Hey people! A little late in the month for the monthly update, I know, but there are some new things to announce.

So for the last couple weeks, my IRL job has kept me busy, and I've been using the free time I had to get some things around my place taken care of that really needed to get off my "to-do" list. Online-wise, I used that momentum to get around to setting up a new, and working Skype account, and now I also have a Twitter account now!

I'm new to the whole twitter thing right now, so it'll take me a little bit to figure out how this new fangled program works. But, aside from using it to interact with people, I also want to use it to just update people on stuff goings on around on my end. If there are any Gundam or Gunpla buffs around here, you can be sure to find some interesting things to pop up on there as well (New stuff if I get it in, stuff I've already built, etc.). So be sure to drop in some time (although, there may not be much right now as of this typing.).

Also, since that time is nearing, I also wanted to mention that I'll be attending Megaplex again this year. So if you are going down there too, chances are we might run into each other. Or if we've already met before, it'll be great to run into each other again!

Among other things, I plan to take some time to update my Weasyl page since it's been long over a year since it's been updated.

So, if you want to follow my Twitter, you will find it at: https://twitter.com/Zfox1k

If you want to get in contact with me via Skype, just send me a note, and we'll set something up!

It's been a busy month so I don't have any sort of talking point for this month, but I'll try to think of something for August. So that's it for now.

Hey, people. As I said a couple months ago, I wanted to try doing a monthly journal for a little bit. So now that June has come along, it's about time I got started on it. I missed my chance to do one for May, so I had to make up for it. Again, my overall goal with these are to help me be a little more social, but I also hope to hear your guy's input on stuff, and maybe even learn a little more about everyone who watches me at the same time too.

Content-wise, they could be about anything, really. I may end up ranting, or rambling for a bit, or make them short and sweet, but I will try to keep a similar format for all of them. So in advance, I apologize if some of these feel a little long winded. Well then, not much more that needs to be said, so let's get this started!

I've said before that making update journals tend to get old after a while, but even still, it seems like a good idea to start these off with. So then, what's going on on this end currently? Well, since I got back from vacation, I wanted to get a couple regular pics out before I get back to making comic pages. The "Omega Alpha" pic was one, and I'm currently 80-ish% done with the second, and will probably get a quick follow-up sketch out afterward. So, I'm looking to get back to TGC comic sometime this weekend. I also have some ideas I want to try to flesh out "Dingo and Thunder", but that's still going on hold for right now while I get other stuff finished.

Other than that, nothing bad to say going on IRL. Just getting back into the swing of things over here.

So with updates out of the way, why don't we talk about "'sonas"?

Personas, fursonas, avatars, mascots, anything that can be used to represent something. A lot of people have one, and a lot of people don't. But, even if you don't, just having a screen name should be indicative (giggity) of some kind of 'sona. For example when you connect to World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Counter Strike, FA, a forum, etc, you are interacting with people as your screen name. Even if you're interacting with someone you know IRL, they can still recognize you by said screen name. It's the identifier with which you represent yourself whether or not the behavior you associate with it is how you genuinely behave or is just an act. Then we get into a niche thing like this fandom where a lot of us have created avatars to better personify them. It's an identifier in a different sense since it requires a different layer of creativity to flesh out, and as a result, we have fursonas of every size, shape, color, and species. Whether it be it a grey wolf, a brown horse, a green reptile, or a biolumiescent sparkledog.

In the case of the avatar I've associated with my profile, it's been the face of my screen name since long before I set up an FA. The origins of my screen name were pretty simple and uninspired actually. It came from three things: Wing Zero was my favorite gundam, I liked foxes, and 1000 was tacked as a joke to beat random name/number generators. So needless to say the fox character I have isn't really reflective of my screenname. Like, at all. To me, that fox down there below this journal post holds a place in my heart for being there for a long time, but really can't hold the weight that other people's 'sonas have. It fits more as a "it is there" kind of thing. So as the years passed, I ended up drawing him less and less, and I've been beginning to ponder lately to either revamp him or make a new mascot that better reflects some of my screen name more, and the work I make altogether.

So that's how I see the 'sona I've made for myself. How about you guys? What are some of the origins of your guy's 'sonas? If you have a fursona to asscociate it with, what do you see them as? Personally, I like simple characters, and hybrid designs that make a semblence of sense over things like rainbow bioluminescent sparkle dogs. What are some of your guys praises and peeves when it comes to fursona characteristics?

That's the talking point for this month. I decided to go with something safe, simple, and more fandom orientated to kick off these posts. Again, future journals probably won't be as tame a subject that this was, but it seemed like a good way to break the ice. Write your thoughts below. :3

Don't watch Twister, and listen to Huey Lewis and the News at the same time ever again. "Stuck With You" and the drive-in theater scene happen to sync up WAAAAAAY too uncomfortably, and hilariously well.

Oh dear god!

Alright, as I said in the last journal, I was going to do a TMI Tuesday today. You guys have questions you want to ask me about myself, my characters, content, or anything as long as it isn't my social security number, ask away. I'll try to answer best I can in a timely manner.

-Scroll down to TL:DR if you want to avoid reading.-

Hey people. I know these updates are wearing out their welcome, but Ive been wanting to chime in about it for a bit that I'm finally putting more priority in getting the General Long comic worked on.

Lately, I've been feeling like Ive flip flopped on working on it for the last few months, and said some stuff in the last journal about making comics in general, and my experience with them. Looking back at that part of the journal though, I've taken more time to seriously think about what I should be focusing on and what direction my stuff is going in general. Making the couple small comics also gave me more time to think about it too. Truth is, getting some of this stuff worked on is only limited to how much time I set aside for myself to focus on it, and for the last while, Ive been too preoccupied in micromanaging everything going on with my freetime to actually get anything done. So somehow I think part of the reason I vented off about it was that I was looking for an excuse to keep delaying it furthur.

But in the end, it doesn't accomplish anything. More importantly, its inconsiderate to all of you guys who take the time to watch and comment on my stuff when something gets promised, but nothing's delivered. Then to boot, I make you all have to suffer me rambling on like this about it. It's a comic I want you guys to enjoy, and simply put, I don't want anything mar the reception of it.

So again, TL:DR, I feel like I've acting like a drama-llama on the internet, esspecially by still going on about it like this. So I'm sorry. You won't see me going on like this about anything again. I promise you that.

Getting that out of the way though, the quickie idea I had about Ruze didn't seem like it would do justice. So, another Ruze comic is on the way, and this time I'm pondering making it clean for once. So look forward to that.

Finally, I've been looking for ways to interact better with people here. Last year, complications made Skype go bust, so I was thinking of doing something like a TMI Tuesday to start small. That and followimg some people's example of possibly monthly journals just about stuff if you guys are interested. So how does that sound?

I will catch you all up to date on what's up, and then rant for a little bit. So what have I been doing?

A small hiatus, and now just working on stuff is all.

For the first couple weeks since my last upload, I had to take a little hiatus from drawing since life was generally getting stressful at work and home. A couple of times, I even tried jotting something down, but everything I came up with never got passed the "squiggle line-phase" so drawing anything was put on the side until things got better IRL. And sure enough, time passes, the world turns, and issues have been resolved so things are looking pretty good right now.

So to break this down time, I have a little three page comic quickie I've been meaning to make coming up featuring some characters I have not drawn in a long time, and the whole thing is planned out with one page out of three inked out already. At the same time, I have a couple other ideas for comic quickies that I wanted to toy with (one featuring what Ruze is up to, btw), and so I've been wondering if I should do more one or couple page comics over the course of the year. On top of regular pic uploads of course.

"Well, what about the General Long comic though?"

It's kind of a mood killer getting into the subject, but it's still an important issue that needs to be addressed. So I am going to go on a little about it and let you know how 'dedicated' I have been seeing it though. First off:

1) I know what I am going to do with it.

2) I have about 10 pages planned out already. However...

3) It has been really slow going with it.

I still have no finalized design for some of the characters, and I have been trying to figure if it would be uploaded a page a week or in segments. Those are the minor issues.

The major issue comes with everytime I make these 25-30 page "long haul" comics. It takes a lot of devotion, and there is a lot of stress that comes with it, and in the past I have been able to put up with it. Seeing the final result is well worth the effort. But after a couple years of soing it regularly, it has been getting hard to listen to that part of my brain that says, "just buck up, sit down, and draw dammit!". It keeps bringing back flashbacks to when I was making Honor and Pride.

I've never mentioned how I really felt about H&P before to you guys, but that comic was a nightmare to get finished since the moment the first page was uploaded. There was a lot of unexpected shit going on mid to late 2013 that made it a very hard comic to get done. Esspecially since it was all written and drawn on the fly with no pre-planning. To this day, I still think page five of it was one of the worst quality comic pages I have ever done. Even the ending plot point of Ruze being placed under arrest was also a result of not thinking, and just trying to get the whole thing done before the year ended. That being said though, I still liked the comic. But the experience of making it was a true test of my nerve. Something I'm really glad that didn't pass on when making Fire and Ice, but I won't lie that the reason that comic had no color was because of experiences making H&P.

To clearify, it doesn't mean I hate the characters or the world that was made for them. I really want to make these comics, and when I get started, I do my best not to leave things unfinished even though I don't get paid out of it or anything. But, I'm having a far easier time committing to small couple page comic ideas than large-scale, grandious plot structures. So that is where my main focus is going right now. I really hope to see the comic done, but it doesn't look like it is going to be finished anytime soon.

TL:DR, "Don't expect or unexpect the comic". I apologize for rambling about it or coming off as "woe is me", and it is nothing against anyone waiting for it or asking about it. But, I really had to get that off my chest on why it is taking so long to make it. Sorry for beating around the bush with it.

Whatever the case is going on with certain subjects though, art is still coming. The year has still just started still so who knows what it will bring. There's way much more to life than to allow the drama llama bring us down, dammit. So here's some animals close-up with a wide angle lens.

...why do you have to be so addicting when I'm trying to get stuff done? :(

Hey people, just chiming in again. So here's what's been going on for the last while. I am still working on the side story comic. It has been taking me a lot longer than I expected it to get done, and has actually become longer than I thought it would be. There has unfortunatley been very little progress made on the General Long comic as well. Along with the little progress being made, it has also brought some other things to light. Mainly that I made a mistake choosing the holiday season to devote time to comic making. Making these comics takes up an unbelievable amount of free time, and an equal amount of devotion on top of it. And right now, to be absolutely blunt, I don't feel like I have enough of that time and energy right now to sit down, and start pumping out pages.

Does this mean the comics are dead? Of course not! How could you think such a thing? The side story comic thing will be completed with 100% certainty. I still have a little bit to go with it still, but Im still working on it. But, it does mean I'm going to have to give the Long comic a hiatus until further notice (which may not be until next year).

I'm sorry to the people looking forward to it. Things didn't not pan out the way I hoped they would this season. I will still get some pics and the other comic out in the meantime. :(

Things have been a little quiet on my end lately haven't they? We'll it's not without reason. So here's what I have going on, and here's what I hope the plan is. I've had many ideas I want to do, but the problem is that I've had a hard time prioritizing them. So now, I'm settling this once and for all. First, I do have a couple things I am still working on, and will have them posted most likely next week. One of them is a small, sketched out comic quickie that I only have a couple pages left to make! I've been working on it on and off since august, and I plan to get the final pages sketched out and posted to finally get that out of the way. The second thing should be the profile pic of Ammon, and the third thing... you'll see. But, now after these finally get done, I will finally sit down, and begin work on the next comic because if I don't get to it, I will keep saying, "Oh, I'll get to it later!", and that later never comes. So that's the game plan so far. Get three things done, then start the next Dragon Clan comic. Sound good?

For those that will ask, the next comic is the one involving General Long, but the next comic quickie is a fun little side story of the events of the last comic starring Falz and Eins. Look forward to it.

Also, have a spoopy halloween.

Alright it has been the longest, yet most fun, yet most exhausting vacation I've had in a long time, but it's finally over. I didn't really get into much detail when I mention it earlier, but what's been going on lately was a quick business trip followed immediately by a ten day excursion to the UK. But, I am back, and it's great to finally be back in my bed again instead of a hotel's. I will take a couple of days to wind down and catch up on stuff that's piling up, but then it will be back to the grind as usual. Finishing up some of those ref sheets, and at the same time, touching up some sketches that I made before I left.

I'll also post some choice pics later from my trip. Look forward to it. :3

Hey, people. Just a little announcement about my skype. I'm getting rid of it for now. I've been trying to fix it lately, and it looks like the whole thing is going to be scrapped entirely. So I have no skype to be able to chat with people right now. Just putting it out there.

Hey, guys. Just letting you know these next couple weeks are going to be pretty quiet. I have a business trip coming up in a few days, immediately followed by yet another vacation, but this time it's out of the country. So I won't be taking the time to update character profiles for a bit. However, I will use a little bit of free time that I have to probably get a sketch or two in before going full silent.

So the old computer is finally back up and running. So here's what happened, and it's kind of a funny story:

Although I wasn't home when it happened, from what I could piece together (after talking with some of my neighbors), what may have caused it to fail was because of a storm recently. Basically, a bolt of lightning struck not too far away, taking out a couple of my neighbor's appliances, and causing a surge that fried my hard drive. So I get back home, turn the comp back on, and insta-dead. Needless to say, it also wouldn't have happened if the battery backup I've had for about a month did it's job, so that had to be replaced on top of it as well. But, things should be getting back to normal now.

Hopefully things like that won't happen again, but the problem now is that some of the things that got wiped out with the HD were some things I was working on recently or hoping to get around to later, and didn't get backed up yet because I'm an idiot. Especially the badge I was still working on for Megaplex so I'm still kinda bummed about that.

...Well, at least the motherboard didn't get fried too.

I'll try to get a sketch or something out sometime soon in the meantime.

Well, my computer decided to take a vacation from working properly for the summer. So it looks like I now also have a couple days away from drawing while it is out for repair. Fun times.

...so I'm looking for some feedback. While there's already a couple things on my list of things I want to jot down, I've been wondering if maybe there was some different kind of content you guys would like to see, especially in the rule 34 department. With things being busy as usual for summer, sometimes it becomes difficult to think up different things to make on the spot. I've already heard some good suggestion recently, so I figured I'd put it out there for a little bit. Maybe there's a different pokemon to try, maybe there's a different character, etc. from a VG or show, or maybe a character you want the to draw more of. Let me know. I'd like to see what's on your people's minds.

Hey people. With it not being too far away, and people already beginning to talk about it, I wanted to say that I'll be attending Megaplex this year. It's my first con I've ever attended, so I probably won't be doing too much other than walking around, and that kind of thing. But, I'll be there the whole weekend. I'm going to try to make myself a nice little badge for it too featuring a character you all might recognize off the bat rather than whoever that ugly mug in the avatar box is. So if you run into me, feel free to say hi. If you already know me, I'll see you down there. And if you want to hug me, slow down a sec because I'd rather you ask first since it's odd to lunge at people. See you down there.

So now that F&I is over, many are probably wondering what other comic ideas are in store. Well, there's some good and bad news.

The good news is that I already have a couple ideas for future comics that I think would be fun to work on. The first is an M/M strip featuring one of your guys favorite characters, General Long, and the second is an idea for an M/M/F pic featuring General Tomei. I've had more time to think about how to make the General Long story work, so that may very well be the next comic project coming out. Sorry, I won't give any spoilers on that just yet. I know a lot of people are asking for a sequel to F&I, and I will get around to that in due time. I want to make a sequel to that, but I want to get some other stuff out of the way first.

The bad news is that I don't know when I'll have the time to tackle them. Things around here are getting pretty busy for the summer, and I have other trips, extra work, other projects, and some other issues that need to be dealt with before I can consider sitting down for another comic stretch. But, in the meantime, I will still post regular pics, rule 34, or whatnot. So don't go planning any funerals if I go quiet.

I'll try to keep you guys updated on any other goings-on as they come around.

Edit: I'll try to get something done with Ruze as well. I might do a couple comic quickies with him being in one of them.

Hey, guys. Just a little heads up that I will be away on my vacation for about a week's time starting May. It doesn't affect uploading stuff now, it just means whatever pages are upcoming by that time will take a while longer to get finished and put up.

When I first heard Seth McFarlane was remaking Cosmos, I expected it to be pretty decent, but I didn't know if I would actually watch it or not. Usually when I hear Seth McFarlane's name thrown around these days, I tend to feel indifferent. However, I'm glad I decided to give this a watch, and I'm glad I did. It's not often that there's a show that opens up that part of your brain that keeps you glued to the screen and invested for very constructive reasons. A lot of the first episode basically brushed up on a lot of stuff that we may already know, but that's still a good starting point. Considering that there is a lot more that we have learned about the universe since the first Cosmos aired, it'll be interesting to see what future episodes have in store. Also, it's nice for there to be more shows on television that don't contain superfluous information or flat out erroneous material (Looking at you "Ancient Aliens").

Long story short, watch it.

Hey peeps. It's been a bit since I've updated you guys on what's going on. I know I've been very quiet these past weeks. Basically, I've been toiling my ass off, but I finally feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief now. So here's the low down:

- First, the new comic. It'll go by the title "Fire and Ice". I am also two pages away from finishing the sketching out of the whole thing, and, boy howdy, this has shaped up to be a doozy of a comic. Originally, I planned the comic to be around 23-ish pages like the last one, however, I've had to add four more pages since I started, bringing the thing to a whopping 27 pages. Now, I am quite comfortable with it being that long. This has shaped up to be a really great comic so far, and I am really happy with it, but I'm going to admit I reaaaaaalllllllllly don't want to have to spend another 6 months on this one like the last one took. Esspecially when I have other stuff I want to do as well. That's why I want to ask you guys ahead of time if you don't mind I have the comic in black and white in order to get the thing out there as quickly as possible. The first page is already finished in color, so I'm not bothering with that, but all the following pages would be in black and white the rest of the way through.

- Second, I've gotten myself a new piece of software to help my comics have a more "comic-y" feel. I got myself Manga Studio 5, and I'm itching to test it out after I get the last two pages done. While Sai is a great piece of software, and I stand by it, it lacks a lot of what I need to make great looking comics. So I've been doing some research on it, and the general consensus I've seen was that this was a great way to go.

-Third, I'm going to take a few days break from drawing, period, as soon as the two other pages are done (which should take about another day or two) before I burn myself out. But before I start posting pages, I'm going to get a cover page done as well as a couple more profile pages for the main characters.

That pretty much does it now for updates. Not much else is going on so here's a scene from Robowar. TESTOSTERONE!!!.

Don't know just how many Gundam fans are watching on here, but damn did you see that Neo-Zeong? Strutting around with it's Alpha Azeiru boosters and all.

http://gundamguy.blogspot.com/2014/.....-over.html?m=1

Go see it. It'll make everything awesome.

Alright, Skype has been being difficult for me anyway. So here's what's going on. Because things have been wonky lately, I'm just going to set things to ask.

Hey people. I'm sorry I've been mostly quiet these past few weeks. I've been busy getting other affairs in order over here so the next year isn't a mess, as well as getting over a bad cold, but things are doing good now, so I felt I should keep you guys up to speed on a couple things happening.

- First off, I'm happy to announce that I've settled on a new comic to work on. It's going to be a change of pace from other ones before though in that it'll be a M/F piece, however, the main character this comic will be focusing on will be King Drake. Also, there will be an appearance from a new General that I haven't revealed yet by the name of Baron (so I'll try to get a pic of him down before too long). So far I've already gotten a rough storyboard already down, and am still busy getting the first page finished, but I'm not yet ready to upload anything just yet. There's a couple things I need to do before I start doing that.

- Second, I have a Weasyl page that I will be mirroring my stuff on. I've had it by the side since the outage FA had back in December but it's been silent if not dead this whole time so it's about time I got around to working on it or at least making it look pretty. Before you guys say anything, no, this does not mean I'm leaving. FA is still the go-to place for my stuff. Just about everything I post here on FA will also be on Weasyl, but here will always be the base of operations. So I'll also be woring on that in the meantime as well. You'll find the page at www.weasyl.com/~Zerofox1000.

- Thrid, I now have a Skype account that I'll post up soon. I wanted to try to be a little more active than I usually am so this'll help with that a little. The only catch though is that I tend to be a little quiet, esspecially when I'm working (in or out of the house) so please don't be upset if I don't answer your replies immediately. The only thing I ask is be sure to leave your FA account name when you send a request. I, like other people, would at least like to see who is asking to friend me.

So that pretty much sums up things in a nutshell.

It's been a year since I started up my FA account. Here's to many more years and stuff to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xemLz_fR1Ac