March In the Pickle Jar

In the Pickle Jar this month I've been super busy getting everything back up and running so I can push forward with all the plans for this year. As such I thought I'd share some of it with you. I also thought I could do a monthly 'In the Pickle Jar' to keep you all updated.
So what have I been doing?!? Well I've been updating the Apple Tree Pirates Patreon page and cracking on with drawing strips and puzzle pages for them.

As well as the Apple Tree Pirates I've been busy working on some new LIA's (Literary Invasion Art) where as before they were mostly single page pieces like in the front of the pile below, I've now started work on some much bigger pieces including a couple of secret ones I'll tell you about another time. All of this and new landmark prints coming for the Etsy store too. So watch this space for more funky updates.

Patreon Reborn

The Apple Tree Pirates has been a pet project of mine for a number of years now. A few years back I made a Patreon page to support it and so I could get things made and out there for the world to see. Sadly with life taking the twisty windy road that is normally the way it kind of got shelved and left to gather dust. Now this has bugged the hell out of me because a project as cool as this should be made and published not left to languish. 
As I said in my previous blog post my priorities have changed a lot recently and the Apple Tree Pirates has been pushed up the list...... a lot. So with that in mind I've gone over the Patreon page again and modernised it a bit, rewritten some of it and want to launch it anew. 
This is where you guys come in. My intentions are to crack on and draw the Apple Tree Pirates comics, kids books, and activity books and get these little dudes into the public eye. To do that takes time and some new gear wouldn't go a miss either but that can wait. If I can earn enough money from selling my artwork online and the support on the Patreon page then I will be able to work less hours in my day job and spend much more time on making these books a reality. 
So if you feel you want to become a patron from as little as 64 pence a month or you know someone who would then share it around and lets see if we can get the Apple Tree Pirates published and in your local book shops. 

Freelance and Mental Health

It's been a while since I blogged and I can tell you now that the last year has been a bit of a roller coaster.  My life has basically been thrown in the air and totally changed in various different ways. But like the proverbial phoenix I have been trying to rise from the ashes and rebuild myself.  Through all of this I have made some discoveries and realisations about myself and in particular my mental health.  Basically I had a break down the middle of last year and effectively broke. This resulted in me reassessing every aspect of my life. I left a great but stressful job which had been a huge part of my life for three years. I ended up in counselling and on anti depressants. As far as I was concerned at the time, my life was over. I have learnt however that this is very far from the case and that it was merely a life lesson to grow from.  I discovered that I had in fact suffered from Anxiety and Depression for a number of years but as is the case with most of us, especially men, we just get on with it and bury it down deep. Stiff upper lip and all that. The problem with that is eventually it rears its ugly head and results in exactly what happened to me, which I wouldn't wish upon anyone. During this period of reassessment and reflection I realised that my priorities had been all wrong and that I need to do the things I want to do with my life. Namely The Clumsy Pickle! I have missed being my own boss and running my own life over the last 3 years and feel like I need to get back on this and get things back in order for my own sanity. I dipped my toe back into the water during the Christmas period and sold way more than I expected, which is brilliant and proves that I do actually have a viable business here if I devote myself to it properly.  Ever the nerd I've kind of adopted the Mentat Mantra from Dune as help to get through all this. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion couldn't be more appropriate really. My aim from now on is to work on my own mental health and hopefully share any knowledge I gain from this with the hope that it might help somebody else out there.