God what a miserable year.

The Frontloaded Rant

Holy shit is everything awful and quite frankly I spent an uncomfortable amount of time in 2025 wishing I wasn't alive. What an incredibly wonderful time to be alive. To think it couldn't get any worse than 2022 or 2024 and yet here we are.

Like where do I even start when talking about shit in 2025. My home country elected the second coming of Harper to jubilation and pretended everything was great. I moved back in with family and that's...been sort of okay but at the same time it really hasn't. I don't miss being alone but I do miss having some degree of autonomy because I now live in car-dependent hell again.

Also my second laptop died, RIP ASUS of 8 years, I miss having you as my dedicated art PC. Hopefully I'll be able to resuscitate you and run a Linux OS on your or smth. I'm also upset my external HDD died as well, now I'm down to just my main PC's 2nd Drive for backing up all my art for the time being. Please don't die on me.

I also miss not having an income, and I certainly miss not being in university. I knew I was in trouble the moment I started my admission process last year and every day I have spent doing this degree has given me a new reason to hate myself and everything around me. I hate the program, I've clashed with so many professors, and I thoroughly despise most of my classmates, especially those that have outsourced all of their thoughts to GenAI slop machines and somehow look at me like I'm the stupid one. God I love being reminded that I'm an outsider. I hate this arrangement, and I hate that I don't have any better options.

And everything sucks doesn't it? AI Slop everywhere all the time. Everyone is more antisocial than ever. The internet is getting censored at a rapid rate. Everything is more expensive than ever. A new domino falls in place for the impending climate catastrophe every day. MULTIPLE genocides are happening around the world with hardly a finger lifted, and the people that can actually enact meaningful change are too busy distracted or worried about ensuring they can make it to their next treat.

I swear I'm going fucking insane. I love living in the periphery again and realizing how bleak everything is. My current 5-year plan is hoping a disease or accident kills me by 2030 so I don't have to live in the fascist apocalypse that we're all sleepwalking into. Given EVEYRTHING happening, I really don't feel like centering myself in this journal, but this rant is just a preface to a completely different topic, so let's shift into that.

Numbers and Stuff


By my count I uploaded something close to 280 pieces of art to FA this year, including alts and random nonsense. I've had very little going for me in life over the last year so art became very much the only thing I COULD do, and just went at it even harder than ever. I don't feel like I've improved much, but at the very least I've gotten to a point where I can make things constantly. Quality is more hit-and-miss, in general I don't hate what I create, but making so much art has paradoxically made it harder for me to say there's a ton of standouts or highlights. Strange, isn't it?

Best Performing Submissions of 2025
1. [Trade] Warm Welcome (by Atherol) : 27 Faves
2= Livshorn Page (original sketches by Atherol) : 24 Faves
2= Mean Baddie : 24 faves
4= Mega Mammary Mishaps : 23 faves
4= Swimsuit Eclair : 23 faves
4= Beach Cats (Nude) (by GalaxiMonkey) : 23 faves
4= Bunny Ricka Redraw : 23 faves
8= Swimsuit Eclair (but no swimsuit) : 22 faves
8= Samira Pinup : 22 faves
10= Mille Facesitting : 21 faves
10= Back Alley Backdooring : 21 faves
10= Desiree (original sketch by Atherol) : 21 faves

Numbers kinda don't mean much to me anymore but it's nice to have a consistent category with every yearly entry so why not keep at it.

The top favourited submission for this year is the lowest scorer in the six years I've been doing these, oddly enough. Though the average across the top performers is actually close quite high, almost 2023 levels but without the (absurd and aberrative) peaks of that year. But what's more interesting to me is that much of it was my own art this year, due to my inability to get anywhere near the amount of commissions I had gotten in previous years. I do miss having a job.

I do wonder what this year would look like, given that I'm not really following Atherol nearly as close anymore. Don't have the means to support them and much of the sketches they did for me were either the rare openings of stream requests or because they saw me post characters in their server. But given that I'm not a member of either anymore (this is very much a me thing and not anyone else's fault, but I cannot stand a good majority of their mutuals and server members), I doubt there will be any further art from them in the near future.

There will always be art from Gala though. They are my OG and I will be dead in the ground before they stop receiving money and orders from me. Year 8 of being their strongest solider baybee.

Also on the note of numbers, it's pretty interesting to gauge them here because it's so much more contained. Posts on Bluesky tend to achieve greater numbers, but data is harder to track because sometime a post gets retweeted by a bigger artist and the next thing you know the numbers are absurd. That's not really what I look for with number reviews, but I am appreciative of the surprises when they happen, and in general I'm pretty grateful I've established a small and reliable audience on a second platform.

I still much prefer FA, I hate browsing through art on a social media timeline. I do detest what the medium for posting art has become, I miss dedicated galleries and that's why I'll always keep a foothold here.

OCs made this year

This is pretty relevant to me, why not make it a new category, huh.

Everything may suck around me and even my ability to commission art has scaled back significantly, but in addition to making art at a steady chip, I have once again been making tons of characters, for various character creation projects (two more countries chalked up this year) and just general satiation of my endless desire for more hotties. God has cursed me for my hubris and my work is never enough.

So what cool characters have I made this year? Surprisingly it was a very mild start to the year, I only made 7 in total during the first half of the year (Makoto, Saglam, Emek, Roksana, Kare, Akhzol and Jeanine). And then I just kinda lost control and the plot again and before you know it: Boom, another 50 made and now it's at 256 characters in total. Oops.

My power for creating characters is both a blessing, and a curse. Especially since I can't just make a design for sale. They gotta be a full character for my use. Maybe I'll change that this year. That's a New Year's Resolution worth making, maybe.

Anyway, cool characters in no order:

Saglam: Finally an Aggron with a more balanced body shape (as if the exaggerated hourglass shape is "balanced"). Still, she's a hella good looking baddie and I'm pretty delighted with her, especially as Asmin's self-appointed friend. Did you know Aggron is my favourite Pokemon, she's my 5th Aggron now lmao.
Emek & Roksana: Oh these two troublemakers brutalized by the lives they had to lead. Incredible duo of characters, very happy I made them and proved that I still love making felines. Emek I need you to lead the communist revolution soon, bro.
Jeanine: It's still hilarious that everyone in a friend group started talking about needing Milotic OCs and I'm still the only one that's made one. She's become a bit of a favourite among a few followers on bsky, and I can't blame them, she's a beaut and her being a good girl into baddies is very fun to play around with.
Marliepard: Technically a species alt but boy did I make a lot of lore to justify it too, and boy has she proven popular with people that have seen her. Marleine continues to ascend her way into becoming a main character, she might be my mascot at this point. Thank you, spunky older woman.
Livshorn: Don't expect much of her in the future because antlers are a pain to draw and people are weird about her. But it was very fun to feel the urge for a big character and for her to turn out so splendidly. Really did not expect that initial burst of popularity she got, but now I'm just kinda happy to have her recede into the background for a while.
Tanja: F I S H ! ! ! Look she's just very pretty and a very cool unorthodox choice of species, the Norway character project was really fun for how it made me focus on Water and Ice type Pokemon.
Niloufar: This year was really the year Liepard became a top 5 Pokemon for me, thank you Marliepard. Niloufar was the newest addition to the Liepard love, and I just love having a more intense nerd character that actually believes in her crafts, herself and in putting effort into things in these fucked times. Yeah she might be a reflection of my jaded outlook at this point, just way more talented than I am.
Mille: Oh boy, the standout from that Norwegian project, Mille dominated my art for around a whole month, all from a very spontaneous decision to make a Frosmoth with some inspiration from Melony. I knew I was onto something special when I drew their ref sheet and absolutely loved how they came out. Everything just fell into place after that. Character of the year for me.
Angela: So June has a hot mom now. And her siblings are also full-on characters. June quietly had a big year in 2025, because her stupid and unbridled joy is something I really needed. Also did you know her mom is hot? I feel like June is rapidly approaching my location with a loaded gun every time I say that. But yeah, Angela is hot. I dunno what more needs to be said.
Ehre: So at some point I started phasing out some old characters from the first character creation project (Switzlerand from last year) and Ehre was one of the replacements, and I honestly could not ask for a better one. Honestly they were meant to go in a different direction but once I irrevocably tied them to the Sonic CD soundtrack the creative choices going forward all became defined by it. In my defense, that album has quite possibly shot up to being my second favourite video game soundtrack ever, and I need Ehre's unbridled hope for reaching the other side of the rainbow. Tut-tut, Ehrenkrieger.
Samira: Goddamn I did not expect this woman to become as much of a favourite as she has, especially with others. The masses yearned for a baddie, as the two pieces that exist of her right now were two of my best received works of 2025 on both platforms. Mean Baddie has a favourite to view ratio of 1:3, which is incredibly high compared to the average. Blows my mind, but there will definitely be more of her going forward.
Minerva: Huge ass huge-assed Rayquaza lady I need say no more.
Oh there is one more character made at the very end of the year that has become a big deal and you'll see her soon enough (at the time of writing this, she might already be up when you find this journal. It'll be very obvious who she is.

Established characters that had a big year

Asmin started off pretty strong and definitely cemented their position as a main character. They even had three stories written about them, something I really don't do anymore. I can just get inside their boots and their lack of speech represents a fun writing challenge. I love this strange, lonely and repressed tattoo artist. They may not be for everyone but they are for me and that is more than enough.
Fiona has become a go-to character for mighty needs. Cow women really do hit differently, because when I start thinking about her, she really does stick around for a while.
Nadifa gained some prominence too, as it's fun to have a cute and cheerful chubby gal, plus her antics and tendency to sparkle are just a ton of fun.
Marleine and Nicolas continued to be favourites to draw and favourites among friends. Spunky older woman and pretty pink prick, the true two genders.
June had a breakout year and Galina got a resurgence too. Both were mostly down to one dedicated friend of mine, so thank you for that, homie. I will continue to make them as unhinged as possible for ya.
The two Gengar gals, Ursula and Ofelia, also continue to get some love. Ursula has stayed a favourite of mine and a friend's love for Ofelia has helped me warm up to her too, there's something very delightful and fun about her swept bangs.


Some other personal favourite pieces, with raw link dumps:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/62847458/ EHRE CD RAAAAAAHHHH I still love how this one came out for the simple idea and how it all came together conceptually. I dither about making Metall Ehre an established character as it doesn't fit in with my setting, but I might just bite the bullet and make it a thing at some point.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/62300383/ : Iris is such a cute character and I love Leah Dou's music, it fits her perfectly.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61933647/ : Nicolas I hate you so fucking much
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61933591/ : I will continue to make fun of you for your taste in music but you can have this one, June.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61933566/ I'm still sad I had to tap out of Artfight early but man did this recieved piece save my summer semester and that isn't an exaggeration. It's still absolutely incredible to look at too.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61933571/ nerdiereindeer has got to be one my biggest inspirations as an artist as of lately, getting the chance to commission them this year was an honour, and they delivered a brilliant piece of my beloved Galina

I dunno if you want to find other art my gallery is still there and there's a lot to look at. Moving on.

Some other more personal/abstract accomplishments that can't be easily measured but mean a lot to me

I made a cool friend this year in the form of @@prefirescatter, who has become Galina and June's aforementioned #1 fan, and is just genuinely one of the nicest and most talkative friends I've had in my time on the internet. Appreciate his antics, his characters and his many ideas. Godspeed you goofy-ass gay. o7
So one goal I set out with at the start of the year was to make more art with other people's characters, because my friends have amazing OCs too and I want to give some love to them. And given that I made 40 pieces with other people's characters, or close to 1 every 1.2 weeks, I'd say I did a decent job on that. Getting art gifts always means a lot to me, so being able to pass it on to others has been hugely rewarding.
It's also been really fun this year to make characters and have people get really excited about it, not just for the characters but for my design choices and sensibilities. There's a warm and fuzzy feeling from being told how it's wild that I can create such great characters (or how I seem to be able to pull old ones out of a hat). And given that I'm already way too hard on myself on everything, this is one thing I'll exempt myself from and just hype myself up. I'm so good at character design.
It's also really interesting to hear that I'm an inspiration to others in certain ways, especially with worldbuilding that I mostly share with friends, but it's really reassuring to be told that I'm an inspiration for creating characters or for inspiring certain developments. One friend even said they had started thinking more about character origins because I play around a lot with origin countries for my own characters. That meant a lot to me as a geography geek who was really unsure about introducing that element to my roster.



Plans for 2026
I don't expect things to get any easier this year. Things will likely continue to suck super hard. But I'm going to keep drawing because what else can I really do amidst it all. I'm not in a position where I can make a difference from where I am in the world.
But I'm still gonna draw and I'm certainly still going to make a ton of new characters. Before I do that, I'm gonna do some data analysis of my cast because I love being a stats geek. I'm also hoping to create a character survey so I can see which OCs of mine are fan favourites or well liked amongst my friends and followers? Will the data dictate who and what I draw? Not really, I just really want to know and my stuff is so scattered that it's hard to gauge people's opinions properly.
Speaking of organizing, I plan on doing a little bit of that here as well. I've already done a bit of folder reordering in my gallery, and I plan on adjusting my upload intervals to weekly instead of every two weeks, just to keep batch sizes down a bit.
What I really want to do is to get to know some other artists, and maybe find some servers where I don't turn into a silent misanthrope about other server members. Having some artist friends would be quite useful for pointers and help whenever I get stuck on a piece or just want to draw with someone. I don't really enjoy gaming anymore so being able to draw with others would be one way to socialize online.
I also want to get into physical crafts this year. Specifically, I want to learn how to make plushes. I don't expect to magically become good at it in the span of a year while having other obligations, but if I do create anything of interest, I will be sure to share it with everyone. And who knows, maybe down the line I'll be able to create plushes of other people's OCs as fun little gifts. That's the real dream.
I still don't have any really desire to monetize my art (I HATE MONETIZING HOBBIES I HATE IT SO MUCH) but I would really like to get into doing custom designs for others. Maybe I'll do themed adopts as well, but that's a different story.
Frankly my goal is to just make it through another year, so we'll see how this all goes.

As always, here's to another goddamn new year.