That mystical text game that I've alluded to for a couple of years has finally been uploaded for public consumption. Anyone that can tolerate human weight-gain themes, and some reading, may find it a worthwhile. It's a little slow at the beginning, but certainly a unique experience if you stick with it.

Since it's not furry, you can find more info on the game website, or join the discussion on WeightGaming.

It's probably about time for a new journal. It's only been six months or so.

I've been largely occupied with my main project: an interactive text game about weight gain with human characters. I'm in midst of final bug-squashing and last-minute content additions, and I hope to finally go public with it in the next week or two. Release will be announced at http://gaining.servegame.com, with a pending section for discussion to be set up shortly on http://www.weightgaming.com

In the meantime, I'll drop the couple of pieces of art I've managed to work on. The first is an incomplete sketch of my dragon character that's been sitting in the unfinished pile for while. I also revisited the "Immobile Danny" picture. After opening the old Photoshop file a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't help but poke at some things that were still bugging me. It ended up getting a makeover.

Thanks again for all the faves and comments over the last while! I'm not super-active, but I appreciate the feedback.

First of all, thanks again for the faves and watches. They're still trickling in, and I really appreciate it -- even if I'm not dropping thank you notes to every member.

But let's admit it... quite a few of you were probably thinking "hey, he's submitted one image. It's probably not even HIS artwork. Likely as not, he'll just disappear now".

Well, I hope to shortly get at least get that specific concern out of the way. I'm putting the finishing touches on a second image. Tried some new techniques. Got a drawing tablet, which ended up being as much a hindrance as a help, since I'm stubbornly ingrained to paint digitally with a mouse. Still bloody time consuming -- but at least I might keep it under a month this time. *sigh*

I'm still deciding whether to do a "insert" panel with a detail shot. Potentially a big delay, and I'm not even sure if it will work. About 90% done without one, and about 60% done if I go ahead with it. We'll see.

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On a separate note, I just wanted to rant/ramble for a moment on the topic of where my art style comes from:

I was never super-elegant with writing utensils. I'm a lefty, and my handwriting is terrible. I can manage a bit more finesse with a mouse. Right handed. Which is weird.

Despite this, I dabbled a bit with traditional arts through school. I was pretty decent at graphite drawings, often with a focus on shading and depth. I also enjoyed playing with linear perspective. Later I had a bit of success with Photoshop, using the digital medium to combine these mediocre skill sets. I might try and dig out some of my high school sketches for shits and giggles.

With my growing appreciation for the ample figure, I was also struck by how much some styles of fat art irked me. Specifically, in cases when it lacks a sense of actual "weight". The way fat ought to pull, and flow, and settle. It needs to have substance, and react to gravity.

In short, I wasn't a fan of the "poof, belly balloon" technique. Luckily there are quite a few artists who apparently feel the same.

So, I began to rely less on outlines for form, and pushed shading for 3D lighting to give a sense of space. I slowly honed my Photoshop painting technique, and tried to eke out a sense of mass and volume. And thus, I have an extremely tedious and haphazard method, that kind of works. Most of the time.

At least I labeled my Photoshop layers this time. That helped.