm_source=Freelancers+Hub&utm_campaign=3e772484f4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_25&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_757944db2b-3e772484f4-106947873&mc_cid=3e772484f4&mc_eid=4f06a15aee

For now, my freelance work has been holding up and I’ll be ok until the end of April at least with my current projects. I’m wrapping up some design work, sketching illustrations for 2 children’s books, have 2 custom comics, and some other illustration work. Of course, if you’d like some art during this time, feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to create something for you.

More Tips on Working From Home

Since many people are working remotely now, & I got a great response from the last post, here are more working from home tips! These have to do with time management and boundaries:

• Designate “work hours.” This is about setting boundaries for yourself so others know what to expect from you. If a client calls you at 9pm and you pick up, they’ll expect you to always pick up. IT’S OK to NOT answer the phone and go to voicemail for non-urgent things. You can then communicate what your hours are and that you’re unavailable at certain times. The work/home lines are blurred now, but that doesn’t mean our whole life is work for others at all times. Some artists are uncomfortable bringing up this subject with clients, but it’s best to be straightforward & the client will usually understand.

• Give yourself an actual “weekend.” This is related to setting boundaries & work hours above, but on a weekly schedule. Don’t work every day or you’ll burn out! Especially during this time, I’m letting myself not worry about accomplishing as much on Sundays. I don’t even check my email on the weekend. Remember, the world revolves around a M-F 9-5, and most people don’t check their email til Monday too.

• Now’s a great time to test out getting up and going to bed at the same time every day to get better sleep. I can’t enjoy NYC nightlife for the foreseeable future, but one upside is that I don’t feel the need to sleep in on the weekends. I sleep better and accomplish more in the day!

Let me know if you found anything in this blog helpful!

Stay healthy & safe!