Taking flat color commissions for the weekend to be completed by Monday evening. 40$ each (may be more for very complex or detailed commissions)

G-Adult. +10$ to commissions to feature sex between 2 or more characters.

There are 5 slots available

Examples:
http://www.furaffinity.net/full/17983868/
http://www.furaffinity.net/full/17390888/
http://www.furaffinity.net/full/17910673/

Paypal only

Comment or note if interested

1: shaytalis

It's late at the moment, but I'm back on the furry scene after being quiet here lately. Tomorrow (today I guess) I have exams with students which mean I just sit in the room while they work.

I wanna tell some dumb stories or something, or answer questions, so here's how it goes.

Ask me any question and i'll answer, or request a type of life story from me and i'll share my more interesting stories on the requested subject.

really I just want something to do during exams.

This has been bugging me and I wanted to put my thoughts to words. I don't expect everyone to agree with my position, the opposite in fact, and that's fine. I ask however if you read this and do disagree just be respectful about it.

Many of you probably know of the passing of Justice Scalia, many of you probably saw FB statuses, or tweets, or what have you celebrating the death of the extremely conservative Scalia.

I've mentioned this is the past, but I don't celebrate the death of others and I honestly think others shouldn't either. I'm not going to go out and call out people but it was still rather disappointing to see friends rejoicing in the recent Scalia death.

It's not that I don't understand the impact and the hurt. Scalia as a Supreme Court Justice was a foundation of conservative influence in the law of this nation and he was no friend to LGBT and other progressive movements. His thoughts, actions, and words had a huge and often negative impact not just on current generations facing LGBT issues but those in the future. So why not be happy he's dead?

I don't want people to rejoice in death, any death, for a few reasons. There's also a few reasons that people like to argue against and I'll address them too.

It's not because I think the dead have some sort of dignity, or are owed only kind words. In this case I don't care if people bring up criticism of Scalia. Such a thing was important while he was alive, and is completely valid even after death. I don't hold notions that the dead need protection from words (though I do consider it tasteless if you're the type to ONLY bring up criticism after a person has passed. If you weren't interested in life, don't pretend to care after they've died. That's not criticism any more, that's a pot shot.)

Humans in general however do have dignity, and that's what's forgotten when people start rejoicing in the death of others, humanity. Scalia wasn't just a Justice, he was a human being, with a family. He was more than the words left behind in case opinions, he was someone that was loved and loved others, and so one should at least consider in part the benefit of the family that is grieving the loss of a loved one.

Further than that however, even if he were a creature born from the cabbages, raised by wolves, and a hermit that existed only to serve the highest court of the land, we must still remember he was human. Not for the benefit of a dead man, or a family, but for ourselves.

It's easy when someone that is despised passes, to rejoice and point out their failings. It's easy to mark such a person as something to be mocked or an absence to be celebrated, and honestly sometimes it feels great, but doing so robs them of their humanity and robs one of one's foresight.

When we rejoice and hate we dehumanize the person and it becomes to easy to simply write off the failings as a matter of character for the person. It's easy to look at Scalia and say "he was a conservative scumbag" but in that you miss the humanity, the intent, the reason behind action.

We have these flawed concepts that someone is either good or bad. A mutual exclusive. When someone does wrong they're no longer a good person. People don't work like that however, and life is more complicated than a black and white view.

Viewing scalia as an evil man doing evil things doesn't give you insight into why. He wasn't evil, few in history really are. He was a very, very strict interpreter of the constitution. Unwilling to posit interpretations not explicit in the text, or give any credence to contemplating the possible intent of the authors. This extremely strict interpretation obviously didn't benefit the minorities in need of protections, since they wouldn't be addressed in the original document, and it's easy to see how Scalia's background informed his decisions, but it's not so simple as "he just hates minorities or LBGT". He was a professional, well versed in his field, and attempting (even if he was mistaken many times) to do his duty and do his best to protect the people present and future of the US.

It's important to recognize these things, not to excuse the behavior, but to actually acknowledge it and learn for the future. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Those who do not learn from history...there are myriads of quotes explaining that mistakes of history are repeated. In part they repeat because people dehumanize those that have done wrong, and begin to forget that anyone is capable of such things.

Don't celebrate the death of another. Celebrate a change in SCOTUS, celebrate the removal of such conservative influence on law, but don't celebrate death itself. remember the humanity in those lost, allow yourself to look into the intent of actions, understand the "why" behind actions and allow yourself to better understand. If we all do this at some point we will stop repeating the same mistakes in history.

So if you read my twitter you probably know that my cat has been a bit ill lately. Turns out she got something from a flea.

She's an indoor cat and hasn't been outside more than a few minutes in her life. I've always had indoor cats and never had to deal with fleas before, so I didn't know that if you share a house with other animals all of them should get flea prevention.

Turns out fleas have types (there's dog fleas, cat fleas) and most fleas are cat fleas. So if you have a cat and a dog, if the dog tracks in a flea it will find the cat.

I figured I'd make a journal to spread this info. Keep your pets safe, get them protection. It only takes one flea to fuck up your day.

(Nyx is fine and has been treated. so yay not sick cat)

Anyone going? I'm considering doing this one since it really is pretty close to my place at this point, but I'm not sure. Who all is going? What's it like?

I need to make a couple more ref sheets for examples and considered making some adopt designs, question is do you guys, my watchers, like adopts at all? would you be interested?

I'm also considering doing some cardfoxes. It's a very specific sort of thing where I make characters based on the design and fortune of a playing card. There's only a handful at the moment, Fay is the 5 of diamonds. There's a 3 of Spades, the Ace of Spades, Jack of Clubs, and Queen of Hearts.

So, for those reading, please answer the following question.

1. would you be interested in an adopt design (of any species) with a 3 side ref sheet
2. what sort of budget would you be willing to spend on an adopt (5$, 10$ 30$?)
3. would you be interested in a custom made cardfox?
4. What sort of budget would you be willing to spend on said cardfox?

I'm working on a holiday comic, so in the meantime, ask me anything.

Anything about myself, fursuiting, philosophy, whatever other random subject on my mind, and I'll tell you what I know about it.

Back from MFF and I gotta say it was an amazing time. This is exactly what I needed to get me excited about the fandom again and just out of the doldrums of my own life.

This was the first year I've been staff of any con. I was the art track lead, and I want to give special thanks to and who were incredibly kind to answer my call when we needed more artists for panels. Not only that but stepping up with some amazing panel content. I have heard nothing but good things about it all.

A super special thanks to who saved my ass and covered a panel at the last minute so nothing had to be cancelled. A 10 am panel on sunday. Seriously saved my butt this weekend.

Being staff was super awesome. MFF has been my favorite con to work with hands down. I've done bunches of panels at lots of different cons, and i've always enjoyed it, always been treated well, but I must say MFF has felt the most welcoming and appreciative. This is of course my own opinion and experience, I'm not trying to say I was mistreated anywhere.
Being staff was even better.

Working for MFF has been impressive. The organization for what I was involved in was awesome, and Kodi, the programming director was incredibly kind and patient as I learned how to do the art lead position. 10/10 if you get a chance to work with this con then take them up on it.

On to the actual con stuff. I roomed with and . Deo is my bro, it was hella fun and Mantis is incredible. They are so fuckin cool and chill. They and I instantly bonded over my phone because I'm a huge Bioshock infinite nerd and my phone is named songbird. Not a lot of awesome stories for the room, it was just the perfect set up. Everyone was so respectful of everyone else. Just the right amount of chill, but the right amount of interaction. so awesome.

I ran into a million and one people at con and honestly dealt with like 0 drama all weekend, it was astounding. This has been on of the most chill cons i've ever gone to.

The panels went really well and I want to thank everyone for coming. It's given me a new fire to work on my guide and make it awesome. I want to thank the fursuit GOH for running the "how to commission a fursuit" panel with me. it was a packed room and super fun, even though we went over time (whoops) great person to work with.

There's too many people to name here, seriously, this was a con where I got to hang with everyone, and even friends of friends. it was a good time.

I think the final thing that happened. I got to finally meet in suit. After sort of missing each other back and forth, and we got some super adorable pics which I will post soon (overall I adore the pictures I got at this con)

Lastly, I want to honestly thank everyone that took the effort to come and talk to me at con. I had a bunch of people talk about the fursuit guide, or the little comics, and honestly I genuinely am so grateful and flattered every single time. It really does mean so much to me to see that people find my stuff helpful and I'm kinda at a loss for words thinking about all of the people I've managed to help, or amuse, or even just interact with.

This weekend was awesome, and truly gave me incredible perspective again into how wonderful the furry fandom is, and the astounding people that I get the interact with here. I hope I can stay in the fandom for years to come. Thank you all so much. really. really really. I can't express how touched I am by those comments.

Where are you staying?
The main hotel!

What day are you getting there?
Thursday

Who will you be rooming with?
and Mantis, I dunno her FA

Who will you hang out with during the convention?
Everyone I can, mostly Deo, Rio, and a few mystery ninjas

How can I find you?
I wear a hat with a shit ton of buttons on it, or I'm in suit. Otherwise I can be hunted down via twitter and phone tag I guess.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
I'm running 3 panels this year.
"How to commission a fursuit," "fursuit safety 101" and "how to be a handler"
I will also be checking in on a bunch of the art cons and making sure things will go smoothly.

Are you attending any stage or public performances?
no idea what I'll have time for, maybe

Will you be suiting?
Hell yes

Which suit(s) are you bringing?
Fay

Do you draw?
Yes, yes I do. occasionally.

Are you taking commissions or trades?
nope, Unless it's something where you just throw money at my face so I do a sketch right there (not recommended. you should throw your money at other artists faces)

How old are you?
Old, but I'm not that old, young but i'm not that bold

How tall are you?
5'4"

Can I talk to you?
Hell yes! but I don't talk in suit

Can I touch you?
Please ask first, even if i'm in suit, i just don't like being surprise touched. I'm happy to give hugs and such though.

Can I visit your room?
Probably not. it's just going to be a fursuit storage room and place to sleep, no parties or anything.

Can I buy you drinks?
I wouldn't turn it down I guess. But I don't take drinks unless I've seen it made.

Can I give you stuff?
sure, but it makes me feel weird and guilty.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
If you ask, hugs are cool, but i'm not really snuggly.

What’s your goal for the con this year?
Be at con

Are you nice?
I'm sort of the human equivalent of a shelter dog. It's not that I'm mean, I just don't go all in excited. i'm happy to chat with people, but if you expect best friend level interaction I am not the person for you.

How long are you going?
Til Monday!

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Stand in front of me and wave your hands. In and out of suit this usually works.

Where will you be most of the time during the days?
suiting, or taking care of staff stuff.

What/where will you be eating?
Food, at places where food can be obtained

Can I come with you for food/fun etc?
Depends on where I am going and who I am with. asking never hurts.

Can I take your picture?
sure, just ask first.

Can I have your phone #?
No. I don't hand out my number at cons. I hate it. I get why people do it, it's no offense, but unless I literally talk to you every day I don't give my number.

There's a lot of talk about universities lately. Discussions on if 'Trigger Warnings" should be a requirement for courses. Discussions of Micro Transgressions, what can and cannot be said in the classroom. There seems to be two sides of this, either universities are to be safe spaces, with new policies to ensure that students are emotionally protected, or academic freedom must reign, and policies limiting faculty hurt that.

Here's my own perspective as a recent student and as an adjunct professor. You can have both, but not entirely.

I do not believe, nor do I think it is wise for a university to entirely be a safe space. At it's core the goal of the academy is truth, and to gain truth you must delve into the most uncomfortable of subjects.
Academic freedom is a central tenet of universities and the academy. It's a belief that academics must be free to explore topics which are controversial without fear. For instance, if I can run an experiment that questions the foundations of evolution, or the nature of the big bang, I can do that without fear of the university firing me.

More specific to my work, I research sociopathy and it's connection to ethics without fear of the administration firing me because my research doesn't match current popular theories, etc.

To create policies limiting teaching material, or similar for reasons not related to truth or argument is against the point of a university. For instance, it was suggested that Harvard law professors stop teaching on subjects regarding rape law.
That is of course an extreme example, but illustrates an untenable position with the foundations of a university.

That being said, that doesn't mean no place on campus can be a safe space. A university is not just a place to house the academy, it is a place where human beings live and grow. A student should at the very least feel comfortable and safe from harm while attending school. There are absolutely methods to be enacted to make a student feel comfortable and safe while going to get food, while living in the dorm, even while sitting in the class. No one should ever feel they are being attacked.

I don't think the entirety of a college education can or should be comfortable. if a higher education does not challenge your ideas and thoughts then it is not preparing you, it is not creating a critical thinker. That doesn't mean we can't put in some ways to help students, just that the entire thing cannot be scrubbed clean.

Here is an example from my own work. I teach bioethics some semesters. By far it is my favorite subject but it is a subject rife with emotionally explosive concepts. Human experimentation, abortion, euthanasia. At the beginning of the semester I explain to students that there's some pretty rough material we'll cover. I give them an out, that if they feel too uncomfortable to take part they can leave class for the day and get attendance points for talking to me in my office.

I remind them again particularly before he abortion debate, because by it's nature not only do we deal with abortion but questions of rape as well. I've never had someone abuse my policy. in fact each time it's used and I talk to students I am so thankful that I had the forethought to mention it. I've had students in my office crying over past events and my heart hurts for what they went through.

Still, I cannot wipe the material from the class. To do so would be a disservice to the students, even if it makes them uncomfortable. I am well aware what I teach in bioethics is triggering, but to give less would not allow the students to fully understand the material. I cannot remove the discussion of rape from ethics without doing a disservice to students, but that doesn't mean students shouldn't be made aware to some extent.

Personally I feel the warnings are up to the professors and policies would do more harm than good. My bioethics cant be treated as a math class, or a chem class, English or whatever. They are each different with different needs and to make a policy about trigger warnings in syllabi I think would only serve to hurt students and professors.

So that is that, Universities as a whole cannot be entirely safe spaces free from concepts that are challenging, free from things that make one remember past trauma. In part because to do so would cut necessary material, but also because such a thing is entirely personal.

by and far I think a better option is understanding on both sides, The professor understanding some students can have bad reactions to things and being flexible, and the student understanding that they must sometimes deal with uncomfortable material, material that will remind them of traumatic events perhaps or make them question their deepest held beliefs.

Educating faculty on issues is important, but once we get nitpicky and demanding regarding what can and cannot be said or taught, it does more harm than good in my opinion.

Edit: to be clear, I don't think the people asking for safe spaces want to never be uncomfortable, but are asking for some material to be censored as it can be extremely inflammatory.

The problem is sometimes, particularly in ethics, inflammatory material must be discussed to come to better answers. I cannot remove rape discourse from my classroom. At different parts of the semester I'll discuss racism in human experiments or abuse of mentally ill individuals, and I will ask some dark questions about acting against the wishes of the mentally ill, or the morality of forcing someone to be forced to keep their pregnancy to term.

In normal conversation asking "Is it morally acceptable to value certain lives less" is completely inappropriate, but in my class it's necessary. It's horrific in normal conversation to say "look, because you have X physical disability, you life is not worth as much than this person without" but in the context of organ transplants, I challenge my students to consider those questions so that they can critically think about current policies and even possible solutions (seriously, organ transplants have a metric that weighs the values of peoples lives and disability is considered)

My class can't both function to have people understand the policies and implications and remove inflammatory unpleasant material.

I'm not entirely sure what's happened to my life, but basically everything is falling apart. In the past two weeks my grandmother died, roommate 1's grandfather died, roommate 2 has been dealing with some stress induced panic attacks, roommate 3 just had a family emergency, and my oldest friend is dealing with a divorce/getting out of an emotionally abusive relationship.

So I'm done. Something has to give and in order to be supportive to those around me I'm going to just focus on them and my work. I'm probably going to pick up two more classes so one roommate can go handle their stuff.

I know the fandom is rife with excuses and tall tales of extreme hardship. I'm not saying this for sympathy or excuse but to explain that simply I will not be around at this point. Personally I am okay, I've been handling my grief alright but I need to be there for others in my life.

I will be noting everyone I owe art to to discuss refunds. This may take a bit of time, please bear with me.

I know I've been fantastically overdue on the tarot project and I am deeply sorry for that. I already let it get too bad. I'll still be attending MFF, but anything else I can't promise.

Really and truly everyone I am sorry.


edit: I have sent out notes regarding refunds. If I missed anyone please feel free to note me.

I realized it's been a week since I got the news my grandmother died. I won't pretend I am dealing with things particularly well, I don't with this sort of thing. I just shut down and do everything in my power to keep my mind busy until I get so tired I can sleep through the night.

This isn't about me being sad or anything though. I'm sad yes, but I'm not broken, and that's largely because you guys. I've gotten a lot of support this week and a lot of kindness from this community. To everyone that chatted with me this week, just thank you. really.

Life has a tendency to grind us down. I can't say I always adore the fandom, it's not always my favorite thing, but I love it and the community of people that I interact with regularly because you guys always bring fresh energy and life to anything.

It is nice to have a place with good people that can take an average person and make them feel special, worth something, while at the same time still treating that person as a human being with feelings and needs.

I'm in a weird mood. I'm still not sleeping well and it's making me weird and gushy, but just-thank you.

Sale for today only.

I need a bit of spare cash, i can't afford to get home for my grandmother, but I want to get some cash together to help the family with the funeral expenses.

Flat color G-XXX, comment or note if interested.

So I got around to watching an episode...eh.

I'm doing my best not to look at things with nostalgia glasses but the whole thing just felt so hollow. I'm not mad that it's humanizing and putting an older franchise into a more adult light, it's just that it's weirdly forcing characters into stereotypical slots, when they're already based on stereotypes.

The bit that bothers me the most is Kermit. I don't give a shit about the whole Miss Piggy/Kermit break up thing, sort of. The fact they broke up isn't surprising. She's a diva, that was the joke of her character, and it's reasonable that if you tried to make that realistic that's a pretty terrible relationship but...it's just...weird that this is a central feature of the show. It's weird that part of the premise is kermit is an overworked executive trying to work with his lunatic ex...and it's just...so hollow.

It feels like they just took a popular format, just 30 rock meets the office, and then stuck popular characters in it in a show that would otherwise be another spiritless knock off.

The Kermit part really bothers me because he was always such an optimist. Yeah he had to keep these characters together, and often had to save the group from failure, but it was always with this enduring hope. You could always see that part of him that was a humble frog singing about dreams in a swamp.

Now it's just another guy trying to make it in "the biz". It's not that one character type is greater than the other, there's a lot of redemption in that character hat grinds away but finds something at the end of the day...it's just strange to go from one to the other.

I tried not to put nostalgia into it, but it is uncomfortable to go up with a character, so full of light, so optimistic, telling you to work hard and dream big. Then as an adult to just see him grinding out a difficult job, getting frustrated and even vindictive at times. What happened to you Kermit? Where are your dreams now?

It's like this show unwittingly made the greatest metaphor for the media treatment of millenial viewers. An offering of dreams and ambitions only to be met with an adult reality that is spiritless and just fulfilling a formula.

So what do you guys think? I can see why some people like it. It is funny in some ways. It is like 30 rock meets the office. it's just...I personally can't get away from what the characters were I guess.

I am looking for the name of a particular poem. The speaker is a woman, she's speaking to/about her heart and how it's going to stop soon cause it's weak. I believe she wasn't happy about that and was angry at said heart.

Yeah...so if you have an idea for the poem for the love of god please tell me or I am going to spend the next week reading every poem about hearts on poetry foundation till I find it.

i think it was a contemporary of Plath, but not plath herself.

Anyone looking for an adorable affordable partial should check out this baby

https://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1075704.html

He really needs a new home.

I am back from my trip. It went about as well as such things can go. My grandmother isn't well and probably won't make it through the year.

I'm going to continue my hiatus. if you have any commission questions email me at fayvfox[at]gmail.com

I'm still working on the tarot cards. I know I am pathetically late on these. I'll contact people by the end of this week in regards to the work.

Sorry, but I'll be out of contact until next Friday. I need to fly home and be sure to see some family members while I still have the time. I'm sorry for any delay this causes.

I asked this on my twitter, but decided to ask about it here as well to get some feedback. I'm curious how people feel about this sort of thing.

When doing an art trade with someone, what do you feel is most fair in regards to the work. Should the two artists match effort, or is it more fair that both produce the same type of artwork (I.E. sketch, flat color, shaded)

If it helps I'll lay it out into two possible scenarios.

You have two artists that agree to do an art trade. One artist has more skill than the other, but both happily agree to the trade. Artist 1 can finish a flat color commission in 3 hours start to finish. Artist 2 can finish a flat color commission in 8 hours start to finish.

A: Artist 1 and Artist 2 both agree to trade flat color commissions (therefor artist 2 works for 5 more hours than artist 1)

B: Artist 1 and Artist 2 match effort taken. Artist 1 works for 3 hours and produces a flat color image. Artist 2 works 3 hours and is able to produce a sketch.

Which option would you want to be held/hold people responsible to? Why?

For those of you that like tumblr. I put my fursuit guide on there. http://fayv.tumblr.com/post/1260436.....tumblr-edition

I'm trying to figure out if I want to pursue tumblr at all and start posting the comprehensive guide. maybe post it in parts on there if people want that.

I had the strangest experience today. Someone pointed out a tumblr blog which was offering fursuiting advice. For the most part its an ambitious young fur that's parroting what they've heard at cons or other guide stuff, but I realized a few of the entries were just paraphrases from my guide.

I'm not going to name drop, I'm not mad, I'm more...bemused. I didn't write the guide for popularity, if the information gets out then it gets out. It's just strange to come across your own words in the wilds as it were. It's strange to see something that got loose, away from you, because I am 90% sure this person has no idea who I even am.

I can't imagine what it's like for more popular artists where they constantly see people use their artwork and such.

So yeah, that was weird...really weird...

Lots going on at the house. I have to take a sudden trip to Montana in a few weeks and so I have to finish a lot before that but more, my roommate's car broke so I've been out most of the day being sure everyone can make appointments get groceries etc.

Basically I don't get home till about 5 pm to 7 pm these days...so in the meantime go ask me questions to pass time. The name on ask.fm is Fayvfox

Hey guys,

I mentioned in the past I made it to MFF staff. I'm the art track lead this year which just means I'm wrangling interested artists that would like to run panels this year.

If you're not an artist but there's a kind of panel you wanna see give me a heads up.

Also I'll be doing a bunch of fursuit panels if I can, so if there's something you want to see me cover then give me a heads up.

I need to make a spot of cash to get me through till my contract starts up at the beginning of the semester so i'm doing another commission sale. 35$ flat color commissions.

I'll also offer my other summer deals 30$ for a videogame commission
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16858323/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16889836/

Or an AngloSaxon character with old english name and runes
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17025525/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17102264/

comment or note if interested.

I didn't hear the news until now. I'm posting this in case anyone else doesn't go on FaF anymore and hasn't heard the news either.

 redsavage has passed along with Milo from FaF, both the victims of a vehicle accident.

Her mothers page  nurseeyeroll
The faf thread https://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/1463208-Rest-in-peace-RedSavage!-We-love-you
If you want to pay your respects that way.

I'm usually one for being insufferably verbose, but I can't think of a lot to say now, because I'm not sure words properly suffice.

Red was a very intelligent, very caring person who was able to overcome a lot in life while still remaining grounded and kind. Words really don't suffice, it is beyond me to truly describe her character, so I'll only say this. Something very good, something very important has been lost from the world, and there is no true way to make up for the absence that has been left in Red's place.

Rest in peace.