Thanks for hanging out and having fun on streams this week! All art sent to their respective requesters.
With a heavy heart, I am officially calling today's stream the last true Drawing Request Show. Today and especially Tuesday's stream were high notes to end on, as I had a blast riffing off raiders’ suggestions in chat, freestyling with people’s screennames, and seeing what I could come up with all afternoon. It was a chill, low-pressure time that ended with some great cartoons and a lot of laughs.
With that, I’m taking the rest of the year off from streaming. It feels weird and maybe a little wrong, but also freeing to put it down for a while. Viewer numbers and support have been dropping all year, and I think the recent government shutdown or something related finally tipped it over. The decline’s been steady for a couple of years, and 2024 even brought the worst sales ever for my annual drawing book. I decided it was too stressful and spread me too thin to even finish a new book this year, let alone handle the drawing, packaging, and shipping for whatever I could sell.
Caregiver duties are taking priority, income’s way down, and I need to cut back and rethink my direction. Extra things like Discord, Ko-fi, and making products like books feel more like distractions than essentials. My main focus needs to be EWG, the website, and keeping new work coming in to keep the business afloat and support my family. It feels good to step away, take my time, and not be tied to strict start times or hours in front of a camera for just a handful of viewers, most waiting for free raffles.
I’d rather be working on paid commissions and not stressing about streaming. That’s the plan for now—at least until current orders are caught up—and maybe after that, I’ll find new ways to land illustration jobs.
Have a good holiday season, and thank you for everything the past few years. Maybe I'll see you on a video or stream in 2026. Till then, commissions are open, and I'll see you all in the chats, the comments and the threads.
Take care.
