Saying "No" / Beast Wars!

Finally! Some time to finally paint!

I just declined an unpaid project that was asked of me from someone that was very close to me. Needless to say, that person got hurt. I understand how important the project was to her but I simply do not have the time right now to work on her project, even if it meant a lot to her.

It's sad, really, but I know that I just had to turn it down. My goals for my family are very important right now and any spare time that I have I would rather spend working on projects that would benefit me and my family.

Monkey!

My wife gave me this Optimal Primal as a gift and man I really love it! I've always wanted Primal and this version of him just makes me so happy!

Claws!

Again, another gift from my wife. To me this is the best iteration of Dinobot and I'd say that this looks better than the MP version... plus its more playable!

Beast Wars has been a very important part of my love for Transformers. I rarely pay retail price for figures but for the ones from this line I think I'm willing to spend a bit. I love them and I can still remember the feeling of seeing them on shelves in the 90's and not being able to buy them so getting better versions of those toys is really hitting me hard right now.

Back to Personal Art / Raising Baby Ri

It really feels good to be back to drawing robots again! The past few months have been hectic, what with the move to QC and the book that I just finished editing and laying out. Now that things have settled and that book is done its time to start working on some of my personal projects that I've placed on the back burner.

-------------------

I thank the Lord everyday for giving me my son. My wife told me yesterday that ever since my son was born she has never seen me depressed and that she feels that there is a happiness inside of me that was never there before. 

That's true, to be honest. I'm not as prone to getting sad as before, there's just so much to do around the house and having a little boy following you around just makes things more fun. I'm really happy with my wife, she's literally my best friend and it caught me by surprise just how much happier I've become when Ri was born.

Raising a boy scares me a lot. I feel that sometimes I'm not setting up a good example for him or that I haven't been able to give him the best of what I can do. However, I also believe that he needs to see me enjoy the process of raising him so I promised myself that I'll do my best to enjoy raising him with my wife as much as I can.

Change of He(art)

I've stopped looking for clients, and by that I mean that I'm no longer actively pursuing freelance work. The decision wasn't an easy one for me, as I have always imagined myself working from home on dream projects that mainly involve drawing robots. Sadly, while I have been blessed to work on some of my dream projects specially in the last four years, the reality is that the dream gigs are far and few in between and the hours are very long. My wife has taught me that there are better ways to earn and thrive as an artist and one of them is to seek customers instead of clients by making digital products.

I've been very late at this game, I know. I also know a few artist friends who are thriving because they followed this path. Heck, my wife has been doing this for a long time and she's teaching me the ropes and so far I think I'm beginning to understand how this works.

Still, I feel like a total noob, sometimes I even feel lost. What I do know however is that this feels very liberating and this has allowed us to work while taking care of our son. I've actually managed to get back to working on model kits again and once I've wrapped up editing a book for my mom I'd have time to draw mechs again on a regular basis, I think.

So I'm not drawing robots for clients at the moment but I still do so for myself and for the other mecha themed shop that I plan to pursue later this year. Robots are still my first love and I'll get around to pursuing that a lot again once this new shop starts gaining momentum, God willing😁🙏