So I got back from RF 2014 and here's what happened.

* Went with  chimaera and  ragscoon for the trip. None of us could get a room for the convention since we kind of underestimated how big RF was, so they ended up rooming with another group (although they eventually got a room at a different motel since their circumstances were a bit too noisy) and I got a room at an inn not too far from the convention. We had to think about things a little differently this time.
* Since none of us had a room, it prompted us to go to more panels than we normally would have, and we had a more eventful time as a result.
* However, we didn't suit as much as we wanted too.
* Discussed an upcoming comic the three of us are working on.
* The parade AKA Daft Punk Daft Punk Daft Punk.
* Denny's is a really mediocre restaurant.

Here's a little pro-con list:

+ Really big and lots of stuff to do.
+ Panels were pretty interesting and the dance competition and variety show were entertaining.
+ Convention center was pretty big.
+ Lots of vendors.
+ No babyshow panels! A first for me, good on you RF.

- So big that the hotel easily filled up, making travel and suiting difficult.
- Too many "babies”.
- Convention center was somewhat inaccessible so you either had to walk up a bunch of stairs or take an elevator.

(-) Pretty unrelated, but on the way back home some TSA agent made fun of my bendy legs* when I went into the 1984 privacy eliminator at the airport. Shithead, my body ain't there to please you and your stupid machine, and it certainly isn't "messed up". Mom was pretty pissed about that too, but we had a flight to catch.

Thinking about it, this was a weird mix of good and bad situations, but overall I had a good time...don't know if I would really go AGAIN to the same hotel, though.

* I have a slight physical condition where my knees stick out a bit so it looks like I'm slouching. I can straighten them out a bit to where they're kind of normal but it's somewhat uncomfortable (you might notice this in some of my fursuit pictures; I'm not actually slightly kneeling down in them.) I got shit for it back in middle school a lot so it wasn't that fun to have old wounds reopened, even if they did get me out of many semesters of PE.

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So anyway, during the convention I did a lot of thinking about various things that I'm going to try to be working on.

One of them was after I got some sweet badges of my character Davide, I thought about having a "main" character like a lot of other people in this fandom. I mean, I really like Davide but I don't want to neglect other characters like Alga and Jones. So I think I'll have each of my characters represent a part of me, like Davide is symbolic of me liking to explore new things, Jones is sort of representative of my ideals, and Alga is like my collective tendencies. Sounds a little weird and pedantic, I know, but I don't think I can narrow myself down to a single thing, so why should I do the same with my characters (even if I do have like 20 of them)? Plus it's fun to try to emulate or exaggerate a part of myself and portray a number of different characters. It's probably easier to do this than have to have a "species change" or whatever. I also think that my capability to actually create the characters influences that, too.

Another big thing that gave me a lot of inspiration was going to an "Advanced Fursuiting" panel, by Razzy-Lee, I think. While most of it was just review for me, I've been thinking about the "industry standard" of suit making. While there are a lot of resources online, there's no singular list concerning guidelines to follow, and it's made me think about the quality of materials and tools I use. Like, for example, for a long time I used a DTD of my head (protip: don't do this, it is a very dumb idea) as a headbase, and I only just recently got an actual head armature for my birthday. And that's not counting the long time I've done without a serger / sewing machine (both of which I've acquired and use regularly), although those are obviously very nice things to have when working with fabric.

The experience at being at a big convention has really given me a lot of ideas that I want to implement in future costumes (and probably the ones I am working on right now). I've learned a few new tricks but I'll need to test out them to make sure they hold up and don't look cheap. The big issue that I'm facing is that I do not get a lot of exposure to new costumes and styles, so it's hard to get new sources of inspiration from them and learn what exactly the “standard” of the community is. Unfortunately, I doubt there will be a concise set of guidelines for things like standards of quality, materials, production techniques, materials needed, etc. Something like that might be intimidating for those entering the scene, but having something like that would be a boon to anyone looking to go pro.

Honestly, at this point, I really want to finish what I'm working on so I can focus on perfecting my building techniques and figuring out a simple but effective way to make fursuits and fursuit accessories, that reason being one of many why it’s taken me a considerably longer amount of time to get my current projects turned over. Another big issue I'm facing is that my entire production assembly is located within my room. My closet is entirely dedicated to storing materials (and my personal suits) and it really limits the amount of things I can keep in here. So maybe I have to face up and say that I'm not going to be able to significantly expand my creative abilities until I get a place of my own, which won't be for a while (No formal job, and I have a weird phobia of apartment buildings). And there's also other things I gotta worry about like finishing school, raising my puppies, dealing with family happenings, and furthermore. I hate the feeling of being limited a lot, but for right now I might just need to be patient and wait for my time to shine. Until then, I'll take things slowly. Not much one man can accomplish out of a ~200 square foot room...well, there IS, but I like a more "open floor" environment.

In addition to that I'm also going to focus more on my art. I usually don't draw much since I think my drawings just look really flat and uninteresting, but I want to have a style that focuses on dynamic poses and defined features, like having everything stand out and be sharp and colorful. Might have to give Illustrator a go sometime since it's a good vector-based software, which could work better for some illustrating styles.

So, right now I'm going to be focusing on refining my skills and bringing them up to a professional level, while looking for a way to be up-to-date on what is considered "standard" in the community. I'll try to be drawing more often, since I want to give more exposure and personality to my characters.