I'm gonna be honest, I suck at goodbyes. But I'm going to try my best to explain my reasonings for leaving BagelofTime behind. As well as post a Q&A that I hosted in my patron discord group chat.. and a couple of frequently asked questions.

After a couple of months of consideration, I have decided to retire my penname. For years now, after prioritizing commissions purely for survival, I found myself with a gallery full of drawings and ideas that I had little to no attachment to. At one point I had around 1300 submissions on Deviantart.. can you guess how many of those were my original ideas? less than 200. I never gave myself the time to work on my own ideas. I pretty much turned my passion for drawing into a part time job, alongside my full time job. I started taking commissions around 2018, I was living with my mom at the time.. lets just say that it wasn't the healthiest place for me to stay. I made it my goal to move out as soon as I possibly could, so I got a part time job. Around that time I also started getting traction on my DA page, and eventually I had a handful of users message me about potential work. From then on out I really adapted the 'hustler' mentality. If I had freetime, I used it to play video games or hang out with friends. Very rarely would I draw stuff for myself.. heck I basically abandoned both comic projects I was working on along with the cast of ocs that I made for it. Eventually my husband and I (boyfriend at the time) were able to move out on our own, but that came with a new set of obstacles of course: bills. I took a big break around this time to go full time at my new job, as well as try my best to adjust to our new living situation. It didn't take long for me to realize that I needed to make more money to make ends meet... so I started up commissions again. During that down time I did get to draw for myself a lil more, but not nearly enough as I wanted to.

So for the next few years I built my gallery on nothing but paid projects. Now don't get me wrong, it's a blessing to have a skill that you can profit off of, but it becomes a burden when you lose passion in it. I had made myself a few new ocs along the way, but they never got to shine in the limelight like I wanted them to. I never got to write the stories that I had planned for them or create more artwork for them.. I did get lucky and have some people pay me to draw them (which was awesome), but I also got unlucky and encountered clients who took advantage of that. Putting them in situations that were fetishistic in nature, stuff that I didn't realize was a fetish. I also had a couple of clients use me as a fetish farm for their obscure interests.. I know that this makes me sound naive, but I never educated myself on how to distinguish a fetish from a special interest. I just figured these repetitive ideas were special interests since they were ' non-sexual' in nature. I had a fan reach out as well as a friend around the same time pointing those out to me.. so I quickly put a stop to working with these people and deleted most of their content out of my gallery. (And I wanna say that there's nothing wrong with having a fetish and wanting fetish art but.. you have to go to the right artists who are okay with that sort of thing.. I wasn't aware of what I was doing basically).

As I grew as an artist, I started to feel more and more alienated from my own gallery. Having it full of illustrations that... despite drawing it, weren't my own. Even if they were fanarts for stuff I like or interests that I enjoyed as well.. they still weren't my concepts.So around 2023 is when I finally set myself some more boundaries. I stopped working with certain users, avoided fetish art that didn't align with my own interests, and only took in work that I was comfortable doing. I had enough skill and a decent number of regular clients that I felt like I could actually be more flexible with what I was willing to do and don't do.. But up until now, even with these new rules I still felt so foreign to my own gallery. I tried to do my own 'project' of sorts and draw as many MLP characters as I could, but it still wasn't enough. I had also grown tired of my penname. It was something that I chose for a different platform, Instagram. I was pressured into making one back in 2013 and went with that name.. and after awhile the joke grew old. Especially now that I'm an adult and not a kid lol. Just kinda felt like I've been on survival mode during my whole career as Bagel... but now that I'm in a much more comfortable living situation and I have more flexibility with what I can do with my art.. well.. I decided it was time for a change.

Things haven't always been bad though of course.. I met some awesome friends along the way, people who got to know the real me outside of my artwork. I do have regular clients that I love to work with now and I did have time to draw some stuff that I'm really fond of in 2025. I'm allowed to be happy and comfortable along with making a living off of what I do, and these friends and clients make that possible. I won't name any names here.. but.. y'all know who you are ;)

So goodbye... kind of. I'll be going under another penname from now on. I won't reveal it in this journal, but if you know you know. If you do wish to keep following me, send me a note and I'll let you know where I'm at ;) Ever since I started deleting stuff off of my old Deviantart account I've had people harass me over drawings going missing, me not reuploading certain drawings.. etc. And no it's not the clients.. It's literally random ass deviantart weirdos. . So that's why I'm not revealing my new penname here. I'm writing this journal as an explanation for anyone who finds themselves here.

Q&A Time:

(sorry if some of the questions were answered in my blurb above.. gonna post them with my initial response anyways as a sort of TL;DR)

Looking back at your career, what would you say are some of your most proudest, stand out moments?

The proudest moment for me was learning how to draw digitally with a tablet.. I was using a mouse for the longest time

What is your biggest regret about your art career?

Not doing research before going nosedive into a freelance career. I had no boundaries other than no NSFW at first. It was purely for survival though, I lived off of cheap commissions for a few years.. so any ‘no’ to me felt like a loss of income when that was far from the truth.


What advice would you give someone who wanted to pursue an art career?

Don't take commissions that you're not comfortable with, even if you have a gut feeling. And do some reading up on fetishes.. There are clients out there who prey on vulnerable artists and it's easy to become a fetish farm if you don't know any better. And if you do want to do fetish content, stick with what you know and what you enjoy. Only publicly upload commissions that align with your interests, or you're going to attract an audience of people that you don't know how to interact with.


If you had to start your career over from day 1, but retain the knowledge you have now, what would do differently?

I'd build my gallery with art pieces that reflect me and my interests. And if I had a client approach me with the sketchy idea, I wouldn't pursue working with them. Also protect my own original characters from content that is fetishistic in nature or scenarios that would be out of character for them, no matter how much money anyone offers me.


What were some of your hardest challenges to overcome?

Learning how to draw backgrounds and male anatomy. Women have always been easier for me to draw so when I did have free time, it was always fan art of girls, or me making my own female OCs. Learning how to say no was hard too.


As you began to develop and evolve your career over time, what were some unexpected surprises that you didn't foresee in your artistic journey? Whether it be pleasant or not so pleasant surprises.

As for pleasantness, I didn't expect to grow as quickly as I did when I was primarily doing traditional drawings and commissions. And I didn't expect to find so many friends on DA, the handful of friends that I have made are so near and dear to me.

As for unpleasant.. well being used as a fetish farm for a couple of users. Also the loud house fandom.. I genuinely didn't think they were that bad.. boy was I wrong.


As Bageloftime reaches its end, what are some of the most vital learning experiences you'll remember and plan keeping in mind moving forward?

Have boundaries, and put your passions first. Being able to have monetary gain from your skill is a blessing.. but it becomes a curse when you put your passions aside for money. Also I'mma give my OCs the proper love they deserve!


What is one thing you wished you would have done at the very beginning of your journey?

Have boundaries. Being able to say no to work that doesn't align with me. Also go with a different name.. Bagel got really old after a while.

Why the decision to leave?

I have unintentionally alienated myself from my own gallery. About 90% of my drawings featured under Bageloftime are not my ideas or concepts. Also my username was something that I chose on a whim after I was pressured into making an Instagram. It was funny for a while but it really doesn't represent me anymore. What's worse is 100% of the NSFW I've done (up until December of 2025) has nothing to do with what I'm into. Every one of those pieces were for monetary gain.

Will you still have subscription-based services?

Most certainly. I have a Kofi now with access to a few exclusive galleries.

Are some drawings gonna be deleted?

Yeah. Some commissions I straight up regret. Whether it be working with a particular client, realizing it was a barely disguised fetish, or just outright regretting something after viewing it in a new light. There are people out there who think I hate Dolly from 101 DS based off of comms I've done.. that's far from the truth lmao. I barely knew the character! I didn't watch 101 DS until I got curious after I stopped doing comms for it. It's a really good show. Also None of my OC drawings will be here.


What about DA?

Oh I'm still on there, you just got to find me under my new penname. And same for Furaffinity of course

If I send you a drawing that you have not re-uploaded will you post it for me?

No.

Do you have backup copies of all of your art under this pen name?

Nope. If you need help finding something not on here you're out of luck.

Stay tuned for one more 'Thank you' submission.. It'll be a meme not a drawing