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Malletspace vs my main account (my origin story of sorts)
12 months ago
Some of you already know that Malletspace is not my “main account”.
I have an older account that I’ve been using since I joined the furry fandom. Before the pandemic, I really enjoyed posting art on it (a lot of Star Fox and Fox x Wolf), connecting with other artists, and making friends.
But then, a LOT of things changed.
I became less obsessed with drawing Star Fox stuff. I became interested in doing more original art and exploring other genres like history and fantasy. And finally, the biggest of all, I could no longer hold myself back from drawing weird kinky art.
On Feb 22, 2021, I created a “burner” account and said “fuck it, I’m gonna post this horny flattened wolf online and see how people react”. I was prepared to get laughed at. Instead, I gained several new friends, a new community, and a new passion for (kinky) art. It was awesome.
But as I fell in love with drawing this kink. I found myself losing a lot of passion for drawing normal SFW stuff.
When I draw flattening on this account, I can easily imagine hundreds of fun ideas to play around with, and hundreds of characters to subject them to. There’s always a story to tell with how the character in question got turned into a pancake and I really love the little bits of toony worldbuilding I get to do. Its just so much fun to mess around with. I also really love all the comments I get. I really read all of them and I really wish FA had a like button for that, because I might have enjoyed what you had written down but couldn’t think of a good enough response to it. But yeah, I just love everything that comes with drawing flattening.
Whenever I go back to drawing normal SFW art on my main account, my mind goes blank. Those clear and easy ideas are gone. I find myself overwhelmed by all the things I could draw, and yet, lacking in passion to do any of them. And even when I do get to finally draw something, its just not as fun. I feel like I have to play the game of the algorithm or get left in the dust. Especially on a site like Twitter, where one piece randomly gets 2000 likes and everything else gets 20. The comments aren’t as fun either. It’s just become so much harder for me to enjoy drawing normal stuff again.
So yeah, having two art accounts that are so drastically different from each other kinda sucks, lol. Malletspace started as an AD account, but its grown to be bigger than my main. I love this kink, but I feel like its really changed the way I enjoy furry art. I guess this whole story can serve as what to expect when you find your niche in kink.
I have an older account that I’ve been using since I joined the furry fandom. Before the pandemic, I really enjoyed posting art on it (a lot of Star Fox and Fox x Wolf), connecting with other artists, and making friends.
But then, a LOT of things changed.
I became less obsessed with drawing Star Fox stuff. I became interested in doing more original art and exploring other genres like history and fantasy. And finally, the biggest of all, I could no longer hold myself back from drawing weird kinky art.
On Feb 22, 2021, I created a “burner” account and said “fuck it, I’m gonna post this horny flattened wolf online and see how people react”. I was prepared to get laughed at. Instead, I gained several new friends, a new community, and a new passion for (kinky) art. It was awesome.
But as I fell in love with drawing this kink. I found myself losing a lot of passion for drawing normal SFW stuff.
When I draw flattening on this account, I can easily imagine hundreds of fun ideas to play around with, and hundreds of characters to subject them to. There’s always a story to tell with how the character in question got turned into a pancake and I really love the little bits of toony worldbuilding I get to do. Its just so much fun to mess around with. I also really love all the comments I get. I really read all of them and I really wish FA had a like button for that, because I might have enjoyed what you had written down but couldn’t think of a good enough response to it. But yeah, I just love everything that comes with drawing flattening.
Whenever I go back to drawing normal SFW art on my main account, my mind goes blank. Those clear and easy ideas are gone. I find myself overwhelmed by all the things I could draw, and yet, lacking in passion to do any of them. And even when I do get to finally draw something, its just not as fun. I feel like I have to play the game of the algorithm or get left in the dust. Especially on a site like Twitter, where one piece randomly gets 2000 likes and everything else gets 20. The comments aren’t as fun either. It’s just become so much harder for me to enjoy drawing normal stuff again.
So yeah, having two art accounts that are so drastically different from each other kinda sucks, lol. Malletspace started as an AD account, but its grown to be bigger than my main. I love this kink, but I feel like its really changed the way I enjoy furry art. I guess this whole story can serve as what to expect when you find your niche in kink.
I feel like when you delve into the nitty griddy of fetish stuff and find what you love to do and have that sense of community, its hard to go back to normal stuff and some of that passion gets dried up and with the algorithm thing it's really rough and is like a massive gamble each time cause you can post a doodle and get 1000 likes and then you draw what you'd consider a masterpiece and get about 10 likes or something to that effect.
It's wild sometimes and hopefully you can find a way to get back into your groove and do stuff you wanna do cause as hard as it is to ignore the numbers and likes it'll become a feedback loop of continuously trying to do stuff people like and growing while you aren't doing what you wanna do so all I can really say is try to do and focus on what you wanna do and try not to push yourself cause your art is about you and you matter most.
I apologize for making this long and hopefully you're doing alright. Regardless of sfw or fetish stuff we'll always be here and support you and we love your stuff. keep bein awesome ^w^
It really does feel like there’s some sort of reward system rewiring going on once you really start delving into fetish art. Not to mention the increased pressure you get from having to manage twice the number of accounts.
But yeah, the sense of community is really what matters the most to me now. I guess I’m still trying to reclaim it on my main. On here, I just feel it so strongly.
And same to you! I love your stuff and I hope to keep supporting you here as well!
I still like draw ''normal'' stuff but draw this is something different, that's all
I'm happy you've made so many friends, and that your artistic ambition has grown and explored more of yourself in a way that allowed you to grow.
I think that reconnecting with your original interest for furry art might be difficult, and that the original interest perhaps might have to grow and adapt to adjust to the new you as well?
It's normal for things to change, and for some things to seem...lost.
Running 2 accounts is tough, but running 2 accounts could allow you to reconnect with that other side of yourself if that's what you want to do. It's just tougher.
You played with artistic & social forces that promised to warp you and here you stand, a little warped. It'll be ok though. You can continue to grow.
My early interests in furry art were really mostly just fanart for the stuff I was into at the time; I felt very in tune with the furry zeitgeist of the late 2010s. At the same time, I was also lurking the toon community because I was already sorta into it, but too afraid to really engage with it.
I think one small thing that actually might have changed me a lot more than I realize was that I switched from drawing with a Wacom tablet to drawing with an iPad.
I basically had to relearn how to draw for a few months, and within those few months I felt that I wanted to experiment a lot more beyond just fanart for what was popular at the time, much to the dismay of all the people that had initially followed me for the Star Fox fanart lol. So I experimented a lot, saw my engagement tank, and got really discouraged. Then everything changed again when I started this account.
I guess, right now, I'm still in that process of adjusting and finding a new identity for my main. I don't think I'd really ever give it up (well maybe except for my Twitter, fuck that place.)
And thank you. Really. You were one of the first ones to welcome me into this community and I've really enjoyed my time here so far!
Don't get discouraged, you'll get there. You probably just need that one person or friend that you feel like you can genuinely explore your non-toon side with, someone that can really help bring out those ideas in you so easily as one produces a pancake with a mallet swing.
The drop in engagement is always so disheartening, but no matter what, even when we're drowning in engagement, focusing on the people who do sincerely enjoy your work and encourage what you want out of yourself is always going to be a safe bet for keeping your spirits high and focus tight, I believe.
Perhaps in time this account itself will reach its end, perhaps your focus will shift or soemthing will come along that jolts you into a new lane. Few things in art are solid as the mountains, much more moves like a river, occasioally carving itself a new channel. So it goes.
I made a side account under a different name to explore a kink I was curious about in an attempt to just "get it out of my system" and ended up stumbling into a heap of friendships and memories I wouldn't have otherwise gotten to experience. And it's been such a fantastic experience that I can't really imagine going without it again.
I still have a lot of fun with goofy, silly, SFW toony antics, and it remains my bread and butter, but my weird side is a Pandora's Box I stand NO chance of closing. I guess it comes with some good and bad, but for what it's worth, I ADORE your art and I'm glad you took that plunge. The spark of inspiration is a weird thing, but I hope yours leads you only where you want to go!
I believe it’s healthy to have multiple accounts so you can explore and eventually hone in on what you’re truly passionate about. It’s also completely normal for your interests to evolve over time. Mine certainly have, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon!