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Too Many Plates in the Air!
General | Posted a month agoI'd like to take this time, as always, to thank my Patreons from last Month. Massive shoutout to my five-dollar Parishioner backers! And let's not leave out my dear Donators!
PARISHIONERS
KarakuriCentral
FluffyWolf117
Martin Nilsson
Sir FancySwank
Daylight Shadows
Notnat
Shadō Date
Unformed
Amancalleddominik
Toonophile
BovineMage
Warwolf416
C. Archive
JustCallMeFaux
DuskyLycanroc
Sypher597
Dr.Portal 455
DONATORS
EkhonACT09
Hippo Dippo
Major Matt Mason
Okay, so health-wise things have improved significantly. So much so that I'm now dealing with a very first-world, too much of a good thing kind of problem. What is that, you ask? Too many ideas, not enough hands or time to get them out as fast as I'd want. That's not to mention with each day more ideas pile on...like three for every one thing actually completed.
First, I'm back on some degree of the art training program. Trying to do daily practice, or at the very least every other day when I need to supersede it based on other important projects. This is quick gesture drawings, forms practice, and some deconstruction of others' work I like...which would be copying, so I can't share.
On top of that, I've got two commissions on deck currently that I'm trying to clear off and then take a break in terms of commissions for at least a hot minute. This is because I'm sitting on a bunch of partially completed personal/Patreon-related projects that I actively want to finish.
Story-wise, I'm suffering the same thing as with the other drawing projects. A bunch of unfinished one-shots I can't seem to finish. I'm developing writer's stage fright here...doesn't help that I checked out what ChatGPT could do, and I feel like it can write circles around me. As for the Family Vulpes, it's on Hiatus for a bit. Not too long, I hope. But honestly, I kinda lost all motivation to keep going with Zoot writing once Z2 came out. I just didn't want to touch the world at all, writing-wise, and the motivation has yet to return. So I'm on a break there. Sorry to disappoint everyone. It's funny, Z2 on the horizon kinda killed my motivation to do asks too. Well, that, along with my health. And while my health has improved, I'm just so far removed from the headspace. Thankfully, I can still draw some Dawn at least. For now, anyway.
Aside from art school, I want to get back into animation, as well as 3D modeling, which all require some separate time to focus on, probably after sticking with art school till I'm at least through term one. Then I can switch to an intensive modeling or animation study for a month.
Then there's physical media. Aside from wanting to learn 3D modeling for animation, I also want to print some models. Now that I have some unpainted models I've bought from others and want to paint myself, I need to get a grasp of airbrushing. I also want to dip my toes back into canvas painting. These aren't something I'm rushing into, they are just in the back of my mind.
So naturally, all that said, I have to come up with a plan, a schedule, if you will. Something that's somewhat rigid but still flexible. And most importantly, something that prioritizes what's most important with diminishing prioritization. Right now, it's just a little too loose, but it's a 3-piece daily routine.
1.) Art basics practice (About 15 mins)
2.) Reverse Engineering Art (30 - 1hr)
3.) Pending Comms/Personal Projects ( 1-2 hrs)
That's not accounting for clerical and life-related elements that can get in the way, and the occasional down health day. Although I'm happy to say I've been at my normal routines consistently for a month. As for the art stuff, I at least manage every other day...or every day but broken into halves. By that I mean doing steps 1 and 2 one day, and 3 the next. Then starting over. Naturally, I need to plot out something long-term just to keep it from getting stale. Art school-wise, I'm in the middle of term one, maybe just past it. I don't see myself reaching the end of that without forcing some writing in somewhere, but I guess we'll see.
Oh, I also have to set up my store again. Like my separate store for sticker and print sales. Etsy's pretty much dead for me now.
That about covers that. I'll keep y'all posted as the situation continues to coalesce. Thanks again to my backers and to my fans and long-term followers!
-WT
PARISHIONERS
KarakuriCentral
FluffyWolf117
Martin Nilsson
Sir FancySwank
Daylight Shadows
Notnat
Shadō Date
Unformed
Amancalleddominik
Toonophile
BovineMage
Warwolf416
C. Archive
JustCallMeFaux
DuskyLycanroc
Sypher597
Dr.Portal 455
DONATORS
EkhonACT09
Hippo Dippo
Major Matt Mason
Okay, so health-wise things have improved significantly. So much so that I'm now dealing with a very first-world, too much of a good thing kind of problem. What is that, you ask? Too many ideas, not enough hands or time to get them out as fast as I'd want. That's not to mention with each day more ideas pile on...like three for every one thing actually completed.
First, I'm back on some degree of the art training program. Trying to do daily practice, or at the very least every other day when I need to supersede it based on other important projects. This is quick gesture drawings, forms practice, and some deconstruction of others' work I like...which would be copying, so I can't share.
On top of that, I've got two commissions on deck currently that I'm trying to clear off and then take a break in terms of commissions for at least a hot minute. This is because I'm sitting on a bunch of partially completed personal/Patreon-related projects that I actively want to finish.
Story-wise, I'm suffering the same thing as with the other drawing projects. A bunch of unfinished one-shots I can't seem to finish. I'm developing writer's stage fright here...doesn't help that I checked out what ChatGPT could do, and I feel like it can write circles around me. As for the Family Vulpes, it's on Hiatus for a bit. Not too long, I hope. But honestly, I kinda lost all motivation to keep going with Zoot writing once Z2 came out. I just didn't want to touch the world at all, writing-wise, and the motivation has yet to return. So I'm on a break there. Sorry to disappoint everyone. It's funny, Z2 on the horizon kinda killed my motivation to do asks too. Well, that, along with my health. And while my health has improved, I'm just so far removed from the headspace. Thankfully, I can still draw some Dawn at least. For now, anyway.
Aside from art school, I want to get back into animation, as well as 3D modeling, which all require some separate time to focus on, probably after sticking with art school till I'm at least through term one. Then I can switch to an intensive modeling or animation study for a month.
Then there's physical media. Aside from wanting to learn 3D modeling for animation, I also want to print some models. Now that I have some unpainted models I've bought from others and want to paint myself, I need to get a grasp of airbrushing. I also want to dip my toes back into canvas painting. These aren't something I'm rushing into, they are just in the back of my mind.
So naturally, all that said, I have to come up with a plan, a schedule, if you will. Something that's somewhat rigid but still flexible. And most importantly, something that prioritizes what's most important with diminishing prioritization. Right now, it's just a little too loose, but it's a 3-piece daily routine.
1.) Art basics practice (About 15 mins)
2.) Reverse Engineering Art (30 - 1hr)
3.) Pending Comms/Personal Projects ( 1-2 hrs)
That's not accounting for clerical and life-related elements that can get in the way, and the occasional down health day. Although I'm happy to say I've been at my normal routines consistently for a month. As for the art stuff, I at least manage every other day...or every day but broken into halves. By that I mean doing steps 1 and 2 one day, and 3 the next. Then starting over. Naturally, I need to plot out something long-term just to keep it from getting stale. Art school-wise, I'm in the middle of term one, maybe just past it. I don't see myself reaching the end of that without forcing some writing in somewhere, but I guess we'll see.
Oh, I also have to set up my store again. Like my separate store for sticker and print sales. Etsy's pretty much dead for me now.
That about covers that. I'll keep y'all posted as the situation continues to coalesce. Thanks again to my backers and to my fans and long-term followers!
-WT
Fractal Holding Patterns
General | Posted 3 months agoPlease check out my adoption auction for Miriam the Mothwoman, the last from the batch of 'Cryptid Carnival' adopts I crafted! The link will be right below here and again at the bottom of the journal!
Miriam the Mothmom Ring Mastress!
https://ych.art/auction/225706
Next, I want to thank my supporters on Patreon. Thanks so much to my Parishioners for their long-term support! A lot of you have been here for a very long time, and it's enormously appreciated. Not to leave out my donors, most of whom I'm pretty sure have been here for over a year or more! Thanks for the continued support.
PARISHIONERS
Unformed
FluffyWolf117
Dr.Portal 455
Amancalleddominik
C. Archive
Sypher597
Warwolf416
DuskyLycanroc
BovineMage
Notnat
KarakuriCentral
Daylight Shadows
Shadō Date
Sir FancySwank
Toonophile
JustCallMeFaux
Martin Nilsson
DONATORS
Majot Matt Mason
Hippo Dippo
EkhonACT09
So... it's been a... crazy few months back-to-back. The holiday season didn't go great. It wasn't the worst I've ever experienced, but the respiratory infection I caught right after Thanksgiving stuck with me until about a week before Christmas. Also, I'm going to lead with the health stuff here because it got in the way of everything. So here we go.
I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea around the time my infection wrapped up. I'm still waiting on my machine, which I'm supposed to pick up on Tuesday. (You have to actually go to a facility and be trained to use it before they'll let you take it.) I've been told there's a good chance it'll significantly improve my quality of life, perhaps by 60 percent, according to the sleep doc. If that means I'll even be half as tired and sick as I am now, it would be a vast improvement on my daily life. I might actually be able to have something approaching normal fatigue levels for the average person.
I was also diagnosed with Autism. Level one, apparently, which is good... I just didn't know it had a grading curve. Granted, I had my suspicions, and in the six months leading up to the actual testing and results, I was looking at my past with a very fine-tooth comb, becoming more and more convinced that I had it with each overturned memory. I just didn't want to go self-diagnosing all willy-nilly, because it feels like that's what everyone does online. Also, a proper diagnosis means no shadow of a doubt, so I won't second-guess my appraisal forever, and access to resources I might not have otherwise. I also have generalized anxiety and severe social anxiety disorders, which... was also not a shock. Again, it explains a lot about my life in hindsight.
Considering my crashout over Z2, I suppose that should have been the final nail in the coffin on the autism question. When I write or create, I put a lot of myself into my work. It's something I didn't fully realize until I was already neck-deep writing two books' worth of content about a twist villain character from a Disney movie. I spent a lot of time crafting a world that seemed to resonate with a surprising number of people (to this day, it still shocks me the readers it raked in.). I met some wonderful people and made some real friends, all because of that story. Connections to some of those people have reached the point where I consider them family. Given all the positives, I've had very few negative interactions in this space over all this time. That alone made the journey all worthwhile and impossible to regret.
But once Z2 was on the horizon, I realized there was no way I was going to come away from it satisfied or happy. I know what Disney is, I know how they operate. Especially now, as opposed to almost a decade ago, before the world went nuts. I knew the movie would do gangbusters unless it were so awful, bad word of mouth would sandbag it after the first week. But the overwhelming positive praise got to me, snakes and flanderization and all. That and knowing Dawn's complete slapstick villain persona would just lead to an upsurge in bitchy prison whore fet porn in the tags on most of the sites I go to wasn't an appealing aspect either. Everything I've seen of it gives me a decidedly different vibe from the first movie, to the point where it feels like it's its own sort of fanfiction. And the fact that it's almost all the same beats makes it come off like a soft reboot for a new generation. The overwhelming praise makes me feel like Wildehopps fans are glossing over everything else just to get the barest taste of confirmation. But I'm aware I'm biased here to begin with... and overanalyzing a movie for kids, which is essentially what it is.
It's clear I let myself get too invested for too long. Still, you feel pretty alone when you're one of the few opposing voices in a community that...well, honestly, I never felt like I was conventionally part of. I was never a strong Wildehopps person, and it feels like unless you're peddling it aggressively, you probably won't fit in at ZNN or the other fandom sites. Not like I'm great with being social anyway, so that's probably self-inflicted to some degree.
I'll be honest, I spent a lot of time more mad at myself than anything else. I was annoyed that I allowed myself to get so attached to something I didn't make myself. Of course, knowing I'm autistic now kinda makes that all make sense. But...as I said, I put a lot of myself into my characters. I did the same with Dawn, I guess. Even though I should have known better, despite knowing that being disappointed or upset didn't make logical sense, I was still disappointed anyway by what I felt was lazy, poorly implemented canon. Not just with Dawn, but the setting, and everything else. And that was all amplified by Z2's overwhelming positive reception. Anyway, I've said my peace on all that. I'm not walking away from the niche I've carved out...But I do need some more time to reorient myself on how I want to approach the 'Bellhunterverse' content in the future.
Once again...turning this from simple information about health hurdles to a therapy blog. So let's move on to the actual interesting stuff, so I can stop being vulnerable for a moment.
I'm very behind across the board, from commissions to writing to personal projects. Even my current slew of adopts, the 'Cryptid Carnival' series, is only just wrapping up now, when I intended to finish that in the first week of December. I'm glad I saw it through to the end, but it also made for more projects taking up the queue. I've got two commissions currently that are about halfway through production. They are full color and cell-shaded, respectively. I've also got a bunch of little unfinished one-shot stories, another chapter that needs editing for 'The Family Vulpes', which is....I guess up in the air right now, and a co-author project that I've made next to no progress on, save for lore building.
I also have to finish the editing of the second chapter of "Rehab Revisited", A version of "The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether" where I fix a retcon or two, and add a little bit here or there...(I don't want to go all George Lucas on it.) I'm mostly doing this to take a stab at Audiobooking the story, so I want to make sure I'm reading from a revised version, so hopefully I cringe a little less at my own voice readings.
I'm also toying with the idea of doing my own...narrative project that basically yanks a bunch of the characters from the Bellhunterverse and reorients them into something original using some of the various AU concept content I came up with. But I haven't had time to think about the setting too deeply or decide what kind of story I want to tell with it. Purely slice of life? Supernatural? How depressingly real do I want to make it? I usually avoid things that feel too closely tied to contemporary dystopian stuff because I want my stories to be an escape, not a reminder. I need more time to think, to wait for lightning to strike when my thoughts are a little less clouded by exhaustion and anxiety.
I've got a bunch of personal projects I also want to start and finish, and to top it all off, I've got a bunch of study work I want to sit down and do that was derailed entirely at the start of the holiday season. This extends to 3-D modeling and animation, as well as keeping up with the cube-brush art program. Then there's the voice recording stuff....god...The more I list things off, the more anxious I feel...that's not helping.
I'm also revising some stuff about my Patreon. I checked in with the five-dollar backers, and aside from extending the public release window, they also want Patreon-specific exclusive art. Essentially, stuff that never goes public. The only reason I hadn't been doing that was that Patreons always leak, so I thought a delayed release was the best middle ground. I've also implemented a random sketch-a-month reward for the 5-dollar backers. They submit characters, and then it's up to random chance who gets picked. It was the best sort of middle ground to avoid the sketch becoming a gambling thing for specific members, instead being a group-consensus-built character pool that is then picked at random.
That said, for those of you following my public pages, releases will be scarce after the next workload drop, and not everything will end up on my public pages. The Patreons demand it, and who am I to deny them?
So hey, check out my Patreon! The $5 tier gets access to a Discord chat where WIPS and finished works tend to drop first. 2 dollar gets you access to finished works, and a thank you! Links will be right below this on all my 'public' pages.
Miriam Is live right now! The auction goes for one week or until the max bid is met! Happy Bidding!
https://ych.art/auction/225706
Additional Links -
Miriam the Mothmom Ring Mastress!
https://ych.art/auction/225706
Next, I want to thank my supporters on Patreon. Thanks so much to my Parishioners for their long-term support! A lot of you have been here for a very long time, and it's enormously appreciated. Not to leave out my donors, most of whom I'm pretty sure have been here for over a year or more! Thanks for the continued support.
PARISHIONERS
Unformed
FluffyWolf117
Dr.Portal 455
Amancalleddominik
C. Archive
Sypher597
Warwolf416
DuskyLycanroc
BovineMage
Notnat
KarakuriCentral
Daylight Shadows
Shadō Date
Sir FancySwank
Toonophile
JustCallMeFaux
Martin Nilsson
DONATORS
Majot Matt Mason
Hippo Dippo
EkhonACT09
So... it's been a... crazy few months back-to-back. The holiday season didn't go great. It wasn't the worst I've ever experienced, but the respiratory infection I caught right after Thanksgiving stuck with me until about a week before Christmas. Also, I'm going to lead with the health stuff here because it got in the way of everything. So here we go.
I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea around the time my infection wrapped up. I'm still waiting on my machine, which I'm supposed to pick up on Tuesday. (You have to actually go to a facility and be trained to use it before they'll let you take it.) I've been told there's a good chance it'll significantly improve my quality of life, perhaps by 60 percent, according to the sleep doc. If that means I'll even be half as tired and sick as I am now, it would be a vast improvement on my daily life. I might actually be able to have something approaching normal fatigue levels for the average person.
I was also diagnosed with Autism. Level one, apparently, which is good... I just didn't know it had a grading curve. Granted, I had my suspicions, and in the six months leading up to the actual testing and results, I was looking at my past with a very fine-tooth comb, becoming more and more convinced that I had it with each overturned memory. I just didn't want to go self-diagnosing all willy-nilly, because it feels like that's what everyone does online. Also, a proper diagnosis means no shadow of a doubt, so I won't second-guess my appraisal forever, and access to resources I might not have otherwise. I also have generalized anxiety and severe social anxiety disorders, which... was also not a shock. Again, it explains a lot about my life in hindsight.
Considering my crashout over Z2, I suppose that should have been the final nail in the coffin on the autism question. When I write or create, I put a lot of myself into my work. It's something I didn't fully realize until I was already neck-deep writing two books' worth of content about a twist villain character from a Disney movie. I spent a lot of time crafting a world that seemed to resonate with a surprising number of people (to this day, it still shocks me the readers it raked in.). I met some wonderful people and made some real friends, all because of that story. Connections to some of those people have reached the point where I consider them family. Given all the positives, I've had very few negative interactions in this space over all this time. That alone made the journey all worthwhile and impossible to regret.
But once Z2 was on the horizon, I realized there was no way I was going to come away from it satisfied or happy. I know what Disney is, I know how they operate. Especially now, as opposed to almost a decade ago, before the world went nuts. I knew the movie would do gangbusters unless it were so awful, bad word of mouth would sandbag it after the first week. But the overwhelming positive praise got to me, snakes and flanderization and all. That and knowing Dawn's complete slapstick villain persona would just lead to an upsurge in bitchy prison whore fet porn in the tags on most of the sites I go to wasn't an appealing aspect either. Everything I've seen of it gives me a decidedly different vibe from the first movie, to the point where it feels like it's its own sort of fanfiction. And the fact that it's almost all the same beats makes it come off like a soft reboot for a new generation. The overwhelming praise makes me feel like Wildehopps fans are glossing over everything else just to get the barest taste of confirmation. But I'm aware I'm biased here to begin with... and overanalyzing a movie for kids, which is essentially what it is.
It's clear I let myself get too invested for too long. Still, you feel pretty alone when you're one of the few opposing voices in a community that...well, honestly, I never felt like I was conventionally part of. I was never a strong Wildehopps person, and it feels like unless you're peddling it aggressively, you probably won't fit in at ZNN or the other fandom sites. Not like I'm great with being social anyway, so that's probably self-inflicted to some degree.
I'll be honest, I spent a lot of time more mad at myself than anything else. I was annoyed that I allowed myself to get so attached to something I didn't make myself. Of course, knowing I'm autistic now kinda makes that all make sense. But...as I said, I put a lot of myself into my characters. I did the same with Dawn, I guess. Even though I should have known better, despite knowing that being disappointed or upset didn't make logical sense, I was still disappointed anyway by what I felt was lazy, poorly implemented canon. Not just with Dawn, but the setting, and everything else. And that was all amplified by Z2's overwhelming positive reception. Anyway, I've said my peace on all that. I'm not walking away from the niche I've carved out...But I do need some more time to reorient myself on how I want to approach the 'Bellhunterverse' content in the future.
Once again...turning this from simple information about health hurdles to a therapy blog. So let's move on to the actual interesting stuff, so I can stop being vulnerable for a moment.
I'm very behind across the board, from commissions to writing to personal projects. Even my current slew of adopts, the 'Cryptid Carnival' series, is only just wrapping up now, when I intended to finish that in the first week of December. I'm glad I saw it through to the end, but it also made for more projects taking up the queue. I've got two commissions currently that are about halfway through production. They are full color and cell-shaded, respectively. I've also got a bunch of little unfinished one-shot stories, another chapter that needs editing for 'The Family Vulpes', which is....I guess up in the air right now, and a co-author project that I've made next to no progress on, save for lore building.
I also have to finish the editing of the second chapter of "Rehab Revisited", A version of "The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether" where I fix a retcon or two, and add a little bit here or there...(I don't want to go all George Lucas on it.) I'm mostly doing this to take a stab at Audiobooking the story, so I want to make sure I'm reading from a revised version, so hopefully I cringe a little less at my own voice readings.
I'm also toying with the idea of doing my own...narrative project that basically yanks a bunch of the characters from the Bellhunterverse and reorients them into something original using some of the various AU concept content I came up with. But I haven't had time to think about the setting too deeply or decide what kind of story I want to tell with it. Purely slice of life? Supernatural? How depressingly real do I want to make it? I usually avoid things that feel too closely tied to contemporary dystopian stuff because I want my stories to be an escape, not a reminder. I need more time to think, to wait for lightning to strike when my thoughts are a little less clouded by exhaustion and anxiety.
I've got a bunch of personal projects I also want to start and finish, and to top it all off, I've got a bunch of study work I want to sit down and do that was derailed entirely at the start of the holiday season. This extends to 3-D modeling and animation, as well as keeping up with the cube-brush art program. Then there's the voice recording stuff....god...The more I list things off, the more anxious I feel...that's not helping.
I'm also revising some stuff about my Patreon. I checked in with the five-dollar backers, and aside from extending the public release window, they also want Patreon-specific exclusive art. Essentially, stuff that never goes public. The only reason I hadn't been doing that was that Patreons always leak, so I thought a delayed release was the best middle ground. I've also implemented a random sketch-a-month reward for the 5-dollar backers. They submit characters, and then it's up to random chance who gets picked. It was the best sort of middle ground to avoid the sketch becoming a gambling thing for specific members, instead being a group-consensus-built character pool that is then picked at random.
That said, for those of you following my public pages, releases will be scarce after the next workload drop, and not everything will end up on my public pages. The Patreons demand it, and who am I to deny them?
So hey, check out my Patreon! The $5 tier gets access to a Discord chat where WIPS and finished works tend to drop first. 2 dollar gets you access to finished works, and a thank you! Links will be right below this on all my 'public' pages.
Miriam Is live right now! The auction goes for one week or until the max bid is met! Happy Bidding!
https://ych.art/auction/225706
Additional Links -
Zootopia 2 Hullabaloo.
General | Posted 4 months agoThank you all so much for your continued support, especially the top-tier donors, but I'd also like to thank all the donors who stuck with me despite the slight tier price raise.
PARISHIONERS
Unformed
FluffyWolf117
Dr.Portal 455
Amancalleddominik
C. Archive
Sypher597
Warwolf416
DuskyLycanroc
BovineMage
Notnat
KarakuriCentral
Daylight Shadows
Shadō Date
Sir FancySwank
Toonophile
JustCallMeFaux
Martin Nilsson
DONATORS
Majot Matt Mason
Hippo Dippo
EkhonACT09
So the big news is Zootopia 2.
Seems to be doing pretty well, not that it was really in doubt. Of course, I expected as much. Even if it was actually bad, it would still do amazingly coasting on the first movie's success, even if middling-to-low reviews that come after it might dampen a future 'Zootopia 3'. Plus, China loves Zootopia for some reason, and Disney loves China. It's going to make at least a billion, regardless of quality. That said, while I haven't seen it myself, I know all I need to with the leaks, clips, and friends who've seen it at this point, and I have no urge to see it even for design research.
It comes off like some weird soft reboot of itself, even an AU fanfic of itself, to be honest. I don't like the way reptiles were clumsily retconned into the world, but I recognize there was no way to add them without it being discordant. I've also never been a huge 'Wildehopps' guy (Blaspheme, I know; Nick X Kris darkhorse ship.) despite shipping them in my fics. (It worked as a nice story parallel for the Dawn and Vern stuff.) Even so, it really sounds like Wildhopps is mainly in the same place that it was in Z1. And aside from my Bellwether devotion bias, there were a million directions the movie could have gone, and I feel like this wasn't the optimal choice. But one thing I've especially noticed in the previews and assorted clips is something I noticed with Zplus as well.
Humor-wise, Zootopia 1 was mostly grounded, or so it seemed. It's been a little while since I've watched it all the way through. But the cartoon physics were very limited, and aside from visual gags, Zootopia and its characters had a nice weight to them—a weight in terms of how real the world felt. In the art book, it's discussed how hard they worked at designing a world built by mammals, and the goal of making it feel like a real place, and that was clear in the first film. But in two, I'm seeing a lot more physics-breaking slapstick, like Bellwether crashing out at her trial, then judo-kicking a table and FNAF-jumpscaring the viewer. Also, the inclusion of what seems like really annoying sidekick characters that don't really give the impression they're also like...real people is worth noting.
Gary is getting pushed hard, and Nibbles seems annoying as well, but I can't speak too deeply to that outside of clips. I'm aware that the horrors of the furry community have put me on the swivel when it comes to snakes that look like Kaa, and the hypnosis and vore fetishists that he represents, but Gary also comes off as extremely pandering to China. Was the whole push for reptiles just to be able to tie this little release up nicely with the 'year of the snake '? With birds now heavily implied for Z3 (which sounds like another awkward retcon in the works), is that to tie in for the eventual year of the rooster? What makes Zootopia's world any more interesting than any other nonsensical animal menagerie movie now that all species are on the table? At least with 'The Bad Guys' it was clear they weren't aiming for a grounded, real-feeling world, and thus there was no need to have hidden species.
And lastly, (so that this whole entry isn't just me doing a review), Zootopia 2 falls just as flat as Zootopia 1 in terms of the racial allegory. Aside from repeating the first movie's refrain, reptiles are more dangerous than general predators. A significant plot point in Z2 is Gary's venom. Mammalian predators don't even have that as a factor in their hunting, and they still historically ate prey. Now you introduce another swath of the animal kingdom, never mentioned, and totally forgotten after a mere century, that eat prey and can poison them. It DOESN'T work.
Anyway, all that rough blather to basically say: aside from one or two mini projects I have in my lineup, I won't be doing Z2 content unless I get commissions for it, and my work won't acknowledge its existence. Zplus is my jumping-off point, and that is pick-and-choose in terms of making sense. So with all that said, let's move on.
I'm really backed up across the board right now. I'm full up on commissions, personal projects, life stuff, the holiday nonsense, and to top it all off, I've got a nasty upper respiratory infection that's been dragging me down since last week that cropped up just after Thanksgiving. I assume I got it from the doctor's appointment I had a little over a week before, as the office had high kid traffic, and kids are like petri-dishes. I'm on some heavy steroids and antibiotics right now to properly kick this thing, but of course, that always hits like a truck before you actually start to feel better. So I'm forced to rest, drifting in and out of consciousness and growing increasingly frustrated that I can't do anything.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get some stuff done this evening or at the latest tomorrow. But I'm just setting myself up to shoot myself in the foot if I'm definitive on that. I had worked out this nifty little oscillating schedule that totally derailed in November, so I figure it's best to just focus on cranking out the commissions and rebooting the schedule on New Year's.
So what does that consist of? A Zootopia 2 mini comic based on the trailer (A paid comm), The third Stella set entry (Also a Paid Comm), A Bad Guys Diane and Wolf full color comm (Also paid Comm), and the next Carnival Cryptid I had set up to finish before I got sick. I'd like to get at least two of those totally done before Christmas, and hopefully a third cleared before January starts. From there, we'll see... but I've already started to revise my commission stuff in preparation for whenever the next opening starts, including making a business-only Discord as a Telegram alternative. Why? Because...there's no way to say this that probably won't sound mean, but seeking me out for a commission isn't an open invitation to chat me up in DMs like we're best friends. It's awkward for me, and I tend to be a doormat when it comes to telling people I'm uncomfortable or am not interested in becoming casual acquaintances. I can barely manage my Discord as is, and I really don't need the additional distraction.
That's enough for now, again, thanks to the long-term backers! Especially the fivers, but much love to the Donors! More art soon! Oh, and Merry whatever!
-Wasty
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Unformed
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JustCallMeFaux
Martin Nilsson
DONATORS
Majot Matt Mason
Hippo Dippo
EkhonACT09
So the big news is Zootopia 2.
Seems to be doing pretty well, not that it was really in doubt. Of course, I expected as much. Even if it was actually bad, it would still do amazingly coasting on the first movie's success, even if middling-to-low reviews that come after it might dampen a future 'Zootopia 3'. Plus, China loves Zootopia for some reason, and Disney loves China. It's going to make at least a billion, regardless of quality. That said, while I haven't seen it myself, I know all I need to with the leaks, clips, and friends who've seen it at this point, and I have no urge to see it even for design research.
It comes off like some weird soft reboot of itself, even an AU fanfic of itself, to be honest. I don't like the way reptiles were clumsily retconned into the world, but I recognize there was no way to add them without it being discordant. I've also never been a huge 'Wildehopps' guy (Blaspheme, I know; Nick X Kris darkhorse ship.) despite shipping them in my fics. (It worked as a nice story parallel for the Dawn and Vern stuff.) Even so, it really sounds like Wildhopps is mainly in the same place that it was in Z1. And aside from my Bellwether devotion bias, there were a million directions the movie could have gone, and I feel like this wasn't the optimal choice. But one thing I've especially noticed in the previews and assorted clips is something I noticed with Zplus as well.
Humor-wise, Zootopia 1 was mostly grounded, or so it seemed. It's been a little while since I've watched it all the way through. But the cartoon physics were very limited, and aside from visual gags, Zootopia and its characters had a nice weight to them—a weight in terms of how real the world felt. In the art book, it's discussed how hard they worked at designing a world built by mammals, and the goal of making it feel like a real place, and that was clear in the first film. But in two, I'm seeing a lot more physics-breaking slapstick, like Bellwether crashing out at her trial, then judo-kicking a table and FNAF-jumpscaring the viewer. Also, the inclusion of what seems like really annoying sidekick characters that don't really give the impression they're also like...real people is worth noting.
Gary is getting pushed hard, and Nibbles seems annoying as well, but I can't speak too deeply to that outside of clips. I'm aware that the horrors of the furry community have put me on the swivel when it comes to snakes that look like Kaa, and the hypnosis and vore fetishists that he represents, but Gary also comes off as extremely pandering to China. Was the whole push for reptiles just to be able to tie this little release up nicely with the 'year of the snake '? With birds now heavily implied for Z3 (which sounds like another awkward retcon in the works), is that to tie in for the eventual year of the rooster? What makes Zootopia's world any more interesting than any other nonsensical animal menagerie movie now that all species are on the table? At least with 'The Bad Guys' it was clear they weren't aiming for a grounded, real-feeling world, and thus there was no need to have hidden species.
And lastly, (so that this whole entry isn't just me doing a review), Zootopia 2 falls just as flat as Zootopia 1 in terms of the racial allegory. Aside from repeating the first movie's refrain, reptiles are more dangerous than general predators. A significant plot point in Z2 is Gary's venom. Mammalian predators don't even have that as a factor in their hunting, and they still historically ate prey. Now you introduce another swath of the animal kingdom, never mentioned, and totally forgotten after a mere century, that eat prey and can poison them. It DOESN'T work.
Anyway, all that rough blather to basically say: aside from one or two mini projects I have in my lineup, I won't be doing Z2 content unless I get commissions for it, and my work won't acknowledge its existence. Zplus is my jumping-off point, and that is pick-and-choose in terms of making sense. So with all that said, let's move on.
I'm really backed up across the board right now. I'm full up on commissions, personal projects, life stuff, the holiday nonsense, and to top it all off, I've got a nasty upper respiratory infection that's been dragging me down since last week that cropped up just after Thanksgiving. I assume I got it from the doctor's appointment I had a little over a week before, as the office had high kid traffic, and kids are like petri-dishes. I'm on some heavy steroids and antibiotics right now to properly kick this thing, but of course, that always hits like a truck before you actually start to feel better. So I'm forced to rest, drifting in and out of consciousness and growing increasingly frustrated that I can't do anything.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get some stuff done this evening or at the latest tomorrow. But I'm just setting myself up to shoot myself in the foot if I'm definitive on that. I had worked out this nifty little oscillating schedule that totally derailed in November, so I figure it's best to just focus on cranking out the commissions and rebooting the schedule on New Year's.
So what does that consist of? A Zootopia 2 mini comic based on the trailer (A paid comm), The third Stella set entry (Also a Paid Comm), A Bad Guys Diane and Wolf full color comm (Also paid Comm), and the next Carnival Cryptid I had set up to finish before I got sick. I'd like to get at least two of those totally done before Christmas, and hopefully a third cleared before January starts. From there, we'll see... but I've already started to revise my commission stuff in preparation for whenever the next opening starts, including making a business-only Discord as a Telegram alternative. Why? Because...there's no way to say this that probably won't sound mean, but seeking me out for a commission isn't an open invitation to chat me up in DMs like we're best friends. It's awkward for me, and I tend to be a doormat when it comes to telling people I'm uncomfortable or am not interested in becoming casual acquaintances. I can barely manage my Discord as is, and I really don't need the additional distraction.
That's enough for now, again, thanks to the long-term backers! Especially the fivers, but much love to the Donors! More art soon! Oh, and Merry whatever!
-Wasty
Breathless Blues
General | Posted 6 months agoThanks to all of my backers for their continued support. Both the 2-dollar tier folks and the fivers. It helps so much, especially in times like these. Also, a quick note! The one-dollar backer tier is raising to 2 dollars! If you join that tier now, it will cost two USD. Those in the tier already have the rest of the month at the one-dollar level before it goes up! Cost of living and all that jazz. Sorry.
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Let's frontload this with work. I'm back on task, at least to the best of my abilities. I just transitioned into my writing and recording 'block' from my 'commission' weeks. I've done a bit of writing, but I'm expecting to roll into it more aggressively as I start to feel better. I've kinda got notes all over the place for several 'one-shots', plus I've got a chapter of 'The Family Vulpes' that needs final revisions, and another one that's ready to release, I keep forgetting to make the thumbnail. That will be part of the priorities over the next few days.
I'm also planning to do a test narration of the first chapter of Rehab, after tweaking it, of course. Don't worry, I'm not planning to go all George Lucas on it or anything. A few little tweaks here and there, and an adjustment for some accidental errors/retcons I made. The kind you make before realizing this was going to be some weird trilogy and needed a bit more consistency for the sake of the later installments. The audio will only be available on Patreon, at least until I get feedback and maybe whip up a rough animatic for the first chapter to accompany it. For both our sakes —or rather, so I don't die of shame and embarrassment, plus YouTube guidelines —I won't be doing a read of the NSFW content. At least never publicly. The idea alone makes me cringe just typing this.
I'm not going to screw myself over by mentioning any other things I might get done in that timeframe, so just fingers crossed I've got surprises for you. After those 2 weeks, we move on to the study weeks, so more practice stuff awaits.
Now on to the speed bumps in the road. Recently, I put a 'Helluva' lot of effort into some Hellhound stickers. (Get it?). I was late dropping them because I had a sinus infection for about three weeks, and then decided to cram Queen Bee into the set at the last minute—another summer set released in the fall. The main release was on Etsy, and I'm in the process of phasing out my overpriced webstore for some cheaper alternative if I can find it. The Hellhound set got pinged twice for breaking Etsy policy. The second time, the page was free of any NSFW imagery, but it's clear someone was keeping an eye out for the listing to flag it again. That came with a warning. One more screw up, and my Etsy gets nuked. So, with a heavy heart, I'm forced to cut back my Etsy content to strictly SFW sales.
The Etsy sales had been sagging since the policy change last year, with only occasional surges. So that passive income has completely wilted, and it's pretty much at death's door. I will sanitize everything to the best of my abilities, but something will still get dinged because I've clearly got eyes on me, and that'll be the end of it. I can sell some straight from Patreon. Still, I recognize there's pressure on every site that sells merch from the payment processor duopoly to heavily discourage selling anything, even 'adult content' adjacent. Patreon and OnlyFans seem to have leeway only because of the sheer size of their profit margins, and they are large enough to stoke backlash should they try to regulate them shotgun-style.
I'm looking into whatever alternatives I can find in the meantime. Right now, Spicerack seems promising, and I'll also add a few select products to the Patreon to see how that goes. The rules seem like they'll allow for my stickers and prints, but I'm not confident.
Lastly, this weekend, I ended up going to the hospital due to my blood oxygen hovering between 90 and 87 consistently. Since I had to move up here, my health issues have worsened. I went from a POTS diagnosis to needing a main line of oxygen while I slept, to now needing supplemental oxygen while trying to do daily activities. I'm not 500 pounds either, I'm a 6'1" 200-pound guy who's got a spare tire at most, but now I'm going to need a more in-depth sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea. Needless to say, living up here is not only killing my Mom, but it's killing me. That means some focus needs to shift to finding a new place to live at a lower altitude.
I've been dreading and dragging my feet about this because it was already tough to move last time, and we were homeless. It's only gotten worse in the housing market since then, especially for low-income families. To find a place in a safe area, that's relatively clean and not falling apart, is an obscenely tall order. And that's if I want to stay in the state, which I don't. I'd rather go back to New Hampshire, but my mother insists we temporarily move to a lower altitude in-state, and then try to move out of state from there. She thinks neither of us can go right into a big move, but the last thing I want to do is be even around the Denver area. I don't want to move, let alone know another move is ahead.
I don't know what to do at this point. I'm just tired of everything. Tired of the health setbacks, traumatized by moving. I'm a little lost, and I hope over the next few weeks I can pull myself back together and navigate this. At the end of the day, I really would hate to be on permanent oxygen or have to wear one of those big, clumsy O2 masks to sleep. Wearing the oxygen line is already bad enough. I want to improve my quality of life, and to do that, I need to leave Colorado.
That's about everything for the moment. No merch plug or anything this time around for obvious reasons. Thanks again to my backers, and thanks to my fans for their continued support. (Though the Fur aff journal will do it automatically.)
-Wasty
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DuskyLycanroc
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C. Archive
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DONATORS
Hippo Dippo
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EkhonACT09
Let's frontload this with work. I'm back on task, at least to the best of my abilities. I just transitioned into my writing and recording 'block' from my 'commission' weeks. I've done a bit of writing, but I'm expecting to roll into it more aggressively as I start to feel better. I've kinda got notes all over the place for several 'one-shots', plus I've got a chapter of 'The Family Vulpes' that needs final revisions, and another one that's ready to release, I keep forgetting to make the thumbnail. That will be part of the priorities over the next few days.
I'm also planning to do a test narration of the first chapter of Rehab, after tweaking it, of course. Don't worry, I'm not planning to go all George Lucas on it or anything. A few little tweaks here and there, and an adjustment for some accidental errors/retcons I made. The kind you make before realizing this was going to be some weird trilogy and needed a bit more consistency for the sake of the later installments. The audio will only be available on Patreon, at least until I get feedback and maybe whip up a rough animatic for the first chapter to accompany it. For both our sakes —or rather, so I don't die of shame and embarrassment, plus YouTube guidelines —I won't be doing a read of the NSFW content. At least never publicly. The idea alone makes me cringe just typing this.
I'm not going to screw myself over by mentioning any other things I might get done in that timeframe, so just fingers crossed I've got surprises for you. After those 2 weeks, we move on to the study weeks, so more practice stuff awaits.
Now on to the speed bumps in the road. Recently, I put a 'Helluva' lot of effort into some Hellhound stickers. (Get it?). I was late dropping them because I had a sinus infection for about three weeks, and then decided to cram Queen Bee into the set at the last minute—another summer set released in the fall. The main release was on Etsy, and I'm in the process of phasing out my overpriced webstore for some cheaper alternative if I can find it. The Hellhound set got pinged twice for breaking Etsy policy. The second time, the page was free of any NSFW imagery, but it's clear someone was keeping an eye out for the listing to flag it again. That came with a warning. One more screw up, and my Etsy gets nuked. So, with a heavy heart, I'm forced to cut back my Etsy content to strictly SFW sales.
The Etsy sales had been sagging since the policy change last year, with only occasional surges. So that passive income has completely wilted, and it's pretty much at death's door. I will sanitize everything to the best of my abilities, but something will still get dinged because I've clearly got eyes on me, and that'll be the end of it. I can sell some straight from Patreon. Still, I recognize there's pressure on every site that sells merch from the payment processor duopoly to heavily discourage selling anything, even 'adult content' adjacent. Patreon and OnlyFans seem to have leeway only because of the sheer size of their profit margins, and they are large enough to stoke backlash should they try to regulate them shotgun-style.
I'm looking into whatever alternatives I can find in the meantime. Right now, Spicerack seems promising, and I'll also add a few select products to the Patreon to see how that goes. The rules seem like they'll allow for my stickers and prints, but I'm not confident.
Lastly, this weekend, I ended up going to the hospital due to my blood oxygen hovering between 90 and 87 consistently. Since I had to move up here, my health issues have worsened. I went from a POTS diagnosis to needing a main line of oxygen while I slept, to now needing supplemental oxygen while trying to do daily activities. I'm not 500 pounds either, I'm a 6'1" 200-pound guy who's got a spare tire at most, but now I'm going to need a more in-depth sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea. Needless to say, living up here is not only killing my Mom, but it's killing me. That means some focus needs to shift to finding a new place to live at a lower altitude.
I've been dreading and dragging my feet about this because it was already tough to move last time, and we were homeless. It's only gotten worse in the housing market since then, especially for low-income families. To find a place in a safe area, that's relatively clean and not falling apart, is an obscenely tall order. And that's if I want to stay in the state, which I don't. I'd rather go back to New Hampshire, but my mother insists we temporarily move to a lower altitude in-state, and then try to move out of state from there. She thinks neither of us can go right into a big move, but the last thing I want to do is be even around the Denver area. I don't want to move, let alone know another move is ahead.
I don't know what to do at this point. I'm just tired of everything. Tired of the health setbacks, traumatized by moving. I'm a little lost, and I hope over the next few weeks I can pull myself back together and navigate this. At the end of the day, I really would hate to be on permanent oxygen or have to wear one of those big, clumsy O2 masks to sleep. Wearing the oxygen line is already bad enough. I want to improve my quality of life, and to do that, I need to leave Colorado.
That's about everything for the moment. No merch plug or anything this time around for obvious reasons. Thanks again to my backers, and thanks to my fans for their continued support. (Though the Fur aff journal will do it automatically.)
-Wasty
Can't Ever Catch a Break.
General | Posted 7 months agoSpecial thanks to my parishioners and donors, without whose continued support, none of this would be possible. Also, thanks to the fans and followers for their ongoing interest and encouragement!
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KarakuriCentral
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C. Archive
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EkhonACT9
So, how's the new schedule working out? Overall, it's been going well. However, now that I've returned to commission and personal art, I've encountered an unexpected setback. My shoulder has started acting up after years of being relatively dormant. Since last Wednesday, it's been so painful that I haven't just been unable to draw; I've barely been able to type as well. This leaves me with little to do but revisit tutorial studies and focus on voice acting and narration, which I had been planning to save for a future study segment.
While my shoulder has improved since last week, it still hurts, and I'm waiting for my doctor to prescribe a muscle relaxant to help with the inflammation. Honestly, I'm not sure what triggered the pain this time. I woke up with it hurting, so I can only assume I injured it while I was sleeping. Typically, when I experience significant pain, I can pinpoint a specific cause occurring just before it started hurting. If my shoulder pain were due to overdoing drawing during my practice weeks or from my work as a caretaker, I believe I would have felt it immediately when something pushed it over the edge.
Unfortunately, due to my stomach issues, I am not allowed to take anything classified as an NSAID, which includes most anti-inflammatory medications. As a result, my only options have been heat and cold compression, along with Voltaren ointment. I've also been wearing a sling to limit the movement of my arm and prevent worsening pain. So far, this approach has been somewhat effective, but it's not working as quickly as I would like. It's discouraging to deal with this setback, especially since everything was going so well when I started my new rotational schedule. It seems that whenever I develop a plan, schedule, or general timeline, I inevitably face a setback that disrupts it, and this time is no different.
I will be continuing the forced rest until Friday to ensure I don't cause any further damage. Although this delays everything by a week, I can accept it as long as my arm improves. I hope to hit the ground running during Saturday's stream, where I plan to work on the Hellhound sticker collection I want to produce for the end of summer. Additionally, I aim to have my 'Summer Carnival Cryptid Adopts' ready for release alongside the Hellhound stickers.
I have completed the next chapter of "The Family Vulpes, and it is ready to be published. I just need to create the chapter thumbnail, and then it can go up on my various pages. The next chapter is also prepared, with just a few page-sized revisions needed, as well as a general editing pass for grammar checks. Yes, I admit it. I've started using AI to help with my grammar and make some word suggestions. This assistance is preventing me from freezing up at times while writing. It helps with the small details, such as synonyms, grammar, and alliteration, which I tend to stress over and can lead to writer's block. As a result, I'm feeling less anxious about writing in general and more eager to dive back into my projects during my designated "writing weeks."
In terms of comms, I've got some long-standing stuff I want to get at least sketched or further along when I can actively draw again. I also have countless other projects I’d like to start or return to. The artwork of Val and Ellie still needs to be completed, along with the Horizontal Madison piece. If I spend too much time thinking about it, I'll crack up, so I'm just trying to focus on what's directly ahead of me in that department.
I want to inform you that before next month's Patreon pay cycle, I will be increasing the 'Donator' pledge tier from one dollar to two dollars. Honestly, this is not something I want to do. But with the Patreon fees, I may as well have just called that the 'Pat Patreon instead of me.' tier. If you don't want to stay at that point, I totally understand. The five-dollar tier will be staying the same, so no worries for the Parishioners.
Thanks again to all my backers! I'll keep you all in the loop with smaller updates if my arm condition worsens.
-Wasty
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DONATORS
Hippo Dippo
EkhonACT9
So, how's the new schedule working out? Overall, it's been going well. However, now that I've returned to commission and personal art, I've encountered an unexpected setback. My shoulder has started acting up after years of being relatively dormant. Since last Wednesday, it's been so painful that I haven't just been unable to draw; I've barely been able to type as well. This leaves me with little to do but revisit tutorial studies and focus on voice acting and narration, which I had been planning to save for a future study segment.
While my shoulder has improved since last week, it still hurts, and I'm waiting for my doctor to prescribe a muscle relaxant to help with the inflammation. Honestly, I'm not sure what triggered the pain this time. I woke up with it hurting, so I can only assume I injured it while I was sleeping. Typically, when I experience significant pain, I can pinpoint a specific cause occurring just before it started hurting. If my shoulder pain were due to overdoing drawing during my practice weeks or from my work as a caretaker, I believe I would have felt it immediately when something pushed it over the edge.
Unfortunately, due to my stomach issues, I am not allowed to take anything classified as an NSAID, which includes most anti-inflammatory medications. As a result, my only options have been heat and cold compression, along with Voltaren ointment. I've also been wearing a sling to limit the movement of my arm and prevent worsening pain. So far, this approach has been somewhat effective, but it's not working as quickly as I would like. It's discouraging to deal with this setback, especially since everything was going so well when I started my new rotational schedule. It seems that whenever I develop a plan, schedule, or general timeline, I inevitably face a setback that disrupts it, and this time is no different.
I will be continuing the forced rest until Friday to ensure I don't cause any further damage. Although this delays everything by a week, I can accept it as long as my arm improves. I hope to hit the ground running during Saturday's stream, where I plan to work on the Hellhound sticker collection I want to produce for the end of summer. Additionally, I aim to have my 'Summer Carnival Cryptid Adopts' ready for release alongside the Hellhound stickers.
I have completed the next chapter of "The Family Vulpes, and it is ready to be published. I just need to create the chapter thumbnail, and then it can go up on my various pages. The next chapter is also prepared, with just a few page-sized revisions needed, as well as a general editing pass for grammar checks. Yes, I admit it. I've started using AI to help with my grammar and make some word suggestions. This assistance is preventing me from freezing up at times while writing. It helps with the small details, such as synonyms, grammar, and alliteration, which I tend to stress over and can lead to writer's block. As a result, I'm feeling less anxious about writing in general and more eager to dive back into my projects during my designated "writing weeks."
In terms of comms, I've got some long-standing stuff I want to get at least sketched or further along when I can actively draw again. I also have countless other projects I’d like to start or return to. The artwork of Val and Ellie still needs to be completed, along with the Horizontal Madison piece. If I spend too much time thinking about it, I'll crack up, so I'm just trying to focus on what's directly ahead of me in that department.
I want to inform you that before next month's Patreon pay cycle, I will be increasing the 'Donator' pledge tier from one dollar to two dollars. Honestly, this is not something I want to do. But with the Patreon fees, I may as well have just called that the 'Pat Patreon instead of me.' tier. If you don't want to stay at that point, I totally understand. The five-dollar tier will be staying the same, so no worries for the Parishioners.
Thanks again to all my backers! I'll keep you all in the loop with smaller updates if my arm condition worsens.
-Wasty
A Much-Needed Schedule Change
General | Posted 9 months agoThank you so much to my backers, without whom none of this would be possible. Thank you for your continued support, as well as allowing me to pick your brains at times. Your input means the world.
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EkhonACT9
So it's been long established that I'm a scatter brain and that my health is not the best. It's for this reason I've never been great at hard scheduling, or developing consistent routines. When I'm on a hot streak, more often than not a health lull will derail all the progress I've made in the blink of an eye. That said, what tends to work best taking all of that into consideration in order to work around it, is 'weekly goals'. With a failure rate of one out of three goals at most. This is...what I had been doing to a point up until now. I had a little weekly planner and everything.
But while it was 'successful' in that, and I did meet the bar I'd set nine times out of ten...it didn't exactly wrangle my tendencies or streamline focus. It always centered on the most urgent priorities...or maybe what I've been misinterpreting as my most urgent priorities. While I have been keeping quite busy with my workload, and am probably more productive than I've been in years, I haven't made any real progress on...well, self-improvement. At least, not enough in my eyes. I fell off the art school grind, partially due to health, and partially out of fear Patreon backers wouldn't care to see art practice stuff especially if it ate up most of my time. I've also been waiting in the wings to practice both animation (which I have some background in already) and 3D modeling.
Writing has also suffered. It was admittedly a lot easier to do it when there was no pressure, and I was just...I guess just letting it roll. I had a mantra I started with when writing Rehab where I repeatedly told myself 'if you let yourself, you'll just edit it forever. You need to release it, and pledge to do better with each subsequent chapter.' But despite my best efforts I've grown to take it too seriously. Having an editor helps as much as it hurts in terms of writing. Grammar and word overuse has improved significantly. But it's also made me obsess over word use amounts, and get so strung up when I can't get a sentence 'right' that it derails flow entirely. I've never been the type to skip around and return to an unfinished portion, cause the answer is always 'on the tip of my tongue'. Not to mention when it comes to my Zootopia series, I'm also all caught up in fear of accidental major retcons.
So, after some discussion with the bulk of my backers in Discord, and some deeper consideration, I've come up with what I hope is a tentative solution that will allow me to give nearly equal time to each of the three work tiers here. These three tiers are of course, (Art and Commission, Writing, and Practice.)
So how is this going to work? At least a first, barring any needed course corrections? Well, each of these 'focal shifts' will be in two-week intervals (save for writing but we'll get to that.) Starting today, I'm on my 'Commission and Personal art' leg of the schedule. Basically for the next two weeks I'll be working exclusively on pending commissions and art that needs completing. This includes several things that have been sitting in flats or line art stages for far too long.
At the end of that two weeks, I switch fully to writing mode. These two weeks are the only set in the schedule that I consider flexible. This is because it has a hard limit, unlike the other tiers. I have two weeks to complete any one-shot work, a chapter of The Family Vulpes, or any chapter-sized work. If I finish before the two-week deadline, I will roll right into the third schedule string unless I need to spend some time revising lore and other storyline factors. If I fail to finish a chapter size worth of work in two weeks (20-30 pages), then I can't allow myself to get caught up in disappointment. I simply have to table the work, and move on to the final schedule leg and complete said project next rotation.
The final string is two weeks of aggressive practice and research. This includes continuing the art school sessions at a revised pace to better fit my learning style, as well as various other 'educational attempts' like 3D modeling, animating, procreate, png-tubing, narration/voice acting, and so on. Naturally most of the work during this time will be a lot of rough scratch work, tutorial results, and experimental stuff. I'm most nervous about this phase of the schedule as I don't want backers to grow bored, so I will be doing all I can to make this section somewhat interactive. (AKA forcing myself to stream more and effectively hold 'draw alongs', 'listen alongs', and so on. This is going to be hardest for me because of my social anxiety issues...but I'll try harder to push through them.
There's a small caveat to the four weeks outside of 'art and commission' week. As a creative, sometimes I'm just going to need to sketch something down. So neither the writing nor practice blocks will ever be totally devoid of art output. I'm an artist first and foremost, and sometimes an idea just pounces on you. I may need to blow off some steam if writing isn't flowing, or if practice is getting droll and I need to liven things up with a palette cleanse. So being able to turn around and doodle is never off the table.
For now, that covers the bulk of the 'new schedule'. But I'll keep everyone updated as things develop and if aspects change as I try my hardest to implement this whole thing and make it work for me. That said, I appreciate your patience and understanding as I try to get a better grasp on the multitude of things I'd like to accomplish without turning into a jack of all trades; master of none.
So what else is on the docket...Oh god...My list of projects is huge. Writing-wise I'm about a third of the way through Kodi's intro in 'The Family Vulpes', and the chapter featuring Clover's therapy session is a few pages away from the editing being completed. I've got a private Warrowick project that's been sitting half-written for maybe...three months now. And I've got some one-shot ideas that are burning a hole in my brain (Mostly excuses to write some smut to make sure I still can.)
Art-wise the workload is steeper, I've got...a few commissions on deck. Then I've got like four pictures that have flat color down, but require various amounts of flourish. To explain, on Patreon I finished a series of Lanolin's Mom variants that I aimed to do cell shading on. (Which will see a public release soon.) I'm also working on the second commission from that Stella set that just needs some dialogue across the variants to call it done. It's also cell-shaded. At the same time I've got a Belphagor pin-up that also needs cell-shading.
Beyond that, I've got a few pieces, J'taime Mon Prince and the Horizontal Madison at a minimum I want to give a full polish treatment.
I've also got some new stickers and character adopts that are still in the plotting stage. The stickers will be a set featuring Hellhound gals from Helluva Boss slated for August. I'm planning to make four of them, with two of them guaranteed to be Loona and Esme. As for the adopts, the theme and creatures voted out for the next round is 'Cryptids', and 'Carnival Food Theming'. So we got Mothman, Chupacabra, Jersey Devil and the Wendigo. I'd also like to squeeze in my girl Nessie as a side character sheet for personal use similar to Fred. Been overdue for a sheet for some time now so it's a good excuse to include her.
That's only really scratched the surface. I fear to look at my 'progress report' tab in the server right now, and this has gone on long enough as it is. So let's wrap this up with a health report.
There's nothing to report. Not much has changed for better or worse. Barring any unforeseen incidents, workflow should continue at the current pace. If it changes, I'll let everyone in the Patreon know. If it's serious I'll make sure the public knows as well.
Thanks for reading, and once again, thanks so much to my backers! Wish me luck...
-Wasty
PARISHIONERS
KarakuriCentral
Unformed
FluffyWolf117
Warwolf416
Sypher597
Amancalleddominik
Vulpinator/Toonophile
Martin Nilsson
Zaire Dann
Sir FancySwank
Shadō Date
Notnat
DuskyLycanroc
Hippo Dippo
JustCallMeFaux
Daylight Shadows
Dr.Portal 455
C. Archive
BovineMage
DONATORS
EkhonACT9
So it's been long established that I'm a scatter brain and that my health is not the best. It's for this reason I've never been great at hard scheduling, or developing consistent routines. When I'm on a hot streak, more often than not a health lull will derail all the progress I've made in the blink of an eye. That said, what tends to work best taking all of that into consideration in order to work around it, is 'weekly goals'. With a failure rate of one out of three goals at most. This is...what I had been doing to a point up until now. I had a little weekly planner and everything.
But while it was 'successful' in that, and I did meet the bar I'd set nine times out of ten...it didn't exactly wrangle my tendencies or streamline focus. It always centered on the most urgent priorities...or maybe what I've been misinterpreting as my most urgent priorities. While I have been keeping quite busy with my workload, and am probably more productive than I've been in years, I haven't made any real progress on...well, self-improvement. At least, not enough in my eyes. I fell off the art school grind, partially due to health, and partially out of fear Patreon backers wouldn't care to see art practice stuff especially if it ate up most of my time. I've also been waiting in the wings to practice both animation (which I have some background in already) and 3D modeling.
Writing has also suffered. It was admittedly a lot easier to do it when there was no pressure, and I was just...I guess just letting it roll. I had a mantra I started with when writing Rehab where I repeatedly told myself 'if you let yourself, you'll just edit it forever. You need to release it, and pledge to do better with each subsequent chapter.' But despite my best efforts I've grown to take it too seriously. Having an editor helps as much as it hurts in terms of writing. Grammar and word overuse has improved significantly. But it's also made me obsess over word use amounts, and get so strung up when I can't get a sentence 'right' that it derails flow entirely. I've never been the type to skip around and return to an unfinished portion, cause the answer is always 'on the tip of my tongue'. Not to mention when it comes to my Zootopia series, I'm also all caught up in fear of accidental major retcons.
So, after some discussion with the bulk of my backers in Discord, and some deeper consideration, I've come up with what I hope is a tentative solution that will allow me to give nearly equal time to each of the three work tiers here. These three tiers are of course, (Art and Commission, Writing, and Practice.)
So how is this going to work? At least a first, barring any needed course corrections? Well, each of these 'focal shifts' will be in two-week intervals (save for writing but we'll get to that.) Starting today, I'm on my 'Commission and Personal art' leg of the schedule. Basically for the next two weeks I'll be working exclusively on pending commissions and art that needs completing. This includes several things that have been sitting in flats or line art stages for far too long.
At the end of that two weeks, I switch fully to writing mode. These two weeks are the only set in the schedule that I consider flexible. This is because it has a hard limit, unlike the other tiers. I have two weeks to complete any one-shot work, a chapter of The Family Vulpes, or any chapter-sized work. If I finish before the two-week deadline, I will roll right into the third schedule string unless I need to spend some time revising lore and other storyline factors. If I fail to finish a chapter size worth of work in two weeks (20-30 pages), then I can't allow myself to get caught up in disappointment. I simply have to table the work, and move on to the final schedule leg and complete said project next rotation.
The final string is two weeks of aggressive practice and research. This includes continuing the art school sessions at a revised pace to better fit my learning style, as well as various other 'educational attempts' like 3D modeling, animating, procreate, png-tubing, narration/voice acting, and so on. Naturally most of the work during this time will be a lot of rough scratch work, tutorial results, and experimental stuff. I'm most nervous about this phase of the schedule as I don't want backers to grow bored, so I will be doing all I can to make this section somewhat interactive. (AKA forcing myself to stream more and effectively hold 'draw alongs', 'listen alongs', and so on. This is going to be hardest for me because of my social anxiety issues...but I'll try harder to push through them.
There's a small caveat to the four weeks outside of 'art and commission' week. As a creative, sometimes I'm just going to need to sketch something down. So neither the writing nor practice blocks will ever be totally devoid of art output. I'm an artist first and foremost, and sometimes an idea just pounces on you. I may need to blow off some steam if writing isn't flowing, or if practice is getting droll and I need to liven things up with a palette cleanse. So being able to turn around and doodle is never off the table.
For now, that covers the bulk of the 'new schedule'. But I'll keep everyone updated as things develop and if aspects change as I try my hardest to implement this whole thing and make it work for me. That said, I appreciate your patience and understanding as I try to get a better grasp on the multitude of things I'd like to accomplish without turning into a jack of all trades; master of none.
So what else is on the docket...Oh god...My list of projects is huge. Writing-wise I'm about a third of the way through Kodi's intro in 'The Family Vulpes', and the chapter featuring Clover's therapy session is a few pages away from the editing being completed. I've got a private Warrowick project that's been sitting half-written for maybe...three months now. And I've got some one-shot ideas that are burning a hole in my brain (Mostly excuses to write some smut to make sure I still can.)
Art-wise the workload is steeper, I've got...a few commissions on deck. Then I've got like four pictures that have flat color down, but require various amounts of flourish. To explain, on Patreon I finished a series of Lanolin's Mom variants that I aimed to do cell shading on. (Which will see a public release soon.) I'm also working on the second commission from that Stella set that just needs some dialogue across the variants to call it done. It's also cell-shaded. At the same time I've got a Belphagor pin-up that also needs cell-shading.
Beyond that, I've got a few pieces, J'taime Mon Prince and the Horizontal Madison at a minimum I want to give a full polish treatment.
I've also got some new stickers and character adopts that are still in the plotting stage. The stickers will be a set featuring Hellhound gals from Helluva Boss slated for August. I'm planning to make four of them, with two of them guaranteed to be Loona and Esme. As for the adopts, the theme and creatures voted out for the next round is 'Cryptids', and 'Carnival Food Theming'. So we got Mothman, Chupacabra, Jersey Devil and the Wendigo. I'd also like to squeeze in my girl Nessie as a side character sheet for personal use similar to Fred. Been overdue for a sheet for some time now so it's a good excuse to include her.
That's only really scratched the surface. I fear to look at my 'progress report' tab in the server right now, and this has gone on long enough as it is. So let's wrap this up with a health report.
There's nothing to report. Not much has changed for better or worse. Barring any unforeseen incidents, workflow should continue at the current pace. If it changes, I'll let everyone in the Patreon know. If it's serious I'll make sure the public knows as well.
Thanks for reading, and once again, thanks so much to my backers! Wish me luck...
-Wasty
Adopt and Otter: LAST FEW HOURS!
General | Posted 11 months agoLess than 5 hours before all these girls are gone for good! Now's your chance to snipe one!
Adopt an Otter!
Angie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195728
Charlie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195734
Jules Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195736
Tonee Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195739
Good luck!
Adopt an Otter!
Angie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195728
Charlie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195734
Jules Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195736
Tonee Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195739
Good luck!
Adopt an Otter! ONE DAY LEFT!
General | Posted 11 months agoYep, just one day left to go! All the otters have bids in, so this is your last chance to pick one of the girls you may have had an eye on up! Because once the clock runs down, they're all sold! Links dropped down below so check 'em out!
Adopt an Otter!
Angie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195728
Charlie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195734
Jules Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195736
Tonee Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195739
Good luck!
Adopt an Otter!
Angie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195728
Charlie Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195734
Jules Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195736
Tonee Adopt- https://ych.art/auction/195739
Good luck!
Adopts Ahoy!
General | Posted 11 months agoThank you to my backers! You guys are awesome as always! I think I missed last month's thing entirely! Apologies for the screw-up! I guess I owe you all double thanks!
PARISHIONERS
Hippo Dippo
Sir FancySwank
Zaire Dann
BovineMage
Dr.Portal 455
Sypher597
KarakuriCentral
DuskyLycanroc
Notnat
Unformed
Amancalleddominik
Warwolf416
FluffyWolf117
Vulpinator/Toonophile
Daylight Shadows
C. Archive
JustCallMeFaux
DONATORS
EkhonACT9
Martin Nilsson
Okay, let's start with the most important headline here. The big plate among the spinning set of plates I'm managing. I'm taking another stab at the whole 'Adoptables' thing. Basically, I recently discovered YCH.art. It's a site specifically meant for adopts and YCH auctions. I initially stumbled upon it because the once-in-a-blue-moon scenario occurred where I saw an adoptable I liked a lot, and threw a bid into the ring. I didn't win, but I'm sort of taking the discovery of the site as a sign to retry. Let's be honest, the Furaffinity attempt wasn't great to begin with.
So, I ressurected the three otter gals I never sold, and gave them all a revamp. I've also added a forth otter to the adopts. 'Tonee', the v-tuber/baby metal-style otter gal. I will link the new auction post on Furaff that goes into greater detail, as well as the direct links to each adopt below.
Adopt an Otter REVAMP!
((ADOPTION RUN IS OVER! HERE ARE THE WINNERS!))
Angie - Vulpinator
Charlie - Hippo Dippo
Jules - NotNat
Tonee - Sypher597
((THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING! CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS!))
I'll quickly go over the rules here as well. The auctions will be live for a week. The minimum bid is 50 USD. It's unlikely any will hit 500 USD, but that is the cap. So anyone who pays that essentially secures the otter and ends the auction early. Included with each adoptable otter will be their base sheet (Fully Nude), an Outfit Sheet (Self explanatory; see auction pages), and both will have the logo info appended with text cementing the new owner. EG '(Otter) Belongs to (Winner); Illustrated by Wastedtime'. Simple, no? That said, Happy bidding to those who are interested.
Next we....hmm...lemme check the list. I'm on the tail end of some commissions right now, and eager to get writing, but there's a good chance that won't happen until June. I'm eager to get to working on a Kyuu from Beastars sticker to go along with the recent Juno and Sebun stickers, respectively, for my Etsy/Personal sale site. Since I was aiming to base all my spring content around sheep, and to a lesser extent rabbits, it seemed fitting. I have a rough outline for summer sticker set plans. Those of you missing Helluva Boss content will see it made up during that time. Cherubs and Hellhounds, that's all I'll say.
Comms I've got some I recently dropped, some very close to being wrapped up, and I've got a commed series looming on the horizon. Perhaps more than one. Again, if you like Helluva, specifically Stella, you will be eating good more than likely.
Lastly...oh man...I've got...let me see. 5 - 6 WIPs that are non-comms in various stages of completion, several of which were recently posted to my gallery, partially finished. I'm kinda frontloading the Lanolin's Mom and Belphagor pics respectively to round out Sheepy Spring and to cover me for Milfy May. (Two birds with one stone with Lanolin's Mom Chamois) But I'd also like to give J'taime Mon Prince and the Horizontal Madison a full color treatment. With Belphagor and Chamois, to keep with the style, they'll be considered finished after cell shading. But the other two are looking at full polish...I've also got some other ideas on deck as well that are gnawing at me to draw them.
Then there is of course, rounding out the asks, which art school studies were going to replace once I finish pushing out the remaining asks. Unfortunately, I got stalled after the first week and wrapped up in all this other stuff. At the very least, I'm aiming to wrap the asks before Z2. After that, I'll probably kill the site and shift any future idea asks to my gallery. (The host just upped the pricing, and with how infrequently asks are posted, and will be going forward, simply posting them on Twitter or in my galleries is probably the better idea.) But I'll still pound out the remainder over the summer.
Last thing, I'll be sparing you personal life updates this time around, and instead tell you I'm considering going to Denfur again this year as a seller, and selling stickers and prints...I'm just... wishy-washy on the idea, given previous experience and my situation at home. Part of me just feels like my focus should go to merch deals with established merch places. If you guys could spare some feedback, that would be great, I'd love to hear some opinions.
Anyway, that's all for now! Again, check out the adoptables! Happy bidding!
-WT
PARISHIONERS
Hippo Dippo
Sir FancySwank
Zaire Dann
BovineMage
Dr.Portal 455
Sypher597
KarakuriCentral
DuskyLycanroc
Notnat
Unformed
Amancalleddominik
Warwolf416
FluffyWolf117
Vulpinator/Toonophile
Daylight Shadows
C. Archive
JustCallMeFaux
DONATORS
EkhonACT9
Martin Nilsson
Okay, let's start with the most important headline here. The big plate among the spinning set of plates I'm managing. I'm taking another stab at the whole 'Adoptables' thing. Basically, I recently discovered YCH.art. It's a site specifically meant for adopts and YCH auctions. I initially stumbled upon it because the once-in-a-blue-moon scenario occurred where I saw an adoptable I liked a lot, and threw a bid into the ring. I didn't win, but I'm sort of taking the discovery of the site as a sign to retry. Let's be honest, the Furaffinity attempt wasn't great to begin with.
So, I ressurected the three otter gals I never sold, and gave them all a revamp. I've also added a forth otter to the adopts. 'Tonee', the v-tuber/baby metal-style otter gal. I will link the new auction post on Furaff that goes into greater detail, as well as the direct links to each adopt below.
Adopt an Otter REVAMP!
((ADOPTION RUN IS OVER! HERE ARE THE WINNERS!))
Angie - Vulpinator
Charlie - Hippo Dippo
Jules - NotNat
Tonee - Sypher597
((THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING! CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS!))
I'll quickly go over the rules here as well. The auctions will be live for a week. The minimum bid is 50 USD. It's unlikely any will hit 500 USD, but that is the cap. So anyone who pays that essentially secures the otter and ends the auction early. Included with each adoptable otter will be their base sheet (Fully Nude), an Outfit Sheet (Self explanatory; see auction pages), and both will have the logo info appended with text cementing the new owner. EG '(Otter) Belongs to (Winner); Illustrated by Wastedtime'. Simple, no? That said, Happy bidding to those who are interested.
Next we....hmm...lemme check the list. I'm on the tail end of some commissions right now, and eager to get writing, but there's a good chance that won't happen until June. I'm eager to get to working on a Kyuu from Beastars sticker to go along with the recent Juno and Sebun stickers, respectively, for my Etsy/Personal sale site. Since I was aiming to base all my spring content around sheep, and to a lesser extent rabbits, it seemed fitting. I have a rough outline for summer sticker set plans. Those of you missing Helluva Boss content will see it made up during that time. Cherubs and Hellhounds, that's all I'll say.
Comms I've got some I recently dropped, some very close to being wrapped up, and I've got a commed series looming on the horizon. Perhaps more than one. Again, if you like Helluva, specifically Stella, you will be eating good more than likely.
Lastly...oh man...I've got...let me see. 5 - 6 WIPs that are non-comms in various stages of completion, several of which were recently posted to my gallery, partially finished. I'm kinda frontloading the Lanolin's Mom and Belphagor pics respectively to round out Sheepy Spring and to cover me for Milfy May. (Two birds with one stone with Lanolin's Mom Chamois) But I'd also like to give J'taime Mon Prince and the Horizontal Madison a full color treatment. With Belphagor and Chamois, to keep with the style, they'll be considered finished after cell shading. But the other two are looking at full polish...I've also got some other ideas on deck as well that are gnawing at me to draw them.
Then there is of course, rounding out the asks, which art school studies were going to replace once I finish pushing out the remaining asks. Unfortunately, I got stalled after the first week and wrapped up in all this other stuff. At the very least, I'm aiming to wrap the asks before Z2. After that, I'll probably kill the site and shift any future idea asks to my gallery. (The host just upped the pricing, and with how infrequently asks are posted, and will be going forward, simply posting them on Twitter or in my galleries is probably the better idea.) But I'll still pound out the remainder over the summer.
Last thing, I'll be sparing you personal life updates this time around, and instead tell you I'm considering going to Denfur again this year as a seller, and selling stickers and prints...I'm just... wishy-washy on the idea, given previous experience and my situation at home. Part of me just feels like my focus should go to merch deals with established merch places. If you guys could spare some feedback, that would be great, I'd love to hear some opinions.
Anyway, that's all for now! Again, check out the adoptables! Happy bidding!
-WT
Stagnation and Sickness
General | Posted a year agoThanks to my backers for their January Support. I didn't post much, which is part of the reason I suspended February charges. Still, I very much appreciate your support! All of you! And your generosity is never taken for granted...to the point where some of you have taken to reverse fin-domming me. Lol. Love you all.
PARISHIONERS
BovineMage
Notnat
Sypher597
KarakuriCentral
Amancalleddominik
Daylight Shadows
Warwolf416
Vulpinator/Toonophile
C. Archive
Dr.Portal 455
Zaire Dann
DuskyLycanroc
FluffyWolf117
JustCallMeFaux
Sir FancySwank
Unformed
DONATORS
Martin Nilsson
EkhonACT9
So the holidays are over, and that's a relief. At first, I thought it had all just caught up with me like getting hit by a freight train. After New Year's I was so exhausted I could barely function. But when it persisted through the month and got in the way of nearly all aspects of my life, I had to reach out to my various doctors and get to the bottom of it. It was hard not to get depressed during that time. I know depression can only add to that sort of thing, but it's hard to stay positive when you can barely stay awake no matter how much you sleep.
When I started...'this', my new pen name, my experiment. I never intended to be this open about my health shit. I've learned from experience it doesn't do well to treat online journals like an actual journal, and people get tired of hearing from the chronically ill. But when you run any kind of business, and you fail to meet deadlines personal or otherwise, you at least need to explain why. That's how being so open about all this stuff slowly leaked into my update posts over time. I felt I owed it to my backers and fans to be transparent as to exactly why certain content got delayed or slowed. Still, I don't love talking about this stuff.
For now, I'll just say that some meds have been changed, and fingers crossed it's a stable combination long term.
Onto workloads. I've got some comms in rotation. I've been testing out this 'stage rotation' kind of system at present, where I have a set workload and cycle from one piece to another between stages. For instance, I'll sketch one piece, then move to the next piece and sketch it. Once I get to the end of the workload I shift back to the first piece and line it, and so on until each piece is completed. Even discounting the health hiccup though, I realize doing things that way sort of creates a period where there really isn't much to show. I've been supplementing that period with showing lots of WIPs...but it doesn't really feel quite the same as having completed pieces to post every few days. I don't know if that's better or worse, to be honest. Backer feedback would help I guess?
Those on the public-only side of things, I've really been slacking. It's a bad habit of mine to let art from the Patreon build up, which only makes me less likely to do all the 'writing descriptions and tags' portion to post it. Even using postybirb takes a while at this point, and I still don't even have the most amazing grasp of tags to begin with. They differ somewhat from site to site, so I'm unsure if I'm maximizing my searchability on most of my pages. So instead of dropping about a month after the patreon and substar releases, I end up dropping the art publically like...two months after. Unless it's a commission that the client wants to be posted publically on completion of course.
I just dropped a new print on my personal merch site, which is pretty nearly done. So if you liked the Amelia pin-up I dropped recently called 'A Festival of Lights', consider picking up a print. I've started adding exclusive deals to my personal merch site, and have been considering a few more deals to throw in to sort of shift shoppers over there. I still have some work to do on the Etsy side of things, basically adding info to all the sheets and descriptions mentioning the uncensored merch store. Clerical work is always the 'boring' part of things, but it needs doing if I want to generate more passive income.
Here's the Amelia Print, a Wasted Merch Store Exclusive!
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.....a-pteratopolis
I'm overdue on asks, and writing. I've still got editing to look over, even if all the editing isn't done on the next chapter. I'm sorry, it's taking forever I know...hell the whole Val story is taking forever. And here I planned to not only have that one done by the time Z2 came out, but two other fics in the Bellhunterverse series. Z2 was meant to mark my exit, as I wasn't planning on incorporating it at all even before I knew it was going to have a degenerate Kaa hypnosis snake in it. I was plotting to be on original stuff by then, but you can only ever plan for what you can reasonably expect. It took surprisingly long for Z2 to drop too, I had so much time...and where did it all go? Ugh. Regardless I don't expect Z2 to be any better than the shorts, so I was preemptively plotting not to utilize any lore from it. Dawn bias aside, I don't really have any faith that Disney in its current state will make a good Zootopia Sequel.
Don't get it twisted, I haven't turned my back on my Zoot stuff, I'm still happy with my work and want to complete my remaining stories. I just had planned for the remaining three to be an ending for my time spent in the universe. A nice, logical end to the BellHunterverse. Granted at this point I may just forgo the Finnzelle story entirely to allow me to wrap things up with 'The Bellwether Legacy" after Vulpes wraps.
Artwork stuff wise I'm still elbow-deep in commission work. I expected to be coloring some of the lined stuff I shared by now, but it can't be helped. All the while my commission/art idea list just keeps expanding. At least I'm keeping track of my ideas now, but still, I need more me's. Preferably healthier versions of me. I've also got art lessons to work on which I haven't even restarted...and 3d modeling, and animation...god, so much to do, and it feels like I've got no time to do it all. As far as I know, I've only got one life, one go around on planet Earth. Even if reincarnation is a thing it doesn't matter, it's not like I retain previous life knowledge. I've already lost enough time to far too much bullshit, and it's time for things to start coming up Milhouse damnit.
Anyway, I think that's about as deep in the weeds as I want to get for now. If I start giving timetables I'm only serving to shoot myself in the foot. Thanks to everyone, followers, long-time fans, and of course, once again, my dear backers for your continued support.
My Merch Site
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
My Etsy Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WastedTimesArtShoppe
My Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee
My Substar
https://subscribestar.adult/wastedtimeee
My Newgrounds
https://wastedtimeee.newgrounds.com/
-Wasty
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EkhonACT9
So the holidays are over, and that's a relief. At first, I thought it had all just caught up with me like getting hit by a freight train. After New Year's I was so exhausted I could barely function. But when it persisted through the month and got in the way of nearly all aspects of my life, I had to reach out to my various doctors and get to the bottom of it. It was hard not to get depressed during that time. I know depression can only add to that sort of thing, but it's hard to stay positive when you can barely stay awake no matter how much you sleep.
When I started...'this', my new pen name, my experiment. I never intended to be this open about my health shit. I've learned from experience it doesn't do well to treat online journals like an actual journal, and people get tired of hearing from the chronically ill. But when you run any kind of business, and you fail to meet deadlines personal or otherwise, you at least need to explain why. That's how being so open about all this stuff slowly leaked into my update posts over time. I felt I owed it to my backers and fans to be transparent as to exactly why certain content got delayed or slowed. Still, I don't love talking about this stuff.
For now, I'll just say that some meds have been changed, and fingers crossed it's a stable combination long term.
Onto workloads. I've got some comms in rotation. I've been testing out this 'stage rotation' kind of system at present, where I have a set workload and cycle from one piece to another between stages. For instance, I'll sketch one piece, then move to the next piece and sketch it. Once I get to the end of the workload I shift back to the first piece and line it, and so on until each piece is completed. Even discounting the health hiccup though, I realize doing things that way sort of creates a period where there really isn't much to show. I've been supplementing that period with showing lots of WIPs...but it doesn't really feel quite the same as having completed pieces to post every few days. I don't know if that's better or worse, to be honest. Backer feedback would help I guess?
Those on the public-only side of things, I've really been slacking. It's a bad habit of mine to let art from the Patreon build up, which only makes me less likely to do all the 'writing descriptions and tags' portion to post it. Even using postybirb takes a while at this point, and I still don't even have the most amazing grasp of tags to begin with. They differ somewhat from site to site, so I'm unsure if I'm maximizing my searchability on most of my pages. So instead of dropping about a month after the patreon and substar releases, I end up dropping the art publically like...two months after. Unless it's a commission that the client wants to be posted publically on completion of course.
I just dropped a new print on my personal merch site, which is pretty nearly done. So if you liked the Amelia pin-up I dropped recently called 'A Festival of Lights', consider picking up a print. I've started adding exclusive deals to my personal merch site, and have been considering a few more deals to throw in to sort of shift shoppers over there. I still have some work to do on the Etsy side of things, basically adding info to all the sheets and descriptions mentioning the uncensored merch store. Clerical work is always the 'boring' part of things, but it needs doing if I want to generate more passive income.
Here's the Amelia Print, a Wasted Merch Store Exclusive!
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.....a-pteratopolis
I'm overdue on asks, and writing. I've still got editing to look over, even if all the editing isn't done on the next chapter. I'm sorry, it's taking forever I know...hell the whole Val story is taking forever. And here I planned to not only have that one done by the time Z2 came out, but two other fics in the Bellhunterverse series. Z2 was meant to mark my exit, as I wasn't planning on incorporating it at all even before I knew it was going to have a degenerate Kaa hypnosis snake in it. I was plotting to be on original stuff by then, but you can only ever plan for what you can reasonably expect. It took surprisingly long for Z2 to drop too, I had so much time...and where did it all go? Ugh. Regardless I don't expect Z2 to be any better than the shorts, so I was preemptively plotting not to utilize any lore from it. Dawn bias aside, I don't really have any faith that Disney in its current state will make a good Zootopia Sequel.
Don't get it twisted, I haven't turned my back on my Zoot stuff, I'm still happy with my work and want to complete my remaining stories. I just had planned for the remaining three to be an ending for my time spent in the universe. A nice, logical end to the BellHunterverse. Granted at this point I may just forgo the Finnzelle story entirely to allow me to wrap things up with 'The Bellwether Legacy" after Vulpes wraps.
Artwork stuff wise I'm still elbow-deep in commission work. I expected to be coloring some of the lined stuff I shared by now, but it can't be helped. All the while my commission/art idea list just keeps expanding. At least I'm keeping track of my ideas now, but still, I need more me's. Preferably healthier versions of me. I've also got art lessons to work on which I haven't even restarted...and 3d modeling, and animation...god, so much to do, and it feels like I've got no time to do it all. As far as I know, I've only got one life, one go around on planet Earth. Even if reincarnation is a thing it doesn't matter, it's not like I retain previous life knowledge. I've already lost enough time to far too much bullshit, and it's time for things to start coming up Milhouse damnit.
Anyway, I think that's about as deep in the weeds as I want to get for now. If I start giving timetables I'm only serving to shoot myself in the foot. Thanks to everyone, followers, long-time fans, and of course, once again, my dear backers for your continued support.
My Merch Site
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
My Etsy Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WastedTimesArtShoppe
My Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee
My Substar
https://subscribestar.adult/wastedtimeee
My Newgrounds
https://wastedtimeee.newgrounds.com/
-Wasty
Oh, What a Christmas.
General | Posted a year agoThanks so much to my Donators and Parishioners, whether they came along through Patreon or Subscribestar, your continued support is extremely appreciated.
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Been a hard month, a hard holiday season really. I kinda wanted this one to be special, at least better than last year was. But...stomach issues being what they are...things just didn't quite work out. Granted while this Christmas was at least marginally better than last year, the bar was set very, very low. But Halloween was kind of a bust as there...really wasn't much I could do. I don't really party, and I have no kids to take trick or treating. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around my stomach was totally shot, so I didn't cook or eat. And with Christmas, I didn't have the tree fully decorated until the 29th of December. I suppose that fits in with the obscure 12 days of Christmas tradition...but it wasn't ideal.
I'm still dealing with stomach issues, bleeding and the like. I have chronic gastritis, which I sort of knew I had, but just didn't have hard confirmation prior to an endoscopy a few weeks ago. Still, previous bouts of it have lasted...a few days tops. This is the first time I've suffered with one for near four months. I've played the 'food test' game, even going so far as to not eat for days. But it didn't help it ease or go away during that time. So I've got no idea what's causing my gastritis bouts. I also confirmed my lower bowel bleeding (Which I'm going to describe that vaguely as I don't want to talk about the area that's bleeding directly)...but I have to wait till February to meet with the Gastro and discuss what I can do about any of these issues that I haven't already tried. Needless to say...between that and the holidays I've been struggling to catch up on work more so than normal.
I had zero time to do asks for my blog, and so it fell by the wayside. I have no intention of abandoning it, it just was....well, the most 'outer-ring' on my workload priorities list. Out beyond the asteroid belt, but not beyond the Kuiper belt along with my writing. I am eager to get back to both though. I'm sure I'll get a nice ask dump out within the next month or two. And I'll definitely write this month. I also have a chapter still in the editing bay that I'm waiting for my editor to finish. (The holidays affected his schedule as well.)
The lion's share of the busy work for me currently has been all about commissions. For whatever reason, they really started rolling in within the last month. I've got a seven-project queue lined up right now, and I'm trying to work on at least two concurrently in order to get through them all at a steady clip. The issue is of course the health and the holiday season factors. But at least now with New Year's just a few hours away, I'll have one factor off the table. But I do still want to work on personal projects to post up, and the occasional merch drop along the way as well both for my own sanity, and so my supporters don't feel short-changed when supporting me. There are a number of stalled projects I want to get back to that have been waiting for new pages for so long there's going to be a quality gap with the newer entries.
And then there's my cube brush art program studies...which totally dropped off in October. I need to get back to it. I need to continue to improve my general skillset both for myself, as well as all of you. From a personal standpoint, I want my art to look as good as it looks in my head. From a business standpoint, I've never been a great networker, and so I want to lean hard into improving my art and expanding my range to help with that networking deficit. Obviously, I'm not looking to be rich or some super beloved popufur, but I want to at least live decently almost, if not entirely based on my work. It's what I love to do, and while it's a lofty goal, it's what I'm shooting for.
I want to get back to animating. I want to be making, printing and painting 3D models. I've got so much I'm so desperate to do, and it just feels like I've got so little time to accomplish it. Every health hiccup I run into acts as a traffic jam between me and that goal, and it can be so frustrating I just want to tear my hair out sometimes.
Anyway, lastly I've been keeping up with my Patreon posts pretty well, but have been lagging behind with public releases. For that I'm sorry... It takes a while to set up and correlate all my posts on the various platforms I'm on, especially when I let it build up. Even with Postybirb, I still spend a while typing up descriptions, getting my tags in order, double checking my spelling (And still typos get through), and often when I have the choice to use my time doing that or working on a project I tend to side on working on a project.
Anyway, if you're interested in keeping on top of my art close to, if not as soon as it's completed, consider joining my Patreon or Subscribestar. The one-dollar tier gives you access to finished art pieces almost as soon as they are done. However, at the five-dollar tier, you can join our discord and see the art pretty much as soon as it's done. As well as WIPs, voice chat access, a merch discount, access to polls, and so on...Even if you don't join, I still appreciate those of you who just like my work and are following me. For every kind comment and fave. Thank you all.
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Daylight Shadows
VoidPod
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Ver min
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Martin Nilsson
Been a hard month, a hard holiday season really. I kinda wanted this one to be special, at least better than last year was. But...stomach issues being what they are...things just didn't quite work out. Granted while this Christmas was at least marginally better than last year, the bar was set very, very low. But Halloween was kind of a bust as there...really wasn't much I could do. I don't really party, and I have no kids to take trick or treating. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around my stomach was totally shot, so I didn't cook or eat. And with Christmas, I didn't have the tree fully decorated until the 29th of December. I suppose that fits in with the obscure 12 days of Christmas tradition...but it wasn't ideal.
I'm still dealing with stomach issues, bleeding and the like. I have chronic gastritis, which I sort of knew I had, but just didn't have hard confirmation prior to an endoscopy a few weeks ago. Still, previous bouts of it have lasted...a few days tops. This is the first time I've suffered with one for near four months. I've played the 'food test' game, even going so far as to not eat for days. But it didn't help it ease or go away during that time. So I've got no idea what's causing my gastritis bouts. I also confirmed my lower bowel bleeding (Which I'm going to describe that vaguely as I don't want to talk about the area that's bleeding directly)...but I have to wait till February to meet with the Gastro and discuss what I can do about any of these issues that I haven't already tried. Needless to say...between that and the holidays I've been struggling to catch up on work more so than normal.
I had zero time to do asks for my blog, and so it fell by the wayside. I have no intention of abandoning it, it just was....well, the most 'outer-ring' on my workload priorities list. Out beyond the asteroid belt, but not beyond the Kuiper belt along with my writing. I am eager to get back to both though. I'm sure I'll get a nice ask dump out within the next month or two. And I'll definitely write this month. I also have a chapter still in the editing bay that I'm waiting for my editor to finish. (The holidays affected his schedule as well.)
The lion's share of the busy work for me currently has been all about commissions. For whatever reason, they really started rolling in within the last month. I've got a seven-project queue lined up right now, and I'm trying to work on at least two concurrently in order to get through them all at a steady clip. The issue is of course the health and the holiday season factors. But at least now with New Year's just a few hours away, I'll have one factor off the table. But I do still want to work on personal projects to post up, and the occasional merch drop along the way as well both for my own sanity, and so my supporters don't feel short-changed when supporting me. There are a number of stalled projects I want to get back to that have been waiting for new pages for so long there's going to be a quality gap with the newer entries.
And then there's my cube brush art program studies...which totally dropped off in October. I need to get back to it. I need to continue to improve my general skillset both for myself, as well as all of you. From a personal standpoint, I want my art to look as good as it looks in my head. From a business standpoint, I've never been a great networker, and so I want to lean hard into improving my art and expanding my range to help with that networking deficit. Obviously, I'm not looking to be rich or some super beloved popufur, but I want to at least live decently almost, if not entirely based on my work. It's what I love to do, and while it's a lofty goal, it's what I'm shooting for.
I want to get back to animating. I want to be making, printing and painting 3D models. I've got so much I'm so desperate to do, and it just feels like I've got so little time to accomplish it. Every health hiccup I run into acts as a traffic jam between me and that goal, and it can be so frustrating I just want to tear my hair out sometimes.
Anyway, lastly I've been keeping up with my Patreon posts pretty well, but have been lagging behind with public releases. For that I'm sorry... It takes a while to set up and correlate all my posts on the various platforms I'm on, especially when I let it build up. Even with Postybirb, I still spend a while typing up descriptions, getting my tags in order, double checking my spelling (And still typos get through), and often when I have the choice to use my time doing that or working on a project I tend to side on working on a project.
Anyway, if you're interested in keeping on top of my art close to, if not as soon as it's completed, consider joining my Patreon or Subscribestar. The one-dollar tier gives you access to finished art pieces almost as soon as they are done. However, at the five-dollar tier, you can join our discord and see the art pretty much as soon as it's done. As well as WIPs, voice chat access, a merch discount, access to polls, and so on...Even if you don't join, I still appreciate those of you who just like my work and are following me. For every kind comment and fave. Thank you all.
Approaching Deep Fried Status
General | Posted a year agoMore than ever, I'd like to thank my Patreon backers. It can get rough sometimes, but you guys keep me going.
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DuskyLycanroc
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Ver min
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Lemme start out by saying...I think I've overextended myself with the holidays on the horizon. To be fair, I was operating at better health than normal...but that was before things started to deteriorate.
The thing is, I have been dealing with on and off again nausea since the tail end of September. I didn't give it all that much thought at the time. But around the middle of October, it shifted from just daily nausea to pain in my upper stomach and loss of appetite. I'm still dealing with that at present...though it's gotten better slowly. The key word there is 'slowly'. In the meantime, I've been put on heavy stomach meds to try and help whatever is going on clear up. I've also got some tests coming up, including a colonoscopy/endoscopy combo just after my birthday. Delightful. Not sure what is going on, and I'll keep my tongue bit until I have some confirmation. But that, coupled with holiday duties has really thrown a spanner in the works.
So here's what I'm staring down the barrel of in terms of workload. I've got 5 commissions lined up, I also have a Thanksgiving Sable Able sticker to draw. On top of that, I've got like 4 other non-comm pictures I want to color, A Christmas sticker I need to plot out, and I'd like to do some asks before the year is out. And on top of that, I've got writing to do. I'm probably forgetting something, and there was stuff on my '2024' hit list I will not be able to accomplish in time. I'm going to try and push some of the non-comm pics to after New Year's. This wouldn't be too bad if it weren't...you know...the holidays. And thanks to my health issues I've been unable to keep up with a lot of the housework and daily stuff, as well as festive things in general.
I'm feeling pretty burnt out. Deep fried with a capital emoji 'B'. Halloween was a disappointment, it looks like I won't be able to eat, let alone cook for Thanksgiving, and I have my doubts about Christmas at this point. I hate being exhausted, and I hate having my stomach be on a perpetual hair trigger as to whether or not I'll be in pain for hours. I just want to draw damnit. Well, draw and write.
I'm going to try and reassess things a little later this week, to try and smooth out the full workload into something that allows for some time leniency for unexpected rougher health days and Holiday activities with my Mom. I'll be in touch with all the 'Commission' seekers as soon as I get that fleshed out. That said, I'm glad I don't take payments until I get up to the commission in question.
Shorter one this time. It's nearly 5 am, I'm tired, and forcing myself to play catch up. Sorry if the typos are worse than usual. I'm using Grammarly to preview these but it doesn't catch everything.
Check the links below. We'll have a new Keychain listed soon. Get your Keychains while you can, because if the import fees become too expensive when the new administration comes in, I won't be able to make more anytime soon.
Thanks to my backers and fans...
PARISHIONERS
DuskyLycanroc
Warwolf416
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Ver min
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DONATORS
Martin Nilsson
Kyle Hawkinson
EkhonACT9
Lemme start out by saying...I think I've overextended myself with the holidays on the horizon. To be fair, I was operating at better health than normal...but that was before things started to deteriorate.
The thing is, I have been dealing with on and off again nausea since the tail end of September. I didn't give it all that much thought at the time. But around the middle of October, it shifted from just daily nausea to pain in my upper stomach and loss of appetite. I'm still dealing with that at present...though it's gotten better slowly. The key word there is 'slowly'. In the meantime, I've been put on heavy stomach meds to try and help whatever is going on clear up. I've also got some tests coming up, including a colonoscopy/endoscopy combo just after my birthday. Delightful. Not sure what is going on, and I'll keep my tongue bit until I have some confirmation. But that, coupled with holiday duties has really thrown a spanner in the works.
So here's what I'm staring down the barrel of in terms of workload. I've got 5 commissions lined up, I also have a Thanksgiving Sable Able sticker to draw. On top of that, I've got like 4 other non-comm pictures I want to color, A Christmas sticker I need to plot out, and I'd like to do some asks before the year is out. And on top of that, I've got writing to do. I'm probably forgetting something, and there was stuff on my '2024' hit list I will not be able to accomplish in time. I'm going to try and push some of the non-comm pics to after New Year's. This wouldn't be too bad if it weren't...you know...the holidays. And thanks to my health issues I've been unable to keep up with a lot of the housework and daily stuff, as well as festive things in general.
I'm feeling pretty burnt out. Deep fried with a capital emoji 'B'. Halloween was a disappointment, it looks like I won't be able to eat, let alone cook for Thanksgiving, and I have my doubts about Christmas at this point. I hate being exhausted, and I hate having my stomach be on a perpetual hair trigger as to whether or not I'll be in pain for hours. I just want to draw damnit. Well, draw and write.
I'm going to try and reassess things a little later this week, to try and smooth out the full workload into something that allows for some time leniency for unexpected rougher health days and Holiday activities with my Mom. I'll be in touch with all the 'Commission' seekers as soon as I get that fleshed out. That said, I'm glad I don't take payments until I get up to the commission in question.
Shorter one this time. It's nearly 5 am, I'm tired, and forcing myself to play catch up. Sorry if the typos are worse than usual. I'm using Grammarly to preview these but it doesn't catch everything.
Check the links below. We'll have a new Keychain listed soon. Get your Keychains while you can, because if the import fees become too expensive when the new administration comes in, I won't be able to make more anytime soon.
Thanks to my backers and fans...
Mr. Hammond I think we're back in business!
General | Posted a year agoSo, the short answer to the printer ordeal was that the rollers were burnt out. I couldn't get the ink stain fully off them, and I couldn't replace the part because the way the printer is designed is to be unopenable on the consumer side. Naturally, this meant it was time to order a new printer. Of course, this time I bought an extended warranty that's good for four years. Granted, it's one of those 'toss it and we'll refund you.' Wasteful yes, but I don't really have an alternative. I don't even want to throw this old one out, but it won't be useful to anyone with the roller marks.
It arrived this morning, although it was supposed to be delayed until Tuesday. I just finished setting it up and working out the kinks. Everything looks good and clean, so I'm announcing that all my stores are reopened!
First and foremost I'll be linking my Merch site. This place is currently home to all of my prints, including those that were 'too hot' for Etsy. That said, the site is adults only! I'll be adding my sticker stock later this week.
My Merch Site.
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
And next is my Etsy store, home to my current slate of 'acceptable' stickers, prints, and for the first time, keychains! Check at the "Ewe Head Emote Keychain!" And coming soon, My Logo as a keychain!
My Etsy Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WastedTimesArtShoppe
-WT
It arrived this morning, although it was supposed to be delayed until Tuesday. I just finished setting it up and working out the kinks. Everything looks good and clean, so I'm announcing that all my stores are reopened!
First and foremost I'll be linking my Merch site. This place is currently home to all of my prints, including those that were 'too hot' for Etsy. That said, the site is adults only! I'll be adding my sticker stock later this week.
My Merch Site.
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
And next is my Etsy store, home to my current slate of 'acceptable' stickers, prints, and for the first time, keychains! Check at the "Ewe Head Emote Keychain!" And coming soon, My Logo as a keychain!
My Etsy Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WastedTimesArtShoppe
-WT
Failed to Taxi (Temporary Store Closure)
General | Posted a year agoYeah, so small snafu. I had my grand opening for my own print store pretty much yesterday. Someone placed an order, which was fine, but my printer is having 'quality issues'. I've run all the cleaning cycles, and changed the inks out, but nothing has fixed the issue. It might be the fact I'm using budget ink, so I've ordered some replacement on brand ink. However, if that proves not to fix anything I'll have to just get a new printer.
So, until the issue is resolved one way or the other, I've taken my store offline, and set my Etsy storefront to vacation mode. This is a really terrible, awful time to have to do this, but it can't be helped.
I'll update as the situation develops.
-WT
So, until the issue is resolved one way or the other, I've taken my store offline, and set my Etsy storefront to vacation mode. This is a really terrible, awful time to have to do this, but it can't be helped.
I'll update as the situation develops.
-WT
October Blues
General | Posted a year agoAs always, I want to thank all of my backers, who make everything I do possible. From my Acoylotes to my Parishioners, to my Donors, to my Substars and BuymeaCoffee folks. All of you. Thank you so much.
]PARISHIONERS
Vulpinator/Toonophile
Amancalleddominik
BovineMage
Dr.Portal 455
Ver min
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Sir FancySwank
DuskyLycanroc
C. Archive
KarakuriCentral
Unformed
JustCallMeFaux
Sypher597
Warwolf416
Zaire Dann
DONATORS
Mariusz Lewandowski
EkhonACT9
Martin Nilsson
Let's start by talking about merch and commissions. Oh yes, it's that time...I've got a lot to discuss in that department.
Firstly, I've got a merch website now. It's a fairly basic setup, and I'm still 'stocking' items. But at the very least it will act as a backup for my Etsy store, as well as having my content that's 'too hot' for Etsy hosted and sold there. So check up on it from time to time for exclusives. I'll link it here.
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
Secondly, let's talk physical merch. After a long wait, I've finally got some keychains to offer you. This is the first batch of tentative keychains, and I've only got a small stock as I'm not expecting them to fly off the shelves. But you're welcome to prove me wrong. So feel free to check out my "Secretary Ewe Keychain" listing linked below. These won't be listed on my website in order to avoid selling more stock than I have between both retailers.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1806370423/
My plan for keychains in the immediate future is to drop a limited run of some Logo keychains before the year is out, as well as have some tentative sketches for future keychains to hopefully release at the start of the year. The reason for the logo keychain was due to a request from Patreons, but again it's not an item I expect to fly off the shelves. That said, I'm open to suggestions for Keychain ideas. I'm keeping them SFW, but they can border on risque. Mostly keeping it to either heads or bust up shots considering the size of the acrylic charms. But perhaps under certain circumstances, we can do a full-body one. More than likely though I want to save that for standees. But by all means, feel free to make some suggestions.
Lastly, stickers. So far I've been keeping up with my planned release schedule despite my feeling lousy on multiple fronts. I'm 2/3rds of the way done with my Reptile Girls sheet, and I'm 1/2 of the way done with my office cuties releases. I also want to snake in my Mismagius girl as a stand-alone sticker release for Halloween, but I refuse to get ahead of myself. Either way, after that I'll be taking a break until the Christmas run-up in terms of merch.
Also, commissions are still open guys! I've only got one in the works, and another client on standby, so consider picking up a comm! I made the first half of my commission's sale sheet my featured art on Furaffinity, but I'll probably do a takedown and repost soon for those who don't see this.
Okay, so now for an outline of work ahead. Aside from the stickers I'm currently working on a full-color pin-up. This isn't counting a full-color species swap pic of Dawn and Vern that's live on Patreon and Substar, and will be released publically eventually. Furthermore, I'm aiming to return to some long-term projects that have been floating in limbo for a while. One I've got my eye on in an effort to pick up the pace in comic production is a clean, colorized version of the 'Ellie's Dream' comic I did in 2021.
Turning to fics, I've got a chapter of The Family Vulpes fully written and waiting in the edition bay, and I intend to start the next chapter...ideally this week, fingers crossed. That said I'll have to poke my editor to get started again, as I've already done a payment sketch well above the usual bar. Again, you see that publically in due time.
The last thing related to work is my art studies, which admittedly I've fallen behind on. I need to pick it back up before I start losing progress in my 'daily practice' routines. But it's kinda rough balancing all of this stuff as well as the time of year it is now, so I've been forced to adapt to the best of my ability, which means daily exercise is often not an option.
Okay, now for life stuff that poses a risk of disrupting workflow. I've got my own health issues still, obviously, and my Mom has hers. Naturally, since I'm her caretaker that means her health issues are just more work for me, not that I necessarily mind. The real issue is her stubbornness when it comes to her self-care responsibilities. But there's only so much I can plead or argue when she's technically mentally fit enough to refuse medical care, as well as doctors and ER visits. Needless to say, it doesn't make anything less stressful for me. To top it all off we can't even really discuss these things without getting into an argument, and thus I have very little outlet to vent my frustration. Thankfully I do have some close, personal friends to confide in which helps a lot. I won't name-drop here, but you guys know who you are.
I'm prepping some stuff on the side to try and deal with/mitigate that stress, but even so, it makes the holiday season all the more glum and stressful. I used to look forward to Halloween and Christmas, but now I'm simply dreading it. I just can't see any real way to get in the holiday spirit. All the usual traditions like watching spooky movies and eating festive foods feel like it won't be enough, and I can't really find anything 'unique' to do in my area that will make this Halloween or Christmas more memorable. I know that's a first-world problem, but I generally love the holiday season. I want to enjoy it. But I just don't think it's gonna be a stellar season this year.
Anyway, I think that's all for now. Please check out my new site, as well as my Etsy store. The Etsy store recently got four new sticker sets in the past two weeks, so if you like Aggretsuko characters, Bratty from Undertale, or Zorayas from Elden Ring, those stickers might be for you! And in the next few weeks you'll see Inui, Fenneko, and my Lapras gal Pearl joining the lineup. As well as (fingers crossed) My Misgmagius gal Winifred.
My Merch Site (Under Construction)
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
-Wasty
]PARISHIONERS
Vulpinator/Toonophile
Amancalleddominik
BovineMage
Dr.Portal 455
Ver min
FluffyWolf117
Sir FancySwank
DuskyLycanroc
C. Archive
KarakuriCentral
Unformed
JustCallMeFaux
Sypher597
Warwolf416
Zaire Dann
DONATORS
Mariusz Lewandowski
EkhonACT9
Martin Nilsson
Let's start by talking about merch and commissions. Oh yes, it's that time...I've got a lot to discuss in that department.
Firstly, I've got a merch website now. It's a fairly basic setup, and I'm still 'stocking' items. But at the very least it will act as a backup for my Etsy store, as well as having my content that's 'too hot' for Etsy hosted and sold there. So check up on it from time to time for exclusives. I'll link it here.
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
Secondly, let's talk physical merch. After a long wait, I've finally got some keychains to offer you. This is the first batch of tentative keychains, and I've only got a small stock as I'm not expecting them to fly off the shelves. But you're welcome to prove me wrong. So feel free to check out my "Secretary Ewe Keychain" listing linked below. These won't be listed on my website in order to avoid selling more stock than I have between both retailers.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1806370423/
My plan for keychains in the immediate future is to drop a limited run of some Logo keychains before the year is out, as well as have some tentative sketches for future keychains to hopefully release at the start of the year. The reason for the logo keychain was due to a request from Patreons, but again it's not an item I expect to fly off the shelves. That said, I'm open to suggestions for Keychain ideas. I'm keeping them SFW, but they can border on risque. Mostly keeping it to either heads or bust up shots considering the size of the acrylic charms. But perhaps under certain circumstances, we can do a full-body one. More than likely though I want to save that for standees. But by all means, feel free to make some suggestions.
Lastly, stickers. So far I've been keeping up with my planned release schedule despite my feeling lousy on multiple fronts. I'm 2/3rds of the way done with my Reptile Girls sheet, and I'm 1/2 of the way done with my office cuties releases. I also want to snake in my Mismagius girl as a stand-alone sticker release for Halloween, but I refuse to get ahead of myself. Either way, after that I'll be taking a break until the Christmas run-up in terms of merch.
Also, commissions are still open guys! I've only got one in the works, and another client on standby, so consider picking up a comm! I made the first half of my commission's sale sheet my featured art on Furaffinity, but I'll probably do a takedown and repost soon for those who don't see this.
Okay, so now for an outline of work ahead. Aside from the stickers I'm currently working on a full-color pin-up. This isn't counting a full-color species swap pic of Dawn and Vern that's live on Patreon and Substar, and will be released publically eventually. Furthermore, I'm aiming to return to some long-term projects that have been floating in limbo for a while. One I've got my eye on in an effort to pick up the pace in comic production is a clean, colorized version of the 'Ellie's Dream' comic I did in 2021.
Turning to fics, I've got a chapter of The Family Vulpes fully written and waiting in the edition bay, and I intend to start the next chapter...ideally this week, fingers crossed. That said I'll have to poke my editor to get started again, as I've already done a payment sketch well above the usual bar. Again, you see that publically in due time.
The last thing related to work is my art studies, which admittedly I've fallen behind on. I need to pick it back up before I start losing progress in my 'daily practice' routines. But it's kinda rough balancing all of this stuff as well as the time of year it is now, so I've been forced to adapt to the best of my ability, which means daily exercise is often not an option.
Okay, now for life stuff that poses a risk of disrupting workflow. I've got my own health issues still, obviously, and my Mom has hers. Naturally, since I'm her caretaker that means her health issues are just more work for me, not that I necessarily mind. The real issue is her stubbornness when it comes to her self-care responsibilities. But there's only so much I can plead or argue when she's technically mentally fit enough to refuse medical care, as well as doctors and ER visits. Needless to say, it doesn't make anything less stressful for me. To top it all off we can't even really discuss these things without getting into an argument, and thus I have very little outlet to vent my frustration. Thankfully I do have some close, personal friends to confide in which helps a lot. I won't name-drop here, but you guys know who you are.
I'm prepping some stuff on the side to try and deal with/mitigate that stress, but even so, it makes the holiday season all the more glum and stressful. I used to look forward to Halloween and Christmas, but now I'm simply dreading it. I just can't see any real way to get in the holiday spirit. All the usual traditions like watching spooky movies and eating festive foods feel like it won't be enough, and I can't really find anything 'unique' to do in my area that will make this Halloween or Christmas more memorable. I know that's a first-world problem, but I generally love the holiday season. I want to enjoy it. But I just don't think it's gonna be a stellar season this year.
Anyway, I think that's all for now. Please check out my new site, as well as my Etsy store. The Etsy store recently got four new sticker sets in the past two weeks, so if you like Aggretsuko characters, Bratty from Undertale, or Zorayas from Elden Ring, those stickers might be for you! And in the next few weeks you'll see Inui, Fenneko, and my Lapras gal Pearl joining the lineup. As well as (fingers crossed) My Misgmagius gal Winifred.
My Merch Site (Under Construction)
https://wastedtimemerchshop.company.site/
-Wasty
Holiday Madness Begins
General | Posted a year agoHey, I'm actually going to briefly sidebar the 'thank you's' just this once to do a promotion I promised for Vulpinator/Toonophile for his fanfics and writing comms. He's a very talented writer, even if I'm not into his NSFW content all that much, his writing style is great. So if you like a writing style with a focus on frilly undergarments, as well as plenty of other options, please check him out. He's also got a character discount list, as in a list of characters that will get you a discount if you want the fic to involve them.
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10555959
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10555962
Also, thanks for being a long-time Patreon Member Vulp! And I wish you the best of luck with your comms. That said, I'd also like to thank the rest of my Patreon and Substar pledgers. Thank you to my Acoylotes, Parishioners, and Donators. Your continued support is always appreciated. Very, very much so. Much love to you all.
PARISHIONERS
FluffyWolf117
Dr.Portal 455
Ver min
Sir FancySwank
KarakuriCentral
Sypher597
Vulpinator/Toonophile
DuskyLycanroc
Unformed
Mariusz Lewandowski
Warwolf416
Amancalleddominik
Zaire Dann
BovineMage
C. Archive
JustCallMeFaux
DONATORS
EkhonACT9
Martin Nilsson
Okay, we've got what feels like a lot on tap this month. Between the art studies, commissions, writing, research, and the holiday lead up it feels a little overwhelming in the moment. Practice sessions are slipping a bit, and I'm doing my best to continue to make time for them because I genuinely want to improve. But I have a lot of spinning plates in the air and I'm starting to feel like any second now I'm going to drop all of them at once and somehow manage to poke an eye out with one of the sticks.
Let's start with the necessary research I need to do this month. Priority one is to dig up a fairly simple website/webstore builder so I can actually have a safe zone to hock my adult merch. This includes the stuff that's still on Etsy, and stuff that was long since removed. I've got a lead on that I'll be looking into shortly.
Next, Keychain and Standee production. Another area where I have some leads. I've just about given up on making them myself. If not for the difficulty getting them sturdy and to look how I want, then merely for the lack of free time to craft them.
Last, I want to dip my toes back into actual animation soon. Nothing special yet, just little looping cycle stuff. Another thing I'm hoping to start soon.
Now onto actual, tangible stuff. I've got 2 different sets of stickers at the line art stage. One celebrates the end of the summer, and the second set that's Aggretsuko specific to celebrate the autumn overall. These will be different than my previous sets however. The reason? I'll be dropping them one sticker at a time roughly a week at a time over the next few months. Why am I doing this? While I'm still stuck on Etsy, it's easier and safer to upload each character sticker as a separate listing. That way, if one gets TOS sniped, they won't all get TOS sniped in one shot.
On top of that, while commissions are still open, I've got 3 in progress and 1 in a floating reservation. Two are about half done, with one yet to be started. That's of course not even counting personal projects which feel like just a chaotic, disorganized mess. A million things to draw, to write, and thinking up new things every day. While my health had improved somewhat, I still feel like I don't have enough hands, enough of me, or enough time to get it all out.
As for my fic content, I just dropped a minific on Patreon and Substar that goes with a picture set. Both of these will drop in about 2 weeks or so for public consumption. I have another chapter of The Family Vulpes in the editing bay and will start writing the chapter after that one closer to the end of the month. Slow going, I know, and I'm sorry but there's just so much to do. Again, I'm balancing plates.
The only other project I can update right now is Savage Love. I'm not done with it, of course, it's merely on the back burner. I'd like to do more with it before the holiday season ends, but we'll see. Everything else is on hiatus until further notice.
Now for a brief, surface life update. At least as brief as is relevant. My health has improved a bit. I'm trying to walk every day now, and thankfully I live in the perfect place for that sort of thing. My Mom's still not in great shape, so that remains a job in and of itself. And of course, with the holidays coming up, it makes for a lot of life distractions.
So I think that's about all I have to update everyone on at the moment. Just trying to keep my head above water and wishing I still had two more months to go before September. Thanks to all my pledgers and backers again, and a thank you to my fans and followers as well!
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10555959
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10555962
Also, thanks for being a long-time Patreon Member Vulp! And I wish you the best of luck with your comms. That said, I'd also like to thank the rest of my Patreon and Substar pledgers. Thank you to my Acoylotes, Parishioners, and Donators. Your continued support is always appreciated. Very, very much so. Much love to you all.
PARISHIONERS
FluffyWolf117
Dr.Portal 455
Ver min
Sir FancySwank
KarakuriCentral
Sypher597
Vulpinator/Toonophile
DuskyLycanroc
Unformed
Mariusz Lewandowski
Warwolf416
Amancalleddominik
Zaire Dann
BovineMage
C. Archive
JustCallMeFaux
DONATORS
EkhonACT9
Martin Nilsson
Okay, we've got what feels like a lot on tap this month. Between the art studies, commissions, writing, research, and the holiday lead up it feels a little overwhelming in the moment. Practice sessions are slipping a bit, and I'm doing my best to continue to make time for them because I genuinely want to improve. But I have a lot of spinning plates in the air and I'm starting to feel like any second now I'm going to drop all of them at once and somehow manage to poke an eye out with one of the sticks.
Let's start with the necessary research I need to do this month. Priority one is to dig up a fairly simple website/webstore builder so I can actually have a safe zone to hock my adult merch. This includes the stuff that's still on Etsy, and stuff that was long since removed. I've got a lead on that I'll be looking into shortly.
Next, Keychain and Standee production. Another area where I have some leads. I've just about given up on making them myself. If not for the difficulty getting them sturdy and to look how I want, then merely for the lack of free time to craft them.
Last, I want to dip my toes back into actual animation soon. Nothing special yet, just little looping cycle stuff. Another thing I'm hoping to start soon.
Now onto actual, tangible stuff. I've got 2 different sets of stickers at the line art stage. One celebrates the end of the summer, and the second set that's Aggretsuko specific to celebrate the autumn overall. These will be different than my previous sets however. The reason? I'll be dropping them one sticker at a time roughly a week at a time over the next few months. Why am I doing this? While I'm still stuck on Etsy, it's easier and safer to upload each character sticker as a separate listing. That way, if one gets TOS sniped, they won't all get TOS sniped in one shot.
On top of that, while commissions are still open, I've got 3 in progress and 1 in a floating reservation. Two are about half done, with one yet to be started. That's of course not even counting personal projects which feel like just a chaotic, disorganized mess. A million things to draw, to write, and thinking up new things every day. While my health had improved somewhat, I still feel like I don't have enough hands, enough of me, or enough time to get it all out.
As for my fic content, I just dropped a minific on Patreon and Substar that goes with a picture set. Both of these will drop in about 2 weeks or so for public consumption. I have another chapter of The Family Vulpes in the editing bay and will start writing the chapter after that one closer to the end of the month. Slow going, I know, and I'm sorry but there's just so much to do. Again, I'm balancing plates.
The only other project I can update right now is Savage Love. I'm not done with it, of course, it's merely on the back burner. I'd like to do more with it before the holiday season ends, but we'll see. Everything else is on hiatus until further notice.
Now for a brief, surface life update. At least as brief as is relevant. My health has improved a bit. I'm trying to walk every day now, and thankfully I live in the perfect place for that sort of thing. My Mom's still not in great shape, so that remains a job in and of itself. And of course, with the holidays coming up, it makes for a lot of life distractions.
So I think that's about all I have to update everyone on at the moment. Just trying to keep my head above water and wishing I still had two more months to go before September. Thanks to all my pledgers and backers again, and a thank you to my fans and followers as well!
Looking for Adult Friendly Sales Sites
General | Posted a year agoSo, as I mentioned in my last journal, Etsy is slowly but surely turning the screws on adult art sellers. Their newest rule regarding Illustrated nudity, specifically the 'sexual posing' seems vague enough to be able to fit any circumstance if stretched liberally enough, which I'm sure was by design. Every week or so something I had listed gets tagged and taken down. For some, I've managed to repost them with the adult content stripped out, and not so subtly expressing NSFW prints can be asked for after sale, but I know I'm flirting with danger there.
I've been asking around at different places about where else I can sell my content without restriction short of private sale. Despite doing my best to make it clear on my various websites that I will sell stickers and prints through Paypal and DMs, none of those avenues get the sort of attention that a searchable Etsy listing gets. Etsy, even the mature category, was good at getting eyes on my work, and my stickers and Prints have been a nice backup source of low maintenance reoccurant income to keep the fire of survival stoked. But I can't find anywhere else that allows for sales of adult-themed prints and stickers, let alone one that works similarly to Etsy. And in terms of more robust physical merch like keychains and standees, my progress is slow.
I went to 4chan /trash/ and Reddit, which admittedly 4chan was more helpful even if I only got one reply. Reddit removed my post because I needed 100 karma in the subreddit to post, and encouraged me to leave comments and start discussions to gain said karma. However that was a discussion I posted that got removed, so I don't know why it was removed other than asking for advice. I'm not a big 'reddit' guy, I almost never go, so I should have expected that I guess. Still, it hasn't incentivized me to plug away at Reddit to farm karma. Not a fan of the format to begin with.
I realize not many people read Journal posts, something I myself am guilty of, and my range isn't like...giant popular furry artist range of reach. But I guess I'm posting this to ask if anyone out there has some suggestions about where I can sell my NSFW physical merch? I'm just at a loss and have no real idea what to do. Any feedback will be super appreciated, and thanks for reading.
Also, like I said, I do sell Prints and Stickers privately. Just DM me and we can set up a paypal invoice. Furaff has all my available stickers and Prints in a folder, so feel free to check them out. I'll be posting my new commission info later today which will include a section on custom stickers and prints as well if you're interested.
Thanks again for hearing me out.
-WT
I've been asking around at different places about where else I can sell my content without restriction short of private sale. Despite doing my best to make it clear on my various websites that I will sell stickers and prints through Paypal and DMs, none of those avenues get the sort of attention that a searchable Etsy listing gets. Etsy, even the mature category, was good at getting eyes on my work, and my stickers and Prints have been a nice backup source of low maintenance reoccurant income to keep the fire of survival stoked. But I can't find anywhere else that allows for sales of adult-themed prints and stickers, let alone one that works similarly to Etsy. And in terms of more robust physical merch like keychains and standees, my progress is slow.
I went to 4chan /trash/ and Reddit, which admittedly 4chan was more helpful even if I only got one reply. Reddit removed my post because I needed 100 karma in the subreddit to post, and encouraged me to leave comments and start discussions to gain said karma. However that was a discussion I posted that got removed, so I don't know why it was removed other than asking for advice. I'm not a big 'reddit' guy, I almost never go, so I should have expected that I guess. Still, it hasn't incentivized me to plug away at Reddit to farm karma. Not a fan of the format to begin with.
I realize not many people read Journal posts, something I myself am guilty of, and my range isn't like...giant popular furry artist range of reach. But I guess I'm posting this to ask if anyone out there has some suggestions about where I can sell my NSFW physical merch? I'm just at a loss and have no real idea what to do. Any feedback will be super appreciated, and thanks for reading.
Also, like I said, I do sell Prints and Stickers privately. Just DM me and we can set up a paypal invoice. Furaff has all my available stickers and Prints in a folder, so feel free to check them out. I'll be posting my new commission info later today which will include a section on custom stickers and prints as well if you're interested.
Thanks again for hearing me out.
-WT
Back to the grind.
General | Posted a year agoI'd like to thank my Patreon and Subscribstar supporters for as long as I continue to have them. Lord knows the credit companies will be coming down on those platforms increasingly over the next few months in the same way they're presumably doing to Etsy now. Still, it's deeply appreciated. Whether you're an old hand or a new member, your support means the world to me.
PARISHIONERS
Sir FancySwank
Unformed
Ver min
Dr.Portal 455
FluffyWolf117
Vulpinator
JustCallMeFaux
DuskyLycanroc
Karakuri
BovineMage
The Fool
AmanCalledDominik
Sypher597
C. Archive
Warwolf416
FOLLOWERS
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Let's start out with a deeper explanation of where I've been for the past few weeks. As I said in "Where the heck are you?", I was on a bit of a forced vacation. Really I needed it, both for the purely social contact, and my own mental health. Honestly, I should have announced it before it happened as it wasn't a 'surprise visit'. But I spent the week before the 13th making sure the house was as spic and span as I could get it, which ended up getting in the way of some pending stuff I wanted to get out right before KarakuriCentral arrived. I have a full-color pic I was writing a mini story for, and I didn't have time to finish it. I'll be clearing that out in the next few days. It'll be going up 'as is', so there will be no editing but my own. I'd rather Kara edit my bigger projects than spare time on this one.
I've also got a few sketchbook things I'll be tossing up on Patreon that were done during the vacation. A lot of which was just getting down character designs for some long-standing OCs I had ideas for (Mostly Pokegals), as well as some cell-shaded stuff that is nearly finished. One is a commission from Kara that I'm waiting on final approval on before it goes up on Patreon and Substar. The other is at the flats stage, and is an original thing you've already all seen the sketch of. These all go up on Patreon and Substar a month before public release, so if you're interested in 'in-progress updates' and early releases, consider becoming a member. The five-dollar tier includes Discord access which gets the most 'play-by-play' of WIP and other projects in progress. So please consider it.
Before moving on, I will say I had a great time on my forced vacation, and I miss Kara already. He's a great guy, and it was nice to get away from everything...well, maybe not fully, but mostly. Some things in life you...just can't get away from fully.
Next, Etsy. Big shock, Etsy rolled out new, more restrictive rules on 'adult art'. It went into effect today, and I've already seen some work delisted. It seems...unless I've read this wrong, nudity is still okay, but not sexually suggestive posing? That's vague enough to get everything ripped down. I'm just going to leave what is up...well, up. At least until Etsy takes it down.
As for where to go? Well, I'll still sell clean stuff on Etsy. Kofi seems to let you sell adult merch, so I'll probably move the adult stuff there. Also, I'm going to fall back on private sales like I had done previously. By that I mean I'll be offering my prints and stickers on my art pages. You can DM me and we can set up a 'vaguely labeled' PayPal transaction. Of course, this means I won't get nearly as much engagement, and I'll have to go back to calculating shipping on my own. But that's the way it is I guess...until this crusade by payment providers ends, or a new NSFW-friendly payment provider manages to break through the duopoly and gain a foothold, I'm just going to be skittering from safe haven to safe haven like a roach caught in the light and waiting for whatever new site to get popular enough for Payment Processors to crack down on it and fleeing to the next niche site.
It's nice to have reoccurring income, something you can lean on a bit when commissions are scarce or you need downtime (Which with my health can be often). And I get the fear of minors easily being able to find your stuff and buy it, which believe me I don't want. But fuck, it's hard enough to make a living as is, and I stupidly chose to be a starving artist. As much as I love my work, I'd also love to be doing well enough with it to survive comfortably. But I suppose that's part of the goal of my art schooling, to get good enough to not only at least...sort of satisfy the insanely high standards I place upon myself, and to encourage more folks to seek out me and my work.
Incidentally, I'm also still working on balancing out my daily art school lessons to the best of my abilities. With Kara's visit here and gone, I'm hoping I'll be able to slip into a pretty regular schedule soon enough, so I can still give enough time to commissions, story work, and personal projects while studying and improving.
I guess to wrap up, I'll talk about the fact I'll be opening commissions soon. I'm preparing a revised cost sheet with a lovely selection of previews, catagories, rules, restrictions and so on. Something easier to access than Furaffinities 'Commission tab', along with being able to post it on multiple sites. I may see myself overwhelmed due to it...but I guess we'll see...as long as people are willing to wait on my queue, (Since I won't take payment until I get close to working on that person's piece), I should be able to handle it.
That's all for now. Once again, special thanks to all my awesome backers! And thank you to my general fans!
-WT
PARISHIONERS
Sir FancySwank
Unformed
Ver min
Dr.Portal 455
FluffyWolf117
Vulpinator
JustCallMeFaux
DuskyLycanroc
Karakuri
BovineMage
The Fool
AmanCalledDominik
Sypher597
C. Archive
Warwolf416
FOLLOWERS
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Let's start out with a deeper explanation of where I've been for the past few weeks. As I said in "Where the heck are you?", I was on a bit of a forced vacation. Really I needed it, both for the purely social contact, and my own mental health. Honestly, I should have announced it before it happened as it wasn't a 'surprise visit'. But I spent the week before the 13th making sure the house was as spic and span as I could get it, which ended up getting in the way of some pending stuff I wanted to get out right before KarakuriCentral arrived. I have a full-color pic I was writing a mini story for, and I didn't have time to finish it. I'll be clearing that out in the next few days. It'll be going up 'as is', so there will be no editing but my own. I'd rather Kara edit my bigger projects than spare time on this one.
I've also got a few sketchbook things I'll be tossing up on Patreon that were done during the vacation. A lot of which was just getting down character designs for some long-standing OCs I had ideas for (Mostly Pokegals), as well as some cell-shaded stuff that is nearly finished. One is a commission from Kara that I'm waiting on final approval on before it goes up on Patreon and Substar. The other is at the flats stage, and is an original thing you've already all seen the sketch of. These all go up on Patreon and Substar a month before public release, so if you're interested in 'in-progress updates' and early releases, consider becoming a member. The five-dollar tier includes Discord access which gets the most 'play-by-play' of WIP and other projects in progress. So please consider it.
Before moving on, I will say I had a great time on my forced vacation, and I miss Kara already. He's a great guy, and it was nice to get away from everything...well, maybe not fully, but mostly. Some things in life you...just can't get away from fully.
Next, Etsy. Big shock, Etsy rolled out new, more restrictive rules on 'adult art'. It went into effect today, and I've already seen some work delisted. It seems...unless I've read this wrong, nudity is still okay, but not sexually suggestive posing? That's vague enough to get everything ripped down. I'm just going to leave what is up...well, up. At least until Etsy takes it down.
As for where to go? Well, I'll still sell clean stuff on Etsy. Kofi seems to let you sell adult merch, so I'll probably move the adult stuff there. Also, I'm going to fall back on private sales like I had done previously. By that I mean I'll be offering my prints and stickers on my art pages. You can DM me and we can set up a 'vaguely labeled' PayPal transaction. Of course, this means I won't get nearly as much engagement, and I'll have to go back to calculating shipping on my own. But that's the way it is I guess...until this crusade by payment providers ends, or a new NSFW-friendly payment provider manages to break through the duopoly and gain a foothold, I'm just going to be skittering from safe haven to safe haven like a roach caught in the light and waiting for whatever new site to get popular enough for Payment Processors to crack down on it and fleeing to the next niche site.
It's nice to have reoccurring income, something you can lean on a bit when commissions are scarce or you need downtime (Which with my health can be often). And I get the fear of minors easily being able to find your stuff and buy it, which believe me I don't want. But fuck, it's hard enough to make a living as is, and I stupidly chose to be a starving artist. As much as I love my work, I'd also love to be doing well enough with it to survive comfortably. But I suppose that's part of the goal of my art schooling, to get good enough to not only at least...sort of satisfy the insanely high standards I place upon myself, and to encourage more folks to seek out me and my work.
Incidentally, I'm also still working on balancing out my daily art school lessons to the best of my abilities. With Kara's visit here and gone, I'm hoping I'll be able to slip into a pretty regular schedule soon enough, so I can still give enough time to commissions, story work, and personal projects while studying and improving.
I guess to wrap up, I'll talk about the fact I'll be opening commissions soon. I'm preparing a revised cost sheet with a lovely selection of previews, catagories, rules, restrictions and so on. Something easier to access than Furaffinities 'Commission tab', along with being able to post it on multiple sites. I may see myself overwhelmed due to it...but I guess we'll see...as long as people are willing to wait on my queue, (Since I won't take payment until I get close to working on that person's piece), I should be able to handle it.
That's all for now. Once again, special thanks to all my awesome backers! And thank you to my general fans!
-WT
Where the heck are you?
General | Posted a year agoHey, just wanted to give everyone a teeny, tiny heads up. I currently have a guest visiting. I think I've mentioned as much, but I'll just further clarify. KarakuriCentral came to stay for two weeks. He arrived on the 13th, and is leaving on the 27th. Aside from enjoying open another's company, the goal of this visit was also to force me to take it easy a bit...so it's a forced vacation.
I'll have a longer update, along with some art for you soon.
-WT
I'll have a longer update, along with some art for you soon.
-WT
A Breathless Summer Semester
General | Posted 2 years agoI don't think I need to tell you by now what's first on the agenda, so without further ado let's get to those thank yous! Thanks so much to everyone who continues to support me, especially you Parishioners! It means the world.
PARISHIONERS
Ver min
The Fool
Karakuri
AmanCalledDominik
Sypher597
BovineMage
Warwolf416
JustCallMeFaux
Unformed
DuskyLycanroc
Dr.Portal 455
Vulpinator
FluffyWolf117
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
So, let's get started with health first. As it turns out, my blood oxygen levels while sleeping dip into the danger zone. And so, because of this I need to be hooked up to oxygen as I sleep. I dunno if it's Sleep Apnea, or whatever...my heart doc didn't specify. She just wants me on an oxygen machine while sleeping. Hopefully, this will give me a better quality of sleep, and lead to further improving feeling up and awake when I'm...not sleeping.
I'd say I just live at too high an altitude at this point, but my heart doc said my POTS was the result of a vaccine injury. Then there was also the fire and god knows what other factors that could have made things worse. I don't know. It's evident we really should move to a lower altitude, but it's only gotten harder to find housing...pretty much anywhere. And if we had to move out of state we'd have to change a bunch of things over and...it's already giving me a headache just thinking about it.
As for work log stuff...I'm finally pretty much clear. The spring holidays are behind me, the summer lies ahead, and with it, I'm gonna be hitting the art studies hard. Specifically Cubebrush Art School, which I signed up for a lifetime pass in January and have been waiting to jump into. 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. With the other 2 days set aside for studying Toon Boom and Blender. I need the first few weeks of this aggressive study period to kinda...roll into the schedule. And once I'm used to it, I'm hoping I'll be able to squeeze in more and more free-form work around it. I figure, if the guy who made Indigo Park can learn to make a basic game in a week, I can vastly improve my art and reach a serviceable level with Toon Boom and Blender in a month. Well...fingers crossed anyway.
Now, I've got a few pieces that just went live to Patreon, and they'll go public in a week or so. My study sabbatical doesn't mean that all the work is going to completely dry up. My art program missives have...unscored the importance of having wind down time after lessons to draw whatever. I'm just not expecting to make anything I'd call a 'big project'...at least during June and July. (As I have a friend visiting mid-July.)
So yeah, short update, but a mostly hopeful one...save for the breather machine. Hopefully, a much better artist and animator will emerge from the other side of this sabbatical. God, I hope so.
Thanks to my Patreon backers again!
PARISHIONERS
Ver min
The Fool
Karakuri
AmanCalledDominik
Sypher597
BovineMage
Warwolf416
JustCallMeFaux
Unformed
DuskyLycanroc
Dr.Portal 455
Vulpinator
FluffyWolf117
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
So, let's get started with health first. As it turns out, my blood oxygen levels while sleeping dip into the danger zone. And so, because of this I need to be hooked up to oxygen as I sleep. I dunno if it's Sleep Apnea, or whatever...my heart doc didn't specify. She just wants me on an oxygen machine while sleeping. Hopefully, this will give me a better quality of sleep, and lead to further improving feeling up and awake when I'm...not sleeping.
I'd say I just live at too high an altitude at this point, but my heart doc said my POTS was the result of a vaccine injury. Then there was also the fire and god knows what other factors that could have made things worse. I don't know. It's evident we really should move to a lower altitude, but it's only gotten harder to find housing...pretty much anywhere. And if we had to move out of state we'd have to change a bunch of things over and...it's already giving me a headache just thinking about it.
As for work log stuff...I'm finally pretty much clear. The spring holidays are behind me, the summer lies ahead, and with it, I'm gonna be hitting the art studies hard. Specifically Cubebrush Art School, which I signed up for a lifetime pass in January and have been waiting to jump into. 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. With the other 2 days set aside for studying Toon Boom and Blender. I need the first few weeks of this aggressive study period to kinda...roll into the schedule. And once I'm used to it, I'm hoping I'll be able to squeeze in more and more free-form work around it. I figure, if the guy who made Indigo Park can learn to make a basic game in a week, I can vastly improve my art and reach a serviceable level with Toon Boom and Blender in a month. Well...fingers crossed anyway.
Now, I've got a few pieces that just went live to Patreon, and they'll go public in a week or so. My study sabbatical doesn't mean that all the work is going to completely dry up. My art program missives have...unscored the importance of having wind down time after lessons to draw whatever. I'm just not expecting to make anything I'd call a 'big project'...at least during June and July. (As I have a friend visiting mid-July.)
So yeah, short update, but a mostly hopeful one...save for the breather machine. Hopefully, a much better artist and animator will emerge from the other side of this sabbatical. God, I hope so.
Thanks to my Patreon backers again!
As slow as Summer Arriving in Colorado
General | Posted 2 years agoAs always, I'm going to start out by thanking my Patreon and Subscribestar members...even if I don't have any substar followers yet. Again, not a huge concern as it's largely a backup plan. Still, thanks to all my backers who care enough to throw money at me. It's very much appreciated!
PARISHIONERS
Ver min
The Fool
Karakuri
AmanCalledDominik
Sypher597
BovineMage
Warwolf416
JustCallMeFaux
Unformed
DuskyLycanroc
Dr.Portal 455
Vulpinator
FluffyWolf117
_YFC_
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
So...I'm looking to keep this short. I don't want to get lost in the weeds, especially since I'm coming up on an artistic... semi-sabbatical. Basically, come June, I'm gonna be taking a bulk of the time to...well, I'll be throwing myself at my Online Art School Courses full force. Granted this doesn't mean my art output will cease entirely. It's been reiterated to me again and again that while doing the course you have to take some time away from each lesson to draw for yourself. Basically, 2 hours of daily study, and one hour or more freeform work to unwind and prevent burnout. Naturally, I'm going to need a grace period to 'feel' this whole thing out and adjust accordingly. Eventually...Ideally, I'll be able to juggle both the studies and freeform stuff like commissions and so on. That said, I'm not sure how keen everyone will be to see 'practice work' that doesn't have ass and tits in it. But hey, if you want to, I'll be happy to share my journey on my patreon and substar. I'll even make that stuff viewable to free members if there's enough interest.
That said, as the title implies, I'm still a bit behind content output-wise. I'm still wrapping one final desktop commission (Bioshock 2 sea scene), as well as a 'Spring/Summer' cell-shaded desktop full of sheep ladies before I table my output. I did manage to craft, and extend the number of my May/Mother's Day stickers before the end of the month (It was supposed to just be Vanilla, but expanded to include Lanolin's Mother, The Conductor's Wife, and Longclaw the Owl), and finish and upload the Gus and Melly side fic...even if it's been in editing for a month...but hey, that's a win in my book. I did have a Bluey Print planned featuring Trixie and Chili, but I probably don't have time to get that out and honor my other responsibilities. At the very least I can get the sketch done, and maybe I can revisit it in the future.
So...that's the plan. Pretty much the outline for the whole of summer. Initially, I also wanted to head back to Denfur as a table seller...but with my health leading up to a month ago, my Mom's ongoing health, and making zero headway with keychains and standees, I think that opportunity is out the window until next year. Even if I got some stuff off the ground, I don't think I'd have enough of a 'diverse inventory' of merch to offer by August at the current rate. Let alone it's questionable as to whether I'd be able to leave my Mother home alone all day for three days back to back in her condition. So that's...two failed New Year's goals in one shot.
So yeah, that's all there is to really say. A mercifully short update that's easy to read for once. The only thing I can add is that my Newgrounds has art on it now. So there's that. Thanks again to my Patreon folks for their continued support and for providing me with a lifeline. And thanks to the fans in general for digging my stuff...
PARISHIONERS
Ver min
The Fool
Karakuri
AmanCalledDominik
Sypher597
BovineMage
Warwolf416
JustCallMeFaux
Unformed
DuskyLycanroc
Dr.Portal 455
Vulpinator
FluffyWolf117
_YFC_
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
So...I'm looking to keep this short. I don't want to get lost in the weeds, especially since I'm coming up on an artistic... semi-sabbatical. Basically, come June, I'm gonna be taking a bulk of the time to...well, I'll be throwing myself at my Online Art School Courses full force. Granted this doesn't mean my art output will cease entirely. It's been reiterated to me again and again that while doing the course you have to take some time away from each lesson to draw for yourself. Basically, 2 hours of daily study, and one hour or more freeform work to unwind and prevent burnout. Naturally, I'm going to need a grace period to 'feel' this whole thing out and adjust accordingly. Eventually...Ideally, I'll be able to juggle both the studies and freeform stuff like commissions and so on. That said, I'm not sure how keen everyone will be to see 'practice work' that doesn't have ass and tits in it. But hey, if you want to, I'll be happy to share my journey on my patreon and substar. I'll even make that stuff viewable to free members if there's enough interest.
That said, as the title implies, I'm still a bit behind content output-wise. I'm still wrapping one final desktop commission (Bioshock 2 sea scene), as well as a 'Spring/Summer' cell-shaded desktop full of sheep ladies before I table my output. I did manage to craft, and extend the number of my May/Mother's Day stickers before the end of the month (It was supposed to just be Vanilla, but expanded to include Lanolin's Mother, The Conductor's Wife, and Longclaw the Owl), and finish and upload the Gus and Melly side fic...even if it's been in editing for a month...but hey, that's a win in my book. I did have a Bluey Print planned featuring Trixie and Chili, but I probably don't have time to get that out and honor my other responsibilities. At the very least I can get the sketch done, and maybe I can revisit it in the future.
So...that's the plan. Pretty much the outline for the whole of summer. Initially, I also wanted to head back to Denfur as a table seller...but with my health leading up to a month ago, my Mom's ongoing health, and making zero headway with keychains and standees, I think that opportunity is out the window until next year. Even if I got some stuff off the ground, I don't think I'd have enough of a 'diverse inventory' of merch to offer by August at the current rate. Let alone it's questionable as to whether I'd be able to leave my Mother home alone all day for three days back to back in her condition. So that's...two failed New Year's goals in one shot.
So yeah, that's all there is to really say. A mercifully short update that's easy to read for once. The only thing I can add is that my Newgrounds has art on it now. So there's that. Thanks again to my Patreon folks for their continued support and for providing me with a lifeline. And thanks to the fans in general for digging my stuff...
A Stumble for Every Success!
General | Posted 2 years agoFirst I want to take the time as always to thank my Patreon (And Substar: There aren't any yet and I'll discuss it further below) supporters. You guys mean more to me than you'll ever know, and I really appreciate your continued support.
PARISHIONERS
Karakuri
Sypher597
Dr.Portal 455
Ver min
JustCallMeFaux
Unformed
FluffyWolf117
Vulpinator
BovineMage
Warwolf416
DuskyLycanroc
AmanCalledDominik
YFC
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
Eric Johnson
EkhonACT9
So where to begin? I guess we'll start with health stuff first. Mostly cause it's the most pressing issue that spreads out into all the other projects that are in motion. Around the middle of the month, I met with my heart doctor, and they put me on propranolol. And much to my surprise, it made a huge, positive difference in my day-to-day health. It's absolutely insane how much more awake and alive I've felt in general for the last two weeks. That said, I'm also terrified of getting ahead of myself...as I've had the experience before and...well...I'm trying to stay positive here, and take this as 'the one that will stick'. But old fears die hard, you know?
With that said, despite my Mom telling my to slow roll into stuff as to not over-work myself while trying this whole thing out, I really couldn't help myself in the drawing department. Thankfully, somehow by the grace of god I got my offshoot fic written before I got the meds, but It was like swimming through jello the entire time trying to get it written and it took longer to write than it should of because of that. Thankfully, my editor was surprised the first fifteen pages needed very little editing...hope the remaining twenty-five don't force him to take that compliment back.
So that was a positive...so here's a negative. Naturally, you've all heard about the Gumroad situation. But my Etsy store was recently pinged and one of my prints was taken down. I had to double-check Etsy's rules and apparently, you can't sell work depicting sexual activities. I'm not sure if this was always here, or if Etsy added it due to the whole payment processor crusade, but I'm not ready to call this one a Mandella Effect moment and merely chalk it up to bad memory. From the rules I knew I had to put a 'mature' tag on my items, but I assumed it was all I had to do. Turns out it seems like only pin-ups are okay for now.
The print that got pinged for breaking TOS was "Pressed Mutton", which was up for almost a year before this happened. To be safe now that I knew the hard rule on pornography, I also had to take down "Lamb Sauce, Pressed Mutton, Rockin' With Cherry, and Popping the Cork." You can still request prints of these works through DM's and other contact venues, but for the time being, I have no marketplace to pitch them with Gumroad is mostly dead. I'm honestly unsure where to go in that regard...from here I mean. As Etsy was good at getting eyes on my stuff. Now my store went from around a thousand views a week to barely two hundred. I do still want to work on keychains and standees myself, and those will probably do well. I am considering reaching out to furry product producers to make them if I can't do it myself...but honestly, I don't think I'm a big enough name to garner that sort of interest.
Also in response to the payment processor crusade, I've been revising my commission stuff, and actually making a commission rate sheet to post on my various sites. I've also invested in a Patreon backup, Subscribestar, in case they crack down there...not that it matters...what with it being a payment processor issue, they'd probably come for both at once, but I'm doing my best to spread myself out into multiple redundancies.
Here's my Subscribestar.
https://subscribestar.adult/wastedtimeee
And I've also got a new Newgrounds account, though there's nothing uploaded yet.
https://wastedtimeee.newgrounds.com/
So what's on the docket work-wise? I'm working on a big color commission that's slow going. I've got a one-shot fic in the editing bay. Two more commissions lined up that are simpler projects. And I've got a desktop filled with sheep gals looking to get cell shaded, and the backdrop fully colored for Spring. I've also got two Mother's Day projects that I'll be cranking out next month. One is a pinup, the other a sticker. I've also got a slew of asks to do for the blog. After that...ideally, I'd like to take a break...by that I mean put everything on ice save for commission work so I can actually start work in my 'art school' program in order to improve. I've been sitting on it since January and I meant to start months ago. I don't want to stagnate, but that of course means I've got to actually set time aside to delve into the schooling. I think I can come out of the other side vastly improving, but a lot of that 'practice' probably won't be super interesting to you guys.
I'd like to end this update I guess...mainly looking for an Etsy alternative for adult print work, and I guess maybe more. I don't want to simply give up on that, as my prints do sell well...but I need a place where folks can search for stuff to actually buy, and despite my best efforts, I don't think my art galleries have enough visibility for that sort of thing.
I guess that's all for now. I'll try to keep everyone posted with smaller updates going forward. That way you all will know if my health tanks again or not. Thanks again everyone...Please check out my Etsy store, Patreon, and Etsy if you haven't already. Patreon and substar folks get a 20% discount on merch, among other perks depending on tiers.
PARISHIONERS
Karakuri
Sypher597
Dr.Portal 455
Ver min
JustCallMeFaux
Unformed
FluffyWolf117
Vulpinator
BovineMage
Warwolf416
DuskyLycanroc
AmanCalledDominik
YFC
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
Mariusz Lewandowski
Martin Nilsson
Eric Johnson
EkhonACT9
So where to begin? I guess we'll start with health stuff first. Mostly cause it's the most pressing issue that spreads out into all the other projects that are in motion. Around the middle of the month, I met with my heart doctor, and they put me on propranolol. And much to my surprise, it made a huge, positive difference in my day-to-day health. It's absolutely insane how much more awake and alive I've felt in general for the last two weeks. That said, I'm also terrified of getting ahead of myself...as I've had the experience before and...well...I'm trying to stay positive here, and take this as 'the one that will stick'. But old fears die hard, you know?
With that said, despite my Mom telling my to slow roll into stuff as to not over-work myself while trying this whole thing out, I really couldn't help myself in the drawing department. Thankfully, somehow by the grace of god I got my offshoot fic written before I got the meds, but It was like swimming through jello the entire time trying to get it written and it took longer to write than it should of because of that. Thankfully, my editor was surprised the first fifteen pages needed very little editing...hope the remaining twenty-five don't force him to take that compliment back.
So that was a positive...so here's a negative. Naturally, you've all heard about the Gumroad situation. But my Etsy store was recently pinged and one of my prints was taken down. I had to double-check Etsy's rules and apparently, you can't sell work depicting sexual activities. I'm not sure if this was always here, or if Etsy added it due to the whole payment processor crusade, but I'm not ready to call this one a Mandella Effect moment and merely chalk it up to bad memory. From the rules I knew I had to put a 'mature' tag on my items, but I assumed it was all I had to do. Turns out it seems like only pin-ups are okay for now.
The print that got pinged for breaking TOS was "Pressed Mutton", which was up for almost a year before this happened. To be safe now that I knew the hard rule on pornography, I also had to take down "Lamb Sauce, Pressed Mutton, Rockin' With Cherry, and Popping the Cork." You can still request prints of these works through DM's and other contact venues, but for the time being, I have no marketplace to pitch them with Gumroad is mostly dead. I'm honestly unsure where to go in that regard...from here I mean. As Etsy was good at getting eyes on my stuff. Now my store went from around a thousand views a week to barely two hundred. I do still want to work on keychains and standees myself, and those will probably do well. I am considering reaching out to furry product producers to make them if I can't do it myself...but honestly, I don't think I'm a big enough name to garner that sort of interest.
Also in response to the payment processor crusade, I've been revising my commission stuff, and actually making a commission rate sheet to post on my various sites. I've also invested in a Patreon backup, Subscribestar, in case they crack down there...not that it matters...what with it being a payment processor issue, they'd probably come for both at once, but I'm doing my best to spread myself out into multiple redundancies.
Here's my Subscribestar.
https://subscribestar.adult/wastedtimeee
And I've also got a new Newgrounds account, though there's nothing uploaded yet.
https://wastedtimeee.newgrounds.com/
So what's on the docket work-wise? I'm working on a big color commission that's slow going. I've got a one-shot fic in the editing bay. Two more commissions lined up that are simpler projects. And I've got a desktop filled with sheep gals looking to get cell shaded, and the backdrop fully colored for Spring. I've also got two Mother's Day projects that I'll be cranking out next month. One is a pinup, the other a sticker. I've also got a slew of asks to do for the blog. After that...ideally, I'd like to take a break...by that I mean put everything on ice save for commission work so I can actually start work in my 'art school' program in order to improve. I've been sitting on it since January and I meant to start months ago. I don't want to stagnate, but that of course means I've got to actually set time aside to delve into the schooling. I think I can come out of the other side vastly improving, but a lot of that 'practice' probably won't be super interesting to you guys.
I'd like to end this update I guess...mainly looking for an Etsy alternative for adult print work, and I guess maybe more. I don't want to simply give up on that, as my prints do sell well...but I need a place where folks can search for stuff to actually buy, and despite my best efforts, I don't think my art galleries have enough visibility for that sort of thing.
I guess that's all for now. I'll try to keep everyone posted with smaller updates going forward. That way you all will know if my health tanks again or not. Thanks again everyone...Please check out my Etsy store, Patreon, and Etsy if you haven't already. Patreon and substar folks get a 20% discount on merch, among other perks depending on tiers.
Esty Store Spring Cleaning Sale!
General | Posted 2 years agoHey everyone, just wanted to post a quick little update. From now, until the 8th of April, I'm having a storewide sale on my Etsy. Everything in-store is 15% off! All stickers! All Prints! Everything is 15% off for the week. So if you've had your eye on some stickers or a print for a while and have been waiting for a good opportunity to pick some up, now would be the time!
Etsy Link:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WastedTimesArtShoppe
Of course, if you're a five-dollar tier member of my Patreon, this sale doesn't really matter to you, as you guys get a 25% off all merch discount just for being a five-dollar tier backer. Just one of the many perks of being a Patron, and it's the least I could do to show my gratitude for your continued support. If you're interested in supporting me, check out my Patreon link below.
My Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee
I'll also be activating my Substar later this month as a backup for Patreon, and I'll post when that goes live.
-WT
Etsy Link:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WastedTimesArtShoppe
Of course, if you're a five-dollar tier member of my Patreon, this sale doesn't really matter to you, as you guys get a 25% off all merch discount just for being a five-dollar tier backer. Just one of the many perks of being a Patron, and it's the least I could do to show my gratitude for your continued support. If you're interested in supporting me, check out my Patreon link below.
My Patreon.
https://www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee
I'll also be activating my Substar later this month as a backup for Patreon, and I'll post when that goes live.
-WT
Perpetually Behind At All Times
General | Posted 2 years agoLittle late with this one, but not over the line that were into April so were good to go. I'd like to start by thanking my Patreon backers. As always, you guys really help me out, and I only hope that I'm proving to be worth the investment.
PARISHIONERS
Unformed
AmanCalledDominik
Vulpinator
FluffyWolf117
Sypher597
Dr.Portal 455
YFC
BovineMage
JustCallMeFaux
Ver min
Karakuri
Warwolf416
DuskyLycanroc
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Martin Nilsson
Mariusz Lewandowski
So let's start with the controversial stuff. By that I mean the aggressive crackdown by payment processors of NSFW content. Between Gumroad and Pixvi flat-out banning all NSFW content, and Patreon instituting that ridiculous 'visual confirmed consent' rule, things are looking dicey for sticking around on Patreon. I mean, it's insane to have, (And correct me if I've misinterpreted this), but to need to go as far as having something like text bubbles above characters who are clearly of age and into what's going on stating 'they consent'. Next thing you know the characters will be required to be holding up driver's licenses too. This isn't Patreon's first stupid kowtow to payment processors being puritanical, but unlike Gumroad they've clearly been taking the 'slow boil' approach instead of pulling the rug out from under everyone with little warning. More than likely to avoid the uproar and mass exodus places like Tumblr and Onlyfans (Although Onlyfans backtracked hard) suffered when they pulled the same blanket ban tactic.
That said, I set up a substar a long while back as sort of a backup should Patreon become too much of a pain in the ass. While I won't be closing my Patreon at present, I will be opening my substar back up alongside it for exit strategy purposes in preparation for whatever stupid shit Patreon pulls next. It's not a long-term solution I guess, seeing as this is coming down from payment processors, they'd eventually come for substar too...but at least that would more than likely prolong things. I can get a few more breaths of oxygen in while they continue to slowly strangle a good chunk of online artists' livelihoods to death. And here I thought AI was the biggest threat to the art community. Anyway, the substar will be functioning in a few weeks, probably mid-April. Although god knows I'm always about a week behind my estimates. When it does go live I will post an announcement along with the active link to it.
Moving away from the looming gloom and doom for the artistic community, let's talk about my current work schedule.
Right now I'm having sort of a slow week. By that, I mean my focus is purely on getting the rough draft of my Gus and Melly side-fic done and ready to send off to my editor. As with the previous fics, I'll be sharing about two pages of the rough for backers once it's finished. Of course, this puts me behind in wanting to get more asks done as well as work on an Easter/Spring project for everyone to enjoy (spoilers; it's sheep-themed). Ideally, I'll also be getting my last commission on deck done and can spend a little time preparing a public pricing sheet to post around before I've got to get a Mother's Day picture or sticker set out for Etsy.
After that, things finally start to loosen up, and I can get back to some long pending projects. Character sheets, Savage Love Pages, that Ellie and Cameron comic, and whatever else I can think of to toy around with until fall starts closing in. Might come back to some of my OCs who've only gone as far as the sketch stage. Might make some new ones. The skies the limit really. At least, fingers crossed on that anyway. I'm still sitting on my 'Art School' program I've been waiting to start, and I'd like to before next year. I can't afford to stagnate especially with AI breathing down everyone's necks like a hypersonic missile.
Lastly, life stuff. There's not much to say here as not too much has changed. I had to postpone my heart doctor appointment for another month due to a surprise storm. So I'm basically just doing my best to press on while I wait for my appointment. Hopefully, there won't be another storm in mid-April, but I live in the high Rockies, so the chances are higher than most places. My mother has been doing well with physical therapy, and fingers crossed she'll be walking unassisted by June. Which will take a decent-sized portion of weight off my back. Even thinking about that possibility feels like such a relief, at least before I remind myself we aren't there yet.
I think that's about all I have to say for now. If I think of anything else I'll be sure to supply you all with a mini-update!
Thanks again to my Patreon backers! As well as all the folks following, faving, and commenting on my works. (And buying stuff in my Etsy store) It's always appreciated.
PARISHIONERS
Unformed
AmanCalledDominik
Vulpinator
FluffyWolf117
Sypher597
Dr.Portal 455
YFC
BovineMage
JustCallMeFaux
Ver min
Karakuri
Warwolf416
DuskyLycanroc
C. Archive
FOLLOWERS
EkhonACT9
Eric Johnson
Martin Nilsson
Mariusz Lewandowski
So let's start with the controversial stuff. By that I mean the aggressive crackdown by payment processors of NSFW content. Between Gumroad and Pixvi flat-out banning all NSFW content, and Patreon instituting that ridiculous 'visual confirmed consent' rule, things are looking dicey for sticking around on Patreon. I mean, it's insane to have, (And correct me if I've misinterpreted this), but to need to go as far as having something like text bubbles above characters who are clearly of age and into what's going on stating 'they consent'. Next thing you know the characters will be required to be holding up driver's licenses too. This isn't Patreon's first stupid kowtow to payment processors being puritanical, but unlike Gumroad they've clearly been taking the 'slow boil' approach instead of pulling the rug out from under everyone with little warning. More than likely to avoid the uproar and mass exodus places like Tumblr and Onlyfans (Although Onlyfans backtracked hard) suffered when they pulled the same blanket ban tactic.
That said, I set up a substar a long while back as sort of a backup should Patreon become too much of a pain in the ass. While I won't be closing my Patreon at present, I will be opening my substar back up alongside it for exit strategy purposes in preparation for whatever stupid shit Patreon pulls next. It's not a long-term solution I guess, seeing as this is coming down from payment processors, they'd eventually come for substar too...but at least that would more than likely prolong things. I can get a few more breaths of oxygen in while they continue to slowly strangle a good chunk of online artists' livelihoods to death. And here I thought AI was the biggest threat to the art community. Anyway, the substar will be functioning in a few weeks, probably mid-April. Although god knows I'm always about a week behind my estimates. When it does go live I will post an announcement along with the active link to it.
Moving away from the looming gloom and doom for the artistic community, let's talk about my current work schedule.
Right now I'm having sort of a slow week. By that, I mean my focus is purely on getting the rough draft of my Gus and Melly side-fic done and ready to send off to my editor. As with the previous fics, I'll be sharing about two pages of the rough for backers once it's finished. Of course, this puts me behind in wanting to get more asks done as well as work on an Easter/Spring project for everyone to enjoy (spoilers; it's sheep-themed). Ideally, I'll also be getting my last commission on deck done and can spend a little time preparing a public pricing sheet to post around before I've got to get a Mother's Day picture or sticker set out for Etsy.
After that, things finally start to loosen up, and I can get back to some long pending projects. Character sheets, Savage Love Pages, that Ellie and Cameron comic, and whatever else I can think of to toy around with until fall starts closing in. Might come back to some of my OCs who've only gone as far as the sketch stage. Might make some new ones. The skies the limit really. At least, fingers crossed on that anyway. I'm still sitting on my 'Art School' program I've been waiting to start, and I'd like to before next year. I can't afford to stagnate especially with AI breathing down everyone's necks like a hypersonic missile.
Lastly, life stuff. There's not much to say here as not too much has changed. I had to postpone my heart doctor appointment for another month due to a surprise storm. So I'm basically just doing my best to press on while I wait for my appointment. Hopefully, there won't be another storm in mid-April, but I live in the high Rockies, so the chances are higher than most places. My mother has been doing well with physical therapy, and fingers crossed she'll be walking unassisted by June. Which will take a decent-sized portion of weight off my back. Even thinking about that possibility feels like such a relief, at least before I remind myself we aren't there yet.
I think that's about all I have to say for now. If I think of anything else I'll be sure to supply you all with a mini-update!
Thanks again to my Patreon backers! As well as all the folks following, faving, and commenting on my works. (And buying stuff in my Etsy store) It's always appreciated.
Just a Minor Update
General | Posted 2 years agoHey all, just wanted to pop on with a small update for everyone just to let everyone know I'm still alive, (albeit barely) and working on stuff. Between health issues ramping up over the last week (I'm slated to go to the docs office tomorrow.) I've been doing some work on my story bibles to try and keep accidental retcons to a minimum. I just wrapped up re-reading my fics, and now all that's left in terms of retconning prevention is just reorganizing and tightening the bible for the series.
That said, I'll be tightening the bibles prior to a different writing session, as I already have all the necessary stuff I need to start working on another entry into the 'Tales from the Bellhunterverse' series. It's a Gus and Melly story that's sort of an offshoot of LAW, in so much as it happens during the events of that fic. That said, I also intend to do some long overdue ask work this week as well (Fingers crossed), though I guess it largely depends on how the doc visit goes and what can be done for me as my hearts been acting up to a point where it's been ruining my whole day, every day for the past few days. (That said, asks will definitely be out before the end of February.)
After that, it's back to heavy art output, again fingers crossed. But I want to get the rough cut of the Gus and Mellie fic finished and ready for a second pass and then on to editing.
I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for keeping an eye on my work, and the continued support!
-Wasty
That said, I'll be tightening the bibles prior to a different writing session, as I already have all the necessary stuff I need to start working on another entry into the 'Tales from the Bellhunterverse' series. It's a Gus and Melly story that's sort of an offshoot of LAW, in so much as it happens during the events of that fic. That said, I also intend to do some long overdue ask work this week as well (Fingers crossed), though I guess it largely depends on how the doc visit goes and what can be done for me as my hearts been acting up to a point where it's been ruining my whole day, every day for the past few days. (That said, asks will definitely be out before the end of February.)
After that, it's back to heavy art output, again fingers crossed. But I want to get the rough cut of the Gus and Mellie fic finished and ready for a second pass and then on to editing.
I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for keeping an eye on my work, and the continued support!
-Wasty
