I am not currently using my X/Twitter account for multiple reasons, although I would like to start posting on it again soon.

It is currently in a protected state due to an influx of bots following the account. That is not to say it is now closed; you are welcome to send a follow request and I will accept it if your account seems legitimate. I will open the account again when I resume regular posting, whenever that may be.

For a while now, I've been wanting to make a series of blog posts where I can regularly provide updates on me, my life and my art. I call it "GlitchBuddy Update". Hopefully this can give you an insightful look into the daily goings-on into a robotic cube on the internet (and his small, slightly-squishy best friend).

Art & Newgrounds

KinitoPET Collab

As I'm writing this, around 24 hours remain until the Newgrounds KinitoPET Collab deadline. Overall, I'd say the collab has been pretty successful, although I plan to write a 'postmortem' after its release, in which I'll go more in depth on my thoughts and feelings surrounding it. It's been a pretty surreal experience, hosting my first ever collab, but one I'm glad I had.

BBS Signature

Recently I managed to do something I've been wanting to do for a very long time, and that is making my own Newgrounds BBS signature. I designed this one to showcase my most 'popular' (I guess you could say) characters and essentially serve as a sort of mini-ad for my NG page. I case you haven't seen it, here it is:

This was my first ever time animating in Krita and served as a pretty simple introduction. Working with the frames was a bit of a hassle, only compounded by the fact that, for whatever reason, I'd assumed I needed six frames instead of just two. Trust me, there was a LOT of mouse clicking involved. However, by the end of it, I came out with something I really liked.

I particularly enjoyed making the little pixel renders of my characters, and pixel art is something I might want to do more of in the future, although it would never replace my drawn art. By the way, do you notice anything... different about Ditko?

Ditko design update

During the production of the above BBS signature, I decided to give Ditko a brand-new pair of boots. My idea was that, since Ditko travels across so many unfamiliar dimensions, these boots would help him navigate through terrain that his normal feet weren't designed for. Their rubber soles provide grip, and they slightly extend out to either side to provide balance. Since I wanted to make his boots light grey, I changed the colour of his pouch to brown to provide variety.

I did end up making a quick doodle of his new design to show it off better:

I wanna do a proper drawing of this design at some point, although I'm not currently sure when this might be.

Evolving my art

I recently found out about the airbrush tool in Krita, and have started to make use of it in my more recent works, the first of which being "It'll grow on you". So far I've found it useful for portraying dim glowing lights, such as the eyes of the rock creature in the aforementioned artwork:

and the background in Kinito hacks Glitch:

It could also be a useful tool for adding more detail to characters in the future, although that would have to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

I also found this other brush in Krita, called "WaterC Special Blobs". No idea what the Krita developers thought was so special about these blobs, but I absolutely love them. I'm primarily using them to portray dirt, mould and the like, such as the moss on top of the rock creature (see above image), and a dirty, abandoned staircase in another project I've been working on. It creates an effect I really like. Both of these discoveries have so far been really useful, and I may look into using even more of Krita's brushes in my future work.

Gaming & Achievement Hunting

Written by Gummi

It's ya boi gum here, and it looks like I finally have a space to talk about my favourite hobby in the whole entire world: gaeming. When I'm not either fighting for my life or going on adventures with Glitch, there's nothing better in the world than sitting down in front of the TV (or the computer I guess) with a nice big tub of water beside me and playing until I can't play no more. It's not just that, though; I'm also into achievement hunting. It's great; I get to challenge myself in a video game, maybe do something I wouldn't have considered doing otherwise, and at the end of it all I get this nice little "hey, you did it" on my account that I can look at and say to myself "hey, I did it". Also I like seeing gamerscore and trophy levels go up. I'm a simple guy. Without further ado, let's get into where my gaming adventures have been taking me lately.

Grand Theft Auto V

I recently completed Grand Theft Auto V for the first time since I started playing it in... 2017? Maybe 2018? Back then I didn't really bother with the missions; I just drove around the map all the time. But I went into this specific playthrough with the intention of completing the game.

My favourite missions are generally the ones with big shootouts. As a controller user (don't ask me how) the autoaim makes me feel like a god... when it works, that is. My least favourite missions are the ones that have massive amounts of downtime. There's this one that comes to mind where you're in a helicopter and you're using police scanning technology to find a specific person. You have to go to an area, scan everyone in the area, find out he's not there, go to another area, scan everyone in that area, find out he's not there, go to another area, and finally he's there... and then you have to follow his car with the helicopter for what feels like the next minute and a half. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for downtime in-between action, but surely there's gotta be a better way to do it.

At the end, I picked the ending where you kill Trevor. It wasn't exactly the most glamorous ending; all you do is chase him around in your car until he crashes and then you set him on fire (spoilers for a decade old game by the way). The other choices you get are to kill Michael or to try and save all three characters, although I'm not sure if I'll play through the whole game again to experience those endings.

Woodle Tree Adventures

This is one I did for the achievements, the PS4 version specifically. For those of you who don't know, Woodle Tree is a series of indie 3D platformers created by the indie studio Chubby Pixel, and one that I'm personally a very big fan of. Like, come on man, look at the guy:

[Screenshot taken from the game's Steam page]

I bought both this game and the second one for dirt cheap during a sale. I much prefer the second game overall, but I figured I might as well play the first one too for the achievements.

Now let's get this clear first: Woodle Tree Adventures (the first one in the series) is not a good game. Don't get me wrong, this game was made largely by one person, and you can clearly see they've put a lot of effort and love into it. This is not one of those cheap cash-grab titles you see all over Steam, for instance. But when you get into playing it... oh boy. The controls are slippery, the soundtrack is depressing, the combat just doesn't work half the time, and you can't even rotate the camera. Like I said, I can appreciate the effort, but this still isn't one that I would recommend you play, unless you are a diehard Woodle Tree fan like me. Get the second game instead; Woodle Tree 2 is genuinely one of my favourite games ever.

The achievements were simple enough; complete this level, unlock this item, etc. I basically got all of them during normal playthrough, except one that required me to collect 3000 total berries. Eh, I've been through worse grinds.

Also, there's a bug that will sometimes blast the game's music at max volume if you press circle on the pause menu. So don't do that.

Doki-Doki Universe

And now we get to the game I've been playing through most recently - the PS4 version of Doki-Doki Universe, another indie title that was officially published by Sony and released as a PlayStation exclusive. It was directed by Greg Johnson, the same guy that co-created the Toejam & Earl series.

Doki-Doki universe is a game about a robot that must travel through various planets and learn concepts of "humanity" in order to stop his model being discontinued by the factory who made him. Despite how the premise sounds, it has a very comedic tone and an even more comedic artstyle:

[Icon from "Doki-Doki Universe Complete Story Planet Pack" from PlayStation Store]

It's an incredibly charming game where you get to talk to a whole cast of quirky and unusual characters and complete tasks for them in order to increase your level and, as previously mentioned, learn "humanity". As explained in the game itself, humanity isn't literally about being human, but rather about the qualities and emotions that make us up as humans, e.g. jealousy or love. There are also several "quiz asteroids" dotted in between the planets, each of where you get to answer a few personality questions in order to get an evaluation of your own personality at the end. I'd consider this one of the PS4's hidden gems, although I'd understand if the gameplay isn't for everyone.

Conclusion

Well, that's the first GlitchBuddy Update complete. I don't know how often I'll do these; maybe once a month will work, but no guarantees. Anyway, let me know what you all thought, and I'll see you in the next one!

Are you a fan of KinitoPET? Do you wish you could express your love for the friendly* digital axolotl through art? Well, say no more, as after nearly two years on NG I'm hosting my first ever collab - the Newgrounds KinitoPET Collab!

You submit your drawings of Kinito and/or his crew, and at the end it'll all get compiled into this little interactive desktop akin to the original game, courtesy of programmer @Prismisho!

For more information, to view the rules and to submit your entries, please check out the collab thread. I can't wait to see what you all will make!

Greetings again, my Earthlings! It’s been just over three months since my last character profile, and a lot has happened since then! For one, I’ve both dipped out of and come back to Newgrounds, and I’ve given all of my playlists some personality with their own custom icons (yes, I know I mention the custom icons a lot, but it’s something I’m pretty proud of). Anyway, if you’ve read the last character profile on Zoe, then you’ll know exactly who’s coming up next, and who better to talk about for our No. 2 spot than Candlestick Road’s other main character? Get ready to bounce around and wave your tiny little retractable arms in excitement because…

It's Blip!

([Candlestick Road] Blip - Reference 1)

The basics

Full name: Blip

Species: Blob

Gender: Male

Age (in human years): 21

Height: 0’10” (25.4cm)

Backstory

Blip was put up for adoption early at birth by his parents, who were unable to afford the costs of raising another child. As such, he never knew his birth parents, although he hopes to find them one day.

It just so happened that, around the same time, a family of robots from the nearby county of Electropolis were looking to try their hand at raising a biological being. They saw the young blob at the orphanage and, feeling sorry for his circumstances, decided to adopt him. Robots typically name themselves after electrical/computer terms, and since he didn’t already have a name, his new family decided to name him “Blip”, as he was the metaphorical ‘blip’ in the family. As part of the adoption, the family moved from Electropolis to the town of Appleton, nearly halfway across the planet.

Blip was raised in a way that could only be described as strict, but also loving. He was home-schooled by his parents, as they didn’t want to put him at risk of being bullied. He was never allowed out on his own, and when he did go out with his parents, it would only be to places that they thought were the safest and friendliest. He was taught to always be happy, to always look at the brighter side of things, and to appreciate what he had and never envy the possessions of others.

However, blobs naturally crave socialisation, and the way Blip was raised, he started to feel deprived. As such, while his parents were out, Blip would regularly sneak out of the house and into Appleton’s town centre, where he hoped to interact with the locals and make a few friends. This didn’t go exactly to plan; many people ended up just finding Blip annoying, although that didn’t seem to faze him. Still, even if he didn’t end up making any friends, he really enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny of his hometown, and this instilled a sense of adventure into him that would only grow as he got older.

Through all this, Blip found a mentor in his robotic brother, Byte. Byte knew about Blip’s secret adventures and did his best in giving him advice on how to interact with others and generally survive in the real world, although even he had his limits.

Eventually, Blip got old enough to move out of the house and live on his own. But he didn’t decide to get a house or an apartment or anything like that. Inspired by the adventures he had while his parents weren’t looking, he decided to live a nomadic lifestyle, feeding on the dirt and soil (as all blobs do) and sleeping anywhere he could find. His parents were unsure about this, but they decided that as long as he was happy, who were they to object?

This is how Blip would live his life for the next few years or so. He spent his days exploring Appleton, taking in the scenery, feeding off of the soil as mentioned before, and still trying to interact with the citizens of the town. Unfortunately, in pursuit of this task, he would end up crossing paths with some... not-so-nice people. Let’s just say both of his eyes used to work.

Around the time Blip met Zoe, however, he could feel his happy and energetic personality starting to fade. He had been living like this for around 3 years now, he explored pretty much all of Appleton and its surrounding areas, and he still hadn’t managed to make himself a friend. For the first time, Blip was starting to doubt if his life was actually going anywhere. One day, he was taking a slow bounce along a path near the town park, when, due to his small size, he accidentally tripped up a triangle on their way home from work. Little did Blip know, this is where his old, uncertain life would end, and a brand new one would begin.

Appearance

Blip is a blob of a deep purple colour. Like all blobs, he has extendable arms on both sides of his body; however, he was born with a defect, meaning he can only extend his right arm to about half the length of his left one. He is blind in his left eye as the result of an injury.

Personality

Blip is an energetic character with an excitable personality. He is an adventuring type, and loves to discover new places and try new things, sometimes to the annoyance of Zoe.

Blip is a fiercely positive and optimistic character. He worries about very little, and will quite literally smile in the face of a bad situation. Whenever Zoe or anyone else is feeling down, he will try his best to comfort them and get a smile back on their face. However, he will occasionally wonder where his birth parents may be.

Role in the series

Blip, along with Zoe, serves as one of the two main characters of Candlestick Road. In contrast to Zoe, who is markedly more average and plain, Blip is a character with a unique and unconventional way of life, who is able to help Zoe see her world in a different way. However, Blip is not without his own problems, which become much more apparent as the story progresses. While he may seem like an unstoppable positive force in the beginning, over time he ends up learning just as much about life as his friend.

Creation & development

As weird as it may seem, Blip almost didn’t exist. I mentioned in my Introducing Candlestick Road article that I was going through a bit of a robot phase around the time the series was being created, and as such, the initial concept of the series was that a little robot would be teaching a bigger character about the joys of life.

I had a file, bot_concept.kra, ready to go in order to design this character. However, I was having trouble deciding what this hypothetical robot character would look like, and for whatever reason I decided I would sketch out a blob-shaped character in the meantime. After about 10 minutes or so I came out with this:

I had decided midway through the drawing process that the character would have a defect with its arms, so that’s been with him since the very beginning. I was proud of this little guy I had drawn, but I was still unsure on whether or not to go with him instead of the robot. I did actually end up designing a robot character, however:

([Concept] Triangle and Blob/Bot)

Yep, you read that right. This is what we could have gotten instead of Blip. I don’t think I need to tell you what decision I ended up making. I’m glad I did, because having the character be a biological being instead of a machine opens up the opportunity for a lot more complex stories and emotions that a robot just wouldn’t be able to have.

As for the blob’s name, I chose Blip sometime after I had come up with the idea of him being raised by robots. He was always meant to be the metaphorical ‘blip’ in an otherwise all-robot family, hence the name. I don’t think I came up with any other names for him; he’s just always been Blip.

Trivia

• Blip used to keep a pet rock he called Rocko, but it got taken from him a while by some bad people. He doesn't expect to ever see him again.
• Blip's favourite place in Appleton is the park. He likes walking around, relaxing on the benches... and apparently it has some good dirt.
• Blip enjoys watching TV as much as Zoe, but his favourite TV show is Yellow n' Green, a show about a big yellow character and his tiny green best friend.

Conclusion

Blip is a unique character. Initially developed as the stark opposite to Zoe in both appearance and personality, I feel as if he has since grown into so much more, although of course you’ve yet to see it. Blip represents the one little bit of childlike wonder we all still have in us, something we could all do with tuning back into every once in a while.

And with that, both of Candlestick Road’s main characters have been done, meaning, for the time being at least, it’s time to move over to another project. You know, I’ve been working pretty hard on that robot and his alien friend lately; their history, personality and all. How about we give one of them a shot?

Ready for a particularly cubic character profile soon? See you for #3!

Not gonna beat around the bush with this one; I've been largely inactive again. Same reason as before, general depression and apathy. I know I've made a whole bunch of posts like these before, but it keeps coming back to me one way or another. I have trouble gaining motivation and momentum.

However, I've been trying to improve myself on these aspects, and I think I'm ready to say fuck it. This is the time for me now to start picking things up and being more active, both in terms of uploads and community engagement. I still love art, I still love Newgrounds, and it's time for me to show both of those things.

Let's see how well this one plays out.

Greetings, my Earthlings, and welcome to the first of what will (hopefully) be many character profiles! These will be blog posts where I go in-depth about a certain character from one of my projects, whether they're main, recurring or even just a one-off. You'll learn about their backstory, their role in the project, their real-life creation, and even a few random fun facts (that I totally wouldn't have just come up with on the spot). With all that in mind, I think it's fair to start with a character from a staple series of mine - Candlestick Road!

So, without further ado, this is Zoe.

([Candlestick Road] Zoe - Reference 1)

The basics

Full name: Zoe Annabelle Carlton

Species: Triangle

Gender: Female

Age (human years): 25

Height: 5'8" (173cm)

Backstory

Zoe grew up in a small, semi-detached house in the suburbs of Appleton. The only child of a working-class family, her father worked in construction while her mother stayed at home to take care of her, although as her child got older she would begin to work as a receptionist. While her parents could afford the necessities of life such as food and water, they did not have much in the way of luxury, Zoe's only forms of entertainment growing up being the family TV and her bookshelf.

Zoe performed surprisingly well at school, her talents being well-recognised among the staff. She would often finish her work more quickly than her peers, and was always able to answer any questions her teacher threw at her. She was a quiet kid, however, and mostly preferred to keep to herself. She only managed to make one friend during her primary school career, another triangle called Colin.

On Zoe's 12th birthday, she would receive a red jumper with a yellow pocket from her grandmother, who had knitted it especially for her. It quickly became her favourite item of clothing, and she still continues to wear it to this day.

Zoe would continue to perform relatively well going into secondary school, although her grades were steadily declining. She eventually went to university to do a degree in Accounting & Finance, which she would ultimately fail. This dealt a massive blow to her confidence and self-esteem, which she still feels the effects of to this day. She would eventually manage to find a job at a small convenience store however, cleaning and putting out stock. Walking home from work one day, she tripped over a blob who was bouncing in the opposite direction and... well, you know what happens next.

Appearance

Zoe is a light-blue triangle. When going out she can typically be found wearing a red knitted jumper (sweater) with a large yellow pocket, where Blip sometimes sits.

Personality

Zoe is a very shy, quiet and reserved character. She doesn't really have any friends, and spends her time outside of work by herself, doing mundane activities such as watching TV or drinking coffee. She is incredibly used to her daily routine, and sees very little purpose in her life other than to fulfil her role in society as a worker. She has always secretly felt that something is missing in her life, but she doesn’t know what it is.

Role in the series

Zoe, along with Blip, serves as one of the two main characters of Candlestick Road. Her life is meant to resemble that of the average British working-class citizen (even though the series is not set in Britain), albeit with social anxiety and depression. After befriending Blip, she is introduced to his adventurous and optimistic lifestyle, which helps her start to break out of her shell and see her world in a whole different way. Later on in the series she also tries to assist Blip in his own personal problems, too.

Zoe lives in an apartment block known as the Cherry Grove Building, located on the titular Candlestick Road. Her apartment is home to both her and Blip, and essentially serves as the central hub for all the activities they get up to throughout the series. As she only has a low-paying job, her apartment isn't the biggest thing in the world, but it's still big enough to be comfortable. The floorplan for her apartment is below:

Creation

Zoe was created specifically for the series as the main character. She didn't really take any inspiration from anywhere, and was just the result of me doing random doodles while trying to come up with a character. I still have the first ever sketch I did of her:

I then re-drew her and added colour, which resulted in the drawing seen in this post:

Fun fact about this one: the fingers on the hands are the wrong way round...

Later on I made the shade of blue slightly darker and added an outline, which is the reference seen at the very beginning of this post.

Zoe as a character was created to be wholly... average. This was considered in basically every aspect, from her backstory to her job and even her name. The original concept for the series was a lot more simple; Zoe was to be a 'boring' character who would be shown how to have fun and explore the world by an 'interesting' character. However, over time, the idea for the series has become more emotional and realistic in nature, with both characters having their own sets of problems that they both help each other solve. A large part of Zoe's personality was modelled around my own growing up, where I had just as much difficulty making friends and participating in social activities. I'm of course a lot better now, but I still remember that feeling of emptiness and loneliness all too well.

Speaking of Zoe's name, it actually took a really long time to come up with it. Two names that were considered for quite a while were Alice and May, until I eventually settled on Zoe. I don't know why I settled on that one specifically; I guess it sounds average enough while also sounding a tad bit exotic at the same time.

Trivia

• Zoe's favourite TV show is Holly Avenue, a hospital drama. Her favourite recurring plot involves a triangle doctor falling in love with a hospital robot.
• Zoe is VERY allergic to tomatoes. Ingesting a single slice is enough to lead to anaphylactic shock.
• Zoe's favourite place to go in her downtime is the local café, where she will usually order a latté.

Conclusion

Zoe is the first ever character I'd say I've 'properly' developed. While Glitch technically existed before her, he didn't develop at nearly the same pace Zoe did. It's been a long and confusing process for me, having to ask people questions and look into stuff I never thought I'd have to look into. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun. Zoe was the one that I'd say really got me started in this journey of character development; a journey I hope will continue for many years to come.

Aaaaaaand that's it for my first ever character profile! You can expect more of these as my projects continue to grow in size, and I continue to make more characters (obviously). Hopefully these provide a fun insight into not only the characters themselves, but my process of development. Now then, who are we doing next?

Well, if Zoe was the first character I ever properly developed, then surely it would make logical sense to go with the second, right? And if Zoe is one of two main characters in Candlestick Road... then the second would be her best friend, of course.

Ready for a particularly blobby character profile soon? See you for #2!

Well, hi everyone. It's been a while, hasn't it?

Seven months since my last news post, in fact. There's not really much of an excuse for it, I must admit; I simply lacked the motivation to keep using this site. I just found myself playing Xbox more and using Newgrounds less. But I'm back now, and with a new style of content I want to try.

Worldbuilding

As you can see from my previous posts, my current style of uploading is the same as most other internet artists out there, which is to upload individual drawings with little to no connection aside from, for example, similar characters being used. However, I've always been focused on building up my characters and the world around them, little by little, and lately I've been feeling as if this style of uploading wouldn't do them justice.

Therefore, I have made the decision to switch to uploading more worldbuilding-focused content. This means that, instead of the individual, full-scale drawings previously mentioned, my focus will be on smaller, concept-based stuff, such as reference sheets and environment art. Here's how it'll work:

Every idea, whether it is for a character, world, or story, will start off as a concept. These can range from characters I want to build a story around, to a certain species I just happened to come up with one day. Of course, since it's Newgrounds, people can also chime in with their feedback, and let me know what they think. These kinds of posts will have [Concept] at the beginning of the title.

If I decide I like a certain concept and want to flesh it out into its own thing entirely, it gets upgraded to a project. Whereas concepts start off as an individual character, world or story, projects combine all three together. As the term worldbuilding suggests, I will be building up the details of the world and posting them individually. For example, I could go into detail about an accessory worn by the main character one day, and explain the backstory and motive of the main antagonist in the next. Project posts can take the form of art posts (e.g. if I want to share a new character reference) or blog posts (e.g. if I then explain that character in more detail). I tend to only upgrade concepts to projects if I (and possibly others) show enough enthusiasm for them, and will take time to consider it first. These kinds of posts will have the project's name in square brackets at the beginning of the title.

This isn't just limited to art, however: some projects may get turned into series. These will be where I'll take the world I've developed throughout the course of the project and actually use it in a piece of media, such as a comic or animation, where everyone will truly get to see it in action. These will all depend on my skill level, of course, and not every project will get turned into a series. Comics will have the project's name plus a number (#1, #2, #3, etc.) at the beginning of the title. All other media (e.g. movies, games) will have the project's name in square brackets at the beginning of the title, same as the project posts.

I may also occasionally make unrelated blog posts to show off little tidbits and oddities that never got their own uploads.

The Newgrounds playlist system will be a key part of this new scheme. There will be a single playlist for all of my concepts, and one for each project and series I develop. This will hopefully make it easier for viewers to sort through my work without having to wade through my entire upload history.

Even though I've been away from Newgrounds for a while, I've had a similar system going in my head for the longest time. It's why I've updated some of my earlier works to follow the concept/project/series naming style, Candlestick Road being the most prominent example for now. If a couple of projects don't have an associated concept post with them, it's because I'd already developed them beforehand.

That sums up my new system of uploading and naming. Hopefully it wasn't too confusing...

Other updates

I'm also going to experiment with a slightly different art style. I've been using a lineless style as of late, as, in my opinion, it makes my characters look less cartoonish. However, at my current skill level, this has introduced some problems. For example, say a character holds up his arm in front of his body, and they are both the same colour. Most lineless artists would typically solve this problem with shading, but I just haven't developed this skill yet. So, for now at least, I've come to a compromise. I'll start using an outline again, but instead of being black or another constant colour, it'll be in a darker shade of the colour of the object I want to draw. As I develop my skill, I may or may not transfer back to a lineless art style.

I've also bought the domain glitchbuddy.com, in the hopes of one day building my own website. Newgrounds is great, don't get me wrong, but I've always liked the idea of having the freedom to lay things out in exactly the way I want. Don't expect anything soon, though. An actual, functioning website will at the very least be several months off. You can still go to this domain if you want, though - it just redirects back to my Newgrounds page.

Aaaaaaand that's it

So yeah, look at that. A new style of content. I'm always experimenting with changes I can make to increase motivation; maybe this could be one? Regardless, I'm excited at the prospect of getting to do more with characters and worlds than before. The possibilities are truly endless.

(And yes, I'm roleplaying as a sentient robotic toy on the internet now. Something to do, you know.)

Candlestick Road is a new series created by me about two unlikely friends from two completely different walks of life. But hold up, how did we get here?

So last month, I made a post to my art page about three concept characters I came up with over the span of a few days while bored. The design of these characters was in part inspired by the simplicity and charm of a lot of children's (especially preschool) animations I have come across during my time.

It just so happened that at the same time I was creating those characters, I was also thinking about a series that I might like to make in the future. This prospective series was always going to be about two friends doing things together, but at that point I was unsure as to how exactly I was going to carry that out. Since I was creating these characters at the same time, I naturally combined them with this idea, and got to work building it up.

The result? Candlestick Road, a series about a triangle and a blob. This post aims to explain the series, what experiences brought it to life, and my bigger plans/dreams for it in the future.

Premise

Zoe is your average office worker, waking up, going to work every day, occasionally going on walks or watching TV, and going to sleep. She's also socially awkward, always keeping to herself and never really making any attempts to interact with people.

Blip is an adventurer with a wholesome, happy personality, actively seeking out new places to explore and new things to try. While he does try to interact with others, no one really wants to talk with him, and he so far hasn't made a friend.

One day, Blip is taking a walk (or bounce, rather) through his hometown of Appleton when, due to his small size, he accidentally trips up a certain office worker on her way back from work. Their apologies inadvertently lead into conversation, and, despite every single difference that stood in their way, they became friends.

Together, they will explore both themselves and their surroundings in their own weird, unique ways. They will have fun together, look out for one another and experience things that they just wouldn't be able to do alone. But, most importantly, they have a lot to learn from each other.

Development

The original premise of 'two friends do things together' was inspired by Little Big Awesome, a children's show about a big jelly character and his little purple friend, which just happens to be my favourite TV show ever (it's where my other username comes from). While that show goes completely crazy and random with its humour, I wanted to make something that was a bit more grounded in reality, but still fairly whimsical. I originally wanted to make some kind of spiritual successor to that show, but that never came to fruition, and the idea stayed in the back of my mind for ages.

Eventually, I started going through a phase where I was really into robot characters, and I randomly thought 'what if there was a series about an ordinary character becoming friends with a small robot'? This is what led me to create the original foundation for Candlestick Road, with the intention being that this hypothetical robot character would teach a boring, dull character all about the various joys of life.

Yep, the so-called 'small' character wasn't even meant to be a blob. That only came about when actually designing these characters. When I was having trouble designing a robot, I started doodling a blob-shaped character instead, just because I thought of the idea. While I did eventually manage to get a robot design done (as can be seen in the post), I ended up picking the blob character after I found myself liking him more than the robot.

One last thing: The name 'Candlestick Road' came about because a candlestick was the first thing I saw in my living room while I was trying to come up with names. 'Candlestick' was originally going to be the name of the town... now it's the road instead.

And that is how Candlestick Road came to be, or at least what I can remember of it.

Meet the characters

(Apologies for re-using the concept images; it's 9:46 in the evening and drawing new ones takes time.)

Zoe

Zoe is just your average person, really: she works an office job for an insurance company, lives in a high-rise block of flats, and generally watches television for her entertainment. Her life could be better, though. For one, she makes enough to buy groceries and pay the bills, but not much more than that. She also has to regularly deal with her annoying neighbours, and worst of all, her landlord.

But the thing she lacks most of all is a friend. For her entire life, Zoe has been incredibly quiet and shy, only ever really communicating with her parents. She might seem content with her life on the surface, but deep down, she really wants a friend. She just doesn't know it.

Blip

Blip doesn't really have a home, but that's fine; he doesn't need one. Adopted into a family of robots and named as such, Blip's optimistic personality and sense of adventure started when he would regularly sneak out of the house in the hopes of making friends. While he wasn't exactly successful in this, that didn't stop him from finding enjoyment in the art of exploration, often going out of his way to visit an area or place he had never been before. Not too far away though; he always had to be back before his parents returned.

When it came time for him to move out, he essentially lived as a nomad, regularly visiting new places (this time even further away) and feeding off of the natural elements in the soil, as all blobs do. But that 'friend' thing always stuck with him. Growing up away from the majority of the blob population, he never got the chance to partake in the social life that his kind naturally crave, and has resorted to attempting to interact with the citizens of every place he visits. No luck so far, though. It's a shame. I wonder if he'll ever make one.

My plans

As of this blog article being posted, the first Candlestick Road comic is already up on my NG and Twitter. It took me about 2-3 weeks to make, but hopefully I can start getting them out more quickly. I have a whole bunch of ideas.

As of now, the comics are the only medium I have that I can realistically pull off by myself and effectively tell a story with. In the future, if enough people are interested in the series, I want to see if I can get a voice cast (and maybe a few extra helpers) together and turn this into an animated series, but no guarantees thus far.

In the very long-term, I want to eventually see if I can pitch some kind of concept to a proper television network. Maybe this could be it? Who knows?

Best not to think too far ahead into the future, though. As past GlitchBuddy once said:

"Some things are going to change, and they may not turn out to be the way you expected them to. It's better to focus on ideas you have now, and see where things go from there."

Conclusion

Well, this is it. The start of something (hopefully) beautiful. In a timeline of me saying I will do things and ultimately not following through, I reckon this could be the thing to break the cycle. There's just too much potential here to go to waste. I already love these characters, and I hope you will, too.

Between the last news post and this one, I haven't really done much, have I? I keep saying I'm going to create and upload all of this wonderful stuff, but it's been almost a month since I've created this account, and I still only have a single piece of art to my name. Why is that?

Long story short, I've had a lot of depression and apathy lately. For the past couple of weeks, I've been either playing games, watching YouTube, aimlessly browsing Newgrounds and wondering what I actually want to do on the internet, to no avail. My personal lifestyle had also taken a hit, although I don't wish to go into detail on this post.

But don't worry - I'm doing better now. I have a better idea of the direction I want to take with my online presence, I have the biggest creative drive I've had recently, and my lifestyle's been improving a lot too. For the first time in a while, I think I actually know what I want to do and where I want to go, at least in the short-term. The goal of this news post is to give anyone reading an update into what I've done since the last post, and what I hope to do in the near future.

So first of all, my slime character. Yes, I know, I talk about him a lot, but I do have some new stuff to share.

I haven't really stated this in my previous post (or anywhere else for that matter), but I had been having a lot of trouble coming up with a name for him. Yes, even after I said he would be called Sprout. I couldn't come to a conclusion as to whether or not that would be the right name for him, and that put me in a sort of mental limbo, where he kind of had a name, but also didn't. However, earlier today I got the opportunity to throw some ideas around with my mother of all people (who has a passing interest in creative writing). Not only has this brainstorming session unlocked a ton of new worldbuilding ideas I didn't even think about, it's led me to finally decide, once and for all, that I truly do want to name this character Sprout. This probably wouldn't mean anything to the average person reading this, but it's a pretty sizeable weight that's just been lifted off of my shoulders.

However, as Sprout gains more of an identity and world of his own, I feel it would be inappropriate to use him as a generic online representation of myself. Therefore, my whole 'slime' branding that I'm using right now will eventually be phased out and replaced with something different that I can use more as a generic persona and brand, although I don't know what that will be yet. I like to archive pointless stuff like this, so here's my profile with the slime branding before it gets changed:

As for what I'm going to do in the future... I have some ideas. I've learnt a couple important lessons since my last post. The first is to not think too far into the future, and instead focus on what you're going to do in the present. It's fine to have a long-term goal (I have one myself), but don't attempt to plan out every little minuscule detail of your journey towards that goal. Some things are going to change, and they may not turn out to be the way you expected them to. It's better to focus on ideas you have now, and see where things go from there. The second lesson is to not tell people you're going to do something (especially in a news post like this) unless you're absolutely sure that's what you want to do. It doesn't matter a whole lot for me now, since I have basically no following, but I still don't want to be the kind of person who constantly makes promises and changes, only to retract on them mere days later. Therefore, this will be my new policy for this blog - I won't say I'm going to do something until I'm absolutely, positively, 100% sure that's what I really want to do. It sounds simple, but it's a lesson I still needed to learn. Going back to these ideas for the future, I reckon it's better to not say what they are until I actually make something out of them. I mean, they could change at any time, right?

Well, that's it for now. Who knows where this newfound creative drive will take me? I certainly don't. I now have a month's worth of Supporter, so hopefully that will give me some motivation to be more active before that runs out. Anyway, slime ya later.

(I'm going to have to change that outro, aren't I?)

I've been wanting to make an update about me, my characters, and my plans for content going forward.

So, first of all, my characters, specifically my slime OC. In my last post, I mentioned how I was yet to come up with a replacement name for my character, after I found out the name I wanted to use had already been taken.

Let's just cut straight to the point. My slime's new name is...

Sprout!

I haven't come up with an in-lore reason for the name yet, although I do have a few ideas. Apart from that, I am sure that this will be a fitting replacement name for him.

Here's a drawing of him for reference, in case you missed the last post:

Now, the reason as to why I wanted to change the name is simple: I'd rather have something fairly original than just use something Nintendo already came up with nearly 40 years ago. Additionally, if I ever want to use this character in a commercial product (e.g. a game), then I'd rather change it now to avoid any legal trouble. I'll admit, I am thinking ahead a bit, but I have big dreams for the future, and I really don't want to have to change the name then when I'm already used to it.

Apart from the character's name, I've been trying to build his world too. So far, he lives in a village with a whole bunch of other slimes, and they're not the only species in their world. Yeah... I'm still working on the rest.

Enough about my characters, what about me and my content? I'll be honest, I haven't exactly felt the best the past few days. It was a bit of a shock to receive my first genuine feedback on my work, and I also reckon I've been spending too much time on the computer, Newgrounds specifically. I feel as if all of this has slowed down my thinking and put me in a sort of creative block. You can notice in this news post; I have all of the base ideas for characters and such, but I've yet to come up with any actual detail surrounding them. Don't worry about me, though, as I'll be slowly working on improvements, such as going to bed earlier and watching my time on the computer.

I've also been thinking about what kind of content I'm going to make in the future, such as art and animation. I've decided I want to have two main series of content: one where I can focus on more serious character development and story, and one where I can just goof off and make silly jokes and references. I already have some of the characters for these series in mind; however, those are all of the details I'm going to share for now.

So, what now? Well, I'm going to try to reduce activity on NG and the internet in general for the next few days as I work towards my maths exams, the last of which is on the 14th of June. After that, I basically have until September off as I get ready to switch to a new school, so who knows what I'll do between then?

Well, that's all I have to say. I haven't gotten any better at ending these things, so... slime ya later.