I changed accounts! Check out the new one!

If you want to continue to watch me, go here:  pandragon I won't be updating this page any longer.

HEY so it's been a while. Sorry for the long absence, life's been insane. I recently lost my father to lung cancer, which has been a two-year rollercoaser ride. I'd like to take the opportunity to let you all know where and how I've been, and also give a commission-related update.

I stopped working on my queue when dad's health took a downturn, around spring of last year. I'm picking it back up again now, but I want to make sure I have everybody on the list. Here's who I remember for sure:

Commission Queue:
Malin & Rolo icons
Sivade (cougar/fox girl)
AfPilot (Luna)
SnowWolf (LJ moodtheme)
Patrick (sketchbook)

If you have paid for a commission from me in the past TWO YEARS, either at a con or over the internets, pleaseplease remind me here if you find you're missing from my official list. I don't want to forget about you! And, let's be honest, I probably have at this point. x__x
Thanks in advance, guys. Looking forward to finishing this up and posting 'em here for your enjoyment. :3

-Maui

Thanks for all the new watches, +favs, comments, shouts, and general hooplah since RF ended. Hi everybody! I should be back to posting more art soon.

I will not make excuses for my lack of activity, either. Those of you who know why I'm not around understand what's going on and that's enough for me. Those of you who don't or aren't willing to understand... Well, sorry, but life is getting very much in the way of art right now on all kinds of levels. I haven't forgotten anything/one, though, so bear with me.

I do have a tablet, so huge thanks to  kaervek for that as it's going to allow me to finish several projects that I've had on my plate from as far back as AFF in April. Looking forward to settling down somewhere long enough to actually do so. ^^

Hope life's treating you all better than it's been treating me lately. :D

I need a few more people to enter. If you're coming to Rainfurrest give it a shot! Or else I'm going to have to spend money on postage and, guys, I suck at shipping. XD

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/467546/

It's true! I need FOUR volunteers for some examples of the badge style I'm going to be offering at Rainfurrest.

There's a catch, though! (Isn't there bloody always?) Instead of just taking the first four people to comment on this journal I'm going to have a little contest. Because it's my journal, and my prerogative, and do you really have anything better to do on a Sunday afternoon anyway? XD

Oh, and I should mention that you shouldn't sign up for this if you're not going to be physically present (or present-by-proxy) at RF. I'm offering these in a specific style for this con only.

Okay, so! The game of the day is: IMAGE SCAVENGER HUNT
Here be the rules:

*All the answers to the challenges must be either scanned or photographed, and presented legibly (photocollage, anyone?)
*You can only use an answer for one question, even if it might apply to more than one
*You must post your response here on FA and link to it in the comments to this journal
*Responses can be of any rating
*Responses don't necessarily have to be furry in nature. Use your imaginations!
*Do not harass the citizenry. Seriously. Don't be jerks. This is a Fun Thing!
*Responses must be in photographic form
*Be creative in your responses! Think outside the box - these are all very open-ended and I appreciate an off-beat sense of humor...

Now, without further ado, The List:

1. Yourself with a tail. Plese be clothed. ;_; (Use Your Imaginations. I used to make 'tails' out of long grass...)
2. A family pet. It doesn't have to be -your- family's.
3. A jumping picture in a public place (a park, a mall, a Wal-Mart, whatever. There have to be other people around.)
4. A reflection in some water.
5. A book featuring anthro animal characters.
6. A farm or wild animal. Think non-pets.
7. Your favorite hat.
8. A piece of furry artwork - yours or someone else's.
9. Your favorite food/beverage currently on hand.
10. Your favorite toy. No sex toys, please. I don't need to know about that.

I'll pick winners at midnight Pacific time TOMORROW (Monday the 22nd). Do what you can in that amount of time, but the more complete your entry is (and the more it makes me laugh) the more likely it will be to win. :)

This starts now. Go go go! :D

Going camping with the family for a few days. Should be back by Friday at the latest!

Hello FA. It's been a while from my end! My roommate recently relocated, and unfortunately the internet and our router went with her. We're working on getting back up and running but it could be a while before that happens, depending on our finances. July's rent is kind of the bigger priority right now! Until I get the internet back updates will be sparse - I still have my scanner and computer, but I lack any means of getting files online for anyone to actually see! (I don't have a CD burner and in all honesty never have so I have no idea how to even operate one.)

If you're waiting on a commission or trade from me and haven't heard back from me, that's the reason. I haven't forgotten any of you and I am still working on things. You guys have been remarkably patient so far and I really appreciate that. But you're going to have to wait a little longer. I haven't got much control over my current financial situation, though things are starting to look up.

Profound apologies for my tardiness, guys. I'm workin' on getting things set right. If you've recently sent me a note here on FA you should be seeing a response, and if you need to get in contact with me urgently please don't hesitate to either note me here or email me at gmail as martenthing.

Thanks again, and here's hoping I can be wasting my time online again soon! :3

I have to admit, I was pretty excited to see that  foxfeather was the first to reply to my last entry. She's long been one of my favorite artists, and she's a super-sweet person to boot. :3 In looking through her whole gallery I had a difficult time picking a certain piece I liked more than any other because they're all so appealing.

One of the coolest things about Foxfeather's gallery is the sheer variety of materials and media she makes use of. And she doesn't limit herself to 2D media, either: her masks are fantastic. It's really, really difficult to make a bird mask that looks natural, but she pulled it off more than once; her gryphon mask (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/115555/) has to be one of the best I've ever seen. Her craftsmanship and attention to detail are superb and her particular method of combining realism with stylization is one that I like a lot. It's difficult sometimes to have pieces fall comfortably between realism and stylized and achieve a good balance. Foxfeather does a good job of including just the right amount of detail and doesn't overburden her clean forms with texture. She's got a great grasp of anatomy, too.

If for some reason someone watching this journal ISN'T already watching Foxfeather, you should be. :3

Full for now guys, next time...!

Stolen from  pretzel:

The first ten people who comment - and have art of their own in their galleries - will be featured here along with my favourite piece by them.

Ready, go!

I got my art bin back! I'm able to start up on my commissions again. Finally! Those people who are waiting on icons: Give me just another little bit to ink and color. And thank you all very much for your patience.

Just a quick note to let people know I still am without a major chunk of my art supplies - the stuff I know how to use relatively well anyway. Commissions are temporarily halted until I get that stuff back, I'm sorry to say. I've been playing with different techniques and media in the meantime and nothing is working well enough to give me consistent results, and I want to give you guys what you paid for. I humbly apologize and ask for your patience. You've all been wonderfully understanding so far and I really appreciate that. :3

I've spoken to the person who has my art bin and it's going to be sent out this afternoon, barring disaster, so I should be able to ink and color my icon roughs Very Soon-like. So if you're one of the people who ordered an icon from me, keep your eyes peeled in the coming couple of weeks. They should be up soon.

Thanks again you guys!

A huge thank-you again to all who commissioned me at AFF last weekend in Spokane. Not only did I have tons of fun doing all your badges - and I really did! - you guys also kept food in me and allowed me to get home. I had a really fun time meeting and chatting with you all!
I do have a request of you: if you commissioned something from me and have access to a scanner, please would you scan it and send it to me at martenthing over at that G mail place? Thanks. :3

Tapping the collective knowledge base: do you have a gryphon character of an unusual or unnatural color? Do you know someone who does? Who? What color is the gryphon? I know of a handful, like  likeshine, but I need more options, in every color possible. It's for a project I've been working on off and on for years.

Oh and also too-! My art bin is in Seattle with  wickedsairah - or else is in transit between there and here. I left it at the con hotel and she kindly rescued it for me. So my commission progress on everything is temporarily halted. Until I can get than bin back I have no art supplies nor information for emailing/descriptions and such. Sorry for my lameness in forgetting! X3 I'll get it back sometime next week, I think, and progress will resume apace.

http://www.myfursona.com/user/Maui

Because I eat this stuff up.

AFF in Spokane this weekend - who's going?

I plan to be there all three days. Don't be afraid to come up and say hi!

Stolen from  jace

Your character's species: American pine marten/striped skunk
If your fursona/avatar was:

a general airborne species: ferruginous hawk
a general aquatic species: dolphin
a general invertebrate: a luminescent squid
an amphibian: rough-skinned newt
a bird: just a crow :)
a canine: husky
a caniform: red panda
a dinosaur: some kind of crested duckbill
a feliform carnivore (excluding felines): a Moroccan genet :D
a feline: puma
an insect/arachnid: Jerusalem cricket (which, indidentally, creep me the frick out)
a marsupial: gray kangaroo
a microoganism: euglena
a mythical species: dragon (though I have a gryphon character, dragons are more dear to my heart)
a primate: red-ruffed lemur (or a sifaka!)
a reptile: perente
a rodent or lagomorph: kangaroo rat
an ungulate: whitetail deer
a mammal in a group not listed above:

Try picking (at least) 3 of these choices and sketch them out, keeping your character recognizable. Then you can see what they look like as another species that you may not have considered before. The results may be surprising.

I suppose I should update this thing since my computer issues have been fixed for the nonce. (Thanks,  oce!)

I have a page laid out for the multiple icon requests I got and will begin sketching these out in the next week as time permits. I do still have one large real media piece that I'm working on that's taking up much of my time outside my (real) job. Once I can put that piece to bed I should be finishing up this queue and can then open up another one.

My question is, what if anything would you like to see me do? Sculpture, more drawing stuff, bottle cap magnets, sketch commissions, cut paper scenes, what? I love trying new media and techniques so if there's something in particular you'd like to see me try my hand at give me a shout! Challenge me. :)

Hope you all survived April Fool's Day unscathed.

So... Both my mouse and my video card have stopped working in the past week. We think, anyway. Monitor's fine but suddenly gets no signal, which means I can neither scan nor work on the digital stuff I have to do. And the mouse is just behaving really strangely when it decides it wants to work at all (and does this on my system and my BF's computer as well). I don't know how I'm going to replace either item, since I can't access my Paypal money yet as I haven't verified the account, and I can't do -that- until I open a new bank account which I need real money to do.

So hey, I guess if you maybe have an old mouse sitting around you're not using, or an old graphics/video card that you wouldn't mind giving away/trading for art/waiting until I can pay you via Paypal, note me or email me at martenthing [a] gmail [d] com and let me know. Any help at all is vastly appreciated, even kind words. <:)

My net access will be sporadic but I should be able to check up on things once or twice a week until I get my machine back up and running.

So yeah, Luna/Mel, I hope you see this; I'll try emailing you too. I can do your piece in real media and have it done faster, or if you'd like you can wait and have it done digitally.

Sorry about this, guys!

I'm housesitting for my mom for February, so my internet is sporadic. It's pushed back things with commissions a little bit, but things are pretty much on schedule. I just wanted to let everybody know, in case there's curiosity about how things are going. It's coming along, I'm working on it, but it might be a tad bit slower than it would have been otherwise. :3

Still, though, it shouldn't be too long, especially once I get my tablet back and can do digital stuff comfortably again!

I still have three icon or badge commission slots open! Icons are $10 and badges are $20. I am also open for more ambitious stuff, so please note me if you are interested in something other than an icon or badge. I probably will be too!

I have updated my journal footer with current commission and trade status. I will update this as is necessary or weekly, whichever takes less time in the grand scheme of things but still keeps you all updated on my general progress. Paid commissions get first priority and I do these in the order they come in. Second priority is trades, and these will be finished, in order, between commissions so that I actually have incentive to get them all done! ;3

Thank you all for your generous support and patronage!

(Also, I'm a quarter of a century old today. D:)

So I'm going to offer up five commission slots. These will be either icons or badges. Be aware that I have no means to print digital anything, so if you want something digital I won't be able to get you a hard copy myself - though I could send a hi-res, printable version of the file to you to print yourself!

These are going to be cheap! I'm asking $10 for icons and $20 for badges. My prices are negotiable to a degree and I am open to the concept of barter. :3

If you are interested, comment here and specify whether you'd like a badge or an icon. I will then note you for specifics and we can discuss payment. (Since I know payment methods can sometimes make or break whether you commission someone, I am open to Paypal and money orders at the moment.) Please also feel free to note me if you have any questions. :3

ReadySetGo!

1.  zenmouse [paid, finished]
2.  mekwonderworm
3.
4.
5.