forwardbiaspony

[forwardbiaspony]

Come join us next week as I ramp up for ArtFight 2025!

[forwardbiaspony]

Gonna do a quick bit of schedule work and get this ArtFight project on the road!

Goals for today:

☑️ Select stream days for ArtFight, and make a schedule for the next week

[forwardbiaspony]

Time for Project: SAW to stomp onto your feeds again! (And hopefully not your school bus!)

Join me at 9:00 PM MDT (Now!) for our weekly stream! https://twitch.tv/siliconlovechild

[forwardbiaspony]

Heya folks! I haven't been feeling especially good for the last few days, so today we're just gonna do some yapping and art. If I have trouble arting, we'll fail over to doing some Monster Hunter instead. In any case, I'll see you there at 9:00 PM MDT!

[forwardbiaspony]

A timelapse of the creation of this work. Why? Dunno. But I made it and it seems like a waste not to post it.

[forwardbiaspony]

Presented without comment.

[forwardbiaspony]

Apparently 1 AM on a quiet, cozy stream is the best time to draw. Still so much I need to do better, but it's not terrible to my 2 AM eyes. We'll see how I feel about it in the morning. P.S. I really liked this stream format. Lots of cool sounds, gentle ambience to cover up the background interference, and generally a comfy space to draw with low expectations of me. The analytics, however, tell a story that says "your thumbnail and title grabbed people, but the low effort didn't hold anyone".

[forwardbiaspony]

Heya folks! We'll be trying some art and chatting tonight! Come hang out and philosophize with me at 9:00 PM MDT!

https://twitch.tv/siliconlovechild

[forwardbiaspony]

No one asked for this, and it only exists because I was entertaining some light roleplay. Nevertheless, it is a thing that exists now.

This story begins 100 years ago, in a village far away. The village had been prospering, its fields abundant and its people content. Then, without warning, it was struck by a terrible blight. The elders, who had been hoping for a solid crop to help everyone through the winter, were faced with trying to explain to everyone that the village would likely not survive the winter.

As the months passed and the limited food began to dwindle, the villagers began to lose hope. The elders sent all of the villagers who were hearty enough to survive the winter journey to try and reach places unaffected by the blight with most of the town's remaining provisions, and those who stayed resigned themselves to their fate.

Then on one particularly cold day, a mysterious woman came to town claiming to be on her way to a distant land and asked for lodging and shelter from the cold. The townsfolk, their faces gaunt and movements sluggish from weeks of hunger, nevertheless welcomed her with open arms and offered her a warm place to sleep, a gesture of kindness undiminished by their suffering. The innkeeper, who had stayed behind to tend to the weak and elderly, even offered her a proper meal.

"I cannot possibly accept this. You should save it for yourself!" she decried, looking at the state of the villagers.

The innkeeper, tired though she was from hunger, smiled her best smile.

"Our problem isn't made worse by one meal. Sure, one person may starve just one day later, but in the end, we won't survive the winter either way. You, however, need your strength for your journey, and missing today's meal may make the difference between making it to your destination or not. So I will gladly give you what you need to keep you going on your way."

Moved by the innkeeper's kindness, the woman revealed herself to be a powerful fox spirit. She blessed the cauldron of warm stew on the hearth.

"For as long as you live, if you sacrifice a person's portion of every good harvest to me at my temple in the north, this cauldron will always have enough for those who need it that you serve."

"Thank you!" the innkeeper said, bowing at the fox spirit's feet.

"Your generosity has brought this boon. I am merely sharing it. But I must be off. I hope your town prospers."

The elders, most of whom had been too old to make the winter trip, survived the winter, sustaining themselves on the perpetual stew that the innkeeper and fox spirit's generosity had provided for them. As spring came, the younger, more capable villagers returned, expecting to find a graveyard and despair, only to be greeted by the warm, loving arms of those they left behind. Buoyed by this, the town held a celebration in honor of the fox spirit and set to work planting the next year's crops.

As commanded, during the harvest, one person's portion was set aside, and the innkeeper traveled to the fox spirit's temple to make the offering. This cycle passed for several years until all of the elders who had been saved by the fox spirit's gift had died of old age. That year, however, the village experienced another blight that brought the village's crops to the verge of nothing.

Dutifully, the innkeeper went to each and every farmer asking for a portion of their harvest for the sacrifice. Each of them replied that they could not part with any of their crops, as they would need all of their food to survive the winter. In the end, the innkeeper was unable to gather enough to meet the requirement of the fox spirit. Though the village had more than enough to meet the needs of just one person, the spirit of communal sacrifice that had once saved them had withered. No one was willing to part with their share to meet the need; not even when combined.

Nevertheless, and in spite of their now advanced age, the innkeeper traveled to the fox spirit's temple. They spoke to the fox spirit and thanked them for all of the assistance offered over the years while apologizing for being unable to make the requested offering.

"I may not be able to help anyone this year," they said, "but for all the years I could help, and everyone whose lives were saved or made better by your blessing, I will be forever grateful."

The fox spirit looked upon the aged innkeeper and smiled.

"I am merely grateful that I was able to share your generosity with others. I beg of you, stay with me this winter; it is already cold and the journey back is hard."

"But who will look after the villagers this winter?" the innkeeper asked, worry on their face.

"The villagers themselves will," the fox spirit replied simply. "You have done your part to keep them well. Let them do theirs now."

The innkeeper considered this request and agreed to stay with the fox spirit through the winter. When spring came, the innkeeper did not return to the village, and instead, at the behest of the fox spirit, stayed at the temple for many more years. They passed peacefully of old age one fall day in the arms of the fox spirit as she gently rocked the old innkeeper to sleep.

The stories which told of the death of the village, though they spread through the kingdom freely, never seemed to reach the fox spirit's temple, as if the temple itself existed outside the reach of sorrow and rumor, preserving the innkeeper's final days in peaceful ignorance.

[forwardbiaspony]

I have a TON of art I need to get posted, but have this picture of a coffee cup to tide you off till I get around to it.

[forwardbiaspony]

Thanks to everyone who joined me yesterday while I spammed colored pencils, inks, and markers at scraps of paper. It was a lot of fun chatting about the fundamental nature of the mind and also anime.

[forwardbiaspony]

Thanks to everyone who joined me tonight for the art stream! I had a lot of fun yapping... And getting lost in the scritchy noises of the pencils on the paper

[forwardbiaspony]

Thanks to everyone who joined me for today's stream and for putting up with me drawing the same basic character three times in the same two hours making only tiny changes. XD

[forwardbiaspony]

The art from todays stream! Thanks a lot to everyone who came and chatted with me while I doodled, and I appreciate everyone for their patience with my prompt exit. XD

[forwardbiaspony]

Art from today's automation/doodling stream. Thanks to everyone who joined for my guerrilla stream, it was fun hanging with everyone!

[forwardbiaspony]

Some ATC doodles from the last two streams

[forwardbiaspony]

Thanks to everyone who joined me tonight as we ran through this workbook exercise and learned several powerful COPIC techniques.

As a reminder the lineart is not mine; this was a coloring exercise from a book. If you are interested in picking up the kit to try for yourself, you can get it from Amazon.