Anybody play DML? I'm not really a social player, but if you want an extra person to help with gates and gifts, I can do that. My recruitment code is da904.

I'm not planning on leaving, but I am going to be on something of a hiatus for awhile. I've been busy with work and have some things going on in my personal life that are taking priority, so I haven't had time to do much for fun.

However, for anybody who is thinking about leaving, these are the other places you can find me:

Weasyl (art): https://www.weasyl.com/~lokis
Weasyl (costuming): https://www.weasyl.com/~dfdcostumes
DeviantArt: http://dragonfyredawn.deviantart.com/
Tumblr: http://dragonfyredawn.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dragonfyredawn

Would anybody be interested in small scale pieces done in black and white on cardboard/whatever suitable heavyweight brown surface I have available (this has included both art board and scavenged cardboard)? They'd be similar to the work doodles I've been posting the last several weeks and be an artistic liberty sort of deal where you just see the end product.

Pricing would be $30, which includes shipping within the US. Anywhere else, I'd need to find out what it'd cost to ship before I can give a final price. Size will vary a bit, but mostly we're talking no more than 4.5" by 4.5".

For these, I can do characters (bipedal, feral, monster), an animal of your choice, or even plantlife. Everything is fair game, but I will let you know if it's something I don't think I can do. NO adult work will be done, sorry!

If you're interested, please drop me a note with your Paypal address and a ref of your character or a description of what you want drawn.

I am working on revamping my Patreon, found at https://www.patreon.com/lmillington

My circumstances have changed since I first created it, so I am trying to change it to better suit my current goals and work. Where before it was all about high volumes of sketches (largely life drawing in pursuit of improvement), my focus is now more on finished work and experiments designed to expand my costuming skill set. It would help me keep my "work doodles" going once it picks up enough that I can no longer do those at work.

What would you like to get out of being a Patron? I'd like to avoid turning it into an alternate means of commissioning me, and more about giving perks and behind the scenes peeks to people who would like to show me some support. So in that vein, what would you find appealing?

I apologize for the glut of these brown-cardboard-ink-and-white-coloured-pencil type drawings, but they're about all I can get in right now. It's slow at my day job and this combo is stripped down enough that I don't need to keep a bunch of stuff on hand to draw with. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when my little stack of cardboard cards runs out!

I know a few people have commented on my "work doodles" not being doodles. The reason why I consider them such is that I'm literally doing these between calls and orders at my day job. Lots of interruptions, lots of room for error in the art but it keeps me busy when I don't have any real job work to do. Oddly enough, that might be why they're turning out in a way that I'm generally happy with. I know that I won't be putting my attention solely on it, so the "am I screwing it up?" mentality doesn't kick in. These are drawings based on whatever whim strikes me at that moment in time and are being done solely so I don't go crazy when it's quiet and I run out of day job related things to do. So long as I have those few minutes of quiet now and then through the day, I plan on keeping up with these.

Just a quick note that I am back from my family emergency hiatus, but am still having some issues because of my previous laptop dying just before I left. I've purchased a new one and in short, it's proving to be a headache to get set up to where I want it. I'm hoping that in a day or two I'll be back to where I need to be so I have a properly functioning computer again.

I'm going to be gone for the next two weeks (roughly) to assist my parents. I will have occasional email access, but for the most part I will not have readily available internet access. Anybody who contacts me about commissions, please be patient and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

I will return around October 3rd.

I'm going to be slow to respond for the time period between now and my two-week hiatus. My laptop is essentially dead and I'm trying to revive it but I'm waiting on some recovery DVDs from the manufacturer. Worst case scenario is I have to buy a new laptop, which I really don't want to do. If you want to help, please consider buying one of the masks I've currently got up for sale. Selling one of those would nearly cover the cost of a low-to-mid-range laptop with comparable power to what I have now.

The best way to contact me at the moment will be via email because I can access it through my phone. After the 18th, I'll have occasional access to email but won't be able to answer quickly.

And all that said, no more orders will be taken for completion between now and October 4th. I can still take orders until September 17th, but it's highly unlikely I will be able to work on them until after I get back on October 4th.

The GoT ponies were a nice break from my more traditional art practice I've been doing lately...I wouldn't mind doing more. The proceeds would help offset the expensive repair bill for my husband's truck that we incurred last week.

So...$25US will get you something like the GoT ponies. They're done on 4" by 5" cards, in a combination of ink, marker and coloured pencil. These will be artistic liberty, so just give me your pony reference, with a description of the pony's personality if you'd like, and I run with it. If you'd like the original sent to you, add $2 within the US and $5 for elsewhere.

If you're interested, just drop me a note!

I've updated the rewards and levels for my Patreon page. The rewards range from a simple thank you to getting an original sketch per month. There's also a reasonably priced level at $10 a month that would let you get a piece of swag each month - bookmarks and keychains to start, but if people start backing it more I can look into getting things like stickers and buttons too!

I may add other levels as I progress, but right now I'm leaving it at sketches for patrons so I can do the study work I feel I need to do in order to get better as an artist.

I'd really appreciate any backing people can give, even if it's only to throw a dollar at me a month. Any support I get through there will allow me to produce more artwork (and if it's primarily people here donating, I'll try to get more furry work in and post here more often!) as well as take some pressures off in regard to paying bills.

My Patreon link: http://www.patreon.com/lmillington

A sincere thank you to anybody who donates!

I just finished up this mask a couple days ago and he's looking for a home! Based on Luther from the Red Lantern comics by  Rukis, done with her permission. Airbrushed merle coat pattern, resin eyes, hidden zipper in the back of the head for a snugger fit, moving jaw.

http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1054017.html

I'm giving Dottinghill, a temporary tattoo vendor, a shot. They operate much the same way the community-voted t-shirt sites do, so I need some 5's to help get my art picked up. These are the two designs I have up currently:

Serpentine: http://www.dottinghill.com/pitch_in/design/1071
Heart of Brass: http://www.dottinghill.com/pitch_in/design/1083

Thank you to anybody who helps me out!

Hey everybody!

I know YCH auctions and sales have become fairly popular. I was thinking of trying a few myself, tying into some of my work for my Dare to Draw Badly project.

I've been doing a LOT of gesture drawing over the last couple months. I have an excellent online tool at my disposable that works beautifully in lieu of in-person life drawing classes. The problem? Although it's been excellent and I feel more confident in tackling poses, the vast majority of the models are either guys in good shape or slender females. There is very little variety. I plan on taking the knowledge I've gained by doing over 1500 sketches over the last couple months and applying it to sketching out figures of larger sizes, probably female to start out with because I feel more confident in drawing them.

So, would anybody be interested in YCH type commissions based on that? None will be pornographic, but I should be able to swing some tastefully nude poses with nothing showing if that's anybody's cup of tea, or do them as pin-ups wearing swim suits or lingerie.

I'm giving Patreon a shot. I really don't see a down side and as long as payment works as stated, it's a really good system. I like the idea of an organized "tip jar" that people can show their appreciation for all my work instead of a specific project, and I can offer goodies in return.

My link: http://www.patreon.com/lmillington

Right now the patron levels are straight up donations. Once I figure out the logistics of producing and delivering goodies in digital and tangible form, additional levels and updates will be made. There will probably be something like a swag-a-month sort of deal (offering bookmarks, buttons, keychains and things of that nature), opportunities for original artwork, etc.

I don't think it's going to hit the minimum to get funded, but just in case...

https://www.kickstarter.com/project.....-to-draw-badly

And the Tumblr for the drawings is:

http://daretodrawbadly.tumblr.com/

I still plan on doing the project if I don't get the funding, it'll just take longer as I don't have much in the way of extra money for art supplies. I lucked out and stocked up on white drawing pads when Hobby Lobby had a sale on and those should keep me going for at least another month or two at the rate I'm currently sketching. If I slow down, they'll last longer.

Anyway...whether or not the Kickstarter succeeds, I'll probably have a tip jar/donation link set up so people can use it if they feel like helping me out with this project.

Well, due to the South not being able to deal with snow, it's looking like I'll be losing my second day of work in a row. The store told me not to come in yesterday because they were closing early due to weather and today the roads are closed so I won't be able to get to work even if they are open.

Which means I'll be coming up short on my next paycheck. Given that we're in a tight spot right now, that's very bad. So...if anybody is interested in commissions... All pricing is in US dollars and I take payment via Paypal. If you're interested in anything, just drop me a note!

The first option is quick shaded pencil sketch commissions that will be done either today or tomorrow. They're $10 per character/sketch, pose and so on are my choice (I'm doing a lot of life drawing style pieces right now and these would probably reflect that). Digital copy only.

If you're interested in any of my cutout badges, they're $45 (shipping included anywhere in the world). Sketching would be done today or tomorrow and a scan shown to you for approval, the badge itself would be finished up and ready to ship by the end of the week.

Finally, if you're in the market for a fursuit mask base, I make them. Samples can be seen in my costuming gallery (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dfdcostumes). Pricing is $70 plus shipping for static jaw, or $90 plus shipping for articulated jaw. I generally have these done within a week.

So, my Dare to Draw Badly project is progressing well. I'm nearing 400 sketches with more up on a (mostly) daily basis. As before, the blog is here if you'd like to follow it: http://daretodrawbadly.tumblr.com

I've got a Kickstarter up for the project now: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....-to-draw-badly

The goal amount is intended to cover supplies. At the rate I'm burning through the small hoard of sketchbooks and sketchpads I have on hand, I'm going to go broke when I start having to buy them as I go. To give you an idea, so far it's been about one sketchpad a week. They're usually around $3 apiece if I can find the cheap ones, so best case scenario is about $175 for sketchpads alone if I buy locally, including taxes. I'm also seeing a noticeable dent in my pencil set, so I'm probably going to have to replace it every thousand sketches or so. The pencils run about $1 apiece if I buy them individually through dickblick.com, plus shipping. The remainder of the goal amount will cover shipping for any physical rewards due backers plus take into account the taxes I'll end up owing and Kickstarter fees.

Over that? It'll help get me out on field trips so I can sketch more interesting things. I may also be able to get more resin skull replicas to study from. And if it goes really well, the over-and-above backing means I'm less likely to fall into that "starving artist" thing for the duration of the project.

So, that's the summary of it. If anybody backs it, I appreciate it!

So, I'm nearly two weeks in to my "10,000 bad drawings" project, which I've formally dubbed "Dare to Draw Badly". I'm nearing 300 sketches in and am hoping to hit 400 by the 15th.

The project involves sketches that range from 30 second gestures on up, so a lot of them are not anything remotely polished or finished. However, those quick ones are a wonderful way to improve. Obviously, it involves artistic nudity because...well, life drawing. If anybody is interested in seeing all the sketches I've been doing and will continue to do, the blog is here: http://daretodrawbadly.tumblr.com/

I wasn't going to share it until the Kickstarter is up, but I'm too excited about getting this much sketching done not to share. The Kickstarter should be up sometime next week. The goal amount is to cover supplies (two weeks in and I've already killed a sketchpad and am well on my way to killing the second), with anything over that going to help with living expenses and giving me cash with which I can take field trips to zoos, museums and anywhere else that I'd be able to tote a sketchbook to so I can get a wider range of learning opportunities.

Ok, that might be a little unfair. It wasn't a great year, but the last few months in particular have been nothing but one bad thing after another for me. My mental state has not been a very happy one for awhile now. But it's a new year, and I'm going to try to get to a better place. Goals are:

1. Get a new job. My current one is a large source of my stress. I hate it. I could go off on a rant, but it boils down to management for the most part being horrid and I can't ignore it anymore. I do more work than anybody else with my job title (and have more training, to boot!), am one of their most reliable employees, have been there for nearly four years and they won't even promote me to full time so I can earn something resembling a liveable wage. I've got applications out there for new jobs and will continue to put out more for anything that looks appealing, so hopefully something comes of that. A change of venue will do me wonders, even if it's more retail. It would be utterly amazing if I could go full-time with my art and costuming, but I know I'm not in a position to do so at this point.

2. DRAW MORE. This goes back to the job. Job leaves me stressed, so I don't want to draw. If I draw, I feel like it's a waste of time unless I draw something good. So out of fear, I haven't been drawing. It's a vicious cycle of thinking I've been stuck in for awhile. My hair-brained idea to counter that is to give myself full license to draw badly. That saying about everybody has 10,000 bad drawings in them? I'm setting the counter back to zero and starting over. I've started with life drawing (hands, figure drawing using an online tool that cycles photos) and intend to keep with drawing from life as much as possible, at least for now. Once I get my artistic confidence back, then I might branch into other things as part of the project. I may also set this up as a Kickstarter project...but first I need to stick with it for a couple weeks so I have a pool to pull examples from.

If I can accomplish both of those, 2014 should be a far better year.

I am open for a variety of things and could really use the work at the moment. Without boring everybody with the details, I am stuck in part-time land at a workplace that doesn't really care to promote it's hardest working employees to a position that comes with a liveable wage. I'm trying to get that fixed, but things are getting really rough.

On top of that, my car's engine seized about a month back and that means I'm looking at a pretty steep repair bill (still cheaper than buying a replacement used car and our mechanic is willing to work out a payment plan). While I'm making sharing a vehicle with my husband work, not having my own car is severely limiting my ability to look for jobs elsewhere.

I accept Paypal as my primary form of payment, with Amazon Payments as a back-up. At the moment I'll also accept Publix or Walmart gift cards (physical cards that can be used in-store) for orders under $100 as payment. If using Paypal, please give me your Paypal address so I can send an invoice. It makes things a whole lot easier for me come tax time.

Here's what I can offer:


First, my shop is here: http://dragonfyredawn.storenvy.com/

The art dolls and sasquatch magnets are made-to-order, everything else is ready to ship. If you're interested in anything there and want to pay with something other than Paypal, please send me a note!

Second, my FurBuy auction page is here: http://www.furbuy.com/seller/Silverfang.html

Usually costuming related stuff, sometimes other stuff.

Third, costuming. All the info on commissions for costumes can be found at my alternate gallery: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dfdcostumes


And now, art commissions:

I do not do adult work, so please keep that in mind.

Silly Simple Icons
Sample: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12194720/
$3 apiece. Style is as shown, with a main colour and one secondary accent colour.

Sketches
My gallery has a ton of examples. Additional info here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1029354/
I'll also do prompts for $5. Give me a general idea...like "dog with ball" or "surprised dragon", and I'll draw something based on it.

Badges
$45 each, add $5 for shipping outside the US.
Naughty or Nice - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12196907/
Swing - http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/swingbadges.jpg
Hangman - http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/temp/.....gmanbadges.jpg


I do other types of commissions as well, but I give a quote based on what the client is looking for. If you have something in mind, just contact me!

I'm giving people here first chance at ordering custom versions of my owl and chinchilla art dolls, as well as taking orders for the chick fluffballs. I will need your mailing address in order to calculate shipping and full payment is due before I start work on your doll(s). I can't give a solid completion date, but I will try to have all dolls done within two weeks of payment being received.

Please note me here or email me at dragonfyredawn (at) gmail (dot) com to order.

I'm only doing these with fabrics I have on hand right now. I can get a full list together, but I know I have the following:

White (cubby + DF fur)
Frosted Grey (not sure, but similar to cubby fur)
Grey (DF Fur)
Chocolate brown (DF fur)
Caramel (DF fur)
Black (DF fur)
Nutmeg (cubby fur)
Bone (similar to cubby)
Lime (DF fur)
Hot pink (DF fur)
Fire red (DF fur)
Dark red (DF fur)
Purple (DF fur)
Aqua (DF fur)

Chick fluffballs: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11684699

These are about 3" tall. Cost is $20US plus shipping for single-colour dolls.

Chinchillas: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11941668/

These are about 6.5" long from nose to tail and are weighted so they sit nicely. Single-colour dolls are $40 plus shipping. I can do more complicated colouration with either airbrushing or sewn panels starting at $60 plus shipping.

Owls: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11912738/

These are about 6" tall. Single-colour dolls are $40 plus shipping. I can do more complicated colouration with either airbrushing or sewn panels starting at $60 plus shipping.

I have a project in the works that won't come to fruition for awhile, but I am getting started on it. It relates to harassment and I'm hoping that the end result will have a positive impact on those who have to deal with it.

This is open to everybody, but women are more likely to have a strong opinion because quite frankly we have to deal with harassment and being talked down to by strangers a lot more than men do in everyday situations. I realize that here there are plenty of people who get harassed out in the real world for being gay and that draws its own form of harassment - but not as much in the context that the question asks about.

So, the question: Whether it's on the street, at your workplace or anywhere else in public, what "pet name" do you find most offensive to be called by a total stranger? Things like "baby", "honey", etc.

I'll be placing a test order with a button company sometime in the next month or two as a prelude to a larger project I want to kick off. This is the design I'll be getting printed for the test run:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11826841/

If anybody is interested in preordering one or more, it'll be $5US for the first (shipping included in the US and Canada, elsewhere is $2 more) and $2 for each additional button in the order. Just drop me a note or email me if you want to order!

My work as an artist and costumer is run as a sole proprietorship business. I have no partnerships with any other maker or builder. I do fully finished work, but also offer parts and mask bases. There are times other builders buy a base from me, which may be used for work they're doing for one of their own clients. My client in these cases is the person purchasing the mask base directly from me (the other builder). My responsibility is to them and any information about their purchase from me is between them and me. Professionalism and good business practice means that information is kept in confidence and kept private. My job and responsibility ends when they receive the goods they ordered.

If you are a client of a builder who has bought a base from me, I am sorry, but I can not share the information I have with you. I can not help you if the builder you are working with is not coming through on what they promised. I understand your frustration and I am sorry if you have to go through dealing with an artist who is failing to deliver something you've paid for, but I am not responsible for their work ethic and what they do with the bases they purchase from me after they have received them.

Sorry, more questions!

For anybody who has used either Kickstarter or Indiegogo, what was your experiences? I am more familiar with Kickstarter (having backed a project in the past, and watched several projects I was interested in but couldn't contribute to), but a friend of mind suggested Indiegogo when I get ready to launch the campaign for my first run of art dolls. If I get some feedback on both platforms from people who have used them on either side it'll help me figure out which to ultimately use.

From what research I've done, Kickstarter has a significantly larger user base overall and has a higher success rate for funding, but has some limitations (though it looks like anybody, from anywhere, can back a project? It's just limited to the US, Canada and the UK for people starting a project? Not an issue in my case). I'm not sure I'm a fan of Amazon as the only means of receiving the funds, but I haven't read anything particularly bad about it either.

Indiegogo is smaller, but literally any project of any type can be posted...so there's a lot of competition to get backing from the smaller userbase. Good that they pretty much allow backers to use any form of payment, but I also found some disconcerting mentions of Paypal and Indiegogo being dicks about the funds in a way that is completely counter to the whole concept of crowdfunding (ie, creators need the money in order to do the project and deliver the finished product to backers, but the funds wouldn't be released until the backers got their rewards).