WHAT I WANT:

If you have any art lying around that you haven't posted for whatever reason (this includes stuff you did for school) POST IT because I am addicted to looking at stuff and 16 submissions a day is just not enough, people. GOGOGO.

Sincerely,
A youngish old fart.

Please please PLEASE post more art. I miss you guys, it's like the internet has been dead lately. Even though I hardly know any of you, I derive so much happiness from your work, especially during these hard winter months of biotic isolation.

sincerely yours,
Arpad H.

I'm writing a story for my fiction class about a family of pied kingfishers, and I suck at names. I don't know what to name birds. But I thought that hey, some of you are birds, so please. help me name my birds.

There will be at least these characters:
a naive first-year male
a snobby/guilt-tripping mother
a wistful spinster aunt
a violently controlling father
a girlfriend of undetermined personality (didn't get there yet).

gogogogogo (please)

((if region counts at all, the story takes place in NW Australia. No I don't care if Pied Kingfishers can be found there or not, that's where the damn story takes place.))

Iii would like to make some money to take my valentine out for an adventure, and thought a good way to do it would be to offer valentine's commissions!

Here's the deal: normally these prices are per character, but for these slots I'll do additional characters 75% off!

$10 (extra character +$2.50) loosely colored digital sketch - example example example example
example
example

$15 (extra character +$4) digital drawing (examples are NSFW)- example example example example

I'm totally willing to draw whatever sort of picture you want for these - friends, sexytime, googly-eyed romance, whatever!

3 slots:
1.
2.
3.

To be completed by valentine's day!

To claim a slot EMAIL me at distome[at]gmail.com WITH WHAT YOU WANT!

FA is apparently going to have downtime soon, so please emailemailemail!

_{First, to commissioners: If you're bothered by this, let me know. I will probably be working on commissions within the next week or two (if that's not concrete enough, please feel free to comment here or note me about creating deadlines), but. . .}

I'm feeling a sort of art block where I look at what I'm producing and finding it incredibly boring-looking. It's just so plain. I was doing good for a while, and really enjoying the painting style I was becoming comfortable with, but then I stopped and now I'm stuck in a rut and can't seem to regain the excitement and ease of learning that I was feeling before.

So I'm looking for some help coming up with ideas for an abstract illustration of some sort. I don't really know what that entails, which is my problem, I think. I want to create something in the line of what artists like kidchan, eatfun, Contraomnes, or Shoomlah are producing.

Note that I don't mean I want to make images in those styles, but rather, I'm having a hard time thinking up concepts.

My brain is just . . . so boring. I have no sense of humor. I take everything literally. I'm just.. . not creative when it comes to art (normally that doesn't bother me but for some reason it's making it hard for me to like anything I create recently). So please, PLEASE, suggest abstract themes for me to play with?

Are you interested in looking at insect specimens from Australia from before the internet?
It takes about two seconds to register and very little effort to help these scientists out - plus you can compete against other volunteers to see who entered the most data!

AND THEN CHECK THIS SITE OUT: http://www.identifylife.org/
Their goal is "to build an ambitious key – the Key to All Life – to all the world’s living organisms"

I haven't been so excited for a website since I found bugguide.org! looks like it's still largely in the works but still! LAKDFJAF

I am not somebody who's all that interested in technology. I don't use a cellphone, prefer to walk places, blahblahblah. But I am a firm believer that the internet is the pinnacle of civilization. The possibilities are fucking endless and exciting. Maybe it's still novel to me because I grew up without cable or the internet or a subscription to a newspaper in a "town" without a library (no joke), but seriously - so much information is available at our fingertips now - I feel like exploding when I think about it.

This is really embarrassing, but today I went crazy and wrote up a role-playing game based on rats invading New Zealand. It's probably pretty poor because I'm only semi-literate and know nothing about ships (which is the primary location right now) AND haven't roleplayed in roughly 5 years. . .but there's rats! And the main character I intend to play is modeled off of one of our actual rats (who is a little sickly compared to the other rats, but not nearly as bad as the internet-version, don't worry)

If anybody is on gaiaonline and wants to try it out, please do.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/bar.....ay/t.77388597/

Also if you have rats or used to have rats or whatever, you should tell me a story about them. I'm obviously in some funny rat-mood right now. gogogo.

Sometimes I think of specific artists or images and become full of happiness. An image will catch how I feel perfectly, or an artist will be so consistently entertaining or reasonable (for some reason when somebody exhibits reasoning capabilities or maturity it makes me LIKE THEM A LOT), and I JUST WANT TO TELL THEM HOW I FEEL. But I rarely comment and NEVER communicate extensively with anybody unless I'm physically able to do so directly (no cell phone, don't use instant messengers, etc) - so I feel like a sudden profession of love (completely platonic and non-sexual) would come off as creepy. :X

Do you guys ever do this? I find myself commenting with stupid things like, "This is the best ever" when I really want to write a book about everything that's wonderful about them or the painting or whatever.

It's funny because I'm really not an emotional person normally, but it seems that what feelings I do have are frequently OVERWHELMING AWE with someone or some thing or some life-form. Which is why I like biology so much (because insects are fucking inspiring and it makes me feel good feelings to look at them) (and why I live with vombatiformes, of course).

Another thing that keeps me from saying things is that while I think in detail, I appear (I'm watching myself type this with disgust) to type and speak like a caveman.

UG LIKE YOU. BE FRIENDS WITH UG. UG FIND THIS PICTURE TO BE PRETTY.

I'm in need of some large resin eye blanks (preferably ~2inch/4cm diameter), but don't know where to look (I used to have links to fursuit resources but those were lost with my late laptop and it's been long enough that I forget. . . )

Any active eye makers out there that you know of? I need two pairs (one blue and one green if they come pre-painted, but I'm fine with blank, too).

I'd also prefer if they were of the flattish variety, if that makes sense - not perfect half-spheres (these are big and I want to avoid bug-eyes).

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3075205/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3075205/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3075205/

Give me your money to draw stuff or else I'll just draw cats for the rest of my life or maybe harass stagolopolis to sculpt some cats or something. It's so weird being without insect samples to ID and a heavy courseload (this semester is relatively light).

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3075205/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3075205/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3075205/

I'm opening for commissions! Just gonna list things that I actively feel like doing, but am pretty much willing to do anything, so if there's something that you want but isn't listed here, feel free to ask :)

Cheapo stuff (price is per character, no background included)

$5 traditional sketch - example example example example
example
example
example
example
example
example

$10 loosely colored digital sketch - example example example example
example
example

$15 digital drawing (examples are NSFW)- example example example example

$15 fancypants bust - example example example example example
example

$15 painty icon - example

Big stuff (price includes one character. A simple background (e.g. a field with things in the far background, or some foreground objects) can be added for %10 of the original price. Complex backgrounds and additional characters for 25% of the original price)[/center]

$25 speedpainting - example example example
example example

$25 Fancypants full-body badge - example example example example example example
example

$50 painty badge (price includes background)- example example

$60 finished digital painting - example example

$80 finished traditional painting (price includes simple background) - example

Other stuff to know:
-Any species or rating is fine
-All prices are subject to change if your character is crazy detailed or simplified - a portrait will be less than the listed full-body price, for example.
-Shipping is free for badges but nothing else D:<
-because my style varies over time, if there's a specific example you like, please feel free to say so.
-I'm willing to work with deadlines and with any sort of schedule you like. Normally I just send you the finished image when I'm finished with it, but if you'd like to approve sketches, too, let me know and I'm happy to comply.

Slots for main commissions:
1. JadeKatt Headshot something
2 TrueKaia digital drawing [finished!]
3. jakkalstrou colored digital sketch [Finished!]
4. JadeKatt 3xdigital drawing [unpaid]
5. Meatball-the-Cat Fancypants bust badge
6. TawnyCrow traditional sketch
7.

Slots for discount/ontheside commissions:
1. 2 bugpaints for cornershop [20% done]
2. full painting for novelteeth [65% done]

To claim a spot comment here or note me with:
Type of commission:
Character species:
Character ref (written is fine):
Mood/Theme:
Additional notes:

I just figured out how to get photoshop working and want to test it out (it's been a long time). One slot, pay what you want. $1 minimum, please.

Examples are all throughout my gallery, don't know how much somebody wants to pay so I don't know what to link to specifically. My only request is that if you are for some reason willing to pay over twenty dollars, please check with me first so that our expectations of what you're getting match up.

To claim the spot comment here with a character ref (or description) and a theme. If you intend to pay over $20, warn me, if not, send whatever to distome@gmail.com, and I'll make you something. Sounds like a bit of a gamble, but I usually overwork myself rather than limit my time to the appropriate ammount, so it's probably worth it.

Depending on how long it takes for somebody to want this (it's a funny hour, I know) - this will get done RIGHTNOW or at least within 24hours of payment recieved.

Slot:
1.  Zero12SJ

Just to be clear: you will be receiving a digital commission ranging from sketch to painting. pay what you want and I'll put in the appropriate level of detail/finishedness.

:X This fly ID is driving me nuts. Classes begin again on Wednesday and I'm still not dooooonnnneee. I have some things that I started on that I just want to finish. . . I was daydreaming about getting an add up before the new term huurrrggggg whyyyy

Although also this is interesting. I feel like all I've done is complain, but really - I do like bugs, and staring at them IS fun. SIGH.

Sorry for getting everybody's hope up with that free art journal. If I get these done before school mayhap I'll do some. ;__;

OK so I won't be having enough time to do commissions (Turns out I'm NOT finished with this insect project), but sometimes I want to KILL MYSELF and to prevent this, I've been exploring the different tools SAI has to offer (brush settings, blahblahblah).

Instead of just wombats for vombatiformes over and over, I thought I might take some requests!

HERE'S THE RULES:
Post a ref sheet of SOMEBODY ELSE'S character. I will haphazardly choose from those posted and draw them something. Feel free to suggest a theme or mood or whatever. THE CHARACTER CAN NOT BE YOURS or I won't draw it :<

I DON'T KNOW how many of these I'll do, but I'll probably keep up through Jesus's B-Day and New years, till whenever I get these damn flies identified. So please feel free to post your friends' refs indefinitely (it's not random if there's only a few to choose from).

We're in Pittsburgh. Spent the day with a veryvery nice entomologist who tutored me in the ways of beetles and insect preparation. WONDERFUL. our goal for this study was to get everything down to family, he got all of our beetles down to Genus or even species. GREAT.

EXCEPT that I had already had the beetles down to family level, and the diptera-specialist is away visiting family for the holidays, so consequently the GOAL OF THIS TRIP has been void (needed somebody to help with flies and microleps).

ANDNOW there's a rather stupid kid working on this project (a grad student for the adviser of my adviser) who doesn't know jack shit about insects or taxonomy or ANYTHING, but he's part of this special grad-school program where they have deadlines for writing papers, and his advisory (the adviser of my adviser) set this deadline to six weeks from now. And of course this kid's deadline is totally more important than my life, so I'll be sent home with ALL THE WORK to rush to get everything done by the second week of January (all of which could have been done today if the fly specialist was in, but now I've got to ID a million flies).

;___________;

So basically life has not returned.

EDIT: ANOTHER upsetting thing is that this gradschool kid (who is immature and MAYBE a year older than me and hense still a kid) - is married. So he kept dropping the 'wife' bomb, and hence validating his status as a mature young man, while over dinner the advisor of my adviser made dating jokes to vombatiformes and I even though (through earlier conversation) I know that we have been together longer than this gradschoolkid and his wife. Iladjlalkdj It's just really frustrating to directly experience having my relationship for being taken less seriously because of it's queer status. ASDLKJFAKLSDJF

Holey crap, so my finals are over, and now I just have to finish up my insect ID work (original goal was new years, but my advisor decided that everything should be done by Monday now) - which means that (I'm between samples at the moment) I will be BREATHING INSECTS for the next 24 hours so that tomorrow night I can drive down to Pittsburgh (and use all of my money, oh wait, my future money, too - thanks loans) to visit the Carnegie museum and confirm my identifications. This is super exciting because it means that:
1. I will be one step closer to a published article and hence grad school (hopefully)
2. I will get to look through giant insect collections and hang out with invert-centered academics
3. I will have some of my life back (these samples literally take up all of my would-be freetime. Any art posted here for the past few months has been with the sacrifice of sleep)!!

Expect a whirlwind of art sometime around the 23rd/24th. I'm thinking about opening up commissions to provide last-minute holiday gifts for people (and maybe begin paying back the money I'm borrowing to do this insect project) - more info when this BUGAPALOOZA is over.

EDIT: DONE - now to sleep and then drive to pittsburgh and then explode and then ZOO and ART MUSEUM and then SLEEP and then ARTARTARTARTART before next semester begins!

So my recent laptop death has lead to me relying entirely on my tablet computer for classwork (I really wanted to avoid it, but with final papers due everywhere, it's just not practical to drive to campus every time I need to use a computer). Consequently, it's super easy for me to get distracted with art, because this computer has no mouse, so I have to rely on my pen. . . and then from there it's just one click away from drawing. . . WHAT I HAVE NO CONTROL OK?

Anyhow, so I've been drawing more in this time of stress (finals week) as is typical (the more work there is to be done, the more adamantly I find distractions). HOWEVER the subject matter is somewhat unusual for me, so I hope nobody is offended.

That being said, I feel veryvery greatful right now for having you all watch me. I haven't gotten any crappy/creepy comments on these recent things (I can't talk about them yet, ok? I'm just now getting the nerve to draw/post stuff like this), and actually everybody has been really nice (COMPOSITION COMPLIMENTS?). VERY impressed with you wonderful people/animals. Thankyouthankyouthankyou for making a potentially awkward situation delightful.

http://www.basarchive.org/bswb_grap.....040401700L.jpg

edit: quantity of responses helps determine the TRUTH, lol.

 vombatiformes's old lappy (which I have been using this semester, because mine died this summer), finally hit the bucket, so I am without a typing computer. I can use my college's computers (as I'm doing right now), but that's limited to when I'm on campus (which is as little as possible).

I can use my tablet-computer to browse the internet, but not to type (no keyboard), and I've been trying to only use that for non-internet uses (art only) anyway (it's not very strong. Also it's old and I don't know anything about computers and just want it to live forever, so I'm not going to risk internet usage for the most part).

UUUM so yeah. If for some reason you need to communicate with me, don't be offended if it takes me a few days to respond. Unfortunately I am nowhere near being able to afford a laptop right now (which is why I had been using vombatiformes's old one), so this communication slow-down extends into the indefinite future.

SORRY.

_{Not that I'm much of a communicator anyhow, so I sincerely doubt anyone will notice, but JUST IN CASE.}

_{UUUG I just had to spend money that I don't have on supplies for my (unpaid) internship (The insect ID stuff, had to buy a bunch of plastic containers to store the samples because I ran out of vials but can't afford to wait for my adviser to send more). . .So I'm taking a commission to make up for it!}

For $20, you'll get something similar to this: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6915785

It'll be ~2 hours of livestreamed painting (with up to two characters (complexity doesn't matter, but keep in mind that I'm only going to spend a set-ish amount of time on this, so the more complex the characters, the less detailed it will be in lighting or something).

AND you can watch it being done/make suggestions/whatever livestream tonight around 10ish (+/- 1 hour if the commissioner wants to watch but 10 isn't good). (on here: http://www.livestream.com/homopteran)


IF YOU'RE INTERESTED COMMENT/NOTE WITH:
Character reference(s):
Theme or scene:
preference for stream-time (anytime between 9 and 11 PM):

ONE SLOT
1.  Karannia

WOW I got 12 insect samples done today :)

SO I'm going to be streaming a cute picture of lesbian cats with parasols in a park. and maybe some other stuff, we'll see.

Length will depend on how long it takes for livestreaming to destroy my tablet-computer, with it's weak, weak, CPU.

http://www.livestream.com/homopteran
http://www.livestream.com/homopteran
http://www.livestream.com/homopteran
http://www.livestream.com/homopteran
http://www.livestream.com/homopteran
http://www.livestream.com/homopteran


(I did lie earlier, though. There will be no music - my compy just can't handle music, an art program, AND livestream!)

EDIT: yay it worked! my computer can handle it, so maybe again sometime :>

Soo I'm being much more productive than I ever thought possible with the insect ID thing (normally get 2/day done, the goal was 4/day, have so far gotten 7 done today, and don't plan on stopping soon).

As a reward for myself, I think I'm going to try livestreaming (watched blarmajin today and really liked it) tonight (~10), if I can be productive until then and also stay awake.

I've never done it, and don't know if my tablet will be able to handle it (I use a 5-year-old ME 1700 tablet computer, not a wacom), but in the case that it works, the channel will be:

http://www.livestream.com/homopteran
http://www.livestream.com/homopteran
http://www.livestream.com/homopteran

I'm thinking sometime around 10PM. Anyone interested? I'll post again if/when I actually do it.

(If volume works, you guys will get to hear some awesome swing)

I'mma be working on bug ID this week with no vombatiformes to keep me company, so I gotta listen to something! Suggestions? I love documentaries (anthropology, nature. . .), but other than that, I don't have many preferences, so long as it's not stupid :X

This one is for 'Religion and Culture', an Anthropology course. Had to go to church every weekend for the past month and a half gathering 'field notes' for it.

This paper wouldn't be hard except it's on a Lutheran church and for some reason if I'm not explicitly thinking about it I spell it Lutherine and am continuously correcting myself. SIIIGH.

EDIT: It seems that I also like to spell heaven "Heavon."


(I like showing my stupid to people on the internet, sorry)

So my capstone due-date was changed to today. So of course I'm writing it right now.
Totally my fault for not finishing it earlier (ESPECIALLY WITH THE EXTENDED DEADLINE) but I just want to DIEDIEDIE.
Extended deadlines really mean nothing. What they mean is that I've had longer to STRESS and will still be spending the same amount of time writing it anyway, resulting in A WORSE PAPER probably.

GODDAMN please somebody shoot me and end this TORTURE. I'm not even sure I like caterpillars anymore right now GODDAMNIT :-O

;______________;

Sorry, I have to cry somewhere since this computer lab is all quiet with other students who are BETTER STUDENTS THAN ME.

ALSO there are some people in the hallway SCREACHING in LAUGHTER. I'm glad you're happy, ok, but I came here to CONCENTRATE WAAAAARG.

EDIT: OK SO I REACHED THE PAGE LIMIT, WENT TO SAVE, AND MICROSOFTFUCKINGWORD STOPPED REACTING. SO MUCH FOR BEING READY TO REVISE.

EDIT EDIT: OK SO the squirrel nut zippers make this a million times more bearable. In love with caterpillars again, but still hold resentment for my professor (whose fault my procrastination is not, obviously)

EDIT EDIT EDIT: ALRIGHT so it's done. er, well it's been done, really. Got it done at 11:29. Luckily the biology building was still open (had to turn in a hard copy), haha.