This good art yes. Totes original.
Blame Seph/Luck for this one. Gonna be wearing this avatar for the remainder of the 1st because yes.

Now! Onto more serious matters. I've seriously been considering making a discord server and possibly a telegram group for my art, and discussions thereof.. Considering. Anyone of my watchers who are paying attention have any thoughts on this matter? I'm all ears. Figuratively speaking.

Also, been getting into GW2 again- and playing it on lowest settings guts me, but sacrifices must be made- and along with that, I've been doing work on fleshing out my two charr characters, because I find myself getting more and more into their culture and I came to realize I've been playing/writing them all wrong to this point.

I've recently found myself getting increasingly interested in tabletop RPGs, such as D&D and the like. I seem to be gravitating most toward Pathfinder and its sci-fi alternate, Starfinder. Already got the core rulebooks for both in my possession.
Heck, before I even got those, I developed Lonasha the catfolk rogue using various online System Reference Document(SRD)s.

Now, this in and of itself may not be so bad, but it's what I'm doing for the stuff that might be. See, there have been many conversions and such for many series, franchises, etc. Monster Hunter has seen some conversion, but only with the more popular monsters. I've been working- admittedly slowly- on converting the whole monster list, as well as creating a new class with, in theory, archetypes to suit the various Monster Hunter fighting styles.

I've also started to compile a list of Warframe enemies, because yes, when I gain a new obsession, I apparently can't help but cross them over with my other obsessions on my own time. _Halp

Or Happy Valentine's Day, whichever you find more appropriate. Dunno why I felt the need to post this, but hey, I just got home from work- the bustling, crowded workplace( I'm just thankful that I work nightshift and don't have to cater to all of them).

So, recently I, my sister, and my mother pitched in and purchased a PS4 so we could play Monster Hunter: World, and boy howdy am I enjoying that. Gameplay's fun and all, as I had expected from a MonHun game, but the Felynes are just so damn adorable. I mean, seriously, everything is so beautiful and gorgeously detailed, especially our good ol' Palicoes.

Dunno why I felt the need to say all this; guess I just want something different as my most recently displayed journal or something.

Also, I haven't encountered a Monster I've seriously disliked yet; that blasted fish, Jyuratodus, came the closest, but I think I can attribute that to his sheer mobility.

Well, kind of. Still feeling the effects from the whole ordeal, what with the severe cough and nausea, but at least the fever has gone down. Just one more thing to add onto the seemingly overwhelming pile of reasons why I haven't been drawing/doing things as of late. Ugh.

Kakky tej yeat! Kete'y po atopkeq yeat. Pep'y koke ip'y top ay siyetatpe ay pke payp ote.
_{10 arbitrary points and a golden potato(not really) to anyone who can translate this without any further guidance/clues}

Not exactly happy with the last year, obviously. Was incredibly rocky, artwise, and ended off with a whole lot of terrible things, from a car crash to a cat dying in our care. All I can really hope is that things pick up for the better, at least for the first half of the year.

Our cat has passed away.. mere moments before writing this. It happened so suddenly I'm more blindsided by it, even though by all means I really shouldn't be; we- the family- knew it was coming.. if I'm quiet for the next while you will know now why.
All of this on Christmas Eve, no less.. just damn it all.

Much as I may wish to, I don't think I'm going to have anything seasonal ready by time the 25th comes 'round. Work's been ramping up my hours, and the loads are growing in size as well, leaving me exhausted and with little time to do what I want to. I might be able to squeeze something in, but don't expect it to be on time- goodness knows I don't expect it to.

Also, on the car front, my sister, myself, and my mother have pooled some money and got a replacement, so at least my legs aren't killing me from having to walk to and from work anymore; silver lining, y'know?

But yea, just an update to let folks know I'm not dead.

So, I'm a bit rattled here now. Just got home after an accident. I'm uninjured, a bit shaken, but it looks like I- alongside the other coworkers in my family- am gonna be walking to and from work for the foreseeable future. Simply put, this has taken my reluctance to learn how to drive and pumped it to the nth degree.

There was a time when I was excited to see I had a note waiting for me, but these days, seeing a #N gives me more anxiety than it does excitement. Such a shame for that to have changed. Pretty much the only reason I haven't disabled note functionality is because it's incredibly convenient for tossing around WIPs and such.

In the event that I do shut them down, in each journal footer is a selection of places where you can find me. Some places are more frequently used than others, just a heads up.

Finally got a day off after the holiday chaos, wooo!
So, I've seen other people offer to answer questions. I've got the day off, and while I work on other things, I'm up for answering the odd question, if anyone has any to ask yours truly- or for any of my characters.

Just.. try not to get too out there with the questions, plz~

So, something has come up within the past little while. Apparently the youngest of our cats has fallen prey to cancer- or so it's been said. Either way, there is an infected.. something overtaking a portion of her chest. We've got it wrapped up in gauze, and are working to medicate it as best we can, but.. we're all in agreement that she may not have long for this world, and the vets simply want to put her down. While this doesn't affect me as strongly as my sister, it's still put a dark cloud of uncertainty over many of my thoughts, which in and of themselves have become darker.

I realize this is one of the more open and serious posts I've ever put up, but I figure I should let those who are waiting on art from me know what's going on and what might be causing a few of the delays lately; hard to get inspiration when the rest of the household is somewhat, albeit reasonably, dour.

Things are only going to go downhill from there, as our other two cats are well over 12. Any moment, my Cleo could start deteriorating, and the thought frightens me. Still, until things take a nose dive, I'll be trying my damnedest to keep whittling away at what I've got on my plate.

Keep us in your thoughts if you've the space for us.

Yep, title creation tool is still in dire need of recharging.. though, that implies that I've ever been good at making titles.

Tangent aside, I had quite the week; only just got a day off Sunday to Monday(overnight shifts are weird to get the hang of). So yea, all sore and tired.

Art-wise, I've been contemplating some things. Still got requests I need to get through- and there are people who insist on trying to gain top priority, to the detriment of all others on the to do list(not naming names)- but I've been considering taking my latest avatar/profile pictures and stitching them together into some sort of avatar compilation for the sake of displaying what I can do within the realm of avatars.

I'm also looking for thoughts on what I should draw my kavat, Ahmara, doing next. Should make her doing something more action-y and less lewd, but we'll see. If anyone has suggestions involving her, feel free to toss 'em my way!

All in all, I'm still alive; slowly, and with no small amount of sputtering, whittling away at drawings and junk. Think I might be burnt out. Sure feel the part.

Welp, looks like that tablet I mentioned(here) was out, which was running fine in the months between then and now, has run into more problems. It keeps locking up on start up, So, if I'm a bit scarce on Discord or Skype, that'd be why.

I'll be troubleshooting to see if I can't fix this dinosaur, but I may end up having to replace it.

Pardon me, this is just some rambling.. gotta get this all off my chest and junk.
There was once a time when I was thrilled to see that I had notes waiting for me on here. Nowadays, though, I get anxious when I see 1N up in the top right. Mostly it's because I haven't made much progress, if any at all, on most outstanding requests. _{I also need to learn how to say no to some requests} In time, maybe I'll learn to love that sight once more. In time.

I'd like to extend an apology to those patient folks who have received no updates from me. Assuming my laptop doesn't blow up on me, I hope to get some progress in for you. _{Especially that comic I signed up for. Got the script on hand and the framework in place, but need to draw things for it.}

Speaking of laptop, mine did a little blue-screen earlier. Always stresses me out when it happens and slams the brakes on any projects I'd hope to work on in a given day. Hell, even just typing this up I've had to wait for the cursor to catch up. _{Maybe I type too fast or something? Beh..}

So, went through my first day of work- which happened right on the heels of my training- and all I can express is ow. My arms, shoulders, chest and hips are all fine. From the waist down, though, I'm aching, especially upon the soles and heels of my feet. Still, I'm sure I'll be able to acclimate to the whole thing.

As a side- albeit quite related- note, I'd like to apologize to requesters; near as I can tell, I'm moving straight into 8 hour shifts. This may change, but this will put a heavy strain on my ability to sit down and draw. Please, try to refrain from yelling at me just because I might not have the time available to put toward drawing. As I said, I'm sorry, unfortunately there is a price to having a livelihood it seems.

Bit of a life update. I've got a single bit of news that has both pros and cons to it.
Cons: My time is going to become even more strained than it was prior, gonna have a little less free time available for RP, art, writing, all that jazz.
Pros: I won't have to worry as much about having others spend things on my behalf, and I might be able to finally set up commissions before long.

That's right, I am finally, after goodness knows how long of just sitting on my fluffy behind, am finally getting employed. Still gotta go through some training starting on Monday, but hey!

That is all for now.

Sometimes it's appropriate to speak on my behalf, such as relaying some detail of a picture to the prospective artist, but it's inappropriate to promise things in my stead. I strictly refuse to promise anything with anyone because I'm a terrible person who cannot keep promises.

Also, I'm not an art slave. I haven't signed up for anything like that. Please, if you've put in a request, try not to think of your request as the only one on my plate. I already do my best to not disproportionately prioritize others; the current order is essentially the chronological order.

But yea, just had to get this off my chest before it consumed me.

I've struggled with maintaining them.
I've been heavily considering moving my focus away from request work for the time-being, since my artistic output has practically stagnated, as you can probably tell.

While I might be moving away from requests, all outstanding requests will still be done.. I just can't promise how quickly or anything. I don't plan on opening requests anytime soon, not til I'm feeling more confident in my groove and such. Though, taking on new requests might cause my groove to sputter anew.

But yea, trying my best to mitigate the stress and frustration with my (in)ability to draw things. We'll just have to see how this goes, I suppose.

Thankfully not my artist tablet yet. But, my mobile device is on the fritz and required a factory reset. So, if I'm a bit scarce on the various chat avenues, it's because I'm getting back up to speed. Be back online soon as I can manage.

(Edit)Aaaaand Telegram seems to be not working anymore. Great.

Thinking I'm gonna change some things.. which reminds me, I need to write up a TOS at some point or another. I digress, though.

I'm heavily considering limiting folks to 1 (maybe 2 if they're easy) requests per batch. And I'm also going to advise against throwing me deadlines. Doing so not only makes me want to work on something less and stresses me to high heaven, but it also forces me to prioritize your piece over others'. Not cool.

I'm probably going to go back to the journal setup I had a few years ago, meaning I'm not open to new requests til the current, pending requests are good and done. Nothing personal, but I need to clean up what I have on my plate already before I have more stuff piled on. Just take a look at my workload as it stands( either by the link in the journal header, or via the link on my profile page)

And no, this is not a journal advertising any openings. Apologies if you thought it was.

Yep, I know I've been absent/quiet as of late. Not only had I fallen out of rhythm with drawing and popping on here, but my internet was cut off from early May 10th to the 12th, which certainly didn't help matters. On top of all that, my left eye's been acting up; gotten all red and irritated, aches when looking toward light.

Still, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get back into rhythm before long here, even if I have to persevere through this newly acquired photosensitivity.

Course, you might be asking- justifiably so- why'd it take you so long to write a journal on here? Not entirely sure, but I guess I was trying to regain myself a little before that. Poor excuse, I know.

---

On another note, I've got a couple characters that I still need to name. No art for them, because I try to prioritize requester projects before my own( with varying success).
One is a female shark, probably lookin' to make her a mako shark if not the (obvious and predictable for me) tiger shark. For names, I was considering drawing from Hawaiian influence, since sharks are big there, but I'm not fully committed to the idea.

The other is an effeminate (primarily) male glaceon. I've got a first name somewhat decided on for him, being Kelda, but I've not really set that in stone just yet.

If anyone would like to help me, it'd be greatly appreciated!

A minor one, of course, but still.

Normally I keep my artist tablet's pen sitting right in front of the device. Yesterday, when I was contemplating starting up work on something, I couldn't find it. And, since I'm essentially a beast of habit I started fearing the worst. Immediately, I worried that it'd gotten mixed up with some clutter on the desk that I threw in the trash, but after inspecting the bags to the best of my ability, I found nothing. So, I searched the floor of my corner, kicking up plenty of dust and suffering one heck of a sneezing fit.

The pen wasn't there either, so I became distraught and was literally about to write up a journal yesterday stating that digital pieces will be on hold. I mean, I wasn't about to try doing digital art with a mouse.

After tearing apart my corner, I tried to calm down, sifting through some things I hadn't moved. That was when I saw my little pack of colored pencils. Memory was jogged, as I was coloring some coloring page for the hell of it, and had dumped the pack out on my desk. In the exact spot where I'd keep my pen. Unzipped it, took a look in.. guess what I found inside?

That's right. Amidst all the colored wood was the silver-gray cylinder of my tablet's pen. Finding that took one hell of a weight off my shoulder, but I lost that spark of inspiration due to how long it took me to find the damn thing.

---

Now you might be asking: "What's the point of this journal?" Iunno, felt that I don't write enough of 'em, and felt that this was relatively important stuff. Admittedly less important than if I had lost the pen.

April 14th, so you know what that means.. kinda, hopefully. Another year gone by, another year older. Cat is now 26 years old.

On the side of my requested projects, mostly between them or when awaiting approval, I've been working on remastering my central two characters- Cora and April- their designs are still the same, but I figured I'd use my new anatomy skills to bring them to the next level. Upload of the completed sheets shall commence soon enough.

Ahmara's sheet has been brought to its 1.0 stage now, but I held off on uploading it since I was supposed to be working on requests at the time, and I didn't really find the opportunity to upload it between projects.

Also got some character ideas in the works. Saying it now would be telling, though.

... why in the world can I never come up with normal journal titles? Beh, that's a bit beside the point.

Ahem.

I've been working on my userpage over the past few weeks. I'm not sure I'm satisfied with its current layout, so I may be retooling it entirely. The contents should be mostly the same, but still. However, I'm trying to balance this with some F-List profile rewrites and additions, so it's a bit of a tricky situation.

Anywho, figured I'd sit down and actually write something.

On the subject of reworks, though, I've got some things in the works.. admittedly, only been working on them between requests, but even so. Wouldn't get too hyped, since I've literally got no ETA on any of it. ^^;