Don't have any recent arts to post so I thought I'd do another one of these journal memes for funsies :o) Original by smobs!

How many usernames have you had? (You don't have to share them!)

Oh my god so many. I think my very very first user I went by was "LexTheMagical" on YouTube, Google+, and DeviantArt when I was 12. Up until like 2017 I also went through a bunch of variations of "Lexxii". Once Google+ died and I left YouTube and DeviantArt went to complete shit I moved to Tumblr and I've had so many usernames on there I'm not going over each one lol. I started using "rhythmroute" for my first art blog though.

What does your current username mean?

Rhythm route is the 5th world in Kirby Planet Robobot!

What is the first program you used to make digital art?

MsPaint! Very quickly jumped to using an art program that came with my tablet instead however, I think it was called ArtRage or something like that.

Where did you first start posting your art?

I want to say I started out by uploading my flipnotes on YouTube, it could have been Google+ or Facebook though.

What is the first piece of media you drew fanart for?

Mario! I played New Super Mario Bros Wii when it first came out and I got super obsessed with the koopalings and I would watch AMVs on YouTube and draw them all the time lol.

Who was your first self-insert/persona/fursona? What did they mean to you?

Technically my first fursona was a white cat with yellow spots and pink rainbow polka-dot scarf named Spotfur but she very quickly became her own character once I made Lex not too long after. Lex is very special to me because I still use them as my main fursona today, when I look back at her old designs I can always see how blatantly and unapologetically me she was.

Who is your current self-insert/persona/fursona? How are they different to your first?

Lex is still my main fursona! We've been going strong since I was 12 and I don't plan on ever replacing her. Here's a timeline of how their design has developed over the years! :o)

What phases/styles has your art gone through? (e.g. Did you have an anime era, a cartoon style, a watercolour phase?)

Let's see I started off with a really thick pen lineart which I opted for using thinner pen lineart as the years went on. In late 2018 I guess you could say I took a more "anime style" approach at things and also started doing sketchy/messier lineart. 2020-2022 I threw all that out and started using a thick pixel brush to draw and at the end of 2022 I ditched the pixel brush since I discovered the fluffy brush on FireAlpaca and liked using that one A LOT more and here we are now. I still mainly use the fluffy brush to draw now and very very occasionally will try out lineart with a thick pen brush.

What/who do you think has influenced your art style the most?

I'm not sure honestly, I'd say video games and other artists for the most part!

What/who inspired you to be an artist?

AMVs/tribute videos, flipnotes, and animation memes!

What tools are integral to your current workflow? (e.g. Programs, brushes, references.)

Firealpaca is my program of choice and I really like using the fluffy brush that comes with the default set of brushes!

What improvements have you made recently?

I'VE STARTED DRAWING MY OWN CHARACTERS AGAIN!! This might not seem big but all I used to draw was my ocs and it slowly went from ocs to almost exclusively fanart. I'm just really glad that I'm drawing my own guys again, I missed being obsessed with my own characters to the extent I was when I was 13 lol. I'm also finally content and consistent with the way my art looks! I never used to like my art once it became over a year old because it would change so drastically, now I still really like and use art I made up to 2 years ago!

What steps would you like to take in the future?

I would really like to actually learn how to draw backgrounds T__T it's just been me and my "character standing there in the void" thing since forever. I would also like to produce merch like stickers and keychains eventually!