💕Bringing Love To My Website💕

Well, well, well what do we have here? A blog post option that's completely free that I can put on my website?! Uh oh, here we go!

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Welcome ladies and gentlemen to my blog post section. Here you will find many a rambles, many a deep thoughts, community engagement and ideas, as well as maybe the occasional update videos here instead of on YouTube! I have been thinking about making some changes for quite a while, and I didn't know where to start, but after my really busy Spring 2024 semester 📚 I needed some changes. My website is something I've been slowly changing and developing over the course of time with the wonderful help of my amazing partner who knows how to string together a sentence better than I can walk in a straight line! (thank you babe for the love and support ❤️)

But I have been back and forth on a few things for a while, that being my social media, how much of it I use and if I really should have as many as I do. How I really want to bring more attention to my website and make this the biggest place to be. It's got my portfolio, it's got my about me, and it's honestly really fun decorating the website. It started off looking really rough back in 2019, but as I have been taking art classes and learning more about design, I think it's been very slowly coming together! I've just been having a hard time hammering down what I want my major theme's, messages, and aesthetics to be when people think of "Waniwin" which will be a blog for another day~

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Memberships

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First of all.. Memberships, whats up with that? Why get rid of it?? Well... I have actually been attempting to do memberships for a while. I first started doing it back in 2019 on Patreon, I had heard so great things about it from other artists using it previously that I thought it would be a great idea to use it as a way to get me on my feet outside of streaming on Twitch. But I had one supporter that lasted for a little while (love you my No.1 donator!) and I had tried by best to stay consistent with it, but for some reason I just couldn't and was finding it harder to keep on top of posting on it for my members due to a lack of motivation. That lack of motivation being because I was posting for practically nobody.

Then of course several years later, the same thing happened on KOFI. Though I have been more consistent with KOFI and was doing my best to advertise and stay committed so that I would eventually get memberships, I was still interacting with nobody, no community. But the biggest thing is.. I cannot expect myself to have members when I had an audience of mostly friends and family. I have yet to share my work outside of social media, I have yet to partake in events, and I have yet to truly push myself out there outside of the occasional Instagram post, YouTube upload, and Twitch stream.

The last thing was that, I realized I wasn't comfortable gatekeeping some of my most personable, intimate, and community involving content behind money. There are people who don't have the money or time. I also had yet to make a bunch of amazing pieces that would bring people to become member's to begin with. I have truthfully only JUST begun this whole process. I have been drawing for some time yes, I have been in university for some time sure, but I have yet to truly dive in and delve deep into art making and losing myself to creating for real. I used to a lot has a hobby when I was smaller, I suppose im still getting used to the fact that art is going to be my LIFE one day, and that day should be today! Some of that is my own fault due to lack of attention in my creative abilities and encouraging the little artist in me to keep going. I stopped many times which tanked my motivation. Something I had only just recently gotten into my head is that this is going to be my career, and if I love art as much as I do, I need to create MORE. I want to involve others in that, I want people to see what I enjoy, how I do things, behind the scenes processes, my weeks, my ideas, and what is going on with me (as well as other fun ideas). I don't want to lock away some of the best parts of what it means to be an artist only for monetary value. Sure the idea could work down the line.. art should be seen, art should be free to view (but not free to make), and I want everyone to feel like they are apart of this journey just as much as I am. Something I advertise and talk about the most is the journey, because im still on my journey individually and artistically to be the best person I can be. Im not perfect, im still growing and I want to be transparent about that. So I apologize to those who wanted to be involved but couldn't, I had my Twitch and YouTube, however I know that some people don't want to sit and listen to me talk for hours on end, and I barely upload on YouTube as it is. Memberships are now free though! So everyone can now be involved and now see my thoughts, ideas, and even ask YOU questions! A way for everyone to get to know me more.. and the little things in between. Life is in the little things, art can be created because of those little moments.

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KOFI

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What does that mean for KOFI? Well... I've had it for a while, but I took down both commissions and memberships from the page. I wanted more people to come to my website for commissions and for updates that I would usually put up on Kofi, which is what I mainly used it for. Instead KOFI is going to be the hub for my store and for donations! I will make updates on KOFI ONLY about my store and thanking donators and commissioners. I will be putting uploads on KOFI in terms of my art, but otherwise, that is what KOFI will now be used for. If anyone is interested in donating directly to me, they can do so through KOFI ❤️

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Anything Else?

Well outside of that big update, I will be slowly making aesthetic changes to my website over time, I will be finally working on YouTube videos for the summer, I will be looking at local art events, collecting art prints for my store, AND.... finally opening commissions back up. So anyone who is on the waitlist! Wait no longer! It is time ⏱️ Anyone interested can watch me paint over on Twitch on Tuesdays, Thursdays and the weekends~ Other than that, I am still thinking about and discovering my artistic identity, what I want to create, how, and with what messages and aesthetics. I know ill figure it out, and when I do my website, and my members will be the first to see it all! Also, I don't know why but it's making me post under the name ShadyLadd (which is a previous username I had) and not my account one, which is Waniwin... still trying to figure that one out. I am sure my blogs will get more flashy and less wordy as I make these!

~ Ani