Welcome back to Glitch Asks, the series where I hand-pick interesting Newgrounds users to throw a bunch of questions at! In today's episode, I'm speaking to @Inkhandprint, perhaps better known as UnknownSpy! They're an artist who likes to draw characters, and then bring them to life through weird and wonderful animations. You may know them best as the artist behind the popular character Sploot!

So how did UnknownSpy get their start? What was their inspiration for Sploot? And just what are their thoughts behind the whole animation process? Let's find out the answers to all of those and more on today's episode of... Glitch Asks!

--

Q: Explain the origin of your username (Inkhandprint and UnknownSpy).

A: My username UnknownSpy originated from my Sonic fan character/self insert Unknown the Spy-Bat ( https://www.deviantart.com/unknownspy/art/Unknown-the-Spy-Bat-926714261 ) when I was 13-15. As I created my first art social media, Deviantart, I didn’t know what else to use so I named my account UnknownSpyBat. Eventually a few years later I ditched the Bat part as it felt a bit childish to me, considering the origin.

Inkhandprint was created because I couldn’t use UnknownSpy on some sites as UnknownSpy was already taken. The name is a reference to my character Mr. Doodle ( https://www.deviantart.com/unknownspy/art/Mr-Doodle-Ref-883220401 ) who has ink hands and leaves ink handprints everywhere. He is also somehow connected to most of my stories, usually the reason who caused the main conflict in the story because of his ink. So I felt the name was fun and fitting for a username.

Q: When and how did you first start to create characters?

A: I have always been creating characters. Ever since I was a kid I was creating comics and images with recurring characters (but nothing too fancy, just simple animals or fantasy creatures). 

I believe my first fan characters were for the Worms Armageddon, and the dog series Silver Fang (Ginga Nagareboshi Gin). And when I was introduced to the internet around age 9, I found the Sonic franchise, which became my main interest for many years to come.

Eventually I realized I couldn’t draw other franchise’s characters to make my own stories without running into copyright issues. Especially if I wanted to make this more than a hobby. So I started creating original characters and original stories.

Q: By far your most well-known character on Newgrounds is Sploot the Alien, to the point there was even a fan project about a fictional Sploot television series. How did you come up with the idea for the character, and are there any future plans you have for them?

A: Sploot was supposed to be a joke character for a trending Animation Meme on YouTube in 2019 called “Alien Time”. I decided to create a design based on the stereotypical green alien, but curvy. And a year or two after I created the video, I decided to draw the alien again and I ended up feeling like I could draw them more. As I was asking for name suggestions, someone suggested the name “Sploot”, and it stuck.

However, after 5 years I had realized that I was stuck in a bad loop of drawing suggestive content because it got the views. I thought I was having fun, but in reality I was creating empty art for empty feedback which had me becoming miserable as an artist. Some of the attention I was getting was uncomfortable, and occasionally really nasty. It was attracting really horrible people who were not listening to me or my boundaries, going even as far as creating content against my wishes of my characters out of spite. I wanted out. 

So I stopped drawing suggestive art in 2024 and redesigned Sploot to something that makes me happy and I am comfortable with.

Now I am developing a proper story for Sploot and their friends. Ditching the old Sploot “fashion icon” and trying to give most of the outfits/forms Sploot has to have some kind of purpose, other than just looking cute or cool. Of course, I let myself draw cute outfits for them now and then.

At the moment I am making a trading card collection with Sploot where I have 45 illustrations (by the time of this interview.) And I am so excited to see a big art project like this to become something physical to hold. 

Q: How about your most recent character project, "World of None"? What's that all about?

A: I wouldn’t say it's the most recent. It was created in 2020 after all. 

But WoN is a collaborative stick figure project created by me and my friends. It is probably the most fleshed out story I am part of, and it has been so fun and exciting to work on.

It started off as a small idea where me and my friend thought of making stick figures for fun, but the story we created became much bigger than we expected. More friends were invited in, and the story grew more. It is pretty complicated to explain, and we are trying to make enough content to explain the story (which can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PGEPGtqjaglCW_kJJYkLRGdNm-H1stci73ndpTIcXYA/edit?usp=sharing )

But a summary of the main theme: People in this world live in a society where most conflicts are solved by fighting. A man called Price realized he could capitalize on this and made tournaments where winners could win money and fame. In return Price’s influence would grow bigger the more entertaining his tournaments/arena fights would get. 

Eventually, in need of new ideas to get more views on his arena, he removed the “no killing” rule, being the only fighting arena to do so. The fights became more popular than ever. However, some lives were lost in these fights that would come back to haunt him to find justice.

Q: What are your thoughts on the animation process, and how long would it usually take you to produce a short?

A: I have a complicated relationship with animation. I love working on them when I actually get to start. The hardest part is to find the ideas and actually start on one. 

I hate working on a project for too long, as I risk losing interest. So I try my best to keep them simple. But as I have a mentality where I always have to improve on myself and do something better than previously, these projects never stay as simple as I would want. Which makes me scared to start a new project thinking it will once again become too much work for me.

And of course I have that voice in the back of my mind being afraid I am disappointing my audience. Which adds to the pressure to create something new and impressive. Which has led me to avoid animating altogether. I don’t want to be like this, and I am trying to work on my mindset and mental health to be able to animate again for fun.

And when I do animate, I can manage to create a (fairly simple) animation meme in 2-4 days if I get fixated. And I can make several shorts, up to 4 or more a day if I just have the ideas and keep them simple. I know I can create more. My head is just keeping me back.

Q: What's your main motivation for working on your characters? Do you have any bigger plans for them?

A: My main motivation is always the reactions my audience has. It is probably not the healthiest to have an outside motivation, but it has kept me going this far. I love to hear my followers' thoughts and ideas they have for the art and stories I create. And hearing those thoughts make me want to draw more. 

Fanart and headcanons are such a massive fuel. A big part of my stories were created by collaborating with my fans. Those who were passionate enough to get invested and talk about the stories were a massive help and motivation to keep my projects going.

I don’t have any big plans currently, as I am trying to navigate all these ideas as the only artist. I have way too many characters and stories. So I try to narrow them down to the most important. I have a bad habit of working on too many things without getting anything finished. I try to work on this issue, but it can be overwhelming.

Q: Do you have any advice for beginner artists/character designers?

A: Just create. Start that story. Make that comic. Try out animating. Anything to get you started. 

Observe, analyze, and practice. Take as much visual information in from as many sources as possible. Explore new things, try drawing anything you like. Nothing is stopping you from finding out what you like to draw, and there is so much out there. Not just on the internet, but in real life as well. Go out and draw. Explore flea-markets or second hand shops to find unexpected inspiration. Because it’s everywhere.

Q: Name some of your favourite artists, and tell us what you admire about them!

A: My main childhood inspiration was definitely Unknown-Person back in 2011. His cartoony, simple, no nose style was a massive influence on me. Of course there were many artists throughout the years who inspired, but none stayed with me as strongly as U-P. It’s funny to see him resurfacing again in 2024 as new people found his animations. Brought back so much nostalgia.

Jeniak was there when I was in my Silver Fang era. Their old animations, like Mononoke Savior (which I am heartbroken there isn’t any reuploads of. I am desperate to see it again. Any of their older animations in general), and other dog animations on YouTube could have sparked that animator in me. Seeing another Finnish artist (around the same age as me) make such cool art with nothing too fancy was really motivating to me. 

Yuji Uekawa has probably been my most recent biggest influence. Going back to my Sonic era for comfort and nostalgia. I was studying his lineart and shading, trying to implement it into my work. I am moving away from direct copying of the style, but I learnt a few tricks that can give my art a nice touch. 

In general, as the Y2K style is resurfacing again, I have been influenced by the style. Going to those old video game characters, styles, and ideas for my current work. Especially for Sploot’s concept. The shiny round style fits them so well.

Q: If you discovered an alien lifeform right here on Earth, what would be the first thing you'd say to it?

A: Please go back. You’re not ready for whatever the people have in store for you. Especially on the internet.

--

I would like to give a big thank you to @Inkhandprint for participating in the interview, and providing some detailed, well-thought-out answers!

Who will I interview next? Nobody knows but me! If you've made it this far down, thank you very much for reading, and I'll be seeing you in the next episode of Glitch Asks!

--

Disclaimer: All answers are copied and pasted directly from the creator's response. Paragraphs in the interviewee's original response have been merged for consistency; no other adjustments to their answers have been made. The views expressed in this interview are purely those of the creator and do not reflect those of GlitchBuddy.

All information is correct at time of interviewee's response (31 May 2025).

Holy shit. I've managed to write more about these two characters in the past couple of days than I feel like I've ever been able to before. I really don't want to say it, but I also kinda do... I think this could be the thing that brings GlitchBuddy in line with the rest of Newgrounds, and finally gives me a more cohesive brand identity.

I've already laid the foundations for their brand-new world, with character backstories, personalities, and yep, even names for the locations (I know, right?). There are still many things I need to get down on paper before I'm ready to show this revamped project to the public, but it's looking like it's gonna be good.

Now of course, I can't get too enthusiastic. There is a possibility that the new concept may not gel well with people, and I'll have to make changes. I have to be prepared for that. But that doesn't stop me from being excited to share what I've been working on to Newgrounds, and hopefully eventually YouTube as well.

That's all I have to say for now. Be sure to keep a look out for new updates, and remember... T******** is the place to be!

So as some of you may know, my flagship project, Glitch & Gummi, has been getting a bit stagnant as of late. I've never really felt like I've been able to do anything with the whole "evading the government" premise in a way that feels uniquely... GlitchBuddy. Sure, I could force myself to continue on with it, but I think that will lead me to become burned out with it quickly.

For a while now, I've been toying with ideas in my head over how I could give the project a bit of a quirky twist. The main one for a while was to have the government build insane, over-the-top battle robots which Glitch and Gummi would then have to fight, but I didn't really feel like that sufficiently addressed the underlying problem (and god, imagine me trying to draw those at my current skill level!).

But it's 11:50pm right now, and as I'm sat in bed quickly writing out this blog post on my phone, I have a brand-new idea. In short - what if I did away with the whole government premise, and instead completely revamped the whole project to be a lot more comedic in nature? Earlier today I discovered (and subsequently fell in love with) a show called Robot and Monster, an animated comedy show about an orange robot and a purple monster who are best friends. This led me to think about how Glitch & Gummi could work in a similar (but not exact) way.

This is the point where I'd usually say something like "I think this could motivate me to work on the project more", but I already have motivation issues as it is. Nevertheless, this idea only came to me about half an hour ago, and I can be a pretty impulsive person sometimes, so I reckoned I'd at least attempt to get the opinion of my followers (and the NG community) first. Let me know if you have any questions; I'll get to them tomorrow.

Welcome back to Glitch Asks, the series where I hand-pick interesting Newgrounds users to throw a bunch of questions at! In today's episode, we're speaking to @BlueMonday1984, a judging, reviewing, forum-posting behemoth who has managed to claw his way into the top 200 Newgrounds judges of all time! In a platform as unique as Newgrounds, where (some) submissions are deleted if the community gives them a low score, what is life on the site like for someone who does this kind of judging on the regular? Let's find out!

--

Q: Explain the origin of your username. And while we're at it, how about your profile picture too?

A: My username was less a deliberate decision and more a stroke of inspiration. I was trying to work out a username for another site (out of God-knows-how-many), and was listening to a YTPMV of Blue Monday by MarioInATopHat when I got the idea. My username was initially BlueMonday1983, but I got locked out of one of my old accounts (Imgur, I believe?), was forced to make another with the name BlueMonday1984, and decided "yeah, that works better" and the rest is history.

As for my profile picture, its a random picture of D33RFAC3 from the G0ATFAC3 Corner. Being overly specific, I got it off the thumbnail for a bonus video from its spinoff/sequel, The G0ATFAC3 Corner GT:

(A rather fitting place to get my PFP, considering I got into the series as a whole after seeing that MV.)

Q: How did you first find out about Newgrounds?

A: The first time in my life was when I first got Internet access at a very young age (back when I was still in primary school). I mainly came here for the Flash games back then, and went on other such sites like Kongregate, ArmorGames and Miniclip. Ended up drifting away from them after Chrome stopped supporting Flash, and NG naturally fell off my radar afterwards.

The site would come back onto my radar in 2018, after the Tumblr porn ban caused NG to blow up in popularity, but it'd take another five years after that for me to join the site. I didn't have any particular reason for joining Newgrounds, I just felt like it. I even said as such in my first forum post here.

In retrospect, that was the best decision of my life, which I'll get into later.

Q: Unlike most users, who get their following by uploading art, games, animations, etc. you have built yourself up almost purely through ratings, reviews and forum posts. What made you want to start rating so many Newgrounds submissions?

A: I'll admit, I initially started rating submissions in an attempt to put myself onto Cyberdevil's Hexalist (likely retired by now, since the last update was nearly a year ago).

With time, though, I started getting into doing reviews for their own sake - whatever dopamine I get from making a number go up is easily dwarfed by the sheer joy I get in giving artists and friends alike some much-needed feedback on their work, and seeing their day brightened by whatever fun little responses I cook up.

Q: What's your personal process for rating under judgement submissions? How do you decide how many stars to give each one?

A: In terms of personal process...I don't have particularly much of a personal process. How many starts I give depends partially on how much I liked watching/seeing/listening to it, and how much technical skill it shows off. Roughly speaking, anything that's straight crap gets zero stars, anything that's good enough to pass judgment gets 2-3 stars, and anything that's pretty solid gets four stars, and anything that blows me away gets the full five stars.

Q: Do you ever face any challenges in deciding what rating to give a submission?

A: Usually, I face challenges in rating if I'm trying to determine if a particular submission's okay, but something I personally dislike, or something that's too poorly made to pass judgment. Other than that, I generally don't face any real challenges.

Q: Since you are a member of the Elite Guard Barracks, a lot of the submissions you report for violating the rules are made public. Have you ever received blowback from the creators of these submissions, and if so, how do you usually respond?

A: The only major case of blowback I've gotten was some guy sending me a godawful diss track after I reported him for posting cub porn and getting him banned.

I am not kidding. I have the SoundCloud link he sent me: https://soundcloud.com/theleadergamer-105/darkovillain35-bluemonday1984-diss-track-newgrounds

I never responded to him after that - closest I ever got was showing it to a couple other people through DMs.

Q: What is using Newgrounds like for you? Do you treat it more as a casual hobby, or as a regular part of your day? And finally, do you enjoy it?

A: I treat it as a regular part of my day - first thing I do after getting up is checking Under Judgment, second thing is usually giving my personal highlight on the daily lineup.

This arguably goes without saying, but I absolutely enjoy being on Newgrounds - the userbase is absolutely goddamn overflowing with talented artists, animators, musicians and creatives of every stripe, meaning a constant flow of excellent art and animation for me to check out. Add to that the complete lack of any algorithms or AI slop, and you have one of the few websites I know of where artists truly matter.

Q: Do you have a favourite animated series?

I've already mentioned The G0ATFAC3 Corner when mentioning where my PFP came from, and I'll happily recommend it to anyone reading this.

With some intensely charming characters, an impressively well-crafted plotline, well-crafted retro visuals and one hell of an original soundtrack to tie it all together, this excellently-made send-up to review shows of old had me gripped from start to finish. I called TGFC "one of the best webseries I've ever seen" after finishing it, and I will stand by that until the day I die.

You can check it out over on YouTube, or right here on Newgrounds:

--

I would like to give a big thank-you to @BlueMonday1984 for participating in the interview. You gave some absolutely incredible answers!

Who will I interview next? Nobody knows but me! If you've made it this far down, thank you very much for reading, and I'll be seeing you in the next episode of Glitch Asks!

--

Disclaimer: All answers are copied and pasted directly from the creator's response, without any adjustments. The views expressed in this interview are purely those of the creator and do not reflect those of GlitchBuddy. All information is correct at time of interviewee's response (21 May 2025).

Welcome to the second episode of Glitch Asks, the series where I hand-pick interesting Newgrounds creators to throw a bunch of questions at! Today, we're speaking to @CaptainElemental, who's developing their own character design project about the adventures of an interdimensional researcher named Eniar. Without further ado, let's begin!

--

Q: Explain the origin of your username.

A: My username was the early concept name I used for the character now named Eniar, who I first designed around 15 years ago.

Q: Tell us a little bit about this universe you've been working on.

A: I was actually working on settings that take place in different dimensions. One of them is split between two parallel planes: a 6-dimensional plane, where space and time are both 3D, and one with just 3-dimensional space. The 6D plane is inhabited by 5-dimensional lifeforms consisting of 3 spacial and 2 temporal dimensions. I'm still working on many details, so I can't explain very much now. The other setting I was working on is a macabre-themed dimension inhabited by spectral energy based lifeforms. This one is also still under development.

Q: When did you first start to learn the skills you use in your art now (e.g. drawing, 3D modelling)?

A: When I came up with the character Eniar is when I started focusing on drawing. I started learning 3D modeling about three-to-four years ago.

Q: In your Newgrounds bio, you specifically mention losing motivation on previous projects. How long had you been working on these previous projects for, and at what point did you decide to start fresh?

A: About 14 years ago I started a personal art project that centered around designing characters, then moved into drawing comics and worldbuilding. I posted what I managed to do on a few different media platforms. I got a few followers and a little feedback, but eventually they lost interest in whatever I was doing. The decreasing attention from my followers combined with a lack of feedback resulted in a few periods of inactivity from lack of motivation and ideas on what anyone wanted to see. I eventually went on a three-year hiatus that started four-to-five years ago. It was during this that I started learning about using Blender. After the hiatus I decided to cancel my old art project and move on to something new.

Q: I first found out about you through your video, "Glimring Model Test". How long did it take to make, and how were you able to combine the animated model with the real-life background?

A: I don't quite remember, but I think the animating, rendering, and editing processes took a week or so in total. The background image is an HDRI. People appear to like using them for photorealistic renders. I found some tutorials for a few ways to use these in Blender.

Q: What are your main inspiration(s) when designing characters and creatures?

A: I can't remember anything specific. The characters I made were usually designed around a certain theme. Things like a certain genre, a certain element, a certain environment. I would browse around stuff on the theme I wanted to design something on and try to brainstorm some ideas.

Q: Now that you've been building a universe, what would you like to do with it in the future?

A: I had decided I'd like to eventually try some game development. Nothing big, probably just a small 3D game since I'm solo. I plan to use a dimension I'm working on as the setting for a game someday. Right now I'm trying to get used to working on concepts and making assets, so I won't be developing a game anytime soon.

Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

A: I don't know. Whatever that could improve my slow production speed so I can get stuff done sooner.

--

I would like to give a big thank-you to @CaptainElemental for participating in the interview and giving some interesting answers!

Who will I interview next? Nobody knows but me! If you've made it this far down, thank you very much for reading, and I'll be seeing you in the next episode of Glitch Asks!

--

Disclaimer: All answers are copied and pasted directly from the creator's response, without any adjustments. The views expressed in this interview are purely those of the creator and do not reflect those of GlitchBuddy. All information is correct at time of interviewee's response (14 May 2025).

Recently, and oftentimes before, I have had a new idea for a project. An idea that I like so much, I want to start conceptualising it and designing on it right away. But then I remember... I already have like, three past ideas I'm already supposed to be working on.

Now of course, I could start working on the new idea anyway, bringing my total of simultaneous projects up to four. But even I know that, if I let that happen, the amount of projects I'm working on will keep growing to an unsustainable point. Another option I have is to get rid of one or more of my existing projects and replace them with the mew idea. But this is unsustainable too, as if I keep getting rid of projects to make way for new ones, I'll never get anywhere with any of them.

I have been told that my constant fixation on new ideas is a symptom of my ADHD. I will oftentimes be interested by a particular type of character one moment, and then a new one another moment, and so on and so forth. I always try to tell myself to stick with the ideas I already have, which for most of my throwaway ideas actually works. But occasionally, I will get an idea that I like so much, I just can't shake the thought of it.

I have been considering making a new type of project called a "mini-project", where I'm able to work on these new ideas, but with less focus than the main ones I'm already working on. Think of it as a sort of side project. I'm not sure if these will ever come to fruition though, as I'm bad enough at focusing on my main projects as it is.

This is a problem I have had practically ever since I started drawing, and one that I've never truly been able to solve. I'll have to keep on considering methods on how I can manage this ever-evolving influx of ideas.

--

P.S. You're probably wondering what this particular new idea I have right now is. Put simply, I wanna make a group of robots. Not just any ol' robots though; a group of stylised quirky robots who do quirky things, where all semblance of logic gets thrown out of the window. That's all I'll say for now.

Welcome to Glitch Asks, a new series where I hand-pick interesting Newgrounds creators to interview. For the debut episode, our subject will be @clqud, a small pixel artist who mainly draws their OCs in their unique, soft-shaded style. Take it away!

--

Q: Explain the origin of your username.

A: In the past I liked so much Undertale, Napstablook is my favourite ghost and game character! So i take his name as my first nickname. After that I played Hyper Light Drifter, the main character of this game feels like very lonely, as I imagined myself, so i changed nickname on "Just a Drifter". But some time passed and I thought - "Hmmm... My nickname is very long and very hard for pronouncing" I tried to figure out what else can be lonely and drifting. And decision is... Yep, Cloud. I insert the letter "q" in nickname because of another game which I liked - Caves of Qud

I wondering about nicknaming myself like: Laffy, but I rejected that idea, sounds too embarrasing, and name is just does not suit for my conditions, so there it is - clqud, simple and sacral for me.

Q: How did you originally become interested in making pixel art?

A: To be honest, In one moment I really wanted to made my own original character, but i have no skill in digital art, I tried drawing in MS Paint, but soonly I realized - It`s just not for me, so I decided try pixel art, because I thought it would be very simple to realize own ideas on canvas in this way, I bought Aseprite on October 31 (Ironically) drawed my first art: is just little cloud in witch hat. But with time, I started become too envy on other pixel-artist, just because I thought they did very perfect arts than me, that fact put me into depression, I really worried that I`m just not good at pixel-art at all and sometimes I wanted drop this hobby, but now, this feeling is flew away, I`m glad that there is no envious thoughts on my mind.

Q: How long have you had your characters for?

A: My first and main OC - Cloud, "the cloud-headed creature", it was about three years i had this character. But I understand that fact: If I continue drawing only my main character, it would be a stagnation in my progress, so I decided draw my first haired character - Klyde (Yep, i know that i`m not good in giving names for own OC). And from that point, I started making other characters like BN-4Y, a tv-headed bunny robot; Kustiki - humanoid, which hair is literally is a bush, and etc. Sometimes I just draw characters, which holds on my mind and I never give them names, for example: a humanization of .txt file, that idea just comes from nowhere, but I drawed it. I wondered about making adult content with them, but it sounds too hard and wrong for me, and I just can`t imagine drawing something like this with my own OCs.

Q: How did you develop your art style?

A: That question is kinda complicated for me, because i can`t remember how i developed my skills. Only what i remember that my first works lacking of normal palette colors, i just used my own colors, and it looked very, very raw, and shading are poorly maded. 

But i realized: I only started making pixel art, so there is nothing bad to make a mistakes on first steps.

For now, I use palette presets from Aseprite for my arts, from Lospec site too.

Q: Explain the meaning of your banner. What is "Void Stranger Cloud"?

A: Oooh! That`s a good one!! You see... I searched indie games on steam and I found not very popular game "Void Stranger", it`s sokoban puzzle. To be honest, i don`t like puzzle-games, but after Void Stranger a started to appreciate them. It has a good lore and some things based on "Divine Comedy" which is also plus for me. When I started a new game I saw the ingame logo: "Void Stranger Gray" (Gray is a name of main protagonist) I really liked this logo, so i adapted it for myself like banner.

Also i put couple of thoughts into this banner like: "I`m posting my arts into the void, with hope if anybody likes it... So i am a Void Stranger." It maybe sounds childish, but i liked it. Void Stranger is still my favourite game, i wanted to share with someone about this hidden gem, but there are not many people, which enjoys such indie-games like this. I don`t have a powerful PC, so there is no other choice, but enjoy indie games, like Void Stranger. (And draw pixel-arts)

Q: Why do you draw?

A: Hmm... I never asked myself "Why I`m drawing these arts?". I can`t monetize my arts and can`t buy comms from foreign creators. If i had an ideal answer, then it gonna be: For myself, and my friends on discord server. But originally i had only one naive idea: "I want to be popular tweeter artist, get very big numbers of likes and retweets and etc." I don`t cared about one issue "It`s just not possible to get all attention in one time, there and now". For now i understand - i must make many attempts, many ups and downs in my attempts. So i decided to post my arts somwhere else, and there we are - Newgrounds, from that point, my previous idea faded into the background, and now Newgrouds very important for me, because there are much talented people - artists, musicians, game developers, animators and other creative users, I want to become one of them, maybe not popular, but well known in local circles!

Q: Is there any advice you would like to give to aspiring pixel artists?

A: Hard to say, but as I said earlier: "I only started making pixel art, so there is nothing bad to make a mistakes on first steps.", just give a try for some ideas, and never fall into despair from mistakes. Also i remembered: I have "sinned" - I drawed my first arts in mixels, and I just wanted to say for everyone: Don't blame aspiring pixel artist for that, just give them a explanation: why mixels are not preferable for first artworks.

Q: What is your favourite food?

A: My favourite food is food that i make for myself. I`m not good in cook, but it has to be learned from independent life experience. I like make salads, soups, pasta (with cheese) and rice (fried, with stake, or another meat). If i get lazy - I buy some sandwiches and rarely - pizza. Also i like choosing sauces for food.

--

Thank you to @clqud for participating in the first ever episode of Glitch Asks; their answers were absolutely incredible!

Who will I interview next? Nobody knows but me! If you've made it this far down, thank you very much for reading, and I'll be seeing you in the next episode of Glitch Asks!

--

Disclaimer: All answers are copied and pasted directly from the creator's response, without any adjustments. The views expressed in this interview are purely those of the creator and do not reflect those of GlitchBuddy. All information is correct at time of interviewee's response (9 May 2025).

A quick update on my new project I touched on briefly in my last news post: "The Guild" has been given the new name of "Finick".

The reason I decided to rename the project is that earlier today I discovered there was already an existing series of web animations called The Guild, which features similar elements, although does not follow my project's exact storyline. Nevertheless, in the pursuit of originality, I have decided on giving my own project a new name.

But why "Finick"? I randomly came up with it around an hour before writing this post, from the first two syllables of the word "finicky". There is a bit of meaning behind it: Dictionary.com's definitions are "to affect extreme daintiness or refinement" and "to trifle or dawdle". The first definition essentially means "to be very picky or particular", which describes Tom's personality near the beginning of the story very well, as he was very picky about who he wanted to go on adventures with, but was eventually forced to accept the few people who actually wanted to join him. The second definition means "to waste time", which I thought gave the title an ironic side, as is adventuring a fulfilling activity, or a mere waste of time? Tom's father definitely thinks it's the latter.

But in reality, I just thought the word "Finick" sounded cool. And, here we are.

To clarify, only the name of the project is changing. The in-universe adventuring group will still be known as the Guild of Adventurers, or just The Guild for short. But the story as a whole will be known as Finick.

Hi everyone, it's Glitch here! It's been another long while since my last news post 3 months ago, and I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for my tendency to occasionally disappear for long periods of time. But rest assured, I have not and will never abandon Newgrounds; I love this place too damn much.

So first of all, an update on me. You might recall that my last news post was about my newfound struggles with anxiety. I'm happy to announce that, since I started to take antidepressants, I have been in a much better state of mind. Although I'm not 100% back to normal, I'm at a point where I can confidently say I'm back to living comfortably. The bad news is that, in what I suspect to be a side effect of the antidepressants, my fatigue levels have risen, and I now struggle with daily bouts of uncontrollable drowsiness. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

But enough about me, let's talk about... me, and all the stuff I've been getting up to in the last three months. Perhaps the biggest thing that's happened is that I got given a new room in the house which I have dedicated to video games. I have all my modern consoles hooked up to a 45-inch, 1080p television at the back of the room, as can be seen in this photo:

On the other side of the room, not visible in the photo, is both my computer setup and a CRT television setup for retro consoles (the only one I have right now being a PS1). It's a neat little place where I can go to relax and unwind with some good old fashioned gaming. Or I can play something hardcore and rage-inducing instead. You never know.

Another big thing that's happened is I have invested in my very own Kindle. In an effort to expand both my knowledge and creative horizons, I decided that getting a Kindle would be a great way to encourage me to read more books.

This is my Kindle 11th gen (2024), currently in the middle of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. I also have two other books loaded up onto there: In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park, which is an autobiography of a woman who fled North Korea at a young age, and Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken, which is a book by a doctor about the prevalence and potential dangers of ultra-processed food.

But enough about boring nerd shit like books and reading, I know exactly what question is on everybody's mind: "In the three months since his last news post, has GlitchBuddy purchased an ASUS ROG Ally?"

You know it!

I've always liked the idea of having a handheld gaming PC, but honestly this purchase has led me to wonder if I should have just bought a Steam Deck instead. I went for the ROG Ally over the Deck as it was a native Windows 11 device, and so would be able to run games from the Epic Games and Xbox stores that SteamOS just couldn't. But the problem is that Windows just isn't designed for handheld PCs, really. I do like how the device lets you move the mouse using the right analogue stick and shoulder buttons, but it's not really a simple and seamless experience like I thought it was going to be. I also wasn't able to get the UWP version of Skyrim to correctly recognise the Ally's controller layout. Nevertheless, the few Steam indie games I've played on it so far have controlled well, and I plan to keep it around and see more of what it can do in the future.

There's one last thing I wanted to touch upon in this news post, and that's my actual art projects. For a while now I have been working on a new project behind the scenes, known as The Guild. It's a project about a small group of adventurers who may not be the strongest in the world, but all have a burning passion for exploration, as well as the support of one another. I'm still working on things, but I want to make comics about these characters in the future.

This means that, like I tried to do back in 2023, I'm once again working on three projects at once. While that previous attempt failed, I'm looking to take things more slowly this time around, and work on each project individually in time chunks, rather than trying to do all three at once.

Well, that will indeed be all from me this time around. Once again, I'm sorry that I keep disappearing for so long, but due to my issues with concentration, motivation and fatigue, I unfortunately can't promise that it won't happen again. But rest assured, I don't have any plans to leave this site, and I still love Newgrounds as much today as I did back in 2022.

Hope you all have a great day, and I'll see you soon!

-Glitch [ I - ]

Hi all, Glitch here. We're one month into 2025, and oh boy, what a month it has been for me. I genuinely don't remember the last time I was uploading art so frequently! I've relaunched Cyril the Cylinder into a brand-new project, which I've received positive feedback on from my friends. I've joined two new Discord communities, one for a game development studio and one that's about pixel art, and I've met a whole bunch of lovely people! And I've been posting to the BBS more than ever, with my goal to reach 1K posts by the end of the year.

However, unfortunately it hasn't all been happy for me. I've been going through a really bad time with my mental health lately, which is what the rest of this article will be about. I want to be open with the issues I am going through, so that anyone who's going through something similar knows they're not alone, and because I've been told writing down my thoughts and feelings can be a good thing.

If you don't wish to keep reading this article, that's absolutely fine; you should worry about your own mental health much more than mine! But if you really want to know what I'm going through, then read on.

Please note, this article contains several references to vomit and throwing up. If these are triggering topics for you, I suggest you stop reading the article here.

--

It all started back around the end of November last year. I had gone to sleep one night as usual, however I suddenly woke up around 3am. I didn't think much of it at first, since I tend to wake up at random times in the middle of the night anyway, but then I started to feel a sudden sensation of nausea. Now I initially thought that it was just a feeling of anxiety, since I've always been a bit anxious about vomiting, and so I tried to calm myself down. However, the nausea kept getting stronger, and eventually it got to the point where I accepted what was about to happen, and made my way to the toilet.

What followed was a whole slew of vomiting fits, one after the other, that only produced a tiny bit of vomit with each heave. Occasionally, I would choke on the vomit as it came out. My parents (yes, I still live with them) attributed the symptoms to Norovirus. In the end, the only way I could get it to stop and go back to sleep was by taking anti-nausea medication.

I eventually recovered from this illness, and went on with my life as usual. However, we now get to the middle of December. I'm enjoying a day in the city with my IRL friend, eating out and looking at video game shops, you know the drill. Afterwards, we walked back to his house, but just as I was standing outside his front door waiting for him to unlock it, I suddenly felt another intense wave of nausea, to the point I thought I was going to throw up again. I proceeded to sit on his bed, trying not to throw up and making very little movement, while he was trying to show me MeatCanyon videos. I eventually had to cut my visit short and drive myself back home because I was feeling so unwell.

The next day, I woke up and felt fine again. Hm, must have just been really bad anxiety, I thought to myself. I felt like going on a drive that day, so I hopped in my car and started making my way to another city in order to pick up a couple video games. However, as I was waiting in a queue, I started to think about the events of the day before... and the feeling of nausea started again. It was less intense than before, but it started again. I was thinking of turning around and driving myself back home, but I decided to soldier on and pick up my video games after all.

The difference is, after I got back home that day, I did not start to feel better. This was the start of a mental health crisis for me, that I'm still feeling the effects of to this day. Essentially, I grew a terrible fear of vomiting. I would feel constantly nauseous throughout the day, was reluctant to eat food (and when I did, it was in very small amounts), and had anxiety attacks of increased nausea whenever I felt like I was in a situation where I couldn't easily escape (such as showering, or being with family). This persisted throughout the Christmas period, so safe to say I did not have a happy Christmas (although I got a new duvet cover and an Xbox and PlayStation lamp, which was pretty cool).

After over a week of this, I eventually decided I couldn't get through this on my own and I needed medical intervention. I went to the doctor, and I was prescribed with antidepressants for the very first time. I had been considering taking antidepressants before for unrelated issues, but I was always reluctant as I didn't want to end up relying on them. However, this time I felt like I had no choice.

The first couple of weeks of antidepressants were rough; my anxiety increased, the nausea attacks started to get worse and I was essentially living in fear of vomit. I even ended up having to go back to the doctor to get additional anti-anxiety meds because things were that bad. Luckily after that, things started to slowly get better for me.

And this is where I am today. I'm slowly but surely learning to cope with my anxiety, and the antidepressants are slowly but surely starting to take effect. I'm nowhere near as anxious as I once was, although I still occasionally have rough periods (I had a very bad anxiety attack just a few nights ago, for example). However, I'm still not 100% there - I'm still not fully confident eating out in public or going to social gatherings, for example.

It's safe to say this has been a very life-changing experience. I'm only a fraction of what I once was in terms of mental strength, and I haven't really done much besides drawing and gaming since it started. However, that's not to say I haven't been getting better. I'm confident that with the help of both the antidepressants and my willpower, I'll be able to live a reasonably normal life once again.

If you've read this far, thank you. This is a blog post I've been considering writing for a while now, but today I decided to go ahead and just do it. I'd like to thank everyone who's helped me through this journey so far, both in real life and online - you know who you are. This has been a very difficult period for me, but I'm hopeful for the future.