I sat on the artwork for this one for almost a year with only a few drawings left to go. Publishing my first coloring book was rough - my family and friends were supportive, but to say it didn’t sell well would be an understatement. My ego just couldn’t take a second round so I shelved this one. Then spent 10 months pretending not to see the files on my desktop.
I finally gave up, finished the drawings and sent my files in to the publisher. I’m glad it’s over. I was excited about this project when I started it and I’m disappointed that I let a bunch of sales algorithms get me so upset.
Remember that your art is more than it’s ‘like’ count. Don’t let numbers shit on your parade.
Ayy - congrats! Finishing things is hard. I think the concept and artwork are dope.
I feel you about how much public response can fall short of our expectations, especially if you’ve relied on friend’s and family’s support for that last push to finish. It can be pretty disheartening to experience that sort of whiplash.
But that’s the thing about putting out complete works - once you’ve finished it and put it out there, it’ll (usually) continue to exist somewhere for people to look up. Maybe that’ll be after you’ve published your n’th completed project, or maybe it’ll be after they saw a cool drawing of yours that they followed to your social media. Who the hell knows? All I know is that now that it’s out there, there’ll always be a chance for it to catch someone’s eye. You just can’t hold your breath and try and wait for it, I guess.
Anyway, congrats again! Keep going! (also keep posting here!) :D