The last post was a bit dour, so this one’s going to be more lighthearted.
As lighthearted as being honest can be, really. It’s like having fun slapping a dead fish.
I’m working on improving myself and my mentality towards my art and how I approach my creative process. In other words, how I make stuff is not making me feel like I’m challenging myself enough. I’m sick of feeling like no one cares about what I make, because truthfully told, I myself don’t care much about it, and I feel as though it shows in some things more than others.
Quality takes time, after all. A lot of time. I’ve been young and impatient before and rushed ideas out, but that’s what young people are supposed to do, after all. Be stupid, make a series of bad decisions, and so on. Of course, unlike most young people, I never got a fake ID to enter a bar underage, get married in high school, get divorced to said under-20s wife, start a Ponzi scheme using cryptocurrencies, and get sent to prison for twenty years for money laundering and drug possession.
Compared to some people, I must be doing at least ONE thing right.
I’ve always felt like an outlier, really. Always wanted to be taken more seriously, always wanted to have the wisdom others had learned so I wouldn’t make the same fumbles. Wanted to grow up faster. And yet, the people who tended to act like that ended up being dickheads when they were older.
So what am I writing this for? Well, mostly to say that this is a great period of time for me to, say, make a series of bad decisions that may pay off in the end. Just draw badly, because drawing something badly but with passion is better than keeping it safe. This IS Newgrounds, after all. You HAVE to start being yourself, because every day, other people out there are being you better than you.
This proves that I am once again a person heavily affected by exterior perspectives on societal norms, who fears ostracization but also wishes to stand out, a paradox of intentions and emotions that can be solved by uttering a very simple and benign phrase that many have spoken but fail to understand:
“Fuck it, we ball.”
Sincerely,
Smugeth A. Rugeth
P.S. More art to come. Stay tuned.
Dungeonation
Your art is really good and so is your character design, what you need now is some kinda focus that gives an audience an “in” - why should I get invested in your characters? For some the answer is a comic or story, for others it’s sex appeal, or a game. Or is it just as simple as art that feels good to look at, “Life is Good” style, that conveys a lot at just the initial glance? (For example: https://x.com/bispau/status/1685332921073225728)
I look forward to seeing what your answer is, because I want to be more invested in your work, I really like what I’ve seen! I think you just need to simplify your focus before making the story complex, it just seems a bit hard to get into the lore of your characters at cursory glance.
Smugarug
I've really been struggling with a hook that I myself would want to see from original content. In terms of focus, I've actually been drawn to a lot of media that's taken influence from other sources. This should be immediate proof that I'm a Warhammer guy.
But at the same time, the older I get, the more I realize that I can't just slap in anything willy-nilly without much substance and expect it to work. But at the same time, I realize I haven't been as "engrossed" in certain aspects of sci-fi and fantasy as I COULD have been. AKA "Hey I think Space Marines are kinda lame." But I definitely want to discuss this further, just not on NG messages.