September 9, 2024 by Hab Oh

Don’t you worry, Unit 333: Reveries is still in the works BUT we’re going to show love to its sister series now!

THERE ARE SWEATY MINDS AMONG US!

My new webcomic series, Sweaty Minds, is releasing on September 19th! It will be available to read for FREE here on the site with its own dedicated page, Instagram, and TikTok.

Sweaty Minds, a satirical comic with tongue-in-cheek humor about our crumbling mental health, obsessive self-care, and finger-pointing hot topics. Featuring a cast of artists with imposter syndrome, bounty hunters with anxiety, cyborgs with bad attitudes, or eldritch beings addicted to retail therapy, Sweaty Minds will certainly have a character that reminds you of that one person you saw acting weird on the train last week.

HOW IT STARTED….HOW IT’S GOING

Original Sweaty Minds Comic, Inktober 2018

Sweaty Minds originally started as an Inktober 2018 project. If you’re unfamiliar with Inktober, it’s an online-art challenge where for the month of October, you have to draw something new each day. Typically, it would be attached to a theme BUT I decided to, as Miles Morales would say, do my own thing. So, I challenged myself to create a brand-new comic with brand-new characters within those 31 days…and that’s how Sweaty Minds was born. I hadn’t bothered to touch the series again, until now.

I decided to revamp the concept of the comic, redesign the characters, and give it a nice little connection to Unit 333 and here we are…

Sweaty Minds, Circles, Key Art with Logo

This is my first true foray into the realm of political cartooning and I’m excited to flex my creative muscles on this project. You can expect to see a new comic strip out every week, on Wednesdays. In addition to the comic, there will be occasional animated shorts alongside illustrations too!

Patreon Members will have access to all Sweaty Minds art early with the new comics being posted at least 1 week early on the Habtoons Patreon.

I'M A YOUTUBE PARTNER! // WE MOVING UP! / May 12, 2024 by Hab Oh

YURR, Habgoblins! I’ve got some exciting news to share with you all, if you haven’t heard already. Let’s get into it and what’s coming for the Habtoons Brand.

I’M YOUTUBE PARTNER!

I can’t believe it but I’ve finally reached YouTube Partner Status. I’ve been waiting on this moment for such a long time and all it took was a passionate video essay “review” of an animated series. This has given me a major boost in confidence, affirming that I am on the right track and reaching the right audiences. At the time of writing this, I’m sitting around 1,300 Subscribers! If you’re one of that 1300 (which I’m sure you are), I want to thank you from the deepest parts of my soul for helping reach this moment! And, it’s only up from here!

If you were able to clock my time on YouTube, I’m sure I’ve got an entire lifetime worth of Watch Hours on there. Haha. I love YouTube and I think it’s the best platform out there for myself and creators like me. I can’t wait to dive deeper into the new features available to me, especially now that channel is monetized. Speaking of, we’ve got YouTube Memberships now too. I’m calling it The Habgoblin Social Club. You can check read more details about it here.

I’d also like to give a special shoutout to our FIRST (of many) channel members: PJ! Thank YOU!

LEAVING TWICH

That being said, I’ve decided to leave Twitch. As I’ve stated in previous blogs and videos, I am no longer going to participate in platforms that aren’t serving me personally and as an Artist. Twitch was a wonderful experience during the COVID-19 Lockdown. I met so many incredible people and the channel was doing pretty decent for a while! Unfortunately, overtime, a lot of the growth and community fizzled out. There aren’t many people that interest me on that platform anymore, either. It’s been stagnant. And, with YouTube consistently growing, I’d rather pour my focus into just once place that allows me to have a more enriched experience as both creator and consumer.

The habohtv page will still be up, and I may use it from time to time, but for the foreseeable future, all streams will be on YouTube.

STREAM AND CONTENT SCHEDULE

Departing from Twitch to do YouTube full-time will bring some changes to how the schedule is set up. As of right now, we’re still sticking with Tuesday-Friday @12PM EST. So don’t worry about that. Going forward, all broadcasts will take place on YouTube. That means the Art x Gaming Streams, Pop-up Streams, and everything in between will be solely on YouTube.

I’m still figuring out logistics for music and some other background maintenance but starting this coming Tuesday, May 14th, we’ll be on YouTube for the good vibes. New Videos will continue to be uploaded every Friday, with a longer video essay out once a month. Shorts will be once a week on Tuesdays. As the channel grows and the $$$ flows in, I’ll expand the on the frequency of uploads and potentially livestreams. And, as we gain more Habgoblin Social Club Members (Channel Members), I will also expand into Members-Only videos, streams, and posts as well.

With that being said, see y’all soon!

SUPPORTING ON PATREON

With over 700 posts of exclusive art, downloadables, and content there has never been a better time to be a Habtoons Patreon Member. There’s so much in store for us and I’m excited for this journey together as a community. If you haven’t signed up already, NEW members can sign up for the BAHBI Tier, which is just $1/month. This tier grants you Founder Status (Founding Habgoblin), among other great benefits. This is available for the first 500 new members, so get it in where you fit in. Sign-up today!

PHASE 5 & THE RETURN OF STREAMS // A NEW ROAD OPENS / April 16, 2024 by Hab Oh

HABGOBLINS! It’s been a minute BUT I had to take some time to readjust some things in both my professional and personal life. Don’t worry, things are moving forward in the best possible way right now.

LIVE STREAMING RETURNS

I’ve really missed getting on Twitch and YouTube to hang with y’all. Like I said in the last blog update, I just needed some time to think on how streaming would serve me and the Habtoons Brand. So, I’m happy to announce that HAB OH LIVE returns on April 30th!

Livestreams will take place Tuesdays through Friday @ 12PM EST. Art x Gaming is coming to Twitch a new concept where I’ll be drawing art in the first half of the stream related to whatever game I decide to play in the second half. A more casual experience that will allow me to work on art outside of the Unit 333 Project. There will occasionally be Request Streams where you can ask me to draw whatever you want (within reason) using Twitch’s Bits system. On YouTube’s end, Drawing Sessions will continue but will be reduced to one stream per week. This will still serve as project streams, working on specific illustrations for the Unit 333 Project or any future work I’d like to share the creation process of.

Livestreams can extend past 3 hours. Depending on my mood or audience vibes, I will stream for extended hours. This would be a benefit to the late afternoon and evening crowds. Weekends will still be off limits unless otherwise specified.

Livestreams will broadcast via Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok respectively. TikTok will be used to multistream when I’m on either Twitch or YouTube but YouTube and Twitch will never be live at the same time.

YOUTUBE VIDEO SCHEDULE

Here is the current YouTube Schedule for April to May 2024. You can expect a new video up once per week, every Friday @ 11AM EST. YouTube Shorts will be uploaded every Tuesday @ 9AM EST. Depending on any hot topics, news, or inspiration that hits me, you can also expect an additional video to pop up anytime during the work week @ 11AM EST.

I’ll be leaning more into the video essayist side of YouTube going forward. This will still include gaming and art but with polished scripts and editing. I’m most likely will refrain from doing anymore “Let’s Play” style videos going forward. You can expect the topics I cover to always center some form of art and any political/social themes surrounding it. ALSO: These aren’t the official titles of the upcoming videos, just placeholder names while I think of something catchier.

HABTOONS PHASE 5

I announced Phase 5 a while back and we’re not entering deeper into this new paradigm set before us. If you’ve been keeping up with me on social media, you know I’ve been moving things around to better suit my needs and desires. I no longer use (or have) Facebook or Twitter. The only social media apps I use now are: TikTok, Instagram, Threads, and Discord (if you count it as social media); with TikTok being my main platform.

This newfound “freedom” has given me room to explore new concepts and ideas not just for my art but how I want to present it online; and how I specifically want to approach these apps without burning myself out. There’s a schedule there too. Everything has a schedule now. That’s the secret sauce.

As far as the artwork and projects themselves: Unit 333 is making good progress and if you’re on Patreon (which you should be), you’ve been treated to an array of new illustrations, behind-the-scenes stories, and even a new series under the Unit 333 umbrella. I’m working diligently to make sure I bring you all quality work with this project and, as I’ve mentioned before, have plans to extend that creative process to different artistic mediums.

I find that if you are if you stick solely with one way to create your entire life, you’re not truly an artist. I want to dip my toes into everything I possibly can that makes sense to me. Be it music, film, or more traditional forms of visual arts, I want to expand. There’s already been a few performance/film-like uploads on TikTok to test the waters but now that I’ve adjusted the things I needed to, I can go deeper.

I know this all sounds vague, but I promise further details will be expressed soon. I just wanted to get you all situated for what’s to come. Phase 5 is upon us, we’re in it, and we’re staying here for a while. My purpose as an artist is clearer now and we’re going to have an outstanding time.

PATREON

With all these changes, I had to update the Patreon Page as well. Patreon will serve as a hub for the creative musings and processes of any and all Habtoons Projects. I am so incredibly grateful for everyone who has joined recently, those who have been longtime members, and those to come.

Here are the new and improved membership tiers.

THE SHOP, LIVESTREAMING, AND US! // IMPORTANT UPDATES / March 16, 2024 by Hab Oh

Happy Saturday, Habgoblins! Y’all been feeling the weather? Spring is upon us, it seems and I’m ready to bust my shorts out, haha! This blog will cover some info on the future of livestreaming for Habtoons and The Shop.

A BREAK FROM STREAMING

You probably noticed I have not gone live this week and if you’re not following me on my socials, you may have been confused. I’m not quitting streaming on either YouTube, Twitch, or TikTok. What I am doing is taking a short break. I need it.

Around the middle of the pandemic, I picked up livestreaming which I never thought would be possible. It wasn’t even something I had ever considered doing and eventually, I fell in LOVE with it. Livestreaming had been a great way to keep myself occupied during lockdown and meet new people. It also turned out to be a great way to make an income, 2020-2021 was a great time for my Twitch channel! Unfortunately, due to some missteps, drama, and my lack of foresight in building a strong community, all of that dwindled. It is what it is.

Since then, I’ve tried just about everything to reignite the magic the permeated through my burgeoning livestream career. Nothing’s really sticking, and it’s been affecting my mental health. I’ve “rage quit” a few streams where nobody showed up for the first 45-60 minutes. I’d get so hype with topics to discuss, new art, or ideas I’d want to share only to sit there talking to myself the entire time. I tried daily streams, morning streams, night streams, pop-up streams, you name it, I’ve done it and to no avail, the channel wasn’t seeing growth. You can imagine how frustrating that can be.

I also got sick of “just playing games”, I’m not a gaming channel and I resented the way I approached Twitch without incorporating more of my artistic career at the forefront. Just sitting there playing games has become boring to me and I’d much rather just talk or work on art projects. With gaming, you either have to be a total expert at the game (like I am with Mass Effect) or jump on whatever how new trending game has everyone going wild, which is MAD expensive to do. All of this was driving me crazy.

So, I’m taking an extended break to reevaluate how I want livestreaming to serve the Habtoons/Hab Oh brand, how I’d want to build a new community around it, and how I continue to broadcast without draining my soul. I know that last part sounds dramatic but who would I be if I wasn’t extra? Haha!

I don’t know when I’ll be back in full capacity BUT you will be the first to know when we’re back on and poppin. In the meantime, you can always check out my YouTube Channel where I’ve transitioned into creating short video essays, art timelapses, and animation.

THE HABTOONS SHOP, SOFT RELAUNCH

Just like with livestreaming, the shop has seen a decline too. To be frank, I wasn’t feeling the apparel as much as I originally thought I would. And, as a whole, I was starting to feel that the merch itself had no personality or direction. I spent some time with everyone’s favorite mod, Cocoqueenie, over the week discussing what needs to change. Shoutouts to Coco, for real, our conversations gave me great insight in what I need to do next.

I want to create designs and merch that really speak to YOU. Not just slapping an illustration on a crewneck and calling it a day. While some folks don’t mind that, I just don’t like the idea of being another run of the mill brand in that way. As of right now, all merch on the shop is DOWN until I come up with fun designs I wouldn’t mind wearing on my own body, let alone the rest of y’all.

The Habtoons Shop isn’t entirely offline though as I’m offering new and returning Art Prints, Phone Wallpapers, and E-Books. Prints will now have a standardized size and price. For our Patreon Members, there is a Flash Sale Code available to you now, with the sale ending on Monday.

PATREON IS BETTER THAN EVER

I’ve been spamming the mess out of my Patrons this week with new art, phone wallpapers, and other goodies. I know their emails been going crazy and I am not sorry, haha! There’s plenty more on the way and I am incredibly grateful for your continued support of the Habtoons Brand, keep an eye out this coming week for a very special announcement.

You can be part of this wonderfully expanding list of folks by signing up for the Habtoons Patreon for just $1. The new and improved $1 Membership Tiers offers amazing benefits for those who would love to support but may not have the funds for higher tiers. Here are six (6) reasons I’m sure will convince you:

1. The first 500 people to sign-up for the $1/Month Tier ($12/year) are locked-in for a Lifetime, gain Founding Member/VIP Status on my website (The Hall of Habgoblins), and the added benefit of a rewards from higher tiers. Quite a steal!

2. You get EXTRA art & content, we’re talking EXCLUSIVES.

3. Ain’t NOBODY on the internet creating to the quality, depth and detail I am. My art style, stories, and opinions are unique!

4. Equipment Maintenance, Software, Art Materials/Supplies, and Printing Costs are EXPENSIVE.

5. I’m a one-man team. All the art, livestreams, videos, editing, research/development, filming, animating is all done by ME (among other things).

6. The preservation of Black Culture & Stories without the quality being diluted by outside forces that would seek to alter or censor the narratives we need and deserve.

So, what are you waiting for? Join Us Today! Click Here To Become a Habtoons Patreon!

HAB OH