Ask Professor Ashen Smirk

considering deleting this blog, would anyone object to its absence from the internet?

After some thought, and reading through everything I made for this blog, I don’t think it would be right to delete it. Even if it’s tied up in some really crappy memories, and if I don’t want it to be something that I’m tied to moving forward, I’m still proud of a lot of my art here, both visual and storytelling.

It’s clearly an immature work in a lot of ways, and I don’t think it’s nearly as clever as I thought it was when I was making it, but it’s something I poured a lot of heart into.

Plus I’m still pretty happy with pages like this:

Honestly I’d be proud if I drew that today.

As such I’m not going to deprive anyone else for whom this strange little corner of tumblr had any meaning of its continued existence, so I’ll leave this account up as an archive.

Sadly, tumblr’s automated purge had inexplicably tagged several posts as containing “adult content”. I’ve submitted those for appeal for the sake of completeness, but I won’t take the time to figure out how else to fix this if that doesn’t work out.

Thanks again to everyone who made making this blog a positive experience for me. I made a great many friends, most of which I’ve sadly fallen out of contact with (actually I think @ask-wiggles​ is the sole exception now), but I still think of pretty much all of you very warmly. Despite my comments elsewhere about this representing a low point in my life, my involvement in this bizarre little community was a product of that, not a cause.

I hope you remember me fondly, and feel free to reconnect if you have any wish to do so. I can probably best be reached on Discord at BrainedBySaucepans#7139

“Wow I look like crap….”

So yeah, since I’m reviving @ask-prof-smirk may as well revive this side project too. Especially as it only takes 15 minutes to update.

Send some questions!

Yup, I’m back folks!

While you wait for the proper update this weekend, perhaps check out this side blog!

At least half of the tumblr pony blogs I follow have last updated half an year ago or more. It’s like the mod forgot the blog. And I’m not talking about blogs that announced that they’re on a hiatus, cause then I know why they don’t update, and can patiently wait until the hiatus is over.

 But the blogs I refer to, I feel like they don’t update anymore. There’s no new art, nothing talking about what happened. And it really confuses me, cause pretty much all of them had great stories/great art/great characters.

- Submitted by forest-star

I’m kind of guilty of this myself. Well not kind of. Definitely. I keep meaning to free up a few evenings to get the ball rolling again, but then again I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth the effort.

Don’t get me wrong, I really want to finish @ask-prof-smirk. I think the story’s just getting interesting. The problem is I’m not sure anyone else feels that way.

Does anyone actually miss the Professor? Would people care if he came back?

Wish I knew either way.

Mod is musing on the fate of this blog right now. I don’t want this hiatus to become permanent, but I’m not sure whether I’m the only one who cares either way.

EDIT: It became clear instantly that I am apparently not the only one who cares. You know what, I’ve already taken tomorrow off from work on my business. Let’s see if I can crank out an update by Friday.

I really must do something more substantial with askthescarecrowpony‘s mod sometime. Fantastic blog, and Smirk and Crane would definitely have a lot to discuss.

Mod Note: Due to tablet issues updates will be traditionally drawn until further notice.

“Fantastic...”

>>VOTE PLEASE<<

Welcome back askthescarecrowpony, and thanks for the feature! Seriously though, I do need you to start covering your own tutorials again... I’m rather preoccupied lately.

A reminder that I have a new side blog dedicated to the supporting characters from Ask Prof Smirk. Simply because I have so many ideas for them that just won’t work in the main blog but I still want to explore them.

Remember to send in your questions, folks!

Thank you regal-horse and askremsleep, for your questions!

EDIT: Added colour to the eyes too.

Did you ever get curious about that cheerful yellow unicorn who appeared back in the Reunion arc? Or about any of Smirk’s other friends (and Memoranda)? What about the staff of the Gryphons’ Canterlot Embassy? Well now there’s a place to ask any of them questions where the mod can be a lot more fast and loose. Make sure you check it out folks!

 Welcome to my new blog!

The idea behind this is that I had a problem. I’ve ended up creating so many characters for ask-prof-smirk giving them detailed personalities and conflicting motivations…. but a lot of the ideas I’ve had aren’t really relevant to Smirk’s story. I love my characters though, especially this cheerful little Unicorn. Isn’t she adoreable? Her name is Cinder Forge, and she’s probably my favourite character.

So yeah, I’ve decided to create a new blog where I can answer questions for these other characters, with a simplified, trimmed down art style to let me put out more content without sacrificing anything in the main blog.

If you want to know more about any of my characters, I’ve written a short bio for all of them, along with links to the APS updates where they feature.

So, shall we get this started? Does anyone have any questions for Cinder?

So yeah, who here like’s spinoffs?!

Just realised I forgot to post this yesterday. It’s the lineup of all the OCs I’ve created for ask-prof-smirk, so people could pick them out for the crackship spawn I was drawing. That was a LOT of fun, so I’ll almost definitely be doing more in future streams.

Definitely relevant to this blog.

Second and final crackship offspring. My tablet is starting to lag and I’m feeling the effects of 5 bottles of ale.

This is Icarus, the spawn of Memoranda and Major Ironbeak who were selected as parents by otteroflore solely because they’re my two most bigoted “racial purist” characters. As Otter correctly surmised, both parents would regard little Icarus as an abomination. Maybe that’s why he looks so sad.

I am a monster.

See you all next time I stream, folks. Happy Birthday to me! :P

Poor little Icarus...

Crackship time in the Birthday Streamtacular!

Cerk was up first and asked for the child of my Coral Bloom and his equally lanky pegasus Arctic Storm.

I’m pretty happy with the adoreableness of the final product.

I’m going to take a quick comfort break, then I’ll pick another stream chat person to choose a crackship with one of my OCs, so pop in if you want a say in what happens next!

https://picarto.tv/live/channel.php?watch=BrainedBySaucepans

All of my OCs from Ask Prof Smirk are up for being shipped to see what happens. Pop in soon if you want a say in what happens next!