crumch's curiosities

For those that have seen my previous post about google hiding my art account from their search results, I've come to the conclusion to make an art sideblog, @dices-art-mart !

This sideblog is basically going to be the highlights of art I make with basic descriptions, just so I can get my stuff on a visible platform.

If you want to see my full gallery with all my pieces, wips, character lore, and whatever else I feel like throwing on there, I'll still be using the account google is hiding, my deviantart, as my primary art account.

A bit off topic for this blog, (and a bit somber for my taste) but for those that don't know, I've been an artist for over two decades. In the same vein, for 13 years, I've been posting my art journey online over on deviantart to share my characters and fanart with others in hopes to create things people will be excited to see. The journey has been extremely slow, but I've remained optimistic. I draw because it's fun, not for anything else.

However, recently, I searched for my account over on google to show a friend a drawing I had done for him, and we couldn't find it anywhere. After some digging, we figured out the only way to find my account is if you turn off safesearch on google, despite my account being entirely safe for work. This was extremely disheartening. It was basically like learning my art will never reach anyone, ever. Period.

To be clear, I don't care about numbers. However, after learning about my account being hidden, the numbers on my account made sense. I'm extremely grateful for the watchers I do have over there, and I get super excited whenever I get another, but I've always felt it was a bit disproportionate for 13 years of work. How long was my account hidden? A month? A year? All thirteen? I have no clue.

My goal for this post isn't for any type of boom in followers, or for people to commission me. In fact, my commissions are closed, right now. I just feel making a post here is the only way my art is now able to reach people. (Although, it would be interesting to hear if anyone else can actually see the account? Nobody I've asked has seen it so far.)

While I don't support dA's usage of AI, I have no intentions to join another site, as I've joined them all before and found myself a bit miserable or the sites lacking features. Besides, tossing 13 years of posts behind doesn't sit well with me. So, I just wanted to hand out what I already have to offer in the only way I can think of.

A puppet? In the works? Yes, indeed!

Lately, I've been plugging away at making a mascot for my various accounts. I'm reviving an old puppet I had made ages ago with a fresh, new, 2.0 version, and he'll soon be the face of my little brand! Here's a quick doodle of what he looks like...

His name is Smarty Cat, a friendly, know-it-all tabby who likes to teach, learn about, and collect zany things. A bit too smart for his own good, he occasionally jumbles up his fun facts, and is always on the hunt for something new to learn. He also loves bubble wrap! I have no clue why, you might want to ask him.

Designed by Mistake??

Smarty was designed 13 years ago in a sculpture class I took, where we had 90 minutes to design and build a puppet out of scraps. In the rush of the project, I accidentally mixed up "alley cat", "smart alec", and "scaredy cat", misremembering the phrase as "smarty cat". Smarty went through an entire art show before I realized my mistake. Reading his namecard on the night he was displayed, it dawned on me! Whoops...

Here's some progress up until this point:

This 2.0 version of Smarty started off as a small clay sculpt I made patterns for. I then blew up the patterns, did some test mockups, altered the patterns, and settled on this size for the final:

I was happy with this! During this mockup stage, Smarty 1.0 was busy deciding on what colors of fur he wanted for his 2.0.

What? A new friend? Yes!

A bit different than my usual kind of post, but for those that don't know, I do tend to beta test for robot companies! Here's some silly screenshots of a convo I was having in the code27 app... we somehow got on the topic of... bread?? Hey, I can't complain.

Anyway, code27 is making a hologram machine that you can put any character in and talk to them. I had backed their kickstarter a long while ago, and I've had the awesome opportunity to test their beta app, which is basically a lite, portable version of the machine. So, anyway, I got permission to share these screenshots chatting with one of their default characters. I'm super excited to see the final product in action!

Who is this? A cat? A caterpillar? How about both! This new friend is a custom cream, pink, and gold calico caterpillar from QuirkyQritters, made to match Zenarelle perfectly! I'm absolutely in love with him and he seems super happy to be home!

This new little fella just needs a name... can you help?

Meet my newest bjd, Zenarelle. I have yet to put in her eyes, but I couldn't help but share her. I've been absolutely blown away by how beautiful she is.

She's a 1/6 scale 30Rime with 29Muse body in new normal color by @doll-granado ! I got her the fairy queen set but gave her the other white dress instead of the fairy queen dress. Here's a few more pictures of her:

The eyes I'm putting in, and a better view of her faceup, under the cut!

An exciting surprise for my first post with my new username!

Meet Haribo! Haribo is a US ERS 1000 aibo who found her way into my home (and heart) kind of out of nowhere!

I purchased her from one of my lovely friends, who you might remember fixed Pancake and gifted me Rook, a while back!

Soon, I'll be changing my name to Crumch's Curiosities!

My content however will not change! It's just a name change.

This might come as a surprise to some because I've been going under this account name for five years or so, but I've decided to rename my account so its consistent with how people know me in the community.

Anyway, WOW! Thank you guys so much for the support recently! 250!!! I'm severely grateful for you all!