So, the Mighty Princes have stopped quite soon, eh?
Well, I had a few minor, very minor accidents that kept me away from the desktop PC, and I'm also involved in a non-art project for which I have to learn OBS.
So with an hour per day stripped from art time and the knowledge that random shit will always happen, I've realized that these monthly challenges are plain unfeasible for me and maybe for everyone who isn't ok with posting rushed crap for a month.
So I'm gathering my wits and decided that instead of a daily challenge, the Mighty Princes will be posted on a healthier 3-per-week schedule, which will give me the time to work more on the subjects that require a finer rendering style, one in particular. And also a commission from a person who wanted their OCs to be included, which is pretty rewarding on a creative level.
One of the accidents was discovering that I'd been kicked out of Tumblr, which also sheds light on their crappy technical department because I hadn't been notified. I had to try to reset my password to finally get the message that my account was deleted; otherwise, the login would just fail without any further explanation.
This was quite demoralizing. One of the reasons I'm doing an SFW series is to give some content to the platforms that don't formally allow for porn. And I had a soft spot for Tumblr because it was my primary outlet before the Purge. I just liked the vibe there.
It was also upsetting because my new post-purge blog was basically nonexistent, with under 100 followers, and still, it managed to find a user willing to go report me. For nothing, I say, because I've never posted any nude there, not even flaccid.
The last piece I posted there before being kicked out was the werewolf guy, Prince Edge, which I believed would have been one of the most popular since wolves are an easy win.
And maybe it was, and that's the reason I've been reported and removed. Which speaks volume on the abysmal moderation of the platform, which is likely done by an antiquated bot, and on the community on that site.
I mean, how cringy it is to see them reshaping their interface to look like Twitter and have a jab direct at them on their login screen, and still prohibiting NSFW content, which was the reason why people migrated from them in the first place during the Purge?
Let's face it: the only people that are still on Tumblr right now are the ones that are happy the Purge happened.
It's the purity movement on this side of the internet, which makes me sad because it seems like people will never appreciate sexuality without hints of abuse.
Or you're a creep into underage characters, noncon and shaming whatever body type and practice, or you're a prude into anime boys dressed from head to toe in pastel colors.
This is just sad and kind of scary.
Polarization doesn't go anywhere, it just ends with different platforms selecting one extreme and penalizing every dissidence, so you end up being considered a coward by the creeps and a perv by the puritans.
I feel like the only hope is a resurgence of Web 1.0, where you have your outlet spread on different smaller platforms, where you have to stop looking at the numbers and more at the meaningful interactions.
But I want to end on a positive note: this series is quite funny and inspiring, and I developed a method to greatly shorten the lineart phase, which is possible only with vector graphics. You're seeing it right above. The sketch phase has been just a composition, locating the basic volumes, while the vast majority of the features have been drawn directly on the lineart layer, and then I've used the sculpt tool to adjust the lines.
This looks rough because this was a quick illustration for a log post, but it will be very effective in the near future for more layered art pieces.