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INFO: IC vs OOC
Posted 7 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
Regretfully... this will be yet-another OOC post.
I've gotten a lot of requests to do more Etheras-IC stuff, and I'm happy to do it. (In-fact, I'm really trying to flesh out the details of his universe and his day-to-day activities)... But honestly I struggle with it quite a bit. IC posts feels a lot like RPing with yourself. There isn't anything to to play-off-of. I find it difficult to decide what to talk about.
But - if I'm going to establish Etheras canon, I need to flesh him out a lot more. Have any of you run into this problem? Were you able to solve it? And what did you end up doing?
I'm all-ears. Thanks!
~ Etheras
Regretfully... this will be yet-another OOC post.
I've gotten a lot of requests to do more Etheras-IC stuff, and I'm happy to do it. (In-fact, I'm really trying to flesh out the details of his universe and his day-to-day activities)... But honestly I struggle with it quite a bit. IC posts feels a lot like RPing with yourself. There isn't anything to to play-off-of. I find it difficult to decide what to talk about.
But - if I'm going to establish Etheras canon, I need to flesh him out a lot more. Have any of you run into this problem? Were you able to solve it? And what did you end up doing?
I'm all-ears. Thanks!
~ Etheras
UPDATE: Comic Sans Wadjet
Posted 7 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
OOC
Turns out: the joke's on me. Nobody (or very few) liked the idea of me removing Etheras's wadjet makeup. So - this is an update to an earlier post. Due to overwhelming pushback from fans at my prior announced plan to remove the wadjet makeup from Etheras's eyes (about 90% opposed the idea)... I've decided that I'm NOT going to remove the wadjet after-all.
I still think that, in some pictures, it doesn't look very nice. But rather than getting rid of it entirely, I'm going to ask artists to make the wadjet lines slimmer, lighter, and have the line start closer to the outer edge of the eye so that it doesn't come off as "drooping" or "crying". I think that this will be enough to correct any of the aesthetic concerns that I have with Etheras wearing this makeup.
That only leaves the concern about fans misinterpreting him as being an Egyptian character, which - unfortunately - I don't think I can rectify at this point. I'll just have to keep getting sci-fi Etheras art and hope that folks realize that it was just an aesthetic decision and has nothing to do with Etheras's "origin story".
... speaking of which... stay tuned. Etheras origin story may be coming soon(ish). ^.^ We've finally started working on it!
So - thanks to everybody who responded for caring enough to dissuade me when you believed me to be making a mistake. I might have been too hasty. Perhaps I should have asked-around more first. Anyway...
Thanks!
OOC
Turns out: the joke's on me. Nobody (or very few) liked the idea of me removing Etheras's wadjet makeup. So - this is an update to an earlier post. Due to overwhelming pushback from fans at my prior announced plan to remove the wadjet makeup from Etheras's eyes (about 90% opposed the idea)... I've decided that I'm NOT going to remove the wadjet after-all.
I still think that, in some pictures, it doesn't look very nice. But rather than getting rid of it entirely, I'm going to ask artists to make the wadjet lines slimmer, lighter, and have the line start closer to the outer edge of the eye so that it doesn't come off as "drooping" or "crying". I think that this will be enough to correct any of the aesthetic concerns that I have with Etheras wearing this makeup.
That only leaves the concern about fans misinterpreting him as being an Egyptian character, which - unfortunately - I don't think I can rectify at this point. I'll just have to keep getting sci-fi Etheras art and hope that folks realize that it was just an aesthetic decision and has nothing to do with Etheras's "origin story".
... speaking of which... stay tuned. Etheras origin story may be coming soon(ish). ^.^ We've finally started working on it!
So - thanks to everybody who responded for caring enough to dissuade me when you believed me to be making a mistake. I might have been too hasty. Perhaps I should have asked-around more first. Anyway...
Thanks!
PSA: On Art Theft (part 2)
Posted 7 years agoHearken to me, my subjects.
OOC
Last week, I posted a journal about the wrongness of art theft, and I broke it down into two categories: stealing artwork of a character by claiming that the artwork is in-fact, your character. And the second category was claiming that you created artwork when it was in-fact, made by someone else.
Last week, I covered the first of the two cases. This week, I want to talk about theft of artwork where one person claims to be the originator of a piece of artwork, when it was created by someone else.
I've seen this many times, and (thankfully, rightly-so) it usually seems to end up punishing the thief. Artists are sort-of the rockstars of the furry community, and when they are wronged, the community tends to come to their defense in spades, such that these things rarely go unpunished. I've seen, for instance, the reputations of several artists destroyed when it came-out that they were tracing.
But there is another kind of art-theft that's harder to get justice-for, and that's selling of someone else's work. I've seen this many times while I've been a member of the furry community. Unfortunately, it often comes from outside of the community, which makes it difficult to police (the shaming / social ostracism of a negative reputation in the community obviously doesn't work if someone is outside of the community). Selling someone else's artwork as Telegram Stickers or Icons, or putting it on T-Shirts (etc), or selling it as in-app merch on platforms like SecondLife and IMVU unfortunately happens more often than people realize.
I've even seen a prominent furry artist impersonated on another platform, where the person then started selling commissions (obviously never fulfilled, and damaging the reputation of the artist) and unauthorized artwork CDs/Albums (when the artwork was free to view online anyway!) And of-course there's paywalled artwork artists might make for sites like hotblush and sexyfur that shouldn't be shared. The artists for these sites are trying to make a living, and their business could be destroyed (and therefore make less of the art you love!) if their artwork is shared outside of their control.
I guess I'm just saying (in a long-winded way), "If you see something, say something". If artists aren't being properly credited, or their art is being used to sell merchandise (electronic or physical) and you suspect that the vendor doesn't have permission: tell the artist. In many cases, copyright action can be taken. In others... well, I'm sure that they would appreciate knowing.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Sorry if its been too preachy and moralizing, but these things really stick in my craw. I hate seeing stuff like this happening to talented people, and I think that we, as a community, have the power to do something about it.
Okay, I'll un-soapbox now.
Cheers!
~ Etheras
OOC
Last week, I posted a journal about the wrongness of art theft, and I broke it down into two categories: stealing artwork of a character by claiming that the artwork is in-fact, your character. And the second category was claiming that you created artwork when it was in-fact, made by someone else.
Last week, I covered the first of the two cases. This week, I want to talk about theft of artwork where one person claims to be the originator of a piece of artwork, when it was created by someone else.
I've seen this many times, and (thankfully, rightly-so) it usually seems to end up punishing the thief. Artists are sort-of the rockstars of the furry community, and when they are wronged, the community tends to come to their defense in spades, such that these things rarely go unpunished. I've seen, for instance, the reputations of several artists destroyed when it came-out that they were tracing.
But there is another kind of art-theft that's harder to get justice-for, and that's selling of someone else's work. I've seen this many times while I've been a member of the furry community. Unfortunately, it often comes from outside of the community, which makes it difficult to police (the shaming / social ostracism of a negative reputation in the community obviously doesn't work if someone is outside of the community). Selling someone else's artwork as Telegram Stickers or Icons, or putting it on T-Shirts (etc), or selling it as in-app merch on platforms like SecondLife and IMVU unfortunately happens more often than people realize.
I've even seen a prominent furry artist impersonated on another platform, where the person then started selling commissions (obviously never fulfilled, and damaging the reputation of the artist) and unauthorized artwork CDs/Albums (when the artwork was free to view online anyway!) And of-course there's paywalled artwork artists might make for sites like hotblush and sexyfur that shouldn't be shared. The artists for these sites are trying to make a living, and their business could be destroyed (and therefore make less of the art you love!) if their artwork is shared outside of their control.
I guess I'm just saying (in a long-winded way), "If you see something, say something". If artists aren't being properly credited, or their art is being used to sell merchandise (electronic or physical) and you suspect that the vendor doesn't have permission: tell the artist. In many cases, copyright action can be taken. In others... well, I'm sure that they would appreciate knowing.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Sorry if its been too preachy and moralizing, but these things really stick in my craw. I hate seeing stuff like this happening to talented people, and I think that we, as a community, have the power to do something about it.
Okay, I'll un-soapbox now.
Cheers!
~ Etheras
PSA: On Art Theft (part 1)
Posted 7 years agoHearken to me, my subjects.
OOC
A some time ago (yikes, has it already been 6 months??), I posted a journal about the wrongness of character theft, but I sort-of left out another (unfortunately) common type of theft in our community, and that is: art theft.
I've been giving it some thought, and I think that art theft can fall into two categories. Both are mean and inconsiderate, but I think they are too different to talk-about at the same time.
I've seen, for example, one artist stealing another artist's work: either tracing lines, or claiming that they worked on an image that they didn't.
Then the other type of art theft is when someone reuses artwork of another character and posts it as themselves, but doesn't claim to actually be the character.
Today, I'm going to focus on the latter one, and I'll save the former for next week.
Character theft is obviously a mean and cruel thing to do to an original creator, but impersonating another person on the internet isn't the only way to tread on a character creator's rights. Character theft usually means that someone is impersonating a character that doesn't belong to them, or otherwise claiming that the character is their's. But I've also seen thieves post art of characters, and then claim that the character portrayed is a different character than the one portrayed. Rather than pretending to *be* that character, they essentially create a look-alike, and say "This art is actually of my look-alike." This is equally bad to straight-up character theft, and could be even more damaging, especially if (for some reason) the look-alike becomes more popular than the original, the originator might be branded as the thief!
So if you ever see this, please let the person who's being violated know that artwork of their character is being misused. It could head-off a larger problem in the future.
But really: why do people think they can simply take things that don't belong to them, and then claim ownership? Its very sad. Sad both because they seem to lack the morality or empathy or consideration to understand the damage that they are doing to someone who created something that they obviously enjoy, but also, it demonstrates a startling lack of creativity on the part of the thief. Rather than being inspired by a great design to create something great themselves, they just go "I'll take that, thanks"? It seems like degeneracy on many levels: moral, and creative. And I don't think that this is unique to furry either. It seems to have really begun with the internet generation, with a toxic entitlement/instant-gratification culture, where everything is so easy that anything that involves effort (like creating and establishing new and unique characters) is just "too hard" so they steal the one that they like the best.
Anyway, I feel like I've gone off on a bit of a rant, so I should probably leave it there. Let me know your thoughts below!
Cheers,
~ Etheras
OOC
A some time ago (yikes, has it already been 6 months??), I posted a journal about the wrongness of character theft, but I sort-of left out another (unfortunately) common type of theft in our community, and that is: art theft.
I've been giving it some thought, and I think that art theft can fall into two categories. Both are mean and inconsiderate, but I think they are too different to talk-about at the same time.
I've seen, for example, one artist stealing another artist's work: either tracing lines, or claiming that they worked on an image that they didn't.
Then the other type of art theft is when someone reuses artwork of another character and posts it as themselves, but doesn't claim to actually be the character.
Today, I'm going to focus on the latter one, and I'll save the former for next week.
Character theft is obviously a mean and cruel thing to do to an original creator, but impersonating another person on the internet isn't the only way to tread on a character creator's rights. Character theft usually means that someone is impersonating a character that doesn't belong to them, or otherwise claiming that the character is their's. But I've also seen thieves post art of characters, and then claim that the character portrayed is a different character than the one portrayed. Rather than pretending to *be* that character, they essentially create a look-alike, and say "This art is actually of my look-alike." This is equally bad to straight-up character theft, and could be even more damaging, especially if (for some reason) the look-alike becomes more popular than the original, the originator might be branded as the thief!
So if you ever see this, please let the person who's being violated know that artwork of their character is being misused. It could head-off a larger problem in the future.
But really: why do people think they can simply take things that don't belong to them, and then claim ownership? Its very sad. Sad both because they seem to lack the morality or empathy or consideration to understand the damage that they are doing to someone who created something that they obviously enjoy, but also, it demonstrates a startling lack of creativity on the part of the thief. Rather than being inspired by a great design to create something great themselves, they just go "I'll take that, thanks"? It seems like degeneracy on many levels: moral, and creative. And I don't think that this is unique to furry either. It seems to have really begun with the internet generation, with a toxic entitlement/instant-gratification culture, where everything is so easy that anything that involves effort (like creating and establishing new and unique characters) is just "too hard" so they steal the one that they like the best.
Anyway, I feel like I've gone off on a bit of a rant, so I should probably leave it there. Let me know your thoughts below!
Cheers,
~ Etheras
QUESTION: Original Species
Posted 7 years agoHearken to me, my subjects.
( Another OOC Journal. I need to stop doing this XP )
For a side project, I am working on a couple original species, and I'm looking for advice.
Who has created your favorite original species? What are they called? And what is it that appeals to you about them? Tell me a little about them. I'm genuinely interested, if you could comment or drop some links down below, I would appreciate it. ^.^
Thanks everyone!
~ Etheras
( Another OOC Journal. I need to stop doing this XP )
For a side project, I am working on a couple original species, and I'm looking for advice.
Who has created your favorite original species? What are they called? And what is it that appeals to you about them? Tell me a little about them. I'm genuinely interested, if you could comment or drop some links down below, I would appreciate it. ^.^
Thanks everyone!
~ Etheras
CHARACTER UPDATE: Sans Wadjet
Posted 7 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
OOC
Etheras has been around for awhile now, and as I've experienced playing as him and getting artwork of him, I've discovered that - much like Jaspian - there are some design decisions that I regret. Thankfully these "problems" are small and can be changed (I'm converging on the perfect fennec character ;P )
One of these "problems" that I have identified is the Ancient Egyptian iconography. Etheras was always intended to be a science fiction villain character. So why does he have an eye wadjet ("Eye of Horus")? Why does he have an ankh earring? These anomalies have lead some to the conclusion that he's an ancient Egyptian prince, not a Galactic Overlord. Contrariwise, some have combined these 2 styles and misinterpreted him as a Stargate character. Neither is correct.
The truth is that, to some degree, Etheras is an evil distillation of Jaspian - my first fennec character. Jaspian had some Ancient Egyptian trappings because that was part of his story, and unfortunately I copied them over to Etheras when I probably shouldn't have. Also - I think that the thick Egyptian eye makeup can sometimes be a bit of an eyesore (no pun intended). Sometimes when I watch art streams of artists drawing Etheras, I think he looks better before the artist applies the makeup.
So these aspects of Etheras don't really fit, and I would argue that they are unnecessary anyway. Etheras is iconic without them - and maybe I'll do a journal sometime about character design and describe why I think Etheras stands-out so much. But in the meantime...
... you're likely to start seeing pictures of Etheras with, and without the wadjet. There are a lot of images that are in-progress, and I'm not going to ask the artist to change the eye makeup if it looks good. The ankh earring might take a little longer. I want to come up with a logo for Etheras's empire, (but I haven't settled on anything yet,) and that will likely take the place of the ankh.
Anyway - what are your thoughts on this? Do you think it is the right move? Do you want to dissuade me? Comments below ^.^
Cheers,
~ Lord Etheras
OOC
Etheras has been around for awhile now, and as I've experienced playing as him and getting artwork of him, I've discovered that - much like Jaspian - there are some design decisions that I regret. Thankfully these "problems" are small and can be changed (I'm converging on the perfect fennec character ;P )
One of these "problems" that I have identified is the Ancient Egyptian iconography. Etheras was always intended to be a science fiction villain character. So why does he have an eye wadjet ("Eye of Horus")? Why does he have an ankh earring? These anomalies have lead some to the conclusion that he's an ancient Egyptian prince, not a Galactic Overlord. Contrariwise, some have combined these 2 styles and misinterpreted him as a Stargate character. Neither is correct.
The truth is that, to some degree, Etheras is an evil distillation of Jaspian - my first fennec character. Jaspian had some Ancient Egyptian trappings because that was part of his story, and unfortunately I copied them over to Etheras when I probably shouldn't have. Also - I think that the thick Egyptian eye makeup can sometimes be a bit of an eyesore (no pun intended). Sometimes when I watch art streams of artists drawing Etheras, I think he looks better before the artist applies the makeup.
So these aspects of Etheras don't really fit, and I would argue that they are unnecessary anyway. Etheras is iconic without them - and maybe I'll do a journal sometime about character design and describe why I think Etheras stands-out so much. But in the meantime...
... you're likely to start seeing pictures of Etheras with, and without the wadjet. There are a lot of images that are in-progress, and I'm not going to ask the artist to change the eye makeup if it looks good. The ankh earring might take a little longer. I want to come up with a logo for Etheras's empire, (but I haven't settled on anything yet,) and that will likely take the place of the ankh.
Anyway - what are your thoughts on this? Do you think it is the right move? Do you want to dissuade me? Comments below ^.^
Cheers,
~ Lord Etheras
INFO: Plans for 2018
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
OOC
I should have posted this journal 2 weeks ago. Already a bit of a rocky start to 2018 for this fennec and his lack-of-discipline. But, in all sincerity, this post is going to look a lot like last year's plans since I missed almost all of my goals. XP But here goes 'nothing.
1. Publish a damn game. I am *so close* to being done with something extraordinary, but I constantly underestimate how much work is left undone. The technical hurdles have been defeated, but tying it all together with a nice bow is taking forever. And then once this game is done, I want to publish several smaller ones in rapid succession. The goal is to have a nice selection going into 2019, when development will begin (in earnest) in a furry game.
Announcements MIGHT(?) be published here for the game company. I'm starting to wonder if the world is ready for a game company lead by an admitted furry. Maybe its not such a good idea to link to the company to my fursona. I'm sure it will come out eventually... so it might be a question of whether or not I should be open about it, or just own it once it does slip out. Comments down below?
2. Comic commissions in the pipeline are still in the pipeline. Artists seem slow in getting them done, and I understand. Its a bit of a gauntlet. I might start doing comics myself, but I need to practice up on my artwork. With so much time spent on my game company, I haven't been spending as much time as I should on just regular-old sketching, so my skills have unfortunately atrophied. So-much that I want to do.... so little time.
3. I've already started the YouTube channel that I teased last year - there just isn't anything on it except for experimental videos. I just don't see a point in doing a bunch of game related stuff until we actually launch a game. So - yes, still in the works, no not ready yet. (I feel like this is an ongoing theme.)
4. Being more IC - I keep doing these OOC posts, but the whole point of Etheras (as opposed to Jaspian) was to play Etheras IC almost 100% of the time, and for Jaspian to be my OOC "fursona". I need to get back into that, but I've been having some problems (I'll talk about this in a future journal - maybe all of you can help me out a little bit).
And umm - that's it. Sorry if this post has been a little dry. But yeah... thanks for reading!
Cheers,
~ Etheras
OOC
I should have posted this journal 2 weeks ago. Already a bit of a rocky start to 2018 for this fennec and his lack-of-discipline. But, in all sincerity, this post is going to look a lot like last year's plans since I missed almost all of my goals. XP But here goes 'nothing.
1. Publish a damn game. I am *so close* to being done with something extraordinary, but I constantly underestimate how much work is left undone. The technical hurdles have been defeated, but tying it all together with a nice bow is taking forever. And then once this game is done, I want to publish several smaller ones in rapid succession. The goal is to have a nice selection going into 2019, when development will begin (in earnest) in a furry game.
Announcements MIGHT(?) be published here for the game company. I'm starting to wonder if the world is ready for a game company lead by an admitted furry. Maybe its not such a good idea to link to the company to my fursona. I'm sure it will come out eventually... so it might be a question of whether or not I should be open about it, or just own it once it does slip out. Comments down below?
2. Comic commissions in the pipeline are still in the pipeline. Artists seem slow in getting them done, and I understand. Its a bit of a gauntlet. I might start doing comics myself, but I need to practice up on my artwork. With so much time spent on my game company, I haven't been spending as much time as I should on just regular-old sketching, so my skills have unfortunately atrophied. So-much that I want to do.... so little time.
3. I've already started the YouTube channel that I teased last year - there just isn't anything on it except for experimental videos. I just don't see a point in doing a bunch of game related stuff until we actually launch a game. So - yes, still in the works, no not ready yet. (I feel like this is an ongoing theme.)
4. Being more IC - I keep doing these OOC posts, but the whole point of Etheras (as opposed to Jaspian) was to play Etheras IC almost 100% of the time, and for Jaspian to be my OOC "fursona". I need to get back into that, but I've been having some problems (I'll talk about this in a future journal - maybe all of you can help me out a little bit).
And umm - that's it. Sorry if this post has been a little dry. But yeah... thanks for reading!
Cheers,
~ Etheras
6 Years of Etheras
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects.
OOC
Holy crap its been 6 years since I introduced Etheras to all of you. It doesn't really seem like its been that long, does it? Time flies. And its been a great ride so-far, thanks to all of you: my subjects, new and old. I really appreciate your continued support and engagement. This has been a point of joy in my life, and I hope that it continues like that. And I hope that you continue to enjoy the artwork and stories that I post from time to time. :)
So thank you all for your dedication, admiration, and support. I love you all, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy those things that I have planned for this year.
Thanks again, and I hope you have a wonderful 2018!
~ Etheras's player
OOC
Holy crap its been 6 years since I introduced Etheras to all of you. It doesn't really seem like its been that long, does it? Time flies. And its been a great ride so-far, thanks to all of you: my subjects, new and old. I really appreciate your continued support and engagement. This has been a point of joy in my life, and I hope that it continues like that. And I hope that you continue to enjoy the artwork and stories that I post from time to time. :)
So thank you all for your dedication, admiration, and support. I love you all, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy those things that I have planned for this year.
Thanks again, and I hope you have a wonderful 2018!
~ Etheras's player
2017 in Review
Posted 8 years agoTechnically should have posted this last weekend, but...
Some reflections on 2017 from your adorable overlord.
This year, I spent most of my efforts on non-furry things. I'm not sure how many of you noticed, but I missed my weekend artwork upload many times this year ( I will do my best to make up for it! ). The reason for that is simple: I was busy doing other things. Some might ask "What's more important than Etheras? You're not planning to abandon him, are you?" And the answer is: no. Barring any unfortunate circumstances, I intend to take Etheras as far into the future as I can. But there are certain pivotal moments in one's life when opportunities present themselves to be part of something great, and I've chosen to try that path and see where it leads. Unfortunately, it seems like a long path, and its been sapping a lot of my free time and energy - which is why I've been less active here than usual - but more about this in the future. But for now - lets talk about 2017 :)
ETHERAS CHARACTER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. lots of new artwork.
.. a new Etheras comic (posted!) - and a few more in the pipeline. :)
.. really started shifting Etheras towards his original concept and fleshing out more about his realm and backstory. More about this to come!
.. found some new artists, replaced a few old ones.
.. conquered some people.
.. subjugated some stuff.
.. crossed the 100K faves milestone (furaffinity).
.. crossed 1K Twitter followers, only to nuke my Twitter shortly thereafter. But I did eventually come back. For details, see this journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8533705/
ETHERAS PLAYER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. working hard on video games. Nothing to announce yet, but I'm really hoping to launch or at least announce before the summer. (yes, I know I've been hinting at this for a long time, and that the timelines keep slipping, but I think/hope that you will be blown away by the result)
.. continued to take measures to cut down on character theft. Steps are being taken to hopefully make character theft a thing of the past.
.. posted a bunch of new journals. I need to get better at posting regularly.
IN THE WORLD
.. I'm really sick of politics. This year, I took steps to reduce the amount of politics that I am bombarded-with on a regular basis. Unfortunately this meant that I had to sever some friendships with people who have become... there really is no other word for it... zealots. I really don't understand what's going on with the world. Society seems intent to tear itself apart.
.. Tesla Motors unveils truck, semi, and new roadster with a faster 0-60 MPH acceleration than any production car in history.
.. Elon Musk founds The Boring Company - best name for a company ever.
.. On the technology front, there seems to be a fizzle. The tech industry doesn't seem to know in-which direction to go. Waffling ensues. Apple unveils more incredible technology that doesn't have a market. Android can do more incredible things nobody will use. AR/VR - "the next big thing" - might have just been a fad. (The adoption-rate simply hasn't been good.)
.. Good year for SpaceX - no failures. On track for a Jan/Feb launch of Falcon Heavy, which seems superfluous with the upcoming construction of the BFR, but whatever.
.. SpaceX has re-flown several boosters, and it seems to have become standard practice now.
.. Terrible year for movies. I can't think of a single movie this year that I thought was really great. When Thor: Ragnarok is your top pick for "movie of the year", something has gone horribly wrong in Hollywood. (Other then the Weinstein scandal, I mean. But maybe that was part of it?)
.. Sort-of a lackluster year for video games as well. I don't think I even pre-ordered anything.
UNREACHED ACHIEVEMENTS
.. Lets face it: I was horrible about my commitments last year. (again)
.. Didn't release the video game that I had promised. (again)
.. Only one of the new comics actually came out. (again)
.. Etheras.com is still a mostly-blank page. (again)
.. no new music - despite being on the cusp of having several done. (again)
.. did not complete the Etheras novel that I spoke of last year. Hardly even started it, in-fact. (again)
.. I think I also failed to give an adequate presence to Etheras here on FA. I'm going to work harder this year to be more present in the furry community. I miss it too much.
Really, I didn't deliver on any thing that I promised last year ( sorry! #badfenn ) :(
WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2018
.. Okay, I really really REALLY need to release at least 1 major video game title (non-furry). Possibly as many as 3.
.. development of several new comics. Some will be Etheras-based, some will support the upcoming video games.
.. launch of www.etheras.com (I know, I know. Its taking forever) - I promise to have SOMETHING by next time this year.
.. why does this list look identical to last year? Its like 2017 never happened. o.o
.. putting new music and the Etheras novel on indefinite back-burner. There are simply too many other things going-on.
.. and of course, lots of new artwork featuring Etheras with horses and zebras!!!
Should be an exciting year! Hope you'll stay with me ^.^
Thanks,
~ Lord Etheras
Some reflections on 2017 from your adorable overlord.
This year, I spent most of my efforts on non-furry things. I'm not sure how many of you noticed, but I missed my weekend artwork upload many times this year ( I will do my best to make up for it! ). The reason for that is simple: I was busy doing other things. Some might ask "What's more important than Etheras? You're not planning to abandon him, are you?" And the answer is: no. Barring any unfortunate circumstances, I intend to take Etheras as far into the future as I can. But there are certain pivotal moments in one's life when opportunities present themselves to be part of something great, and I've chosen to try that path and see where it leads. Unfortunately, it seems like a long path, and its been sapping a lot of my free time and energy - which is why I've been less active here than usual - but more about this in the future. But for now - lets talk about 2017 :)
ETHERAS CHARACTER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. lots of new artwork.
.. a new Etheras comic (posted!) - and a few more in the pipeline. :)
.. really started shifting Etheras towards his original concept and fleshing out more about his realm and backstory. More about this to come!
.. found some new artists, replaced a few old ones.
.. conquered some people.
.. subjugated some stuff.
.. crossed the 100K faves milestone (furaffinity).
.. crossed 1K Twitter followers, only to nuke my Twitter shortly thereafter. But I did eventually come back. For details, see this journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8533705/
ETHERAS PLAYER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. working hard on video games. Nothing to announce yet, but I'm really hoping to launch or at least announce before the summer. (yes, I know I've been hinting at this for a long time, and that the timelines keep slipping, but I think/hope that you will be blown away by the result)
.. continued to take measures to cut down on character theft. Steps are being taken to hopefully make character theft a thing of the past.
.. posted a bunch of new journals. I need to get better at posting regularly.
IN THE WORLD
.. I'm really sick of politics. This year, I took steps to reduce the amount of politics that I am bombarded-with on a regular basis. Unfortunately this meant that I had to sever some friendships with people who have become... there really is no other word for it... zealots. I really don't understand what's going on with the world. Society seems intent to tear itself apart.
.. Tesla Motors unveils truck, semi, and new roadster with a faster 0-60 MPH acceleration than any production car in history.
.. Elon Musk founds The Boring Company - best name for a company ever.
.. On the technology front, there seems to be a fizzle. The tech industry doesn't seem to know in-which direction to go. Waffling ensues. Apple unveils more incredible technology that doesn't have a market. Android can do more incredible things nobody will use. AR/VR - "the next big thing" - might have just been a fad. (The adoption-rate simply hasn't been good.)
.. Good year for SpaceX - no failures. On track for a Jan/Feb launch of Falcon Heavy, which seems superfluous with the upcoming construction of the BFR, but whatever.
.. SpaceX has re-flown several boosters, and it seems to have become standard practice now.
.. Terrible year for movies. I can't think of a single movie this year that I thought was really great. When Thor: Ragnarok is your top pick for "movie of the year", something has gone horribly wrong in Hollywood. (Other then the Weinstein scandal, I mean. But maybe that was part of it?)
.. Sort-of a lackluster year for video games as well. I don't think I even pre-ordered anything.
UNREACHED ACHIEVEMENTS
.. Lets face it: I was horrible about my commitments last year. (again)
.. Didn't release the video game that I had promised. (again)
.. Only one of the new comics actually came out. (again)
.. Etheras.com is still a mostly-blank page. (again)
.. no new music - despite being on the cusp of having several done. (again)
.. did not complete the Etheras novel that I spoke of last year. Hardly even started it, in-fact. (again)
.. I think I also failed to give an adequate presence to Etheras here on FA. I'm going to work harder this year to be more present in the furry community. I miss it too much.
Really, I didn't deliver on any thing that I promised last year ( sorry! #badfenn ) :(
WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2018
.. Okay, I really really REALLY need to release at least 1 major video game title (non-furry). Possibly as many as 3.
.. development of several new comics. Some will be Etheras-based, some will support the upcoming video games.
.. launch of www.etheras.com (I know, I know. Its taking forever) - I promise to have SOMETHING by next time this year.
.. why does this list look identical to last year? Its like 2017 never happened. o.o
.. putting new music and the Etheras novel on indefinite back-burner. There are simply too many other things going-on.
.. and of course, lots of new artwork featuring Etheras with horses and zebras!!!
Should be an exciting year! Hope you'll stay with me ^.^
Thanks,
~ Lord Etheras
NEWS: Returned to Twitter
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
OOC
I know that many of you used to follow me on Twitter. Many of you noticed that, about a month ago, my Twitter mysteriously disappeared without warning. What happened?
As I'm sure that most of you have observed: Social Media has become excruciatingly toxic. As far as I can tell, it started around the start of the US Presidential Primaries season. And so I figured that, like past elections, it would taper off shortly after the Presidential Election and things would return to normal... only this time they didn't.
It seems that politics has infused itself into everything, and I found that my once-happy Furry Twitter feed became mean, spiteful bickering between friends, conspiracy theories and saltmining. After awhile, it was hard to find anything actually furry in a feed that I created for that purpose! And after many months of this, I decided to take a break and step away from the Twitter... and my life got a lot better. I was less stressed, had more free time, and wasn't constantly checking my phone or Twitter tab.
So I decided to nuke that dastardly thing, and simply deleted my Twitter profiles.
But Twitter isn't a bad thing: it is just a communication tool. Its our zeitgeist that's turned toxic. And I do like the way that Twitter used to be when it was civil. So I've re-created my twitter profiles, but this time they will have a specific purpose.
Etheras (etherasfox) : https://twitter.com/etherasfox ...
... will be for IN CHARACTER Etheras, and I will try to keep it strictly canonical to the Etherasverse. If you desire to interact with Eth, that's one way to do it!
Jaspian (jaspian) : https://twitter.com/jaspian ...
... will be for OOC "me" - but I'm going to keep it strictly apolitical. Expect random thoughts, cute fennec videos, real-life updates, and random odds and ends that I find on the internet that I like.
If either of these appeal to you, please give me a follow!
Thanks ^.^
~ Etheras
OOC
I know that many of you used to follow me on Twitter. Many of you noticed that, about a month ago, my Twitter mysteriously disappeared without warning. What happened?
As I'm sure that most of you have observed: Social Media has become excruciatingly toxic. As far as I can tell, it started around the start of the US Presidential Primaries season. And so I figured that, like past elections, it would taper off shortly after the Presidential Election and things would return to normal... only this time they didn't.
It seems that politics has infused itself into everything, and I found that my once-happy Furry Twitter feed became mean, spiteful bickering between friends, conspiracy theories and saltmining. After awhile, it was hard to find anything actually furry in a feed that I created for that purpose! And after many months of this, I decided to take a break and step away from the Twitter... and my life got a lot better. I was less stressed, had more free time, and wasn't constantly checking my phone or Twitter tab.
So I decided to nuke that dastardly thing, and simply deleted my Twitter profiles.
But Twitter isn't a bad thing: it is just a communication tool. Its our zeitgeist that's turned toxic. And I do like the way that Twitter used to be when it was civil. So I've re-created my twitter profiles, but this time they will have a specific purpose.
Etheras (etherasfox) : https://twitter.com/etherasfox ...
... will be for IN CHARACTER Etheras, and I will try to keep it strictly canonical to the Etherasverse. If you desire to interact with Eth, that's one way to do it!
Jaspian (jaspian) : https://twitter.com/jaspian ...
... will be for OOC "me" - but I'm going to keep it strictly apolitical. Expect random thoughts, cute fennec videos, real-life updates, and random odds and ends that I find on the internet that I like.
If either of these appeal to you, please give me a follow!
Thanks ^.^
~ Etheras
Deer recruitment!
Posted 8 years agoDear... Deer.
Every Christmas I get a picture with a deer follower of mine. If you are interested in seeing your deer OC intimate with my fenn in a Christmas setting, please comment below with a link to refs or note me (with refs). I'm going to pick randomly unless there's a design that really steals my heart. :)
Artist will be Moody, and will be a 50/50 split. This usually runs around $60 ea. Let me know if this appeals to you!
Thanks ^.^
Every Christmas I get a picture with a deer follower of mine. If you are interested in seeing your deer OC intimate with my fenn in a Christmas setting, please comment below with a link to refs or note me (with refs). I'm going to pick randomly unless there's a design that really steals my heart. :)
Artist will be Moody, and will be a 50/50 split. This usually runs around $60 ea. Let me know if this appeals to you!
Thanks ^.^
MILESTONE: 100,000 Faves!
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
You love me! Your really love me! ^.^
(But on a more serious note...) Yesterday this profile passed a new milestone: 100,000 faves! I'd just like to thank all of you for all your support over the years, and offer my appreciation that you've stuck with me over all this time. I'm sincerely humbled that so many of you have taken a liking to this lil fenny foxy character. And of-course: there's plenty more to come.
Many of you may have noticed that over the past few months I've been a bit more disconnected than usual. There is a reason for this, which I hope to announce soon ™ .
In the meantime, I will try to post new Etheras every week! Onward to 500,000 and then THE WORLD! Mwahaha! :P
-Etheras, (extra fluffy)
You love me! Your really love me! ^.^
(But on a more serious note...) Yesterday this profile passed a new milestone: 100,000 faves! I'd just like to thank all of you for all your support over the years, and offer my appreciation that you've stuck with me over all this time. I'm sincerely humbled that so many of you have taken a liking to this lil fenny foxy character. And of-course: there's plenty more to come.
Many of you may have noticed that over the past few months I've been a bit more disconnected than usual. There is a reason for this, which I hope to announce soon ™ .
In the meantime, I will try to post new Etheras every week! Onward to 500,000 and then THE WORLD! Mwahaha! :P
-Etheras, (extra fluffy)
PSA: On character theft
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects.
OOC
This is a topic that I've wanted to discuss for some time, and I kind-of teased it in my previous journal. But, then I never got around to actually writing about it.
I have seen, on many occasions, people using furry characters that don't belong to them. And of course, I've been the victim of this in the past. I think that some people mistakenly think that these are fictional characters, but that's not precisely true in the furry fandom.
Outside of furry, famous characters like Krystal and Robin Hood and MLP have been created as part of larger universes, but they probably weren't anyone's "fursona" (but then-again: its hard to know for sure.) So inside the fandom, we tend to take a sort-of take a laissez faire attitude towards fans using these characters as avatars and RP characters.
But inside of the furry fandom, the character that we create and "play" for ourselves is part of our actual identity. We feel strong attachment to our creations, self-identify as them, and put a lot of ourselves into them. For example, in furry circles I use my character's name, rather than my given-name. I roleplay as my character, and dress as him at cons and furry parties, because, to some degree, I *am* him, and he is me. (He's just an idealized or simplified form of myself.)
So when someone steals artwork to pose as someone else, its not the same as having an avatar of Krystal. It is more like taking a photo off someone's Facebook and pretending to be them. Not only is that creepy as-hell and disrespectful, its also dangerous. You never know who sees that profile and thinks its actually you, and then makes assumptions about you from interactions with the impostor. If someone poses as you and does detestable things, how do you protect yourself and your reputation from someone else's bad behavior?
This is why posing as someone else on social media platforms is usually a violation of terms-of-service. (It might even be illegal, I'm not sure). But not all social media platforms take it as seriously for furry profiles as for "normal" profiles, which makes sense, but also makes impostor removal even more painful.
The point is: character-theft is wrong. It is creepy, dishonest and harmful, and I recommend that you report it if you see it. Contact the owner of the character, if you can, and let them know what is happening.
Anyway - thanks for reading!
~ Lord Etheras
OOC
This is a topic that I've wanted to discuss for some time, and I kind-of teased it in my previous journal. But, then I never got around to actually writing about it.
I have seen, on many occasions, people using furry characters that don't belong to them. And of course, I've been the victim of this in the past. I think that some people mistakenly think that these are fictional characters, but that's not precisely true in the furry fandom.
Outside of furry, famous characters like Krystal and Robin Hood and MLP have been created as part of larger universes, but they probably weren't anyone's "fursona" (but then-again: its hard to know for sure.) So inside the fandom, we tend to take a sort-of take a laissez faire attitude towards fans using these characters as avatars and RP characters.
But inside of the furry fandom, the character that we create and "play" for ourselves is part of our actual identity. We feel strong attachment to our creations, self-identify as them, and put a lot of ourselves into them. For example, in furry circles I use my character's name, rather than my given-name. I roleplay as my character, and dress as him at cons and furry parties, because, to some degree, I *am* him, and he is me. (He's just an idealized or simplified form of myself.)
So when someone steals artwork to pose as someone else, its not the same as having an avatar of Krystal. It is more like taking a photo off someone's Facebook and pretending to be them. Not only is that creepy as-hell and disrespectful, its also dangerous. You never know who sees that profile and thinks its actually you, and then makes assumptions about you from interactions with the impostor. If someone poses as you and does detestable things, how do you protect yourself and your reputation from someone else's bad behavior?
This is why posing as someone else on social media platforms is usually a violation of terms-of-service. (It might even be illegal, I'm not sure). But not all social media platforms take it as seriously for furry profiles as for "normal" profiles, which makes sense, but also makes impostor removal even more painful.
The point is: character-theft is wrong. It is creepy, dishonest and harmful, and I recommend that you report it if you see it. Contact the owner of the character, if you can, and let them know what is happening.
Anyway - thanks for reading!
~ Lord Etheras
PSA: Dick Artist Move
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
OOC
Some time ago, an artist came to me and offered to do a picture for me for free. I usually refuse such requests because... first off, I tend not to feel right about asking for changes on "gifts" if something is wrong, but also because the artists usually tend not to put as much effort into them (which is understandable).
But this one was different for a whole 'nother reason: the sketch was done, and the character wasn't Etheras. Obviously this prompted a quizzical look and some questions. It turns out that this was a paid commission from another fur, whom the artist then got into a fight with, and out of malicious vindictiveness towards the commissioner, the artist was trying to replace the commissioner's character in the artwork.
I was absolutely floored by how petty and cruel this was. Obviously I refused and even scolded the artist, but that's beside the point. My point is that this behavior should be unacceptable in this community. First off: the artist was paid to do a job. If it becomes too onerous for whatever reason, refund, or take a sketch fee and refund the rest. But to just drop-in someone else's character is intentionally mean, especially if the commission idea (concept, setting etc) came from the commissioner. Secondly: to offer it to someone else while not-volunteering up-front that you're offering it to them out of spite for another fur, will open that person up to drama when the commissioner finds out that their character has been overwritten. That is; the artist is knowingly and intentionally exposing an innocent person to their drama, for the sole purpose of creating more conflict for their commissioner.
I'll probably do another journal later about the Sanctity of Fursonas, which obviously has ties to this topic, but this is already getting pretty long so I'll save that for another day. But what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments section down below.
Cheers!
~ Lord Etheras
OOC
Some time ago, an artist came to me and offered to do a picture for me for free. I usually refuse such requests because... first off, I tend not to feel right about asking for changes on "gifts" if something is wrong, but also because the artists usually tend not to put as much effort into them (which is understandable).
But this one was different for a whole 'nother reason: the sketch was done, and the character wasn't Etheras. Obviously this prompted a quizzical look and some questions. It turns out that this was a paid commission from another fur, whom the artist then got into a fight with, and out of malicious vindictiveness towards the commissioner, the artist was trying to replace the commissioner's character in the artwork.
I was absolutely floored by how petty and cruel this was. Obviously I refused and even scolded the artist, but that's beside the point. My point is that this behavior should be unacceptable in this community. First off: the artist was paid to do a job. If it becomes too onerous for whatever reason, refund, or take a sketch fee and refund the rest. But to just drop-in someone else's character is intentionally mean, especially if the commission idea (concept, setting etc) came from the commissioner. Secondly: to offer it to someone else while not-volunteering up-front that you're offering it to them out of spite for another fur, will open that person up to drama when the commissioner finds out that their character has been overwritten. That is; the artist is knowingly and intentionally exposing an innocent person to their drama, for the sole purpose of creating more conflict for their commissioner.
I'll probably do another journal later about the Sanctity of Fursonas, which obviously has ties to this topic, but this is already getting pretty long so I'll save that for another day. But what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments section down below.
Cheers!
~ Lord Etheras
DISCUSSION: On FemBoyDom
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a little journal on FemDom, and why I think its so appealing. Today I want to take one step further and talk about FemBOYdom. Ooo. I can just feel the studs writhing in excitement! :)
So - as I mentioned previously, I really like femdom. I think that its kinda cute to have the girl having her way with the guy. The same holds true for a femboys - perhaps even moreso. Femboys are traditionally very girly - often even girlier than girls - so I find it very exciting for a femboy to seduce a big strapping stud and play around with him, especially if the size difference means the femboy would be no match in a physical contest. There's just something cute and sexy about a big powerful stud yielding control to a pretty little thing and letting the boi work out all his kinky naughty desires.
Somehow, though, I don't think it translates to females - at least, not for me (and my weird mental 'sexual dominance hierarchy') . A strapping bodybuilder mare with a femboi should probably still be in charge of him. Its just too rapey otherwise.
Anyway - those are my thoughts on FemBoyDom. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below! ^.^
~ Lord Etheras
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a little journal on FemDom, and why I think its so appealing. Today I want to take one step further and talk about FemBOYdom. Ooo. I can just feel the studs writhing in excitement! :)
So - as I mentioned previously, I really like femdom. I think that its kinda cute to have the girl having her way with the guy. The same holds true for a femboys - perhaps even moreso. Femboys are traditionally very girly - often even girlier than girls - so I find it very exciting for a femboy to seduce a big strapping stud and play around with him, especially if the size difference means the femboy would be no match in a physical contest. There's just something cute and sexy about a big powerful stud yielding control to a pretty little thing and letting the boi work out all his kinky naughty desires.
Somehow, though, I don't think it translates to females - at least, not for me (and my weird mental 'sexual dominance hierarchy') . A strapping bodybuilder mare with a femboi should probably still be in charge of him. Its just too rapey otherwise.
Anyway - those are my thoughts on FemBoyDom. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below! ^.^
~ Lord Etheras
QUESTION: How do you deal with toxic followers?
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
OOC post
This is a question that I've wanted to ask for awhile, but I've kinda been dreading it, because I know that inevitably some people will think that I am talking about them. But no - this isn't about anyone in particular, but just the question in-general:
How do you deal with toxic followers?
Like people who seem to like you, but never say anything nice. Or really clingy people who want you to be their canon boyfriend and then flip out when you say no. Or really autistic harassment behavior where you're getting like 15 messages per day. (etc)
Clearly these people are well-meaning. They like what you're doing, but they're still toxic. But I don't see any way to win in these scenarios. You end up either validating their toxic behavior by responding, or risk turning them sour by ignoring them, and often have to end up blocking them.
So I'm just curious what you guys think on this topic. Please comment down below!
Thanks,
~ Lord Etheras
OOC post
This is a question that I've wanted to ask for awhile, but I've kinda been dreading it, because I know that inevitably some people will think that I am talking about them. But no - this isn't about anyone in particular, but just the question in-general:
How do you deal with toxic followers?
Like people who seem to like you, but never say anything nice. Or really clingy people who want you to be their canon boyfriend and then flip out when you say no. Or really autistic harassment behavior where you're getting like 15 messages per day. (etc)
Clearly these people are well-meaning. They like what you're doing, but they're still toxic. But I don't see any way to win in these scenarios. You end up either validating their toxic behavior by responding, or risk turning them sour by ignoring them, and often have to end up blocking them.
So I'm just curious what you guys think on this topic. Please comment down below!
Thanks,
~ Lord Etheras
DISCUSSION: On Femdom
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
Its been awhile since I wrote any kind of journal on carnal interests. I suppose that's because there's just been so much other stuff going on, but I really miss engaging with you guys.
So today, I want to write a little bit about femdom. As many of you have seen, Etheras tends to be more dominant with males and more submissive with females / futa. The reason for this is that he has a good understanding of how stallions think, and he knows what they like (often better than they know themselves). He can curl them around his little finger and bend them to his will.
But females / futa are more mysterious to him, and he finds them a bit intimidating. Mares tend to find this reaction cute and take him for a ride. Eth is sort-of to Mares what Stallions are to Him.
Hopefully that explains the dominance dynamics of the Etheras bedchambers. But what's so appealing about femdom? Its a question that, at this point, I think is pretty well-understood. Males, to some extent, feel the need to be useful - ie: objectified. Females (generally) reject objectification and prefer to be cherished for non-physical attributes. So reversing the usual male/female dynamics and making the female the aggressive, dominant one, who chooses her partner and objectifies him, taking pleasure in his physical body, while making him shy and demure, actually sort-of strokes both male and female psychology.
And I think that's what I really like about it. The role reversal, in a way that's sort-of natural in a way.
What do you all think? Comments down below! Thanks for reading,
~ Lord Etheras
Its been awhile since I wrote any kind of journal on carnal interests. I suppose that's because there's just been so much other stuff going on, but I really miss engaging with you guys.
So today, I want to write a little bit about femdom. As many of you have seen, Etheras tends to be more dominant with males and more submissive with females / futa. The reason for this is that he has a good understanding of how stallions think, and he knows what they like (often better than they know themselves). He can curl them around his little finger and bend them to his will.
But females / futa are more mysterious to him, and he finds them a bit intimidating. Mares tend to find this reaction cute and take him for a ride. Eth is sort-of to Mares what Stallions are to Him.
Hopefully that explains the dominance dynamics of the Etheras bedchambers. But what's so appealing about femdom? Its a question that, at this point, I think is pretty well-understood. Males, to some extent, feel the need to be useful - ie: objectified. Females (generally) reject objectification and prefer to be cherished for non-physical attributes. So reversing the usual male/female dynamics and making the female the aggressive, dominant one, who chooses her partner and objectifies him, taking pleasure in his physical body, while making him shy and demure, actually sort-of strokes both male and female psychology.
And I think that's what I really like about it. The role reversal, in a way that's sort-of natural in a way.
What do you all think? Comments down below! Thanks for reading,
~ Lord Etheras
QUESTION: Where have all the furries gone?
Posted 8 years agoHearken to me, my subjects...
OOC post
Hey everyfur. I noticed that my posts lately (within the past year or so) have gotten a lot less engagement than they once did. For example, I still seem to be getting a decent number of hits and faves, but nobody seems to comment anymore.
And I'm not the only one who has noticed this. Many others including artists and writers have noticed a similar change. I'm curious... where have all the comments gone?
Its a lot less fun to post stuff if there's no reaction. Maybe my posts lately have simply not been interesting enough.
If you think I'm taking Etheras in an uninteresting direction, please let me know in either notes or comments.
Or if there's something more that you would like to see, please let me know.
Or if you think furries are leaving FA for another service, I'd be interested to know where they are congregating these days. I have heard that some furs have made Tumblr their primary furry site, which kinda scares me a bit. FA is for furries, it will not toss us out. I can see Tumblr banning furry profiles like Facebook did and leaving us all adrift. But that's a different topic for another day.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
~ Lord Etheras
OOC post
Hey everyfur. I noticed that my posts lately (within the past year or so) have gotten a lot less engagement than they once did. For example, I still seem to be getting a decent number of hits and faves, but nobody seems to comment anymore.
And I'm not the only one who has noticed this. Many others including artists and writers have noticed a similar change. I'm curious... where have all the comments gone?
Its a lot less fun to post stuff if there's no reaction. Maybe my posts lately have simply not been interesting enough.
If you think I'm taking Etheras in an uninteresting direction, please let me know in either notes or comments.
Or if there's something more that you would like to see, please let me know.
Or if you think furries are leaving FA for another service, I'd be interested to know where they are congregating these days. I have heard that some furs have made Tumblr their primary furry site, which kinda scares me a bit. FA is for furries, it will not toss us out. I can see Tumblr banning furry profiles like Facebook did and leaving us all adrift. But that's a different topic for another day.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
~ Lord Etheras
INFO: Plans for 2017
Posted 9 years agoHearken to me, my subjects!
Another OOC post. I promise to be a bit more IC this year. But yeah: basically just wanted to get my thoughts down about what to do in 2017. I'd love to hear some feedback.
The important thing for me this year is publishing a few game titles as the new company and to start building up its reputation and finances. I hope you will all support me! I will post announcements here, but unfortunately (as many of you might have noticed), I haven't been very active on here for the past few months. That is because the entertainment company is taking up most of my free time, and I expect that will continue over the next year.
So that's the big project for the year. I have a big announcement coming up around February 20th. My hope is that the game will be in Kickstarter shortly after that, early access by April, and full-launch is May.
Then I'm going to work on a smaller game that I've been thinking about for about a year that I believe I can complete in a few months, and then its on to another large project. If I can get 3 out this year, that would really help my company. So... wish me luck :)
I have a few comic commissions in-waiting from various artists, and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with them. My thoughts are ... you know... if I am trying to start an indie entertainment business (and I am), maybe I should be focusing more on high-quality paid content, which will help me fund my other endeavors. Perhaps a Patreon web-comic series of Etheras? What are your thoughts on this? Comments below. :)
I'm also going to be starting a YouTube channel on video games, indie game development, commentary, interviews, etc. I figure that, since I'm going to be going around speaking at a bunch of conferences and stuff anyway, why not document it and then share the knowledge?
Sorry if this post has been a little dry. I'll try to be more IC in the future. But yeah... thanks for reading!
Cheers,
~ Etheras
Another OOC post. I promise to be a bit more IC this year. But yeah: basically just wanted to get my thoughts down about what to do in 2017. I'd love to hear some feedback.
The important thing for me this year is publishing a few game titles as the new company and to start building up its reputation and finances. I hope you will all support me! I will post announcements here, but unfortunately (as many of you might have noticed), I haven't been very active on here for the past few months. That is because the entertainment company is taking up most of my free time, and I expect that will continue over the next year.
So that's the big project for the year. I have a big announcement coming up around February 20th. My hope is that the game will be in Kickstarter shortly after that, early access by April, and full-launch is May.
Then I'm going to work on a smaller game that I've been thinking about for about a year that I believe I can complete in a few months, and then its on to another large project. If I can get 3 out this year, that would really help my company. So... wish me luck :)
I have a few comic commissions in-waiting from various artists, and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with them. My thoughts are ... you know... if I am trying to start an indie entertainment business (and I am), maybe I should be focusing more on high-quality paid content, which will help me fund my other endeavors. Perhaps a Patreon web-comic series of Etheras? What are your thoughts on this? Comments below. :)
I'm also going to be starting a YouTube channel on video games, indie game development, commentary, interviews, etc. I figure that, since I'm going to be going around speaking at a bunch of conferences and stuff anyway, why not document it and then share the knowledge?
Sorry if this post has been a little dry. I'll try to be more IC in the future. But yeah... thanks for reading!
Cheers,
~ Etheras
5 Years of Etheras
Posted 9 years agoHearken to me, my subjects.
OOC
Holy crap its been 5 years since I introduced Etheras to all of you. And what an astonishing ride we've had! I really appreciate your continued support and engagement. You've helped to make my fennec one of the most recognizable furry characters in the fandom.
So thank you all for your dedication, admiration, and support. I love you all, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy those things that I have planned for this year.
Thanks again, and I hope you have a wonderful 2017!
~ Etheras's player
OOC
Holy crap its been 5 years since I introduced Etheras to all of you. And what an astonishing ride we've had! I really appreciate your continued support and engagement. You've helped to make my fennec one of the most recognizable furry characters in the fandom.
So thank you all for your dedication, admiration, and support. I love you all, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy those things that I have planned for this year.
Thanks again, and I hope you have a wonderful 2017!
~ Etheras's player
INFO: 2016 in Review
Posted 9 years agoHearken, my subjects!
Some reflections on 2016 from your adorable imperious prince. Its been an interesting year.
ETHERAS CHARACTER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. lots of new artwork.
.. an Etheras comic thanks to
TheBlackRook
.. really started shifting Etheras towards his original concept. Probably the most canon artwork ever coming out from
Atryl. I'll be posting that sometime this year.
.. found some new artists, replaced a few old ones.
.. conquered some people.
.. subjugated some stuff.
.. crossed the 150K pageviews milestone.
.. crossed the 75K faves milestone.
.. work ongoing for an Etheras video game perhaps in the coming years? We'll see. Its lower priority than some more-mainstream stuff that I want to focus-on first.
ETHERAS PLAYER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. working hard on video games. Nothing to announce yet, but I'm really hoping to launch or at least announce before the spring.
.. formed a new media company. Details to come soon.
.. continued to take measures to cut down on character theft. Steps are being taken to hopefully make character theft a thing of the past.
.. posted a bunch of new journals. I need to get better at posting regularly.
IN THE WORLD
.. Donald Trump. Love it or hate it, its a thing.
.. Brexit.
.. Politics this year has really dominated the news media, from the aforementioned issues to others that sort-of got overshadowed, like the death of Gawker Media, a rise in global terrorism, the migrant crisis seeming to spiral out of control, meme warfare, the alt-right and the new-left. Classical liberals going to war with Progressives. Traditionalists versus Trumpians. I hope that all the post-election buzz dies down soon. I've really had enough of it.
.. Tesla Motors unveils Model-3
.. Tesla / Solar City project unveils photovoltaic shingles that actually look good.
.. Microsoft continues to dominate technology. The launch of Surface Studio shows that real innovation is still possible in technology. 3D scanning from 2D images shows that Microsoft is now the world leader in image processing (this is a very difficult problem).
.. On the flip side, HTC Vive has really annihilated Holo Lens. You might have noticed how uninspiring (and pre-recorded) the Holo Lens presentation was this year. And how graphically poor the HoloLens is compared to Vive (which needs a whole computer attached, so can push a lot more polys). Vive sort-of came out of nowhere and with room-scale, and now everyone is scrambling to catch-up.
.. Major setback for SpaceX as one of their rockets explodes on the launchpad, destroying its payload.
.. SpaceX continues to test reusable boosters - still has not re-flown one.
.. HBO tries to remain relevant in the upcoming post-Game Of Thrones world, introduces Westworld, and succeeds.
.. Zootopia and Deadpool set the bar early for movies in 2016, and nothing else was able to catch up. It really was a weak year for film. Hoping 2017 is better.
.. Sort-of a lackluster year for video games as well. Aside from DOOM, I mean.
UNREACHED ACHIEVEMENTS
.. Lets face it: I was horrible about my commitments last year.
.. Didn't release the video game that I had promised.
.. Only one of the new comics actually came out.
.. Etheras.com is still a mostly-blank page.
.. no new music - despite being on the cusp of having several done.
.. did not complete the novel that I spoke of last year. Hardly even started it, in-fact.
.. re-launch of Jaspian sort-of fizzled. I posted some thoughts on his main page, particularly around video games and stuff, but I think I only uploaded 1 or 2 pictures. I need to get better at this.
.. I think I also failed to give an adequate presence to Etheras here on FA. I think I kept a good upload cadence, but I hardly posted any journals toward the end of the year. Mostly this is because I have been in sort-of "stealth mode" due to video game company commitments, but that's no reason to be completely silent.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2017
.. Okay, I really really need to release at least 1 major video game title (non-furry). Possibly as many as 4.
.. development of several new comics. Some will be Etheras-based, some will support the upcoming video games.
.. launch of www.etheras.com (I know, I know. Its taking forever) - I promise to have SOMETHING by next time this year.
.. maybe some new music
.. MAYBE publishing of an Etheras novel. though I might just hire someone to do this. My time is unfortunately stretched so thin!
.. and of course, lots of new artwork featuring Etheras with horses and zebras!!!
Should be an exciting year! Hope you'll stay with me ^.^
Thanks,
~ Lord Etheras
Some reflections on 2016 from your adorable imperious prince. Its been an interesting year.
ETHERAS CHARACTER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. lots of new artwork.
.. an Etheras comic thanks to
TheBlackRook.. really started shifting Etheras towards his original concept. Probably the most canon artwork ever coming out from
Atryl. I'll be posting that sometime this year... found some new artists, replaced a few old ones.
.. conquered some people.
.. subjugated some stuff.
.. crossed the 150K pageviews milestone.
.. crossed the 75K faves milestone.
.. work ongoing for an Etheras video game perhaps in the coming years? We'll see. Its lower priority than some more-mainstream stuff that I want to focus-on first.
ETHERAS PLAYER ACHIEVEMENTS
.. working hard on video games. Nothing to announce yet, but I'm really hoping to launch or at least announce before the spring.
.. formed a new media company. Details to come soon.
.. continued to take measures to cut down on character theft. Steps are being taken to hopefully make character theft a thing of the past.
.. posted a bunch of new journals. I need to get better at posting regularly.
IN THE WORLD
.. Donald Trump. Love it or hate it, its a thing.
.. Brexit.
.. Politics this year has really dominated the news media, from the aforementioned issues to others that sort-of got overshadowed, like the death of Gawker Media, a rise in global terrorism, the migrant crisis seeming to spiral out of control, meme warfare, the alt-right and the new-left. Classical liberals going to war with Progressives. Traditionalists versus Trumpians. I hope that all the post-election buzz dies down soon. I've really had enough of it.
.. Tesla Motors unveils Model-3
.. Tesla / Solar City project unveils photovoltaic shingles that actually look good.
.. Microsoft continues to dominate technology. The launch of Surface Studio shows that real innovation is still possible in technology. 3D scanning from 2D images shows that Microsoft is now the world leader in image processing (this is a very difficult problem).
.. On the flip side, HTC Vive has really annihilated Holo Lens. You might have noticed how uninspiring (and pre-recorded) the Holo Lens presentation was this year. And how graphically poor the HoloLens is compared to Vive (which needs a whole computer attached, so can push a lot more polys). Vive sort-of came out of nowhere and with room-scale, and now everyone is scrambling to catch-up.
.. Major setback for SpaceX as one of their rockets explodes on the launchpad, destroying its payload.
.. SpaceX continues to test reusable boosters - still has not re-flown one.
.. HBO tries to remain relevant in the upcoming post-Game Of Thrones world, introduces Westworld, and succeeds.
.. Zootopia and Deadpool set the bar early for movies in 2016, and nothing else was able to catch up. It really was a weak year for film. Hoping 2017 is better.
.. Sort-of a lackluster year for video games as well. Aside from DOOM, I mean.
UNREACHED ACHIEVEMENTS
.. Lets face it: I was horrible about my commitments last year.
.. Didn't release the video game that I had promised.
.. Only one of the new comics actually came out.
.. Etheras.com is still a mostly-blank page.
.. no new music - despite being on the cusp of having several done.
.. did not complete the novel that I spoke of last year. Hardly even started it, in-fact.
.. re-launch of Jaspian sort-of fizzled. I posted some thoughts on his main page, particularly around video games and stuff, but I think I only uploaded 1 or 2 pictures. I need to get better at this.
.. I think I also failed to give an adequate presence to Etheras here on FA. I think I kept a good upload cadence, but I hardly posted any journals toward the end of the year. Mostly this is because I have been in sort-of "stealth mode" due to video game company commitments, but that's no reason to be completely silent.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2017
.. Okay, I really really need to release at least 1 major video game title (non-furry). Possibly as many as 4.
.. development of several new comics. Some will be Etheras-based, some will support the upcoming video games.
.. launch of www.etheras.com (I know, I know. Its taking forever) - I promise to have SOMETHING by next time this year.
.. maybe some new music
.. MAYBE publishing of an Etheras novel. though I might just hire someone to do this. My time is unfortunately stretched so thin!
.. and of course, lots of new artwork featuring Etheras with horses and zebras!!!
Should be an exciting year! Hope you'll stay with me ^.^
Thanks,
~ Lord Etheras
RECRUITMENT: Looking for hi-tech modelers & concept artists
Posted 9 years agoHello again, my subjects.
I'm looking again for talented artists who want to see their creations come to life. This time, I need tech artists. No, not draftsmen! I mean people who draw futuristic guns and spaceships. And moreso: people who can model futuristic guns and spaceships.
If this sounds like you or someone you know-of, note me or comment below. I do need some kind of showreel or posted artwork somewhere!
Thanks!
~ Etheras
I'm looking again for talented artists who want to see their creations come to life. This time, I need tech artists. No, not draftsmen! I mean people who draw futuristic guns and spaceships. And moreso: people who can model futuristic guns and spaceships.
If this sounds like you or someone you know-of, note me or comment below. I do need some kind of showreel or posted artwork somewhere!
Thanks!
~ Etheras
RECRUITMENT: Logo Design
Posted 9 years agoHarken to me, my subjects!
This message is OOC.
Its official. My company is alive. As-of-today I have all the official documents in my hand. Work on projects is going forward, and I hope to unveil some stuff soon!
But now to the point of this post: I need a logo. Do you guys have any recommendations for me to look at?
There are a few requirements...
1. Needs to be animated. This will be our intro splash-screen for several games and movies for several years to come, and we want to leave a good first impresion with viewers/players, so static art won't be enough. It could be Flash or 3D CGI, depending on the artist's ideas and talents.
2. Vector and 3D are also preferred so that it can be scaled. I would like it to be scalable to 4K and 8K and 9600K (whatever they come up with next) with a simple re-render, rather than a complete do-over.
3. Animation length will be 5-10 seconds
4. Needs to be clip-art-able. (is that a word?) Something that can be made into icons, letterheads, logos, and t-shirt decals and stuff. I can get into more details of this if requested.
5. Cartoony is preferred.
6. This is a professional organization. The artist will have to sign all the legal junk, and they will not be allowed to sign or watermark their work. However, they will have their name (or furname, if preferred) in the game and/or movie credits for all media that features their work as "Logo and Intro Design Lead" (or something to that effect).
7. The animation concept that I have for the intro has 2 characters, a human and an alien (thing), so animators must be able to do character animations.
8. Some kind of showreel is essential so that I can get some idea of the artist's previous work and skills.
I'm happy to get enthusiasts or professionals for this work. Let me know if you want to be considered for this work, or if you can recommend someone. Let me know in the comments or via note.
Thanks!
~ Lord Etheras
This message is OOC.
Its official. My company is alive. As-of-today I have all the official documents in my hand. Work on projects is going forward, and I hope to unveil some stuff soon!
But now to the point of this post: I need a logo. Do you guys have any recommendations for me to look at?
There are a few requirements...
1. Needs to be animated. This will be our intro splash-screen for several games and movies for several years to come, and we want to leave a good first impresion with viewers/players, so static art won't be enough. It could be Flash or 3D CGI, depending on the artist's ideas and talents.
2. Vector and 3D are also preferred so that it can be scaled. I would like it to be scalable to 4K and 8K and 9600K (whatever they come up with next) with a simple re-render, rather than a complete do-over.
3. Animation length will be 5-10 seconds
4. Needs to be clip-art-able. (is that a word?) Something that can be made into icons, letterheads, logos, and t-shirt decals and stuff. I can get into more details of this if requested.
5. Cartoony is preferred.
6. This is a professional organization. The artist will have to sign all the legal junk, and they will not be allowed to sign or watermark their work. However, they will have their name (or furname, if preferred) in the game and/or movie credits for all media that features their work as "Logo and Intro Design Lead" (or something to that effect).
7. The animation concept that I have for the intro has 2 characters, a human and an alien (thing), so animators must be able to do character animations.
8. Some kind of showreel is essential so that I can get some idea of the artist's previous work and skills.
I'm happy to get enthusiasts or professionals for this work. Let me know if you want to be considered for this work, or if you can recommend someone. Let me know in the comments or via note.
Thanks!
~ Lord Etheras
THOUGHTS; The end of Social Media
Posted 9 years agoHarken to me, my subjects!
This is going to be an OOC discussion.
I recently realized that we may be coming to the end of social media. The revelation came when I learned that Twitter was seeking to be purchased, and that nobody wants to buy them. In the same week, I heard that YouTube has never turned a profit and has no idea on how to properly monetize their service.
Google+ never took off, and Facebook's userbase has inverted. They are hemhorraging users so fast that it looked like Twitter was going to be "the next big thing". Well - turns out that neither of them will be the next big thing.
So what's left? Who remains to pick up the pieces? Heck - who wants to pick up the pieces? It seems like these companies have a lifespan of less than 10 years. Who wants the stress and liability of aquiring such a dubious prospect? The obvious answer would be Google - since they tried to compete with Twitter directly with the failed "Google Buzz" project. But why would Google want to toss more money into yet-another bottomless pit like YouTube? The only service that Google operates that actually makes money is their Search business. I'm sure they'd prefer to diversify into something that will actually pay for itself, rather than paying to keep Twitter on life support.
The only other option is Facebook which, despite its dying userbase, was smart enough to diversify back when it was really huge. Its funny that the growing parts of Facebook are the parts that aren't related to social media.
So I guess that's that question - what do you think will happen? Do you think another Social Media service will be born to try and be the next big thing? Or do you think an existing social media will revive itself? Or do you think that social media will end, and that users will simply go back to hobbyist / fansites like FA, DA, etc?
Thoughts down below.
Thanks!
~ Etheras
This is going to be an OOC discussion.
I recently realized that we may be coming to the end of social media. The revelation came when I learned that Twitter was seeking to be purchased, and that nobody wants to buy them. In the same week, I heard that YouTube has never turned a profit and has no idea on how to properly monetize their service.
Google+ never took off, and Facebook's userbase has inverted. They are hemhorraging users so fast that it looked like Twitter was going to be "the next big thing". Well - turns out that neither of them will be the next big thing.
So what's left? Who remains to pick up the pieces? Heck - who wants to pick up the pieces? It seems like these companies have a lifespan of less than 10 years. Who wants the stress and liability of aquiring such a dubious prospect? The obvious answer would be Google - since they tried to compete with Twitter directly with the failed "Google Buzz" project. But why would Google want to toss more money into yet-another bottomless pit like YouTube? The only service that Google operates that actually makes money is their Search business. I'm sure they'd prefer to diversify into something that will actually pay for itself, rather than paying to keep Twitter on life support.
The only other option is Facebook which, despite its dying userbase, was smart enough to diversify back when it was really huge. Its funny that the growing parts of Facebook are the parts that aren't related to social media.
So I guess that's that question - what do you think will happen? Do you think another Social Media service will be born to try and be the next big thing? Or do you think an existing social media will revive itself? Or do you think that social media will end, and that users will simply go back to hobbyist / fansites like FA, DA, etc?
Thoughts down below.
Thanks!
~ Etheras
CLARIFICATION: Finding Talent
Posted 9 years agoHarken to me, my subjects!
OOC today
Just some clarification on my earlier post: first off - THANK YOU for all of your responses. The amount of feedback I got was tremendous and I really appreciate you guys (and gals) helping me out.
Just to recap: a little over a week ago, I posted a journal looking for help on some larger scale projects.
Unfortunately I think I failed to communicate enough details about the project. There was definitely some confusion about the objectives like... Are we talking about adult work here? What quality? What are the specific needs? Is it even furry stuff?
To answer:
* Non adult
* Pro quality (or near-to), like a pixar or blizzard entertainment quality of models and composition, or maybe not QUITE that good considering they're really the cream of the crop... but I would like the project to be able to interest non-furry consumers. Maybe like the newer Appleseed movie or the recent Starship Troopers "Invasion" animated film, etc.
* Probably a studio (the work is too big for one person)
* I do have several projects in the works, but the one I'm seeking talent for right now IS a furry project.
I hope that clarifies some things. Please note me if you know of anyplace, or even know where I can start to look. That would be helpful.
Thanks!
~ Etheras
OOC today
Just some clarification on my earlier post: first off - THANK YOU for all of your responses. The amount of feedback I got was tremendous and I really appreciate you guys (and gals) helping me out.
Just to recap: a little over a week ago, I posted a journal looking for help on some larger scale projects.
Unfortunately I think I failed to communicate enough details about the project. There was definitely some confusion about the objectives like... Are we talking about adult work here? What quality? What are the specific needs? Is it even furry stuff?
To answer:
* Non adult
* Pro quality (or near-to), like a pixar or blizzard entertainment quality of models and composition, or maybe not QUITE that good considering they're really the cream of the crop... but I would like the project to be able to interest non-furry consumers. Maybe like the newer Appleseed movie or the recent Starship Troopers "Invasion" animated film, etc.
* Probably a studio (the work is too big for one person)
* I do have several projects in the works, but the one I'm seeking talent for right now IS a furry project.
I hope that clarifies some things. Please note me if you know of anyplace, or even know where I can start to look. That would be helpful.
Thanks!
~ Etheras
