Raphael/Akioh/Moon
He/him
29 Years Old

Hey, I'm Raphael and I love OCs! Yeah. Also I study linguistics. Idk what to put here.

Other Social Media:
twitter
tumblr
deviantART
Gaiaonline

Con update or smth

Mood: Pretty awake WOO

HEYO, I've officially had a job for a week now, haha. It's been alright! Today was a bit busier bc the real receptionist was sick, so I took her place. But it was good! Kept me busy. Talking on the phone was super scary tho, haha;;;;

ANYWAY, that's not what I'm talking about. I feel like talking about con stuff! So I finally heard back from Anime Mid-Atlantic after bugging them on FB and they told me their Artist Alley is super full so they waitlisted me. Which is nbd, but IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE IF THEY TOLD ME THAT A MONTH AGO...............
But anyway.

Instead, I think I'm going to try to apply to some cons hosted on college campuses! They're much cheaper and a little more local (tho not by much HAHA like up to almost 3 hours away;;;). I'm not really trying to make a ton of $$$ at these events since they're small (I'm estimating a turnout of like 500 people for average college cons), but it'll be a good opportunity to give out my business card and idk. Market myself, as they say. So far I've applied to Kamecon (UMD) and I've emailed Eastern Shore Fan Con (UMES) about table availability, so I guess I'll just wait to hear back about those.

I also just bought a table for Kigacon (CNU), so I guess that's the next con I'll be tabling at!!!!! It was only like $20 haha NICE. I'm glad I'm not spending like huge cash for this con. Not really planning on buying new merch either.
I'm kinda excited because CNU is like half an hour away from the college I just graduated from (I went to William & Mary, I guess it doesn't really need to be a secret haha), so I'm hoping I'll be able to visit my friends sometime that weekend too. *u*/ ♥

BUT YEAH!!! Those are my current con plans. It's nice that I have a con to look forward to next month, haha. I thought the next thing I was gonna apply for would be AUSA, and that con's not till like.... OCTOBER.......... but yeah VAGUE ART-Y JOB STUFF. The only thing that's bothering me abt all the con stuff is the driving, since I can't drive. "orz I wish I could just drive myself out to these places w/o having to bother my mom about all of this bc she's busy;;; BUT I'M JUST SO SCARED OF DRIVING.... I'm slowly learning;;; SOON!!! I WILL BE ABLE TO DRIVE ON MY OWN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, that's all. Hope you guys have a nice week!

Job + Twitter

Mood: Sleepy ahah;;

First off, thanks to the people who commented or even read my last post, I feel a lot more level-headed about things now. :^) I think I've mostly been frustrated because I've been home all day with like no activity going on besides my cats bothering me, haha;;; The internet's been like my main source of ~outside interaction~ for the past month, so everything's just felt so slooooowowowowow since I don't really have a ton of online friends that I keep in regular contact with;;;

BUT!!! I'm decent now, hopefully. I just started my part-time job, so that should take care of the feeling that I'm not doing anything, hahaha.

SO YEAH I think I mentioned elsewhere, but got a job! I'm working as an assistant/receptionist at an accounting firm and I'm mostly going to be in charge of scanning and helping with organization. Today was actually super slow, which is good because it's helped me kind of just let things sink in haha;;; Once tax season picks up, I'll be more busy. Everyone at the workplace seems really nice though (and plus there's only like 5 other people), so I'm hoping things will go well. I just need to get used to waking up at like 6 AM all over again, hahaaaaa..... I'M HAVING HIGH SCHOOL FLASHBACKS what the heckle. LUCKILY, I only work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I should still have time to work on drawings! I really want to do that redraw challenge, hopefully I can get something done. >_<

IN OTHER NEWS, (?) I'm still waiting to hear back from anime cons. I'm mainly trying to get in contact with Anime Mid-Atlantic because I emailed them WAY BACK IN DECEMBER and still haven't heard from them.................................. I even sent them like 2 or 3 other emails during the last month. But alas, no luck...
SO!!!
I ended up making a twitter account to try to get in contact w/ them, bc that's where they're most active. You can also follow me on twitter if you want to!

https://twitter.com/xmoonlitxdreamx

You don't have to tho, idk if I'm even really going to use it. Idk how to use the site and i don't really have an understanding for the twitter culture/atmosphere (?) either. I'll probs just cross-post from tumblr when I do half-decent drawings. Feel free to link me your twitters tho so I can follow you! :^D

Anyway, that's what's going on over on my end. Hope you have a nice week! :D

Blbubhlgubhlh

Mood: pretty low

Hey friendos, I'm gonna post an annoying complain-y post about tumblr and fan art. Sorry about that. ;o;/

Idk if you've noticed but I've been trying to draw more fan art lately because that's usually the only stuff that I post to tumblr that gets any notes. :T To be honest, I generally don't enjoy drawing fan art. It's not that I don't like shows and stuff, but I find characters from shows/games/etc to be really difficult to draw because they're not my designs. I also get really paranoid that I draw them out of character since I don't understand characters from shows/etc the same way that I understand and connect with my OCs.

BUT MORE THAN THAT, I don't like drawing fan art because it IT STRESSES ME OUT...!!! I get so so anxious worrying about whether or not things will get likes and reblogs when I post fan art. ""orz LIKE, I'M NOT KIDDING.... I have trouble falling asleep at night after posting fan art (even if it's just a sketch or doodle) because I get really anxious about whether or not people will reblog it or even see it, and I feel like I wasted my time if it doesn't get any notes. I don't get the same kind of anxiety drawing original stuff because I know the only exposure it's going to get is to my followers. Plus it doesn't feel like a waste because HEY, MORE CONTENT OF MY OCS!!! nice. I love my OCs. But I don't love drawing fan art hghglshg

I'M TELLING YOU THIS BECAUSE... LATELY I HAVEN'T BEEN GETTING ANY NOTES AT ALL ON FAN ART and it's stressing me out so bad!!!!! TT_TT I don't know if it's just that everyone went back to school and abandoned their fandom side blogs or something, but I'm getting almost no notes at all on things that used to be able to get at least 30 notes.... I'm mostly talking about my Mob Psycho 100 fan art here. Back in October-ish when I started posting mp100 stuff, I used to be able to get like 100+ notes on even a small doodle. I guess it's because the anime had just finished airing in September at the time, so things were pretty active... and now that it's several months later things have slowed down...??? BUT EVEN THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, some stuff I posted in late-December got a lot of notes and that wasn't even that long ago... it's just super bizarre to me that I went from getting a fair amount of notes to getting less than 10 notes even on things I actually put effort into. ""orz None of the popular side blogs that used to reblog my stuff are even liking my pictures anymore. I HATE THIS SYSTEM OF GATEKEEPING OR WHATEVER NONSENSE TERMINOLOGY PEOPLE USE FOR IT.

A similar thing happened w/ me posting Yuri!!! on Ice stuff, but I kind of expected not to get a lot of notes for YOI since the fandom's so big and the tag is so active. BUT I STILL GET SUPER DEPRESSED WHEN MY YOI STUFF DOESN'T GET NOTES why am I ridiculous!!!! I hate being this stressed about my fan art, but I seriously can't help it no matter how much I try to stop thinking about it. """"""""orz

THIS LACK-OF-NOTES-AND-REBLOGS THING IS ALSO JUST TERRIBLE TIMING AND I'M SO FRUSTRATED!!!! T_T I finally started trying to discretely advertise my shop and commissions on my fan art posts (I'd been neglecting to advertise because I didn't want to be obnoxious), but now my fan art is getting like zero exposure at all!!! IT SUCKS GHLGUGHALSGHAKG

but yeah, that's my blab about frustrating and annoying things. i'm so sad w/ fan art ughhgglhldhg. I'll probably try to only post fan art on the weekends so I can focus a little better. ;o;

btw you don't need to comment on this if you don't want to, I just really needed to vent somewhere about this. """"orz I hate venting and I almost never get to a point where I need to vent, but APPARENTLY!!! I just hate drawing fan art this much, hahaha;;; -u-;; but seriously, this is really frustrating me. orz This is also in addition to the fact that the con I was trying to apply for in the previous post is apparently super sketchy, so I won't be attending it anymore... BUGH I just want to table at some cons!!!! I NEED TO GET RID OF MERCH!!!!! PLEASE..........

Artist Alley Table Partner???

Mood: desperate ghlsfjgh and also nervous

HEY GUYS, So.... I emailed the artist alley coordinator for Anime Fan Fest Baltimore a couple weeks ago and got a reply from him this past Saturday. He sent me the artist alley registration sheet to be signed, so I think I'm basically guaranteed in if I pay for a table. HOWEVER.......

The half-table (what I wanted to get, comes with 1 badge) costs $200; while the full-table (comes with 2 badges and is a bigger table) costs $250, only $50 more. I'm really hoping to find someone to split the table with because that would make the cost a lot easier on me, but I don't really have friends who regularly table at cons on the east coast and stuff. >_< SO... IF YOU'RE INTERESTED OR KNOW ANYONE WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! And ask questions if you have any!
(tbh I'm not happy with the price for this table at all, but I just really need to get into some cons, sell merch, and get my name out there;;;)

YEAH.
In other news, I've been kind of annoyed lately w/ the fact that NO ONE'S REPLYING TO ME!!!!! And I don't mean my friends and stuff, I mean like official things. I emailed anime mid-atlantic about their artist alley a couple weeks ago (which is what their website says to do), but NO ONE HAS RESPONDED YET!!! Even Anime Fan Fest took like a week to get back to me...
I also tried to join the FB group Artist Alley Network International to meet more artist alley people, but they haven't responded to my request to join that I also sent a couple weeks ago.... I even FB messaged two of the admins (one on Saturday and one about a day and a half ago), and NEITHER OF THEM RESPONDED.... One of them even posted something to their FB after I had messaged them, so THEY MUST HAVE BEEN ONLINE... BUT FOR SOME REASON DIDN'T RESPOND TO MY MESSAGE???? ALSHGALG yeah.

It might just be that I'm impatient... Since I graduated and am basically home all day since I can't drive/don't have a car/don't have a job, the days feel suuuuper long. "orz I feel like January's been going on forever, but we're barely over the halfway point.

LUCKILY!!!! I might be getting a temporary part-time job!!! The interview is today at 2:00 PM over skype, so I'M GONNA DO MY BEST!!!! ;-;7 I've never had a job of any sort before (other than commissions and cons), so this is really big for me haha;;; even though the job only lasts till mid-April.

SO YEAH. That's the news with me... I'm still hoping to get into more cons this year. I've applied to Otakon and Anime NEXT, but those are big cons so it's pretty doubtful I'll get in. I'll apply to Anime USA and Nekocon later in the year and hopefully get into at least one of those;;; HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A GOOD 2017!!! :)

New Icon + Store + Update

Mood: cold hgugh

Heyo, I made a new icon for myself! Here's the original image:

I don't think I've ever had an icon of Gabe before, which kind of surprises me... anyway, here he is now. :^) I went with a kind of winter-y theme because it's COLD and snowed the other day. x0x/

Other than that,
I finally opened up my store!!! You can check it out here:
http://xmoonlitxdreamx.storenvy.com/
YEAH!!!!

Everything's set to preorder right now because my shipping supplies haven't actually arrived yet... it's gonna arrive either this or next week. >:U NICE.

Anyway, I'm gonna work on making more products this year, too. I'm thinking of doing Yuri!!! On Ice, Fire Emblem: Fates, and Mob Psycho 100 merch. *-*/ SO YEAH, I guess... if you're interested, be on the look out for that haha. I'm gonna try to apply to some more cons, too. I emailed about Anime Mid Atlantic and Anime Fan Fest Baltimore, but I haven't gotten any replies yet. Dx HOPEFULLY SOON....

Also, I didn't get into the JET program. ;-;/ ALAS... I'll be looking for a part time job for the spring and summer instead, and then apply to grad school or something. Idk what the plan is. "orz TBH I'm not that disappointed bc going to Japan by myself seems really scary. SO! WHATEVZ.

But yeah, that's what's going on over here. We'll see how things go from here, haha;;; Thanks for reading and I hope you have a good day! >:o ♥