I had an idea for something fun here on FA. Let's do a little comment-bragging for a change. Too many people rely on self-deprecating and abasement, but let's put all that aside and tell the world how fine and foxy we are.

The rules are simple: you get to brag about one thing or trait that makes you awesome. It can be your killer abs or your ability to fix your own car or your knack for fashion or your glorious head of hair or just something you did that makes you proud. Honors or awards or anything. Limit one brag per comment, please :D

I will get this started: I have perfect teeth and I go to the dentist every few years to be reminded I have perfect teeth. No cavities, nothing. I don't even floss.

Your turn! Boast away!

Thanks everyone who wished me happy birthday :) It is a laid-back day off work, so I get to spend time with friends and family. And relax.

And it got me thinking about my characters. They do not age so they have all the time in the world to dress up and crack jokes and go on wacky adventures. Some of them are easy on the eyes and some are mostly comedy relief.

I would like to make more comic pages and I am curious which characters people would like to see in the panels? So here is where you get to nudge me: which fish, bunnies, deer, trolls, whatever would you like to see with word balloons? And do you think color is sorely needed for this or it black and white acceptable?

Please inform.

One thing that life has taught me over and again is that people rarely see themselves as they actually are. Maybe this is a good thing.

When I was in around 13 years old I took private art lessons to learn oil painting. This was a time in my life when I was shy and got bullied a lot in school, so the weekend art lessons were a break from all that and I felt happy there. It improved my confidence. Mom would drop off my sister and me and for hours we would paint and receive instruction from Linda the teacher. The art students my age were nice to me and did not think I was a huge nerd. At a time in my life when other kids always made fun of me, this was amazing.

One day I was feeling particularly giddy (a rare treat in those days) so before lessons began I sauntered around the classroom before Linda got there and offered my art critiques to the other students. "Needs more yellow" or "make that darker" I chirped with happiness. I saw nothing wrong with what I was saying and I thought I was being helpful. Really. When Linda got there the students were implementing my advice to their paintings and she asked why and they told her. She was furious and called me into her office. For several minutes she chewed me out for contradicting her art instruction and who did I think I was? It came as a shock to me and I felt like she skewered me on a spear with her words. Once she dismissed me from her office I hid in the bathroom and cried until my mom came to pick me up.

I was just a kid.

Looking back it is easy to see what I did wrong- poor socialization and complete unawareness- but Linda saw me as arrogant and disrespectful. She projected onto me traits that I did not possess, probably because other adults had pissed her off too. It took me years to become properly socialized because I was such an introvert, and even in college I made stupid mistakes that garnered me enemies. What was me being clueless was interpreted as rudeness or arrogance or whatever, but people are not mind-readers so how can you blame them?

It happened again with a teacher in art college named Mr. Robinson. He despised the way I drew figures and let me know it, even though I was new to life drawing and could not understand why he took a hate to me. I was a quiet student and tried my best to please teachers. He laid into my art, calling it "shit" and so I tried to make a joke to lighten the mood and that just made him angrier. It was puzzling. Much later when i was no longer his student I walked into the computer lab and he started yelling at me because I had a water bottle...which tipped off his tirade about how I thought I was "above the rules" and I had "always" been like this. Wha-? When had I ever given that impression to this guy? Again, it was bizarre and I could not figure out where he got these notions about me. Who exactly was he imagining?

I have no idea how I come across even now. I try to be considerate and kind and not step on anyone's toes, but oftentimes the recipient has their own issues so I step on landmines instead. It seems this was the case with those two art teachers, but maybe I triggered it by acting goofy. Certainly I am not alone here.

And here is where I get prescriptive: Assume Best Intentions. This applies to all of us- just give the benefit of the doubt. It's hard to undue years of mental self-defense but try it. Maybe that comment on your art was not an insult but a fumbling attempt at humor. Perhaps that co-worker is doing the best she can with ADHD. And that person who did not friend you back on Facebook? It could be they just never cared about social media. Being suspicious and on guard against people will not make you friends anyway.

Even the nicest and most beloved among us have detractors.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?li.....vzNW_9b00VUxiE

Betsy Lee does a series of Flash cartoons about furry characters in Meso-American mythology and folklore, and they are pretty entertaining. I like her loose style and her silly personalities and the story about the glowing black Evil which they overcome. The use of folk music in a few of these should not put you off, as the animation is quite spirited. If you have trouble following the tales, just re-watch a few like I did.

Go see! It will not take long.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Since the year is wrapping up nicely I will lay out my strategy for the next:

No way am I going to Further Confusion, since I have a job and getting time off this soon after Mississippi? Nope.
But I do plan on cranking out a metric ton of art, and that includes the fantastic four commissions on the docket.

Until I get these four finished, no new commission will be taken. Sorry. I cannot risk burnout now that my art mojo is singing on key again.

HOWEVER I will be at Reno for BLFC in May and you will be able to get cheap commissions there. Convention rates apply, because it's hard to concentrate on short notice. Also I will be selling my wares. Look for me there!

And my own personal project -called Forgiveness- is exactly what it sounds like. I plan on letting go of all the old hurts and anger and living in peace. I was hesitant to bring this up, but I know there are some old scores and grudges from years gone by and it's time to bury the dead. This will not be easy but it helps when people get things out in the open and not hold them to their hearts like a small sun, burning them from within.

And you can expect to see more of my characters, oh yes- Candi will be her old self in new outfits. The fish babes will wear the same old thing. Ninevah will find a boyfriend. And you will learn about eHarpies at long last...

More to come!

First off, thanks to everyone who responded to the colorist search. I hired  rjbartrop and  sidian and now I am going to have to save up more money to do this again. It was wonderful to see the results so quickly, and they are both very professional. Recommended.

Some of you may have noticed that my Twitter account is gone. Yes, I deactivated it and no, I have no plans to bring it back. It was a time-sink and I was following WAY too many people and I got very little enjoyment from the site, but mostly it was just me venting about my day job in 140 characters or less. I realize now just how negative that was, and how I must have sounded to people reading it. It's best to forget all that business so Twitter is not for me.

Currently I have plans to attend BLFC in Reno but no other conventions. With my day job, it is hard to get time off and I am already booked to visit Mississippi for Thanksgiving with  catwarrior so that eats up a lot of vacation time. If things go well at Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno then I may attend again, but otherwise I am burned out on conventions for the time being.

BUT...I am not burned out on commissions :) Currently the list is rather short, so...if you want a simple character portrait, you can get an idea of my prices here http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8243321/

I work all week and so my time is limited by that. Although I can do my own digital coloring, it is not as spiffy or slick as I would like and I have seen some MUCH better colorists here on FA. All I need is for someone to color the digital files, they are already drawn.

So who is really good? Who do you recommend? And most importantly are they accepting paid work?

Over the years I noticed a trend in art commissions: many customers do not want the original art mailed to them, and are fine with a digital copy only. So what do I do with all these original pieces lying around? Ihave them in a drawer but I am not sure if I can sell them.

Since the customer does not want the originals, what is the protocol for selling them off? Am I allowed to do that?

Please weigh in.

I have not forgotten my obligations, but I am going to visit relatives for a few days and I will be back Tuesday. Will resume drawing and mailing packages then :)

As some of you know, I have a Twitter feed under the name Dustweat. Kind of a pun there. Recently I read an article about a man being fired from his job because of what he tweeted, so I have made my tweets protected. You have to ask permission to see them...but I am cool so you can ask me there.

Just a heads-up.

I know it's a meme but what the heck! Let's have fun with it.

Write an assumption you have about me in a comment below, and I'll tell you if it's true or not.
I'll do my best to answer.
(In the past people have had some weird ideas.)

You can read about it on my journal:

http://dustmeat.livejournal.com/

Hello everyone.

I will be at Califur this year down in Irvine, as I am one of the Guests of Honor :) Look for me in the dealer's Den under the heading Megan Giles Art, and I will be selling prints and comics and taking commissions. YES, you read that correctly. I do con commissions.

Hope to see you there!

Some people might think being Megan is a breeze! They must imagine something far from the truth. Here is what it's really like to be Me:

Lower back pain. Where did this come from? No one knows! Wanna sit in that computer chair? Time to leave it or your back will be screaming. Walk it off.

Food Allergies. This one is LOTS of fun! Everyone is enjoying that ranch dressing and that fried onion and that boba tea and that MSG-packed Chinese food...except YOU! You are running to the bathroom. Always a treat at parties.

Sensitive Skin. Another way to not have any fun! The sun is your enemy and will cause your rosacea to flare up, and most soaps will give you a rash. Wanna go to the desert? Ummm, no. How about a swim in this chlorinated pool? Only if no one splashes my face. Fun times!

Insomnia. This one will be the BEST for ruining your chances at that new job. Or going anywhere in the morning. Or sleeping at night. Learn all new ways to tolerate sleep deprivation without being trained by the military, for free! Try not to kill anyone.

Fainting. I wish I were making this one up. That low blood pressure will suddenly drop completely and your ears will ring and your stomach upheaves and your vision blacks out and HEY what am I doing on the ground? Oh right, I had a blood test and I passed out on the way home. Or in church. Or at work. Or at the gym. Always embarrassing. Get ready for a lot of questions.

So it's a gala good time being Megan, try it out! Except that I am still using this body and you can't. But next time you think someone's life is all rainbows and pixies, remember those pixies are evil.

If anyone is looking for art on other galleries, I am on Weasyl too.

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

NO, I will not be there this year. The boss explained today that there is no way I can get that weekend off...so I will save up my vacation days for another convention.

Sorry everyone! I was hoping to be there.

Sorry if I have not been communicating or answering emails or getting back to folks in a timely manner. I have taken ill and it's too much effort.

Just typing this is a drag :(

I appreciate your patience, and I answer your questions when I recover.

I have decided that the next comic story with my Candi Bunny will be about her dating life. It's high time that gal got some time off work anyway, amirite? So I plan on calling it "I Candi" after the way men see her (it's a pun) and she will go on a lot of odd dates with the sort of people you would expect in a humorous comic.

None of these boys will be based on actual ex-boyfriends (that would be tacky) the way the previous comic was based on actual neighbors I had. But Candi's job at the restaurant is based on my memories and so people might wonder how autobiographical this is.

Candi Bunny is not me. We share some traits (long hair and nice legs) and she is all about the wacky shenanigans that life throws at us, yet she keeps going strong. But she is not myself as author self-insertion. Keep that in mind what you see how she dates men.

You may recognize some characters from previous art :)

I have a new computer and as of now it has Photoshop CS2, so we are back in business :)

Good thing I refunded that digital commission, my computer is old and done. Until I replace/fix it I will be limited to (shudder) using other computers to upload art and send things to Jarlidium Press. This means most of my files are not available. Fun!

Also, I no longer live with a computer geek so fixing/replacing my computer could take weeks.

I found out the URL has changed. If you want to read my comics there, it is now
http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/dustmeat/

Seriously, why didn't the site admins let me know this?

What will I do with my television? I need some recommendations from you guys. It was  thornwolf who suggested Breaking Bad to me years ago, so I know there are other people with good taste ;)

So let's hear it! I have cable and Netflix. What should I watch?

At one time it was doodling in class to blot out the teacher and math. Later it was to show my friends as foxes or lizards doing funny things, and then I would hand over that drawing to said friend. It was just a thing to fill margins in school and bulletins in church. I had all these characters in my head and I wanted them on paper. Sometimes I drew myself looking prettier than I really did. So much wish fulfillment.

Then the internet came along in the 90s and I saw how far behind I truly was. College had not prepared me to illustrate at such a fancy level, oh no! There was much catching up and copying Boris Vallejo poses and constantly using animal reference to make sure no one could criticize the pieces I posted. I loved making the pictures, but now I needed other people to like them too. It was very important to me then. Thus the focus moved off my characters and stories and humor and became "see I can draw too!"

Yerf was a bit of that. When that site was the rage artists all tried to draw to Yerf standards and the point was to show skill. I made the cut and fans liked my work but some of the Yerf crowd played this un-fun game of "What did Megan draw wrong?" and they had their little forum where they took cracks at recent art. This mentality of "you better suck it up and take the critique" moved onto other sites as well and I tired of the constant witch hunt. It drained the joy right out.

10 years ago I was getting tired of drawing furries. It had all been done, and nothing more needed to be said, or so I thought. How many foxes and wolves and how many poses need repeating? So I drew cows. I was bored with art.

In 2006 I got into World of Warcraft and that changed SO much. Love it or hate it, that game got me inspired like nothing had in YEARS and I was agog with the jungle trolls. Art was a passion once more, and the characters and stories in my head were kicked into VERY high gear and I was "WOO HOO ART!" all over the place. Sure much of it was derivative Warcraft art but it made me happy and I have no regrets. Plus it pushed me to draw more males and armor and I got better.

But the stories in my head needed to come out somehow. I was intimidated by comics because there were so many RULES and I was warned that once you get into the comic crowd "it is eternal junior high" and full of catty people who tear eachother down. So I balked. In 2007 or 2008 it was  tegerio of all people who inspired me to ignore that and just do it. He sure led by example, as you can see from the hundreds of pages in Zandar's Saga alone. But it was his fearless impulse to create stories even if no one else liked it that got me over that hurdle. You would think that years of Joe and Roz and Jay and all the other comic artist would have done the trick but nope, it was Josh Kennedy.

The problems worked themselves out. I figured out layout and pacing and all that and peope liked my jokes. I already tipped my hat to Joe in my previous journal, you know that.

I am glad that folks have been enjoying the Candi Bunny comics and especially now that she is in color :) I myself have been inspired by comic books since Mad Magazine and Elfquest in the early 80s, and then I was amazed by Calvin & Hobbes like everyone else. You may have noticed a nod to Bill Watterson in the latest pages. I have also made little sight gags ala Bloom County and some of the humor is derived from those Masters of Content.

But also I wish to thank Joe Rosales for all those years he showed me proper layouts and the best ways to draw humor into the story. You may or may not remember him, but he was the Best Comic Artist in all of furry back in the 1990s. Back then he was revered. You can see some of his work here on  joeartguy and you may recognize certain stylistic tricks that I occassion to use myself. He taught me well.

I am very sorry to report that friend and fellow artist Lou Scarborough lost his battle with cancer last night. Schirm was with him, I believe. Lou was only 60...he was an animator on Secret of Nimh. He will be missed.