As a few of you may have noticed I have finally decided to set up a Patreon account. At long last you finally have a way to give me your money.

My income has gotten tighter over the past year or so, and while drawing has always been more of a hobby for me rather than an occupation - I felt as though it was time I managed to earn something from it. So if you are a fan of the things I draw and would like to support more being created, please consider donating.

https://www.patreon.com/CCracker

I should probably stress that I have no plans whatsoever to paywall any of my content I create, but those who support via Patreon will get some extra benefits, such as early access to most images a day or so before they are released to the public, as well as access to WiPs and polls, and probably some other goodies as time goes on.

I mentioned it a few days ago on twitter, but I'm interested in trying out doing some 2d animation for a change. So to all those who have some experience in the field, what sort of software would you recommend me trying out? Atm I only really wanna do some basic stuff, but I guess having onion layering and some tweening capabilities would be useful too.

Woo!

It's all thanks to you guys, so I want to make sure you know how much I appreciate all the things you for me. With that out of the way lets move on to the next thing I wanna mention - Commissions. I WANT to start them soon in the new year, but I work a busy job that occasionally gets even more busier at random times. The last thing I want to do is promise some guy a drawing and then end up taking months to finish it.

Because of that, I'm planning to start off crawling and only accept one or two at a time at a level of quality similar to https://www.furaffinity.net/view/29449661/ or https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34335508/. Nothing more advanced at the moment. This might be subject to change but this is the plan I have in mind right now. Once I start getting more comfortable I'll start opening up more slots and up how complex the images can be.

Thanks again for the 5k!

I've been putting some consideration into buying one of those drawing tablets that have display screens on them, I'm not sure if they have a more exact name than that. Are they that much of an improvement over using a standard tablet? For me personally when I work I find that the lining process is my least favorite part due to the inaccuracy and also it not really feeling like im drawing, and I'm wondering if doing it on a tablet with a display would help with that.

Basically, I'm just asking anyone who uses one of those types of tablets what they think, and if they would recommend it to scum like me.

Woo!

Thanks guys. Sorry if the uploads have been a little slow as of late as well, things have been very busy over here and I guess I'm slightly burned out. I have a few things in the works though, so hopefully I can get those finished soon.

Regarding commissions and stuff too, at the moment I'm hoping to start doing them soon. I just need to figure out pricing and all that junk, although I might cut my teeth a little by starting with one or two YCHs. I dunno yet. Going from drawing for me, to drawing for other people is a big step to make and I don't want to disappoint.

But yeah, thanks guys. Heres to another cool 1k next year. I'll also do a little Q and A if anyone's interested.

Well, I bit the bullet and made a twitter account to post my art on. I plan to reupload 3-4 of my old drawings a day until I'm up to speed with my gallery here, after that it will be business as usual. Check it out if you haven't already had your fill of me, and would like to contribute to my daily dopamine intake.

https://twitter.com/ChrstmasCracker

I'm considering creating a Twitter account to serve as a sort of secondary gallery now that tumblr has officially shit the bed. It seems to be the best alternative from what I can gather, although I have concerns that Twitter will just pull the same shenanigans in the coming future and ban all porn too. To those in the know, what do you think of Twitter as a place to host a gallery? Structure wise it seems very similar to tumblr, but I guess i'd just like a second opinion before I start going any further.

Also; regarding Newgrounds tbh I can't see that being a place that will offer any permanent success. They're riding a wave at the moment, but it probably won't last so I don't have much interest in setting up shop over there. Plus I think its layout is really ugly so there's that too.

Thanks Kiddie fiddlers, now none of us can have fun. Just as I was getting somewhere on that site too.

Well, looks like my five year old intuos pen and touch finally died on me tonight. My first sign of trouble was when it wouldn't add pressure to random pen strokes, and after I tried updating the drivers it decided to start adding a jagged edge in the middle of each stroke as well. Then a few mins later it stops detecting pressure entirely no matter what driver I'm using.

I'm not entirely surprised tbh, the thing was getting pretty beat up over the years and the surface looked like an ice skating rink. My only problem is that they don't seem to produce my model anymore (pen and touch M CTH-680), so I guess I'm wondering if any of you guys have any suggestions for a good alternative? All the new ones I see seem to only have bluetooth connections as well, and I'm not entirely sure if my desktop supports that as an option, or would it even matter since the new wacoms are the type that comes with the little usb stub you plug in a slot.

Edit:
Okay, I managed to get it working again by downloading a newer version of Sai 2. But I'm still having the issue with the pen randomly refusing to add pressure sometimes, as well as randomly giving my strokes a sharp spot near the end. By this point I can't tell if its the tablets fault or Sai, but tbh it's about time I updated tablet anyway so I'm still open for suggestions regarding that.

This is a decision I have tried to avoid up until now because I don't like feeling that I have to depend on others, but money has been tight for me during the past few months and I guess its time to swallow my pride. So if you like what I do and would like to support it, please consider donating. Even just a little goes a long way and helps keep me afloat.

Link


Also, Commissions will happen eventually. I just need time to build up my confidence a little longer. I wanna be sure that when I do, I can provide the service you guys deserve. Thanks for your patience.

Hypothetically, if I was to have an interest in animating something, and the only thing I ever animated before was this this, and that was friggin annoying to do, what would be the best tool to do it with? I'm fine on learning the basics on my own, I'm just interested in hearing from people with more experience than me on what the best platforms are or whatever other advice you've got. I've had an idea for a quick n' simple animation and I'd like to test myself.

I try to practice sketching every day, but I usually take a break from it when I work on images intended to be uploaded to my gallery due to not having that much time most days to do both. However once they're done and I get back to just practicing again, I feel like I've forgotten everything I had previously learned - and this process repeats ad infinitum. It's pretty annoying. Have any of you artists ever get effected by this phenomenon?

Well, everything worked out about as well as it possibly could have considering the circumstances. I had to rush to work on the day I had booked off, cradling my drives like an organ ready for transplant, hoping that the data hadn't been corrupted yet. I managed to back up my most important files off of them thankfully, but virus scans were coming back clear strangely enough.

Nevertheless once that was done, I went home and by complete miracle I actually got into safe-mode by use of cancelling a auto disk-repair. Unfortunately however I could run jack shit since windows was so fucked up it looked and felt like it was about to implode. So I threw in the towel and just reformatted the drive because I wasn't wasting any more time with it, and thankfully for the small mercies in the world the reformat didn't fail and brick my pc like it has a habit of doing, and I was able to reinstall my os and bring over my data.

So yeah, crisis mostly averted. The only things I lost were my bookmarks (kind of mad about this one), and my sai brushes (actually am mad about this one since I could have sworn I did back em up). But at least my .sai files were saved, as well as the WiPs that I really REALLY would have flipped some tables over if I had lost them.

But I still have no real clue what the issue was tbh. All signs pointed to a virus, but my attempts at squeezing them out came back blank despite me running pretty much every av out there on both the drives. Maybe it was just a case of my copy of windows getting corrupted somehow, but it still doesn't explain the few abnormalities I experienced before the boot loop. Maybe the corruption was a last ditch FU from a bug about to be quarantined? I actually work in IT so to not know is ever so slightly embarrassing, not even to mention the fact that it happened to me on my watch as well.

Either way, whats done is done. I've got my stuff and a working pc, so I guess I should be thankful for that. Thanks for all the help in the comments of the last journal btw.

I think I'm starting to make a habit of these tri-monthly journal updates. Anyway, although I didn't reply much I do appreciate the response I got to my last one. Since then I've been trying to push myself a little further in my work ethic, and hopefully with the daily practice I'm doing now I can start eventually start producing stuff at a faster rate - cause as it stands I spend way to much time having to redo lineart due to badly constructed sketches.

Speaking of which this is for all the fatfur artists out there, when it comes to the belly am I right in assuming that the lower fold originates from the space between the hips while the upper is formed from the obliques? I've been attempting to understand this for months now and from researching other artists I seem to get mixed messages. Is it just a preference thing or is there actual structure to it? Maybe it would be better if I provided visual aid for this later.

Anyway, maybe im just overthinking it and its just something that needs practice to understand. Also so much for work ethic, this journal took ages to write because I got distracted halfway through and spend probably an hour watching videos about friggin' Alton Towers.

Sorry if I've been a little slow at posting new stuff recently. Work is eating into my time much more than I would appreciate at the moment, and the fact that I recently managed to both break my finger and dislocate my big-toe in two separate but equally stupid accidents did a fine job at eliminating most of my recent schedule. That Unagi pic was supposed to be finished like two weeks ago, but pointless medical science got in the way of my very important porn hobby.

Even beyond those excuses I feel like I upload too slow. I wanna be the type of person who just constantly turns in great pieces on like a weekly basis, but I don't know, I think I'm a perfectionist, or maybe I'm just afraid to post something I haven't spent hours refining during the lining process. I'm not sure. I would like to think I'm improving with how fast I can draw, but it's a slow process. And I think that's one of the main reasons I don't take commissions, right now I'm too slow and too scared to disappoint. I also tend to demand a lot of creative control as anyone who has collabed with me could probably vouch for, but thats aside the point.

I dunno, I think I'm just venting as I sit here with a hand and a foot wrapped in gauze. Did anyone ever play the original Unreal? I've been thinking about that game a lot recently. I ought to see if I can find my old copy.

Woo! I honestly never expected I'd get so far when I first started so really I have no words other than my sincere gratitude. People like you guys are what inspire me to keep going.

Unfortunately I'm way too busy to be doing much in terms of a celebration atm, but I will do a Q&A for anyone if you're interested at all and have anything you'd like to ask. Go crazy!

Sorry if I've been kind of quiet as of late guys, I've been trying to kind of practice more in private atm just working on basic anatomy since I always felt like I was messing up a lot there and forcing me to constantly tweak and redo my sketches until I could guess it looked almost right. I'm hoping with enough practice I can get to the point where the general construction of my drawings become a lot more fluid and faster, and will allow me to produce stuff at a more efficient rate as a result. So far I think I finally understand how the pelvis work, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing to admit after doing this for like almost three years now. I get mixed messages from seeing how other people do it sometimes though; that weird section of the external oblique that the hips exist within seem to vary from artist to artist. I guess that's where personal style comes into the equation, or maybe I'm just thinking too hard about it. I dunno yet.

I also start a new job on Monday. It's only like 30 hours per week compared to the 50 + travel time I was doing last year so It's not that bad, and most likely won't effect my drawing all that much. If anything getting some structure back in my life might actually help me out art-wise tbh, so try not to worry about that. I even get a desk so my distracted, wandering hands can doodle a little as I work. It's a nice balance honestly, and I'll feel good paying taxes and contributing to society again.

Anyway, I might end up posting something soon-ish enough. Depends how busy I am next week. I guess we'll find out pretty soon.

People, just a word of advice - if you're going to message me, please at least meet me half-way and don't just say 'hi' so I can try and infer something from your message without having to play 20 questions first. Oh also; messaging and getting friendly with me for over two weeks before suddenly vanishing right after I decline your request to draw your OC is a great way to make me never want to do them ever.

I'm mad btw

I don't really know how to break it easily so I'll just say it; Serpent Ascension isn't continuing. It upsets me to come out with this because I know a lot of people liked that comic, but it isn't fair what I'm doing to them. Only one page was completed last year and that's really pitiful, and it would be a disservice to all those people who enjoy the comic to keep tugging them along in hope that maybe one day another page will be uploaded. When I first started it, I was in still in college and just getting started learning to draw and I was generally just doing it as a sort of crappy personal project that I could scribble onto a page and call it a day - but I wasn't expecting it at all to gain the popularity that it did and I guess that affected my outlook on it a lot, and increased the pressure of what sort of quality I could consider upload-worthy, but that's not really the main issue I had.

In terms of the overall story, going in all I had were individual scenes I wanted to draw and the hard part was connecting them with filler, and the whole interaction with the smaller male snake was filler just to try and give some reason for her to seek out a more 'suitable' mate. There were other scenes planned such as her accidentally tasting more of the toxic waste to grow more and gain proper sentience, but in order for that I would have to draw filler of her getting thirsty or something and mistaking the waste for water. There was so much need for filler in what I had planned, and it was really weighing down my enthusiasm because all the things I wanted to draw were essentially locked behind pages and pages of establishing crap, and I think that among other things are the reasons I'm deciding to call it quits.

It kind of sucks because there's still parts of it I was interested in. She was gonna end up seducing a hunter into a deal to feed her his catches in return for sexual favours, which her enhanced body could rapidly digest into more growth. Most likely some nagafication was in the works at some point or maybe even eventually dragonfication and more if it continued long enough. Generally just a lot of growth and evolution and stuff, but the real killer was just trying to get to that past all the establishing stuff when she's just a little garden snake or the things she does between just growing and wrecking shit.

I know that a simple solution would just make it a growth sequence or something. But have you seen my track record with multi-page comics? The fact is, I suck at being consistent, and nothing shows that more than when I try and do anything that involves multiple parts. I think I've tried like three of them so far and none have been completed yet. If I redid Serpent Ascension as just a growth sequence I'm afraid I'll start like 'woo, this is great!', and then get bored by the second part and end up leaving people hanging like I've done time and time again.

That being said I'm still intending to finish the other two, that being Getting Noticed and that Rina comic - I learned a little about planning comics post SS so filler isn't an issue with those - but as it stands I admit defeat with Serpent Ascension. DESPITE THAT, I do still kind of have a thing for sentient feral snakes, so you can still expect to see some shenanigans involving lusty sneks and their cloacae in the form of stand-alone images like the one I did a few months back.

Once again, I'm sorry for how this has turned out. It's entirely a problem of my own creation, and I just feel bad that I'm probably letting so many people down with this announcement. If anyone has any questions or anything post them in the comments I'll try and answer them. It's the least I can do.

Yep, I'm looking for help yet again. To all my Sai peers, do you have any setting recommendations when it comes to brushes for lining? I always feel like I'm just guessing when I tweak the settings and start going with whatever kind of looks right, so I'd like to know if I'm actually just working against myself with the choices I make or not.

For example, here's the settings I've been using for my lining pen for a good while now. Probably a year or so by this point.

http://i.imgur.com/SbGeXRJ.png

People always talk about line weight and junk when it comes to drawing good lines, and I'm not really sure if I'm getting there or not with these settings, so if any Sai gurus (or any digital artists) could help out with some advice or recommendations of your own I'd certainly appreciate it.

I've probably started writing this journal and giving up like three times now over the past few days because I thought this wasn't really worth sharing, but I feel like the message needs to be addressed; Last week I thought I was going to die.

Long story short because I don't really feel like you guys wanna read too much about all this, but after experiencing about two weeks of an increasingly painful sensation in my groin, I eventually checked it out last Friday evening and found a concerning amount of warm, painful swelling very near my balls, and until I could head to the doctors that following Monday I tried to come to terms with the fact that I probably had cancer and that I was going to slowly wither away and die a young man. Thankfully once I managed to make it to the doctors, after a numerous amount of tests he managed to diagnose it as actually being caused by a pretty badly torn tendon or something (I wasn't really paying that much attention, I hadn't slept much in like two days), and could be treated pretty easily just with meds and rest. And immediately I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my back, it was incredible.

So here I am, kicking back with painkillers and anti-inflammatories and sleeping upright this christmas, but I couldn't be happier because I now know I'm not dying. But I got really lucky this time. I was stupid and I was too scared to actually check what the problem was I was having or talk about with anyone, and I very easily could be writing this journal about something much worse. So please, if you are a guy (and I'm pretty sure you all are) check yourself for any abnormalities down there every so often, and if you feel or notice anything wrong tell your freakin' doctor because cancer is no joke and it can be treated if caught early enough.

I know sometimes it feels like this kind of stuff only happens to other people, and I used to feel that way too. But this experience really opened my eyes about how lucky we are sometimes to be in good health - and we owe it to ourselves and everyone we care about to make sure we stay that way. So my Christmas wish for you guys this year is to check your balls, talk to your doctor if you have any issues, and don't look up symptoms online because all it'll do is tell you you're about to die. You have nothing to lose doing so, and in the end it will just make sure you have plenty more years to spend jacking off with.

My other Christmas wish is a very rare big boxed version of L4D but thats Santa (Aka: Papa X)'s job.

I'm happy to announce that as of today the contract for my shitty job is finally over and I'm pretty sure I'll be living like a true artist (jobless and shameless) for a good month or so while I apply for stuff that suck proportionately less. Right now I'm still coming to terms with the reality that I won't have to wake up at 6:30 anymore this coming Monday, but I hope to start cutting into the big list of stuff I wanna draw very soon with the free time I've now got. I have a new short comic half-ish finished that'll probably be the first thing I work on, but after that who knows.

I don't really have much else to say really, but I'll do a Q&A if anyone's interested so this journal isn't a complete waste.

Thanks for all the colouring advice last week guys, I've been experimenting a little with the advice I got after work and it seems to be going pretty good so far. If I'm really really good I might have this thing done by November 11th, which would be the year anniversary of the first Nidomom pic and a fitting date since this thing I'm working on now might top it as my new personal favorite project.

Quick question though while I'm on the subject of Nidos. Do you pronounce it "nee-do" or "nigh-do"? I use the latter myself, but I'm a little curious about what others use or if you use some other bizarre form of pronunciation.

This goes out to all the pros out there, and I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question, but when colouring an image thats supposed to have low lighting, is it better to start with flat colours that are darker in order to morso fit that setting - or use normal flat colours and just shade them darker later? I imagine with some layer trickery it wouldn't be all that difficult to fake it, but I'd really like the advice of someone who's more skilled at stuff like this than me so I don't end up going full "MS-Paint is a good compression tool" again. If my explanation just there sucks, note me and I'll send you a version of what I've done so far so you can take a proper look instead - it might be the better option.


Also; If what I just said is any semblance of a hint I've started colouring than new Nidomom pic. It's kinda been a nightmare to deal with though since my job has seriously impacted how much time I can put into it - so I'm not really looking at it being completed really all that soon. Nevertheless, I imagine there's only one or two more weeks left of this contract, so soon I can be free to draw as much porn as I want! Wheeee!

Woo



Also; As usual never trust me when I give deadlines. I'll most likely still be working super-fulltime for the foreseeable future, or at the very most up until November. Nevertheless I'll still try and be as active as I possible can - and I can say that I'm currently working on something I think a lot of guys will probably like. What's big and blue and still has needs too? Find out... eventually.