Someday I’ll make a better title for what’s really Part 2 to the previous post.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY…?

Firstly, before I forget, I made a subscribestar! I made it as a backup plan, because…reasons. I think I’ve said it’s a backup plan, and to be honest, I have no idea if it’ll work out in the long run. I’m not the creator who works and posts constantly to justify people “subscribing” to them. I’m the “when it’s done by a deadline or done, it’s done and here it goes.” Which means that I need to stop thinking it’s the mid2000s where everyone still had an idea of how the human body works, and not 2024 where by now, you need to be an algorithmic art-making machine or else you’re not really “worth it.” Except I won’t lol. I already tried that hustle years ago, and I got a burnout so bad, I’m almost not sure if I still actually have the burnout and I’m just pretending I finally got over it. I mean, I know I did, but you know, when you’re constantly tired, you’re never sure…

I digress. I already have three subscribers in the free tier! Hooray! That said, despite the usual “now time to promote it to high-heaven,” I’ll…just not do that. I also already tried that in another life, and it got me nothing but crickets whenever I tried to include folks into the processes I’d post about, the way other artists get in their Patreons or Substars. So I’ll just do it worse lol. I posted stuff for all tiers, as a “taste” when they pledge. But I’ll just be concentrating on the free tier because 1) it’s the easiest and 2) it’s the one where I have folks waiting! If/once I get enough in the other tiers, then I’ll start being “proper.” Until then, I ain’t sacrificing my time and health. Pay me to do it >XD

AO3 (art of our own?)

Secondly, I wanted to post this last time but I decided to try to test AO3 for art. Some people are using it as an art dump or log, which is kinda odd? IDK, I feel the same way about “misusing” a site the same way I felt when people on deviantArt would start using it as a Facebook instead of posting anything creative (writing, cosplay, art, etc.) Despite that, I did say I wanted to test it so lmao, I have no high horse anymore. I decided to post all of my Kinktober works on there, and uh. Next to the Rare Kink Buffet art I did and posted on AO3, it’s the highest viewed thing ever out of everything I’ve posted?

I genuinely have no idea how to feel about it XD Because yeah it’s in the 1000s of views, but 12 kudos and 1 comment (the other comment is my reply) pretty much proves the whole numbers game: sure, it’s nice that it’s been viewed a lot but if I get nothing else in terms of feedback, is it really any good? I do appreciate the kudos AND comment/s, mind you. I’m just saying. It’s weird that an art thing is getting more hits than the prose pieces on which a site like AO3 is hinged upon. The obvious is that in my case, my art is easier to digest in one go than my massive monsters of original fiction. But still. Ah, well. XD

BACK IN BLACK (I will use this phrase as many times as I want)

Lastly, I’m gonna be just copy/pasting a part of my latest blog post, so if you prefer to read that and comment over there, feel free to! Otherwise you can reply to this newsletter as well!

For Magnus and Irène (and slightly Astemar, later in the timeline), I've been diving into the leather world and as such, gotten a bunch of books, both from my searches and from recommendations. I...completely forgot why I made the choice to have them be leather folk. It was probably from plotting their music side of the story, as they're creators of an indie label that skews more towards goth/punk/slight metal and mulling on the leather connection in some of those communities. (If you need an example, the usual one is Rob Halford with Judas Priest.)

I also “tested the waters” during Kinktober last year, drawing the younger versions of Magnus and Irène in leather-related pictures. The first one is literally just a “study” of an existing AtomAge picture!

I cracked open the Horsemen Leathersex fiction anthology a while back and was basically doing a combo of the pikachu surprised face and the monkey sideeye gif at the first story alone...And after reading one more, and skimming two more before taking a break, uh. Well, I have the terrible luck that anytime online drama breaks, it;s almost always after I start reading a related thing or get into a related thing. So something horse related happened online and I went oh noooooooooo XD (This is partly why I haven't gone back to reading that book, I still need a wee more distance.)

Then I started The Velvet Underground by Michael Leigh, famous book that delineates all the ~salacious details~ of, well, the underground in the 60s. (This is not the copy I have but here it is on archive.org) Funny thing about this book: I've heard about it for years, probably one of the first books almost always mentioned whenever people recommend books about kinks. And I don't know, maybe I'll see why after the first chapter, since I've stopped after the prologue and first chapter for now...but I don't know how I'd feel if someone was recommending a book that insults me right out the gate to people who want to know more about the community LMAO

It IS interestingly written, definitely journalist type. I don't know if I'll feel the same by the time I finally finish the dang thing.

Meantime, with all the cursory reading I've done so far, including learning about some different takes on leather flags, I made this. This was inspired by having learned about different takes on leather flags, like leather girl (also here), leather transgender (alt here) and leatherboi.

When I saw someone edit the rubber flag with ace colors, I wanted to sort of...I guess do similar for bi and ace things, since again it's for Magnus and Irène (and later Astemar). More like a "can I do this and use it in-story" or "well that was a thing, good try, next time." I haven't received any feedback unfortunately, since I did this about two months ago? But I do like some of the flags I edited. Maybe in a few months, I'll come back to this and change the creative commons license--as I made it impossible to spread for wide use for now, because it's just Brainstorming The Site and idk maybe that's why I haven't gotten any feedback? I don't know, I'm weird in that flags shouldn't be spread unless they're fully finished as a thing...

keep your stick on the ice, we guess

I think that’s all I have for now. I did want to walk about the possible gameJam I may join, but I think it’ll be best to leave that be its own post. Because well, I have to see if I actually achieve it! Hope you enjoyed reading, otherwise!

Feel free to reply to this email too, btw! I’m curious to see if that works out for my lil newsletter…