ThirdPotato

Hey guys, it's been a rough 3 years, and I'm still in a really bad place, mentally, socially, and financially, but I'm happy to be renewing my passion for my characters and stories. You can find me more actively on Instagram as: CtrlZeke or for my WWII & NSFW art, follow CtrlAltZeke

I'm also moving to my new DA account/brand ctrlzeke where I'll be posting only my personal art, characters, stories, etc.

I got cancelled on social media and lost my career of 15 years cuz people dug up old stuff I drew 10+ years ago and had already deleted, and some kink art under a different pen name. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’d be lying if I said the last 3+ months haven’t been hell, and I’m still jobless and suffering, without a computer, my apartment, and my IRL friends over it, but I won’t let some random assholes online define who I am.

I’ll continue to post my personal art here on Deviantart, as this has been my art home since 2003. My policies have always been, and are as follows: I believe all is fair game in art so long as you aren’t harassing someone, promoting hate, or spreading misinformation. Cancel culture was meant to stop actual criminals (rapists, child molesters, money launderers etc) from continuing to profit from their fame, not to defame randos online cuz you don’t like some ship they support or drawing they did. Anyone who practices petty/toxic cancel culture can get lost, as well as anyone who uses freedom of speech as an excuse to bully or belittle people. Live and let live, don’t be a dick. That’s my policy.

Lastly, if you’re following me from my various other pen names around the internet, please know what to expect here on my Deviantart account: This is my personal art, stories and projects. It is SFW, but recommended for audiences 18+. This is not the same content as my commissioned work on FA, so please unfollow me if that’s what you’re hoping to see here. Otherwise, anyone’s welcome here.

I want to rebrand my personal art to disassociate it from my commission work. For the most part "ThirdPotato" is still my brand, but I want a different penname since the name I go by is quite permanently attached to my commissions. There would be no 'taking it back' since a lot of people in that community already know me by that name and have reblogged and tagged me under that name. I won't mince words, most of yall who have been following me for years know I do furry fetish commission work full time, but I don't want that to be associated with my personal art brand, so would it be weird if I just came up with a new pen name to go by, to associate with "ThirdPotato"?

I used to go by Fyuvix, but it was a dumb name from childhood from a ripoff pokemon thing I had going. My current penname Tato is just a shortened verison of "Thirdpotato" so it's not entirely super-top-secret. But I don't have anything for folks to call me on my personal art accounts that isn't just my furry penname... I don't know though. I've really come to associate myself with "Tato" as a personal identity, and go by that name IRL now. But I also don't want people who know me IRL to find my furry commission stuff x.x

I don't know what to do at this point. I could use some feedback, thank you!

... I know I said I wouldn't store my old cringey art, but here I am... I went ahead and stored 3.4THOUSAND deviations (It was an all-day endeavor XD).

It was emotionally difficult to go through essentially a scrapbook of my entire life for the last 17 years on Deviantart. DA had always been a place to share, connect with people, make some life-long friends, and grow as an artist. Going through my 4.8k deviations caused me to face my past- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Literally, the ugly XD soooo much ugly.

It wasn't just out of vanity, but rather, my old art represented a version of myself I no longer identify with; outdated humor, beliefs and attitudes. With the world in the state it's in today, I didn't even want some of the old stuff to be available to the public. I drew and said a lot of things in my youth that were petty, insensitive and cringe, and I want to be able to shake that and move on.

I was recently forced to delete entire galleries on FurAffinity due to their new policies, and doing so erased my whole early history as a commissions artist online, almost a decade's worth of work. It was emotionally devastating, but in doing so, I was able to learn to let go of the past. The older I get, the harder it is to retain anything of my childhood anyway, and I imagine it'll only continue to get harder from here. Clearing out my Deviantart Gallery was a huge step for me in learning to accept loss, bury the past, and live in the present. It forced me to take an outside perspective of who I was and how far I've come, not just as an artist, but as a person.

From my highschool days of RPing WWII stuff with Marszenka, all of my college years and art with OhSadface and Seux, with PaMikoo and OwlyGem, to putting the coffin lid on my old Pompfiction webcomic, burying art of friends that are no longer in my life, and so much more... It was taxing, emotionally. In the span of a few hours as I cleared out this visual diary of my history in art, I had to face what I'd been avoiding- bottled up feelings I never took the time to grieve for.

With that out of the way, I'm left to figure out what my art is as a brand, who I am as an artist, and what are the messages I want to put forth into the world through my art. The things we do and say always have a lasting impact, no matter how many faves, views or comments you get. Every day we get to decide what kind of message we want to speak and who we are today. We can always change, always be better, kinder, wiser, but only when we can grieve for a past self and let go.

I have been so uninspired for the past couple years, and have given up on any personal projects, self improvement (artwise), and stories. I feel like I'm losing my grip on my identity as an artist. I still work as a full time commission artist and make a good living on it, but my personal art has been sitting on the shelf, collecting dust. What art I do produce has felt soulless. I'm hoping that this fresh start will at least clear the slate, cut old strings, and let me fly again.

Thanks for listening <3

I recently bought a commission from El--G ! They were fantastic to work with and had a fast turn-around and amazing prices! Please considering supporting them and/or checking out their gallery! They're currently open for commissions starting as low as $3. They do a variety of styles but excel at anime and manga. If you're looking for art of your ocs, I highly recommend them!

If you're interested, please check out their journal here:

Here's the wonderful piece they did for me of my oc, Carver, but be sure to check out their whole gallery as well!