2017 - By the Numbers

It's December, and we're fast coming up on another click of Earth's odometer, so I thought I'd take a moment for retrospection before we slide into 2018. Welcome to 2017's By The Numbers, where I throw out a lot of big numbers and some not-so-big numbers to try to quantify the year. :) 



Client Work/Commissions

113: Total number of commissioned/client pieces completed in 2017 (up from 74 in 2015, 108 in 2016)

A few of my favorite 2017 digital client pieces

5: Covers completed this year (Veranthea Codex: The 5th World, Book of Exalted Darkness (not yet released), Hypercorps 2099: Wasteland, Silver Serpent comic cover, SotA:NB#1 cover)

23: Number of commissioned traditional pieces: pencils, inks or watercolors (the remainder were digital - digital is most common for my larger gaming projects, as changes can be made much more readily than on traditional pieces)

A sampling of 2017 traditional pieces

3: Number of pieces completed for charity organizations or projects (T-shirt & poster design for Aerie Fund's Breast Cancer Research Fundraiser, a scene & several characters for Operation: Nazi Smasher whose proceeds go to the SPLC, and a watercolor dachshund pup for Dachtoberfest in Washington County, MD). 

Patreon

www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations

276: Number of posts made to Patreon in 2017. Patreon continued to be a big deal for me in 2017, and I've enjoyed how much more active the feed (comments and dialogue) has become! Another number in this category is 852, which is the number of Patreon posts I've created since launching THC's Patreon page in late 2014.

42: Not only the answer to life, the universe, and everything, it's also the number of fantastic people who support my Patreon. 2016 saw growth from 18 to 30 patrons, and 2017 kept that upward trend steady!

16: Number of new stock art pieces released to my Patrons in 2017, bringing the total number of stock art available for download to 32! My tiers saw a slight restructuring this year, and one of the changes was the introduction of a new tier, the stock art tier - for $3 a month, you get access to all stock art pieces, and at least one new one is released every month! www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations 

A few of the stock pieces released to THC Patrons in 2017

Personal Projects

97: Number of personal pieces I completed this year, including 31 Inktober/Drawlloween pieces, 40 lineart pieces for the Dangerous Women coloring book (my first coloring book, it went to print in March of this year!), the six-amulet set for practice on gemstones, and other one-off pieces like the Skeksis and Dragon in Cherry Blossoms.

1: Number of fan art pieces I completed this year. I still have Carol from TWD in the works, but I'm moving away from fan art portraits and concentrating much more heavily on fantasy and science fiction pieces for the most part. The only piece I finished that would be considered fan art in 2017 is my Skeksis print, which can be purchased here. :)

"Skeksis in the Crystal Chamber" - 2017
11x17, ink on bristol, painted in CS6

Miscellaneous Numbers

19: Number of conventions attended this year, not the lowest number yet, but close. I attended 38 (what!) in 2014, 17 in 2015, and 24 in 2016. That 15-20 area seems like a sweet spot for me, 24 was too many and 38 was right out. I missed a few of my large staples this year - AwesomeCon and Baltimore CC were both sold out on tables by the time I gathered funds to buy them, but there were some amazing smaller cons this year, too.

6: Number of timelapse paintings I've recorded and published to THC's YouTube channel (subscribe!), including Winter Spirit, Dinsoo, Fantasy Portrait, and Carol's first stage (the second stage is actually also up, but it's locked to Patrons only until the print is actually finished and I stitch all the videos together). 

42: Number of comic pages published this year (counting the covers)! Shroud of the Avatar: New Beginnings #1 was released, kicking off the planned miniseries after the #0 bridge comic. SotA:NB#1 was 28 pages, and I also completed a 12 page commissioned comic for an Ultima gathering (the Festival of the Silver Serpent), which was one of my favorite commission projects for the year. :) 

5: Editing hires this year. While I didn't find time to write my own books this year, unfortunately, I started expanding into editing others' works, with several short scripts, short stories and one full novel (still in progress). I'll be adding my writing & editing rates to the main site, along with copying my art rates from where they're currently housed over at DeviantArt in early 2018, to bring everything under one roof.

6: Years of Tortoise & Hare Creations. I'm very proud of this number. It is the hardest, yet most rewarding, thing I've ever done, to step off the edge of the cliff and believe I could fly (or at least flap hard enough not to break when I hit the ground). I thank every client, every company, every Patron, every Facebook follower for helping me along my career path, and look forward to Year Seven! Consider joining my Patreon to help make sure that THC survives for years to come (and get lots of cool rewards for yourself, too!) - www.patreon.com/tortoiseharecreations

Previous years' By The Numbers posts:
2016 By The Numbers
2015 By The Numbers