It's strange, really, how someone can pass through your life in a relatively brief span of time, and leave a bigger hole than you could have expected when they go.

Rest in peace, Paul. You were very kind to me, a pleasure to work with, and you will be missed.

Cancer is a heartless thief.

A month away is time enough to do one of these, right? WHATEVER, ANSWER IRRELEVANT, EXCITED.

What hotel are you staying at?

The main one! Whatever it's called.

Arrival/Departure

Arriving at 11AM or so on Friday, leaving probably at 2-ish on Monday.

Means of transportation?

Walkin'? The beau's worked at the airport and says it's walking distance to the hotel, so!

Are you sharing a room with someone?

Aforementioned beau! This feller:

Who do you hang out with?

Uhh. Cool people? Haha, I dunno. There's a few folks I'd like to say hi to at this con, but my boyfriend's the one who's got friends going.

Relationship Status

Long term relationship and happy in it!

How old are you?

Late 20s.

How tall are you?

Like 5' 6"?

Are you an Artist?

I like to think so! I have a couple of useless degrees backing me up on it.

Do you have an artist table?

Nope!

Do you take commissions?

I'm not there to take commissions, but I'll have my sketchbook and some pens/pencils if you want a little somethin'!

Do you do trades?

I'd be happy to do a trade while we're both sitting there, yeah. Drawing with folks is one of my favorite thiiings.

Are you a Fursuiter?

Not yet. I'm working on it but it won't be done by BLFC.

Attending parties?

None in mind but I do enjoy partying!

Do you drink?

Why yes. :3

Can I buy you a drink?

I mean, if you've got a bunch of cocktail mixed up and are sharing it with folks I'm all about that, but actually paying a bartender money for a personal drink for me would be kinda weeeeird. P:

Do you smoke?

Well, the con isn't in Colorado or Washington, so uh, not officially, no. I certainly don't smoke cigarettes.

Are you attending any panels?

Probably! I haven't looked at the schedule yet.

Stage or public performance?

Nahh, no fursuit to dance in yet. One day, I'll make an ass of myself in a fluffy mascot costume for the entertainment of others.

How do I identify my self to you?

I guess just mention where you know me from? I dunno, I don't have no secret handsigns or nothin'.

Rules of engagement (physical contact)?

I'm good for hugs! Just ask or make the "want a hug?" arm gesture and I'm all about 'em.

How can I find you?

If you really wanna meet up, you're probably best off messaging me before the con. "Look for the chick with the weird-colored pixie cut" is probably not specific enough at a furry convention.

Can I talk to you?

For sure! :3

Can I give you lots of money?

If you wish to exchange money for drawings, you may certainly do so!

Can I give you stuff?

I don't know why you would.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?

Just ask! I'm almost always down for hugs. Snugglin' is very situational.

Can I come to dinner with you?

We tend to invite whoever we're with along when we go eat, so if you're already chillin', yup.

Can I hang out with you?

Probably! We've got a lot of people to meet with though so we'll probably be flitting about a lot.

Can I take your picture?

Dunno why you'd want to but I'm down for group shots.

How do I know if you're not looking to socialize (angry, busy or upset)?

Body language I guess? I know some people have problems with that though, my brother included, so if I really don't want to be bothered I'll say, "I'm sorry, I'm busy/tired/whatever is applicable." Doesn't mean you've annoyed me, just probably means I'm worn out and wanna go nap. :)

Personality Type?

I'm not a fluttering social butterfly and can be kinda quiet at times, but I'm pretty cheerful and nice. Feel free to talk to me!

What's your goal for the con this year?

Have fun, meet cool folks, have adventures! :D

So hey. I fixed my "stream preview shows blank" problem, so I am considering doing some streams if anyone would be interested in watching.

BUT I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS.

What sites do y'all, as either people-who-stream or people who occasionally pop in streams, prefer to use? I am told Picarto is pretty keen, and I like that they allow adult content so long as you mark your channel as such. (Which is probably something I'll be streaming further down the line; I still don't have a whole lotta porn under my belt and I'd be kinda skittish about streaming that until I get a better feel for it.) I've also heard good things about tigerdile?

I currently have a Picarto account because it's free for basic. So I'll fart around with that for a bit and see how it goes.

Does music annoy the crap outta y'all? Because I won't lie, I freakin' love listening to music while I'm drawing (but I can mute it) BUT I ALSO LOVE TALKING ABOUT IT WITH PEOPLE. And sharing stuff. And I love it when people link me recommendations to listen to. One of my favorite things to do is draw with buddies and listen to music so that is kind of a draw for me. :3 (BUT IF IT ANNOYS PEOPLE I am totally down with muting my input. Though I guess the viewing client has a mute button so you can do your own listening stuff so it may not make a huge difference.)

What stuff do you like to see in streams?

I am pretty new to all this so I appreciate feedback. :3 Thanks y'all!

Huh, new UI thing is neat. THAT IS MY IMPRESSION OF IT SO FAR. Though I dunno if they've done away with featured submissions entirely or just haven't enacted them yet. Wellp!

Also FRICKIN' FINALLY. Jaw pain is gone, and I also recovered from the nasty painkiller withdrawal that followed stopping 'em. I've got my hand-eye coordination back and am drawing again. :3 Tackling the donation commissions first, then a couple of other commitments, thennn I kinda really wanna play with Manga Studio and see how it does with comickry! (Chrome's spellcheck doesn't think that's a word but I stand by it.)

I wanna do a few short, vignette-y comic things. I keep picturing these 2-3 page things of my dumb little characters interacting. I dunno why, but hey, maybe it'll be neat?

Anyway, mostly wanted to post that I'm feeling better! Aw yiss.

I've contacted everyone I owe art to individually, but I'm throwing this up here in the meanwhile just because.

I made it through oral surgery on wednesday, yay! They've put in the implant post, so I've basically got a metal cylinder screwed deep into my jawbone.

"That sounds kinda painful," you might say. Why, yes. Yes it is. I'm in so much pain it's making me nauseous, in fact.

Suffice it to say I'm still on some pretty heavy painkillers. I might be capable of dumb doodles but my coordination isn't great right now. So I'm holding off on working on owed art so people actually get my best work, rather than the best I could do while high on tramadol.

I'm really tired of hurting, blah. Still, at least recovery isn't looking to be as gnarly as other surgeries I've been through.

Here's a handy li'l tool! http://kobitate.com/fa-exodus-helper/

I'm probably stickin' around until FA either dies or IMVU makes it unusable (or hey if it makes it better, yay, but who knows really), but if anyone's going to other sites, this is useful! Only works for accounts with identical usernames, but still nice.

Hey guys! Quick update; art output's been slow since I've been super slammed at work and having to work some overtime. That'll ease off after this week though and I can get back to art.

And what with this IMVU weirdness, it seems like a good idea to make a list of places I can be found/contacted other than FA!

These I check the most often:

Email: ruggy[at]ruggy-art.net
Twitter: ruggafluff
Weasyl: Ruggy

I have a few other accounts in other places but I don't check them very often, so those three are your best bet.

Hey guys! Just throwing a journal out there to conclude this thing. Since Red got the help she needed and will soon be safe and sound in her new home, I'm going to be cutting off commissions for donators after 9PM CST this evening! If you have already donated and are interested in a piece from me, please note me before then.

I started with the intention of doing something for everyone but (amazingly!) there ended up being way too many for me to handle doing that; I can probably handle 1-2 more pieces in a reasonable timeframe.

And I'm starting to feel financial pressure from mounting medical bills so after I work through this, I'll be opening for Actual Commissions! Assuming there's interest. What kind of stuff would y'all be interested in if I offered commissions for realsies? Prices wouldn't likely be that different from my donation commissions offerings, since I'm relatively new to the scene and nobody knows who I am, haha. I'm happy to do clean or adult art, excepting for some fetishes that I don't care for.

So some beautiful things happened for a beautiful person. This makes me happy.

And some people sent me notes for art! Woo! Thanks to all y'all generous folks, and I'll do my best to give you some lovely art in return. :)

Anyone who donated is still welcome to send me notes for artwork, too!

As a disclaimer, I do have a full-time 9-5 job and have some family business to attend to next weekend in Houston, so I won't be able to work through my queue as quickly as a full time artist would. (And as far as today's schedule is concerned, I do have some work-work to catch up on from being out of town for a funeral last week, but I'll be able to get some art worked on today still!)

Also hello new watchers! I seem to have gotten a few lately. Wherever you came from, I am pleased you're here! :D

Enough journaling for now, time to crack the art whip!

Okay, now that I'm looking at having a few things running at a time, I have a trello thingy for tracking commissions:

https://trello.com/b/9ssfUuFX/commissions

I am only like 90% sure I know how it works? Hopefully that shows what I want it to.

I may end up doing lists for each individual commission and then cards for each step of completion, maybe? I don't know how most people usually do it or what's easiest for you guys to read.

ALSO THERE'S THIS LINK: https://trello.com/ruggafluff I don't know if that is helpful. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING.

But I do know how to draw, so.

Also re-plugging this just in case anyone's looking at my profile.

So, a buddy of mine's living out of her truck: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6573051/ and is worried about her stuff getting ruined when it rains because it's not super well sealed.

And I just spent... more than all of my money on medical bills (I will be fine come next paycheck), but I want to help her out before it rains next!

SO.

If anyone feels like tossing her some cash-money, I am willing to make sketches for you! How big it is / how finished it is depends on how big the donation is.

Donation of any amount under 10 dollars, you get a sketchy headshot, a la this! (Can be digital or traditional, whatever you prefer.)

Donation of 10-20, slap some color on that sketchy headshot or get a full body sketch with some tone on it!

30 or more and that fullbody sketch gets a lot cleaner looking with color on it, either flat and cellshaded or softer and more painterly depending on what you want!

SO WHAT DO? Send her your FA username when you donate, and shoot me a note with the character you want and kinda what art you want. I'll confirm the amount received with her and draw you some stuff!

First off I totally did one of those ridiculous couple icon sets (may need to refresh? idk) :



WE MAY BE EXCITED FOR NIGHT IN THE WOODS COMING OUT THIS YEAR. POSSIBLY.

Second, TFF! Great success. Last year I went, I only knew one person (hi Rinzy!) and this year I had a whole posse and it was grand. Met a lot of cool people, had a great time at the Art Jam, went to a great panel put on by Rukis, danced, drank, danced some more, and got some sweet stuff!

INCLUDING A RESIN BLANK FROM DREAMVISION CREATIONS AAAA. I wasn't gonna but they had a 10% sale on the last day and they still had the large feline blank so aw yiss. I hope to soon join the fluffy, sweaty fursuiting masses.

(Also got the three hard-bound books of Blacksad, which is super exciting because last time I looked they weren't even available in English.)

And, because I hadn't spent enough money in one week apparently, I bought 's monoprice tablet monitor since she upgraded to a fancy-schmancy cintiq! It'll be here on Tuesday-ish and I am so stoked.

I do like my current tablet, but the drivers are so old that with the updated photoshop I started using, and the Manga Studio trial, my tablet just straight up doesn't work in a lot of ways. Which is, uh, interesting. At least it still works with SAI!

So that's about it. Getting back into the art swing of things, hoping to start doing some more traditional art soon, blah de blah. Hope y'all have a good one!

Hey guys! I made it back from Canada in one piece!

Anyhoo, I'm gonna be at Texas Furry Fiesta here in a couple weeks and I thought I'd post one of them meme thingers. Mostly because I like filling this stuff out.

Q: Where are you staying?
At the main hotel!

Q: When will you be arriving and leaving?
Sometime on Friday, leaving Sunday.

Q: Who will you be rooming with?
My main squeeze:

Q: Who will you be hanging out with?


Plus any of my other buddies who end up going!

Q: Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
I tend to haunt the art panels. I also like wandering around Artist's Alley and the Dealers Den and chatting with people. I'm 100% gonna be at the Art Jam (or whatever they call the 'everyone sits around drawing and talking' event, I forget exactly.)

Q: What/where will you be eating?
GOOD QUESTION. Liberty burger was mentioned once. I dunno!

Q: Will you be having a room party?
Haha probably. We like booze.

Q: Will you be drinking and/or getting drunk?
See above answer.

PERSONAL STUFF:

Q: What is your gender?
LADY.

Q: How tall are you?
Like 5' 6"?

Q: If I approach you, will you chat with me?
Definitely!

Q: If I see you, how should I get your attention?
I respond to "Ruggy" in real life too, so, that'll work.

Q: How many furry conventions have you attended?
This will be #3!

Q: Do you own a fursuit?
Alas, no, and though I have the makings for a head I don't think it'll be done by TFF.

PERMISSIONS:
Q: Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Ask. I like hugs! Snuggles are probably a no unless we're already good friends IRL.

Q: How can I find you?
Uh, look around for a white chick with blue-ish hair that has a badge that says "RUGGY", I guess!

Q: Can I buy you drinks/food?
This is a question that I assume would never actually come up but I would wonder why a stranger was buying me anything.

Q: Can I take your picture?
I assume this is more for people in suit but I guess if you feel like taking a selfie with me I'd be fine with it.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Q: Do you do do free art, trades, commissions, badges?
Free art probably only if I'm suitably sloshed and at the art jam, or just giddy. Trades are in a similar boat but I'm more likely to agree to them than free art. Any commissions I'd take would be for completion after the con, especially since I'm not gonna be set up to take payments on the go.

I'm mostly going to hang out and have a good time!

Q: Do you have a table in the Artist Alley / Dealer's Den or a panel in the Art Show? If so, what are you selling?
Nope!

Q: Do you plan to volunteer?
Nope, I'm a good-fer-nothin' freeloader (who paid, so, I guess I'm a... paid-loader.)

Q: What's your goal for the con this year?
Hang out! Have fun, have adventures with friends, draw stuff with folks, dance around, meet cool new people. That kinda deal.

Throwin' a journal out there to see who's going to what in 2015! Because I'm either definitely going to or have a strong interest in:

FURRY THINGS:

- Texas Furry Fiesta! My boyfriend and I have a room in the hotel.

- Biggest Little Furcon! My boyfriend and I also have a room in the hotel there.

- Oklacon. Don't think registration is even open for 2015 yet but I had a blast in 2014 and would love to go back!

NON FURRY THINGS: (don't figure there's a whole lot of locals on FA going to these but hey)

- Wakarusa 2015 / Bonnaroo 2015! My biggest undertaking of the year; my boss gave me the go ahead to work on the road while I turn this into a two-week road trip. Aw yiss. I saved my pennies and bought a ticket / main venue camping pass for Waka and a ticket for Bonnaroo. Boyfriend miiight be coming to Bonnaroo.

- Myschievia! Too early in the year to register for this but I would absolutely love to go back home again.

If you happen to be going to any of these, gimme a shout! I'd love to say hi to folks. :)

I cannot comprehend a mindset that would cause someone to murder people over a satirical cartoon.

If you hold a belief that tells you it is okay to kill over something so petty as someone making a drawing that makes fun of you, that belief is fucked.

What would even make someone with a gun so afraid of someone with a pen?

Beyond fucked up.

So I got me a Twitter thing. I am told it's what all the hepcat artists are doing. Or something.

I see some folks use it to post WIPs and things, which is cool and I may start doing now that I'm recovered from surprise!surgery (nothing major, no worries) so uh, yes!

Do any of my artist-friends use Twitter for posting art? Do you just post finished pieces, or a mix of sketches/WIPs/finished work? Should I maintain a separate NSFW account if I plan on posting any of that stuff? The, 'please check this box if your Tweets contain sensitive media so that users can be informed prior to viewing,' thing seems to be account-wide so I don't know if that'd shoot me in the foot since I don't think most of my tweets would be all that saucy.

ALSO HEY, I need people to follow! If you got a Twitter, leave me the account name if you'd like me to take a look! :D

For, uh, reasons, here's some other places I am:

Weasyl - SoFurry - Tumblr

I also have a DeviantART account but I don't really use that site much.

Where else do you guys maintain accounts? Post links! (To your accounts, that is.) :D

I've been trying to incorporate different body types into my art, and it seems that figure drawing references for bigger folks (especially nude, and especially dudes) are hard to find.

Does anyone know of any sites or photo books that have figure drawing references of some different kinds of body types? All I'm able to find is some variation on trim, skinny, or super buff. (Or like way far in the morbidly obese direction and that's not what I'm looking for, either.)

It's making me miss my figure drawing classes. :/ We had a lot of different body types come and model for us, but taking a class just isn't financially feasible for me right now.

Any help is much appreciated!

Having presumably recovered from the flu, I spent four hours sorting through stuff from my storage unit, deciding what to get rid of. A lot of carrying boxes and dust inhalation.

Mom: Don't work yourself sick!
Me: When else am I gonna have time to do this?!

Now I'm running a fever again.

Listen to your mommas! ;(

I don't reckon I'll get too much of a response on this, buuuut, never hurts to ask!

Are any of y'all going to Oklacon and/or Myschievia? Oklacon's a smaller furry con in Oklahoma, and Myschievia is a burn in east Texas that has nothing to do with furries at all (but I'm asking about it anyway because why not.)

If you're going, lemme know! I'd love to say hi. :)

Just because I'm loving the responses I'm getting to the song-inspired raffle so much, I decided, hey, why not do the same thing on Weasyl? I'll be drawing two pics, one for here and one for Weasyl!

So if any of you happen to be on Weasyl too, you can get two chances at a free drawin'! Just watch me over there, pick a different song (what? no, this totally isn't partially for selfish, music-related reasons, shhh) and you can totally enter twice!

Aaa so many new watchers lately! Hello there! <3

I FEEL LIKE DOING A RAFFLE. The prize is a refined sketch, something akin to this.

So what do you gotta do?

1. Be watchin' me!
2. Leave a comment with a ref on this journal!
AND
2a. Include in that comment... a link to a song that fits that character! Or your favorite song, or just a song you're really into this week, I dunno. The sketch will fit the mood of the song! (Also I'm always on the lookout for new music.)

I'll cut this off this Friday, the 29th, at ohh, say, 8PM CST.

One entry per person and I'll use a random number generator to decide the winner, yadda yadda. What do you have to lose?!

EDIT: Aaand we're closed! Congratulations Jaxn_Grey! :D

I seem to have a bunch of new watcher people! Hello there and thank you for watching! :D

I have a question! I occasionally notice artists doing raffles and contests for free art and other cool stuff for their watchers. It sounds kinda fun to do something like that (art + interacting with the folks who watch me), but I'm not sure what y'all might find the most enjoyable.

So what's the most fun for you guys? Raffles, contests?

Would something off-the-wall like "I'm gonna pick two respondents at random and draw your characters interacting" be actually cool or not?

I've just got a fresh'n'empty to-do list and feel like doing something fun. :)

So, I freakin' love watching art tutorials (or looking at static ones, but videos are even better.) I really enjoy learning new stuff and it always gets me excited to try something new.

So I ask you, dear watchers, what's your favorite art tutorial that you've found? (Preferably 2D since that's where I lean, but if you've found a really kickass sculpture tutorial I'd be all about that too!) I wish to absorb knowledge. It could be a video tutorial or just a graphic thing or a write-up with pictures, whatev'.

I've watched a few of Sycra's videos and found them useful (since we're sharing) but I need more. MORE. >:O

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14176417/

Poor kitty. :(