Thoughts? 2022 things (Patreon)

Sometimes (when I'm excessively tired for example) my mind wanders and I wonder why my drakes literally exploded in popularity on FA, almost overnight! I wonder if I had somehow filled some niche people were thirsty for and I wonder if my changes (such as the more unique feet on tropic drakes) will turn some people away.

Because for a moment let's consider the popularity of "animals" in the "furry" fandom. Withholding aliens from that category we are left with generic animal people. And by FAR the favored species are "dog creatures" and I say "dog creatures" as it encompasses everything which has, as drawn by the majority, a dogs nose. So huskies, hyenas, foxes, generic dog breeds, even some felines (everything is a dog) and then you have the next category of generic felines. Those are the "majority" the 3rd category is ofc scalies. Kobolds, generic western dragons, noodle dragons etc etc you get me. Then ofc it’s misc mammals. Horses, weird almost-cats like genets, bats, you know /mammals/. And then theres sergals (hairy land sharks) and generic dinosaurs...and so I guess what I'm saying is across the board all of these have the same things in common. 5 fingers 5 toes (or 4) and generally speaking, huge anime eyes, almost EVERYTHING has generic dog paws...I come in with fluffy Komodo dragon aliens that have raptor talons- everyone goes apeshit. They love it.

But I've made changes, BETTER changes over time. I've made them unique, given them a zodiac, constellations, their own environments and diets, I've changed feet and fur and ears and even snouts. And this year I will be pushing out a species revamp--something which will stop theft in it’s tracks because, for the most part, they fit the furry mold. Drakes had 4 toed feet and 5 fingered hands. Digit grade legs, at first a generic tail but now-numerous fluff variations on their tails. They had 2 subspecies, now they have 4 (if you count aberrants) and whatever it is that made them so likeable has made them a HUGE target for theft.

I have landwhale of the century raven stealing everything down to their origin story, I have digi outright copying markings and colors with no knowledge of wtf she's doing whatsoever so her copies look like dog shit- and they aren’t the only ones. I know when a species goes public that awful shit happens, but I had CONTROL of it in the past. Now it’s out of hand and a huge part of me wants to wipe all of it from the net and publish my art book and not say a fucking thing until the money rolls in. Then sue all them into the dirt. And I could do that, but I made this choice to share my life's work with you guys again and I'm trying very hard to stick with it. Assholes though, may make a liar out of me.

I don't know how people will handle the changes I'm making this year-and to be frank, I couldn't give a fuck. Changing my species to make it crazy unique and even more recognizable as my own will mean anyone copying me will be instantly outed. And I'm in favor of that. In the end I'll do what I want because it’s my copyright and my art, so naturally if people don't like it they can go to hell. But it is my hope that people continue to enjoy my art for its clearly unique qualities as we go into 2022.

Also no, I'm not stopping art. This isn't a goodbye post lmao. And I won't be pulling another year long hiatus (until it’s publishing time) so don't worry about any of that.