Hey, everyone. It's me, Smugarug, AKA Smugeth A. Rugeth, AKA Smugerry A. Rugerry, the A stands for A.

Been going through a lot of changes with my art and I figured I'd document what's been going on. I'll separate them into sections, starting with the most important bits:

THE PSYCHIC WAR ENDS...

Midway through June, I went through a bit of an OC revamp, drawing OC ref sheets of five of my best OCs. Some of you might be wondering why just five and not everyone. Well.

A lot of you may have noticed my idea for a fictional city called Morcofitzia, with the Black Empress and the MWC and whatnot. The really attentive of you will see that it's been an on and off thing since...2022? Man, time flies by when you have a name that you can't drop. Around 2023 is when I began reading the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett (Rest in Peace, Sir Pratchett), and that's when the spark ignited.

I began scribbling and doodling insane and wacky shit to put in one world, just like Ankh-Morpork. I was, initially, not having fun, but getting caught up in the hype and speculation of a giant city with different species of aliens and monsters.

Because some people really just like riding nuclear missiles.

As I found out, but refused to admit, the ambition became a monumental burden and burned me out hard. I was firing the ideas so fast out of my head that my hands couldn't keep up. And so Morcofitzia in my head became this unfathomably messy, large, and poorly-made piñata of fiction that fell apart at one poke.

I still have tried to make this work, even up until recently. Even yesterday at time of writing I had ideas in how I could take a good name like "Morcofitzia" and make it work. And I couldn't. And for a very long time I was ashamed and frustrated of myself, which I shouldn't have been to begin with.

But we're humans, and people don't have infinite limbs or time. If we had everything we wanted, and could do everything we dreamed of, we'd cease to exist. And I'm not like Terry Pratchett. Nobody can be. I shouldn't even try to be like him. I should be more like myself. That's what art is. It's about you being yourself, and genuine to your interests. And that shows through your work.

That was the hardest pill for me to swallow. The thought that there were people out there that liked me for who I was, and not who I could be. You live a life of trying to make others happy, and eventually you find out that you didn't satisfy anybody.

THE FANTASTIC FIVE (Not Four, I CAN Count, You Know)

So, I drew those five characters, scaled back my ambitions, and am now actively fighting the urge to try to expand my roster beyond those five. Because life has taught me that less is really more, that talking about one thing in depth is much easier than trying to talk about a thousand things briefly.

And I have passion and interest in drawing those characters, mainly because they're interesting for me to talk about and joke with. Look at Klash and you'll see what I mean:

hehe funnee gremblin

It's been an incredible relief to finally grasp the concept that people like me for who I am, and not the potential I could be later. The present is a gift, after all. And the fact that I've been surrounded by people who like Klash and Xandi as they are is...well, amazing. It's so validating to know that I'm not doing something wrong. And I look forward to trying new things now that I have a cast of main anchor characters I can always come back to.

THE CANVAS CHANGES

The last major change is only a fairly recent one. I picked up Krita at the start of this week and I am loving its default brushes more than Clip Studio Paint's by a country mile.

Don't get me wrong, I think Clip Studio's a fine program, I used it for literal years, but in terms of raw paint power, Krita for me is much more focused on the brushes, which I needed to spice up my drawing process. Clip Studio is great for lineart and comics, but coloring and painting are, in my usage, kind of basic. I'd often need to rely on layer effects and filters to make more ambitious art, and let me tell you, there's nothing I hate mote than going to menus on menus on menus after menus.

Or maybe I'm just using the program wrong, I dunno, the damn thing is called Clip Studio PAINT; you'd think it'd be for bein' like Leonardo The Big Cheese or somethin'.

MOVING FORWARD

Some of you guys may have already seen the latest pieces I've posted at time of writing, both of those being porn pieces. One of a vampire OC I have (yet another one potentially being vaulted and never drawn again because I find him boring), and the other one being a pulp sci-fi cover depicting an accurate depiction of 1950s American racial tensions*. Star Trek is for NEEEEEEEEEEEERDZ.**

What's next in the future? More fanart, that's for sure. I'm tired of making OCs in my head and then trying to render them all out. I'm not even getting paid for it and then letting other writers try to clean up the mess. It's just me shitting in my own pants and...you know what? You get it.

More paintings, too, now that I have better software and ideas of how to render things better. I've always been a fan of using digital art to emulate physical art. No need for mixing or exposing myself to paint thinner! I don't need to strain my arms or lose more braincells!

YOUR FEEDBACK, PLEASE

As much as I'd like to critique my own art, I can't. You know why they say you're your own worst critic? It's because you suck at judging your own metrics. So, I'm asking YOU, yes, YOU, to help me. If you'd like, leave comments on my art or in this post to let me know about things such as what you like or dislike about my art. Do you see glaring imperfections and errors in something? Feel free to comment on them and I'll respond in kind when I can.

CONCLUSION

If you've made it this far, you either skipped ahead or you read the whole thing. If you're of the former, hi there, I'm not TL;DR'ing this, why did you click on this if you weren't going to read it through. If you're of the latter, thank you for taking the time to read this behind-the scenes breakdown. If enough people enjoy this, I may do more in the future.

Please take care of yourselves, and take it easy. This is Smugarug signing off.

*This is a joke. I made it in an attempt to satirize and make fun of racist and sexual stereotypes. Please do not take it as genuine.

**I've never watched Star Trek, please don't come to my house and break my legs, Captain Picard, it's just a joke.