CherBear's Thoughts: August + September 2017

 Some youtube livestream madness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuTQor2MmdE

Hello all!

September rolled around & the month is going by pretty fast - next thing I know; it's more than half way through the month! Regardless of how hectic it is, attempting to make some time to talk about what's been going on.

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Game wise - not much; I've been playing more Audition Online than Touch still on occasion some Love Dance and Dance On, but past that, I've been drawing too but keeping busy in general.

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Laptop has been fine, been keeping the other one away just in case if the one I'm currently using decides to go nuts. It hasn't thankfully but I don't wanna start jinxing that.

I have been still eyeing prospects of a drawing tablet & a regular tablet but its not within the immediate domain of what I need.

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Past that I've been traveling to various places for one thing or another, whether its family obligations or whimsical moments. Regardless - been looking to find something more stable & lucrative while functioning around a set schedule for myself; this keeps me ever so busy.

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As for my youtube channel [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSkM6Yvkf4z-psS4gE2cq4A/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0 ] - been commencing on posting once a week, been fairly consistent but I'm not gonna jinx it yet. I want to see how things will be after going through it for at least 3 months before I can confidently say I've been keeping at it. There's been more subscribers which has been motivating me bit by bit also, I hit over 100 likes on my FB page: [ www.facebook.com/cherbearsketchbook ].

Here's a run down of past videos posted since the last journal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAe0h6MuIqc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjTdrCf7lNw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScW19KtuybQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTv_j0YJ6Lk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqaXRWJsKoY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGWZghotFdw

With a set schedule; I've been dedicating the time to get what should be done in order to further promote my artwork. Whether its to queue more stuff due to what I did on livestream, what artwork I did manage to finish during livestream & showing off past livestreams of what I am doing. I intended to continue & so far I've disciplined myself to keep at it - so I hope this will lead to other possibilities of what I do want to do. Not to mention revisiting other styles I had not concentrated on & ultimately as an artist show the full extent of what I am capable of.

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My fall shows are coming back - I do wanna eventually check out all the fuss of all the other shows everyone had been fussing about [ GoT, TWD, hell even anime! ] but one step at a time. I'd hate to binge & internally regret it later.

For now thanks for reading this lil bear rant, be sure to check out my twitter [ https://twitter.com/LilCherBear ] for any up-to-date agendas, such as livestream announcements, random thoughts & such or my instagram [ instagram.com/lilcherbear/ ] for some views of my SoCal life, food & art.

CherBear's Thoughts: July + August 2017

Hello all, a couple of days into August & goodness its humid in my area!

I wrapped up my thoughts of San Diego Comic Con & I think Anime Expo? Either way I'll cover up any final thoughts from both that I've noticed this year.

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Game wise - not much; I've been playing more Audition Online than Touch but occasionally Love Dance, Pokemon Go & Sailor Moon Drops , but past that - this humid weather can make anyone seriously lazy.

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My room fan died; so in response, I got myself a desk fan & a new room fan, least to say the room now is a lil more breezy but after Comic-Con, need to reorganize my room a bit. Started off on a good foot; delivered 4 non-functioning box fans, 2 vaccuums & a bag of batteries that were leaking alkaline to a proper waste facility. 

So my shirts, the 1st two I went through one place are still in tact, BUT my jacket got damage due to heat weather so I may look into getting one again but not right away....have you seen the weather? One shirt I got done day of got damaged from heat & usage unfortunately; a place to go to if you want something done day of but long term wise I just need to find a better place to print my own designs.. 

I'm still in a bit of a convention time slot schedule, sleeping in a lil earlier [ can probably blame the ongoing Pokemon Go event in hunt of legendary pokemon heh... ] but eating rather normally & reasonable portions ... how weird is that. My general thoughts of both main conventions is simply this: those who went for the first time are obviously overwhelmed & lost, not that we're blaming strictly attendees, seemed like staff & volunteer alike were a bit disjointed on directing lost attendees to where they need to go [ more so w/ AX vs SDCC ] & past that both were enjoyable as long as you were not committing to the idea of seeing that certain panel but keeping that flexibility.

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I had taken a 1 week hiatus after SDCC to decompress & recover, in the process - during a get together; had one of those lil moments of being thanked as an artist yet again [ not the first time ] for inspiring them & it was just reaffirming my passion & conviction for creating to continue to inspire others to continue to be creative in any way shape or form.

Within my hiatus, I had come to a conclusion of attempting to start my schedule habit for the week; not only to attempt to be more consistent but get into a regular routine of sorts.

So what is this schedule you say? 

Sunday - Free day
Monday - Free day
Tuesday - Social Media posts & maintenance [ includes a weekly Youtube video posted of past livestreams ]
Wednesday - Livestream [ afternoon 4pm-12am ]
Thursday - Video Editing 
Friday - Social Media posts & upkeep 
Saturday - Livestream [ mornings 3am - 6am & afternoon 12pm - 3pm ]

This is my ideal goal mainly because I feel its attempting to keep something steady instead of being all over the place. This will only change if something comes up that is beyond my control.

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No new videos since but I will be working on uploading more since I realize I am running out of videos!

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Past that; will see where the rest of August will entail for me - gonna continue to attempt to be back on track so to speak. Hopefully ya'll find all these mash of thoughts interesting for this month. Thanks for reading!

CherBear's Thoughts: SDCC 2017

So I will keep this short & simple mainly because I'll be discussing about San Diego Comic Con in a nutshell. New thoughts will be covered by next month including a schedule I've been meaning to implement until a change of pace in my lifestyle happens if or when that does.

So ...

Overall: My thoughts on SDCC 2017 was fun. Always stressful because having to deal with shuffling through easily 160k+ in attendance [ max @ 130k+ at the convention center ] but my group this year was more or less 3ppl so it wasn't stressful compared to prior years where I had a lot of ppl. Not to mention; I think I managed to cover more of the exhibitor floor then compared to years before.

Preview Night: Made a simple goal to touch Hall A's wall to Hall H's wall & I did. I was able to snap a bit of pictures but caught some celebs wandering the hall too which was cool. Lingered as long as I could even after the floor closed & there was so much room. Either way; even tho it was a late start into preview night, made it worthwhile.

Day 1: 1st day out of 4 where I took time to volunteer my time back into the con but in-between all that I scoped the floor most of the time. I think it was something I did actually miss doing even tho it seems like there's more & more people - but overall I tried to experience looking into every part of the con while I can.

Day 2: I think this was solo mode. I got to really people watch but spend time on the floor too. I think the nice part about this whole experience was the fact I was parking underneath the convention. So all my food & snacks were there so I wasn't exactly paying crazy prices of convention food.

Day 3: A more lazy day persay I was hanging out at the Masquerade line helping out some other friends who had came for that day to check out the con. Holding line position but I did manage to check out a fan panel & peek into the convention albeit briefly. I also did manage to catch Masquerade too.

Day 4: Last day & it didn't feel like it was dragging out. Went to the floor but spent more time around the volunteer area finishing up my time there. I had lots of fun. Granted it seemed a lil disjointed with misdirection, managing to help some lost people get around SDCC 2017 too either way. I look forward to next year since dates were dropped even before SDCC 2017 started & that's all I have to say about that.

CherBear's Thoughts: May + June + July 2017

Hello all!

It's been awhile - I haven't been posting over a month well my thoughts at least. Guess I've been busy but I will hopefully wrangle my thoughts the day of Preview Night of San Diego Comic Con 2017 so here we go!

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Game wise - not much; I've been playing more Audition Online than Touch, but past that, I've been drawing more too.

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Laptop wise; both are functioning fine - though I have a feeling I might need to look at getting a new tablet cuz my tablet malfunctioned yesterday but after proper restarting my laptop. Things seem to be okay for now - tho looking @ new tablets - low end I'm probably looking at $70.

In the process, I created & printed out 3 shirts w/ my artwork & met an announcement deadline. Pulled a lot of close calls but regardless - just glad its all out of the way & I'm ready for SDCC2017.

Other than that...oh! I went to Anime Expo 2017...did I mention that? Haha I enjoyed my time there for one day.

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I picked up my badge, got my food, snacks & drinks ready & all set to see how SDCC2017 will go. The group I'm going with is considerably smaller but its okay. I just look forward to the memories then after that...my schedule looks uncertain as I need to shift focus on other things.

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As for my youtube channel [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSkM6Yvkf4z-psS4gE2cq4A/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0 ] - been posting once a week, been running a lil late on some weeks but trying to keep it consistent. There's been more subscribers which has been motivating me bit by bit also, I'm nearing 100 likes on my FB page: [ https://www.facebook.com/cherbearsketchbook ].

Here's a run down of past videos posted since the last journal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EQi0p-1ixE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtLgaNSl_4A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2V5n57vXZI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgJiLUlC7wk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYeYejEVLdo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8of9qpd2P5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42yyKa2HdSM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZzw4hr33o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_qWWN4Pp_c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBw9gXNfb5c

I have a few more videos I can post up so I can goof off on not ending for a couple of more weeks but not too long or I won't have anymore to post on youtube...so hopefully I won't fall into that habit.

Also, posted enough artwork on deviantART to get me past SDCC2017 so rest assured there's at least that, will need to set aside time to make sure that's done.

As for my social media outlets...I will figure that out.

Either way, I'm looking to do a more solid schedule depending where things will go after SDCC2017.

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I'll try to recap my thoughts for each day but no promises.

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I'm sure I'm missing more but that just shows how much my mind has been all over the place. Will power through July then will see how August & afterwards will be.

For now thanks for reading this lil bear rant, be sure to check out my twitter [ https://twitter.com/LilCherBear ] & instagram [ instagram.com/lilcherbear/ ] for all the pics & thoughts of what's going on over at SDCC2017 while I'm there. Who knows, you might just find me...ciao for now!

CherBear's Thoughts: April + May 2017

Hello everyone -

I had planned to write out my thoughts for this month yesterday; I'm just not sure where my time went with that. Either way; guess it makes today a double post which is fine. Better to do this sooner than completely forget for this month.

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So not much to say in terms of game wise; still in the same rotation of games but now also playing Touch ironically enough. It almost felt like it was a forced moment but either way; there's some cute gaming moments in there but past that I haven't played frequently, its just a different pace to all the other games I had been playing.

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As for my laptop, my Alienware returned & I don't mind. It's good & had been puttering around on there for a bit. Fixing settings & will attempt to livestream on there some time to see how it goes. Other than that; things have gotten slow but I've also been attempting to be semi-productive w/ working on artwork, commissions and such too since it looks like my plans for this month will definitely slow down.

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Ongoing steps forward artistic wise. I have continued to post videos on my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSkM6Yvkf4z-psS4gE2cq4A . Still gotta edit when I can while livestream when I do. Here's some other videos posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66sR8oNFyuc&t=15s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xeNkLAdOGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5rLV_AACM0

I had also been posting more artwork to be queued when I don't look at my deviantART. I in theory have things posted until July - I still have more to post up as usual. Rest assured you'll continue to see more stuff from me throughout this year. As long as I keep at it [encouragement is always a plus ;) lol].I continue to attempt to play catch up on every other social outlet fairly soon but give it time - if I remember to haha ~ cuz I'm not sure where my time is at. :(.

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Either way I feel fortunate for now but always feel like I can be doing more or wanting to do so much more. So I continue to venture forward into 2017 optimistic.Thank you for listening to a lil art bear's rant.

CherBear's Thoughts: March + April 2017

Hello everyone - 

 Hopefully it hasn't been too long since my last rant. I think when things start to slow down; I manage to find a groove but I'm not sure how long this lull will last BUT I am trying to get a few things done just in case - worse case scenario; I end up being busy for the next year or not. Either way - plenty to discuss perhaps.

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So I will save the lengthy stuff for last which is plenty of art related stuff & start with gaming first. Other than my hiatus on most of my games. I had posted up to date which games I'm currently active on - on a mmo scale; which is Love Dance Mobile & Audition. In-between all of that, my lil bit of indulgence so to speak has been Yandere Simulator. Granted it is still in a debug build phase, it's been a fun lil game to putter around & try.

- Yandere Simulator: Why? Why not? I had been seeing lil youtube videos of other people's gameplay & I admit, I was a bit intrigued. Finally; after awhile I managed to download and try the game. So far I've liked it & tried some of the things I had seen online and it been enjoyable.

- Love Dance: Recently I had gotten back into the game after my initial introduction by @Oddbrother ; it has been proven fairly interesting because since its a mobile game - its something more easily accessible on my day to day on the go.

- Audition Online [Redbana]: Oh goodness, its technically coming on 8 years for Redbana & a total of 10yrs [11yrs including beta] for the game on the North America server overall. I'd like to do something [maybe finally collab with Shoo if we can squeeze in the time] for it but I can't make definite promises this early on.

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Life ongoing; my poor Alienware laptop had finally kaput. I had sent it to a friend sometime in March to look into what was wrong & he told me ultimately in the end the motherboard died. So I gave permission to get it to functional but least to say I'm definitely appreciative [and owe him so much]. Why when I have a current laptop [and pretty much has better specs?] ... one word, sentimentality that I've had for it for 9yrs. What do I have purpose wise for it after all the repairs? A back up to my current laptop just in case...cuz knowing my luck.

Past that; I've been keeping busy, going out, trying out new recipes & been trying to plot out my plans properly. After my inner realization that I'm all over the place; not good - I gotta try to focus. I also am looking to try to find stable work after July realistically. So here's hoping. Other than that, I had sold my old truck finally; got it working & proof that its working so it was sold for a decent reasonable price. There's been birthdays, hanging out with family & friends...whew, as I said. I feel like I've been pulled around everywhere.

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As you have noticed; I've been taking steps forward somewhere artistic wise. I have set up my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSkM6Yvkf4z-psS4gE2cq4A & had posted my first video. I still have plenty uploaded that I'm planning to post once a week but it doesn't mean I shouldn't be contiuing with video editing & uploading past livestreams - so no worries; its kinda a experiment to see where that goes. 

I look to fulfill this 'creator' itch by attempting to finish some designs to make & order all before uhm realistically in July. I think that's reasonable but we'll see.

I had been posting more artwork to be queued when I don't look at my deviantART. I in theory have things posted until June - I still have more to post up [ a lot of artwork done for Pacific PonyCon 2017 ] but apparently you can post at most 90 days out from the current day [ thanks uh core membership? ]. Rest assured you'll continue to see more stuff from me throughout this year. As long as I keep at it [encouragement helps ;) lol].

I also have been dabbling in sending some personal artwork out to friends & furthering out my options long term wise.

I look to catch every other social outlet fairly soon but give it time - if I remember to haha.

Will I be busy? I can't faithfully answer that until May. 

So...you can probably guess I do have plenty on my mind.

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Either way I feel fortunate for now but always feel like I can be doing more or wanting to do so much more. So I continue to venture forward into 2017 optimistic.

Thank you for listening to a lil art bear's rant. You may hear from me again hopefully by the end of this month. 

CherBear's Thoughts: February + March 2017

So new month; new thoughts ahoy.

General thoughts: I think finally I'm starting to slow down a bit but its good to not feel so busy at times. I've refocused on working on mainly catching up on a lot of things since I had put off everything since July of 2016. Granted I did self indulge with working on things I wanted to do or unplugging by playing video games - its mainly because after larger art projects & deadlines I just wanted something to do that didn't feel like a hard obligation. Granted; I do have other commissions that I am planning to work on - I've been doing them in small stints because I gotten a peculiar request to get a speed video of the progress so it lead me to experiment to a lil bit of video editing getting the hang of it but looking back at my prior livestreams ... as a typical artist I kinda cringed on the whole 'what was I thinking' at past artwork.

The few responses I did get has implied maybe I should be posting them on youtube of my past livestream sessions. I'll get into that a lil later though.

Artistic goals: So as I was mentioning earlier. I've been working on video editing of my past livestream sessions. I've started to upload them on youtube but everything has been kept private for now w/ the exception of sharing a video or two w/ a cpl of collaborators. If I end up doing enough edit sessions I may start releasing them on a weekly basis but that's in the future.

Other than livestream & video editing, I've been contemplating several things. Until I get my remaining commissions finished I'll be re-doing my commission prices. They've been re-written but until I finish what's on my current plate - I won't do anything drastic but quoting a familiar line "change its a coming".

My recent kick & obsession is I've been getting more & more of my artwork to become a bit more um...tangible. I had gotten art made for a daki pillow cover & that became a reality [yes that's on my bed]. I had recently shown it January & I had gotten more offers after the initial reveal of it. It led me to planning a list of what else I want made not only for myself but also consider putting out anything else - which leads to why I had been wanting to change my commission prices to include such uh merchandise? I'll be sure to take pictures of the daki cover, sometime along with my recent purchase - a hoodie w/ my designs on it. It turned out alright I think. As I had mentioned, my list, I wanna design & make 2 more daki pillow covers for my pillows, a phone case for my phone [its been long due] & a skin for something else. I'm attempting to space it out so it'll be a gradual reveal overtime. Granted I had already seen lil some of my other creations materialize [apron, a uh felt flag?, plushies & posters] these are strangely fascinating & satisfying.

Lastly, I've been contemplating finally getting my patreon account fully up - I had held that account for a bit but hadn't ended up putting anything else up mainly because I hadn't really thought of where to progress from there. I'd like to look into some other ppl's patreons & do some further research before I take a step forward with that.

In conclusion...It's been what's been lingering within my head.

I've slowly started scraping the surface of catching up on social media so hopefully you'll get to see more stuff on here. They've been on other parts of my social media [ie. instagram & twitter] & it's been a collective of 8-9 months which why I may have pulled back on my random & unannounced livestreams. I maxed out the amount I can queue on some places [ie. tumblr (300 posts) & deviantART (90 days worth of posts)]  but will be on other parts of my social media overtime.

So hopefully it'll be a progressive move forward & continuing to show what I can do. Not to mention, keeping an optimistic view of this year.

CherBear's Thoughts: January + February 2017

More thoughts through January & into February --

Realization: I find myself bouncing all over the place due to the creativity & thoughts, thinking its a good idea & the intention is there but the follow through is always short. So I'm gonna attempt to focus & set out what I do intend to do this year & enough of this "Oh I'd like to do this..." & just do it.

Its been quiet since all the madness of Pacific PonyCon 2017; which is good cuz then I can focus on the commissions finally, I have 4 so I won't take on new ones quite yet until I finish. After I finish them; I do plan to do fix my commission pricing slightly & show the other styles I'm capable of but apparently I do not show or do not have examples - I wanna show the potential flexibility I do have even though my highlights are what is currently seen. Not to mention I want to add actual specifics because what I had been doing the past 3 years.

What am I attempting to focus on? Designs for t-shirts is one. Offering other alternative purchases of product. Also, a youtube channel that may or may not focus on just my livestream sessions but gaming though honestly I haven't really gamed much outside of Audition atm & the others are Pokemon Go & Pokemon Sun / Moon - but I have taken the first step & began the fun process of learning video editing. I'm contemplating structuring my Patreon account finally too. Not to mention; last but not least. Catch up on all the wonderful artwork on all social media branches I had produced but not posted due to Pacific PonyCon 2017.

Either way; realistically - I am looking for work too; just I know that route usually means my artwork takes a backseat ... it might not be the case the second go around but y'never know. I just know that's what I had observed during the brief stint of working a few years ago.

Anyways - I am being optimistic into 2017 & continuing to progress forward; I'm forever grateful to those who've shown their love & support this far & into the future because without that, I really would question why I've done this so long. Granted...I've given those reasons before its always nice to hear it every now & then...its silly but its the lil things like that which fuels the fire & gives one's self drive to continue.

Valentine's Day is coming up! I hope to chat a lil more 'bout my thoughts after that! Until next time ~ take care!

CherBear's Thoughts: 2016, 2017 + PPC2017

First off: I want to wish everyone a late Happy Holidays & Happy 2017 New Year. I have plenty to cover but I had been extremely busy, which can be seen good or bad depending on who you are.

 Last half of 2016: Well considering my LAST journal entry was San Diego Comic Con 2016, rest assured I had been busy but also been busy with artwork too. August was a good month, my birthday month was satisfying ( thank you btw for all the birthday wishes ), October; during Halloween was fun as usual, November; was a bit of juggling around on where to spend Thanksgiving & December; was some interesting coordination with Christmas & New Year. Art wise - I had always been busy working on something, whether it was for Pacific PonyCon or needing a break to draw something else that didn't need a deadline. Mostly, I had been attempting to do in-game livestream of my artwork which turned out to be super fun. You'll eventually see the madness of random artwork along w/ Pacific PonyCon artwork since the event has passed.

New Year 2017: So a question into the New Year, other than totally having a Animal Crossing New Leaf moment, playing Pokemon Sun / Moon & on occasion Audition Online Redbana - what are my goals for this year. Strangely, it was to learn something new albeit; I can always learn some new strange fact on a random whim but I mean a new technique, revisit animation, something along those lines, continue to thrive as a artist. 

Pacific PonyCon 2017: Now the last part I would love to discuss. Thankfully this year, I fell more behind the scenes which I did not mind. It was held over at the Wyndham San Diego Bayside. I won't completely get into everything but overall, it felt very warm, folks had a lot of fun & everyone enjoyed the event from what I can tell. All the artwork deadlines were met right up to the day of the convention & managed to squeeze artwork to be featured as a banner for Equestria Daily. I was able to catch a couple of events; not to mention I made a exclusive poster print donated to the charity auction which was held on the 3rd day & saw our honored community guests, voice actors and a lot of the attendees. After all that was said & done, the positive feedback from social media outlets & volunteers looking exhausted - I think ultimately in the end it was worth it. Will there be another year? I guess we will have to wait & see.