Big thank-you from me to the get-well-soon wishes from the last journal.

I began crawling back to everything, starting with sketches and simple things so I can tackle the serious business with proper brainpower.
There also probably some more updates coming up, I will make them public separately though, since it's been a while I really could sit down and think things through.

Stay safe in the meantime!

Just fyi, I got it now and will go back to work asap once it's over.

Not an excuse, but an explanation. I was so focused on other things the past 4 weeks, I kinda forgot to catch up on the correspondence, which I will tackle soon, fyi!

Hello everyone!

So recently I have been diving back into The Land Before Time a bit and it still seems to be very appreciated by you folks.
As some of you might remember, I had a comic going on with Littlefoot and Cera, which I had to lay on ice due to the failure of my promotion in 2019 and 2020.

I do consider doing a number of things I strongly, STRONGLY believe most of you will highly appreciate. For example either a revival of the old comic idea, or an overhaul or even a different idea entirely. Other things I have had on my mind for some time now are image sets, mainly of Dragon Tales, however I could warm up to the idea of doing those with LBT characters as well; and if it is neither of these, there are also still my own characters.

The big HOWEVER on all of these ideas though is the funding. I have refrained myself from plugging my patreon page too much for the sake of non-intrusiveness; the result being that it barely grew over the course of 3 years.
There have been plenty of people telling me how much they would like a comic done by me including the subjects I mentioned above, but that's only possible if I finally reach my 1st patreon goal of overall 500$ a month; then I can tone back taking in new commissions and invest the necessary time and power to achieve this in a realistic amount of time.

Not gonna lie to you, I feel bad writing this. It feels like begging. Regardless though it doesn't outweigh the feeling of stagnation that has been plaguing me for quite some time now.
I wouldn't come out like this if I wouldn't believe that I can deliver something worthwhile for you.

With the necessary support from you, an immense weight would be lifted off my shoulders, it really would.
So I request you, do pledge to my patreon and if you can't or don't want, tell others who might be interested. From the next work onwards, I will also remove the “Do Not Repost” caption from my jpg's and furthermore encourage you to share my work.

Closing this, if you already are or consider becoming a supporter of mine, never hesitate with feedback and suggestions about what you expect my patreon to be like, like polls on things, dedicated themes for something, along these lines.

https://www.patreon.com/Trias

What do you know about these critters? *points bright lamp at your face*
Where do they come from, what do they do?

What do you like most about them and what makes a neat kobold character in your opinion, like colors, shapes, whatever?

~~~

Didn't expect this to blow up to this extent; thanks so much for all the detailed and well crafted comments; I have read them all!

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a nice enough Christmas time!

No need to sugarcoat anything I don't think ~ this year was a tough one for everybody.
I would have liked to talk about the C, but I better don't, because, you know, this particular illness was made political.

Let's all work together good and hard to make the future better and don't give in to doomsday cults.

There would be a lot to go in deep about, however I do believe we shouldn't get distracted from the core of things.

2021 for me personally was the first year of the dragon, literally, as well a time my strategy of getting more done started to pay off (despite everything). I intend to keep on going and if you're on to something good, be courageous and do it!

Thanks so much for all the support, well visited streams, nice comments and inquiries, all the patience with me and I wish you a happy new year 2022!


I see you soon,
~Trias

I accidentally put a temporary invite link in the last journal, which I fixed. Like last time, the perma-link is now at the top of my profile again.

"50"
I know I haven't gotten around to work on the commission backlog yet, but I'm close again. Right now my 50th image for this year is in progress. For the past two years I could only barely get there as late as the end of december; now finally my catch-up strategy starts to show results and for the first time since 2018, I will finally crack the 50 picture mark again, which raises my mood! :)

Hellas everybody, it's one of THOSE journals again!

First things first: there is a new server of mine finally ready to roll: https://discord.gg/UBJ7tsjB

A few comments on how it works:

-you can join the server to get notified about streams
-in order to access the major areas you must be an entry level patron of mine
-for the entire server, you should be serious and in the financial position to support me with the 7USD tier

The structure is arguably sterner than the old server and much more adjusted to its purpose than the old one was, granting a better, more exclusive atmosphere for my supporters.


In other news, I caught a cold (nothing too heavy though, which is actually nice for a change) and am working on tackling the commissions. I already stated my stance on 2021 and can safely say that lessons were definitely learned.

Stay tuned for more streams and always remember that stagnation can't be a thing!


~Trias

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give you an update on how things are with me, which is a lot better than two weeks ago. My sleep is a lot more stable since I actually do get tired again and I could get back to the drawing board.

As I wrote in the description here https://www.furaffinity.net/view/44322053/ , it still takes way too long, because that little drawing took me 6 hours; in the flow this would have taken 2-3 at maximum. However I will keep working on the performance more regularly.
That shall be it for now, thank you for reading.


Ah yeah, almost forgot to add that I will get back to replying to mials and comments regarding everything soon~

Hey guys,

I thought I should let you know that I am desparately trying to get my sleep back on track, hence why I am writing this at an impossible time. I will get light medication consisting of valerian soon, because I take 3 hours to fully wake up only to then just not getting tired again, not even after 8 hours of work.
Suffice to say, my concentration level is round about not-so-good and my brain is a mess.

Wish me luck, 2021 effing broke me; it's annoying to no end.

Dear folks,

It's been a while since I made a status quo journal, so I figured it's about time.

Many people complained and still complain about 2020 being the worst year for the psychological effects of the pandemic measures. To be blunt, all of those left me unscathed last year, but hit me full force this year.

Following several run-ins with unpleasant and ill-meaning people, I suffered 4 depressive episodes and my sleep problems returned. A dear family member was diagnosed with a terminal disease and we have a few other burdens more to carry. But that only on the side of things.


I've received questions regarding the discord server as well as commissions.
Regarding the first, I deleted it, because it basically became a muddled mess in which my own contributions went under, defeating it's purpose. A new one is currently in the WIP stage; I will post an update on that separately once I get around to fully flesh it out.

Regarding commissions I have to be blunt once more: I am very bitter for several reasons.
People keep asking me about their point in the queue, despite me telling EACH individual personally that I have a public queue here on FA right on my profile: it's beyond me how so many people never seem to scroll and look and blatantly ignore what I am telling them.

The next thing I want to address is my output on personal art. The pieces you mostly see serve a certain purpose. That purpose is to speed up my flow and update my techniques so the time-work investment is on a reasonable level.
Since 2020 I am frantically working on that to do PRECISELY what you want: fighting that long-ass queue which built up in 2019, again, thanks to sleep deprivation.

Due to the continuous interruptions this year, my workflow was broken several times. Despite of that though, I am currently sitting at 46 presentable pieces.
To put this into perspective: in 2019, I had 49 of those and 50 in 2020.
2021 still has 3 more months and I am already at 46: DIRECT PROOF that my methods are working.

Right now I am halfway through one more flow-piece before I can finally tackle that commission queue again.
It's imperative for you to know that my main paradigm of work, even after what I just said, remains “quality over quantity”.

People are getting impatient with me and I can certainly understand that, however when you paid in 2020, you will certainly get a much better piece when I get around to it, compared to the level I was on when the deal was set.

I am working on things as often as I can; the person who is offended the most by those waiting times is the same who wrote this journal, you better believe it!
My health hasn't been the best this year, but as I laid out, the tide is turning, slowly but surely.


Thanks for reading,

~Trias

Hey folks, I wanted to inform you that I will take some time off during the next two weeks!

Other news go as follows, because there are some things floating around that need clearance.

I have no idea who is responsible for this rumor to spread, but let me assure you they are a blatant liar.
This rumor has it that I dropped the work on the LBT comic for good, which is neither true nor did I say anything of the like.

It is true that there are some problems with the project that I didn't foresee when I concept-ed the idea back in mid 2019. That time frame alone is in itself another deal I am not happy with.
I put this particular project on-hold for several different reasons; if you are interested in them, please proceed reading:

⦁ my strategy of getting enough funding for it hasn't worked out in the 2-year time-span since its inception
⦁ the funding is a defining factor for the speed of completion, as it would have allowed me to dial back on regular commission work, however it sadly didn't work out that way
⦁ the source is frustrating to draw inspiration from due to the bad writing of the movies and the cartoon, the ENTIRE lore of the comic is my very own work, merely the characters designs are anthro-forms of the LBT franchises characters

The one smart thing I did with the comic is the way I set up the concept, which allows me to pick it up anytime I feel like it without much of a hassle. However there is also the factor of my technical skill, which is now differing quite a bit from the way I did things back in 2019.
That doesn't sound all too bad overall, yet regardless, the lack of funding remains the deciding factor of the on-ice sentence this comic got.

I am not blaming fans and followers for this by any means, as I said, my own strategy misfired. I got a tip as to why that is: the subscription system and mixed reputation of Patreon, which I am sadly aware of now too.
Fate has it, that a little poll I made on my server revealed that a good 70% of folks are more in favor of me tackling an anthro Dragon Tales project, which I intent to do.
I have ideas in discussion which involve an entire comic again, as well as at least one image set, which you can either get via Patreon subscription OR (and this will be new) via itch.io and/or gumroad.

I still need to read into how these two options work, but I believe those will give a much better incentive to give my works a try in terms of light payment, as it's always a one-time purchase.
Additionally, both the image-sets and the new comic will be slightly smaller in scale, to help me better developing a flow for comic creation and story-telling (easier compared to the 36 pages of the LBT one).


So, with that I hope this will leave a better taste in your mouth: LBT comic is NOT dropped at all. Lot's of things are going on and I have zero intention of giving anything up.

Rumor-spreader, if you read this, next time actually use both of your eyes and actually read what I write, instead of spreading bullshit allegedly in my name that make people worry.

Thank you very much~

Hello everyone,

unfortunately I found myself having to turn down a number of commission inquiries and sadly most of them could have been avoided.

I urge anyone who is interested in getting a commission from me to check my Do's and Don't-list.
All you have to do is scroll down my very front page here on FA, which will show you the current queue as well as my e-mail, then the points of what you can and should not inquire.

A bit further down you will see that the featured submission is my info- and price-sheet, with copy of the aforementioned list in the description. It should take at best 4-5 minutes to look everything over.

Thank you very much,


~Trias

I start to feel like I'm making excuses, even though I'm not, honestly.

So yeah, I upgraded both the CPU and mainboard of my workstation and ran into an entire bunch of problems I didn't expect whatsoever. That lasted for over an entire week.

The ram modules and cooling unit I had were incompatible with the new mainboard, however apart from that oversight on my end, here is a real stinker incoming...
Turns out Windows 10 hates drastic hardware changes SO MUCH, that it doesn't allow you to re-enter your product key, meaning it refuses to let you re-activate the software you already paid for... thanks for nothing Microsoft...
A PC with an inactivated Windows 10 is less useful than a computer in an internet cafe, certainly.

Well I ended up having to do an entire fresh installment of my OS with a new product ID, which included (because my internet connection speed is below 2mb/s), long winded downloads, activation and installation processes and edits to the system, since I always hack and slash my Windows 10 so it actually does what I want it to without the bloat- and spyware (makes it also a good bit snappier and responsive).

Last but not least, I spent two entire days of troubleshooting because Windows Ink was messing with the pressure sensitivity of my tablet. I had a typo in a code-document you can make to circumnavigate Windows Ink, however I had to make so many other edits to cut down W-Ink that I am only 50% sure that my typo was there from the go or the actual reason...
Not to mention my stupidity of not backing up my most current brushes, though reconstructing those was child's play after what I'd been through up to that point.


...Last Friday I was finally able to fix the last glitch I had.
So far, I am prioritizing building up my work-flow again, which is why I wasn't responsive to messages and e-mails. I will soon pick up on that, promise!

Some time has passed since anybody heard anything from me, I know.
I'll be blunt, I haven't been well, things haven't been well, shit happened. Friends and friends of my family are having psychological breakdowns thanks to the incompetent covid measurements of my government and I myself don't feel good when people in my direct surrounding suffer because I care about their well being.

On my end, I ran into a conglomerate of weirdos, idiots and had enough negative encounters with people concentrated densely that I dreaded checking my messages and messengers for a few weeks. I don't feel comfortable on my own server anymore and the thought of streaming makes me anxious and nervous, even though I want to try again today.

Usually I would say I hope everyone has been alright, but given the circumstances many people still have to suffer in, I can image things probably could go a lot better on you guys end as well.

However, I also think trying to pull myself together is the best thing to do and so I am slowly but surely working on nudging my way back into the groove. The spirits have to go high again.

~Trias

An Aide-Memoire

As far as I experienced it, life never plays single notes, but always chords.
In the late 90s up to the mid-late 2000s, to me, it seemed like hip hop and rap music were inescapable because wherever I looked, everyone seemed to be into it and it was never far away.
Of course hip hop wasn't absolutely everywhere, there were ways to avoid it: not watching MTV, simply buying different CDs, watching anime and cartoons, playing video games.

Circa two decades later though, around 2020, some things seem even more inescapable to my 30 year old self than hip hop was when I was 10. These “some things” have become politics.

I have always drawn a very strict line, separating what I think are the right politics from my work as an artist. Nothing you see me doing is and will never be politically motivated. My brand-name is going for old fashioned wholesome entertainment for everyone (preferably around and above the age of 18) and I think that is what you should do too.
Let me explain what I mean and why I think it's the wiser decision in the long run.

Popular music genres change over time, fashion and trends change over time, political paradigms are no different.
I will go straight to the point: if you devote yourself to an ideology, as it's been not unheard of for well over 120 years now, you're in danger of stigmatising yourself. A stigma that can bite you in the ass once you choose to go a different route, your life changes or when you simply change your opinion based on information previously unknown to you.
Utter devotion to a certain political route, especially when you associate this devotion with your entire person or persona (or brand), will cling on to you to an extent, depending on how vocal you are (online as well).
The consequences can be devastating to your well-being, as you invite customers and/or employers to judge you as harsh as you may judge them.

If you see yourself as a political actor, commentator or simply someone who wants to “spread the message” you think is right and good, you are absolutely free and welcome to do so, there is nothing inherently wrong with that.
However, life plays chords and I believe everyone should be aware of the rat's tail this includes.


In this day and age, I am absolutely certain each and everyone has an idea what this phrase means and where it comes from: “everything gets politicised”. Even viruses aren't spared anymore, this is the status quo, this is how things currently are and what is making the rounds.
People tell me they don't want to talk about the pandemic “because they don't like discussing politics”.
With that and all the social political discussions and things brought up by those on the left and right wing spectrum during the past 7 years, I believe a distorted view of reality forced itself into most peoples vision of life.

Let me tell you from the bottom of my heart: NO.
It is simply wrong; not everything is political, not everyone is corrupted by something, not everyone has a hidden agenda.

When you are tired after a long and hard day, you just want to rest. When you are hungry, you want to eat. When a friend says something mean to you, you are hurt. When a loved one hugs you and spends some time with you, it makes you happy. When someone tells a joke you find funny, you laugh and best of all: you too have to bend the knee to take a shit.

My recommendation, especially for artists, but for basically everybody is this: look for the universal aspect in things. Aspects that matter in the long run, ask yourself what is going to stand the test of time and put your energy there.
Is it going to be “something something because -current year-”?
Remember what I said about hip hop music. Do you also remember that Fred Figglehorn was the most popular character on youtube? Do you know who I mean when I type “AVGN”?

Dragon Tales reminded me of something very recently. When I grew up, nobody told me to accept, tolerate or like anything. The message I picked up had a very different character to it: Don't be an asshole. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

This is why I draw the line stronger than ever in my work.
When you see a big juicy butt, delicious boobies, inviting curves of any sort or simply an adorable face, politics have no business occupying your mind in these moments, that is not where they belong.
Have you ever shouted a political claim while busting a nut or squirting a stream? Let me take a wild guess: probably not. Nobody does, so why would you mix these things?


I wanted to write this essay-style aide-memoire because these thoughts had been on my mind for a while.
I hope I could clarify that I don't honestly negatively judge anyone who feels the need to address political things in any way, there is a time and place for everything; I merely wanted to point out the things I think kind of fell by the wayside since no one ever explicitly says it or points them out. After all, it's about chords, not single notes.

Last not least, I am making a statement that everyone who appreciates my work is absolutely welcome.
Be my guest and enjoy a relaxing, politics-free ride with dinosaurs and dragons.

~Trias

Yes folks, I suppose the craziest year for most of us is about to end. Many folks won't shed a tear I guess, me included, all things considered.

I too want to thank all of you old and new fans, supporters and friends!
Swimming against the stream, despite everything, for me personally 2020 was a huge improvement over 2019, but since so many of the people I know had so many problems, this year still goes out with a damp blanket over it because of that.
My heart and thoughts go out to all of those who had it so much worse than me, I hope all of you will see a turn of the tide!

Regarding myself, I was able to increase my output significantly. The only drawback there being that most of the good stuff happened in the background and I have yet to put it upfront, but looking back to 2019, I gladly take that as it is.

So what's next in 2021?
Well I definitely want to direct my focus on results now, usually I am not the type who puts much value to new years resolutions, but this time around I believe it makes sense.
2020 consisted of practice in large portions, practice that needs to settle down over a longer time than just a few months; since I didn't only work through two entire books from head to toe, but also made major changes to my techniques.
I also wanted to put some more focus on my Ocs and their lore, yet I just found myself taking almost 200 new screen-caps from Dragon Tales, so I just won't promise there won't be dragons in the mix x3
Out of the franchises I ventured forward to, Dragon Tales really grew on me the most...


This shall be it, hit the bottles, meet some friends and drink on the new year 2021 ~ I see you guys again soon!

All the best,


~Trias

Hello folks!

Yup, I reopened commissions!
Other than that, I reflected a little bit on my output this year and I believe there is little reason to be negative overall.

Many people are hating the living crap out of 2020 (for way too obvious reasons), but for me personally, 2019 was so much worse. I made 46 colored images and a bunch of sketches I never colored.
2020 however, I recently made my 49th colored image AND 8 pages of workable comic sketches (meaning very little refinements needed), most of which you have seen. Roughly estimated I would say I did about 50% better than last year in terms of output.

I already wrote about me adapting better workflow methods, therefore becoming speedier, as well as about my anatomy studies which also make the drawing look better overall.

Of course I can not predict what 2021 will bring, but in regards to comics and commissions, I think I will do better than this year.
A little word on my work cycle: I have to switch between patreon commissions, regular commissions, the comic and personal work to keep myself motivated. After the Zak and Wheezie image, I will keep the personal stuff on an easier level rather than always going for complete renders.

I want to thank everyone for their support and patience, the faves, watches and nice comments and I wish you a Christmas as nice as it can be during these wild and crazy times!


~Trias

Hi folks!

I decided to upload a stack of drawings I mainly made last year. The more time passes, the higher chances are they'll just become even more outdated and it just doesn't look like I'll ever get around to actually color them.

As I think the ones I had stored away are still good enough to share, I put my trust in them being pleasant enough as sketches so you're not completely disgusted x3

I'm gonna upload them soon for you to judge!

~Trias

No streamersooski today because bad case of low energy after plowing through the Stella pic over the weekend ~ apologies! x3

I will do the comic stuff tomorrow!


~Trias

Referring to: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9671979/

Hiho again everybody!

I did not expect so many people to react, honestly, thank you very much!
I'm glad to see so many of you are completely onboard with me and what I said in the last journal, judging by your comments.

At no point I was angry or offended or pissed off or anything. Much worse things than that have already been thrown my way, so stuff like that doesn't get me going the negative way at all anymore, honestly.

However I just wanted to establish that it wasn't my intention to point at the fact that I got blocked, or the person who made the initial comment.

The point I made about fan-art and the like was actually the reason I made this because I think it's an important statement to make in a growing fan community with so many different interests like the Furry Fandom.


Peace Out ~ Trias


...x3

It's a point I think is important to consider, don't go after the person, don't contact them or harass them!

~~~

"Don't you think it's odd your sexualizing a very young children's cartoon show? This grosses me out. Going to unwatch."


That's fine by me, if you think so, fair enough. I forgive you for the youtube-style comment.
However since you took the time to comment at all, let me offer you my perspective on that. I find it odd on my part that me of all people get's this sort of comment on the dragon tales (or land before time) stuff, considering that large portions of the existing fan-art show all the characters in their original, underage and even animal state, doing sexual stuff.

You see, I perceive that as odd because I always make sure (and always did) to proper anthrofy them and age them up with their body proportions, making them obviously adults while also excluding fetishes most people see as "niche" to put it that way.

Another thing you might take offense in would be the very place you're at. The furry fandom consists largely of fan-art made of characters originally coming from content aimed at younger audiences, because that is where you just happen to find most appealing animal/anthro characters. The list of shows and games is way too long.
All folks who take their time to create fan-art do it because they LIKE or even LOVE the source; otherwise they wouldn't go through the effort of it. In 99.9% of the cases it comes from heart and never originates in spite or mockery.

Overall, I'm not saying you should change your opinion, but I want you to be aware that your criticism comes across as very "greenhorn-ish" and superficial in this case.

Hello folks, I figured it's time for an update.
I won't go into the effects of corona and the fear-mongering the media and my government gets horny on or any of that stuff.

I took a 2-week break because I was burned out. In the meantime I got a few messages from people anticipating more of the comic, as well as their commissions (naturally).

I suppose those weren't the only ones noticing the slow speed I still seem to have; it's something that has been bothering myself for much longer even.
This year I took in 2 entire books with about 85 pages of handwritten notes to refine my anatomy skills and I have been looking for other methods to get my work done more efficiently.

The Cera and Angel pics are the first results of these new findings of mine. If any major differences to previous work was obvious, I think more people would have pointed it out, which just did not happen ~ a goal reached as it seems to me.

However I have to say that I've been only at this for a few years on a more professional level. I am not good, I still lack practice, the knowledge I acquired still needs to sink in more, which has finally begun to happen, fortunately. My works from 2007 to mid 2017 were 100% amateur.


Some techno babble about what I actually mean because I feel the need of pointing it out:
I abandoned the super clear ink-lines, other artists who are better than me aren't doing it this way either as I noticed, so one very time and brain-power consuming method is gone
I use my sketching method for the clear drawing, which seems to maintain the flow and dynamics much better
I do the shading and lighting free-handed as well, much like the sketches, which also got rid of the rigid dead-on precision I had before with the stabilized lines

Before I adapted only the things I listed there, I actually often suffered physical pain in my head and back due to the extended tension and concentration the old methods required. Hopefully these are on their way out now.
A more complicated ink (for 2-3 characters for example) took up to 7 hours sometimes, same for the shading and lighting. I don't even want to go into the economic consequences of that.


So... Not sure what else to say after this, if you read the above you know what's been happening.
I know you want to see me doing the naughties now, especially the comic ~ I want the same I can assure you.
Personally I think I'm at a point were thinking about stuff and planning around is done; I need to finally put stuff out now to actually show my capabilities and what I'm about as an artist.
Commissions and comic-work will resume this week, I suppose it's proper again to do this on certain days.


~Trias

Sorry for the absence from everything; I wanna answer mails and messages again soon.
The heatwave ended and the temps dropped so rapidly that I had a tough time again from that. 4 days in a row I overslept by like 3-5 hours because I just didn't hear my alarm, which is weird because it is super loud and I still wasn't refreshed or well rested at all.

I feel like a piece of rubbish, incapable of doing anything useful. Doing my best to get back on track so I can hammer out new stuff.
Please don't get mad, I do what I can, promise.


~Trias

Hello again folks, another message from me, I try to keep it brief.

Ever since sleep deprivation pretty much ruined 6-9 months of 2019 for me, I am still fighting against a huge backlog, as you can see by that impossibly ginormous commission list.

Not only that, I still need to do a similar amount of patreon commissions, as well as story illustrations to finally honor  vallygirlly who has written tons of stuff featuring Sora and friends since mid 2018.

It is something that honestly bothers me much more than even the effing heatwave atm, which is why I close down on September 1st.

I will keep the comic going, but other personal projects are definitely on ice, outside of doodling.


Back in 2017 and 2018 I was able to pump out 200 images, 100 in each year. However I was more secure in my amateurish technique and had a couple of books and tutorials less in my brain.
I hope that I can increase my speed with more direct practice from here on out to get your images done better sooner than later ~ it gives me a feeling of falling far behind and losing and I don't like it.


~Trias