posted on twitter already but wanna make it clear here too. ACAB, Black Lives Matter, racists fuck off. if the first thing you wanna say after that is "all lives matter" or "not all cops", unfollow and fuck off. if you don't like artists getting political, tough shit. racism doesn't exist in a vacuum and people of color never get to "opt-out" of politics.

"i don't want politics in the fandom", big fucking whoop. i sure as hell don't get a break from politics as a disabled queer latinx girl and neither do any other people of color or queer folk in it. behind the icons and art, there's people suffering at the hands of the state. don't be complicit or enabling of it.

get the hell out of the fandom if you don't support people of color and queer folk.

support your local movements and protesters.

for those going out in person, stay safe y'all.

https://www.pillowfort.social/LunaDelSol

Have been jonesing for a Tumblr alternative for so long and it looks like Pillowfort's becoming just that! Will likely be plenty active there, starting with posting some old backlogs and then new stuffs~

It's a really puppy birfday~

Just finished up a BWW's trip and ate over 3000 calories worth of bar food, so it's been real nice =w=

Thankies to everyone who's gave b-day wishes too! Y'all are so wonderful, heck ;w; 💜

Summary: gonna experiment with new commission types and such soon, mostly in-stream sketch commissions among other stuffs.


Typical commission slots with a queue just don’t work for me in the long run. As fun as they are, the long queues and associated stress has always lead to art block and burnout fast in the last 4 years of me trying ‘em. I gotta switch it up.

I’ll still be doing them now and then in some form at least, if to a smaller scale. I’ll be dabbling with other kinds of commissions, with the main one in mind being in-stream sketch commissions at the moment. The last time I tried those years ago helped me focus so much and let me get lots done, and are just plain fun to do.

With those, I’d also wanna experiment with streams that focus on a single topic or kink, like hyper or inflation or pregnancy or fatfur or… a lotta stuff! I think it’d suit how my fave kinks change on a weekly roulette spin basis and help keep me psyched up on arts. I also like doing YCHs and other stuffs a lot, so I may be doing a few more of those too.

More details to come in the future!

'Tis my birthday again, 21st of Feb.! Gosh I still remember when I hit 21, time flying by fast lately @3@

Will likely be off and on over the day, but will try to respond to peeps as I can!

Have gotten quite a few birthday wishes and positive messages since the morning, and it's really been raising my spirits. Has been a few rough weeks recently so hearing all of it was a big mood boost.

Thankies to those who said happy b-days already, y’all are lovely peeps 💜 And too, wish ya all a good day on ya's end!

Well, not much of a hiatus, but I feel a bit better now!

In short, still feeling kinda rough on my end, but at least I got some of my bearings back for the moment. Art block and whatnot is still rather persistent, but I’m finding stuff and techniques to manage it.

There’s more to cover on such but I’ll save it for a future journal or the like. Wanna focus on commission stuffs here:


COMMISSIONS

To start, I’m needing to cancel some commissions from my queue. These are commissions that I should have declined at the start and didn’t. I’ll personally contact the few people who it affects once this is posted. My apologies there.

If anyone wishes to cancel your slot, I absolutely understand. Again, my apologies. There’s no beating around the bush, it’s been since September since I opened, and it’s gonna be another handful of weeks to get through the queue as is.

To y’all sticking by, y’all have my biggest thanks and I’ll work my best on your comms in the upcoming weeks. I’ll be continuing from here onward.

Future commissions are definitely gonna be handled some other way. This setup just doesn’t work for me too well. so after this I’ll be experimenting with new commission methods.

I’ll be posting my commission queue tomorrow to show where peeps are at.


Thank you for reading.

In short, I'm taking a one week commission hiatus to gather all my thoughts, starting tomorrow. This regards all current commissions. It won't be a full hiatus, will still be online and partially active, but I'll be focused on recovery and be away for stretches of time.

A lot has happened this week on my end. Have been in a gradually worsening art block along with other personal stuffs. Especially now, I just haven't been able to function too well and need a hard break on things for a bit to gather my thoughts.

I'll make another update in a week's time, which will include more info as well as an updated commission info and queue. I'll be online sporadically in the meanwhile, though I may stream on occasion.

Thanks for reading and understanding.

Droppin’ by with a quick commission update here!

Commissions will open September 15th, starting with 3 slots for this first batch. Slots won’t be first-come first-serve, so no rush on submitting a commission query! Will be accepting ‘em over the weekend (15th and 16th, starting/ending midnight PST). Much like before, queries can go through the respective Google forms when I post ‘em, my commission email at chicoricostudios[at]gmail.com , or even Direct Message/Notes if you have a few questions in mind. I will also message peeps that requested me to give them a heads up a week before I officially open.

This go-around I’ll try something different: commissions will be choice-based rather than first-come first-serve, with me sending messages to those chosen for the first batch on the 17th. I’ll choose commissions mainly based on what I believe I can do my best on at the moment or ideas that hold my interest the most. After finishing the first batch, I’ll do a second batch of 3 from the previously sent queries and so on for a possible third or fourth batch until I reopen for more commission queries.

Don’t be disheartened if I don’t get to your submitted query in the first batch or two! Odds very much are that I’m looking forward to drawing your idea too, that I just have too many queries to tend to at once and will visit it in the near future in another batch. Sometimes the idea won’t be one that I think I can do my best on or that can’t hold my interest well for one reason or another, and such could lead to a commission experience that doesn’t work out for either of us.

Two notes for this go-around too:
1) Each person can submit either up to 3 queries for separate pictures OR 1 query for an up to a 3 picture/comic page sequence each time I open.

2) I’ll only do either public (art uploaded with commissioner named) or anonymous commissions (art uploaded with commissioner name kept private). I will not be doing private commissions:(art not uploaded period).

Prices will be revised for this batch and future commissions; right now they’re aimed to be 40 USD for shaded sketches and 60 USD for full shaded drawings.

Thank ya for reading, and hope to hear from y’all then! <3

[Gah accidentally deleted last journal when I meant ta edit, sorry 'bout that!]

Is my b-day today on Feb 21st! Oh gosh quite a morning too so far @w@

Gon' be away for a good part of the day with folks but @ peeps that wished happy b-day already, thank yous!

Dunno what else peeps do when they turn 21 but guess I'll find out in the upcoming weeks =w=

(Meant to do this earlier but the flu hit after New Years festives and am just now recovering from the worst of it. Take yer flu shots!)

Firstly at all commissioners and peeps, thank ya all so much for your understanding and patience. Stuff gathered really fast near the end of 2017 and knocked me down a notch, but am bouncing back and I super appreciate the continued support from ya all. There’s only a handful left now and I’ll be finishing ‘em up by this month!

In the meanwhile, figure it’d be good to post a thingy for 2018, ‘least for myself to keep track of my thoughts going into this year and posting it out there for peeps to know if curious.


ON 2018 PLANS

My biggest goal for this year is getting on personal arts. I’ve had personal projects and all in mind for years and even a short comic one that’s been in the works for most of 2017 that I’ve still yet to finish up. First thing is to finish that up, which fortunately it’s about 80% done.

My biggest obstacle is that getting personal arts done is tricky when I have commissions in queue. So far it’s always started with opening comms, holding off on non-commission stuffs ‘til I finish queue, getting more inquiries before then, and slowly feel more and more drained until I stall out. It’s happened too many times already to not learn a lesson from such, and this year’s gon be working that out.

I def still wanna be doing commissions though! It’s been such a joy drawing for so many of you lovelies and I certainly wanna be able to do so again, though aiming to be able to do it better than before and while avoiding burn out from it too.

On future commissions, this year I’ll be changing up how I do ‘em a tad bit again that oughta work better this go-around; all of that will come later in the year. For now though, I’ll be delaying the next time I open full comms from Jan to later on, undetermined date. However, in-stream commissions have been on the mind, and with a slightly tweaked sketching style, I’m interested in seeing how they’ll turn out! That’ll be happening sooner, around Feb.

There’s certainly more in mind for 2018, but the most of it is gonna develop after these initial ones are done. On that though...


ART PACK

Have been thinking about releasing a full-res art pack of the majority of art I made in 2017, and possibly a few earlier pics too. Main thing I’d put in it is commission stuffs that isn’t private and most personal stuffs I’ve done, along with a few sketches and idea doodles.

Would likely organize it by individual accounts first, then respective kinks after (which might get tricky with pics involving multiple kinks, but right now am thinking of categorizing by the most prominent kink).

One thing I know for sure, I certainly wanna make it free! I’ve been thinking of having a tip jar setup for it if anything, though I dunno how quite to set such up, especially for NSFW arts. Right now am thinking of hosting on either Drive, Dropbox, or mega.nz with a nearby link to Paypal.me if peeps wish to pitch in a bit, but if there’s any other setups that can work better, am totes open to hear ‘em!


I thought about doing so with my main art files too, though since they can range from 30-300 MB per file, it’d be a huge collection on its own (my current drawing folder is around 10 GBs and that’s after archiving a buncha stuffs mid-2017.)

Even then, I don’t think I’ve heard much interest in art files specifically (think I’ve been asked 1-2 times about it this year for example). But I’m down for sending individual ones if other artists wish to know how I do the technical stuffs for a pic!


In short:
- Finishing up 2017 comms by end of Jan.
- Focusing on personal art more, healthier art habits for 2018.
- In-stream sketch commissions coming Feb.
- Changing how comms work a bit; full comms coming after Feb.
- Figuring out how to release HD art pack soon, wanna hear your thoughts!

Update for peeps with commission and art slots!

My left (drawing) arm and hand have been hurting for a while now, and while it’s better than from a week or two ago, there’s still soreness and moments of shooting pain through it every now and then. Have been trying to keep to my art schedule through it, though the worry of really bad RSI or carpal tunnel’s been keeping me from doing it for too long.

Have been doing things such as changing art setup (moving from Cintiq to my old Intuos for ergonomics), easing grip on my pen, more stretches while drawing and using Ibuprofen/Icy Hot for pain when it’s really pronounced. Seems to be helping and letting me get through daily drawing, so hopefully it’ll let me improve with time.

In the meantime though, it has set me back a bit and especially earlier, so art will delayed a bit from given ETAs. If it doesn’t worsen, I estimate it’d be a few extra days to a week more on most of ‘em.

Sorry to keep peeps waitin’! I appreciate the patience though; RSI and arm injuries have always worried me something fierce, and the last thing I want is such hampering me on future arts and commissions for peeps.

Hello! Heads up that my commission setup is changing here soon: will be closing up additional commission slots on October 6th, and will not be accepting future commissions until further notice.

‘Tis only for new slots; will certainly be finishing up all current and ongoing commission series! If you’re unsure whether you have a slot, feel free to inquire.

Am unsure on when I’ll open again, though it’ll likely be sometime around December-January. Have been wanting to experiment with different formats like in-stream commissions too lately, so such may happen in the meanwhile too.

In the meantime, am still accepting additional slots for the time being! Feel free to message through notes, email through chicoricostudios@gmail.com, or Forms at https://goo.gl/5a9X2u to be added. Am all right with peeps requesting to “reserve” a slot in the meantime too, as the queue is expected to be around 3-4 weeks for new slots and commission info/payment isn’t needed until am able to commence.


Onto more personal related journal stuffs:
Been wanting to get on some art studies and projects dedicatedly for a bit. Having commissions on queue makes it difficult to squeeze either in much even after good time made on commissions, thoughts stuck on not wanting to keep peeps waiting which only drives anxiety and risks stagnating all art. Have been better about it lately, but wanna see how it’d be with commission and other time separate for a bit.

Commissions are still a joy to draw up for ya all and I wanna do plenty more, though I also wanna work on improving my skills more to better deliver on arts, as well as to draw up some ideas that’ve been in mind for months at least (pic series, comics, even possibly games, etc.). Fortunately I shan’t be dead during the commission hold and will still be posting, if not moreso!

Though as well, my drawing (left) arm has been sore and hurting more than usual, so will be planning to let it rest more afterwards too. Last thing I’d want is any bout of RSI or carpal tunnel troubles keep me from going full speed on future arts.


‘ppreciate the read!

Hello! Just a heads up on commission related stuffs. Have cleared up and changed some things on my end and wanna share what all's changed in one summary:


1) A friend told me about my ToS having some strange typos that had some text gone and other text turned to gibberish. Not sure what happened there, but I fixed it up now. All else is the same besides that.

2) I found a price discrepancy last night with additional characters for drawings. I thought it was +35 per additional character and it listed that on the commission sheet, but in the commission info tab on my FA, the price was list as +30 and was the same on the Google commission form. I've changed the prices to all be +35 now to clear that up, with all current slots and inquiries keeping the +30 amount for extra characters. Sorry for the confusion there.

And 3) I planned on closing commissions after receiving 10 slots and closing for a while, then opening them up in the future with some price changes. Instead, I'll be keeping the prices as they are now, and rather than closing commissions, I'll reopen slots as commissions are finished up. Essentially I'll be open for commissions as long as there are slots available. Will have 6 slots open for this setup.

A part of the last setup is mainly to avoid getting a huge queue (a wait list ends up being an extended commission queue, and closing/opening commissions repeatedly means a lot of commission announcements, time zone conflicts when commissions open and having to wait for weeks when they fill up to reopen again) and to continually be available as I finish up commissions and open up said slots again.


In short: fixed ToS typos, price discrepancies were corrected, and will have slots open when commissions are finished rather than using commission cycles. I’s appreciate the read!

Update here for peeps! Will be opening for commissions June 16th, and will be accepting commissions/opening the commission form about 5PM PST. Will be posting a commission price sheet announcing it too.

There’ll be a few changes this go-around. Main one is that I’ll be focusing on cel shaded drawings, refs and comics for this batch: as fun as other commission types can be, I’d want to practice and hone them both before offering them as commissions again; same for new animations. Might change how I do those kinds of commissions in the future though they oughta be coming back in one form or another.

As well, this’ll be the last batch of commissions before I change prices in the future; will be posting when they’re updated before the next batch. This batch will use the currently listed ones and for this go I’ll be taking 10 slots!

Hope to hear from peeps then! And feel free to shoot messages my way about any questions and the like in mind before then~

Closing commissions for the moment; all slots are filled even after getting through a few of 'em already, and am gonna finish up the rest in the upcoming weeks or so. Big thanks to everyone who's inquired and gotten one so far!

And as well, had ordered a ticket to Furlandia and am planning on being there all three days, so am eager to see peeps there! Dunno if I'll be getting an artist alley table but I'll at least be bringing a laptop/tablet in case there's time to draw.

Had finished up last queue’s batch of commissions faster than expected, so will be opening again!

Will be doing another 8 slots this go around as well, and will stay open until all slots are filled.


ToS here! https://goo.gl/My0Oqy

For summary on the ToS:
- Send your commission inquiries to chicoricostudios@gmail.com, this form: https://goo.gl/dtgBXV, or another preferred messaging method. If using email, make sure the email used is also your Paypal address.

- Payment’s done through Paypal invoice or paypal.me/ChicoRicoStudios for stream commissions, all USD amounts. You get added to the queue when the commission idea is accepted and pay when you OK your commission’s sketch to be finished up.

- Feel free to post your commission to your gallery after receiving it! Just add a credit to my profile and original submission, if it’s available. As well, feel free to edit the commission for personal use (non-commercial).

- I’ll do commissions either off or on stream by default. Message if you prefer to keep your commission off stream, or if you wish to watch, we can schedule a time that I'll start it on. I can also do anonymous/private commissions.

‘Tis the end of the commission period and have gotten all the slots filled for this go-around. Thanks to everyone who got one and for the support! Have responded to each form and email too now ^. .^

As well, for those who sent a note about wanting your own butt strut animation like these:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23091166/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23021343/
I’m still open for more! Just send a note my way with what you’d like and I can give a rate for one.

Coming from yesterday's journal, am opening for commission inquiries now! Commission types and prices will be here: http://www.furaffinity.net/commissi.....s/impaledwolf/ and listed on the commission form.

There will be 8 slots in total this go-around, though I'll open for more in the future!

As well, I have a Terms of Service set up now to clarify stuffs here: https://goo.gl/My0Oqy

For summary on the ToS:
- Send your commission inquiries to chicoricostudios[at]gmail.com or this form: https://goo.gl/forms/M2THtnP3D0X55DMJ3. After inquiry, all messaging relating to commissions will be done through email or another preferred messaging client. Make sure the email used is also your Paypal address.

- Payment’s done through Paypal invoice or paypal.me/ChicoRicoStudios for stream commissions, all USD amounts. You get added to the queue when the commission idea is accepted and pay when you OK your commission’s sketch to be finished up.

- Feel free to post your commission to your gallery after receiving it! Just add a credit to my profile and original submission, if it’s available. As well, feel free to edit the commission for personal use (non-commercial).

- I’ll do commissions either off or on stream by default. Message if you prefer to keep your commission off stream, or if you wish to watch, we can schedule a time that I'll start it on. I can also do anonymous/private commissions.

Been needing to make an update journal for a while! Lots has been happening on my end, but the ball’s rollin’ for all sorts of arts and commissions and whatnot to happen soon. Last few weeks have been getting fully set up for it and into the flow of things.

I’ve learned lots from commissions last time and am gonna try to put some things in place to help me out there. Right now am finalizing it all, but in short I’ll be opening for commissions officially tomorrow (Friday, March 31st) via journal post. Specifics like slots are being finalized though the setup for taking slots are this:

On Friday and over the weekend I’ll be taking inquiries with commission ideas. Around Sunday, I’ll go through ‘em and message back on the ones I’ll do for the batch until slots are filled.


On the plus side, ‘tis not first-come-first serve, so you won’t hafta worry about nabbing a slot at just the right time or time-zones getting in the way. It does mean I’ll be selective on which ideas I do, though.

Last time I got burnt out on doing pics that I couldn’t put my all in, and the burn-out inevitably hampered both how well I did on pics and how fast I can do ‘em. Of course, that doesn’t work for either me or commissioners, and I wanna have a setup that works to do pics I’m really invested in and delivering the best I can for peeps.

There’s no real “criteria” for what commissions I’ll take outside of whether I’ll enjoy drawing out the idea. Chances are if you’re commissioning me for stuffs like what’s in my gallery, I’ll be happy to do the pic idea!

If I don’t take a commission, it doesn’t mean I’m not feeling the idea by default. Likely, it’s that there’s only so many slots on a current batch, and that I’ll be happy to do it on another go. For future commission batches, I’ll include the last batch of inquiry submissions into consideration too, though feel free to send other ideas as well.

Will keep posted on commission stuffs as it develops!

So next year has a lot of stuffs planned on my end and one of those I was thinking of doing is con stuffs.

I’ve never been to a con before and the only advice I’ve gotten was “don’t go to a big con as your first” and “don’t booth at your first con.” As an ice breaker into the whole con thing I figured Furlandia in Portland, OR would be good to do; wouldn’t hafta worry about hotels or travel outside of an hour drive so expenses are basically admission and it's p'small compared to the bigger cons.

Now my dilemma is I dunno diddly about con experience or what I’d do outside of just attending, and going solo leaves me unnerved even if it’s something I’m pretty sure I’d be down with.

To peeps: Are cons worth tryin’ out in general? What’s the experience/what should I expect or prep for? And anyone goin’ to Furlandia 2017 in particular?


also how does selling porn work at these things

Gonna spread it throughout the month so it's not spammy but just a heads up on there. Hadn't uploaded a buncha stuffs from either procrastination or sheer forgetfulness and I wanted to remedy that.

Update on queue from here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20588048/

Looks a bit shuffled up from before but has respective things added to be a more accurate queue due to earlier errors. A bit late on July 20th date due to net issues during posting earlier but bet's resolved now.

[Up-to-date queue on profile page.]


(If you don't see your name and did ask for a commission before, feel free to shoot a message and I'll update the list respectively!)

Two things for now: first, will be handling comics 3 pages and under as individual slots and longer ones on a more weekly basis, to see if that would improve flow compared to two separate queues for all comic commissions and regular commissions. Second, will be closed on future slots until all current ones are finished, to get things sorted out on my end.

Will be aiming to start streaming sometime next week as well after some things are sorted out, gonna try and get into the groove of it all again. If it goes well, am hoping to set up a schedule to be more consistent about it in the future.


And to all commissioners, truly thank you all for your patience and understanding of things thus far! Am aiming to finish up with all commissions by September at the latest, though hoping for completing most if not all by August; most will depend on the upcoming weeks, but hoping for the best.

And as always, feel free to inquire about any questions you may have!

(Edit 1: Updated list with respective commissioners.)

Obligatory journal to centralize info for migrating peeps/peeps needing to contact me in case FA is down again.


Contact info:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChicoMusings

Discord: Chico The Rico#3664


Other sites to contact/follow art:

Tumblr: http://chicoafterdark.tumblr.com/


Though am curious: what alternative furry art site do you all prefer to use?

Was able to get a new monitor with help from  Shormu and  Aramilian helping to pitch in on my situation, so big thanks to them for the support! New monitor is an ASUS VS239H-P, much like another one  TisFoolish recommended except a tad bit bigger (old monitor was 23" and wanted to keep around the same size), so thanks for the recommendation!

As well, thanks to everyone for being patient with me getting to their commissions. The broken monitor put a damper on things on top of commissions including classwork, so time's been limited on being able to get art done. However, I hope to finish up my queue within the upcoming weeks, hopefully before finals kick in so aiming to finish up with all the current ones by the latter half of November. Again, really appreciate all of your patience with it!