Time flies! It felt like only recently when I decided to do something about my life. Before I knew it, I made some new friends, and achieved some milestones (while failing to meet some goals). I kept track of some of my progress over the year, so I’d like to talk about them in today’s post.

I vaguely remember making a “new year resolution” of some sort at the end of 2024, spurred from my feeling unaccomplished and hating my day job so much that I wanted to quit – but I couldn’t quit, because I have a lot of financial commitments (rent, loans, bills, saving for a house, etc.).

That resolution was to “start an art business” so that I can eventually quit the corporate life, and live on my own terms. I don’t think I made much progress in the “business” aspect… I think this post would be a great opportunity for me to reflect on the things that happened, and plan better for the next year.

Highlights

Anyway, let’s look at some monthly highlights for the year!

January

  • Uploaded a vlog on Youtube.
  • Created or revived my art social media accounts.
  • Started research on how to sell my art (Booth.pm, AliBaba, Upwork, Amazon KDP, Etsy, Printify).
  • Applied for jobs at game companies (Capcom, HAL labs) but got rejected at the screening stage.

February

  • Attended Comitia for the first time.

March

April

  • Submitted an illustration for Clip Studio Paint’s illustration contest.
  • Started work on my submission for local art group’s Steampunk-themed illustration and comic book.

May

  • Uploaded another vlog on Youtube.
  • Bought an online business course (for my art business)

June

  • Attended SCBWI Tokyo meetup for the first time.

July

  • Created social media accounts for a separate personal brand (which ended up being unused).
  • Setup my Etsy store.
  • Sold a couple prints to a Redditor.

August

  • Uploaded my first short-form vlog on Youtube.
  • Made my first (and only) sale on my Etsy store.

September

October

  • Started work on my 2nd submission for local art group’s fantasy-themed comic book.

November

  • Created social media accounts and published the website for my local art group.
  • Attended Design Festa for the first time.
  • Attended Comitia with my local art group members.

December

  • Started programming for a game pet project.

Looking back…

Looking at the highlights, I think I did okay for the year.

In September, I decided to visit a mental clinic and officially got diagnosed with depression. It’s not really a surprise, considering that my mental health has been on a slow decline in the past decade. It’s nice to finally confirm my suspicions and get medication for it. My mood and concentration has improved a lot ever since I started taking medication.

My main goal for the year was to “start an art business”. So, did I achieve that? Technically, yes! Because I was given the opportunity to share a booth with a friend at Tama Comi, and from there, I managed to make a few sales of the prints and stickers that I made. It was the first time I actually had something resembling a “shop” in real life, so the experience was pretty surreal. Here’s to hoping that I can do more of “selling something” in 2026.

As part of the process of figuring out what my “art business” would consist of, I planned to start a Youtube channel that documents my journey (in the form of vlogs). I managed to publish a few videos, but I eventually stopped in late August. The main reason was that, Youtube videos in itself was pretty time-consuming – I would rather spend whatever little time I have (after my day job) drawing instead of making videos.

Looking forward…

After a year of trying to kickstart my art business journey and experiencing new things, I think I have a better idea of what I want and am capable of doing. Throughout the year, I had to repeatedly ask myself questions like:

  • What is my definition of “success” in life, without comparing with others?
  • How much am I willing to sacrifice to achieve that “success”?
  • What is stopping me from chasing that “success”?

I’ll explore my thoughts and try to answer the questions above in a separate blog… I’ll close today’s post with my list of new year resolutions:

  • Illustrate a new picture every week
  • Create a one-shot comic every 3 months
  • Sell prints, stickers and comics at an artist alley (Tama Comi or Comitia, or something)

See you guys in 2026!