Introductory Post

Some people may call me an internet grandpa for starting to blog again like I did in 2003 but I just think it's neat :V

Ah yes, the introductory post. I never quite know what to put on these and it always feels like there’s a ton of pressure to get them just right. Reminds me a lot of the first page of a new sketchbook. The best way that I have found to reduce that pressure is to simply scribble on the page so… Let’s get that out of the way…

Werfgpoihgewpojewg waAEPOGIH EAWG;HIOA

opegh;oih ewpoihgwoihwgw drzs;gioheag :)

Bilbo Waggins, my lil scruffy fella <3

Good. Are you still here? Even better :)

So I wanted to get a few things out of the way in this introductory post. For those who don’t know me, hey there! I’m Pants! My pronouns are They/Them. Some folx may know me as Annie, but these days I really prefer and enjoy Pants more so... please call me that! I’m in my 30s, I’m an illustrator and designer, and I live in Oregon with my spouse/nesting partner and my sweet gremlin toy poodle mix, Bilbo Waggins. I’m also queer (agender demi-panromantic graysexual), ADHD, and have recently learned that I am autistic.

Why did I start this blog?

This year I’ve been really working toward taking a step back from social media. And like, I know that it’s one of those things people hear all the time where people post all over social media how much they hate social media… I get it. It’s all been said and done before. I’m not trying to preach anything new here. I think we’re all aware that social media can be toxic to mental health in varying ways from person to person. What that looked like for me was a dependency on likes, shares, comments, etc to feel validated as an artist. And with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc changing the way their algorithms work so often, I was finding it harder and harder to keep up. So as my views kept falling, my mental health took a nosedive too. On top of all that, I’ve been struggling with major burnout the past few years. Sometimes I am able to create, but other times I just spend months at a time feeling crappy and unable to do anything at all. I think that pressure from social media has largely contributed to this.

A self-portrait of me with burnout. August 2022.

I thought a lot about what I felt might be helpful to me to let go of this. I realized that one of the biggest things was going to be stepping back from social media in general. But as someone who has been on social media type sites since I was an early teen (ah Myspace… Livejournal… good times…), I didn’t want to just step off the internet entirely. I really enjoy being online. I like seeing what people are up to, what their thoughts and views are, and I like sharing my own. Interacting online has been my preferred form of socialization since I the days of dial-up internet and AOL Instant Messenger! But these days, I wanted to interact online in a way that felt familiar to what I used to really do and enjoy when I didn't feel bogged down by social media pressures. I wanted something that I could both take ownership of while also being able to do things in a way that felt comfortable and positive for me, instead of doing things to please an algorithm.

And so we have this blog. A place where I can post what I want, when I want, and I don’t have to jump through an algorithm’s hoops for people to see it. I figured that with a blog like this, it could be less about doing things for other people, and more about doing things for me again. Maybe even give me a mental break to help me fight off this nasty case of former-gifted-kid burnout!

This is Aodhan, an OC of mine. You'll probably see them around a lot on this blog.

So what can you expect out of this shiny new blog?

Well, largely, just whatever I feel like posting. New artwork I create, short stories for my webcomic or other misc. ideas I have, original characters and their bios, thoughts and opinions on various things, recipes I've learned or created over the years, general journal-type entries about random things, pop-culture opinions, etc. It can be whatever I want and posted whenever I want as long as it's...

Just Pants :)