@Ferbun - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What does it mean to be an artist?

1) You do art, or draw.

Q: How do you feel being Hispanic and being able to speak both Spanish and English has affected your life? Are there ways in which you think differently from others because of your experiences?

2) Pretty gud. Well, at one point, I felt that my English was very close of replacing how I usually was able to speak in Spanish. Don't give me wrong, I still have a decent Spanish, but I was in my home country for like 11 years since I was born. And right now will often mix-match some English words into Spanish ones, and say a English word out of nowhere, when having a Spanish conversation. In order to keep my Spanish identity alive, I would still watch some dubs, or YT channels, in which I should do more of. And for the last one yeah!

Q: What do you think about emojis?

3) They're fun to have a more expression of any comments or posts. I would usually prefer to do something like this ;)

Q: You’re a veteran fan of Friday Night Funkin’, having played the game when it first launched on the site. How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

4) I saw the pop-ups on loading screens, title screens, and main menus. I was into playing some more Flash games (mostly Mario, and Sonic.) at the time around 2018, and 2019, and when I rediscovered Newgrounds about 2019, I just joined and made an account anyway, because that's where a lot of these Flash games/movies like, Super Mario Bros Z, Final Fantasy Sonic X, Super Mario 63, Mario Combat, Sonic Shorts, etc. where founded here.

A lot. Back then, I would usually play some of the newest NG games at the time, that's why I found out about Funkin' before It became a phenomenon, and this is where I found out about more series like Henry Stickmin, the Fancy Pants series, Alien Hominid, and There she is!! That all changed from what I'm about to say below.

- Interest in drawing

About 2021 and mostly 2022, and only one year after I got back into drawing, I was starting to get more intrigued into the Art Portal right after loving Cardbordtoaster, graskip, MistakeHarvest, and even the horizon_hugger works! This made me start drawing here, on the site. From my first drawing to this one, I drew on mouse, and after that, I started using my pen tablet that I just got before that. I also used GIMP at the time all the way to this drawing when my dad bought an iPad for him and me, and for now I just use ibisPaint X.

And from time on, I made a few friends here, improved my art, started going to the Art and Video Games BBS forums, and then made a small following after the KinitoPet Art Collab. This site made me feel more open to myself.

Q: Your advice for artists

5) If you ever struggle on getting a material right, use references! (that's the only I can think of ig)

Q: What elements do you like to see in art, and how would you say collaboration helps creators? What does it mean to be a good community member, and what traits do you consider important?

6) I like the colors! It gives them like some sort of a fun gathering around other users! Not being an total asshole, and be respectful, and kind.

Q: Your username, Ferbun, is based on your name, Fernando, incorporating 'Fer,' and is combined with an old username, SparkyBun. What do you think usernames represent, and why do people choose their specific usernames? What reasons influence their choices?

7) I dunno, they're kinda of nickname instead generic normal one, and they're unique! It makes it have a more creative way to call someone! (tried my best to explain.)

Q: What foods and drinks do you like, and why do you think you enjoy those specific choices? Are there any foods and drinks that you don't enjoy, and what are the reasons for that?

8) Rice and chicken baby! I've been those since I was little. I'm basic, so I will say Coke-Zero, because It's better than Diet for me. I dunno honestly.

- Music

I like to make some music, and mostly mashups in my personal time. Although weirdly enough, I haven't made a lot of music, because it's nothing that I will take it too seriously like art, but it's still fun to go back, since a few of my songs are decent enough (It's moreso of a hobby.) I loved mashups because I always though to myself "Hey, what if I combine these songs that sounded similar?". I will say that a few of them sounded messy, but I've getting the hang of it!

Q: What are your favorite songs from Friday Night Funkin'? What do you generally enjoy in music, and why do you think you like making music? How do you know when a mashup sounds good?

9) Pico. Something that sound funky! (not just y'know!). I like going back to the parts of the songs I made to see how well enough it sounded! If it is on par with the beat, and not sounding messy!

- The Creation of Cenen

I love rabbits, the cerulean blue color (or even blue in general.) And I thought, what if I made it like one? I was into Animal Crossing back in 2020, and I made a OC based on that idea around early 2021 (I mean there were some villagers like this already but hey.) He was once called Ferke, and that name didn't sounded good to me now because, It just my named fused with another AC villager Snake.

Later on I decided to detach him from being an Animal Crossing villager OC, to completely his own thing, and that's the origin of the world of my characters (Still haven't decided what it will be about yet). He went through multiple names, He was once called Cenann, Cenan, Cliptz, and Cenan again. I would later on decided the name Cenen, because It sounded good, and Cenan which was the name I was going to chose for now on sounded like (See-nan), with the new one being (Seh-nen).

Q: Why do you enjoy Nintendo and Sonic? You mentioned that you're mostly good at platformers and are trying to get into fighting games. What fighting games are you exploring, and what are a few combos you have learned?

10) Sonic is cool, and love the characters, and of course the music! (excited for Shadow Generations). Nintendo has some fun games, and art-style, that is nothing compared to other company (Their business decisions is another story). I've recently been playing Marvel VS. Capcom 2 from the newer collection, Street Fighter 6, and Vampire Savior. An air combo, and the Felicia basic combo.

Q: What is it like being astraphobic?

11) Every time I hear, a storm, I freeze.

Q: Why do you like creating OCs?

12) I like to come up with some new and interesting ideas.

Q: What are your creative goals?

13) Have a more interesting lineless style.

Q: What does it mean to be cool?

14) Is to be enthusiastic, and rawness!

@Nerostratos - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What does it mean to be happy?

1.     This answer is always different depending on who you hear it from, but for me, to be truly happy means that you have found that one thing in your life that truly excites you or that you are passionate about. Whether that’s a hobby, love, or a certain lifestyle. If you can wake up everyday and look forward to at least one aspect of it than id, say you’re doing something right!

Q: Why do you think you get deeply invested in something for one or two months, only for that interest to be replaced by something else?

2.     I think it might be brain-rot! Just kidding, finding something to be invested in is the easy part. Stumble across a cool video and boom I’m hooked. I lose interest mostly from over-indulgence. Too much of something makes its stale and boring to continuously consume. And thus, the cycle continues.

Q: Where does your deep fascination with science come from? What science-related topics have you been interested in, and why are you currently focused on caves? What do you enjoy about prehistoric animals, and what have you learned about fossils?

3.     The only television I was allowed to watch when I was a young kid were educational shows so that meant a lot of time on the discovery & science channels. From there I can’t tell you how many space documentaries I watched over the years. And when I was really into space, I wanted to learn more about how it worked and how we could even learn most of this stuff to begin with. I think that curiosity as a kid is what drove me to science. Science-related topics I have the highest interest in are Astronomy/Astrophysics, Zoology, Biology, and Paleontology/archeology. All super fascinating subjects and all started from a younger age so that’s why they have such a foundation. I think prehistoric animals are cool because its hard to imagine that there were other creatures on this earth before us, and how just the sheer mind-boggling amount of time that has passed since they existed. Also, paleoart of dinosaurs just looks cool! For what I’ve learned about fossils, that’s a lot so ill share the coolest fact! One of these most scientifically accurate paleo-reconstructions of a prehistoric creature is that of Psittacosaurus, thanks to a Chinese specimen SMF R 4970 we are actually able to determine which parts of the body were covered by scales and even the coloration of the skin!

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

4.     I was told to join Newgrounds by my friend @Arzonaut after I had made music for him for the 2018 smash brothers collab and I decided it was a great place to stick around and continue to show off my music. It was definitely better then SoundCloud, I feel like the community here was a lot interactive which was a nice change of pace from the no-listen, no-like, all bots SoundCloud. Ultimately, I feel the same about the community of Newgrounds even 6 later! Even though its not reaching the traffic it used to was back in the early 2000’s I think that works in its favor as community members are a lot closer. People actually comment and provide feedback to any work, and it seems, for the most part, to try and foster growth in the arts and music giving people an outlet for their creativity and dreams!

Q: How did you become interested in creating music?

5.     Ever since I learned how to read music, I wanted to make my own stuff! It was just some sort of drive that said, “hey what if you play these notes together”. That eventually led to me trying to mimic genres of music I enjoyed listening to, and today I make it for fun and in hopes that people will enjoy listening to it.

Q: Why do you enjoy voice acting?

6.     Voice acting is just fun, I enjoy making people laugh and I try to do that in any way I can! Voice acting just so happens to be one of them! It wasn’t until lately that I deiced to have the confidence to actually post voice acting works. But thanks to the reception of that post, I now plan to do a lot more!

Q: How did you get interested in using Blender?

7.     The show RWBY. I watched that several times and was like “I can do better”! turns out I could not haha!! but coming from someone who has zero drawing skills I thought it was an easier way to actually produce a cool show with awesome fight scenes! But 3D modeling/ Art takes just as much work and skill, so I have much greater respect for it!

Q: The story of your profile picture



8.     I found it on 4chan years and years ago! I didn’t even know who the character was I was just like “wow what a funny little character crying while holding a Lego set, I like it!” and I started using it for all my Nerostratos affiliated accounts! Turns out the girl is a character from Girls in Panzer which I still have not watched. I assume one day I will change it, but at this point this picture is like part of my accounts identity so who knows!

- Pianist

Stories I’d like to share is another tough one. My memory is always lacking when it comes to these things, my friends tend to remember the good ones for me! But here are some short ones. I grew up my whole life being a classically trained pianist, but I don’t remember most of my performances except for two big ones. The first one being the time in high school I transcribed an entire Glitch Hop song (Toothless Hawkins – Varein & Razihel) for solo piano and it actually came out so well that the percussion department asked me to perform it for one of their concerts!

Q: How did you become a classically trained pianist, and what is your process for transcribing the glitch hop song?

9.     When I was around 5 years old my sister started taking piano lessons and I told my mom I wanted too as well. To transcribe the piece, I had to listen to it hundreds of times and note by note I try to match the tones with my keyboard. For the crazy dubstep sounds I have to get creative by making up cords that fit into those spaces with some for a rhythmic resemblance to the original song. Definitely one of these most difficult transcriptions I’ve done.

- Concrete pillar

Again In High School (marching band this time) I completely messed up an important part during a big competition BOA and I got so angry afterward I punched a concrete pillar. It's funny to think about it now but I was genuinely upset I messed it up haha.

Q: What advice would you give for handling anger, and did it hurt your hand when you punched the concrete pillar?

10. I think that anger is something that is different to handle for different people. I always recommend physical exercise as a way to medicate anger and stress, just go for a nice run! But I know people really enjoy just clearing their mind so if physical exercise isn’t your thing try meditation or just spending some time alone outdoors! Take a step back, try and see what is making you angry and see if there is a way to resolve it. Just that action alone could help! And yes, it did hurt!

- Avid Bodybuilder

Final story is actually quite recent, most of Newgrounds doesn’t know but I’m an avid bodybuilder and have been for about 2 years now. Very recently a guy I see in the gym almost everyday came up to me and started asking my a bunch of questions mainly if im on steroids. I'm not, but to have someone even think that really just boosted my ego! The moral of all these stories are if you put the time, effort, and passion into something results will come! And yes sometimes they won't, mistakes are bound to happen, just don’t get to caught up on them, keep pushing forward!

Q: Why did you start working out, and how would you describe your workout regimen? Where did you learn to train, and what is your philosophy on fitness and diet?

11. I always wanted to be stronger! I was never into sports but in college I started to go the gym on campus and found it to be very frustrating at how weak I really was and that drove me to my current mindset of “try to be better than who you were yesterday” and since then I continue to push myself forward! Also, dragonball did some heavy lifting at the beginning hahah. I learned to train from many MANY different sources but let me give some advice to anyone who is interested: Do NOT follow what just one person says find a routine that works best for you and your goals. You should only use influencers or these educational videos for tips on exercise and teaching the rest comes from you! My philosophy is everyone should at least try to be healthy! Especially now a days when fast food and sedentary jobs are everywhere it’s important to counteract those elements. I’m not saying you can’t have McDondals and spend the whole day gaming, but it’s called moderation. 

Q: Why do you say that you're not that interesting?

12. I say I’m not interesting because it seems like everyone has these crazy stories about their lives or go on wild adventures. What’s more interesting someone that travels the globe for a living or the guy that goes to the gym everyday and can play a little piano. Maybe its just a negative outlook on myself but even when socializing with strangers or coworkers I find it hard to have anything to talk about since I do the same things every day. Its not like my life up until this point has been crazy eventful either; however, to round off a somber answer, I do like the slow life. To many activities and adventures gets stressful, I enjoy just relaxing!

Q: What are your favourite 4chan greentexts?

13. In high school it was the “man door hand hook car door” I remember laughing so much at that. It became a repeatable line my friends would always say! Nowadays I think it’s got to be the “Bottomless pit supervisor” definitely a good one.

Q: What do you think about the Internet?

14. This may seem completely crazy, but I think the internet is actually not such a great thing. The internet has eroded a lot of human social ability and is extremely predatory. Companies and agencies are always trying to sell you shit or steal your information to sell. Not to mention social media creating unhealthy atmospheres and actually reducing children’s mental capabilities. Yeah, it’s nice to be able to talk to family and friends in far off places but the downsides I see are too massive to quantify. But the internet exists there’s no turning back on that so we might as well make the most of its existence.

Q: Draw a picture of yourself in MS Paint

15. 

Q: What are some misconceptions you think people have around voice acting?

16. I think people tend to believe its easy, they watched one episode of Naruto dubbed as a kid and said, “dang they just let anyone do this”. But in reality, to be a professional I feel there is just as much skilled required as a professional singer. You need to be able to do multiple voices/accents or have such an iconic voice that it doesn’t matter (looking at you Patrick Warburton). This is not to say that people without those things can’t do voice acting, I’m just saying for professional grade movie/tv show level it’s very difficult. But I would still love to do it someday!

Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

17. I see myself 10x as big and 10x as rich ~ Jk I know it sounds sad and generic but in 10 years I see myself in the same place in life as I am now! I have a stable job, my own house, who knows maybe ill have children or maybe I’ll have won a bodybuilding competition! But that won’t change the direction of how I live my life and I’m happy as I am so why change it!

@CARVEDSPINES - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: How would you describe yourself?

I would describe myself as a video game music composer first and foremost, but also as a game dev in general. Since the age of 5 I was telling my parents that I wanted to grow up and make video games. Overall, I'm an artist that wants to make media that changes the way the player sees the world around them; media that changes lives.

Q: Why is Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis your favorite game on the system? What other games would you consider your favorites, and what do you enjoy about the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack? How has it inspired your music?

Sonic 2's my favorite not only because of the music, but the fact that it was one of the first games I've ever played. I remember playing it as a wee lad on my Nintendo DS and being enthralled with the soundtrack, thinking "I want to make this." The biggest inspiration for my music though, is actually Toby Fox's Undertale and Deltarune. I use the same soundfonts and techniques Toby does in his music while adding my own twist to it. My favorite part of all 3 of these game's OSTs is their instrumentation.

Q: How would you describe your father who was an Air Force Vet? How was your family life?

Unfortunately my father passed away this year in March. Our family life was very hard as he dealt with PTSD and the trauma of the Gulf War in which he served in. He was very mentally unstable and abusive but I don't blame him anymore. I hope he rests well. To add, The Cycle of Abuse is a very real thing and is what WALKER COUNTY's narrative is driven around. I experienced it firsthand through my father.

Q: What is it like living with bipolar disorder and ADHD while currently staying at a homeless shelter? You mention that these two conditions sound bad, but you assure they are not. Why is that?

The Bipolar Disorder is medicated. I'm taking a cocktail of meds to keep me grounded to reality and to control any irrational, sometimes psychotic thoughts I may have. The ADHD is something I've learned to deal with by now, being diagnosed at age six. As for the homeless shelter, it's a very nice, inclusive space where I can be myself so I never really worry about anyone judging me. Mental Health struggles become alot easier to deal with on the right medication.

- Abandoned Hospital Story



Me and my friend during May of last year went to an abandoned hospital called Carraway Hospital located somewhere in Birmingham, Alabama. When we got out of the truck, we smelt a weird...sulfuric smell. I remember looking back at him like, "That's not what I think it is, is it?" and we just fucking BOOKED IT out of there. For reference, demons are supposed to smell like sulfur. Spoooooky.

Q: Why did you and your friend visit an abandoned hospital, and in what ways do you feel the experience has affected you? Do you see the world differently because of it?

We went to the abandoned hospital to get scared, I guess. I really don't know why we did it, we just did. That being said, I see the world so much more differently after it. Call me crazy, I wouldn't blame you, but we encountered something truly evil that night. It was a feeling I can't describe. I'm a lot more open-minded to various spiritualities and religions after that.

Q: Your experiences with the Internet

Young 10 y/o Spencer Davis (me) started his online journey on Google Plus, if you remember that site. It was the wild wild west and it had ZERO moderation. I saw things no 10 y/o should see, lmao. Fast forward to the past 5 years, Google Plus is shut down and I spend most of my time on Discord doing game development and music production with my online friends. It's such a stark difference to what I started out doing.

Q: The story of your username: CARVEDSPINES

CARVEDSPINES is an anagram of SPENCER DAVIS, which is my real name.

Q: How did you become interested in music, and what does music mean to you?

When Deltarune Chapter 1 came out, I loved it to death. So I started making my own music via a website called Beepbox. It's pretty nice, and I learned the bare basics of music with it. But growing up, I've always had an appreciation for good music and an "understanding" on why different songs made me feel different things. I feel as if music theory is etched into my brain from birth. Music means the world to me, because every form of media needs a good soundtrack to make you feel something. Since that's what I want to do with my games, like WALKER COUNTY or SPEEDIN' SHOTGUN for example, making those soundtracks good is very important to me!

Q: Your advice for creating music

Just do it! I'm in a bit of a block right now, music wise. Every time I've ever broken that block is because I said "screw it" and made something on FL STUDIO anyway. It's trial and error, and some people will have a harder time than others when they start out, but keep sticking to it!!! Composing is one of the best talents someone can have. Music is the way to the heart, and being able to make and understand it is so, so important.

Q: Your favourite food

Grilled cheese and ham, son!

Q: Your advice for life

My advice for life is this: Don't Give Up. I've been through the trenches. Before I was medicated, Bipolar Disorder ruined my life in every way it could. Life is fucking tough, but you should never give up because, and take it from me, there IS a silver lining! There IS hope! There IS a reason to keep going! Go create something you and others would love. Take control of your own emotions, take charge of your own life, and keep moving forward!!! You don't owe anyone shit, you only owe yourself a happy life. I hope my dreams of being this big game dev come true so I can prove to everyone reading this that life is truly worth living and that i'm not full of it, lol.

@FreakFormal - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: How would you describe yourself?

Q1: I would likely describe myself as an introverted brain rotted man who plays music sometimes, not too much to me.

Q: What is your opinion on having idols?

Q2: I think having idols is awesome! In a non-parasocial way ofc, I always have people and artists I look to and get influenced by, my favorite artist right now is Quadeca, someone I look up to HARD. I tend to wear my influences on my sleeve, but usually in an aesthetic and vibe way. 

Q: What does it mean to be human?

Q3: Got me the tough questions 😭 I’ll try to articulate this as best as I can. To me being human is finding happiness in whatever you do, and persevering through challenges. As well as maintaining relationships and connections.

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

Q4: I’ve known about New Grounds for the longest time, but one of my best friends and frequent collaborator @realityreimagined convinced me to start posting here. He would boast about the great and receptive community. He’s a fantastic producer and artist. He actually has new music coming soon. I'm so excited for him.

Q: The story of your username: FreakFormal

Q5: I wish I had an actually cool story for my name, but I came up with it when I was around 12. I just really wanted to become an artist, I would daydream about it all the time and had a day where I tried to come up with a name. It really just came to me in the shower after a full day of trying to come up with one. I told my mom immediately, who didn’t care lol. I think it’s a good name, ever since freaky became popular I knew I was cooked tho.

Q: Why would you describe yourself as a boring person?

Q6: I just don’t do much outside of music. I watch a couple of shows and movies and a lot of YouTube. And as far as other hobbies I literally have nothing else, I do work and am in school so it takes up a decent amount of time, so it's not like I have a ton of time outside of it, so I think music is a good use of it.

Q: Your dad has been a positive influence on your musical development. How did he inspire you to learn as many instruments as possible? How did you become interested in creating electronic music? Also, how would you say you've been influenced by artists like John Mayer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers? How have they shaped your perspective on music?

Q7: He just loved jamming with a lot of instruments. He played piano, guitar, and his main instrument, bass, which he’s crazy at. Helped me realize the possibilities, so I learned guitar, bass, drums, piano, and ukulele I guess it’s fun to play. As far as getting interested in electronic music, it was just the easiest avenue for what I had, just a computer and a bedroom. It was enough for me since I use mostly free software and fit my more pop sensibilities anyways. With John Mayer and The Red-Hot Chili Peppers, they really just showed me what diversity can look like in music. Just an example of different genres my dad liked. While I do listen to them, I don’t too much. Some of my favorite acts right now is obviously Quadeca, Hippo Campus, Dayglow, Magdalena Bay, and Keni Can Fly. I’ve never liked pretentious people who didn’t like more mainstream artist to fit their predetermined aesthetic, I listen to drake but love finding more underground artist too.

Q: What types of videos do you watch while playing Minecraft? Do you find the experience relaxing, and what do you usually do in the game?

Q8: I look at alot of random video essays and I have a few comfort channels. Some of them being Best friends today, Slushy Noobz, and SuperMega, I don’t have a gage for how popular they are so I hope someone knows one of them. It's most definitely relaxing to me, as far as minecraft I usually play survival, a lightly modded survival, or bedwars. I also play a couple Roblox FPS like bad business, definitely not much of gamer but relaxing is the perfect way to put it. I'm a major passive player, mostly focusing on the video more than the actual game.

Q: Describe your experiences with walking. Do you walk almost daily in your local park? Why do you think it's a good way to clear your mind? Would you recommend taking walks as a positive practice?

Q9: Walking is so awesome, I try my best to take almost daily walks to my local park. As overused as it is, touching grass is real, the combination of looking at nature and seeing people brings the right chemicals to my brain atleast for me. I always think about what I wanna do musically or in general during my walks while listening to music or a podcast. I definitely recommend people to try it once, I honestly can get depressed if I don’t walk for a while.

Q: How did you become interested in filmmaking, and what projects would you love to work on in the future?

Q10: I would just watch alot of filmmaking video essays and liked movies ofc. I used to write bad scripts when I was little to live out the director dream. I dabble with it with a few music videos I do, but I’m definitely not that good, I would need to practice a lot more to do real stuff with it. I would love to make a movie one day tho, or work on a short film.

Q: In school, you were a band kid. What does that mean? You exclusively played keyboards, such as marimbas, vibraphones, and piano.

You were also in a jazz band. What does it mean to improvise, and what are the core principles of musical improvisation in jazz? How did you learn to read and interpret music while being in a jazz band?

Q11: Okay I was more of a kid in band, not invested in the culture, but loved playing with people. Improvising to me is just coming up with melodies based on chord progressions. A core principle is to listen to the people around you and stay in the scale and progression, which was usually 2-5-1 for me. I just got better at reading notation faster and playing different inversions of chords. Like if I saw “Amaj7” I knew different ways to play it right away. I’m not amazing but enough to get me through and it helps me come up with new melodies faster for songs I make. 

Q: How do you define music?

Q12: Another hard question. I personally define it as an emotionally charged group of sounds that says something about the human condition. As pretentious as that sounds, I love sincerity in music, I need to feel connected to it. I try to be as honest as I can with my music and write about what I’m experience in the moment, to create a snapshot in time almost. I like to think people can sense it and hopefully connect with it.

- Story of the conception of the "Look! You’ve loved!" album

I was trying to skate with a couple of my friends and immediately sprained my ankle. I had about a week where I was just in my room, where I made the first three songs cause I had nothing else to do, which included I's on me. I was already thinking about making something focused on love, but that made me focus to start cause I didn't want to waste away in bed.

Q: How long have you been skating?

Q13: Oh I don’t actually skate 😭 that was one of the only times I did and even then I immediately sprained my ankle so I probably won’t for a while. I did skate lightly when I was little, but I would exclusively cruise and not do any tricks, so I would just take scenic trips.

Q: How do you know when an album is finished?

Q14: I wish I knew how to answer this, I really just live this quote CakeWalk gives me sometimes. “A project is never finished, just surrendered.” I don’t consider myself a perfectionist, I like moving on from projects when I get tired of it. Especially while I’m trying to make a name for myself, I wanna throw as much as I can at the wall, I obviously do try to make them as good as I can. I listen to my music alot before release to make sure I like them, tweaking what I can but not stressing over it. I work very spontaneously. And with knowing when an albums finished, I like to tell a type of story when I make an album, so I usually have an emotional journey in my mind when I make an album, so when I think there’s enough songs to tell it, I think its done. I love concept albums, I hope to eventually make a proper concept album that tells a story and has a tight sonic sound.

Q: Your advice for creating music

Q15: Honestly, create alot, it really is a muscle to exercise. Follow your intuition and create what you like to hear. There’s nothing wrong with wearing your influences on your sleeve, as long as it’s not just copying. And there’s nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve, people connect when your being sincere. I live by this one Pharrell quote since I heard it, “Make something undeniable, and make it equally as infectious” paraphrasing but close enough. Do what you want without fear, words I still try to live by today.

@anymany - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: Your experiences with the Internet

I always believed that the internet is what you made it out to be, it's a tool , and as a tool I have been able to mold it to make it be a mostly positive tool. I try to avoid going on twitter, and if I do go there, I don't read anything. I don't go on 4chan much nor do I pay much attention to internet drama, this has allowed me to not be angry all the time. I try to fill my time online instead with things I like, browsing on newgrounds, talking to friends, watching edu-taiment videos on youtube, etc. that why, for the most part, I have pretty positive experiences with the internet.

Q: How did you discover NG, and why did you join?

I discovered NG when I was watching "hellbenders" by psychicpebbles and I heard something about NG, can't remember what. I had known about it for a while always as someone's backup account but I had also heard that a bunch of cool artist had gotten their start here, so I was curious and I visited it.

I joined because I thought that it looked like a cool site, it didn't feel like a twitter or myspace clone, it felt fresh, it felt new...gounds. I also thought about joining because up until then I had just made stuff for myself which was fine but I thought the idea of sharing it with others to be really cool.

Q: What do you think about the BBS?

I miss general but aside from that, I never though I would enjoy forums, I only came across the forums by accident because I was trying to see what the "chat" was. I like the BBS because I feels like a dedicated place to just "shoot the shit" with others, make jokes, have fun, etc. The BBS to me feels like a digital hangout spot which I really like.

Q: How did you get interested learning about music theory?

I've always been curious about many things music not being an exception. I wondered how people were able to "feel" or " think" in music, It felt like a language to me, so I decided to take a class in it. I thought that maybe if I took a class I would be able to compose a piece but since it was only one class, I only really learned how to complete chords, recognize keys and some history about old ppl who played the piano

Q: What is the music that you like?

I'd say that I really like most music, techno, classical, jazz, jizz(starwars cantina genre), jumpstile, polka, salsa, reggae, j-pop, electro swing, rock, bluegrass, country, throat singing, rap, hip-hop, bachata, city pop, metal, grind core, bhangra, SOME reggaetón(not the biggest fan of it), banda, and yes... anime intros.

Q: What advice do you have for people who are feeling sad?

I'm not sure, I can dish out advice, I deal with it by ignoring it which I have heard that it's not great. maybe go get some ice cream if you're feeling down?

- "dress x-ing"

a story that I think is interesting is the how my first erotica "dress x-ing" came to be.

I actually started the outline of that story one day in school. I had finished all my work so I had some down time in which I just scribbled the beginning of that story. later that day during lunch I continued writing it and made it ever more gay; a friend of mine who was sitting next to me asked what I was doing and I showed them, I though he was going to get a good laugh since that was it's original point but he actually thought it was interesting. He told me that he actually genuinely liked it and showed it to our other friends. I was surprised that none of them were laughing since again, I only made it to be funny and entertaining, in fact, they wanted me to continue and to keep them updated about the story. I wrote more and showed them and they kept asking for more content so I continued and eventually I reached the end. they all seemed genuinely invested in it despite the fact that it was really gay and cross dressy and they weren't but I decided to post it and it became my most read story.

Q: How did you get interested in writing?

I just stumbled upon it to be honest. I never really even cared about writing and even hated it for a bit. English is my second language so when I came to the US it was really hard for me to get used to it and when I came in, the kids around me were already writing essays which I was expected to do soon after I arrived, needless to say that I didn't do all that good; after a while I was able to do ok at it and just wrote as part of my assignments. It was only until my friends saw that story that I was writing and thought that I had potential that I actually started practicing it and thinking about what I could write next

Q: Why are you the horniest BBS user?

although not a scientifically peer reviewed claim, I think that I talk about sex and stuff like like a bit more than the average BBS user. perhaps not, perhaps I'm just full of myself, and by full of myself... I'm gonna stop that train of though right there

Q: How would you describe your life

my life is like a taco, fleeting moments of intense happiness but very unhealthy in the long run

Q: What do you like and dislike about the NG community

I like that, for the most part, it is genuinely a pretty positive community and well, an actual community, there are many places online that say they are community yet feel rather Isolating. The NG community is very helpful and willing to make something bigger that themselves.

I dislike that there is some people that do just enjoy starting drama but that's a problem with every community

Q: What are your goals, and what do you hope to achieve by being part of the Newgrounds community?

I want to make friends and inspire people

@Siberg - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: Favorite Family Guy character, and why?

I don't have a favorite Family Guy character but if I had to pick it would be Meg because no one likes her and I don't either.

Q: How did you discover NG, and why did you join?

Always knw NG existed from way back in the day but a buddy of mine told me to upload music here so I did.

Q: Your experience with making music

Yes.

Q: How do you know when music is good?

It's all vibey wibey.

Q: What do you think about longboarding?

It's cool.

Q: You have stated that you like pussy, what does that mean?

Yes.

Q: Your experience with jobs, and funny job stories and unfunny job stories

I stock produce. It sucks. Funny thing is the pay. Unfunny thing is my pay.

Q: Why do you enjoy smoking and drinking?

It's dope.

Q: How did you become a schizo?

Long isolation accompanied by crippling depression and extistential dread lead me down a path of crazy vibers.

Q: What makes you laugh, what makes you brap?

Spongebob Brappants.

@G2961 - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What does it mean to be alive?

A: To be alive means to have a personal life and your own meaning of life.

Q: What do you think about music?

A: Music is what has been my meaning of life for a long time, but now I realized that there is something more valuable than music, because that is why I have so rarely started releasing my songs compared to the past months

Q: What is Geometry Dash? What do you think about it?

A: Geometry Dash is the best community and game in general, because it was she who introduced this site. I very rarely play this game now, but I continue to be a part of this community until now.

Q: What is the Internet? How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

A: For me, the Internet is a global global network that allows everyone in this world to have a chance to express themselves and become popular. After all, it was here that I discovered the Geometry Dash game, and then this great site and its community. At first, I uploaded frivolous tracks to my old account 3 years ago, but then a year later I created this account. It was in 2022 that I definitely joined this community to share my music, and I could never have thought that in a year and a half I would be able to reach 1 thousand subscribers.

Q: The story of your username: G2961

A: As funny as it may sound, this is really a random set of numbers and one letter. I wanted to use this account to check if my remix of the London song by Sleeping Hummingbird would be deleted. it seemed like the song was copyrighted, but for some reason I was afraid that my remix would be deleted. As a result, I accidentally left two versions of my remix on this account and after a while they scored 200 auditions each. that's when I realized that there was no need to delay and develop my account, which was not in vain.

Q: You made homemade headphones? How did you do that? That’s incredible! Being able focus for 5+ hours is an amazing skill

A: I didn't exactly build the headphones from scratch, translator error, lol. I picked up two pairs of headphones, namely the JBL Tempo On-Ear J03 and the Redragon Siren 2.

The first headphones had pretty good speakers, but a little bit muddy sound in the treble, but the second ones just had a disgusting sound. It would seem that what I wanted from gaming headphones? But I had gaming headphones from SVEN, which sounded much better than this. That's why I decided to make one out of two.

I took the speakers out of the JBL headphones. I kind of pulled them out, but it turned out that they are non-standard speakers and have such a peculiarity that the diaphragm itself is on a plastic mesh, which is glued to the speaker itself. So I had to cut the plastic around the edges to shape, using wire cutters I think. Then after I cut everything to the edge then I pulled these speakers out of the gaming headphones, it was difficult as I didn't want to damage the diaphragm with a screwdriver.

After I put everything in, screwed everything in, then I noticed that the built-in audio card of the gaming headphones seemed to be messing up the sound of the speakers, so I decided to solder an extra 3.5mm jack wire to these headphones. Now my headphones sound a little better and have USB and 3.5mm jack inputs, lol.

By the way, about the ability to concentrate. I think in 5 days I just missed the music. If you think back to January-May 2024, you will see that I recorded tracks almost every day. It wasn't difficult for me at the time, although my old tracks might have been monotonous, but there were also unique works. 

What does this have to do with the case?

One day I wanted to get to the main page and tried to achieve this in every possible way, each new OP constantly motivated me. I got upset every time I didn't get to the main page. I'm so ashamed of my behavior back then, because when I was upset that I didn't make the front page, I didn't realize that it was deserved. I ignored the advice of other musicians that my skill was not growing and that almost every track I wrote was an exact copy of my previous songs. This could be explained by the fact that "this is my style," but that would just be a stupid excuse.

I'm so glad that this dark time is over, and I wouldn't want it to happen again.

Now I'm writing my music because I LIKE it, because I have a fan base that listens to my songs, and it's very valuable! My skill has improved noticeably, I've tried a lot of new genres and I'm not going to show off yet!

- Video Card Story

I found a great graphics card for its price (Radeon HD 6950 for $11). I decided to go with my friend to the meeting place to buy, namely oh-oh-oh-oh-very far away! about 20 kilometers from my city

Anyway, we arrived, we left, and then I decided to withdraw money from the card, but I couldn't, because the ATM didn't have the money that I needed to withdraw, namely 11 damn dollars (or 1000 Russian rubles). I had to run around with a friend and look for ATMs, in the end my friend just insisted that I call the seller and ask about the possibility of transferring money to the card. He agreed. So I also asked to give the Internet to me, since none of us had it. It was so easy when he agreed. 

The moment of meeting with the seller has come. My friend and I went to the meeting place, namely the seller's house, however, as it turned out, the seller went to the railway station, and none of us heard it on the phone, in short, the seller had to walk another 800 meters to us with a friend. I was so ashamed to look at him, because we had definitely managed to get bored with this seller. In general, I bought a video card, and my friend and I went to the railway station to go home. We came, but we couldn't guess exactly which platform we were going from (there are a lot of them there), so we waited on the platform, which, in theory, was the one from which we could go home. However, my friend saw that an electric train was coming from another platform, and it dawned on him that this was our uniform. We had to jump off the platform and run while we had time. We barely climbed onto the platform and boarded the train

And it seems like there should be a happy ending here, but no.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the driver's assistant runs out and shouts to the whole car, "GET OFF THE TRAIN!", my friend and I were at a loss. We had to get off the train and we looked at the timetable that was on the platform. Fortunately for us, there was the last train that was supposed to arrive, and we were waiting for it. As a result, they did not wait

What happened? It even took 1 hour, but the last train did not arrive, we had already come to terms with it and were ready to leave at 5 a.m. (at that time it was one o'clock in the morning), so we sat on the bench that was in the railway station.

Literally an hour passes and we hear the sound of an approaching train, we were shocked, because the train arrived, which was traveling towards our city. We ran quickly and jumped right into this train. We hoped that we would get off at the right station, and subsequently it happened. 

When we got off at the right station, we had to switch from this station to another direction of trains, which we did. However, we saw that the nearest train would be only in 3 hours. We had to go out into the city and hope that night electric buses would travel there, but no one went to our city anymore

The final moment. 

My friend and I were running out of phones and we decided to take the last but right step - to call our parents so that they would come for us, however, my friend's mom ordered us a taxi and we went home!

We were so tired that I tested the video card only after 1 day. 

As a result, the video card is working and it even has more video memory than was written in the ad (2 GB instead of 1 GB).

That's the story.

Q: How would you say this experience has impacted your outlook on life?

A: I think that after all this, I will now calculate everything thoroughly and plan important things in advance.

Q: Thank you for reporting stolen audio and contributing to the cleanup of the audio portal. What advice would you give on recognizing audio that violates NG guidelines?

A: in the case of stolen audio; you just need to look at the title, it usually says that it is a remix of some song. it often happens that these are remixes of copyrighted songs, which are also low-grade. Those who upload banned audio usually call the speed-up version their remix and they really think they will be given a scout and whitelist in GD.

In the case of AI audio; in the case of Suno, everything is simple, the bitrate is 192 Kb/ s and the monotonous structure of the songs. to remember the approximate sound of such audio, you need to try this neural network yourself. And in the case of udio, it is usually given out by too robotic vocals and the very inscription "Udio v1.5" in the metadata of the song file, or some kind of liquid mix in the song itself, like it was just accelerated using FL Studio and switching from Resample to Stretch. That's my explanation. And in the case of other AI, such as Soundraw, Soundful, they also have the same song structure, which gives away the fact that this is an AI song. I've studied too many AI's that allow me to generate music, so it would be easier for me to assume that everything comes with experience.

Q: What do you think about the NG community?

A: I think this is a talented community that has given me everything I once dreamed of. of course, there are some kind of upstarts in this community who lack attention and belittle the work of talented authors, but it's better to just ignore them, since they do not bring any benefit. That's what's most valuable - it's feedback from more skilled authors, because it's feedback that gives a leap in skill, and this site and its community do a good job with it.

Q: Advice that has helped you the most

A: Never give up and do not succumb to the fact that they are trying to stop you in your work. After all, art was created to put all its soul into its work and not adapt to others.

@kmau - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: How would you describe living from your perspective? Would you say that your experiences have changed the way you see life? How do you view life differently now? What advice would you give to people about setting goals that align with their personality?

Haha, I'd describe my life as that of a wandering hermit. I observe more than I participate and retreat into my cave for a period to apply those observations to my art. Learning to filter information for the sake of my craft or mental well-being is what changed my outlook on life the most.

Regarding setting goals that align with personalities, I can really only speak from my perspective: I am a person who knows exactly what they want and move forward to get there little by little. My most basic advice for that type of person would be to set your goals high while working towards smaller milestones along the way.

Q: How would you describe art has impacted your life?

My interest in art started with cartoons, videogames and later anime and manga, but what impacted my life the most was the dawn of the internet and discovering websites like Newgounds. Before that, I didn't really consider pushing it further; but the internet has shown to me that any weirdo with a good-enough drive could become an artist or animator. I was about done with the education system at the time so this provided an alternate path towards what I really wanted.

Q: Your experiences with the Internet

I had unsupervised access to the internet very early during the pre-social media wild west. Saw some things I shouldn't have seen, saw some things that changed my outlook on art, as mentioned earlier. Lowering the barrier of entry really made the internet a worse place over time, but there are still good corners and interactions if you know where to look.

Q: How did you become interested in post-apocalyptic and sci-fi themes? What elements of these genres intrigue you, and what are some future implications for humanity that you find fascinating?

Playing the old Fallout games sparked an enduring fascination with possible outcomes for humanity within me. I like the optimistic aspect of it, wiping the slate clean and starting over without all the baggage of previous power structures. What will stick around? What's gone? So many new possibilities that are nontheless informed by what came before.

Post-apoc blends very well with sci-fi elements.. so when I talk about sci-fi I actually refer to a "dark age of technology" type of deal where impressive technology exists, albeit derelict and nearly incomprehensible.

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

I first encountered Newgrounds in the computer room of my old school when I saw some classmates play a crudely put-together flash game with ripped Dragonball Z sprites, as was the style at the time. I only made an art account when the Art Portal came around, but I've been here much earlier..

Newgrounds largely stayed the same, at least to me. The faces may change, but an overarching spirit remains.

Q: The story of your username: kmau

I originally went by Kamui, shortened to Kamu in a certain online game and my guildmates kept misspelling my nickname.. henceforth, I was known as kmau. Spelled Ke-mau, with the e almost silent. Don't pronounce it like KAY-mau, that will trigger my gag reflex.

Q: What habits do you consider necessary for cultivating skills in art?

There are many ways to go about art, but I consider developing a natural curiosity for the real world to be very important. You shouldn't lean on fictional inspirations and other media as references exclusively.

Q: Please, it would be awesome if you could share your experiences with autistic career development!

I assume you meant artistic career development!

My experience is pretty boring, I played it safe and learned a less risky career path - one that I absolutely despise, I might add - until I happened to apply at the right company at the right time.

I didn't feel very qualified for professional animation at the time, but since I was dropped into a room with both rookies and veterans, that job became a better learning experience than anything before. I consider myself a very lucky person who just stumbles into these things like a stray dog.

Q: What are some misconceptions you see people having about art, and what is your favorite piece of advice you've learned after more than 10 years of experience in 2D puppet and frame-by-frame character animation?

Hmm, one misconception that I really don't agree with is that you don't need to be able to draw to animate. Learning to draw gives you the fundamentals to understand the materials you are working with.. muscles, implied weight and posing, all of that will be enhanced in animation if you already know how to draw appealing static images.

My favorite advice for puppet animation is that you should strive to make it look as close to frame-by-frame animation as possible to get the best results. That doesn't mean reducing fps like some 3D cartoons do, but to apply the same construction workflow with keyposes and to make lots of manual tweaks to interpolation frames. This obviously can't be applied to all projects, it really depends on intent, time and budget.

I don't really have anything new to say about fbf animation, it feels so thoroughly documented.. maybe try to animate straight-forward without onion shells for practice if you haven't already!

Q: Why do you like the childhood-friend trope in manga and cartoons?

When you asked for obscure facts, I should've anticipated that I would be questioned about them..

There's an implied, primal trust and understanding between childhood friends that can't really be matched by friendships formed later in life. That's how I would put it, haha. I am already a fan of non-verbal communication between characters and this trope just leans into that so well. Naturally I want to use it in my own stories, too.

Q: What was it like working at a drone manufacturer?

Just to clarify, we made camera-bearing drones, not the military kind. I was in charge of illustrating and translating instruction manuals. Really weird as a first job experience but it was funny at times, especially since customers would often crash the bloody things anyways. I eventually designed a drone frame myself, but the company shut down before it could be constructed. We had discovered that our boss left a lot of bills unpaid and he actually fled to his home country to avoid prosecution. Wild.

Q: How would you describe living in Germany?

Every german will tell you that it's safe, boring and that the german railway company sucks. Two of those things are true.

I grew up in the countryside next to nice forests and moved across several states during my career, so I came to appreciate the different cultures germany has to offer. The food and living standards are fantastic, I just wish our government had better priorities for the taxes we pay - but you could say that about any country I suppose.

Q: Art and animation resources you would recommend

I'm not much of a study person, me and my aquaintances just put our pen to the paper. Aspiring artists today have access to so many resources and I'm completely out of the loop there. Still, I must insist that the best resource is the study of life itself.. and The Animator's Survival Kit.

@KittyhawkMontrose - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: Your experiences with the Internet

Oh man, I’ve had a lot. I’ve been on probably as long as Tom Fulp. I’m not sure if he was on BBSes too, but I certainly was. I’ve been doing websites and creative stuff online since really commercial internet was available. I had to fight my dad to get on, but I won (lol). I’ve done fan sites, translation, webcomics, games, you name it. I’ve had rape threats, death threats, job threats (lol), and even a hate letter from my grandma, but I don’t pay those much mind because words are words. I told my grandma I loved her and we’re still cool, and I sent the ones who threatened me similar things (less hugs and kisses though). I would say I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I wasn’t online. I think of myself as an online person too. It’s so much fun being on the Internet, learning new things, connecting with people around the world. I’m constantly scanning the signals~

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

I knew about Newgrounds for a long time, but I didn’t join until 2019 when @alsoknownas1 and I decided to get serious about game dev. We realized that Newgrounds was the perfect place to post the kind of games we like to make, doujin games. Newgrounds is punk after all! I would say I’ve come to love Newgrounds even more as I’ve been a part of it. The community is really good, I’ve met a lot of cool people, Tom is really awesome to everyone, it’s one of the last places with free speech, and I’ve found myself more productive as a result of the engagement and support I’ve received here. I would recommend Newgrounds to everyone who’s a creative type, and I do! :D

Q: The story of your username: KittyhawkMontrose

Oh wow, lots to unpack! I chose KittyhawkMontrose on Newgrounds because Kittyhawk was already taken, and I didn’t want to use KittyhawkNG when I first started because I felt it was a big presumptuous seeing as I had just joined and wasn’t really part of the NG team. “Kittyhawk” comes from an OC I made a long time ago. I needed a more unique online name, so I took it from him. It comes from my misspelling of Kitty Hawk, NC. “Montrose” is the doujin circle that my brother and I founded long ago, and now my husband and I run it. It takes its name from a town that was the center of some our earliest stories. If you want to read one, it’s here on Newgrounds. the Jar will break your brain though. So yeah, lots of city refs.

Q: How did you get interested in creating art?

I was born.

Q: Your advice for artists

Never give up. I know that’s trite, but it’s true. I’m still standing, but there’s a lot of artists that I’ve known over the years who’ve given up. I’m not saying that’s bad either, because life is full of choices, and sometimes another path needs to be taken in order to make those things happen. Art will rarely make enough money to pay for those things. You will probably have to get another job. If you’re lucky, you can take projects and commissions, but you will find yourself holding your head in your hands sometimes thinking, “Why the hell am I doing this?” When art becomes a job, it sometimes kills the drive, but you have to remind yourself why you’re doing this, that this is the thing you are best at and love doing. So yeah, NEVER GIVE UP. Keep pushing, keep creating, keep believing.

Q: What are activities and subjects you like, although you rarely talk about?

I think the things I like most that I rarely talk about are politics and the natural world. To be honest, the phrase “reality is more interesting that fiction” rings true to me. If one were to look at my X feed, they would be shocked that it’s not mostly naked girls and men (though they are there!), but a butt load of world politics, rando animal videos, and travelogues. I don’t discuss either much because I know politics is a dicey subject, and no one wants to hear me ramble on about this one silvery bird that exists in New Caledonia whose possible closest relative lives in South America.

Q: What do you think about X, which was formerly known as Twitter?

I used to hate that place because I was shadowbanned for my sexual politics, and I was even further shadowbanned for my followers’ beliefs, specifically trans and Gamergate/MAGA (yes, both; I have a wide range of followers). You can read the details about how the FBI and Twitter staff did this BS for years in the Twitter Files. I stuck with it because any advertising is good advertising. It’s all about creating as much of a presence as possible. When Elon took over the site, I was allowed parole from Twitter Jail, and I’m doing a lot better now. I quadrupled my followers in one year. I had people contact me and say, “I thought you quit the internet!” I had government agencies contact me about giving me grants after being ignored for a long time. So yeah, even though I’ve been blocked for thanking Elon for freeing me, I’ll keep doing it because that man has made my life better in so many ways, including PayPal. Elon and Tom are my heroes.

Q: What is social media about?

It’s about connecting with other people, and it’s also about letting the deep state spy on you. :)

- Marriage story

My husband and I were married by an Elvis impersonator at the Viva Las Vegas Chapel in Las Vegas. We had some TV execs from the WB sit in on the wedding because they were seeing if they wanted to make a reality show based on the experience. We got to ride into the chapel in a Pink Cadillac. It was awesome.

Q: How would you describe your experience of being married?

I would say it’s been the best experience of my life. I cannot think of my life without my husband now because he is such a major part of it. We are so perfectly matched in all things. We have our own interests, but we like sharing them together. We often have thoughts that we’re like “YOU TOO?! I JUST THOUGHT THAT!” And the sex is great. :D I highly recommend getting married. Find the right one, AND STICK WITH THEM. You will go through a lot of crap in your life, and it’s better with a partner by your side. Fight the urge to break up with them when there’s money problems or sickness! You will be stronger on the other side! Marriage is for life and it is a thing to be worked on all the time! Because it’s so much fun! You may not get everything in life, but try to have someone to share it with is the advice I give.

Q: What do you think about traveling?

If you can do it, DO IT. Traveling gives you new insight into the world. If you can live somewhere for a while, like a short time, DO IT! Lord knows living as many places as I have, traveling to as many places as I have, has made me the person I am, open to a lot of things. Even if it’s going a state over, or even a town over, do it. Go do as many experiences as you can.

Q: What are some stories you would like to share?

So I had surgery back in 2020, and then blam! The pandemic started like a week later. Great for recovery, right? So I was pretty bored a lot of the time, and I really wanted to go to Japan after everything was over (lol). Sometimes when I’d pull up the map to plan, I’d get distracted by the islands off in the Pacific, so I’d go check them out.

Eventually, I stopped planning the Japan trip as I realized that we weren’t going to be let outside any time soon, and I got more obsessed with learning about former military installations and old Pan Am island hops. This evolved into learning about individual Pacific Islands, which became most of my entertainment. I would go take “trips” using Google Earth, I would follow people’s social media and blogs to get an idea of what life was like there, and I even started checking the local grocery stores and even the McDonalds in Tahiti for the latest specials! I’d find myself saying “Damn! That’s a good price! I should go take a trip!” To Google Earth! I also had places that I liked to “sit” and enjoy. There’s a burger place on Rarotonga that looks really good.

But where does this story go? Well, all of this obsession eventually lead to Paradise Slice. The isolation, the wanting to get away, the wanting to find happiness in a world gone shit, and Pacific Islands are cool. I guess I wanted to tell this story because it’s taking a bad situation like quarantine and recovering from surgery and using it to learn and build something new. I feel like I had an adventure, even if I was just looking at a phone screen, and I want to share some of it now.

Q: How to describe your experience with making Paradise Slice?

Paradise Slice really has given me new life. When Paradise came to me, originally as “Kon” and then merging with the Paradise ideal, she started some creativity in my mind that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. As I worked out her story, I found myself putting in things from my “trip” around the Pacific as well as all the other stuff I’ve experienced, a lot of the government stuff I think about, aliens, and even my philosophy on life. I think of it as the “Everything Series”.

I also surprised myself in that I changed pretty much the whole damn story just one month before I published it on Newgrounds. Grey appeared in my mind after I said “I need an agent.” I wanted there to be an government entity eventually, and kinda like the scenes in American Fiction where the writer is talking with the characters, I found myself having a conversation with a man who introduced himself as “Grey”. Rarely I have characters introduce themselves with a name, hell, even introduce themselves at all. That’s when I knew he was special. After working with him a bit, I learned he was a damn good character, and the way he was interacting with Paradise was better than her chemistry with the original male main character. I found Paradise cheating on that guy to be with Grey! But then Grey said to Paradise in response to this, “I do not like cheating. Break up with him and be with me.” And that’s when the whole series had to be rejiggered and the original main character was dropped. I’m happy that he arrived, and I think Paradise is too. :D

I’m looking forward to working on more after I’m done with some projects. I experience something like love when I think of these characters, something that has never happened before. It’s odd and exciting. I will protect them.

Q: What is your advice for being part of the Newgrounds community?

Be nice but firm. You should be supportive, because these are your fellow creators. Tearing other people down may feel good, but that’s going to lead to you being a pariah eventually. You might hate that person who makes the funny wizard cartoons or the one who makes ass-clapping videos, but you gotta realize those things are popular. Like, you’re not going to get popular tearing those things down, and you’re really hurting Newgrounds because you’re making it a unfun place and less trafficked. This place gets worse with every creator that is chased off by the Hate Squad.

That’s why you gotta fight back too. @alsoknownas1 and I sit in the P-bots every day to make sure that winners are congratulated and not jeered. If you have a problem with the work, go use your big boy words, and put them in the comment section of the movie or game. Don’t hide your score like a coward. Be a man and post it. Show that you blammed it. Stand by that blam. And don’t go acting like you’re some authority on Newgrounds and scare off the creators, all the while not creating really anything of your own since 2022 which happens to be very similar to the thing you’re currently dumping on, a small animation loop that’s peaceful and nice. That will eventually lead to you ruminating, doing absolutely nothing, getting your mom on your case, being kicked out of your family home, and finally living near a pickleball court that you hate. :) I stand by being nice, being supportive, and always congratulating the winners!

@SomeDoodles - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What do you think about books?

I think books are a great form of entertainment. When I read a comic book, I read and read and read, I want to keep reading till the end. I can read them pretty fast, while also appreciating the artwork of each panel.

When I read a regular, text only book, I really use my imagination to picture how the characters look like, and the scenario they're in, which I like to do.

Q: How did you discover the NG website? What made you decide to join the community? Do you feel differently about the site now compared to when you first joined?

Like a lot of users, I discovered the website during the Friday Night Funkin popularity spike.

Although I joined the website on June 2022, I really joined the community in 2023, that was when I found the OC plaza thread in the art forum. There are so many cool OCs on that thread, and I met some great users there.

I don't think my thoughts on the website have changed, too much.

Q: The story of your username: SomeDoodles

I made this name up in 2021, when I was watching story time animation channels for a brief time. I tried to come up with a stupid username that sounded like a story time animation channel name.

Nowadays I don't like story time animations as much.

Q: Why is your favourite day of the week, the shabbat?

It is my favorite day, because that's the one day of the week where the whole family puts aside the smartphones and other devices, and we get to spend some actual time with each other. On that day I like to play card games, go for walks, play sports, read books.

Q: How are you inspired by SpongeBob?

This show was probably my first exposure to animation. At least, the first one I can remember. I really like the characters and their designs. I loved the artstyle, I loved the plots. This is the show that got me into cartoons. This is the show that made me interested in creating my own shows one day. I still love that show

Q: Why do you like the combination of the colors; purple and yellow?

I like the color purple. It's my favorite. This color and yellow are a really nice contrast. They're completely different from each other.

Q: What do you like about animation?

I like how in animation, reality can be exaggerated and twisted based on the animator's artistic choices. This one's more specific to cartoons, but I also like fun, wacky character deisgns. I especially like anthro animals.

Q: Your advice for animation

I don't think I am experienced enough to give any good animation advice

Q: How would you describe your art style?

It is very cartoony and stretchy, with big, round eyes.

Q: Your advice for being a part of Newgrounds

I don't know, don't be an asshole, I guess?