#theblazewolfspeaks

[theblazewolf]

oh yeah btw i have a bluesky now thats pretty neat

[theblazewolf]

Social Media Plans

In light of twitter planning a paywall for new users to retweet, interact with posts, and even to post itself, and implementing a pilot on that system in the Philippines and New Zealand, I just want to clear out my plans on how folks can find me on social media.

First, I'm not going to let go of twitter just yet. That stands until they decide to continue with that program and make it so everyone has to subscribe to use twitter.

Second, that cannot count out the new folks on twitter who want to interact with me, but can't because of the new paywall implementation. That's why I'm gonna lay out where folks can find me so that they can talk or vibe with me.

Bluesky (@itsdablazewolf.bsky.social) - The obvious choice is bluesky, since its the most twitter-like of them all. But not everyone has access to that site sadly. That's why I have a couple of more sites to interact with.

Telegram Channel (https://t.me/blazemakesart) - It started as an art channel now it's become a place for me to let people know where I am and what I am doing with my life. It's not so much keen on interacting and talking, and more of me just posting on the wall and letting people see. You can like my posts and talk in discussions but, it feels different and disjunct. Which leads me to the third website you can find me in.

Discord Server (discord.gg/zD2MQ2AXPc) - This is where ideally I want folks to follow me go, but I understand the shyness of being in a server. Still, I spend a lot of time here and if you are keen on more interaction with me and talking to me than art then there you go, feel free to enter! I also post art here and is actually one of the first places where I post art.

Carrd (https://itsdablazewolf.carrd.co/) - Here is where you can find most of the places where I go post art. I don't necessarily ramble there like twitter or telegram or discord, but I post art in those sites (Tumblr, Instagram) to just to have some social media presence somewhere else. It's just mostly art here, and no blaze ramble.

And that's it. I don't exactly know what to do at this point other than wish I could bring you guys along for the ride. I've grown a lot on twitter and its sad to see it shooting itself in the foot every update. But we have to adapt and make plans since nothing apparently is untouchable in this day and age, especially if you're a nepo baby with a lot of daddy's dollars.

Hope to see you guys there!

[theblazewolf]

Blaze Midyear Evaluation 2024

Alright its the middle of the year. Let's discuss somethings to clarify how I want to plan out the next few months in this rare Official Blaze Silverwolf Blogpost™ where I'll give a short introduction about myself to new followers, discuss my art goals, and what I'll do with my current posting manners.

Blaze 101 A comprehensive repost of a tweet I made a few days ago, here’s a short intro and the websites that I frequent.

I’m Blaze, old enough to exist. A furry artist in law school too. Weird huh?

My main hobbies include playing games like Cities Skylines 2, Guild Wars 2, and Fortnite, playing instruments, and drawing. I’ve been at it for 10 years and currently looking for ways to tell stories through other mediums.

Not all my art is being posted on twitter though! I’ve been posting my art on other sites for archiving reasons or because twitter recently has been on a downturn.

deviantArt, for art posted from 2014 until May 5, 2024.

Cara, for all art posted starting 2024.

Tumblr, for art posted from 2015.

I also hang around bluesky, and have been tending to use that for a while now as a main social media site. Just like a sticky situation, my time is divided between the two. But (as much as possible), the silly text posts on bluesky get mirrored over to twitter (or the other way around). This ensures you all get the best “blazexp” ever.

You won’t have to wonder what username to find for those sites, since I use only one username: itsdablazewolf

For those who want to get pinged every time I post art, I also have my discord server and my telegram channel.

You can find the links to those at the front page of my carrd here: https://itsdablazewolf.carrd.co/

Current art goals Off to the subject matter of this post, recently been in a (forced) state of reflection. Recently I’ve been posting finished poses once a week. This was to keep an online presence at the same time trying to keep some standard of quality I’ve been satisfied with. For the past few days, I feel like my art could be pulled up a little bit higher.

Ok, it's hard to put that feeling into words, so I’ll take a chart from the internet.

https://www.deviantart.com/shattered-earth/art/Art-Cycle-329593292

Here I am. I'm on an “art low”! This means I see things in my art which were once perfect, but now sees them as an opportunity to learn from and improve more. (Something something anatomy… perspective… things I keep putting off because I’m too scared to get through lol)

There is an inspiration board just floating around for me and my artistic endeavors and I believe it is time for me to hunker down and focus on improving instead of finding ideas, half-making paintings, just to post something every week. Yall can handle me slowing down on finished pieces right? Right? :)

Once-a-week posting This means that the sacred time of posting on Sunday (Philippine 🇵🇭 time) will be adjusted. Won’t be posting finished pieces as much while I try to learn the tips and tricks of making better art. Think of it like I'm going to school and social media (specifically, posting finished art pieces) is at a lower priority right now.

So please expect less background pieces and more chicken scratchy drawings for now. Occasionally some pretty finished work will pop out now and then, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Think of it like a house renovation. You can still use the house, there will be some growing pains and ugly spots. But when its finished, it’ll look a lot better for the long term (hopefully!)

Tl;dr - Blaze is going to focus on learning how to improve art over creating art for social media. 

This has already happened before, but this is the first time I’ve explicitly announced it.

Commissions? I will try to open commissions before my semester resumes. It's a goal this summer to get through one batch of commissions. Price point will still be the same, and slots will probably be around 3-4. Lets see!

Tl;drs Hi im blaze.

I have art goals. I will pursue these art goals over posting art like before. I will also open commissions before my semester starts.

Ok bye :D

[theblazewolf]

*points at chase hunter* chwink!

[theblazewolf]

everyone wins and loses. its a fact of life.

but its been a tough ride this 2023 and it actually drains me to make a retrospective.

yes, looking at the good stuff objectively, ive done more than i couldve asked for. for the life of me i still dont know how i got more than a thousand likes on two paintings i didnt think would ever get seen. (simply proves to me that sometimes, social media is mainly RNG in disguise)

ive managed to maintain a consistent schedule of posting art; any art. quality may vary but that can be sorted in the near future. also ended up setting up a condo unit, drove by myself for the first time, attended my first furry convention since the pandemic.

once, for once, i was happier than ever being by myself. all that time alone was what i needed.

and im currently making a zine, and maybe other projects beyond that.

all things being objective, it was a good year.

i cannot forget the ones ive lost; the ones whose loss shaded this year.

my ex, my best friend, who i had to cut ties with, admittedly the source of my melancholy, drunken texts, and attempts at being civil, deep inside i find myself yearning for those days when it was okay for us to be idiots at 3am talking about dumb shit. but you find yourself watching the ties you set up slowly deteriorate, and nothing you do can fix it. seven years were way too long somehow. i still see them, but i know enough just to be civil, or to talk whenever youre needed.

my uncle, my mom’s older brother. my heart still breaks knowing he suffered a long illness. while we try to sing songs that he loved, we know the bitter taste of loss that cant be washed away in an instant. he was a staple at many parties that will never be the same again. i wish he saw his daughter graduate, or enter law school. i wish he lived long enough to be free of pain for just one day.

and my good friend, my fellow cities skylines 2/mekanism enthusiast; one of my ardent supporters. the voice calls will always have an empty spot for you. i will never let your tragic end overshadow the texts we had. I will live till im 30, and beyond. ive said a lot about you since your passing. somehow i still wish i was there to let you know we love you so much. take your rest, and let us know you’re ok.

also honorable mentions to budding relationships i tried to build but failed, another commissioner of mine who passed this year in the same week as my uncle.

i cant leave this year without thanking others.

my close friends, for listening to me scream and yap for 24/7 with unfiltered blazethoughts, and also reciprocating by screaming and yapping for 24/7 about yalls respective thoughts. thats friendship thats unbreakable.

my server, for being equally insane. all you 90% filipino/10% other people are so insane for accepting my invite to come and see me talk about random shit that god can’t allow. im overreacting when i say god wont allow what i say. but having a bunch of furry pals in one area is a luxury.

my gw2 guild, BURN, for the endless voice chats, helping me sort through the grief, the support and all the insanity you allowed this little lonely disaster entertain. i know we lost a lot, but we have much more to live for together.

my follows who have grown a LOT this year. your support keeps me going through and through. i love you guys.

see you in 2024.

-blaze

[theblazewolf]

im very normal about gnolls

[theblazewolf]

And Another Revolution Begins

[An excerpt from my personal journal]

I’ve been thinking about how each birthday keeps getting heavier and heavier. I asked a close friend of mine how to deal with that feeling and he told me that “you just let it be.”

That scared me.

I can’t stop time from giving me one year to my name. Nor can I stop the world from completing its personal revolution around the sun. I can stop this feeling, but I dont know exactly how. Its a mystery.

Age has always been a source of contention for me. Its obvious when I don’t talk about it. And the people who care enough to know are left to infer from the clues I leave like the fact that I’m a college graduate, that I’m in law school, that I can drive, vote, etc. There is some fun when people guess. But the main reason why I keep my age in between me and a few close friends is that I’m too scared to have my skill tied to my age.

Blaze, what do you mean?

There is a lingering fear in my head that when I mention my age, people will put an asterisk to my skills. “He’s good, for his age”, “He’s really great, because he’s young”. And as irrational as it may seem, I don’t want those clauses tacked to my skills. I just want to be a great artist, irrespective of age. If I’m good at the age of 20, I’m also good at the age of 30, and so on. Admittedly, I’m too young to think about this. But I’m already seeing 20+ year olds believe the age of 30 is too old. They disregard the years of struggle by them that were laid out for this culture to exist. On the other hand, they believe that they’re too late to act now. They disregard multiple factors, survivorship bias, social media algorithms running on RNG, the prolific materials online compared to before.

People in my closest circle know where I’m getting at, how this has been an internal struggle for me for seven years now. This fight has seen friendships come and go. Now I just sit here wondering will how long will I have to carry this feeling?

I’ll never know until I get there.

I know its a weird thing to tackle for my birthday, but hey, they say when you are about to close a chapter of your life, you can’t help but look back at it. This is the retrospective my brain chose to look at. Weird huh. I guess I still don’t know much about myself.

Still, thank you for the birthday greetings, and the warm messages. The world can only get brighter from this. Here’s to another revolution around the sun.

[theblazewolf]

WE ARE SO BACK

[theblazewolf]

its insane how killing the bird on twitter became the threshold for so many to leave or to seriously consider leaving (me included)

the death of the unifying mascot affected everyone

[theblazewolf]

guess i'll also post some thoughts here since i cant rely on twitter to do the right things anymore

[theblazewolf]

everyone doing fine on this [emotion undefined] day? :D

[theblazewolf]

It's my 10 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

WHAT THE FUCK

Im oLD

tho for those who stayed after 10 years even after my silence thanks for coming along

ur pretty epic and poggers

[theblazewolf]

what the fuck is this badge.

[theblazewolf]

AHAHAY EAH THATS A SEMESTER'S WORTH OF ART THAT I DIDNT POST WHOOPS LOL

[theblazewolf]

Memories and Moments

2022 was a little bit weird.

No lie. I was optimistic at the start of the year, then elections happened and for some reason I decided to block out all the memories and the moments I had this year.

If you ask me what happened this year, I'd actually only answer two things: The elections and the UP Fighting Maroons winning the basketball championship again.

Other than that, its all gone.

And on top of that, I disappeared for a good month. Social media's pressure finally caught up to me and I just disappeared. It was for the better. I came back slightly ok.

Here's a little rundown on what happened to me during that time, if you're curious:

I. Memories

I fell in love again, but we never communicated it well. Now I fear I lost my chance forever.

My scuba diving license got recertified and now I have a running total of 5 dives.

I watched Billie Eilish live and... accidentally became a meme/somehow-mini-sign-of-hope during the months after a brutal election. ON TIKTOK. I HAD TO MAKE A TIKTOK TO SAY THANKS HAHAH.

Went to two rallies to fight for the future of our country. I will always remember that campaign in my heart.

Actually attended an art workshop and learned art for the first time in years.

Got my own car

First face-to-face law school classes.

First time I went into a con, and enjoyed it.

Got out of the country for the first time in a while

And that's it, honestly.

To be blunt, this year was draining. I felt like my art didn't gain as much traction as I wish I liked this year. The election. I fumbled two relationships. The election. This semester is a little bit more brutal than before. The election. Everything else. The election.

When it's all said and done, this year was pretty mid. Maybe it's recency bias, or maybe its the bad thoughts in my brain being angry, but this year was brutal.

II. Moments

Yet one thing I learned through all of this, is to enjoy the moments in between.

There's something someone told me: I tend to capture the moments in between in my art. These are moments capturing the anticipation, and the human moments before the big events.

Before the election defeat, there were the rallies and the hope we once held. Hopefully we still hold that and keep the fire burning.

Before the heartbreaks and the fumbled relationships, there's the moments where you held each other, watched shows together, painted together, lazed around in bed, and wait for the sun to go down before going out to eat. Its the moments where you ride the train back to his place and helping to tidy things up.

Before each art gets posted, there's the fun in the process. The slow burning gratification from each day a problem is solved can never compare to instant gratification that dies the day after. And no matter how many likes there are, there is nothing better than moving a single person.

III. And...?

This is the part where I have some lessons to share. I only have two simple ones:

There is no price for hope. Just keep hoping for the best. Don't forget to work in between. Everything requires some amount of hope to keep going.

The end result shouldn't make us forget about the journey. Even if dating someone ended in heartbreak, even if a hopeful revolution failed, there's still the fun in between. Never forget those moments because there will be times you will be able to live those moments again. You'll smile again, you'll love again, you'll be able to fight for your future again.

And that's everything I have to say about 2022.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for supporting me through all these years.

See you in 2023! - Blaze