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Updates and <May-Related Pun Here>
2 years ago
Hiya! I'll front-load my thanks to everyone who visits, reads, comments, watches, etcetera: Thank You!! For those who are new and want to know a bit more about my schedule and intent, hopefully this quick journal will be helpful!
As far as general info about me goes, I do this art stuff mainly as a way to satisfy myself; but realizing there are folks out there who enjoy seeing burly dudes going off on adventures, maybe sharing some intimate moments, and something-something-flexing-wrestling—oh, yeah: seeing burly dudes FLEXING AND WRESTLING—I try to share as much as I can here on FA, and soon my website which I'm finishing putting together. I'll still be sharing my stuff here on FA though, the website is mainly just a way to introduce other non-furs to my work. Anywho, onto the updates!
So, I finished the big comic of the year, "A Study In Muscle"! Whew. Only took 11 months, <insert disgusted cat meme here>. I'm seriously going to try to put my comic at the forefront of my projects though, as I've mapped out the plotline for a bunch of things, and absolutely want to make them a reality. But speaking of reality:
=== Cosplay ===
I finished the Hrothgar, wooo! "Balthazaros Shadowmane" uses my wookiee costume's fur, stacked with wizardy-robes for that Black Mage effect. It's a lot lighter and I think easier to put on than the Orc "Burgruk Warrior" costume, so I'll honestly probably be wearing it at events more. Plus it got better reception. I love showing off the Orc biceps though...anywho, I may or may not be attending Utah Ren Fest this year (didn't plan to go the first weekend, second weekend had prior plans which sadly fell through and left me without the opportunity, and the third weekend may have a conflict as well), but I'd really like to attend the Oregon Ren Faire...if I can survive the 16 total hours driving time there-and-back for a weekend.
=== Fantasy ===
With A Study In Muscle done, I'm outlining the rest of the stories I've got going on, and the plots that I've been wanting to tackle. Thankfully, through the help of a bit of free Google Drive magic named MindMup (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, CHECK IT OUT!), I was able to very easily, very quickly, very efficiently create a flowchart that neatly arranges the plot points as a timeline of events, making moving forward with various interconnected storylines a total breeze, and even gives me opportunity to work on things in advance without worrying about conflicts. I usually just keep everything in my head as I work on comics one page at a time, sequentially.
Now that I have a plan, and a timeline, I can probably work on certain scenes out of order depending on my mood, and effectively clear any hurdles that come up. For example, before, one of the things that hit me like a brick wall was wrapping up a dialogue scene, or starting a wrestling match, just cause I wasn't in the mood for one or the other. Well, now, I get to say "I don't feel like writing dialogue right now, I'm gonna do the wrestling scene instead", and bam, productivity and an effective contribution to the over-all comic! And it means that when I get to certain sections, I might already have several pages done in advance, meaning no multi-month-long-delays!! (but lets be honest, that just means hopefully fewer delays, lol.)
Anyway, Brokul is going to journey into the Western Territories, andget absolutely demolished begin his wrestling adventures! And it leads to bigger things.
=== Superhero ===
So Bronx is still sitting in limbo talking to Gavin the Bigfoot and Vandal the Sharkman Wrestler dudes—the perfect example of "a brick wall", in a multi-faceted pun/analogy. I have a few pages in mind to close that scene, I just haven't had the interest, with A Study In Muscle looming over me. But now that Part 1 is done, I'm gonna try to wrap up the last couple of pages for that real quick, because...
I mentioned in a previous journal, Bronx does have a story to tell, and it involves something very much inspired by three things:
• one
• two
• three
It leads to bigger things.
=== Sci-Fi ===
Ganzorig the man-bat's space adventures should be continuing at some point, I'm still drafting his story though. There's several plots I have for him, but with THE POWER OF MINDMUP SERIOUSLY CHECK IT OUT, I'd like to consolidate his journey and fashion a tale similar to Brokul's where he gets to have some muscle-brawling fun (for himself, and you the audience—hi there! Glad you're still reading! <3 ). So I'll share more about it as I finish putting it together. Oh, it leads to bigger things.
=== Everything Else! ===
Alright, this is where it gets more mental-healthy, so if you were just here for the comic updates, that's about all there is to it! Hope you visit later on and enjoy what I've got to offer—thanks again for stopping by!!
Anywho, labeling some other minor personal accomplishments and psychological positivity: the biggest struggle of doing anything is getting started. Don't believe me? Look at a fan. Yeah, a fan! Like, a box fan, or a desk fan, anything like that. You plug it into the wall, and the fan blades spin, and it blows air in a general direction. Look at where the knob is that turns it on. Take your time, I'll wait—just check it out real quick!
See how when you turn it on, it starts at max intensity, and for a softer air current you gotta turn the knob down to reach the lower levels? Why does it start at max power? Well, it's because the internal workings have to overcome inertia, which takes a lot of work. The voltage to get it started is more than what's needed to keep it spinning! Like running down a steep hill, once gravity takes you, it requires a lot more power from your muscles to slow yourself down. Like when you're sitting in a chair, it takes a moment of effort to stand—but once you're standing, you're able to keep yourself up far easier than if you stopped half-way between sitting and standing.
We have inertia in our lives that can be overwhelming at times, and those analogies are just a way of demonstrating that principle. Maybe you can apply it to your own life: you get out of bed, you go to work, you do your thing, you go to bed (night-shift and swing-shifters, re-mix those things accordingly). It can be easy to fall into the pattern of inertia that drives us from one day to the next. We all imagine and dream about things we wish were different, but it can be scary, knowing the amount of inertia you're going to have to fight, in order to change direction.
But once you've done it a couple of times, it gets easier—not just because your experiences hone your skills, and knowing yourself makes goals easier to identify and strive towards, but the inertia of your life begins to change direction. It begins to slow down. Days fly by, yet simultaneously feel like they last longer, because of all the things you begin to fill your day with and can remember accomplishing. 24 hours is a surprisingly short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, and yet there are ways we can make it enough time to do the things we want to do. Sometimes we just gotta break our goals up into smaller chunks.
Find your own rhythm to do that. Learn what little things you can do each day to break your goals into smaller, easier to manage pieces. Whether it's doing an exercise or two, or preparing for a weekend-chore ahead of time (keeping clothes together rather than strewn apart), getting cheap containers to organize your belongings so that instead of having a messy room, you have messy containers that keep the room itself clean...okay, I'll be honest, I'm writing these cleaning analogies because I'm literally going over my to-do list, now that I'm looking around and seeing the chaos of my living room/kitchen/office...
Alright, quick break. Do it with me! Get up real quick and just look around at things that "need" to be done. Clothes on the floor? Sort them into colors, or sizes, or stack them how you prefer putting them into the washer! Dirty dishes need doing? Quickly take a few seconds to stack them in a way that frees up some space on the counter, or get some water in the sink so they're a little easier to clean later. Desk or work area got junk on it? Get a shopping bag or something real quick, and put trash into it—if you have a medium container, put all Electronic stuff into it, so that there aren't spare cords and gadgets strewn about. Go, go, go! Turn that fan in your brain on, max power! We'll turn it to a lower setting once we've finished that step!
Whew, finished? Good job! Still got plenty to do, or weren't in a position to do it quite yet? No worries! More hours ahead. But it all starts with a shift in inertia. Sometimes that means breaking the framework of your day-to-day drudgery...but sometimes it's as simple as doing a little tiny thing, that makes a big goal a little bit more manageable in the future.
Take care of yourself—you deserve it!
As far as general info about me goes, I do this art stuff mainly as a way to satisfy myself; but realizing there are folks out there who enjoy seeing burly dudes going off on adventures, maybe sharing some intimate moments, and something-something-flexing-wrestling—oh, yeah: seeing burly dudes FLEXING AND WRESTLING—I try to share as much as I can here on FA, and soon my website which I'm finishing putting together. I'll still be sharing my stuff here on FA though, the website is mainly just a way to introduce other non-furs to my work. Anywho, onto the updates!
So, I finished the big comic of the year, "A Study In Muscle"! Whew. Only took 11 months, <insert disgusted cat meme here>. I'm seriously going to try to put my comic at the forefront of my projects though, as I've mapped out the plotline for a bunch of things, and absolutely want to make them a reality. But speaking of reality:
=== Cosplay ===
I finished the Hrothgar, wooo! "Balthazaros Shadowmane" uses my wookiee costume's fur, stacked with wizardy-robes for that Black Mage effect. It's a lot lighter and I think easier to put on than the Orc "Burgruk Warrior" costume, so I'll honestly probably be wearing it at events more. Plus it got better reception. I love showing off the Orc biceps though...anywho, I may or may not be attending Utah Ren Fest this year (didn't plan to go the first weekend, second weekend had prior plans which sadly fell through and left me without the opportunity, and the third weekend may have a conflict as well), but I'd really like to attend the Oregon Ren Faire...if I can survive the 16 total hours driving time there-and-back for a weekend.
=== Fantasy ===
With A Study In Muscle done, I'm outlining the rest of the stories I've got going on, and the plots that I've been wanting to tackle. Thankfully, through the help of a bit of free Google Drive magic named MindMup (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, CHECK IT OUT!), I was able to very easily, very quickly, very efficiently create a flowchart that neatly arranges the plot points as a timeline of events, making moving forward with various interconnected storylines a total breeze, and even gives me opportunity to work on things in advance without worrying about conflicts. I usually just keep everything in my head as I work on comics one page at a time, sequentially.
Now that I have a plan, and a timeline, I can probably work on certain scenes out of order depending on my mood, and effectively clear any hurdles that come up. For example, before, one of the things that hit me like a brick wall was wrapping up a dialogue scene, or starting a wrestling match, just cause I wasn't in the mood for one or the other. Well, now, I get to say "I don't feel like writing dialogue right now, I'm gonna do the wrestling scene instead", and bam, productivity and an effective contribution to the over-all comic! And it means that when I get to certain sections, I might already have several pages done in advance, meaning no multi-month-long-delays!! (but lets be honest, that just means hopefully fewer delays, lol.)
Anyway, Brokul is going to journey into the Western Territories, and
=== Superhero ===
So Bronx is still sitting in limbo talking to Gavin the Bigfoot and Vandal the Sharkman Wrestler dudes—the perfect example of "a brick wall", in a multi-faceted pun/analogy. I have a few pages in mind to close that scene, I just haven't had the interest, with A Study In Muscle looming over me. But now that Part 1 is done, I'm gonna try to wrap up the last couple of pages for that real quick, because...
I mentioned in a previous journal, Bronx does have a story to tell, and it involves something very much inspired by three things:
• one
• two
• three
It leads to bigger things.
=== Sci-Fi ===
Ganzorig the man-bat's space adventures should be continuing at some point, I'm still drafting his story though. There's several plots I have for him, but with THE POWER OF MINDMUP SERIOUSLY CHECK IT OUT, I'd like to consolidate his journey and fashion a tale similar to Brokul's where he gets to have some muscle-brawling fun (for himself, and you the audience—hi there! Glad you're still reading! <3 ). So I'll share more about it as I finish putting it together. Oh, it leads to bigger things.
=== Everything Else! ===
Alright, this is where it gets more mental-healthy, so if you were just here for the comic updates, that's about all there is to it! Hope you visit later on and enjoy what I've got to offer—thanks again for stopping by!!
Anywho, labeling some other minor personal accomplishments and psychological positivity: the biggest struggle of doing anything is getting started. Don't believe me? Look at a fan. Yeah, a fan! Like, a box fan, or a desk fan, anything like that. You plug it into the wall, and the fan blades spin, and it blows air in a general direction. Look at where the knob is that turns it on. Take your time, I'll wait—just check it out real quick!
See how when you turn it on, it starts at max intensity, and for a softer air current you gotta turn the knob down to reach the lower levels? Why does it start at max power? Well, it's because the internal workings have to overcome inertia, which takes a lot of work. The voltage to get it started is more than what's needed to keep it spinning! Like running down a steep hill, once gravity takes you, it requires a lot more power from your muscles to slow yourself down. Like when you're sitting in a chair, it takes a moment of effort to stand—but once you're standing, you're able to keep yourself up far easier than if you stopped half-way between sitting and standing.
We have inertia in our lives that can be overwhelming at times, and those analogies are just a way of demonstrating that principle. Maybe you can apply it to your own life: you get out of bed, you go to work, you do your thing, you go to bed (night-shift and swing-shifters, re-mix those things accordingly). It can be easy to fall into the pattern of inertia that drives us from one day to the next. We all imagine and dream about things we wish were different, but it can be scary, knowing the amount of inertia you're going to have to fight, in order to change direction.
But once you've done it a couple of times, it gets easier—not just because your experiences hone your skills, and knowing yourself makes goals easier to identify and strive towards, but the inertia of your life begins to change direction. It begins to slow down. Days fly by, yet simultaneously feel like they last longer, because of all the things you begin to fill your day with and can remember accomplishing. 24 hours is a surprisingly short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, and yet there are ways we can make it enough time to do the things we want to do. Sometimes we just gotta break our goals up into smaller chunks.
Find your own rhythm to do that. Learn what little things you can do each day to break your goals into smaller, easier to manage pieces. Whether it's doing an exercise or two, or preparing for a weekend-chore ahead of time (keeping clothes together rather than strewn apart), getting cheap containers to organize your belongings so that instead of having a messy room, you have messy containers that keep the room itself clean...okay, I'll be honest, I'm writing these cleaning analogies because I'm literally going over my to-do list, now that I'm looking around and seeing the chaos of my living room/kitchen/office...
Alright, quick break. Do it with me! Get up real quick and just look around at things that "need" to be done. Clothes on the floor? Sort them into colors, or sizes, or stack them how you prefer putting them into the washer! Dirty dishes need doing? Quickly take a few seconds to stack them in a way that frees up some space on the counter, or get some water in the sink so they're a little easier to clean later. Desk or work area got junk on it? Get a shopping bag or something real quick, and put trash into it—if you have a medium container, put all Electronic stuff into it, so that there aren't spare cords and gadgets strewn about. Go, go, go! Turn that fan in your brain on, max power! We'll turn it to a lower setting once we've finished that step!
Whew, finished? Good job! Still got plenty to do, or weren't in a position to do it quite yet? No worries! More hours ahead. But it all starts with a shift in inertia. Sometimes that means breaking the framework of your day-to-day drudgery...but sometimes it's as simple as doing a little tiny thing, that makes a big goal a little bit more manageable in the future.
Take care of yourself—you deserve it!
But I do have an idea for a smaller side adventure I'd like to do as well, starring the timid young orc Arkhan finally getting out and seeing the world a bit...
Except, I kind of am. Just finished the rush of costume/cosplay/ren faire stuff, so have a lot less stress on my plate...but also still kinda taking a breather. Doesn't help Street Fighter 6 came out, and is actually really good, lol—been addicted to that lately. I'm gonna have to break away from it if I hope to get back to the stories.
When I got interactions/interactivity for satisfying my muscle/wrestling addiction, my inspiration goes to that instead of the art stuff. But, I still brainstorm during these periods, already got a little side-story in mind I'd like to do featuring the shredded Arkhan, and who knows where that'll lead...!
MAWrestling, whew. Still a huge project, but at least I have a starting point for whenever I want to dive into that monster of a thing...!