After spending days on the background of my first YCH commission, I started the figures earlier this afternoon and have completely screwed it up because I couldn't remember how to color the damn hair correctly. Erasing has torn the paper's surface and any attempt to shade it over now just ends up with a bloody mess. So I have to start completely over with that one. I really needed to finish these to take more commissions for bills I have due a week from today. And I only really have tomorrow and Monday to work on things because it sounds like my work schedule on into this weekend is going to be brutally long.

And I just started getting a sore throat too. If 2018 could suck any more for me, I really don't want to know about it at all.

I'm already so tired. Oh well. Back to the drawing board quite literally in my case.

Work is messing with my schedule a bit and instead of the Saturday-Sunday block this weekend, it sounds like I'll be off Sunday-Monday instead which is really getting me nervous about getting my YCH commissions done in time to take a couple more to pay for some upcoming bills before next payday. The change in my schedule, plus some of the coloring now going as quickly as I had originally counted on is throwing me a bit but I'm not trying to let that rush me in coloring. I don't want these pictures to look like I sacrificed any quality in the coloring. Perhaps I'll make more progress tomorrow morning before work than I'm currently thinking I will.

For my YCH winners, I've started the coloring on the pictures and will do my best to get to it right after I finish this little announcement. Today at work, I learned that the business I've been working at for nearly 24 years will be closing for good in March. I'm guaranteed a job until the end of the first full week. Prior to this, I've been working 4 days a week but that'll change to 5 days until I'm out of work starting next week which means I lose a day of working on art here at home. I have no ideas on where to look for other work but won't be doing so until I get these pictures done. I need to finish them and get something going before the middle of the month to cover other bills. What this means for other art, I don't know yet.

I may or may not consider a Patreon but I have no clue how I'd structure that or anything else about it yet. It's just an option at this point but it wouldn't become the only place I would upload art like some people have done.

I'll try to keep people updated as I learn more about all of this.

I'm still working on the sketch for the third image but the first two have been approved and I'll be moving on to the next stage once I finish the sketch for the third. I keep feeling like I'm not making as much progress on these as I need to but I'm also not sure how to speed up the process. I'll be needing to run more auctions soon just to keep up with bills. My medical insurance payments went up but as usual, my pay won't be increasing any time soon to help cover them.

And if you do like what I've been doing here, you can always buy me a Ko-fi or two here: https://ko-fi.com/dharken Every little bit is greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for winning auctions and getting back to me so quickly with your information. I know I said I'd get to the invoicing yesterday or the day before but I was working on character sketches to do the YCH pieces to establish size relations and to get a feel for your characters before working on the sketches of the images themselves. I will get to the invoicing soon and posting of the character sketches once I get those to a stage that's worth scanning.

Congratuations to Quillum, TonyRaccoon and Jyan for winning my first three YCH auctions! Either I will get in touch with you or you can with me for details and such.

Thank you to everyone who bid, looked at, commented on, and assisted me with these ideas and auctions.

Hopefully the results will be coming soon.

My YCH auctions will be ending in two hours for anyone still interested in them. Again thanks to a number of very supportive people for helping me set these up, the bidders for bidding and anyone who has shown an interest in these ideas and the overall concept I was going for with each of them.

It looks like I will be doing more of these in the future.

Just a reminder there are only a few hours left on my first three YCH auctions, especially for those who have bids placed.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/25506595/

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/25506625/

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/25506660/

It looks like one has made it to the color level so I'll be dusting off the pencil boxes for that it. I'm excited to see who will win, what character they'll choose and what the final images will be like since there are so many possibilities. I have other image ideas in mind and will probably start on some of those after I'm finished with these.

To all who have helped me set up these auctions, to all who have looked or commented and to those who've bid - thank you very much. These have gone over better than I feared they would.

(crossposted from my Twitter with a minor correction and addendum)

I'd like to take a moment to say I'm thankful for my friends and fans of my work. I treasure the help and support I've had especially over this past year. It literally has made all the difference in getting through what is probably a difficult time for most of us.

I'd also like to specially thank those bidding on my auctions and I'm eager to see the results of those.

And finally I'm thankful for the invaluable assistance and love of Susi, my companion for the past several years. I do wish I could make so many things better and easier for you.

-and it looks like they're doing well. I've had other ideas with other characters of mine and with the three I've already uploaded here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/25506595 , here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/25506625/ and here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/25506660/ though none have made it to the ladder level of being colored as of the time of this journal. They're doing better than I expected though, so I will likely be doing more of this style of YCH image auctions once these are done.

I have the first three of my YCH ideas sketched up and will probably be posting them tomorrow as ladder auctions. They'll be traditional media and will have options to allow the winner to customize the image so it's intended to be more of a collaborative experience than I feel most YCH images usually are. Auctions will likely go on for 5 days to allow plenty of time for people to consider and may or may not include an auto bid price. For anyone who is curious, the first images will feature Todd, Danielle and Obsidian with the rating of the final piece being up to the winner via the options.

Just a journal to let anyone interested I'm working on those YCH ideas involving my characters. I'm also trying to take care of a few obligations but they're finally proceeding nicely. I have a little list of ideas, some adult, some general audience and some based on suggestions in previous journals but I need to sketch them up as something presentable before setting up what will probably be a bid situation or buy it now kind of thing for the first one or two.

And as a reminder, if you like my work and would like to tip me a little, which is a big help to me, you can do so here: https://ko-fi.com/A0074XMS

To the people that have bought me a ko-fi, thank you! You're helping me feed the neighborhood cats that like to hang around my home. Many of them have actually been born under my steps and I've known them since they were very small kittens.

If anyone else wants to help, you can do so here: https://ko-fi.com/A0074XMS

If you like what I do here enough to tip me just a bit, I've set up one of those Ko-fi accounts here: https://ko-fi.com/A0074XMS

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I've been working on getting some previous commitments taken care of before I focus on those YCH ideas. Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback on the previous couple of journals. I'll be trying to work the visuals up in the next few days and figure out how the slots will be purchased. I know a popular method is bidding but I'm not entirely certain I want to go that route. I'm also pondering how exclusive the idea should be, especially since more than one person has expressed interest in the same characters. Unlike the past, I'm pretty motivated right now to get these going and done as quickly as I possibly can. They'll likely be graphite, possibly shaded but if it's an auction format, I might consider colored pencil work as an option.

Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to this subject. I had company last week through the weekend, then was trying to play catch up on several things. I'm at least at a point now where I can address this again. There was definite interest in my proposal for YCH images involving my characters and a few suggestions but now I'm opening things up to who you might want to see in any YCH images and what they'd be doing. For now, I'm going to limit the ideas to one of my characters and one of whomever might get the YCH slot. For that slot, it will either be one of the claimant's original characters or they must have permission to use that character. I don't need to have people getting mad at me just when I'm starting to be able to draw again.

I know by now the YCH thing might well have run it's course but I was wondering if anyone would be interested in any I might offer that would involve interacting with one or more of my characters? I need to pay a couple of bills really soon so I need to come up with something I can do quickly.

It's been about 10 days since the last journal. My brother has improved significantly (I haven't even had an update in the last 2 days). At last word, he was sitting up and able to communicate with his son, my nephew. His road back to this stage was a bit slower than doctors had expected but my brother has always been a bit slow to wake up. There's still no word on how the cause of his problems, a small stroke, may have affected his right cerebellum and possibly his thalamus though that may have been spared any issues. He's likely still in the same hospital in Colorado and may be for a few more days, probably to receive some kind of physical therapy before being released. The biggest cause of this whole thing is probably his taking his medications for MS and high blood pressure after not being able to afford them a few months prior. (I have some definite opinions about the current healthcare debate that have only solidified over this hospitalization of my brother. Some senators better hope I never see them face to face.)

I may or may not get around to drawing something as I currently have company. It's art company but there's also a lot going on and have been on the run most evenings this week so far. Maybe some time this weekend but who knows for sure.

I've wanted to do more art for Snektember but after the last sketch, I did a couple of other things, then have had a medical crisis in the family. My brother is currently in a hospital in Denver, Colorado after suffering a stroke that appears to have partially tried to shut down some of his organs. He's in stable condition and his organs seem to be getting back into working the way the should so the big concern is just what might have happened to his brain as a result of the stroke. As his closest living adult relative, my nephew has been handling all of the responsibilities of dealing with the doctors and answering their questions, then answering mine when he calls to update me on his father's condition. I cannot praise my nephew enough for the maturity he's shown in this situation. I've been in a similar situation before with my father and grandmother but I was also at least a decade or more older than he is,

I still want to sketch some things but my mind is bouncing all over the place and can't settle on a specific idea under the current circumstances. Hopefully it will as things get more stable (which hopefully they will continue to do too).

After uploading a sketch yesterday and one three days before that, I'm working on yet one more sketch - another foursome with a lot more action than the previous one but different participants this time around. I think this might be the first time I've managed three consecutive sketches in a couple of years. Perhaps my sketch productivity is tied to high stress without having the financial resources to do anything else but sketch. Whether this is the case or not, you might be seeing another sketch in a few days' time.

Today's the day I get yet another year older - older than I ever thought I'd be when I was a much younger person. Wish I was doing better but then I wish almost everyone was doing better these days. Kinda hoping today doesn't suck as much as I've feared it will for the past couple of weeks. I guess I'll find out what the next few hours bring.

And several of the creative types I watch here have been busy indeed. I leave this unattended for a few days and get buried in submissions.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/24087182/

Sadly, I must pass on the news that Archie, the kitten I posted this about, has died earlier today.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/24079566/

Chival's boyfriend has a new kitten that's not doing well. I can't afford to help right now but perhaps someone reading this might be able to, and perhaps send some good and healing thoughts the kitten's way - may or may not help but it can't hurt to try.

If you're looking for high quality art, especially involving dragons, I can recommend https://www.furaffinity.net/user/nikolaosflamel/

Check out one of their most recent images to get an idea of what you'd be seeing: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/23932154

I know commissions, YCHs & adoptables are all kind of an ingrained thing now in the fur fandom but I can't help wondering would some artists might do if all they ever worked on were their own ideas and concepts.

Well, I have a Twitter account at any rate. As for being one or not, I probably know, or have known, people that would argue either side of the case. Anyway, I finally got with the times or crowd and have an account. I have no idea what I'll really do with it. The same thing I suppose most people do - post inane crap about my life for anyone to read as long as it's 140 characters or less. About the only real news I would have, and it only really matters to me, is missing out on Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend because I caught a bloody cold off of one of my co-workers. So not been a fun weekend at all.