Hi!
The last time I gave an update on my life was 2014, right after my girlfriend’s dad passed away. The future was very uncertain and scary. A lot has happened since then.
A decision needed to be made about what would happen next. I’d dropped everything and driven to Alabama to be there for Sarah when her dad was in the hospital. He was supposed to recover and I was supposed to return to New York after the hard part ended. Except the hard part never ended.
I kept extending my visit because saying goodbye to my girlfriend and heading home to New York felt wrong. Weeks turned to months, holidays came and went, I kept treading water. We’d known each other for 7 years and been through so much together. After living together for 11 months, I finally asked Sarah to be my wife. We were married on April 30th, 2015. There’s no doubt in my mind that I ended up with the right person. She’s my soulmate. She and our pets are my world.
We also became ferret parents that year! We started with Jowee on September 23rd. Lumpus on November 22nd. Loueem on May 3, 2017 and, finally, Susan October 20, 2018. You’ve seen a bit of what that’s led to! Mommy and the Boys! But hang on, back to 2015-
We continued to live at Sarah’s parents’ house and stayed afloat doing commissions on furaffinity. We did well, but it was exhausting. I became severely burnt out. I remotely illustrated 2 children’s books and made weekly facebook comics as well. It was becoming painfully apparent that art was not the career I wanted to pursue anymore. As a hobby I enjoyed it, as a job I hated it. Art commissions are difficult to rely on as a sole form of income. There’s no guarantee you’re going to get customers when you open. It takes so much focus and energy. Not to mention emotional stability. I decided I needed a more traditional job. There was a factory up the road that manufactured car parts. I applied and got a job there and that’s where I worked for the next 4 years. Not going to lie, it was brutal. Never knew when I would get home, never knew if I’d get a weekend. I was there more than I was home and I rarely got days off. It was physically demanding work, but it was a guaranteed paycheck and I didn’t have to draw for it! I met lots of great people, made a lot of friends, learned a lot, and I’ll always be grateful for that.
Then, the pandemic happened. My coworkers didn’t take it seriously even after lockdown. I didn’t feel safe anymore. At the same time, Sarah and I were going through a lot of stressful family drama. Her sister was taking over the house with her boyfriend and a troupe of kids. It was like being in a burning building waiting for the fire to reach the room we were holed up in. Our home was crumbling around us and we had to escape. It was extremely difficult. We made the decision to move back to my home in New York. I’d been in Alabama for 6 years! We packed up our 5 pets and made the long drive up to New York in August of 2020. My parents graciously provided us with an RV camper on their lawn until we could find a place of our own to live. That took a lot longer than we’d expected. A year longer, actually!
Our biggest problem, besides being able to afford to move somewhere, was finding a place that was pet friendly. We have 2 cats and 3 ferrets. Most places have a 2 pet limit and don’t allow ferrets under any circumstances. We searched and searched. Dead end after dead end. We were feeling hopeless. Living in a camper gets old fast, too. Especially in the winter. We heated it with barbecue propane tanks. Many refills were needed!
I’m working in a factory that makes grates now. It’s not exciting, but it’s work. Not nearly as demanding as my previous job, either. I have every weekend off. I work 8 hours a day with no overtime. I have time to have a life outside of work. That’s good for me!
We moved into a house this past September! It’s just up the road from my parents’ house, where we’d previously been staying. We can see their house from ours now. It’s beautiful. We’re renting it, but the landlord is a friend of my family. She’s nice. She let us keep our pets with us. They’re so happy here. We’re so happy here. I’m thankful every single day for what I’ve been given. A home of my own. A beautiful wife. A beautiful family. I don’t take any of it for granted.
I caught COVID in November. We’re both fully vaccinated and extremely careful, but things happen. It luckily wasn’t bad for me. Nothing more than a very sore throat and some fatigue. Most importantly, Sarah and the pets didn’t catch it from me!
ANYWAY, I know that was kind of all over the place. Thank you for reading if you did!
As some of you may know, my girlfriend’s father passed away last Thursday. This whole thing has been a very jarring experience to say the least. He was doing so good and then out of nowhere everything went downhill. I’m currently staying at Sarah’s house to help her through this nightmare for as long as I can afford to, but I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers. It was very much appreciated.
Anyway, Gathion tagged me in a thing recently and I’m gonna do it because I’ve been so inactive here. So here are my answers to those questions 
1. How did you wind up here on DeviantArt?
I was looking for a place besides facebook to dump my art and dA was just where I happened to land!
2. If you could interview one person for a TV broadcast or magazine article, who would it be?
I would interview Masahiro Sakurai and ask him why Lucas isn’t in the new Smash Bros!
3. How do you look back at your older work?
I try not to look back on it because I tend to only notice mistakes but sometimes I like to look at old stuff and remember where I was when I made it and what was going on in my life.
4. Do you like to sing? Do other people like it if/when you do?
I don’t usually sing. But when I do, nobody likes it!
5. If your artwork were animated, what animation style would you want it to be in?
I’d want it to be hand-drawn and look like MGM/Warner Bros/Disney cartoons from the early 1900’s
6. What's the most important thing you've taken from your schooling?
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things!
7. Mechanical or traditional pencils?
Mechanical!
8. If you could have any kind of cybernetic installed in your body (be it an enhancement or a replacement), what would you get?
I’d probably get something that would eliminate hunger and exhaustion. I HATE having to take the time to eat when I’m focused on a project or something.
9. Hollywood wants to make a movie about YOU! What kind of movie would it be (comedy, docudrama, action/adventure, etc.)?
A movie about me would be way too boring to watch but I’d want it to have lots of cheesy dramatizations of stuff that may or may not have happened in my life.
10. Would you bring a piece of today's technology 500 years into the past, or bring back a piece of technology from 500 years in the future?
I’d want something from 500 years in the future so I wouldn’t have to leave the present to enjoy it!
Now here are 10 questions for anyone who’d like to answer them! I’m not going to tag but anyone’s welcome to! You don’t even have to do a journal you can just plop them in a comment here if you want! (I guess I'll tag woodchuckles while I'm at it)
1. Do you have multiple deviantArt accounts? If so, how many?
2. Do you post art on other sites?
3. If you draw traditionally, what happens to your sketches after you scan them? Do you keep them somewhere safe or throw them away?
4. Is there a special place where you work on your art?
5. How messy is your computer desktop?
6. What’s one thing you feel you’ve learned to draw better over the years?
7. If you do commissions, was there ever one that pushed you beyond your comfort zone a bit and you ended up accomplishing something better than expected?
8. Do you remember the first commission you ever did? If so, were you nervous?
9. Have you ever given up on a concept because it was too hard for you?
10. Are you comfortable drawing in front of an audience?
my deviantart story
I blew onto dA 7 years ago with a flood of old art I’d drawn in personal sketchbooks throughout college which at the time I was very shy about sharing with anyone. It felt easier to display from a distance with an audience on the internet than face to face. With no friends or original characters I just started dumping my stuff out for anyone to look at if they wanted to. To my surprise, people started watching me and encouraging me to keep it coming. I honestly don’t know if I’d still be drawing today if it weren’t for deviantArt.
dA helped me grow socially too. I'm painfully awkward, quiet, and shy in person but interacting through comments gave me a bit of confidence and made socializing less stressful. Making friends and communicating through art was exciting and I found myself dedicating most of my time to drawing and posting gifts for people frequently. In fact, I met my girlfriend here. A simple exchange of comments on a sketch I’d drawn blossomed for the next 6 years into a relationship that never would have been possible without this site.
First submission:
Wasn’t drawn for dA but it was the first thing I ever posted! Yuck!
First gift art:
For Nobody (my first watcher too!) Also first new thing drawn for dA that wasn’t from my archives.
First time I ever colored something:
Had never even attempted to color digitally or at all until this point!
Most life-changing submission:
This sketch caught the attention of the love of my life, woodchuckles (Nobody), who chose it as the opportunity to talk to me for the first time. I’m now living with her! 
It’s amazing when I look back at what a huge influence dA has had on my life. It’s a part of who I am and I can say without a doubt I would not be where I am today without it. I owe a big ol thank you to deviantArt and the people on here who’ve kept me going all these years! Thank you!
I'm alive and thank you
In early May I made an emergency road trip from my home in New York to stay with woodchuckles in Alabama while her dad recovers in the ICU after a liver transplant and several complications. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions with many close calls and miracles. My focus has been on that situation so I’ve totally neglected deviantArt. I just logged in and found comments and notes of concern and I’m so sorry for not keeping people posted on what was going on. I can’t promise I’ll be active any time soon but I’ll try to keep updated when there’s anything to update. It really means a lot that folks care!
I haven’t been drawing in my free time at all so I don’t have much art to put on here but maybe in the future. I’d just like to remind everyone to take the time to be thankful for anyone and everyone they care about and tell them you love them. Life is precious and can change in an instant!
In short: I’m alive, I’m sorry for vanishing without word, I’m in Alabama with Sarah and I don’t know when I’ll be back!
And lastly, thank you so much to whoever gave me a premium subscription to dA. I really really appreciate that and I’ll try to be more active on here when I can so it isn’t wasted on me!
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Sarah reminded me that you can create AR codes for your designs so I did. Feel free to snag these if you want!
I don't wanna swap friend codes because I'm shy about that stuff but if you'd ever like to visit Jefurton sometime my dream code is 5000-2168-7246! If you've got a dream code too I'd love to check out your town sometime!