Hey guys! Sorry for the art drought. I feel like I owe you guys an explanation for what's been happening lately.
As some of you probably know, I was dealing with an extremely bad mental health spiral from mid-April to late May. My anxiety was through the roof, I was deeply demotivated, and I was emotionally and creatively burnt out. I was behind on all my housework, and I couldn't bring myself to do much of anything for that time.
As it turns out: this was the result of a new medicine I was taking. Back in March, I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a degenerative spine disease that slowly fuses the spinal column over time. Its an auto-immune condition that had gone under the radar until recently, and I was quickly placed on medication to help deal with the symptoms. And it worked - until about mid-April when I began experiencing horrifically bad depressive symptoms. This was completely unusual for me, as I have never dealt with symptoms like these before.
To say I was a complete wreck during these months is an understatement. I could barely go a day without having several crying spells or having my mind dominated by extremely negative thoughts about myself and my work. Both me and my family were at a complete loss for what was happening, until my mom happened to look up the side-effects of the medicine I was taking. As it turns out, my medicine had the very rare side-effect of causing sudden onset depressive symptoms. I was quickly taken off the medicine, and since then my mood has improved drastically.
That was a deeply harrowing time for me, as I had never dealt with my brain turning against me like that. And while I am beyond grateful to be back to my normal self, that entire episode did make me reconsider several things about my life.
I finally decided to start working on my first manuscript. I've always wanted to be a published author and I felt like I had put it off long enough. I'm currently three chapters deep into the manuscript and I'm hoping to have it published by 2028. I've also wanted to expand my art portfolio and start experimenting with other styles outside of TF2.
But in order to do this, I had to make a choice: if I wanted to have my attention fully on this new direction, I would have to put both Take Back The Fortress and Do Not Stand At My Grave on hiatus. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning these projects, and I fully intend on finishing both of them - and even potentially adapting DNSAMG into an animated analog horror series. But I need to put these projects on hold to focus on my career.
While I have enjoyed my time in this fandom, I don't want to be locked into doing just TF2 content. So if you like my work and want to see more from me, I'll still be active over on my main blog @babs-n-baubles, and all of my artwork can be found on my DA and Bsky. If you want to commission me, my services are available on Ko-Fi.
Thank you for all of your support. Really, I can't express how grateful I am that you guys have enjoyed my work for so long.
