My buddy Heltinsurance just told me he's getting a fursuit based on the ref I made of his lynx Shyft!

It's a great feeling to have finally made a ref sheet that is getting used for a fursuit. Is this a rite of passage for furry artists...?

Hi to everyone coming back from Twitter.

I made an Itaku in the hopes it’ll be an effective replacement: https://itaku.ee/profile/alexrydian

For the most part, I’m taking a wait-and-see approach with that site. I’m adding artists whose links I see here and there but I’m gonna hold back from posting until I see how things catch on. It may just end up being that FA returns to being my main site for the foreseeable future.

Why’s that? Well, I’ve been really excited by the features Itaku has for NSFW artists, but I’ve already been hearing some unsettling evidence that they’re taking a somewhat hardline approach to fetish content, to the point of labeling ANY plus-sized characters (fat, muscle, bare-chested) as “questionable”, even outside of explicitly sexual contexts— in some cases going for stricter labels for other kinks like ABDL. Other stuff like their no-callouts/no-politics rules are also concerning when it comes to whether I could post freely on the platform, including criticism of said platform when it’s important or vital.

My hope is that Itaku listens to its users about why these policies are turning newcomers off of their site and how their current stance could threaten long-term usability. If they don’t, I’ll probably just stick with FA and maybe throw some cash Neer’s way. It’s not perfect, but all things considered, this site has been a crucial hub for the community when it comes to allowing people to share and post what they care about. Platforms like this definitely need our support.

I like the design and format of Itaku, but I’m a kinky dude. In the long run, I don’t want myself and others to be discriminated for benign interests when the content doesn’t really warrant it.

Like I said, I’m not going to just leave Itaku as a knee-jerk reaction to their criticisms. I’ll probably still do some work more this weekend on expanding my follows there. But I do hope that there’s an eventual shift in values on that site or it’ll very likely go the way of so many previous FA-alternatives.

Yes, I removed nearly all of my old art. I'm hoping to fill my gallery with more stuff representative of my current skills. I want to open for comms in the near future, but to do that I'm going to need to work on my portfolio a bit.

Also if you'd like an experimental comm from me sight unseen, go ahead and send me a shout. It'll be based on my old prices, so compared to what I plan to charge in the future it will likely be at a discount.

Hey all, it's been a while.

Just wanna make a quick post mentioning a few life updates that I haven't addressed in a long-ass time.

1.) I'm nearly finished with college. I got my bachelor's degree in June of last year and I plan to submit my master's thesis by late August of this year. Once I'm done there, I plan to post art regularly again, since I should have fewer problems willingly setting aside time to draw outside of my day job in a way I previously couldn't given my college obligations. This also means that I hope to eventually reopen for commissions again once I've posted enough work to show my current skill level. Stay tuned for that.

2.) Again, I've mostly moved to Twitter (@AlexRydian). But I hope to bring my FA back into the fold more and more as I get back into the swing of regular art stuff. If you want more regular posts from me than these journals, Twitter is where you'll get that.

3.) A really important discussion is happening in the furry community now regarding underage characters in fetish art. I have in fact drawn kink art of underage characters, but this was when I myself was underage as well. Nonetheless, I removed two old sequences from my gallery featuring said underage characters. From this point on, I will refuse to draw kink or NSFW art of underage characters, period. I encourage others to consider making the same commitment.

4.) At some point down the line, I'll try to clean up my FA page a bit, and most importantly, submissions. Everything below a certain view threshold is more than likely going to be deleted or moved to Scraps while I freshen up my gallery. If there is anything you want me to keep, be sure to leave a comment or note about it and I'll consider retaining it.

Thanks for sticking with me, y'all.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone! I'll post the stream pics soon.

Thanks to everyone who made it! I had a great time drawing stuff >w<

I've been gone for a good while. College has been messy, I've had a while to do school work, and life has been full of twists.

I think I'm gonna be a bit more active here now, so I'll be trying my best to post more art while I work myself up to being able to start taking commissions.

Sorry it's been so long. I'll answer any questions for anyone still curious about how stuff has been for me.

-Alex

Edit: Looks like my account here will be 5 years old on Thursday. Funny.

I'm not leaving, but I have set up Furry Network and Weasyl. I don't upload to either of them, but I've taken the username in the off chance I'll be using them in the future.

If for some reason I'm no longer able to access FA, you can still catch up with me on Twitter (@alexrydian). I also post sketches and stuff there too, so if you're interested in following me around, please check by there sometime.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone for coming!

I have a Twitter now! Where I'll try to do stuff! Hopefully! Follow me, I'm alexrydian!

Because a few friends were noticing some inconsistencies with the kinks I put in my F-List, I decided to go over it and find out they were right. So I made sure to correct everything I saw wrong and moved a few things around. Guess this is what happens when you don't proofread.

Anyway, now it's 100% accurate (for now, at least), so everything's settled!

https://www.f-list.net/c/alex%20rydian

THIS GUY!

https://www.f-list.net/c/alex%20rydian

Now if anybody wants to know what I'm OK with RPing/drawing, they can use this to find out!

Huzzah!

Thanks to everybody who submitted questions! Maybe I'll do this again in the near future...

Thank you to everyone who came! I will post the canvas tomorrow! ;3

So I've noticed that I've been spending a lot of time online.

Like, a lot of time. So much that I've been distracted from things I would be more interested in pursuing or focusing on.

What I'm getting at is that I may have to cut down on my internet usage. From everything, really; FA, Skype, everything else I do when I surf the web... It's having an effect on me and although this doesn't mean I'll be gone, I'll definitely be around a lot less.

This may result in me producing more art and being more productive overall. It may mean I devote more time to other projects. It may mean that I can possibly sever my ties with the internet altogether. I don't know.

I hope it doesn't come to that last bit, since I have made a lot of friends online, especially from FA. But recent events have caused me to begin to question that.

For now, though, I would say I'm pretty much in limbo.

Expect more from me soon... or not.

-Alex

(Update: I'm not giving up the Internet completely yet, just reducing my use of it. I still want to remain in contact with those I've befriended, at least for the time being)

My tablet isn't gone yet. A few complications are going on, so I'm keeping it at least for a little while longer.

In the meantime, I'm working a bit on a side project, since I still have some motivation left.

My Skype participation may start to dwindle a bit for now, though. Stay tuned for more in the future.

What my parents told me was a gift has just been taken away because they realized that it wasn't worth paying for.

So now I've suddenly lost what was about to be an easier way to make digital art and told to go back to my previous (difficult) way.

This is partly my fault, but it still sucks. It would at least be better if I could get my existing tablet to work they way I wanted it to, but we can't have everything.

Long story short, don't expect any digital art from me for a while. If I wasn't motivated to draw traditional before, I sure am not now.

Thanks everybody for appreciating my art >w<

Good news is, I have finally graduated high school and officially begun my last summer break before college.

The bad news is that both my phone and my laptop have died.

So, even though I'm finally free of having to deal with being in class and balancing my schedule accordingly, unfortunately my long hiatus will have to continue just a little bit longer. This will also mean that I will not be able to use Skype much at all until at least one of those two things is replaced.

I will be back with an update as soon as I can.

~Alex

So yeah, to those who I haven't been corresponding with on Skype, I'm not dead. Just really, really busy on personal stuff. "What's happened, Alex?" you may ask. "You haven't talked to us seriously in months!" "What the shit?" "Where's the fat stuff?"

I've been wrapped into a whole slew of personal work at the moment, focusing on school work and non-furry projects. That doesn't mean I'm abandoning FA, but the reason for the hiatus is because I've had to seriously consider issues that play a more significant role in the grand scheme of my future.

So here's what I've gotten done in the period of time that I've been absent:

COLLEGE/SCHOOL
I got accepted to UCSC! I got a provisional acceptance, which means I need to make sure that I have grades comparable to what I'd previously accomplished. What that basically means is that I can't fuck up with school. And the large amount of focus I've been doing already isn't enough, which doesn't look good for my FA presence. This will level out around early June, but until then you probably won't be able to expect much from me.

I haven't completely disappeared off the site... but in terms of personal contribution, I agree it's been silent. I've been using FA, but now just browsing more than posting. I'll get an opportunity to post some hiatus art as soon as my workload goes down, but like I said, that might not happen soon.

TL;DR: Unannounced hiatus unfortunately going to continue until school ends.

I'm still active on Skype, but if I don't know you that much I probably won't be talking much... as it stands now I've only been able to talk to friends on the weekends and/or holidays, which is frighteningly sparse as is.

Since it's Tuesday, I'll also answer any questions if you have them.

Made myself a redux of an old design as sort of a teaser for the new reference I'll be posting soon.

Plus my girlfriend got a new icon and I figured this design was a bit similar XD

What happened to Alex? He looks so WEIRD! Well, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out!

I have, however, been exceptionally busy with school and other projects that my art presence has (regrettably) reached a standstill.

Unfortunately, as it stands now it doesn't seem like things are going to change much. In fact, I'm not even able to be on Skype as much anymore because of my obligations.

I will be working on a new reference sheet, which I will try to post soon. And there is one more request for  louiefox that has taken me a very long time to fulfill. Those are both my priorities.

As for other stuff, all I can say is wait and see. I know those of you who like my artwork will be disappointed, but as much as I would like to draw more and post more of the stuff I draw here, in actuality it will probably be a while before that is a possibility.

I will try my best to keep you all posted.

I haven't been able to put out any requests lately because I haven't really found the time between preparing for school and spending time with family to do them. I apologize for the delay, and will try to work on them and finish a few tomorrow and Tuesday.

Sorry that it's taken longer than expected.

I haven't drawn in a while, so I'm opening back up for requests to get back into the groove. I'll be doing requests for 5 users, one sketch each, which I'll try to complete relatively quickly.

Comment on this journal or note me to get one! Make sure you tell me what you want me to draw, and include a ref of your character.

1.)  louiefox
2.)  cyberfox
3.)  a25
4.)  brokendestiny
5.)  chubsthewolff

That's all, folks! Thank you all for your requests!

Now mated to  emondelucifian~

I'm so glad that we're together now... hopefully I can benefit more from this relationship than I have without a partner...

Love you, Emmy!