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

 

PARISHIONERS

Unformed

Hyenafur

KarakuriCentral

AmanCalledDominik

Warwolf416

Luposong

Sypher597

Luposong

Kei Fox

Toonophile

O.C.R.

Alexander Echart

BatDuskyLycanroc3blr

BovineMage

Reddawn7744

Bjerken Badger

FOLLOWER

RandomGamer24

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

AmanCalledDominik

Vulpinator

Sypher597

Alexander Eckhart

BatDuskyLycanroc3blr

BovineMage

Bjerken Badger

Hyenatig

KarakuriCentral

Kei Fox

Warwolf416
Matt

O.C.R.

Reddawn7744

Luposong

FluffWolf117

Unformed

HyenaFur

FOLLOWER

Martin Nilsson

Churchontime

Randomgamer24

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.

PARISHONER

AmanCalledDominik
John Uttendorfsky
Toonophile
BatDuskyLycanroc3blr
Sypher597
FluffWolf117
Alexander Eckhart
BovineMage
KarakuriCentral
Unformed
Bjerken Badger
Warwolf416
Hyenatig
Matt
Luposong
O.C.R.
Randomgamer24
Reddawn7744
HyenaFur
Kei Fox

FOLLOWER

Martin Nilsson
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.

Three Months Out; Where we're going.

 Been a bit too long for one of these huh? Well, I suppose that just means I have more to say. But in all honesty...I think I've also been kind of...drawing inward I guess? Becoming withdrawn as the fire experience sets in more, and we continue to go on without finding a place to call home. I know that's not a good thing...so I'm trying to fight against it as best I can.

So as I said, we haven't found a home here in NH. We've pretty much thrown ourselves at everything that we could at this point, but nothing has really come from any of that. We're on several totally pointless waiting lists for apartment complexes that have way too many people ahead of us to even hope that something could come up in two years let alone two months. And in the one wild instance that a place actually had an opening come up out of the blue, they gave it to someone who put down the deposit sight unseen, something I wasn't even aware we could do based on the way they made 'going through the process' sound. Craigslist was no better. Eighty percent of the people I emailed never got back to me, another fifteen didn't take my mom's housing voucher, and the remainders were either scams or totally dropped off contact out of the blue. Needless to say...I'm just...I mean it all just feels hopeless at this point.

Earlier this week I came across the old paper handout the town had given us just days after the fire and it just.... made me feel worse I think. I mean, the town did help us with the hotel stay and gift cards, but...there was so much in there about 'advocating' for us, and helping us find our new homes. It was enough to prompt me to send them one final email to them, expressing gratitude for what they had done, but admitting that helping with the burden of finding a home was more important than anything else, and I felt they had honestly fallen short of that.

Their response? I wasn't grateful enough, and that I sound depressed and should set up to see a therapist which they offered to help with. (Paraphrasing there). It was essentially kicking a squid while he was down, despite my email not being an 'angry' one, but a more pleading and vulnerable email about my feelings. I messaged back that I said multiple times I was grateful for the cards and hotel stay, but I also reminded them that in order to get help with anything else I had to twist their arms to varying degrees to get them to agree to help, and in those instances they made sure to shame me over needing it and reiterating whatever it was would be a 'one-time thing'. I mean, they shouldn't have made such bold claims and promises if they were going to act put-out whenever someone had to ask for them to make good on them.

Also, I pointed out therapy wouldn't exactly help the 'lack of home' thing, and with that being the root cause of the current depression, it means it would be an exercise in futility. At the very least replying made me feel better...I guess...but it didn't really get me anywhere new.

Since then I've turned purely to focus on Colorado and the trip that awaits. We're slated to leave on the 17th, So I've still got a few things to get settled before we take the Rental RV across the country. It's a more expensive method of travel than I initially planned, but keeping my mom's needs and personal comfort in mind, it seemed like the best option, with the added bonus of being able to make some nice tourist pit-stops along the way. I can even hitch the 'Bellwagon', (My smart car) to the back of the thing, so...I'll still have something of mine when we finally get to grand junction.

Still, even staying with my brother...I don't know if house searching will go any better out there...but at this point, it's the only option in terms of keeping me and my mom together and not breaking the bank while in the process of finding a place.

Now on to...I guess lighter news stuff? I'm still drawing. In fact, that's been part of what delayed this update as long as it has, as I was investing my time into drawing rather than writing up this long update post. (And by the time I'd finished I'd feel too tired to compose this). I'll be dumping some stuff shortly after this...a lot of sequence work, featuring mostly my Zoot characters. Got something adorable and wholesome, and something more...risque. Expect them soon.

One more thing before I get to the Patreon thank you's. The Gofundme for me and my mom will be closing soon. I'd like to thank all of you, backers, fans, friends, everyone who threw something in to help me and my mom. It has really helped and will go on to help when we eventually find a place and start actually buying replacement furniture. This is, of course, not to put down those who could only offer emotional support. Even that was extremely appreciated and has really been helping me from slipping completely down into the darkness. That said, if there are any folks interested in a last-minute donation, I will link it a final time below.

https://gofund.me/92364f20

If you miss it and still want to help, you can always hit up my "Buy me a coffee" as well.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/S3KT7Ejtw



PARISHONER

Warwolf416
Randomgamer24
Hyenatig
Matt
O.C.R.
Reddawn7744
Luposong
Unformed
HyenaFur
KarakuriCentral
BovineMage
Bjerken Badger
Kei Fox
Sypher597
BatDuskyLycanroc3blr
Toonophile
AmanCalledDominik
FluffWolf117



FOLLOWER

Martin Nilsson
Alexander Eckhart
Churchontime

Thank you guys so much for your continued support, especially during this time. It means the world to me, and hopefully, I'll be able to provide you with some better work than just traditional stuff soon enough.

That's all I can say for now...just going over that stuff sorta put me in a bad mood. I'll aim for a short update before I leave for Colorado, just before we go radio silent for a week or so. Don't want you guys thinking I just completely dropped off the face of the earth, do I?

-Wasty

Two Month Anniversary

 Thanks to all my patreon backers for your continued support. Without you...I mean...I've said it so many times before...”Your support means more to me than you'll ever know. And that's even more true during the current crisis than it's ever been.

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So... it's the two-month' anniversary of the fire. Would you call it an anniversary? The term sounds too...positive...like it's worth commemoration, celebration. Of course it's not. It's hard to believe it's been two months. It feels like yesterday. I can still remember that night so vividly...when I close my eyes I can see that hallway, the smoke...everything.

I'm supposed to start speaking with a therapist soon, so hopefully that will help...mitigate some of these...feelings and visions. Not...exactly excited about opening up to a stranger via 'telecom', as phone stuff gets my anxiety up, but I've gotta do it.

In case you are wondering why I'm not in Colorado yet, my brother won't be in his new house until April 30th, instead of March 30th. That gives us a little more time to get our stuff together in terms of important paperwork replacement and preparation for the 2000 mile trip. Thankfully, while the town stopped covering for the Hotel as of today, my renter's insurance is picking up the tab from there, and it will see us through until we can head west. Thankfully the hotel pay will not detract from my renter's payout which...for the moment seems on track to come through.

In the meantime, I've been using some of my remaining time to try and do all I can to find a place that isn't a complete slum that will take my mother and I in state. Basically a last-ditch effort to stay in New Hampshire in order to not have to put my brother out and...really because I liked living here. But it seems the entire North East is under a sort of 'Rental Run'. Apartments and housing opportunities are currently few and far between, and places get snapped up at light speed as soon as they show up on the market. And that's not counting the fact that I and my mother have some necessary needs that further complicate what we can get. (2 Bedrooms, Ground Floor, Low Income). I get the distinct impression that New York is having a similar exodus to that of California, and so the North East is filling up with NYC refugees...well that on top of it being a bad season to move. The Apartment complexes we've touched base with have waiting lists thirty people deep or more, and so considering the dwindling time factor, submitting applications and paying fees for said applications seems like...ironically a waste of time. Needless to say, it looks like Colorado is unavoidable at this point.

At least my mother and I are vaccinated now and will be...as resistant to covid as we can be during the drive. The only thing I'm debating now is whether to try and make the trip in the Bellwagon (My Smart Car), or sell it off and get a Jeep Grand Cherokee or something. I've had my smart for two years, and it's been very reliable and good on gas. But storage space is limited, and the week-long drive might be more uncomfortable in a smart car than something bigger with storage space. (Not that we have all that much to travel with). But a new vehicle...I mean, I don't know if it'll turn out to be as reliable, or be able to handle the trip...I'd have to trust the dealer, which is always a risk...and with everything else going on right now being uncertain about the car I'm driving across the country in is...I mean it's another level of stress I don't need.

Art-wise we're still looking at sketchbook photos for at least another month or more...

-_-... I'm not even super confident about writing on this thing thanks to how slow and miserable it is to use this laptop. Running a browser and Discord at the same time is too taxing for this thing... I know that's a first-world problem, but I'd like to be able to share cleaner, clearer art with everyone. At this point, it's the bare minimum I can do.

So that's the long and short of it at the moment...It would be redundant at this point to say I'm tired. That I want this to all be over, and for life to return to...something resembling how it formerly is. I'm emotionally tired, and my and my mom's health is being pushed to the brink. I'll just be...relieved when this is something I can just...look back at this as nothing more than a dark, painful memory. Distant in the reflection of a more positive future.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support, both Patreons and fans who supported the GoFundMe. I'd also like to thank everyone who just...reached out with kind words and emotional support. I know I keep saying it, but it truly means and means the world.

-Wasty

Gil's Band Continued; "Mad" Max, on rhythm guitar.

 

Last we have Maxwell Gulstafsson, a.k.a "Mad Max"; The group's rhythm guitarist. Max is a wolverine, and ostensibly the 'wild' member of the group. However, his 'wild' nature is solely limited to his actions, as Max was born totally mute. Without the use of his voice, the mammal is forced to communicate in sign language, which always requires Henri to interpret him for Gilbert. However, lacking the trademark 'wolverine scream' most mammals expect of his species hasn't slowed Max down in the slightest. In fact, to date the wolverine has gotten into at least two out and out brawls with audience members over seemingly nothing, stopping the performance in its tracks each time. He's also the groups 'lady's mam'", as being the only 'technically' single member of the band has him dealing with the overflow of fangirls. Not that he minds of course. 

So yeah, that's Gil and his band of misfits. I hope you guys like 'em.

-Wasty

Gil's Band Continued: Caroline the Basist

 

Caroline Ghàidhealach; Caroline is the band's basist. Caroline is a Scotrammish Highland Cow, and as the name suggests she was born in Scottram. Her family was another touched by Norwulffish culture,  as her earlier ancestors left with the Norwolves after one of their occupations of Scottram, only returning after the peace agreement. Caroline is missing her right leg below the knee, the result of a calfhood accident. Off stage she uses a general prosthetic which actually resembles a cow leg, however on stage she uses her grandfather's left horn as a stand in. Said horn was left to her by her grandfather in order to 'protect' her, and the Norwulffish depiction of the 'world-eater' was something he had etched into his horns while alive. Caroline feels using it on-stage is both a way to honor his memory, and allow him to 'protect' her as he wished. Caroline speaks fluent 'Chaoraic' (Zootopia's Gaelic Equivalent), but even when she's speaking Animanglish her accent is so thick she's very hard to understand, once again forcing Henri to act as an interpreter sometimes. Caroline is Gilbert's mate, and they've been together since shortly after the band got started in earnest. 

At this point you may be starting to notice two patterns. One, each remember of Gil's band seems to be disabled in some way. Gil's blindness, Henri's stubbed tail, Caroline's missing leg, each on has suffered some sort of handicap. The second thing, is that when on stage, they all have their hair over their eyes. Thar second bit is both acting in solidarity with Gil, and theming with the bands name. That said, our pattern remains unbroken with our last bandmate.

Gilbert's Band Continued: Henri the Drummer.

 

So let's talk about Gil's bandmates, starting with Henri. 

Henri Järvullen; Henri is Gil's masterful drummer.  Throughout history, foxes have been known to sort of latch on to other cultures, taking bits and pieces of it and giving it a foxish flare, or outright accepting it in full to become part of a community. This was the case with Henri's Yipsi ancestors who would eventually settle in Norwulff, and find themselves eventually absorbed into one of the more prominent packs in the nation. That said, Henri is fairly in touch with his 'Norwulffish' roots, even going so far as to regularly wear runes in his hair both on and off stage. Henri was born with a malformed, stunted tail, and to compensate the tod grew his hair out long enough to feign the appearance of one. It is the only real part of his look that transfers between his off and onstage persona, which is so drastic to most mammals that he largely goes unrecognized in public, which is not something he minds in the slightest. Henri speaks Norwulffish, and slightly broken Anamanglish, with often sees him working as the interpreter for the group. He is also never seen dating, foxes or non-foxes, male or female, leading most fans to speculate he's asexual. However, he is merely very particular about who he opens up to in that way and feels that fan adoration would get in the way of an organic relationship, thus eliminating most of the females who throw themselves at the band.