If you’re a member on Ko-fi, especially a Zine + Sticker or Art Club member, your rewards will mail out from my old address. Your June rewards will ship from the new one. (Also your rewards for this month got delayed another week. Sorry! They should ship out by May 19.)
These are on pause until June:
blog posts,
YouTube anything (videos, livestreams, etc),
Crowdfundr fulfillment for An Ignorance of Romance (between May 23 and 31 especially),
From May 23 to May 31, I have to pause shipping physical shop orders and making commissions until we’re done moving. Any orders for digital rewards (Like How To Promote Your Work Without Social Media) will stay open. I just won’t be able to send you a thank-you note right away.
That said, any and all proceeds from Ko-fi these next few weeks will help us with the move – especially with groceries! So if you have the means, leave a tip, shop, or get a commission on Ko-fi.
I’m going to try a personal challenge – no watching YouTube for the next 31 days.
That’s right. For the month of May, I’m going to make the effort to NOT watch YouTube. (This likely means no new YouTube videos on my channel, either. Apologies in advance to my YouTube channel subscribers. I will, however, be doing workshops with the Cartoonist Co-op as part of Nib and Ink Fest, and those workshops will be up on their YouTube channel. I’ll post links to those workshops in the next few days.)
“But WHY?” You might ask. “YouTube is everywhere! How can you possibly do no YouTube for the month of May?!”
So, before I get into the How, let me tell you the Why.
Why #1 – May is a BUSY month for me.
I mentioned the workshops I’m doing with the Cartoonist Co-op as part of Nib and Ink Fest. I will also be packing up and preparing to move to a new apartment before the end of the month.
“You could just put YouTube on in the background – “
No. That’s part of my next Why.
Why #2 – YouTube is More Distraction Than Helpful.
I need to keep my hands busy, usually with making comics and art, or packing my apartment up for the move. I can’t be distracted with shiny visuals. Also, I have caught myself – multiple times – scrolling YouTube to try to find *something* to turn on, but realizing that nothing is catching my interest.
This leads me to…
Why #3 – YouTube isn’t FUN anymore.
I made this collage yesterday to make art out of my frustration with YouTube. Because YouTube used to be fun.
Used to be.
Now, because of its algorithms prioritizing the same content delivered in roughly 1700 different ways (seriously, HOW MANY videos are there talking about “productivity” or “things I do to stop doomscrolling” – on a platform formulated for doomscrolling). There’s also the sponsors who are 99% of the time scams, the ads, and my once-favorite YouTube creators no longer being favorites…
Well, it’s time that I take a break from YouTube.
So, HOW am I not going to watch YouTube?
How #1 – the Unhook extension.
The Unhook extension built for Firefox has commands for when you *do* end up on YouTube. Unhook does things like turning off Shorts, bringing you to your subscription feed instead of the front page, turning off the comments section, and other quality of life fixes.
I’m leaving this extension on in case I have a moment of weakness and end up on YouTube. That way, Unhook makes sure I only see what’s in my subscription feed. Which, right now, is looking slim, since I unsubscribed from a lot of people who stopped being fun for me to watch.
How #2 – audiobooks.
I have a long-ass TBR list of audiobooks on hoopla, an app available from my public library. It’s basically free Audible (so stop paying for Audible. You literally get hoopla and Libby – two audiobook apps – free thanks to your tax dollars). So instead of turning on YouTube, I’ll turn on an audiobook.
OR, I’ll turn on…
How #3 – podcasts.
This one might be trickier for me, as I’m trying to cut down on the number of apps on my phone. Podcast apps are freaking storage hogs. Also, as it turns out, a lot of podcasts I listen to don’t have episodes available on their websites. Their websites are basically place holders to tell people, “Listen to us on Spotify!” Which does nothing to help me.
Still, some podcasts have their episodes on their websites, and those will be super helpful this month. I also have some of my favorite episodes downloaded onto my laptop, which I don’t mind listening to The Dollop talking about the 1904 New York to Paris Car Race for the 17th time.
How #4 – music.
Y’all. My music playlist on my hard drive is entirely too big and I don’t play it enough. I gotta turn on some tunes!
Also, my library offers an app called Freegal, where you can download 5 songs a month – for free – that you can keep forever on your devices. Freegal’s music library is a little tricksy to navigate, and they don’t have everything. Still, I like that they have some of my favorite bands on there.
If Freegal’s not your speed, hoopla also has music. Hoopla has a lot of songs that Freegal does not, like Chapelle Roan.
So here’s something I’d love to hear from you: how do you listen to podcasts? Let me know in the comments, because I really want to listen to more podcasts!
I made a comic about Lake Erie and the toxic algae blooms! You can read it now, freely, on Crucial Comix and The Revelator.
This is my first nonfiction comic publication, aside from a 3-page explainer for a Columbus, OH zine about the 3 Sisters crop arrangement (that’s coming later). I had not made a science comic like this before, and I’m glad I accepted the challenge!
To read the rest of the comic, head to Crucial Comix or The Revelator. Links are above the art.
I want to make more comics like this. The scientists who got me in touch with the biologists for this are expressing interest in working with me again on a separate project. We’ll see who likes the pitch and where we can go with it!
During the making of this comic, I learned *way too much* about Lake Erie. So if you have questions, leave them in the comments and let me know.
Kai and I are now making pages for An Ignorance of Romance!
Here’s a peek at the thumbnails for the first 4 pages…
This is the stage where I read the script, then I lay out what I think the pages will *roughly* look like. Once sketched, I send them to Kai for approval. If approved, I can start actually drawing the pages.
Good news – Kai approved of these thumbnails! So now I can start drawing pages.
Thanks to the funding raised so far, we can cover webhosting and domain registration, and covering costs for the first page or two.
As an FYI – there will be extras in these opening scenes, like castle staff, stable hands, and market folks. So if you (or a friend!) want to be drawn in this comic, there are spot available for you to claim that reward!
You might be asking, “Will this comic be drawn in color?”
Surprise: this comic will be drawn in black and white with tones. This is so we can post two (or more) pages in a week, because black and white pages are faster to produce. There’s a LOT of story here, so we want to post more often!
Got more questions? Ask them in the comments and we’ll get back to you!
I want to very quickly write why I’m sharing more free resources and downloads.
“But Kelci,” I can hear some people say. “You’re a broke artist. Shouldn’t you charge for more things in your Ko-fi shop?”
I’m not putting resources behind a paywall. Trust me, I’ve been that broke art student just wanting to learn more, but was unable to because it had a price tag imposed by the provider.
When it comes to resource sharing, I would rather provide them for free. Tips are appreciated, but only by folks who have the means to do so. If you are broke, just download them for free. Pay me back later if you feel called to do so, but the resources are there for you.
I also have an aversion to charging for resources, blog posts, etc because for the last decade, we’ve been living with the Online Grifter Economy. And I don’t want to contribute to that, even accidentally.
Often the key way to spot these people is if they call themselves “gurus,” or have an almost obsessive focus on “productivity.”
This kind of grift stems from people trying to make a quick buck off the internet, when the original intention of the internet was to have information freely available for everyone for as long as the website could be maintained.
Call it what you will, but I want to see a return of an internet that shares information freely. Not within the walls of social media platforms run by fascists that demand you login first to see the information. Not behind a paywall on Patreon or some “online learning” course.
And definitely not on a “virtual reality” website that demands you use a fake currency (looking at you with a stink-eye, Decentraland).
To that end, I want to work to make this kind of internet a reality. And so I’m keeping my Resources tab updated as much as possible, and I will provide resources on my Ko-fi shop as free downloads. So things like the Master Convention Packing List, the Tabling At Conventions for Beginners’ slideshow, the Small Validations Teachers’ Pack, and the upcoming Promoting Your Work Without Social Media are all going to be free for everyone for as long as the resources are available. If Ko-fi collapses, I’ll find a new host for the resources. (Perhaps they may even move here).
I’m also going to update this blog more often with any new resources I find that I think are worth sharing. Keep your eyes peeled for the first one, which should come out soon.
That’s all for now. Thank you for your support!
You. Are. Awesome.
P.S. Last week I wrote about coordinating a boycott. I’m still working out the details, because effective boycotts need a target, a ‘why’, a call to action, and a goal/deadline. I have most of these figured out except the exact ‘call to action’ details.
