MU-Cheer-Girl

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that my grandmother has passed away.

I think for a while, I'll put a pause on my art, or at least uploading on here and other social media sites. Maybe I'll upload when I feel like it, since I have some projects I was fine-tuning. I might do sketches here and there for bigger projects, but I feel I should set aside my art so I can help my family take care of what she's left behind, such as cleaning out her place. I had even planned to make some Christmas art, but I feel that maybe I shouldn't for now. God willing, I hope that I can make new art someday to share here and other places when I'm ready.

Thank you for your understanding. I might not be able to do the art summary meme this year, but I do look forward to doing it next year (and make new art, hopefully by next month).

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say

"It is well, it is well with my soul!"

So today, I had two users watch me and ask to use my work for a mural. The text seems to be copy/paste. I've had this happen on two previous occasions as well. The first time I thought it really was a person wanting to make a mural, but since I've seen more users do this to me, as of recently, I'm convinced that these may be bots.

Does anyone know where I can voice my concerns over this? If anyone else is having this kind of trouble, do you know any way you can help take this up to the admins?

It's been a long while since I've done a journal. Mainly I've been lazy and slacking, and it's kinda my fault for not engaging with my watchers more (then again, I've gotten random watchers this year with little to no interaction on their part). Then again, I've always had the expectation that if you're going to watch someone for their art on this website, it's because you're genuinely interested in that person's work and want to see more of what they make. Maybe I'm not that interesting or popular as an artist on here (or anywhere else I post my art on), but that's okay; I don't crave fame. After all, I've said it on my profile, but above all, I want my art to honor God, not to make me an ultra-famous celebrity. On that note, one of my main goals in my art has always been to make works that are safe for kids to look at; let's face it, people here will draw what they want, and some people like to draw stuff that isn't very child-friendly. Of course, you can't be a member here unless you are 13 and older, but kids younger than that will inevitably come across the site looking for fanart of their favorite cartoon characters. And of course, there are fans that wish to put more "adult" spins on otherwise family-friendly stuff; I know that there is a "mature" filter option, but some stuff that should have a filter doesn't get filtered because the artist chooses not to. So as I want my gallery to bring honor to God by not putting stuff that would not speak well of me as a Christian, I also want my material to be safe for children who may inevitably discover this website. (I'll admit, I sometimes draw clothing/fashion styles that maybe I wouldn't wear in real life as a Christian, but it's because my characters are fiction and not bound by reality, so I don't impose any house rules I live by on them, though I still reflect my worldview and morality through my story themes. In short, it's pretty much a non-issue.)

While I've gotten used to the new layout here, I still sometimes wish they would bring back some of the old features, like easy-to-access-storage from your dashboard menus, or searching for specific types of art such as photography, fanart, digital art, traditional art, etc. Speaking of which, the "Status Update" used to have a neat feature that let you put a colorful background with your post (if it was under a certain number of characters); did they do away with it? Make it a Core Member feature? Wish I knew...

I try not to jump on bandwagons here, but the AI art issue is a very puzzling one. I will personally say that yes, AI art is causing more harm than help, since it's a program that can learn anything you tell it to, and it's causing issues when it learns to imitate other artists' styles, thus causing potential legal problems. At the same time, and this is not a defense of AI by any means, but once a new technology is invented, it'll inevitably become commonplace in the long-term, much like smartphones have all but replaced old-flip phones; does anyone even use flip-phones anymore? I for one am glad that DA has granted us the option to opt-out our works by default, but I do believe that AI should be programmed to unlearn information should an artist request it. I also believe AI should be limited to camera filters for photos, but not be used to replace human art-making. Maybe AI could even used to create preliminary prompts, but not become the final, publish artwork. I used to do a lot of preliminary work for graphic design project that involved thumbnails and sketches, so I do think AI can be used for that purpose as well; to give an artist a feel for what they want, but then the artist can create by themselves based on the concept they like. My mother always says "It is what it is", so I try to think of it in those terms.

So, I've ranted a lot of random thoughts on here, but before I end this, I'll do an art feature of art I've favorited. Right now, I'm obsessed with Fire Emblem: Three Houses, so I'll show off my favorite works for this game:

Hope 2023 is off to a great start!

I'd thought I'd share an idea so this account doesn't collect dust.

So as of lately, I've been trying to revive an idea I had for writing a story set in Japan in the 1990s. Originally, the story was just titled "Slumber Boy", but I decided to give it a Japanese title as of lately: Yume Shounen (ゆめしょうねん). I may have already mentioned this in a sketch dump I uploaded recently, but the reason the title is in hiragana rather than kanji is because it's means to be like a show for very young kids who still are learning to read hiragana.

I will note that yume means dream, so the Japanese title literally means "Dream Boy". For some reason, translating it literally to Nemuri Shounen (ねむりしょうねん) just felt odd to me. Also, it's "Slumber" in English because I thought keeping it literally as "Dream Boy", would give the connotation that he's a dreamy teen heartthrob, when in reality the protag is only six and the adventures take place in dreamlike worlds. So the English title is meant to be more of a paraphrase, in a sense, but with a related meaning.

The story is divided into three main arcs: the Yami Arc (闇編), the Tenki Arc (天気編), and the Shokushima Arc (食島編). It can kinda be considered an isekai, but not entirely, since the protag always returns home after his adventures.

Here's a few of the characters:

• Samuru Tsukuyomi (月夜見サムル), main character; likes manga, anime, and tokusatsu. Is a fan of a particular in-universe franchise called Yume Shogun (夢将軍; "Slumber Warrior" in English), hence his superhero alter-ego. Has an overactive imagination which sets the stage for the entire series.

• Ninjin (にんじん), a shinobi freedom fighter

• Yami (闇), the Dark Lord of the Yami no Kuni (闇の国)

• The Arashi (嵐) sisters, Kaminari (雷) and Inazuma (稲妻), who run a corporation called Sekai no Tenki (世界の天気株式会社), and are my personal faves

• Byakuya Yukidaruma (雪だるま白夜), the fancy snowman who wonders what snowmen do in summer (yes that's a Frozen reference) and Yukihiko's father figure.

• Amemiya Haru (春雨宮), the rain fairy who mixes rainwater

• Taiyouchou Natsu (夏太陽蝶), the sun fairy who helps gather sunlight

• Kazamidori Aki (秋風見鶏), the wind fairy who controls wind velocity

• Yukihiko Fuyu (冬雪彦), the snow fairy who makes sure no two snowflakes are alike

• Hanako (はなこ), the representative of the Yasai (やさい) Tribe at the Shokushima Peace Conference

If anyone out there has any better Japanese than I do, please correct me if anything's wrong. I've been looking up kanji to properly write the characters' names (though some names are in hiragana or katakana).

Finally, Yume Shounen is actually a parody of something. I won't tell you what it is, but you can comment your guesses below. =)

I usually like to give other artists attention, but I wanted to do a feature of a collection of my work thus far.

Tonight, the spotlight goes to the the Debate Club from Justice! Excellence! Defense! Intelligence!, better known as J.E.D.I.

So, this is the Debate Club thus far. If anyone (preferably a TCW fan) has any suggestions for a new member or two, I'd love to hear it (keep your suggestions family-friendly)! Be sure to click on their profiles to get to know each and every one of these characters a little better. =D