Grenbug

In addition to my Monthly Reviews, I also like looking back at the whole year and reviewing my goals. One thing I discovered while reviewing is that last year I didn’t do a 2024 review and didn’t really set any goals for 2025. I have been doing some kind of annual review/goals for several years so it was interesting to see that I missed it last year. But, on with this year!

2025 Art Update

One thing I did start last year is a refresh of this blog and tracking my art practice time. That’s what the ‘Hours’ posts are all about. And I started the year strong and went through all the SVS first level classes. But then around May I got stuck on drawing characters, in particular, drawing faces, and I really got stuck and demotivated. I couldn’t find a good way out. People kept pointing me toward Loomis, but that is NOT beginner material and it was not what I needed at all, that lead to further demotivation. What I needed was a more relaxed intro to more cartoony faces. I’m starting to understand that now and the 21 Draw classes are helping. I’m easing back into daily sketching with a much more relaxed approach. It’s making it more fun again.

So, last year was a hard year for art. I didn’t get a lot done, I had very few finished pieces and didn’t do any Master Copies. Missing out on Master Copies was really bad. Master Copies are a real confidence booster for me. I can copy an art piece that I really like and usually have really good results! When you use another artist’s skills on composition, style, and color, it means you can focus on the technical side of things just doing the drawing and painting. My technical skills aren’t too bad, so it gives me confidence that I can learn eventually and will be able to make good satisfying illustrations of my own someday. I need to bring back Master Copies in 2026.

For finished pieces, Duke’s Castle is the only finished watercolor I did last year. I love how it turned out, but I need to do a lot more pieces if I want to improve.

2025 Minecraft Update

2025 was also a hard year for my Minecraft channel. I started the year with getting 200+ views on each Skyblock video, and ended the year with getting an average of 20 views per video. I was not alone in this. I heard in both Minecraft and Art channel forums that everyone’s views are WAY down. If you have a big, established channel, you are mostly ok. If you are just starting, YouTube will try throwing your stuff out there to see if you make a hit. But if you don’t make a hit, YouTube seems to give up on you and barely gives your videos a try. And this is all over YouTube.

So, in a way, I don’t feel too bad, the algorithm has changed and I if I really wanted to make a channel that grew, I could try working on it. But my videos were always intended to be just a hobby. In fact, if I ever do get monitized, I would not post any ads in my videos, so that’s not a goal for me. And, I’m really down on YouTube anyway. I just feel like it’s ‘just another social media’ platform. It might as well be TikTok or Instagram. It’s just trying to keep people on the platform so they can force more ads down your throat. I feel like saying in every video that my viewers should do themselves a favor and get off YouTube right now. Just stop the video and go do something fun.

I almost deleted my whole channel back in August 2025 just because I think YouTube is clearly making the platform worse just to sell more ads. Instead I started my Longplay series meant to be something you could put on while doing something else, studying, crafting, or sleeping. But again, I got down to 20 views per video and it’s just not worth the time to do it. Besides, at that point I wanted to make art more of my focus anyway, so I stopped.

I did make some videos that I was really proud of, such as the Max’s Town Timelapse, the Skyblock where I made little animations for each step of getting ready to go to the end, and I really do LOVE my Longplay series, I had so much fun with these.

I will continue making videos in 2026, but they will be much more tied to art. I don’t know what they will look like yet. But I’ll make them when I have something fun to share. I’m still playing on each of my worlds, but with very limited time available, as it should be! I see this as a very positive turn for the channel, and a return to why I started the channel in the first place.

2025 Life Update

One recurring theme I kept seeing in my annual reviews is that, literally for years, I have been saying I wanted to get back into sewing. I was really into sewing during the pandemic and got out of it when I started my Minecraft channel. There just wasn’t time for it all. But, it was a little sad to see my notes over and over for several years saying I want to get back to it. So, although I didn’t do any sewing in 2025, that is going to change and I’m going to make it a goal for 2026. I am noting it here just so it shows up in my 2026 review and I can say that here is where I made that change.

One crafty thing I get finished was a knitted blanket. I started a blanket when I started my Longplay series and would knit while watching the videos and was able to finish a blanket in about 3 months, which is great! It did renew my interest in knitting and is something I can do while watching videos or movies.

So, 2025 all in all was not the best year. Down in art, down in Minecraft, one of my kitties was ill and died, and I didn’t get a lot of goals done, even though I missed any kind of goal setting. However, I had a lot of fun this year, I did learn a lot about art and I feel like I progressed. But, I’m hoping that I get more done in 2026 and can say that it was a better year. I’ll post my 2026 goals soon!