Ask Piñata

Here are all the unfinished panels I was working on for Piñata’s story arc, complete with any background sketches. I’m actually really pleased with how some of these look; the inset of the first panel and the sixth panel particularly (also Cowbell in the last but one panel).  You’ll notice some ponies in the third panel. They don’t belong to me, I was planning to do surprise cameos of some of my followers, these two belong to @asksweetpaw-blog-blog and @indigocards. 

I was calling this the ‘Line of Duty’ arc, and I had a bit more than this written down as a sort of basic script. The plan was to have Pinny visit his sister at the infirmary in Canterlot and discover that things were nearly as bad as he thought. Silk Gauze was going to either be in a coma when he arrived, or very heavily sedated because of a severe leg injury, which would eventually mean the loss of that leg (I know, Pinny went from like, super cheery silly stuff to super serious in ten seconds flat). He was going to be all worried about everything, while Silk Gauze would take comfort in his disability (after coming to terms with no longer being able to serve in the guard) ‘If you can keep going, so can I’ - that sort of thing. 

Reasons I stopped working on this are below the break, if you’re curious. If not, I hope you like what there is of this stuff. Sorry that I still haven’t returned to Piñata properly.

Hey everypony, it’s been a while. 

I just wanted to give you a general update about how things stand. 

I’m currently working six days a week at two different jobs. It’s long and exhausting, and I’ve had little time, energy or motivation to draw anything. Being away from the society that brought pony to the forefront of my life has left me feeling a little distanced from the fandom and the show as a whole. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy Pony anymore, but rather that it doesn’t inspire quite the same love and affection that it did when it was a part of my week to week life. I just don’t feel as connected as I used to. I still draw my characters occasionally, and I plan to go and visit the society and the friends I made there soon, but it’s not the same. I need to figure out where Pony fits in this new life I’m building for myself. 

If and when I return to Piñata I’m going to reboot the blog. Old posts will be kept up, but I’ll be building Pinny and his world back up from scratch. Questions will become key again, instead of the story that I became so tangled up with. I hope that, if the time comes, you’ll all stick with me to experience the journey, and, if it doesn’t, that you won’t hold it against me. 

Thank you for sticking with me for this long, and to all the people who have followed since this hiatus, thank you for helping brighten my days - every time I see an email from Tumblr it makes me smile to know that people still appreciate Piñata, and the art that developed thanks to him. 

I’ll see you guys around,

Name: Hannah Nickname: Han, H (though very few people are allowed to call me this), HD, HD Sauce, Kindle, Hinami, Hin, Broken Kindle, BK Star sign:  Sagittarius  Gender: Female Height: 5′5″/5′6″ish 

Sexual orientation: Asexual/Graysexual Favorite color: Basically any muted natural colours but also burgundy  Time right now: 21:20  Current location: England Average hours of sleep: About 7/8ish  Lucky number: I don’t really have one?  Last thing I googled: I think it might have been ‘Chinese New Year 2016′ but it could also have been ‘National Libaries Day 2016′ (my excuse is work) 

Number of blankets I sleep under: 1 usually. Occasionally 2 in colder months Favorite fictional characters: Too many to list here. Really liking Endeavour Morse atm (Endeavour is back on ITV and I might be a little bit obsessed) Favorite Books: You realise who you’re talking to here right? Um... Frankenstein will always be up there, Owl Babies, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Good Omens and many, many more. 

Favorite artists/bands: So many. Feeder is a constant fave, but otherwise my favourites kind of fluctuate. Totally into Sinatra at the moment. 

Dream job(s): Book Seller/Librarian so I’m kind of living the dream right now, which is really awesome, but also exhausting. Random fact: I once nearly broke my big toe because I stood on it when I slid off a bouncy castle (as in I stood on my big toe with the foot that it was attached to. Toes are not meant to bend that way) When did you create your blog?: Gosh... probably about 3 years ago now Do you have any other blogs?: Yes. @thebrokenkindle and @kindleslibrary are updated semi-regularly, while @lycia-and-friends and @ask-gentleman-rex are very very rarely updated. When did your blog reach it’s peak?: Literally just as it was going into hiatus. Which is kind of sad, really, but hey, what can you do? Who is your most active follower?: I think that would have to be @xirobu What made you decide to get a tumblr?: A friend at uni ran @dinkys-diary and I decided to give it a go after taking a look at the tumblrpon scene. Do you get asks on a daily basis?:  Nope, never really have. Why did you choose your URL?: Because that’s the character’s name? xD

Hello again, everypony, I have some important news regarding the future of this blog, and, I suppose, by extension all my other ask blogs. 

The emotional rut is not over. There are things that bring me down still. Often they’re little things, like my Mum saying the wrong thing to me without realising it. Sometimes they’re bigger, like realising that the situation which affected my desire to work on Piñata isn’t actually improving as much as I thought. Realising that I might have lost a close family friend in the worst possible way.

I’m telling you this because I want to make sure you guys know what’s going on. I’m super out of touch with the brony fandom right now. I haven’t been checking this tumblr very much, I’ve been losing track of episodes. I don’t have the connection that I used to. I can’t keep lying to myself, or to you guys, as of right now I have no desire to work on Ask Piñata.

This doesn’t mean I will never work on Piñata again. I am not abandoning my little colourful candy horse. He has helped me to connect with some truly amazing people, people who I have grown to love and respect very deeply and who have helped me through some of the most difficult times in my life. But right now, this blog needs to be put on hiatus. I don’t know how long it will last. I don’t know when Piñata will be back, or how he will return. I may reboot the blog entirely, I may pick up from where I left off.

I’m sorry that I’ve had to do this, but I need to take time to figure things out. I need to think about me for a while.

Thank you so much for sticking by me all this time, for following a pony who started out as a joke between me and my sister and for making him so much more. Thank you for letting me into this community, and making my experience of it so positive.

I’ll see you guys around.

Kindle x

Hey guys, Kindle here. Just wanted to give you a quick update on the situation with the blog and stuff. 

I am working on updates. They will be slow, partially because I’m still hunting for more permanent work and partially because I’m just quite slow with art sometimes, especially if I get all pernickity about how it looks. I plan on streaming some update stuff sometime soon (expect potential spoilers for the story arc if you do come to watch those) along with some more follower pics, so keep an eye out for those.

Irl situations continue to improve. I started my new job a few days ago and I already feel right at home, I just wish I was doing more hours there! The situation which had me all awkward about the story continues to improve slowly. 

Thank you all so much for being so patient with me. I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am. 

There’s light at the end of the hiatus tunnel, and we’re nearly there. 

((Hey everypony, Kindle Mod here. Just wanted to drop by and give you all some updates on the blog, my other blogs and life so you know what’s going on. 

TL;DR I’m back home, I’ve got a job, updates are coming but will be slow. Lycia and Friends may reboot (again), Gentleman-Rex will continue in its usual manner.

First things first, I’m back from my two weeks away. I have a lot of blogs and stuff to catch up on, but I’ll get round to it eventually. Now, this would usually mean me saying I can definitely update now because (sort of) free time, but (and this leads me on to my second point)...

I have a job! It’s only part time, but I’ve been offered a position doing what I’ve been wanting to do for the last two years, and it will still take up a good deal of my time. The paperwork still needs to be finished and the days aren’t fixed, so my schedule will be a little all over the place, especially while I’m still getting used to everything. 

Having said that, I will be working on the blog again. After my holiday I’m much more relaxed about everything, and this job news has really helped with that too (on account of the fact that the Jobcentre was stressing me out and I shouldn’t have to deal with them now). Update schedule is still going to be a bit dodgy though. 

My other blogs... Lycia and Friends is a little dead. I love those characters, and I really want to work with their stories more, but I’m realising more and more that the blog probably isn’t going to survive. I’ll think about rebooting again, maybe reverting back to questions, but it may be that I just work on their stories for myself. Gentleman-Rex, on the other hand, will stay put. He and Butlersus come out when I need to doodle or take a break from serious stories (which is basically every story I’ve ever written). I need those two in my life, and I think their blog is a bit of fun.

Thank you for your continuing support and to the new people who have followed me when I looked away - updates are coming, I’m just not sure when yet.

A little watercolor fanart for you from mod of asktoolaroola :3

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((OOC: Two more for the follower pic collection!