last sentence pretty much summed it up

I guess so,

Inkbunny is where all the cubs hang out
SoFurry(yiffstars) mostly writers and poets
FA others
VCL - retro and older furs.
e621 - filth where everything twisited is.

Maybe we start some retro things up like a competition group.
I know a few furries that do a few competetions.

maybe i should organise one with a furry

And thats basically everything.

It does seem like almost no own shares are anymore. This place seems almost dominated by art sellers and art buyers. It's rare to find someone who does trades or gifts just for fun. Or am I missing the point?

Well. its eems to be the case :s. heck, maybe it's a temporary phase :3. give it time, maybe you can spark it up ^^

In truth, Fennex, I think the rise of things like paypal, of which has made it easy for people to get paid for commissions. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing particularly wrong about getting paid to do art, and I know several people who make big bucks doing commissions, but it seems like almost everybody and their dog is doing commissions now, and some of the artwork, is quite frankly, not professional by any standards. Cheap art is cheap art...

I love drawing, and I love drawing for fun. In the old days I tried to do commissions, via friends at work and such, but to be honest, nobody wanted to pay what was needed just to purchase the supplies. I think the most I ever made off a commission was $40.00 and I had at least 40 hours in the project and used quite possibly $20 dollars worth of materials. It was cool to get paid, but I hated the whole process.

I concur with everything, but I never went into commissions. I prefer trades or requests, my work ain't worth 12 cents, but its the joy of drawing something for someone who wants it.

And really, why is everyone doing commissions all of a sudden? I know, for money, but not everything it worth what they say it is. I'd pay full price if Blotch made something I commissioned them, because they are one (along with other known artists) of the highest standards of the community.

As stated I'm not against people using their talents to make money... if ya got it, flaunt it, but I think people have taken the commission thing to all new levels of lameness. It seems like almost every single person has "commission" info, even though there is a lack of quality control. One of my best friends is a professional animator (The Cleveland Show), and he does some crazy awesome stuff, but guess what, you won't even get a commission out of him for less than $300.00, and that is because he puts his heart and soul into every project. Is he worth it? Yup... every penny. However, hardly anybody will pay such amounts, and that is largely due to low budget...low quality cheap commissioners.

As Fennex stated... where is the fun of doing art for the fun of doing art? I'm always game... when I have time. :P Of which is hardly ever now a days.

Well, not only that, but most people don't have $300 to drop on an art piece. I'm sure he's worth it too, but art is unfortunately a hard sale. You have to compete with people who will half-ass the details and get it out in half the time and in my case those who do digital work. God knows it's hard to get traditional art to look in the digital plane, and get people to even click on it if you did it in pencil, never mind the shading and time you spent on it. As far as the fun? I'm having fun, but I'd love to do an art trade or a really open-ended contest.

People are too busy selling their art? Im not sure.

Being a -generally- new fur, I guess I was never exposed to all of this fun, though I have seen a few trades, and there is this iron artist thing going on, But for the most part, what you have described, in all three years of my fandom, hasn't really happened... Sorry.

I remember back in 2002 of yerf, VCL, Inkbunny, Artspots, all those sites had a nice thing going,

Not like FA was a bad thing, just we need more community based comps or orgs around to get almost everybody closer

I didn't know about FA untill 2009. small world out there, but alot of the best artists hang out here, easier to watch their work then visiting different sites.

I got into the fandom back in the 90s. Back then Yerf was the SCFA! I definitely liked and needed that place. For me it was the mailing lists since I'm an author. The Transformation Story Archive, Furry-Lit, and so forth. Those were my lifeblood.

They still exist too, but they are no longer as active as they used to be, which is a little sad in its own way.

Nevertheless, I have met and made many more furry friends in recent memory, many of whom I probably would never have met if not for places like FA.

Dominus tecum