Ask the Foxes: Outfoxing the foxes

 

Nick: It honestly depends on the fox. There are some of us who take...an almost obsessive amount of pride in always being on top of things and ahead of the curve. To outwit a fox like that...eh...it's not a pretty sight.

Val: I take it you've seen a few.

Nick: Once or twice...you meet a lot of foxes in my line of work...unfortunately...You know what gets a fox like that's dander up the most though? Getting outfoxed by a fellow fox. *Laughs* It's the difference between upsetting and absolutely devastating.

Val: So...have you ever been 'outfoxed' then?

Nick: *Laughs* As much as I hate to admit it...yes. By a bunny of all mammals.

Val: Ahh...so that's how Officer Fluffbutt got you huh?

Nick: Completely trounced me...still does it too. Almost daily...I'd be embarrassed if I didn't love her so much.

Val: Jeeze...sounds like that rabbit has your tail in her purse.

Nick: Very funny, but I'll have you know Carrots doesn't have a purse.

Val: Ugh...

Nick: It's a tod's weakness I'm afraid, it doesn't matter what pelt they wear. The one you love is always two steps ahead of your heart. That's just nature...*Chuckles* I imagine it's the same for vixens too...

Val: Yeah, you'd be wrong bucko...

Kodi: Hey S'more, are you still down for the Sam Hain double feature later? They got “The Thing” and “The Shearing” back to back!

Val: Er...yeah, uh..sure...

Kodi: I got some of those chocolates you like too, the cherry cordials?

Val: O-okay, thanks! Can you like, go already dude. We'll meet up later, alright?

Kodi: Okay, Love you...

Val: Uh-huh, great.

Kodi: *Slithers up behind Val, nuzzling under her neckline with his muzzle as he hugs her.*

Val: W-What are you do-!? Stahp!

Kodi: I'm not leaving till I get an “I love you” or-.

Val: Dude, j-just...let go-, not in front of-!

Kodi: *Nuzzles deeper* Say it...

Val: B-Back off or I'll-! I'll bite you! I mean it Ko-!

Kodi: *Snuggles*

Val: *A purr slips out of Val's muzzle before she quickly clasps her paws to her lips in horror.*

Kodi: *Releases his grip, a smug smile crawling across his muzzle as he hastily retreats.* That'll do, see ya S'more.

Nick: *Flashes Val a half-lidded gaze.*

Val: Don't, don't say it...

Nick: What did I say? Two steps ahead of your heart...

Ask the Foxes: Magnetic Fields

 Nick: In my personal experience, it's not so much...'seeing' as it is a feeling.

Val: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say!

Qali: It's like...you can feel directions. And the stuff that kinda, pushes directions around...like other mammals and wildlife.

Nick: It's kind of harder to make sense of as a kit...but as you get older you start to get your bearings for it, and eventually it sort of becomes a...I don't know how to put it? An involuntary compass fixed in your mind. It's always keeping you subconsciously aware of your surroundings, even when you think you aren't paying attention.

Qali: I think the only time I've ever actually 'seen' the magnetic field was the few times me and Trenny visited Wade up in Tundra Town. The aurora borealis is the magnetic field, right?

Val: Pft...yeah...they teach us that in like...fifth grade.

Nick: You know, we foxes get called a lot of things. Thieves, liars, sneaks, cheats...but the one thing you can't call us at any time is lost. We foxes always know where we are. Hell, the Norwulves usually put the foxes among them in charge of navigation.

Val: So if you ever ask a fox for directions and they don't pan out, know that they didn't get it wrong, they just lied to you for fun. *Chuckles*

Spooptober Update! (Project Announcment!)

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Martin Nilsson

Happy spook month to my Patreons! Es ist beggint! As always, thanks for supporting me and keeping this whole 'art business' alive! Seriously, you guys rock. And I hope October proves to be as productive as I'm aiming for it to be. So let's just jump right into it, shall we?

This is an all production update status, aside from making mention I'll be trying to make some time to watch some Halloween movies with family, and other Halloween activities this month.

So I'm going to lead with this bit because I didn't get a lot of feedback on this idea when in my last post. Mostly cause people seemed to be just so super excited at me being back at it again they didn't notice that part of the post, or perhaps because it was like the last part of it. But I want to bring up merch again. In my last journal, I put out feelers to see just how people felt about me making some sort of sell-able wares, as well as trying to get a feel for what kind of stuff anyone would want to buy. I threw out the idea of scrolls, mouse pads, and even daki covers. In that time, one of my backers did actually reach out and suggest starting with something simple, like stickers, which honestly seemed like the best idea. So, I ask you guys again. If I we're to make stickers of some of my characters, what would you like to see. And if you aren't into stickers, I'm still open to hearing out other merch ideas like “Legally Distinct Not Bellwether” wall scrolls, or a Val Daki or something along those lines. Again, your feedback is super appreciated.

So now onto the next order of business, and one I'm sure you guys are getting kinda eager about, the ask blog. Those of you who have long been wondering when I was going to get back at it, and wanted something a little more concrete than “Mid-October” rejoice! I will start answering asks again on Monday October 18th. So feel free to keep sending me asks as we get closer and closer to that date. Please do not feel obligated or pressured into asking “Sam Hain” asks this year. Honestly I'm so set back from the mess that was the rest of this year, I'm not exactly in the mood for prioritizing Halloween or Christmas themed asks, and that's going to go double for my usual art output. I'm not super in the mood to do a Halloween or Christmas themed pin-up, so don't expect one. This is of course, not to discourage those type of asks, I just mean I'm not locking myself into answering those specifically to be 'in time' for the holidays. Also, for those of you reading this update from the ask blog, you can also send questions for me, the author. They don't necessarily have to be related to AskDawnAndVern. I figured this was a good way to...sort of handle any possible future AMA style stuff, and keep it in one place.

As for my art plans? Well, I'm going to be opening public commissions in a few days so I guess you guys can start DM'ing me now. Furaffinity, DeviantArt, SoFurry, Twitter, if you are interested you can DM me at all of these places if you are interested, although my pricing is listed in Furaffinity, so I'd recommend looking there to gage what you want.

https://www.furaffinity.net/commissions/wastedtimeee/

That said, the reason I said “A few days” is because I'll be re-evaluating some of the prices, so they will be subject to change a bit before I make a big announcement that comm's are officially open. I'd also like to state that in an effort to keep things in an order that gives everyone a shot at commissioning me, Patreon member's will have to wait till next month to commission special art. Sorry guys, If I limited it purely to patreon members being first in line, no one else would ever get a commission. Aside from commission work, I'll be trying to squeeze in more art studies and learning new software as best I can. So hopefully we'll see some progress there.

Last  but not least, I'm announcing a very special project I have in the works...(I mean, aside from The Family Vulpes Chapters, And the Animal Crossing smut fic that I've been teasing since January.) I'd like to officially announce that I will be working on a comic called 'Savage Love'. Those of you with a keen eye might recognize the name from one of my fics, specifically the title of chapter 27 of my first fic, The Rehabilitation of Dawn Bellwether”, and that should clue you in on the subject of the comic. Basically I'm planning to make a comic of Dawn and Vern's first time directly ripped from that chapter. (With some streamlining to accommodate the format.) I figure it's a good way to get more eyes on the fic, as well as put some more nice Dawn smut content out there for public consumption. Something that doesn't have a domineering/rape theme like...probably the only Dawn comics out there. Needless to say I'm looking forward to working on it, and I hope you all will look forward to reading it.

So that's it, that's all the update I have for you guys for Spooptober. So I'm going to wrap things up by saying like...aside from the Asks, which I'm giving a hard date for, everything else is sort of, in flux. What I'm saying is, don't expect all of this all at once before the month is out. Some of these will be multi-month spanning projects, and I do have health issues that can screw things up. So, I don't want to make any hard time frame commitments.

Thanks for reading, and continuing to support spindly squid boi. Or the Woofloofaa known as Misfit...Yeah, I...er...I'm still work-shopping species names for the wolf/sheep/fox/eldritch creature that is Misfit, even if his race is comprised of two creatures total...Oh yeah, and Happy Halloween/Sam Hain Scare!

-Wasty

Special: With Breast Milk? S-sorry, I mean with breast milk?

 

    Another bit of meme content for everyone. This is probably the fastest I've been on top of a meme in a while. Maybe. Either way, I hope you enjoy Bella having a little casual interaction with a patron at her creamery. When you think about it...I mean all milk in a Zoot world would be breast milk...aside from like plant based milk substitutes and other artificial milk like liquids. Still socially awkward getting it fresh though I'd imagine. Lol.

-Wasty

Special: The Great Jack O' Off

 

I was originally discussing whether or not the Jack-O Pose really fit Dawn's character in the server a few weeks ago, before realizing Dawn had essentially done the same pose way, waaaaay back in the ask archives. I'm talking year one, specifically the mystic spring comics. And with Dawn keeping up with the meditation and Yoga as part of her therapy, she would still be quite flexible enough to pull it off with ease.

Ironically Val, the more saucy and shameless of the two, doesn't seem to share that level of flexibility despite being a decade Dawn's junior. Of course, knowing Val, she's going to keep trying until she finally nails the pose, or ends up in traction....whichever comes first.

Consider this a nice warm-up/reminder that the blog is indeed coming back, and soon.

Mr. Hammond I think we're Back in Business!

 

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Martin Nilsson

Thanks to all my Patreons for...everything really. For sticking with me for the past seven months and helping out with as much as they have despite my limited output. I'd also like to thank the greater community, patreons and fans alike, for supporting the gofundme, or sending kind messages of condolences and encouragement over the past few months. I know I've said it already, but it still means a lot. You guys are the best!

So as you can probably guess by Misfit's manic delight in the drawing, as well as the photo of my rig, we are officially up and running again! I did have some issues with the tablet at first, but with some fiddling and tweaking, I was able to get everything running properly. It took seven-ish long months to get to this point, but we're finally here. And while I'm not entirely out of the woods in terms of life stuff I still need to get in order, it looks as though I'm through the worst of it.

That said, I'm sure you're all curious about what my plans are going forward, and some of you are no doubt eager to hit me up with commission requests and asks for the ask blog and so on. Now, while I hate to stymie that enthusiasm, unfortunately, I'm not planning to jump right back into everything all at once without missing a beat just because I finally managed to get everything back in working order. I had been planning to roll out some new rules/guidelines to how most of my stuff would operate just before the fire, and I still intend to use that as my workflow rubric going forward.

First and foremost, I am going to be re-evaluating my commission prices soon, and more than likely increasing them. This is due to a few factors, one being that I've been advised by multiple friends and long-time commissioners that I'm still undercharging for my work, and also due to the whole 'inflation of the American dollar' thing. I might not end up raising all, or even any of the prices after giving them a good look over, but I will be taking the time to crunch the numbers more thoroughly and compare them to other artists with a similar skill level out there.

Next on the list, I am adopting an "Output cycle". What this means is that I will be creating dedicated periods to take in commission requests from different sources, as well as periods set aside to simply work on my own ideas/personal projects. The tentative plan as it stands right now is to take the current month of September as my first personal month. Then in October, I would open up commissions exclusively for Patreon members, and finally, open up exclusively for those non-members of the patreon to request commissions in November. Then in December, we start at the top of the rotation again with personal projects.

 This system will not be entirely rigid of course, and there will be a degree of flexibility to it in practice, more than likely me squeezing in personal projects in the commission months. The reason for adopting this whole system is so that everyone who wants to commission me will get a chance at some point or another, rather than the people outside the Patreon waiting in the wings while I try to get a free enough hand to offer them a commission slot.

Next, for you folks anxious to get back to sending asks to my "AskTheBellhunters" Blog, you are more than welcome to start! The box is officially open. However, I more than likely won't start answering them until mid-October. I want the extra time to get on top of some of the other stuff I want to work on, as well as get the last of that 'life stuff' I mentioned sorted before I get back into the ask blog properly. That said, I'm also going to be changing the posting date of the asks, as well as the number of asks posted per session. Going forward, I'm aiming to answer asks on Mondays and Fridays, answering 4 asks on each day with one of those asks being a drawn one.

Lastly, I've been seriously considering looking into merchandising my art to some degree. Initially, I'm thinking of some wall scrolls pin-ups of some of my characters, and maybe expanding that to Booby/ass mouse pads or even Daki covers depending on the interest. So I'm floating this idea now to gauge interest from you guys. Would you guys be interested in something like a Val or Moira Booby Mousepad? Ada, Vanna, Audrey, or Giselle wall scrolls? A cuddly Qali body pillow? And of course, the boys are just as much on the table as the girls. Please let me know if you'd be interested in that sort of thing, and moreover, if you have any recommendations on sites to use for such an endeavor it would be super appreciated. Your feedback matters, so let me hear it!

So, now that I've covered all the technical stuff, I'll just give you guys a brief update on my situation as...now that things are returning to something resembling normal, I'd like to minimize talking about my health as much as I can unless it directly impacts workflow. 

Since I arrived in my new home I've been dealing with really bad chest pains and breathing issues. At first, I chalked it up to altitude sickness, but when it persisted for longer than two weeks, I went to the doctor who wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Right now I'm on a pretty heavy regiment of meds to sort of stabilize it, and at the moment it seems to be working. However, I'm supposed to take it easy for the next couple of days. I'm talking laying down snuggled up to a heating pad and either sleeping, reading, playing video games, or vegging out on anime. Basically, anything I can do from the bed. That said, I do seem to be improving, so I'm hoping by next week this will all be a distant memory.

That about wraps up the august update. I should have new content for you soon! (Patreon members even sooner!) So keep your eyes peeled. Thanks for everything!

-Wasty

P.S., if any of you guys are interested, I do have an amazon wishlist now, (Another thing I was advised to get by a friend/backer), so if any of you guys feel like helping me replace more lost stuff and saving me the trouble, I'd super appreciate it.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/13BP33RMWCQY?ref_=wl_share

Thanks again!

-Wasty

New Home, Same Old Family.

 Right away, I'd like to give a shout out to my Patreons. Once again, thanks for all the help in getting through this particularly rough patch of my life. It's been...hell, and the continued emotional and financial support has helped keep my somewhat sane.

PARISHONER

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I also owe you guys, as well as the rest of my fans an apology. July had...probably next to no new works, sketchbook or otherwise. I had anticipated doing more stuff, but as tensions rose in my brother's house, and got to a point where I didn't even feel comfortable breathing out of place, it made it too uncomfortable to really getting any drawing done at all. That said, I do have something I'll be posting to the Patreon right after this, but most of that was done at the hotel.

And now you're probably asking “Hotel? Why are you in a hotel?” Well...I suppose I might as well start with the bad news first. My mother and I were kicked out of my brother's home. It's really the end result of that building tension I mentioned earlier, despite me trying to head things off at the pass and hash things out in an amicable way, it did little to prevent the inevitable caldera-like eruption that was overdue I suppose.

Staying with my brother, he had pretty much been up my ass daily about petty little things. Dishes, laundry, cooking. With every passing day it seemed there wasn't something I could right in his eyes. It was either done completely wrong or just not up to his standards. The fights that ended up getting me and my mother tossed out actually started over me not cleaning his pots 'the right way'. Of course, these were things he had admitted to me just two days before that fight when I tried to talk things out 'weren't even about me', but the other stresses in his life he was taking out on me. Something he said he was going to try to correct. Before this conversation I had been banned from using his kitchen at all, but after we had talked he rescinded that decision....for all of two days. Then it was back to telling me not to use his stuff, even though more than seventy-five percent of what I was using was my own appliances and dishware. The argument escalated, and while I didn't curse or say anything particularly vile as...that's not something I tend to do, I still got shoved into a wall, and eventually punched in the chest for my trouble. Had mom not managed to hobble to her bedroom door, and got her cane between me and my brother, he would have more than likely hit me again.

Unable to reach me, he started screaming at us to get out, and so I quietly packed up what I could, and moved me and mom to a hotel in town. The following day I went back up with a cargo van and moved what little extra we had into a storage locker. Thankfully we have enough emergency funds to take this hit, even if it takes away from our furniture fund. But we were only ten days from leaving of our own volution for greener pastures, and therein lies the good news.

Those of you following my twitter “WastedtimeEE2” probably already know this, but for the rest of you, we managed by the grace of the gods to find a home. Even my mother's worker was shocked that we 'lucked out', and that she'd never seen someone land a place so quickly. Unlike in New Hampshire, we finally found a complex whose owner was actually sympathetic to the fact we were burned out of our home. So as of July thirtieth, we'll be living on the eastern slope of Colorado, a good four hours away from my miserable brother and his empire of dirt. And the best part of that is, he has no idea that we landed a place so far from him.

My mom and I are not desert folks, and Grand Junction is just that. The western slope is quite arid. So as soon as we arrived, we began looking on the cooler side of the mountains for a place to live. Mom and I were initially worried that should we find a place so far, it might wreck the relationship she was trying to build with my brother. So we held off telling him for as long as we possibly could...so I suppose in a way, it worked out for the best? Either way, we'll be well and far enough away from him to not even have the slightest chance of running into him by accident, which as you can imagine is a huge relief to us both.

Before I wrap up, I also want to apologize for not keeping up with comments, notes, and emails for the last month. Between pounding the pavement trying to find a home, the tense atmosphere in my brothers home, my health, and using this terrible laptop that only gets worse with every passing day, (Seriously, it took twenty minutes to put together the post I'm about to make in fucking MS paint on this thing.), I've been putting off replies. I will try to get to them over the next few days. I am not ignoring you, and I will respond to you guys soon. Thanks for everything guys, see you at the tunnel mouth...

Onward and upward,

-Wasty

June Update; New Hampshire No More

 So...it's been a month....and...a lot has happened, not even counting the move from New Hampshire to Colorado, it's still a lot. So much...honestly too much. I...Well, before I get ahead of myself, I'd like to give shoutouts to my Patreon backers, especially now with my 'Non-consensual, involuntary long-term vacation' stymying my output. Thanks again guys, it helps more than you know. I know I say that a lot, but seriously, I mean it all the more now.

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Churchontime

So...where should I start? I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately. But my memories from the past month are...kind of a smear in my head. Jumbled up, as if my brain is trying to help me forget the bulk of them to shield me from the trauma. Okay, that's probably exaggeration...I guess...but as of late it just feels like the hit's they keep on a' comin'.

As I mentioned, I'm in Colorado now. Despite mine and my mom's best efforts, we couldn't find a new place in New Hampshire before our hotel stay expired. We simply ran out of time, and because of that we were forced to move out to stay with my brother in western Colorado.

I mentioned in earlier posts that I was looking into a RV to make the trip, should it come to that. I had even gone as far to put 300 dollars down to hold a spot, expecting to have totally blown that money on a reservation we'd never use. But here we are I suppose, so I guess I didn't have to worry about the 300 dollars being wasted, instead I ended up wasting...far, far more....

We decided to go with the rental RV route for a number of reasons, the primary one being my Mother's health. I thought having a nice rental RV would roll comfort and expediency into one relatively inexpensive solution. My mom was afraid of flying, and even had we went that route, I would have had to have my car sent ahead of us, as well as our meager belongings, and I would have had to figure out plane transfers and transportation to and from each airport. At the time, it seemed like the more expensive and troublesome option. With an RV we could store what little we had in it comfortably, and we could tow my car on a hitch on the back, condensing all those separate services into one. Also, traveling by RV...well, we thought it would be relaxing. We thought we could turn it into something like that into a sort of...memorable vacation that would help distract from the primary purpose of the move. A once in a lifetime opportunity to see the country and try to...disconnect from the misery of the fire, and just...feeling like we had hit a wall with nowhere to go. And I wish...that had been the case, to be honest.

Picking up the RV was probably the smoothest part of the whole trip. I had done me research, as well as watched all the orientation videos, so I 'should' have had a good idea of what I was getting into. And at first blush, the RV I was picking looked pretty close to what I had seen in the video, aside from being dirtier than anticipated. While giving me an overview of the vehicle, the dealer tried and failed to start the generator. He told me that after I drove for a while it would charge up, and I gave him the benefit of the doubt. This would later be proven to be a lie, as the RV helpline would tell me "Yeah, he shouldn't have said that, it's simply untrue."

Pulling out onto the road, it became clear to me after a fairly short time that the RV's shocks were completely shot. You could feel every pothole, every speedbump, even just the general vibration of driving, I could feel all of it as though there was nothing separating me from the surface of the road. Of course, by the time I realized that this wasn't normal for an RV I already had my smart car hitched up on the back of the rental tow and was on my way back to load up our belongings onto it. Halfway back to the hotel, I noticed that my smart car's hood had blown off at some point during the drive. The outer shell had separated from the hood frame. This was something that had been broken for a while, because I hadn't locked my hood in place properly months before, and a blustery few weeks had split the cover from the frame because I didn't realize why it wasn't staying put until it was too late. I thought I had it attached well enough that it wouldn't blow free despite the damage, and it had made the trip down from NH to south MASS without so much as a problem. But just being on the trailer hitch for thirty to forty minutes must have undone whatever I had done to hold it in place. That one was the only thing I can say was fully on me, but I should have taken it as an omen of what was to come.

Due to said mishaps, and running around, on top of scheduling conflicts, I not only had to miss out on seeing my other brother in Connecticut, but we ended up having to stay an additional night at the hotel out of pocket. This would become the theme of the entire trip. A trip that was supposed to take a single week, but ended up nearly taking two.

On the first leg of the trip, we couldn't get the generator to start at the end of the day, forcing us to take another hotel stop as my mom couldn't rest in the back with the AC on for any of the driving portions, and was left in terrible pain from riding passenger seat all day. However, even if the generator had been working, the lack of shocks would have left her in awful pain regardless. (The beds are not even the slightest bit thick) We stayed over an additional day so I could get someone to fix the generator, as the RV helpline advised us to do since them guiding me through all the ways to troubleshoot the generator hadn't solved the problem, only to find out that there was no one that could service it for several days. So with that, we were forced to push onward in an effort to try to keep on schedule as they weren't offering to comp the waiting days.

The next day, my mother lost her footing thanks to the fact that the RV has weird, tiny steps in it and fell in the RV while we were parked, spilling into the stairwell and nearly out of the RV and onto the concrete of the parking lot outside. This forced us to take another two hotel days in order to allow her to recover, and a hospital visit to make sure nothing was broken.

Once we were back on the road, the passenger side mirror broke in such a way that it would no longer stay pointed at the back end of the RV. I had to get out to straighten it, which proved to be pointless as it took less than a miles drive without shocks to make it cockeyed again. Once more, there was no one who could service the issue in a reasonable amount of time, and so my mom was forced to monitor my passenger side window for the remaining trip so I could turn right.

Essentially by this point, every 'leg' of the trip was punctuated by an extra hotel stay and another broken part on the RV. By the time we were closing in on Colorado, I was trying to work out with my brother over the phone for any way I could somehow dump the RV in Denver, and make it the rest of the way with my smart hitched to a rental truck or something, but everyone seems to be moving right now, and so nothing was available that could divert me from having to double back to Denver to drop off the RV.

I will say at this point, the only, and I mean the only upside was that a lot of the country was very pretty to look at. The mountains in upstate New York, the great plains, all pretty in their own way. But once we entered Mesa County...well, it was pretty disappointing. While it should have been obvious by the name “Mesa County”, the last 200 miles of the trip were in pure desert prairie. Dusty, dry, hot desert prairie. The worst possible climate for someone like me and my mom who can't tolerate heat well. My brother had...heavily glossed over just how drab and dusty everything is seemingly to get us to come out here, and now that we were seeing it, I know it sounds silly, but...it was just such a letdown. The final kind of...sour note on what was a very hellish trip, and technically my part of the trip wasn't over yet. I couldn't get a flight back to Grand Junction the following day and had to set up a flight for Saturday, adding yet another day to the already overdue RV.

In the middle of the ride to Denver...I finally broke. It had taken nearly four months to finally hit me, but when it did it came down like a ton of bricks. Everything, the fire, the lack of help from town to find a home, being forced to leave a state I hadn't realized I'd miss so much, especially when contrasted by Grand Junction. I just started sobbing. Visceral, ugly weeping on and off for at least an hour's worth of my trip back to the RV depot. I hadn't vented, really vented in so long, and the added stress of the trip and seeing this place just finally broke the dam. And while I'm not over it, probably not by a long shot, it felt good to get that much-needed emotional release.

I had been instructed to note and hold all of my issues with the RV until I dropped it off at the depot to be compensated for everything that had gone wrong. By that point, I was at the very least looking for half of my money back from the excursion. Between the gas, the tolls, the hotel stays that we shouldn't have needed, the extra days, the RV had become a money pit, and I was determined to get some degree of my investment back. However, the depot told me the most they could comp me was 500 dollars, and that if I took it, I wouldn't be able to negotiate for more with the company's customer service line. And so, I refused to take the 500, or sign anything, and instead wrote a strongly worded email to customer service, an email I'm still waiting for a reply on.

From there I caught an Uber, and then a flight back to Grand Junction, where my brother picked me up and took me back to the house.

With the mess that was mine and my mom's personal “Lampoon's Vacation Movie” behind us, we were hoping that we would finally reach a turning point. That we were finally taking a step in the right direction, and things would get easier going forward....but that seems to have become a pipe dream at this point.

Within two days of arriving at my brother's, he, his pregnant wife, and my two-year-old niece all caught covid. Thankfully the vaccine kept my mother and me from getting it, but we still had to keep quarantined, get tested, and be mindful about exposure to them because there was still a chance we could get it even with the vax. Not that that mattered as much, because the family dynamic had quickly returned to the same sort of toxic crap that it always had been, so I've been walking on eggshells since we arrived, and have even more of a fire under my ass to get out of this place as soon as possible. Preferably somewhere more green and less dusty, that also doesn't get nearly as hot as this place does.

Then there were problems with my mother's doctors, something which still hasn't been fully resolved, and is setting up more problems for us down the road. And of course, there's still the not so small matter of us finding a place to live that's affordable, safe, and is far enough away from the litterbox that is the Colorado Plateau that you can barely find a sliver of loose, lifeless sand amidst all the green trees and cool air.

I miss New Hampshire, I hadn't realized just how much it had become my home until we were forced out. And as pretty as some of the more mountainous parts of Colorado were, it was....it just wasn't home. It isn't home. I'm sure that seems childish considering the circumstances, but I can't help myself I guess. If it wasn't for the fact that I have my elderly mom to look after, with no one, including the brother I'm currently staying with, to trust to actually give a shit about looking after her, I'd be back in NH still looking for a place, or perhaps staying with friends rather than live amidst the nightmare that is the Wasty family dynamic.

As for WIPs...I've got good news, bad news, and good news again? Sort of a news sandwich I guess. While it was tough thanks to the chip shortages and Graphics Card scalping (Seriously, the graphics card I had bought when building my PC last September had gone up by 500 dollars.) I was able to replace most of my PC, and am expecting the parts to arrive soon, as well as my tablet. The bad news is that I can't exactly set it up here so I can work, and even if I could the internet is terrible up here. I upgraded my phone plan to get unlimited data, but hotspoting and tethering is still limited. However, I do have access to a scanner, as some of you have seen if you checked my previously uploaded sketch snapshots to my gallery. I re-scanned them and posted the higher quality, cleaner versions. I have some sketches in my queue, waiting to be lined, but between the busy last...month or so, and my...emotional state, I just haven't been up to it.

So....I guess here's hoping that we're...finally going to reach that turning point here. That the right apartment is just a few weeks away, and that soon enough we'll be back on our own and no longer a burden to my brother. Then life can finally start to return to some degree of normalcy again, and more importantly, I can get back to work and entertaining you guys again.

Thanks for sticking it out as long as you have, both Patreons, donators, fans, the lot of you. The fact that you guys still interested in seeing me come back just makes me all the more eager to do just that. I'm sorry if this was a...particularly dense journal, but....I felt like I needed to explain everything and...well...a lot happened. Once things get closer to normal, expect for these entries to go back to less information about my personal life (Unless it's going to get in the way of work), and more progress reports on future projects.

Thanks for sticking around,

-Wasty.

Dawn's Preganancy (A Visual Guide)

 

Wanted to do some sketches of Dawn at different stages of her pregnancy with Paige, from conception to just days before having the c-section. It was something I sorta wanted to do for a little while and was prompted by Patreon backers to go ahead and do it while I'm still stuck in this...' traditional mode' I guess. It was good for some pose and character practice, and dare I say some of the sketches are cute. 

Just a note before I get questions on this...the full term of Dawn's pregnancy (7 months) was figured out by taking wolf, sheep and human gestation times, finding out the median numbers of both when compared to human gestation overall, and favoring the larger number. If I recall the average wolf gestation was super quick, like 2 months. Sheep were about 5 by comparison. So that came out to a 5 month median for wolves, and a 7 month median for sheep. The reason I went with the sheep total instead of trying to split it between a wolf/sheep median was that it was both longer, which seemed more feasible for a sentient species than the shorter one, and by virtue of that, it made it feel more organic that Dawn could reach the point of looking like she's ready to burst and unable to get around by herself come c-section day.

Anyway, hope you guys think the art is cute. Much Love,

-Wasty

"Ask Dawn And Vern" The in-universe podcast edition.

 Breaking in the new light pad and inking pens with a sketch of Dawn and Vern recording their podcast "Ask Dawn and Vern". I actually had this idea for a while, in terms of an eventually in fic nod to the blog in some form. Initially, I was thinking they'd record it on the weekends, but after giving it more thought, with the pups and work and so on, they'd probably do a new episode once a month. Like the blog, they'd obviously be answering questions and offering advice to those who email or send them letters.

Also, we get a look at 'post glasses' Vern in this one, or as some are calling him 'Dilf' Vern. Not me, my patreons in discord I swear.

I wanted Vern's overshirt to be plaid, but I wasn't comfortable inking that and possibly losing the lineart.