(I'm serious about disturbing images. this is your last warning)

D:
i'm.
um.

let me put it this way.

I'm cough-vomiting, and just blew a piece of not-quite-digested teriyaki chicken out of my nose.

also my throat hurts.

but mostly wtf cough-nose-vomit.

ALRIGHT.
so we all know how many projects I have going. . .. . (too many)-

So I'm reevaluating my priorities a bit and deciding which ones I'll be focusing on-

1: homework (oh, surprise) this goes on par with trying to find a(nother) job and working on my outstanding commissions (which I am very slowly hammering away on, I assure you)
2: The River. (character design)
3: The River (layout)
4: The River (art)
5: Final Absolution (world building/characters/etc)
6: Final absolution (writing)
7: Final Absolution (art)

Number one should be fairly straightforward-

Now, the River should be something that at least rings a bell (if not, then these links might be of some use to you)

Final Absolution, though, may not be, in which case I urge you go here.

Now, Final Absolution is a joint project, originally between myself, Krizzle, Drew (a friend) and Nikki (another friend).

It was rather unceremoniously abandoned in early 2008, and I just recently got back into contact with Drew and we've been revamping the storyline, plot, characters and etc, just generally making the whole thing better all around, and getting rid of shit that made no sense/seemed cool at the time. This has been a fairly extensive process but we're finally to a point where we can start writing again.

The River is something that has a far shorter history, dating back to 2009 as opposed to 2007-
However, it is completely written, and all I have left to do is graphic- character design, art design, layout, etc. This is something that I can do largely off of the computer (and plan to. I would like to have the originals somewhere other than a hard drive) whereas Final Absolution is confined to Word for the time being. . . .

They will be overlapping each other, I think. I hope to make significant progress on Final Absolution by the end of the year (significant meaning "on chapter three") and to be done with the bulk of The River by then, as well-

I suppose that, in length, what I'm saying is "most of what you'll be seeing from me on this account will be beagles and humans until i'm done with the river" at which point I'll switch gears to Porta Custodis and you'll be back to seeing a lot of writing from me again.
On desertwindproductions You'll still be seeing my completed commissions and such, of course :3

Anyway. . On to character design. I've made a lot of important decisions over the last few months regarding The River-
Including the style of the book (this is a good example of hos the edges will fade into the paper; and i will be refining this technique for the main illustration)
I'm going out of my way to try for a toonier style (which I am taking forever to get the hang of) and am simultaneously redesigning the characters. I have a solid enough grip on what i want, I think, which is good. now it's just being able to draw them consistently, which i feel is my biggest downfall as an artist.

One of the other major changes is the charity to which partial profits from the sale of The River will be donated-

Most recently it's been The March of Dimes and the Seattle Children's Hospital- the first which funds research into preventing premature birth, the second which actually cared for Isabella during the worst part of her life.

I have decided that I will be cutting March of Dimes from the charity list, leaving only the hospital-
the reason is kind of convoluted and almost.. mean of me, but it comes down to this-
I am very much a Darwinist. Us circumventing death has not helped society as a whole, and will continue not to help it.
I include myself when I say this-
My mother and I should have died in childbirth.
I believe this wholeheartedly, and I thoroughly appreciate the fact that I am alive here today.
However I cannot really justify funding something that so fundamentally defies one of my most basic beliefs. (I have no issue with making donations in her name, but to use money from something I've put so much effort into.. somehow it seems wrong)

BUT KYLA. doesn't your Darwinism apply to the children's hospital, too?!

yes. yes it does.

BUT KYLA. then what's the difference?!

The Children's hospital does not, with its existence, completely contradict my basic beliefs
Kids in the hospital may have been affected with things not even remotely connected to basic natural selection.
Plus, they have already been given the gift of life- they've made it this far, and who am I to deny the kids a chance to live better?

yes, it is a little.. hypocritical, but there it is.

Anyway, if you've read this far, thank you :3 Hopefully I'll have something to show for it soon.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ht.....eniorsforsale/

When you get to the one about Audree Hopkins, that's my grandmother.

It's taken a LONG time, but there's finally a sort of investigation into this-

My grandmother's case is the one that sort of. . . brought it all out into the open, and at the time it was almost impossible to find cases that could be considered "related"

here we go, years later, and they're running a multi-day thing on abuse in family care homes.

(for the previous article on my grandmother, see here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/420764/

also, Please don't offer condolences. I don't know grandma Hopkins very well and she lives two states away. (plus she's a horrible person, though mom has come to forgive her for that, in some respect)

P.S.: everything that happened to Toni Malla was almost directly the result of my mother, who pushed the case the hardest, despite living two states away.

there is a fat cat sitting next to me (to my pleasant surprise) and Binty is in the next room sleeping. (or perhaps waking up? someone is moving, i dunno if it's him or mom)

I'm working on the server at the moment, getting it as cleaned up as possible before we get internet hooked up and my art site can finally go live.
It needs a keyboard, though. The wireless one is broken, so the server has stolen my primary tower's keyboard for the time being. (luckily neither tower really needs a keyboard all the time, but it's still a pain to have to move them around just so that i can type a word every now and again)

Yesterday was good. I worked eight hours, and one of the residents at a house I was working on were quite brilliant.
i got there and as I started to work, they asked-
"How long have you been a locksmith?"
"Dad's been in the business for about ten years- I've been officially for about a year and a half, now."
"Your dad's making you work on a Saturday?!"
"Mm, it's my birthday, too!" and then they were all mock offended and suggested that i make pops take me somewhere more expensive for dinner that night.
talkative, kind. . . ad some great kids, too. just..

<3!

and then i get home.. open a card... we go eat at my favorite pizza place <3

I've got 129 dollars in my wallet right now, which is most excellent-
as I owe  runningcat 60 and an additional 30 for a parking fine i accumulated last Wednesday- this is perfect because it means that I'm not set back when this next paycheck comes (which is good because it should be not-quite-a-hundred, which is not a lot at all)

Today we'll be unpacking the kitchen and tomorrow we'll be job hunting.

Huzzah!

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1697443/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1696304/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1697443/

So Shade bunny's trying to raise seventy bucks.. to cremate his cat.
Because of the way things worked out, he wasn't able to put sam to sleep, but would like to follow through with the rest of the plan- cremating his cat and spreading the ashes in an area that.. means something to the both of them.
While not a pressing need physically, it is one emotionally- and between 3 and 6 dollars each, his albums are cheap enough that. . .

well, they're worth buying if for no other reason than to help the guy out with putting his best friend to rest.

well it's not technically ranting.
but still.

anyway, sooooo. . . . .

the car battery seems to be okay for now- we had to jump it like every time we started the car yesterday, but I finally remembered to check the contacts on the battery and the red one looked like shit so we cleaned it off and hopefully that'll help a bit (seems to be so far)

but.
uh.

the brakes are slipping. while this is no surprise (they've been squealing since before we went to wales) it is now a -problem-. . .

it'll be okay for a bit longer, but i have to stop driving like a madman, which is very hard for me. (as a resident of California, it is my god given right to go 80 on I-5. and if you are ever in California, it is your right as well) plus i tend to take turns hard and stop harder. . . so it'll be. . . fun.

in the end dad will probably end up paying for it which, while not inconvenient, is not how i would prefer to handle it.

on the bright side, i worked 13 hours this week, so my paycheck should be between 130 and 169$ (i suspect in the 140/150 area) which.. is excellent.
since a third of that will be gas, and the rest will be rent, probably.

. . . yes.

anyway, i have some things to post eventually, but for now, roo needs sleep, then homework, then art she owes D:

Love youse guys~!

special ops marching band.

i may have finally found a system for making human faces that works! must test this some more and make sure~

also.

school started today.

am currently waiting for anthropology teacher to arrive.

aww yeahhhh guys.

dad has a charger i can use that.... actually also charges my laptop, so that's... 80 or so bucks i DON'T need to spend~!

thank you to those of ya who contributed though... i've got sketches for almost all of you ('cept twix and szorn) and i'll be keeping some slots open so that it rounds out to an even ten, so if you or anybody you know would like a five dollar commission, drop me a line.. if it looks like enough interest, i might make it my iron artist challenge, but we shall see =3


also, kriz and I will probably be getting a bunk bed <3!

been on planes and in airports and driving to and from said airports for a little over 24 hours.....
i has a tired.

but am home safe and sound and will probably post a journal about the trip back tomorrow over here because there are some things worth talking about.. and then after that there'll be a link up when pictures are posted and all those fine things.

also have  yaegashi's commission about half finished and  iedino's sketched out (it looks awesome, i think) but will not ave them for post for awhile. . . something's up with my laptop (aside from the power cord) that requires looking into, plus i'm moving (albeit just down the street) and school starts next week... plus work starting again wednesday and all that jazz.

. . .

anyway.

I'm goin' to bed now~!

Luffles!

occo

 taymonkey popped this idea to me.. HAD to accept, because i frikkin' love working with him-

SO, here it is- Tay sketches, I ink/color/shade.. Will be of this approximate quality or greater-
(notes:
this is the other collab i worked on with Tay
also it is marked mature and does contain diapers and implied poop.)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3853503/

Two characters and a background (additional characters can be negotiated, different shading can also be negotiated, and the latter won't add anything to the price unless you want something like full detail or lineless)

and I'm fairly certain just about anything goes (though i have a natural preference of staying away from fully visible bodily excrement of any kind)- if you're not sure if we'll do something, ask! it might take a bit to get back to you (cuz we have to parrot to each other ;3)

Ah, yes.. and this next bit is important. . .

there's ONE slot for this right now-
and it's 40$ USD

(also, the Five Dollar Thing is still going on, but it pales in comparison just because there's a distinct lack of monkey involved ;3 )
1:

(TL;DR?
ctrl+f #COMMISSIONS# to skip the essay)

Now....

My power cord is just about broken.

Why?

poor design, really, but we'll be trying to head it off when i purchase my next power cord. . .
(part of it's held together by some strange mixture of what i can only assume to be glue and a pen-cap like effect, and once that really began to expose the wires, the plastic around the red wire started to fray and the copper inside followed soon after due to bending)

either way, the wire itself is overheating now and while we can get a charge through, it's extremely difficult and sort of a hit-or-miss thing and it'll be dead quite soon...

i can live without my laptop (as can kriz) as we have a desktop at home...

now, here's the thing-

School is starting not next week, but the week after that, and the one computer alone doesn't get both of us through college. We're both taking more than the 15 credits (as i recall) and we both spend a lot of time working on either computer as it is, so being confined to one and expected to get anything done...

not gonna work-

and plus (because my backpack is tiny) i'm sort of stuck with using the laptop as a notetaker.

so yeah.
sort of important that i can charge the batteries.

Now.. i CAN get a temporary cord to use form dad, but since it's the wrong one (and Dell is baawtarded) it'll only power the computer, not charge the batteries.
hopefully you can see why that would be an issue
...

SO, the cord i'm looking for goes for about 65$ on the Dell website.
Now.
I am aware that i could find it cheaper.. but this is easier (both in terms of- I know its an actual company, and it takes paypal) and easy is VERY, VERY good right now.

SO!
because of this, I'm opening up TWENTY 5$ #COMMISSIONS#....
..
(yes, i know this brings me to 75$, but 20 is a round number, and 18 is not as round)

So...here's what you get.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2352092/

one character (a second is an additional five) with light shading, like the picture above.
alternatively, you can opt to let me experiment, in which case.. You'll probably be drawn using Colors for the DS.

1:  yaegashi [PAID] [25%]
2:  iedino [PAID] [sketched]
3: [PAID] [sketched]
4:  szorn [PAID]
5:  szorn [PAID]
6:  blacktigerfox [PAID] (i actually owe HER money)
7:
8:
9:
10:

(will add in more as we go.)

Anyhow... If you could pass this around, i'd be most grateful :3

Or otherwise support while they're in the works-
All information is provided to the best of my knowledge..
also, this list will tend to be furry centric, though is not intended to be furry specific- I'm mostly looking for FULL stories told by independent artists in some sort of animated form; between five minutes and feature length--

Now, this list, more than any OTHER list that you will see from me, will need as much passing around and recommendations as possible- because it's difficult to find cohesive stories put into animated form amongst the internet (with its mass amounts of lawlz and prawnz)-
comedy is fine, or course, but to help keep up the general integrity, there does definitely have to be a plot, and it cannot be entirely about sex-
after all, if we were looking for porn, we'd be using the search feature.
(it can be entirely porn if you look at it and it's really something worth passing around to people who may not be looking at it for the porn)

Big Buck Bunny
By: Project Peach
Status: On DVD (and bluray!)
Length; Just under Ten Minutes (9.56, including credits)
Rated: Suitable for all ages (mild cartoon violence)
Released: May 30, 2008
(copypasta'd from the vimeo post)
Big Buck Bunny tells the story of a giant rabbit with a heart bigger than himself. When one sunny day three rodents rudely harass him, something snaps... and the rabbit ain't no bunny anymore! In the typical cartoon tradition he prepares the nasty rodents a comical revenge.

Cataclysm;
by patrix
Status: Unfinished
Rated: Adult
ETA: None; official updates run from five and six months ago, but he posts to his main account sparingly enough to lead me to believe that this really IS his primary work at the moment.
Alright.. this one is worth keeping any eye on just because He's actually putting in the effort to try to render spooge with both liquid densities.... which takes forever in and of itself, and requires some commitment; and to me says that the final product will be worth watching, if not good, on at least a plot level-

Kajimba
By RedCartel
ETA: ???
Rating: R (strong adult language, alcohol use, creepy old women, etc)
(Taken from their About page)
Kajimba is a dry and dusty place way out in the middle of Australia, and when we say way out, we're talking a bloody long way from anywhere. Built right in the middle of all this nothing is the Kajimba hotel, and this is the story of all the folk within.
It's CG animated, and contains a plethora of talking, drunk animals. also a very, very old bartender woman-crocodile.
I've been through the previews (and the rest of the site) and it's looking damn solid. But there's no way in hell to tell when it'll be done.

Kaze: Ghost Warrior
by timothyalbee
Pilot
ETA: ???
Rating: PG-13
okay.. One guy, two computers, six months.
Now, a primary reason that this is on the list is because.. it's almost a requirement.
Aside from it being one of the better-known things to come out of furry, it is genuinely pretty good, albeit a bit rough around the edges and.. well.
Unfinished.
Production of the Feature-Length film was slated to begin in late 2009, and most sources say it is still in pre-production- as well, Timothy has the world and story entirely fleshed out (to the best of my knowledge) which means that, if anything with one person working on it has a shot at being finished. . .
ANYWAY! Even if the movie itself is never finished, the pilot episode is worth a watch!

Service Guarantees Wings
by Joshua Barney
ETA: ???
Rating: ???
(it takes place more or less in the JACK universe, and will center around two original characters, but include a fair number featured in the Webcomic)
I've read bits and pieces of the script.. and it's pretty good- as is the concept art that i've managed to come across. The most recent project update is form this year (always a good sign!) and he's go the world more or less completely fleshed out; now it's just a matter of self-motivation.
Still, though, worth giving him the support, since this is a big project that he's tackling more or less on his own.

Wolf
by Silver Sky Studios
ETA: ???
Rating: PG-13-ish (from what i can gather)
This one's been in the works for a very long time, and still cranks out updates every now and again, which leads me to believe that it'll actually be finished- They are accepting Applications for Animators and Animation Inkers at this moment, in case you've ever wanted to be involved in a project like this- for the experience or otherwise.
Now, on to what we know of the plot... this is a direct copy+paste from their website.
Wolf takes place in the late 1920's in a semi-fictional area of the Grand Teton Mountains in Wyoming. At this time period wolves were being hunted nearly into extinction in all of the lower 48 United States, a period sometimes called the "war on wolves". Our story takes place at the end of that "war", when wolf packs were becoming very scarce.

[if you read through this and offer useful information, I'll make you a free art- offer your comments on the journal, and if it's helpful, I'll send you a note asking for a character [up to three] and a theme- and if you could pass this around, i'd be eternally grateful)

trying to decide if I'm gonna keep her, or.. uh. what.
She was supposed to be among the more important characters- but so far I've been writing Aaron and Tyler, and forgetting to include Rayne- I'm in the process of scripting chapter 3 (still) and i don't want to write myself into a corner and have her be one of those useless generic sorts of characters....

but at the same time, i had originally intended -THREE- children to be important to the plot, and if i drop rayne, I'm left without a female in the bunch, which seems.. wrong, to me. but she's sort of turning into token girl-with-no-real-personality so i guess it'd be for the best to just not have her in, if at all... but still.

eh. I dunno. i'd just use trish, since i know her a bit better, but then both of Stephen's kids would end up dying (essentially) and given that i hadn't intended ANY of them to die in the first place (but ended up writing about Aaron and not including a fifth kid) he's already losing one.....

um.

it just occurred to me that that might not make sense to anybody with whom i haven't talked about this at length.

OKAY. Stephen is a gate-keeper; he guards the doors to Sheol for about six hours every night; There are four gate-keepers in total.... (one northeast, one northwest, one southeast, one southwest- Steve is the northwest one; Edward is is the southeast one, Branson is the southwest one [somehow. even though he's vaguely Russian in my head], and Randel is the northeast one.)
- anyway, four gatekeepers, and their job is to keep .. the gate. On the rare case that someone escapes from .. well.. hell, essentially- it's their job to keep them from getting past what i suppose would be limbo (usually scripted as "the second/middle cave/rn")

It's around Christmastime (for no particular reason) and within the last few days things have begun getting a little bit more.. tumultuous..
more things coming through, that is to say- and weaker, less cunning things, as well- things that otherwise might never have gotten to the gates, let alone through them.....
And then Edward and Randel disappear, for unspecified reasons.

now, where the kids come in was, in the original idea.. three of them- Stephen's students (His day job is teaching) ... die. And end up in the second cave; because they have a purpose to serve in sheol-
that is, of course, assisting in the unraveling mystery that seems to have become the underworld.
sort of.. an unfinished-business/destiny sort of shit-
this has morphed into a "kids are involved because they found something in a field" cliche, which is still better than a "destiny" cliche-

ANYWAY.
so Rayne.
What should i do with her?

(more info can be found through here, in case i stopped making sense; http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1215087/)

No, Seriously.

In a city where sodomy is almost a requirement, and babykilling is legal. . .
SODA HAS BEEN BANNED.

(i used as abrasive a choice of words as reasonable, just to point out how silly this shit is)

Love the surprise on this one =D


here's some more cool stuff after this link, as well; check it out!
http://www.cgcoach.com/beta/cgsa/winners.html

Xboxes don't cost $1500.

I can send you a copy of the itinerary, if you -really- want it.

also, krizzle never saw the money. if you're gonna spread rumours, at least spread them about the right person ;3

No, Really

The theme next year is "Down Under"-
So twix had an awesome idea.
Tribal body paint..

that's blacklight reactive.
And then also a party.

To help raise money for the event, she's doing UV or GLow-in-the-dark style badges for 5$, to help raise money to get some black lights to strew around the hotel room and such-

bring-your-own body paint is an option, but she's going to be purchasing some, as well-

go check out her journal for more information, and let her know what you think!

I love the Aristocats.

Disco Stick!

Part One
http://www.break.com/index/homeless.....ames-bond.html

Part Two
http://www.break.com/index/homeless.....nd-part-2.html

I'd embed them, but i can't seem to find them on youtube.

And then i saw the penis.

no pic in particular, just an observation on what appears to be the general state of FA

specfically this one.

first off, check out this fucking 'stache
http://preparefortraining.files.wor.....601d2-7815.jpg
it's usuallt curled at the tips, but i can't seem to find a pic of that.

second off, this series of tweets
" I liked the part in ToyStory3 when Buzz rips out Woody's stuffing yelling "you MADE me do this!" in a scene right out of 24. Cried buckets.:

"Best moment of ToyStory3: Mr. Potato Head is left behind to protect the island but that asshole Buzz melts his eyes and ears with his laser."

"ToyStory3 tearjerker: Jessie announces she's pregnant with Woody's child. But when she delivers it's all just cotton wadding. So sad."

" I was totally unprepared for the Schindlers List homage of TS3. The Raggedy Anne Doll in red against the B&W contrast will haunt me forever."

"When Jessie dies of Leukemia and Woody blames himself, Buzz's line "Love means never having to say you're sorry" got me. LoveToyStory3"

[edit: fixed the 'stache link]