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.)