In case anyone else finds that sometimes (away from people and outdoors!) you need to take your mask off for a second but don’t wanna lose it. I couldn’t find what I wanted so I made my own. XD There’s a cute dog pic and a cool video about how much spit we all exhale constantly at the end.

https://twitter.com/AgainRazzek/sta.....85863560630272

Any Habitica folks out there who want a level 236 warrior in their party? I’m a big pet quest collector with a subscription so I buy quest bundles when I can. I’d love to share the wealth. :)

Be advised that I like to do the same quest until I have all the eggs for a pet type. The good thing is that it only takes about a week to do 6 quests cuz I deal a lot of damage. XD

I have no problem teaming up with new Habiticans as long as you’re consistent and use it daily. I basically live off this to-do app. XD Even did beta testing for them. XD

It’s hard to understand racism as a white person, especially in America. Jane Elliott puts it in a perspective that made it click for me 20 years ago and I highly recommend everyone who can to give her work a watch. There is no violence shown here but it will upset you.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1qFl9isxTiQ

I don’t have much of a platform here anymore but I don’t want to stay silent. If you’re not comfortable following a blind, queer, transgender person who speaks in favour of the American right to protest injustice and against systemic harm to human beings, well... Please don’t do things that make you uncomfortable. I do not hold it against anyone who needs to leave.

I've created a GoFundMe to hopefully stop this situation from happening.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/blind-and-going-to-be-homeless?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1

Thank you everyone who has left kind comments and sent notes. To say that I'm low energy right now is an understatement so I haven't really been able to reply, but I've read them all and I really appreciate it. This situation has drained me of everything I have, to the point that I've been struggling to eat or get out of bed. What energy I do have is spent filling out housing applications (which takes several hours to do just one; you haven't seen a stack of paper until you've tried to get into low income housing o_o).

If you can't donate (and I understand that a lot of people can't right now, times are tough), spreading the word helps. I know my timing on this isn't great but it's not really anything I have control over. If anyone wants to be a nerd about Final Fantasy VII with me, watching videos of it has kind of been my escape lately. I'm not really passionate or interested in much lately but if y'all want to talk about She-Ra on Netflix or Loading Ready Run, that's what I've been watching. I have a Patreon and a Ko-fi too if that's more interesting for anyone; I'm trying to get back into drawing and I've been talking a little about ideas I'd like to start working on when I can.

Thanks for being here folks. <3

Edit May 30: Thanks to some PayPal donations we’re over $1k toward the $4k goal. Thank you everyone and thank you for continuing to spread the word. ♥️

Edit: Here's the fundraiser.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/blind-an.....to-be-homeless

What the title says. It’s a bit complicated and I don’t have the energy to go into the details. I figured it was worth letting you guys know why you won’t likely be seeing anything from me for awhile. I’m trying to find housing and have been for several weeks. I’ll officially be on the streets on July 31. That’s all I can think to say about it for now.

Yes I google places for rent weekly, I’m on four waiting lists and counting for assistance, I’ve contacted most of my local assistance agencies and have numbers for the rest. I have food. No I don’t have friends or family to stay with and no I’m not in a position where I can move to another city, state, or country. My problem is not having enough money on a monthly basis to afford shelter of any kind so far. It’s not something anyone can really help with.

Edit: Thank you all for the support. I am going to see what I can do about setting up a fundraiser this weekend and applying for permission to have that much extra money for housing (part of the big problem is that I am restricted to having no more than $2k at any time and at present I need around $800 a month just to pay rent). I’m emotionally exhausted at the moment but I will try to reply when I get some energy back. Gotta crunch some numbers.

I'm reading CLAW vol 1 and it makes me want more lesbian furry stories. This is kind of a note to self that it might be fun in the future to do a zine or something with that theme. I don't know if it would be charity or funds would be distributed evenly between contributors. It would be all digital since I don't have the resources for print. I'm thinking I would like to do a sfw one and maybe a nsfw one seperately. It would be art and writing, maybe a comic or two if people wanted to do that. This is all just me tossing around ideas for a future time when I'm not facing being homeless but I wanted to jot it down so I don't forget later. If anyone thinks they might want to contribute or has some ideas, feel free to leave a comment. I'm not aiming for anything fancey, I just want more gay furry gals of all types having fun or adventures or what have you. :) Also CLAW is very good and I recommend buying a copy if you can to show the publisher that lesbian furry stories aren't a dead end in the market.

I did an interview with Kevin Sonny over at Productivity Alchemy back in March and it's out today! It was a delight to be on this show about how people get things done. If you're an organization nerd like me, you'll love this show. If you're not, I still recommend it! Kevin and Ursula have great insights on setting goals, making time for yourself, and so much more! It was awesome being on one of my all time favorite podcasts. Thank you for the interview Kevin!

http://productivityalchemy.com/2020.....ugh-week-razz/

Brought back my public Twitter solely to post cute pictures of my dog in these trying times. I don’t plan to talk much if at all there. It’s just dog pics to cheer people up/on. :) AgainRazzek

A really good book I think a lot of you will like! Definitely a fresh take on dragons. And no humans anywhere to steal the show. :D

https://www.deviantart.com/rurik-re.....able-797462243

I think this could stand some promotion. I've had work done with this artist before and he's extremely fast and professional. This particular YCH seems like it would be appealing to a lot of us. XD

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/34975201/

Also, hi, how are y'all? Good I hope. You probably won't see me until sometime in May. I did not expect grad school to suddenly and with no warning become literally harder to endure than buying a house (which I am also trying to do). o_o When I'm not doing school stuff I'm asleep. That's essentially all I do right now.

I don’t usually do this but there’s a user on Deviant Art who is posting edited, censored explicit work of furry artists with no credit or permission given. If you’re in the Spyro, Lion King, or Disney fandoms or recognise any of these artists, you may want to check to see if your work is here. DA will only do something about art theft if it’s reported by the original artist.

https://www.deviantart.com/korrowilde

I've been wanting to get back into doing comics for awhile and the new year's page proved that not only can I still do it but it's a bit easier digitally than it used to be. With grad school starting back up in a week or so, that may put this on hold again, but if it doesn't, I want to give comics a shot again. Problem is, I've got about six years' worth of ideas that I can't pick between. XD I'd like your input and what my patrons say over there will probably go a bit farther towards deciding things. Here's the ideas I've got so far:

Creatures of Escher High episode 2
I've got several ideas for this comic. I'm torn between the next episode being about a school dance or the slumber party one. I get the giggles about that one a lot but the dance one is more fitting chronologically.

Ye Gods! reboot
I know a lot of people want this to come back and I'm ready to touch it again. Thing is, I know how it begins and ends but not the middle. And this one is long I'm sure. I can probably sort it out by the time I run out of beginning setup if it's what people want.

Jimmy sequel
This was originally the second half of the comic but I hated it about five finished pages in. I know how to write it now, though there would be some character redesigning and the viewpoint character is going to change by necessity.

Scamandrius
I've had this story in my head for decades. A guy gets dragged into what he thinks is his dream world to be a hero but maybe that's not what's going on at all. There's a dragon (Grynnath to be specific, in case anyone has been wondering what her deal is), a weird bug pixie (Harmony in case anyone's been wondering about her XD), and some fun trope inversions. This one has a bit of the same problem as “Ye Gods!” in that I know a lot of details but some stuff needs overhauling. Maybe having a deadline will make me figure it out.

These are the stories I have most fleshed out at the moment. You guys got any thoughts? Chances are I will get to all of them eventually, circumstances notwithstanding, but I'm stuck on where to start. Thanks for the help folks! :)

I've been seeing a lot of these lately. Almost every time I see FA's front page it's about half YCH or adoptable auction advertising. It's starting to feel really overdone and kind of slimy to do it as an artist. But I'm usually a poor judge of these things. What do you guys think? Either way, I don't think I'm going to take part in it anymore. I can't wrap my head around adoptables (just draw it yourself? or pay someone less to draw your design idea for you?) and I've seen a loooooot of abuse perpetrated by creators in that community. YCHs just feel kind of unfair to me. I can sort of understand it being nice to have an idea of the pose/scene your character is going to be in, but they're usually charged similarly or higher than a regular commission where you could just pick everything yourself, which seems more fun to me.

Meh. I guess I'm just rambling. Been thinking about this a lot and unfollowing a few people because all they post anymore is YCH auctions or the same adoptable template with different colors and just, man. I'm here for new things, not the same thing on repeat, y'know?

Finally made some folders for commissions and my OCs. I’ve also decided that I’m no longer going to offer a discount on commissions with Elora. It’s been 12+ years and I’m officially burned out. This won’t change prices on already agreed on commissions, just anything moving forward. I’m fine taking Spyro related commissions in general still, just no more goat girl discount. You can, however, get that discount on commissions featuring any of my original characters. :)

Speaking of OCs, I have several comics up on DA right now with more to come. I’m looking into setting up a Comics Fury site or something like that for the future. I probably won’t repost the comics here just because of how tedious it is to post to so many sites.

Creatures of Escher High
https://www.deviantart.com/razzekag.....of-rscher-high

Jimmy
https://www.deviantart.com/razzekag.....56/comic-jimmy

Little Witch Trixi
https://www.deviantart.com/razzekag.....le-witch-trixi

Hey, if anyone has been wanting to follow me on Twitter, let me know here who you are! :) I've made my Twitter private due to...basically everyone in a certain fandom who joined after 2012 and can't seem to help but be awful at me over there. My follower count is pretty much restricted to people I know more personally and who don't aggravate my paranoia, so please don't be upset if I don't accept a request. Not following me on Twitter doesn't mean you're missing anything; I just post pics of my dog and retweet funny videos interspersed with the occasional rant about my problems. Also I use the Twitterific app and don't get notices when people want to follow me. So if you want in on my seeeeeecret lame Twitter, let me know somehow here and I'll let you know if I'm comfortable having you follow me. Also this is why if you've tried to follow me I never approved you; I legit had no idea and the request expired because I keep forgetting to make this post. XD

A couple of my favourite books ever are back in print as ebooks!

Sarvala Express is one of my all time favourites and tells the tale of Kirsten Underwood after she’s abducted to another dimension and enslaved by a race of dragon lizards running an evil railway operation. You can find a bit of character art from this book in my gallery.
https://www.amazon.com/Sarvala-Express-Alex-Jackson-ebook/dp/B06Y59HXQ1/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=sarvala+express&qid=1574981017&sr=8-1

Marquess Peak is the story of James’ attempt to earn money through a summer babysitting job that becomes more complicated than he could have imagined when the kid turns out to be a dragon, and then his parents get kidnapped! If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have a conversation with me, just about everything Aries says is that. XD
https://www.amazon.com/Marquess-Peak-Alex-Jackson-ebook/dp/B07GJS8QSZ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=marquess+peak&qid=1574981054&sr=8-1

I just found out that sometimes FA's code randomly assigns people to a user's block list sometimes. So if you've been trying to get in touch or favorite a piece of mine and can't because you're blocked, please send a trouble ticket. In spite of everything, I do not have an active block list even for people I deeply dislike. If you've ever been temporarily blocked, you probably knew it was coming because I told you I was blocking you for a few days beforehand. XD As of right now, my list is empty and has been for at least a year and a half. The same is true on deviantART (I no longer have a tumblr and my Twitter is private so those are non-issues for you guys).

tl;dr:
Follow commission progress on my price sheet and see amusing vague notes I leave for myself! Thank you all for your patience and understanding while I work through...well, a lot of stuff, including grad school. 8O

In case anyone has ever wondered, you can low key keep tabs on my progress on your commissions through my price list. I keep a list of what I'm currently working on right under the intro paragraph (it says "Currently working on:") with the last date I updated it.

Check it out!

Current progress is slow right now because it's November which means grad school is trying to kill me. XD Since it's grad school for an extremely intense and specialized field, it's even more fun! I have four HUGE assignments due for that in the next three weeks and they are my main priority. Also one assignment might lead to me getting work in my field, so there's that. o_o 8D o_o You guys should be seeing art progress start up again in December if not sooner (with the caveat that I am NOT looking forward to the holidays this year and that may drag things out).

Some of the slowness has been the crippling depression and grief from the loss of my closest grandmother, the dissolution of my extended family as a result, and the steady decline of my last living grandmother. 2019 isn't a good year (almost didn't make it during what I now think of as my lost summer). It might interest some of you to know that my psych team and I are are tackling things from a different angle and so far it's working. I've only been doing this new thing for about a week but it feels promising in a realistic way, if that makes sense. I feel a bit more purposeful in my existence, something I haven't felt at all since May at least. Hopefully that will mean I can work again a bit more easily. I've certainly been getting a lot done school wise, which is a relief, and I'm hoping having some of that stress eased will make drawing more do-able.

In life news, my grandmother is still alive and physically seems to be doing better from what I've heard. Her mind is gone and I hope that's a blessing for her since the house was kind of emptied of all her things when we thought she was on her way out for good. Family members are with her at all times and really I just hope she's content as much as possible. Thank you all again for all the help, donations, and understanding from September and ongoing. I still want to do something for all of you but I very much appreciate that you guys are okay working within my limits.

I've been meaning to mention this for...about two years now. If you've been seeing me repeatedly following you, please know that I never unfollowed over anything personal on your part. To say I've been dealing with depression steadily since 2017 is an understatement. During the years where my vision was fading, I unfollowed a lot of people because seeing everyone else drawing was a very painful experience. After that, dealing with various episodes of severe grief, depression, and vision changes had me repeating the process of following/unfollowing/re-following some of you. So yeah. It wasn't you, it really was me. And if I haven't followed you back, let me know! I was watching some fantastic people a couple years ago and I've lost track of several.

First and foremost, I post every piece of finished art publicly as soon as it’s done! So if the title of this post has anyone worried that you’re missing out, you aren’t. :) I don’t like to gatekeep or do any of that delayed posting to the public stuff. You guys have inspired and followed me for years, some of you over a decade, and I’m not going to hide stuff from you just for money. :)

Kind of by accident, my Patreons do have some exclusive content. I do a lot of sketches that just don’t make it past that stage and they’ve been winding up there. I also post the full size finished pieces there and sometimes when I’m feeling out an idea i go to Patreon to get feedback. And if you like to see how something goes from sketch to finished, I tend to post progress shots of stuff I’m working on. If any of that sounds like stuff you want to see, I only have the $1 tier so as many people who can get access are able. And those single dollars do help me out a lot; I live pretty far below the US poverty line and will be continuing to do so for a few more years.

If you just like what I do in general and you want to throw me a one time tip, I’ve got a Ko-fi. Alas, I still haven’t figured out how to thank people who send money there. But I very much appreciate every bit that people are able to send. :)

Links to Patreon and Ko-fi are below.

Like I said at the start, I post all of my finished work to you guys. The “exclusive” content was kind of an accident on my part but I’m going to keep doing it; it’s easier on my end and really the only kind of “thank you” I feel doesn’t leave anyone out in the cold. Thank you to all my Patreons, Ko-fi tippers, and every one of you for sticking around all this time! :)

Just realized I have a completely empty slate commissions wise right now and I want to draw but don't really have any personal ideas. If you're interested in getting some Razzart for yourself, this is a good time for it. :)

As a heads-up, I am still slower than I used to be. Grad school, daily bouts of depression, and ongoing family tragedy means I don't pick up my tablet every day. This really just means that I rarely finish things in two hours like I used to, so I guess I'm only slow by my own standards. XD I think the longest anyone has had to wait was a month or two and I do give consistent updates. :)

Price list for the interested:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/.....xgJjIePkM/edit

Well.

I saw Joker and...you ever see something that's good in every possible way, but the soul of the thing is kinda rotted out? This movie was well acted, had perfectly consistent tone, beautifully choreographed, and even well written, but I left the theater feeling kind of gross, like someone just rolled me in really slimy garbage.

Do I think the movie merits the controversy around it? Not really. It is basically an incel's dream come true in some ways, but it doesn't go out of its way to say that any actions in the film are good or bad. You don't really root for the main character, you just kind of watch him. Mostly the film takes a giant steaming dump on anyone suffering with any kind of mental illness, but specifically depression, schizophrenia/any illness which causes hallucinations, anyone with an uncontrollable physical tic, people who were abused as children, the poor in general, the suicidal, and anyone who takes medication to relieve symptoms of mental distress. I can't say if any of that was intentional or not; the film really banks on stereotypes of mental illness from the 1960s but it leans so hard into those negative stereotypes that it's pretty uncomfortable to watch if you live with any of the stuff depicted.

Should you watch it? I dunno. If you want to. I don't recommend taking your kids to see it though. I'm not mad at this movie and I don't want my money back, but I wouldn't ever want to see it again myself. I should caution that the film depicts violence more realistically than any movie I've seen before and it's unsettling. If you're sensitive to that or if you just don't want to be depressed today, I'd give this movie a pass. It is an intentionally joyless film.

The Good
- sets and costuming
- the acting (not just the lead, everyone was really good)
- consistent tone (bleak and grim all the way through)
- Rich People Suck™ is a pretty legit message

The Bad
- too bad the movie doesn't really do anything with that
- if you have any kind of mental illness/take medication/have suffered abuse, prepare to be pooped on for two hours
- how many cliched negative stereotypes about mental illness can one movie lean into? All of them? All of them. And how! 8D

SPOILERS TIME!!!

The big bummer about the mental illness stereotyping is that it's acted well, it's just almost entirely a lie and this movie feels like it's going out of its way to shove understanding of these conditions back into the 19th century. If Gotham were portrayed in a less modern light, that would be more understandable, but it is absolutely a modern city. The problems are all blamed on the rich and, well, that's fair. If Bruce Wayne was blonde and orange this movie would feel even more on the nose with that topic. >_>

The one saving grace to the whole story is the heavy implication at the end that it was all in Joker's head. But he's still in a psych ward at that point, so... The fact that he would be in his 50s or 60s by the time Batman came around is also something of an indicator that it's one of the many fake stories that could be a Joker origin but, like The Killing Game, probably isn't. (Btw, if you want a Joker origin story that's...not this...give The Killing Game a read. Yeah, it kinda fridges Barbara Gordon, but overall it's a good story and it contrasts the choices people make when put through the same terrible circumstances very well.)

On a personal level, I never liked the idea of Joker having any mental illness beyond narcissism (which also is not strictly a negative thing for those who have it). Look, I've been in the mental ward myself. Someone who could bring a city to its knees ain't comin' out of there, trust me. It's just out of character in general and giving someone like this multiple illnesses and traumas is why it feels like the movie is crapping on a huge swath of humanity that is, in reality, pretty harmless. The film likes to imply that Joker doesn't have a choice in his actions and that's...not good. Or very consistent to the classy, clever clown that is pretty much more popular than Batman himself.

That's my thoughts on Joker. It's not bad in the fun way, but not good in a fun way. Either somebody didn't think through the message they were sending or is intentionally targeting a group of people that currently have minimal rights as it is and suffer tremendous abuse already. It's a beautiful, delicious apple that you just took a bite out of, swallowed that bite, and then notice only half of the worm that was in there is left.

I think I need to watch HBO's Chernobyl again to get the taste of this off my brain. At least that's depressing for a reason and I didn't feel like I needed a bath after.

I’ll give it this: the one good thing about really bad ragweed allergies is that I can’t really feel any emotions past the constant burning in my eyes and other stuff. XD

Landlord situation is still ongoing. I can’t say much about it right now publicly but I’ll give y’all the juicy details when I can.

Haven’t heard much about Grandma B. Things seem to be the same but they’re moving and throwing a lot of things out now. I don’t like to think about it and I hope it’s not upsetting her.

A big BIG thank you to everyone who was able to contribute financially! That did ease my mind on a lot of things and I was able to get Petey dog food and she’s going to get a much needed bath next week. :) If y’all who sent anything could note me with the email you used through PayPal or Ko-Fi I’d appreciate that. I can’t promise anything but I want to try and do something for you guys. :)

In case anyone missed it, my last grandmother is dying. I can't go to visit her, I'm just waiting for the news, and I don't know if I will go to the funeral. This is coming on the heels of my other grandma's death in May, which lead to a serious suicide attempt on my part. And throughout all of this, my landlord has been consistently trying to evict me and my roommates despite our records all showing that they are in the wrong; I'm trying to put together some sort of legal defense. This is on top of two solid years of bad stuff happening constantly before it reached the point it’s at now. And I'm in grad school.

A few people have asked to help. I'm not much on ideas for that right now, but if you want to help and are able, here's what I can think of right now. Don’t feel bad if you can’t do any of these things, it’s okay and it happens. Just don’t leave comments saying you want to but can’t; those add to the stress for me.

Texting
I don't like to talk to many people. If we're close enough that you already have my number, I am usually in need of someone to talk to at night when things get bad. Let me know if you're okay with being on my suicide prevention text list. I don't always want to talk about things there, either, and might just want a distraction from the constant stress and pain or I just need someone to quickly knock me out of a bad place mentally. Don't expect any calls; it's very rare that I call anyone since I'm pretty introverted. If I mostly only know you from here or conventions, please don't be offended if I don't take you up on any offers to talk.

Money
It's sad to say, but it's not untrue. I live down to the dollar every month with nothing to spare. If you can and want to, I can always use a few extra bucks to buy dog food and pay off bills. I have a Ko-fiband Patreons on my profile page and my general PayPal is zebitsofthegodsATgmailDOTcom Please don’t send money if you can’t afford to.

Art and or writing
I haven't done much in the way of original work in a long time but I still appreciate art of favorite characters from media I like as well as old or new OCs of mine. It just reminds me that people haven't forgotten about me entirely in a tangible way.

Funny or interesting videos
I like funny animal videos, news reporters screwing up on camera, and documentaries (nature, space, science). Send some favourites and things that make you laugh.

I'll add more if I can think of anything. Thank you to anyone who's read this far. I don't want to go back to the state I was in over the summer but I don't really know what to do to stop it from happening. If you guys have any suggestions, I'm happy to hear them. Yes, I see a therapist, take meds, and have signed up for jiu jitsu. It's not much but it's what I got. I journal too. Thanks for any help folks.

(Thank you everyone for comments on the previous entry. I may not respond but I’ve been reading them all and I appreciate it.)

tl,dr: Good GOOD fantasy lit here that everyone can enjoy! Go! Read! 8D

https://archiveofourown.org/series/833844

I want to talk about something good so let me tell you about my favourite ongoing fantasy series that you can read right now!

 the-greys started this series initially as a comic and later brought it back as an ongoing series of novellas. The series takes place on a post-apocalyptic world where the planet herself took a stand against nuclear power and knocked civilisation back into the stone age. Millennia later, the world is inhabited by dozens of different races and creatures, cultures, and people fighting for the life of the planet in a struggle between magic and technology; those who remember Gaia, looming over all in her slumber, and those who tread on dangerous ground, believing the disasters of the past to be just a myth.

Set against this backdrop are dozens of characters whose lives intermingle in comedy, love, and the kinds of honest everyday mistakes we all might make. But their mistakes definitely have a twist that leads to adventure...and hilarious mishaps. :D

Most of the stories center around Evan, secret werewolf but kind hearted, and his band of mercenaries, the Freelance Good Guys. Early stories follow the lives of the FGG’s first members, from a little girl caught up in a war between land and sea, to a fire elf who gets into a lot of trouble just trying to be themself, to two princes whose love for a slave fae puts their kingdom at risk, and way more! And once the group is all together, we get to follow their adventures, which are at turns funny, heartwarming, and full of life.

There are also some stories of the more common folk, like Itchy and Ginger and their family of satyrs living in Drifter’s Hollow who can’t quite stay out of trouble (it’s Itchy’s fault). We even get to see the past of the ocean’s rebel resistance leader himself in the most recent story.

You like great characters? World building that feels like it has depth? Fantasy races with a twist and some you’ve never seen before? Laughing at a guy who just can’t stay out of trouble ever (it’s Itchy)? Give this series a read! If one story doesn’t quite suit your fancy, check out the others!

https://archiveofourown.org/series/833844

There’s also a dedicated lore blog for the curious and if you want these on your bookshelf after reading them, you can get them in collected editions.

Go read some or all of these! I know you want to know who Mr. Ocean is, what a rat controlling nymph is doing in the city sewers, and check out the best buff centaur lady in all of literature. :D

Honestly? I really like this series. I’ve read the whole thing three times and every new story brightens my day. I burned out on fantasy about ten years back but Looming Gaia keeps me coming back for more every time. I’ve been following this series since it was a comic and it’s been great to watch it grow. I really think there’s something here for everyone. :)