Frequently Asked Questions

Yippie-ki-yay! let the questions begin…

How often does this blog update?: As of the 13th January 2024, it updates twice daily. There’s an article posted each afternoon at 3:11pm GMT (4:11pm BST) and there’s an art post every evening at 7:45pm GMT (8:45pm BST). Back in 2013/2014, there was also a third daily “How To Draw” post which appeared every day at 2pm-2:30pm GMT.

3:11pm? That’s kind of a strange time. Why?: To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. Like many traditions, it’s origins are lost in the mists of time.

Where did the name “PekoeBlaze” come from?: It’s my username on DeviantART and, when I started this blog in 2013, it just kind of carried over. The name itself is a portmanteau of the surnames of the main characters (Melanie Pekoe and Terell Blaze) from an unpublished short story that I wrote a few years earlier.

Yet, surprisingly, I’ve never actually tried orange pekoe tea yet.

How the hell do I pronounce it?: Ok, everyone always gets the pronunciation wrong. It’s supposed to be pronounced “Peek-o Blaze” rather then “Pecko-blaze”. And, before anyone says anything, I didn’t know that orange pekoe was pronounced as “orange pecko” when I came up with the blog title – hence why it has a different pronunciation.

Why does your art always appear on DeviantART ages before it appears here?: Because it does. Ok, seriously, it’s because WordPress is cool enough to allow me to schedule my posts in advance. In order to do that on DeviantART, I’d have to get premium membership (or “Core” membership as it’s called these days). So, to keep my DeviantART gallery up to date, I usually post stuff on DeviantART early.

Why do you sometimes mention things that you’ve seen or read “recently” and yet also talk about things that you’ve seen or read a couple of months ago. It’s very confusing: One of the best ways to think about this site is that, most of the time, there’s a 4-6 month 8-9 month fairly long time delay between when I write an article or make a piece of art and when I post it (it’s a way of ensuring that I don’t miss any regular updates, since WordPress allows you to save drafts and/or schedule things in advance).
Usually, I try to acknowledge this fact in my articles by pointing out that I saw or read something a couple of months ago, but sometimes I forget and use words like “recently”.

What’s this “PekeoBlaze In Exile” site that I found on Blogspot? Is it one of yours?: Yes, it is. For a short time in July 2014 I had a few problems with this blog and began to set up a new blog on Blogspot because I feared that this blog might come to an end.

Fortunately, these problems were resolved in a satisfactory way the next day and I never got round to posting anything more than an introductory post on “PekoeBlaze In Exile” (most of which I’ve since scribbled out).

Still, I’m keeping the “PekoeBlaze In Exile” blog online as a backup in case I have any problems with this blog in the future.

Star Trek or Star Wars?: Trek. Obviously.

Kirk or Picard?: Janeway.

Er… Are you a boy or a girl? I can’t quite tell from the drawings at the beginning of your articles: That’s kind of the point. My gender (in the sociological/psychological sense of the term, rather than the biological) is, well, complicated. It’d take a while to explain…

Are you a goth?: I’m probably more of a nerd and a metalhead than a goth. In fact, I didn’t even know the difference between metal and gothic rock until I was about twenty. Still, I like a lot of gothic stuff, I always wear black clothes and my art often looks kind of gothic too. So, I guess I’m sort of partially a goth.

How old are you? You sound middle-aged in most of your articles: Actually, I’m in my mid thirties. But, at heart, I’m probably a lot older, grumpier and more cynical. Seriously, when I was a teenager, someone actually described me as “sixteen going on sixty” more than once. Plus, I’m usually at least a good five to ten years behind current technology too – because, well, old stuff is better.

Why are some of your reviews called “Mini Reviews”? And why are some of these “mini” reviews so damn long?: These days, I’ll usually refer to both “first impressions” articles and reviews of shorter things as “mini reviews”. The title refers to the amount of something that I’ve seen, rather than the length of the review.

Hey! Where’s your Twitter feed? Where’s your Facebook page? Do you have a Tumblr?: I tried using Facebook many years ago, but the IM feature on it annoyed me so much (I only really like asynchronous forms of communication) that I ended up abandoning Facebook.

As for Twitter, well I don’t tend to write short things. I’m very verbose. It’s a lot easier for me to write 1400 words than it is for me to write 140 characters. Plus, there are far too many stupid Twitter-based news stories in the press. I don’t want to add to this problem, which is destroying journalism as we know it.

No, I don’t have a Tumblr either. If I did, I’d probably end up inadvertently offending someone or other within five minutes of signing up.

What art supplies do you use?: In 2024, I currently use 9cm x14cm “Talens Art Creation” sketchbooks (though the art made in these won’t really appear here until autumn 2024), waterproof ink rollerball/fine-liner pens, an assortment of watercolour pencils and a waterbrush. I also use a 4H pencil for initial sketches too.

After I’ve scanned my paintings, I usually edit them in MS Paint 5.1, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 6 and/or a program called GIMP.

[Back in about 2017: For my paintings, I use Boldmere watercolour sketchbooks, various waterproof ink pens, W.H.Smith watercolour pencils, an old set of Dewent watercolour pencils and occasionally a set of 24 Staedtler “Noris Club” watercolour pencils (I’ve also got a set of Prismalo watercolour pencils I use very occasionally too). As for brushes, I use a medium-size Pentel waterbrush these days.]

What’s going on with the image descriptions? From the 14th January 2024 onwards, I’ve started experimenting with adding limited image descriptions to some of the images on this blog. For time reasons, this is currently only restricted to images within the body text of non-review articles published on the 14th January 2024 or later (and doesn’t include title illustrations, game/movie screenshots in reviews or daily art posts). It isn’t perfect, but hopefully it’s better than nothing. [Edit: 19th January 2024: Unfortunately, due to the large number of images, descriptions also won’t appear for any “art preview” replacement articles either. Sorry about this]

Have you actually had anything published.. properly?: Just three short stories, I’m afraid. Good luck finding them too, they were all printed in two small print run anthologies (of which I own at least 3 -4 copies of each one). They were also only sold in one small town for a brief time during the late 2000s/early 2010s. I’m sure that they will be worth millions in a few decades’ time.

Why don’t you write fiction any more? You write about writing enough!: To tell you the truth, I’m not entirely certain. In a way, I’m more interested in making art and writing non-fiction these days. But, apart from this interactive comedy/horror story I wrote for Halloween 2015, I also seem to be going through one of the longest and most persistent spells of writer’s block that I’ve ever experienced too. [Edit: I got back into writing short stories for a while in 2016/early 2017]

Plus, I seem to be too busy making art and writing non-fiction to write fiction regularly at the moment. Not only that, I seem to have fallen into an annoying habit of self-censoring too much over the past couple of years- so, the types of “edgy” fiction (whether it’s splatterpunk horror fiction, more risqué types of fiction, ultra-cynical comedy etc..) that I’d thrive at writing often tend to go unwritten.

What is the meaning of life?: Whatever you want it to be. But it’s probably 42.

Hey! Whatever happened to “Ambitus“?: I think I got writing fatigue near the end of episode two and I found juggling this series with the three daily blog posts I was making at the time to be too much of a challenge. So, yeah, it’s pretty much abandoned. If you want more of it, then you’re probably going to have to write the fan fiction yourself.

What are your political opinions?: They vary from issue to issue and they change over time. I’m too liberal to call myself a conservative and I’m too conservative to call myself a liberal. By all conventional logic, I should love the current UK Lib Dem/Tory coalition Government, but I don’t. It contains the worst aspects of both parties. Then again, I wasn’t exactly a fan of Blair’s government either.

If you want to know my thoughts on the 2015 UK election (and on Governments in general), then check out this article.

What is the average air speed velocity of a laden swallow?: African or European?

[*THIS FAQ ENDS ABRUPTLY*].