Greetings and bienvenue all! I have returned, and boy oh boy, do I have some things to tell.

First things first, the personal things. To get this well out of the way, I am going to be quite busy, as I am to visit my lovely boyfriend sometime soon. Plus, I will be spending more time with my family so as to make some more happy memories, as well as to fix the mistakes of our pasts and establish a clear tone for the future. And of course, I will be taking some time out for myself every so often, as while I am honestly ok with putting myself through a figurative meat grinder, I don't exactly enjoy when I get contradictory advice from people about how I shouldn't. And of course, there will be things involving my pursuit into part-time and even full-time careers. Regardless, let us begin.

Happy new year to all! While this obviously would have been more suitable on the first of the month, this is actually the first journal of the month, and as such, is the equivalent for January. With a new year comes new processes, and with new processes come new rules and newer things. Now what does this mean?

To be straight and to the point, that means a lot more content and proper fulfillments. As I have said before in previous journals, a lot of lessons have been learned. Many, harder than others. Some of these lessons included acknowledging responsibility and taking the initiative. And with the new year present, these lessons will prove to be the bulwark of many things to come.

So, what are my plans for this year? Let us go down the list. My apologies if this is lengthy or full of redundancies. I merely wish to have proper transparency and understanding.

Artwork________
The main staple of the fandom, I have a good number of concepts to bring to life that span over a decade. And with that, I have to say that things will definitely be looking up. I am currently working on something for practically every month, so as to keep things alive, well, fresh, and most importantly, passionate.

I wish for my art to be present online, as while it would be great for people to see it, I as an artist, and a budding producer of content, am but a drop in the ocean of artistry. Needless to say, my work will be full of passion and will certainly grow alongside me as I share it for all to see.

I do have a clear goal with my artwork, being itself an overlapping series of smaller goals ranked in terms of feasibility. For example, improvement of anatomy is highly feasible compared to learning about, say, realism. Fundamentals would be more feasible, than say, establishing a style. And on that note, establishing a clear cut tone would be easier than creating a style.

I wish to have fourteen pieces of artwork done by the end of this year. Fully shaded, colored, incorporating backgrounds, and most importantly, are rather sound in their implementation as well as expressing what I wish to achieve as well as being abundant with my passion.

As for why I am listing passion so often, I want to incorporate it as artwork, and so many other things, has been my dream to reach for since I was but a child. I have never been able to fulfill that dream competently, as my skills as of late are woefully inadequate. But in eighth grade, as well as my freshman and junior years of high school, I was able to draw numerous things that I enjoyed regardless of how... lacking they were, for the lack of a better word. But I presently possess technical knowledge. Love for the fundamentals. Appreciation for practical methods that have stood the test of time, as well as what has worked for me. With all of these things weaved seamlessly into my palette and handiwork, I shall be able to keep up a relatively large production while maintaining proper quality.

Animation________

I am also interested in producing animations. I am aiming to have it done traditionally while also incorporating digital analogues for the sake of keeping costs down.

Sadly, there's not much to say here at the moment. I do have a lot of concepts lined up, and I do mean a lot, but unlike artwork, it's not something that can be done right away. Especially without sacrificing quality and cohesion.

More on this later on throughout the year.

Holidays________

As I have stated just previously, I am planning on having content throughout the year. Aside from my own regular concepts, I am intending upon having each month be catered to a particular theme. This way, all sorts of fun concepts can be brought to life within a reasonable timespan.

Before I elaborate upon which month gets what, I will gladly describe the processes that will go into this.

With each month having to be brought up with a particular theme and chockfull of content, this means that having to do things for that time period while it is happening is not only stresful, but choking of passion, time, and simply just a pain in the rear to balance it and other aspects of life. Thus, things will be done upwards of two to three months, thus resolving the issue of having things needed on time. Especially when a particular month calls for over twenty pieces of artwork at a time.

And so, here are the months and what they will cover explained in brief detail

-January (JAN); This is a somewhat non-constant month, as it doesn't really have a particular thing attached to it, save for some stuff for New Year's. But for this year, it is mainly Yoshi-Cario month, stuffed to the brim full of goodness about Yoshis and Lucarios.

-February (FEB); Valentine's. All sorts of things based around love, intimacy, and passion.

-March (MAR); St. Patrick's. Things in the spirit of green and festivity.

-April (APR); Easter. All sorts of wonderful material wrapped in a nice pastel bunny package. A rather delectable lewd at that.

-May (MAY); The first half of what is to be the Mecha Bi-Month Special, which is all of May and June dedicated to giant robots and whatnot. Expect all manners of great mechanical wonders to come forth. Also, being the month of May, this also means that Mayternity will be a thing. Dedicated to all the goodness brought about by maternity.

-June (JUN); The second half of the Mecha Bi-Month Special. Another thing about Mecha Month is, due to it taking place over two months, that means that it's going to have allllllll kinds of random names. Do be warned for oncoming silliness.

-July (JUL); Independence Day. As I am an American citizen, this means that I will be dedicating a good amount of stuff dedicated allll the proper American values.

-September (SEP); Skunktember. All manners of content made specifically for skunks of every kind.

-October (OCT); Halloween. Things of mischief, horror, lust, and confusion. Possibly that last one.

-November (NOV); Thanksgiving. Just a few things, so to speak. This is mostly light to allow time to be devoted for Christmas and whatnot. However, I am also going to be doing Zelda Month, as was started by PeanutButterGamer. And with that, a good chunk of Zelda-related material.

-December (DEC); Christmas and Advent Calendar. All of this month dedicated to festive material, naughty and nice. And of course, for each day of the month, there will be an image as part of an advent calendar set.

So there we go. Hopefully, that will establish things quite clearly.

I am planning on doing something for each month called Bubble Butt Monthly. This will be just faux magazine covers in lieu of Playboy and Maxim, displaying nice round derrieres of cute femboys. Hopefully, things will play out with a cover done each month.

And finally, as 2018 is the year of the dog, I will be doing one piece a month in the spirit of such. One doggo a month. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Quota________

Basically, the things I need to get done before the month is out. So, here we are

-Six pieces of Artwork
-Five reference sheets
-Establishment of commissions and ToS
-Establishment of requests

Requests and Commissions________

Unlike many other artists, I am fully willing to do requests. However, as they are ideas from somebody else, they must abide by my ToS as if it is a commission, and even then, I still retain the right to turn it down. Do be sure to keep an eye out for when I'm open!

As for commissions, I am in the midst of setting up a Paypal. Very soon enough, I will be able to take on commissions. I am hoping to get at least three by the end of this year, so fingers crossed. I will likely have a seperate submission or journal for my prices, as setting things up on Fur Affinity's commission page, for example, is quite the hassle.

Social Presence________

Part of the way of getting stuff known is by social media and word of mouth. While I would like to advertise my work, it's going to be much more fun getting to know more people as I advance along in my work.

With that, here are my accounts on various things

-Twitter; https://twitter.com/Gagethyous
-Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/alx.willfall
-Steam; http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198022493416/

I'll be more than glad to talk on any of those. Don't be shy!

Mods________

I will be making more than my fair share of mods, such as for Fallout 4, TES V: Skyrim, Team Fortress 2, and Left 4 Dead 2. I will be making many more for other games, but as some of these lack an SDK entirely, they will be rather... grating. More on this later.

Conclusion________

With all of this in mind, 2018 is looking to be a rather huge year. There have been numerous that I have left out of this journal, but that is mainly because I don't want to jinx anything.

Goodness gracious, this is going to be fun. But I will wrap it up.

Thank you all for taking the time to read. I am forever thankful for it. May everyone have a wonderful day, or night, may their new year be plentiful about with great fortunes. Take care now.

-Gage