So I’ve circled back to Ko-fi for my monthly greeting card subscription service, Coreyartus Card Club.

Ko-fi was recommended to me by a couple people on different platforms I belong to, and after revisiting it I think it’s going to do what I want it to do.

I’d actually started there a long time ago, and got pulled away by Fourthwall’s integration with a now defunct streaming platform called LiveSpace. I held onto it for a long time and tried to make what I felt was a legit Patreon substitute.

But I think it may not be a good fit for me. Fourthwall is clearly for streamers who need merch. And I was trying to make it be something else… In the back of my head, I thought I might someday take advantage of their POD capacities, but in all the time I was there I never did. I just wasn’t into making POD stuff… I tried that on Society6 a long time ago, and even with some Etsy integrations, but it just never clicked for me.

Fourthwall has a lot of potential. It’s cheap. It has a lot of features, with more all the time.

But I don’t think it’s gonna work out for me, personally. I’m going to shift back to Ko-fi and restart my efforts there. Wish me luck!

Just a moment...

(ko-fi.com)

#artistlife #patreon #subscription #kofi #greetingcards #fourthwall #POD

@tristen Oh, wow-I totally forgot about Ko-Fi’s membership capacities. How could I forget that?!? It even offers donation and commission tools I forgot about…. Okay Ko-fi’s a very viable option. WOW how I could I forget that platform!?

Thank you for reminding me, Tristen!! It might just be perfect!

So I’ve decided to revisit the idea of a patron membership site, but redefining it as something different.

I don't think it’s going to be a “community hub” anymore. Honestly, I’m personally drowning in opportunities to be part of various communities, and I struggle to have the bandwidth to engage in the ones I already belong to, so I’m not going to expect/inflict that on others.

It’s going to be a single, one-tier, “get this one thing cheap every month” kind of deal. To be frank, I’d love to not need a specific membership platform to do all that, but it’s the best way to manage addresses, shipping, and taxes on a monthly basis.

That’s what I’m working on in the background. I’d hoped to reuse my Fourthwall site, but in the last couple days I’ve really questioned their back-end infrastructure… I’ve tired to update two things and had to send Service Requests both times because the “save” mechanism didn’t work in text boxes…Multiple browsers, not my cache… Ugh. It doesn’t ultimately inspire my trust... So I’m duplicating everything on Patreon just in case I have to go that direction, even though it’s a platform I hate. Happy times. <groan>

Going back to my roots, and sharing the very first pack of greeting cards I ever made:

403 Forbidden

(goimagine.com)

These were the first birds I felt deserved their own boxed set. I’m happy to say they’ve found their way into many happy homes in the last couple years. I still look back at these pieces with a kind of shock they came out of my hands.

I used Procreate to make these, and while these were made far before the advent of artificially generated slop, I’m proud to say I still do everything by hand with no “generative assistance” BS. These are all #HumanMade

I print, package, and post all of these myself from my own studio. No drop-shipping or POD companies. All me.

#shopsmall #goimagine #handmade #IndieArtist #Art #GreetingCards #Birds #Birdart #Art #FediGiftShop #Artist

I'm going live again today on Twitch and Moonbeam, continuing an art piece I started yesterday.

1-4:00pm PDT (UCT-7)

Topic: Arts-and-crafts

Explore content related to arts-and-crafts

(www.moonbeam.stream)

Twitch

Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.

Twitch (www.twitch.tv)

Once again, I can't livestream on MakerTube. I'm not doing anything different on my end, but on some days the stream keeps getting broken up into 8 or 9 different stream segments and posted individually, other days it's fine.

I just can't put viewers through that--having the stream constantly randomly stop--so I'll upload the stream recording afterwards instead. It seems the PeerTube OSS is built toward that primarily anyway. And since I've had to be doing that already lately, it has been a good opportunity to upload translated subtitles for each recording. I've been doing German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Hindi.

So it's all good!

#Livestream #Artstream #Twitch #moonbeam #Art #IndieArtist

Going to a HumboldtMade mixer tonight, meeting other makers here in the region. Mostly food-makers (good good food!), from pierogis to hot sauces to ciders to chocolate… It’s amazing what’s local here behind the #RedwoodCurtain!

I met another artist who is doing that I want to be doing at last month’s gathering, and just the chance to hobnob was great. It has been so fun to meet new folks!

Humboldt Made

Humboldt Made is a nonprofit organization focused on business development and cooperative marketing among our community of top-notch makers and producers. Our mission is to grow the Redwood Coast economy by supporting homegrown businesses, both within and beyond the redwood curtain.

Humboldt Made (www.humboldtmade.com)

#humboltMade #HumboldtCounty #shoplocal #shopsmall #indieartist #redwoodCoast

Going live on Twitch and Moonbeam today 5/27/25) from 1-4:00pm PDT (UTC-7). I'll be starting a new image inspired by the local flora and fauna here in #HumboldCounty behind the #RedwoodCurtain in northern California. Trying my hand at some regional art, given that it's so frickin' beautiful here!

Join me for tea, soft music, and chill chat!

Topic: Arts-and-crafts

Explore content related to arts-and-crafts

(www.moonbeam.stream)

Twitch

Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.

Twitch (www.twitch.tv)

#livestream #art #MastoArt #ArtStream #Twitch #moonbeam #Procreate

"My business can’t exist unless I steal stuff.”

An industry like that is usually called The Mob.

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Meta’s former head of global affairs Nick Clegg said asking for permission from rights owners to train models would is “implausible.”

The Verge (www.theverge.com)

I turned in three pieces to a local art association's gallery for an upcoming Artist’s Choice non-juried show coming up next week. It’ll be part of a big event called “North Coast Open Studios” that happens here once a year.

I didn’t get settled in time to participate on my own, but turning these pieces in today makes me feel like I’m still part of it.

The artists I met there volunteering for check-in were delightfully friendly and welcoming, and I am so looking forward to getting engaged even more. They are regularly looking for docent volunteers every week, so I will be doing that soon.

I can’t wait to see the show when it’s all up! I’ll post pics!

North Coast Open Studios

North Coast Open Studios (www.northcoastopenstudios.com)

#art #gallery #HumboldtCounty #RedwoodCurtain #EurekaCA #artistlife #IndieArtist

Met a local digital artist living here in Humboldt County for a bagel this morning. He’s not on Mastodon, but his website is here:

Ted Hsu Illustrations, Tarot of the Guiding Muse

Creator of Tarot of the Guiding Muse, Ted has created a 78 card tarot deck as a love song to his muse. Join in the adventures of Emi and uncover your own story.

Ted Hsu Illustrations (tedhsuart.com)

It was so invigorating, validating, human, and inspiring to meet someone in my field who was able to offer me advice about moving here and finding my footing. He was a consummate professional, kind, friendly, and deeply earnest about sharing his experiences.

I learned SO much. And I left feeling more optimistic than I have in months.

It was good getting out, meeting someone in person not just online. It restored a bit of my mental health. I needed it desperately!

#art #artistlife #HumboldtCounty #RedwoodCurtain #artlife

So. “Hypernormalization”. I get it now. It’s nice to put a name to the zeitgeist, a relief.

At least now I have a way to frame things. I feel a little less discombobulated.

Went on a nice walk in my city park today, among giant Sequoia trees and cool shade.

It was so restorative to be among the green. I can’t even begin to tell you how much of a mental reset it is to indulge in this experience, less than a 5-minute drive from my home.

Touch grass sometimes. Please. It’s worth it.

Sequoia Park | Eureka, CA

Sequoia Park is a 67 acre facility next to Sequoia Park Zoo that features walking and bicycle trails through the redwood forest, meadows, duck pond and two small creeks.

(www.eurekaca.gov)

#SequoiaPark #EurekaCA #HumboldtCounty #RedwoodCurtain #Green #trees #nature #forestbathing #redwoods

@jeffzugale Preach! Most of the successful artists I’m aware of are so because they rode the wave of various social media platforms' interest and hype over a decade ago.

It’s literally less likely to be successful in today’s world than getting struck by lightning.

I end up having to block or mute most of the more “famous” successful artists out there because their work is just so ubiquitous and I can’t escape it. It’s everywhere on all the platforms all the time.

it feels like they just hired someone to spam it all over—they’re not actually present as users. I’d rather not support someone who is too busy to engage. I see others in field just as time consuming do it quite successfully (John Scalzi for example).

Must be nice to be able to have the privilege of completely disengaging from the folks interested in what you make. Guess that’s not for us.

@josh I guess that’s what’s ultimately frustrating me.

What’s FOSS for, ultimately, but to be used? If it can only get used by the FOSS community with no intention of bridging the gap to non-FOSS aficionados, isn’t that just navel-gazing?

I’m desperate to use FOSS tools, but if everything is ultimately just going to be a development exercise it all just seems like so much hype.

On a personal level, it’s exhausting to keep extending trust and investment in projects and platforms more interested in their function than their purpose. I’m starting to get disillusioned...

@josh I just wish their search function worked better and was more comprehensive. I know there are things out there that I want to see, but can’t find. And I know others want to see my stuff but can’t find it.

The “Discover” tab seems to have no logic behind the topics/channels is suggests, and their search tab automatically renders thousands of results that are literally years old. One has to tell it to do otherwise. And that’s not conducive to a thriving network of platforms.

It’s like they really don’t care whether you can find anything without you needing to know where it is already. I shouldn’t need to be more than a casual user to find what I want. But it feels intentionally obtuse.

Today is, apparently, World Goth Day. And I thought I might remind folks of this Gothic Tea Digital Print-it-Yourself art stationery pack I made a while ago:

403 Forbidden

(goimagine.com)

I think it’s perfectly appropriate for some quiet time away from all the tech.

#art #letters #letterwriting #stationery #paper #IndieArtist #WorldGothDay2025 #goimagine #FediGiftShop

New image done on my livestream yesterday: The Farmer and the Fox.

This fable involves a farmer who is angry that a fox got into his chicken coop. He captures the fox, ties an oil-soaked rope to its tail, and lights it on fire.

The fox takes off into his wheat fields. And the farmer gets no harvest that year.

Of the many morals apparent: Don’t confuse revenge with justice.

I think that’s an important lesson we need to learn in today’s clime. I think a lot of choices being made by powerful people are clearly not about “justice” but about pettiness. And it’s not hard to tell.

Here’s the speedpaint: https://makertube.net/w/j7SZxpYAikRgMCWHyeVhMc

Livestream Recordings:
Pt 1 https://makertube.net/w/uHfmYYM3845ZAMYhGxr3T7
Pt 2 https://makertube.net/w/sjTUJDBhgLdj6C4ahVUfFp
Pt 3 https://makertube.net/w/5SigxX96osnhDyjoSFjZBt

Artist's Carrd: https://coreyartusimageryinfo.carrd.co/

#art #MastoArt #fable #ThreeLittlePigs #IndieArtist #Speedpaint #Illustration

Going live in a few minutes, 1-4:00pm PDT (UTC-7) on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/coreyartus

MakerTube
https://makertube.net/w/ww2zPQGGtEL5qSWxjAYNnd

and Moonbeam
https://www.moonbeam.stream/Continuum/live-streams

Finishing up a piece inspired by the fable, The Farmer and the Fox.

Tea, soft music, chill.

#streaming #livestream #artstream #Twitch #MakerTube #Moonbeam

Today, I’m sharing an older set of cards I made in the very beginning of my art journey. These were simple, fresh, clean, graphic, and full of cheer!

403 Forbidden

(goimagine.com)

These were all done in Procreate by a human—no artificial generative BS. These were painted by me, and I print, pack, and post them myself from my own studio.

I was still searching for my direction when I made these and they were a huge part of my journey toward discovering what I wanted to do.They have a special place in my heart!

#art #GreetingCards #Flowers #IndieArtist #FediGiftShop #Bloomscrolling #MastoArt #ArtShop

Time to go to my happy place. I'll be streaming 1-4:00pm PDT (UTC-7) this afternoon 5/20/25,

on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/coreyartus

and Moonbeam: https://www.moonbeam.stream/Continuum/live-streams

and MakerTube: https://makertube.net/w/ww2zPQGGtEL5qSWxjAYNnd

doing art. I'll also be drinking some tea and listening to soft music.

Just an FYI: MakerTube often goes in and out with the stream randomly stopping and starting over as an entirely new recording. You’ll find that refreshing your browser page might help you reconnect… It’s a PeerTube bug and not MakerTube’s issue. FYI.

#livestream #artstream #Twitch #Moonbeam #MakerTube #Art #IndieArtist