Rice-Lily

Well, instead of doing an Irish Goodbye (leaving without a word) and leaving you all wondering, I'm leaving DA.

This whole complicit Art Theft with AI generators has become outrageous. After so many years being part of this community, it's a bitter, bitter sorrow to see this place deliberately 'feeding their lambs to the wolves.'

I'll do what I have to protect my work. Regrouping and reassess on how to do that. This will be a gradual closure but you will see things disappear over time.

So, farewell DA.

Hello! I'm back from....wherever I was and I've come bearing new artwork and announcements! I'm the process of starting an online shop and here's the first sticker design line up! I have other designs in the works but I wanted to flex some traditional skills with gouache and I'm happy with how these turned out.

Hello again,

As mentioned in the title, I'm slowly rolling back into action six months later. Heading forward into 2022, it's been a nonstop series of completing one task after another. Brought my dad back home to Hawaii, as he requested. Got to see some family I haven't seen in a long time and that was a nice bonus. Dealing with the legal stuff was aggravatingly slow and that annoyed me the most about this whole ordeal but finally, I'm nearing the finish line and tying off loose ends.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to get back into the rhythm with my work. I'll be working on getting the comic restarted soon. I picked up a new storyboard gig for a few months at Powerhouse which was good but I've come to realize I need something on the side to fill in the gaps between gigs. So, I've decided to start a small art business!

For now, it's just a little merch/sticker shop and I'm in the process of building a Skillshare Class (hopefully, two courses). It'd be ideal to be earning income from my comics but that's a long, long, long road. I'll announce when the merch shop is up and running.

So, yeah. I'm back. Thanks for sticking around. Look forward to the return of Here in the West and future goodies in the making.

I'll be leaving for a while. I'm not sure when I'll be back.

My Dad died last month and I'm in the process of a lot of life things.

I haven't drawn in months nor do I have the strength to do so.

I'm very tired. Just so fucking tired.

Hey all, long time no update.

Sorry about that.

There's been a lot of changes happening so fast this year, it's hard to keep up.

I spent most of 2020-2021 bumming around with a small time gig on Youtube but then left on "creative differences". Nothing really worth mentioning, really. Mostly, I've been dealing with family emergencies, one after the other.

It was a stressful time sorting out my dad's "life" and getting him the help he needed to recover from a recent surgery. Despite all the careful planning and effort to get him on track, he fell sick again. But this time, he'll never be 100%.

Once again, my mom and I are traveling between Vegas and home taking care of his affairs the best we can.

Art has taken the backseat in the meanwhile. I'm still planning new projects but it's all very slow going. I'm also back to job hunting on top of that. I'm not making any solid promises when things will resume but hopefully soon next year.

Thank you all for the new and loyal readers and viewers of Here in the West. I'm happy that you check in and support the work.

Have a safe and healthy holiday season, everyone. See you then.