So, I have a new printer, but it needs some food before she'll dance for me. Problem is, I'm flat broke right now, and I'm looking at about $200 for ink. I've seen it done before up here, so I guess this will be my first official callout for commissions!

So here's the deal: $25 gets you the illustration of your choice, in whatever form you might feel is appropriate for my style, and your character(s). I'm working out how to do my original watercolor/ pen/ ink traditional mode right now, and if that's what you want, than that can be what you get! Flat color, shaded, digital, or not… Its up to you! If you want to leave it up to me, that's cool as well…

For $25, you get a color study/ sketch to approve, and the finished illustration, digital or traditional. Traditional will be 8X10 approximately, based upon what format in which the illustration looks best.

You want the new "storybook" style I haven't posted yet? It's yours! $25!!! Free words! Or give me yours!…

So, I'm opening up 10 spots, available pretty much immediately. Xavie got his request in first, so he's at the top of the list, (actually, he's number 1 of 11), and the sketches start in the next few hours…

Well, the printer arrived. It isn't really up to doing anything much at the moment, being out of ink and all. The lights come on, and it is able to communicate, unfortunately, the message it communicates is thus: "I'm hungry, and some dumbass has stolen one of my cartridges!!!" That's right- the damn thing arrived with a pilfered cartridge!!! I mean, I'm expecting to replace spent cartridges, but leaving one out of an Epson, and then shipping it is… Well… Let's just say its pretty fucking BAD. The vendor seems to be receptive to my plight, and I was assured it wasn't SUPPOSED to have left their facility in that shape, but I'm still left with the fact that I now need to buy about $300- $500 worth of cartridges just to see if they managed to damage it by shipping it without a cartridge installed!!!

Anyways, on to other news: I bought a workshop building for my future endeavors. Its pretty big, bigger than any shop I've ever had to myself, anyways. Now, I just have to find a place to put the thing. I just hope I can get a yard big enough to house all this shit. Its just a matter of time till we have to move out of here, and the not knowing WHEN is a big pain in the ass. I can't afford a nice house like this one, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be trailer trash soon… But hey, I'll be Trailer Trash with a BITCHIN' WORKSHOP!!!

The plan is, currently- to buy my boss's crappy trailer on a smallish, but just big enough patch of land, and in a couple years, tear it down and put up the kind of house I want to live in. Not too big, not too small. Anyone who has watched The Adventures of the Little Koala will have seen the house I want to build… I'm planning on copying Roobear's house, right down to the round floor plan, and the Eucalyptus trees. Its smallish, but it'll be the house I've wanted to live in ever since I was 13. Of course, it will have the addition of a stereo room- can't deny my audiophile side. And the kitchen will be quite a bit bigger- I need to cook, and Mrs Koala's stove looked like it sucked pretty hard. Me, I'll have my WOLF.

I doubt I'll have a Gee Bee pylon racer tucked away in the hangar like Mrs. Koala, but the shop looks strikingly like the shed they had out back, and since I'm going to finish the ends myself, I just might paint the same big "A" on the door that they had on their "shed"… Maybe.

Well, currently awaiting the arrival of the new printer, and still have yet to find a safe place to put it when it arrives. Its show time (again), so everything is getting heated at work- I'll probably be pulling a couple late nights in the next couple weeks- maybe tomorrow, even.

Meanwhile, a big storm came through here on Thursday, and though it didn't quite reach us here, it certainly made a mess of the Sun and Fun Fly In up in Lakeland. They lost about 50 planes or so, many of which were hand built by their pilots. The news was all over the destruction, of course. So while I'm watching all of these guys picking up their shattered creations, for whatever reason I begin to think to myself: "That looks like FUN!!!" I mean, I've always wanted to fly a plane… Why not build one of my own!?

So… After the kayak is finished, it looks as if I'll be gathering the bits to build… Well, an airplane. More specifically, a Sailplane. I've already ordered a set of plans for one, only to find out before even receiving them that my fat otter ass literally wont fit inside the "design target weight" for the plane. That's always a bit of an insult… Something with a 44 foot wingspan won't actually FLY with me inside it. So, I either have to find a way to drop 50(!) pounds, or give up on building the Carbon Dragon. I certainly wouldn't be the first to have done so. At least the plans only cost me 10 bucks. I'll probably just build an R/C model off of them…

So, it looks like I will probably be building a Marske "Pioneer 2" Which is an awesome looking little flying wing (of course "little" meaning its rather short in length, it still has a 15 METER wingspan!) Its a neat plane, but its a pure sailplane- I'll have to see whether or not it will be possible to put an electric self launch system on it. Otherwise, they have to be towed behind a car, plane, or literally be winched into the sky on the end of a very long rope. After that, you are free to try and find whatever lift you can to stay aloft. I already build and fly the R/C sailplanes- I guess this is the next logical step…

So, my new workshop is going to be sized accordingly- it needs to be able to house all the bits necessary to build those huge wings! The funny thing is, the projected build time is only about twice what it took to build my kayak, so if I have managed THAT, I think I just may be able to do THIS… I can hardly wait. Now, I just need a 60 foot long shop…

Well, a little more work to do, and I can get going on some of my more traditional illustration. I've always been disappointed with the line work in my finished paintings- its something that I've had a problem with from day one. My fourth year Illustration professor pointed it out as well: My finished watercolors always lacked the really nice line quality of the layout sketches.

But I think I may have FINALLY found a solution: I bought a large format printer on Ebay yesterday, and as soon as I can scrape together the funds to have the monster (thing weighs about 150 lbs, on a pallet) shipped, I will (hopefully) be on my way to digital meets traditional media bliss. I've really enjoyed sketching in the digital domain, but I like coloring a whole lot more in the real world, at least for my book illustration…

Then, all I have to do is find someone who can fix my Epson scanner. :( Although, I suppose I could do it… Its got banding problems, big time; and I haven't got $2000 for a new one! I bought the printer used, because it cost about $3000 by itself two or three years ago!

Well, I'm fixin' to get back into the groove again here pretty soon, but I'm pretty sure there are going to have to be some major changes. For those of you who have enjoyed the couple stories I've put up here I'd like to thank you, and offer a bit of possible warning: i'm probably going to be clearing most (if not ALL) of what I've got up here out in the next week or so. I've enjoyed putting these illustrations up here, but I've come to the realization that I can and should be presenting FAR better quality artwork.

I will probably roll these into the new style I'm creating, but don't necessarily count on it. So if you like them, download them NOW, because they are probably going away for good after this. Thanks for being the springboard for some new directions and trials, everyone, and I have really enjoyed the comments.

I ask that no one repost any of these images, as its really important to me to have a clean start, and I don't need them muddying the water as they exist now. Until the retcon, enjoy them while you can…

Keep watching, and the new style starts soon!

I'm a pretty busy guy these days, and with the number of unfinished project piling up, its time for me to step back from the drawing table for a few days (or more) and finish some of the major ones up. The biggest one I've been working on, and by far the most time consuming, has been the sea kayak I've been building since March of 2009. I worked on it very little the first year, and part of the next… False starts, restarts, scrapping what I already had built, etc. When my dad took a turn for the worse early last year, I needed something to take my mind off of all that, and the kayak was a welcome diversion. My dad never did get to see it finished.

Now, I'm nearing the end of the whole process, and I'm ready to assemble the two painstakingly assembled halves of the boat- deck and hull. Over 800 hours so far- It contains just over 1/3 mile of 5/8 inch wide wood strips, most of which I hand milled from rough sawn lumber. The majority of the deck is made from the wood of a 150 year old cypress, that fell when hurricane Charley came through Florida a few years back. I guess its appropriate, given the name of the boat design: Cape Ann Storm. Its been a long, long road. I bought a paddle from one of the many talented paddle makers out there- I didn't feel like yet another project, and I wanted to know it would work. Being the unconventional type, I bought a Greenland style paddle. Its made from a single piece of red cedar, and its only about 3 1/4 inches wide in the middle of the flats. It looks like your paddling with a broomstick, or two cricket bats glued together at the handles!

Anyways, this otter is taking a week or so away from the computer, away from the desk, to finish his boat. Sometime next week, I'll slide into the tight cockpit, don my wallaby ear hat, and paddle off into the Gulf of Mexico. I'll glide through the mangrove tunnels, picking my way along the Cortez waterways, and at the end of the day, slip into the Mar Vista and enjoy some stone crab claws, beer, and more beer while I watch the sun go down to the strains of someone trying desperately to sound jut like Jimmy Buffet. Because its five O' clock somewhere, bitches…

When I pulled the name out of the air for the female character, Matilda, in my latest series, I hadn't really thought much about the fact that its a pretty Goddamn obvious name for a female kangaroo. Turns out, there are a LOT of Matilda drawings out there, and she even has her own TV show in Australia!

Not that I mind sharing a character name or anything, but… Will they? anyways, from the looks of things, the Matilda I've seen around is kind of a skank, hopping aboard her buddy Skippy's waiting genitalia whenever time permits… Not that I disagree with gratuitous sex, mind.

So… should I think of a different name?

Well, I've been keeping up relatively well with the dailies, and I know you all are probably anxious to see what happens next, but it looks like I'm going to lose the next couple of days. I have to fly out (early!!!) tomorrow morning to Newark to run a service call, and am going to lose pretty much the whole day, as well as tonight preparing for it. I'll be coming back late tomorrow night. If I have made anything in the meantime, I may be able to post early Friday, but I seriously doubt I'm going to be able make any kind of quality work after the day from Hell.

I just hope I don't end up getting stuck up there- like I did in Atlanta last month. This would suck even harder. Better make sure to bring the laptop AC adaptor again… If I can get the people to stop staring long enough, maybe I'll paint something on the plane in Painter for the current storyline.

Well, wish me luck… I'm going to try and get internet service this weekend, or sometime soon. I've been hooking rides on a couple networks around my neighborhood for a few months now, and finally hit a snag this morning when I was informed my IP had been copied, and was being used by another machine! I don't know exactly what that means for my security, but I'm pretty sure its not good! Anyways, I'm going to be looking for some High Speed, we'll see what I can get.

For those of you who have been asking for chat, this means I will soon be able to accommodate you, and it means I can maybe get my online art courses I've been wanting as well! I've missed being able to watch streaming video an' such…

So, with a fresh IP in hand, and new passwords, I'm heading back out. Right now I'm at work, and will likely be incommunicado for a day or two. Still going to try and upload my dailies, but I might not be able to answer any questions of comment in the meantime. So- I'm off… for now.

I'm going to try to post at least 1 new illustration a day from here on out… I haven't built up any kind of buffer for that, so we'll see how it works out. the whole idea is to keep myself drawing every day, something i have been neglecting to do for the most part. Forcing myself to come up with something has brought about some really great ideas- I never would have thought about putting my character in onesies, for instance!

Also, I've passed 5000 views! Of course, then I look at some of the others up here I'm watching with over 100,000… :p Oh well…

BTW, commissions are pretty much always open, so if you want something made, just PM me!

Stuck in Atlanta airport. Living off of beer and Krystal hamburgers. Could be worse… I think? Oh, well, here's a submission I drew on the airplane…

Well, its THAT time of the year again, and I'm being sent to Las Vegas for CES. I think this will be my eighth. Every year its pretty much the same: Look at all the tasty electronic bits, look at empty pockets= No tasty electronic bits. :( Oh, well. Next year will be different, yes? I pretty much just idea shop, anyways. I simply don't have $40K+ for a pair of horn speakers. That's why I'm going into the business of making some of the loudspeaker bits myself- I mean, why not? I build the amps already…

I just love Vegas, though. I'm hoping to hook up with the Wacom people this year, maybe get some swag- like baseball caps or tote bags. I coveted my friend's piece of the Berlin wall, encased in Acrylic, that she received at one of the design conferences. Sure, you could just go around and BUY one, but this one was especially awesome, because it held the following inscription (paraphrased to the best of my memory):

"This is a piece of the Berlin Wall. We present this to you in remembrance of the people who lived and died behind it, and as thanks to you, the artists, who helped bring it down."

I looked at it every time I visited their house. Sophomoric? A little. But what an amazingly powerful little trinket. Kind of makes my espresso mug collection pale in comparison.

One of the things I do to make ends meet is moonlight as a painter. A painter of small, pretty bits of metal. Well, I don't have a formal shop as such, I built my own spray booth for instance, so as far as professional EPA compliance… Not so much. Anyways, The EPA, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to further restrict the already heavily restricted low VOC clearcoats and paints that my customers demand for their finished goodies, and I was forced to find an alternative. As of Jan 1, I wont be able to buy paint that contains any solvent in it, and that includes clearcoats.

So, long story short, I am switching to a ZERO VOC UV light cured paint system. Cool paint- it polymerizes (hardens) in about 3 seconds under a UV lamp. But this monster lamp isn't like the BLB Blacklight bulbs you have hanging over your Pink Floyd poster in your dorm. This is a 1200 watt High Intensity Discharge broadband Xenon/Mercury arc lamp. The light it produces can actually blister paint right off of metal and scorch wood from six inches away. This evening was the first time I've used it for any length of time, and it looks as if my UV protection wasn't "adequate". I'm pretty sure I have Arc Burn… For those who don't know what that is, its basically a 3rd degree sunburn, but on your eyeballs!

I've TIG welded plenty, and never had so much as a sniff of it before, so I know how to protect myself from UV, but I usually have an auto darkening welding helmet, and apparently my regular painting visor isn't up to the task! It feels like sand in your eyes, but it doesn't go away! The worst part is, it takes HOURS for it to show up- you don't know its happening until much later… Wheeeeee!

Well, Mum and I are officially exchanging gifts for the holidays: I wrote the check for the copay on her eye surgery, and she's going to buy me a copy of Painter 11!… So lots of Painter stuff soon, probably after CES. I was suitably impressed with the demo I downloaded, and as that has expired now, I need my fix! After that, I think its time for some hard core study, and improve my digital technique quite a bit.

I'm still WAY better with traditional media, especially watercolor, but I like the instant editability of digital. My scanner took a crap a LONG time ago, and I haven't been able to find anyone to fix the poor thing. Too bad, cause it cost about $3000 when it was new… Now, its just serving as a safe place to store some Kissyfur and Goof Troop cels and drawings I bought at a con a few years back… Gotta get those suckers framed…

Ugh… Well, everything went pretty well, Christmas Day, anyway. I didn't have any money, so I had to pass on getting fulfilling my secret santa thing to you-know-who, but the Eve kinda' sucked. Made the decidedly foolish decision to take my demon car (BMW… :() to the grocery store on that cold night, wearing only pants and a t shirt ('cause, you know, driving the car), and ended up WALKING home 2 miles after pushing my car off the road.

So, now I'm sick. Made it through the day with my friends Mr. Tequila and Sir Rum, but I'm not doing so well right now…

Sleep now…

Well, its Christmas time again. That means late nights, loneliness, and all the various forms of self loathing that come with it. But despite it all, I still love Christmas. I used to enjoy sharing it. Now, its just me and Mum.

We never get invited to any parties anymore. I don't know why. Why do people avoid us when we are hurting? Its like we've become fucking pariahs. The foreclosed house is quiet, save the occasional cat fight, and the dog rushing in to join the fun. Everything is a mess. We miss our Dad.

In a delightfully fucked up cosmic twist, I got the name of my childhood abuser (is it abuse if it only happens once?) for secret Santa this year. Awesome. Maybe I'll return the diaper- used. I may have even had him before, I don't remember. Our relationship is actually just fine- you'll never see me broach THAT topic with him. He wouldn't remember anyway. Whenever we meet, we talk about his son- the one who liked to put underwear on his head (and pee on you, but thats another story), and fishing. We'll have a beer, and Turkey, and exchange gifts. It will be a "normal" day.

Hooray for Band-Aids.

Well, its official. This otter (or wallaby, depends on which user page you're on) is more than likely losing their home soon. My parents mortgaged this house out the wazoo over the past 10-12 years or so, and now its worth about 1/2 what it was 4 years ago. I knew this day would eventually come, but Mum wants me to tie myself to this albatross and stay here, even though I will still eventually lose the house when something happens to HER. It would take roughly 75% of my income, and all of hers to make the mortgage payment and keep the lights on.

Or, I can buy a new place for 1/3- 1/4 what we OWE on this 23 year old house, maybe get a new studio in the process, and be free and clear with just 1/4 of MY income alone, and Mum can enjoy living pretty much rent free at my new place. Which one makes sense? Our real estate attorney told Mum we'd be crazy to stay here. My sister is excited at the prospect of maybe getting us to move closer to her as she lives about 40 miles South of us, where the homes flow like fucking water, and builders are DESPERATE to get them off their hands for 1/4 the original listing price. I'll have the cash for a LARGE down payment in a few weeks, so why shouldn't I make an actual FUTURE? It sure would be nice to actually have a place that belongs to just me…

The furry fandom is a pretty diverse place. There are folks up here from all over the world, and though it would be time consuming for me to put up a survey (mostly because I don't know how), I'm sure there is, at the very least, a very large portion of the fandom consisting of Baby Furs. The thing is, with pretty much all the rest of the world shaking their fists at us, some of us will ask: Why do so many here feel the need to denigrate the Baby Furs?

I think part of the problem is they don't understand what drives us… At all. And I know for a fact that many perceive AB/DL as simply a sugar coating for pedos, like wolves in sheep's clothing. It doesn't help that we are adults, and the Baby Fur artists often do adult things with their decidedly child like characters. Personally, I don't support that, because it does nothing to improve our standing with the rest of our community.

It DEFINITELY does nothing to improve the standing of furs in general to the rest of the world!

And THAT may have more to do with the negative feelings than anything else, especially among the dominance crowd. But lets face it: The internet is pretty much just made for porn, right?

A few hours ago, I spent an inordinate period of time sparring with some douche who obviously didn't like the idea of someone creating artwork featuring young characters. I've also seen quite a few snubs to furs just looking to make some friends, because they are of the AB/DL persuasion.

I've got news for you, folks: Being normal is definitely NOT one of the fandom's attributes.

While I'm sure there are a few definite outliers in the group, I can say that Baby Furs are one of the more friendly of the fandom's peoples. But man, do we ever have a target painted on our (diapered) backsides! There are regions of the BF fandom that I do NOT enjoy, just as there are restaurants I don't enjoy. If you don't like playing at being a kid, fine. Stay outside the playpen.

I side strongly on the innocent and caring side. There are some furs who definitely do NOT.

For the most part, I have been lucky. The group has been good to me, and I have had but one Troll that I am aware of, who was fairly quickly snuffed by one of my watchers (Its good to know you have my back!) and the Admin.

If any of the cub haters is reading this, just remember how it feels when someone yanks YOUR tail. We are all part of the same group, we just have different desires. I don't expect you to completely understand mine, just as I have trouble understanding some of yours. I'm not particularly fond of being beaten, as my story pretty well illustrates; and maybe you're not particularly fond of sitting in a wet diaper. So be it. Just don't judge, especially if you don't know whats really going on. We LIKE the innocence of being Baby Furs. How does taking that away make you any better?

Every once in a while, things happen. Things that defy any kind of explanation, maybe even description. Fortunately for us, I happen to be a writer.

Four months ago, my father died.

We are not an unconventional family, nowadays, it seems more are going the way I have, and never really leaving home. In my case, I was simply the last one born. The seventh in my group. For the longest time, I have known its up to me to take care of my parents. Nothing I can do can keep them safe from the ravages of time. Dad was almost 93 this year, his last year. Mum and I have been experiencing a whole series of firsts.

Our first time back home, when we knew he was gone.

Sunrise the next morning.

The first time he wasn't there for his birthday.

The holidays.

Through the years, I have listened to others recount their experiences surrounding the death of loved ones. I've heard every kind of story imaginable. Tales of seeing them in dreams, talking to them, affirmations of every description.

What I experienced the other night was none of those things.

Imagine something, an event I could only describe as maddeningly terrifying. I only remember the end of whatever dream I was having.

Hands reached out of a rolling wall of smoke and flame, suspended just below my bedroom ceiling. Eyes glowing, fingers grasping, clawing at the air just inches above my paralyzed form lying in bed.

When I awoke, the room was full of what I can only describe as thick grey smoke. I thought for a moment that my house was on fire, but strangely, the smoke had no odor. I scrambled out of bed and turned on the light.

The smoke was still there! Over the next few moments, I watched it evaporate before my eyes. Actually, evaporate isn't the right word. It crawled! It literally crawled away, shrinking from the light, slipping away into the dark corners of my room, like a thin veil being pulled by an invisible hand. I stumbled out into the house, gasping as I collected my thoughts, trying to make some fucking sense of what I had just seen with my own eyes.

After a few more times peering back into the room and seeing nothing, I decided to go back to bed.

So, yeah. Time to build a fucking Proton Pack, I guess.

Its that time of year again, and though I seriously doubt I'll have the time to get the project done in time, I'm going to get going on my Willem Wallaby suit, probably this weekend. I guess his feet will be first, as I can wear them in a bit before Megacon or the other purely furry shows that happen after New Years. Despite the reservations regarding the hit to my perceived sanity by my immediate family, I'm going to go for it. I just look at making a full suit as another form of artistic expression.

I mean, what character designer out there doesn't want to see their creation come to (full sized) life? I was originally going to do an Ober suit, but Willem is going to be a lot of fun, I think. Gotta love that big macropod tail, and the long ears. I just hope I'm not sailing into a trainwreck…

While I haven't exactly stirred up a hornets nest with the subject, the current Ober Rivers storyline has received a number of comments. Specifically, comments related to the subject of whether or not spankings are an appropriate punishment for children.

The whole point of the current story is to illustrate not whether or not spankings are appropriate, but just how powerful the experience can be to a young child. The level of influence that traumas can have on a child's development is something I feel is VERY UNDERESTIMATED by the whole "spanking is good" crowd. I'm not suggesting that giving little Susie a quick swat on the backside the moment after you snatch her out of the path of an 18 wheeler is NOT a bad thing: You've established to her that she was in terrible danger, and you've reinforced that with a physical stimulus that gets her immediate attention. She will forever associate being in the road with a decidedly negative sensation.

This works up to a point. Right up to the point that the child's brain develops beyond the cry and poop phase, though, things change. Once reasoning kicks in, the whole spanking thing takes on a new dimension, and runs the danger of simply becoming violence. I've made a number of analogies about this whole thing to a few of my respondents, but I feel one of the last ones is the most appropriate in my mind…

Every time you walk up to your locked car, you are faced with a dilemma: Just how the Hell do I get inside that thing? Well, you could pick up a rock, and smash the window, thus gaining immediate and dramatic access- lots of noise, drama, car alarm wailing. Its all very exciting, and perhaps even makes you feel better on some level. You love your car, but you sure have had a shitty day at work, and the opportunity to vent certainly has positive effects.

But now you've got a fucking broken window, glass everywhere, and a car alarm that is going off. You could use the remote to turn it off, but that rock is laying right there at hand, so you begin bashing the shit out of the parts making the noise…

The other option, though it takes more time and thought on your part, is to reach into your pocket (or purse), take out the key, and open the fucking lock so you can get inside. No broken glass, no drama, no wailing car alarm. It may not be as satisfying, but having a window sure comes in handy when it rains.

So far, it looks as if everyone is enjoying the colored version of the comic/ book story here… I've been adding a few relevant pictures as I go… stuff that wasn't in the original series of roughs I posted a couple months ago. The story is about halfway finished now- the rest will go up as time permits, as always.

So many hijinks for our young heroes! Just for thrills, i'm going to introduce another player left out of the original sketches.

Well, not super f*cked up, though. If you are reading this, its possible that you have stumbled onto my user page by tailing one of the new illustrations in here. I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Don't read the current storyline if you are looking for all cute fuzzies. If you will be "somewhat" upset by the indiscretions suffered by little Ober, rest assured. But take heart: better times are ahead for our hero.

But for now: Welcome to the shitty formative episode that made me who I am today. Only the names and species have been changed from the cool grey reality that was my third year of life. Certainly not the best of times, no. But I don't know that I would have changed anything. If I did, I probably wouldn't be here.