One of my Turn-Your-Character-Into-a-Cephalopod Commissions

In the beginning of 2008, I posted a list of goals for the year. Now, with just 4 short weeks left in 2008, I’m revisiting those goals to see how I did. I want to see how realistic they were (to help me set goals for 2009) and to see what was really important to me and my art business.

• Register my business by March

Done last February. Early next year I have to renew it.

• Redo this blog to greatly expand its content and interactivity

Um. Yeah. I have great plans, but when it comes down to it, I’d rather paint than write code. Maybe over Christmas vacation. I’d love to make this thing chock-full of good information and daily content updates.

• Trim my website into a portfolio

Over Christmas. I swear. This is easier than redoing the blog, and probably more important…

• Time all my projects with the new stopwatch Santa got for me

I did pretty well at this, especially for the big paintings. Knowing how long it took helped me figure out how much to charge.

• Complete the 100 Cephalopods project

I did, like, four. This goal was way too ambitious. It’s still on my list, but I think it’s a lifetime goal rather than annual. It’s too time-consuming and not very profitable.

• Promote my art on MySpace, Facebook, etc.

Waiting until I redo the website.

• Obligatory really vague goal: strive to always improve and learn

This one worked! I learned something new with each big project and maintained previously learned skills. That rocked. I highly recommend it. Focus on one small aspect of improvement for each project.

• Do 10 shows and/or conventions

I attended 7 conventions and showed art at 2 others. 9 total, pretty close! I may trim this down next year simply because I ran out of vacation days at work and haven’t visited my grandmas in waaaay too long.

All things considered, I think I did well! Next year may be tough, art-wise, because I recently got engaged (that wasn’t on my 2008 list) and am likely getting married in 2009. YAY! But! Business will grow. Damned if I know how yet, but it will… I promise. Hold me to it.