I have now filled three hundred-page composition notebooks and a two-hundred-page composition notebook with what I had originally intended to be a rewritten prologue to my original furry fantasy novel. I had bought another two-hundred-page comp notebook in anticipation of this, and I'll begin the next leg of my story tomorrow.

No digital FireAlpaca art again today, although I've been trying to work on a birthday present for a furry couple I've known since my early days in the fandom.

Here's my collection of AI art for today:

https://sta.sh/21iimmh200ko

The Legend of Whomper, Book 1 by Chris Farrington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There have been times when I’ve often gotten burned out on traditional textual literature without illustrations, so I figured I would alternate between reading them and graphical novels like this by Chris Farrington, whom I highly respect as an artist in the furry fandom and had commissioned a few times in the past. The titular fox hero, Vulpie Whomper (who doesn’t look vulpine but is cute nonetheless), has trained for years to master the war hammer and embarks upon quests to prove his worth. Each chapter (one divided into two parts) follows his various trials.

Whomper’s first trial opens with his initiation into the Brotherhood of the Hammer, after which he must visit several secret cities and prove the supremacy of his order’s weapon. A thief curses him with kleptomania, and when he gets the curse lifted, he chases after the culprit following a visible knife symbol (though this is unclear) to deal justice.

His second trial opens with guards of the Bridge to the Sky initially denying him entry, after which he must defeat a monster.

The third has him join Dextrose, a furred warrior whose specific species is unclear and seems somewhere between horse and kangaroo, as they battle slugs tormenting a town.

The fox’s fourth quest sees him seeking a town’s serial killer but ends without the said murderer subdued, Whomper needing to find another way to apprehend him.

In his fifth, he encounters a weasel thief ostracized by his fellow purloiners.

The two-part sixth quest sees him battling the slave-collecting Warmachine, piloted by two members of the vengeful Komodo Clan.

The seventh has him partner with a dragoness named Skyla Thornweaver, who remains with him for the rest of his adventures as they battle a new enemy, Gryzor.

Whomper’s eighth quest sees him and Skyla entering Brotherhood of the Arrow territory and battling pig-men bandits.

His ninth has Skyla kidnapped by a rodent princess, Grisella, whom he must rescue.

The tenth has Whomper going to a raccoon-populated city with a zombie problem, where he confronts Gryzor and the necromancer who created him.

The final chapter concludes the graphic novel with Whomper meeting a goat sage called the Edgemaster, under whom he begins apprenticeship after battling an ancient evil known as Xilix while having a final confrontation with Gryzor.

Overall, I found this a cute and enjoyable graphic novel, with my instincts about giving it a read well justified. While the animal characters are incredibly adorable (even if some of their species are vague, given the artist’s style), it isn’t one hundred percent family-friendly, given some occasional blood, albeit not excessive. Some plot points like that in the first trial seem to come out of nowhere, and the typical grammar and punctuation errors associated with standard comics abound. However, I highly recommend this graphic novel to those in the furry fandom seeking a fun and quick read.

View all my reviews

Generated some groundhog/scoutmaster-themed AI art on Bing Image Creator earlier today:




I had used "purple groundhog" in my prompt, but maybe I should have said "purple-furred" instead. I still think they came out cute.

Here's some digital art I did manually for Chinese New Year:



I combined elements from Western and Eastern dragons.

A request from a user on DeviantArt, who wanted to see a kangaroo joey character from an episode of the animated series T.O.T.S. being inflated. This was really labor-intensive, so I decided to close requests afterward, and a piece like this would run about $50.

I did this for a fur who celebrated their birthday today. They live in Colombia but this character of theirs is Spanish.

My half:



His half:

The first holiday special based on The Bad Guys serves as a prequel to the film, focusing on the eponymous animal-populated criminal gang as they seek to rob a bank on Christmas on account that most in their city will be celebrating home. At a parade, however, their car accidentally destroys a Santa Claus balloon, causing the city’s holiday mood to plummet to the point where Christmas gets canceled. Thus, they seek to cheer up the residents so they can commit their heist as intended, although they hit some hitches in their plan, and the end doesn't pan out as expected. However, it ties into potential future specials, and I enjoyed the revisit to the world of the Bad Guys overall.