After months of waiting my website is finally here! Thank you guys again for being patient with me these past few months.
Originally, I hosted my site through Neocities, but I wanted something more “sustainable” just in case it shuts down one day. If I’ve learned anything on the internet it’s that nothing lasts forever. Websites shutdown all the time and as far as I know Neocities is managed all by one guy, so it’s really more of a question of “when” it will happen than why.
Also I really HATE MOVING SITES! And when it comes to social media platforms I’d say they have the worst track record. Like Twitter becoming unusable after removing basic moderation features and Tiktok getting banned at the time of writing this. It’s inconvenient for me and everyone else when I have to migrate to a new site. Things always get lost in the move too (ex: old art/posts, my favorite artists, etc.). So for the time being I’m down to a few sites where I can post, at least until something better comes out.
As for what inspired the new design I decided to base it off my recent interest in journaling. I love using grid paper for brainstorming ideas so I went for a sketchbook/notebook kinda vibe, but also something neutral enough that it wouldn’t clash with any of my posts. Despite how long it took I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out.
So then why did it take so long to get the site up? Long story short, I wanted to convert my HTML site to a Wordpress one and after a month of trying I had to admit to myself that it was a whole other skill set I don’t have the time or energy for right now. Unfortunately, that means no comment section for the blog, but feel free to leave a comment on YouTube or through my email if you want.
Back in November I announced on my Bluesky that I would be taking a hiatus from posting. That night I logged off everything and even deleted the apps off my phone. It was only meant to be temporary until holidays were over, but during my break I ended up learning about “Digital Minimalism” and went down a rabbit hole that made me rethink my relationship with social media.
It's more than just “spend less time online”. By design, a lot of these social media sites want to keep you hooked in a cycle. Promising you “engagement & growth”, giving you that hit of dopamine every time you get attention. Designed by algorithms to manipulate you and be as addictive as possible. But what if you want to take a break or leave? Instant guilt and FOMO sets in. Of course, I’m only describing these things on a surface level but there’s a lot of great material out there on the topic already. I might make a separate blog post about it if there’s enough interest.
Some of these “digital minimalists” go as far as deleting all their accounts, but I’m keeping mine only so I can log in when I have something to post.That might sound hypocritical, but as an artist who relies on social media for exposure/commissions I think it’s fine as long as I’m intentional about my usage of social media.
So that’s one of the reasons why I made this site. A hub for all my projects without the noise or getting drowned out in the algorithm. Now I have more free time to create for myself again.
As for what else I have planned this year:
I know my list is kinda short, but I only have so much time and energy to spare these days.
Anyway, if you’d like to keep up with my art as soon as I post you can find my links here or subscribe to my Ko-fi (if you prefer email updates). There’s also the blog RSS you can subscribe to if you’d like to see more of my rambling. See you next time!
✧ I think this video perfectly articulates my feelings on “monetizing” hobbies as someone who also makes videos of my process.