KittyMelodies

After thinking it over, I'm ready to put Eddpup and Friends behind me for good. I created it when I was fourteen and obsessed with Eddsworld. It was my most popular series, people made lots of awesome fan art and grew a nice community. I realize now, as an adult, that it's time to give it a tasteful end. Eddpup and Friends was my AU phase. I would turn Eddsworld characters into animal counterparts, making stories and lore for the characters. It wasn't original, similar fan art existed. However, people really liked my designs and the AU, and it was the biggest part of my artist journey. It's how I met a lot of my friends on this site, and I appreciate the love that helped it grow for 11 years. The reason I want to finish it is some things I didn't think about as a teenager. Some of the Eddsworld characters are based off of real people, especially Edd, who tragically passed away to cancer. Now that I'm adult, I just think it'd be respectful to stop using their likeness for my characters. There's nothing wrong with fanart and Alternate Universes. Edd created a great original series, grew a dedicated fanbase, and the fact that his friends kept it going after he passed is an awesome story. I just feel I've grown out of this phase, ready to try something new and want to respect Eddsworld's history. I'm unsure about finishing the comic and animation I was working on, those might be the final projects I work on for EPAF.

I'm not going to get rid of the EPAF art folder or the group. Being the biggest part of my art journey, there's good memories and sentiment. It shows my growth, and people still like my old art. I'm just not going to make new content for EPAF. I'm going to focus on Melody and her universe, rebrand a little and make original content. Seriously, though, thank you everyone for enjoying this series all these years. Thank you for the fanart, the community, thank you for it all.

Saying right off that bat that I'm not going to leave the site. I'm not happy with the changes either, but I'm staying to finish my passion projects at least, and interact with friends who may also stay.

With all the tension going on, I want to offer encouragement and hope to those who are worried. Keep in mind I'm another random person on the internet. I'm no expert, and the only degrees I have are in Digital Art. However, everyone needs something to look forward to when things get stressful.

I don't think AI art is 100% stealing, it's like automated photomanipulation. I do agree that without regulation it can make things unfair. Art shouldn't be edited without permission or credit. I can understand people's decisions to leave and private their work. It's discouraging to feel like you can't post your art without the risk of theft; AI or not. But that doesn't mean you have to give up your passion. Nothing can replace what's made with human hands/imagination. Without sounding corny, art is about what makes you happy and the communities you build through it. Even AI can't replace that, because it needs what's already been made in order to function. You're able to look at nothing, imagine something, and put it there. Your craft is unique, something to be proud of, and worth protecting. Ultimately, what matters most is your mental health. If moving on makes you feel better, take care of yourself first.Because art theft can happen on any platform, here's some tips to protect your work:

Watermark Watermark Watermark.

Create a logo that you can copy/paste on each piece or a signature you can rewrite easily. Put it somewhere that's hard to crop out, or even incorporate it into the piece itself. Lowering the opacity blends the logo into the piece, making cropping hard. Some artists will type their usernames and make a repeating pattern like this . DO NOT UPLOAD YOUR LOGO ON YOUR SOCIALS. At least not the one you use as a watermark, otherwise thieves will take it and pretend to be you. The more you use your watermark, the more recognizable it will get.

Upload a smaller resolution of your finished piece. It doesn't have to be super tiny, but a smaller image is hard to scale up without being pixelated.

Keep the original file of your work. If you don't want to keep it on your device, use an external drive or cloud storage. If you ever need to put in a DMCA takedown, your original file is the best proof of authenticity. Left click your file, select "Properties", and you can see the date it was created.

Put your terms/conditions somewhere it can be seen easily: Your bio, the description of each piece, your linktree, etc. By having terms and conditions, you can let people know which pieces are okay to edit, and any other permissions so you don't have to repeat yourself. If your permissions are clear and up front, you can tell if they've been ignored and easily submit a takedown notice.

Record yourself creating your pieces. Speedpaints, commentaries, video clips, photos of you WITH the piece. Kind of hard to steal the art when the creator is IN the image. Plus, it can give you something to use for reels, shorts, and just a cool way to make new content.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm choosing to stay so I can finish the passion projects I've been working on. I also want to stay connected with any friends who also want to stay. Because some of my friends will be moving on, I'm going to work on being more active on other art platforms. With the new year around the corner, it's a good time for that fresh start. Here's my linktree with all of my other socials, including a Twitter I just made so I can branch out.

Try not to let what's happening defeat you. The negativity is intimidating on the surface, but it can be overcome. Keep creating because you love it, keep building communities and enjoying the process as much as the end result. Keep pushing for fairness in art sharing, getting paid for your craft, growing and improving. You are not replaceable, neither is your art. Take everything I've said with a grain of salt and make your decision based on your best interest. Things will get better, my DMs are always open to chat, keep creating and keep your hopes high.

Hey everyone! to celebrate reaching 1k watchers, I plan to host a sketch dump livestream! This will be my first ever livestream, so I want to plan ahead in case there's bugs 😹 I've had to close requests for special occasions because of how busy I am, but this is definitely a special occasion! Here's how it works:

I want my watchers to post their requests on this journal before the livestream; in case there's not a lot of viewers. After I have a handful of requests, I'll pick the livestream date/time. I'll open requests during the livestream after I finish the ones from the journal. People may also ask me questions, which I'll answer while I draw. The rules are:

One request per watcher. For character requests, you can ask for 3 characters at once.

If you're requesting OCs, please include references and be as specific as possible. This will be live, so I won't make tons of edits.

Requests can be of anything, including fandoms I don't know. The only things I won't draw are NSFW content and ship art.

The same thing goes for live questions, please don't be inappropriate in the chat.

Requests can be for my characters too; EPAF, Melody, etc. You can also ask for them to interact with OCs.

That's it for now! Can't wait to see the requests and get this thing going!

Edit: As an added bonus, each comment(that wants it) will receive a diamond badge so they can get 1 month of core!

Hey y'all! On March 17th, 2022, my longest running series Eddpup and Friends will turn 10 years old! I've been making characters and building this world since 2012. What started as a fan AU of the webtoon Eddsworld grew to stand on it's own, with an amazing fanbase and lots of love. As well as doing something big to celebrate 10 years, I've decided I'm ready to bring EPAF to a close. Don't worry, I'm not stopping making EPAF art completely! It's just not going to be my main focus on this account anymore. When inspiration comes, or someone asks me to draw them for ATs/RQs, I will still make art.

I've been adding to this series since I was a kid, it holds a big place in my journey as an artist, and it's how I met a lot of my DeviantArt friends that I know today. 10 years is a long time, that's almost half of my life(22 at the time of writing this). I've done a lot to keep things fresh: Made a timeline of the canon, grown the cast, done giveaways. I would just like to try something new, and work on a new series not based on an AU. The great thing about Eddpup and Friends is that it doesn't really need an ending. The characters all have beginnings, but there isn't a big event that finishes the "story". Instead, I'm going to make the finale in a way I've always wanted to, but never made the time for: EPAF's Big Finish will be an animation!

As a kid I really wanted to make Eddpup and Friends into an animated series. However, I have a really bad habit of starting big projects, especially animations, and never finishing them/promising an end date that keeps having to be pushed. So, since the 10th anniversary is a big deal, and I really want to see it finished, I am putting as much free time aside (from November to March)to complete it. This means that besides Sunday Picture Day and random doodles here and there, I will be on a slight hiatus while I work on the animation. Art Trades, Requests, and Commissions will be temporarily closed until the animation is near complete. I will still leave favorites and comments, but general art will be lesser while I work on this project.

Unfortunately, I was working on a origin story comic for the 9th anniversary that I had to put on hold because of college. Because it actually is a big plot point for Eddpup and Friends, I intend to finish it by the end of this year. I don't want it to suffer the same fate as Jurassic Edd, which I still want to finish, it's just taking way too long 😆 So, what does this mean for Eddpup and Friends going forward? I still have a lot of ideas for stories, but I don't want to start them only to never finish. I'm thinking of writing them out as pieces of literature, either here, on toyhou.se , or both; with a visual like a chapter cover to explain what's going on. As I mentioned before, when inspiration comes for an art piece, I will still make it. I'm keeping the plot of the animation a secret for now. I know what I want to do, I just want to have an animatic/script ready before I reveal it. I also plan to post updates on production as I go.

I just want to say thank you so much for 10 amazing years. I could never have guessed how big Eddpup and Friends would become. Through the ups and downs of the series, it still remains my longest lasting and most well received out of all I've created. Though it will not be my main focus, at least with big visual projects, I'm not quitting completely. I'm going to let it go out with a bang, start something fresh, and keep interacting with the friends that helped it exist. Thank you, see you in March 2022 for Eddpup and Friends - Munchy Mutts(working title).

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone! Be sure to wear green so you don't get pinched 😆 Saint Patrick's Day isn't just about wearing green, though. The story of the real Saint Patrick is pretty interesting; an Englishman slave in Ireland turned Bishop and missionary. The full story is worth looking up 😀. Hope everyone enjoys their day today, I've got some news for my art stuff as well. Today, my longest running series, Eddpup and Friends, turns 8!

The first drawing of Eddpup was on March 17th, 2012. I had no idea how well received it was going to be, and I appreciate how friends and fans have helped it to grow for 8 years: Suggesting names and characters, story ideas, and great feedback and constructive criticism. To celebrate 8 years, I finally finished a personal project I've wanted to do for awhile. I made timelines for the main seven Eddpets, from their parents to their adoption to their future selves. I made them to fix continuity errors in their stories and relationships, as well as change some things that didn't make sense before. Below is a little "before you read blurb", but feel free skip straight to the link https://toyhou.se/KittyMelodies/literatures . The timelines don't have to be read in order, but the best order is starting with Edaurdog and reading up.

After I had to close Ask Eddpup and Friends, people still messaged me about events in the EPAF storyline. I use to answer comments directly, but I didn't keep continuity very well. I watched some timeline videos for my favorite TV and Video game series, and was inspired to make my own. Using my answers from the Ask series and changes I wanted to make, I came up with a official canon for the main EPAF characters. I tried to avoid cheesy writing tropes, but I put the plot points I wanted most into these timelines. The next step I want to do is make art to go with the timelines, to help visualize some parts. Leading to my next bit of news.

My laptop pen is supposed to arrive today. I've had to take a break on major digital paintings and commissions while I wait for it. After I make sure it works, I'll be able to finish those commissions and start some personal projects I've been wanting to do. Thanks for reading through. Have a great rest of your day and thank you for 8 awesome years 😊