I know I’ve been pretty silent lately. With 2023 ending, now’s as good a time as any to share a status update. I’m calling this my “State of the Onion”, which started as just a silly joke, but actually could be a good structure to tackle this. So we’ll start with the outer layer and work our way in.

Outer Layer – Life in General
Here’s where the most noticeable and positive stuff is happening. My department at work restructured and I have a new boss. As chaotic as it was at the time, it did get me the first title bump of my career. New boss also says they think I’ve been financially undervalued, so alongside the initial raise I can be optimistic for even better pay over time. I’m still a ways off from being truly financially independent, but it’s a...
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Oh Crikey -- apparently I passed 500 Watchers. Nice.

I'd love to make something for you to celebrate, but depression has been sapping all my creative energy lately. Rain check?

*edit - Oh, looks like account access was quietly restored overnight. Gonna leave this post up, though, as it really captures my mood lately.


Not doing great.

In addition to spending another birthday weekend with no friends, in addition to working an especially stressful three-day weekend, my Twitter account was just suspended.

They say it's for "suspension evasion." Bull. Shit. I have never been suspended before. How can I evade a suspension that DOES NOT EXIST?

Sounds like I'm not alone in this. Loads of people are experiencing the same error. But this doesn't guarantee any of us will get our accounts back. Vel still exists, but who knows how long before she gets dinged too?

As I said at the start,...
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I forgot my anniversary.

Not a wedding anniversary, mind you -- I'm nowhere close to being married. No, apparently today, February 22, 2022, is the 1-year anniversary of my Gumroad store! If I wasn't so distracted lately, maybe I would have planned something.

Instead of anything lavish, I'm running a sale. 22%-off all my comics and imagesets from now through February 28! Enter code "barghest22222" at checkout. Code expires at 11:59pm PST on 2/28/22.

Selling art for a year has opened my eyes to two things: there is a market for my kind of weirdness, and the main thing holding me back in life is myself and my issues. If I ever get my shit together, this could actually be a...
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Happy New Year!

Since I've been busy with work lately, I haven't had time to do a proper 2021 reflection yet. Let's do this now, shall we? What has the Barghest managed to accomplish this past year?

Regular followers well know that I'm not the most prolific artist. I might churn out a handful of renders over a couple weeks, and then go silent for a month or two. It's mainly due to personal issues we don't need to get into. Plus like everyone else, I'm sure that ongoing world events didn't help me feel very creative.

All the same, I'm a little stunned at what I accomplished this year. I made some pretty good renders. I wrote a concept for a text-based vore game (abandoned now, but it...
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In internet news that no one asked for, apparently Vel has opened her own Twitter account. Personally I would've advised against it, but what can I do? I only hope she uses it respons--

...aaand she's already posting a risque photo shoot. Well, super. Guess we better play along and give her the attention she wants.

As if I didn't have enough ways to distract myself, here's one more:

I made a game!

...or part of one, at least. Right now it's really just an intro sequence and a combat simulator. Much of the design and mechanics were inspired by the excellent text RPG "The Howling" by Ouphe. (If you haven't played, I highly recommend it!)

"Food for Thought" is a text-based game where the player is a python living in a research lab. Mysterious experiments somehow grant you self-awareness and intelligence, which allow you to break out of your enclosure and prowl the facility, devouring anyone unlucky enough to cross your path.

...
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Today I'll be doing something that I almost never do on the internet: talk about a personal thing. A sad personal thing, even. I don't expect this to be very entertaining -- and it's certainly not the kind of content people follow me for -- so no pressure and no worries if you skip it and come back some other time for my normal weirdness.

Cool. Now then...

Today our dog passed away. She would've turned ten later this month.

It wasn't exactly sudden -- she'd been in poor health for a few days. Her breathing was noticeably more labored and her appetite was off. She didn't seem in particular pain or distress, but it was clear that things weren't right.

It's not like she hasn't had her health problems in the past. A couple years ago she...
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Well, it took the better part of three weeks, but it's finally done: the overhaul of "A Warm Welcome" is finished! I'm very happy with the results for now (though I expect to find faults with it eventually 'cuz that's how artists' brains work).

As we did last time, let's see a quick comparison. Here's the title page for the first and original series:

https://aryion.com/g4/view/550020

It's fine, right? Perfectly okay for a beginning 3d artist.

And how are we doing now? Well...

https://sta.sh/0r01ci85amq

Just a few tweaks, really. I'm sure one can barely tell the difference.

But seriously, there's so much that I like about this new version. I've mentioned the lighting before, and Vel herself...
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In lieu of fresh ideas, I finally decided to dive in and do something that I've been meaning to do for a long time. I feel like I've learned a lot since I started rendering back in... 2019? Huh -- why did I think it's been longer? Anyway, the point is that time has passed and improvements have been made.

With that in mind, I've been revisiting my first real 3D project, "A Warm Welcome". And by revisiting, I mean I'm basically making a shot-for-shot remake of this image series with my current library of assets and all the skills I've picked up.

Let's see how it's going, shall we? Here are some side-by-sides for comparison:

https://sta.sh/01cldmj3zm82
https://sta.sh/01ky61ghn4cx
https://sta.sh/01yq3veee9e9

I'm very...
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