It's all on Patreon, folks.https://www.patreon.com/Dustmeat

Since some of you thought I quit drawing, oh no there is plenty to see. I still need to adjust the tiers but a good deal is free.

The art is back. So many pages- I just need to space out all the uploads on my Patreon but the sketchbook is filling up and man, there is so much in my head that is pouring out. It's all back like it was before, the spark, the ideas, the adrenaline. Wanna see my new dragon character? Or the flood of animal sketches? I am scanning it all in. Wolves, big cats, mammoths, birds, and of COURSE horses. And yes, furries.

https://www.patreon.com/Dustmeat

You may remember her from Yerf and her NeoPets art, you may remember her from WoW fanart or her other interests, but right now she is not doing well and I am not sure how much more I can share. Her contributions to Furry art were cute and well drawn, and she was a member of Huzzah and other fanzines. She is a private person so her Facebook has been deleted, thus I am posting here where she had many fans.

Four years since my last journal.

I see a lot of you here on FurAffinity and I still check this site from time to time, but I am not uploading much here. Nor do I take commissions. I feel bad when people ask me for them, because that is not a promise I can keep. I draw deer and horses and people and sometimes other animals, but hardly any furries at this time. I just draw what I feel like drawing. Or I paint nonsense. Candi and Ninevah are still alive and well but even they barely make an appearance on my Patreon. Maybe that will change, who knows. Most of my sketches never get scanned in.

Why?

I met all my goals. Everything I wanted to say with my art, everything I needed to accomplish. The skill level I hit, the cute stories I wrote, the funny jokes- that is mostly here for free and I do not need the money. Clearly I need new artistic goals, but the only ideas that matter to me now are stories. Mine or yours.

So I love reading Rigsby, Wi or Zandar's Saga or Roz's books or making up my own stories in my head. Always have. I also use my own work experiences to fuel Candi's many woes and that requires me to change details and turn coworkers into furries, but mostly I invent scenarios for my own amusement. And a good portion of that is not furry.

Do you guys want non-anthro comics about me learning to ride horses? Or crazy real life situations? I would die of embarrassment if anyone recognized themselves in my comics, which is why I turned them into dogs and elves. But even with that, most of my wacky RL stories would make it easy to identify people so I better not risk it- Peggy was right about autobio comics being hurtful to friends and family. And I never wish to hurt anyone.

Anyhow, It's Saturday so I need to get my riding gear and helmet ready for the lesson horses. Put leather conditioner on my new cowboy boots. Tie my hair back.

But before I go, sketch a few of my favorite things.

I work an essential job, unfortunately. That means things have been crazy busy and hours have increased so I am almost never on the computer. I will get posting art again and I have not forgotten any commission promises, but mostly what I have been doing is goin to bed tired and getting up early for work.

But at least I am healthy. Take care you guys.

It looks pretty full now, and that happened in a whoosh! So I need a few weeks to get through the list before I can take on even more work. Everyone who sent PayPal is listed.

As the semester is over I have decided to quit teaching. Kids are wonderful and I love them but teaching class means constant "No, stop that" and "What did I just say?" and "SHHHH!" so I am done. Unless you have taught children you do not know the struggle, and I simply do not have a bossy personality.


HOWEVER....

this means I can take commissions again! Nothing but love of art, and free time when I am not working my other job, compels this. Money is just money. I would be glad to draw for free like I did in the 2007 to 2011 years but I learned then that free art is not appreciated by most people for some odd reason. So I take PayPal.

Message me if interested.

This was the year I lost people. There were funerals and family reunions and a big trip to Alaska and more funerals. There were bright spots too, there was joy. I had to come out of cold storage and I had to get a second job, but I did everything I set my mind to. Life is good.

There were moments up in the cold cold ocean near Glacier Bay when it seemed like the sea was alive with orcas and sea otters and everything that should not be there in such a bleak place. But the whales breached and never slept and they never stayed in one place. All day you could watch that boundless sea and out of nothing the surface would part and a black shape would spout and tail flukes would emerge and they were there all along.

This past year I got a job teaching art for real, and the focus is on classical artistic methods. No comic books, no furries. If you want to see my uploads of normal animals and people, expect a lot of that. Trees, landscapes, you get what's coming here. And all of that will be posted on my Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/Dustmeat

Clearly the comics and Candi Bunny have taken a back seat to lessons like How to Draw a Hand and Still Life Apple. But there will be herds of animals, I can assure you of that. Bulls and horses and lions and eagles and anything that has a heartbeat. Forests of pretty trees. Even some F16 fighter jets.

I no longer attend conventions but I am still very much an artist.

Since my ankle was severely sprained I could not do any caregiving (which is my day job) and so I applied for a position as an art teacher at a small private school. They hired me on the spot. I will be teaching art to K-12 two days a week and this will keep me super busy. I have a small list of commissions but that's it, I gotta focus on my lesson plan. Hope you all understand.

And yes, I will be posting art.

I have rolled my ankle in Taekwondo- it was the single worst Tornado Kick ever executed and the landing was Severe Pain... so now I cannot drive or walk. This means two things:

1) I am bored

2) I cannot work my Day Job

How does this affect you? Oh man there is only so much YouTube, I gotta draw something! Ninevah is the first choice and she is being posted a-plenty on my Patreon account, but what would you guys like to see? Name it and it might appear here. I got nothin' but time :)

https://store.jarlidium.com/collect.....roducts/icandi

And thanks guys!

The Facebook version of this post was purposely vague, and this one will not be much better because I am protecting certain people and their privacy. But here goes:

This was a year of massive changes. I broke up with my boyfriend and joined a dating site and found my new love. I broke up with my job and got a nice severance package and found a new job. My Oma died. My sister divorced. There was this diet and I lost 20 pounds. I started taking selfies. I started taking Tae Kwon Do. I started to learn Italian. Every morning I volunteered at a senior center. Every commission dragged on for months. Our house got completely renovated and that ruined my workflow. For the first summer in years I did not get heat stroke... I was happier.

I would drive in my little red car and crank up the radio and sing full force and for awhile, just for awhile, there was no fear.

You may have noticed a drop in the art production but oh me oh my, that was the least of my worries. I had my whole future rewritten and possibilities opened up to me that had been locked away. My eyes have been opened to things other people always took for granted and it's more than just going to work and paying bills. There is joy.

Finally, right?

There have been many changes to my life recently and I no longer work 7 days a week but I keep my days packed to the gills with other things now. In particular I volunteer in the mornings and take Tae Kwon Do in the evenings...in additional to being a professional caregiver. This is not complaining mind you, I have reached an unusually happy phase in my life and I am singing its praises.

But this is how it concerns you:

Art is getting shoved to the back burner too often and it shows. Commissions? Oh yes I do them at en epic crawl. Comic pages? It is down to one a MONTH and that is pathetic. Have to ramp up the art. But comic art, as much as I love it, generates no income. And my Patreon site was supposed to take care of that problem.

https://www.patreon.com/Dustmeat

See that monthly pledge? Half of it is fake bidders who yank the money out before they get charged. This gives me little incentive to do anything but tear my hair out. I greatly appreciate my real patrons, so there is art there posted nowhere else...but it is discouraging.

Whine whine whine.

Guys I really want to print another comic book. Help me make this happen.

By Band of Horses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV99ErubyMI

In case you are wondering, I am the girl in tinsel holding a cake. Which one are you?

Forgive me for being vague, but my situation just got better. So enjoy some good news! Here are some random bits of joy from the last few days:

I went to a water park for the first time in 12 years. What a great idea, I highly recommend it...in my case it was Raging Waters but I can also vouch for Schlitterbahn in Texas. Good clean exercise and fun rides all about getting wet! Since I am very swim-oriented it was a blast, and I wore my much-loved brown swimsuit which served me well all these years but needs replacing. Many women had tankini combinations and the younger ones wore bikinis. Men have it easy- all long swim trunks. This inspired me to draw- what else?- bikini pictures. Who would you like to see?

Our backyard is a bird-feeding station. Recent nestlings and their parents fly to us for live mealworms and other bird food, which also attracts lizards. After years of doing this the flycatchers (all named Phoebe) are tame and catch the worms we toss up to them. Guests are impressed by this trick. Many of the other birds hop up to us or land in my lap for food. This is the best way to keep birds, trust me...not much to clean up. I have not found any nests on our property this season but in the past there were nests in the weirdest places, like in boxes of tomato food. The greatest joy is when the baby bluebirds grow up right before us and learn to eat from our hands.

90% done reading War and Peace. And it is a pleasure.

Almost done with the Worker's Comp comic, so we need ideas for the next Candi Bunny tale. Since I like my comics to be light and wacky, I avoid sad subjects and serious drama and I hope the readers get a kick out of seeing Candi and her peers enact different shenanigans. So now that you have seen her neighbors, her workplace, and her roommate, what other subjects should we explore? I am looking for ideas from you guys.

You may have noticed the slow updates on my art, and that is because I was working two jobs. Literally seven days a week, which left little time for anything. Now that has changed and I have days off to draw so tomorrow I will be rectifying the backlog of comic pages and commissions. Yes, that is happening...it is already sketched and ready. You may be thinking, "Hey Megan's Patreon account looks a little anemic lately" well- this is my Situation. Not a pity party, just Two Jobs have been reduced to One Job. Plus art for your viewing pleasure.

Candi Bunny is at the climax of her Worker's Comp tale. After that will follow more comic stories, so don't go easy on me :)

And frankly, this heat wave means I am staying indoors anyhow.

https://www.patreon.com/Dustmeat?ty=h

Thank you for your support.

Sorry, I work two jobs now so that is my whole weekend :/ But everyone else have fun in my stead!

Mostly to get the sad journal off my front page, here is a Life Update.

I now have two jobs which are both part time and both are caregiver positions. My clients are all elderly and I like it that way. When I am bored at work -or everyday between lunch and dinner- I draw dogs on the backs of things. That is my whimsy. I have never owned a dog.

Due to recent back injuries I have not been ice skating but somehow I still lost weight. Since my work is pretty physical I have to stay in shape but I eliminated red meat and that must have done the trick. This is a rare instance of me bragging, so savor it.

Much of my day (when not at work) is spent feeding live worms to various birds who have tamed up a bit and can catch things I fling into the air. This started as a means of feeding bluebirds but has since grown into a welfare station in the backyard where we handout mealworms to every insectivore in the neighborhood. At night the skunks and possums have a feast on what's left.

As much as I love drawing furry comics, my other great passion is teaching people to paint. I lead classes once a month where I work (all elderly) and it brings out a joy in everyone despite the corny subject matter. Landscapes, trees in the snow, flowers, simple stuff that requires no drawing skill. My talent is making it easy for non-artists to learn and enjoy painting these things. Who doesn't like messing around with color?

Currently I am 73% through reading War and Peace.

My Oma passed away last night and we are all in mourning. So the art will have to wait, sorry folks. I am also taking time off work but there is much to do.

(Oma is German for grandma)

Are you guys tired of my dog pictures? I am guessing they are rather boring to the average furry.

The truth is that I draw a half dozen dogs EVERY DAY while sitting at work. I draw them in ballpoint on the back of whatever I can find and then I leave these dog drawings all over the building for my co-workers to find, like Easter eggs. I do this with no one paying me, and I love it. It's freeing and I can feel my stress level drop as soon as the drawing emerges. Even at work. So I am asking, do you want me to share these completely normal dog pictures? They are legion.

Today was basset hounds and beagles, FWIW. And one Alsatian.

It should have plot, nice backgrounds, interesting characters, and some humor. The reader should WANT to know what happens next. The panels should be laid out in a pleasing fashion...oh, you get the idea. Here is what I am recommending:

http://www.farflung-comic.com/comic.....ntal-crossroad

Far Flung is the story of a little furry guy who leaves home to seek adventure and everything goes terribly wrong. He lives in a magic fantasy land but strangely, this is not all rainbows and pixies but you have to read it to learn more. The artist and writer is Poinko who has worked on furry comics for years and I got to talk to him at the Texas Furry Fiesta so he has been vetted for you ;)

Anyhow, enjoy the story!

As some of you saw me this weekend you must have noticed that I was in Texas for the first time in five years. Yes, I made good on my promise to return.

And what a return it was! I flew in on Friday and that was poor planning since I missed everything that day and it was also a surprise to learn that the Intercontinental Hotel has no shuttle to the airport. (You guys need to know this, as I was stupid and took a cab instead of Uber and thus it was 45 bucks to get to the convention from Love Field. RIP OFF.) Anyhow, I was delighted to run into people I knew immediately and had dinner with Sparrow, Gary Akins, and Bushycat. Chinese food was SO good that I took some back to my room ...which had no refrigerator. That's right, this big fancy hotel has no room fridges. But I went down to the dance and was so happy watching everyone that it was a startle moment when security asked me to leave because No Badge. I explained that I got there after registration shut down and they WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY to open Reg for me and look me up and give me my badge. It was midnight and they were kind enough to do this for me. The staff at Texas Furry Fiesta is AMAZING.

Saturday was one big whirl of people. Of course I missed a few of you, but there were over two thousand attendees and it was mostly fursuits. Much has changed since the old days when I knew pretty much everyone at a convention... and it felt strange to be tailless and un-tiger-striped. (My old costume bits are long since donated to GoodWill) The swirl of activity meant that I took the stairs up all eleven flights to my room at one point. I had lunch with Joe and got to sit behind the Radio Comix table (thanks Elin) and took sketchbook commissions. If you have one of these, please be a dear and scan it for me? Then dinner with Elin, Joe, DAQ, Shon, Brian, and Poinko at the Londoner which was so slow we are never going back there. But the main purpose of my visiting Texas was to see my old pals and so it was All Good.

Sunday was Daylight Savings Time, which needs to be abolished. I managed to finish my homework and tried in vain to photograph it using my iPhone. Le sigh, shadows. But once more I got to sit at the Radio Comix table and the only drawback was how FREEZING the dealers room became. Who was controlling the thermosat, Yetis?? But it was not long before my plane was to leave so Joe let me drive his yellow Mustang and we got to Love Field on time. It was sad to leave Texas again.

One thing I took away from this trip is a desire to travel even MORE. And that can happen.

Guess where I am right now! Yup, Dallas is my whole weekend. Find me if you are also here.

If you are following my comic here, you know that Candi is high on Vicodin at work and about to burst into song. So I thought, what would be really funny? I will ask my readers!

So what song is she about to peal out?