Hi, guys! What's up?
I hope all of you are well today--me, on the other hand, is not so good >_<;

I have good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad news first, shall we? So the investors are more impatient than I thought. My friends and I ended up getting laid off starting this month since they want to give AI a try ASAP. My boss tried hard to persuade them otherwise, but in the end, I guess the temptation is too big. I have no hard feelings since my boss have treated us well so good luck for them. 

The good news is my boss compensated us for this sudden event by still paying our May & June's salary. He said it's to give us time until we get a new job. See? He's really a good boss. It's not all that bad. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about AI, but I'm starting to feel the burnout from drawing everyday so I'll treat this as a vacation x'D that, and I'm quite happy to have more time to develop Saving Grace!

Speaking of which, the Village's Background is doing great! It's 98% finished, I will probably do some minor adjustment later when I'm making the GUI, but nothing major, so it could be considered to be finished now!

For now, the Village's finished background will be exclusively shown to my $5 and up Patrons on Patreon.  However, here's the promised last week's WIP:

This one is around 80% finished. The final version has a darker tone for the road since I wanted the houses to be your eyes' main focus. It also looks good if I put it side-by-side with the forest background, I'm really satisfied with the balance/harmony so far!

My only headache is I still have quite a lot of backgrounds to draw, like the castle halls, bedrooms, especially the Market & Village Square--man, the quality control is going to be insane x'D I enjoy the hard work but it takes time. This is why I'm a bit relieved to have more time to work on Saving Grace!

I will probably use this week to rest though. I have a lot to catch up (movies, webtoons, sleep), so I will focus on doing background sketches & polishing the story-plot.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank my boss for the opportunity to have been able to work for him. I've become better as an artist & improved so much under his encouragement. It's a hard time for us artists because of AI, but I believe hardwork will never betray us so let's stay positive!

Let's continue to work hard together, guys!
And of course, don't forget to eat your meals, rest well, & drink water!
xoxo,

SweetChiel

P.S. I'm sure you already know about this, but just in case: please do not use the images I've posted without permissions!

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