i'm no longer going to take every commission people come to me with. the idea will have to be something i feel like drawing at the time. drawing is just a hobby of mine and doing whatever people were willing to pay me for sucked a lot of the fun out of it and made me depressed. basically i'd have to raise my prices a LOT to make drawing things i'm not interested in worth it for me, and i don't want to do that, as it would then discourage people from commissioning me that i would actually LOVE to work for.

i'll try to do more ychs and post journals letting folks know what i'm currently looking to draw, and i suppose you could try to make it worth my while if i initially turn down a commission idea, but people who get mad at me for not being a machine and drawing whatever they want me to regardless of my own feelings are going to get blocked.

by all means tho, please DO note me with any idea you want to commission! i might say no, but if you don't even ask, you're just gypping yourself out of a possible yes.

specifically mutuals, watchers, folks i've done trades with, commissioners, etc- do you want to play 'among us' but don't own it yet for whatever reason? lmk.

evidently i wasn't clear. what i MEANT was; do you NOT OWN 'among us', but would LIKE to own it?

I AM NOT LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO PLAY WITH!!! i am never going to play the game myself due to how stressful the whole 'deception' thing would be for me.

is there some easy way to get groups of adults together, or am i justified in feeling like it's really hard? it seems that everyone is either a busy adult with no time for fun group projects, or they are a child and thus don't know how to behave appropriately in said group.

i was looking forward to it but i don't think i'll be able to participate in snektember this year. in fact, i may not be able to take commissions at all...

my current project, the Art Battle Royale server, has been taking all of my time and energy to manage lately. i've finally got some mods on trial to help me, but only time will tell if they'll be able to lower my stress enough that i can get back into actually drawing. while i am finally getting the general details and management smoothed out, we keep getting new members, thus becoming busier, so the work never really stops.

it's bittersweet, seeing my group be so successful that i am too busy managing it to actually participate in it myself ^^;

well, i loved artfight too much and couldn't let it go this year, so i've made a discord server that operates in much the same way. not familiar with artfight? no worries, keep reading!

Art Battle Royale is a discord server where you can draw for others, and be drawn for, without having to contact each person privately and discuss details. people can set permissions and you should respect them, but overall, artistic freedom reigns.

everyone posts a 'profile' with examples of their art, and links to their characters, and then you can 'attack' other users by drawing their characters, and receive points for doing so! it is highly encouraged to 'revenge', or draw back for, all the art you receive, but the only penalty for not doing so is that other folks will be able to see your 'battle ratio' and may not draw for you if it's low. so no pressure!



you can use this link to join; >>> https://discord.gg/m4tYAcH <<<
(you can also join just to spectate and discuss art if you aren't an artist yourself)

i've noticed a recent trend of dragons and other scalies being called 'kobolds' even when they're imo obviously not? like i've always known of kobolds as weak little lizard people that worship dragons, never even close to human height, and never having hair or more than a few small nubby horns. most of what i'm seeing lately is just wingless dragons. did a new dnd book come out that changed things???


to clarify, a kobold is basically a short, cute, wingless dragon-lizard. but lately folks have been drawing them as tall and muscular, often covered in spikes, which as far as i'm aware is completely inaccurate, and a more accurate race name would be drake.

guys help, i don't know what to do with my life without artfight. personal art, commissions, and videogames just don't interest me near enough. I'M SO BORED.

it's over for real this time. now just to wait and see who won... and plan for next year!

really tho i'm going to be taking a little break before i get back to work. trying to create a unique and complete drawing every day for a month is stressful! but i'll be back to commissions soon. maybe get another snektember sale going, tho i'll have to charge more since i ran out of poses.

been about 12 hours since it originally kicked off this morning. fuuuuuuck dominion power. back in sc with duke energy, power was NEVER down for more than 4 hours.

power's been out for over 10 hours, and we don't have an eta when it will be back. any tips for keeping food cool? we bought some ice and filled coolers and moved food from fridge to there, but i'm wondering if there's anything else we can do. i was thinking filling bathtub with cold water and putting coolers in there, but i couldn't find anything online and am worried it will do the exact opposite, since even room-temp water is often used to thaw food.

looking for long-term cooling solutions, just keeping the fridge closed isn't enough at this point.

 Kuvajaenen is doin' a raffle, have at it! https://www.furaffinity.net/view/37498562/



artfight WOULD be over now- but they extended it 10 days into august. 2-3 days of that is the normal make-up days for when the site went down constantly in the beginning, but the rest is likely due to the pandemic. this year has easily been far busier than any before, by a longshot. some new members every year is normal, but this year we have over twice as many points as last year! lots more people participating since it's something we can all do from the safety of our homes.

i managed my goal of a new drawing every single day, and then some, plus my bonus goal of 1k points (once i realized i had been cheating myself of points and could in fact get a lot more relatively easily) now all that's left is making sure i get all my revenges done, and i think i can manage due to the extension. i'm not gonna try to do one attack every day anymore tho. a full of month of that was hard enough, and i don't want to burn myself out when i still have at least 5 attacks i MUST complete.

it's been fun! lots of good art this time, actually struggled to keep up with revenges, made new friends, even had some good chains! and i learned more tips for next year. i'm eager to rest, but also eager to start again. it's a strange feeling.

i have found the reason why drawing every single day for an entire month (even without limits on size/quality) is difficult. and that reason is goddamned periods. all i wanna do is lie in bed and maybe get up just to play dumb videogames.

forgot to mention in the last journal that artfight being extended means commissions will be delayed. if you have already payed for a commission that i have yet to complete, or intend to buy one as soon as i open in august, PLEASE COMMENT HERE. those of you who payed should already be on my list but i want to make extra sure i'm not missing anyone, and get everything organized into a nice to-do list for when artfight ends.

so again, PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS JOURNAL(and specify what your situation is) IF YOU

-ordered and payed for a commission but have yet to receive it
-received an invoice for a commission but have yet to pay it since i wouldn't be working yet
-discussed getting a commission from me but have not been issued an invoice
-have yet to discuss it with me but would like to get a commission when i re-open in a few weeks

i've been doing pretty well with my goal this year, drawing a full picture every day (and sometimes more) for artfight. the month is half over tho, and just as i was starting to get sad about that, they extended the fight into august an extra 10 days! so, if you haven't joined yet, there's still plenty of time! https://artfight.net/~AlphaGodith

and the extra time is a great boon for me because i got swamped with attacks and super good revenges, so now i have to figure out ideas for characters i hadn't planned on hitting O.o it's kinda burning me out to be honest, as some of the characters just don't interest/inspire me... but i said i'd hit back so i gotta try!


and yes my plants are gone. we decided that since we were already going to have to pay someone to remove the giant tree out front that partially fell on tayoh's car, we might as well remove some other plants that i hate. and some that i don't really mind but would like to replace. so now our yard is holly free! i fucking hate holly. painful leaves on the ground and not even big nice-smelling flowers to make up for it. then there's the boxwood bushes that were kinda bare underneath... i'm thinking tea olives and gardenias to replace both, respectively, but i'm known to have a big of a black thumb, so... we'll see how that goes. having a yard without a tree shading it is really weird and uncomfy, too :C but tayoh wanted to try having a lawn, so, i'll let him try. then when he sees how much more difficult it is to make pretty than he thought, i'll get a new tree! XD

actually, if there are any gardeners/landscapers out there reading this, please help me! i have no idea what i'm doing and my yard being so empty is making me sad. it is very warm here and we live by water so our dirt is very sandy... i don't know what will grow well or how to plant it.

i've been uploading art online long enough to get a pretty good understanding of my drawing habits. and with this being my third year of artfight, i think it's about time i explain a thing, even if nobody's actually asked about it. the question?
"how come you barely post any art for most of the year, but then artfight comes around and you are drawing literally every single day?"
the answer? twofold.
firstly, i don't really enjoy drawing for myself. doodling is fun, but full pieces take a lot of work, and my skill level is such that everything i draw looks childish and disappointing compared to the image in my head. so when i draw my own ideas, they are either super quick doodles that get no attention cuz they are trash, or i put in a ton of effort and get a tiny amount of attention for a pic i still don't really care for myself. not worth it.
secondly, i have a high work ethic, so commissions stress me the fuck out. i always try to go beyond what is comfortable for me to give my paying customers EXACTLY what they want. and usually, what i'm being payed to draw isn't even something i'm really interested in drawing in the first place, so i rely entirely on guilt/commitment and the commissioner's own enthusiasm (which is sometimes lacking) to fuel the art.
so what does that mean for artfight? well, with artfight, i have all the freedom of drawing for myself, plus the positive motivators of a commission. i can draw what i want, how i want, PLUS there's a good chance i'll get art out of it myself, that i will actually LIKE looking at.
so why not just do more art trades?
honestly it's kind of hard to find partners for trades. most folks don't even say if they do trades or not, and most who do only open for mutuals. and even then, i've done many trades where i never got their half, or even a comment on what i did for them. i am in the furtrade group, but it's very small, and it doesn't have the convenient character pages like artfight does, so there's the anxiety inducing risk of asking someone to trade and then finding out you don't like any of their characters. artfight just has a GREAT system for trades. you can see all their characters, info about them as a person, their style, and most importantly, their track record for giving and getting art. and there's THOUSANDS of users, of all skill levels! it's so easy to find someone who has a character you want to draw, is around your skill level, and is likely to draw back. and everyone is there for the same thing! it's just really fuckin' great and i wish there were a way it could run all year.
so why don't i do the minigames?
cuz the discord is fucking terrifying. it's full of drugged-up minors and the few times i've tried to interact have just gone horribly. so no thanks.

tldr; i hate my art and i would draw a lot more if i could get payed for drawing stuff that actually interests me instead of just other people's ideas

have i advertised it enough yet? you all know what it is and given some serious thought to joining? no? WELL FRIGGIN CHECK IT OUT AND FIGHT ME DAMMIT. i wanna draw for folks and get art myself! don't you? it's just art trades- except you don't actually HAVE to draw for everyone who draws for you. there's no pressure! unless you set goals for yourself or really care about points and winning. FIGHT ME; https://artfight.net/~AlphaGodith

i've just finished updating tayoh's character designs and got them some refs JUST for artfight. gonna post 'em later today, since imma go bed soon... you'll probably like 'em, there's a taur. see 'em early here; https://artfight.net/character/641605.drift https://artfight.net/character/641652.dare

anytime i see anything related to cats and death in the same sentence...



regret is powerful. don't ever assume you have time beyond right now with someone. show them that you care every day. it could be the last chance you get.

i just got a new computer, and the fresh install of sai2 is borked. the scroll wheel zoom is inverted and when i change the shortcut keys for it, it doesn't actually change. i dunno what to do and it's gonna drive me crazy D:

i finished my queue before my birthday! yay! i'm now clear to do free trade pics for artfight!

in other news, last night the 20-something year old ornamental pear tree (they are absolute trash and ALWAYS fall apart at this age, after stinking like corpses when they flower) split in half and fell on tayoh's car. luckily mine right next to it was untouched, so we still have a vehicle while we wait for someone to come remove the branches and check the car out. as far as we can tell the only damage is the cracked windshield, but there could be other stuff hiding under the leaves. we do have insurance (and emergency savings) so we will be fine. cross that one off the list of experiences to have before i die!


...unrelated but do you think i should start clearing shouts to preserve the one from trusted artists? i want to but it feels mean to people who shout...

ark; survival evolved is currently free on the epic games launcher. now i am a steam gal myself, but i have complicated feelings about ark that result in me wanting everyone to play it but also nobody to give the devs money. so check it out!

i'm currently working as fast as i can to get my commission queue done before july, as that is when artfight happens and i would feel guilty drawing a bunch of free art for randos while i had payed art i SHOULD be doing.

for those unaware, artfight is a month-long art trade battle. thousands of users are split into two random teams (tea vs coffee, dream vs nightmare, etc) and you earn points by making art of characters belonging to the opposing team. it's pretty fun! you can get art by doing this, but there's also no pressure to 'return fire' if you don't feel like it. and as always, i will be drawing for ANYONE and EVERYONE who attacks me over there! you don't have to be a 'real' artist or whatever. if you attack me, i'll defend. follow me! https://artfight.net/~AlphaGodith

also, june 18th is my 27th birthday! not an especially important one or anything, but if you wanna do somethin' for me, that'd be super sweet.








i was gonna be doing a lot of ark; survival evolved this month cuz the new map i've been waiting for is coming out, but it's been delayed and i know it's gonna be full of bugs anyway so i'm putting that off for a bit.

THANKYOU ALL SO MUCH I'M OFFICIALLY A TRUSTED ARTIST!!!

 Trusted-Artists
 Trusted-Artists
 Trusted-Artists

apologies for not existing on here lately! a bunch of games i like have been updating and i don't know how to do entertainment in moderation so i've just been gaming 18/7 and trying to sleep the rest. i think this is a somewhat normal pattern for me tho so don't worry, i WILL come back. i'm just in one of my gaming phases. once it ends i'll be back in a drawing phase and you'll see SO MUCH art.

also very much thankyou to  anpumes  cohasset and  immaturecontent for being so patient with me.

i know playing videogames isn't any sort of even remotely decent excuse for not doing owed art, but it's been so unusual and wonderful to be able to relax and have fun with both my husband and new friends online... i've even rediscovered my love for german through online play and now have a really good reason to practice it! so... i REALLY appreciate being allowed this time to goof off. it's actually been really good for my relationship, mental health, social skills, and self confidence.

my favorite group,  furtrade needs a new manager. it's a rather quiet group, but it means a lot to me and i would hate to see it be abandoned. i would take it myself, but... i don't have a great track record for these sort of things. i would be happy to compensate someone who did a good job, perhaps with small monthly art pieces...

https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9486263/

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT ONE OF THESE I GUESS BUT I'M KINDA BUSY

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31417902
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31417902
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/31417902