11

There's not much to say, really, that hasn't been said before. Eleven years ago, today. Sheesh. Time sure flies by.

I am still drawing, yes, but I'm still going through a phase in my life where I have very little time for my art – at the moment, I'm lucky if I'm able to put some time aside for it for one evening per week. The good news is that it'll probably get better by the time April rolls in; the bad news is, it will actually get even worse around late summer. In fact, I will probably have to go on a semi-hiatus after I finish my current batch of commissions (which there are still many left). More on that when time draws closer and I'm more aware of what happens in the future.

Again, I must stress: if I need to take a break, it's not going to be a permanent one. I have no intention of ceasing art production, but considering how slow of an artist I am and how I usually need long stretches of uninterrupted art time, that's simply not going to be possible for a while probably for a year or two, unless I somehow figure out how to pull it off. However, I wish to not go into details as I don't want to treat this journal as a public diary. That's just not my thing.

ART: Still Desirable

Here's my primary contribution for celebrating my first ten years of cartoon smut: a remake of the picture that first gave me major exposure on the now-dead WWOEC forums exactly ten years ago. Unlike the original picture, which was inked on paper and then cleaned up and re-inked on Photoshop (using the Line Tool, because I was fucking n00b), this one started out as a rough pencil sketch with everything else done using both an Intuos tablet and the Pen Tool in Photoshop. Having said that, there still are probably much easier ways of getting this shit done but I wouldn't know anything about them. Nonetheless, I do know a lot more than I did back in 2008. The bad news is that while my knowledge has accumulated, I'm still a slowpoke – this one took me an entire week to get completed. Good thing I have a ridiculously fast computer to handle this shit with ease, and these days I actually know how to optimize Photoshop so that it's not constantly trashing my hard drive or having performance issues.

Today, I have my own way of drawing cum, although I would still credit Shabby Blue and TDK as being influential on how to do it. After all, it was their style that I (hopelessly) attempted to imitate in the original piece. I didn't care about it back then but looking back at the picture now, I actually prefer the clean version now because the cum just looks so horribly done.

Instead of just one guy, there's now four of them. I used Danny's colours from the old pic for one of the dicks, my current Danny colour palette for two of them and Kwan's for the bottom left one. Still, it could just be a bunch of random dudes, I don't know. Does it really matter? Of course not.I will dedicate this not just for Desirée fans, but to each and every one of you who have been supporting my fan art throughout the years. Thank you!

 ...and yes, as with the original one, there's a clean variant. It certainly is missing something without the cum but then again, you can't upload drawings of women covered in semen on deviantART. However, I do know that some folks don't care about all the mess. The dA version comes with three different sizes. As for the regular one, you can get medium-sized one from Paheal and the high-resolution version will be available in the art archive released later this year.

FUN FACT: the gradient-filled background is actually the very same one from the original picture. In fact, I simply copied the layer from the old working files (which I still obviously have) and pasted it into the new one. The only new things I added are the faint clouds

A Decade of Decadence: 3/3/08–3/3/18

The day is here, folks, and I have no clue how to start this damn thing. I guess I should’ve thought of this well before but hey, it’s not a school assignment, so fuck it. Instead, I’ll just try my best to wing it, like always.

After 5:32 AM on this day (March 3^rd, 2018), it has been exactly ten years since I first unveiled my erotic fan art online and roughly twenty years minus several months since I started to draw cartoon women in various states of undress, after seeing Dexter’s Mom prance around the family’s swimming pool in the episode ‘Better Off Wet’ (and having my puberty kick off because of that moment). While I always had a hunch it would last this long, I could’ve never dreamed of all the wonderful things it has brought to my life. At the very most, I simply assumed that I’d maybe find two or three people to occasionally chat about all things cartoon erotica and maybe get some e-fame on places such as Paheal and 4chan. However, I would’ve never imagined the magnitude of having such a hobby.

Some of those online friendships that I formed back in March of ’08 have lasted to this day and actually strengthened to the point that I’ve met some of these fine folk in person and even had one so graciously accommodate me when I was on an extended trip in his area. Some relationships had a rocky start, but still turned out good: thanks to the diplomatic skills of a mutual friend, a former rival of mine ended up teaching me valuable Photoshop techniques and as well as showed me how to differentiate between valuable feedback and empty praise. Today, he is one of my best online friends, and we have VoIP calls on a regular basis. I’m also happy to have still met some great people after those early days, such as one of my regular commissioners whose involvement in my life not only ended up getting my artwork seen by Ralph Bakshi himself, but also scored me several major autographs from legendary voice actors (most notably Grey Griffin, who signed a drawing I had made featuring several of the characters she has helped bring to life). In addition, I’ve also had a continuous email conversation with this person since 2012, most likely spanning well over 1,000 replies and with no end in sight. 

In short, my decision to post something on the Wacky World of Erotic Cartoons forums simply to avoid having my third account get purged due to lurking completely changed my life. Whoever implemented that rule, I salute you. And while it’s likely to have simply sped up the inevitable decision to post my doodles online, I’m quite certain that the path I’ve walked so far would’ve looked very different. If anything, my art would’ve likely looked worse than it does now, and who knows, maybe I’d have quit drawing altogether or turned into one of those insufferable drama queens who keep deleting their old stuff and moving from site to site and forum to forum.

The online communities available for erotic cartoon fans have drastically changed during these ten years. Gone are dedicated web sites such as WWOEC and the popularity of old-school PhpBB-style message boards, with smartphone-accessible social media portals in their place. Paheal and deviantART are still here, although the latter has lost a considerable amount of talent to the poorly-coded Tumblr (which is one of the worst places to host fan art, but I’m not going to get into that here) while the former has had to endure constantly fluctuating national and international laws concerning illustrated erotica. It was in June of ’08 that I set up this still-functioning Blogger page as a temporary place to release my art outside WWOEC forums while searching for a proper portal for an art gallery. Today, I have my long-standing deviantARTpage to hold my SFW and softcore material, which isn’t quite enough but certainly better than nothing.

It is also this demand of a thorough, well-organized gallery that gave birth to the forever-in-the-making project better known as the art archive, which I’m SERIOUSLY going to get done this year. Originally, I was hoping to have the first iteration of it done by 2009 (as ‘the art bundle’) but as fate would have it, something would always prevent me from getting it to a releasable state. Right now, it’s about halfway finished, with the biggest and most arduous work of simply organizing everything in proper categories thankfully behind me. My goal now is to just get it out there and then keep it updated either three or four times per year. In some weird, poetic manner the current archive will be closest to the original bundle, as it will likely have very few extras and simply high-quality, high-resolution versions of all the pictures I’ve published. All the bonus content will be added later via patches, and if there are pictures I deem worth finishing first, I will do exactly that.

So, is there anything else that needs to be said? It’s a bit tough since I've already covered quite a few topics during my earlier celebratory posts. Hell, I already ran out of things to say last year! I suppose I should reiterate that my life is currently at a turning point which makes it very difficult for me to say what happens next. However, I still have passion for doing this and I will, as long as it is possible, to keep at it. The day will eventually come when I stop drawing for good, but I hope it will be the day I die (or at least when I lose muscle control due to old age). Having said that, it’s quite difficult to say how long this will go on and I obviously can’t make any concrete promises… but I’ll try my best.

In closing, I guess I could mention why I started doing this in the first place.

It was because I thought I could draw my own fap material.

And before you ask, the answer is ‘no’, at least when it comes to "short-term profits." It doesn’t really work as a concept because you end up spending so much time trying to get your “steamy” idea stuck to the paper that you get bored with it and simply move on – assuming you manage to even finish it before losing interest. On the bright side, if you do manage to enjoy the creative process itself, it will create you a drive to keep you drawing further images. The online attention may also help, although you need to prevent it from getting into your head too much, as it may create ego problems (hubris). In the end, you just might develop into a better artist… and then, going back to some of those pictures you created earlier, who knows: you just might see them arousing again after enough time has passed by.

My nickname is dlt and will likely remain as such until the end. I started my journey on a long-gone cartoon porn forum and eventually found my way into deviantART. I still have my old blog, dlt’s decadent drawings, even though I barely use it these days. I still frequent on 4chan, although I tend to post anonymously these days. I follow people’s comments about my art on Paheal and welcome constructive criticism as I want to keep improving. And no, I still haven’t seen the movie (The Night Porter, 1974) on which I based my very first (awful) published drawing, because I’ve heard it’s not a very good one. 

Thank you to each and every one of you who have supported my fan art throughout this decade! Whether or you’re a personal friend of mine or someone who only once happened to stumble upon my art and liked it, I wish to express my utmost gratitude for you (unless you’re a tracer, in which case you should rot in hell).

Here’s to the next ten years.

Eight

First, let me get this right out of the gate – I'm so mad I currently don't have the option to do celebratory art for yet another milestone for me as a cartoon smut peddler. While this is not the first time I've not contributed new art on March 3rd, I like the tradition and I'll do my best to stick to it. This time, however, I'm not home and I don't have my art equipment with me, so no can do.

To be honest, I've been so occupied lately that I haven't had much time to think about what to write for the usual journal post I do on every anniversary. Usually, I would reminisce the past and maybe look at where I am right now, and try to guess what's in store for me in the future. I think that's a good format, although I might look into some other topics, too, that would reflect not only who I am and what I do but also, perhaps, the fan art community in general.

Because of this, and because of a comment that someone left on my Blogger, I'm going to talk briefly about Patreon and my view on this whole crowdfunding stuff that's going on.

Patreon is a good thing to some people in the fan art community, whether it's artists or those who follow art. I don't have anything against it and if it works for you, then great. The reason why I've not joined in is primarily because of my habits as a fan artist. As those of you who either know me personally or have followed me for a long time know, I'm not the kind of a person who can sit down and sketch a crapload of stuff in 30 minutes. I'm also not like Fern, who can whip up a freaking digital painting out of thin air in a matter of few hours, complete with complex shading and lighting effects. For me, it takes days to get anything completed, and then there might be month-long "dry seasons" when I can't produce anything. Also, due to my studies and the occasional job (usually during the summer), I might find myself to be either too busy or too exhausted to dedicate time for my fan art.

If I went to Patreon and signed up to have people back me up, I'd have to be able to produce new content for them on a regular basis. This just does not work for me because I'm not the kind of artist that would function within the requirements of Patreon. Believe me, I'd love to get all your people's money and just selfishly spend it on material possessions but I also know my own limitations. I would not be able to satisfy the requirements of Patreon, of my fans and those that I impose upon myself... and that's why I think it's better that I don't attempt to launch a crowdfunding for my art.

Now, before I left for my extended trip, I had gotten into a groove where I attempted to make myself sketch on a daily basis. The last 40 minutes to an hour before getting sleep would be my 'dlt time' where I'd just lay in bed with my sketchbook and pencils and try to doodle something, anything, to get a routine to it and also slowly increase my artistic capabilities. I'm still hesitant to publish my pencil sketches but I'm hoping to eventually get to a point where I might eventually have the skills to get shit done fast while not compromising the overall quality. It's still a long way to go, though.

The next question, of course, is that if I ever reached that level where I was able to pump out "exclusive content" to my supporters, would I still go to Patreon? Possibly not. Even though I've done pay site work before, I'm generally not a fan of the concept of holding fan art away from people unless they shell out some cash. This is why I have a clause in my commission guidelines that prohibits private commissions: if you order something from me, you better be okay with it being posted for everyone else to see as well. Again, please keep in mind that even though this is my stance on exclusive fan art, it does not mean that I think people who do it are horrible monsters and should be shunned be everyone. This is capitalism, and if some people are okay with it, then I'm cool with them being that way. Besides, I'm already somewhat of a hypocrite for doing pay site work despite what I've said (but hey, if I'm paid well enough, I'll do it – besides, shit gets leaked in the end nonetheless).

Still, the future is not set in stone. Anything could happen, and perhaps I'll join Patreon some day. Don't count on it, though, but just keep in mind that even if I say 'no' right now, I might change my mind later. Whatever the case will be, I'm going to be drawing more cartoon girls doing dirty things because that's how I roll.

Feel free to raise a glass filled with alcoholic content to celebrate for my eighth year, if you wish. Go me!

7

Seven years down, who knows how many to go?

I was suffering from some serious delusions of grandeur back in 2008, as I imagined myself being a well-versed veteran of erotic fan art by now. In my hubris, I failed to recognize that it had taken me ten years to be on the feeble level I was back then, and over twenty if we go by my drawing hobby in general and not just cartoon smut. In these old planning files, I see myself dreaming of doing live-action quality sketches by 2012, and even 3D-looking 2D art a year before that. Of course, it's laughable and very, very egotistical when you think about it now.

Nonetheless, I do admire the drive I had back then. I seemed to be telling myself that I feared absolutely nothing, and while that was true to a certain extent, many of my followers quickly noticed that I had my comfort zone in Danny Phantom erotica, and I rarely stepped away from it. The drive, however, had nothing to do with my lack of certainty when it came to drawing outside the Hartman style and that one, I will argue, was very much a real thing. When the bubble of my hubris burst (nemesis), my studies caught up with me and I acquired more friends within the community, it humbled me and to some point even slowed down that drive. There were several moments where I wanted to wind down and take a break, and one came rather quickly during 2009 and 2010 after I burned out from attempting to do that huge DP orgy picture, but in the end the drive always returned. It was not as youthful and idealistic (or as foolish) as it was in the early days, but it kept me purchasing more pencils and paper, and at one point, I even got myself a Wacom tablet. It wasn't the Cintiq I used to blab on and on about over at Wacky World, but it's now an irreplaceable part of my fan art creation process and has paid back its hefty price of 459€ a good while ago.

In a few years I will be hitting thirty years of age, and my youth, as they say, will soon be over. Would I say I regret spending it on the internet, drawing nasty pictures of cartoon characters? No. I only regret that I did not have the possibility, for one reason or another, experience life in all its richness, but specifically by the way of travelling around the world – still, I did manage to visit The United States a couple of times, so I cannot even say I was completely robbed of that either. I am well aware that life isn't over when you enter the next big ten so I do hope to make it out into my 40s as a man who went, saw and didn't necessarily conquer but returned safely home with a few more life experiences richer. Home, where awaiting him is a nice stack of 120g/m³ paper, several different pencils and an Intuos 5L.

(Of course, if you guys think that I'm sounding like some old rocker waxing on about some wisdom he writes on a blog he barely knows to operate, then you might be right. It really is douche chill -inducing and I should just shut up and get back to drawing naked ladies)

I know I should thank you all at this point but I don't know, it'd probably be a bit insincere since there's a chance this gets read by a bunch of people who don't really give a shit, including tracers, and thanking them would be a bit silly. So, instead, I'll end it with the universal motto of a Generation X slacker:

Whatever.

Have some Desiree tits (scroll down to see them).

Six

Six years ago today I mustered up enough courage to publish my erotic fan art for the first time on WWOEC forums. It was a rather dull, unimpressive piece and I had even traced the character's face from a screenshot (*gasp*). While never a piece I intended on releasing for the public, I did it solely because the forums where I posted had rules that if just lurk around and don't post anything, your account will get deleted.

Of course, I could've simply just said 'hi', post a random comment on a general thread or even upload some other fan art I had found elsewhere to prevent losing my 'dlt' account, but being the neurotic mess I was back in the day, I couldn't possibly let my debut be anything else but my personal contribution to the erotic fan art scene, and as such it had to fulfill certain standards I had set up for myself. I actually had two other pictures that I had finished but just didn't like the way they looked (although the second one eventually ended up as my third picture after getting slightly revamped) but in the end I felt it was more comfortable to ink and colour this older sketch instead.

Looking back, I can't help but facepalm at my younger self. Really? Was it that important? Needless to say, the first pic went largely unnoticed, and rightfully so. While I still think there's conceptually nothing wrong with the pic, the execution is just dull and I'm really bothered by the tracing. Still, I prefer to keep the date as the official birthday of my online presence. Whenever that date occurs, my thoughts will often go back to that first year and how it was both frightening and exciting at the same time. Meeting with other people who felt this way about cartoon women, receiving both compliments and criticism for the first time, getting to know people like Toonspew, Sadarax, Sniper Tomcat, Levelord, DarkDP (some of who had been my idols in the years past)... it was a life-changing experience, and one that would seriously impact on how I try to spend some of my free time.

You can imagine how wonderful it would be to announce the release of the art archive in this same post but unfortunately that is not the case. In time, it will be completed, but right now I have to concentrate on other things in life. With things being the way they are, I also cannot say if there will or will not be a Desiree pic in the upcoming days as has been the tradition for many years (mostly because my second picture release ever depicted her in an erotic situation and was very well-received by the community). However, things will probably ease up a bit around April and when that happens, there's going to be new artwork coming up.

Six years... and I haven't really even started yet.

Just my luck

Well, here we are. Today is precisely five years from when I first started publishing my fan art on the internet. For the past year, I've been planning to celebrate the occasion with an archive of all my published art, including a few surprises, and a few other things as well and... I've got nothing.

As some of you know, I recently upgraded to a new computer. Usually this is a good thing, and it still is, but for the past two months it's caused me more trouble than relief. Without going into details, let's just say that the people who put it together had not paid enough attention on some of their configurations. In the end, I only managed to get one pic out before I had to return the PC to be repaired. I did try to solve the problem myself for the first two weeks but eventually I ran out of time and motivation... a good thing too, since it turned out the solution would've been out of my reach anyway.

Thankfully, I was able to keep up with all the latest developments via my portable. While I was able to produce a few doodles with it, I did not have Photoshop installed on it. Not that it would've mattered much since it would've been too slow to work with those humongous resolutions I favour. Besides, if anything good came out of this one, it's that I was able to concentrate on a couple of difficult university assignments much better than I probably would've if I had been able to go with my original plans and draw like a maniac the entire February. I was also able to brainstorm with Toonspew on our upcoming project which in turn resulted in a surprise collaboration with TheSharkragon on a quick Maddie doodle we designed – this would likely not exist if it weren't for the special circumstances I found myself in a few weeks ago.

But yeah. There's no art archive for you to download. No special Maddie pic I've occasionally mentioned. Nothing. All I can give you at this point is this journal entry. I wish I was able to write something glorious about the past five years but quite honestly, I'm not even in the mood. Still, all's not lost and despite the past month not going at all as planned, I'm hopeful about the future.

Here's what I'm going to do. Starting next week, I will return to work on my remaining commissions for Sniper Tomcat and fully finish them. After that, I will get back to working on the archive, the special celebratory pic and everything else I was going to have ready for today. The bright side is that I do not have a specific deadline for this, so I don't have to panic if I run into an art block and can't get something done. I will hope to have everything out before the spring is over. In the end, you'll get what I wanted to give you anyway, just later than I anticipated.

Let's postpone the celebration, shall we?


Feel free to congratulate me, though, I won't stop you :p