gender-buddies - Tumblr blog

[gender-buddies]

Don't worry, those requests will happen. I'm just in a weird headspace and I'm working my sixth day in a row today. I'll try to get back to drawing soon!

Requests?

[gender-buddies]

Requests?

[gender-buddies]

Gender Buddy: Not!gender (#121)

Level: 5 Element: Earth/Shadow FRND: 100 PWR: ???

Abilities: Glowing Footpath: A trail of glowing footprints appear, guiding lost travelers along the nearest path. Spore Cloud: Releases a cloud of spores that turn into clones when they land.

Bio: One might feel unsettled upon seeing this Buddy, its body covered in weird mushrooms that seem to be a part of its body. It stalks the forests late at night, foraging for food and spooking other Buddies. A lot of people believe this is a ghost because of its pale fur and the way its eyes seem to shine in the darkness.

(Requested by lightfarerdistortion.)

[gender-buddies]

(Something... is coming.)

[gender-buddies]

Final Thoughts on Gender Buddies

All in all the project wasn't too bad! I thought that I'd run into way more artist's block, but I managed to come up with a lot of good ideas pretty quickly. Once I stopped overthinking it, it was easy to come up with some good designs. It helped that I stopped making the Buddies so high-concept after phase 1. At a certain point I was coming up with these designs on the fly rather than sketching them in my notebook, taking a bunch of notes, then moving them to a digital format. Streamline!

There are a few designs I would love to redo (looking at you, Aesthetigender.) I also had some lofty plans to have "items" that followers could use on Buddies to change their elements, or to turn them into the fluid or flux version of the genders they represent, meaning I would draw new designs for them. I was also hoping to release some "special edition" Buddies to commemorate important dates, like when I posted Neogender on New Year's Day (another design I didn't like all that much.) I was also supposed to post Demiboy as a birthday Buddy (I'm a demiboy and would have posted it on my birthday to celebrate my identity), but never did and instead posted it as part of the original 120.

Yes, I do want to take requests. I didn't accept or deny requests that I got because I didn't want to give away which Buddies were or weren't planned, but now I can do the requests! There are two that I plan to draw in the near future, but I mostly want to take a break for a month or two before touching them. But I'll totally take requests. If I have time, I'll post a list of every single Buddy I drew so it's all in one place and followers don't have to search so much.

I think my biggest disappointment was the lack of follower interaction (like comments and asks) and the lack of popularity. I was hoping for more followers and more talk about it (I barely saw anything discussed in the YB3 server even though I was posting a lot of updates.) I don't typically worry about the numbers, but I feel like it would have at least pulled in some new followers from my YouTube channel or something! That feels silly though, but this is the first time I've ever finished a planned project, and it was a big deal for me.

Maybe I'll do another similar project in the future, maybe one with a lot less structure. I put a TON of thought into the stats and into which Buddies would make it into each phase. I use Trello for all my planning and you should see what it looks like! It legitimately looks like I'm programming a Pokemon game or something!

This project really helped me get better at drawing because I was drawing so regularly, and that's after spending years not drawing anything at all. I have some newly developed muscle and nerve issues in my dominant hand from intense restaurant work, so that was a struggle for me. But I eventually embraced the shaky lines and slightly off proportions and saw those things as features rather than mistakes. It's not great as an artist to embrace things that clearly need adjusting, but it is what it is. I'm an amateur and self-taught. It's okay if I suck at drawing!

Feel free to send asks about any of the Buddies and I'll gladly talk about where I got the ideas for them and what they're based on. Phase 9 and 10 Buddies have artist commentaries in their replies and I do have posts with artist commentaries for previous phases, but I would love to talk more about individual designs!

Anyway, thank you for supporting my silly little project. Now my focus is on my dragon story worldbuilding crap (@project--eclipse.)💙

[gender-buddies]

Aaaaaaalllll the size charts for every Buddy, finally put together!

[gender-buddies]

Sketches of Gender Nonconforming, Binary, Demiflux, Feminine, and Masculine!

[gender-buddies]

Gender Buddy: Cytokinic (120/120)

Level: 6 Element: Water/Plant FRND: ??? PWR: 300

Abilities: Seafoam: Creates a foamy substance to hide under. Photosynthesis: A great way to recharge using solar power.

Bio: This Buddy is great at duplicating itself endlessly, multiplying and spreading through whatever body of whatever it happens to live in. It only feeds on algae and doesn’t tend to move much, but it enjoys the company of others as long as they aren’t too big (because larger Buddies tend to frighten it.) When its home is overcrowded, it will coat itself in a protective drop of water and wander around until it finds a new body of water. It’s recommended to keep its delicate body moist no matter what.

[gender-buddies]

You’re home now, relaxing outside after a wonderful journey through rain and snow and sunshine. You met tiny creatures and gigantic creatures, creatures that swim and creatures that fly. Some of them were metallic, fluffy, scaly, squishy, warm, cold. What a variety of species! You look down at the ground, a rainstorm having passed through recently, and see something in a nearby puddle.

Well, that’s a strange sight.

[gender-buddies]

Gender Buddy: Intramasc (119/120)

Level: 4 Element: Fire/Lunar FRND: 54 PWR: 289

Abilities: Rainbow Blaze: A way to show off just how cool fire can look. So many colors! Full Moon Glow: Summons a bright light to guide Buddies and allies in the dark.

Bio: This Buddy is highly protective of anything that lives in space and is seen as a sort of guardian. It can summon a small moon to help light one's path if they get lose and its wings display a map of the cosmos for anyone trying to find their way. It flies faster than any other space-faring Buddy and doesn't mind if friends hitch a ride on its back.

[gender-buddies]

Gender Buddy: Intrafem (118/120)

Level: 4 Element: Fire/Stellar FRND: 57 PWR: 287

Abilities: Rainbow Blaze: A way to show off just how cool fire can look. So many colors! Astral Navigation: This Buddy can lock onto the closest solar system and find it easily.

Bio: If you peer into the cosmic tail feathers of this Buddy, you'll get to see all kinds of regions of space stretching out in all directions - sort of like a crystal ball! It's said that you can jump right in and get transported to the nearest star system, but only after you've made good friends with it. Its body is very warm and comforting, with feathers that are the softest around.

[gender-buddies]

I would have loved to make myself draw literally the last three Gender Buddies of this project, but my brain is mush! My Mandarin professor has been beaming rapid-fire lessons into my brain and the only media I've been interested in besides language learning are Snapcube fandubs on YouTube because I can't focus on anything else. I had a dysphoric episode and chopped all my hair off.

Once my overloaded, mashed potato brain calms down in a few days (Sunday?), Gender Buddies will continue and conclude! I planned for it to finish before the end of February and I'm gonna get it done!

[gender-buddies]

Gender Buddy: Atrinary (117/120)

Level: 3 Element: Ice FRND: 63 PWR: 152

Abilities: Chirp: A high-pitched chirp to call others if it's time to come play. Snow Shimmer: The snow all around starts to shimmer and shine, creating a beautiful snowy spectacle.

Bio: It might be difficult to see this Buddy because it only comes out in snowstorms, dancing with the snowflakes with impressive looping motions. Its body is incredibly fragile, so it's very quick to flee when it sees another Buddy, but you might be able to win it over with a frozen treat or two! When the storm clears, no one really knows where it goes.

[gender-buddies]

Gender Buddy: Ambiguine (116/120)

Level: 3 Element: Plant FRND: 64 PWR: 176

Abilities: Whistle: A high-pitched whistle to call other Buddies to join together. Touch-Me-Not: All leaves and petals close up tightly to provide protection against the rain or snow.

Bio: You will most likely find this Buddy clinging to flowers, attracted to the most colorful ones. It shares its elemental energies with the flowers it comes into contact with, helping to replenish even the most wilted flowers before feeding on their nectar. The tendrils on its back can detect the scent of flowers from miles around.

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Gender Buddy: Pixelgender (115/120)

Level: 3 Element: Metal FRND: 68 PWR: 172

Abilities: Stimmy Spin: When you can't bounce or dance or sing, this is the best thing a Buddy can do. Magnetize: Pulls metal objects towards itself.

Bio: It's always letting off tons of energy that constantly builds up, usually by keeping itself protected by an electrical shield. It zooms around at incredible speeds, bouncing off walls and bumping into other Buddies. When it gets close enough to another Pixelgender, the two of them might get pulled toward each other because of their magnetic properties.

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Gender Buddy: Greygender (114/120)

Level: 2 Element: Shadow FRND: 79 PWR: 148

Abilities: Hide: Shy Buddies will do this when they need a little break from others. Prowl: Sneaky!

Bio: If you find yourself lost deep in the woods, you might stumble upon the den of this odd Buddy. It's known as a trickster and may steal some of your things if you're not paying attention! It builds a den inside any dark space, such as the hollow logs of fallen trees or the sides of grassy hills. The hat-like mushroom on its head is said to possess anyone who tries to eat it, so it's best to avoid doing so!

[gender-buddies]

Gender Buddy: Demiflux (113/120)

Level: 2 Element: Earth FRND: 71 PWR: 102

Abilities: Puff Up: A fun way to look bigger. Tremor: A stomp or a slam that shakes the ground fiercely to get someone's attention.

Bio: The strangest thing about this Buddy is its metallic, axe-like head that it can use to chop apart sticks and other material for building a den. When its head starts to get too dull, it will use nearby rocks to sharpen it by rubbing against them in a rocking motion. While it head is heavy and hard, the rest of its body is incredibly flexible and squishy, allowing it to morph into whatever shape it needs in order to fit into crevices.