RoyalJellySandwich

I just wanna get everyone's attention because I wanna help a buddy out: GLWuffie is in a serious financial situation and quickly needs to raise some funds! They're about halfway to their $4K goal but time is short.

Read about it here: https://twitter.com/GLWuffie/status/1709974700049186872

They're raising funds on Ko-Fi here: https://ko-fi.com/glwuffie

GL's been really nice to me over the years and I don't wanna see them get kicked out of their home. I wanna pay them back as much as I can. GL's also made plenty of art, animation and games and is worth checking out, but won't be able to if the bills can't be paid. You might recognize GL from these pieces:

Well here's something I haven't done in a big, fat, gluttonous, chocolate-addicted raccoon's age: a journal entry. Like a REAL one.

So it's no secret in this circle that a lot of us are concerned that this very "circle" may have an uncertain future as the internet currently seems (maybe) to be increasing in hostility towards us, and is (definitely) declining in the quality and competence as to how the social media spaces we've been using for decades (IE: DA, FA, Xwitter) is being managed. DA is taking down art, and DA accounts, particularly kink-based ones, are allegedly being suspended with no explanation as to the offense or which pictures are the offenders. Lots of back and forth arguments and useless hashtags being thrown around over it. FA's been using confusing and unclear new rules in their TOS. AND TWITTER? Twitter is like a train that somehow keeps derailing and never stops.

The fallout doesn't seem to be stopping just at those site, nor is it limited to just the furry/kink/nsfw community. The internet seems to be splintering and moving away from the social juggernauts like Facebook and Insta and people seem to be freaked out about it. And by people, I mean people younger than me, because I'm twice as old as most of you and still remember the early internet (late 90's-early 00's) being far more decentralized and far less commercialized, with smaller, more niche communities, usually belonging to and being run on personal servers by hobbyists paying out of pocket (I literally got my start at one of those back in 1999), not large companies trying to monetize literally everything, and it was far more separated from real life. The rise of smartphones obliterated all that and now the internet is inseparable from real life.

I haven't been overly vocal about it, but I have tried out quite a few of the alternative social medias and gallery sites just to see if at least one of them has any potential in case. I'll be posting my thoughts and the ones I've tried out, in order of how much potential they have (in my opinion) and use "+" and "-" to highlight the positives and negatives:

Ones with potential:

Bluesky: The premiere Twitter alternative. Bluesky has surprised me so far as it continues to not just exist, but actually be used. It's the only place on this list that I've used nearly EVERY day since joining. To me it's still just a mirror to my Twitter account, but I'm still seeing new people sign up and new people following me that I SWEAR don't even follow me on Twitter. Not just fans but other artists. I've been kinda struggling to get other artists following me on Twitter. Probably because Bsky is still small and therefore people are easier to find, plus Twitter itself is a constant shitshow so more people are trying to break it off while staying somewhere that provides the same service. It actually feels like really early Twitter.

• + You can't join openly, it's invite only (like GMail was at first) and, controversially, that seems to be working in its favor instead of against it. I've even seen users actually say that the invite system should be permanent! Gating it off seems to have kept the bots, sockpuppets, and reactionary shitheads at bay (mostly), and the site knows who invited whom, so together with the "1 invite per 2 weeks" system it gives incentive for users to carefully consider who they give invites to, and disincentivizes giving them to troublemakers and riffraff.

• + The moderation system is pretty cool and robust. You can customize just what you wanna see and don't wanna see, or get a warning first. Thing is, this keeps getting new features added and being reset, so you gotta stay up to date and check on it constantly so you don't start missing stuff (I literally just discovered they added a requirement to tell them your age as I was typing this). There are also "mute lists" you can subscribe to that automatically mute accounts as they're added to it so you don't have to do it all yourself.

• + It's pretty much algorithm-free (I think?) and just shows feed of what's popular with the people you follow.

• - No hashtags??

• - No VIDEO?? (these will probably be added later but it's weird they don't have them yet)

• - For some reason replying to your own posts (to make threads) causes the post not to appear on the main feed. The current #fattytober thing I'm doing has to be posted separately so they can be seen, even though I don't wanna do it that way.

• - This is more of a "me" complaint but the posting app I use, Postybirb, requires I input alt-text for the pictures. But apparently it doesn't do that when I post directly? While I do understand that more accessibility is a good thing, and writing a description can be amusing, would anyone who would need a picture described even be following me?

Conclusion: Bluesky... mmmiight be the one...? It's looking that way for the moment, what with the constant flood of furries coming in. And when furries flock to a site that's a sign of success, even if you don't want it to succeed that way, kinda like how the porn industry decides what video format will be the winner. Thing is, Bluesky's really only winning because Twitter keeps losing. I think it needs a unique hook besides "Twitter but with security guardrails" if it intends to stick around.

My Bluesky is here!

Itaku: I actually signed up and started using this one back in 2021, before all the panic. I intended to use it as an archive of my older fat art, including stuff from before this account that's not here. It was only when things started going sour that I decided to add the rest. It's been around for 3 years and is geared toward artists, it has a comprehensive tagging system, commissions page, all that. Really have high hopes for this one.

• + Did I say "tagging system"? I meant tagging wiki. This could be the most ambitious and thorough approach to tagging I've ever seen. Each tag has its own entry page, not just showing tagged pics and posts but explaining what the tag is, and it could be edited by any user. I've made a few tags of my own for fun. They are also categorized into types (IE: Characters, IPs, Species, etc.), be given parent-child hierarchy (IE: "Nintendo" > "Pokemon" > "Pikachu") and can link different spellings for what is basically the same synonymous tag under a "root" tag (IE: "Rebbecca_Valentine" is the root for "rebbeccavalentine", "fatfurs"/"fatfurry" are synonymous). More sites desperately need this, and it's the best and most standout feature Itaku currently has.

• + Like Bluesky, it also has a highly customizable content filtering system, which it can enforce quite rigidly. Even SFW kink stuff can be put under "questionable" just so people can avoid it. There's also an "extreme content warning" feature where you can input what the offending content will be, and will be hidden even if you have NSFW filters off ( You can also turn the extreme blocker off if you're feeling brave). Only problem is, some people don't use it in cases where they should. There's one picture I saw that made me regret taking the extreme filter off, it's the only account there I blocked. Won't go into details.

• + You can bulk-upload multiple pictures at once in a single screen. Literally up to a hundred of them. Remember earlier when I first used it for an archive? This is the feature that made me decide to do that. You can add descriptions and tags to all of them at the same time when uploading too. This makes me suspect that Itaku was made to be a site for longtime artists to find a replacement to an older gallery.

• + You can upload video!

• + It's designed to be used on phones.

• - I HATE sites designed to be used on phones!! I primarily use a desktop and I'm sick of the "mobileification" of web design. Fine for a tiny phone or tablet sure, but just a big waste of screen space on a 2K monitor like the one I shelled out for. It also wastes time due to all the extra scrolling. It also has to be usable for fingers instead of a mouse pointer, which means (UGH.) square thumbnails in the gallery and edit modes. I despise those! I should be able to see the entire picture when trying to add tags or assign to folders so I don't miss anything. This probably isn't that big of a deal to you, but it's always been a pet peeve of mine.

• - Some other parts of the design need work. For example, one thing I found irritating is the notifications tell me that "(user) starred an image!" and then doesn't say which image it is. Sometimes it glitches out too.

• - While I have nothing but praise for the tagging system, why the hell does it require all submission to have a minimum of five tags??

• - While there are plenty of people joining up there, the actual community doesn't seem very active. I've only gotten like two comments, ever, and don't see any comments on most pictures there. It's not just me, it throughout the entire site. Even the really, REALLY popular artists only get one or two. So people use it, but they don't use it.

Conclusion: Hoping this one can get the popularity it needs. Once again, it only seems to get people using it as a rebound site, this time for DA/FA, and people don't really use it as a home base.

My Itaku is here!

Cohost: I sometimes call it "Twitumblr" since that's kind of what it is: Twitter mashed with Tumblr, leaning more heavily on Tumblr. Believe it or not, this is actually the platform on this list that I ended up liking the most, because to me, it seems perfect for the type of content that I and artists like me do. It's just too bad that it's really not getting the attention I wish it did.

• + It's got what could be the best content filtering customization I've seen so far. Along with the basic filters, it has a extreme content warning filter like Itaku, but with an even better feature: you can make a custom whitelist and blacklist for extreme filters, so if someone places an "Extreme" filter on their content that you think is not so bad, or even like, it won't be hidden, and any thing labeled extreme that you NEVER wanna see you can just type in and won't see it.

• + You know that problem where you wanna see a Twitter artist's art but can't because their account is buried in retweets? Or, inversely, you wanna retweet a lot of stuff but are afraid to drive potential new watches away? Guess what! Cohost gives the option to filter all the replies and/or reposts on an account page so someone can repost all they want and I can still see their own actual content easily!

• + There's no app. You're not seeing things, that is a positive. No stinking app! Awesome! That way it can allow mature content without having to worry about being gutted alive by the Apple or Android stores, since they're not beholden to them. If you wanna use your phone, it can be viewed just fine in a phone's browser, you can just put a link on your phone's home screen.

• + You don't have to scroll it forever like Tumblr, it breaks the feed up into pages. .... Okay that's probably not a feature you would think is good, but I prefer it that way.

• - It's limited to four pictures at a time, like Twitter, and not Tumblr, which allows ten. Also, no video support.

• - It doesn't refresh the page to show the new content you just uploaded. Not really a problem, it's just annoying.

• - This is more of a personal anecdote, but when I first tried to sign up I never received the confirmation email. I don't know if I misspelled the email or it went to spam an was eventually deleted but I never got it. When I tried to enter again, it wouldn't let me sign up under the username I submitted, and I couldn't request it again due to "security purposes". So because of this I gotta go by "royal-jelly-sandwich"(hyphenated) instead of "royaljellysandwich"(one word). Shouldn't there just be a timeout period to try again? It made no sense.

• - Seriously, why aren't there more people active here?

Conclusion: I really hope this one takes off too. Really would like to see some real community activity there. I'd also complain that it's more of a pain to post there since Postybirb doesn't seem to support it yet, but that's Postybirb's problem, not Cohost's. Speaking of which, here's a few site I still use ONLY because Postybirb DOES support them....

See my Cohost here!

Okay, I guess:

Pixiv: A Japanese art site, it's been around since 2007, making it one of the older sites on the list, though it only started supporting English in 2011. It's pretty popular and there's a lot of community activity and ways to support and monetize their art but, well, it's Japanese. So its usefulness to me, an American that only speaks English, is rather limited. It's nice that I can show my stuff off to potential international fans, though.

• + Big userbase, even if I can't really speak to most of them. But English speakers are there too.

• + It has a fantastic dashboard feature where you can see all the stats on your pictures in one convenient place, and which of your pictures are the most popular.

• + It's one of the few sites that allows you to post multiple images in a single entry, so you can have entire comics, image packs, sequences, or variations of a single image without it wasting gallery space by having to upload them all separately.

• + They were practically first to regulate the AI crap, so, props.

• - There's some features that are paywalled, one of which is the ability to replace the image in a post, which makes no sense. And I don't exactly have any spare yen lying around to subscribe.

• - While the English version is perfectly fine, some things are still sorta lost in translation, and at times I felt some culture shock when it comes to its rule. When uploading a post there's an option to mark it as an "original work", which I misunderstood thought that meant "something you drew yourself" but apparently it means "characters you created", which I only found out after a user scolded me for marking a post wrong. Another issue is the different standards Japan has over censorship and what is considered obscene. Some of the mature options make sense like violence and smoking, but, "Antisocial expressions"? References to religion? My foreign Yankee brain doesn't understand.

• - There's the questionable stuff. You know, THAT stuff. Questionable as in "I'm questioning whether or not to call the police."

Conclusion: While I do use the site sometimes, I'm not Japanese, so the cultural differences and language barrier means I can only use it as an outsider, making it a bit of a novelty. When I say it's not for me, I don't mean that as an opinion; it is literally not for me.

My Pixiv is here!

Weasyl: It's fine. But it's just... there. Really nothing noteworthy about it. It works perfectly well, has features, web design is good, it just doesn't really do anything that other, more popular websites already do, so there's barely anyone there. I'm struggling to even come up with bullet points for this one. If it wasn't for Postybirb I probably wouldn't use it at all.

• + It's not broken and it doesn't have the baggage that FurAffinity has.

• - The only people that sincerely use it are furries that actually kept their promise on leaving FA instead of threatening to leave and quietly staying like the last 12 times.

Conclusion: What the hell am I supposed to put here? I guess if FA mysteriously blows up this place might have a chance? My Weasyl is here!

The duds:

NewGrounds: The legend. The elder site. The ancient one. A nostalgic favorite. While I do have an account there, it's not active, and I don't have any plans to use it. I'm not sure I'll feel welcome. While it's a great and fun place in its own regard, I just don't feel like it's the right place for this type of art, or the right audience. I do put my non-kink art up there in a different account... which is twenty years old, holy shit! Maybe I'll change my mind and post WG art there? But right now I just don't see any reason to. Maybe if more art like this was there? Maybe one of you can convince me to use it?

Pillowfort: I literally gave up on Pillowfort. Practically zero activity there. Unless Tumblr disappears, it's likely gonna stay that way.

Mastodon: I just can't wrap my brain around Mastodon. I don't understand how it works. I can't even be bothered to look up the link to my account.

Instagram: Literally only made a royaljellysandwich account there to follow some BBWs, nothing on it, my shit is NOT for Instagram.

The "NOPE" pile:

Threads: Oh hey Instagram, what with the Twitter costume? It's not Halloween yet.

Reddit: Fuck off.

ArtStation: You think I'm an actual professional in this field?

Furry Network: What?

SoFurry: Huh?

e621: Beat it.

Eka's Portal: You know damn well I don't do that.

Inkbunny: CALL THE POLICE! CALL THE POLICE! CALL THE POLICE!!

Behance: BeGONE.

VCL: Your memory serves you well.

Any "Chan", "Booru", or other imageboards: People post my shit there already.

SheezyArt: OH MY GOD IT'S A GHOST

Hey everyone, Hope you're all staying cool in this brutal heat. Just gonna give a quick status update: I go on vacation for a week tomorrow (June 18th) so I'm not gonna be available for most of the week. Might try and do a few owed sketches if I have any time alone, but I want this vacation to be a VACATION. I am also celebrating my (urgh) 40th Birthday on the 24th while I'm away. Anyway, I just sent out the last invoices I'll be taking until the 26th. After I get back I might have to make a few adjustments to my commission rates in July, but for now I'm going to just relax. See you on the 26th!

Hey everyone, been a while.

I've got a lot to catch up on, so I'll start with what I've been up to. Fist off: I quit my retail job in March so I can focus on doing art full time. I was tired of scrubbing toilets, I was overworked and understaffed and I'm sure I can do better with art. So I'm going to be treating this like its an actual full time job. As in, get up and do this on a 9-5 schedule, write down what I do and when, keep track of how much I make, etc.

Another thing I'm working on is figuring out 3D modeling. I've been dedicating time to learning Blender using tutorials I'm seeing on Youtube, with the hopes it can find me a job. Right now I don't feel like I'm anywhere near the level where I can do 3D Commissions but I'd like to get there in time. I'm a lot more comfortable with objects and environments but not character modeling yet... Currently I'm experimenting with how to use it to help out with 2D works. Here's a few examples.

I'm also trying out a few new sites to post art on. I posted a lot of old art (including art from before I went as Royaljellysandwich) on Itaku, making it an archive of source. I'm also trying out Mastodon, as the future of Twitter might be uncertain due to a certain Musk-y odor taking it over. I don't plan on leaving Twitter though. If it's too much stuff to track, I've also put it under one convenient list on Linktree.

Finally, I'd like to issue apologies to everyone on my commission list and Patreon I still owe stuff to, and how I've been slow to respond to messages. I struggled to keep up with my work since last summer and fall due to the amount of stress my retail job put me through (part of why I quit) but I intend to get the backlog DONE. This is where those of you come in: feel free to send a message my way if you're still waiting on any Patreon rewards, because it's possible I might have actually forgotten about them and I wanna make sure there aren't any loose ends.

Thanks everyone for your support!