Hey fluffs!

Just wanted to give you a heads-up - there’s a scammer on Telegram (and maybe elsewhere) under nickname “ @lskraArts/IskraArts” (can be varied) impersonating me. Please ignore them! There are a lot of scammers impersonating artists lately :/

If anyone ever contacts you via discord/telegram/etc asking for money, be sure to double check if it’s the right person by sending me a FA, Boosty or Patreon message!

Once again, I strongly recommend checking the links artists share to their socials, and always compare if someone suspicious messages you. Stay safe!

information that there’s someone on Telegram under nickname “IskraArts” (can be varied) impersonating me. Please ignore them!

If anyone ever contacts you via discord/telegram/etc asking for money, be sure to double check if it’s the right person by sending me a FA, Boosty or Patreon message!

Hey folks! Just wanted to say I’ve finally (yes… late to the party) started my Bluesky account. So if you’re up for it, maybe give me a follow over there? Would mean a lot! ^^

https://bsky.app/profile/iskraziness.bsky.social

Sorry for bringing up a non-furry topic, but I wanted to ask if there’s anyone among you, my furry friends, who has also had to deal with something as unpleasant as cytomegalovirus (hhv-5)?

I first encountered it about two years ago, triggered by severe stress. Since then, I’ve almost constantly felt like I have a mild cold, with a light fever. It also caused a gradual drop in my lymphocytes, making my immune system way too weak, and I’ve started catching all sorts of viral infections really often. For example, a month ago I caught Covid, which turned into bronchitis that still isn’t going away. So just stepping outside these days feels like a lottery where I might “win” another cold >~< And don’t worry - I definitely don’t have anything serious like HIV!

I’ve already tried a lot of treatment plans: mainly valacyclovir + isoprinosine and immunomodulators. Besides that, I work out, stick to a healthy diet, drink lots of water and take vitamins. While I’m on antivirals I feel much better, but if I stop, the sickness comes right back ><

I’m so tired of this endless “cold,” and honestly, I’m exhausted from having to spend most of my income on healthcare every month -_- So I wanted to ask, has anyone else been through something like this? Were you able to beat it? How did you restore your immune system?

Hey there! I’ve finally started a Telegram channel. Although there’s not much content on it just yet, tg seems to be a nice place for running a gallery, and if you prefer this platform to watch artists, you can subscribe here: https://t.me/+OA_LH7r5vPJjODQy ^^

Hi everyone!

I wanted to thank you for your comments on my journal https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/11008777/ about artstyle development! I have come to some conclusions, and now I will try some things out in practice ^^ For now, I would like to say thank you to everyone who responded and shared their advice!

Hugs to everyone ^^

Some reviews of my artwork made me think: if my art style changes so often, do I even have an art identity?
How can I develop a persistent artstyle and enjoy it thoughout YEARS?
So I want to ask those who manage to maintain consistent proportions in the faces and bodies of their characters, the style of shadows, and the color palette for years: how do you do it?

Personally, my stylistic approach depends quite heavily on my inspiration, and my palette is influenced by my mood. Even the design of many of my characters is so often updated!

Drawing in the same style for years feels impossible (and quite boring). So I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences concerning this!

Hi guys, long time no see!

First, I’d like to say thanks to people who have purchased my adopts, it really helped me to save for my surgery in time! Now it’s over but it went not as smoothly as expected so I’d like to say that I won’t be able to be very active in the nearest time. However, I’m going to upload works that I have drawn earlier ^^

UPD: The issue was solved. Thanks everyone for support ^^

Hi folks, I’m back and sending a virtual hug to you!
As an update to my previous journal I'd like to say I wasn't literally burnt out which is great! However, a medical investigation indicated some health problems causing such drastic fatigues. It's not easy to fix but still possible and luckily I had some savings for that! I've started the treatment course and now I feel alive :)

So!
1) Gotta be more active here and on Twitter, going to catch up on your messages quickly from now on!
2) Updating my prices for a better work-life balance. The most complex type of work would be more pricey now, on the other side, other types of work got cheaper :) Check here! https://iskra.carrd.co/
3) Organizing my ToDo list: commissions will be drawn strictly in the first come - first serve order, no tossing, 2-4 commissions per month
4) If you'd like to support me or find benefits, I've got a few nice options:
https://iskra.gumroad.com - All my digital hi-res artwork archives + alt versions ('till 2024) can be found here
bewere.net/iskra - Here you can order my comics in a physical form. Just 2 of them are available so far but planning to add more!
https://www.patreon.com/iskra - Patreon, if you'd like to invest and influence on my personal World and characters
5) Also still planning to create a Discord server for you and maybe a physical merch account like RedBubble ^^

Stay safe and healthy. It's a must!
-Iskra

I need to be honest. Seems like I've been ignoring the feeling of burning out for a long time. You may have noticed it has been getting harder and harder for me to post my artwork, to communicate with people here and on Twitter despite the fact I enjoyed it. Damn, I can't remember the last time I had a vacation longer than 5 days! A couple days ago I caught myself stupidly staring at screen without understanding what I'm doing there. I was so tired my sight was blurring, it got difficult to hold a stylus. The next two days I've been doing nothing but sleeping...

The last time I posted a journal I've been speaking about similar thing but I didn't realize the core problem back then - I simply put too much on my head, I'm always overworked, always pushing my limits.

I hope you understand what I mean, because… I'm kinda worried. There are so many people in my waiting list, so many messages I want to read, but I neither I have time nor energy. I'm sorry. But... A less productive artist is better than a dead artist, I assume? :D

I'll take a break for some time and then I need to re-organize my workflow, my prices, my Patreon and other galleries. I tried a couple of schemes already, like a Google form for commissions and stuff but it didn't help, my work-life balance was still a mess. I need something else. I'll post a following journal about changes in 1-2 weeks! Also planning to contact all the people from my waitlist to discuss things during this month.

Please take care and a particle of my love!

- Iskra

I’m EXTREMELY sorry for being so hard to reach. As much as I hate waiting for a response from others, sometimes I realise it takes me days and even weeks to respond to messages that I receive. Must be frustrating! I feel unprofessional about this :/

Please don’t think I don’t care about you! I’m always happy to get new messages and commission inquiries, I’d say it’s always like a new journey, sometimes pleasant, sometimes challenging :)

Buuut the fact is, the amount of social media and interaction nowadays is just overwhelming for me. I need to handle a couple of donation platforms, a few public galleries, a few personal accounts and messengers. I’ve never been an extrovert and I really struggle switching between those accounts, reading and responding messages for a couple hours a day after so many hours of drawing… I even tried asking my friends to help me with my accounts but sadly it never went well either :/

I wish all the messages from all the social media could be forwarded to one place like a Telegram bot! Or something…

Maybe I will open a Google form for commissions + another Google form for feedback and simply give those two links at all of my galleries instead of keeping the DMs open. That would at least give me a better arrangement!

Sorry sorry sorry

I’ll do something about it, but it’s a problem of the future Iskra!

Now sleeptime

*bam*

Hello! It's been a while since the art raffle started, there's been a lot of you, I'm glad for the activity! ^^
With the help of random I've decided the winner and it's number 187 -  darth_lazarus
Congratulations! I'll PM you to discuss all the details ^^

---

By the way!
There's a sale going on right now at Gumroad with all my 2022 art! You can buy any month's packs, or pack for all of 2022! :3
Come see ~

Dear friends!

It’s time for some new kind of entertainment! I’d like to announce a raffle to promote some of my fellow artists ^^ The reward will be drawn not by me but by these cool guys c:
Unfortunately my free time is completely gone, so this is the best I can offer at the moment!

So how can you participate?

1. Leave a comment with any text! I will give you a number in reply! ^^
2. You can ask me a question or a riddle or share some thoughts on any topic ( it's not necessary, I just love it :p)
I'll announce the results in about 10 days ^^

Oh, yes, the winner will be chosen randomly! Good luck everyone and thank you for participating!

An update to this Journal: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10458062/

Some people asked me to write an update when there are some news, sooo...

Yes.

I don't remember a moment in my life where I has SO much disappointment and despise to someone. I hate to bring this on public but this person is still hiding from me while I have information he's around and I see no other option to deliver this message...

...A whole decade of online friendship with not a single quarrel. So many projects we've worked on together, so many words about the value of friendship, mutual assistance and support, so many gifts made to each other. Not a single word of annoyance from him. But then he ruined everything for no reason! I've never asked him to help me, never asked for money: I had a chance to gather it and solve my problems myself. But no, he wanted to "prove our friendship" and invest. Okay, he "helped" me. To worsen everything a lot!

I trusted him so much I was sure he was hacked, kidnapped, anything. But not this.

I knew he's adult for a decade that didn't seem mentally defective, however, when his relatives suddenly discovered that HE spends lots of HIS money on HIS hobby they were furious... at the furry artists!!! And this guy simply hid and let them strike endless refunds for finished work from HIS account, threaten me to ruin my online existence if I don't refund EVERY single dollar he EVER sent to ANY of my wallets/platforms and cover all the past and current fees! Will he refund me my time, my nerves, my faith in people then? His sister made me aware my work is nothing, my effort is nothing, my health is nothing, my feelings are nothing. If someone draws furry art, they are sub-people, right?

He COULD let me know he had problems, I WOULD try to invent something to help. But instead, they didn't only force artists to refund money. No, this "beautiful" family made it end up with a couple other's accounts being blocked and mine still frozen with little chances to survive (because PayPal usually prefers buyers over sellers when it comes to digital goods and especially when the work MIGHT be interpreted as nsfw).

Ugh! Well, at least he lost more than me.
Maybe I've lost money but he has lost FRIENDS!
Message to N: DON'T EVER TRY TO CONTACT ME, IT'S BEEN A WHOLE MONTH I WAS SURE YOU ARE IN DANGER BUT YOU SIMPLY GHOSTED ME WHILE CHATTING TO OTHERS! YOU. DO. NOT. EXIST. FOR. ME. ANYMORE!

Oof... That's all. Now I should concentrate on saving up for my treatment because this person didn't only "help" me to lose most money I saved up but "helped" to worsen my illness as well. So! I'm planning to announce a YCH soon, there will also be some nice character designs for sale and pinup Gumroad packs (if I'll find a way to get payments from Gumroad)! :)

Current ways of support:

https://www.patreon.com/iskra - well, you know, I do exclusive stuff there ^^
https://boosty.to/iskraart - almost the same with Patreon, originally created for my russian-speaking followers + an additional payment method for everyone
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/iskra - basically it's a donation platform but it's possible to pay for commissions with it ^^

Also!

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50882040/ - a very generous friend of mine created a YCH to gather some funds for me... I'm speechless!
https://www.furaffinity.net/user/sfmamateur - this person helped me a lot, too! I want to advertise their writing commissions as well C:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/50933388/ - my YCH

Thank you for your attention! And don't worry, I'm going to be fine! The dark period must end, I simply need to put a little bit more effort! C:

This month is too hard to survive. I'm still always friendly and smiley to everyone, but some people know that all the stress I had the past months caused a hypertensive crisis to me and I'm still spending tons of money to fix my broken body (I had no insurance)... But I wouldn't bother you with that, it's a prelude.

As a cherry on top, a totally wierd thing happened and I need advice, guys.

I had a long time friend from America, we've known each other for over a decade, we've been chatting, discussing ideas and he usually sent money as holiday gifts to me and I gifted him with drawings. By early January knowing my bad condition, he offered funding me ($320) in exchange for a few character designs (I'm not sure if they can be interpreted as sexual content, though)

I completed the designs soon when I felt better and sent files to him but he never responded my messages. Later, in two weeks after that, I received a PayPal refund case stating that "Item was not received". I asked him, what's wrong, friend? But instead of him, a "family member" of his started messaging me from his accounts. They told me that I must refund not only this transaction but EVERY AND ALL transaction he made to ALL of my accounts and platforms in a DECADE (donations, gifts, commission work) or they will block my PayPal account proving that I'm a NSFW creator. I have never had a conflict with this friend before.

This is honestly disheartening. Obviously, I cannot refund all the transactions they are asking for, I don't even have access to those wallets anymore and I don't think they have a right hijack accounts and blackmail me like that. I think I should say "GoodBye" to my PayPal account now because PayPal prefers buyers over sellers, but I've unlinked my cards so they don't at least steal money from them, but was it a good idea?

Have you ever had such problems? What should I do?

UPD: I found another artist whose account in danger because of the same person D:

A little message to all of my followers, supporters and commissioners!

Every single one of you has put a little/not so little part of yourself into my artworks and development! I cannot describe how grateful I am. All the comments, faves, financial and moral support is what motivates me to improve and create more nice furry artworks! :)

Just

Thank you, guys!

I'll try to improve more and bring more good quality artworks to this World!

Thank you a lot for your patience <3

I told you the estimated time of your commissions to be started/finished, but the background part of the pictures is taking longer time than we expected. Please don't worry, we are still working on them and every picture will be completed in the best way we can perform :)

ToDo and Waitlist: https://trello.com/b/AScHqri2/iskras-todo-list
Newer Waitlist (I didn't put all the names to my Trello yet): https://www.furaffinity.net/view/47258988/

Also, if your name is on my Waitlists and you are ready to send me a description, you can do it via FA Notes ^^ And I'll charge you when I'm ready to start the work :)

Two of my close people got into a difficult situation due to tragic well-known events. These two girls were forced to flee from their homeland Ukraine to Prague, finding themselves in another country without sufficient funds and knowledge of the language, where they are currently in the process of looking for work. In this regard, everything seems to be going well, but there are problems with accommodation. For this reason, We would like to appeal to the caring residents of Prague, who are ready to assist in any way and help in trouble. If someone of you could temporarily shelter two girls until they find their own housing, or also help directly with the search for this housing, we would be eternally grateful. We are ready to pay an adequate amount for your help. Thank you for your attention and understanding!

If you’re interested in high resolution versions of my artworks, please check: https://iskra.gumroad.com/?query=20.....mp;sort=newest

I want to thank everyone who left a comment under my journal regarding the stalker. I haven't heard so many kind, supporting words in my whole life! I'm also grateful to those who gave me advices! I'm sorry I didn't reply any of the comments, I just felt like I'll need a whole week to reply all of the comments...

THANK YOU!

I was trying to avoid posting such journals because I hate to put drama on public, but seems like I'm compelled to.

Many of you already know about this, but I need to warn my followers and customers that there's a stalker who keeps pursuing me on EVERY social network that I have. He steals and edits my photos, posts them on various sites, spams my inbox and comments with nonsence stuff, declaring himself to be my husband, etc.

But now he is angry at me because I keep blocking and reporting his accounts and he invented a new trick - a smear campaign against me. He makes posts saying that I'm a fake/cheater artist and that I don't draw stuff I'm paid for - while all of my commissioners and patrons know that I'm very diligent and truthful about my work.

Unfortunately, there's nothing else I can do about it other than posting such a journal. Me and the admins are blocking HUNDREDS of his accounts but he keeps creating new and new ones to annoy or denigrate me.

How to recognize this stalker:

- freshly made, almost empty accounts
- weird english
- calling himself my husband/calling me his wife
- posting tons of comments and replying comments of normal people with some nonsense stuff

That's all that I needed to say! I hope I'm not breaking any of the FA rules with this journal!

Thanks for being here with me and watching my artworks ^^

Hello dear followers! Today I’d like to share a game that features my artwork (and Helga’s even a cover girl)! Please check it out, here’s a link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/....._Furry_Things/

And the first 10 people who leave a comment to this post with “I want to play!” will get a free key to play this game :)

Thank you a lot for your support ^^

If you’re interested in hi-res versions of my artworks, please check:
>> https://gumroad.com/iskra?sort=newest <<

Thanks everyone for your support!

 boha is missing for a long time on telegram, neither he replies sms or FA... Is there any information about him? :<

UPD I've got a message from a person who is in contact with Boha, they said: "Boha is alive and fine, just on an extended break from posting or focusing on many other things right now."

Thanks a lot for your concern and kind words ^.^