Welcome to Candlelight

Hello! Welcome to our little newsletter.

For the past couple years, the internet has not been very fun. Especially for independent artists. Things seem to keep getting harder and harder. Harder to figure out what to do next as everything we used to do crumbles around us.

But the weird thing: the internet still feels very big to us. As someone that builds websites and reads about the internet a lot - there's so much out there. New things every day. But I've noticed that every year the tech part and the art parts keep getting further away from each other. Leaving a big, dark void between them.

So the point of this newsletter is to walk right into that void. To grab something wiggling and weird out of it. And share it with you. Because there’s lots out there in the dark. And it gets a lot less scary when you bring a light with you.

Our goal is to help you make your art. To bring you a blog article that inspires you to finish your comic. Or see a little post or picture that makes you laugh. Skim a review for an app that helps you crosspost your illustrations across the internet. To show you something that gives you a little bit of hope. Anything that might make you excited to make art, and share it.

Because you deserve better than what the internet has given you so far. And so does your art.

- Kevin (Bluesky) & Chuck (Bluesky)

Cool Links Zone

• https://blog.reimenayee.com/site-revamp-artist-sites-should-be-more-fun-maybe/ - Artist Reimena Yee goes through how they balanced the personal and professional with their website, mixing portfolio and personal space.

• https://diagram.website/ - A text map of the small and idiosyncratic web, organized in overlapping categories.  

• https://modem.io/blog/blog-monetization/ - A work of art. I can't even tell you much ahead of time without spoilers.

• https://goblincat.neocities.org/ - A website that reminds me that your website is your own gallery and personal space. It can be as fun, spooky, and weird as you want.