Hi, everyone who reads this. Assuming anyone does XD ~

I was looking at my recent artwork today, and it crossed my mind that people may perceive an implicit theme throughout my drawings that I'm bad-mouthing masculinity. I want to openly dissolve that premise.

I don't think masculinity is inherently good or bad. It's just a thing. I know and love many people who wear masculinity extremely well. It fits their personalities and lifestyles, and they appear to be wholly comfortable within it. I similarly know many feminine people that feel the same. I also recognize it's not a binary; the same logic applies to anything along the spectrum between masc and femme - including the absence of both. Neither right, wrong, good, nor bad.

Instead, the point I'm trying to make is that it's a choice. Some people may try it on and decide it doesn't fit them. That's okay. Alternately, you may decide that you like masculinity enough to suggest someone else tries it. That's okay too, so long as you're willing to detach yourself from the other person's educated decision.

I'm assuming most of you already know all of this and many of you are in a similar place, mentally. But there's a bigger principle at play for me. If I allowed my drawings, even unintentionally, to vilify a certain lifestyle - that would be unkind. Kindness (the principle) is an enormously important thing to me. The last thing I want to be remembered for is "being the person who waged an assault on masculinity just because it didn't fit me as an individual".

Not only would that be unkind, it just wouldn't make SENSE. The only things we should use words like "love, like, and hate" toward are other living things. Masculinity isn't a living thing, it's a concept. You can't functionally make an enemy out of a concept; instead, what you may inadvertently do is make enemies out of people that value that concept. And to be transparent, there is no one in my life who is using masculinity as a weapon against me. I don't think I'd even know what that MEANS.

tl;dr I'm totally cool with masculine folks. I'm just enjoying my departure from being one. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

Hi!

Work is gonna take up most of my time for the rest of this month, so if I'm involved in a trade or YCH with you - please be patient! Normal service will resume.

Hi, friends! I'm very grateful for all the people who watch me, especially those who +favorite my drawings and leave me comments! Thank you so much <3

I wanna show my gratitude with a drawing! Production is underway for the following folks:

- The tragic  kizmit - http://www.furaffinity.net/full/30433088/
- The wonderful  fell ~ http://www.furaffinity.net/full/30204016/
- The tasteful  creatureofhabit
- The friendly  peppermintlumix ~ http://www.furaffinity.net/full/30588660/
- The cute  a.zippo
- The astounding  ladybluestar28
- The precious  battybunni
- The incomparable  flyingtanks

Based on a recommendation from a friend, I've decided to do a series of pictures involving my alter Bandit.

You see, Bandit has been wanting a new wardrobe. But he'd much rather have custom-tailored outfits than go pick things off the shelf. So I've hand-selected a small number of friends to help me design these outfits!

I've privately sent notes out to each of those friends with the details of my project. I'll add them to the below queue once they've accepted! In the meantime, I'll be working on crafting a base drawing of Bandit that can be dressed up in each outfit. He's gonna be my little Bandie doll ~ ♫ ♪

0.  zoel_noone Base ==> http://www.furaffinity.net/full/27697882/
1.  battybunni ==> http://www.furaffinity.net/full/27807170/
2. MelodicLyrics (on DeviantArt)
3.  flyingtanks ==> http://www.furaffinity.net/full/27821401/
4.  yakamaru
5.  mystrial ==> http://www.furaffinity.net/full/27767236/
6.  CreatureofHabit ==> http://www.furaffinity.net/full/27753818/
7.  LadyBlueStar28 ==> http://www.furaffinity.net/full/27850130/

This is going to be a lot of fun!

So, um.

I've noticed a buncha folks with extremely well-developed characters whose published art and stories really only seem to barely break the surface of their tales.

It makes me wonder - how many artists are managing a multiplicity or dissociative condition through their art?

...asking for a friend.

(privately note me if you wanna)

When you think about it beyond gifts and trees and flying old men, this holiday is about a time in the world when things kind of sucked until someone showed up that gave them hope.

We all celebrate for different reasons. This year, I celebrate the arrival of hope.

Here's what I know I have in my queue (4/30/18):

1) Headshot for  peppermintlumix
2) Free art of  ladybluestar28's character Blair
3) Collaboration with  battybunni

~ ZNO

normal service will be resumed

Looking for volunteers! No cost, no obligation!

I'm well underway in creating a comic strip featuring my three main characters. It's going to be pretty violent. People will be hurt and, in some cases, killed. Well, I mean - it's a cartoon, so on-screen deaths really only mean so much...

I'm looking for volunteers! Do you have a personal character that you'd like to see assaulted? It can be an antagonist character that you'd like to see thwarted, or a character that just likes taking some abuse. Or whatever!

Only restrictions: (1) it has to be YOUR character or you have to prove consent (i.e., don't go volunteering someone else's character without their consent); (2) no erotic requests - this is not meant to be sexy; (3) I will draw the character in a toon style to match mine.

It doesn't have to be a death - I have lots of scenes involving non-fatal altercations. It doesn't have to be bloody - I have lots of scenes involving *implied* death, too.

I know, it's prolly a strange request. But it sounds like fun in my head. For perspective, my head is a cool 58 degrees Fahrenheit and echoes with calliope music.

Thanks much!

Toons.

Inspired by the art of  DrRedox, as well as classic characters like Woody Woodpecker and Gadget Hackwrench, I am going to retool my characters' proportions to give them a more toon-like anatomy.

Don't get me wrong, I like the typical furry anthropomorphic model; however, I see my characters in my head differently than they've been turning out when I apply that model to them.

So I'm going to toon them and see if that matches what's in my head.

Happy Easter. Hooray bunnies.

My chicky, she works in retail. She tends to work a lot of holidays. Invariably, someone comes into the store my chicky works at and says "it sucks that you have to work this holiday!"

And my chicky diplomatically refrains from saying: "listen, champ, the fact that you came into my store in the first place is WHY I have to work this holiday."

It's funny how your characters develop the more you draw them. I've taken on a 30-day challenge to draw a different expression every day. As I get more and more familiar with what attributes I consider important, I can see subtle changes day by day. This is exactly what I hoped to get out of such a challenge... by the end, I'll have refined the features I consider most important.

Finished my first art trade, which felt cool. I've seen the lineart for the half I'll be receiving, and it's really awesome. Seeing your characters interpreted by artists that you like results in some pretty great feelings. I've also bought a couple commissions, and I feel the same way... it could get pretty addicting. Not to mention, I learn something new about my characters every time I see how someone else has drawn them. It's all contributing to a canon that supports a story I intend to start publishing next year.

Thanks much to everyone for helping me learn more and more about things I really care about. I'm super grateful.

October was another month of progress for me. I've been soliciting criticism from Reddit's FurryArtSchool, and it's been helpful. I've been having fun practicing fur textures in my flat color and light/shade layers. Also, drawing the squad fighting each other has forced me to study anatomy.

I introduced Whisper early this month. I don't intend for Whisper to be part of my upcoming story. Whisper was really created to be a "normal" furry, to allow me to practice things in a way that doesn't erode the canon I'm trying to establish for the other 3. Faith is skinny and always angry, Serenity is muscular but kinda shy, and Kindness has a higher BMI while being really malevolent. Whisper is meant to be normal with a normal disposition. That's also why I chose blue eyes and blonde hair - pretty normal stuff. She's been fun to draw.

This month I'm going to focus on proportions. Right now I draw heads pretty big for the given bodies. If I drew chibis, that'd be okay - but I'm not. And although my style is pretty cartoony, I want to learn the classic anthro furry style. My next training piece will reflect adjusted anatomy. It'll also compel me to draw each of my characters one head taller, I think. I hope it turns out okay.

Thanks much for reading! I'd love to get into art trades, if you're interested! I can't promise a hasty turnaround time given my job and workout schedule, but I draw every day. Note me or reply if interested!

September was a fun month for drawing. Kindness has now fully joined the team, and I can proceed with canonizing each of them. I put up a couple of comic pages that I had fun creating; they took me a while but they forced me to work on things like consistency and backgrounds. Granted, my backgrounds are still very amateur - but I'm working on it.

I think my next endeavor will be a series of pieces to force some anatomy practice. My squad is entirely centered around violence, so it's imperative that I spend the necessary time developing skills relative to how characters interact in a fight. Cue professional wrestling as a rich source of inspiration for two people engaged in interesting combat poses.

Gosh, Zoe - a comic based on sports entertainment AND has nothing to do with sex? Is it even POSSIBLE to have a negative number of viewers?

Now that my drawings are converging with how my characters look in my mind (and less potato, day by day) it feels like the right time for a first journal entry.

My drawings so far have been entirely of Faith the fox and Serenity the rat. I feel like I've come through the majority of the critical design decisions for their faces; next will be full body practice and clothing development. There's a third character in the design phase I intend to roll out soon, too...

I have a story in the works for the three abovementioned characters. It's still in drafting but I expect I'll be storyboarding by the end of this year.

Thanks for reading; more to come!