I have never written in one of these things before, so bear with me, watchers, if this thing seems a bit unkempt, or rambles off at times. I don't generally write autobiographical stuff, so journals haven't been part of my practice at all.

First off, congrats and thanks to Bloo Roo for being my first commissioner! I'm hoping to hear from him sometime soon to see when he wants me to send him his badge, which, I believe, is finished barring any last minute tweaks he might request. Anyone else who is interested in commissions would do well to get in early, as I am planning on handing out some bonus artwork to the first 5 clients in the future. For the time being, the cost for a show badge is $20, I'm still working out the details on how to print them out and provide them to their owners. I'm assuming the majority of people just want the digital file, as most of us have our own printers. But I'm new to this, so I'm willing to hear suggestions.


I have been working in digital exclusively these days, which is unusual for me, as I have always been very much a traditional artist, working with pen and ink/ watercolor. The one thing I really enjoy about the digital workflow, is that I can maintain the line quality I used to lose with the pen and ink. I prefer very rough paper for my watercolors, and trying to get an expressive line on a small piece often resulted in the destruction of my paper or quills. Non destructive editing is a huge plus as well. I am not yet as far along in Photoshop as I would like to be, but in the last week, I have gotten a whole lot better, thanks to Lar DeSousa. Man, I can't thank this guy enough for the art show he did last week on Ustream.

Any photoshop painters out there would do well to look him up, and don't miss his shows on Friday nights, when you can talk directly to him via chat while he works. I really should make something for him to take to Megacon next month. He's not a furry artist per se, but then, neither am I. I don't like to be pigeonholed that way, though my works are typically of an anthropomorphic nature, more often than not.

To anyone who might ask: Why do i not use Painter? I used painter for a long time after I graduated from Ringling. I have to say, its one of the reasons I never viewed digital art as a viable medium. I could acheive the same results in traditional media, in one third the time, and without the system bombs. I have owned every version of Painter ever released, all the way back to when it came on about a dozen floppy disks, delivered in an actual paint can. As of Painter 9, I have officially given up on it. It crashes, it throws palettes all over the place, it doesn't remember your settings. And God help you if you put your computer to sleep and leave it for a few days without quitting Painter first. It used to be only marginally buggy, but now, its a constantly ticking bomb on your desktop. Maybe after all this bitching I'll click on that icon in my Dock one last time. I haven't had to do a hard system PRAM reset for 3 years… The last time i used Painter.

For my sketching needs, I use Alias Sketchbook Pro. Absolutely love that drawing program. It does just the basics, although it also has Layers, similar to Photoshop, which I use very occasionally. Primarily I use it to produce my rough line drawings, which I then import into PS CS4, where they are inked and colored. I have yet to have Photoshop lock up or crash on me since I installed the latest version about a year ago. Absolutely tits.

Heading out of town for the weekend starting Friday morning, 2/19, and I will likely be incommunicado, unless the cruise ship has wifi I can hop on to. When I'm not drinking, I will probably be working on art.

What is it about artists that cause us to always have problems with our teeth? Quite often I see someone or another looking for donations to pay for what undoubtedly is major reconstruction. I can only imagine what the beautiful people think of us- Shambling hobos scratching our living out in the dirt. But are we eating ROCKS or something?

As for me, I went to the tooth chiseler yesterday, who advised me that I was going to need something on the order of 4 root canals in addition to the surgery I was receiving that day. The bill: $20,000. My parents bought their first house for that, and it was a BIG house. On 2 acres. Overlooking the Mississippi. Too bad I don't have any insurance. I brush, I floss, my teeth still break. I often look at sharks jealously.

I was barely able to avoid a root canal yesterday- the old (Mercury!) filling had done what they always do in the end: It had cracked the tooth in half. So every time I took a drink of that delicious Red Bull, it went straight inside, to the waiting nerve. I waited two weeks to get a spot, subsisting on a diet based mostly on Advil and whatever sustenance i was able glean from the pollen and mould spores I inhaled. So after receiving a pay advance from the boss, I shambled down to the dentist(who is really quite good). She told me, after scooping out the filling, that she was able to see down into the steaming core of my tooth, and that I would more than likely need a root canal on that one too. We went ahead and filled the tooth, and prepared it for a crown- no root canal. They wished me luck, and wrote a prescription for pain killers, and sent me on my way, with the advisement that, if it started to hurt badly, I needed to come in for an emergency root canal.

The pharmacy was right next door, in the grocery store, so I went in to fill my tabs. 15 minutes later, the pills were ready, and the Novacaine had already begun to wear off. 5 minutes later I experienced- well, it can only be described as:
A CARNIVAL OF PAIN
The nerves, waking from a slumber induced by (7!) shots, began to cry out in anguish. I headed back to work! When I arrived, the world was skewed. I drifted in through the door, literally drunk on endorphins, at something like a sideways 45 degree angle, mumbling softly as I made my way to my work bench and drawing table. I downed two Advils and a Red Bull, shambled over to the silkscreening machine, and lay face down on the table while I set the guides. Fortunately, the Advils began to work, and I felt the swelling going down as I concentrated on not getting Epoxy ink all over myself. After that, I was in pretty good shape. Wheeee!