Ask the Staff!

[Kazin]

Might be a bit of an unusual question but how do you sort your pets? By date, rarity, species, theme etc.?

If you have hoards, what number do you typically aim for? Does it depend on the pet? Do you name your hoards?

Is there a collection you're working on? Like all pets of a species or event? Have you finished any collections?

I sort by species! I do separate into whether I'm actively collecting that pet or not, though it's all separated by species regardless of where it falls. For the ones I'm not seeking a full collection of I sort them out further by Very Rare and up so that I can browse if there are any I'd trade away more easily.

I used to only aim for 20 per hoard, but I've kinda expanded into just collecting until I feel like stopping, mostly because a large majority of the pets I hoard are common/below. I do name most of my hoards.

I'm currently working on pony and butterfly wolf collections! I have finished a bunch of collections, but the one I'm proudest of/love the most are the rats c: Love my rat buddies.

For all staff, I have a question (and I hope it isn’t too personal) but how did you come up with your username?

Similar boat as Desmond here haha, Kazin was the name of my favorite character from a very very old video game my older brother introduced me to! Kazin from Shining Force 2. It was the first game I remember playing a lot so the characters have always stuck out in my mind.

[Aaron✦]

for all staff, how did YOU hear about chickensmoothie and what is your favorite lineart?

My sister actually showed me the site!! We used to play together a lot, but she's not super into CS any more. We still play other stuff together, though.
My favourite linearts are either the tess cats, the adolescent PPS cats, the chickens or the macaws.. I have a few, sorry lol!

Might be a bit of an unusual question but how do you sort your pets? By date, rarity, species, theme etc.?

If you have hoards, what number do you typically aim for? Does it depend on the pet? Do you name your hoards?

Is there a collection you're working on? Like all pets of a species or event? Have you finished any collections?

You're welcome to peruse my sorting if you like! My hoards start here and my collection groups start here!
Details wise - I split my collection into species and then PPS lineart (so EPPS and PPS have separate groups.) Then, the bigger regular species are also split up by year. It sounds very complicated but I think it makes sense when you look at it lol.

Hoards are usually either 20, 50 or 100 for me!

I'm working on my complete pet collection!! I only have one pet left to get (the UR flower).

For all staff, I have a question (and I hope it isn’t too personal) but how did you come up with your username?

For artists, I want to get into digital art but I don’t know what drawer tablet I should go with…
I don’t want to spend TOO much money, but I also don’t want to get something that will die on me after a few short months. I would love to hear your suggestions, if possible!

It's my name! :3

I use a Huion and always have done, it works a treat for me!

[June Bug]

For all staff, I have a question (and I hope it isn’t too personal) but how did you come up with your username?

For artists, I want to get into digital art but I don’t know what drawer tablet I should go with…
I don’t want to spend TOO much money, but I also don’t want to get something that will die on me after a few short months. I would love to hear your suggestions, if possible!

It was my first dog's name! She went everywhere and did everything with me (including work!) so I named my account after her.
It's been a long while since she passed and I've considered changing it to something less feminine, but ultimately I always decide to keep it as small tribute to her <3

I have a cheaper Huion (under $100 when I bought it) and it's served me well for quite a few years now. I even bring it with me on field work and it's held up to being carted back and forth between hotels and home very well.
I've had Wacoms in the past too and really liked them. They were less sturdy, but still a good option if you're kind to them. Not sure if they make bluetooth ones now, but mine were the wired kind and that was definitely the first thing to die on me, every time, lol.
Durability will also depend on your drawing "strength". I've had friends who go through nibs and stylus like it's their job because they press quite hard, which will also wear out the tablet surface faster. I have a very "light" hand and haven't even had to change a nib yet in almost 3 years. If you have a strong hand, a more expensive, sturdier tablet might be a better investment, but if you draw more lightly, you can get away with something cheaper much more easily.

-snip-
My previous Wacom was a pen + touch, and it was fantastic... But it got old enough that the driver stopped updating and my computer pitched a fit over that.

I was heartbroken when my pen+touch finally died (also a victim of incompatible driver). I still have it in it's little storage box because I can't bring myself to toss it after it's years of faithful service, haha

[Spaceinmyhead]

Might be a bit of an unusual question but how do you sort your pets? By date, rarity, species, theme etc.?

If you have hoards, what number do you typically aim for? Does it depend on the pet? Do you name your hoards?

Is there a collection you're working on? Like all pets of a species or event? Have you finished any collections?

I sort all of my pets by species and year. When I have all pets in 2 or more consecutive years, I combine them into one large group. I don't do hoards, but I dont doubt that I'll start eventually lol. As for collecting, Im aiming towards a full collection, but Im starting with the smaller species first. Ive finished things like chickens and dwarf hamsters, and right now Im working on butterfly wolves and owls! It's a lot of fun!

For all staff, I have a question (and I hope it isn’t too personal) but how did you come up with your username?

Well I had a name before this, but that was a bit on the cringe side and I wanted something new. I honestly have no idea where I came up with the "inmyhead" part, but Im a huge space nerd, and if didnt involve so much math I would have been an astronomer!

[FleshCanvas]

for all staff, how did YOU hear about chickensmoothie and what is your favorite lineart?

I'm like 90% sure it was on one of my random google searches when I was younger where I would just type "pet adoption game" into google and click on all the links and tried them all out
I loved so many of the pet adoption games and then I would get bored and type in the exact same phrase again to find something different 😭😭

My favourite lineart is probably lions but aaa its definitely in line with West dragon, deer and otters too
Tbh its hard to decide

[Seasonal]

Might be a bit of an unusual question but how do you sort your pets? By date, rarity, species, theme etc.?

If you have hoards, what number do you typically aim for? Does it depend on the pet? Do you name your hoards?

Is there a collection you're working on? Like all pets of a species or event? Have you finished any collections?

My pets are organized to an unreasonable degree, divided first by species and then by month. Event pets, store pets, and special releases are grouped separately. It was a nice way to organize my pets back in 2012 when there weren't over 10,000 pets on CS, but it's been kind of hard to keep up with over the years! Every few months I'll go through my monthlies and have to create a dozen or so new groups for them. If there is a limit to how many groups someone can have, I'll probably be the person who finds out.

I used to do infinite hoards but I've been keeping my newer hoards down to 20, since it makes a full page. I do name my hoards, and I change the names pretty often.

I'm aiming for a complete collection! Barring monthlies that I haven't had time to catch up on swapping for, I need 65 more pets.

For all staff, what gives you inspiration for all the staff litters that come out in September?

I'm definitely not an artist, so my main goal is "make something that looks as nice, and can't possibly be messed up." This leads to a lot of my designs being pretty simple, and I feel they are easily distinguishable as mine. I'd love to step out of my comfort zone one year and try some edits, but I also don't want to release something that doesn't look good.

[Fawnie]

for all staff, how did YOU hear about chickensmoothie and what is your favorite lineart?

i heard about Chickensmoothie from WolfQuest! you can read a bit more in detail on Chicken Smoothie New's June article ! my fave linearts are the fawn lines & butterfly wolves

Might be a bit of an unusual question but how do you sort your pets? By date, rarity, species, theme etc.?

If you have hoards, what number do you typically aim for? Does it depend on the pet? Do you name your hoards?

Is there a collection you're working on? Like all pets of a species or event? Have you finished any collections?

i've never really been good at sorting my pets. i have them sorted by species, one big giant event group, and rarity from rare up! i also sort by malk lines bc i love them so much !

i tried to start a hoard for this pet but i didn't get very far LOL that is the only pet i've ever tried to 'hoard'

not really at the moment, i'd like to soon. i have all the 2009 Hanukah ponies, most of the holiday pets from 2022, and all the 2010 zodiac dogs! :)

For all staff, I have a question (and I hope it isn’t too personal) but how did you come up with your username?

i honestly dont remember, i know i really liked fawns and cute stuff and i was trying to think of a "cool" username - knowing me i probably used a generator or something. ive been fawnie forever LOL

For all staff, what gives you inspiration for all the staff litters that come out in September?

my last year's pet and this year's pet definitely have the same inspiration in common hehe

[hellevi]

For all staff, what gives you inspiration for all the staff litters that come out in September?

i typically will randomly get hit with motivation during the middle of a random day. i usually can't come up with much when i try to force it but instead just have to wait for that spark of muse to hit me and then work from there.... it typically happens when im out somewhere too so i'll usually write my ideas down in my notes app or just draw a quick sketchy so that i don't forget

Might be a bit of an unusual question but how do you sort your pets? By date, rarity, species, theme etc.?

If you have hoards, what number do you typically aim for? Does it depend on the pet? Do you name your hoards?

Is there a collection you're working on? Like all pets of a species or event? Have you finished any collections?

i sort my pets just by species and then my favorites, IRL pets, duplicates, etc. nothing fancy -- i don't really have the motivation for that i used to do hoards but not much anymore. i think i used to just pick a random number? i honestly don't really know! as for collections, it's my dream to have a complete collection, though i doubt that will ever happen as i don't try to hard for that :p a more reasonable goal is getting all warrior cats!

For all staff, I have a question (and I hope it isn’t too personal) but how did you come up with your username?

i honestly do not remember!!! the name was one that i initially used for a BNHA oc i was creating and then i just took it as my username instead. i did recently see that there is a bella sara card in my collection with a horse named hellevi so i have to wonder if i just subconsciously remembered that from forever ago and chose it

[Spaceinmyhead]

Just saw these two!

for all staff, how did YOU hear about chickensmoothie and what is your favorite lineart?

I was in a woodworking class in school, and a (now not friend) of mine was on CS during the 2015 Halloween event. I was so intrigued I set up an account then and there!

For all staff, what gives you inspiration for all the staff litters that come out in September?

I usually just go with what ever comes to mind first when I see the color palette. For example, last year, when the color palette came out I immediately thought of the trip I went on earlier that year, and the bright pinks and greens of the plants I saw at the conservatory I went to. It was a bit ambitious but I love how Dianthe turned out, and Im even more excited for this year!!

[winx]

For all staff, what gives you inspiration for all the staff litters that come out in September?

This is my second year participating in the staff litter. Last year, it was purely based on an aspect that makes me me since I wanted to introduce myself to CS. This year, and probably subsequent years, they will probably be linked to something that stood out in the year so I have a pet to remember it by. If nothing exciting ends up happening in said year, then I'll probably just think of some motifs based on the palette and go from there.

For all staff, I have a question (and I hope it isn’t too personal) but how did you come up with your username?

For artists, I want to get into digital art but I don’t know what drawer tablet I should go with…
I don’t want to spend TOO much money, but I also don’t want to get something that will die on me after a few short months. I would love to hear your suggestions, if possible!

My username is based off the Australian racehorse Winx!

I'm not a CS artist, but I use my iPad and Procreate for my staff pet and any random litters that I might do. I haven't had any issues with it, but it is quite pricy. I use it for taking notes for any classes I might take and for recreational purposes as well, so there were multiple factors to buying it for me. Before the iPad, I used two different generations of Wacom Intuos (CTL6100WLK0 and CTH680). I still prefer the older CTH680 model which worked perfectly for years.

Might be a bit of an unusual question but how do you sort your pets? By date, rarity, species, theme etc.?

If you have hoards, what number do you typically aim for? Does it depend on the pet? Do you name your hoards?

Is there a collection you're working on? Like all pets of a species or event? Have you finished any collections?

I sort my pets by species and then break it down even further into PPS and EPPS using the alphabet to organize. I break out my doubles by rarity. For newer species, I often have the ePPS and PPS combined with the adults until there are enough of them to justify a new group.

I don't currently have any hoards. I have been tempted to start them a couple times, but I really want to try and finish my monthly/event + maybe the special release pets first.