ALS123
Life Update
Hello, everyone! It's been ages since I was active here on dA, so thought I'd give you a little update.
To tell the truth... I am not well. My Grandma and Grandpa passed away in February and June, and I still haven't fully recovered from my other grandma, who I called Nana and was so close to, passing in 2019. I'm struggling so hard with grief. It's made my already poor mental and emotional health worse than it already was. That combined with other issues just... I don't know. I'm not functioning anymore.
I haven't drawn hardly any this year. I think I've literally made like 5 sketches. I did discover a new hobby, crocheting, so that's filled up a good chunk of my time. I miss drawing, but I'm severely out of practice. And most days, I just don't want to. I don't want to do anything. Or well, that's not entirely true. I think it's more like I WANT to do things, but I can't. I literally sit there going, "Get up you lazy dummy and do something," but then I go "Why bother?" or just feel paralyzed.
It sucks.
As with every year, I'm trying to write a list of new year's resolutions to try to help me become a better person. I'm so tired of feeling this way. My mental and physical health is the worst it's ever been. I'm 33 years old and feel like time is slipping away too fast, like I've wasted so much of my best years. I have so much regret.
Anyway, I didn't mean for this to turn into a vent or a "woe is me" pity update. Just wanted to let those of you who have been following me for years or even new watchers know why I haven't been so active this year. I really hope that changes for 2024 and things get back to a sense of normalcy.
I hope y'all have a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year. Thank you to those who have stuck around all this time and to the new watchers who somehow discover my old art. Means the world to me that people still seem to enjoy it even if I'm not able to create new things at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon.
Love y'all!
💜 Amber
Mermay Commission Announcement
Hi, everyone. I've been very nervous to post this, but I feel like an explanation is needed, so please bear with me.
To be completely honest, I am struggling. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. Without going into detail, this is just about the lowest I have ever been due to several things happening in my life. I am burned out and barely functioning. It's been building and building for the last several years, and I'm finally just about at the end of my limit. A friend described it perfectly as having a house sitting on me and I can't move. I feel paralyzed.
I offered Mermay commissions for the month of May with the hopes that it would make me productive again and help me earn some money. But what happened instead is that I would sit down to work on them, and it's like I've forgotten how to draw. There's a disconnect between my brain and drawing hand. It feels weird to even hold a pencil anymore because of how little I've drawn this year. And I want your commissions to turn out great, so I would say, "well, I'll wait until I'm in a better state of mind and can draw without it turning out like crap so that my commissioners get their money's worth." But that would then spiral into negative self talk like, "oh my God, my commissioners have waited so long and will be so mad that I haven't finished their drawings yet. No one will ever commission me again," yada yada yada.
So I just want to use this journal entry to apologize for the delay. To those four people who asked for Mermay commissions (who are tagged in the Mermay announcement journal), I promise you I WILL get them done. I appreciate your patience so far so very much. To be totally transparent, I have not asked anyone for payment yet, so I don't want anyone thinking I took money with the intent not to give something in return. I never ask for payment until I have at least a sketch done. But if you decide you no longer want a commission, I will not be upset! If you do still want one, I promise you that they will be done. I just would ask for a little more time and patience to let me recuperate from this difficult time. I will try to get back to work within the next couple weeks, a month at the most I hope.
Thank you as always for your support whether it be through commissions, likes, comments, follows, anything! As an artist, it always means a lot to me to see that people still enjoy my work even if I don't at the moment. Love you all, and please message me if you have any questions or concerns about your commission.
Amber
2023 Mermay Commissions Open!
Since a few people have expressed interest, I'm going to do Mermay commissions again this year! I'm sorry, I am slightly increasing the prices. But they are still cheaper than my regular commissions.
This is a special limited time offer commission type for the month of May! I'll turn your oc into a mermaid for $30! They will have simple backgrounds like the examples shown below (a simple ocean background with bubbles), sketchy lines, and simple shading. Additional characters are $15 extra. If you would like two or more characters but as separate images, I will also do the additional characters for $15 each. Basically buy one, get one half off 😁
Also, you get to choose the type of mer-creature you want! I think I can do pretty much any sort of sea creature, sharks and dolphins included, even octopuses or squids. You can customize your oc with any type of clothing you want. I'll even add props or weapons if you would like as long as it's not too complicated. Also they don't have to be mice! I can draw humans or other anthros.
Let me know in the comments or through dms if you would like to grab one! And thank you in advance! 💜
NOTE: There are 3 people who mentioned wanting a Mermay commission last year who I didn't get around to doing (I'm so sorry!). If you were one of them (and I remember who you are, so don't try to trick me lol!) and still want one, I will honor last year's prices for you. Just let me know!
Examples:
To-Do List:
CowgirlMickey - self
Basil4Life - Basil & Paula
PureAngelDragon713 - Emily
Saoswife - TBD
Twitch Streaming
Wanted to ask y'all's opinion on this and see if I can get some suggestions because I'm stumped.
So I've been wanting to start streaming on Twitch pretty regularly. I think if I could pick a day and time every week and do it consistently, maybe that would help get more views and followers. However, there's a few reasons why I can't really do this.
One, my job. I'm technically an independent contractor and make my own hours, but I never know from day to day what I'll be working because some days are busier than others. Mondays seem to be the slowest though, so that might be an option.
Two, I live at home with family. Which isn't a huge problem I guess because I don't necessarily HAVE to use a mic, but I would love to do so more often because it seems like those kind of streams where I can talk out loud are more engaging and fun. Even if I do embarrass myself a lot 
But the reason why I don't use a mic when family is home is because there are four of us total living here, and it can get loud and annoying and embarrassing especially if people interrupt me and want to know "why are you drawing rats?" and especially embarrassing if an argument happens. I've had to stop streams because of that several times in the past. I hate it, but it happens.
Three, I have severe anxiety and possibly depression (not diagnosed by a doctor so I don't really know. But all the signs point to that). A lot of days I struggle to even do basic functions. So that sort of makes keeping to a stream schedule kind of hard. But who knows? Maybe having a stream schedule would actually do me good and make me have to get up and be functional.
I guess one of my questions is would you watch an artist's stream if they don't talk with a mic, but are still able to engage with watchers through chat? I know for me it's more entertaining to actually hear the artist speak. But chatting is fine with me too, especially if an artist isn't comfortable speaking on screen. Just wondering what do you guys think.
Another question I have is what times would be best to stream? I have followers from both the US and Europe, and depending on if I stream at night or during the day, one or the other misses out. I'm guessing that streaming in the morning would be the best solution to this as it'll be afternoon for Europe and morning for the US. Maybe around noon could work too so that it's evening for Europe and lunch for the US. My sleep schedule is so screwed up that I have to work on that first I guess to start streaming in the morning.
Anyway, I guess this is basically just me rambling and musing "out loud" and wondering if you guys have any suggestions as to how to grow my engagement during streams. I watch sometimes and it's just a little disheartening to see viewers watch for a few seconds and leave, because I know that means that they're bored. So I'm wondering if I can somehow make the stream engaging and entertaining even if I'm not able to speak on a mic.
I'm probably overthinking all of this and should just continue to stream whenever I can, which is maybe 3-4 times a month at the most and at random times. idk.
This is my Twitch channel btw if you're interested. https://www.twitch.tv/amberls123 That brings up the question is there another streaming service you prefer to watch over twitch?
Mermay Commissions! (OPEN)
This is a special limited time offer commission type for the month of May! I'll turn your oc into a mermaid for $20! They will have simple backgrounds like the first image of Basil in the examples shown below (a simple ocean background) and will likely have sketchier lines like that too. Additional characters are $10 extra. If you would like two or more characters but as separate images, I will also do the additional characters for $10 each. Basically buy one, get one half off 😁
Also, you get to choose the type of mer-creature you want! I think I can do pretty much any sort of sea creature, sharks and dolphins included, even octopuses or squids. You can customize your oc with any type of clothing you want. I'll even add props or weapons if you would like as long as it's not too complicated. Also they don't have to be mice! I can also do humans or other anthros.
Let me know in the comments or through dms if you would like to grab one! And thank you in advance! 💜 I love drawing ocs for people and am excited to see what comes out of this little experiment. If all goes well, I may offer cheaper themed commissions like this in the future!
