Long story short, my current apartment complex wanted to raise my rent by ~$400 if I renewed my lease for another year. I was already planning on probably moving this year, so that definitely made the decision a bit easier!

Thankfully I won't be moving very far at all, I managed to find a nice 1-bedroom apartment that's at a complex literally just down the road from where I am right now. I'm in a 2-bedroom at the moment so there will be some downsizing to do, but that's going fairly smoothly. The cats aren't exactly happy about having everything packed up and put in boxes, but they've only got two more weeks of that until we'll be moving into the new apartment.

New commissions will slow down a bit while I save back up after moving, but I'm hoping to start getting more pieces with friends the second part of the year.

I've only interacted with Dragoneer a few times, but he came across as someone who truly cared about this community.

Without the love and work that he's put into this community and website over the years, I genuinely don't think I would be here today. I've met so many wonderful people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. Made so many friendships and connections. All directly tied to this website, and by extension to him.

Thank you for all your work, Dragoneer. You'll be greatly missed by so, so many people.

Rest peacefully.

Hey hi hello!

It's been awhile since I've made a journal, so I figured I might as well do something toward the start of the year here. Hopefully everyone is doing well and staying as healthy as reasonably possible. I've been pretty busy with work over the start of the year. Hoping that calms down eventually here... but I'm also not planning on staying at this job longer than this summer for a variety of reasons.

Setting yearly goals isn't something that I normally do, but I've been feeling stuck in a bit of a rut for awhile now. I need to make some sort of change, so I figured making and committing to a few more concrete, track-able goals was probably the best way to go about doing that. I don't want to over extend myself either, so I've settled on two things that I think I want to focus on this year:

Goal 1: By the end of the year, be able to draw my own characters (to some degree).
Goal 2: By the end of the year, get my weight under 280 lbs.

I haven't really had any sort of creative focus or endeavor since college, and I've been wanting to actually learn to draw for quite a long while now. I've started and restarted that process quite a few times over the past year or so, and I'm hoping that having something more concrete to work toward will help with that. The health-related goal will probably be easier to attain, given that I'm fairly close to that point already.

So yeah, we'll see where things go this year! I still need to come up with a schedule for myself to make getting into the art-practice habit a bit easier. Actually having a solid goal to work toward on the learning front should hopefully help with the feeling of "What the hell should I actually be practicing?!" that I've dealt with before.

If anyone following me wants a Bluesky code, let me know! I've got 3 right now and most of my immediate circle of friends who wanted to join have already done so. As I get more codes I'll make the occasional journal so I can give them to more folks who want them.

Been awhile! Hopefully you're all doing well and staying as cool as you can if you're in the US right now. Just a brief update about what I've got going on right now.

I'll be going to DenFur in a few weeks! It's a bit of a drive from Indiana, but I'm looking forward to seeing friends again and having some time to disconnect from work. DenFur was my first ever con last year and it was a great time, so I'm sure this year will be just as fun. I'm also planning on going to IFC here in Indiana, and mayyyyyyybe MFF as well, depending on how things work out with my job.

As far as commissions go, I'm still putting new art on hold for the moment still. I've got some debt to pay off courtesy of vet bills and car repairs, and that's going to take me a bit to work through. I may wind up going for the occasional sketch commission in the meantime (or splitting something with friends), but anything bigger is likely going to be a no-go for a bit, unfortunately. That being said, I'm also hoping to get back into learning to draw again now that work is going to be calming down a touch. We've been wrapping up a huge project over the past few months, and now that it's finished things should hopefully be quite a bit less stressful. So you never know, maybe I'll eventually have my own art to start sharing from time to time!

Figured I'd create one of these for fun. Got a question you'd like to ask any of my characters? Feel free to submit it and you'll get an IC answer!

https://retrospring.net/@Illyrian

Hope you're all doing well and staying healthy! Spent the past couple of days visiting family and taking a much needed break from work. Going to be a busy start to 2023 for me, as I'll be moving to a different unit in the same apartment complex in the middle of January. It will be good though, since I'll have more room and hopefully better heating/cooling bills since I won't be on the top floor anymore.

Here's to a good start to the year!

I've got a few more pieces that I need to post, as well as one or two commissions still in the works. After that, though, I'm going to need to take a break from commissioning art for a little bit.
Next Friday I'm having carpal tunnel surgery, and will need to save up in order to pay that bill off. I've also got another bill I'm paying off from a surgery earlier this year.

Thankfully it shouldn't take me too terribly long to get things squared away after surgery, so this won't be a huge break. I also will be commissioning an actual 'sona for myself here soon, so that's something I'll be looking forward to.
This year has sucked, from a financial standpoint. Here's to hoping things start looking up from here.

... and all it took was calculating the size of an appropriate AC unit for my apartment, figuring out the size of the (tiny) one I actually have, and sending a strongly worded email to my landlord. After a month or so of telling them the AC was too small for my apartment. Nothing feels as vindicating as being told "Upon review, your calculations for appropriate AC unit size were actually correct." after being told it was totally fine!

So now that I'm NOT going to have to move again right away, I'm hoping to start working on rebuilding my art fund and getting commissions again, likely featuring some of the characters I have who haven't received quite as much attention lately. I've got to save up for some furniture and decoration for the new place first, but soon enough I'll be able to start getting art again. I've got all sorts of ideas floating around, and also want to commission an actual sona for myself rather than just using my boy Tristan as an icon. I'm pretty excited for that, admittedly. I likely won't be getting much art of him outside of a ref, an icon, and some stickers/emotes, but it will be nice to have a character to represent myself.

As far as learning to draw myself goes... that's on hold for the moment. Turns out ya boi was cursed from birth with naturally narrow carpal tunnels in both wrists, meaning I basically had no way of ever avoiding carpal tunnel surgery. That's going to be happening at the beginning of next month, and until then I won't be doing much drawing. Just too painful, unfortunately. I'm hoping that once I've recovered I'll be able to start dedicating more time to both learning to draw AND taking a bit better care of myself health-wise. Been in a bit of a slump mental health wise, and I've not been eating as well as I should be. Still... we'll get there!

... but Illyrian, you just moved!

Yup.
Long story short, my current apartment complex is refusing to repair my AC or replace it with one that is large enough for my apartment. It's been over 85 degrees in here multiple days in a row, and basically any day the outdoor temp is above 75 then the inside temp is about the same.

I swear I have the worst possible luck.

Hello there! It's been a minute.
Hope everyone is staying healthy and doing alright! I've just finished moving apartments again... and hopefully this will be the last time for at least a few years. I'm back in central Indiana now, which is a nice improvement! My apartment already feels more like home than the last one in just a few days. Getting all my stuff INTO this place sucked... but it was very much worth the struggle. The cats are happy, I'm happy, and work is keeping me plenty busy.

As far as art and whatnot goes, I'm still on hold as far as my art fund goes. Since I moved in the middle of the month I had to pay rent at both my old apartment and my new apartment, and of course on top of that I'm also having to pay "prorated" rent for May at my old place... even though my lease only runs through the 1st of the month. Once I've got this all worked out I'm hoping to be able to start getting more actual commissions. I'm also still working on learning to draw and making slow progress there.

Hello there! It's been a minute.
Hope everyone is staying healthy and doing alright! I've just finished moving apartments again... and hopefully this will be the last time for at least a few years. I'm back in central Indiana now, which is a nice improvement! My apartment already feels more like home than the last one in just a few days. Getting all my stuff INTO this place sucked... but it was very much worth the struggle. The cats are happy, I'm happy, and work is keeping me plenty busy.

As far as art and whatnot goes, I'm still on hold as far as my art fund goes. Since I moved in the middle of the month I had to pay rent at both my old apartment and my new apartment, and of course on top of that I'm also having to pay "prorated" rent for May at my old place... even though my lease only runs through the 1st of the month. Once I've got this all worked out I'm hoping to be able to start getting more actual commissions. I'm also still working on learning to draw and making slow progress there.

Heya there!
Happy holidays! Hope you're all doing well and staying healthy. It's been a pretty busy few weeks for me, lots of changing plans and work stuff going on.

Setting Rewrite
So! I've been somewhat unhappy with my sci-fi setting for awhile now, and decided to finally rewrite it. I've still got lots of work and fleshing out of things to do, but I very much like the new concept. The setting as a whole is going to shift away from the science-fantasy feel I was going for previously to something that has more of a sci-fi-punk feel. Grittier, a bit darker, etc. More focused around a limited set of locations rather than a galaxy-wide scope. My characters in that setting will be getting rewrites as well, and as a whole I'm pretty happy with how my initial concept feels. Eventually I'll probably put together some sort of setting description to upload here as well, after I've gotten things organized.

I'll likely eventually go through and rewrite the little story blurbs that I wrote to accompany some of my commissions, and when I do I'll make a journal so anyone interested can go check them out.

Life Update
That whole house thing? Not happening for at least another year hah. I want to be a bit more financially comfortable before buying a house, and right now I'd be putting all my money into the house if I were to try and save up over the next few months before my lease is up in May. On top of that, my current apartment complex would raise my rent by $500 if I chose to renew which is... a hard pass from me. That winds up being a good thing though, as I'll be moving to a new apartment complex that is back around the area I want to eventually buy a house. Rent there is significantly cheaper for the same quality of apartment I have now, with more space.

Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure if I'll be going for a house in the next 2 years or not now. With the way the market is now, along with some of my personal anxieties, I may wind up renting a little longer. We'll see! What that means, though, is that I'm going to be back to having an actual commission budget again rather than just picking up YCHs occasionally with my spending money! So once I get moved in to my new place in May, keep an eye out for new art coming down the pipes.

Also, I'm always happy to get art with people! If you're interested at all in splitting a commission definitely feel free to reach out!

Hey everyone! Hope you're all doing well.
It's been a bit since I've written any sort of an update so I figured I'd throw something together quick.

The new job is treating me well (while keeping me busy), and I've been slowly making progress on saving up for a house. Still mostly putting future commissions on hold while I save, but I will prooooobably be getting art from time to time.
It's looking like I won't be moving until next October--I'd like to save up a little bit more if I can, so that I have money to cover any expenses that might crop up. I'd like to not have to rent for another full year from May -> May if I can avoid it, though.
I'm also going to be (hopefully) moving back to the central Indiana area instead of getting a house where I am now. Family would prefer I stay up here buuuuuuuut I'd rather live down there. More people, more stuff to do, etc.

Outside of that things have been fairly chill. I've started anti-depression meds which have helped tremendously, and I'm also continuing to work on slowly learning to draw.
Fell off the weight-loss wagon for a little while, but now that I have my mental health sorted (at least a little more than it was before) I'm wanting to get back into that as well. Now if I can just get over my gym anxiety...
Part of me also wants to mayyyyyyyybe try and go to MFF? But I have a feeling I likely couldn't get a hotel room at this point. Maybe next year. It'd be nice to meet folks from around this area.

Also, I'm always open to getting art with folks when I do get art! So if you're wanting to get something with any of my characters definitely feel free to reach out!

That's it for now I think. Stay safe and healthy!

Normally, I'm fairly skeptical of new art sites that crop up. Sometimes they're way too clunky, other times they just don't draw people in for whatever reason.
Fooled around with Itaku a little bit last night, made an account, uploaded some art. So far I'm fairly impressed! Nothing felt incredibly clunky, and while it's missing features (and still in beta) it definitely feels pretty good.

Admittedly, I'm not a fan of the yellow on black color scheme for the dark mode option, but the site overall just feels good. It works/looks well on mobile, the tagging system is nice (requiring tags on images is a huge plus imo), and uploading images was an easy process (same goes for multiple images).

We'll see how it pans out, but I'll likely wind up uploading my gallery there as well in addition to here on FA, Weasyl, and SoFurry. Good to diversify, right? If you want to follow me on Itaku you can find me here!

Yep! I'm officially 27 now. Doesn't feel much different, lol.
I may or may not have forgotten today was my birthday since I went out with my family yesterday. Oops?

Today's going to be a fairly chill day! Do some gaming, then maybe some drawing exercises this afternoon since I'm getting back into that again.

As far as life updates go, not much has changed since my last post! I've figured out my budget for the house, and will be starting to look around January.
I'm also working (once again) on losing weight. My goal is to be down 50lbs by my birthday next year, as a birthday present to myself.

The other big commitment/goal I'm working toward as a birthday present for myself is teaching myself to draw. I've not been doing much work lately on that front.
My anxiety has been a little worse lately for whatever reason, and I've been working through that and trying to find better ways to incorporate drawing into my schedule in ways that don't make my brain do dumb things.
Thankfully though I've found some strategies that work for me, so it feels good to be making progress there. Spent a little time doing linework exercises last night and it was good to feel like i hadn't lost my progress there.

I've been considering finding somewhere to upload the exercises/work I do on a weekly basis. Even if I have ZERO audience, I still find it easier to stay committed that way.
I don't particularly want to clutter up my FA with that stuff though, so I was curious if there were other places that might be more fitting.
Awhile back I made a Pillowfort account, so I could use that! PF seems to be fairly... dead, though. So I'm not sure about that. If I do find a place to start uploading that my exercises and doodles, though, I'll probably drop a journal with the details!

Stay safe and healthy out there friends!

First of all, I just wanted to say hey to all the new folks who watched me recently! Glad you're here, and hopefully you'll stick around.

So! Barring the current commissions I have already paid for and in the works, I'm going to be putting a hold on getting new commissions at the moment. Currently I rent an apartment, but with my rent guaranteed to go up next year and already being fairly expensive, I've made the decision to purchase a house instead of continuing to rent when my lease is up next May! This will lower the amount I'm paying a month for housing costs significantly, and will give me considerably more freedom as far as how I want my space to be/what appliances I want, etc. So yeah, great stuff!

Unfortunately though I need to save up for a down payment on the house, and for the time being that means I'm going to need to take a break from purchasing commissions for the most part. I may still nab one here or there, but until I've got the down payment squared away I'm really going to be trying to avoid most unnecessary spending. I still plan on doing a little writing from time to time when inspiration strikes, especially since I'm still building up a decent list of commission ideas/art ideas.

Soon enough things will be back to normal, though. Stay safe and healthy out there!

Hello there!

I haven't uploaded anything in a minute, mostly due to moving apartments and then making a couple of big personal purchases. It's going to be a couple months before I have spare money for my commission fund, and I'm trying to shoot for actual commissions now and fewer YCHs.
BUT! I do have plenty of ideas for commissions, and I've taken to writing them down. Lately I've started turning those commission ideas into stories... mostly of the lewd variety, if I'm honest. My SFW writing and worldbuilding tends to be VERY unorganized and is by and large unpresentable.

Not expecting any/many replies to this, but I wanted to see if there was any interest in having those stories uploaded once I finish them. Eventually, most of them will be paired with a commission or two--or MAYBE in the distant future some actual art of my own.
Most will be around 5-10,000 words, although some might be shorter depending on the idea, or if I decide to break them up into multiple parts.

Content will vary based on the setting and characters involved. If there IS interest, I'll likely post a brief journal with a little more detail there on my characters/settings/potential kinks so folks know what to expect. VERY generally though, here's a summary of the settings that might give ideas of what would be coming down the pipes:

Sci-Fi Setting: The Allyrian Sector

---

Adventure! Alien creatures! Predicament! This setting includes my characters Arran, Arrissa, and Cassie. Arissa is a kobold artifact hunter who recruited the synth Cassie to join her as a co-pilot and barista. Arran is a rival artifact hunter that does his best to beat out his competition and isn't above dirty tricks. Their rivalry is a (mostly) friendly one, though.

Modern Setting

---

Don't have a name for this one yet, but I'm working on it! Setting as a whole is VERY loosely based on the region I live (midwestern US). Characters involved here are Tristan, Luca, and then two more characters I haven't commissioned refsheets for yet! Tristan's girlfriend Cara (a cow) and Luca's wife (species and name yet to be determined). The four of them play tabletop games together and are friends (often with benefits). Stories will involve both slice of life stuff IRL for the characters, as well as their shenanigans in their fantasy game of choice (Gates and Gargoyles, pls don't sue me WotC) with self-insert characters.

So yeah! If you happen to read this and would be interested, feel free to comment and let me know!

Just a small one. I've adopted a sci-fi Kobold character, so you can expect to see some of her over the next day or so!
I'm also doing a bit of worldbuilding with my three characters! So hopefully I'll start picking up some art for them soon to go along with that.

Since I’m still over a year away from being able to draw my own characters, I figured I’d see if I could get some recommendations for artists to possibly commission a character design/refsheet from for my own OC!

Once I move next month/get my emergency fund rebuilt I’m planning on getting more art of my adopted characters commissioned, but I’d also like to have a character that is my own as well. Got an artist you particularly like? One you’ve worked with before and had a great experience with? I’d love to hear about them!