Heya, everybody! I'm back from BLFC, and life is starting to go well! Over the weekend I worked on much of my backlog, and the digital pieces I was able to do have gone out to their commissioners, while my real-media stuff is coming along, but hampered a bit as the glass on my scanner has fallen through and broken. I'm looking into a new scanner now, or cutting a new piece of glass and getting it to fit, and in either case I should be back up and able to scan in the next couple of days.

Regarding my backlog, I'm nearly complete. I have nine pieces remaining, and those should be done by this coming weekend, so I'm 100% caught up. In order to get things done, I've had to go out of order taken, because the mood would hit for one or another, so instead of getting bogged down on one piece I wasn't feeling at that moment, I moved on to others. I also have several pieces that were supposed to get in the mail a while back, but were set aside in their basket while I was cleaning my studio. They have been located, all safe, and will be going out shortly, though I will re-verify mailing addresses before they go.

The last several months have been incredibly stressful, but I have learned a lot about myself, how I work, and how to make it better for both me and you. This is going to result in a large change in how I take commissions, especially at conventions. Going forward, I will not be taking homework pieces if I have ANTHING already on my plate. It's not fair to anyone if I do that. Work taken at a con will be completed at THAT con. I'm much better about getting contact info that can be used at con to reach the commissioner, and get their piece to them if it's completed Sunday night after the den closes. But, this brings me to another change: commissions taken for completion at-con will now be only sketchbook/full-page drawings, in pencil, ink, or ink with grayscale Copic marker shading. On Fridays at a con, I will also be taking a very, very limited number of ink painting pieces, to be completed by Sunday morning.

Badges are moving to a pre-order status only, for the time being. Before each con, with my plate completely clean from commissions, I will be taking between 15 and 25 badge orders, that I can complete in the weeks leading up to the con, for AT-CON PICKUP ONLY. By completing badges at home, I can take the time they deserve, and have access to my full array of art supplies and my full cache of markers. What I used to take to cons was a limited selection of my colors, and I often found myself lacking a particular color I would need. Completing them at home eliminates this problem, and also ensures that you will be able to wear your badge for the full duration of the con, instead of perhaps only a day or two. It will also allow me to up my game, as the work I do at home I have the ability to get into more, and take the proper time on. I will continue my Doctor Who theme, but I will also be adding some new themes, such as Barbarians, or Star Wars, and Mad Max, for those interested. Of course, you can still have whatever you like as a theme, naturally.

Books! That's right! N'duk the Hunter is BACK! Off the market for two years, I have been painstakingly working on taking all five volumes and condensing them down into three larger books, correcting any typos, fixing continuity errors, and generally upgrading the stories from how they originally came out to what they always should have been. The new volume I was released as a limited, numbered run of 40 at BLFC, to great success. The remainder of that run will be split in two categories, now: one will remain as is, with the normal price of $20. The others will get a custom sketch on the inside dust cover, and will be $30. There will likely only be ten copies with sketches, and they will be up for grabs at Anthrocon. The final, unlimited version of volume I will hopefully debut at Further Confusion, providing I get a dealer table, there. It will have all new art, a full-color wraparound cover, and if I can work it, will even be available in hardback. Price for hardback not yet set, as I'm still working on a supplier.

Aside from that, I am still pretty busy, but I've realized the mistakes I've made in the past, and I don't ever want to repeat them. This is a new Mitch, a better Mitch, and the Mitch you should have always had. If you need to contact me, PLEASE email me at mongooseinkart[at]gmail.com Do NOT use notes on FA. My notes system has been absolutely unreliable for ages, now, and I can't guarantee I'll get what you're sending in a note. Please use my email, mongooseinkart[at]gmail.com .

For now, I'm getting back to work. There's a big piece I hope to finish tonight for Doman Ryler, and a few others I'd like to get more headway on.