Discussion
Monthly report for September is out!
https://www.davidrevoy.com/article1180/monthly-production-report-for-september-2026
I'm sharing making-of and behind-the-scenes stories, unpublished visuals, and news about all my background projects. I also share (as usual, without paywall) high-resolution images, timelapses, brushes, layered files, tutorials, hardware reviews and more on my websites.
Thank you for all the comments and your amazing support!
@Gynux Ca pourrait le faire. Je vais m'intéresser aussi aux typographies qui résistent à la reconnaissance de texte dans les images, et donc l'algorithme.
En tout cas, même marquer "suivre le lien dans ma bio" (même pas une URL) est comptabilisé par le système comme une tentative de lien externe dans le décompte. J'ai tenté en alternative pour partager mon "monthly report".
C'est dystopique ce qui se passe...
@davidrevoy D'awww... Congratulations on your re-wedding, and your happy marriage and long friendship! I hope it goes on for many more years.
That church is a real treasure! It's beautiful, with the added enchantment of something skeletal and semi-ruined without being so. That it survived the war is incredible; I know so many historic buildings were lost.
Our oldest buildings seem to be churches about that age. Most of our other buildings weren't built to last, so the survivors are special.
@ToonLink Thank you! 💜 Oh yes, I hope we'll be healthy and motivated in 10 years to do it again, with the same persons around!
Yes, the place was really special!
after all this research and experimentation that you've done for years now ... what would you say was your favourite drawing tablet?
by favourite I mean the one you most enjoyed using to be creative - something that stayed out of the way and your forgot it was tech not pen and paper
@rzeta0 "and your forgot it was tech not pen and paper"
This is a misconception: you never forget. A digital device can't be like pen and paper. Backlight in your eyes, friction very different, not flow of ink or scratch on paper. It's something very different.
Don't believe any marketing argument of the "it's like on paper", it will never be. It's something else and require a training. But once you have it, you forget about it, for real.
@davidrevoy
Thank you.
We've been using wacom for 30 years and we're afraid to look at other brands.
@rzeta0 Understandable. I had 20 years of Wacom; I was disappointed gradually. My last model was the Intuos Pro Large, a gift from Wacom because they reused one of my tutorial on their own blog. It was a good tablet: solid painting/drawing experience, but fragile: I ruined it in less than a year (woobly plastic for the stylus, I was consuming a stylus nib per month and overlay sheet totally scratched).
I'm curious if the last revisions they made are better now.
@rzeta0 For me it's the one I'm using right now since 2 years almost: the XpPen Artist Pro 19 (gen2), I can't believe how resistant it is to my daily rythme and productivity, still looks like new. But this one require to buy an extra 'regular stylus 'gen2'' separately (it comes with a thin and a stylus with a scroll wheel that I didn't like by default).
Next would be the XpPen Artist Pro 16 (gen2), very similar with a sane stylus, that was my previous one in production.
@davidrevoy félicitations pour le renouvellement de vos vœux :)
Congratulations on the remarriage.
And thank you for the fun and beautiful artwork you share.
And the writing, too.
It us appreciated and enjoyed.
I couldn't post my monthly update on the Facebook page because apparently, now I can post only 2 external links per month...
Monetizing external links, what a shame, Meta. 
@davidrevoy I guess Zuckerberg needs more money. Veey sad when he hurts small businesses
@davidrevoy I think they've realized that anyone who's still on Facebook at this point is completely trapped.
@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org anyone following you on facebook ought to be redirected to less genocidal platforms. you can help!
@nil Be sure I already tried. From 2018 to now, I posted Mastodon themed artworks on it probably 20 times, along with links to my profile.
I also reposted all the anti GAFAM artworks I produced on it, and tried to tell them the Facebook page was fragile and would be my main point of tension (esp. after closing the Twitter account, LinkedIn account and Reddit account years ago.); but poeple just want tomorrow to be another yesterday. Especially true on Facebook.
@davidrevoy Me too - it's a blooming shame!! There is a work around though
@davidrevoy make meta linkedin. If everyone leaves its just bots talking to to each other.
@davidrevoy WOW! I'm happy I left that walled garden a long time ago.
@davidrevoy stop using Meta. Everyone who matters (me) is here on Mastodon anyway
@jolle Yep, I know. I already explained the many reasons on other comments here that keep me posting on this page.
@davidrevoy so that’s why I constantly see those “link in 1st comment” posts.
@pax0707 Not really, it was a workaround for the previous enshitification in place since ~2020:
The link in the 1st comment permited to avoid the post to be shadowban because it contained an external link. But now, this rule with the count also includes the comments. So, I can't even link to a previous episode, or a tutorial to help, or my brushes, etc when I have Krita questions in the comments. I checked: I spent my first two links in Oct, only by linking to the timelapse in the 1st comment...
@davidrevoy Jeeeeesus…
I have no words…
@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org just another proof that fediverse are better that most other (A)-social platforms 
@spirillen Oh yes! Far better.
But I think famous persons, politicians, brands are not coming around here (or still an exception when they do) because there is not a "pay to win" system in place here, so they can't buy their success. 😆
@davidrevoy facebook? 😂😂😂 That prehistoric platform that supports fascism? Why on earth would you still want to be part of it?
@AccordingtoWouter Because of an historical presence since 2010, 16K (nice persons) followers that I often meet IRL and are publishing nice comments. There is a little vibrant P&C community over there, that have their dissonance about using Facebook/Messenger, because they have to: for staying in contact with their family, their co-workers, the group of the parents for their child at school, well, a social life.
Same for me, it would cut bridges with family member if I wasn't on it.
@davidrevoy strange that there are really a lot of possibilities to communicate. There really are an unimaginable number of ways. But if you don’t use that one fascist platform, will people cut ties with you?? I think that says something about those people, doesn’t it?
@davidrevoy Ask everyone to follow you on the fediverse!
@ertai42 I already did multiple time in the past, but the post were immediately shadowban. I had also feedback that this type of promotion to move away is now is a motive of ban on Meta platforms.
I'm thinking about a special MiniFantasyTheater footer on the last panel for Facebook. Something I'll have to code/automate.
@davidrevoy I wonder if you use imagemagick for this kind of work.
stuff like this to add a footer seems useful for instance
```
montage image.jpeg footer.jpeg -tile 1x2 -geometry +0+0 out.png
```
(my apologies if the comment is naive, I have no idea what your level of knowledge is scripting automation)
Yet another good reason to leave Meta.
@davidrevoy I haven’t used Facebook in ages. But somehow this doesn’t surprise me.
I kinda feel the that social networks” are dead and we all should go back to the independant forums, personal blogs and the like … you know, like web was intended to be 🤷
Yep.
Meta just decided to kill its own business with that 2 links/month scheme.
Saw an email by a guy who sells FB ads. The fees Meta is asking for a tiny bit more reach are insane, as well.
Enshittification end stage.
@davidrevoy They want to be the internet, you really need a page that isn’t theirs.
@stairjoke Don't worry, everything is all set since a long time (I'm into activism against GAFAM since a long time, almost as soon as they appeared in my region of the world ~2010).
I have probably 30x the audience via RSS (according the server log) than Facebook followers. But I know ~30 poeples personally IRL that follows the FB page and are captive of it for many reasons (family/school/work).
@davidrevoy I encounter businesses whose only presence is on Facebook and they don’t even know I won’t bother to find out any more about them.
@davidrevoy wow that's crazy.
They really don't want people using websites that they can't scrape data from lol
@davidrevoy Two posts for the whole MONTH?? Jeez louise. D:
@ToonLink yeah... including in the comments.
The two links I already posted were the "speedpainting links" part of the MiniFantasyTheater episode posts. I guess I'll have to stop posting the timelapse on Fb.
@davidrevoy Yeah, that's, uh. If a site ever told me that I'd take my ball and go home.
@faoluin A part of my supporters follows it this way. Also a long network effect on it (group of friends, family, etc...) and many people I know IRL who follow me on it. Real life example: I went to the doctor on Friday, he follows me on Fb and had a smile and liked to comment my recent episodes.
Leaving silently (because I can't link about the reason, shadowban system, and no external link allowed) would backfire to me socially more than I can afford. But I'm thinking about a strategy to leave.
@davidrevoy Yeah, I don't blame you at all, especially since you're a professional and you need that audience. It's a bind. :/
@davidrevoy I couldn't *give away* three functional bikes on my local freecycle group because Facebook decided I needed to use a passkey from now on and their passkey setup is totally borked.
But on the upside I guess I'll never have to deal with Facebook ever again for the rest of my life.
@davidrevoy PLEEEEEEASE STAY ENGAGED ON OUR DYING PLATFORM 😭😭😭 - some Meta exec
@davidrevoy je suis bien content d'avoir supprimé mon compte
De toutes façons, à la fin, j'avais 10 posts de pubs pour peut être un post d'un truc ou j'étais abonné ><
@davidrevoy Wow I am so, so glad I definitively left FB a couple of years ago ! Was already unbearable but somehow became even worse.
@davidrevoy It's jarring that the corporation who are the most desperate to squeeze money from people are the most financially fortunate.
@davidrevoy
Why exactly is anyone still on meta ?
@rantanlan For the "network effect", with 3 Billions of active users they are still the number 1 network. (And I'm sad about it, I spent a big part from 2010 to recently to work for a non-profit that tried to inform and educate about the issues with the GAFAM.)
@davidrevoy I'm sorry, was more of a rhetorical question. If your business depend on it or if it's the way it worked for you and provided some income... I know it is no easy choice. For me, who never had an account or dependencys it's easy to write.
The Oatmeal released comic about Facebook starting to do this years ago.
@alienghic I remember! That was long time ago, when they activated that "pay to win" system where if you use it for free, you reach around 10% of your followers and it grows if you pay. That was already scandalous, except for a class of mediocre people who could pay to get an edge on other content creators...
@davidrevoy You know Meta needs all the money they can get./sarcasm
lolwut xd
@davidrevoy seems like a great time for people to leave.
@davidrevoy I am at awe how easily they come up with new ways to squeeze out money of people. I'd never would have thought about limiting the number of ext. links. Wow! 
@davidrevoy It's time for "to get more updates, try Fediverse" kind of guerrilla marketing 🙃
@skobkin I think I heard some creators who got ban for promoting other platforms. eg. Fediverse on Instagram, if I remember. I'll investigate those stories before trying.
honestly if that's how they're gonna roll I hope there is a mass exodus
@davidrevoy facebook? Is that still a thing?
@lectrodan I wish it was true, but it is still a thing. It is even the elephant in the room, the number one (and I hate that, of course).
(src. see some graphs; easy to find https://duckduckgo.com/?q=social+media+by+number+of+users+2025&iar=images&t=ffab )
@davidrevoy I ditched it more than 10 years ago. Also ditched Whatsapp and Instagram back then. To be honest, I don't know anyone who is still on FB. 😬
@davidrevoy They have to fund "muse" somehow and slopmachines arent getting any more profitable. On a more serious note, I didn't think there was any room to enshitify facebook even more, guess I was wrong
@davidrevoy are any of your readers still there though? :-)
How can you even tell? The mere favs counts can be faked. Probably is too, for some sinister psychology experiment.
I am so, so glad that the Fediverse got created.
@anlomedad @isagalaev You can tell they are still plenty of real person watching their timelines by meeting them IRL.
I have plenty of feedback eg. from far away family who came at my wedding explained in the monthly report and who engaged discussion about my recent comics, saying they followed them on Fb, or when I do signing session, and you meet many amazing persons saying with shyness they follow on Facebook.
Yes, the way the post are shown, the stats can all be faked, but this, not much.
@isagalaev A lot, sadly (~16K), and people I personally care, like very old friends, family nephew or nieces, an old person that used to be a friend of the parent of my wife before they passed away; they always interact under the comics, leave a little hello. Cutting the Facebook page would result cutting a bridge and presence in those fragiles relations...
@davidrevoy yes… My question was snarky, but I totally feel what you're saying. I have a few of such connections myself. And those are usually people who aren't going to switch online platforms.
I really hate how Facebook took so many of our relations hostage.
@davidrevoy this is so... deeply, deeply... ten years ago, this picture would have looked like a joke or a prediction of an awful future for the internet.
aaaaaaand
@aud Yes, dystopian
@davidrevoy put up qr codes
@hacknorris It's complex for user to scan the QR code, if this one appears on the screen of the device they use to scan it. I say that, because according to the built in analytics, most of my Facebook audience check their timeline on smartphones. So, I'm not sure if they can have the possibility to do that, that's sad.
@davidrevoy there are ways to open links from qr codes without camera app. you can just do a screenshot and paste into some site which are tons...
@davidrevoy hmm... selling ladders to people wanting to climb out of the hole that meta has dug.
@drgeo I can't. I could with Twitter (and before Elon took it) because it was only "professional relationship" and I knew our professional bubble of FLOSS digital painting was already very active here on the Fediverse.
But on Facebook, it's old aunt, cousins, fans I met at signing session, that always leave a nice comments and follow weekly, 16K in total.
Even if Facebook act like a bandit, if I leave, they'll shadow ban my message of leaving, and I'll get blamed by the audience for doing it.
@davidrevoy It is not wise to be loyal to someone who is not loyal to you in return. In the long run, this benefits enemies and harms friends.
@davidrevoy Silent quitting is a better move then.
@davidrevoy @frumble This is Meta admitting they are bleeding money, right?
@schrotthaufen @frumble It is also my feeling when a company risks an enshitification move like that onto content creators.
@davidrevoy
I think you don't understand enshitification. It's more a sign of look we are still number one in social media, let's convert some of this to money.
@schrotthaufen @frumble
@davidrevoy
What is "Meta"?
Sounds like this one kind of drug ...
(Fun Fact: The company itself was figure out, their system is behaving as like a drug to people, the users, for years ... and them was not doing anything against.)
All of their crap not enters my sourrounding.
Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram ... nope!
@davidrevoy there's still people using Facebook ? 
@grum999 😆
Unfortunately, yes. And far beyond other social media (src https://duckduckgo.com/?q=social+media+by+number+of+users+2025&iar=images&t=ffab )
I am pulling my NeoFinder product page from Facebook because of this garbage.
Good thing, NeoFinder already has a nice Fediverse page, which is free, doesn't spy on you, doesn't require an account, doesn't finance nazis and other questionable behavior.
Time to leave that brown hellhole.
I just wonder if meta has financial problems causing this idiotic idea?
@davidrevoy wow that's... that's a surprising low
@davidrevoy the unlimited price is deranged
@davidrevoy So next post is
"
from now on you can find me here: <link>
bye!
"
🤭?
@fabiscafe I think if I do a link like that, it will be shadow ban.
My regular external links were already shadowban anyway... they keep only the comics.
I'll find something to communicate to my followers (around 16K on it)
@davidrevoy
> I think if I do a link like that, it will be shadow ban.
Then do a comic with a farewell, use ai-fenced font in the bubbles, and tell the story of some metaeuthanized soul that goes into the datacenter inferno to swap bits in the authenticators so villains can access their golem anymore, than set those golem to find a way to destroy all who pushed it to the misery of working agains human artists...
@davidrevoy But why would you ever want to post an external link? Everybody knows that the real internet is only made by a handful of companies and everything else is just for hackers and stuff, riiiight? </s> frigging walled gardens...
"I'm old enough to remember when the internet wasn't a group of five websites, each consisting of screenshots of text from the other four"
-- Tom Eastman, Twitter, 2018-12-03
@davidrevoy Fate is telling you to say Goodbye to Meta!
@davidrevoy I swear I once saw this idea in some satire post and now it's here 😅
@doombloomart @davidrevoy I swear this was one of the features of the "Facebook Gold" posts that circled around 10-15 years ago.
@davidrevoy Meta apps get less and less useful.
@davidrevoy What the hell?
@davidrevoy congratulations to you and Alicja for your wedding anniversary celebration. I wish you both many more years of happiness and togetherness. Half the problems in life are solved when you have your favourite person with you on the journey
@raghukamath 💜 💜 💜 Thank you! I'll transmit your words to Alicja.
@davidrevoy It's always very fun to read through these and see all of the behind the scenes of the circumstances the comics were made in!
And congrats on the remarriage, sounds like a lot of fun to do that after such a long time 
@davidrevoy congrats on the re-marriage! nice that you got to properly celebrate ^^
@davidrevoy i'm a simple man. I see Krita, i upvote.
Install Fedizen
Get the full app experience
Thank you!
@davidrevoy Est-ce que poster un strip avec un lien court en guise d'élément décoratif (genre le fronton d'un pub ou qqch comme ça) ça pourrait le faire ? Mais en postant le strip d'un bloc et pas en 4 images, pour éviter que la zone du lien ne représente un plus gros pourcentage de l'image et soit plus facilement spotté par les perroquets qui scrutent les images. Et par ex, au bout du lien, l'explication des soucis actuels avec la plateforme, et pour ceux qui ne se sentent pas de venir ici, peut-être une newsletter par email ? C'est un peu à l'ancienne, mais ça fonctionne très bien et là au moins pas de shadowban machin chose, même chez ceux qui sont chez gmail & co.
En bonus, en fonction de l'hébergement de la page explicative, tu peux aussi faire un ban de toutes les plages ip connues de meta pour bloquer l'analyse du contenu du lien 😉 Ça ne sera valide qu'un temps, mais étant donné l’espérance de vue des posts chez meta...