I've recently bought Urban Space Squirrels on the Xbox LIVE Indie Games channel. 20 levels of platforming fun for a dollar (limited offer). This game is great fun, and the production values are probably the best I've seen in a XBLIG so far. Just thought I'd plug it because the developers deserve to do well.

Other games on XBLIG that are fun - Gerbil Physics 1 and 2, Switchboard and War of Words.

What indie games do you like?

I don't think I can be bothered, but it's a very cool day. Not so much a holiday as an unholiday. We're advised not to make derogatory images, but here's a quandary; Muhammad was a paedophile. Now of course, "loli" porn is banned on FA (as it should be), but if I was to depict Muhammad in his 50's and Aisha at the age of 9, and implying that they're married, would that be derogatory, or would it be a historical illustration?

Like I said, I probably won't bother drawing Muhammad, but I'm just curious where we draw the line on "derogatory", as every depiction of him is supposed to be blasphemy.

Thoughts?

Hi everyone.

Two problems here, one is that my workstation has decided to stop working again. I'm inches away from canning it. I put it on standby to save energy, but last Sunday I woke it up and now there seems to be a problem with the hard disk. It won't boot up. Transferred both drives (my main and my backup, I don't have an off-system backup) into another system, and neither of them are being read. However, the BIOS in the old workstation recognises them, I just can't access them. I'm looking for my XP installation CD, hopefully I can recover it. It's too early to say what the problem is, but the BIOS definitely recognises them as hard drives, so they're not dead. Furthermore, whatever state they're in, they're both in the same one. I don't see how two HDs could die at the same time, hence the reason why I was too lazy to backup to several DVDs (I figured a second HD was enough precaution). So I'm hopeful so far, but if both hard drives are unrecoverable, I'll have lost the past 2 years of work.

Second problem - I've had depression for several months, and it's getting worse. So I'm on sick leave and taking antidepressants. The pills are not a quick fix, I'll probably need to take them for a few months at least. My doctor asked me to go on sick leave. I'm taking that seriously, so I want to leave the computer alone for now. No 3D modeling, no programming, none of that. Even recreational projects. I've just got to step out of this life for a while.

I might be back before two weeks, I'm not sure, we'll see how it goes. I'm mainly providing this journal so that my friends know where I've been. You don't have to worry about me. I'm not going to off myself precisely because I've seeked help before it's too late. I'll be back to my normal self soon. I'm going to miss you all though. Goodbye, and I hope to see you soon.

I've just had some really bad luck recently.

So I mentioned before that my monitor was starting to kick the bucket. I ordered a new one. Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, the PSU in my workstation blew! Fair enough, it was 7 years old. It had a good run, but it's just bad timing.

So a couple of days ago I'm moping around, trying to think of some work I can do. I figure I might aswell update the render farm. Node 1 is fine, nodes 2, 3, all good. Node 4 won't power up. The PSU in that had fucked up too! The problem is I don't know when this happened - I last used the node in October last year.

All of this stuff getting ruined at the same time might suggest some kind of power surge, but my stuff is surge protected. I had the opinion that the socket bars would fuse before any significant damage occurs. Maybe I'm wrong?

Anyway, I bought 2 PSUs yesterday - they work fine. I received the new monitor yesterday too. I open everything out, and try to connect the VGA cable. The cable that was supplied with the monitor is wired incorrectly! In these old 15-pin plugs, the middle row is staggered to the right, because the socket is staggered to the left. This VGA cable had one set of pins staggering in each direction! As if they were designed to fit into each other, but obviously pins don't fit into pins.

I went out and bought another VGA cable. I couldn't be bothered waiting another few days. Brought it back, plugged it in. This monitor produces some kind of ghosting effect (not LCD latency, I'm talking about the periphery of static images). You can see "white shadows" of high-contrast images running to the right. It's difficult to explain, but basically the monitor's faulty.

So I need to send it back.

FUCK

THIS

WEEK!

It looks like my monitor is on its way out. It's about five years old, and it's CRT. I like CRT because it works with 3D shutter glasses.

I'm losing lines at the bottom of the monitor - there's still a black space, but if I move the image down I lose lines of the screen until they turn into white lines going across. So right now I'm kind of reducing the height of my screen and nudging it up the monitor. I don't know why this is happening, I think it's just reaching the end of its life.

I worry that it's just going to stop working immediately, because I'll want to borrow someone else's computer to buy a replacement. If I go with a monitor that has a DVI connection, I'd better hope that a converter will allow it to work with my KVM switch network, because I'm essentially accessing my PC through a dumb terminal.

Just in case anyone has heard of this problem before, and thinks there's a cure for my ever-disappearing monitor lines, I'd like you to share your experience please. If I'm gauging it correctly, the rate of line-loss is speeding up.

I seem to be starting a tradition where I do a review on the past year and also mention my birthday together. It helps that my birthday is so close to hogmanay.

I wish last year was more productive than it was, but I feel this way about each year. I keep banging on about this concept of rapid character development, which is my main barrier to producing lots of animations. I could produce more erotic art if I focussed on one or two characters, but I'm always moving onto the next one. I want to be able to cut that time down.

I'm glad to have gotten the commissions done. With the revenue from them, I bought four new PCs - render nodes. One of them can function as a workstation too. They're quad core boxes - so I've got 16 CPUs at my disposal now. I'm going to need them!

Towards the end of the year I made a couple of technical breakthroughs. I'm always discovering new technologies and tricks, shortcuts I can use to get things done either quicker or with better results. I learned how to speed up the facial animation process by up to 45%, and I finally learned how to get some good looking fur working in the photorealistic renderer!

Unlocking the secret to getting hair and fur in MR means I've got loads of new technologies to explore and utilise. My visual style has far from plateaued - it will get better in time, but there'll be a lot of experimentation to get that going. Subsurface scattering for making better skin. HDR environment mapping to make surfaces reflect light more "realistically". The usage of ambient occlusion and final gather to create scenes that have realistic light and shadow.

In light of the new, more complex technologies, I worry that I might need to beef up my render farm to stay ahead of the curve. I don't really want to take commissions again though, I much prefer working on personal art for friends (more on that later).

I've been careful not to make my visual style too detailed, as I think that doesn't look so good. But I want the materials to be fairly realistic, if somewhat stylised to my own special 'look'. However, due to my lack of artistry I find this difficult. I'm trying to nail the happy medium between "so cartoony the characters don't look like they could exist" and "so realistic the characters look creepy, falling into Mori's uncanny valley". If I were to give examples, I think Disney's "Bolt" is too cartoony, and "Cat Shit One" is too realistic. Something between those two geometric styles is what I'm aiming for, but I want a similar material style.

So what am I doing in 2010? I'm doing a couple of animations for friends - both of them are blowjob scenes. I know, I know, maybe I should diversify things a bit, but BJs just happen to be popular amongst my friends. I'm doing an outdoor BJ scene between my wolfy friend Shawn and his sexy wolfette character Brooke. I'm also doing one between my kitty friend Tachyon and his bunny girl Eva. I love doing trades with friends, reaping the benefits are just as fun as simply making something for a friend. I love making art for those whom I respect and love.

I would like to make some art for myself. My fursona is getting to be more than a year old now. I've dabbled in getting commissions because those are fun, and I've also received gift/trade art which I adore. It's so personally touching to receive art from someone, such a thoughtful gift. Of course erotic art is titillating, but there's something more than that. The feeling makes me get all pretentious and start to use words like "metaphysical" and "transcendental". I think in simpler terms, it warms my heart.

I would like to construct my fursona though. For months Shawn and I have shared this fantasy of me being treated by two of his characters, Brooke and Bridgett (yes, her, the one and the same!). So I want to refurbish Bridgett with my new technologies. Bring her up to the new standard. I've also discussed a sort of trade with Roland Guiscard, but that's just preliminary at this stage. I haven't made a decision yet. But I love to trade.

Part of the reason why I can't seem to get more furry stuff done is that my day job really eats up a lot of my time. I'm working flat out and still not reaping the rewards, at times it feels like something of a dead end. I wish I could monetise my furry work in a way that left me free to do more work on personal art, but due to the extreme amount of time needed to finish commissions, and the reluctance of people to spend tons of money on my art (completely understandable), I can't work for much more than minimum wage. And of course there isn't any point in having such a skilled job that pays so little. I might aswell flip burgers at McDonalds. I have an idea as to how commissions can be valuable for both the commissioner and myself, but I want to save that for a separate journal.

Something else I want to explore in furry is romance, character development, et al. The problem is it takes so much time to work on the erotic stuff that I don't really give myself time for the sweeter side of things. I want to try to communicate loving relationships in my animations, but to be honest I really just keep heading down the road of flirty, promiscuous, so-called "free love". You know, random sex. That's not love. The hippies were fooling themselves.

I put too much time in technology, and not enough time in artistry. Maybe if I focussed on learning about how characters develop and interact (and not in a physical sense, har har) I could end up creating some more loving scenes. The kind that makes you go "awww" while you grope your genitals. More seriously, I want to foster an emotional connection with the characters.

So, 2010 promises to be rather interesting. I'm not sure I'm yet ready to lay on the animations in bulk, but the tech breakthroughs mean that my characters will look better. I want more experience in animating, but that might need to wait some.

---

My birthday has been nice so far. We're going to Pizza Hut on Sunday, then we'll come home and get drunk whilst playing Rock Band 2. My bro sunk £20 into new DLC songs at Christmas. I've got "Buddy Holly" by Weezer stuck in my head. That'll be fun to sing again.

I got an Arduino, a kind of electronics board thingy which you can easily interface with a PC via USB. It has an open source programming language and lots of nifty features. I look forward to geeking out on instructables.

I also got Metroid Prime Trilogy. Awesome. I happen to have the three games, but the first two were on Gamecube. They were a chore to play because of the controls. Metroid Prime 3 was on the Wii, and just because of being able to aim with the Wii remote, the game is so much more fun. I've noticed this trend with shooter games - the Wii remote makes them more fun, and also more accessible. Resident Evil 4 was worth playing again. I still play FPSes on the 360 and PS3 though. There isn't enough variety for Wii. Borderlands is a good laugh for example.

I love the Metroid series. I got Metroid Fusion for Christmas (an old Super Metroid style Gameboy Advance game). Metroid has always been about immersion and environmental depth. It's fun to lose yourself in another world.

Hi everyone,

I, like most artists on this site, don't receive enough criticism. This is a request to critique my art more. This request is both specific and general - please tell me what you think needs improving in this journal, and also in future uploads.

Seriously, sometimes it's not like I'm working with 3D Studio, it's like I'm working against it. If the cost is feeling so inept and helpless most of the time, I can't help but gloat when I win. In your face, you rickety pile of scripted automata!

I've cracked the cipher that allows me to mirror morph targets. What this means is that I can now create facial expressions on one side of a character's face, and then make a mirror image so that it works for the other side too! I used to have to do both sides by hand.

This should decrease the time it takes for me to rig character faces by up to 45%!

Hi everyone.

I'm in a creative slump, what would you like to see me do? Tell me a few things...

1. Species and genders/sexes
2. Fetishes and activities
3. Setting and/or clothing

Curious as to the tastes of my watch base.

Seeing how ugly you are in real life makes your porn less sexy.

I don't do memes unless a friend prompts me. A friend, not a random FA user. tagged me.

1. How old will you be in five years?
28. That's a sly way of learning my age. It's on my front page, you know.

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today?
That depends on how you define spending time with. My parents are WoW junkies. I think it's a ludographical pile of shit. But we're in the same living room when I play Little Big Planet. Does that count? We don't say anything other than "hello" to each other. I often ask them questions and they're so immersed that they ignore me.

How about spending time with a friend, online, via Little Big Planet? We chat, we bounce around ideas for level design, we play other peoples levels.

I'm a LBP junkie at the moment.

3. How tall are you?
About 1.73 metres. HAH! Go away and convert it into Imperial measurements. I'll be over here enjoying a false sense of smugness.

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?
Hrmm... most of my plans are very long term. It sucks because there's a long period of time before I can get excited about something approaching.

In a couple of days I'm going out to a restaurant with a friend. A part of our attempts to keep in contact. That will be nice. We'll retire home and binge on booze.

5. What's the last movie you saw?
Gran Torino. Fucking hilarious! But touching, too. I didn't think Clint Eastwood could do that sort of thing, but I'm not familiar with his stuff anyway.

6. Who was the last person you called?
My bro.

7. Who was the last person to call you?
My friend, the one who's eating and drinking with me soon.

8. What was the last text message you received?
What's with all of the phone questions? Now I'll have to bother charging my phone...

...oh great, the number's witheld. Nice one.

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail?
Don't know, don't care. Don't use it. If something costs twice (once to record it, once to receive it) then I'm not for it.

Similarly, I'm never buying satellite or cable TV. To pay a subscription to watch adverts is stupid. You don't buy a sausage that's 32% sawdust, now do you?

10. Do you prefer to call or text?
If I can fit my over-verbose meaning into a text w/out wincin at da txt spk (I hate that shit), I'll use that. I don't like calling strangers over the phone. For some reason it's just awkward. Maybe because I don't have any facial expression or body language to work with. I'd rather meet someone in person or write them a letter/email.

11. What were you doing at 12am last night?
Playing Little Big Planet. I'm not joking! Okay, it was Saturday, the weekend. I made about four new friends yesterday, and we helped each other do the cooperative segments of the game. I've got about 97% of all unlocks now.

12. Are your parents married/divorced?
Married for more than 20 years and still going strong.

13. When did you last see your mom?
An hour ago. She was playing WoW, but such details are starting to become redundant.

14. What color are your eyes?
They're that difficult to describe colour which isn't quite green, isn't quite blue, and isn't quite turquoise.

15. What time did you wake up today?
2PM. But in my defense, it's Sunday, and I was up 'til 6AM yesterday. When I'm on a creative high, I can't just suddenly stop dead - I've got to whack out that melody or finish off the scene.

16. What are you wearing right now?
Olive drab shorts, white t-shirt, black boxers, my glasses, a hairband.

17. What is your favorite Christmas song?
That one where a pop artist made a ton of cash. Can't remember what it was called. "Selling Out For Christmas Time" or something.

18. Where is your favorite place to be?
My favourite place to be is brooding in a dark corner, trying to wrap my head around some indecipherable academic paper.

19. Where is your least favorite place to be?
Anywhere with lots of people I don't know.

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere?
I'd like to visit the US for numerous reasons. A lot of the best expos and SIGs are hosted there.

21-28 are missing. I'll try to guess them...

21.
Yes.

22.
No.

23.
Green.

24.
More often when I'm wearing a hat.

25.
It depends on whether you're asking if I do that or if I like doing that.

26.
I'm not sure actually.

27.
Would you? I didn't think so.

28.
Only if a walrus is involved.

29. What color are your sheets?
Blue and light blue stripes.

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?
Two soft ones.

31. What is your favorite season?
I like spring due to its symbolism as a new beginning, full of opportunities. That and the sunshine it (eventually) brings.

32.
This question intentionally left blank, apparently.

33. What do you like about winter?
It seldom snows, but when it does, it looks nice. Taking respite from the cold for a bowl of hot, spicy soup is great. That doesn't sound like a positive thing, but you've got to be in the position to enjoy a good bowl of soup.

34. What do you like about the summer?
It's sunny more than once a week. If we're lucky.

35. What do you like about spring?
It's a good time to plan things for the new year - enough time has set in for retrospect on the last year, and it's near enough the beginning of the new one that I can set up my goals.

36. How many states/provinces have you lived in?
If areas count (as divided by different local autorities) then about 4.

37. What cities/towns have you lived in?
I lived on the East side of Scotland before moving to the West. Better job market for my dad or something like that.

38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare paws?
Bare feet for when I'm around the house. Socks for when I'm sleeping (it makes me dream more vividly). And of course shoes for going outside.

39. Are you a social person?
No.

40. What was the last thing you ate?
Spaghetti and meatballs(handmade by myself) with tomato & basil sauce. It was so delicious, I don't care how vain I look by saying so.

41. What is your favorite restaurant?
Um.. I don't know. My tastes are a bit cosmopolitan to nail one easily. I suppose... Pizza Hut or something. Difficult to put much thought into it.

42. What is your favorite ice cream?
Amaretto Glace. Discovered it in Italy, fell in love with it, lived on it for 2 weeks.

43. What is your favorite dessert?
Tiramisu. Are you seeing a pattern yet? I should have been born in Italy.

44. What is your favorite kind of soup?
Sweet potato. My own recipe. It's sweet and spicy! Very warming for the winter time.

45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich?
Peanut butter is fucking disgusting. Unless used as an ingredient in say, dim sum. It's sweet and salty?! Yeugh. I don't like jam much. Too many seeds. Though cherry steals the show every time.

46. Do you like Chinese food?
Yes, delicious! Dim sum is fun to make, eat, and tastes great too. Lots of scope for different recipes because it's such a big country.

47. Do you like coffee?
Funny thing - I don't like coffee, but I like coffee flavoured things. Like the coffee Revel, or the coffee cream, sadly discontinued in Cadbury's Roses. I love tiramisu too.

48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average?
I don't know - about a litre's worth. 2/3rds of what I should be drinking.

49. What do you drink in the morning?
Nothing.

50.
I suppose my answer would have to be:

51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?
Yes, though I stick with one side for a while, and then change. The mattress will last longer.

52. Do you know how to play poker?
Yes, though I forget until I'm reminded.

53. Do you like to cuddle?
Yeah. Wish I had more experience though. So ronery.

54. Have you ever been to Canada?
Have you ever been to Bangladesh?

55. Do you have an addictive personality?
I would like to say I'm a workoholic, and a chocoholic, but that's a lie - I've tried neither workohol, nor chocohol.

56. Do you eat out or at home more often?
At home. Sometimes it's good to let someone else cook. But it's roulette unless you know the place.

57.
This question is here, but it's a ghost question. I didn't bring my X-Ray specs with me.

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you?
Not personally. I share mine with Benjamin Franklin though. That's pretty cool.

59. Do you want kids?
Eventually.

60. Do you speak any foreign languages?
Oui.

61.
J'adore le pamplemousse!

62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
Nope.

63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool?
Well, the ocean makes for finding the body a bit more difficult. But it'll always wash up on the shore eventually.

64. Do you prefer a window seat or aisle seats?
Aisle seat. Easier to get out of the plane in a crash, easier to get to the toilet.

65. Do you know how to drive stick?
What the fuck does that mean? I can pick one up and wave it around, but I'm no good at dowsing.

66. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Ingredients, tools, technology. Things that let me make things.

67. Do you wear any jewelry?
No. Not even a watch.

68. What is your favorite TV show?
Right now, Star Trek TNG. Yeah yeah, I know. I only have to read comic books, gain several kilos, and I'm comic book guy (I've got the hair already). The thing is, I only just started watching it a few months ago. I'm astonished that I can find a show that's edifying without being patronising.

Once I've mined that show, I'll leave it alone forever, hoping to move onto something else that's fresh (for me).

69. Can you roll your tongue?
Yeah. I also do tongue exercises. My tongue is flexible and the muscles have quite a lot of stamina. I could use them for hours. Who they're for though, I don't know. Maybe I like to hope.

70. Who is (are) the funniest person (people) you know?
I have an uncle who's a natural born comedian. Like he has the range, versatility and style of someone who could do it professionally. No exaggeration.

71. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
No. I'm not a child. And they'd harbour dust mites anyway.

72. What is the main ring tone on your phone?
"Yell Dead Cell", which if I'm not mistaken was written by Norihiko Hibino.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijPPjjd6G2Q
Previously it was Lower Brinstar by either Kenji Yamamoto or Minako Hamano, I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyFcSHHdIQE&fmt=18
It's difficult to get credits for videogame music.

Super Metroid probably has the most aesthetically achieved score I've ever heard in a game. Others have had more technically pleasing work, but nothing comes close to the sheer symbiosis of music and experience that this game has provided to me. I think perhaps Grim Fandango would be a contender though.

73. Tag 5 people and give them a shout
I am the cancer that is killing this meme.

Every time I post something, a few people are interested in what my commissions cost. I'm putting this journal up as a temporary measure because the commission system is fucked.

Prices
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

I'm not taking them right now, but for future reference, a character built from scratch is about £300(approx $460) upwards, and each loop is £20(approx $30) upwards. Extra characters animated being an extra £10(approx $15) each, per loop.

Those prices might seem steep, but considering the work involved, I think they're fair. What do you think?

I don't have any immediate plans for taking commissions again, but I thought it would be courteous to mention the kind of prices. If I decide to take them again before the commission system is back online, I'll make a journal about it and update my profile instead.
Got questions? Ask me!

Trades
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

I'd love to do these so much! But due to the time it takes for me to do stuff, I usually don't have any time left over. They're a lower priority than commissions and gifts for my dear friends. I think trades could be so much fun because it's like multiplayer furry art. The exchange of skills is so personal and intimate, the idea makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

So how does an animator trade with a still artist? The way I thought of it might be something like this - after creating the models, we trade on a basis of one loop per half-finished colour image. So if an artist does 5 sketched and inked images, I'd do 5 loops in return. However if they colour and shade those images, each one is worth another loop - 10 in total.

A sketch and ink = 1 animation loop. Colouring and Shading that image = 1 more loop. Does that seem fair?

The problem with 3D is that it takes a lot of time to build a character. This is what put me off of doing trades in the first place - in the short run there's an unbalanced workload between artists. So considering that most trades are one picture for one picture, it kind of sucks to even consider a "minimum trade level". Though here's how I'd do it...

I would create a character for every 5 full colour images the other artist produced. Of course I would also give them 10 loops out of that. For each five more full colour images produced I'd make another character.

5 images - 1 character and 10 loops
10 images - 2 characters and 20 loops
15 images - 3 characters and 30 loops
20 images - 4 characters and 40 loops

Does that sound reasonable to you? Even if you're not an artist, I'd value your opinion.
Got questions? Ask me!

I had a lot of fun, and I feel energised on my return. Commissions should be following shortly, though I've got a little problem with Flash not being able to read the video I'm creating. Currently trying to resolve this, it shouldn't take much longer than a few hours of investigation.

147 journals, and I'm only watching 108 people. You're all very chatty!

I thought it would be courteous to mention that I'll be away from FA for a couple of weeks, starting on the 28th. If there's anything anyone wants to discuss with me, they can do so beforehand.

Commissioners - post-production is finally coming to a close. I might be able to release something before the end of the week. We'll see.

Hello everyone. I'm doing a casting call for an erotic animation, created in 3D. It's a birthday gift for my friend, and once it's finished it will be released on FA. It features a female character giving a blowjob to a guy in public (in a park).

We're looking to fill the role of one female character. Her name is Brooke. She's a black wolf, promiscuous and playful, with bright red hair and crystal blue eyes. Her voice is bright and bubbly. She sounds cheery, peppy, petite. She's in her early 20's. The role is erotic, so you must be over 18 years old. The part is not very large, just a handful of lines.

Don't think you're right for the role? It's so difficult to find good talent, that if you'd like to take a stab at it anyway, I'll keep your information on file in case I want to cast you in a different role.

The important thing to note here is that if you would like to fill the role of Brooke, there is the opportunity to do commercial work in the future. While the commercial work is not guaranteed to be carried out (I'm about 80% sure I'll go through with it at the moment), in the event that it is, the person who played Brooke for this animation will be asked to return first. The reason is that we want the same voice for the same character. The current project is non-commercial, but since we've talked about it in the past, we want to make it clear that anyone auditioning for the role of Brooke has a chance at eventually landing a part in a feature-length movie (this may be a few years later). A commercial project will of course confer royalties, but as I'm always running on a shoestring budget (it's mainly a hobby) I can't offer an advance.

Here are a few sample audition lines. They cover many bases, because I'd like to work again with whoever gets the part in the future. It should be enough to tell us whether or not you're right for the role...

(depressed)"I get kind of lonely at times."
(unconfident, yet hopeful)"Do you think I could ever be a star?"
(joyful)"Everything's just super!"
(satisfied)"Ahh, I really enjoyed that."
(fearful)"what was that noise? Please, hold me close."
(angry)"I'm gonna make you pay for what you've done!"
(shocked)"Oh my god! Did you see that?!"
(smug/cocky)"Ha! Those other athletes didn't stand a chance!"
(confused)"What do you mean by that? I don't understand."
(seductive)"Oooh, I'm hot! I need to get out of these tight clothes..."
(seductive) "Mmm, I wanna taste you..."
(seductive)"You gonna cum for me?"
(whispering, seductive)"Mmmm, cum for me, baby..."

We also need some moaning, heavy breathing, noises that a woman would make as she is aroused and enjoying herself. Of course they should sound convincingly genuine.

Please record your auditions in wav or mp3 format, compress them in a zip or rar archive, and email it to itoril [at] mail [dot] com.

The deadline is the 17th of May. I'm sorry for the short notice, but that's when pre-production ends, and the final lines will need to be recorded and sent shortly after that. According to my schedule, the actual lines will need to be delivered within a week after I have sent you the full script (approximately the 24th of May).

Recording Quality

The quality of the recording does not need to be absolutely professional, but it must be free of background noise (including buzzing and hissing) and wind. When you force a sharp gust of breath out of your mouth, sometimes you may rattle the microphone, causing a noise in the recording. This must be avoided. If you are having problems with this, place a pop guard between your lips and the microphone (you can make one by stretching a pair of tights over a wire coathanger and speaking through it). This diffuses sudden gusts of breath while allowing the sound to pass through.

If the recording is somewhat lacking in "presence" or "depth", don't worry. itoril can remaster the audio, but the removal of artefacts (buzzing, hissing, etc.) is much more difficult.

A few people have been making these journals and I think it's a great idea to recap. First, a summary.

1) I gained more skills and knowledge.
2) I released a porn animation.
3) I burnt out.
4) I might be able to make porn more frequently.
5) I have a fursona now!
6) More varied work will be seen in 2009.

1) For the first half of the year things were pretty quiet. I was just working away on increasing my skills, but more importantly learning new techniques aswell. I learned how to map texels onto a model, work with a few hair systems including spline based growth, and found a few more tips and tricks to helping me along with my art like I often do.

On more than one occasion I consulted lulz.net on my art style. I sent a request of critique to many sites, but the only one that was useful was lulz. It's a great resource for artists who want help, you just have to bear the brunt of the trolls too. If you can sort the constructive from the nonconstructive criticism, you can grow as an artist.

2) With much overhauled artwork  sg and I had finally created something I was temporarily content with. I decided to surprise him with an animation for his birthday, and that's why the BJ animation featuring Bridgett exists. The work we did was hampered with a lack of technology though, because the art I was creating was of such complexity (mathematically speaking) that it took ages to render. We tried all sorts of fundraising activities and I accrued a few art-debts in the process. I'm now working on doing the work that's expected of me.

3) All of the work I've done since mid 2007 was leading up to a large cinematic project. Things looked bright and grandiose, but honestly, I felt depressed about it for several months, before breaking down and cancelling the project. I think my hobby became too much of a job, and the stress was something I would rather do without. To this day I haven't forgiven myself for getting  sg's hopes up. Thankfully we managed not to lose our friendship over it so we've gone from being partners on a project to friends who do art for each other.

I would like to do a larger project of my own, but to intersperse it with smaller projects. That way, I may not just burn out. Part of the reason was to do with growing, too. Too much artistic development, not enough harnessing of the skills I currently have. I keep wanting to improve, but I'm kind of sick of it. I want to find some way of balancing R&D and actual porn making. Some day my skill will plateau, and I'll be content with it. But until then, I need to take breaks to regulate my stress levels.

4) Towards the latter half of the year I started developing this concept of reusing work multiple times. Instead of building things up from scratch it might be possible to create a library of species in different sexes, rigged and morphed etc. and hopefully I could frankenstein characters out of component parts. I still haven't studied this extensively enough to come to a conclusion, but there might be something in it. Can you imagine how wonderful it could be if I could make a new animation every month?!! I wouldn't be so bogged down with pre-production that I'd lose my spark either. If this research leads to something workable, 2009 could be the year when all of my work finally pays off. A cornucopia of porn - a pornucopia!

For years I've been depressed that I can't create art with the same frequency as 2D artists, because of the massive amounts of preparation work involved. Can't just make a nice little gift quickly, to surprise someone. Each short animation takes more than a month to plan, prepare and finally animate. But if I could speed up the pre-production process, I could break out of the timely confines of my craft.

5)  sg helped me develop a furry persona. I was in no hurry to do so initially, but the more I thought about it, the more exciting it became. I now feel like I've joined the club, in a sense. Details will follow later, once I've finished up with my commission obligations. It's funny, I think the character fits me like a glove. But at the same time, I feel like exploring a side of me that's repressed in real life. I'm very sexually reserved, but I think this alter-ego might help me to explore sex easier. My character might be a bit more slutty than myself.

6) Due to the various tastes of my financial benefactors, I will be producing art with a variety of themes I'm not familiar with. Stay tuned to see M/M work, tentacles, and a threesome involving male, female and herm participants. I'm building a library of different species too, and I'll be exploring some of my own tastes. I haven't made porn for myself in 16 months. I look forward to treating myself for a change.

Also, it's my birthday today (the sixth for the sake of time-difference clarification). I like to call it barfday - so-called because you drink booze until you barf it back up again.

 iwanttobeheard

A new directory on FA has been started for animators seeking vocalists for their projects. If you'd like to do voice work for animations, watch the account. Then an animator may discover you and you can negotiate with them!

You don't even need to sell your vocal talents - they work in the same way a commission does - ask for money, do it for trades, or for free!

All you need to do is put a little about your work, your rates etc. in your commission information page. Hopefully this can become a valuable resource to both vocalists and animators alike.

 iwanttobeheard

These are a few hints and tips for sparking interest in the stuff you write in your journal. I often see journal titles that just don't inspire me one bit, and I usually ignore them.

---

1. Be descriptive. If people don't know what's on offer, how are they going to know whether or not they will care about what you type? Don't title your journal "OMG" or "hey guys, guess what". Most people won't bother to guess.

2. Give them an incentive. The title of this journal claims to benefit the reader by telling them "how to" do something. They are intrigued due to this promised benefit.

3. Be direct. If you want people who don't care about your chosen subject, don't try to trick them into reading your journal. Those who want to read it will, if you have given them a decent enough signpost to find it.

4. Don't build a wall of text. Make sure you've got plenty of breaks so that your novella of a journal entry is easy to digest.

5. Use code to gain attention. While this doesn't apply to journal titles, don't forget the asset that is your user page. Colour can especially be eye-catching, and bold/underline helps keep people interested. For a list of tags, check out this URL...

http://www.wikiffinity.net/index.php?title=Tags_and_Codes

---

Many journals seem to fall on blind eyes, and this is due to a number of reasons. Some people just don't have the time. Others don't care about journals in the slightest. The best you can do is make your journal as entertaining or interesting as you possibly can. If you want feedback, don't shoot yourself in the foot.