Chappy Lips by Leslie Valerio

It's time for a serious note here. I am really happy and glad and flustered and embarrassed and excited and scared that my art has been spreading like wildfire lately. We're only into the second month of 2014, and so far I've been in over half a dozen publications, two shows, and multiple blog features. When I was unemployed during the Fall of 2013, I put my selfless, shameless promotion of my work into hard drive.

I left my toxic, dead end job and just graduated with my bachelor's in fine arts in that same week, and for the next three months I did nothing but drawing and painting like a madman. I set up many different art accounts, including setting up a Facebook page and reviving my deviantART (haha). I made my first zine, I made my first commission in my post-college life, and I also had my first live-recording, time lapse video of simply me drawing. Sometimes I wished I used that time to travel, I did want to go on a road trip to Canada, but overall I am very happy to used those months to just focus on what I love most: art.

During my last two years of college, they were my darkest moments. My anxiety and depression went through the roof. I did not seek professional help, because I honestly felt like I didn't need it, nor did I have the funds. I skipped classes A LOT, I couldn't complete assignments in time, and I have been suffering with artist's block for weeks. Instead, I turned my attention to countless hours on tumblr, comparing my skills and talents to teenaged artist prodigies, leveling up my characters on Final Fantasy and World of Warcraft, being nervous about my (at the time) relationship with my new boyfriend, and regretting my decisions of going to art school, college in general, and wondering if I'm even on the right path.

It wasn't until the spring of 2013 that I've decided to change my outlook on my current, and soon to be future, situations. It wasn't easy, and still to this day I make slips and falls, but my drive was at full speed. I drew every day, even if the drawings sucked or they're boring subjects. I had to draw something. I read a lot of self help books, checked out blogs, joined support forums and groups, and even submit to zine's call to artists when the subject comes to mental disorders and disabilities. It scared the shit out of me to know that I have depression and anxiety, but instead of demonizing it (as many people have), I've decided to not embrace it, but ACCEPT it and tried to cope with it. I still have not seek professional help. I do know now that I absolutely need it, but finances are still an issue.

It has almost been half a year, I feel better than ever. I may not be where I wanted to be financial wise, but I have accepted that, as an artist, the money will never be stable. It is a bit of an old joke, you know, "the starving artist." But I am definitely happy with where I am in life, and, in a strange way, career wise. I made it a goal to be a full time artist/illustrator/cartoonist, and have a side job to support that. AND I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THAT! My clientele is larger than ever, I am going to be a regular, contributing artist to a magazine, and I will be starting my studies toward my Master's degree in Fine Arts by the end of this year! I'm so proud and happy for myself that I am able to achieve these goals, without letting my anxiety and procrastination get in the way.

So, what have I planned next, art wise?
- Establish a bike shop/print shop/studio/gallery with a great group friends and supporters in the Orange Park, FL area. We've set our goal time within the next two years.
- Write and illustrate my own comic. Of course, I'd still draw for other writers! ^^;
- Create a mural
I'm hoping to complete this list before I marry and/or have a kid, which I don't plan to do till I'm 25-28. And I'm going to be 24 this year! So, better start hustling!

tl;dr
GET SHIT DONE.