I'm considering making a patreon over the summer, focusing on redoing the ask a fursuiter series and upping the quality to it, as well as working on the tarot cards.

What do you guys think of patreon?
What sort of perks do you like?
What sort of milestone markers do you like to see?

After a looong two years with a lot of things happening, a lot of development and what not, I finally graduated with my Masters of Philosophy. Hurrah

As of 5 minutes ago I inputted the final grades for my classes.

After about 7 years of higher education, 4 degrees, hundreds of credits, hundreds of hours teaching and grading undergrads, I am done. I'll go in in about a week to clean out my office and be done with college campuses for a while. It feels...so fucking good.

I'm so happy right now I don't even know what to do with myself.

No more homework
No more books
No more student's dirty looks

No more quizzes
No more groans
No more students on their phones

So the word of the day is Maus is being pulled from shelves in Russia before the 70th anniversary of the WWII victory.
Here's a source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia...../26981427.html

But really the gist of the issue is there is a law banning nazi propaganda and there is a swastika on the cover of Maus and Maus II, so bookstores are pulling the content in expectation of police action.

For those that do not know Maus, first, go get that book right now. It's the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer. It tells the story of the artist's father surviving a German concentration camp. Needless to say it holds a substantial anti-nazi message.

This is a fairly cut and dry case where attempting to ban a harmful message has also banned a helpful message. And a good example for why I rather despise censorship.

"But Fay, are you saying that nazi's should be able to show their propoganda?" tbh yes hypothetical talking point reader, I think I named you Timmy before, It's the extreme outcome of my position. By opposing censorship that means that I oppose censorship on subjects that I deeply disagree with.

"But those positions cause harm" yes, yes they do. But to be honest the ability to speak on a subject and oppose it openly does more good overall than casting the subject into silence. If we cannot talk about nazis, then we cannot oppose nazis either. you can't have light without dark sort of thing.

"But if we do not talk about the bad we don't need to oppose it. If no one can take a pro-nazi position we don't need an anti-nazi position." I've heard this before, and it makes me sad. There is a genuine idea of shutting out discussion entirely, because part of the discussion is distasteful, the "right" side of the discussion should just be assumed. We don't need to let Nazi's discuss their view, they're wrong and most people aren't nazis. But that creates two problems. The first is a stagnation of thought, and sometimes harmful ideas creep in and grow. It subverts discussion and spreads like a cancer until it can rise up again and do more harm. When we try to forget the bad things tht have occurred in the name of not letting them happen again, history repeats itself all too easily.

The other issue is it assumes what is right. There's an apocryphal story about scholars dealing with Artistotle's works. Aristotle was a brilliant scholar and made a lot of metaphysical claims and blah blah blah. The medieval scholars argued often about the works, and a powerful Bishop made it illegal to read Aristotle's works. With it being illegal it was illegal to argue against it obviously....and because discussion basically stopped, the logical pillars all fell apart and that's how we got to Descartes having to find some fundamental truth in which to build up our entire foundation of knowledge, yay.

Point is not discussing means that we stagnate, and stagnation is never good, in science, social issues, or anything. Human beings change and we must allow discussion of topics to adapt our knowledge along with us.

Now nazism is a bit of a gimme topic, it's hard to really make a point about the value of non-censorship when talking about nazi propaganda, so here is another example.

A few months ago there was a big stir in the world of comics over a Batgirl cover featuring batgirl tied up by the Joker, with strong implications that Batgirl was/would be a victim of sexual abuse by the Joker.
Here is the cover, warning for anyone that may feel uncomfortable with the topic or depiction of implied sexual violence. http://i57.tinypic.com/o06pg4.jpg

I won't talk about if people are seeing things or being sensitive, because while it is implied, that is what the implication is about. It's a reference to an event that did occur in the comics during the killing joke *Spoilers!*. There is a storyline in which Joker attempts to "break" Commissioner Gordon, and he forces the man to view images which depict himself (the joker) attacking Barbara Gordon (batgirl) which paralyzes her, and forces Gordon to view images of his wounded daughter in various states of undress. Even if any further action isn't explicit, at the very least in canon, Joker paralyzed Batgirl then undressed her and took pictures *end spoilers*
So yes, it is a call back to sexual violence in the comic, the cover is meant to make you feel that implication between the two.

There was a big fervor over the cover on twitter and around the internet. On one side people claiming that DC couldn't publish such an image, on the other people saying they could.

The image was pulled and not used, not because death threats, internet outrage, or anything like that, but because internal decisions. The artist didn't like the picture, Batgirl has grown as a character from that point in the story and the cover ignores that growth.

My opinion on the matter is that I think those claiming that DC can't or shouldn't be allowed to publish such images are wrong.
Now this does not mean that had they published the comic it would have to be purchased, if the public is indeed outraged by the matter then the public can refuse to purchase the comic and put DC into a position of deciding it it is worth the cost to make such a statement. You don't have to agree or like the content, but they get to put the content out there, and the only one to truly have the right to pull the content is DC themselves (this doesn't apply to issues like literally posting how to make nukes or the process of mutating deadly viruses. public safety censorship is another kettle of fish)

There are those that believe the matter is cut and dry. Rape is bad and depicting it in comics just turns it into some joke. The comic was literally called the killing joke after all.

The thing though is sexual violence is not something that people are used to, and such a depiction brings it into the life of someone that never experienced such a thing beyond understanding "rape is bad".
Now how such a thing is depicted, if there are better ways to convey the message, etc are all up for discussion. Personally I'm glad in part that the killing joke exists. It's sad and I would rather there is no sexual violence in the world, but I don't think it makes light of the subject.

*Spoilers again*
Violence is the standard fair in comics. It's a world where the complex issues of right and wrong are solved by punching people, and in the more modern venue permanent damage is not so far out of the realm of possibility that it's shocking, but this was something new, and this was something thought provoking. Sexual violence took a villain beyond the standard of violent evil behavior and placed him squarely as a force of destruction, chaos, and absolute depravity.
Beyond that it showed that such depravity can make a victim out of anyone. Batgirl is a strong character, she beats up Gotham's big villains all the time, but such an act rendered her a victim.
For someone that has not dealt with sexual violence before that is a powerful message and brings a level of understanding that "sexual violence is bad" does not. It's not just people that are weak, or victims to start, it's not about how someone dresses or how they make themselves vulnerable. It is a powerful depraved act.

This also set things up so that Barbara Gordon survived, not just survived bu continued to be a powerful character in the comic. She continued to be invaluable to Batman even after being wounded physically and psychologically.
*End spoilers*

Again, if you disagree, such a thing can be discussed. Even if the comic had been making light of the subject a discussion shows why, which grants some understanding to the topic. The world is not black and white, it's not just the evil ignorant and the good and informed. Discussion grants a depth of understanding, context, and for those that have not had the chance to ever be informed on the topic a point to learn more about it.

So. blah blah blah. I don't like censorship, I think it's up to the content creator what they create, even if they create something really shitty.

Recently I've done a big change to my diet where essentially I have given up all meat except beef, and all factory farm products.

The reason for the change is ethical, I can't go full vegetarian or vegan because I don't absorb plant based iron, but I decided that I can limit my effect by only eating one type of meat (and I love steak too much to give that one up)

It's interesting changing diets. It's interesting to see the people genuinely interested in my reasoning, others when I say I don't eat bacon immediately go "but bacon is sooo good" and I hate these people. Seriously I know it's good "it's good" doesn't do anything but just rub it in.

I'm still pretty new to the change so there's some incidents here and there to just remind me of what i'm missing. The other day my buddy got me a sub sandwich, she knew my old usual which involved bacon and I was just thinking "wow this sandwich is so damn good, they really stepped up their game" before I realized what had happened.
C'est la vie.

Change is hard.

Amusingly enough I got my dad to give up factory farm meat as well just making an offhand comment about styles of arguments. So that was neat.

Anyway yeah I'm procrastinating from writing papers and thinking about lunch and my roommate cooked bacon, so how's everyone else doing?

So I guess a while back FA ate some of my notes and I didn't realize D:

To anyone that doesn't get a response to a note you sent me there's 2 things. 1. I glanced at it before teaching or something and then forgot to reply. This happens a lot, it's not personal I just get a lot of messages in a day and if I ever have to think about an answer then sometimes I think about it and think I replied to the original question.
2. Apparently sometimes notes just disappear I guess.

Either way, if this happens do feel free to send me another note or send an email to fayvfox[at]gmail.com

I'm sorry for any confusion this sort of thing has caused, I'm not purposefully ignoring anyone and I at least have the intention to reply to everything, so again if you're not sure just send a message again or email me.

I won't be around much for a bit. It's the last couple weeks of school, which means from this point on I am swamped with work until grades are due.

I'm almost excited though. A few weeks and I never have to teach or grade again. I will be done with undergrads forever, thank god!

I don't know if you have heard of this, but surgeons are preparing for the first attempted head transplant. Should this surgery succeed there will be a man in the world with an entirely new body. wow!

The implications to this are staggering, should it succeed this will be the first instance of someone with a completely new body than the one they were born with.

There's untold possible complications however. what will happen to a mind with new different stimuli, new hormones, etc?

What do you guys think, would you get a full body transplant to get away from some of your problems?

To my watchers that may be trans and interested in surgery, if this were widely available would you consider this to be a new form of gender reassignment surgery? would you consider doing it?

So april fools was fun but I don't wanna be a giant tease to you guys, so for realies here's the art contest that I promised.

You guys will answer some trivia questions about me, the first to get it right will get a shaded pic of their character.

You can take multiple tries but I will only respond if ALL the answers are correct, so I won't tell you if you have got some right but some wrong.

Only 1 person can get the prize. I'll use timestamps to verify the first 100% correct answers response, you can comment in the journal for your answers. Again you can make multiple attempts. Good luck all.

1. What does the “v” from Fay V mean?
2. How many diamond marks does Fay have?
3. When did I join the fandom?
4. What was the first con I attended?
5. Name one of the inspirations for me picking fox species
6. Favorite video game?
7. Favorite type of alcohol and brand?
8. Favorite Author?
9. Name 2 fields where I hold a degree?
10. What car do I drive?
11. Who is the father of philosophical zombies?

Just so you guys are aware, the last journal was an April Fools joke.

I hope people didn't take too much time on it. I actually appreciate how well everyone took it, I thought it was a silly idea.

As a sign of good faith (since people actually responded way more than I thought) I really will run an art contest this weekend. I'm even willing to take suggestions on the type of contest.

It's been a really rough couple of days when the entirety of my time is class, teaching, or grading. So I figured I'd do something fun for when I have time this weekend. An art contest on my twitter. Check it out :3

https://twitter.com/Fay_Vee/status/.....50872491900928

Edit: This was indeed an April Fools

I am developing a Great Business Practices panel and would love some feedback. please comment on my Weasyl Journal if you have suggestions or advice

https://www.weasyl.com/journal/8145.....ractices-panel

On a lighter note, what cons are you guys going to go to.

I'll be at AC this year.
I considered doing my usual panels (Intro to suiting, suiting safety) depending on the interest. I'm still on the fence

MFF is a definite this year. I dunno if I gave you guys the news but I was approached to be staff for MFF this year and accepted a position as the coordinator for the Art Track panels. Woo!

So i'll be at MFF, prolly will do my usual panels and possibly a "Good Business Practices" for artists depending on if there's genuine interest in that one. Hoping maybe I can find some good freelance artists to cohost with me on that one, we'll see.

Not calling out anyone in particular, I just have gotten entirely too frustrated with people over the course of the past few days.

So this is the first time in what must be 4-5 years where FA drama hasn't lead to me a lot more work. Either I was a mod/admin on FA and doing damage control, or as an Admin on Weasyl and playing clean up or making sure all the new visitors had information.

For Weasyl in particular, there's always a joke that the staff must love when FA had a problem. I can't speak for the staff but for myself the answer is "not really". There wasn't any dying urge to kill FA or see it die. It was all about building up a site that was helpful and one people would be happy and want to use. The focus was always inward, and other sites came up only in regards to caring for our own users, as in "People seem really confused about X, oh they might be used to Y policy on FA let's think of a way to make X policy more user friendly to get them used to it" or more likely "we have a lot more activity, oh they are coming over from FA"

I know some people saw it as a dick move that an announcement was posted the day everything went down, but think about it this way. It's not about shaming FA, that would have happened no matter what site may have been involved. From the admin point of view it's suddenly thousands of people that want to use the site and upload, and they may not want to look around for all the info needed.
If any other site prompted thousands of users to show up to Weasyl the response would be the same. It's not personal, it's admins doing what they can to keep people informed.

Anyway about the actual IMVU stuff. Personally I have my concerns, which I have for any business merger with a service I use. It's new management and because I don't have the luxory of reading the fine print I don't know what is and is not legally allowed to happen.

This doesn't mean that FA is required, or even should show the terms of sale. That isn't how business is done and it's a bit of an entitled and silly request. Not that it doesn't come from a good place, people are scared and want reassurances and it's simply the point where announcements aren't trusted enough, but still, did you guys expect to see the terms of sale when Disney bought Marvel or Star Wars. Probably not. This isn't different.

All that being said as far as IMVU goes. I am on Weasyl, I'm going to use it as my primary and post things there first, but I'll still be on FA a bit, less as time goes I think. I just don't trust management that much, old and new. I dunno IMVU, I don't care for their business model, and seeing as they are in charge (even if Neer is the employee running the show on FA) I don't care to put all my eggs into the admittedly large and lucrative basket that has a few holes in it.

This isn't meant to be a big "Move to Weasyl" post. To be frank, do as you please. That's the point of this people need to stop being dicks on both sides and feeling they are entitled to someone else's presence.

Honestly this is a website, not a prison. If someone wants to leave their reason doesn't matter. It could be over IMVU, it could be because they don't like FAs font for some reason, it could be that they saw a picture of cheese and couldn't take it anymore. The reason is irrelevant. You might personally think that's a terrible reason, fine. Don't use that reason to leave the site then, but that doesn't mean the other person can't.

"But it's just drama and it will die down"
Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't matter really. Someone made a choice about what they want to do and if it isn't hurting you it's not really your concern. If you disagree with a fact they used like "I'm leaving, FA ads are only for corporations now" you can correct and incorrect fact without being a dick, but otherwise just let people be.

"But I don't want to use multiple sites"
Then don't. It's another person doing it, that doesn't mean you have to.

"But I like seeing what they post"
Well then hypothetical user. You either like it enough to check it out someone else, or you don't. That's on you, not on them. You're not entitled to the convenience of everyone you like to watch sticking around for your whims.

"But they're my friend and I want to see them"
No.
If someone is a friend you'll find a method to keep in contact. email, twitter, skype, whatever. If you only use FA, at all, ever. Branch out to actually contact your friends, your'e not entitled to other people.

"But Fa is the furry fandom hub, and they're going to break the community up. Furries need to stick together"
I hate this line of reasoning, I really do. There was a fandom before FA, there will be a fandom after. The community is not so weak that a single site is the be all and end all. FA will fall sometime. Maybe next week, maybe in a decade or two. That's just how things go, but the fandom is not going anywhere.

"But I like this site, and if everyone leaves then it won't be as good"
Time is change, adapt or die. Enjoy the site if you like it, but you can't expect others to stay if they don't want to.

and on the other side.
"I hate FA and i'm leaving to X site. Anyone that stays is stupid"
No, people stay for different reasons. Some financial necessity, some for friends, whatever. Doesn't matter. It's their choice and if it doesn't hurt you then just move along.

That's it. That's my rant in all of this. People need to stop being entitled brats. They also need to stop making shit up or spreading info if they don't have the source.

Thinking of doing a sale for "Derps" like this: https://www.weasyl.com/submission/844124/grump
for 10$, any interest in that?

I've messed up my arm too much lately and have a lot of muscle fatigue. I don't wanna exacerbate it.

For those that I still owe art to I will be in contact with you to set up a due date and possible alternative stream. Everyone else thanks for participating.

Hey guys, I know donation journals are a dime a dozen but, a buddy of mine is trying to raise some money for a great cause: Special Olympics.

The deadline is March 5th

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundrais...../Legislative15

If you don't know Special Olympics is a program that works as efficiently as possible to provide athletic training and competition for kids and adults with mental disabilities year round.

It's a really great organization and it's had a big impact on my own family. They've helped my sister develop and grow as a person, they've set up a place where she feels like she has a purpose, she feels like she belongs, and above all she feels pride in an honest effort of competition, even success when she's trained hard all year to take the gold in special olympics.

Like I said this is a great competition.
I am tempted to say that if someone donates through this and sends me a cap or something I'll do a free sketch (or more) if the goodness of the act alone isn't convincing.

Just updating people, I am still working on these, I have a few basic sketches for more of the major arcana, I hope to have at least 2 up at the end of the week.

As always I'll contact people with the working drafts.

If anyone has questions please feel free to note, email, or whatever to contact me and ask about it. I understand this is taking a while, I'm still plugging away to have it all done this summer.

Working on a bunch of art projects today and I wanted to do some warm up so I figured why not offer some free art. Open only to people watching me currently

If you are interested please post a reference to the character, a couple personality traits, a simple idea for pose, and rating you are okay with (meaning if you want clean only then right clean. If you are comfortable with clean to adult then write that)

This is not first come first serve. Nothing personal, I just wouldn't have time to do everyone and I'm going to pick which freebies are going to help me stretch my art muscles. Also please note this is a one time deal, please don't watch if you're expecting free art most of the time.

Anyway comment with the references please.

Edit: Unfortunately comments which don't provide the requested info will not be considered.

Working on some sketches for the Tarot project I was wondering what you guys like, what kind of work do you like to see. So it'd be awesome if you guys would answer these questions and I can get a better idea of what people wanna see.

Remember these are about he kind of art you like to see in galleries, not what you like to commission yourself.

1. What rating of content do you like to see?
General clean only? Mature just nudity? Adult works?

2. What clean content do you enjoy?
Dramatic scenes? Small jokes? Small comics? other? (Please explain)

3. What mature stuff (if any) do you enjoy?
pin ups? scenes? comics? other? (Please explain)

4. What adult stuff (if any) do you enjoy?
m/m m/f f/f nonbinary?

5. Are there certain fetishes you enjoy? Specify general, adult, or if mixed please

6. Do you prefer to see more OC or fan work?

7. Do you prefer to see the same characters often or do you like a different character in each image?

8. Do you prefer seeing flat color works? soft shaded? cel shaded?

9. Do you want to see more complete works? WIPs? Sketches?

10. Do you prefer to see commissions or more artist works?

11. Any other comments on what kind of art you like to see and what you want to see more of?

I killed the last journal cause people were getting a bit confused, I didn't want to mislead people into thinking that I am offering free line art commissions or requests.

I got some good info though. It looks like people are really looking for some ref templates for non-standard animals hyenas, bats, dragons. That's something I can work with.

Ask me Anything!

In a good way...

I want to thank everyone that took the time to comment, send me a note, or send me a message off site today and yesterday. I got a lot of messages ranging from people sharing their own stories, thanking me, or telling me what they think of me as a person and I want to just say that I really appreciate it.

I am glad some people were able to find my own story to be helpful, and I'm very thankful I've made it to a point in my life where there are people that think positively simply of my presence in this world.

For those of you still struggling with depression or keeping your own story silent I wish you well. Please know that you do matter and it does get better, much better.

Those of you that know me probably are aware that in my past I went through some very serious depression. my particular battle with it lead me to attempt suicide at one point. I talk about it pretty casually, not because I think it makes me feel better or because I want people to coddle me, but because it helps me to cope. When I was depressed I was silent and in more ways than one that was nearly the end of me, so I chat about it now, because it was part of my life and it will always be and I want to remember that so it doesn't slip back into my life.

I'm writing this because I just caught a glance at some mistaken ideas about suicide this morning. It's often misunderstood as selfish, someone not thinking of those around them and wanting an "easy" way out. Often all that people see is the pain and possibly a small trigger, a failed project, unkind words. It's hard to understand the full scope of things when you haven't been through it.

My own attempt in retrospect sounds pathetic, I had failed out of a math class in my early years of college, that's it, but that prompted me on the way home to speed my car to 90 mph on an icy road and aim for a pole. While the trigger itself was a small thing, this was after years of depression and by this point I was certain that I was simply a burden on my family and on the world. As I drove I knew they would be sad, death makes people sad, but they were just mistaken. Really their lives would be better without me as a burden and it was for the best that I remove myself from the world. I wanted to use the car because it would look like an accident, to save them from questioning themselves as parents or support, because to me I was just defunct and it was no one's fault. The sad thing is I kept believing this for a long time. I swerved at the last moment not for any real reason of clarity but because I realized that I would total the car, which would be a financial burden on the family, defeating the purpose in the first place.
I stopped because I believed a car, an old car, was more valuable than my own life. I decided to stop and find a new way to finish things that would be less of a financial problem.

It bothers me when people think that suicide or depression are a selfish thing. My experience is not everyone's but my style of thinking was not uncommon. Focused on not my own failures and how they affect me but how I was a burden on everyone around me.

It starts in sneaky ways, a quiet question in the middle of the night "what if they're just doing that to be nice?" "what if my friends really don't like me?" "Maybe they're just saying they'll miss me because society says they should." "they'll probably get over it." "they'll definitely get over it, there's not much to get over" and the cruel part is depression causes you to pull away from friends and family more and more removing any evidence of the contrary.

To anyone that is struggling with their own depression and dark thoughts- Those thoughts are fucking liars and nothing could be farther from the truth.

"It won't really hurt them" No...it will.

I kept my suicide attempt to myself, my family never knew even after they helped me get therapy for depression, but as I got older and recovered more I talked about it as I am now. It was couple years ago that my father found out about it. We were on a family trip and I had just gone to the hotel bar to get a little drink and relax away from the family a bit. I don't remember how it came up, but I will never forget the look in his eyes when he heard it.

I have seen a lot of things in my life, but that was the first and only time where I have seen that much pain and loss in someone's face. Even the thought of losing me like that made him grieve, even if it was for just a moment. He couldn't think of words before just saying quietly "...on an icy road the car might not have turned" Since that day the thought of suicide has not really crossed my mind beyond, especially not without immediately seeing that pain. I still can't really think about it without tearing up, thinking I caused that much pain just with the thought of suicide.

I know when you are in the middle of it, it's hard to think. It's easy to blow off hearing over and over again that people care, and they will be hurt, but it isn't just words. My account is not special, I am not a unique case. If you are hurting and dealing with those lying goddamn thoughts that sneak in on the lonely nights feel free to send a note just to talk, or call the suicide hotline and let someone help you.

This is not just words, everyone does matter, and even if you don't have huge accomplishments it is the small things that bring value, more than you may ever know. You may be the one interaction which prompts someone to turn their life around. You may give a simple gift to a friend and help them out of a bad place. Even just being about to get a drink and have a conversation will help someone else deal with their own problems. Everyone has done more good for the world than they realize.

Suicide is not inherently selfish, it is the end result of a cruel sneaking illness that makes you believe things which simply are not true and never will be. No person is defunct, no person is without value, and quite frankly it's too much effort on the part of the world to lie and pretend to be nice simply because.

Be strong, seek support, survive. The world is worse off for not having you whoever you are.

I'm updating my "Fursuit Guide" and "How to commission a fursuit" guide. I'm looking for feedback, so comment here or send me a note if there's anything you have questions about or want to hear more on in regards to fursuits or getting a fursuit.

I'm setting up to start my 2015 year of art and finishing out my owed art.

I've updated my Trello to reflect the current queue as accurately as I can. https://trello.com/b/RQD5ljRs/commissions

I currently have
Snowdog
Deo
Hendi
and the last of the Reindeer Games comic to complete not including the Tarot Cards

If I owe you a commission and it's not on the list please feel free to note or email me and we'll get things worked out.

Future reference with my schedule my commissions take more time than they used to, but this just means commissioners should feel free to note or email me for updates if they have any concerns.

Finally into 2015.

After finishing these last couple of commissions I will be doing the tarot project.

I will not be doing regular commissions in 2015 till the Tarot project is done. During the course to mix things up I might do one or two icon or sketch commissions so keep an eye out for that.

Again if you have any questions please ask. have a great new year guys