2025 Journals

» April 22 «

"Wow, Ardent, it's so good that you've learned from your past mistakes and you won't go wildly overboard with this NEXT project, right?"

"...Yeaahhh... sure..." 😅👍

» April 20 «

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!!!

» April 15 «

Another day, another daydream for a series of future projects!

» April 14 «

I feel like I should make another website or at least a library of web pages just dedicated to all of my other favourite actually cool things on the net like other good websites, good artists, film makers, and particularly a curated list of some of my favourite YouTube creators and people who I enjoy.
Basically, a library of actually quality art and entertainment to enjoy.
“Anti-Slop”, if you will.

» April 10 «

Once you start learning about colour theory... you basically never stop learning about colour theory.

» April 05 «

It’s Internet O’Clock!

Or, rather, maybe it shouldn’t be?
Over the past few months I’ve been crystallizing this feeling that, perhaps, I’m not using the internet as the tool that it was meant to be. As platitudinous as it is to say, perhaps the internet is using me more than I’m using it? And as trite as that play on words might be, I want to explore it honestly.

I’ve written journals about this idea before, about how the internet that I enjoyed so much around the turn of the millennium is simply not the internet that I use today. The number of sites I frequent has shrunk drastically and nobody needs yet another voice like mine echoing the same complaints we all have for how garbage social media really is. But the habits I’ve built up from being on the same five websites for their entire lives, now, has very heavily shaped my internet surfing expectations and reflexes.
What I want to do is use the internet much more purposefully and with thoughtful consideration!
The internet is a truly unfathomably powerful tool and I feel like all I do, these days, is visit the same most popular sites over and over again, while rarely getting to see below the surface of the water. And the sites I do frequent are only getting worse.

I, sadly, need to call out one of my most beloved websites of all time; YouTube.
I’ve adored that site since it’s launch and, along with the other big name players in the old-web space you already know about like Newgrounds, YouTube was an integral part of my favourite period of the internet. When things were far less regulated, upload limits were shorter, yet seemingly far more creative, and YouTube’s creator tools gave us much more customization and personal expression and some features, like annotations, were actively exploitable.
Now, though? I can’t begin to describe how unpleasant it is to use YouTube without my strongest adblockers. And forget YouTube Mobile. Without a lot of work, or a premium paid account, YouTube on my phone is just dismal.
Ad at the start of a video, another ad five minutes in, I’ll forgive the video creators for doing a sponsor read because they have bills to pay, another ad, and then another ad at the end of a video, maybe more than one. Many of them without a “skip” option.
And let’s not forget the rapidly dwindling lack of control we even HAVE over the ads we’re shown. Remember only a year or two ago when you could actually click the “don’t show me this ad” option? That feature is long gone, now!
Some of the ones I’m utterly sick of being bombarded with have been scam-idle-games, gambling... so many deranged gambling ads, crypto schemes, and so many more unsavoury and exploitative images all meant to scam or at least lure in vulnerable people with AI girlfriends or graphically explicit anime characters. And where’s my ability to say “don’t show me this”? I would have worn a hole in my touchscreen by now. At this rate I’m becoming rapidly convinced of the need to try and ban precision targeted advertising, in general.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of complaints I have but I think that, as the year goes on, I’ll be dedicating a lot more time and effort to getting back to curating a better, more enriching internet experience, while breaking free from the infinite-scroll and room temperature slop that passes for social media “content” these days.

Uugghh.. Even the word “content” is something that I’ve begun to find truly repulsive. Though, perhaps, that’s just my visceral reaction to the stripping away of the personality and magic of art and cinema down to merely the all-homogenizing baseline title of “content”.

That’ll be a rant for another day...

» March 29 «

Back again, back again! Oh boy, plenty to update about! This past month has been surprisingly chaotic but good in many ways!

I had an amazing time visiting the local furry convention and I need to post the convention badges I painted!

And more exciting news, thanks to some enormous amounts of helps and guidance, I successfully installed a second operating system!!! Now I am no longer permanently shackled to the nonsense Windows has continued to pump into their operating systems.
I’m still dual-booting because, let’s be real, regular office jobs will basically never fully transition away from Windows if Windows has anything to say about it. But just knowing that I can do a LOT of computing in a different environment, at will, has given me such a sense of freedom, eh.

And now it’s back to more art! Mostly on the philosophical side of things, though...
At the moment I’m contemplating a lot of different things, none the lest of which is I’m trying to sharpen my vision and look into the future to see what trends and attitudes towards “art” the general populous may develop as a reaction to our ever shifting technological landscape, expending A.I. Technology landscape, and economic turmoil.
No concrete thoughts on these matters yet, just formless ideas I’m thinking over.

ANYWAYS! I might have been gone for a few days but I haven’t gone anywhere!
Until next time!

» March 16 «

Absolutely begging all of you to go see The Day the Earth Blew Up if you can!
Seeing a zany, wacky, sincerely goofy Loony Tunes film on the big screen was like encountering a wild coelacanth or ivory-billed woodpecker.

That may seem a bit dramatic but this film really does feel like witnessing a species of film I thought was all but extinct. A fully 2D animated, slapstick, comedy film released in theatres???
In 2025???
And when compared to seeing Coyote Vs. Acme get scrubbed from the face of the Earth, this feels like an actual miracle.

I still can't believe this thing exists and I'm so glad it does!
Please do yourself a favour and see it yourself! There’s absolutely no guarantee we’ll ever see a film like this released by Warner Brothers ever again.

» March 12 «

Well, I’m back once again! I’m not posting with as much frequency as I did in the past just due to how freaking busy I’ve been these past few months! This entire year has been an amazing journey of art so far but, sadly, it’s just been a ton of things to actually do, with most of my work still needing to stay behind the scenes...

Self imposed NDA’s are the worst kind of NDA’s
BUT!
In the next month I’ll have a lot less on my shoulders and a lot more time to post things! So, fingers crossed!

» March 09 «

Holy cow, what a brain blast!
Okay, so, for this upcoming convention I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do for Ardent’s convention badge until I was struck by inspiration! I’m going to make him a SKILTAIRE!

I can’t believe I’ve never drawn him as a Skiltaire before, this is some OLD fandom lore!

I’ll post more updates soon!!!

» March 03 «

Oh boy, another day, another trial for being an artist.
If Discord doesn’t start working again soon I’m going to be really annoyed. If I have to freshly install my OS then so be it! But I’d rather it just start working again, magically.

I left my head and my heart on the dance floor ♣

» March 01 «

So much art, never enough hours in the day to paint...
Currently working on a surprisingly large number of projects, the least of which involving fixing some computer issues I’ve been having.
With any luck, I’ll have SOMETHING more to post, soon.

Things are just better on the tiny web. I just don’t need all that algorithm driven nonsense in my life, rage baiting and posting as much awful crap as they can, as fast as the bots can repost it.

» February 25 «

Good grief. So many small projects to do, never enough time, eh?
Well, one of the biggest projects that I’m getting ready for is learning how to dual boot my PC! Windows 11 is on the horizon and I just... I just don’t like the looks of it! If I must use Windows 11 then at the very least I’ll only use it as the driver for my day job and dual boot Linux for everything else.

And I installed the LibreOffice suite to get used to it and, wow, this is so NICE.
It’s felt so comfortable to transition to but it feels so much more private and secure, if that makes sense? God, does this mean I’m old now? That I get excited about having good password protected spreadsheets for making schedules and budgets?

Oh God... I’m old now.... Oh nooooooo

Jkjk <(^^,)>

» February 24 «

I have a new goal. I MUST learn a basic amount about 3D modeling!

» February 22 «

Feeling much better after several days of resting and drinking volumes of tea!

» February 18 «

Got sick 😭
Hopefully this cough passes quickly.

» February 15 «

In only a few months.... it's gonna be mmaaaayyyyyyy.

» February 10 «

To celebrate actually winning a Magic game, I've finally sat down to paint myself a Bloomburrow themed basic land card.
This'll count as my first real Magic alter painting!

I'll post the art tomorrow after the paint dries!

» February 05 «

I'm a furry, of course I'm not straight. 😹

Also, for non-hetero reasons, here's the entire 2024 Eurobeat Kudos album they released for free on YouTube.

» February 03 «

I'm working on three professional projects right now and all of them are under non-disclosure. Good grief. 😅

» January 31 «

Well folks, it's been an entire month into the new year but here we are!
Take some time to step back, breathe, and remember that tomorrow is unwritten, eh.

» January 29 «

Sleepeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

» January 26 «

Wow, LONG time since my last update! But it's been a heck of a week and I'm glad I got to start this week off on a very good note. I finished another painting today and I'll be able to post about it tomorrow!

» January 20 «

Finished another tiny painting today! I'm so glad I've been able to do so many of these!

» January 17 «

And now, thank goodness, it's a Friday! I'm still extrenely sad over the passing of David Lynch but I'll be okay, in time.
Still, what a legend, eh.

» January 13 «

Oh boy, it's a Monday once again. Here we go!

» January 11 «

FINALLY have more art to upload!

» January 10 «

Thus far I've done one study or sketch per day! I pray I can keep this momentum going!!!

Every time I think about censorship on YouTube or Facebook or any of these other social media sites I take a deep breath knowing I can literally post anything I want here.
Having to censor words "Murder" or "Suicide" for un-alive or some other excessively heavy handed content moderation system to keep the advertisers happy does profoundly blunt our ability to actually discuss serious topics and ideas, all of the sake of being advertiser-friendly.
HTML isn't rocket science... And the "Yester-Web" may well be the future of free expression on the net. Maybe it always was.

» January 08 «

It is Wednesday, my dudes!

Haven't done any gouache painting in a while! I need to fix that!

» January 07 «

It's been a tough few years of television. I truly love what I do but I can't deny that it's really tough seeing show after show get cancelled after 1 season, deleted from streaming services, or just buried under an ever expanding library of "content" that never gets any promotion.
I didn’t dedicate all this time, and study, and work just to pour all that effort into some shows that only get, like, a 5/10 on IMDB.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to work on Castlevania or Arcane but we all end up working on some forgettable, one season show for children or another generic “adult comedy” who’s only conception of what it means to be “adult” is letting the characters binge drink, do drugs, and swear.

» January 06 «

What is it about January 6th's that're so wild for Canadian and American politics?

» January 03 «

It's a brand new day and the sun is high! Well, I assume it is, since it's snowing outside...

» January 02 «

This Christmas season has just blazed past!

» January 01 «

I'm starting the New Year off with a DOUBLE ENTRY!
I have a bunch of resolutions to commit to this year and I'm really excited to see what more art I can make in the next 365 days!

» January 01 «

HAPPY NEW YEARS, EVERYONE!!!
I'm reusing this art from last year while I do some more exciting art to post in the new year!