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Gabbi Chronicles - 2015
Dec. 31st, 2015 03:20 pm
To summarize my 2015 in a few words it would be; "horrible start, good ending".
The start of 2015 was rough in so many ways.
One of my monthly clients had abruptly stopped working with me, my patreon had to be shut down because of the VAT-mess, and I couldn't find any jobs.
I was living with my family for most part of December - February, and besides my supportive family and friends, I was having a pretty bad time...
The only sunshine in my life at the time came in February when my mom and dad FINALLY got their new puppy! They've talked so long about getting a new dog after our golden Ludde past away a few years ago, and I'm glad it became a reality.
He is a black miniature schnauzer for those who are curious.
Look how tiny and cute he is (or rather was)!! X3
Rick is his name, and he is a bundle of joy! <3 Made everyday so much better!
I got back to Stockholm late February and everything just felt like poop.
No work in sight. Had to borrow money from my parents to pay rent.
Then.
Something happened...
In the beginning of March, I got an email telling me that I was considered for an illustration job.
And not any job either, it was to draw the illustrations for "Julkalendern", which is Swedens annual advent calendar.
Swedes know the weight of the job, as it's probably one of the biggest christmas traditions we have in this country.
To illustrators it's one of the most prestigious jobs you can get!
I got to draw some work samples, and some time later, I found out that I got the job!!!
FUCK YES!!
Not only did I get this awesome freelance job, I knew that I wouldn't be in financial trouble this year either. No more crying over bills!
March, April and May went by in a blur because of the work. Annoyingly I couldn't tell anyone what I was working on, since it's pretty secret until the last months before christmas.
In May I visited Stockholms International Comic Festival, also known as SIS in Sweden. It's tradition. Because of work I didn't have time to draw a comic, so I did not attend the festival as a seller.
Once again, like last year, I was just a visitor, and it felt a bit sad not having a table and selling stuff. I'm really aiming to sell a comic next year! :D
I still had a great time this year though! I went to the festical with these lovely ladies!
Me, Lisen, Jennie, Emma, along with some beautiful flowers outside our apartment and some mochi ice cream (first time I tried it this year and it's awesome!)
Spring in a nutshell: Got an fantastic job, wohooo! Got disappointed by Avengers - Age of Ultron. Felt bad for not working on comics for so long. Got my nails done all the time because my friend Lisen was training to become a nail therapist. <3 Was so in love with the Yowamushi Pedal series!
I always go home to my family during the summer, but before that, we had... DINOSAUR DAY!! XD
Why? Because of Jurassic World! ;P
It was Emmas idea that we (me and some friends) should go to the Naturhistoriska riksmuseet (Swedish Museum of Natural History) and look at dinosaurs. The dinosaur section of the museum was seriously lacking, but it was still fun and I met new friends! 8D
Summer came, I traveled home to my family.
During summer I got to relax a lot, "celebrate" my birthday, and just cuddle with Rick and the cats. X3
I also got dragged into SASO HELL! XD
SASO is the Sports Anime Shipping Olympics, and I entered the fan event as part of Team Imanaru (Imaizumi / Naruko from Yowamushi Pedal).
I worked with an AMAZING team consisting of Team Captain Lin, Trilly, Leah and me. We got third place in the event and I'm so proud! *w*
I'm sooo gonna enter next year as well!
★ Main event Team Imanaru Entry 1
★ Main event Team Imanaru Entry 2
Summer in a nutshell: animal cuddles, sleeping and SASO HELL.
Summer ended way too soon and I found myself back in Stockholm.
I got to see the paper calendar for the first time!
It was a big moment for me.
But it was even bigger to see the calendar in stores!
And we're talking about almost ALL grocery stores and many book stores in the country! I got photos from friends and family all over the country who had seen it. It was quite magical. <3
The work with the calendar web material started later that autumn, which was a very stressfull time.
But before the stress of work started, me and Emma took the train to Göteborg and the Gothenburg Book Fair!!
I've heard so much about the Book Fair from friends and colleges, and I was really excited to go since I earlier this year had released a childrens book. Okay not "me" XD, but rather my writer and me.
The book I illustrated was a hand book for children on how to survive in the wild. It's called BLÖH.
The train to Göteborg was delayed quite a bit, so when me and Emma finally got there a lot of the day had past, so we decided to rest and spend out engery on the two other fair days.
Instead we ended up taking a boat tour around central Göteborg! We saw a lot of cool stuff!
We also ended up watching Pixars Inside Out, which was FANTASTIC! Such a great movie! <3
The fair itself was pretty cool!
A LOT bigger than I thought it would be!
I'm not sure it was worth spending money on for me personally. Unless I don't have a really good reason to go next year, I probably wont.
But it was amazing finally meeting a lot of the people that I've only had mail contact with before, like my publishers and my writer for BLÖH.
Autumn in a nutshell: Work & Book Fair. Filler season.
Winter came, and work continued.
I was stressed beyong anything I've experienced before, but I was still in a good mood most of the time time, because unlike some stressful periods I've had in the past, I had a lot of fun with the calendar work.
Looking back at it now, there's a lot of things I would have done differently, but all in all, I'm proud of what I produced for the calendar. It's always tricky working on big projects like these where a lot of people have different opinions on how the end product should look.
But still... Job well done me! *pats back*
In November/December, the calendar job was done, and I was a mess.
I didn't do much besides trying to slow down my racing mind, and spend time sleeping, playing some games and working on my own stuff.
My own projects have not gotten the attention it deserved this year, but that's sadly how it had to be.
Despite the fact that I haven't had time to work much on Victubia, I've tried to keep the flame glowing by fleshing out the universe and streaming.
The streams have really kept me going and I'm glad that I tried to do them even when I was really stressed, because the energy and amazing people really gave me a boost! It made everything a bit easier. <3
Currently, I'm back at my parents, AGAIN. ;P
It might sounds like I see them often, but I only visit them two-three times a year since we live far apart.
I've a very family loving person, so when I visit I usually stay for a month or two, haha!
Christmas was awesome, and right now (new years eve) I'm with my sisters and some of their friends. I've escaped to my room for some peace and quiet, because damn, those guys are loud. XD
My youngest sister is treating us to a four course meal, and it's soooo gooooood....
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Games 2015: I haven't played much games this year, which makes me quite sad. The only new game I played was Journey, which was so beautiful! I'm glad I finally got to play it! <3
I mostly replayed old games like Skyward Sword and Skies of Arcadia. I also replayed Pokémon X for the second time, and I got swallowed by the Sims 4 game... It's hard to stop when you start.
Now however, I've finally gotten a computer than can handle most games I want to play on PC! It's so awesome, and I can finally play the games that kind people have gifted me on steam! *w*
Movies 2015: A movie I loved this year was the new Star Wars movie! The Force Awakens was an amazing movie and I really want to see it again soon! And I say this as a rookie fan. XD I've only watched the Star Wars movies 2-3 times each, and watched them for the first time in 2010.
Other movies I loved this year was: Inside Out, Jurassic World, Crimson Peak and The Circle (Cirkeln). I probably forgot some...
I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not watching Mad Max or the latest two Hunger Games movies yet. XD
Anime/Manga 2015: Yowamushi Pedal stole most part of spring and summer for me! XD It's been a long time since I was so excited for a series as I was for YowaPeda!
It had the same kind of silly, awesome and addicting feel that Prince of Tennis had, and PoT used to be a HUGE part of my life back in the day, haha!
YowaPeda is getting a new season in 2016, and I'm seriously SO HYPED!!
The rest of my hype was spent on DIGIMON, which finally showed up in November, and it was glorious. *w* I know there are some mixed reviews for this new Adventure Tri season, but for me personally, I LOVED IT. The taito feelings were so strong dammit! XD
During the year I also caught up on the Ookiku Furikabutte manga and the Karneval manga, which I both enjoy a lot. Finally watched the Tales of Symphonia anime which made me very emotional. X'D
I've added a lot of series to my "to watch"-list. Mostly series that I was too stressed to watch, but I hope to have some more time to watch anime/read manga in 2016.
All in all, 2015 started out as a crappy year for me, but really evolved into something great!
I feel like this year was a bit of a starting point in my career and I hope things continue like this, haha!
I wanna give a special thanks to people who helped me through the rough periods, mainly my family and my two roomates, but also to my amazing mod friends! <3 Tina, Asa, Raz, Panda, Mishy, Jo and Shady. Thank you!
Thank you for being there for me and for being such amazing friends! You always managed to make my stressful days brighter! <3
Also thank you to all the cool people on twitter and tumblr for always cheering me up when I needed to get my mind off things! :D
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I have high hopes for 2016, and I'm gonna refocus on my own stuff from now on. I have plans! XD Muhahaha!
Thank you for reading, and I wish you all an AMAZING START OF NEW YEAR! <3
Let's make 2016 AWESOME! <3
Love, Gabbi
