I've been writing. And writing. And writing. Also roaming the countryside and having a great deal of fun, but the last week or so it's been mostly writing.

It's funny, you know? I never really thought of myself as much of a writer, but people seem to be digging the story of my adventures over on ADVRider.

I'm still writing up the trip from Oklahoma to Portland, but once that's done, the ride report will go "live", or close to it, as I attempt to write from the road. We'll see how that turns out!

For those interested in tuning in, I'm cross-posting it three places:

http://www.feyala.net/ (I still have some kinks to work out, but this will eventually house my previous escapades and stuff from my personal website as well.)

http://feyala.livejournal.com/

http://www.advrider.com/forums/show.....d.php?t=803576

I haven't had much time or space for art. As I button things up here in Portland, I'll probably finish the wolf eye thing but that's about it. Luggage space is at a premium on a bike, so I don't know that I'll have a lot of art supplies. I do have a sketchbook, but it's been years since I've physically sketched anything. It'll probably be a dry spell for a while.

Due to Stupid Roommate Drama I've been told to get out by the first with less than a week of notice. Luckily my boyfriend has the proper 30 days to get our shit in order, so I can leave some of my things here until we find another place. Then I can finish buttoning up my affairs and go on my summer adventure, as I'd originally planned. I need to sell some things, but that's quite difficult to manage if I'm not in the same location they are.

Unfortunately this will delay the trip report from earlier. >.< Maybe I will work on it some when I am out and about..

BBL guise; livin in the woods, down by the river. At least it's good camping weather! :D

Sorry for the bit of absence there, I just got back from a nearly-4,000 mile motorcycle trip. I took a Greyhound bus to Oklahoma, and bought a Suzuki DR650 there. I then took a month-long adventure riding it back to Oregon! Highlights included getting it stuck axle-deep in some sand, following some random guys I'd just met along a sketchy, rutty dirt track, and camping for free among some of the most beautiful scenery the west has to offer.

It was a blast, I had a ton of fun! I'll be posting a long rambly entry on it elsewhere sometime soon, but I'll be sure to link it here when I'm done! I'll probably also upload a photo or two, if I can get away with it...

Now I have to clean up around here, fix the bike up (my exhaust is literally held on with safety wire currently), and get back to business!

I am going to open an Etsy shop soon. I have a couple of ideas for things to sell, but I'm interested to hear your feedback.

1) Form. What kinds of small sculptures would you be interested in buying? Magnets? Pendants? Other jewelry? Paperweights? Something to hang on the wall, or to hang off of a plant pot? Items would likely be made with sculpey, although I may incorporate other materials, such as fake fur (which I have a fair amount of currently).

2) Theme. What kind of theme should these sculptures have? Cute? Creepy?

I'd like to keep the cost of the items under $30, because I'm not really that well-known yet. I am interested in making an art doll or another larger ticket item, but really I'm just looking for feedback on what small items people would like.

I won't be doing any more custom MLPs at this time, but would not be opposed to doing pony-themed art.

So what do you think? :o

So, I made it up to Oregon (in November, haha). I'm holed up with a good friend of mine until the warm weather comes back and makes for good riding. :) My time has been occupied by reading, thinking, and scrapping cars for cash/helping with various other miscellaneous projects.

However, I think I am going to venture forth and try to make it to FC! It's only about 580 miles away, which is not too bad, especially at 70mpg... And it's not like I have deadlines!

Hopefully the weather is decent! :o

I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I'm leaving sometime in the next couple of days with my possessions strapped to the back of a motorcycle, I quit my job about two months ago, and I don't know when I'll be posting art again after I leave, or what form it will take.

...Not that anybody expected regular art updates from me anyways, but I figured I'd leave a heads up here!

It's been what, 7 months? Sheesh. Unac-fucking-ceptable.

First of all, thanks for the watches, faves, etc. <3

Okay, so what have I been up to?

I got a job. Full time, working for one of the largest domain/hosting companies in the world. (It's pretty effing sweet, good pay, great benefits, and I had absolutely none of the qualifiers they were looking for when I applied.) I thought that I could balance commissions and full time work, but apparently it's been a while since I've had a full time job, and I'd forgotten how that actually ends up working. My apologies. I nonetheless attempted to continue to slog through my commissions and was making (very very slow) headway, when I got a promotion at same company. Now I don't need the money and have even less time. Commissions at my prices don't make much sense when I am making $19 an hour. :(

Soooo, much as I hate to do this, I am canceling all unpaid commissions unless I've already made other arrangements with you. I am sorry it didn't work out - I wanted to work on your stuff! But goddamn, I barely have time to cook, let alone do art. I haven't done a scrap of personal art since I last posted here either. I do have a few things I have been meaning to post and I will post those soon. You may feel free to rant at me in a note if you are seriously upset at how I fail at commissions, but I am guessing that some of you have probably already written me off. I was worried about this kind of thing happening, which is why I didn't take your money too far in advance! :D

If you've paid I will be making individual arrangements - I plan on completing all of the badges for the webhosting queue because they are small and fast, I've refunded one commission already. I would be overjoyed if I can get the whole damn list cleared out before Xmas so I can start off the new year with a clean slate, but I do not hold out much hope with my current speeds.

I am trying to turn this into something positive - I will be focusing more on personal art and improving my skills in the time to come. I would like to get into more emotionally-driven pieces... I feel like my art looks nice but lacks substance.

I need to also focus on speed - part of my problem is that I have a lot of momentum in the beginning, but as the hours turn into days and weeks, I get progressively slower and it becomes a struggle to retain interest in a project. If I were faster I could maintain that power all the way through.

What this means is that I will likely in the future be focusing more on small, fast commissions instead of larger, intricate pieces (like ponies). I might take large commissions again when/if I return to the ranks of the unemployed and have free time once more.

I will not be accepting any new commissions period for quite some time until I straighten out other parts of my life. I have a new relationship in the very beginning stages and while this makes me deliriously happy in some regards, one thing it does not lead to is productivity. :) We'll see how things go come February.

So tl;dr: I fail at commissions, I will be posting more, I am not dead, work owns my ass currently.

Wow! I've gotten at least 100 new watchers since I put up that ad! Incredible!

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you all that you are awesome and to thank you for watching me. :) <3333 you all!

If I'm slow to respond... I just got a new job! :D Full time, pays very well, training will take 6 weeks, and I'll only have 2 days off during that period. Once I go to my normal schedule I will have 3 days off, as I'm working 10-hour shifts, which means more time for art.

If you have important things to tell me or questions, please note me or email me at midnightcat2[at]yahoo.com (please put something like "From FA" or something in the email subject instead of a generic "hi" or I might mistake you for spam accidentally D:). I try to respond to all comments but sometimes I hit the nuke button by accident or whatever and I'd hate for you to think I am ignoring you. :(

To commissioners: this means a longer turn-around time. I thank you in advance for your patience. If you ever want to know the status of your commission, please contact me, and I'll be contacting you as soon as I have updates (started, in-progress photos, needing approval, etc).

Exciting times for me! I am so happy I got this job. I'll actually be able to use my intelligence (I usually get menial jobs like housekeeping) and for the first time in my adult life I will be not-poor. It's really, really weird. I'll also be free of debt after a couple of months, which will be a huge weight off my back. n.n

Hope you all are doing well!

Okay so if you want free art, what I need from you is:

* A link to your character sheet/visual reference OR a VERY detailed description if you don't have a visual reference.

* An ACTION that you want your character to be performing. I need to work on line and motion, so standing around or sitting placidly isn't going to do it for this exercise.

The weirder and more original the better! Bonus points if you have some sort of photo reference for the action already so I don't have to dig for one. n.n

Disclaimer: this is not a promise that you will get free art, I am reserving the right to be silly, weird, and otherwise not-what-you-thought-you-might-get-from-me. The art you get from me will be done fast (the previous two were in about an hour and a half which almost qualifies them as speed paints). It might not be complete. It will almost certainly have fucked up anatomy. Complaining about things you get for free is a surefire way to not get free things from me in the future, so please don't do it! :)

Note: Critique is different from complaining. I always welcome critique, providing it helps me make better art in the future. Since these are sketches, they should not be evaluated as finished pieces, but if you want to redline or tell me a joint looks broken or whatever go right ahead! The point of these doodles is to learn and grow as an artist, and I can't do that if I keep making the same mistakes.

I will not necessarily be doing these in the order in which I receive them! I will be doing them in the order that they strike my fancy, so the more awesome your idea is, the more likely I am to draw it. :3

Aaaaaaand... GO!

PS. Tips would be nice if you like what I make for you, but are by no means required or expected. If you do for some strange reason feel like throwing money at my face you can paypal midnightcat2[at]yahoo.com

Edit: I am going to be going through these and doing them as I have free time, but I think I have enough for now! Don't get discouraged if you don't see yours right away, it might take me some time to work through them - I need to balance my commissions, these freebies, and actual employment. :)

Soooo, I decided to put up an ad on FA in the hopes of snagging a few more commissions. :3 Hopefully it works!

Let me say this in one place so people don't feel ignored or anything by my not replying...

Thanks for watching, faving, and commenting on my work! :D

I am thinking of doing some freebie doodles once a week to get myself back in artistic shape... would anyone here be interested?

I find myself spending way too much time on individual pieces when I do 2d art... lots of polish without what I consider a firm enough grasp of the basics. All of my pieces are very static and still, I need to work on line, motion, composition and dynamic anatomy, and less on the detailed fiddly bits.

I'll probably post a new journal when I'm ready to do them, but I'm trying to gauge interest... Basically how it would work in theory is I folks would give me a reference and I'd have full creative liberty to doodle whatever without any expectation of how it would come out.

Sound like fun?

Sorry again for the mass re-uploading, and hi new watchers! :) The dust should be mostly settled, though it'll take me a little while to get through all of these comments - I need to now go through and decommission the old account. Lotta work! I wish the FA folks would just let you change your user name...

For now I am going to put my commission information in my profile... I hate having to scroll past that much crap to get to the art but I would like to use my journal again! Eventually I will just export it to another page, possibly on my website.

I don't thank people individually for faves... would be too much shout clutter on people's pages! But I do appreciate them all. <3 you guys!

An account that reflects a name I actually use. Hooray! I'll be migrating stuff to this account from  syless in the next little while and will no longer be using that account in the future.

Pardon my dust!