Friendship is Horses

I think that visitors coming on this site and seeing that the three newest posts are all a garble of chinese characters and university names does more to scare them off than having to get moderator approval would. It's like pulling into a grocery store parking lot with weeds growing up through cracks in the pavement and seeing two dogs fighting over a suspiciously stained piece of cloth near the entrance. Bad first impression. We've got to crack down on this nonsense.

@ABronyAccount "Sweetie Drops" was a dumb name, anyway.

I feel a distinction needs to be drawn between sexual predators, and people who are involuntarily attracted to children but never act on it in any way. Nobody chooses to get fucked-up urges. There are some people who go after little kids because they want all the power in a sexual relationship, and they need to be separated out from society. But there are others who just got some wires crossed when their brains were developing. Yeah, it's gross, and they probably shouldn't be around kids if they can help it, but let's not demonize people with a mental illness just because it's not as sympathetic as, say, anxiety disorder. It's how they respond to those urges that determines whether they're a monster, garden-variety creep or upstanding citizen who chooses to live strictly celibate rather than prey on the vulnerable. And by the way, a lot of these people are driven deeper into their own communities -- and thus more likely to act on their pedophilia -- rather than seeking therapy and treatment because everyone's knee-jerk reaction to their condition is KILL THEM WITH FIRE. When you're afraid to come into the light about it, you're just gonna hang out with the only people you can talk to -- other pedophiles. This is very bad for society. Those tight-knit communities are where monsters are created, because their urges get normalized, rationalized, and encouraged by their like-minded friends. Whereas there are brony artists I've seen who I'm fairly sure are fantasizing about minors, privately, but it's only a suspicion because they prefer the company of the fandom at large enough to contain that side of themselves. They go as far as drawing ponies with curvy hips and flat-chested, anthropomorphic upper torsos and that's it. Nobody's getting hurt there. So let's put down our pitchforks and knock it off with language like "sickos" and "don't have a place anywhere but in prison", at least until you've made it clear you're talking about serial molesters and not unfortunate individuals struggling with personal demons.

My Drawthread 1: My Art's Back Over Here Again Pinkie Pie's considering adopting a zero-cider policy for future parties. Jeez, Dash, you only arrived twenty minutes ago!

You know what? Maybe I won't do all the prompts. Now that I've got all this artistic momentum from having to make something every day, I kind of want to explore themes more personally meaningful than whatever zaniness EQD decides is going down on a given day. Why spend my creativity thinking up a novel twist on "pony in space" (what if I drew a pony... standing in a parking space??) when I could be drawing lesbian horse cuddles instead? Or, you know, whatever. I'm tempted to keep using the ATG submitter anyway just to see if anyone actually moderates it. Given that an anatomically-correct female foal made it in, I'm guessing no.

@ABronyAccount I'm just impressed by his/your ability to rearrange his innards at will. Are you/he a Buddhist monk? I'm taking the day off from ATGing, because unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I don't feel like it. I'm still gonna do all the prompts but my free time is rather weighted toward a certain portion of the week so that's when a lot of them are gettin done and it doesn't include today.

@ABronyAccount Inexpertly applied make-up or not, waking up in bed with Rainbow Dash is a good start to the day. I too have made more drawings for the drawings pile. And, behold! My finest creation to date: It's hard to see Fluttershy because she is yellow, and yellow is notoriously difficult to make out on a white background. It kind of works, though, doesn't it? Since she's a wallflower, and is just sort of existing in the background of the party. Hanging out by the refreshment table was always my go-to move as well. Parties aren't for everyone.

And then I did today's prompt. In color. Lots of art today. By "in color", I of course mean, "mainly consisting of a hundred small variations on brown and gray". Seriously, look at all the earth tones in this thing.

This was supposed to be a quick catch-up sketch and warm-up before I tackled today's prompt. It took 4 hours.

This wouldn't be nearly as suggestive if ponies were in the habit of wearing pants.

I did one! After spending 11 hours at work! Defeat will not be tasted this day. Caffeine is a wonderful drug.

See? Here's one. Now I'm only two behind! No sexual undertones intended. It's just a popsicle.

I'm still going to do all the prompts, I PROMISE. I haven't petered out! Just, some of them are going to be late. This week in particular. The machine I rely on to do my job is all kinds of effed-up right now, so my life is: work until Forever loops back around, go home, stare at the ceiling and cry quietly, sleep, repeat. I just haaaaad to go with the English major in college. Could have been an engineer, but nooo, math is soulless and knows nothing of the human condition, I'm going to be a famous author immediately because I'm just bursting with ideas and full of talent, dreams are easy to achieve!

So, okay, I'm taking a personal day. There's a makeup day coming up so I'll do this prompt then. I'm still 100% in this, just... not today. Too much else to do, and I could half-ass something but my heart wouldn't be in it. Art without heart is just... making marks on a surface.

Didn't have time for an ATG entry today. Made one anyway. I'll be damned if I miss one this time around.