… and everyone gets an extra, me-approved piece of Onja and Mijoro art as a reward.

Illustrating that nice story by  CryptPik has now moved way up my to-do list.

You know, as much as I am an avid user of Twitter, as much as I’m an artist getting some nice attention on my art on Twitter, as much as I like finding artists on Twitter…

… well, Twitter is the goddamn worst to use as an art site, be it as a viewer or as an artist.

Which is why I let out a cry of anguish whenever one of the furry gallery sites fucks up (yes FA, it’s you I’m talking about), and a bunch of artists react by jumping ship to the bigger, stinkier, messier trash fire that is Elon’s algorithm-powered toy.

I realized that I’d written several of these on Twitter, but never posted them to my actual galleries.

So…

Tsimilefy isn’t good with words and can barely read. While the latter would only become an issue for him in his later occupation (as a courier), he has always used his skill as an athlete to cover up his shame at being unable to handle even the most basic traditional speeches that all men are expected to know.

Fehizoro has below-average dexterity. He went from being a notoriously clumsy kid to being the teenager who got bruised and injured more often than anyone else during the athletic activities expected from boys his age.

As teenagers, Tsimilefy and Fehizoro initially bonded over a shared interest in the game of fanorona and playing the sodina flute. Their friendship was quickly cemented when they realized they could coach each other to deal with their respective weaknesses.

Like many young people his age, Fehizoro has had a couple of sexual experiences before, all of them with girls who quickly moved on to more enthusiastic partners. It would be a few years before he realized that his sexual orientation is basically “Tsimilefy”.

As a semi-popular athlete, Tsimilefy has been pursued by more than a few—women mostly, but also a few men. But while he gladly indulged in most of these trysts, he never quite “clicked” with them, either because of his insecurities or because of theirs.

Fehizoro initially hid his budding attraction to Tsimilefy out of embarrassment, but given all the time they spent around each other, it really didn’t take long for Tsimilefy to catch on to what was happening. A first sexual tryst followed (very) quickly.

Exactly one year after that, they became each other’s first romantic partners.

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(You can find all F&T drawings here.)

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Pre-orders are up for Blackmore, a charity fanzine for Blacksad (both the comics and the game). It includes fan fiction and fanart of the franchise’s characters, created by a great list of writers and artists, and is available in both SFW and NSFW variants—you can get one, the other, or both.

I’ve drawn one picture for each of the two variants, so you know what to do: go and get them! :D

https://blackmorefanzine.bigcartel.com/

All right, so you might have noticed that instead of posting three “remastered for Patreon” pieces, I’ve only posted one. That’s because I’m reaching the point where I have very few old pieces left that I considered worthy of being reworked. The other two drawings posted in June were slightly modified, but so little that I have updated the old posts (here and here) rather than post the new versions separately. My process is likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.

At least, until I have enough patrons that I can afford to dedicate time to drawing new stuff more often—at which point I’d switch to what I always envisioned for Patreon: a place where you can get my new art one month early and in full res.

So, to whomever may concern: you know what to do, if you can afford to.

https://patreon.com/erkhyan

Now let me be candid and ask how I could get more people to support me on Patreon. I’m grateful for my current patrons, but right now the kind of money I get from Patreon is “pays for my internet bill every 3 months, and nothing more”.

I’m genuinely wondering what more I can do that would be within my reach.

So, I’ve started uploading high-res, updated versions of some of my old art to my Patreon last month. As mentioned before, I always intended to post said art (in web resolution) to my public galleries after a month or two.

I forgot to ask though: what do you thing would be better?

Should I replace the existing submissions with the updated ones, or should I instead post the updated versions as new submissions?

All right, I’ve decided. I’ll be uploading reworked, full-res versions of two of my older drawings to Patreon, every month, as a test. For $5, you get access to the month’s art, and all of the previous months’ uploads as well.

The two inaugural uploads shall be the remastered versions of “Room With a View” and “Straddling Ecstasy”.

To subscribe, here you go: https://www.patreon.com/erkhyan

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And now, for the obvious concern:

Am I putting my art behind a paywall?

The short answer is NO.

The more detailed answer:

I have a visceral dislike of paywalls. I personally suffer from a serious case of fear of missing out, and I’ve been on the wrong side of a paywall too many times before. I understand people using them, but… not my thing. At all.

There will be no art on my Patreon that won’t be available in my public galleries as well. The only difference will be that Patreon uploads will be in the highest resolution I have available, while my public galleries will keep getting the web versions.

If you don’t want to subscribe to Patreon, or can’t? It’s okay. You’ll notice no change at all.

On the other hand, think of this: if my Patreon goes well, I might end up being able to draw and post free art more often than I currently do. Win-win.

Reminder: I have a Patreon currently working as a tip jar while I work out the technicals of making it work.

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Question:

If I were to release full-res/reworked versions of my older (mostly lewd/erotic) art on Patreon, would people be interested? Would one picture per month for $5 work? Maybe two pictures?

I’d like some feedback on this—I’d really like to make it work, but I’m not confident enough to go “don’t ask, just do it and hope it works”…

All right, I’ve launched a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/erkhyan

It will function as a tip jar for now, while I figure things out.

Later, if things work out, I intend to use it to share full-res versions of my art (that’s why I’ve marked it as 18+ for now).

I wish to explore the idea of having a Patreon. The thing is, I have no idea if I could sustain one.

The idea would be that it doesn’t change the way I usually post: every drawing I finish still gets posted here. I was just thinking of high resolution versions, for example. Unfortunately, streaming sessions aren’t something I could do. Progress shots, maybe? I’m a messy artist and my workflow doesn’t follow the neat sketch/inks/flats/shading steps that other artists use, so work files would be a bit tricky.

So I have essentially two questions for y’all:

1) How many would be interested?

2) What would you expect to get?

So I got my new drawing tablet one month ago from a local store. When I first got it, it had a nasty glitch that made its lower right corner unusable, and pen tilt didn’t work. I tried to get the store to replace it, but they insisted that it was a PEBKAC issue.

I contacted the manufacturer’s tech support, and after three weeks of back-and-forth with them, the glitch got mostly fixed. But pen tilt still didn’t work, so I asked the manufacturer to confirm that this model supports pen tilt.

I just right now got a message confirming that it never did.

Hahahahahaha, it’s not like I spent an entire month’s worth of my income on this freaking thing based entirely on the store advertising that it supported pen tilt.

I mean, the new tablet is still better than my (14-year-old) previous one, but it’s like paying to upgrade from a 10 to a 20 and getting stuck with a 13.

Commission status: CLOSED

PRICING:

1 full-body character + simple/abstract background: $70
+ $40 per extra character
Examples:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31914978/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/35804965/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36815355/

1 full-body character + detailed background: $100
+ $40 per extra character
Examples:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/33591006/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36622204/
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36792819/

NSFW is all right. If it’s a subject/fetish I haven’t drawn before, please inquire first.

PAYMENT:

Payment is expected at the latest after completion of a rough sketch, but payment in advance is much preferred.

Due to my country’s regulations, payment is through Western Union or Xoom (a PayPal service) only.

Unfortunately, that also means refunds are not an available option, sorry. I’ll do my utmost best to avoid the need for a refund, and ask you to do the same.

COMPLETION:

Most of my drawings take a few weeks to finish, up to a couple of months if it’s a really detailed scene. In general, I’ll try to keep you updated on the progress of your piece.

I also keep this Trello board updated.

CONTACT:

For initial inquiries, FA notes and Twitter DMs are okay.

Any further discussion will be by email at erkhyan.art[at]gmail.com

CURRENT QUEUE:

1.  skgyae

Okay, So let’s try this. I’ll unofficially open for a couple of commissions as a test. I don’t have a commission sheet available, but you can check my gallery to see what I can do, and feel free to contact me here or on Twitter/Telegram for details about pricing.

Just one thing though. Sorry, there’s nothing I can realistically do about it right now, but payment is through Western Union only.

Ahem. Today was time to update the “Age” field in my profile. Woo!

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Anyway, a reminder that I have two Telegram channels for art WIP updates:
SFW: https://t.me/erkhyanwips
NSFW: (see link in the pinned post on the SFW channel)

Everything posted there should in theory be posted here once finished. I’ve been on a bit of a break lately though, due to a nasty bout of executive dysfunction. I’m working on breaking through it.

As the title says, I’ve made a Telegram channel for posting progress shots of my art.

https://t.me/erkhyanwips

The plan is to have two channels, one private for adult art and one public for general+mature. Only the latter is active for now. I’ll post an update when I create the former.

I updated this drawing to darken the blurred foreground based on advice I received. And also because the first version had a really annoying graphical glitch on the right-side and bottom edges, caused by what I assume was a bug in Krita.

If (big honking IF) I were to offer to draw a few commissions, how comfortable would people be with paying through Western Union?

(before someone asks: no, PayPal and other similar services aren’t available here)

Well, I just turned 31… and my last journal was me announcing that I’d turned 30. Talk about a lack of updates, eh?

A few things have changed since last year. I, who took pride in being able to follow several dozen artists on several different art sites, lost that ability altogether. I rarely ever check my inbox now, except for comments and the occasional journal.

On the other side, I’ve been artistically more productive this past year than in any year before that. Sure, it’s less than a dozen pictures including a bunch of uncolored sketches, but hey, better than none… (If you’re currently counting less than a half dozen pictures, you probably follow only my non-adult art )

There isn’t actually much to say beyond that. I’m not setting goals for the year to come, art-wise or in my personal life. I’ll keep working on both, but if there’s anything I’ve learned lately, it’s that fixed goals tend to stress me out more than they motivate me.

Oh well.

Fossa, out!

*discreetly updates the “Age” and “Species” fields on my profile*

So, on the 24th, I apparently joined the Greymuzzle community, the Gay Death community, whichever you call the fact of turning 30.

I also bought a Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet earlier this month. The first results are showing, as exemplified by the sketch I just uploaded in my scraps gallery.

Oh, and I might as well officially switch fursonas. I decided on a fossa months ago. Now just to draw myself an updated icon…

I’m usually all for not using words considered as offensive if I can avoid them, but now I just witnessed political correctness gone crazy. Apparently, “hermaphrodite” is now offensive and people should stop using it because it’s an insult to trans people and/or intersex people.

Nope, it’s NOT. It might have been once, some people might still use it as such, but it hasn’t been widely used as an insult on a long while, and you should not encourage its return as an insult by taking offense to it.

— Trans people were born with only one set of genitals, that doesn’t match the gender they grow up into. They might or might not take steps to correct that discrepancy later in life. Key term: one set of genitals.

— Intersex people were born with only one set of genitals, even though said genitals can’t be clearly defined as male or female. They might even look male while they’re actually female, or the opposite (nature is a cruel prankster…), but the fact remains: they’re still only one set of genitals.

— Hermaphrodites, by definition, have one clearly male set of genitals and one clearly female set, regardless of their perceived gender (or lack of). I don’t know if actual human hermaphrodites exist/have existed, but actual hermaphroditic animals exist: for example, snails. Key word: two (or more? imagination!) sets of genitals, generally well-defined.

The point is: “Hermaphrodite” is not an insult, and it should never be. People who use it as an insult are utterly wrong, but keep in mind that people who perceive it as an insult are just as wrong. Please don’t be part of that latter category, lest we encourage ignorant people to become part of the former.

I wrote a tweet about the embarrassment of having to use a printer at my mother’s store to get a paper copy of this picture.

A few minutes later, I discovered that there’s a twitter bot out there that automatically retweets everything that sounds even remotely like news about printers.

Hurr hurr hurr, I hope their followers liked hearing about furry gay smut.

I just accidentally typed two dozen exclamation marks in the address bar, and still got an autocomplete suggestion from my browsing history.

It was a Fur Affinity journal.

You guys…

Shut up with that argument.

People love each other all year long, but life is not all roses and bird songs — distractions abound, so one day a year to focus on what’s important is not too much to ask for.

What next? Complaining that birthdays should not be celebrated because every day should be a special day? What about anniversaries, memorial days, national holidays?

There were people who complained about the site and left.

Then came the people who complained about the people who left.

Can we get to the next step now? The people passing judgment on those who left are starting to annoy me, let me complain about them now. :-P

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Aaanyway, the other sites where I can be found… Just check my profile header. I’m equally active (or inactive, as things may be…) on all of them, as far as I know.