I'm a little late coming to the party, as they say, but let me help to boost the signal for a cry for help. If you aren't already aware of it, Vicky Wyman, creator and artist of the popular Xanadu comic series of years past and fellow FA contributor, has suddenly fallen on some very hard times and conditions. She is in need of some assistance and is asking you all for a little help. Here are the posts from her journal that explain the situation:


http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6016561/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6019622/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6019693/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6020551/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6023328/

If you can't help directly, then please help to spread the word further.

Okay, I'm casting into the dark here.

Finances are tight and I'm looking to pick up some extra cash. So far, my few attempts here to stir up some interest in commissions and auctions are coming to naught, and I'm at a bit of a loss as how to move ahead. The auction sites seem to be pretty much moribund these days -- the very few entries that show up seem to get very little attention, let alone bids, so they are no longer the hustling marketplace they used to be. I can't find a central online marketplace for furry art anymore (apart from selling prints through Rabbit or Furplanet) since everyone seems to sell through their FA pages -- good if you know the specific artist you're looking for, less so if you're just looking to browse. So how does one make the connections these days?

Seriously, any practical advice, pointers, directions, news or even plugs would be helpful. (I have some limitations on what I can do -- streaming, for instance, is out; I don't have the equipment or the money for setting it up.)

Conversely, any direct discussions about commission work would be helpful too.

I'm planning to put up some of my art for auction here (since most of the furry auction sites seem to be either non-existent these days or else largely ignored). I've got three good reasons for doing this: one, I could really use the money; two, I'd like to clear out some of the physical backload of drawings sitting in my files; and three, I could really use the money.

I'll post a piece or two later on, as soon as I pick out a couple of pieces I think suitable and of likely interest. Anyone not familiar with my work, go ahead and take a good look around the gallery and see if the general style appeals to you or not.

I've been exploring the Patreon site in general, and the comics creators in particular. And while I'm still looking to pimp my own page (http://www.patreon.com/cpam in case you missed the previous journal entry), there are several others there worth a look as well, including a few people from FA. Some of the more interesting pages I've seen are:

Rukis http://www.patreon.com/Rukis

Kelvin Challenger http://www.patreon.com/Mastergodai

Savannah Horrocks http://www.patreon.com/savannahhorrocks

Scudder Kidwell http://www.patreon.com/whitepony

Gonzalo Reyes http://www.patreon.com/Chalodillo

Rick Griffin http://www.patreon.com/rickgriffin

The Gneech http://www.patreon.com/the_gneech

And someone who calls themselves, simply, 'furry pinups' http://www.patreon.com/furrypinups

It's by no means an exhaustive list, nor is it limited to comics. Some need a lot more support, others not so much, but it's always nice to be able to drop a buck or two into the tin to encourage talent to produce more art. If you aren't already familiar with the site or aren't already supporting one or more deserving talents, then drive on by and have a look.

Like a number of other creative folk, I'm hooking up with Patreon, looking for sponsors to help fund my comic work. So drop on by and take a look. I can always use a few bucks to cover art tools and expenses.

http://www.patreon.com/cpam

(And even if you're not interested in sponsoring me, ramble around the Patreon site while you're there -- plenty of other good, talented folk there with interesting projects that you might want to sponsor instead.)

I've been watching with interest the national one-day strike against fast-food restaurants today in favor of raising their wages to $15 an hour. As expected, there's a debate going on and I'm surprised by how few are speaking up in favor of it, and how many misassumptions there are flying around.

First off, I'm all in favor of a raise of the national minimum wage to $15 an hour. (The Australians already do better than this at $15.96.) Currently, it's at $7.25. Here in Washington State, it's $9.19. But the national poverty level for a family of four is just over $11 an hour! That means that someone earning minimum wage is already in deep water, unable to make ends meet except through a number of unacceptable cuts (inadequate meals, poor housing, lack of appropriate home care for children, inadequate means of transportation, etc.) and falling deeper into debt.

Among the complaints against raising the minimum wage that I've seen is that it isn't necessary, that folks here in Washington, especially, should be grateful that their min wage is so much higher than the rest of the country. But that's just choosing between poverty and near-poverty -- it's like choosing which you would rather have broken, your arm or just all of the fingers in one hand; either way, it's still very painful and still leaves you unable to use one hand.

"It's not a career -- it's meant to be a start-up job for teen-agers until they can get better paying jobs." First off, you need to convince McDonald's of that, as they tend to promote the jobs as careers. Secondly, I see a lot more than teens at these jobs, because the job market is still pretty tight and a lot of folks who were let go from better paying jobs over the past several years found themselves unable to secure anything but these low-paying fast food jobs. Teens are lucky if they can squeeze in.

"If you want a better paying job, go to college!" Unfortunately, this isn't true anymore. More than half of the college graduates over the past several years are still unemployed and deep in debt due to college tuitions, and they've been stuck going back to flipping burgers. http://obrag.org/?p=74116

"If they double the minimum wage, then my Big Mac will cost about $25!!!!" Nothing like hyperexaggeration. Yes, the price will go up. No, it won't be astronomical. One study suggests that it will go up by about seventy cents, but a few others suggest it will only be a nickel. I think it will likely fall somewhere in the middle, but let's say it goes up by the max: so what? It's a small price to pay for financial sustainability, and if everyone receives at least $15 an hour, then everyone will be able to easily afford that price increase.

"Most of the folks I've seen working in those places don't even deserve a wage increase!" Irrelevant for the most part, as that calls for a personal judgement on the part of the person making that claim... but consider that any individual is only going to work as hard as he feels that the job is worth to him. Anyone whose job only serves to keep him barely floating above water is bound to be sour and lacking of motivation. Give him a decent pay above subsidence and his morale and ethic is likely to improve.

"But $15 an hour is where most better-than-average jobs usually set their starting point for new employees! If McDonalds et al raise their minimum wages to $15, then the rest of the employers would have to adjust their wages too!!" What can I say? Let the burger-flippers suffer for the sake of corporations holding back their own wage limits? Given that the dollar's spending power has slipped greatly over the past couple of decades compared to the employee's general wages (a dollar's worth has slipped about roughly 28 to 58 percent just in the past dozen years), then I'd say that it long past time that ALL employers adjust their pay scales accordingly.

But -- one step at a time. Let's get those minimum wage earners on better footing first, and raise that minimum to a decent working wage.

I have a couple of folks on my watch list passing the word, looking for assistance for Tyreenya who apparently needs a kidney transplant. It's a difficult place to be, and harder still to ask outright for help when in that place, so when someone does so, it's even more difficult to ignore. The very least I can do is to help pass on the word. If you can help, then see the post below and make contact; if you can't help directly, then please help to pass on the word with your own signal boost. And thank you.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4980046/

Okay, here's a price guide for my commissions, and a Terms of Service sheet. I went through several artists' galleries here to see how they were handling it, and I think the terms below, which I freely borrowed, seem to work the best.


Terms of Service


The commissioner must read and agree to the following terms of service before commissioning me for any artwork.


Prices
My pricing schedule may be found at the end of these terms.
Set prices may vary a bit from posted prices in case the character or background elements are especially complicated. Prices for commissions are always based on current rates.
The commissioner must make payment within a timely manner to ensure the price remains the same.

Payment
I accept payments via Paypal for customers worldwide, and for those living within the United States, I also accept money order or personal check. (Personal checks must clear my bank before work is begun). Payments are only accepted in US dollars. Payment can be made either in full up front, or in the case of higher priced commissions (over $150), half up front and half upon approval of the pencil sketch, but before ink or color is begun. Any other types of payment plans can be discussed with the client on a case by case basis.

Shipping
Most of my artwork is traditional, which means a physical original typically exists and can be mailed to the commissioner. The commissioner is responsible for the shipping/handling fee ($8 within the US, a bit more internationallly depending on the destination). This covers USPS Priority mail shipping within the US, or International Airmail (first class). Any insurance, delivery confirmation, or tracking desired by the commissioner must be requested and paid on top of the regular shipping fee. If the commissioner declines to have the originals shipped to them altogether, then I reserve the right to sell the original, rather than holding onto it indefinitely. In the case of a digital art piece, shipping is not required.
Once the piece has left my hands and been shipped, I am no longer responsible for it. I do package everything with care, to avoid damage, but sometimes damage or loss in the postal system is unavoidable. If you are concerned about damage or loss, please be sure to purchase insurance and/or tracking for the package.

The Commission Description
The commissioner must provide me with a description before I accept the commission. The description should include reference of the characters or other important elements to the piece. If the commissioner has a very specific idea, the description should reflect that. Any information left out of the description will be left up to me to fill in the blanks, so the less I am given to work with, the less control the commissioner has over the final product. A reference sheet, if one exists, is always helpful.

Content Restrictions
What I will not do for commissions: Graphically adult (X-rated) material, aroused male genitalia, animal-style genitalia, underage characters in any adult/mature or nude situation, extreme violence, hermaphrodites, most fetish material, hateful or offensive material, copyrighted characters that I do not have permission to use.

What I will sometimes do for commissions: Tastefully erotic scenes between consenting adults (R-rated), Tasteful un-aroused nudity, mild fetish material (accepted on a case by case basis, please ask if your idea is okay), some action-oriented violence.

What is acceptable for commissions: General audience material, either gender is okay. Anthros, humans, ferals, taurs and some fantasy creatures are okay. Comic book style action and cartoon violence.

What I enjoy doing for commissions: Female pinups (clothed or nude; ‘good girl’ style art), action/adventure, story illustrations, original comic pages or strips.

I must approve your description before accepting the commission, and the commissioner may not make any changes to the description once it has been accepted.

The Process
Once I have received payment (in half or in full), I will begin on a pencil sketch of the commission. Once complete, I will send a scan of the pencil sketch to the commissioner for alterations or approval before continuing to the next step. At this stage, minor alterations are acceptable free of charge. I am willing to do 3 sets of minor alterations before I begin charging for additional alterations. Also any alteration that requires a complete redraw, or major overhaul to the piece will incur a fee (which will be determined based on the complexity of the sketch and the nature of the alteration). If the commissioner wishes to see a very rough pencil layout sketch before I work up the actual commission sketch, in order to approve the overall layout/composition, this must be requested in advance. Once the pencil sketch has been approved, and I have received the full payment for the artwork I will work on the inking (if applicable), and the coloring of the artwork. Once the coloring is complete, there is not much I can do as far as alterations go (if the art is traditional), so if you have specific ideas in regards to the colors, please make sure that I am told in advance. I will send a scan of the finished product to the commissioner once it is complete, and then mail out the original, if shipping/handling has also been paid.

Rights
While the commissioner retains the rights they have to their own personal characters, I retain all rights in regards to the piece of artwork. The commissioner may crop an image for use as icons, wallpapers, or resize it for display purposes, but they may not make any edits or changes to the art itself. The commissioner may post a display-sized image (no more than 1200 pixels at largest dimension) online for display in their personal galleries, so long as credit is given to me as the artist. The commissioner may not reproduce, or make any money off the artwork. The commissioner may resell the original itself, if they wish, but I would prefer if they contacted me in advance before they do, so I am aware of it. The commissioner may not destroy the original. If they no longer want it, and do not wish to sell it, they may send it back to me. I may choose to display or not to display the artwork in my galleries, but if I do, I will always credit the commissioner for the ownership of their characters.

Commercial Use
If the commissioner intends to use a piece of art for any kind of commercial use, including website logos, inclusion in a magazine or book, or other commercial venues, this must be discussed with me in advance, and if I give permission for said usage, I will want royalties on any sales with my artwork in them, and credit to myself as the artist. The commissioner does not have the right to use any commissioned artwork for any commercial use without prior written permission from me.

Prints
I reserve the right to make and sell prints of any commissions. If the commissioner wishes no prints to be made of their commission, I will ask an extra fee, which will be determined based on the projected popularity of the print sales. The commissioner must ask in advance for no prints to be made, so I can calculate the fee, and assure that no prints are made.

Refunds
If the commissioner desires a refund at the sketch stage (but before ink or color has been begun), the commissioner may receive a 50% refund of the purchase price. If the piece has been fully completed, the commissioner is not entitled to a refund.
If a commissioner is determined by the artist to be difficult, confrontational, or otherwise unpleasant, I reserve the right to cancel the commission and issue a refund for the work which has not been completed.

Communication
The commissioner understands that good timely communication is very important, and without timely responses, my process will be slowed down. I work on multiple commissions at a time, and I will generally go back and forth between commissions to make the best use of my time, so if I do not receive timely responses, I will often switch over and work on another piece. Communication should also be friendly, professional and respectful at all times.

I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone, and to refuse to accept a commission for any reason. These Terms of Service are subject to change.

Pricing Schedule:

8”x10” 1 fig 1 fig & bg 2 fig 2 fig & bg >2 fig >2 fig & bg
Rough Drawing $12 $15 $20 $25 $30 $40*
Pencil Sketch $14 $18 $24 $30 $40 $50*
Pencil Drawing $17 $23 $29 $35 $45 $60*
Inked Drawing $22 $28 $34 $40 $50 $70*
Digital Colors Flat $32 $38 $45 $55 $75 $90*
Digital Colors Rendered $37 $45 $60 $70 $85 $100*
Color Pencils $55 $65 $80 $100 $110 $120*
Acrylic Paint $60 $70 $85 $105 $115 $150*

The pricing grid above is based on an 8"x10" size, but drawing sizes can range from 5”x8” to 11”x14”; prices and will be adjusted higher or lower accordingly. Ask for specifics. Would I be willing to knock off a few bucks on any given image? Maybe, if it's simple and I can turn it out quickly and easily enough. I could raise the cost a few bucks, though, if the image is unusually difficult. It can't hurt to ask me.

* Prices for more than 2 figures and full background could go higher, depending upon the complexity of the image and time spent.

Digital Icons are a flat $25. 4”x4” badges are a flat $30. If you have anything else in mind, a special project that does not fit within these parameters, contact me and we’ll discuss it.

These prices do not reflect any additional shipping or postage costs.

I'm opening the door for commissions. Because, quite frankly, given the economy, I could use the cash.

I'll be setting up a price list very shortly, but I intend to range from inexpensive on up to infinity -- basically, the larger and more detailed the piece, the more it's going to cost; the simpler it is, the less I'll charge.

There's things I like to draw and there's stuff I will never draw, and probably a few things in the middle that I wouldn't ordinarily be inclined to do but might be convinced otherwise.

I'll put up a more specific list, like I said, but if you have questions you can contact me here on the journal, or through the private note system, or by e-mail.

I've been unable to connect to the Bat's Belfry (http://www.belfrycomics.net) this morning. All I get is a lot of "Too Many Redirects" error messages, regardless of which machine or which browser I use. Anybody have the skinny on what's going on?

Radio Comix is having a little cash flow difficulty with Uncle Sam through no fault of their own -- even the IRS isn't to blame. (As I understand it, the difficulty lies with a now-formerly used accountant.) If you've ever been a furry comics fan, this is your chance to say, 'thank you' with a donation to help swat down that bill. You don't need to pay a lot if you can't afford it, but every bit helps.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/h.....ve-radio-comix

The nominees for the 2012 Ursa Major Awards have been posted today (http://www.ursamajorawards.org/voting2012/)... and I can’t help feel disappointed by the final choices. The nominations are chosen each year by the fans (or, at least, by the fans who actually bother to participate and file their selections to the UMA website) from a wide selection of anthropomorphic art and literature that has appeared over the course of a year. But it’s been getting that each year the nominations come in, I feel less and less gratified by the choices actually made, and I always wind up wondering about the breadth of the average furry fan’s knowledge, familiarity or even interest of the genre. Sometimes, I even wonder if I’m in the same fandom as everybody else.

What strikes me first is what’s missing from the lists. Among the graphic stories nominations, there’s no Blacksad. No Grandville. No Mouse Guard. No Mice Templar. Not even Usagi Yojimbo, though that honored series only put out one or two issues this past year while Stan Sakai turned his attention to a new project. (And Sakai has asked in the past that, after winning a few consecutive awards over a few years, that he be passed over in favor of other folks having a chance.) Instead, we get TwoKinds? Furthia High? Slightly Damned!? At least Lackadaisy makes sense, given the strength of the writing and the power of the art. Where is Endtown or Epiphany or even Cheap Thrills, strips with skillful artistry and stories with some real meat to their bones? I mean, really? Slightly Damned gets nominated over Blacksad!? TwoKinds over Grandville!?

In the comic strip category, we are missing strips like Doc Rat (which brilliantly juggles humor and drama in its tales) - and how does Doc Rat keep getting passed over year after year anyway!? - Kevin and Kell, and Heavenly Nostrils, thrown over for the sakes of Housepets, Precocious and Sandra And Woo. Which doesn’t even seem like a fair fight. And I’m not saying that those who got nominated were terrible or even slightly bad – I just don’t think that a number of these are even in the same league.

The short story category this year, rather than be dominated entirely by Kyell Gold, who gracefully withdrew his name from consideration this year, is instead populated almost entirely by Mary Lowd. I’m rather concerned by this, more so than I was when Gold received three or four titles in the category, because it now looks like a trend where one writer can totally dominate if they can get enough friends to nominate them. This is not a criticism of Mary Lowd -- I’ve no doubt that Miss Lowd deserves the award for the category, especially as I personally feel that she is a more capable writer than Mister Gold, but I think the category award determination should be more than simply deciding which of her stories is going to get it. And not just her, but any other writer afterwards. I think it defeats the purpose of having the fans select the winner if it only boils down to one determined bloc of fans dominating the process. Perhaps the UMA should tweak the rules a bit to limit the category to only two entries per writer. I don’t actually like limiting the category in this fashion, but when it happens year after year that one person or another dominates a category, something is out of kilter.

I know this comes down to a lot of griping, but I feel there’s cause. I know it’s a fan award and that it’s the fans that make the choices, but I still question the choices and I question the process. Ideally, it should be an honest expression of the fans selecting the best and finest through involvement in a democratic exercise; but it feels more and more like the majority of the fans are either antagonistic towards or apathetic about either the furry arts or the awards, and what we’re left with is a small, unbalanced percentage of involved fans who continually tip the process one way or the other, but never towards the truly deserving. (The irony, I will note here, is that there was a larger number of people nominating this year.)

It may be, as I noted earlier, that the UMA rules need some slight tweaking. Maybe they need more categories or sub-categories, such as splitting Graphic Stories into Humor and Dramatic categories; limiting the number of times a writer or artist can appear within a category. Something. I don’t know, just… something.

Out of curiosity, does anybody know what's up with the WikiFur and Flayrah sites? I haven't been able to access either the past several days, but keep getting a 'website is currently unreachable' message from CloudServer. I still see partial entries through third party sites like FurryNews, but can't get at the original articles. Anybody know if they're down for maintenance or whatever?

If you haven't already heard about this -- and this being the kind of small, close-knit community it generally is, you probably have -- this is a brief tale of a Giant trying to kick aside a dedicated self-published credentialed writer over the usage of a popular SF term: "Space Marines".

M C A Hogarth, who has won a few awards here and there, including the Ursa Major for Best Short Anthropomorphic Fiction, has recently completed a new novel titled Spots, The Space Marine. Upon completion, she set it up for publication as an eBook available through Amazon. Very shortly after its publication, Amazon pulled it from the lists because of a complaint that the book was in violation of an already established trademark.

The complaintant was Games Workshop, who claim that they have an outstanding Trademark upon the term "space marine". Seems silly, as the term has been in usage in SF books and literature since Robert Heinlein first coined it.

Here's the basic info from Maggie's blog: http://haikujaguar.livejournal.com/1208235.html

Any support you can whip up would be appreciated. Spread the news to other outlets. Send letter of (polite) complaint to GW. (Not to be confused with GDW.) Look for the book through other outlets, such as Smashwords (where it hasn't yet been pulled).

Don't let the Giant get away with being a bully.

ADDENDUM: The fracas has caught the attention of the Guardian over in the UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/201.....ht?INTCMP=SRCH

Further Addendum (2/8/2013): Amazon has relented and allowed the book to be posted to their eBook lists. The legal issue of whether or not there is a legitimate claim to infringement is yet to be resolved, however.

And the story makes the BBC news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21380003

Time for a quick bout of self-promo:

Just released: the first issue of Felicia's new color comic, now available through IndyPlanet: http://www.indyplanet.com/store/pro.....oducts_id=7620

Also available is the trade b&w collection of Felicia And The Sorceress' Apprentice: http://www.indyplanet.com/store/pro.....oducts_id=7447

I'll be attending a couple of local conventions over the next couple of weeks, starting with Foolscap (http://www.foolscapcon.org/) in Redmond, WA (the place where Microsoft hangs out). It's a SF literary con, and I'll be at the Tai-Pan table, which will be hosting a Round Robin event, so look for the table with all the typewriters. The con is Sept 21 - 23, and I only plan on being there Friday and Saturday.

The next week (Sept 27 - 30) is Rainfurrest in Seattle, WA (https://www.rainfurrest.org/2012/), just up the road a ways from me. I'll be sharing space at the Tai-Pan table along with a few other folks. There's a new issue of Tales Of The Tai-Pan Universe just out, so drop by and visit us.

Thought I would mention here, just in case some folks weren't yet aware of it, that FurPlanet Books has published a collection of the first decade's worth of award-winning furry short stories. The Ursa Major Awards Anthology was released during Anthrocon last month, and to the general public since the beginning of this month. It features the winners from 2001 through 2007, plus 2009, as well as a couple of the runner-ups, by writers like MCA Hogarth, Brock Hoagland, Kristin Fontaine, Samuel Conway, and Kyell Gold, among others. (They had to quit after including three of Gold's stories lest it turn into a Kyell Gold anthology instead.)

It also includes my own winner, Felicia And The Tailcutter's Curse from 2004.

You can pick up a copy at any of the conventions they're hitting this year, but it's also available through Amazon, or through FurPlanet's own website (http://furplanet.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=573). It's a good sampling of the best of the best of furry fiction.

I received word yesterday that John Speidel passed away, suddenly, on February 15. He was only 52.

John was one of the 'old guard', an active member furry fandom back in the 80's when he was a member of the ROWRBRAZZLE APA. He was best known for his manic KITTY MALONE serial and his STEPPINWOLF strip which ran for a time in the Comic Buyers' Guide at that time. His work appeared in a few books here and there, such as in GraphXPress's MORPHS. He even drew a story for the FURKINDRED graphic album, in collaboration with fellow 'Brazzlers Mark Ashworth and Diana Vick. The last official word I'd had on his activities was that he had been working locally in Winnipeg as an animator.

John had a wonderfully loose and manic style which was influenced by classic animation, and his work was a delight to pore through. Some of his KITTY MALONE strips are archived over on the Spontoon website: http://spontoon.rootoon.com/SPwKM001.html

Perhaps I worry too soon. Apparently, the people running the graphicsmash.com hosting site has paid their fee and all of the strips there are up once more. So maybe the situation isn't so dire as I believed, and maybe I don't have to worry about my host disappearing from under me.

Still, the fact that they waited so long to renew the domain -- a few days after it had expired -- does not speak well to either professionality or financial soundness. Perhaps I should continue to keep a tight watch on those future expiration dates, and think more seriously about a new host.

Apparently the entire Modern Tales family of webcomic hosting is crashing. The domain registration for Graphic Smash (graphicsmash.com) expired on Friday, and all webcomics there (including Ursala Vernon's recently completed Digger) have vanished. There's obvious concern that the rest of the family of websites will likewise vanish over the next few months, taking with them a few hundred more webcomics. The expiration dates for the rest of the Modern Tales hosting sites are:

2011-07-24 webcomicsnation.com
2011-07-31 serializer.net
2011-08-02 talkaboutcomics.com
2011-08-15 girlamatic.com
2011-10-06 comicspace.com
2011-11-09 moderntales.com

This, unfortunately, includes mine at webcomicsnation.com. Champion Of Katara and Felicia are both currently on hiatus anyway while I continue to work on a backlog, but now Mr Cow may also be shut down, and the completed strips, Seeker's Quest and Stars And Stripes will disappear.

If that happens (we'll see if anybody at Modern Tales shows any sign of life before that next deadline), I'll see about taking everything to another hosting site; hopefully one that was as easy to upload to as webcomicsnation has been.

For those who were following my webcomics and were likely wondering what's been happening with them of late...

Well, I've just fallen a bit behind with my deadlines. That's all.

When I started out with them, I had first amassed a good size of backlog for each -- about two months worth. That allowed me a bit of breathing space, so I didn't have to rush to get them done each week. But over time, that backlog has slowly been eaten away, mostly because this is something that, as much as I love doing it, gets done in my spare time. And that spare time gets awfully tight. (I'm sure I'm not telling any of you other artists out there anything new.) The deadline kept creeping up closer and closer on me until, of late, I've been sweating to get them out on time. I've been literally finishing pages the day they're supposed to be 'published' online. It gets even worse with FELICIA, since I also have to color those pages, which takes a bit longer.

So, rather than beat myself silly trying to rush through the pages in order to get them online, CHAMPION OF KATARA and FELICIA are both going on a brief hiatus. (CHAMP has already been on hiatus for a couple of weeks.) I'm laboring to work up a new backlog of pages, and won't resume posting them until I have two months worth again. I'm hoping that CHAMP will resume the first week of July; FELICIA might take a little longer.

In fact, because it's getting colored, FELICIA just might run on a whole new schedule: I won't post pages until I can get an entire ten-page chapter finished. That would then run for about two and half months. Then, another break until the next chapter is finished. How long the intervening break between chapters will be, depends on how long it takes me to finish.

Not really the way I want to do this, but needs must.

(On the other hand, MR COW is entirely unaffected by this, pretty much because it's the quickest and easiest thing I do.)

But I wanted to reassure the four or five of you that were actually reading the stories that I haven't abandoned them and that they are still being worked on and that they will eventually return during the summer.

And thanks for having stuck with them this far; it's great to have folks interested.

Passing this on from Stasis-Delirium's journal (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1514657/)

Apparently there is an adult art site that is using pix purloined from a number of furry artists and charging folks to see them. If you've done any equine furry images, you may want to check it out -- these people are charging for them, and you're not getting a penny of it.

It's called the Heavy Horses site and its at http://galleries1.adult-empire.com/.....1159/index.php

Just glancing over the entrance page I recognize work by Kadath, Ayame, Max Blackrabbit, ShinnigamiGirl, Dr Comet, Loup Garou and Chris Sawyer.

Folks, do not patronize this site; you're not doing the artists any favors by doing so. Artists, you may want to rev up your lawyers and start launching those cease-and-desist letters.

The recently announced winners of this year's Ursa Major Awards spurs many questions:

Why was Avatar even nominated in its category? (It's not a bad film, but the Na'vi are far more alien than they are anthro. Sure, they've evolved from a catlike monkey of some sort, but humans have evolved from apes, so what's the difference?)

How could three top-of-the-line webcomics lose out to a strip of lesser quality?

How the blazes could Lackadaisy lose to anybody!?

Is it even possible for any short story fiction to be nominated if it isn't a gay fantasy? (They weren't all such, but the larger number were.)

How could books like Mice Templar: Destiny, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, and Bryan Talbot's Grandville have been ignored and not nominated for awards?

The Ursas are what they are, but I think it's time for a different Award to be initiated, one run by a juried panel that will look at judging entrants with a far more critical eye, and award according to a work's merits rather than its popularity.

I sometimes forget I even have a journal function on this site; I probably should use it a bit more often. I apologize for the lack of art entries this past year, but most of my energies have been going either to writing or else to drawing comics. Still, I suppose I should do something about putting up a preview or two of some of the pages now and then, just to keep this site alive.

For those who have been following them -- I assume there's somebody reading them, if I'm to believe my webtrackers -- I recently put an end to two of my weekly webcomics (Seeker's Quest and Stars 'n' Stripes). I dropped S&S because I frankly was doing too much and something had to go; since this was the strip that drew the least amount of traffic, it was the one to be sacrificed. Hey, I got two years out of it, and I had fun doing it.

Seeker simply came to the end of the story, and that was that.

On the other hand, I have doubled the number of pages each month for Champion Of Katara, so that will now appear twice a week. The Felicia story, however, is winding down; I'm thumbnailing the final pages, which should run in September. Given that her strip is by far the most popular, I'll have to come up with a new story after that.

Mr Cow keeps on chugging along.

I recently turned in a cover for the next issue of the Tales Of The Tai-Pan fanzine, and I'm working on a couple of story illos for that as well. I've got several more Felicia prose stories in the works, and no less than two novels in various stages of rewrite; I'm really hoping to get at least one of them done and illustrated before the year is out.

And I'll be manning the Tai-Pan table at this year's Rainfurrest con here in Seattle, which is likely to be just about the only furry con I'm going to be able to afford to get to.

Prompted by the discussion at Ebonyleopard's journal. (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/776256/#cid:6426994)

Radio Comix has published its last issues of Furrlough and Genus in their current formats -- maybe even their last issues, period, depending upon a final word from Elin, who was looking into the possibility of continuing them in a different format. This is likely the end of the standard furry comic through the traditional market.

Comics will likely continue through other venues -- there are several that are currently being published through POD (Print On Demand) sites... and, of course, there are still the online webcomics.

The discussion has me wondering how much bother any of it is worth these days? Is there really much interest in furry art (meaning comics, film or literature that aren't pornographic in nature) in the fandom? One of Ebonyleopard's remarks stands out: "For a fandom, there is less and less to be a fan of."

There's also a good bit of discussion about paysites, digital art theft, and whether or not making money from one's art is in anyway an honorable action.

All of which has prompted me to put together an impromptu poll. If you feel inclined to take it, just answer yes or no, and feel free to elaborate if you wish:

1: I read furry comics. (Webcomics, comic books, etc)

2: I read furry stories. (Novels, novellas, short stories.)

3: I only read them if they're pornographic or at least have something sexy going on.

4: I never read books.

5: I only read or look at stuff online.

6: I think the artist/writer deserves any payment he demands.

7: I think the artist/writer deserves whatever I can afford.

8: I gladly pay donations to the artist/writer's website if there's a pay-button available.

9: I'd like to pay the artist/writer, but I'm broke, out of work, and about to be evicted.

10: Screw the artist/writer; all art should be absolutely free to the public.

11: Look! Squirrel!

Just in time for Christmas! I've put together a collection of the Felicia novelettes I've self-published over the past few years and added one new one -- that's right, six entire stories! It's a POD trade paperback available through CreateSpace (https://www.createspace.com/3360703) for a mere $18 -- cheap, when you consider that the novelettes were originally sold for approx $10 each. And the volume is illustrated as well. Needless to say, I'm stoked after having seen the proof copy.

It'll also be available through Amazon within a couple of weeks.

Remember, it'll make a nice Christmas present for those loved ones who like to read.