I'm working on a little project with nanuk, and as part of this I'm gathering data on the overall experience on both ends.

Are you an artist?
* Do you take a lot of commissions? Why or why not?
* How do you generally take commissions?
* What do you find most rewarding and frustrating about the tools you use to take commissions?

Are you a buyer?
* Do you buy a lot of commissions? Why or why not?
* How do you generally engage with artists?
* What do you find most rewarding and frustrating about the tools you use to purchase commissions?

While I was spending a week up in the San Jose bay area, my laptop stopped detecting its hard drive. Now, this laptop is where I did all of my work, and there was a lot of in-progress artwork at stake inside, so I took it to Fry's Electronics yesterday to have them take a look at it and see if they could recover those sectors. Unfortunately, I just got a call from them telling me that they can't access the drive either, so for now it looks like all of that work is lost for now, unless any of you have any ideas (which I would greatly appreciate). Right now I'm looking at new laptops to get started again, after which I'll be spending some time getting the new laptop filled with all the necessary software before I can start drawing and streaming again. Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know why some of my in-progress art either might not make it or might take a while longer to get done.

I gotta admit, I'm pretty upset about it because there was a lot of good work in there, but I'm more upset with myself for not backing up my work on an external hard drive. Captain Hindsight, save me! :c

I recently caved and bought a Nintendo 3DS for myself, along with a few of the recent Pokemon games (HGold, White and Black 2). I also digitally bought Mario Kart 7 and the recent Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Normally, I'm not much of a Nintendo-kind-of-guy, but I do love Pokemon and a few other titles that are DS exclusive, so I couldn't keep resisting. I really was hoping to get that limited edition, Pikachu-print 3DS XL, but it sold out in a day, so I got a red 3DS XL instead. Whatev's, still got my favorite color. Basically, I'm now on the whole Nintendo-network system, and I'm looking to see if any of you would want to add me on there and game together sometime!


My Nintendo Friend Code is 1907-8559-1440

Just add my Friend Code into your DS and leave me a comment with yours. I'll add you and hopefully play with you guys soon~!

To all my pals and viewers from my short stream last night:

I know I promised I'd stream after work tonight, but due to sudden plans local friends of mine made, I won't have the time to. I still want to get some drawing done this weekend, so I'm moving tonight's stream to tomorrow night, so I hope to see you guys there!

~ Big-Red

Just wanted to bring this to the attention of all my friends and watchers on here: I have been accepted for readmission to the University of California, Irvine, and my first day of class is tomorrow (1/7/2013). In order to complete my readmission process, I will need to complete 2 quarters with high grades in order to reverse the poor GPA I left UCI with 4 years ago.

Therefore, I will be increasingly scarce online until this summer arrives. I will still be online every week, but certain things will be changing:

- Gaming: To my friends on here that I play Guild Wars 2 with almost every night: I will not be able to do those late-nighters. I will likely not be on GW2 more than a handful of hours a week, in order to focus on becoming more studious and well-rounded.

- Artwork: I will not have the time to complete any fully-shaded color works. However, I will probably be sketching now and then in my free time to keep up practice. I will still not be open for commissions, trades or requests.

- Chatting: I will not be able to have such lengthy conversations with ALL of my friends anymore. If you find that I'm becoming more unresponsive to you, it is simply out of necessity and has nothing to do with you. Even my closest friends will likely see a reduction, though obviously not as severe as with acquaintances and the like.

Thank you all for understanding!

Heads up guys! This is for all you fellow charr-loving furs who wanted to join us all in the world of Tyria but either didn't have 60 bucks to spend so freely on a game.

GUILD WARS 2 IS CURRENTLY ON SALE ON AMAZON FOR $30.00!!

The only thing I'd really like for you all to do for me tomorrow on my birthday is get out there and vote. I don't care who you vote for (though you'll see me casting my ballot for Brobama), so long as you make sure to get your voice on the matter in there. Be a part of the process. I don't care what conspiracy theories you have about how your votes don't matter; it doesn't hurt to take 15 minutes to do it.

TL;DR VOOOOOOTE!

Thaaaat's right! November 6th is going to be a big day! You get to exercise your civic duty by voting for your choice for President of the USA and which state propositions you support. You get to rush out to your local game store and pick up a copy of Halo 4, what looks to be a promising installment in the long-running franchise.

Most of all, November 6th is my 23rd birthday!

With 12 days to go, I feel like I should make a 12 Days of Christmas spinoff for my big day, but then I'd be obligated to sing it... :I



https://www.weasyl.com/profile/bigred
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/bigred
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/bigred

Tempted to make a hipster "FA is too mainstream" joke, but I'll resist this time. Just wanted to let you all know that I'll be posting my stuff on both FA and Weasyl now, so don't worry about me disappearing. I'll probably be more socially active on Weasyl once it really picks up, though. I mean, it even has a mobile version!


MY WEASYL: https://www.weasyl.com/profile/bigred



:D

5 years of waiting is finally over, and now my boyfriend and I can explore Tyria together, but I'd love to hang out with all of you, too! If you'd like to hang everywhere from Ascalon to Orr with a draken stud, just friend me:


Account Name: BigRedDraken.1263

Home Server: Isle of Janthir (if you're on another one, we can always just guest visit each other).


Hope to see you fellow GW fans in-game!

Just this night, I was messaged by my close friend iceroyz about a flash he saw on flashchan.ru. He sounded pretty bewildered so I clicked the link he sent me to check it out for myself. What I saw both confused and delighted me, so I saved the flash so I could show all of you (NSFW):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3599179/big.....%20jacking.swf

Okay, seriously, I have no idea who might have made that flash. I've never been told about any flash art related to my character before. Nobody's ever approached me even asking me if they could. Not that I would ever say no, I'm just shocked that I found out through a friend who caught it while browsing flashchan.

Does anyone know the artist of this flash? I really want to thank them for it, after all.

[EDIT]

Quick guys, which servers are you going to be on? D:> I'm choosing mine now.

[/EDIT]

Human vocabulary cannot express how excited I am. Five years of my life I've been waiting for this coming weekend: a chance to play Guild Wars 2 in its first public beta, available to those who pre-purchased the MMO.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Guild Wars 2, it is the sequel to it's similarly named predecessor and the brainchild of ArenaNet and is published by NCsoft, the company that brought you the Lineage series and City of Heroes. Guild Wars 2 is a next-generation MMORPG and definitely my choice for best MMORPG I've ever seen. ArenaNet's been showcasing playable demos of the game at every major tech and gaming convention over the past couple years, where's it's won over 90 awards in the gaming industry, such as:

- IGN > Most Anticipated Game of 2012
- G4 > Best MMO of 2012
- PC Gamer > Top 10 Best Game of 2012

As an art community, I'm sure anyone on here will appreciate the sheer level of art-focused design that went into making GW2. Nothing was designed into the game without the award-winning concept art team painting up concept art for it first. The game as a whole just has a very painterly, stylish feel to it. The combat itself looks faaaantastic, and the new dynamic quest system looks like it'll end the quest-giver NPC tradition that MMO's have been tied to forever. I know plenty of MMO's have claimed to be groundbreaking and failed, but none of them ever proved it like Guild Wars 2 is. To anyone who hasn't seen any of it yet and has a love for online games, I implore you to check it out:

http://www.guildwars2.com/en/


Anyway, the real purpose of this journal was to see if anyone else is going to be in the Beta this coming weekend. If so, I'd think it'd be pretty sweet to roam around together as a bunch of big kitty Charr characters. Furry pride and all that bullshit. :B So just let me know if you are so we can keep in touch.

...and when I got back up, I found that I was now a hipster. OHNOOOOOOO~!


http://big-red-draken.tumblr.com/


From now on, if there's something like a sketch or concept art that I don't feel is worthy of an FA post just yet, you'll see it up on my tumblr. Already have the first such piece of art up, a bust of a new character variant of Big-Red.

Tis a joyous day for the protection of civil liberties for all citizens, indubitably.

Today, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, using our own US Constitution as reference and basis for their judgement, ruled that California's 'Anti-Gay-Marriage' Proposition 8 "works a meaningful harm to gays and lesbians" by denying their right to civil marriage in violation of the 14th Amendment. The decision was passed 2 to 1 by the three panel judge on the grounds that while "the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted".

i.e. Passing legislation that denies us tax-paying gays the civil right of marriage without any real facts to support it is against our beloved Constitution. Next step, taking this equal rights movement to the Supreme Court! Try n' stop us now, ya bible-humping bigots! :D

I was going to come up with a witty, non-overused title for this, but I decided it was too late so FUCK IT.


Alriiiiiight 2012! Got some big plans for this year:

1. Gonna stop going so complicated and overboard with my programming assignments. Gonna keep them to the requirements asked so I'll have more free time.

2. Gonna use said free time to get back on track with my art, because I've got a lot left to do. Need to finish that gift pic for my favorite deerstud, Boosterpang. Need to finish that gift pic for my long-time puppybud, Iceroy. Need to tidy up that pic I did for Gemini. Most pressing of all, need to finish my half of a trade with Wolfie-Canem.

3. Need to try and devote more time to friends I've had to kinda neglect last semester while focusing on classes. I'm sure you guys know who you are, and I'm soooo sorry. :c I'll be a better, more-present friend this year.

4. Gonna transfer to my big university in the Fall! :D

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Also, I'd like to extend my deep concern and sympathies to Japan at this time. For those of you who haven't found out yet, Japan has been hit by a roughly 7.0 magnitude earthquake this New Year's day. It struck somewhere off the eastern coastline, so I do hope that a catastrophic tsunami doesn't follow. It would be a tragic way to start a new year, and I do hope for the best for them.

Because yesterday was my birthday! 22 planetary revolutions around our Sun, woo! c:











Also, thanks to all my friends and fans who've really supported and been kind to me, despite my prolonged periods of not uploading aaaanything. D: More art is on the way, I promise, but classes naturally take priority.

I'm back from my resort getaway vacation, bitches~





















c: Kayhugsbye

Hey guys, now it's going to sound ironic of me to tell you all this, considering I'm not exactly the most active artist around, but I'm going to be gone for a period of two weeks starting Friday. The whole family's heading down to Mazatlan in Mexico for a nice vacation at a big resort, so I'm fiiiinally gonna have some fun in the sun n' surf.

Now, I should probably have an internet connection there for my laptop, but in case I don't or it ends up being one of those retarded "pay to use" connections, I'll be seeing all of you buddies when I get back on August 5th. I hope to have a blast, and I'm pretty confident we won't be encountering any of the gang nastiness Mexico is so famous for lately. It's a 5 star resort after all. Can't wait to see the waves there though.

Wishing you all a great 2 weeks, hasta luego!

It's finally happened, everyone. There was no way we could hold them back forever, and now the Internet has been overrun. Now that the Internet has fallen, they've begun to invade our other forms of entertainment.

Movies, television, games; nothing is safe from...THE PONIES.

BEHOLD!

The Rainbow Knight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfu_Zn5zkX4 <-- I fear Pinkie because of this.

300 Ponies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTlGYS6rAfA

Lord of the Ponies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coEx.....eature=related

Pinkie and the Brain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCpd.....eature=related

Pony Effect 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqpy.....eature=related

PonyCraft 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJbA.....eature=related

The Elder Scrolls VI: Equestria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egrl.....eature=related

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic provides a realistic representation of life in Ponyville: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zHZj8Xp-Ik


Just a selection of the best trailer mashups using My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that I found on YouTube. There might be more, so feel free to comment links to any others you guys find. Best thing is, you don't need to like My Little Pony to find these hilarious (which is my case), you just need to love internet hilarity.

p.s. If you do end up watching any/all of these, comment on which one you liked best! :D I'm torn between 300 Ponies and Elder Scrolls.

I am now officially 21, and thus old enough to buy all the beer in the land. And give it to hobos. SOMEONE FIND ME A HOBO! >:C *runs off to buy a 6-pack*

Tomorrow's the big day, everyone! My 21st birthday, marking the beginning of being oooold. Dunno what I should do for it though. I'm gonna have a fancy schmancy family dinner the night of. Should I buy a beer and give it to a hobo? :D

It's that time of year again~! In two weeks, the Earth will return to the point in its orbit around the Sun where I was born! Yaaaay~! This time, however, it's a pretty special birthday. Not as important as my 18th, but still pretty significant. I'M TURNING 21! My birthday's on the 6th of November, in case any of you are wondering (which I doubt >n>), which thankfully is on a Saturday I have off. Not sure what I should plan for that day, and I don't think I wanna drink alcohol, even though I'll be legally able to. I'm kinda trying to stay away from any bad influences while I'm in college.

ANYWAY, I just wanna thank all of you guys on here for cheering me up and cheering me on all these years, a lot of you are the closest friends I have, and I owe you guys a lot. I realize I don't post much, which is why I'm so thankful to all my fellow artist friends on here for giving me the inspiration to keep drawing and keep improving. Especially my beloved mate, Iceroy. Seeing you improve with each submission motivates me every day to do my best as well! Love you, sweety!

I dunno what I should get myself for my birthday. At my age, I don't really expect to get many gifts. I mean, my parents and some relatives might give me cash, but that's it. Hah, it would be ironic if I got myself a beer flask that I'll never use! xD Anyway, that's about it! Have a good weekend, everyone!

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Days Until Birthday: 13

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For those of you who ever visit Second Life, you've probably been to a furry club at least once. Well, A couple weeks ago, I was offered the job of being the Artist General Manager of Club Flex, essentially meaning I'm going to be in charge of the entire art department over there. Club Flex is this pretty well known furry club that especially caters to muscled furs and muscle fans. I've met a TON of new friends through staff or visitors since becoming a part of the Flex team, it's been a lot of fun so far.

Oh and by the way, if any of you are also artists that love drawing muscle, and go on SL at least now and then, hit me up. My username on SL is BigRed Kharg. If you like, you can apply to become official Flex sponsored Artists. You don't have to pay anything, and you'll never be told what to or what to draw. The benefit of becoming a Flex Artist is that you get to advertise your art, commissions, webpage, etc inside the club on your own billboard-thing. We basically want to turn the club into an art hotspot for the furry community.

Anyway, what this means for my gallery is that there will be a looot more art that's focused on A.) hefty, sexy amounts of muscle and B.) large, ample amounts of cock (as the majority of the club's visitors are male). But now that I think about it, that's something you guys are probably already used to in my gallery. I'll also be submitting promotional art that highlights new events that will be going on in the club and such. Not to worry though, it's not like this is gonna totally swamp my gallery. Just a few pics now and then, the majority will still be stuff for me, commissions or trades from all of you, or gifts to my friends.

Aaaanyway, just wanted to share that with you guys!

~ Big-Red

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There is nothing more depressing than having to register for the fall college semester when there's still a month of summer left. What's worse is that southern California has had the weirdest weather all summer: cool and mildly cloudy. What happened to our searingly hot beach weather?? I've only driven down to Laguna Beach like three times all summer because of this. Ugh. And it's not like I got a lot of art done in all the free time either, so I'm kinda upset with myself about that. Spent most of my time either on video games, hanging out with my friends at the movies or the mall, etc. Art always seems to be something I do during the college semester I guess, because there's nothing better to do in a boring, easy class than sketch in my artbook. Oh well, I guess that means that I'll be getting some more art done now that classes are starting again. xD

Journal Question: How was your summer? What did you enjoy doing, and what do you wish you had done more of?

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You're all perverts.




ALL.