I haven't created a journal in years, so thought I'd make a new one.

I've still got a couple models on the go, but wanted to try something a little different and make a hunkier character with the next one just to get a little out of my comfort zone. I wasn't quite sure which one, so I set up a poll you can find below;

https://bsky.app/profile/kellervo.b...../3ljq3kev76k22
https://strawpoll.com/QrgewRQ4Ryp

Will probably let this run until tomorrow night, and see what I can do from scratch over the weekend. :>

I'm chilling, waiting for my second flight (for once not cursed), so I thought I'd push my old journal off of the page and post an update.

First off, FWA was fantastic. It has always been one of my favorite cons out of the many I attend, but this year in particular was special (not even considering my next point). The one major issue from last year with the horrid registration delays was completely polished and smoothed over. I've never seen a line go that quickly, so kudos to the con staff that organized their system, and I really hope other cons learn from it. The parties were great, the dances were good, and I got to catch up and meet old friends and make new ones, and spend time with my boyfriend, Afevis.

Which brings me to my next point. Afevis and I decided that after all we've been through for the years, and how much we've grown and learned from one another, it was time to take our relationship further. We are now engaged, though we haven't ironed out all the details (and need rings, it was super spontaneous). <3

Thirdly, I've got a bunch more art to post, eventually. I'll get around to it. I've been thinking of finally stopping the OC carousel and settling on a "main", though I don't plan on getting rid of the others and will still get art of all of them from time to time.

Today's forecast is bloody cold outside, with flurries of submission spam.

I've been very lazy so I'm going to just power through a bunch I've built up over the last few months.

Where are you staying?
Hilton Rosemont

What day are you getting there?
Wednesday afternoon

How are you traveling?
Flying

How long are you going?
Leaving Monday afternoon

What is the best way to find you?
I'll be wandering all over with afevis. Ping me on telegram at kellervo!

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Call me Keller

What do you look like?
I'mma tall boy. Brown hair.

How tall are you?
6'5"

Can I talk to you?
Absolutely!

Can I touch you?
If I know you, and even then please ask first.

Can I buy you drinks?
Absolutely. :3

Can I give you food?
Ehhh. Appreciated but trying to watch what I eat. ;3;

Can I give you stuff?
Sure.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Hug, sure. Snugs, not unless I know you well.

Are you nice?
I usually am.

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
If there's room, sure.

Can I take your picture?
I'mma say nooo. I'm very timid about my appearance. t.t;

Are there any panels you might be attending?
Not sure. Might poke in on a couple!

Will you be suiting?
Not likely. ; ;

Do you have an artist table?
Haha me art. No. ; ;

Do you do art?
I wish.

Will you be performing?
Nope.

What/where will you be eating?
Everything.

Will you be going to parties?
I would like to!

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Have fun and finally relax.

● Where are you staying? ●
GSR

● Who are you staying with? ●
Going to be rooming with my boyfriend afevis , along with felixfox and nynn

● Day of arrival/Departure? ●
Wednesday @ 6pm, Monday afternoon

● Transportation? ●
Flying in, and shuttling around in ubers

● Who will you hang with during the convention? ●
Bunch of friends :>

● How can I find you? ●
I'll be wandering around. Look for tall, well-dressed redhead.

● What’s your gender? ●
Male

● Are you taken? ●
Mhm c:

● How tall are you? ●
6'4"

● How can I contact you? ●
Telegram!

● Can I talk to you? ●
Suuure.

● Can I hug you? ●
Please ask first. D:

● Can I visit your room? ●
Won't be there much.

● Are you nice? ●
Once I know you, yeah.

● Are you going to any panels/shows/dances/competitions? ●
Probably going to be watching the musical.

● Can I give you stuff? ●
Stuff is cool. o:

● Can I buy you a drink? ●
Sure!

● Will you be going to parties? ●
Maaaybe.

● If I see you, how should I get your attention? ●
Just say hi. o:

● What/where will you be eating? ●
Wherever Afevis takes me, he's the foodie. o:

● Can I come with you for food/fun? ●
Ask!

● Can I take your picture? ●
Sure.

Where are you staying?
O'Hare

Who are you staying with?
I'll be rooming with my boyfriend   afevis along with   sekh765 and pitchblack

Day of arrival/Departure?
Arriving on the 30th, leaving on the 4th

Transportation?
Flying in

Who will you hang with during the convention?
  afevis of course, and too many others to really list off here.

How can I find you?
I'll be wandering around the main hotel, and possibly attending the MFF hockey game.

Are you cliquey?
Not really. I'm much more approachable than I was.

Will you be suiting?
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on whether or not people trust me with their suits. :'D

What fursuit will you be wearing?


What’s your gender?
I'm a dude.

Are you taken?
I'm happily taken.

How tall are you?
6'5" - I'm a tall bean

Can I talk to you?
Absolutely!

Can I touch you?
...ehhh. If you're an old friend sure, go for it. If I don't know you or we haven't met in person before, please don't without asking.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Hugs are nice. I'll be getting all of my snugs from Afe.

Can I visit your room?
If you're invited, sure.

Are you nice?
No, I'm a total dickbutt /s

Will you draw/do badges/do trades?
If you want a mean stick figure doodle, sure.

Are you going to any panels/shows/dances/competitions?
I might attend panels or something!

Can I give you stuff?
Sure. :D

Do you smoke/do drugs/vape?
Haha no

Can I buy you a drink?
yes pls

Will you be going to parties?
Hopefully!

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Call me one of my character names. Keller, Sebastian, etc. It'll get my attention.

What/where will you be eating?
Lots of different places.

Can I come with you for food/fun?
If you're invited, sure!

Can I take your picture?
I'm going to break with years of precedent - sure. Just ask before you like... tweet it out publicly or something.

What do you hope to achieve at this con?
Have fun!

Yes, my account was hacked. If you received a link, don't click it. if you did, change your password. I am not sure what has happened, but I am not able to recover it, and I can't be assed to jump through their hoops to do so.

I'm never on Skype anymore to begin with - I don't even have it on this computer. It's a terrible program that is terribly invasive and, quite frankly, Discord and Telegram have replaced it entirely for me. Anyone that's followed my twitter knows of the horrible experiences I've had with it over the last year, and I'm beyond the point of giving a damn about it.

Since my last journal is from 2014 and I really ought to keep this page even somewhat up to date.

I'm just going to give a TL;DR.

2015 was a pretty terrible year up until recently. Family got sick (very badly so), and my workplace started going through 'reorganization' - or in blunt speak, layoffs.

I've never really been up front with what my job exactly entailed, largely because at the time, it would've been really easy to find out who I was and I am quite adamant about keeping my real life separate from my online fursona. I can count on one hand the number of people online who knew of where I worked.

In short, my job was recruitment, training, the whole shebang for an international tech company. I helped bring people into the company, but they also had the bright idea that because of this, I should help take people out. I can't really elaborate on how stressful it is to be part of the firing process. I was only there at the very end of the process, but just that glimpse is all the proof I need to conclude that it fucking sucks. For the better part of the year thus far, I was extremely stressed out and intentionally kept myself away from most things because I was frankly not very pleasant to be around.

At the same time, I was also aware that my own head was looming dangerously close to the chopping block - I got shuffled around repeatedly and avoided the axe myself at least twice, but a few weeks ago my luck finally ran out. I was laid off one crummy morning (along with a huge part of the department I worked in) and sent home to stew and promptly stir myself up into a panic attack worrying that I'd never get a decent job again. I'm not sure what's going to happen to the company now, but frankly I quite quickly moved beyond worrying about said workplace.

Suffice to say, I'm writing this journal because I was hilariously wrong.

I'm employed again, and so far the new job is pretty much a straight upgrade in every way over my old company. On top of that, family stuff has reached a state of equilibrium, so I don't have to worry about that either.

TL;DR - 2015 sucked until recently, I'm back. Ish.

I don't often make journals, but when I do, it's for a good cause.

 lockworkorange recently came back from a vacation to some bad news, and needs a little bit of help making ends meet. She's a great artist, but an even greater person, so if you have some money to spare, maybe send some her way?

The journal about it can be found here.

 sekh765 tagged me to do this, so... Uh. Doing it as my sharkbat. Since he doesn't have a metric ton of art like my other guys.

RULES :
1. Pick one of your OCs. or how many you want
2. Fill in the questions/statements as if you were your OC.
3. Tag at least four people to do this meme!
4. Tell people that they been tagged with a link from your journal

Answer as your OC/keep in character.

1. What is your name?
Dazliki. Or just call me Daz.

2. Do you know why you were named that?
It sounded good? Daz... lick... eee.

3. Single or taken?
Not interested.

4. Have any abilities or powers?
I wish. I can glide and swim, I guess that counts? I can't fly, these tiny wings aren't strong enough. 'n'

5. Stop being a Mary Sue!
That's Keller, you've got the wrong shark hybrid.

6. What's your eye color?
Red.

7. How about hair color?
White. Blue... ish.

8. Have you any family members?
We don't talk often. ಠ___ಠ

9. Oh? How about pets?
I have a little goldfish. If he's still a goldfish after being experimented on so many times. ಠ__ಠ

10. That's cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don't like.
Being idle. I don't like sitting around on my butt. Time is a valuable resource you can't replenish.

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?
Explore!

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?
I suck at being social and I have a tendency to make very poorly timed observations and remarks. So probably on an emotional level. Physically I might have hurt a fly or two, but it's equally possible they might've given me a bruise or two in return.

13. Ever… killed anyone before?
Ew, no.

14. What kind of animal are you?
A freak that boggles one's mind and should not be possible whatsoever. Seriously, how did a bat and a shark procreate?

15. Name your worst habits.
Studying things a bit too intensely.

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?
I look up to everyone on this damn boat, I'm so short compared to everyone else. ;n;

17. Are you gay, straight, or bisexual?
Uh... bi?

18. Do you go to school?
I... uh. Graduated. Yeah.

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?
No. Kids are annoying.

20. Do you have fangirls/fanboys?
Everyone's too busy fawning over Keller and Aiden to notice me.

21. What are you most afraid of?
Finding out what happens when you're dead. Because, well, that means I'm dead. '^'

22. What do you usually wear?
The cheesy crew uniform Keller insists we all wear. Too many damn buttons.

23. What's one food that tempts you?
...I know being a shark and all I'm supposed to like meat, but I @#$!ing love fruit.

24. What class are you (low class, middle class, high class)?
I'm part of pirate crew. I have no class at all.

25. How many friends do you have?
Uhm... one or two...

26. What are your thoughts on pie?
If it doesn't have fruit in it, it's disgusting.

27. Favorite drink?
Fruity.

28. What's your favorite place?
There's a beach that the crew always rests at when we're in the area. Uh... I don't think it has a name.

29. Are you interested in anyone~?
Nope.

30. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?
Ocean. Lakes are kinda dull. Not much going on under the surface compared to oceans.

31. What's your type?
The type that can help me learn more about something.

32. Any fetishes?
What are those? o_o

33. Seme or uke?
Wha?

34. Camping or indoors?
Camping. Nature is more exciting.

35. Tag People!

 drayk because I know he'll read this. >:l

Why not. :B

Besides, half of you are going to probably comment on me being a gay fish and/or quiet.

Write an assumption of me in the comments and I'll let you know if it's true or not!

Welp, I made another orbit around the sun. I'm 26, yay~.

Ended up spoiling myself a bit as well. Took today and tomorrow off, so I'm kind of just relaxing and enjoying the good weather.

---

Now, 'the list'. I mentioned on my twitter, I've been sort of changing how I approach commissions. Yeah, the good ol' gay smut is fun and alluring, but I'm planning on getting more intricate / 'unique' pictures (and just better quality smut, so don't worry, that's not going away). Stuff that adds a bit more character, rather then reinforcing the fact that I like dick and butts (that's blatantly obvious).

The best way to do that, more or less, is by getting pictures showing how Keller (and other characters) interacts with other people. I'd much rather split these kind of pictures with folks I know. It would make them a bit more meaningful, and would take a bit of a weight off my wallet (which means more shark porn- I mean art).

So, if you are interested, just leave me a comment here. It's far easier to keep track of one journal then a bunch of IMs. :}

As some might have noticed from my twitter account, I've been mulling over a few things Second Life related, and have been working on commissions for some folks related to Second Life. Not only has it been fun, the pay has actually been decent so far, and it's encouraged me to finally take the leap and start working on a proper, commercial store.

I've also been meaning to work on more organic things, but I ran into the quandary that making mesh avs is a huge timesink, and is a bit too ambituous for me to just dive into head first without starting off with smaller, more easily accomplished tasks. Making a mesh av - and all the accessories and clothing it needs to be viable - is a full time job in and of itself.

So instead, I'm starting small, and just working on mods for popular avatars instead to get my feet/fins/etc. wet.

To that end, I'm going to be making a store - Fish 'n Chips.

I've already opened up a public group that anyone can join, which I'll be sending updates out as I get more products ready for its launch. You can find it by searching for "Keller's Fish 'n Chips", or checking out my profile - Keller Solmunko.

Like the name implies, it's primarily going to be focused around making aquatic themed avatar mods and accessories. But if you have ideas, feel free to suggest them. I might like them enough to add them to the list!

---

I've also decided to open myself up to smaller / minor commissions - things like individual accessories or mechanical objects which don't take too long to accomplish. The reason being that more complicated things get very expensive in a hurry, and can eat up a large chunk of my time which I'd rather devote to working on products for Fish 'n Chips. If you're interested in something unique for your SL av, just fire off an IM to me in-world, or via one of my messengers.

I'll be straight to the point.

Sadly, I'm not going to be at AC this year. The short story is that there is only one person with seniority over me on my team - if he's gone on vacation, I can't be gone on vacation at the same time. One of us always has to be around. He also gets first dibs when it comes to booking vacations off.

He also had a lot of time banked, and took all of July off - football fan, World Cup, etc. - so in short I can't go do anything in July, even for my birthday. :(

I'm going to try to make it to another con later in the year, not sure which one, however. Folks have suggested FC, which seems preferable.

As I mentioned in the other journals, I have a Weasyl, here. It's decently active nowadays, and I prefer the website for a multitude of reasons. I'm not even going to dredge up the ongoing drama, but I will simply state that quite a few of the artists I enjoy doing business with have moved over to Weasyl and are either abandoning FA entirely, or shifting their primary focus onto Weasyl.

Myself, I know I'm just a tiny fish in the pond that is the furry community. I do get more art then the average furry, but I'm nowhere near 'popufur' and my say probably carries all the weight of a guppy fish.

That said, Weasyl will be my primary gallery moving forward. I will still post commissions I have bought and 3D work I make here on my FA gallery, but it will be slower and will not be my primary focus.

As a commissioner, I want to support the artists who have made the move to Weasyl out of respect for their decisions. To continue giving them support, having an active presence on Weasyl is a necessity in order to catch those important journals and notices.

As an artist, and as someone who has been focusing strongly on honing his own abilities and working towards becoming a proper artist, I prefer Weasyl's gallery system - it lets me separate my commissioned work from my own, and even lets me hide it or flag them so that you guys don't have to see all my ugly WiPs if you don't want to. Seeing FA's update history, or lack thereof, I'm not convinced that FA will have the same features in any reasonable time frame.

If, for whatever reason, this decision upsets you, don't hurl names or anything like that. I'm being as diplomatic as possible because I am as sick of this ongoing drama as anyone else is, and I'm only posting this as a heads up to those who are genuinely interested in seeing my commissions on a more regular basis.

I have my Weasyl account, and at the moment I'm going to be working on my SoFurry.

If you use either of these websites, add me on them, as I will be doing my best to keep all three galleries in sync and up to date. I'll probably actually rely on Weasyl from now on, as I'm fond of the UI, it's pretty clean, and much easier to copy my copious amount of commissions over then it is to do the same for SoFurry. Oh, and the devs are significantly more transparent, and all of the reasons I had before when I did the first gallery import still apply.

https://www.weasyl.com/profile/kellervo
https://kellervo.sofurry.com/

I saw  muzz do this, so I thought I would too.

What made you choose the species of your main fursona?
I was essentially picking between dragon, shark, and wolf when I first thought of getting into the fandom. I picked shark due to how common the others were, and out of a desire to kind of stand out amidst the horde - this was back in the day when there was like... enough sharks active on FA that you could count them on one hand. Renard's sharks and Orange04's avatars were years away. Keller back then didn't have hair or earfins or anything.

Over time I became kind of unsatisfied with that - it was neat, but it didn't really stand out. No distinguishing features, no real 'character'. I started working on a newer Keller, which added hair, earfins, altered the junk, et cetera. I ended up with the result I've had for pretty much the last five years - I can happily say I am the hipster shark when it comes to hair and earfins and such. Would you believe there used to be a time where a shark with hair would bring more ridicule then compliments? :>

Is your fursona just like you, or how you want to be?
Not really like me, but definitely how I want to be. I'm not as fit as my fursona, though that is currently my end goal.

Does your fursona have the same personality you have?
In some ways. He's cockier, more witty, talks more. I tend to be much quieter in real life and also, much more polite. I still haven't kicked the Canadian trait of compulsively apologizing.

Does your fursona have the same dislikes and likes as you do?
Yep.

Does your fursona look like you at all?
Same height. That's... about it. Longer hair like Keller's wouldn't look good on me.

Is your fursona the same gender as you, if not why?
I have a penis.

Do you have more then one main fursona?
I don't have other 'mains'. Kypari, Ahti, Avro, etc. are all secondary, characters that I thought up and couldn't get out of my head. They're all linked together in some way, kind of a mini-canon, as I like writing and it's kind of neat being able to drop a bunch of characters into a setting and already have a good idea as to how they relate to each other.

Do you have a back story for your fursona, if so does it have anything to do with your own history?
I don't have a whole lot established, and no, they don't have much in common at all. Keller's a self-made vagabond. I'm your regular guy who's gone from a social wallflower to a career driven office worker.

Is your fursona mated, if so is it to your real life significant other?
Keller belongs to Afe, yes.

If not are they looking for a mate, or are they a swinger so to speak?
I'm quite happy with one mate.

Is there something special about your fursona that you think sets them apart from others?
I was the first shark with hair? If I had answered this question a few years ago, maybe. Now, there's plenty of other sharks that look similar to me. I'm not sure what would be my defining 'unique' trait. Maybe the jacket.

Do you have much art of your main fursona/s?
I have absolutely none whatsoever, I really should get some art of him.

Would you ever consider parting with your main fursona, if so why?
I've considered it in the past. Keller is the result. I very much doubt I'd be able to just give it up.

If you suit, do you have a suit of your main fursona?
No suit. But I'd love to have a suit of one of my characters.

Have you ever roleplayed with your main fursona, or do you prefer not to?
I used to rather often. Now I'm cutting back on it, as as fun as it is, I'd rather work on my drawing and modeling and use those as my creative outlets instead.

Do you consider your main fursona to be a part of you in any way?
It's definitely a part of my identity, yes.

If you guys come up with any other questions you'd like to see me answer in regards to myself and/or Keller please do ask! Would be a good opportunity to delve into it more for those who might be curious!

So, FA is back up.

That's all good and groovy, but a week without FA kind of showed me how much an alternative is needed - I've heard of a couple artists who had a rough time as their main source of income (FA) was down, as well as not being able to keep in touch with folks I usually only communicate with here via notes.

That led to me reopening my Weasyl account, and at the moment I'm going to be working on my SoFurry.

If you use either of these websites, add me on them, as I will be doing my best to keep all three galleries in sync and up to date. I'll probably actually rely on Weasyl from now on, as I'm fond of the UI, it's pretty clean, and much easier to copy my copious amount of commissions over then it is to do the same for SoFurry.

https://www.weasyl.com/profile/kellervo
https://kellervo.sofurry.com/

I'm doing this for a variety of reasons, but the biggest is - let's be brutally honest. FA isn't going to change and isn't going to improve until it actually feels some real pressure. I have been a member of this website for close to seven years, and aside from the introduction of a working search function and ad banners, it hasn't changed since then. The same updates and overhauls that were promised back in 2006 are still forecast for the 'near future'. The site has been having a multitude of issues ranging from crippling slowdowns to day long outages, with this recent week long outage being the icing on the cake.

Yes, there is the argument that "FurAffinity is free". So is SoFurry, so is Weasyl, and both websites have significantly more stability and features - but people hesitate to switch over because 'no one uses them'. That won't be the case if people stick to these websites and use them for more then the occasional FA outage - and then, maybe when the community realizes and embraces an alternative, FA will actually enact some kind of change.

I'm pretty close to finishing up the full 3D model for Keller - only the head remains (I finally did the junk for once), and depending on how much time I have this weekend, the SL and 'eye-candy' versions could be done as soon as tomorrow night. I'll spend the rest of the weekend working on projects for other people in SL (and for a couple people who volunteered in the last journal), and then after that, well, I want to keep going and keep the rhythm. I haven't actually felt good about 3d work in quite awhile, so I want to make the most out of this inspiration while I still can.

Except I can't really decide which one I want to do next, so I thought 'why not', and made a quick poll.

Just vote @ http://strawpoll.me/751429 and pick which one you want to see next. I'll let it run probably for a week.

If you don't know which name belongs to which character, here's some links;

Adrian
Avro
Kypari
Kytkea
Laraek
Vaale

First off - I somehow missed my 25k milestone, and now I apparently rocketed past 30k. I'll have to think of something for 35k - and keep an eye on my pageviews to make sure I don't completely miss it like the last couple.

---

Secondly, I'm thinking of doing my best to make my FA page more active - more journals, maybe a few 'ask me almost anything' journals or just writing stuff that might be of interest to people. I haven't used my page very much, and would like to kinda bring more life to it (aside from uploading porn, which seems to trigger a veritable flood of +favs and +watches).

So. yeeaaah... what would you guys like to see more of?

Besides porn.

Obligatory shark making a shark week journal. :]

I don't have a whole lot to add aside from that. Been busy with work, and recently picked up a new tablet to take up drawing again. :]