Right now I have nothing better to do, and since my internet is super slow, for complicated reasons that are beyond my control, and my family is streaming stuff... My internet is five times slower. Literally. 21 Mbps to 4.3 Mbps. Even the 21 is miserable compared to what it used to be. xD;;

So, would anyone like to chat on Skype for a while? My Skype is eclipse--designs if so! Just send me a request with your username on FA in the request message thing. xD

This is just personal preference, but it you're going to send me a contact request on Skype, please include your FA username in with the message, or at least that you come from somewhere I have my Skype listed. :P It helps me not think I'm being contacted by total strangers.

Thank you!~

This awesome artist is doing a free art raffle! oOo 800 Watcher Raffle

What are you doing? GO! It's free art! xD

Can someone tell me how to scale down an icon without losing tons of quality? My new icon is at 300x300, and I need it to be 100x100 to work as an icon. ;;w;; When I scale it down, it looks like /shit/

Thank you!

Thanks,  Cross-Fox ;u;

I have a question regarding icons. o^o

How do people make them so well? Do you just make a piece like normal, in whatever scale is comfortable, and then scale it down, or...?

I've been wanting to draw a new icon for a while now. xD;; I'd like one with my sona on it. o3o One that looks pretty legitimate, and professional. I can never seem to make it work, however. xD I guess I just need to keep on trying, and eventually I'll have something I like. =w=

aNYWAYS

How have you all been? o3o Anything exciting happen recently? Anything worthy of talking about?

So, I've finally finished moving into my new house! :D I'll be getting my computer up and running sooner or later, but I'll be back to making art soon! ^.^ And then I just have to make a pricing guide, open up commissions and stuff like that, and see where I go from there.

Stay tuned for more. o3ob I have lots of art planned and coming up soon.

Welp. I need a to do list. o3o;; This is all the art that I have planned for the upcoming weeks. On another note, I'm moving this Thursday! So yeah. That's a thing. ouob So if I'm not active, that's why.

ANYWAYS, THINGS I NEED TO DO.

Personal Art:

-Reference Sheet for my female sona, Destiny
-More art of like, everything
-Pokemon things!

Gifts/Requests:

-Character design for a good real life friend of mine! (Don't worry, it's coming up soon on my list. :DD)
-(late) Birthday gift for a close friend of mine.
-Artwork of FrostyWolfen's cutie, Apollo!

OTHER THINGS:

-Move
-Make pricing guide for commissions
-Open up commissions
-Learn how to play euphonium better b/c drum corps.

Good guy Wacom, including ten new pen nibs when you get a tablet. \(o3o)/

Now I don't have to buy more, since I searched the interwebs on how to replace the nib on my tablet's pen. xD It was very very worn down, so sometimes if I had the pen at a weird angle it wouldn't touch the tablet. o3o;;

For those who don't know, when you buy a Wacom tablet (at the very least, this is true for the Wacom Intuos Pro tablet), hidden inside the pen holder are ten replacement nibs and a neat little thingy that you can remove from the holder to act as tweezers to pull the old nib out.

And they aren't even the same type of nib too, five of them are normal nibs, one of them is spring loaded, three are felt, and one is a weird flex nib, which is a long lasting nib, according to Wacom. o3o Kinda cool of Wacom to include a variety for you to try.

Here is a link to the page that I found this information on

;;u;; I am so bored right now. Any of you who have a 3DS and Pokemon ORAS or X/Y, hit me up so we can battle or something. Just leave your friend code below, and I'll add ya.

My FC is 5343 - 9616 - 5512. The Mii should be a guy with cat ears. o3o

https://www.furaffinity.net/user/akuva/

Go check out this artist's absolutely amazing art if you haven't already!! ^.^ Well deserving of a +watch.

So the Super Bowl is today, which is apparently a big deal or something, but I heard that The Academy was going to be performing for fans outside of the stadium!!

Many of you have no clue who The Academy are, or what they do, so let me edumacate you a little. xD

The Academy is a Drum Corps (pronounced 'Drum Core'), and they are based out of Arizona. A drum corps is basically like a very very very VERY good marching band that perform at a level higher than your average marching band, and it is one of the most under appreciated things you can do. It requires as much work as any other sport, many times more work and dedication than a lot of sports.

ESPN did a study a while back on one of the members of a drum corps' drumline, and this guys heart rate shot to 180 just from hearing the music being rehearsed while he was on the sideline, getting the vital reading equipment hooked up to him. When he actually went out there, his heart rate went over 200 bpm. And that's without a shirt on, in shorts and tennis shoes, not the stifling uniforms that you have to wear during a performance.

Marching is not just walking and playing an instrument, oh no. xD It is SO much more difficult than that. You have to squeeze every muscle from your core down while marching, but not at the same time, in very precise moments so you can re-step or change directions in less time than it takes to blink. While holding a chunk of metal in front of your face, or having a percussion instrument that weighs easily over ten pounds, up to sixty (!!) pounds with all of it's weight in front of you.

Whilst doing this, you have to keep your upper body relaxed enough so that you look NATURAL while doing this, and try not to let your upper body move around. If you do move around while playing your instrument, you get a terrible tone that's shakey and uneven, and you can easily tell when somebody is like that when you listen to the whole band play, because of the way sound works. Some corps don't even march the same as others, some do right foot step offs instead of left foot, some do high knee marching, it all varies. But you have to look EXACTLY the same as everybody else.

Not even the part where you have to simply run is easy or as simple as it looks. The running people do when normal marching just won't allow you to make it to your dot is called 'jazz running', and it requires skill and technique to pull of correctly. You have to do all of these things, while also cycling in between watching the drum major, listening to the drum line, dressing side to side to make sure you're still evenly spaced between the two people next to you, dressing to the front side line or the hashes to make sure you aren't too far forwards or backwards, etc...

Did I mention you're playing an instrument with more musicianship that most high school symphonic bands? That means constantly breathing and pushing air through your horn. The only time you can rest is when you aren't playing in the music. Since drum corps are only brass and percussion, that moment is during the percussion feature, or at other small moments. You have very few moments you can actually rest and catch your breath.

And don't even get me STARTED on the visuals, acting, and dancing you have to do. xD

Let me link a few videos so you can see what I mean. ouo

---

Cavaliers 2011 XtraordinarY Drum Break w/ Upside Down Drumline

Cavaliers 2011 XtraordinarY Closer

Carolina Crown 2014: Out of This World Practice Run Through

Bluecoats 2014: TILT Closer (This is so exciting you have to watch this. :D)

Santa Clara Vanguard 2014: Scheherazade: Words 2 Live By, Opening Hits (This is easily the loudest corps of 2014. Why? 24 Trombones. >:D TWENTY-FOUR. Before 2014, DCI corps weren't even allowed to have Trombones, French Horns, or concert Euphoniums. But they changed the rules this year, and damn did Santa Clara Vanguard take advantage of it. Turn your volume up to eleven and bask in the glory of a true wall of sound).

---

Understand now why drum corps are so exciting to watch? xD If you watched all of those videos, maybe save for the Carolina Crown one since that one is the full show, which is around 13 minutes long, you are instantly my friend. ouo If any of you want to talk drum corps, hit me up with a message!


TL; DR

DRUM CORPS IS AWESOME, WANNA KNOW WHY, CLICK THE LINKS ABOVE AND TURN YOUR VOLUME UP TO ELEVEN. =u= That is all.

Okay, I've been drawing the same thing all day, and it's kinda got me a little tired out. So I'm gonna take a break and write out a quick thing that I saw a bunch of other people do.

Here is a Mister's list of New Year's resolutions:

1. Become a much better artist.

I've always wanted to have somebody be willing to pay for something that I do, and with the materials to be able to finally draw digitally, I'm going to see if sometime during 2015, I can open up commissions! ^.^ I'm very much still a beginner though, so I can't promise anything.

2. Stay tanner than I usually am.

So during band camp I don't turn from total white boy to Mexican in two weeks. =w= That means going outside, which will tie into my next resolution.

3. Stay in shape, or get in better shape by gaining some muscle.

I'm 6'0" tall and I barely weigh 140 lbs. TTuTT I'm the skinniest thing ever. I'm going to need to gain some arm muscle if I ever want to march drum corps, so I should start as early as I can.

4. March a drum corps (pronounced 'drum core').

This has been a long term dream of mine, and I really want to fly out to Canton, Ohio to march with the Bluecoats. They're my favorite corp, and I would love to do it if I can work up the money. ;;u;; If not, Carolina Crown is literally right below where I am in NC, so I can always drive or take a train down there to march with them.

5. Become good enough of an artist to gain a slight bit of recognition from some of my absolute favorite artists.

This includes  Falvie,  AlectorFencer,  Fayleh,  Slushie-Nyappy-Paws, the list goes on and on and on and on forever. ouo There are so many amazing artists on here that I can't ever make a list with all of them on it... It would take too long. But yeah. A favorite or a comment complimenting my art... That would make my entire year. I look up to all these artists with an awe-inspired face, and to see somebody who is obviously better than me giving me an honest to god real compliment? I can't ask for anything more. <3

That's about it. I'll make sure I work very hard to achieve these goals, so let's see how far I get. o3o 'Til next time!~

So, for Christmas this year I got a brand new Wacom Intuos Pro tablet, and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 7! :D

That means that over the next few weeks and months, you can expect me to be practicing my digital art skills like crazy, and hopefully finally getting decent enough to produce some art worth a commission or something along those lines. I plan to do tons of sketch dumps and other progress related things, and eventually finally making a reference for my fursona, Blake. >w> Finally time to make his little fuzzy butt real.

Anyways, yeah. ouo Fun stuff. I can't wait to get started. >w<

Also, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did. o3o Feel free to tell me in the comments below what you got! ^.^

Am I even allowed to ask for stuff from people on here? :P Probably not, but whatever. Worth a shot. I'll definitely return the favor, if anybody partakes in my offers.

-Some art of my fursona. ^^; I've drawn him a bit, but I would like a solid picture that I can reference. It doesn't even have to be colored, I couldn't care less about whether it was colored or not. If anybody would like their fursona drawn by me, and would be interested in an art trade or something along those lines, I'd be happy to oblige! ^.^

-More furry friends. I barely have any of y'all to talk to, lol. ^^ It would be cool to talk to some of the awesome people on here. ouo

And other than a Datsun 240Z, that's all I can think of. xD;; If anybody would like a Christmas gift FROM me, just ask! :) I probably won't mind doing something.

Have a very merry Christmas!! =^.^=

So yeah. I've been pretty... Idk, inactive art wise? xD;; I've been ridiculously busy recently with band.

I woke up at 7:30am Saturday morning to help with my band's annual competition, Cary Band Day, then got back home at 1:00am Sunday morning. =w=;; Super super tired. We go to Grand Nationals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis a week from this upcoming Wednesday. :D Super excited, and we have a 9-10 hour bus ride to look forwards to! xD;;

Yeah. owo;; So I've got about two weeks until I'm back in commission for art. Look forwards to that! I may finally decide to get my shit together and finally create a reference sheet for my character, Blake.

So. Yeah. I don't know how to end journals. o3o;; Oops awkwardness.

owo I got a new icon made by my amazing friend, Starlight! ^.^ You can check out her awesome art here on her deviantART! http://xxstarlightxxenigmax.deviantart.com/

This one's a 3spooky5me pumpkin with class. It has a monocle, see? xD

First and foremost, allow me to apologize because I will more than likely not be producing any artwork this week, maybe not even next week. :/ I got home at around 1:40am today, and I have a Latin project to finish. If I have time and I feel up for it I will definitely attempt to make something work looking at. :) Competition season has officially started. I'll link you guys to the official video of our first competition once I can get a link to it.

Anyways, we went and competed at the Panther Creek Invitational last night, against a blood bath of other bands... Fort Mill, the best band in the Carolinas, Green Hope, whose Baritone line this year is ridiculously good, Cape Fear, who we just generally hate, and then us, the Cary Senior High School Marching Band. :P We didn't even place in our class, which is 4A. Green Hope got 3rd, Cape Fear 2nd, and Fort Mill 1st. We had a very good show, but a lot of it needs work. Certain areas aren't very clean, and need to be revised.

The bad thing about CHS marching band is that we have a drill writer and instructors that marched Cadets. Kelly Earp writes our drill, and he's led the Cadets to victory twice, and marched on their Mellophone line. Our band director was on the '87 Baritone line, and two of our instructors marched '05 and '08, both on the Contra line. Then we have somebody from CHS who marched Cadets 2014!

In short, they expect a hell of a lot from us, and write very very difficult drill. The brass doesn't go down to trails even once during the show, so we get tired out super quickly. Plus, most of our show is very fast, and isn't even at full tempo yet. We'll be better than Cape Fear and Green Hope eventually. :) Because eventually we'll clean it so much we'll just be spectacular. It's gonna be a good season.

Anyways, yeah. o-o Fun stuff.

Stolen from nobody because I need to gain some form of details for my fursona and this will help a bunch for developing a personality. TTuTT;;

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


OC Chosen: Blake

(Before I start I must explain, this character is one I have not introduced yet. If you would like to help me develop him, feel free to roleplay in the comments below. Then, if the roleplay becomes something of a long novel-like thing, we should exchange Skype handles or WhatsApp or Kik usernames or something quicker than comments. xD;; Yeah. So that hopefully explains a lot of the answers below. Enjoy!)

1. What is your name?

My name is Blake! (Title says it all. :3)

2. Do you know why you were named that?

Nope. owo;; I just was.

3. Single or taken?

Single!

4. Have any abilities or powers?

Uhhh no, not really. o^o;; I'm a cat, so I guess I can keep my balance and do some pretty crazy acrobatics stuff, but that's all.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue!

I'm a cat, what do you expect? :3

6. What's your eye color?

Bright teal-ish electric blue-ish kinda color.

7. How about hair color?

Dark gray, with bright teal highlights (This will probably change later, because I need to start to get a general idea of what works well with what, so yeah. Bear with me).

8. Have you any family members?

No, at least not that I'm aware of. *^*

9. Oh? How about pets?

Nope! owo;;

10. That's cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don't like.

Uhhh... Rude and ignorant people kinda annoy me. o^o And spiders. Ech.

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

I like to solve Rubik's cubes!

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

N-No... o^o That's very sudden of you to ask though.

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

I hope not! >.< But I haven't actually met anybody of this world yet, so I dunno if I can even classify myself as a citizen yet.

14. What kind of animal are you?

Feline! ^.^

15. Name your worst habits

Being lazy and sleeping whenever and wherever. =w=

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

I don't know anybody to look up to... I know literally zero people in this world.

17. Are you gay, straight, or bisexual?

Straight.

18. Do you go to school?

Nope! Not anymore.

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

No plans as of now, but maybe someday!

20. Do you have fangirls/fanboys?

Again, I don't have any recollection of even talking to one single person so far.

21. What are you most afraid of?

...Hmmm... That kinda puts me on the spot, you know? *squirms around a bit, thinking* I'm gonna say... Failing to meet the standards... I'm new here, and literally haven't been introduced or introduced myself, so yeah. o^o I dunno what to expect, so I guess you could also say I fear the unknown.

22. What do you usually wear?

Just a light t-shirt, some jeans and a hoodie. =w= The best outfit ever.

23. What's one food that tempts you?

Gotta say lasagna. ovo

24. Am I annoying you?

Mmm... Not annoying, but embarassing me a little bit. ^.^;;

25. Well, it's still not over!

Fine by me! :3

26. What class are you (low class, middle class, high class)?

Uhh.... Low class. o-o I live in an tiny apartment, and I don't have a very well paying job.

27. How many friends do you have?

...None... >.< As I said, I don't know anybody.

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

Love it! ouo

30. Favorite drink?

Orange Fanta, please. ovo

31. What's your favorite place?

My favorite place...? I have no idea, honestly, but I'll just say that my bed is. =w= As crappy as it is, I sleep there so yeah.

32. Are you interested in anyone~?

No... o//o Why do you ask? *rubs tail, embarassed*

33. That was a stupid question.

Mhmm! You know full well I don't even know anybody yet. >.>

34. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

Uhhh... How about I swim in a deep, rich bliss of dreams and blankets called my bed? ovo

35. What's your type?

Type...? I have no idea. o^o I don't judge people based on 'type'.

36. Any fetishes?

o//o A-A few... >//< But I can't say them here!!

37. Seme or uke?

Uke... >//<

38. Camping or indoors?

Indoors for me. o^o

39. Who are you gonna tag?

I have no idea... Four random people from my watch list, I guess. xD

I tag... These lovely people! ^.^

 Lunar-Epitaph
 hornyabsol
 SeniorPainis
And somebody else. TwT I dunno who though.

But yeah if you don't wanna do it then it's okay. owo;; I'm not gonna try to force you to do it or anything. And as I said, please don't hesitate to start a roleplay with him. Actually, I'll give you a stem to begin off of, okay? o^o Just like approach him or something.

--

Blake sat down on a park bench wearily, tired from another long day at work. He put an arm on the back of the old, worn down bench, his hand resting gently over the edge, as he quietly sipped a cheap soft drink he had bought, watching and listening to the hustling bustling sounds of the area around him. People talking on their cellphones, the anxious clicking of a business man/woman's hurried shoes against the sidewalk, and the birds and crickets chirping their beautiful song as a nice undertone to the organized chaos of the city. A light breeze rippled across him, his hair shifting slightly as the mysteriously warm wind swept across him, flipping a nearby candy wrapper into the street.

--

Yeah. o^o So I gave a setting and stuff, if that works for you to build on. His species might be changed later, maybe to Hyena or Husky or something. I honestly have no idea. But I would appreciate getting to know some of you guys a little better, and to get to know my own fursona better. =w=;; I would be your friend forever and ever, I promise.

TTwTT Growing ever so slowly, I see. Can't thank the people who favorite my junky traditional art enough though, seriously. I'm super glad what I think is decently cute goes over well with other people. I hope it seems like I have an eye for that kind of thing. owo Maybe. Idk.

Anyways, I was thinking maybe of asking for help with deciding what I should do pertaining to more art. I never seem to be able to think of a good combination of pokemon, but when somebody suggests something, it kinda... Clicks? Idk. I immediately start to visualize stuff, and scenes and placements of characters. So yeah. Idk. If I ever ask for help, just treat it like a request or something. In the meantime I'm going to also be working on building a basic understanding of how to draw furries properly! :D I can finally art my fursonas maybe possibly! I'll probably do a lot of drawings of Zorua, Zoroark, Buizel, Floatzel, and a few other more anthromorphic-like characters. Just to practice in general.

Yeah. So... Yeah. o3o

So uh yeah. I've been pretty inactive lately apart from a few comments here and there, and I haven't submitted anything in almost a month! D: I'm super sorry, but at the same time, I haven't had a lot of time.

I gave myself three days after I last submitted a thing to rest a little and think of new ideas, and during that time, I fell sick. D: Fever, chills, aches, headache, you guys all know the usual gist of what I'm talking about. That put me out until a day before band camp, where I got caught up in some other stuff.

On the second week of band camp, I got sick again, but this time with a sore throat. D: Just my luck, eh? It was probably because I went to pool night and picked up something there... I dunno. It was annoying as heck, and it hurt to play my instrument.

After that. I gave myself a few days to recover from the aches of band camp, only to remember I had three more practices, two summer ones (which only last for around two to three hours) and one long one (twelve to thirteen hours), which was yesterday. In between those days, I had stuff to do that I'd been meaning to get done for a long while, not to mention recuperating from one summer practice that just went horribly wrong.

For what felt like the longest practice ever (even though it was only around two and a half hours) I just got floored... My body refused to cooperate, I was short of breath, I couldn't sustain a note for more than six counts standing still, and my entire body was sweating more fluids than Niagra Falls. It was super weird, because fifteen minutes into the practice, I was fine, but then in the space of one minute, I felt like crap... I was probably dehydrated, because my water tasted severely of chemicals, and it probably would have done me more harm to drink it than to not. I survived only by getting some water from somebody else, even if it was only a mouthful.

After that, thankfully I was better, and it was pretty smooth sailing after that. :) I can't wait to tell you guys about this years' first competition! I'm super excited for our show this year. It's going to be amazing!

Anyways so that's my excuse for not uploading any art. o^o I'll try to be back on a schedule of uploading stuff on weekends, Mondays and Fridays. I have after school practice until 5:30 on Tuesdays through Thursdays, so I can't make a whole lot then, especially with having a challenging first semester this year. But I'll do my best! School starts tomorrow ;;w;; Save me. I feel for you guys that are already in school. I used to be in year round, so summer was three weeks.

So on to the next part, requests

I may be considering opening up a few request slots to draw Chibi Pokemon for a limited time. I won't draw furries yet, not until I have a lot more experience drawing them. I need to actually establish a good art style I'm happy with, and actually draw my own fursonas for once. If somebody would like to be amazing and help me develop my sonas and give me some pointers that would be amazing. TTwTT and you would be my friend forever and ever.

But just let me know if you would be interested in a request from me and I'll see what I can do. Just leave your suggestion of a Pokemon or up to three (3) Pokemon for me to do in one picture and I will see what I can do! Just don't rush me and I'll get it done eventually! ^.^ If you would like some sort of scene, just leave that too! :D

So yeah. owo;; This is a long journal.

Is there anybody who would be willing to help me with something I would like drawn? It's for marching band, our section t-shirt. I want it to be very clean and digitally rendered and stuff. I would like for our section's t-shirts to go down in history as one of the best in our bands' long history.

==Here are the details for anybody who might be interested!!==

-It's a very simple design that I've already drawn by hand, and I will either email a picture of it to you, or post it here on FA for you to download briefly (it would be in the scraps folder).

-I would like for the style of art to be in a minimalist-type style (flat colors, maybe very little accents for shading, etc...).

-I will provide you with color codes in the form of things like #ff0000 and things like that. However, depending on how the final result looks, I might have you later certain areas to make the shades and tints of colors darker and lighter respectively. I will need a final list of color codes so I can send that to the t-shirt company to print them, along with a copy of the drawing's file.



If anybody would be willing to draw if I commission you or know anybody who would, or would be super duper amazing and do it as a request, then leave a comment below!! ^.^ I would greatly appreciate it. Doing it for free would be preferred, but I am willing to pay if necessary.

I've got about an hour or two to kill, and I don't have anything to do, so I might as well ask. :P

If you would like to battle, I will please ask that you agree to the following!

-We will most likely be doing two single battle matches, one normal battle with no level restrictions (because I hate battling at lvl. 50), but we use our 'normal' team of pokemon, not the super duper powerful team that you more than likely have if you've beaten the game. :P The other one will be with no restrictions what so ever, no level restrictions or Pokemon restrictions.

-No voice chat. I would prefer communication in a different way other than voice chat. If you would like to instant message during the battle, and in between the battles, I have several options available, including Kik, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Oovoo, even emails of you so desire.

And that's really it, I guess. o3o So yeah. Let me know if you wanna battle and I'll send you my 3DS friend code.

Does anybody happen to have a shiny Eevee they'd be willing trade me on Pokemon Y? I don't care about EV's or IV's or levels. I just would like a shiny Eevee.

They're going on the GTS as "Level 1 Shiny Eevee" and they want a Rayquaza. .-. Or a Diancie, which hasn't even been released yet!

But yeah. owo;; If you have one, and would be willing trade, comment below and I'll send you my friend code.