Hey everyone,

It has been a while since my last update. After we lost Kisa in September, my husband and I have been trying to continue on with our routines.

Cleo, our big girl, had been slowing down for the last few years. She had cervical spondylomyelopathy, aka Wobblers syndrome. It was something we were aware of when we first adopted her, though the rescue had raised funds to provide her with surgery to resolve this ailment. Unfortunately, in 2018, we discovered that she was relapsing and was no longer a surgical candidate. Because of that, we could only manage the symptoms and try to draw out her decline.
We took her for her daily walks and she also received regular physical therapy. Sadly, in the last few months, we had been noticing further decline. She still had a ton of spunk and spirit, but her body was slowing down. I turned to a familiar handicapped equipment company for pets. Through them, we took all of the measurements to fit a custom wheelchair for Cleo, along with a new harness. Shortly afterward, as we noticed she was starting to get a bed sore, we ordered another additional hip harness with donut to relieve pressure and help this heal.

The wheelchair arrived and we began the slow acclimation process. We made adjustments, took pictures, and slowly acclimated her to a new piece of equipment. We had just started actual short intervals of wearing it when we noted another significant downturn. Shortly after I returned from a weekend vacation, she had a slue of very poor days. Even if she started fighting back, we could see her body was out of gas.
We made the heartbreaking decision to seek end of life services for the coming weekend. We made sure we filled her last days with all of her favorite things, and helped her where possible. She had such a happy heart, but we could still see she was struggling and tired, despite her happiness. She wanted to keep pushing on, even though it was clear her body couldn't.
We said goodbye on May 6th. She was in our home with her favorite people and toys. She went peacefully and we were devastated.

There's never enough time. Cleo was there for us for so many years. She brought us worlds of joy. She encouraged me to walk again when I had to relearn. She helped get me mobile again. She was sassy and playful, and so gentle. She passed just shy of turning 10. She crossed the bridge to join our other family we've recently lost. We lost our other dog Ryder in 2021, two of our cats, Kyra and Kisa, in 2022, and now we've lost her. She passed just 5 days before the anniversary of when we lost Ryder. Our hearts hurt. The house is quiet.

Our polydactyly cat, who adored her, grieved, too. He would look for her and sniff at areas she had been. He still looks for her.

Our family is smaller now.

**

In the art world, I haven't had the desire to work on art in a long time, outside of conventions. I finally started putting together a new art badge option for DenFur, and several other merchandise ideas. Unfortunately, I was not accepted to DenFur this year- barring a miraculous drop out of those who made it in. What frustrates me more, is that there isn't a technical "wait list". Even if someone backed out, unless they had similar offerings that I did, I would not get in. I had been a part of DenFur/RMFC, whatever you want to call it, since 2009.

**

Work has been pressing on me more and more. It's difficult when you find yourself in a position that pays well and has excellent job security, but you have a hard time even remotely swallowing the field anymore...
But when you look into other avenues of your passion and experience, and see poor paying or only temporary jobs, how can you justify leaving? Instead, you continue to swallow the misery and try not to show how unsettled you are, while praying an incredible opportunity comes along. Heaven forbid you show you're struggling and then get reprimanded for not "smiling more".

**

My heart hurts. I've lost so much of my own family in the last few years. I'm in a job that's questionably appreciative of my blood, sweat, and tears, and have few escapes from the mental barrage. It wears my body down so much to keep working as an officer, so it's hard to have the energy in my days off to get out and find a change of scenery. Not being able to get away only adds to the mental stress, and it turns into a self-perpetuating cycle. I'm tired. One of the only havens I've had in the last few months has actually been sewing.
My sister helped teach me some sewing basics. I started making my own squishmallow plushies. They bring me some happiness and provide a little outlet where I can tune out life and have a distraction, if only for a little bit.
I finally progressed to the point of creating customs to honor my first lost dog- who was the reason I turned back to collecting in the first place. It looks like now I'll be making myself some more, to honor Cleo... sooner than expected.
If you enjoy squishmallows, my personal customs and my special needs kiddos can also be seen on my Instagram: @ darkriyoko (without the space)

Love all of you and your support.

Hey everyone!

I was not anticipating the rough blowback of life right before the holiday. I had it all planned to make a few fun gift art pieces for the holiday spirit and then enjoy the holiday. Life had other plans.
Last week I became symptomatic and eventually tested positive for Covid-19. I don't care what your stance on vaccines is, but in this instance, if I hadn't been immunized and boosted prior, I don't think I would have recovered without moderate medical intervention.
I seldom fall ill. No, really, it's not common for me to get sick even once a year. This illness started as a little scratchy throat and within 24 hours, quickly declined into a swollen throat, sinus infection, fever, fatigue, and muscle aches.
Despite utilizing medicine, the fever persisted for nearly 5 days. The sore throat, aches, and fatigue lasted, too. I had difficulties breathing for a few days and catching my breath easily. My legs didn't work well and still aren't 100%, which made walking an unanticipated challenge.
I can't imagine how this would have wrecked me if I hadn't had prior exposure from immunizations.

All while undergoing this, our cat suddenly needed veterinary care ASAP. After getting him in and being able to take him home almost 12 hours later, we had to give him two medications, orally, twice a day. He's recovering and soon to be good as new in a week, but all of this came and pretty much spoiled some of my holiday cheer.

Yesterday topped it off with the cold weather drops Colorado continued to experience. Yesterday we suddenly didn't have water. Through extensive investigation and then relying on plumbing, found our pipes had frozen (even despite the proper precautions we had taken). This only added to the holiday spirit drain and it has been difficult to get back into cheer.

My husband fell ill the other day, too, now, and won't be able to participate in the Christmas family get together.

Any gifts I manage to whip up will not be before Christmas, at this point, nor any newer work I've wanted to get up.

I hope you all have a pleasant holiday season and new year. I have some work I need to post and hopefully will soon.

Hey lovelies!
I seldom ever give free art, but for some reason the holiday spirit has felt good this month.

I've been feeling chibi inspired with small art pieces and want some more inspiration. Want to see what your character would look like as a gryphon? A noodle dragon? A My Little Pony/Kirin? Moth?
If you're interested, reply with your character reference below. If I pick your character, I will randomly choose one of the above that I think would be fun for your character transformation.

First off, a huge thank you for everyone who stopped by to say "hi", order a commission, purchase a print, or take a business card. It's great to see familiar faces and have the pleasure of being picked to bring your character to paper.

For the commissions I was unable to complete during the convention, they will be mailed to you upon completion. I will be updating the queue to my trello in the next day or so. Keep your eyes on that to have a sense of where you fall in the queue. Once I have started your commission, I will contact you in the form you provided (text or email). I will contact you again upon completion and when it has been mailed out.
I am taking a day of R&R as I was able to get little sleep during the convention and need to desperately recharge.

Trello queue: https://trello.com/b/2HNZQWrO/riyok.....mmission-queue

I received an unexpected boon of inquiry into portrait commissions (single traditional character), or for badge commissions outside of the convention. If there is continued interest, I may consider opening a commission slot or two on a potentially monthly basis. I am also looking into possibilities of changing my badge types, pre-mades, merchandise, and other avenues.

So again, a huge THANK YOU for everyone who showed your support. It meant a lot to see my artwork appreciated and received well.

---> I will be moving forward with a design contest soon; keep your eyes peeled for an image/journal announcement. There will be a reward tier that is participant driven, so encourage friends to partake and have fun (ie for a small participant pool, reward would be a sketch, more participants would mean a badge reward, more would be a portrait, etc...).

Hey everyone!

DenFur is fast approaching and I'm excited to see all of your faces there! I will have my new setup and improved way of displaying commissions and prints. It has been an overwhelmingly needed upgrade for years that I finally jumped on after last year's con.
I will be offering badges and sketches that tend to fill up very quickly, so please keep this in mind if you're expecting to receive a commission in-con. I will also no longer be accepting sketches into sketchbooks. This is a hassle and because of unnecessary drama last year, I will not allow this option any more.

I hope to see all of you there!

Hey everyone!

I've been looking into some minor changes to implement into Riyoko's design. After losing our pupper last year, I've mulled over some slight modifications to her design. A very slight one has already been added; a scar to her left side, reflecting a real scar I have from a rough play session.
There are so many random tweaks in my head and I can't seem to stick with one or enjoy it enough to consider it permanent.

This is where I thought I'd direct to you lovelies.

I was considering a design contest. I'm leaning toward incorporating aspects of black-billed magpie or owl into her wing design or general design, but nothing overly, dramatically altering (ie a completely different physique or color palette).

If there are enough participants, I will announce a start and end date, along with a template participants are free to use.
The winner will receive a chibi badge from me/single character traditional portrait, mailed to them, or something similar.

If you would be interested, please comment below.

Hey everyone,

I've been in a low place for the last 7 months. When I feel I've had a few normal days, I crash and tuck back into myself. I've been trying to encourage myself and, with the support of my husband and supportive family, it's only marginally tolerable.
My field of work is not generous when faced with this mental breakdown and heartache. I'm regularly reminded of my pain and loss in the day to day grind. I have progressed to being able to manage several days, sometimes a week, before I give in and cry.
With the doubt from some unsupportive family wreaking havoc against healing, it has been one of my lowest points of mental health. I can't explain why this has been so extraordinarily difficult when faced with death before, but grief has settled in and made itself comfortable.

I can't say when I'll be confident in the saddle again of a healthy mindset. Until then, I simply can't promise any artwork or progress from me in that avenue. I so desperately want to bury myself into my two long term art projects for clients I cherish, but each time I pick up my supplies, I sit there staring at the page and feel empty.
There's a part of me that broke 7 months ago and only time will tell how resilient I'll come through; unsure of how whole I'll be in that moment.

Thank you for every little favorite, comment, watch, and supportive gesture.

Hey everyone!

I've been struggling, but slowly getting back into being able to work on art. I've managed to pick a little more at an illustration commission and, somehow, color out a new badge for myself for the coming convention (Pandora needed some love and new reference).

I'll be on the left shortly after you enter the convention floor, alongside my buddy at her table.
In the very least I will be taking on some sketches and hopefully feel motivated to take some chibi badge commissions on since I may not be taking any large badge commissions. My prints are painfully dated at this point and so much so that it feels bad to even take money for them. So! I will probably be offering minimalist commission types but I hope to see you there!

Side note: I will be absent for the first few hours of Saturday due to another of my scheduled mud obstacle runs in the morning. My assistant will be there to answer any questions and help with any commission requests you may have.

I am going to try and get back some motivation with Art Fight! There's no pressure because there's no payment, and I can just feel free to draw something that pique's my interest for fun.
I am Riyoko on team Cyberpunk, so I'll be lurking and making sketches.

Good afternoon to all of my watchers.


I have been in an art slump for months, at this point. I had taken on another, small commission in hopes I could rekindle my motivation. I have yet to start gesture sketches for it, work on my sketchbook work, finish a full illustration, and move forward on an art trade.


Yesterday we brought home Ryder's ashes, after losing him, now two weeks ago. He was two months away from being 2 1/2. This has been impossibly difficult for me. Considering my work revolves around this sort of thing, I can't even escape, mentally, in returning to work. I can't focus on anything and have only been able to hide in physical exertion and pushing exercise, probably not in healthy doses, honestly.


I can't give my faithful clients and friends here an idea of when I may be able to pick myself up mentally and try to push back into art. I just don't know.

I wanted to design a kiwi in Ryder's likeness as something I could doodle and feel comforted by, but even that hasn't been successful.


I love all of you and appreciate all of the watches, favorites, and comments you all give me. It means a lot. I've already been so sporadically active and I apologize that that is only going to continue for the time being.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience and understanding.

I typically keep to myself and I don't call out the behavior of other artists. However, this was cringy enough that I wanted to share a particularly toxic mindset with all of you, to be mindful of and watch for.

There is an artist on both DeviantArt and FurAffinity who you may be familiar with. Their art is cute and usually bubbly; a very sketchy and rough style.

This artist also posts journals, updates, chat posts, etc., almost daily, or multiple times a day, asking why they aren't receiving more attention, followers, favorites, comments, and advertising all of their posting platforms. At first, it came off as looking for attention and validation, the usual you'll see from time to time from beginning artists trying to find their niche in a crowded market.
But it continued... daily... often.

A recent post was, again, complaining that they were only receiving 'x' amount of favorites per hour and demanded to know if their watchers were dead. There were a few typical praise and attention comments, but one in particular stood out. The comment wasn't hostile in any manner and simply stated that 'x' amount of favorites per hour was pretty good, making the artist come off as ungrateful for the support they garner.
I likewise wanted to give input, having felt under appreciated before and eventually growing up and maturing to realize that art shouldn't be about attention and validation. When I clicked reply, nothing happened. This is due to the fact the artist deleted the comment provided by that watcher, which I had been replying to.
Instantly after deleting this comment, the initial artist made the statement that, in essence, if you did not outright praise and give affection toward her artwork, offering any kind of conflicting opinion, you would be deleted and banned.

"People who think 'x' is enough and unpopularity what small artist are deserve - f.ck off from my page.
People who think I have to be positive and love someone without reson and care about people who doesn't care about me - f.ck off from my page.
People who teach me how I have to live and what emotion I have to feel - f.ck off from my page.
Comments like this will be deleted, persons will be banned for forever.
Other who support, fave and share my art - welcome, thank you, you amazing. "

Wow... rough mindset. It's unfortunate that someone's immaturity and hostility prevents them from seeing any advice as anything other than a personal attack.

Regardless, I offered the following response.
" As cute and bubbly as your work is, the constant bombardment asking for more watches and favorites, or complaining about not receiving as many as you want, is not only depreciating the followers you already have and devaluing them, it's going to drive those same followers away. It can be a definite bummer when we don't feel our efforts are noticed, but you should stand back from time to time and gain perspective. Let your work speak for itself and drive your efforts for self improvement and fulfillment. Creating artwork should be for satisfaction of personal growth, fun, and exploration. Creating out of a drive for attention is not sustainable.
If your work is aesthetically desirable, it will draw attention and affection on its own. Let your work speak for itself.
Granted, because this comment isn't outright offering praise, I'm anticipating it being deleted, which will only devalue another watcher who enjoys seeing what you post."

To no one's surprise, and only proving my point, the artist instantly deleted my comment and banned me from their profile.

I haven't seen this behavior in a while, but it's unfortunate how entitled and, for lack of a better word, bratty, some younger artists are. You are not entitled to watchers. You are not entitled to favorites, comments, or being showered in praise. I used to feel this way and, thankfully, grew up to realize that art was for my own satisfaction. If it drew a favorite, it was appreciated. If someone took the time to leave a comment, even one not providing critique, I appreciated it.
Creating art for my own happiness is what paid off. I'm not the most successful or popular artist out there, and I'm okay with that.

Gain perspective. I have people who enjoy my work and it's warming, but I make it for myself. I have several amazing and loyal watchers and clients whom I adore. It makes me joyful to no end that they want a piece of art made by me.
I don't always receive a million favorites or comments to things I post. I'm okay with that.

In the end, please find perspective, to all budding and developed artists out there, that venting about a lack of watchers you perceive you're entitled to, will only drive away those who enjoy your work. It's unfortunate that an artist would block a watcher, after complaining about not receiving attention. It's a self-destructive and hostile mindset that is cringe-worthy all around.

Love what you do for you. Keep drawing, and take time to appreciate your progress and self achievements. That will give you more satisfaction than a favorite ever could.

Please view details here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/39348402/

What types of critters appeal to you the most? Is it the animal? A hybrid? Is it the markings/decorations? Wings?

I would like to try one or two more in the near future, likely a Jackalope or Foo Dog type. What would you guys like to see?

What would you think of design/pattern adoptions where the winner decides on the type of creature mix it goes to?

This has been catching on like crazy and it looks sooo fun!
Recommend your suggestion below, one per person!

These are characters in TV Shows, Anime, Video Games, Cartoons, etcetera. These are not real people or OC's. I will then pick from the comments received and doodle them up!
I won't be able to draw each suggestion, sorry! ...unless I only receive 6 or fewer suggestions. Then I will draw everyone's recommendation! I have this up on DeviantArt, too, since I don't utilize twitter.

Let me see what you think would be fun to see in my style!

My commission slot has closed! I will be going through the different emails of interest and letting the winner know later.

See previous journal, here: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9411631/

Hey everybody!

I'm still making progress on my longest commission project ever, but am aaalmost to the end.
With that, I will be opening a single commission slot on Sunday, March 1st.

This will NOT be first come, first served. I will have this slot be all-inclusive to any of my commission types, though may lean more toward traditional preference at this time.

Commission Pricing can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19692467/

Since I rarely open for slots now, if you are interested in trying to snag this slot, please send your interest on March 1st to DarkRiyokoStudios[at]gmail.com with the following form:

Commission Type:
Character type: Anthro or quadrupedal
Character References: (images, not text)
Character personality: (brief)
Brief theme or idea description:

I will draw the following:
Nudity
Moderate sexual theme
Anthro
Humanoid
Quadrupedal

I will not draw:
Mecha
Most in-depth fetish themes including: diaper, scat, water-sports, vore, etc

I will be selecting the commissioner idea and content that I find most appealing out of the received applicants. I will leave the slot open until Thursday, March 5th, to allow everyone an equal chance. After that I will close the slot and choose between the requests.

Good luck! I look forward to hearing from you all.



After my last post I was relieved to know my husband and I were taking a week vacation down in Pagosa Springs to recoup and try to take a break from everything. We were going with my sister, brother-in-law, and close friend. But things were overshadowed by unfortunate circumstances, once again.

On vacation Cleo had two episodes that resembled an incident many months ago, within 12 hours of each other. It had been thought she was tired, but now it seemed something else was the culprit. Her front leg was kicking fervently before curling up tightly. She would bite and lick this leg while simultaneously kicking her back leg.

When she was a puppy she was diagnosed with Wobblers Disease. The rescue we received her through found her to be a surgical candidate and she received surgery, so we thought the issue was no more. The surgery had improved her life and ability to walk. Outside of limiting twisting her neck or not placing things around it, she's kept pretty active and normal.

After finding a vet we could finally see in Pagosa Springs, they stated what we feared, that her symptoms are very likely due to this disease. Looking back over the time we've had her, we started to see other signs present that we hadn't noticed. We weren't looking for them, afterall.
They didn't have the facilities available to really look into the imaging. So we worked on getting the swelling down in her neck and kept her low key.

We luckily were scheduled with a vet on Sunday to get her in with their neurologist. They ran a blood panel and xrays, but unfortunately their current patient receiving an MRI that day ran long, preventing Cleo from receiving one as planned.
They ran further testing and agreed that Wobblers could be the problem. Her xrays and blood came back normal.
We brought her back in on Monday for the MRI and they confirmed it. Her spinal cord is being constricted in several places. Unfortunately, due to her previous surgery, there's so much scar tissue that makes her a poor surgical candidate. It would likely make her worse.

We will be trying to manage it medically, finding long term solutions that won't be hard on her body.
However, because of this condition presenting again, if we continue current activities as normal, she'll only degrade. She no longer gets to be our running buddy. No jogging. Playing with other dogs will need to be highly mitigated. No hiking buddy, no more tugging, etc. All of these can cause inflammation and trigger her nerves to fire, causing the same episodes and pain.

Jeff and I are crushed. She will still be given the best activity and life we can, but quieter now. There's nothing to fix this problem, only manage it. She's our little girl. We're glad she's had the activities to enjoy prior.
For the next month of healing it's going to be a rough transition, but we'll try to get through it the best we can.



Vent to follow.
I received a note that two of my deviations, one of which is soooo old I forgot it was present in my gallery. were now marked 'Mature' by the admins.

Obviously someone was perusing and thought these two pieces were too offensive or 'adult' that they needed marked mature. Really?
I'm not frustrated by the fact they were marked Mature, but that someone (with a lot of extra time on their hands) felt the need to complain straight to administrators instead of addressing the concern with the artist directly. I always take a concern seriously, when it's brought to my attention directly from the source- not a third party.

In this day and age where everyone hides behind their keyboard of anonymity it's apparently too much of a hassle to discuss a thought with an artist and instead go straight to reporting your offended feelings.
Not just in art but in most topics now. Instead of trying to resolve something with an individual, like an adult with a shred of responsibility, someone will go straight to balking to 'the authorities' to fix their problem or portrayed slight.
Maaaaybe I can understand a mature marking for these two flagged pieces. Maybe. If it was brought to my attention I would have heard the concern and responded appropriately. But no..

I have never been an individual who will yell at someone who talks directly to me about an issue. But when you skirt addressing the problem by going straight to reporting, ...wow, no respect.

Glad to know people are willing to deal with an issue directly with an artist.