Hi, everyone! I'd like just to draw your attention to my art streams:

✨ Ransom on Picarto.tv. ✨

Often I'll stream during the evenings (central Canadian time zone). If you commissioned me during my fundraiser last week, you might see your piece being made live. Additionally, when I am streaming, it's frequently a multistream alongside other artist friends! Double, triple, or quadruple the art. 🎥🐱🐶🦊🦁

Sometimes I'll be on the mic with friends too, via my Discord voice channel. 🎙️🐈

I'll announce when I'm streaming on Bluesky, but to be directly notified of when I go live, click on the ♡ Follow button on my Picarto channel.

I have good news: I've hit my fundraiser goal! I've been adding my commissions to my Ko-fi counter, so the number reflects a more accurate combination of commissions, tips, and donations.

But anyway, yesterday's tally set me to 110% of my goal! The little bit of extra cushioning is gonna be very helpful too; I can put it towards some some other less immediately critical but still important expenses (like groceries, utilities, and kitten care). The vast majority of the funds raised were through commissions, but many people tipped generously, and a handful donated too. I'm very grateful for the community for being able to support me through a dire circumstance. I just love furries.

This week has kept me swamped. I got a little bit of artwork done, but most of it has just been administrative stuff, sorting out all these commission details. Since I'm through nearly all of that, I'll be moving on to streaming art again shortly. My plan is to spend the upcoming week doing composition work — creating rough sketches — as well as power through a couple of full paintings that are time-sensitive.

This is gonna be a winter just full of artwork!

Thank you again, everyone!

I'm open for commissions! And so is  D6016!


Why?
My living situation is in jeopardy. On Monday, I had an ~$8000 bill dropped on me, and it has to be paid before the end of November — which is a really tight deadline. The size and surprise suddenness is a long story, but the short of it is if I miss this payment, I'm gonna lose my home.


Getting Sketches and Paintings from Me 🐱
I'm taking sketch and painting commissions. You can see example of my work here, in my gallery, and on my site. Obviously I specialize in macro/micro, but I'm open to a lot of subjects, both SFW and NSFW. The price sheet there is a rough guideline; if you have an idea and a particular budget, talk to me and we can work something out.

To commission me:
1. Fill out this form; or
2. Contact me through notes, email, Discord, or Telegram.

Please feel free to contact me if you wanna bounce potential commissions ideas off of me or if you've got any questions!


Getting Stickers from DeeDee 🐶
DeeDee has offered to help me fundraise by doing sticker commissions. She's super talented, and her pricing is a steal.

To commission DeeDee:
Contact her through email.


Ko-fi Tips and Donations ☕
If you're not interested in a commission but you like my work and want to help, I've got a Ko-fi account for tips and donations.

This is a daunting goal but I'm cautiously optimistic that I can pull this off. I've gotten off to a good start, but I'm not out of trouble yet, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd share this amongst any of your friends and chat groups who might like my or DeeDee's work.

Thank you so much for any help!

I have a new website! Well, sorta new. It's built off of my old Carrd one, and has a kick-ass new domain. In it, you'll find a lot of my artwork (SFWish, but still sometimes kinky), and links to my other galleries and social media. Check it out!

🌐 RANSOM.CAT

How cool of a URL is that? I'm so happy with it. ;w;

I'm also on Bluesky now, in a further effort to detach myself from the website formerly known as Twitter (what an idiotic rebrand). I hope Bluesky makes the profile URLs shorter soon. In the meantime, you can click that link, or just check my much-easier-to-remember website for that and my other profiles.

An Abundance of Kitties
I've been fairly quiet on here recently. Things have been keeping me swamped! I guess I haven't updated my journal on here in a while. In case you didn't see my Twitter thread, I've been blessed with an abundance of kitties. The strays I rescued gave birth. Taking care of all these cats has been a handful, and stressful at times, but actually more manageable than I expected. They can be very sweet. Normally I sleep with my door closed, because they'll wrestle each other, and use my bed as a squared circle and myself as a turnbuckle. I kept it open all night though, and it was fine. I woke up after a full sleep today with two of them curled against me.

The kittens are old enough to start heading off to their new homes right away (though I'll be keeping a pair, myself). I'd never raised a cat from birth before. It's gonna be tough to see them go — I wish I could keep them all! — but they're going in pairs, so I'm comforted knowing that they'll have a companion with them during their transition. It will be a relief to have my responsibilities lightened too.

Living Alone
Another huge development for me has been my living situation. I haven't been living in an ideal situation for a long time. To spare a long story and lot of personal details, it hasn't been easy living with the roommates I've had. Butting heads, cluttered house, not cleaning up after themselves, refusal to vaccinate — all sorts of stuff. That's changed though. A few days ago, the last of them moved out. This has been the first time since 2004 that I've lived solo! I love it. I already feel so much more relaxed and free.

There's been a lot of labour involved in the lead-up to the move, and still afterwards too: sorting, cleaning, boxing, trashing, and moving a frankly stupid amount of items. Just bags and boxes everywhere. There was a while where I'd put in a huge amount of labour, move a ton of junk out, then come back in and you could hardly tell. The house still looked like crap. But I've kept pushing through, and it's getting to the point where the difference is really noticeable. I'm far from done unfucking this place, but either by a little or a lot at a time, I'm getting there. The progress is gradual, because I'm only one cat, and I gotta divide my attention between that and other responsibilities. But there's nobody adding to the mess or getting in the way. It makes a massive difference when you don't have to fight back against someone else's tide.

I haven't felt this sort of agency over my home in decades.

The first room I focused on was the kitchen. It used to be a regular thing that I'd wake up to a sink and countertop stacked high with dirty dishes. The cupboards were crammed full of assorted and unmatched dishes and tools. The pantry and fridge had old food, and my stuff was constantly getting mixed with my roommates'. By the time I was done cleaning the place enough to use it, I'd be out of energy and not want to cook. It sucked! But it's not like that anymore. The kitchen's in a hundred times better shape now, and there are hardly ever any dirty dishes lying around; I've really been on top of that. And as a result, I've been cooking more and eating so much better!

The better food has helped my morale and my energy. And that snowballs into working harder and longer on other things. It's a positive feedback loop.

Artwork
There's still a thousand things to do around the home to get it clean and comfortable, but I'm past the most demanding part of it: just getting my roommates and the majority of their stuff out. It took longer than I wanted, but it's worth it. With the worst of it behind me, I'm returning to drawing this week. I'll have some new works to show off soon. Maybe I ought to start streaming again, now that I have the hardware for it. Picarto has been finnicky, so I've been wanting to give Piczel a shot.

Anthrocon
More big news: I'll be at Anthrocon this summer! The past few years haven't been easy at all, and they've been really isolating, so I'm super stoked to get away from here for a while, and spend time with friends. Let me know if I can expect to see you in Pittsburgh this summer!

I hope you've all been having lovely holidays. For me, they've been pretty nice so far. I had back-to-back-to-back family gatherings, which were all pleasant. My parents bought me an air fryer for Christmas, which I've been pretty stoked about. I haven't cooked anything in it yet though! I've cleaned and run it empty a couple of times first, to try to get rid of that new plastic smell.

Some friends did movie streams as well. I got to see Ernest Saves Christmas with  Coracroma, and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas with  KingDead. Very different vibes between the two, but I had fun with both!

My art production has slowed down a lot over the past couple of weeks. Christmas stuff took up a lot of my time, obviously, but I was also sick with a cold for a while before then that sapped a lot of my energy. (Don't worry, I tested negative for COVID-19, and had recovered before I did any family gathering stuff.) My house has been disheveled, which seems normal for post-Christmas, with disorganized decorations and gifts and stuff around. I'm trying to get back into the groove of things by fixing that.

This has been a very catful winter too. Some of my friends already know that I rescued three stray cats about a month ago: a mother and her baby, and then a third one that I think is unrelated. None of them had owners; they were all wild and roaming my neighbourhood. I set up a couple of shelters and had been feeding them for a while, and managed to get them out of the cold and into the house. I hated seeing them outdoors; it gets lethally cold where I live. Plus leaving them to roam, it doesn't take too long before you end up with more cats, hence the mother and her kitten.

All three of these cats are timid, but they have been coming around. The mother cat is the most social; she was the first one to voluntarily walk into my house, when I lured her with food and heat. The other two I had to catch with a trap. The mother hangs around me a lot, is talkative, and after a few weeks, was the first to let me touch her. Her baby is slower to socialize, but I'm making progress; she's not hiding as much, and I got to touch her yesterday for the first time. The third one is really timid; I hardly see him come out, so I have to leave food out for him, since I can't feed him individually. All the cats will go at it though, so I'm gonna end up with a bunch of fat cats. My cat food budget has increased by a lot.

It's kinda funny; it's been ages since I've named a cat, while my siblings and mom have been naming their own. Now that I've finally had the chance, all I've settled into is "Kitty" for the mom and "Baby" for the baby. Very creative. It was how I baby-talked them when they were still outdoors, and I guess it just kinda stuck, haha. It's probably not too late to rename them, but they already respond to it.

I'll probably need to rehome them at some point, when they're more tame. If I do, I'd ideally like to send the mom and her kitten to the same home. There was a week when they were separated, after the mom came indoors, as I had difficulty catching the kitten. During that time, the mom was constantly meowing — something she eased up on after I brought her baby inside. My brother said he saw the kitten looking in through the window the day before I caught her too.

I feel a bit bad about the idea of sending the mom off somewhere else though; she seems to really have taken a liking to my brother's cat. She gets excited when he's around, tries to rub against him a lot, and actually meows at him — something cats don't usually do to other cats. She does this a lot, even when she's not in heat (and yeah, I will take her to a vet and get her fixed, after she gets more used to being handled by people).

As I'm writing this, the kitten ("Baby", I guess!) is playing with my brother's cat. They're kinda chasing each other around. It's nice to see her out and about instead of just hiding all the time. She's very cute. She also kinda looks like my fursona, so if I did keep her, she might make a good art reference, haha.

Anyway, I should get back to productive stuff. It's just nice to journal once in a while; I used to do this a lot, back in the LiveJournal days, and I've really missed it.

You might have noticed how Twitter has been falling apart. Unfortunately, that's where I've had the majority of my online presence lately. I've been meaning to crosspost my work more frequently, and the recent unethical leadership and bad business decisions are making that more necessary than ever. So, I'll work on getting my art backlog up on here!

The Quick Links to Everywhere
Ransom's Carrd
Carrd has the full list of where else to find me, and if any more get added, they'll go on there.

Cohost
Ransom on Cohost
I don't want to go back to Tumblr until they fully support porn again. Fortunately, Cohost is very Tumblr-like. It's young and has a small team, but they seem well-intentioned. I also really like their CSS customization in posts. It still needs some features improved, but I'm optimistic about it.

Discord
Ransom's Cat Tree on Discord
I've revamped my Discord server! It's now publicly available to join. I'll be posting artwork to it, making announcements, and using it as a hang-out spot. When I get my hardware fixed and get back to streaming, I'm planning on using it as a space to voice chat with people while I work too. Feel free to join!

Mastodon
Ransom on meow.social
Mastodon is the most Twitter-like site that people seem to be flocking to. I'm on the meow.social instance. I'll try to make a habit of posting there more.

Telegram
Ransom's Art on Telegram
I've created an announcements channel on Telegram. When I create new artwork or have announcements, like streams or commission openings, they'll be crossposted to there.

My follower count on Twitter is getting pretty close to one-thousand, and on Picarto, it's close to one-hundred. I wanna push both over the top this month, so I'm having a Macro March Double Raffle!! I'll be giving away two free commissions.

To Enter
1. Retweet and fave this tweet
2. Follow RansomCat on Twitter (entry 1)
3. Follow Ransom on Picarto (entry 2)
4. Reply with a character reference to this tweet

The Winners
The draws will happen on 31 March 2022. There will be two winners: one from the Twitter followers, and one from the Picarto followers.

Subject Matter
The commissions will be in a lined and coloured style. They can be SFW or NSFW. Despite being a Macro March event, macro/micro content isn't mandatory.

Stuff I Won't Illustrate
I'm not going to illustrate any of the following, so keep this in mind before entering:

- Animal genitalia
- Copyrighted properties (e.g. Digimon, Pokémon, or other Rule 34)
- Characters that aren't anthropomorphic animals (e.g. elves, humans, orcs, etc.)
- Crushing
- Extreme anatomy (e.g. hyper, inflation, same-size vore)
- Hard vore (e.g. chewing or digestion)
- Minors in a fetishy or sexual situation
- Pro-cop/right-wing/fashy garbage
- Scat
- Stench (e.g. gas, armpit, or excessive sweat kinks)
- Watersports
- Zoophilia

Even if it isn't listed here, I can still veto subjects at my discretion. I'm pretty cool with a lot of stuff though, so if you're not sure, feel free to ask!

Back-up Winners
If I can't get in-touch with a winner within one week, or if the winner turns out to be a Nazi or TERF or something, I'll draw a replacement winner.

Thanks for your interest! Good luck!

Normally when someone watches my account, I will individually thank them with a shout on my page. I've had a backlog of that which I've been meaning to get through. I accidentally cleared a whole bunch of them, though -- hit the wrong button. So I just wanted to give a blanket thanks to everyone who's taken an interest in me and my art.

If you're new here, or you've been with me for a while, thank you so much!

Want to be in a macro/micro pic that features some paws and some booty?  bloodhound and I are teaming up again, and this time, we're making a YCH that has two ways where you can get in: a premium auction and a free raffle! Click here to see the sketch.

The Premium Auction
The three best seats in the house are up for auction. Each one has an opening bid of $50 USD, and will run until 20:00 CST on Sunday, June 6th, 2021. That's one week from now. Bidding will take place on Twitter. Payment via PayPal has to be ready when the auction closes, otherwise the spot is going to the next-highest bidder.

Here are the links to the auction threads for each premium spot:
1. Left Foot
2. Right Foot
3. Butt

The Free Raffle
Don't have the budget for the auction? You can still get in for free. There are fourteen chances! All you have to do is:

1. Follow my art Twitter;
2. Follow Bloodhound's Twitter; and
3. Retweet this post; and
4. Reply to that post with your reference sheet.

At the end of the auction, we'll randomly choose from amongst the references of people who have followed us both and retweeted the original post, and then add your character to one of the spots in the illustration. You can have your character in beach wear or tastefully nude; it's up to you. But it'll be up to our discretion who goes where.

Which Characters Can Be Entered
Almost any character can get in. We'll take any species, any gender, and a wide variety of body types. We have these restrictions though:

1. No underage characters.
2. No extreme anatomy types (e.g. hyper).
3. No quadruped/feral/taur characters.

Thanks for participating!

Hey, everyone!

I'm getting around to putting some of my art back on here. You might have noticed that whenever I upload art to here, there are links at the top of the commentary. I put my work onto Twitter first, and also put some sketches and doodles there that I don't really feel suit a gallery. When I do upload to my galleries, I'll also upload to Weasyl, which gets a higher-resolution version. Weasyl has a much greater file size limit than FurAffinity.

So! If you wanna be more up-to-date with my art, it'll be on Twitter first; and if you want to see the big furries I draw even bigger, be sure to check out the versions on Weasyl.

Another reason to keep an eye on my Twitter is that, every once in a while, I'll do a call for reference sheets, looking for people to sketch or cameo. For example, "The Skip" was a free sketch. And my huge supervillain drawing, "A Big Withdrawl", needed a lot of people to flesh out the setting, so I took as many ref sheets there as I could fit. I'm definitely gonna be drawing more scenes that could use some people to fill in as extras!

I've been getting back into streaming here and there too. Sometimes I also give away sketches in my streams as warm-ups, so keep an eye on my Picarto.

Hi, everyone!

Thank you so much for the empathy and support in my last journal. It's been very comforting. I've been way too busy to reply to everyone (but I will!), because I've been travelling. I'm at MFF this weekend!

 Jinash and I will be tag-teaming a marketplace table. I hope to see you all there.

I disappeared because I couldn't handle it.

This is really hard for me to write.

Some of you know that I was soldiering. I'm not in the army anymore. The early years were good for me; I felt like I got a lot out of it for a while. Eventually, though, I started to see diminishing returns. So things were becoming disappointing, but not terrible at that moment. Towards the end, though, I fell under the command of people who were stupid and abusive. I was constantly on edge because I had no idea when they were going email, call, or come and find me for some indignity, and because of the rigid hierarchy, I had no recourse. Every day, my chest was tight, my world felt grey, and I dreaded each moment of being chained to my role. Getting off duty was only a tiny relief because I knew that I'd be up early and back the next day. Were I a civilian, I would have quit on the spot, but my contract didn't allow that. I wasn't sleeping well at all, and the only reason I dragged myself out of bed and into work is because I knew I could be threatened with jail if I didn't.
All I ever wanted to do was be the best I could be at my job. I couldn't handle it anymore. I had the end date of my contract moved ahead, and after a delay, I got out.

The army didn't leave me mentally well. I became racked with depression and social anxiety. I've weathered bouts of depression before, but social anxiety was a new one. I've always been a bit of an introvert, but a relatively outgoing one; I'd never been afraid to talk to people before. I used to get excited when I got messages, notes, and mail, and I liked talking to others. After that, though, I stopped answering my phone. I didn't look at my emails. I stopped checking social media. I didn't answer the door when someone knocked. I went invisible or offline, didn't participate in my art groups, didn't go to any conventions, didn't answer my phone, didn't open my mail, and stopped talking to almost all of my friends. Any time someone tried to get a hold of me, even when they were being really sweet, it made my heart jump into my throat.

At the same time, I had a bunch of money problems arise. When I stopped soldiering, my income took a hit. I had already been shouldering the majority of expenses in my household when my tablet and computer both ended up with hardware failures that I couldn't afford to fix.

I had a handful of commissions ongoing then. They were all nearly complete except for one. I left my clients hanging; I didn't have it in me to even talk to anyone. When I tried, I had panic attacks. I've been so ashamed that I faltered on my obligations. That shame and anxiety and guilt has kept me away for far too long. I hated myself for it. I got tired of losing sleep over it.
It's been lonely.

I find this equally frustrating and ironically funny. In 2009, I walked into a recruitment office and basically told them to give me a gun and put me out front, specifically because I thought it would be the most challenging thing I could do — but it's just socializing, of all things that, fills me with dread. This is even after I got into psyops, where it was my job to communicate.

I did end up going to therapy. I'm thankful for socialized medicine, because I wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise. It wasn't a complete cure — even logging into here and Twitter makes me feel like I have a cinderblock on my chest — but I really enjoyed my sessions, and it did help. Between that, a lot of time, and finally having the means to fix my mistakes, I feel ready to be back.

I miss my communities and friends. I miss creating.

I'll probably ease back into this somewhat slowly. I'm not 100% comfortable yet, and it feels weird to otherwise just pick up like nothing happened.

To anyone who was worried or affected by this, I'm so sorry. I hope that I can be a positive contributor to the community again soon.

Yo, furries!

I'm back from my little adventure in BLFC and California with  Neive. I was offline a little longer than I had expected; my internet was down when I got home, and it took my ISP five attempts to fix it. Once that was done, I had some technical problems with my Cintiq. Thankfully, I work a lot faster than my ISP and got that running smoothly again.

I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who made my trip to the US as much fun as it was, and give a heads-up that more art is on the way!

I had a grand time at BLFC! I heard it was a great con, and now I can see what the big deal is. It was also fun getting a taste of the other side of the macro/micro scale, but now I gotta wean myself off of the kaiju lifestyle and get back to work.

I'm still in the US, so my productivity will be a bit slower for a bit; I'll be back at full speed next week, while I transition back to my normal working environment (and size).

Thanks, everyone, who helped make my time in Reno a blast!

Yo, furries!

I'm stomping around BLFC this weekend! I wasn't able to get a table, but I'm gonna see if I can snag a drop out spot at the Bazaar. Regardless of where I am, if you see me, feel free to say hi! Keep an eye out for this badge.

Hey, furries!

I fell off of the radar for a while there, but I'm back now. Long story short, I had trouble dealing with my stresses well, and so I wasn't working much and I ducked off of social media for a while. I recognized that I wasn't doing so well, and so I started going to therapy to help me get my head back on straight; it's been tremendously helpful. My morale and my work ethic are both strong again.

On that note, I'd been planning to go to BLFC, but as it stands, I'm a few hundred bucks under my minimum budget. If I don't raise it right now, I'm gonna have to cancel, which I reeeeally don't want to do. After life kicking me around, I feel like I could use a win and some time with good friends. Plus, I've been in the fandom for 13 years, and now someone finally throws a macrofurry-themed con? I'd kick myself if I missed it, 'cause when is that gonna happen again?

So, I'm open for commissions! Check out the full details here, and feel free to note me if you're interested in anything.

P.S. I read the comments that everyone left in my last journal. Thank you all for your kind words; it meant a lot.

Hey, furries.

Some of you might have noticed that my productivity took a decline in the last month; I just wanted to give you a heads-up as to what's been going on, and what's to come.

I've been going through a number of challenges lately — a volley of stresses that came all together in short window. The biggest thing is that my grandfather passed away last month, which was a really hard blow for the family. There was another significant family crisis that occurred in the same time, though I'm not comfortable broadcasting the details to thousands of people online. The end result is that I went from the two extremes of taking a heavy amount of babysitting duty for my young nieces, to not being able to see them at all. Additionally, one of my brothers lost his job. Another lost his house, and today I just adopted his elderly dog and cat so that they wouldn't end up at the Humane Society, where they'd leave the family and I doubt they would be adopted. Lastly, my romantic relationship ended a couple of days ago.

So, yeah. It was just a lot of separate stresses to deal with at once. It ate up a lot of my time and took its toll on my creative drive. I'm appreciative of the patience of people in correspondence with me here, and my patrons too. Fingers crossed that I'm through the worst of it.

It hasn't been totally bad. On a positive note, I've been networking with my home town's game development community. That's been on my to-do list for a long time. I've also been looking into attending university. I've got until May 19th to put a portfolio together for my application, so my art should be on the upswing from here on out.

Last time I updated my journal, I did say that I was gonna do a sketch request stream around this time, so I'm gonna get in touch with my patrons and set a date for that.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Hey, furries!

It's been a month since I revamped my Patreon; I'm encouraged by the progress! It's just a few bucks here and there, but it really makes a difference for me. All of the patronage on there goes right back into my art, starting with my first new acquisition today. As thanks, I'm going to be doing a sketch request stream!

Click here to see the full details!

Hey, friends! My Patreon has been set up and is now in full swing. I have a handful of recent paintings up as free samples, and several others ready for new patrons. Every painting I make is going to be uploaded there, so if you want to see it in a higher resolution, see the step-by-step progress, or even get your hands on the PSD file, keep an eye on my Patreon!

I really all of the support I've gotten on my art, so I'm excited to offer a little extra in return. There is no "tip jar" tier on there — every patron gets something, even the $1 supporters. My goal is to use this to fund more education and art supplies, so that I can in turn make better art for everyone.

The winner of my poll from the other day was "Silverfox". Click here to get the Awesome Tier reward for free!

Hey, friends! I'm back from my Californian adventure. That means I'm in full production of art. I miss my friends, but it is nice to be making new pieces.

Since I'm able to focus on art again, I think this is the best time to debut my new Patreon! Alongside each of the paintings I make, I'll be uploading a high-resolution version, work-in-progress images and animations, a printable PDF, and even the PSD file (or whatever working file I use). You'll be able to see the artwork in higher fidelity (often double the size of what I put in my other galleries), see how it progressed, and peruse the layers of the PSD to see how it was put together.

My goal is to use the money that I make there to further my art by paying for supplies and education, so it will become cyclical. I also intend to make timelapse videos and tutorials, if I can get better recording equipment.

A lot of artists will have $1 "donation" or "tip jar" tiers, but instead I'm making sure every patron gets something in return. I've already got some free samples on my page, viewable by everyone. And that's where the giveaway comes in:

Click here to vote for which piece you'd like to see for free!

And if you haven't already, check out the other samples on my Patreon! Thanks for your support. I look forward to creating better art for everyone.

Hey, friends! I hope you've had wonderful holidays thus far. Mine are pretty much over now. I love 'em, but this year felt especially exhausting. I was so busy! That's why I've been sparse.

I'm glad to have things more or less return to normal. I'm returning to my usual work routine, so expect more commissions soon. I'm gonna bust out as many of them as I can before Further Confusion! I'll be there this year for the first time; I'm so excited to visit California and hang out with  Neive! I'll also be working in the Dealer's Den as an assistant to Sasha Jones. I want to have my own dealer table eventually, so it will be cool to be in the copilot's seat first. If you're going to FC and you think dragons are cool (who doesn't?), definitely check out Sasha's work, and come say hi!

Yo, furries!

I got back from the US late last night. I had an awesome time at MFF, and then followed it by staying with  Ritts and  Jinash for a week. I was supposed to get home in the afternoon, but a blizzard rerouted me to Las Vegas. It was actually pretty cool, 'cause I got to hang out with  Kazegin and  Labbeh for a few hours during my layover. I'd never been to the desert before! The last time I saw a palm tree was sixteen years ago, when I was in Spain, haha. What a temperature difference though; there was a 100℉ drop in temperature between Vegas and my home town of Winnipeg.

Now that I'm home, I'm revving production back up to full speed. I picked up some commissions at MFF that I'm stoked to get done!

I had a great time at MFF! It went even better than I'd expected. I got to see so many of my friends, and make some new ones. I was fortunate enough to get into Artist's Alley all three days, and had so much fun there! I sat with  Ritts and  Jinash on Friday and Saturday, and with  Strype on Sunday. People were really receptive to my work! I brought twice as many business cards with me as normal, and I still ran out half-way through the con. Next time, quadruple. The art jams, meals, and Monster Factory screenings with friends were such a blast.

I did so well at MFF that it might become profitable for me to travel to more conventions. I can't wait for the next con, which will hopefully be Further Confusion. Gotta finalize the details on that once I get home.

I'm still in the US; I'll be here until next week. I'm going to continue working on commissions on my downtime here, but once I get back to Canada, it'll go back into full productivity.

Thanks, everyone, who checked out my work or said hi to me!

Opening for New Commissions!
My commission queue is just about exhausted, so I'm accepting a new batch! I can work within a spectrum of styles and budgets. Click here to see my example guide, and you're interested or have any questions, leave me a comment or a note!

I want to get the next bunch in line so that I don't have any downtime when I finish my last couple. On top of the usual expenses of keeping the lights on and food in fridge, December's always an expensive month with the increased cost of heating plus Christmas. And on top of that—

I'm Going to MFF!
Look for me next weekend at MFF! I'll need to pause my digital commissions during that weekend, but I'm gonna try to get into Artist's Alley with  Ritts and  Jinash, where I will (hopefully) be making graphite drawings! If you want to grab something traditional from me, that's a good time to do it. Either way, come by and say hi! I love meeting people.

Miscellaneous Fun
I got my Christmas decorations up! I'm not particularly fond of winter, but I do love Christmas. It's just fun to tap into a childlike enthusiasm. Money's pretty tight for me this year, so I'm not sure if I can do the same degree of gift-giving that I did last time, unfortunately. We'll see though! I'll try; I like to be generous.

I've been looking ahead, trying to figure out how to better my art. I've been thinking about getting Patreon running as a means for paying for art education tuition and some supplies. I've got a bunch of online schools and lessons on my radar that I would just love to take part in, but can't afford at the moment. For supplies, a few things could really make a difference in my work. I'd love to get some more oil paints to expand my colour range. As it stands, I'm only working with white, yellow, red, black, brown, and grey. Some one-time expenses would be really helpful too. My desktop computer needs a new solid state drive; if I got that fixed, I could improve my productivity. If I got a better mic and some soundproofing, I could even make my own art tutorials. I already have experience with video production. It wouldn't take a whole lot; I just need to think what people would be interested in seeing from me.

On another note, I found someone taking credit for my art on Twitter, and offering to sell more like it. I guess my work is getting more popular, haha.