Okay, so my boyfriend is really wanting to do some inking here. So if you have a sketch floating around that you'd like to get inked give him a try, he's good at that stuff :3

Yay, it's my birthday. I just turned 29, and as I approach the dreaded 30 I have begun to reflect on just how little I've actually accomplished in my life. The only saving grace is my mate  jonnyjonny2007, who's youthful exuberance keeps me feeling pretty good about my life. I love you all, and look forward to trying to hold onto another year.

Hey everybody. Just letting you guys know I haven't disappeared. I've just been kinda lazy with my art and hanging out with friends IRL. I've been experimenting with a new art program that has been giving me trouble, but I hope it'll help me out in the long run. If anyone has any tips for working in vectors, I'd love to hear them. I'm trying to make my inks in iDraw (cheap Illustrator knock off), but the whole thing is completely alien to me D:

Okay, so I've been pretty dormant when it comes to art for a while now. This is mostly due to the holiday shopping season making my job hell. At least I get payed well for the overtime, but it does leave other parts of my life unfulfilled. Now that "Black Friday" is over with, the worst is done. Unfortunately, I still don't have much time for art until January. So to compromise, I've decided to post a page of sketches once a day through the month of December. I figure since I won't have time for full, polished projects, this will have to do. It helps relieve some of the stress associated with the interaction between me and holiday shoppers. So enjoy my crappy digital sketchbook pages when your not enjoying the fun of the holiday season :)

Tagged by  thisismokujin


First off.... Rules!
1. You must post these rules (Very Important indeed).
2. Each person must post 11 things about themselves in their journal.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create eleven new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose 11 people to tag and post their icons on your journal.
5. Go to their page and tell them you have tagged him/her.
6. No tag backs.
7. No stuff in the tagging section about "you are tagged if you are reading this." You legitimately (AKA, really, truly, with all honesty) have to tag 11 people.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Things About Me:

1. I've lived in 18 different houses.
2. I am openly gay in spite of the fact I live in the Bible Belt.
3. I'm a gemini, though that doesn't really mean as much to me as it use to.
4. I played flute through high school and into my first year at Oregon State University.
5. I make a pumpkin swirl cheesecake every Thanksgiving.
6. I can't leave my house without my Blistex.
7. I will not go near cinnamon; I don't want to smell it, taste it, or be aware of it's existence.
8. I sleep during the day, because I work at night.
9. I love tea. My favorite is rooibas (African Red tea), although it's technically an herbal infusion not tea.
10. I don't watch regular tv, just whatever I can find on the internet.
11. I never watched Thundercats when I was younger.


Questions for Tagger:

1. What special skills do you have?
- I am an excellent gardener. But because I don't have much of a yard, I just give advice to other gardeners.

2. What kind of music are you into?
- Mostly depends on my mood. I love instrumental music, especially creepy stuff and waltzes. And Lady Gaga.

3. What will you be/are you/ did you major in during college?
- I haven't finished my degree, but I studied botany at Oregon State, then horticulture at Western Kentucky University.

4. How did you come to find FA?
- I don't remember the exact details, but I think I was on tvtropes.com looking up furry fandom. I believe FA was mentioned there, and it seemed like a decent enough site. It's better than DA anyhow.

5. What kind of video games are you into, if any?
- Fighting, Puzzle, and RPG. I've been into Pokemon since I got Blue for Christmas in 1999.

6. $50,000 shopping spree, what's in the cart?
- Whatever my sister needs to renovate her nursery and toddler proof the house, a Macbook Pro, Wacom Cintiq 21ux, and some furniture for my apartment.

7. Do you speak any other languages?
- Not really, though I remember quit a bit of Japanese and Spanish from when I had classes in those languages.

8. Been to any concerts recently?
- Nothing major really, just some local bands that play in the bars.

9. Favorite story as a child?
- The BFG by Roald Dahl.

10. Any underrated books you would recommend?
- I don't know if it's underrated per se, but Omnivore's Dilemma by Micheal Pollan is really good.

11. Brievly describe your ideal lifestyle.
- My ideal lifestyle would be able to pursue my interests freely, without worrying about bills or work.


Questions for the Tagged:

1. Do you have any hidden talents?
2. What is you favorite color and why?
3. What is your opinion on marriage?
4. What is your most visited website?
5. If you were in a casino, what would you play first?
6. If you could spend a month anywhere in the world, where would you go?
7. Do you have family in a foreign country?
8. Would you prefer to live in a big city, a small town, or in a house secluded in the woods?
9. How many siblings do you have, if any?
10. Is there a movie you love, but no one will watch it with you?
11. Who in your family do you look up to the most?

I'm Tagging:

 jonnyjonny2007  ocho_babies  rakkantekicoyote  oubliette  advice_dog  M_the_Fox  hippie-wolfboy  Kitten-chaser  tylerfang  artfan  bob_buffalo

Halloween is over. I'm back home, and back on functional internet.

This vacation was really amazing. I got to spend time with family, which is always fun. But most importantly, I spent some time with the new additions, my niece and "nephew". My sister's little girl was too young to enjoy Halloween, but we had a couple of costumes for her anyway. She got to be a bee, and a butterfly; both of which were exceedingly adorable on her. She couldn't have any candy, but she did get to try juice for the first time. I hardly got any sleep while I stayed with them. I had to share a room with my niece, and she was fussy from an ear infection. My "nephew", who is my best friend's (who might as well be my brother) son, got to go trick-or-treating for the very first time. We only went to a few suburban houses, because it was pretty close to his bedtime. He never hit the ground, he just jumped between me, Daddy, and this other friend's arms the whole night. He got to be Superman, but Daddy insisted on putting his hair up in a fauxhawk. After the kid was put to bed, the adults got to stay up drinking. I had a blast.

It all felt a little weird though. They're all starting families, and I've become the bachelor uncle. I've always wanted kids of my own, and it's just strange to me that everyone has this head start on me. It's crazy how things work out. Oh well.

Glad to be back.

I'll be officially on vacation after tonight :D I'm spending the week at my sister's house having fun with my family and friends in Missouri, especially my 6 month old niece. Unfortunately, they don't have internet. So, even though I have extra time to work on art, I won't be able to post anything until I get back (not that I've been posting regularly anyway). I will still be able to keep up with you guys from my phone, so comments will likely still be made. I'll be able to see artwork and stories, but I won't be able to listen to music until I get to a device that can use flash. I hope you guys have fun this halloween, I know I will ^_^

Yesterday, my friends and I had a Halloween fueled blast. It started off with a little shopping for ingredients and ideas. I found this awesome pumpkin shaped like a skull. After baking some marshmallow fudge cookies, we took a nap (we both work at night, but stayed up to go out to places). Then we picked up our other friend, and went to a corn maze (I guess that's maize maze to my UK friends). Originally we were trying to get around with some flashlights, but we turned them off since the moon was bright enough and it was easier to scare the group of college girls that were giggling away ahead of us. At one point, my friend jumped out at this couple that was wondering around the maze alone. If the woman hadn't grabbed his arm, her boyfriend would have left her screaming (he screamed, not her), what a chivalrous man. After the maze, we got back and made a Mummy Stromboli. Basically, it was a pizza with all the toppings wrapped up in the dough, which was cut into strips that could be wrapped like a mummy. I ended up using twice the amount of cheese the recipe called for, and it the shape was more like a glow worm with pepperoni eyes than a mummy, but it was so good no one really cared. After that, two of us tried to put together a Devastator that was part of my friends EXTENSIVE Transformers collection. She neglected to tell us there were parts missing, so we spent an hour trying to put it together while she slept. I finally realized it after looking up a photo of the finished product, and all she did was laugh at us. We never got around to carving the pumpkins, but at that point the two of us were so tired we just decided it was best to call it a day. All in all, it was a blast <|:)

This is so adorable :3

The past few weeks have been really busy in my personal life. The only time I really have to focus on my artwork is during my weekend, which is Monday and Tuesday thanks to my work schedule. I was sick the week before last, and last Monday I spent 6 hours on the phone with my ex, The ex. So in spite of having the desire to draw (sorry OCHO_babies I promise it's on the way), I've just been unable to focus on it. Buying Pokemon White didn't help either D:

My ex and I had spent four years trying to get our relationship to work. We'd get together, and for a while it was cool. Then, for no reason I could think of, he'd stop talking to me. Then, after months, he'd come back. I would ask him what happened, and he'd never give me a reason that wasn't some lame attempt to gloss over the situation (that I totally fell for anyway). But finally, last Monday, I got a reason. We wanted to move in together, and maybe grow "old and stinky" together, as he put it. But what he didn't tell me until Monday is that he wanted to keep our relationship secret from his parents, and he didn't want to tell me that he was doing that. Living in a small town in Kentucky, he felt our love would embarrass his family or that the people that have always been there for him would abandon him if they knew. He wouldn't share this with me because he was afraid I would be mad at him. This struggle ended up with his parents winning out, even though if he had told me, I wouldn't have pushed the issue and let him tell his parents in his own time. To the many gay furries out there, it is far better to be with someone who has had their coming out story, because you can't have a good relationship with someone who isn't honest with who they are to the people they love. I've been stuck on him for a long time, but with this revelation, I feel I'm finally free to love again without comparing the new to the old. Now I just have to find a guy that wants more than sex...

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, and I promise more art is on the way soon.

Do Want

Best of all, it can make them vector or bitmap files :D

Well, thanks to the potential of danger to my best friend, we have decided that he needs to stay with me in Kentucky until Virginia is livable again. Because of this, I won't be able to work on any projects until he leaves Wednesday. It's a small price to pay, however, for the safety of one of the greatest guys anyone could know. These natural disasters really need to back off; if I was more religious, I'd think the end of days was near.

To those in the community in the path of Irene; be safe, be prepared, and I wish you luck.

So, I commissioned my first piece the other day. Tavimunk is doing a series of cubs with various fruit. I got the kiwi (once known as the Chinese Gooseberry, but changed for marketing reasons). It's something I can give to my baby niece, who is also adorable. It's a good thing Tavimunk is doing it too, 'cause I'm pretty sure if I attempted baby pictures of my 'sona it would turn out like this (yes, that is a heron chick). I can do chibis kind of, but those western baby proportions are beyond me.

The whole thing got me to thinking, though. About how fursonas are chosen, and why specific animals appeal to people. I never gave much thought to what kind of animal I'd want to be until I joined up here, I am very comfortable being human. But the concept of an online alter ego is fun, so I decided to pick an animal. I decided on the heron because, when I was reading His Dark Materials, I wondered what kind of daemon my soul would produce. The heron is a bird constantly watching its reflection in the water, but always searching beyond it. It gracefully lives in two worlds, that of the water and the air. And much like the crane, if fights with minimal force through redirection. I found these qualities very appealing, and somehow indicative of my own personality. So now (online at least) I am the Ardean Botanist. But I'm curious, what kind of stories do the rest of you have? Tell me why you chose your "totem" in the comments, because I find it fascinating.

I think it's time I gave this journal thing a try. First subject, how I feel about my artistic endeavors.

Okay, so I've been drawing all my life, and thanks to some ADD, my drive comes and goes. Of course now I'm on one major art kick, and it's really thanks to all the people here on this site. I was suffering an art block like no other, mostly due to the stagnate funk I was falling into. However, browsing all the work done on this site has inspired me in no way I have ever been before. Some of you who I've randomly given artwork to may be wondering why. Well it is out of gratitude for sharing your art and creativity with me, and inspiring me to take up my craft again. And I'm not talking about your skills as artists, I am talking about that imagination of youth that has been lost to me now that I'm on the edge of thirty. You'll never know how grateful I am that I can become part of a community like this.

All that aside, I still have some things I want to work on. For instance, my sketchbook suffers from what I like to call Irreplaceable Syndrome, 'cause everything is facing to the left, to the left. Also, I'm still working on my shading techniques. It's just so much work *bluh*.

And a little note on Ka' bi; one never knows just how gay they are until they accidentally create a fuzzy purple sailor playing naked in the water with a ribbon. I mean, I wear my rainbow triangle as proudly as the next homo, but really, none of that was conscious effort on my part. I try to break stereotypes, and look what I do... Oh well, he's cool and I have embraced him.

Peace Ya'll