Zef and Snorb

It all began with a tiny problem: DeviantArt’s gifting limit. Core+ members can only gift two exclusive works a month to supporters—and ten for Pro+. Which was fine until it very much wasn’t, because we loved giving art to each other and our friends and we kept hitting the ceiling like overcaffeinated house sprites. So, naturally, the solution was obvious to Fin: invent a gnome.

Thus emerged Zeffle Nimbleburrow, an exuberant little gifting gnome with a passion for surprise packages, trinkets wrapped in enchanted ribbon, and the art of dramatic generosity. He got his own DeviantArt account and started buying Fin’s works to gift them back out, no questions asked. This was clearly completely normal.

In an act of immediate and loving escalation, Andy responded with his own answer to the system: Snorblyn Moonwhistle, a rakish goblin with sparkly fingers, a cart full of shiny things, and the unshakable belief that every gift is better if it’s delivered with jazz hands and moonlight. Of course, they fell in love—who wouldn’t? A gnome and a goblin, drawn together by whimsy, loopholes, and mutual admiration for glitter.

And that’s when things got delightfully out of hand.
They got married.
They got lore.
We wrote stories about them.
We made art of them.
We giggled like fools about them.

What started as two joke accounts quickly refused to remain jokes. Zef and Snorb developed personalities, habits, opinions, emotional baggage, and an alarming amount of domestic specificity. We gave them cozy domestic adventures, wild magical hijinks, and emotionally charged arguments over whose turn it was to organize the sock drawer that leads to the alternate dimension of discontinued wrapping paper.

Somewhere along the way, they stopped being a workaround and became characters—living, breathing little beings who carried our affection, our humor, and our shared creative language. They were playful and ridiculous, yes, but also sincere. Zef and Snorb became mascots of generosity, partnership, mutual hype, and loving each other loudly in a world that often discourages that kind of softness.

Unfortunately, the world they were born into—DeviantArt itself—did not turn out to be a particularly magical place.

On New Year’s Eve 2025, Andy and Fin made a mutual decision to leave DeviantArt for good. On January 2, 2025, we posted our farewells—and then, deliberately and without ambiguity, deactivated Zef and Snorb’s accounts as well. That wasn’t an accident or a soft exit; it was a line drawn. We were done, and so was their presence there.

The reason was simple: what once felt like community had revealed itself to be something else. Most of the people we supported were never friends. They were opportunists. When the money stopped flowing, so did their interest. Some disappeared immediately. Others reacted with entitlement or hostility when we no longer served their needs. One person in particular--Ana—repeatedly exploited our generosity, treated us as a resource rather than as people, and made it unmistakably clear how transactional and hollow the space had become. DeviantArt did nothing to discourage this behavior and quietly benefited from it.

So we left.
But Zef and Snorb didn’t end; they moved on.

Their stories now unfold off-platform, untethered from algorithms, limits, or audiences that never deserved them. They have new adventures, new chaos, new settings, and new problems—none of which have anything to do with DeviantArt, gifting systems, or creative economies.

Other Recurring Characters
because our world expanded past Zef and Snorb, oops

Marzipan the Ferret [she/her] - A sentient spaghetti noodle with anxiety. Frequently found sleeping in teacups, sock drawers, or inside Puke’s mouth (by accident). Bears the thousand-yard stare of someone who’s seen what happens when Snorb “tries to help.” Once got knighted by accident. Still unsure what to do with that.
Ziggy the Cat [he/him] - A calico with the attitude of a tax auditor and the murder gaze of a disgruntled librarian. Hates everyone except maybe Zef and Snorb, and even that’s conditional. Has been glitter-bombed more than once and is one sequin away from burning the house down. Communicates entirely through slow blinks and psychic contempt.
Moppin [he/him] - The Brownie with boundary issues. Fuzzy, loud, and 200% committed to domestic terrorism via enchanted cookies. Lives in a drawer by choice. Has a thimble collection and a very questionable understanding of “private property.” Claims to be a cleaning spirit, causes 93% of the mess.
Puke [he/him] - Moppin's teacup-sized rescue kelpie, pastel-yellow, rainbow-maned, and sparkly-hooved. Vomits glitter when happy, scared, tired, hungry, or just because. Thinks licking enchanted walls is a form of artistic expression. Loudly snorts when excited. Seen as a magical hazard in three realms. Always damp.
Tuppence [she/her] - An Australian-accented magpie. Technically works for the Council of the Lavender Court, but moonlights as a messenger, mediator, and dramatic doorbell.
Lord Sparklebutt [he/him] - A peacock; guardian of the Lavender Court. Majestic, arrogant, and somehow wearing more eyeliner than is socially acceptable for a bird. Considers himself royalty (because he is).
George [he/him] - A very flamboyant seahorse and auditor. Also fond of eyeliner.
Bertrand [he/him] - An owl auditor (yes, another auditor). Extremely Done™ with the moon.
The Blue Ting™ [it/its] - The most horrifying creature in the entre multiverse.
MooMoo [she/her] - One of Fin's cats, judges everyone, saves the world from The Blue Ting™ on the regular.
Grovomil [he/him] - A completely unhinged gnome necromancer. Also in Maika and Aiden's universe.