I don't know if anyone has up on government, but my state just passed a bill to fight against AI. Granted they put a "blanket term" on it to include any art drawn or in your possession that looks "underaged" that can be used in AI. Since I work for a comic company and live in the house that they provide artists, I have to purge ANY anime art that hit this. I use alot of different anime art as inspiration and practice for my own style. I like this art and collect it. I don't share any of it. One of my favorite artist's style hit this blanket term and I hate that I have to purge it cause its all art that you cannot find anywhere. But just because this guy draws a chibi style with big heads and they look younger than 18 years old, I cannot have this. Art is covered my the first amendment but this is a red state. They are attacking artists and art in hopes to stop underaged AI porn. This is all based on stuff that already exists but we should not be punished for anime, a culture from another country and collecting and owning it just because it looks underaged. This is a direct attack on their culture it feels. I can't fight this. They are destroying what I am capable of doing, that I spent my entire life learning to draw. I am so devastated right now that I don't know what to do....

Thats right everyone! This is the official announcement that I'm taking commissions! Check my stream post here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/61345450/ . Anyone (at least on the lowest tier) on Patreon and be the first to reply on my stream post on my Patreon on the day of art streams, can pay 20$ and get a digital sketch by me during the first hours of art streams now! So join my Patreon and snag a commission! They will be black and white, 8.50x5.50 inches, and at least 300dpi for reference. I will clear the lists every sketch day on the Patreon post, so be on the lookout to be the first to put your name in! :3

Yes that misspell was on purpose ;).

Anyway, hi folks! I'm back from the trip and I was quite correct in my assumptions that I would very drained, physically, mentally and emotionally. I nearly had a panic attack at the venue the first day. TOO much stimulation and exhaustion from walking to the venue in a body that isn't ready to walk that far. I survived this though, and I'm thankful. Every trip back and fourth required an extended amount of meds, both topical and oral, to stop the pain and relax.

Other than that, I was shocked when a fan of the company actually remembered my very first time in 2001 when I went to that San Diego and received a commission from me. I helped a shy girl understand that she is on the right track on her art skills for illustrations (she also reminded me of my early self. I may not have much confidence in myself even now, but I'm better than I was back then).

I felt a little awkward when I met up with my sister and her family whom I hadn't seen in over a decade. Her son was only 2 when he first met me so he has no memory of me, but her daughter Harper remembered me pretty well. I gave them copies of the comics I've done art for and on. My sister and I spoke for nearly the entire 2 hours I was with her, catching up. But what made it all special, is the text I received when I got home. I cried because she gave me a real apology for everything in our past that had hurt me. She didn't give excuses and I understand her a lot better. This was an outcome I could only pray for. We've been chatting off and on now. She's learning about me as much as I am learning about her. It's been so long since I felt this sort of resolve with my own family. She told me, having a family has actually changed her for the better and while I was there, she was definitely different. Much more caring and kind than I ever remember. I don't know if it was for appearances, but it felt genuine.

It was enough for me to even apologize to her for how I was and still can be. I'm still learning to face my behaviors and actions and learn to cope with how I think and react. It's not easy having ADHD and possibly autism that's been masked subconsciously by me all my life to survive. I'm seeing a psychiatrist soon for it finally, and I get to discuss rheumatoid referrals on this Thursday. I feel so much pain in my back, my joints, my hips, and all over my body now that I am functioning less and less. I just want to be able to do my art for a living...

So yeah, I'm going on my first trip out of state, on an airplane in over a decade. I'm going to San Diego Comic Con and hoping to help the table make the company ALOT of money. I really hope we can recoup a lot of the lost money from Diamond Distributors. Hubby has so many great ideas to help bring in people like autographed grab bags, plushie keychains, a cage to show off and sell our t-shirts and tons of new great looking racks to sell our comics. We have to up our quality to get people's attention now since we don't have diamond to rely on for sales.

Currently I'm sitting on two problems though. First one happens to be that I don't really travel well? I used to when my back wasn't as seriously in pain as it is now and my breathing issues. I used to love traveling back then. Now I just loathe it because I can't walk far without some sort of assistance since my leg looses feeling after a certain distance of walking. My health has been a downward spiral and according to a lawyer trying to get me disability, my doctors are not even "treating me". It's been the equivalent of triage or a band aid. Even he looked through all my medical records and found a more serious problem that no one even caught. He thinks I have fibromyalgia due to certain tests made a few years ago that showed I do have it but they never even addressed it at all. It really explains why everything always still hurts no matter the treatment. It may work for a little while and then it comes back and usually worse than the first day I went in for treatments. Not only that, but I was always told that the insurance I had didn't have any psychiatrists which is what he really wants me to see asap for all the mental health issues I'm having and that they actually DO, because he's dealt with hundreds of people like me who had to see them through university. Last time I messaged my doctor and put lawyer in the sentence, I got a reply immediately which never happened before. I see a different doc for the referrals after I get back from the convention. If I do have a chronic, mild to severe form of fibromyalgia instead, according to the lawyer, he thinks its a better reason for me to get disability from the judges standpoint. But I'm still at a loss. I was supposed to pay for disability every year with my taxes but since loosing my last w2 job to now, I haven't so in reality, I may not even be granted it since I don't have enough qualifying "credits" by paying into it. *sigh* I've been trying 3 years to get help and every year spent with a denial, makes my chances of actually winning, lessen.

Second problem is a little more embarrassing. While at the convention, I'll be seeing my sister and her family for lunch one of the days. I haven't spoken to her in over a decade as well. My brother was the one to tell me to reach out since I'll be in her area for the first time. I don't know how to be while around her, and all I remember of her are the toxic traits of the past. So I'm nervous. We are so different and I always see her as the only successful family sibling. I'm the poor starving artist and my brother is the hermity low paid tech. I don't want lectures that she used to give me, I don't want her to look down on me just because I like my job but I'm still not paid a living wage by it. I can't help but compare myself to her though and feel like I'm a failure. I just don't know how to talk to her when the last thing we ever spoke about was a fight over my living situation.

This trip will be such a mental, emotional and physical drain that I'm extremely worried at how I will feel coming back. Hubby though said he will do his best to help me on all those fronts. I love him so much T.T.

So I'm keeping the computer and not sending it back. Everything seems to work again. As some may have noticed, I've started up streams again too. I'm trying to get back on the horse but I have that weird feeling that the horse likes to adjust back and fourth so it prevents me from getting on just right. Ya know?

So first order of business is AP wants prints for an upcoming Kickstarter. So I decided on a Plush pinup that may actually end up as the cover to the last issue of plush because it really shows the main character, Carrie, mentally better and getting back to what she does best in a better mindset as Tab, her plushie, helps get her back on her feet. Most of that issue is already drawn up and ready for inking, I just have to fill in the rest to merge both Twisted Existence and Fallen into it.

I also am just a couple of pages away from finishing Plush Issue #3 finally! I feel actually better because Issue #3 was an emotional doozy since I related to that issue alot. Everything from then on is kinda a piece of cake. I'm also getting back into inking Coiled Love pages again. My client for it didn't want me to change the aspect of making it in a physical form since I've begun to work more in digital.

The only thing I worry about is needing money asap and Ben Dunn offered to pay for a graphic novel of his new parody character, Doctor Poo, combining the hilarity of Doctor Who with Disney's Poo character. Granted, he is a great parody character, I'm just worried about taking on more AP projects for money when I haven't completed my own stuff I've wanted to do that may yield me similar finances.

The BAD side is the fact that due to Diamond's bankruptcy, our main distributor, we have to look for many other sources of revenues. We have to find easier ways to get our comics out there for more eyes to see and read and buy. I still want to see our books put into "print on demand" so we don't have to worry about stock anymore and we are not liable for all the troubles that come with shipping. But it really is hard to find ways to make money in a world that makes us transition away from what made us the most money in the first place. No one is able to distribute as well as Diamond did and the new company that bought them has no desire to continue distributing comic books. They just seem to want the logistics and connections they have for their own use.

So we are officially out 20k since Diamond declared bankruptcy. We aren't getting that back and they even "stole" money from our books by selling them to the stores but not reimbursing us for them. Bankruptcy sucks and I hate how they have hurt a small indy company such as us. We could sue but the lawyers and money alone would double, maybe even triple than that we wanted back. We can't afford that. Even I don't know how to "sell myself" so get more people to buy my stuff or be interested in my art. And as is, I can't even afford food.

My husband and I went to a food bank yesterday, and as wonderful as it was to get that much fresh produce, we can't keep all this either. We don't know how to preserve fresh foods. So we ended up giving alot of it to friends we know who could use it after we took what we know we could use. On a good note, our friends also distributed the leftover fresh veggies to neighbors too. It actually made me so happy to see that much food, not gone to waste and helped alot of people and not just us. We need more non perishable food but we really do need to look into growing our own food since prices are too steep.

Anyway, I guess I just needed an outlet to let out my worries and frustrations as of late as well as give people an update on how life is goin since its been a while. I don't get to talk as much as I could need about these things since I'll sound like a broken record. I hope everyone else is doing better in this hard time...

OMG guys, it has been a LONG time since I had been on a computer at all.

So back on March 22nd, my computer suddenly went down while it was idling several windows. (I'm a huuuuge multitasker so yes, I need machines that can handle the load since I use computers to do everything on.)

In only 7 days from that, my protection I had for the comp was about to expire. I called and set up a ticket and sent off the computer immediately. First time, they only wanted the machine, no adapters or cords of any kind. They then send the computer back after a month and say nothing was wrong stating that they couldn't get on the account without a password (which I had put on the paper but they seemed to loose it.). I test the computer. SAME issues. Nothing had been fixed. I ship it back after I give them an angry call and finding they said that my password wasn't available and couldn't get ahold of me. I know I sent the paper with it on it and they verified my phone number over the phone. Now this time they asked for the adapter. So I send it back again.

Almost another month later, ships back, this time with a "used" adapter. Not its original one but definitely USED. I test it again. It takes a few tries to turn it on. Finally comes on and I'm excited. I think, now I can get back to work, this was a fluke. Nope. Locks up after 30 minutes. Can't turn it off, meaning SAME issues as before, now with the false hope of it running for 30 minutes before I can't click on anything and locks up and I am unable to turn it off without unplugging it. If it goes into screensaver mode before the 30 minutes, it becomes locked on the black screen. So I spent half a day trying to assess my problem.

After consulting my tech smart brother, he tells me it sounds like a thermal paste/cooling issue. The comp gets too hot and locks up. So I call again and tell them the issue is not resolved and we suspect thermal paste or cooling issue. I make sure all the info is on the sheet and tape it to the computer and I send it back. I'm TOLD, this time around, that a tech will be contacting me to get full scope of the problem and recreate it. They never contact me and I suddenly get an email saying nothing was found and they are sending it back. I am LIVID and call them back. They tell me this time, record the problem if it happens again. If I can show it to them, they can lemon it out and I can get a better pc. I get the machine back and start recording.

First problem I find that made me laugh, was that a manufacturer sticker that sometimes is on a transistor or watch battery on the motherboard got loose and had slipped in between the case and socket to a usb, therefore blocking it. I record it, take tweezers out and carefully pull it out. Second thing is checking all outlets like times before and show all are working when I plug the computer in. It takes "5" fucking times, hitting my power button before my computer finally turns on and all the while I record this to show I'm pressing the button and nothing is turning on. When it comes up, it seems ok. I update missed updates to the os, programs, and other things. It tells me to restart. (Here is where I dreaded the problem again) I manually restart and....IT WORKS! The computer turns off normally and turns on normally. I spent a whole night running the computer hard with everything open that I use, suspecting it would overheat again and lock up. Next morning...it's stiiiiillllll working.

So I'm here scratching my head. They found nothing, yet the computer is being quirky with the 5 power button presses before it could turn on when I first got it and now the fan inside makes a terrible noise when it revs down (sounds like the bearings in the fan is going bad when it was silent before). But now I'm at an impasse. They say they didn't find any problems even though I had problems all 3 times I sent the computer. The power thing seems to have resolved itself but now the fan bothers me. After all that's happened, I'm almost scared to do any work or any streaming on it again. I called them about recordings of the quirks and that they don't take videos but take photos which is so wrong when you have to HEAR the problems I have, you can't see it. I also informed them they still never contact me. They double check again, number is STILL wrong and made them fix it AGAIN. Then I mention how I'm always told that the techs never get my username and password to the comp even though its always included on the sheet provided to fill out. It's like they take the paper and file it but never gives the techs the info on it. I'm tempted to tape another piece of paper with the words, "FOR TECHS ONLY!" but I shouldn't have to.

I work on this thing nearly 24/7 and I've already lost 3 months of work due to this problem. I'm just so worn out mentally and emotionally as of late that motivation now escapes me. But what do I do? Do I spend another month unable to work and have them try one more time for free? Or keep it and if I have trouble, I'll probably have to brick it cause I am out of warranty and don't have money to repair it? I'm so worried...

SO! Yes lots of things have happened since my last journal. Back is still not up to shape yet BUUUUUT the company I work for is holding a 40th year birthday bash and everyone who has worked for us will be attending! A multitude of artists are listed to be there for meet and greets, selling books and celebrating all the years we've been in the indy industry with AP as our start. I hope some of ya'll can come see me. I'll have my own table and all my art and books to sell and collect. So mark your calendars and hope to see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbi.....06891406966503

(I apologize, my grammar and punctuation sucks right now and i dont have the energy to go back and fix it.)

So some good news. I had my first procedure of burning the nerves that cause my back pain. I'm still a little sore from the needle punctures but the swelling is gone and...I can barely feel anything on my left side. Because of that, my right side is freaking out. I feel lots of painful muscle spasms on the right side trying to do what it thinks is compensation for the left that is now less painful and relaxing. The doc is trying hard to get me in before January, but if no one cancels, i'm just gonna have to wait till next year for the right side to get done. Im still hopeful. there is so much to do and so little time. other news includes me freaking out over having a felon as our president and what he will do to fuck it up even more if not turn it into a dictatorship. as much as i think im doomed, im gonna have to face my life right now if ill have a future. its hard having ocd and adhd. i can hide alot of it but it comes out all the time around my husband cause i dont have to hide it with him and he accepts me as much as i accept and love him. i still have a comic to finish for antarctic press. but it does help bring in much needed money. its gonna be impossible to get funds from plush again till i complete it for publishing. same will go for Twisted Existence. im patient but it sucks when you wont see money till you complete a project. i think my book "Fallen" will be the only stable book ill have from then on. im slowly working on stuff i avoided and getting it worked on. i have a 'catch all' corner of my room and its quite a tall pile now. only recently have i cleaned off my desk cause i felt miserable for a while emotionally and mentally. my love bug is the only one making me stay sane though. I keep wishing i had a vacuum for the one room apartment we have cause dusting isnt cutting it anymore but a stick vacuum is still too much to afford for me. i still have a huuuge box of 10 year old mail i need to go through and shred. after all of these things jumping around in my head, the thought of this week has been cooler finally for where i live is nice. its been over cast and dark and rainy. i love the cold and when weather starts being this way, i cant wait for winter. (wants to wear her heavily insulated 'snuggie' her husband bought them last year) anyway, life is cruddy but theres still some good sides i can see every so often. i hope i can make it another 4 years....

Ok, so not many who watch me know that I've been dealing with back problems for over a decade.

It all started with a car accident in 2003. Then progressed to 2009 when I pulled my back and never fully recovered. Then as the years went by, working retail, pulling my back even more times till the later part of 2016 and I couldn't work my job at dollar general anymore due to the pain. For the last few years, ever since 2019 when I went to the hospital for the first time for pneumonia and finding out I had a ton of health issues, I was able to get help for the back pain.

Yesterday I had a procedure to test and fully diagnose the problem with my back that for all these years was just chronic pain and arthritis of the lower back on paper. An MRI showed my discs were being compressed but the docs and therapists could tell this pain is not simple at all. Pain meds barely numbed the pain all this time and physical therapy helped me loose weight and strengthen my joints and muscles but did nothing for the underlying pain.

My latest specialist, an orthopedic surgeon, so far has done two test procedures. The first procedure was an injection of lidocaine directly into my spine in my lower back. I didn't feel much change other than strangely my left pinky toe which I had not felt since the accident in 2003, regained feeling (you have no idea how much more stable on my balance and feet this has done for me). Second procedure happened yesterday and we found the exact cause for my pain. He tested my nerves that branch off the vertebrae and surround the bones of the spine and injected lidocaine again as a nerve block.

OMFG I cried after the procedure.

Never in my life have I felt NO PAIN in my back in over a decade. The night before I was instructed to stop taking my pain meds that evening and even the next morning. I went in with a pain threshold of 8, nearly crying cause I was in so much pain. I came out with a threshold of 2. I'd forgotten what it felt like to sit, stand, walk, bend over, flex my back without pain. We have an answer finally to my back pain and its not an easy fix at all but this is a start. I have a rare form of arthritis, specifically affecting spinal facets that allow my spine to move and flex on the disks themselves. This diagnosis is called lumbar facet arthropathy. It CAN occur in older people over 60. It is extremely rare in my age group of 40.

It is impossible to describe how much relief I've felt from having a true diagnosis of my pain and the relief I've felt since the second test. To feel no pain when waking up, to sit down without pain, to move without pain. But this is only temporary. I have to go in several more times now and maybe for many years to come. The lidocaine injection was a test, now they have to burn away the nerves affected by the arthritis. They can only do one side at a time per procedure and I have 3 vertebrae affected by this so far. Unfortunately THESE nerves that surround the spinal joints apparently grow back and will have to be burned over and over again till they stop growing back or it has numbed away enough that it wont affect daily life like this has for over 20 years.

But this relief is so wonderful that I just had to make a journal. I have high hopes to be off my 3 types of pain meds that I take daily, and be able to focus more of my energy to my art rather than surviving cause I'm trying to tolerate all this pain. My body slept like a rock and it felt soo good when I woke up the next day. I'm so happy right now that I still cry off and on over how good it feels to not feel pain. T.T

Today I just sat down after breakfast to start work on more comic pages and I flip through my Facebook feed and discover something that I had a feeling was going to happen ever since the year before last when a convention I had been doing art for, stopped contacting me.

It started simple. Last con year, they never contacted me after I gave them all the art they wanted, and as the con drew closer I finally ask them if I was getting a table to showcase the art. They claimed they "forgot" and therefore had no tables left and could put me on a "waitlist" to see if one would open up. Never happened. So a con I did art for several years ended up making me unable to attend. I mean who doesn't show appreciate their artists by giving them either a table or guest status?

After the con, I brought up a suggestion that instead of paying me all this money to make them art, they could just give me a table in the end. They said they'd look into it after they got stuff organized for the next con. After months of no messages, I see a post with their character in what can only be described as Genshin-style AI art. I'm unsure if it was really done by another real artist, but gut tells me I'm definitely replaced.

They found someone faster, or cheaper, or someone who could use AI to do their character. In a way, I'm devastated. I wanted to cry. I loved doing art for them but they didn't even come to me and say, "hey, we found someone else, thank you for all the work you did for us". No I just get silence. I'm very hurt that they couldn't have just told me that they didn't want to waste a table on me for art.

Doing art for local conventions in my state was something I was proud to do. I did convention art for years for Chimeracon when it was around, Shimacon for how short that con lived, character designs for San Japan when it first started, and now it was Kawacon. The character I designed for them was something I could get behind easily. I guess my art just doesn't cut it anymore. It feels like a huge kick to my pride as an artist and makes me wonder if I did something wrong. I still tear as I type this. I wished I was more successful....

To ANY and all furry artists who watch me:

I work as a freelance comic artist for Antarctic Press. They recently reacquired the comic book Furrlough back from Radio Comixs. But they are having a hard time finding art or artists who want to submit short stories and illustrations for the comic. Currently, I am doing the comic covers. Furrlough has been around for decades and I really want to see it continue to thrive. But the art is lacking in quality and/or quantity currently. I implore everyone on my watchlist who is an artist and reads this, who wants to make pg-13 furry comic art and/or illustrations, and possibly have it published and sold in comic book stores in a quarterly furry book, please, please follow the link to read through all the submission guidelines and contact the submissions email for any and all questions about submitting! If any of you are unable to help, please spread the word so more furry artists see this and can have a chance to be published!

Submission Guidelines: https://antarctic-press.myshopify.c.....es/submissions
Email: apsubmissions[at]yahoo.com (Please include which book you are submitting to in the subject line!)

So this is more of a rant than anything and i really need to let it out. So for almost six months or more, ive been able to afford food through foodstamps. upon renewal in september, it went from almost 300$ a month to 24$ a month starting this month. they even missed one month of stamps for me because they never decided and just sent me new paperwork a week ago on a thursday afternoon and had to get my boss to fill out and sign and return by that next monday (OMG that was a headache). my income hasnt changed. i also have joint filed my taxes and about to marry someone (I just got our marriage license). this person i am marrying IS on foodstamps too and their income has not changed either. yet they went off of the COMBINED income, not realizing that BOTH of us are on foodstamps and between us both, no change in income, and have medicines and bills still to pay between us both. they don't calculate that. i was devastated. i called and they said i could first do a budget review. but the results still wont get back to us for another 30 days. if they don't adjust, i really will be forced to go in to sit and speak with someone about the situation. i mean with inflation and no increase in income, its impossible to afford food without those stamps. I really dont wanna do commissions all the time again because it eats up time to do my own work, and i tend to loathe it and take longer getting it done due to not like doing whats not my own work. but i dont even know what else to do. im terrible at marketing myself, i need more supporters on patreon because that would help fund my survival, and i dont even have all that much time to try to put myself out there on other social platforms often. I just feel like im at a loss. i need help but cant afford to repay it. i feel like i was back when covid started, scared to death that i would be reduced to a single meal a day, have no energy to work on my art, and i cant even work a normal job due to my chronic spinal bone spur problem. im just so scared all over again...

arialunaris.bsky.social

Slowly learning it X.X, but YAY! More places to place my art for those to find me! :3

Hey guys! Just throwing out a reminder. If you wish to see my newest content, gain early access to comic pages and art I produce, please consider supporting me and continuing to fund my career by joining my Patreon! There are many tiers for every budget with special bonuses for each! Please check it out and join the art community and make new friends!

https://www.patreon.com/HollyDaughtrey

Follow my new Twitch channel!
https://www.twitch.tv/arialunaris
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/HollyDaughtrey

(Edited for dates, times, and clarifications. Please read!)
Hey guys! With the help of some patrons and friends, I've been learning simple ins and outs of streaming on Twitch! It's just barebones for now, mind you, it will get better once I figure out the Vtuber avatar plugins and stuff to make it fancy.

For now, the main channel will be public and SFW once a week on Sundays, starting at 2pm on May 28th. They will run 2 hours, and on good days, 4 hours. If I can keep a stable schedule, I plan to expand to Tuesdays and Thursdays as well.
There will be a NSFW day and time set up soon ONLY for Patreon users. Anyone on the 10$ and up tiers, they will get a message here to link them to the NSFW channel and the time/date. They will get to enjoy any mature content I might be working on, commissions, comics, or pinups. (If you are a commissioner, please be advised, your art may very well be displayed during the stream times.)
If anyone wishes to see the NSFW channel content when I begin featuring it, you are welcome to join my 10$ tier or higher to gain access.
None of the streams will be saved for future viewing until I decide I can save or back them up safely and have enough space for the file sizes.

These will be digital art streams with copyright free music running in the background. I don't have a camera or microphone that I can use to show me actually working on physical art rather than digital, so I'm just stuck with this for now. Everyone can relax to the music, chat with me, and ask me questions on the streams if they like. I'll just will be slow to reply and all while I'm working, XD. Hope to see everyone there!

O.O Uhh, welp...after years of not having a real pricelist, and my increase of commissions and work, I realized I'm under-pricing myself. EXTREMELY. So I'm gonna make a specific Illustration that will be drawn, inked, colored in every category listed so people will see what they get for their money.

I have a bad habit of putting more detail into work that isn't paid for. True I like being generous like that, but I really need to make my bills more to survive. So I'm posting an image in several forms and lastly in an animated GIF form so you all can see what I sell as commissions and how much they will be.

Many people don't understand why I'd make a list finally considering I would often wing-it on how easy it might look to make when in all reality, I misjudge myself ALOT of the time. But I really want a clear understanding of what commissioners get and how much I'm charging because sometimes it WILL take a lot of time to complete a commission or project just because of the choices made on it and that's time and money I will miss on smaller projects that take less time. Proper compensation is definitely needed in such situations.

So here is the list laid out and do review the images in detail to understand what I am capable of and what will be charged for it. Convention prices are no different.

(All Subject matters can be discussed. Additional background or effects will have an added cost of half the price of the commission itself. )

Category I: Busts...
1. Pencils- $15
2. Inked- $25
3. Inked, Digital Flats- $50
4. Full Digital Coloration- $75

Category II: Full body, single character images...
1. Quick Pencil Sketch- $20. $10 for every additional character.
2. Clean Pencil Sketch- $30. $20 for every additional character.
3. Inked- $50. $25 for every additional character.
4. Inked, Digital Flats- $100. $75 for every additional character.
5. Inked, Digital Cel Shading- $200. $100 for every additional character.
6. Full Digital Coloration- $300. $150 for every additional character.

Category III: Character Design Sheets...
(Can come with a back, front, and profile facings or other.)
1. Inked- 75$
2. Inked, Digital Flats- $80
3. Inked, Digital Cel Shading- $200
4. Full Digital Coloration- $400

Category IV: Fully Rendered/Illustrations...
1. Single character with backgrounds and/or effects- 500$. 200$ for every additional character in the image.

Category V: Commission Comics...
1. Full 12-24 page comics inked- $100 a page. $75 a page for short comics at 1-5 pages.
1. Full 12-24 page comics inked and digitally colored- 500$ a page. 200$ a page for short comics at 1-5 pages.

So This is just a little notice as well as letting people know I'm still alive LOL. If you guys haven't noticed yet, I'm quite the shy person. I never like posting my troubles and hate asking for help, even if its to get thoughts off my chest (yeah its very unhealthy).

Anyway, I'm gonna give a recap: Last year my computer was terribly on the fritz and my tablet kicked the bucket. I was graciously given a new tablet (I love it to death) and bought a new mini computer with enough power to last me another 10 years of work. Although I didn't reach my goal on gofundme, I am currently still able to hook the new computer up through my old computer's hdmi connection and use the old machine as a monitor. Still need a new set of a keyboard and mouse but its not as important as what I have now. A year has gone by and I love the new system and took me a while to re-setup the entire art drive on an external.

Next, tax season rolls around, and instead of getting money back, I have to pay (damn Covid restrictions being lifted). 600$ is no easy task. I have to apply for a loan cause I can't afford that. Every penny I get goes to everything I buy for meds, to eat, work on, use, drive, draw, research...EVERYTHING. I have to apply for food stamps cause I have a job, it's just not a w-2 type, and I'm still poor, so no money is withdrawn for taxes and if it had, I would not have enough for food or gas, or any unexpected surprises. What's worse is the beginning of every year is tight. Inspection, registration, oil change maintenance on the car, and taxes drain everything. With how little I make, I shouldn't even BE taxed but I am just because I am self employed and don't get a w-2.

*SIgh* Cue to a couple of weeks ago. What made this year kinda worse was the scare of my life. It triggered my ptsd with my first harddrive failure and lost digital art. So I might have mentioned this before, but I'm very limited on space for working. I have a tiny desk that pretty much holds a computer. I use that desk for drawing, inking, digital coloring, printing, and any other work one needs to with a computer. Welp, I was inking a commission one day on top of my tablet and had my windows explorer open because sometimes I need it up to access other files I was working on digitally that day. Aaaand my elbows seemed to hit some of the buttons on the tablet and after I looked up from inking some, I saw my computer was in the middle of deleting my digital art folder on my harddrive. There was no cancel, just an "x" in the corner to stop it. I tried ctrl-z and nothing happened. That's when I realized, if it was trying to delete a 40 gig file folder, it wouldn't go to recycle, it would just be marked as deleted on the spot. I screamed, I cried, cause half my important files were utterly gone. I had an old backup on google that was missing alot of updated files but I was able to get about 10 gigs back out of the 20 I lost. Then I set about trying to regain the files back. Looks like its gonna cost me 89$ to get the rest of the files back >.<. I'm still livid. And what's worse is now PAYPAL says my cards and bank are invalid and won't send my monthly pay to me. I need to pay bills and pay for the files to get returned and allllll this money problem shit is pissing me off to no end. AAAARGGGG!!!!

Anyway, that's what's goin on with me. Hope y'all are doing better.

EDIT: Updates are in the comments.

Hey guys! So computer and tablet are here but giving another signal boost and push to my gofundme to try to reach my goal. Still need to get that monitor! ;) So please spread the message and donate if you can. I really appreciate any help to get back to doing what I do best, making art for you all to enjoy! When I make my goal, I will be making a "thank you" image for everyone who donated to enjoy! So please keep it up!

Hey guys! wanted to give you all an update over my gofundme. I received my new tablet today and ordered the new PC. It will get to me by Monday. I'm already over halfway to my goal but I really need the last bit of help to push to get the monitor I need. If anyone can, please repost my link and spread the word. I'm soooooo close to completing a new system to get back up and running to do work! I appreciate any help given!

https://gofund.me/634009dd

Hey guys! Just boosting the signal! Help if you can! Even just sharing it on other platforms and journals will help! Every bit of help is appreciated and I thank you for it! Just a little more left to go!

https://gofund.me/634009dd

Hey guys, I've set up a GoFundMe page. I really don't know if its going to be a success since my online presence is so tiny. but please post the link and spread the word. I'd reeeeallly like to get back to work as soon as possible without delays in non functioning computers and tablets. X.X

https://www.gofundme.com/manage/hel.....y-career-going

Every year, I cross my fingers and hope my computer lasts another year. Every year, I hope less and less programs stop working on my operating system. But now with a decade old obsolete all-in-one computer, and after a year of use, the simple, cheap little graphic tablet I got from my brother, is now dying.

There are too many issues the tablet is having to consider it just a glitch. Consistent and constant errors, disconnections, and problems tell me I'm not gonna be able to do digital art quickly anymore. My computer has degrading problems and being an all-in-one, you can't really fix or upgrade certain parts, and the computer was discontinued a looooong time ago. Mix that with obsolete operating system, programs, hardware(on my second internal harddrive replacement and its already showing bad sectors), and a cheap graphic tablet, I wont be able to do digital art easily or fast. I can't make any art and commissions to let my few fans enjoy. I was kinda slow currently, and incredibly slower without a tablet (yeah, coloring with a mouse sucks all sorts of disgusting ass).

I need a brand new system and tablet. I need a system I can possibly upgrade. I also don't have much room for a tower. So I found a compromise; a tiny micro computer. It is not even all that "out there" in the way of a huuuuge upgrade, but it WILL handle the load I need to do work and has parts that are upgradeable down the road. But this also means other problems.

I don't have a spare monitor(remember, I had an all-in-one!), I also need speakers, a new keyboard and mouse, and a webcam. I found several cheap accessories, but I found an even better great combo monitor that has built in speakers, cam, and microphone so I don't have to get them all separately(my all-in-one had all of those). Lastly, I need a new tablet. I don't need a cintiq(like so many artists I see), but I need something a little more "robust" than what I had. So I found one that is higher quality but 100$ more than my old tablet.

Altogether, to get a whole new setup to work comfortably and "decently" fast again that hopefully will last me another full decade, requires 1.5k, all money that I don't have(I blame inflation when it used to cost me 600$ for a new system). I need help. I don't exactly know what to do(and I don't usually ask for help in the first place). I'm getting even further behind on work due to computer and tablet issues and I don't know if I'll be able to catch up if I become an art slave to someone to fund me. If anything, I might be willing to make a single, 24 page colored comic with wraparound cover for someone if they fully fund me. Currently I'm considering a gofundme page though. I could list all the items I plan to purchase with the funds and only ask for the amount listed and not anything over. That way donators can see what the money is going to so I can go back to work asap. My patreon could have helped in this but I still don't have enough patrons that have joined to even afford basic necessities and pay bills either(not to mention that you can't even find me by the search function due to adult art limitations on Patreon).

I would really appreciate any help and spreading the word once I have a gofundme link ready to go. If anyone has any ideas of what I could do in the way of art that won't hinder my art que, I'd also appreciate the input too. Thanks for reading this.

HEY ALL! So as of last Friday, I am fully vaccinate(yes its been the extra days for it to take full effect)! YAY! Still haven't gotten sick, still haven't had an allergy/sinus infection, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of my life. Other than that, I've made changes to my Patreon account with images separated between SFW and NSFW material on the tiers. Not only this, but I've also joined two other websites. Some material was added to Buy Me A Coffee's website, which will allow people to view SFW art and you can donate without having to join the site. Then I also joined Subscribe Star which will have all my completed work including all my NSFW material. Despite joining two more platforms to get my art out there, those sites will never contain bonus material that people get on Patreon. I want people to join my Patreon more than the other sites since I can put all my work on it. Now, I hear terrible news about how Patreon acts towards adult artists as of late, but I have yet to see that there. Yet if it does all go downhill, I MAY shift to Subscribe Star as well since they are more supportive to adult artists and keep their creators protected. I've been working quite hard as of late, more than previous years to get myself out there but its still all a work in progress. I always have a list of links for everyone to copy on my homepage and hope more people will discover me again. But yay! So much stuff happening and still running around like a chicken with its head cut off X.X. but I'm alive!!!!!!

It's 2021...And I think I'll be better now. So the main company I work for, Antarctic Press moved offices and was generous enough to fund me and several other artists a place to live while we worked. It's taken a whole month for this ordeal to happen but I am no longer in a precarious situation, living in a living room of a tiny studio apartment with my brother with hardly any room to work, sleep, and constantly bothered by untrained animals scratching up my bedposts, chewing cables, and marking everything around me. I no longer carry a burden of a ton of crap I'm not using and is sitting boxed up (with which I tossed about half of those belongings that I have no use for and feeling great about that!). I'm in a large comfortable room at a house, all of my items are put up in spaces that they should be and I now have a very lovely setup to work from! I never thought I would feel this comfortable and secure again. I am still working hard and will be for those on my Patreon, Furcadia and Antarctic Press. I haven't felt this great in years. I can focus and relax. I will make sure I can do the best I can with what I have now for myself and everyone around me!

So a little has changed since my last journal. All the fears are still there and worries because at any moment, everything could be pulled out from under me. But a few things have happened.

My cry for help did reach a few wonderful people and have helped support me and my art. I've even opened commissions not just on Patreon but here as well. I don't have a set rate listed but I might update that soon since commissions will always vary in price due to what is desired.

What has saved me is when one of those wonderful people who joined my patreon was one of my former bosses at Dragon's Eye Productions. Some of you furres out there might have heard of it and I do mention I used to work as a pixel artist for an online game but never really mention which game. I mainly don't talk about it because after so long working for them, the loss of my mother and own personal reasons, I could not stay. It was a tough time in my life and had to move back to my hometown. After my loss, I tried to better myself, tried to do the "adult" thing and get a normal job and for almost seven years, try to make my life stable again. It didn't work.

Then I had the unfortunate situation of my back giving out after doing gruelling retail jobs for that simple seven years. My back will never be the same and I don't have the money to get a doc to fully fix it. I've lived with aggressive arthritis of my lower spine and hips for a few years now but I can't even do any physical work. So because of this, I went back to the one thing I was good at, which was art. But I had been out of the spotlight for so many years, I had to start at the bottom again and I'm still nowhere near where I was decades ago.

I started with comics, and haven't quite hit where I want to be as of yet with it. Commissions have been helpful in making bills along with my Patreon account but I was still unable to afford what I need in the way of medical and food. A bout with pneumonia last year made sure I now had a compromised immune system. So I am always afraid to get corona virus.

But because of my former boss talking to me again, I was inspired to finish some old pixel art that I had never finished when I left the company back then. When I offered the avatar up to give them since it had been one I personally wanted to complete years ago, him and his crew agreed and wanted to offer me more pixel avatar work on a commission basis instead. So suffice to say, I have a consistent art job once again. It won't net me a mansion in the hamptons(which I would never need anyway XD), but with it, I can afford my bills and meds and food finally. It's all I ever wanted.

So here's to enjoying art and being able to make some money again to afford what I need and grow my name whether it be in pixel art, comics, or commission work! I'll try to keep positive in this unsure time...