Things I'm thankful for <3

Posted by foxyoreos 3 months ago

 

1. I'm grateful for the furry community in general, for the floofs that have liked my work and and watched as I've developed as an artist. I'm grateful for the floofs who look at the weird things I draw and think, "yes please" X3 You all are wonderful.

2. I'm grateful for the critters that show up and comment on artwork, even though it can get a little bit overwhelming sometimes to keep up with ;3 I can't really describe how motivating it all is. I'm grateful for the floofs that show up and get horny in comments, I love knowing that something I made pushed your buttons (or is pushing them~). I love when floofs comment about technical parts of the art or tell me what they like about the design. I love floofs that just leave a "nice" or a "good job".

One of the ways that my ADHD manifests is that I don't often feel extrinsic rewards. If I do something hard, it's rare for me to feel a sense of accomplishment about it. It's just part of how my brain is wired, those chemical signals don't work well. ;w; BUT when I make things that other critters enjoy.. that bypasses all of it, that hits the dopamine. That makes the fox brain go happy.

There is very little that is more motivating to me than feeling useful and knowing that I've done something that other critters like <3

3. I'm grateful for lurkers. I'm grateful for floofs that follow me anonymously and sometimes leave a message or a note just telling me that they love my art behind the scenes. I'm grateful for the small messages that tell me that they've seen my artwork in other corners of the Internet (where? I don't know! X3). Before I started drawing publicly, I spent years and years lurking anonymously without accounts on any platforms following furry artists that I respected and that brought me joy. I hope that my artwork is accessible in the same way, and it brings me joy to know that there are critters enjoying it who I don't know about.

*gives you a surreptitious wink and then pretends not to notice you*

4. I'm grateful for everypony that puts up with me in big and small ways - the SFW followers who stick around even when I'm mostly drawing sex and disposal, the disposal-loving followers who are conscious and considerate about my own occasional aversions around scat and who are conscientious about other community members, the friends on Mastodon or Bluesky that tolerate the occasional tech rants and puppy brain moments. UwU

Social anxiety is common among furries, and I've always wanted my comments sections to feel like a safe place where floofs didn't need to be perpetually anxious about saying the wrong things; where they would feel valued as individuals. I didn't expect how validating it would feel to be able to let down a little bit of that guard myself. <3

5. I'm grateful for platform maintainers. I'm grateful that I'm able to try and build a career on platforms that are available to use for free. I'm grateful for websites that allow me to host artwork and share it with communities and who work to build things that make it possible for me to try and make a living selling art. I'm grateful for spaces where I can be as cringe as I want on main. I'm grateful for the moderators that put in work to help keep those spaces running smoothly.

And I'm really grateful when those spaces leave their APIs exposed! >wO (seriously, there are artist and community management tools that I rely on that only work because websites don't get weird about this).

6. And of course, I'm grateful to commissioners! Working on artwork full-time has been an experiment. It's still experimental, but the reason why the experiment is still going is because commissioners started buying things. I launched a Subscribestar expecting nopony to join, and instead over 30 critters did. I wondered whether anypony would want to commission from me, and now the majority of artwork that I draw is commissioned. It feels surreal and strange to be able to say that. I love what I do and I hope that I'll be able to continue to do it for a long, long time. And not a day goes by that I don't get up and feel grateful that I'm able to do it.

❤❤❤

I'm grateful for all of you, and I think that you're all wonderful cute critters: whether you're big suave predators, wholesome beans and cuties, happy willing prey, casual observers, or gut sluts that need to be held down and reminded that you're food. X3 I hope you have a wonderful special week and that you get lots of head pats and nose boops >:3