WARNING: RANT AHEAD!

"Symbol drawing"...

Is this the first time you've come across the term? Me too! Yet, two people over on the oh so friendly Art Portal forum here on Newgrounds described my art with this odd choice of words. Basically, it means "art drawn from the mind's eye only, without using any visual references".

Of course, I never asked for such a scathing critique of my art from them, only some emotional support because I was feeling depressed about my difficulty in gaining any new friends or followers on this website despite all my best efforts (no thanks to my mysterious descouting). But, what irks me most is that some of the criticisms people gave me on that topic were just WRONG, objectively.

And so, I dedicate this little blog to proving my case, even if I probably won't actually share my defense to said forum topic (maybe because one of the people trashing me was a moderator there, and I don't want to be banned even more than I am...)

SYMBOL DRAWING

To say that I don't use references for my artworks is not only untrue, but it is absolutely ABSURD! Just take a look at this WIP screenshot from my most recent artwork, and tell me I don't use any references:

You can clearly see several references at the side, both for the character design, and for posing the girl's anatomy. You can even see many construction lines on the layer beneath, proving that all my lines are planned, and not just made up as I go along. What's funny is, I used far FEWER references for this artwork than I usually do (thanks to my friend providing a sheet with most of the references I needed)! My art of Sybil from a couple of years back used at least a dozen different references...

Btw, if you want to check out my final artwork for the cute goat doodle above, click here:

ART NOT IMPROVING

One of the aforementioned users even had the gall to say that my artworks are all static and rigid, and that they haven't improved since 2021. Even cherry-picking a few of my worst, and oldest, artworks as if to make a point. What nonsense!

To demonstrate how untrue this is, here is an artwork of my main mascot OC, Fnuzzlee, from years 2021-2025:

Yeah... I'd say I have improved quite a bit. The last one is literally an animation! So much for me "not learning any new skills"!

STOP DRAWING PINUPS

As a result of said criticisms, one of the elite artists told me that my best works are a couple of outlier landscapes I posted a couple of years ago, and that I should quit drawing pinups if I want to become popular...

Come the hell on... if my art was so revolting, why do I have nearly 2K followers on DeviantArt?! Why do I have almost as many followers on Twitter in 1 year as I have made here in 5?! No... clearly the few people who do see my art actually enjoy them, which is why they receive a relatively large amount of faves compared to views, and mostly positive reviews.

Are the people on this site really much more snobby than on other sites? I don't think so... no, I think it's just a small group of people who decide what "quality" is on this website (you know exactly who), that don't appreciate more highly stylised art styles like mine, writing them off as "geometric characters" and "anatomically inaccurate".

Like... dude. My art isn't SUPPOSED to be realistic! You just don't get the point of my art at all, do you?! Is Dee Dee from Dexter's Laboratory anatomically accurate? No, of course she isn't. Is Kirby from Kirby realistic? Hell no, he's a friggin' pink ball, can't get any more "geometric" than that! That doesn't mean they are bad character designs. Of course not, they are iconic CARTOON CHARACTERS, and their unique silhouette is a big part of that. My characters are cartoon designs too!

So, to try and measure realism as a simple gauge for artistic quality, and blame my lack of growth on THAT instead of this website's clear attempts to gate people from even being able to see my artworks to make up their OWN damn minds if they like my art... is incredibly silly.

So... no. I will keep drawing sexy furry pinups because that's what my audience likes, and what my audience likes makes me happy too. To hell with the snobs!

(Incidentally, did you know that the bar for "NSFW" artists (which includes pinup artists like me apparently) to be scouted is inexplicably higher than it is for pure SFW artists? That's what I heard from the mod. Pretty stupid, huh? No wonder this site almost entirely consists of either kid-friendly drawings that wouldn't offend a nun, and some of the most explicitly degenerate artworks on the entire internet!)

FINAL THOUGHTS

Grrrrmph... Yeah, I'm not happy about being treated like this. Even though I continue to work really hard, even though I try to network myself on the forum... people continue to give me shit, and downplay my achievements as an artist. As if I deserve to be forgotten and ignored, because I suck at drawing, despite how many people have told me they love my artworks.

No, it couldn't possibly be because the whole scouting sysem is incredibly flawed, and that I was wrongly removed from the portal permanently whilst other artists at the same skill-level are unaffected to this day. It couldn't possibly be that the very struture of this website, and its administration, is designed specifically to punish me by making my artworks unreachable, whilst promoting the artists who the staff and their sycophants personally enjoy.

I don't know why I continue to post my shit to this website, honestly...

134... my new least favourite number.

How the hell have I been stuck at this stupid ass number for nearly 5 MONTHS!? It doesn't make any sense. I used to at least get the odd new follower every week or two... NOT ANYMORE! So demoralising...

To be fair, I have had a couple of stress breaks: a long one in November, and a shorter one last month in January. Even so, taking a little time off never affected me this badly in the past. I even released a new indie game shortly before I left on my first break, as well as two animations during this period, but to no avail. It seems, even with the Art Portal supposedly out of the equation, only my own existing followers care about my posts. Their generous support is the only reason my hard work isn't blammed off the internet...

Honestly, it feels to me like my ability to gain new followers has been frozen by the staff. I can't say for sure, obviously I have no proof of this, but given how I had my scoutability removed for no reason without any kind of explanation, I can't help but wonder... Incidentally, the Art Portal moderator I messaged about my scoutability problem has STILL not responded to my PM, almost an entire month later! Looks like I'm just going to have to try contacting another mod in March, and keep trying until somebody answers.

If things get really desperate, I'll have no choice but to fave and follow hundreds of random people to attract some percentage of them to my page. I really don't WANT to have to do that, it feels inorganic and manipulative, but I may have no choice. Blame Newgrounds for nor having an alorithm, or any other means for an unscoutable user having their hard work appreciated...

I've invested too much time and energy, too much blood, sweat and tears into this platform, for me to give up without a fight.

Hi everyone, I'm finally back from my second stress break in 4 months! I hope you didn't have TOO much fun without me!

To celebrate Valentine's Day, I've been hard at work on a new animation. It's of my rather voluptuous OC, Fnuzzlee, swinging her hips from side to side at her night club, so you won't want to miss it! Check it out here, and please give a fair review.

While I was away, I tried to get in contact with an Art Portal mod about potentially fixing my unscoutability that's been affecting me the past couple years, and seriously affecting my motivation to keep posting here. Sadly, I have not yet had a response, even though it's been like over 2 weeks now... Looks like I'm going to have to keep struggling on for now, or possibly try messaging another mod about it later instead...

Anyway... hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day, whether you end up seeing my posts or not.

Yeah, I'm taking another stress break already. My grandfather passing away during my previous break in November, in addition to the stress of Christmas time (not to mention the poor performance of all my latest artworks), makes now a good time to have another couple weeks off to hopefully recover properly.

During this break, I'd like to catch up with a couple of drawings I still owe people, work on some more animation, sort out some technical issues behind the scenes, and some IRL stuff. Oh, and maybe catch up a bit with my gaming backlog!

I'll still be semi-active on Twitter (still afraid of being suspended for inactivity again), but I won't be posting anything new to my Newgrounds until mid-February. I'll probably be back in time for a Valentine's Day art piece, but I can't make any promises...

If you're dying to see some new content from me while I'm gone, make sure you didn't miss my latest art posts (see below), and be sure to try playing my mole mashing indie game if you haven't beaten it already: lots of juicy hidden artworks to unlock in there!

Alright, I'll see you guys again soon. Take care, and goodbye!

Hello everyone. Sorry I'm late, but I hope you had a Merry Christmas time, and a Happy New Year! I hope 2025 will be a much better year for you all...

As for me? Well... so far, things aren't looking any better. For one thing, my Twitter account still struggles to gain any traction. I've been stuck at barely over 100 followers there for well over a month now, and straight after losing over a third of them as a result of a massive bot purge too. The algorithm there does not smile in my favour... And to think I've been on there over a year now? Not a nice way to end 2024...

More importantly, my Newgrounds situation is still just as bad as ever. There's no algorithm to speak of on this website, and since I am STILL unscouted, nobody here will see any of the artworks I worked hard on drawing unless they are already following me, or by sheer coincidence.

I tried my hand at animations and video games, thinking that might attract some new people due to those portals not employing the scouting system (as worked for my friend @raphaelcarrard). Alas, nobody outside of my own dwindling audience cared, and no new fans were made...

Sure, I have quite a lot of fans on DeviantArt, but it's dangerous to have all eggs in one basket. When DeviantArt dies, which is quite possible with their staff's obsession with AI against the wishes of its users, then what little legacy I have dies with it. UNLESS I am able to establish myself outside of that one website.

I think I'm going to have to finally summon the courage to ask the Newgrounds staff if I can have my scoutability restored, because it's definitely been over a year now (a whole year with none of my art being available on the Art Portal). I just need one last check, from one of you guys, to confirm that there is STILL no option to scout me when you visit one of my art posts. Because if there isn't, then the information I received about unscoutability only lasting a few months was a LIE, and the only way I'm ever going to resolve this issue is by getting in touch with staff...

Best of luck!

If you've already finished playing my lastest indie game, why not dance the new year countdown... down, with this lovely new Lopunny from the '80s?!

Happy New Year, folks! I hope it'll be a much better one than last, for all of us!

Hey guys! My second indie game, MOLE MASHER, has finally been released to Newgrounds! Rated T for Teens and up!

Please try it out for yourself HERE, try to beat all the levels, and give me a fair and honest review. Please?!

A big thank you to @snazlazzle for featuring my latest animation in Takeover Tuesday earlier this week! : D

What is Takeover Tuesday? I'm glad you asked, because until I logged in to read my notifications tonight, I had no idea what it was either. But I just did some research...

Apparently in October, Tom Fulp added a new feature to Newgrounds whereby supporters can feature one item per week, and it will appear on the Front Page for a while. This is a great boost for visibility, especially for a small user like me who has been seemingly perma-banned from the Art Portal (for reasons still unknown...)

Since this feature is only available to paying supporters of Newgrounds, sadly I cannot use this feature myself (not until I pay to become a supporter, which I'm not likely to do until the Newgrounds staff make me scoutable again), but I still appreciate others who feature my works to support me as a creator, so thanks again snazlazzle!

Hi everyone! I'm finally back from my stress break, which I took through the whole of November (last month) and part of December (this month). It didn't go terribly well for me though...

I tried to work on some new projects while I was away, but sadly, IRL really had it in for me... for the first couple of weeks of my break I was sick from some flu-like illness, and was bedridden for several days. Tragically, not long after I recovered, I found out that my grandfather (who lived in a carehome a couple dozen miles from us) had taken a turn for the worse, and his doctor told us that he did not have long left to live. Just a few days later, he passed away... Of course this was very upsetting, but he was over 100 years old (living with dementia), so I think we were kind of expecting him to leave us sooner or later, but still... he was a big part of my life before he moved into that carehome, so I will miss him greatly... We'll be holding a funeral for him in a couple of weeks to pay our last respects.

Despite how depressing and stressful the past few weeks have been for me, I did manage to get SOME work done: I finished a couple of drawings for outstanding art trades, I made a short animation with my mascot OC Fnuzzlee (check that out here), I've started working on the Twitter raffle artworks I owe, and...

...and I finally finished my MOLE GAME! It's called "Mole Masher", and I'll be releasing it here on my Newgrounds within the next week or two before Christmas. Like my previous indie game, there will be many unlockable artworks to earn, so you won't want to miss them!

So, yeah... behind all the cheery emotes, I'm still a bit gloomy about losing my grandfather, but I am starting to cope with it. I might be a little bit slower to respond than usual, since I have been away from most of my social media for so long, but I will try to get back to you all eventually.

See you again shortly!

I've mentioned this to select people a few times now, but I've not yet made a public announcement for everyone to see... I'm taking a big stress break from social media until mid-December. This 4-6 week break will probably be the longest hiatus I've had since I returned to posting art online in 2020.

I've needed a nice, long break like this for some time... my usual 2-3 week breaks don't last long enough to fully relieve my increasing stress and depression before my return, nor is it enough time for me to get back into a healthy sleeping pattern where I'm not staying up late every night sharing art and interacting with hundreds of notifications across multiple platforms... yes, I need some time off to recover both my physical and mental health.

[NOTE: You can skip reading the next paragraph here, it's kind of rambling, but offers a deeper explanation as to why I'm leaving this November if you so desire to hear, but I summarise it in the paragraph after anyway]

I think now is a good time for me to take this much needed break. For one thing, it gives me some time to work on several unfinished art trades and Twitter raffle prize artworks, for me to deliver upon my return just before Christmas. For another thing, I think November is going to be a pretty wild, and potentially toxic, month politically: the US (the country most my viewers live in) is incredibly divided right now (no thanks to a ton of misinfomation and conspracies on both sides), and their election is imminent, so given the amount of political extremsts active on the internet nowadays, I think it's fair to say that there will be a VERY negative reaction to the result of the upcoming election REGARDLESS of who wins, and possibly even a second civil war; tensions in both the Middle East and Ukraine continue to rise, with North Korea now joining the latter conflict, further increasing the risk of WW3 as well. As you probably already know, I'm not a fan of politics (that's not to say I don't have opinions, but I'm pretty moderate and prefer to keep them to myself), yet I can't ignore the consequences it has on our culture, social media experience, and at times, even our safety... I wish everyone would stop fighting and get along, but sadly, humans are argumentative by nature. Whilst I'm probably going to be safe for now in my small suburban town in Britain, I hope all you folks reading keep safe, because, as rough as things are at the moment, they are potentially about to get much worse... I really hope this won't be the last time any of you'll ever hear from me...

Anyway... sorry about all that depressing waffle, but I just hope you understand that I'll still be busy working on a lot of stuff while I'm gone, which I should be able to get through quicker and less stressfully without the distraction of social media, and I thought November in particular would be a good time to leave the internet due to the imminent political toxicity at no doubt an all-time high, and so I can avoid that potential stress as well.

I say leave social media, but... whilst I'm not going to be posting any new artworks or news posts on any of my accounts, nor respond to most public comments (except urgent messages to me), I won't be COMPLETELY gone. No, I do plan on finally spending a couple of days to visit the galleries of many of my fans and friends here on Newgrounds (something I've neglected to do due to lack of time, and the high amount of stress this site causes me, resulting in me not sticking around this site for very long). Also, I still plan on reposting artworks to my Twitter once or twice a week during this period (mostly because I'm paranoid about losing access to my account again due to lack of activity).

I look forward to returning to Newgrounds, and my other accounts, for proper in December at the end of this year. I have many ideas I'd like to share once I've found the time to work on them, including finishing off my upcoming MOLE GAME! I do hope this year's Christmas will be especially merry, and bring everyone together again despite all our differences.

See you all soon (I hope), and good bye for now! (˵ ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°˵) ノシ