Auction? auction auction. Auction!

I make an auction. It's for a fursuit

here it is

http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1028880.html

I'm going to change the way i do commissions

I keep running into deadlines and ending up working myself half to death to meet them. I give myself months and months lead time but I still cannot seem to stay ahead, it's been like this almost constantly since I started.

So, I am going to start working differently. I will not take on commissions with a definite deadline AT ALL. It just isn't fair on me or on the customer. Instead I'll take on 2-3 suits at a time with the intent of starting work almost immediately, finishing up as and when I get to it. This will give me a bit more freedom to work on my own projects but should avoid the problem of multi-year waiting times (I need to keep up a certain pace to make ends meet!)

It goes without saying that if you are already locked in for a slot, have a set deadline or whatever then I have no intention of flaking out on you, this new system is simply for future work, to give me a chance to breathe and try branching out with experiments and personal work

Just ordered a little 6 inch Phrenology bust. Phrenology itself is obviously made up pseudoscience, but the little porcelain busts you can buy should be PERFECT for making 1/2-1/3 scale maquettes for head bases. I'm still wresting with doing good resin bases and fitting them onto human heads, so having something where I can whip up a test sculpt in a few minutes using a fraction of the amount of clay should be really good for me. Hopefully it'll be here by the end of the week, and I can start making more sketch sculpts with this as the base

I'm not at all happy with my sculpting skills

Most of the furheads I make, as I go through the process of making the oil clay sculpt for the underskull I alternately love and hate the sculpt I make. I'm never 100% happy with what I produce at the end. Usually it's the anatomy, or the fitting of the animal head onto the human headform where issues creep in. Generally I'm reasonably content, but I always know it could be better.

To that end, I've decided to have a go at the sculptural equivalent of the "daily sketch" exercises that 2D artists do. I want to do 100 sculpts. Most will be small head studies of various animals (and monsters), generally from existing art or photos. I really need to improve my animal facial anatomy, but body musculature and other features are also up for grabs. Most will be brief "sketches" where I stop after laying out the gross anatomy, since that's what I'm weak on. Maybe I'll do a few completed studies to practice finishing too.

I'm not going to force myself into one a day, but I do want to plough through the 100 as fast as possible with the hopes of improving. Most will be in oil clay and get destroyed as soon as pics are done, I don't need 100 crappy sculpts cluttering up the place.

I'll probably base a few on pieces by favourite FA artists. Please know that NO INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED. All these pieces will be destroyed, and I'll credit original artists alongside any pictures I take. They are intended as practice, nothing more. If you see anything based on your art and want it removed, just let me know and it'll come down immediately. If people think it's a good idea I can note any artist before doing a sculpt from their work, it just seems a bit spammy given that the final piece will be destroyed and the photos will be of unfinished sketch sculpts.

I'd really like to get as much critique as possible on these, and as harsh as possible. I want to get BETTER, not get asspats. Obviously on the sketches don't crit the finish, or features I have obviously deliberately missed off, but anything anatomical or relating to matching the original art is fair game.

I'm gonna post everything in my scraps, so if you want to see them, just make sure you have scraps activated on your watch list

First sculpt soon!

After a narrowly averted disaster applying head fur last night, I think I must be doing something wrong. I use hot glue, pre-sew the upper face as one section, lower jaw as another, ears separate and back of the head separate. I always have immense difficulty around the corners of the mouth, and at the borders of sections

What do other people use to apply head fur? Are there good tricks to doing corners and joins?

Looking at my schedule (and knowing how slowly I work on large pieces) it seems it might be beneficial to me to do a few foam-only headbase commissions in a couple of months time. I'm pretty pleased with my foamwork and fairly fast, so I could slot them in within larger projects without any problem.

I was wondering what would be a reasonable price for foam only, and for foam work plus ready-to-install eyes? My work is neat and clean and I think I have a decent eye for shapes. My start price on completed heads is £325. I was thinking £100 or so for the head would be reasonable, they use about £15 in foam and materials and take a day or so to make. Postage would be fairly low since they weigh next to nothing.

What does everyone think?

hey chaps

Just got around to opening my Etsy store, head on over for furry monster hat goodness

http://www.etsy.com/people/Krakenkr.....ref=pr_profile

Jillor is doing a fantastic costume giveaway on her journal here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2304672/

The catch is you must NOT already own a fursuit; this is for people who want to start costuming but haven't been able to yet. Also US only, sorry brits!

I'm at that stage in a couple of big projects where I'm cycling through 5 minute periods of intensely loving everything I've done so far and thinking it's the best ever, and hating it with every fibre of my being and wishing for another month on the deadline so I can scrap it and start over. Also obsessively pouring over other suit makers galleries and unfavourable comparing myself to them.

It's very irritating

I've also been thinking about my strengths and weaknesses as an artist. In truth, I can't really think of myself as an artist at all. I'm more of an artisan. I'm (mostly) proud of what I make, but I reproduce things. Give me good concept art and I can (more or less) make a pretty good facsimile of what's in front of me. This applies for 2D or 3D, painting from photos, sculpture whatever. Tell me to design something without anything else in front of me and you'd better have a bin to hand because whatever I produce is gonna be pretty worthless. This isn't a big issue for commissions since I demand high grade concept art, but It's REALLY frustrating when it comes to personal projects, or stuff made on-spec.

Basically if I want anything for myself or to sell, I either need to work from animal photos, pre-existing art (ie, cosplay), or I have to commission other artists to do the initial sketches for me. Not TOO much of an issue for personal suits, but an absolute arse if I ever want to make stuff to sell on, because how the hell do you sort out the rights?

Oi you orrible lot.

There's this convention, see. July and that. Scotland. Y'all should go.

OK, so for serious, I'm one of the GoH at Scotiacon this summer. It's a brand new con running in Inverness in Scotland, they're looking to boost their attendance to make the whole thing go with a bang. On top of my usual (AWESOME) events of fursuit panels and the franken-fursuit contest (with a Scottish twist!), there's a whole bunch of stuff like fursuit highland-games, Scottish food tasting, Furryvision contest and all that jazz.

http://www.scotiacon.com/

everyone else seems to post loads of journals

I was feeling left out

HELLO

um, I'm making things. Bodies and feet and all sorts. Soon, HEADS.

Just thought I'd say hi to everyone who's watched, followed and commented in the last few days. It's taken me a while, but I've resolved to keep a proper "business" account on FA from this point on. Hopefully there will be plenty of regular updates in the future