Commissions still open: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6306073/


Is anyone else having problems with notes? Ive been expecting a few from people who have been very good about responding to me in short amounts of time, but I haven't gotten anything. Its really hard to tell when notes are down since there is no way to tell if there is a problem from both ends. I know the site isn't working like it should right now (seeing the administrator notice above), and I didn't see a few journals in my messages recently. But no one has said anything about notes.

If Im not getting notes simply because no one has replied, that's perfectly ok, I just don't want to come off as rude for not replying to a note.

So yeah, if you sent something to me in the last few days, I haven't received it. And if no one has sent one to me and Im just mistaking that for a system failure, please ignore this journal.

I need to open up for a few slots. My car's alternator is dead and my parents made it clear they are not going to help me pay for a new one. My Patreon income for this month gets me about half way there (I think, parts for my car are expensive so Im really hoping the $130 I saw on the internet is the right price). It would be over $600 for a mechanic to do it, and about 5/6 of that cost is labor since you have to remove the radiator to replace the alternator in my car. So yeah, this is a DIY job (so someone get the aspirin ready).


Commission options:

All are single images only, no long series commissions. No OC's either (unless you choose the sketchy headshot option).

My full list of commissions and examples is here: http://sta.sh/21kqm94t5gy7
You can add or remove different options which will alter the price.

I accept Paypal only.


Turnaround time: I hope these will be short. There may be a delay in the beginning of this month because this is my last few weeks of this semester, so Im expecting a good pile of homework. If they do not get done in the beginning of December, I will get them all done by the end of December during the break.

For the few others who I still owe commissions to, I will still be working on those. I have a tendency to jump around between projects, so all of them will get done in time.


Slots:
1:  Bowolf12 done
2: Sithman91
3:  Ilbv
4:  Bruyaglovae
5:
6: (sketchy headshot only)
7: (sketchy headshot only)

Im currently trying to sell two Oldsmobile Auroras. The first one, a silver 1999, was in an accident and is no longer drivable. The second is a blue 1997 and needs some restoring. Both cars have roughly 120,000 miles on them.

When I bought the 97, the idea was to take parts from the 99 to fix it. It was working; I replaced the alternator, radiator, battery, and a few switches. But then school came by and I no longer had time to work on them. The 99 still has a lot of valuable parts, I just don't have time to take it apart.

The 97 can drive, but it needs shocks, brakes, and the traction control needs to be looked at. Some of the electrics on the driver's door don't work. Ive been trying to find a solution to that. The interior is very clean blue leather (no rips) and there are no dents on the outside. The Bose stereo in both cars still work.

They're great cars. I actually went out and bought my third Aurora which Im driving now. Id love to keep my smashed silver one for parts, but I'd hate to watch it rot and rust. Im hoping to sell it with the blue one so whoever buys it gets enough parts to complete a car.

Im asking $2500 for both. If you are seriously interested, send me a note and Ill link you to my craigslist post (which has pictures).

Welp, I wont be getting a breather for a while I'd say.

Its actually not homework this time. Sure, I did get some tricky homework that will probably take the whole week to figure out, but its not what's taking up my time...

Its art!

What happened was someone asked for a request from my non vore/underappreciated account. Since I hadn't posted anything for that account for like a month, I said yes and did it. I was very happy with the results, and it got some art out of me.
Of course I then get a flood of people wanting one for themselves. I finished my second request today and within minutes had 3 people asking for one.

I don't plan on accepting all of them, mostly because each of them have failed to read my request rules and are asking for things that Im not offering.

I was hoping the few requests would bring out someone willing to buy a commission or do a trade. That didn't work...

So my to do list for this week looks something like this:

Gotta finish (or get much closer to finishing) an image for a trade.
Start posting pieces of a completed commission.
Gargoyle hound image.
Start on my part of a trade for my other account.


Ok, Im going to try focusing on those items this week, everything else is on hold.

I honestly would rather have this problem than others, but still, its been taking a lot out of me.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment.....ry?id=26727681

Saw this today as a top news story. Something tells me this isn't going to end well for one of the two parties.

Sure, the guy says he has a snake proof suit, and he knows to go head first. But what about an exit strategy? I don't think the snake is going to cooperate when he says, "Ok cut! Now spit me out please..."

The bulge will be nice to see though :3

And so little time.

Here's my list (at least, what I remember off the top of my head) of things I am, or want, to do:

Creature's list - Gargoyle hound - scene building
Creature's list - hydra - planning
3 macro scenes - 1 in postwork, 2 in building
Comedic Dravec - building
Commission 1 - post work
Commission 2 - building
Story - so many words...
Dravec wyvern reference sheet - needs uploading
Dravec feral ref sheet - not started
Vavira scene - building
At least 1 render for my other account - planning
New Creature - still playing, ideas forming
stomach internal scene - building
Modelling - neat highway/overpass idea - planning
Modelling - an interior room - planning
I need some icons for my gallery folders...
Trade at FA - building

:faint:

And that's not all folks!
Sunset Overdrive - needs playing
Homework - bllllaaaaaaaahhhhhh
Gotta find a car
Gotta sell my cars


And this is just what I remember...
I think I prefer this problem to a blank list though.

One idea I had was to do some simple art trades once all this (or a chunk of this) is done. I recently completed an art trade for my other account, and it came out good and I had fun. I figured some simple art trades might be a good break from big projects. What do I mean by simple? Like Ill do a predator, with or without various bulges, and no background; and you make an icon for me. Or I make you a scene with 2 characters in a complex background and you draw my a sketchy headshot/bust. I want the trade to be comparable, so if you want something small, Ill ask for something small too.

Would anyone be interested in a trade of sorts (maybe in like December XD)?

I have to admit something: things are tough for me.

The car I bought after the accident has become more of a chore to fix than the smashed one. I almost feel like I could have repaired the smashed one with the same amount of time/money as Ive spent on this "new" car.

My grades have not been great. Im one of those students who doesn't like B's, its all A's or nothing for me. I have a C in my AI class, and I am really, really doubting I can get that up to a B. My other classes have low A's and high B's, but that freaking C, which is not technically a bad grade, has been discouraging me for a week now.

The vore pack, which is still coming, has not been very smooth. The renders didn't come out like I had hoped. I have more than I thought Id have, but the quality is lacking to me. Its stuck in post work, and I have don't nothing but stare at the images for the last hour.

The worst part is, and Im sure Ive said this before somewhere, Ill be moving soon. Im expecting to move within the next few months. To make a long story short; been there, done that, hate it. My biggest concern is I may lose my privacy in my room. Right now, I have the entire second floor to myself which leaves plenty of privacy to create all my wonderful vore stuff. In a new house, I will not have this feature. Ill obviously figure something out, I don't want to disappear just because I get a different room. But for a time I may disappear because I lack an internet connection.

So all this has created quite the stress load. Ive managed to hide it pretty well because Ive been on a creative streak. I didn't want my bad day to ruin my momentum, and in some ways creating all this art (most of which is a commission, which is why you guys haven't really seen anything) was a good way to distract myself from life. But I feel like my creative mood is starting to slow down. My other account has pretty much gone silent because of this, and I don't want that to happen here. Im making a ref sheet for Dravec, since he doesn't have one, in hopes of reviving myself. I do still plan on doing all those creatures on the 'got to use soon' list too. I just have to get over this hill that has no visible peak.

Thought Id give a bit of a warning; I may be slower and more quiet than usual for who knows how long.

Previous Journal still in effect! http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6177966/

Also, Im gonna throw in a few votes myself. I would like to see Dave and Dan, Tetradactylus, and a macro predator in my near-future art stuff. This makes my list look something like this:

Creatures I gotta use soon:
1. Gargoyle hound
2. Aquadon
3. Sandworm
4. Horse
5. Biguana
6. Hydra
7. Dave and Dan (prey)
8. Macro something
9. Tetradactylus ( http://pwrof3d.deviantart.com/galle...../Tetradactylus )
10... comment to add!


Next up: New Vore Pack.

To help promote my Patreon page, I am currently creating my first pay-to-view vore pack. Everyone will get to see the main image, that will be posted everywhere. If you are donating $10 or more on Patreon, you will get to see the full pack which includes 3 prey POV shots and at least 2 other camera angles.
For those who do not want to donate to Patreon but still want to see the vore pack, Ill open up for $10 paypal donations when it is done.
Have any ideas/requests for vore packs? Let me know!

Finally: a future big project...
I wont release too many details yet, mostly because I haven't really started on it, but Im curious to know: who is running Windows 8 or 8.1? Im trying something new, but it looks like I can only export what I create as a Windows 8 app.

Ok, so my ToDo list is growing quite large. Here's what I can remember off the top of my head:

Commissions for 3 people (one at DA, 2 here), one is nearing completion in terms of rendering, the others are in scene building. There is also still one person on the waiting list.
1 trade here at FA. The trade is in a character building stage.
Homework, that's a guarantee.

Once I can plow through these, Ill be quite happy to get back to doing personal art. I know I do a lot of it, but there is a certain amount of pressure when doing commissions, and it is a relief when that is gone.

Id like to use some creatures that I don't use enough or haven't used much at all. Ive already got a few votes for more gargoyle hound, so he's first. Take a look through my gallery, and if you see a creature that hasn't had a human for dinner recently, tell me and Ill include him/her in my next few personal art pieces.

Creatures I gotta use soon:
1. Gargoyle hound
2. Aquadon
3. Sandworm
4. Horse
5. Biguana
6. Hydra
7....

If I got a Patreon account, would you subscribe?

Simple yes or no answer is all I need, but if you want to provide a reason it would help me out.
Don't be afraid to reply with a 'no', it is really difficult to offend me/hurt my feelings. :)

If you vote yes, what sorts of special content or bonuses could I provide to make it worthwhile? Ive seen some artists give their subscribers first dibs on commission slots, free art, and raffle entries. Right now, Ive only come up with exclusive content as a bonus for anyone who subscribes. Another idea was to regularly feature my top donators in my art; so if I need someone to fill a pred or prey slot, I could select from other people's characters. Im not sure how well this last one would work, considering I have been unable to make half of the characters that people send to me.

If you answered no, then is there some special bonus I could have that might change your mine? Course, if you're broke like me, then there is obviously nothing I can do. Or if you hate my guts for even considering charging money for art, well I cant help that either. But if you have an idea as well, feel free to share it.


As a side note: Ive said it before, and Ill say it again; I promise I wont make everything pay-to-view. I will still post art at FA and DA like normal.

I went to my AI class and worked a little more on my final project. I have a little more information for those that are helping me. Ive received a lot of responses, which have all been helpful.



Deck list: http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/ma.....ily/arcana/673

(by the way, read the Dragon's intro. I just noticed quite a bit of vore involved in it)

We will only use the cards in this deck list. The game will always be white against red.



So my program has to follow some rules that my partner and I give it. These rules will determine what the program wants us to do. An easy example of a rule would be, "At the beginning of each turn, place a mountain". We also have to come up with rules about which mountains to tap when playing a card. We can create rules that are card specific too, for example, "Use Ghostfire on cards with the trait 'protection from red'".



Ive noticed a few things about each deck. First off, every single game that I have played or watched, the knights have won. The dragons have some heavy hitters, but they cost a lot of mana. Knights cost less, so they can get a lot of creatures on the field at once. Some strategies I noted for the red deck were things like get the dragon claw out early so the red deck could gain some health, or use an armillary sphere to gain extra lands. The red deck would also use a lot more instants. The white deck just needed a few creatures on the battlefield with extra abilities to boost each other.



Looking at the decks, do you guys see any opportunities? How about any cards that I should worry about? If there is a card that needs to be removed asap, what card(s) could or should be used? If you need more info or have a question, comment or note me.

By the way, since this is a final project, I have until december to work on it.





Next up: Patreon. It sounds pretty cool. Basically, you would subscribe to my art by making donations.

Now Im sure the idea of paying to see my art is discouraging. I have no intention of making all my uploads 'pay to view'. It would simply be a way to support me.

I would plan on setting up a Patreon account as a 'by project' donation, where Patreon would only charge you when I upload a piece. It would not be a monthly subscription because there are some months where I am not very active. I would post clean art only to Patreon, and I thought about Patreon-only specials, where an image would only be posted, and therefore seen, by subscribers. Subscribers could also be entered into raffles or get other exclusives from me.

From what I understand, you would choose how much you would like to donate per upload. You can set a limit each month so if I started posting a lot, you would stop being charged once your limit was reached. Basically, if you wanted to donate $5 per image and set a limit at $15, you would be charged $5 for the first 3 uploads, and then nothing for the last one since it went over your limit. There would not be a donation minimum (unless the website has one, which I don't think it does). Only want to donate a dollar a month? Sounds good to me.

I think I would be uploading 3 to 4 images a month to Patreon. I would try to make one of those uploads free (yes, I can actually do that), as a thank you to anyone who subscribes.

My only worry is taxes. In order for this to be 100% legal, I need to put this as income on taxes. The problem is Im still under my parents roof, and they file all their taxes with a financial guy. If I go to my parents and say Ive been making extra money through art, they'll want to see what I do, and a gallery full of vore art is not something Im ready to share with them. And my other account is not nearly popular enough to use it as an excuse. I want to do this, but I want to do it legally.

If I managed to get a Patreon account, would you subscribe? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Its an odd question, but trust me the reason behind it is even weirder: its for a final project in college...

Im taking an Artificial Intelligence class. The final project is to build a program that will tell you your next move in a game of Magic the Gathering (MtG). Programs will face off against each other, and your final grade depends on the complexity of the program and how many wins you get.

I have 2 problems: the program is done in C#, which I know nothing about. Im taking the intro course at the same time, so I have to learn C# and write a program at the same time.
The other issue is Ive never played MtG ever.

Ive somewhat solved problem 1, Im in a group with one other person who actually knows his C# stuff. However, he hasn't played MtG either. So we're pretty clueless on how to start.

But you guys can help me. If you have ever played the game, you have more experience than me, so I could learn a thing or two.

Basically everyone will use one of two decks: Knights or Dragons. We have to code for both decks. The program should have a bunch of rules or methods it will follow to help it make decisions based on the current board. The program will tell you everything: when to place creatures, mountains, instants, etc. It has to tell you when to attack and with what creatures. If the program does something that isn't possible or against the rules, the player loses their next turn.

So what are some of your strategies? When __________ happens, what do you do? Are there any tricks you know, or things I should look out for? I wont need programming help, I just need some methods/rules to follow.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I didn't get enough responses for speed commissions. So Im not going to be offering those, and will simply keep my money belt tight for the next few months.

However, Ive been trying out a new program called Sculptris, and I think this will open up some new possibilities for art and commissions. I may be able to add more customizable morphs to my models. Instead of sculpting a character from scratch, I can change the shape of a daz model. So far, Ive only got the daz dragon 3 to work. I hardly have an idea of what Im doing, it'll take me a while to figure the process out. Maybe I could someday sell the morphs I make.


Right now I have 2 large commissions to complete and 1 person on the waiting list. Due to school, I will not be taking anymore until all of these are done.

Future commissions will be single images only. I have felt my quality in series/comic commissions has been lacking. It also kills me to learn a new trick in lighting or something, but I cant use it in the series because it would be a noticeable difference between panels.
Since they would be single images, I hope to do more OC's, or at least make them an option. I want to be able to accept any commission that comes my way.

Prices are in question. I wont update those until Im ready to open again. I'll also need to run some tests to see how much work goes into sculpting a custom shape.

Im strapped for cash. The car accident has wiped my bank clean. Ive cut back as much as I could; no more buying 3D models, and I took Halo 5, Call of Duty, and Destiny off my wish list.

But my computer's antivirus is about to expire, and my tank is nearly empty. Things at the family business have gotten much, much worse, so Im pretty much out of a job at this point. With school started, my schedule is tight too.

So Ive been considering different commissions. Simple stuff that might ease some of this off. A few things I came up with were Speed Renders and CYOP (Choose your own palette).

Choose your own palette will appear sometime in the future. Its basically I auction off a blank white character, and you pick its markings and colors. While I think this will be fun, it will require a bit of setup, and painting markings on a 3D texture can be quite difficult.

Im liking the idea of speed renders. Basically they would be single image stuff (like I had before), only I would only spend about an hour on them as a break from homework. An hour might not sound like long, but that is enough for me to put together a pretty good scene. Rendering would not count, I can render an image while I work on homework or play a game.

See my DA journal for examples of what I can do in an hour: http://pwrof3d.deviantart.com/journ.....ions-480431097

Interested? Thoughts or concerns?

Just a bit of an update on everything...

The new car needed a new alternator after it died on me. It now has a new alternator and radiator, thanks to my old car. Why swap the radiator too when just the alternator was bad? In my car, you had to remove the radiator and disconnect the power steering hose just to reach the alternator. With those swapped Ive been able to run the car more regularly. Of course, there is still a strange rumble from the front right tire, and the check engine light just came on, plus there is a lot of little bits here and there that need attention (mostly electronics). So its no where near fully fixed.

The laptop is becoming unreliable. Its been slow to start and sometimes it cant get past the lock screen. Its still functions, but I don't think Im going to trust it at school next week. Im looking at getting a windows 8 tablet. My plan is to use the tablet at school. Then when I get home I can easily open any files I started on my computer. Hopefully after this crazy house move we'll have some money, so Im hoping to then get a powerful tower computer. The tablet would go with me to school, the tower would stay home and handle the intense stuff (like renders), and the laptop will go to my parents.
I have not yet decided on the tower (since its still a longshot). I know it needs a heavy duty graphics card and a bunch of RAM. I have several picks for the tablet, my top one being a Lenovo Miix 2 10. No guarantees, I tend to change my mind a lot, but for the price its actually a nice device.

School starts next week. Lots of programming classes. The winter semester will have some 3D classes :D (which is why I will need the bigger tower computer).

I have to move houses, which really stinks. House hunting is fun and no fun. Though I keep trying to pretend its not happening. That is going to catch up...

Work has been horrible. I dread walking in there. I probably wont be there often after school starts though. You guys probably remember what happened last time I tried doing homework during a quiet period... With all those coding classes, Im sure Ill get lots of homework. And if I have to choose between work and school work, school work will win.

I really need to comment more. I get so many yet I reply to so few. I see it as a problem, but my shy attitude is getting in the way.

I have a new short story started. Its about 2/3 finished. Its a little different than my last few stories. I can say it takes place in your typical medieval village with your typical adventurer looking for treasure. No idea when it will be finished, and one thing Ive stumbled on is if I want to make an image for it. I plan on completing it in my downtime.

I think Im frying my computer with all these renders. It crashed last night and all of my programs were wiped off in a system restore (the files are still there though).

Its working for now, but it lost a few updates and a few of my programs wont reinstall for some reason. Im still missing my big 3D programs Vue and Lightwave. Neither of them will install again.

I may be a bit quiet for a while as I get this sorted out.

The good news is I may have found a replacement car. Its the same make and model as the previous one, so that means I can take parts off the smashed one and put it on the new one.

The bad news is it will cost nearly all of the money in my bank account. Ill be lucky if I have $200 left. I really don't like the idea of spending every last dime, but its sadly necessary.



The thought: recently, my friend akaikosh opened up a new account to separate vore from non vore art. I thought about doing something similar. Many people have a separate account for adult and clean works, and that is what Ive been considering.

Basically, it would be an account for adult themed or mature stuff. Nude versions, hard vore, and any other mature themed works would go to the 'adult' account, while the normal stuff when here.

Ive thought about this for a while, but haven't jumped on the idea for a few reasons:

1. I don't do a lot of 'adult' themed images in the first place. Its not like ever other upload has a mature tag on it. If anything, I still prefer the clean stuff. Only occasionally do I have a nude subject in the image, and its even more rare to see hard vore from me. I don't believe sex and vore mix well, so I would never post anything like that. If that's the case, then I really don't have a lot of content to put there.

2. The mature tag does its job. If you don't want to see it, then adjust a setting and all the adult stuff vanishes. The mature tag does its job well, but it has some variances. There are a few images that I think need an adult tag, while others may think it only needs a mature tag. Or I don't thing it needs a tag at all, while others want one on. Every person has a different view on what classifies as general, mature, and adult, and that's something that is pushing me to open an adult account.

3. Managing multiple accounts is hard. I already manage 5 total accounts: 2 on Deviantart, 2 on furaffinity, and 1 on Weasyl (for those who are curious, 3 of those accounts belong to my non vore account. PWRof3D only exists on DA and FA). While the adult account would only reside on FA, it still adds another account to check and upload to. I already feel horrible about creating a bunch of stuff for one account and leaving the other unattended.


The idea came to me because not everyone likes the adult themed stuff. I don't watch several very good artists because I don't like the amount of adult content.

Its just something that's come to me. If you have any thoughts on this, drop a comment.

I was just in a pretty bad accident. Bad enough to where the air bags deployed. My car is basically totaled and insurance isn't going to cover it.

The good news, thank God, is I was hurt the most; just a scratch on the arms, probably from the airbag itself. Everyone else, including the poor kid sitting in my back right seat where the other car actually hit, was completely fine. Everyone walked away. My sister is shaken up quite a bit, being her first accident. Im not too shaken, I was more shaken up after I hit a deer a while back.

The real problem starts now though: I don't have a car or the money for a new one. This really couldn't have happened at a worse time. College is fast approaching, and I have to find a couple thousand dollars for that. We now only have 1 car between the 4 people in my family. I believe this is going to ruin us.



Buy American steel, kids. That probably just saved 3 people today.

Turns out after I left, things got a little weird down at the business. Things are still at a delicate balance. Im back to working my crappy job until I find a new one. I still plan on going somewhere else, but for now they want me down there.
I tried best buy, but didn't get to the interview.

Ill be sure to not write anymore of these journals. This is technically the second time where I say, "Ive been fired! WRaaaa!" and then come back some days later going, "Hee heh ha hah ha, yeah just joking! funny right?..."

I already made a vow on my other account to stop writing negative journals. So far I haven't broken it. So from now on, no more negative journals here either. Lets see how long this lasts...

Changes to the commissions will still be the same. School is fast approaching again. I have another month or so of freedom left.

Fired from the family business, again, and wont be returning.

I was fired about a year ago, before I had a FA account, but I overreacted a lot when it happened so I wasn't really fired. That time I was having a bad day to begin with, so I wasn't as productive as I should have been. My dad was having a bad day, so he was frustrated. When those two emotions collided, neither of us acted like we normally would. The result was temporary, and I was working again in a week.

This time though... its permanent.

I got in trouble for using my laptop at work today. I was doing homework. I know that is not something you are supposed to do at work, but its a family business, it was quiet at the time, and my dad was ok with it so long as I helped customers (which I did without hesitation). My uncle saw me on my laptop, and he is the one that got mad. Part of the issue is he didn't yell at me. Instead, he wrote an email to my dad complaining. I wish he would have just yelled at me, after all, that is what a boss should do.
Here's the kicker though: my cousin, aka his daughter, brings her laptop every day. Every day. She doesn't do homework though; instead, she watches Netflix. My uncle doesn't say a word even as he trips over the charge cord. Yet when my dad says something to her, it becomes a shouting match as my uncle gets defensive.

I shouldn't put up with the double standard being placed there. Its really not fair. Im not going back in there again.

It was a good last day though. I sold a boat motor, one I repaired to working order a few weeks ago, for $250. I made new connections with a customer, so now I have a place to go for items for my boat. They'll want me back tomorrow, I know it: its going to be a very busy weekend. Too bad Ill be busy looking for a new job.



Current Commissions---
For those who either have a commission that I am working on or on the waiting list, there may be some delays. This whole situation has ruined my schedule.
I will not be taking any more commissions for some time.


Future Commissions---
Im going to be making changes to my commissions and commission types. I was hoping for a lot more commissions this summer, but I didn't get through nearly as many as I hoped.
After these last few commissions are completed, Ill be changing a few things:
1) No more series/comic commissions. They take too long to finish, and I fear the quality of these commissions is too low. I can spend less time on a single image and get 3 times better quality.
2) Possible price increases. I would still have several options for cheaper commissions, but larger scenes will cost more now.
3) I will change how I complete the commissions. I have a tendency to get bored with something easily, so part of my commission plan was to work on them as I feel. Each commission gets done at pretty much the same pace. The problem is it feels like an overload occasionally. Future commissions will be completed in a first come first serve basis. Sadly there would be longer wait times for you but less stress on me.



Parents' computer---
Obviously this situation puts a damper on my plans to give my parents a computer. We'll see what happens next.


Thankfully, this time Im not upset. Frustrated, but not upset. Customers liked me there, I got lots of compliments. But I cant take the double standard.

I set a goal this summer to buy my parents a computer: something they cant afford but desperately need. All my commission profits and bits of my paycheck are going towards this.

I have somewhere around $400 so far saved from my paychecks and commissions to go toward this. The problem is I don't think Ill be able to get them exactly what they want. After all, I have things I want to save for too.

So, I need options. If anyone has some recommendations for an inexpensive yet reliable computer, let me know. Any links to devices on their official sites or best buy would be great.
Basically, here is what they want:

-touch screen
-keyboard and mouse
-does not need to be powerful. My bet: i3 or i5 core
-4 to 6 GB RAM
-500 GB hard drive
-Preferably below or near $600 (I don't mind going a little more, but $1000 is no go.)
-Leave room in my wallet for extras like a lap cooler, external backup drive, mouse and keyboard if separate, and possibly a case.

They want something portable, but I don't know if they want to lug around a full blown laptop. I thought about a 2 in 1 laptop or an all in one desktop. My bet is a 2 in 1 would be better.
They will only use it for internet, mail, news, and maybe a few light programs. They are not 3D animators, they don't need a monster.
Dad wants the old fashioned keyboard and mouse, and since my mom thinks anything with a screen is a touch screen now (she pokes my sister's laptop and my laptop screen, thinking that'll do something...) it needs a touch screen.

My one drawback/delay is the OS. I am strongly for Windows 8.1, my dad is not. He hates windows 8. Ive told him 8.1 is very different from 8, but he doesn't believe me. Keep in mind he isn't very computer savvy, so more complicated systems like Linux are a little out of reach. Mac's may be a little too 'backwards' or different for him too. He's most comfortable with Windows 7 (and maybe XP. I don't remember what the old computer was running. Windows something).

They want a Surface. I took a look, and a Surface Pro 3 with all the functionality they want is near $1500. If I can get somewhere close to a surface without the price tag, it would be great.

We like Dell, that's all we've ever had, but Dells don't like us. Every Dell computer has broken on us at some point (including mine). Judging by some experiences that my relatives had, We won't want a Toshiba. HP, Acer, and Lenovo are my top picks so far, but all brands are open options.

Here's a conundrum Im having. I did ask over at DA, but I didn't get any responses.

Ive been thinking of other creative commission ideas. Your-Character-Here auctions and adopts have stuck out to me as unique options.

Id love to do YCH auctions, but since Im so limited on what I can currently do with 3D models, many custom OC characters are just not possible for me. The last thing I want to do is have someone reach a high bid only for me to say, "I cant make your character".

Character auctions is my newest consideration. I could take my more diverse models, like the new Dragon III, and create custom skins and morphs. I obviously cant give you the model, but if you have the Daz Dragon III (or whatever model I use) I can send you a file that will load the character's shape and skin in one click. As a bonus, depending on how high the auction gets, I would provide renders of the character. So you'd win the character AND some art of the character.

I like the idea of the character auctions, but I currently don't have the time. After this round of commissions I may give it a try. Im kinda throwing ideas at the wall to see what happens (and giving myself an excuse not to do homework).

I just don't know much about these character auctions, but I see them all the time.

Would you be interested in character auctions? If you've bought one, are they worth it? Do you enjoy the character?

Is deviantart having problems again?? I cant even load the front page. And I know Im not crazy, because it wont load on IE, Chrome, or my iPad.

And...

http://www.daz3d.com/daz-dragon-3-pro-bundle

Be prepared to meet a new dragon!

Is anyone else having problems with Deviantart? Its failing every time I try to submit something, then it says, "this page cant be displayed". I give it a few minutes, its fine, try again, and it does the same thing.

Ive only been here since November, and have already reached over 600 watchers. My Deviantart account has well over 900! Its quite a shock to me. One thing Ive always wondered was how people were finding my page.

I know a number of you knew me from DA, but its harder to be noticed here on FA.

How did you find me?