First off, I'm finally tatterbrained on here now because I just found out you can change your display name without FA+?? waow

Anyway, this is a journal to dump a bunch of stuff that's been happening and sort out my thoughts for pricing and whatnot into the future.
So, a few months ago, I moved to a new apartment with my wife, and this change has been really great for us! Our old place was tiny, cramped, and hard to work in because we were constantly on top of each other and our own clutter. Not to mention everyone around us was old white people, and everything we wanted to do socially was inconveniently out of walking range. Our new place is AMAZING-- sunny, antique, quiet, and peaceful, with absolutely wonderful neighbors above and below us. We're in the middle of a SUPER queer neighborhood full of greenery and a great sense of community. Our bedroom is just a bedroom (instead of doubling as my office) and now I can get into a workflow much easier! Additionally, my mental health has been pretty decent despite The Horrors infecting the USA right now-- I have a queer therapist that I adore, and made some incredible local (non-furry) friends that we've gotten to hang out with in-person, when we're not all spending time together on Discord.

That all said, I've been having trouble recently staying afloat with commissions and getting the funds I need to pay my bills. Groceries are really expensive, so I cook almost all of our meals from scratch to save money-- but the only two grocery stores that are affordable near me require public transit and a bit of physical activity for me to shop at, which eats up lots of time and precious energy I already have to ration daily as a disabled person. My wife has a professional position and is the breadwinner, but she's trans and obviously at a higher risk of instability in employment, even though her current job seems very safe and accepting. I am very lucky to only have to handle part of our expenses each month (mostly my own credit debt that accumulated when we were both unemployed years ago) but the current government regime and social climate is wearing us both down a bit. All this is to explain that, even though I said months ago on other sites that I was going to stop taking regular commissions for the time being and re-do all of my sites, Trello, prices and stuff, I haven't really had time to sit down and make these changes happen since then. I also have ADHD! So that's an extra debuff on top of everything else!

I typically offer two main commission tiers: black and white sketches, or colored sketches with some rendering. "Sketches" doesn't mean unfinished or messy in my style, but I don't spend as much time doing super neat lineart because I don't enjoy that process very much. I think I've decided I'm going to bring these commissions back, but with higher prices because as it stands I cannot complete more than 1 or 2 large projects in a month while also juggling household tasks, personal art and practice/learning sessions. I've always liked to try and make my work affordable to as many people as possible, but in today's world, it's not sustainable :(

Black and white sketches will, when I bring these comms back entirely, start at $150. Full color sketches will be $250. Complexity fees will be at least $30 extra, subject to go higher as needed. I'll try to still offer YCHs, $30 bust sketches, and little things like that in between.

At this point, I also have a complicated relationship with doing primarily fatfur art which can make it kind of hard to work when my brain isn't invested in a piece. I, personally, do not have a fat fetish-- I originally started drawing it because my wife likes it, and I do just love portraying different body types and making people feel represented in my art! I've been overweight most of my life anyway, so it's not like I'm a poser here or anything, but, y'know...blobs, feederism, all that? Not my thing! This, unfortunately, makes me feel pigeonholed from time to time-- especially when I don't have time to work on my own art or characters in between work. I'm trying to branch out with YCHs and requesting certain fetishes because I do LOVE exploring weird kinks, but *gestures vaguely at the above text and world around us* makes it very hard to execute the grand ideas that always seem to tumble through my brain at the most inopportune times. I don't really know where I'm going with this, except to say that I'd like to try and work on less specifically fatfur art, and more of other kinks, but I'm not going to abandon fatfur entirely...I just need to be able to find some financial stability so I stop finding myself developing a trauma response to comm work because it doesn't feel "worth it", or like I'm trudging through mud just to get to the end of it. Does that make sense?

Anwyay, that's all I have to say. I'm behind on comm work, and I'm getting through it, just slowly. Thank you to everyone who's been so patient with me, and understood why I'm STILL taking ages to complete things, despite saying months ago pre-move that I never wanted to fall this behind again. With this journal, I just wanted to give some perspective and what you can expect from me in terms of commissions and things, even if I can't guarantee I'll have a professional-looking site organized by the time I start taking them again.

Thanks for reading! Stay weird!

I'm currently offering something I don't usually do, which are REALLY fun for me to practice expressions and drawing quickly: bust sketches! They're greyscale (no color option yet, sorry!) and cost $30.

Check out the examples here, and grab a slot or two: https://ko-fi.com/c/aa38109bf2

Then, just Note your ref link or a detailed description with other compiled images if your character doesn't have a visual ref yet! Also be sure to include a requested facial expression, weight change, or other details you want.

it's okay tho im just too big brained for you. I have amazing taste and am so sexy and that's why I'm God's favorite

(this is a joke)