Inktober 11 to 30 - Yeah, I've gone really really late with posting this :)

Day 11: Terrorsaur

Day 12: Megatron

Day 13: Dinobot

Day 14: Nightscream

Day 15: Airazor

Day 16: Rattrap

Day 17: Black Arachnia

Day 18: Torca

Day 19: Depth Charge

Day 20: Optimus Minor

21: Ramulus

22: Terragator

23: Inferno

24: Silverbolt

25: Cohrada

26: Noctorro

27: Tigertron

28: Waspinator

29: Snapper

30: Scarem

31: Optimus Primal

I know... its really really late hehe and I have no excuses, other than the usual, which is work, which is also a good thing hehe.

Anyway, I would like to thank the Lord for the year that was and for all the opportunities He has allowed us to have. It was truly a good year and I am hoping for bigger and better things this 2018.

To God be the glory!

Inktober #4 to #10 / When Clients Are Delayed

05: Rhinox

06: Spittor

07: Cheetor

08: Rampage

09: Magnaboss

10: Optimus Primal

Ei guys! So I did not realize that it has been almost a month since I last posted. Inktober was very fun and this is the first time that I have been able to finish Inktober and I'm really glad that Jake Parker started this. It sort of gave me the motivation to try my best to finish my work in the fastest way that I can so that I can draw for myself and since Inktober has ended I have been working on some other projects for myself apart from work.

So lately I have been encountering some problems with my projects, largely because 3 of my clients have been delayed in one way or another. Once has been so busy that I haven't been able to get any feedback for close to 3 weeks now, the other one has delays from another member of the production team and as such we cannot move forward with the finishing touches for what we are working on. The last one has, well, been in a financial bind I think, so payment has been delayed. I have always been working with at least 3 clients at any given time to make sure that I do not have gaps in terms of cashflow that is directly tied to my projects but the situation right now is unavoidable, in my experience. This is not the first time that I have experienced this and thank God that I have a fourth client that has been giving me steady work for the past 3 or 4 years.  This is a reality that we freelancers experience, clients will sometimes get delayed because of reasons beyond their control and unless we have a good enough buffer of money to tide us over until they are ready to push forward, it will really be a problem.

I don't have a lot of time right now to explain everything but my strategy for this is to work on at least 3 or 4 projects at the same time. This way whenever there are gaps you can always work on your other active clients. From my experience it almost always takes at least 2 days for a client to give good feedback so if you schedule well you will be able to really plan out the work so that you're always working on something while waiting for feedback and in effect cash flow is more or less consistent... unless all clients encounter problems then it becomes our problem as well hehe...

So what do we do? I've been freelancing for more than 5 years and this is not the first time, like I said earlier, but I just realized that it is a situation that can be avoided if we as artists are open to other forms of earning. Recently I have been trying my hand at other means of earning through my art, with the ultimate goal of being able to earn on my own without the need of clients. I am trying to figure out other means of earning and as such have dived into operating a store through Red Bubble and by vlogging and blogging. I really do not know a lot right now about all of this, and I'm trying to figure out how all of this works but one of the end goals is to be able to draw what I want to do where I want to and when I want to without having to worry about my clients. I'm hoping my business model will change by next year and hopefully I'll be able to share some of what I find out with you guys.

Here's a link to my Red Bubble store:
My Red Bubble Store

Here's a link to my Youtube Channel:
BryanSevillaDraws YouTube Channel

So yeah, thanks guys and please do visit my channel and check out my store. Until then, keep safe and God bless!

- Bryan

Inktober 2017!

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02

03

04

So yeah, I'm going to try to make it to complete Inktober this year! It's something that I've been looking forward to do and I've actually dedicated my personal art time for the whole month of October for this. Right now I'm going for a Transformers Beast Wars theme and I'm enjoying it so far. Hope I get to complete the challenge this time :)

Anyhow, I have been contemplating about something that is loosely thrown in conversations here in the Philippines:

"Kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahilan"  (If you want to do it there is a way, if you don't want to, there is a reason)

This is something that almost immediately irks me because it is often said by someone who is trying to convince someone else to do something for him. I've been told this twice, once by a former employer who was asking me to do something for him even though I was no longer working for him and just recently by someone who was presenting a business proposal to us to whom I declined  because I just wasn't interested in the business that he was selling.

I think that in both instances the use of the saying is wrong. Well, for starters, they were both asking something from me that I did not want to do because it wasn't beneficial to me. By saying that I'm only giving reasons because I do not want to do what they are asking me to do implies that  I can't say no to them, which is kinda stupid. And to say that I have reasons that's why I'm saying no is, well, kinda  true. I have reasons, everybody does. It's not like I have to justify my reasons to them both before I can say no, I don't really have to because I'm not contractually obliged, nor are they my spouse or my parents.

You see, the slogan isn't really negative in and of itself, it's just that people often use it to coerce, or to bully other people, into doing what they want. No, it shouldn't work that way. The saying simply says that people have their reasons for doing stuff and for not doing them. Don't use it to convince people because it's lame, and you lose out on the essence of a rather profound filipino saying.

So there, cheers guys and God bless! Keep on inking! 

Long Day

My dad just got off the hospital this evening. He was confined for almost 4 days because of an eye infection and had he not been admitted he might have gone blind. I dread the day when I’d lose my parents, I really do. I’m just thankful to the Lord that he gave me a job that allows me to be with them when they need me. It’s been a long and tiring day😅

Got these last Friday, thanks a lot to MAAS toys for sending me a complete set as well a cool shirt! I worked on the packaging design for Skiff and Gold while Bobby Skullface did the illustrations. What a nice way to cap a rather stressful week :)

The Last Knight: Bumblebee

Hi guys! Sharing something I had to put on hold for more than 2 months since we had our place renovated 😃 Please do visit my shops:

Red Bubble

https://www.redbubble.com/people/bryansevilla/works/28137889-bumblebee-transformers-the-last-knight?asc=u&c=714560-robots

Society 6:

https://society6.com/product/bumblebee-transformers-the-last-knight_t-shirt#s6-7692385p15a4v104a5v18a11v49

Design By Human:

https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/t-shirt/men/bumblebee-transformers-the-last-knight-edit/761868/

Larger image here:

http://fav.me/dbo3mvx

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It feels good to be blogging again. It's nice to find a small place on the internet where you can write and only be noticed by people who really like to see what you are up to. It feels more intimate I suppose.

Anyway, it really feels good to have a partner that understands and supports you. I know that a lot of people see Kris and I just goofing around when we are together and that's why they think we weren't on any level serious about settling down but that's so not true. Kris has been the most fun I've ever had and she's literally my best friend for the past 7 years and counting and it feels weird to look at the date and realize that next month we'll be celebrating our wedding anniversary. Time flies fast :)

So I blew off someone today...

I got angry at a close friend today, something that rarely happens. I know that I don't get angered easily and when I do I tend to handle situations in a calm manner but this morning I felt that I needed to say something and I needed to be a bit more forceful because my friend stepped on some core principles that I have regarding my responsibilities in life and the manner in which I try to fill them in.

I think its wrong to say that I don't have responsibilities because my wife and I, we do have them, and its a lot and it's something we gladly do for our families. We believe that God gave these responsibilities for us to help us grow and so far we have been able to fulfill them because we studied and worked really hard to get to where we are today. By no stretch am I claiming that we are "successful" financially but I can say that we are in a generally good place at the moment and we are happy. To label me as a "textbook entrepreneur" just because I said no to a business proposal because I'm not a big fan of brick and mortar businesses these days is an insult not only to my efforts but also to my wife's work ethic. We've studied really hard and tested all that we know because that was all we had then, we were not funded by our parents so we had to trust on our efforts and to belittle all of that hard work is disrespectful, specially when you say it in front of other friends.

So yeah, I'm just  putting it here because I'm sympathetic to the plight of all of us online art entrepreneurs.  We are in a good place. Here,  effort and time is a good enough substitute for money if you want to start a business for yourself. Be open to the possibilities that the global art market opens for you and don't get distracted by the naysayers. I just blew someone off so it feel hypocritical to say this right now but mind you, I did say so in a respectful but direct manner because that is what he needed from me, and I tried really hard to state my case before I did so. So do your research and work hard and smart, and God willing everything will pay off eventually.

I'm on Youtube!

Yeah, I know, it's kind of old news by now but I haven't been able to make new videos since we've started renovating our Grandma's house two months ago and we've only moved in last week so I guess it is high time to get back into the groove of things and as such I'd like to announce, a very late announcement here on the blog, that I'm on Youtube. Yup, all things considered, just starting out, so yeah, please do share your love and subscribe to the channel below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXbsb_fB5LjAYHQ51YA37GQ?view_as=subscriber

Ok, so a bit of art for you guys and some thoughts:

There are people who will question the path that you take, well meaning ones and others who just want to prove that what they are doing is better than what you are doing or have basically messed up assumptions of what you do with your life. Sometimes the best way to handle this is to just let it go. I'm quite guilty about this because I tend to explain myself a lot to people because I want them to understand what I do but recently I have grown tired of this, of this need to explain myself to the point that they are satisfied with my explanation, like there is always a need to justify what I do. I'm not angry, I'm just irritated I guess.

But life goes on, so as long as I know that what I'm doing is right, I guess my course of action moving forward is to just tell what I need to tell them and move on. As much as I love a healthy debate I know that there are far more things of consequence in my life that I need and want to take care of. So there, cheers and God bless!

It's Been A While!

It's been a while since my last update, and have been very busy with work and adjusting to married life (yay!). Here's Huffer, something that I worked on during breaks.