Back in January, I outlined six goals for 2015. Since Monday was the Rosh Hashannah (Jewish New Year) and I have a tradition of going back to my goals every year around this time, I thought today would be a good day to see where I am nine months into the year.
I will be among the first to acknowledge that I haven’t done everything on my list, but then I never seem too.
So, here we go:
Goal 1: More Historical Paper Dolls. I want to create ten historical paper doll sets in 2015.
I actually have already completed this goal which I am very proud of. Depending on whether or not you count the multipage sets as one set or not, I have either made this goal or am going to make it in the next few weeks as I have a Viking st for next week and a 1950s set for sometime after that. I want to post a historical paper doll round-up post at the end of the year with all the historical paper dolls on the blog organized by era, but in the mean time you can check them all out in the Historical tag.
Goal 2: Focus a little more on Poppets, Ms. Mannequinn and Buxom and Bodacious.
Basically, I wanted to draw ten pages for each of these sets. So, far I have posted 5 sets for B&B, 4 sets for Ms. Mannequinn and 5 sets for the Poppets this year. There are several sets for both Buxom & Bodacious and Ms Mannequinn in the wings, but not quite ten. Now, the Poppets will definitely need some attention in the coming months to get to my ten posts for each in 2015 goal, but I think I will get there.
Goal 3: Do more Featured Artists.
Okay, so chalk this one up as a failure. I mean, seriously… the problem is that this always takes way more work on my part than I think it should. Anyone who says curating guest posts is simple is lying to you. The truth is that these posts can easily take as much time, if not more, than doing my own work. I think they are important, but I might change up the format a bit or something. I dunno.
I need to think about the options available to me. I really like interviewing other artists in this community and it is a very small community, so I think we need to support each other. At the same time, it is far more time consuming than it appears and I don’t know if other people are as interested in these posts as I am.
Maybe there’s an easier or simpler format I could use? Thought from the audience?
Goal 4: Actually send something into OPDAG Newsletter.
Not only have I not done this, but I think my membership has lapsed. Opps. I need to renew that and, you know, get my act together. I think part of the problem is that I only want to show off my BEST work to OPDAG since it has members whose work I admire so much. Anyway, I need to get over that and just do something. A completed “okay” project is far better than an incomplete “perfect” project.
Goal 5: Have another Mini-Series set.
This year my 18th Century Pixies Series rather took the place of having a mini-series since it has run for six weeks and wraps on Friday. I have some ideas for doing some special in December or transforming this goal into something else entirely. I have been doing a lot of non-series related drawing, but none of it is ready for prime-time yet. A lot of it is part of a project I’ve been working on for the last few months that, hopefully, will debut in December. More on that later. While I guess I haven’t really done this in a traditional sense, I do think I have been good about giving myself permission to draw “outside” the Series this year- even if some of that material hasn’t made its way onto the blog.
Goal 6: Upgrade the images on the blog to larger format images.
This is an ongoing mess of a project. You see, I don’t use WordPresses image management system because when I first started this blog, I didn’t understand how it worked and I could write raw code, so I did. Now that I am five years in, I have found that I just don’t like the image management system, so I continue to manually code most of these posts. As a result, changing something like image size means actually going into each post and manually re-coding the image width tags. Of course, if I had been smarter at the beginning I would have written that into the CSS, but well… I wasn’t that smart at the time, so I have to manually fix it all. Anyway, the result is a lot of mind-numbing copy and paste work. Never the less, I have gotten through May of 2013 so far and am chugging along. This is the problem when you know just enough code to get yourself into trouble.
Though I haven’t met all of my goals this year so far, I am actually really pleased with where the blog is. I think it is going to grow in fun and interesting ways this year and I have some cool stuff planned already for next year.
Most of all I am proud that I have been far more consistent in posting this year than I have ever been before. That is something to be very proud of, I think.
I just recently started following your blog, and I think you’re doing a pretty good job! As for the mini-series goal, you could do a Holiday Finery series in December….which leads me to this. The lady dolls have many beautiful gowns from almost every era to wear, but poor Marcus doesn’t have anything nice to take her to dinner in? How come that? Could he maybe get a nice Armani suit sometime? 🙂 Maybe even a tux?
A suit and a tux are absolutely on the list for Marcus, I just haven’t gotten them done yet.
There is, in fact, a long list of things I want to make for Marcus including (in no real order) a few friends, some more casual clothes, suits, a tux, a robin-hood get up, a super hero set, a regency gentleman and…. well… the list goes on.
Of course, it is worth remembering that Marcus began in November of last year and Marisole has existed since January 2010. It might take a while for him to catch up with the ladies. 🙂
That list for Marcus sounds very intriguing! Looking forward very much to the Robin Hood set and the friends!
I had no idea Marcus was so new! Of course, the handsome devil will have to be patient, and so will I. lol
These are all admirable goals and it should give you a real sense of accomplishment to have achieved so much this year. I, for one, enjoy the featured artist. I’ve always liked knowing how and why an artist works the way he or she does. I’m not sure how you could streamline it, but I would also hate to see it go. The historical dolls have been a real treat. And you should absolutely send to OPDAG — first, they have no jurying and secondly, your work is definitely a high enough quality to send. You also have numerous blog followers who would love it if more people discovered your awesome creativity! Keep chugging away at those goals and be proud of what you’ve done!
Rachel, when are you doing another showcase post?
Mid-October at the earliest.
I actually do enjoy reading the featured artist, but it might be easier on you to make a short post about “hey, look at this artist!”.
I love your historical paper dolls, and I appreciate that you take the time to research them properly. I know it’s time consuming, especially when you know little about an era or place.
Consistent posting is a big struggle for me, so anyone who can manage to do it is a better blogger than I 🙂
The part about it that I enjoy is the interview. That’s the piece I find most interesting. I need to think about how to do that more easily.
You have perfectly explained why I have yet to submit to OPDAG as well. I want it to be worthy of being among all those artists I admire, although I know that they wouldn’t be anywhere near as critical as I am.
True, though I do think Julie has a point. I mean, I should just “get over it” and go for it. Chanel is due at the end of the month. Maybe I’ll get my act together.