Happy New Year! Let’s jump in and talk about my perfectionism and how we are going to kick its butt in 2026.
This is a blog diary entry about writing stories and making art, but I‘m getting carried away, at least let me greet ya’ll. Hey gang 👋, It’s been a minute since I’ve checked in, How are we all coping with said AI, the economy and the ridiculous ever-rising cost of living? Yeah, me too . It’s a lot, but rather than lamenting on the craziness of the world or even getting into the stressful and almost devastating events that happened last year for me personally, I’m just going to say, I’m grateful to be here, grateful for my family and that I still have all these creative ideas I want to explore.
Here’s the thing, AI seems to be taking over 🫠, everyone’s talking about it, fearing it, discussing it’s issues {not paying copywrite holders}, problems {stealing the work in the first place} and lack of soul, however, I’ve decided I’m gonna create anyway. Why? Well creating can be hard, tough even. I go through so many emotions, trying to wrangle the ideas, thoughts and feelings I have about an almost elusive dream of a story or idea I want to illustrate, not to mention figuring out how I want it to look and trying to use new software, but I love it. I love the creative process, and for me AI was just another way for me and I mean me specifically, not to create. Because perfectionism. I want everything to look perfect, the story to be perfect, hit all the plot points, perfectly, perfect characters, designs and concepts. Include all the things and be ready to be an animation, film, musical… you get the point, I want EVERYTHING to be perfect, I want to do EVERYTHING perfectly and AI was just another way for me to not make the thing, ie make art, make my comic.
So in this year of 2026 I’m gonna be messy! Not Real housewives, Sunset Beach messy😉, but working out my art, website, story, designs ‘in real time’ messy. I’m gonna show it all, my art that is. My normal or baseline if you will, is to make something ie illustration or this website layout, what I believe to be, perfect. Then show it or launch it, but only after I have agonised for 10 million years on details that are not important, then take a break for another 10 million years and never actually make any progress on my actual project, my graphic novel story. Le sigh. This year, we doing it different! 💪
Ok, first off, Above & Below, the story that holds my heart, metaphorically that is, It’s been tough, but I still love it. My ongoing, on-again off off-again love affair with this story, its characters and making art in general continues to get me through the ups and downs of life, but I digress I have been re-plotting this tale, trying to find the story again, so I decided to go all in.
Currently, I have 2 rough outlines for this story. A graphic novel script outline and a written novel, well a visual novel outline, in fact wait I think we discussed this already?!? I’ve been having a hard time trying to decide how best to deliver this story and so I’ve now essentially written 2 versions of it because I can’t seem to make a decision. I think the problem is, I’m looking to others in terms of how I should publish this story. You know, scrolling instagram and TikTok endlessly getting demotivated as I watch others live the life I dream/scroll about 🙂↕️Should I upload to Webtoons, My own website, use Patreon, go the traditional publishing route or self publish and in the end I’m realising it doesn’t matter. So I’ll continue writing as is, both comic and novel, and see what happens. Because at this point I’m gonna die before this gets done! As long as I finish writing it, I’ll figure out the rest as I go, like I said, we doing it messy.
As I get older, I’m finding I love the mechanics and craft of art making. I am most interested in the process of making art rather than jumping to the finished result and having a perfect illustration or story. So here’s what I will be working on this year, drum roll please 🥁
❤️🔥 2026 Projects❤️🔥
A&B fully illustrated prologue story:
Jan & Feb | Pre production - Character designs, concept art.
Mar - Aug | Production - making the comic!!! Sketch, ink, colour, all the things
Sept | Market and Print a physical comic ready for: Thought Bubble {Nov} or Hyper Japan {also Nov}
Nov | Attend Con’s! 🥳
Dec = Sleep
Post here weekly 😬
Update my Instagram 2-4x weekly {because I deleted the brain frying TikTok}
❤️🔥❤️🔥 2026 Bonus Projects ❤️🔥❤️🔥
Start work on the major Arcana for a tarot deck I’ve had in mind since forever
Book cover art portfolio. To be honest I’m not so sure about this, but I’m putting it here anyway. Ya know accountability and all that good stuff.
I know I mentioned last year my course and mentorship, but I’m going through the whole process myself to test out each part before I ask for a few testers. so stay tuned.
And that’s it. The whole shebang. I’m going all in. If you read this far, prepare for chaos and a messy website as I figure this all out in real time. The usual process is to make a thing quietly, then present it beautifully for the world to see. I’m gonna take you with me as I make all the mistakes out loud and hopefully at the end of the year I will have completed something beautiful, flaws and all.
Manifesting a creative 2026 for all the art babes, even those who don’t know what they’re doing but are gonna try anyway, because AI wishes it was that girl 👩🎨😎
Chat soon art fam xxx
