I find myself in the happy predicament of being somewhat overwhelmed by the number of faves you folks have aimed at my recent visual “story-telling“.

As an artist it is always a big thrill to “connect” with the audience and receive “applause” for one’s work, character(s), and the “world” that my digital brushes and canvas are suggesting that your faves represent. Wow.

My predicament is that I previously expressed my thanks for each fave I received by typing out a thank you shout to each fave-giver. However, even a thinly worded thank-you shout of eleven words to each of you means that instead of drawing & “painting” I am spending time typing up what adds up to over 360 words for most of my submitted works. How many of you enjoy doing that kind of “homework”?

If you go through my gallery here you will note that the total number of faves you have given my work is somewhere over a hundred -- and I am not even a “popufur”!

So, I am going to trim back on replying to EACH and EVERY fave-gift I receive, but will still enthusiastically continue to reply to your COMMENTS and P-NOTES which are always enjoyable for me to receive and reply to.

Okay?

STOLEN FROM  hyenafur hyenafur when he wasn’t looking.


1. Been in the fandom for...

Since as long as FurNation was up and running.

2. Found the fandom how?

Stumbled across an on-line drawing of a “lionman” and knew I wasn’t alone.

3. Chose your species cuz...

Have always been awed by lions. Still am.

4. why/how did you choose your name?

See #3, so “Lion” seemed to be a good start for my name. Then because I have always been fascinated by Ancient Rome (previous life?) I added on the “-us” to make the name more Roman.

5. if you had to change your species what would you choose?

Probably a wolf.

6. What percentage of your friends are furries?

Not counting on-line friends, none.

7. If you've been, favorite furry con and why?

AnthroCon. Why? Cause twelve or so years ago it was the only game going.

8. Got a fursuit?

No.

9. RP'ing is:

In a fashion back when mucking was in vogue, relied on being semi-literate, and was a lot more adult

10. Are you open about being a furry, I.E if it comes up in conversation

Oh sure. Heh, since I have never been described as being “average” or “common“ in my outlook or interests I freely admit that I am furry if it comes up in conversation.

11. Gay / Straight / bi?

Bi.

12. Ever kissed another furry?

Yes

13. Do you have adult art of your fursona? If yes, post favorite

Actually very little. I have always been very protective of my “fursonna” and don’t whore him out. But to compensate, I have created two primary characters, one some time ago, and one more recently where SEX is a big part of their personalities and motivations.

The only “adult” pic I have done of my fursonna is this:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2044913/

14.Ever hooked up with another fur?

When you say “hooked up” do you mean “intimately”? If yes, then yes, twice.

15. Opinion on murrsuits?

My opinion is pretty much if the person has the stamina to “perform” while wearing one, then sure why not? However the anonymity before-during-and-after of the person or personas wearing a fursuit or fursuits at say an “adult party” does sort of creep me out.

16. Do you have a kink related to the fandom? If yes, post the one your most open about, if you dare ;)

Hmmmm, if I have any (and after living with it or them since puberty) I don’t recognize it (or them) as “kinks”. My “kinks”, if I have any, are expressed openly in my artworks -- which any therapist would probably say is ‘a nice safe way of expressing them‘. Better than driving around in a “black sedan” offering rides to hitch-hikers or visiting back street alleys near the college.

17. Are you in any 18+ Telegram groups? Name one.

Don’t know what they are. I live a very subdued and quiet existence … or at least I don’t reveal what I/we do in darkened rooms with the shades pulled down and the lights turned off. :-D

For a while now I have been using character reference sheets for my stable of characters. First listing the character’s physical features; height, weight, hair/fur color and length, eye color, what they usually wear for every day clothes (if any). Then their Physical Attributes; Strength and Dexterity. Their “Social Identity” (How others know the character).

Some of these categories are quite extensive, detailing the character’s Determination, Honesty, Curiosity, Loyalty, Self-Control, Physical Attractiveness, Intelligence, Self or Other Orientation, Contradictions, and Sexual Orientation.

A recent addition to the character reference sheet has been the question, “List three places where the character might be found during his/her average day“.

Naturally most people/characters can be found in their home/cave or maybe at school/work … but having to think up that THIRD location (and what the character does there or who the character usually meets there) can expand the character into a more rounded three-dimensional character by making its creator think of the character outside of the “usual places” that the artist or author usually place the character in.

Tavern, library, grocery store, hardware store, newsvendor’s kiosk, clothing store, gymnasium, waiting at the trolley/bus stop, walking through those creepy “get-the-feeling-that-something-is-watching-you” woods, or hanging out at the after-school football/soccer field.

Meme of Fives

5 names you go by:
Lionus (my Furry name)
Ski (my RL nickname)
Ron (nobody calls me this)
“Hey You!”


5 things you hate about yourself:
“Dislike” maybe but not “hate”
I spend too much time thinking about things that are not Right Now.
I get too attached (obsessed?) to certain people. Wish I could cut loose from some of them.
I get involved in way too many different things that attract my attention at once and find I don’t complete any of them.


5 things you like about yourself:
My no-boundaries imagination
My sense of humor
My passion/obsession for analyzing people/places or things. I want to know the “Why” of them all.


5 hopes for humanity:
We finally learn to accept our differences as things to be enjoyed and learn from rather than as reasons for division and fear.
We are contacted by an extra-terrestrial intelligence.
We come up with a cheap source of power -- and don’t rush to use it for a whole new family of planet-destroying WEAPONS

5 body modifications you would want:
Just five???
Taller
Blond hair
Glass blue colored eyes
Uber “bits”
Shapely musculature


5 things you want in a relationship:
Intelligence
Sense of non-ridiculing humor
Passionate interest in things (not necessarily things I am interested in)
Love of animals
Interest in History and the Past
Physical abandon (sometimes silliness)


5 fetishes you’re into...>.<
Hmmmm, not sure they can be classified as “fetishes”
Tall males
Happy kids
Problem-solving males who are not self-centered bullies (McGyver, Indiana Jones, Doctor Grant, etc.)
Some male-male sex activities (and no I am not going to say what)


5 jobs you want, real or fake
Male prostitute (top)
Explorer/Adventurer
Time Traveler
Hollywood Private Investigator


5 things that scare you
Heights
The possibility of drowning (had it almost happen once in Hawaii)
BIG spiders (I mean as big as your out-stretched hand) *shudder*
Loneliness (empty post-Apocalyptic world, marooned on a desert island, etc.)
Nice-appearing Serial Killers who I never suspect


5 kinky facts about you:
Playful exhibitionist
Voyeur
I constantly read a whole heck of a lot of books


5 places you want to go:
Pompeii
Greece (various Ancient temples)
Mars
A world where there is intelligent life (actual anthros?)


5 of your favorite animals in Furry:
Lions (love those manes)
Wolves (dominant no-nonsense group males)
Otters (slim musculature, bright eyes, quick)
Foxes (clever and/or funny)


Tag some friends!
Nah, I’d rather you show a little initiative, copy this meme, and fill it out on your own.

PS: Yeah I know I didn’t come up with five entries for each meme question, but that’s cause I don’t spend all that much time thinking about me me me me me me!

As an amateur historian who was in the military, I guess I have a longer perspective on war and those who died in those wars. Yes, there is a lot of attention focused on battles, explosions, burning cities, sinking ships and crashing shot-down airplanes and perhaps just the stark inhumanity that is part and parcel of what happens in war should be remembered.

Yes, hundreds of thousands died on both side in every war. Most countries call that “sacrifices” made by their warriors. But to me, on this day of memorializing, I prefer to think of those rows and rows of silent tombstones in all the countries as marking a country’s LOSSES. It is what a country, towns and cities, and families have lost to gain what we call VICTORY.

Okay, yes, one side won while the other side lost in ALL wars. But that is not the true reason all those hundreds of thousands … and yes even millions died or were killed. The reason a war is fought, any war is fought is in order to gain the power to decide what the PEACE THAT COMES AFTER THE FIGHTING STOPS IS GOING TO BE LIKE. That is the decision-making power that both sides fight and die for.

Memorial Day is when we here in the US are asked to remember those who died in battle. Those who have made “the ultimate sacrifice”. Okay, that seems fair, but there is one thing that does not involve those in uniform who have fallen or even those who served or even more those who continue to serve.

It is a question that those thousands and hundreds of thousands of ghostly uniformed spirits asked us and continue to ask us with every day that passes, “What have you done with the PEACE I bought for you with my life? Is that peace after the fighting better than what it was before the war?”

Memorial Day should not be a day to glorify the fallen dead, but a day of self-judgment. What have we done, what are we doing with the PEACE that our Fallen “purchased” for us with their lives? That's the question.

Odd thing. Maybe it says something about the FA membership. Of all the folks I have on my Watch List, after all the Christmas and New Years back-and-forth well-wishing I saw being exchanged, I have only seen ONE posting of a New Year’s resolution. Does this mean that FAers are perfectly content with themselves and their level of personal development?

For myself, my New Year’s Resolution is to produce at least one drawing for every single day for 2016.

Oh sure, I expect to have some gaps in the calendar due to Ol’ Man Reality; sickness (I did come down with a bout of messy sickness for the last three days of the Old Year), emotional turmoil (don‘t ask), unexpected company dropping in (and not keeping their clothes on -- yes I have friends who are unashamed exhibitionists and know I blush very easily, all of which is very distracting), and so on.

So have any of you set out your own personal New Year’s resolution(s) for self-improvement for this year? What are they?

Saw floating by in my Journals of the Day and thought, ‘Hey why not?’

1.) Real Name: Ron
2.) Nicknames: Ski
3.) Zodiac Sign: Gemini
4.) Male or Female: Male
5.) Nursery: Huh?
6.) Primary School: Grade School
7.) Secondary School: Junior High School, College thing
8.) Hair Color: Bropwn
9.) Long or Short: Short
10.) Loud or Quiet: Lively but not loud.
11.) Sweats or Jeans: Jeans
12.) Phone or Camera: Have both.
14.) Drink or Smoke: Drink socially only but only one. I hate waking up in a stranger’s bed the next day and they want to play ‘Hide the Pick-Up’s clothes’.
15.) Do You Have A Crush On Someone: Addicted to one person.
16.) Political orientation: Slightly to right of Attila the Hun.
17.) Piercings: Nope.
18.) Tattoos: Nope.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN:
19.) Airplane: Ja.
20.) Car *Accident*: Si.
21.) Fist Fight: Da.

FIRSTS:
22.) First piercing: Nein.
23.) First Best Friend: Yes.
24.) First Instrument played: Skin flute.
25.) First award: None.
26.) First Crush: *giggles and doesn’t tell*
27.) First Language: American [which I consider different from English]
28.) First Big Vacation: Camping in Maine USA.

LASTS:
29.) Last Person you talked to: Gail
30.) Last Person You Texted: Person I am obsessed by.
31.) Last Person You Watched: Relatives at Thanksgiving feast. *yawn*
32.) Last Food You Ate: Turkey, green olives, carrots, etc.
32.) Last Movie You Watched: “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” and porn video
34.) Last Song You listened to: “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
35.) Last Thing You Bought: Lubricant
36.) Last Person You Hugged: Family member *boring*

FAVES:
37.) Food: Spaghetti
38.) Drinks: Decaf coffee with creamer.
39.) Clothing: Sweat shirt, jeans, colored T-shirt, black mini-briefs, black socks and furry slippers.
40.) Book: This week it’s “Big Bad Wolf” by Christine Warren
41.) Color: Blue
42.) Flower: Ivy
43.) Music: Soundtracks from movies or classical.
44.) Movie: Movies where the main character is not a whiny self-declared “victim” looking for pity.
46.) Subjects: Personal intelligence (not education), sense of humor, and people who are passionate about what interests them.


IN THE PAST YEAR ...
47.) [ ] Kissed in the rain
48.) [ ] Celebrated Halloween.
49.) [x] Had Your Heart Broken
50.) [ ] Went Over the Minutes on Your Cell Phone
51.) [ ] Someone Questioned Your Sexual Orientation.
52.) [ ] Used a Weapon
53.) [ ] Breathed fire
54.) [ ] Had an Abortion.
55.) [x] Done something you've Regretted
56.) [ ] Broke a Promise
57.) [x] Kept a Secret
58.) [ ] Pretended To Be Happy
59.) [ ] Met Someone Who Changed Your Life
60.) [ ] Pretended To Be Sick
61.) [ ] Left The Country
62.) [ ] Tried something you normally wouldn't like, and liked it.
63.) [x] Cried Over The Silliest Thing
64.) [ ] Ran a Mile
65.) [x] Went To the Beach
66.) [x] Stayed Single


CURRENTLY:
67.) Eating: Just finished eating a big cookie for breakfast.
68.) Drinking: Decaf Coffee.
69.) Getting Ready To: Finish working on a male nude picture, maybe go outside and rake up more leaves.
70.) Listening To: Listening to theme from “The Longest Day” on ear buds.
71.) Plans For Tomorrow/Today: Scan porn DVD to see if the software burned 21 videos to the disk or just six. Stupid software.
72.) Waiting For: Inspiration for my yearly Christmas “card” to arrive.

YOUR FUTURE:
73.) Want Kids: Yes! They are delicious lightly roasted with a drizzle of butter and with … wait … you did’t mean “want” like that did you.
74.) Want To Get Married: No, just have a string of passionate long-term physical affairs with over-sexed eye-candy.
75.) Careers in mind: Multi-millionaire or Emperor of the Earth.

WHICH IS BETTER ON A GIRL/GUY:
76.) Lips or Eyes: Eyes.
77.) Shorter or Taller: Taller. It is the inescapable presence that their height gives them.
78.) Romantic or Spontaneous: Spontaneous.
79.) Nice Stomach or Nice Arms: Stomach.
80.) Sensitive or Loud: Sensitive or at least not loud.
81.) Hook-up Or Relationship: Hook-up that grows into a relationship. “Hi. Need a ride?”
82.) Troublemaker or Hesitant: Troublemaker. “Have you ever …?”

HAVE YOU EVER:
83.) Lost Glasses/Contacts: Not for more than an hour or two.
84.) Ran Away From Home: My parents always threatened to run away from home, but I always hid their car keys.
85.) Held A Weapon, Oh sure. Rifles and a couple of handguns.
86.) Killed Somebody: Mosquitoes. Hate them guys.
87.) Broken Someone's Heart: Looking back over the years I think I may have. I continued to evolve, but the other person (like Faust) was saying ‘Don’t change. Stay the way you are now forever.”
88.) Been Arrested: Nope.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
90.) Yourself: Oh sure. I seem to know what I want in Life better than anyone else.
91.) Miracles: Unexpected happy occurrences? Sure. Funny how people do not think of unexpected BAD occurrences as say ‘negative miracles’.
92.) Love at First Sight: Lust maybe but not Love.
93.) Heaven: The Next Step after this Life? Yup.
94.) Santa Claus: Nein.
96.) Magic: Unbelievable laws of Physics that we haven’t even begun to be aware of? Yes.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
97.) Is There One Person You Wanna Be With, Right Now: Yes
98.) Are You Seriously Happy With Where You Are In Life: “Happy”? Happy where every day is a fun circus and I am grinning like an idiot from the time I wake up until the time I fall asleep? No.
99.) Are You Happy With The Person You're With: Pretty much. There is that one person I am “addicted” to (who is a manipulative hustler) and … well that’s for another meme.

100.) Post as “100 Truths” and Tag five People: I’ll post it, but for handing it off to ‘Five People’, let them discover the happiness of filling this out on their own instead of having it handed to them like a parent handing a “treat” to children.

Been asked over the last year to beta-read/play editor on three major stories. SciFi, Supernatural, and Furry (non-X-rated).

I’ve been told that I come across as being fair and insightful. That and been accused of ’trying to be like (the fictional character) Spock or (the late actor who played him) Leonard Nemoy’. Oh yeah, charismatic too.

Okay, that said, in Real Life I’ve always tried to be rational in my thinking. When beta-reading or playing editor with someone’s written work I use the Scientific Method of dealing with it. It also works when looking at an artwork. Check out “Scientific Method” up on Wikipedia for an idea of what it entails.

Over the years in reading up on How To Write/Create a Story I’ve analyzed the basic elements of story writing as telling a story about a main character having to solve one main problem. That’s it.

Little Red Riding Hood on her trip to Grandma’s House has to deal with the Wicked Wolf. Luke Skywalker takes on the Evil Empire, Romeo wants to hook up with his girlfriend Juliette despite his and her families’ feuding, and Robin Hood takes on the Evil Sheriff of Nottingham, a minion of the usurper to the Throne, Prince John. A story’s “problem” does not have to be BIG in scale or scope. It can be as mundane as getting your Boss or Teacher to be more fair, or your older brother/sister to play your favorite video game with you more often.

Recently I came across a labeling of the two types of story writers: “plotters” and “pantsers”.

The “plotter” organizes his story pretty much starting from the moment he/she commits to writing it. An outline that itemizes the major events of the story right up to the climax of the story where the Main Character solves the Story Problem, or the Story Problem “does in” the Main Character -- fini.

The “pantser” writer writes his/her story using the ‘seats of their pants’, that is, as they get to each decision point in the story, they make a decision themselves at that moment or relies on their fictional characters to make the decision for them. Reality Check please.

Plotters tend to continually ask themselves, as they craft their story, five simple questions: WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN and WHY

WHO - Identify the Main Character, show us why we (the Readers) should care if that character succeeds in accomplishing what he/she is trying to do (solve the Story Problem) or not. Readers caring about a character does not come automatically. It is part of the magic an author has to learn to exert.

WHAT - Identify the (Story) problem that the Main Character is trying to solve and not fluff-fill the story with a lot of words that have nothing to do with the main character solving that one Story Problem but are wicked fun to write about (porn anyone?)..

WHERE - ‘The background’ said one artist, ‘is the other character in the picture.’ The same thing applies to story-telling. Location descriptions and the mood they set for a scene affects the reader; a bright sunny beach with laughing children gets across a different mood to the reader from the description of a foggy twilight-lit abandoned and decaying garden.

WHEN - When does the key points in the Main Character logically solving the Story Problem HAVE to happen in the story? Can they happen in another part of the Problem-solving?

WHY - What is the main character’s motivation in wanting to “solve” the Story Problem? Is that motivation so strong that he or she will not stop trying no matter what? Show that motivation.

If the main character of a story thinks trying to solve the Story Problem is too dangerous, too tiring, or there wasn’t a chance of him or her succeeding, then Luke Skywalker wouldn’t have caused the fall of the Evil Galactic Emperor. The Sheriff of Nottingham would have eventually risen to the throne of England. Juliette would have spent the rest of her life as a lonely spinster, and the Wicked Wolf not only would have “done in” Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, but would have done terrible things to Red in that lonely cottage in the Great Forest.

Oh, and please try to come up with a motivation for the main character other than revenge for his/her parents being killed when their planet blew up, were killed in a city mugging, killed in a car/plane crash, died in a plague, etc.

If you can do all of that, then I would be glad to beta-read or edit your writings.

Okay, I can see your character -- maybe a bit more of him than I need to see, but a character reference sheet can be a “full disclosure” document. Height, Weight, color of his/her hair (mane), body fur, eyes, paws, and certain other <ahem> “items of interest“. Most of that I can see in the picture of the character.

And then there is the character’s Personality Attributes: LIKES and DISLIKES. Personally I do not see what I can know about the character from those two categories with items like: Likes good people, sleeps a lot, likes heavy metal music, is nice, the color green, accompanied by the counter-list of disliked items such as bad people, getting up in the morning, boring music *YAWN*.

From a couple of years of figuring out character sheets for written stories, RPG characters, and my own stable of characters, I would like to see a couple of other character attributes filled out for characters in character reference sheets such as:

Following is a collection of mostly psychological characteristics I have called together for a story or Role-Playing character’s personality that are purposely designed to effect and interconnect with other aspects of their physical/psychological make-up in order to produce more realistic three-dimensional character actions (and reactions).

NOTE that Sex Drive is a mature-rated atribute that if played correctly, may take the character out of the player’s control or author’s intended direction for him/her. There are some other characteristics (not mentioned here) that are associated with these two characteristics that can affect a character’s other personality characteristics.


COMBATIVENESS -- Degree to which a character mentally and/or physically combats or opposes other character’s opinions, wants, needs, or actions when they conflict with their own.
OPPOSITE: To what degree will a character mentally or physically give up their own opinions, wants & needs, or actions when they conflict with other people’s.

COPING “MECHANISMS” -- Alcohol, drug use, over-eating, competitive or high-risk physical activities, non-physical game playing or gambling (cards, video games, games of chance, etc.), non-committed anonymous sexual activity, self-constructed mental delusion(s), any or all used by the character to “balance out” the effects of having “bad feelings“.

The higher the “bad feelings“ being compensated for by the character the more obsessive and frequently will he/she resort to the use of their particular coping mechanism(s). Chocolate anyone?

HONESTY -- How motivated is the character to be honest in his/her dealings with other people, even when that honesty may be self-destructive?
OPPOSITE: How natural is it for a character to be dishonest in his/her dealings with others?


IQ -- The higher this rating then the a) more solutions a character is likely to come up with when attempting to solve a problem, and b) the more complex and multi-stepped those solutions to problems are likely to be.
OPPOSITE: The lower this rating is then the fewer solutions a character is likely to come up with when attempting to solve a problem, and b) the simpler those solutions to a problems are likely to be. For example, a person with a higher IQ is likely to look at all the lights and levers of a malfunctioning vending machine to get their stuck candy bar while a person of low IQ is more likely to immediately begin kicking the machine.
NOTE: Intelligence is not the same as being educated. There are quite a few well-educated dummies with college or university degrees.

SELF-CONTROL -- Degree of restraint a character can muster due to his/her concern for others, reputation, fear of negative consequences, self-image, and/or other restraining factors when confronted with opposition from people/characters, places, or things. (See IQ)

Failure to successfully maintain self-control and its consequences can cause “bad feelings” in the character later. (See Coping Mechanisms)

SELF-IMAGE -- How a character thinks of him/herself when they compare themselves to the majority of others around them. How the character thinks of him/herself and what they actually are may not be the same.

The character may consciously/unconsciously construct a mental delusion or delusions in order to sustain their false self-image and cope with the resulting mismatch with reality. (See Coping Mechanisms)

SELF/OTHER ORIENTATION -- To what degree does a character place gaining his/her own needs & wants ahead or behind that of others seeking to gain their needs & wants. Family, friends, others.

NOTE: This characteristic can also play a big part in determining the strength of a character’s Courage or his/her willingness to Cut & Run when things start going bad.

SEX DRIVE -- [Given in the Adult Version]

SPIRITUALITY -- Belief in Luck, Faith, God, and the effect of non-physical forces being in play in the character’s daily life beyond the character‘s control. Self-constructed mental delusions can be and often are part of this area.

OBSESSION (deflecting inner drive(s)) -- Generally this is a weakness which when ignited sidetracks the character (though providing the author with a story-altering detour) from reaching his/her intended goal.

If the obsession is a socially recognized negative one (sex, gambling, alcohol, partying, status-seeking) the character may make a conscious effort to avoid being exposed to it. But if exposed to the obsession, it becomes a dice roll plus or minus even odds whether he or she will “temporarily” put achieving his or her immediate goal on hold while they “temporarily” satisfy their obsession.

Obsessions are generally NOT story-stoppers. On the drive to Los Vegas to get the key to the Story Puzzle, the character decides to pull over to a road-side tavern for a “cool one”. After all, it’s been a long dry drive and what could possibly go wrong when he is only ten miles outside of LV?

While not story-stoppers, obsessions do provide side-streets for unexpected divergences from the character’s expected path in the story.

The stopping-for-a-cool-one-character comes out of the tavern after dusk, three hours later, to discover that his car has been stolen. This complication now requires him to find transportation for those last 10 miles and whether the person he/she is supposed to see will still be there.

Having to fight inner urges also makes the character’s achievement of the story goal that much more difficult (interesting).

Sex, inflating an unsure ego, gambling, alcohol, partying, sucking up to someone of high social status are some deflecting obsessions.

STRENGTH (motivating inner drive(s)): Honesty, honor, duty, truthfulness, dependability, compassion, a sense of justice/honor, curiosity, bravery, adventurism, and other positively judged traits bind the character to his/her path in the story and may be thought of as being positive obsessions.

On the other hand, characters may pass up an easy way to achieving their goal due to their motivating inner drive.

Lionus finds a small box of jewels and seeks out their owner rather than just keeping them in a Finder’s-Keepers solution to his group’s poverty problem.

----

Granted that the majority of these interlocking attributes will not find space on an artist’s graphic rendition of a Character Reference Sheet, but the owner of the character (or someone writing about him/her in a story) may want to get a better idea of who the character really is and how they are “wired” by filling out a secondary Character Reference sheet using this Psych Profile sheet.

The key to successful make-believe is in making what you are creating seem real. Making a character who is perfect in all his/her aspect is not real.

Based on a meme “stolen” from  Hollyfox

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[1] What's the name of your character?
Dai Blackclaw (Nickname “Sunchaser).


[2. Tell us about your character.
Just finished attending Mayfair University.


[3] Is it easy drawing your character?
Yes since he is a lionmorph. Though there are enough physical differences between him and Lionus not too many people catch those physical differences. However, I am currently ramping him up and so he should be a little easier to recognize by eye in the future.


[4] When did you make your character up?
After I had created Lionus and Freaky, Dai was born on Tapestries muck -- where he got a very good grounding in having a personality and was given he nickname “Sunchaser”. It was a year or two later when I first drew him.


[5] What inspiration[s] brought your character to life?
Understanding the wants, needs and self-beliefs (illusions?) of someone whose age is somewhere between puberty and adulthood. Good material for a character there.


[6] Is your character dear to you? If so, how come?
Characters are like children and what kind of a parent is it who DOES NOT hold all of their children dear?


[7] If you were forced to compare your character to another, who would you compare them to?
The “typical” over-confident teen who wears big heavy boots in a minefield.


[8] Is your character related to you in any way? Personality? Problems? Traits?
Yes, perhaps in understanding that I was over-confident (“Bullies don’t scare me!”) and didn’t know the difference between courage and recklessness once upon a time.


[9] If your character came to life, what would you do?
Oh I’d want to be friends with him … or tag along with him to wherever he was going.


[10] Is your character a hero or a villain? How do you see them as?
Are teen-agers heroes to villains? He’s a good guy.






[12] What song//movie//book//play do you think of when you imagine your character?
When I am drawing Dai I play the soundtrack of Disney’s “Aladdin” in the background.


[13] Has your character changed in any way since you first created them?
No, but like most of my characters his personally has gotten “deeper” since through curiosity and doing a little story-writing I was forced to come up with a logical background for him.


14] Random facts about your character.
His father was an officer in the Army and served overseas. Though Dai wouldn’t readily talk about him, his father serves as a role-model for him even today.
.


WATCH FOR THE UP-COMING CHARACTER MEME FOR WILBER CROOKTAIL

Based on a meme “stolen” from  Hollyfox

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[1] What's the name of your character?
Freque’ (“Feaky”) Foxx.


[2. Tell us about your character. He is currently working as a Private Detective in a big city south of Mayfair.


[3] Is it easy drawing your character?
Relatively so, since he does not have any particular physical characteristics outside of being a fox.


[4] When did you make your character up?
A long time ago. He was a very secondary character way back when I was doing my first furry sketches and rough drawings.


[5] What inspiration[s] brought your character to life?
The roles that the American actor Danny DeVito played in the old “Taxi” TV series, and in the two movies “Romancing the Stone” and “Jewel of the Nile”.


[6] Is your character dear to you? If so, how come?
I am fond of the little vulpine because he is not the general hearts & flowers and other bits that the majority of furry character are.


[7] If you were forced to compare your character to another, who would you compare them to?
Actually I have never run across another drawn character like Freaky who has his personality and particular motivation.


[8] Is your character related to you in any way? Personality? Problems? Traits?
Not to me personally, but to two RL people who do share his philosophy.


[9] If your character came to life, what would you do?
Become very leery of anything he said, while keeping my hand on my wallet.


[10] Is your character a hero or a villain? How do you see them as?
Freaky is actually a complex character. If there is anything heroic about him, it would be accidental. Villainy is much too harsh a word to describe his selfishness and conniving.


[11] Is your character a part of any particular story you made up?
No. In the early days of his creation he was more of a foil to play Lionus’ Goody-Two-Shoes personality against or some very light porn play.


[12] What song//movie//book//play do you think of when you imagine your character? Probably sleezy Jazz from the 1940s.


[13] Has your character changed in any way since you first created them?
Yes, he has become more of the personality-type displayed by people who actually think that they are smarter than all the people who are succeeding in life by work and following the rules. They never teach themselves how to succeed and blame all their resultant failures in life as being Someone Else’s Fault.

These people and Freaky believe that the way to succeed in life is by finding the secret shortcuts where all the work is bypassed and you get right to "the gravy". Like wanna-be furry artists here on FA hoping to discover those special drawing programs that do all the work of producing fantastic pictures.


[14] Random fact about your Character.
Freaky secretly contributes much of his ill-gotten gain, after the adventure is over, to charities and orphanages while labeling himself a “dope“ for doing so.

Neither Lionus nor any of the rest of my cast (except BlackStar) know about this secret behavior.


WATCH FOR THE UP-COMING CHARACTER MEME FOR DAI BLACKCLAW

Received this “stolen” meme from  Hollyfox

---
[1.] What's the name of your character?

Lionus Theodosius Goldenmane

[2.] Tell us about your character.

Currently an assistant professor of History at Mayfair University.

[3.] How did you make your character up?

Reading daily newspaper comics, saw a couple that I really liked and so began drawing a daily one-frame cartoon every day for nearly four-years. Lionus became a featured secondary character (with me being the main character). Eventually he pushed his way up to star status and I ended up on the back streets of Cartoonville.

[4.] Is it easy drawing your character?

Yes. Unfortunately after you draw your main character a hundred or so times, it becomes difficult to draw any other characters without those other characters looking like your main character.

[5.] When did you make your character up?

A long time ago.

[6.] What inspiration[s] brought your character to life?

It wasn’t so much inspiration as it was envy brought on by my being drawn into new worlds by newspaper comic strips and lots and lots of comic books. I wanted to be friends with the really neat “friends” I met in those worlds that were so much more interesting than the CEW (Common Everyday World) I was in. So I suppose escapism was my inspiration.

[7.] Is your character dear to you? If so, how come?

Oh yes, very. He (and the cast of characters who came after him) gave me “friends” who were intelligent (after a fashion) and possessed a sense of humor to hang around with, and to explore exciting worlds with. Without sounding schizophrenic by saying it, Lionus has been my best friend for more than half my life.

[8.] If you were forced to compare your character to another, who would you compare them to?

Indiana Jones, the Lone Ranger, Malcolm Reynolds, Robin Hood and almost all of the characters who were played by the late Errol Flynn in the classic movies of the 1940‘s.

[9.] Is your character related to you in any way? Personality? Problems? Traits?

Unless someone is paying you to draw their character, I would say that any character that an artist repeatedly draws (or character that an author repeatedly writes about) is a blurred self-image.

[10.] If your character came to life, what would you do?

Soil myself from surprise.

[11.] Is your character a hero or a villain? How do you see them as?

A Good Guy. He is motivated mostly by his own deeply-rooted ideas of what is generally Right and what is Wrong, loyalty, and kindness. While holding to that sense of Right and Wrong he is always willing to consider other people’s concepts.

[12.] Is your character a part of any particular story you made up?

No, even though I do know how the book of all my characters’ lives end -- what they will be doing, where they will be, what goals they have or have not accomplished, when I finally say “Fini”.

[13.] What song//movie//book//play do you think of when you imagine your character?

Pretty much the soundtrack and plot from any of the swashbuckler or larger-than-life heroes from those 1940’s B&W classic movies.

[14.] Has your character changed in any way since you first created them?

He has become more of a leader, big brother, parent and somewhat of an adventurer then when he first began working for me as a bit player in my One-Cartoon-A-Day cartoons.

[15.] Random fact about your Character.
Is a bit of a philosopher like his father.


WATCH FOR THE UP-COMING CHARACTER MEME FOR FREQUE’ “Freaky” FOXX

First of all, like most Internet communications, I will start this off with an apology. I haven’t been acknowledging you faving one (or a couple) of my works since … well the Holidays (Christmas, New Years). Sorry *lowers ears and hangs head in shame*

In my defense I have been responding to your comments that you left on my works and journal postings (What?! You haven’t been leaving comments?!).

Eitherway, I just want to say that I was pleased at your reception for “Christmas Bells” (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12322473/), “Jaemie” (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12431778/), “Character Psychological Profiles (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12375510/), “Pursuit of the Golden Woodie - Backstory” (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12474496/), and a sprinkling of my other works.

Thank you. You have filled my heart with pride and satisfaction. Thank you my wonderful watchers and wide-eyed visitors. Thank you.

Your most humble,
--=Lionus=--

Now I have run across a couple of index pages where the owner warned people who might post sexual or rude (funny?) comments on his/her art pages, telling them not to, and if they did they would be promptly blocked in the future’. Okay, it is the owner’s pages and their rules. Seems fair enough.

However, I have just returning from the index pages of two FA furs where I wanted to post a thanks to them for faving some of my works. One of them had a ‘Do not post thank you shouts, I want to keep my page clean“ notice on her/his index page while the other had a much more simple ‘DON’T WRITE F**KING SHOUTS!!!!! Please’ comment on his index page. [The asterisks are mine.]

Has Internet Culture or Political Correctness taken a sharp left turn that I am not aware of where now a show of gratitude or appreciation is considered an intrusion or is offensive?

Things are starting to get weird around here.

Okay, nothing is perfect. A sunny weekend day can have a cloud or two in its sky. An unexpected noise somewhere can break the silence of a walk in the woods. And so it is not too unexpected that there can be some “clouds” in the Furry sky, some raucous noises in the sweet Furry music, or one or two self-absorbed idiots here on FurAffinity.

Something just today here on FA reminded me of those toads who I shared a crowded elevator with at AnthroCon, were walking in front of me in the con corridors, or I was walking behind on the city streets. Their every sentence began with the word “I”.

An artist currently here on FurAffinity, whose watchers number over 19700 and who watches more than 700 FA members, posted a journal recently griping about how she could not understand why people would unwatch her. In a reply to a commenter to her journal, she equated unwatching her to being an act of hate.

Back in the spring of this year, I had the audacity to point out to her that what she said in one of her journals she contradicted in another. Naturally, instead of acknowledging her contradiction or explaining it, she simply blocked me.

Some artists are very talented, but have a p*ss-poor personality and can not accept that that just might be the reason that people unwatch them.

Then too, why do we never seem to find comments made by widely “popular” artists on other artist’s art pages? Too busy to comment? If so, then how is it that they have the time add hundreds of FA members to their Watch Lists? Is it simply a gesture, and they group-delete all the daily submissions made by the people they are supposedly watching like rest of us daily floss our teeth?

Egoism, I suspect, thy name may be artist.

I was re-reading “The Power of Myth”, a book containing the transcripts of conversations/interviews between Bill Moyers (a prominent journalist) and John Campbell (a recognized authority on myths and mythical symbolism) at Skywalker Ranch back in 1985 and 1986.

In it, Campbell made the comment that “… the only way you can describe a human being truly is by describing his imperfections. The perfect human being is uninteresting …. It is the imperfections that are loveable.” And I will add, that it is those imperfections that make the human being knowable.

Many years ago, I was a semi-addict to the pleasures of the mucks (online role-playing entirely through texting) and was to be found almost nightly on Tapestries. Many was the night that stretched into the dawn hours with me spent typing feverishly as I and someone (or someones) else in some part of the real world as we played our characters together in a shared imaginary world entirely through the written word.

One of the occurrences that occasionally happened in role-playing was when you came across a character who no matter what your character engaged in some form of “conflict” with, no matter your character realistically did, always managed (through his player) to dodge the sucker punch, know that his drink was drugged, or somehow knew that there was a monster behind the about-to-be opened closet door and so was never played as being caught off guard. This was called “power playing” and was roundly considered very poor role-playing.

In clicking through today’s submissions here on Fur Affinity, I happily was directed to a hitherto unknown artist’s page where I found a lively interesting “world” of characters. I always enjoy seeing character reference sheets, since it is fun to see how other artists visually present their characters. This artist (like most other artists here) presented a list of the character’s physical features (height, weight, eye color, etc.) and a thumbnail of the character’s likes & dislikes.

I noticed that almost all characters that appear in the images on these character sheets, in those lists of their physical features and likes & dislikes, are nearly all perfect; a super “hero” of sorts. Physical specimens directly out of bodybuilding magazines, their “bits” immodestly above average, and the calm self-assurance displayed in school or gym shower rooms only by the most feature-lucky.

Now I am not sounding a call for “gritty realism” cause we all get that every day, and most of us (including me) are not worthy of having a character sheet of what we look like sans clothing worth any artist's graphic depiction.

“Real” characters, or characters whose creators want to be accepted by an audience as being “real”, usually have some imperfections, flaws or weaknesses. Superman had Kryptonite, Iron Man (up until recently) had the palladium that was powering his armored suit slowly killing him, and most other super heroes had the vulnerability of their secret identity to worry about. Incidentally, did you notice how Tony Stark (and the screenwriter) shot that old cliché down when Tony publicly announced, “I am Iron Man”?

Therefore, I would like to see two other entries in artist’s listings of their character’s features on their reference sheets.

“Imperfection/flaw in character that the character is aware of“,

and

“Imperfection/flaw in character that everyone else is aware of”.

Stolen from  chiltikcoatl

1) Choose one of your own characters.
2) Make them answer the following questions.
3) Then, tag at least 3 people.
4) Feel free to add some questions of your own!

Your Character:
Lionus Goldenmane

1. Gender?
Male

2. Age?
28

3. Hug?
Sure!

4. Bad Habits?
Not sure I have any really bad habits, but am willing to have someone tell me what they think I may have.

5. Favorite Food?
Spaghetti! Yum!

6. Ice Cream Flavor?
Black Raspberry

7.What is your species?
Lion, Panthera Leo as my little buddy Wilber would define me.

8. Killed Anyone?
If I had then it would have been in the course of defending someone who couldn’t defend themselves.

9. Hate Anyone?
No.

10. Secrets?
*chuckles* Now if I told you then they wouldn’t be secrets any more, now would they?

11. Favorite Season?
Pretty much all of them.

12. Best Friends?
Dai Blackclaw (lionmorph), Wilber Crooktail (wolfmorph) and Freaky Foxx (fox morph).

13. Hobbies?
Quite a few things actually. Writing, traveling, hiking, exploring, historical research, and playing team sports.

14. Fav Drink?
Ginger Ale.


15. Birthday?
In May.

16. Nice Or Mean?
*laughs and grins* Color me Nice.

17. What do you think of your creator?
He’s okay. Needs to get out more often.

18. Weakness?
Not sure if you would classify it as a weakness, but caring about others.

19. How long can you stay underwater?
If I’m not doing anything, then probably a minute or so. If I’m swimming and using up oxygen, then less than a minute.

20. What do you do on a regular basis?
Work at my job at the Mayfield University (assistant Professor of History). In my spare time I like to have fun. Bailing Freaky Foxx out of the messes he gets himself tangled up in isn’t what I consider fun, but I do it on a regular basis.

21. Do you love someone?
I did.

22. Does the person love you back?
He did.

23. What do you consider fun in the day time?
Doing my job, councilling the young kids at the Youth Center, and pretty much living life.

24. At night?
Relaxing, and having my friends over to my apartment on the weekends.

25. Do you like to play videogames?
Not that much. My paw fingers are too big for most controllers.

26. Are you gay?
I’m sexual.

27. Say that you were trapped in a closet with your lover for 2 days.
Yeah, just say it. *wink*

28. Place of origin?
Kharmistan.

29. Large or small family?
Small. Just my Dad, my Mom, and myself.

30. Who are your parents?
My Dad and Mom are still alive and have retired to a cabin/house in the mountains. I take my summer vacations with them (when my job or rescuing Freaky allow).

31. Do you have a phobia?
No.

32. Piercing/tattoos?
None.

33. Do you have a pet?
Yes. A Siamese cat that I named Isis.

34. Lucky number?
If I had one, then it probably would be seven.

35. Favorite color?
Blue

36. Eye color?
Like the majority of other anthros, blue

37. Hair color?
Blond.

38. Quick! Someone kissed your love! what do you do?
Growl real deep and low.

39. Fav music?
Light pop.

40. Where do you want to be right now?.
Pretty much right where I am now. Oh, on second thought, sitting behind my desk at the University with all my students’ summer reports read and graded.

41. What are you in your love's opinion?
Irresponsible, too kind-hearted, and way too sexy (his opinion not mine).

42. Do you have a job?
Assistant professor of History at Mayfield University.

43. You are alone. What do you do?
Enjoy the silence.

44. Do you like parties?
Not a party-fur, but I do enjoy socializing on occasion.

45. When you're alone at home, what do you like to do?
Get into my “At Home” duds (t-shirt and cut-offs), toss on a music CD, sprawl out on the couch and read.

46. Someone have drawn you in a porn situation?
Depends on what you consider “porn”. Did a few “art nudes”, but … well way back when I was young, dumb and full of cum I did do a stint as a porn “actor”.

47. Favorite film?
Born Free.

48. Share this character meme with someone else?
It’s free for the taking. Run with it!!

Stolen from  chiltikcoatl

1) Choose one of your own characters.
2) Make them answer the following questions.
3) Then, tag at least 3 people.
4) Feel free to add some questions of your own!

Your Character:
Wilber Crooktail

1. Gender?
Male

2. Age?
I'm 17

3. Hug?
Umm, okay I guess.

4. Bad Habits?
I like to think that I do not have any, … but that is probably a bad habit in thinking that I do not have any bad habits.

5. Favorite Food?
I really do not have any favorites.

6. Ice Cream Flavor?
Chocolate … cause it makes me happy.

7.What is your species?
I am a lupine, grey.

8. Killed Anyone?
Oh no, never!

9. Hate Anyone?
No … though … I really do not like my brothers very much. And … and my father.

10. Secrets?
I don’t think I have any. Maybe I don’t talk about my family, but that’s not like a secret, is it? Keeping secrets is sort of like lieing to people and I don’t like to lie.

11. Favorite Season
Oh I like them all!

12. Best Friends?
Dai Blackclaw and Lionus.

13. Hobbies?
Reading, going to the University museum and maybe going for walks in the woods.

14. Fav Drink?
Milk.

15. Birthday?
We never celebrated birthdays in my family before I left. Here, with my friends they choose one day a year and call it my birthday and organize a party for me and give me gifts.

16. Nice Or Mean?
People say I am nice.

17. What do you think of your creator?
He is very creative and very nice. I like him.

18. Weakness?
I’m not as strong or as big as most wolves around here … or I suppose most wolves anywhere.

19. How long can you stay underwater?
I don’t know.

20. What do you do on a regular basis?
Read.

21. Do you love someone?
Not anyone in particular. I do love my friends and would do anything I could for them.

22. Does the person love you back?
I think my friends love me … and even Mister Foxx loves me in his own way.

23. What do you consider fun in the day time?
Reading, visiting the University museum, going for walks in the woods.

24. At night?
Being with my friends when they invite me to “hang out” with them at Professor Goldenmane’s on-campus apartment for popcorn and movies or just to talk.

25. Do you like to play videogames?
I am not very good at them -- especiallty the games where you are supposed to shoot people.

26. Are you gay?
I don’t know.

27. Say that you were trapped in a closet with your lover for 2 days.
That would be very uncomfortable.

28. Place of origin?
Raegia.

29. Large or small family?
Large. Three brothers.

30. Who are your parents?
My Mom, and my father, Colonel Crooktail.

31. Do you have a phobia?
Bullies. [Ed. Wilber’s brothers bullied him unmercifully]

32. Piercing/tattoos?
No, I am sure that they hurt.

33. Do you have a pet?
Oh I don’t, but Professor Goldenmane has a Siamese cat, Isis, that I like a lot … and she like me too.

34. Lucky number?
None.

35. Favorite color?
Light blue.

36. Eye color?
Light blue

37. Hair color?
Lupine grey

38. Quick! Someone kissed your love! what do you do?
Huh?

39. Fav music?
Kind of soft classical music. The Blue Danube Waltz.

40. Where do you want to be right now?.
I’d like to be with my Mom again.

41. What are you in your love's opinion?
I don’t have anyone outside of my friends that lives me.

42. Do you have a job?
I work part-time at the University library.

43. You are alone. What do you do?
Read a book while listening to quiet music.

44. Do you like parties?
Not that much. A lot of big people making a lot of noise and sometimes getting intoxicated and acting silly.

45. When you're alone at home, what do you like to do?
Read, listen to music, … and maybe draw a little.

46. Someone have drawn you in a porn situation?
Oh no! Absolutely not.

47. Favorite film?
Armistad. That’s where some good people go through a lot of personal trouble to free people who have been enslaved. One of the actors plays the part of a very famous person and says things before a high court that means a lot to me personally.

48. Tell something about yourself before finishing.
I wish I were braver.

49. The End, would you share this quiz to someone?
Oh now, I couldn’t bother anyone like that.

Stolen from  chiltikcoatl

1) Choose one of your own characters.
2) Make them answer the following questions.
3) Then, tag at least 3 people.
4) Feel free to add some questions of your own!

Your Character:
Freque (“Freaky”) Foxx

1. Gender?
Do I look like a GERL?!!! I’m a MAIL! (sic male).

2. Age?
Between 25 and 30.

3. Hug?
Not in your life! I don’t go in for all that huggy kissy face stuff!

4. Bad Habits?
None. [Ed. Though those around him provide a short list of greedy, self-centered, manipulative, conniving and scheming]

5. Favorite Food?
All I can eat buffets.

6. Ice Cream Flavor?
Chocolate

7.What is your species?
Fox! Vulpine Superbus [Ed. Just a normal vulpine]

8. Killed Anyone?
No, but there’s a couple of people who I wouldn’t mind seeing getting “offed”.

9. Hate Anyone?
How long do you have to listen?

10. Secrets?
Who me?! I’m as open as a baby’s crib. [Ed. ‘A riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma]

11. Favorite Season?
The season where the suckers are willing to part with their moolah the quickest. Summer probably.

12. Best Friends?
Don’t need friends.

13. Hobbies?
Making money.

14. Fav Drink?
Whatever the other guy is willing to buy me.

15. Birthday?
Several.

16. Nice Or Mean?
*puts on a charming vulpine grin* Nice of course.

17. What do you think of your creator?
He’s a putz who is too honest to ever be successful

18. Weakness?
Too tender-hearted. [Ed. Cough! Cough! Cough!]

19. How long can you stay underwater?
Why would I want to be underwater?

20. What do you do on a regular basis?
Find myself in the company of “Save the Humans” losers.

21. Do you love someone?
Yes. Me.

22. Does the person love you back?
Yes and in that he shows his fine taste in people.

23. What do you consider fun in the day time?
Finding a way to make money with as little effort as possible.

24. At night?
Finding a way to make money with as little effort as possible.

25. Do you like to play videogames?
No. Everyone else cheats so that I lose.

26. Are you gay?
What are you going to ask next? “Boxers or briefs?”

27. Say that you were trapped in a closet with your lover for 2 days.
What a great 2 days! (see #21)

28. Place of origin?
My old man and old lady moved around a lot and so they didn’t remember.

29. Large or small family?
Yeah, kinda large. Two brothers and a sister.

30. Who are your parents?
My Old Lady and Old Man.

31. Do you have a phobia?
Yeah, being poor.

32. Piercing/tattoos?
Deform my beautiful body?!

33. Do you have a pet?
Yeah, me.

34. Lucky number?
What’s ever on the winning lottery ticket.

35. Favorite color?
The color of the local currency.

36. Eye color?
Brown

37. Hair color?
Russet

38. Quick! Someone kissed your love! what do you do?
Slam the cash register drawer on his muzzle before he can pull it out of all that lovely money.

39. Fav music?
Elevator musak.

40. Where do you want to be right now?.
As far away from you and this stupid meme as possible.

41. What are you in your love's opinion?
The most wonderful person alive. (See #21)

42. Do you have a job?
I’m currently between careers.

43. You are alone. What do you do?
Enjoy the silence and think of ways to make money.

44. Do you like parties?
Yeah. Lots of free food and drinks, and babes to impress.

45. When you're alone at home, what do you like to do?
Enjoy the silence and think of ways to make money.

46. Someone have drawn you in a porn situation?
Though they all want to capture this beautiful vulpine body, no one has offered me enough money to do it. [Ed. No one has offered him anything.]

47. Favorite film?
Greed (the 1924 version).

48. Tell something about yourself before finish.
No.

49. The End, would you share this quiz with someone?
Not unless they paid me to.

Stolen from  chiltikcoatl

1) Choose one of your own characters.
2) Make them answer the following questions.
3) Then, tag at least 3 people.
4) Feel free to add some questions of your own!

Your Character:
Dai Blackclaw

1. Gender?
Dude

2. Age?
I'm 17

3. Hug?
Yeah, let’s get physical

4. Bad Habits?
Adults tell me that I do crazy risky things.

5. Favorite Food?
Burgers

6. Ice Cream Flavor?
Nothin’ in particular.

7.What is your species?
Like I’m a lion dude.

8. Killed Anyone?
No.

9. Hate Anyone?
Don’t hate anyone, though there are some people I don’t wanna be around.

10. Secrets?
Yeah, well maybe liking dudes as much as dudettes.

11. Favorite Season?
Spring! The time of year I can get out running track, playing dirt lot football and stuff like that. Outdoor stuff.

12. Best Friends?
My buddy Wilber (Crooktail) and maybe Lionus.

13. Hobbies?
Pretty much anything where you DO something physical.

14. Fav Drink?
Cokes

15. Birthday?
Sometime in August.

16. Nice Or Mean?
Depends on how you are to me.

17. What do you think of your creator?
*pauses to think* He’s okay I guess. Though he probably spends too much time thinking.

18. Weakness?
Don’t got none.

19. How long can you stay underwater?
As long as I wanted to.

20. What do you do on a regular basis?
Arobic exercises, jogging, push-ups, sit-ups, Roman bench exercises … stuff like that.

21. Do you love someone?
Too young and too busy for love.

22. Does the person love you back?
Hey, what did I just answer?

23. What do you consider fun in the day time?
Doing anything that I get to use my body doing. Sports, running, team sports, skinny dipping, sex.

24. At night?
Sleepin’, watching television, playing video games, sleepin’ and sex.

25. Do you like to play videogames?
You betcha!!!

26. Are you gay?
I’m an equal opportunity guy.

27. Say that you were trapped in a closet with your lover for 2 days.
I’d break the door down.

28. Place of origin?
The place where my Mom grew up.

29. Large or small family?
Just me.

30. Who are your parents?
My Dad was in the army and me and my Mom followed him around from one army base to another. He was a good soldier.

31. Do you have a phobia?
Yeah, probably being bored.

32. Piercing/tattoos?
Nope.

33. Do you have a pet?
No. When you have a pet you gotta stay in one place and take care of them. Though if I did have a pet it would probably be a tiger or something cool like that.

34. Lucky number?
Nine

35. Favorite color?
*thinks for a moment* None I guess.

36. Eye color?
Brown

37. Hair color?
Tawny blond

38. Quick! Someone kissed your love! what do you do?
Find out who it is that loves me.

39. Fav music?
Music I can dance to.

40. Where do you want to be right now?.
Running along an empty beach on a tropical island.

41. What are you in your love's opinion?
What’s with all these “in love” questions?

42. Do you work?
Yeah, when I need money or see someone who needs help. I’m working at Mister Trendle’s lumber yard currently. I get to drive the fork-lift there and shift lumber around and help people pick out the right lumber for their home projects. Mister Trendle’s last helper up and left him and … well Mister Trendle is kinda old … and he pays me when he can.

43. You are alone. What do you do?
Totally alone? Probably start doing push-ups, sit-ups, run in place.

44. Do you like parties?
Oh yeah! Lots of people to meet, dancing, and lots of laughs.

45. When you're alone at home, what do you like to do?
Working out, sleeping, doing the “guy-thing” in the bathroom. Television gets boring real quick.

46. Someone have drawn you in a porn situation?
*thinks* Nope. Don’t think so. I probably wouldn’t pose for stuff like that anyway ... unless the other person in the pic was cute.

47. Favorite film?
300

48. Tell something about your otp before finish.
What’s an “otp”?

49. The End, would you share this quiz with someone?
Nah. Too dopey.

Just want to thank each of you who have been nice enough to favorite my latest artwork “Barbarian King”. I would drop each of you a thank you shout, but pasting the same “Thanks for faving …” shout into your front page seems a bit mechanical and impersonal, and to my mind a bit disrespectful to you folks.

Looking back now on what led up to me creating the picture, I think it probably stemmed from watching and being inspired by the latest “Conan” movie (2011).

Prior to that, I endlessly watched the two earlier Conan movies and collected and read all of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories that he wrote for the Depression Era pulp magazine Weird Tales. Later I collected (and still have) about thirty issues of “The Savage Sword of Conan” illustrated stories (all in protective plastic bags).

Anyway, I thought a lot about the fictional character over the years, particularly as Robert E. Howard’s stories presented him. A rude, brutish fellow come south into the “civilized” world of Hyperboria where semi-corrupt and decadent kingdoms lay aging and ripe for the barbarian from wild and untamed Cimmeria in the north to do with as he pleased.

Eventually, through many adventures of sword & sorcery, Conan becomes king of Aquilonia, the much-desired “jewel” of all the kingdoms in the west of Hyperboria. Then, aside from having to deal with the usual court intrigues, occasional rebellions along the frontiers, and an assortment of mysterious sorcerers or magicians (none of which seemed right in the head), I wondered what Conan would do in his spare time.

Being a barbarian whose previous solution to 95% of the problems that he has encountered growing up had all been dealt with by using his considerable brawn or sword skills, I figured he would be mightily bored during the much-to-be-dreaded periods of peace. And so that was where the inspiration for my “Barbarian King” picture came from and was in my mind as I applied each digital “brush stroke“.

Thanks for the faves, furs. They keep me going.

I just finished doing my morning read-through of the journals of the folks I am watching. In today’s postings, there was a desperate request for help from an artist whose Photoshop PSD work file had become “corrupted”.

[NOTE the following applies to other digital art programs as well, though I have used the Photoshop work file extension “.PSD” throughout]

I think that after an artist has been “bitten” by the software (the easiest target to blame), unexpectedly had the power drop out, or merely sleepily overwritten their Photoshop .PSD work file while making a .JPG “snapshot” without realizing it at 2AM in the morning, the experience teaches you to come up with a “backup plan”.

My regular back-up Work Plan is to, first, save each day’s work with a date. For example, FILENAME_(02_FEB15_2013).PSD [the “02” is the numerical designation of the month since I often work on an art project over for several months time span].

When I finish a day’s art work, I immediately make a copy of the saved PSD file, so that I have two copies of my work file. The next time I begin work on the project, I rename the copied PSD file to the date of that day before opening it in Photoshop (i.e., FILENAME_(02_FEB17_2013).

I repeat this process every workday I work on the art project so that I always have two copies of my most current work file and a history of PSDs stretching back in time as far as I like. Generally, I only keep four or five past history PSD files.

When working on a very complex project, or while putting in a lot of work hours on a project in one day, I save my project PSD work file every few hours with an alphabetical suffix: FILENAME_(02_FEB15_2013)a, FILENAME_(02_FEB15_2013)b, FILENAME_(02_FEB15_2013)c, etc. At the end of your workday, after making a copy of your last work file, you can always delete most of the day’s work-saves [keeping the last work file and the one before it].

The key safety rule to remember is:
NEVER have just one copy of your PSD work file. Always have two copies of this file and the previous work file.

The guiding principle for back-ups and/or saves is this -- How much work are you willing to lose and are willing to do all over again? Can your second attempt at an art project be as good as your first attempt?

Some people tend to arrogantly think that their second attempts at the same project are, and so I wish them many happy hours of re-doing and re-re-doing work they have already done once.

For the rest of us, after losing a day’s worth of work, or even just several hours, our motivation/creativity gets knocked out of us. So I strongly suggest making multi-saves of your work file as you work a routine part of your work methodology.

Now for you folks who think that this is an overly complicated backup plan for artwork files, well maybe it is, but just remember, you can’t blame all your computer “disasters” on Adobe.

There is an “Unpopular Opinion Meme” circulate here in the journals, with the last question being a chance to write something that “grinds your gears”.

For the greater part of the meme, ‘what television show, or popular musical performer", or whatever did I not care for. I found that I simply could not answer those questions. Why? Because once I realized that I did not care for a program or performer or whatever I simply stopped thinking about it which would have left the meme largely empty. So I decided to just post this, my answer to the very last, what ‘ground my gears’ question.

When we are born, and for the next ten or so years, we have to have our parents take care of us (yes, cooking and serving us our food, washing our clothes, entertaining us when we are bored (and still cute)) was part of that ‘taking care’ of us).

Then for the following ten years we and our parents engaged in a running battle as we tried to get out from under all that no-choice ‘caring’ they imposed on us. We did not need it obviously, since we had already done all that eating, clothes-wearing and playing so it was obviously we could do it on our own (which to our minds was proof that we were ready for adulthood).

Then, once we entered our twenties, it was Adios Scumbeegoes to our “tyrants” (parents) with major goal in life (particularly since we had discovered that that “thing” or “place down there” was not just for peeing) was to get out of their house and out onto our LIFE. Freedom!!! Doing what we wanted to do! Yay!!

A job? Nah, didn’t need one. “Crashed” for a while at a cool older friend’s pad usually as a “friend with benefits”. Eventually that arrangement would begin to suck when that older friend started making unreasonable parent-noises at us. We should being paying our share of the rent, our share of the food bill, we should do the laundry since we didn’t have a job like they wasted their day working at while we played their video games, we should stop wearing his/her clothes, and we begin picking up our s**t off the floor and couch.

Now unless we had other “friends” to mooch off -- er, temporarily live with -- we had to begin thinking of getting our own pad/apartment where we could do what we wanted to do whenever we wanted to. Nothing special. Just a small palatial place where we could lay our head and a few friends.

Now, being forced to this decision (by people who obviously didn’t love us as we deserved) the first real ugliness of Being an Adult raised its ugly head. To get our own apartment, we needed money.

As a “kid”, money had never been a concern. You asked, you whined, you cried, or threw enough tantrums until your parents eventually gave in and gave you what you wanted. Of course, the really cool macho kids will always tell you that they never had to go through any of that crying or whining stuff and would never since they were macho -- or at least they tell you they didn‘t.

In any case, up to that point in life we were never concerned with money unless we were playing Monopoly.

As a side-note, it is also at this point in life were most growing-ups begin to pick up that “money is evil” and ‘people who have a lot of money (while I do not have any) are likewise evil’ philosophy.

Ah, but there is a temporary side-road to avoiding the unfairness of full-fledged adulthood, or crass money pursuing The accumulation of “friends”.

Now “friends”, at this point in our lives, are the people that we weave into our personal social “safety net”. They are collected and expected (since they are our friends) to provide us with all things like “a place to crash for a few weeks”, “loans” (or to answer our on-line pleas for a hand-out), provide us with a free ride to a furry con, shared a date (threesome?), or just be someone to have sex with at no cost to ourselves. Free is good.

Hey, why not that latter benefit to friendship? After all, these were the same kids we played “house”, “soldiers” or “Ninja Turtles” with in kindergarten or grade school, so why not now with those really neat “toys“ we discovered “down there“ on our bodies?

Sex, after all, is the undeniable proof that we have definitely become an real honest-to-goodness, I-Am-Special, ADULT. An adult who no longer needs anyone to take care of us, aside from a few friends and … and there is always the GOVERNMENT to fall back on.

The government is supposed to take care of us by taking money away from all those evil rich people (probably all parents in disguise) and taking care of us. Sort of like having a Robin Hood with a social conscience who steals from the evil rich and gives to the noble poor like a SUPER-parent taking care of us.

“Mommy, I’m home again!”

I am currently flipping through the latest edition of my favorite digital/fantasy art magazine. The articles and features are almost all done by professional artists (like the late Frank Frazzeta and the Brothers Hilderbrant) whose works are on the covers of novels, calendars, game boxes, game cards and game rule books.

My problem is that these artists, in being described or describing, use a boggling array of art terms and insider-jargon much of which baffles me.

In particular is the separation of artists into one of two categories; artists or illustrators. Huh?

My question then is what is it that separates one from the other? Is it the style the artist uses, or the degree of commercialism, or some invisible line that when crossed changes the nature or profession of the artist, like a rising full moon causes a lycanthrope to involuntarily change shape?

Can anyone describe what it is that makes them different one from the other?

In the latter part of the 18th Century (1750-1799), most European countries were still structured according to an ancient social system called the “feudal” system.

Pyramidal shaped, feudal society consisted of a small “nobility” at the very top, a somewhat larger clergy in the middle, and everyone else at the bottom.

Aside from having all the weapons in the society, the nobility claimed that their position at the top was due to their being superior by “right of birth” to everyone else. The weapons and the generations of teir ancestors having used those weapons against enemies, both foreign and domestic, kept the doubters of their “right” in their places.

The clergy claimed their ranking in the social order by “the Grace of God“, and most everyone knew that one did not publicly argue with that kind of highly placed back-up. In fact, most of the nobility tried to, through one way or another, win the clergy over to approving their position at the top with blessings and clerically-run coronations.

Everyone else, at the bottom of the feudal society, who were commonly referred to as “the peasantry“ (along with some other far-less flattering names), were the “engine” of the society that grew the food and were the cannon fodder in the wars that the nobility fought against other nobility.

The peasants had no legal rights or powers outside of their sheep-like duty to obey the two classes above them. If they did not obey, then one would use their aforesaid weapons and training to kill you while the other would condemn you to Eternal Damnation which tended to make you a social outcast among your friends and family.

During the latter part of the 18th Century along came something called the “Age of Enlightenment“ which had nothing to do with better lighting fixtures. It was a time when a couple of freethinking “trouble-makers” began wondered why things, in particular societies, were the way they were. Particularly revolutionary was their questioning of the idea that a person might not be born with more rights and privileges than everyone else was.

If it was only one or two people thinking this sort of rubbish, well there are always cranks and crackpots in every local neighborhood and so long as they or their ideas did get around they never become much of a problem. There were always the town square stocks or hanging trees. However, the problem in the latter part of the 18th Century was that the first “copying machine”, the “printing press, had been invented some years earlier and was waiting in the background like a mechanical Darth Vader or anyone-can-use-it Internet.

In very short order, the revolutionary idea of ‘everyone is born no different or no more entitled to more rights or powers than anyone else’ started getting around, secretly spreading like political “porn”. No more noble by birth? Eh what?

Then those upstart English colonies in North America rebelled against the lawful commands of their betters (who had the birth right of telling everyone what they should do) and having the effrontery of actually put down in print, “All men are created equal”. Everyone born equal?!! Well the nobility certainly were not going to take that!

Unfortunately, the nobility who were put in charge of His Majesty’s armies in North America in order to put down such rubbish blundered rather badly. This led in a few years like a powder train to guillotines making the French aristocracy, who were noble by birth, if not “equal” socially then decidedly shorter in stature.

With nobility and aristocracy mostly reduced to oddities or ersatz “celebrities” on the historical shelf, most men (and women) today are accepted as being born (or “created” if you prefer the 18th century parlance) equal. No one starts out with any more of an advantage or disadvantage than any automobile coming off the assembly line is functionally different from any other coming off the same line or Olympic runners starting from the same start line.

We may all have been created (born) equal, but from that moment on we all become increasingly different one from another through utilizing or under-utilizing our self-potential and the opportunities available to us according to our wits within the particular cultural “cage” we are born inside.