New Year Thoughts and Plans

Glad to have a moment to sit down with you and lay out my thoughts.

Let me know how your holidays went, I'm hopeful and curious! Mine went lovely -- I'm very glad for a calm and companionable time at home. Surrounded by friends and family, reading, watching shows, playing video games, drinking an ungodly amount of tea, drawing and drawing and drawing...

But now the time for rest subsides as the spring semester kicks into gear. I'm very excited about the classes I'm working in this semester, and I keep getting dropped into animation classes which adds fuel to my curiosity fire. I may just have to try my hand at animation soon.

With the increased pacing comes plans to enact. I'm sure you've all heard about TikTok, but for those who don't know -- TikTok was subject to the threat of a ban that finally came to fruition a couple days ago... for 12 hours. Then, with credit given to Trump, the app was miraculously back.

Not for me. TikTok died for me the moment it went dark. I know it was my largest following, boasting 55k followers, but I see the level of censorship happening, and I know what direction this will go. So unfortunately, thus ends my partnership there.

In all honesty, this may be a trend for me. The more and more I have interacted with the internet, the less and less I have found it rewarding. I can't ever seem to market myself in the way that the internet needs me to. The ads are revolting. The time suck, the manipulation drains my energy and good mood. The editing software is buggy and counterintuitive. The only benefits are finding out what is going on locally or with artists that I care about.

So perhaps it's time to pack up. I started my art account on Instagram in November 2018, but my first social media account was always YouTube. I joined in August of 2014, over ten years ago, and collected 445k views from my silly animatics, songs, and miscellaneous content. Perhaps it's time to return to my roots.

This website can be a better place for my portfolio. I won't take down my other accounts, but I'll retreat. I'll go local. This, to me, feels sweeter, a better match for my temperament.

Drop-Kick Comics isn't going away, of course. I'm still scheduling content, still interacting with the community. I hope you will join me in the next phase of my journey.

So what can you do?

Follow Drop-Kick Comics to see my art in action. We have a website (don't forget to sign up for our newsletter!), and we're also active on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We haven't posted much on the latter, but there are already some videos in the works. Perhaps most importantly, we have a Patreon, where you can subscribe to see exclusive content and help us reach goals!

But where can you find me? Firstly, I am on YouTube. I don't post often, but when I do, I try to make sure it's something of value. You can also find me here whenever I upload new content. You're welcome to follow my Instagram, but I'm not sure how often I'll be posting on there anymore.

I think I may be rebranding soon, so be sure to follow before the "meenakshious" name changes -- especially for music platforms! I'll be shouting from the rooftop when that happens, so don't worry.

Thanks for following me along on my internet journey. I started with no awareness of it, and then watched it explode into the vast and horrifying and beautiful thing it is now, growing alongside me as I became vast and horrifying and beautiful too. We'll never be rid of it. You'll never be rid of me. I'm glad for the people that I've reached and hope I can continue to make you laugh, inspire you, and soothe you to sleep.