Streaming for a while finishing up coms and things. Come vibe while I work. Playing streamraiders also.

Keep me company while I work.

https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst

Hello everyone.

On Dec 9th, I discovered my younger sister had passed away unexpectedly. As her next of kin, the burden of settling her affairs has fallen to me. She had 2 kids and pets, and a life that's going to take a while to unravel. She was also on disability due to Type 1 diabeties and trauma she'd suffered due to domestic assault she'd survived.

My sister was a fighter who'd always faced the world in her own way. She had a huge heart and was feirce friend, valuing family and her children above all else. However, she was also a complicated person, who left many things unfinished that the burden now falls to me. But as she was diabetic and disabled, she did not have much in the way of assets.

I cannot do this alone. I need help. Even if you cannot donate, please SHARE.

Anything I collect will go to the direct purpose of settling her estate, and anything extra will go to support her kids (my neice & nibbling (who is a furry)). I don't ask much, but I could really use some help right now.

I have set up a gofundme here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/michelle.....th-taryclayton

if you want to help via ko-fi here's that option:
https://ko-fi.com/shadowsmyst

I appreciate anything you can do to help, be it donating or sharing. If you want to donate in another way aside from the two listed, note me and we'll work something out.

Thank you everyone in advance.

SM

Streaming art on twitch, come and hang out. Doing a little character design for myself, then maybe comics. Come and hang out.

https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst

To celebrate 100 followers on twitch I'll be giving away a FREE full body character portrait of your OC on my wed stream at 9pm pacific!

I don't do these contests often so be sure to tune in tonight and follow https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst for a chance to win!

To participate, you will need to show up in the stream and enter the contest by buying a ticket! Don't worry though, you won't have to spend any /real/ money. The first ticket is always free, every ticket after that costs channel points which you can get simply by watching the stream! You can enter up to 10 tickets into the draw! But you MUST do so on the live stream.

So be sure to follow so you get the notification when I'm live and come and join me to celebrate!

What the title says, trying to get an idea of what people would like to see more of from me in terms of video/streaming content specifically around my art. I have a twitter poll going on and would love to know your thoughts.

https://twitter.com/shadowsmyst/sta.....55587127820300

I'm posting this notice in advance because I may take a couple of on stream commissions today. So I'm giving anyone a heads up if they are interested. Its on a first come/first served basis, but I'll likely only be taking 2-3 30 mins slots unless I'm feeling more ambitious, so I'm giving ya'll a heads up.

On stream digital commissions are $25 USD per 30 mins.

30 mins gets you normally a tight sketch of a single character depending on the complexity of the character's design. Inks might require an additional 30 mins, again depending on the design/complexity of the character and if its a waist up or full body. Coloring is variable, and we may have to play that by ear, again, depending on the complexity of the character. This is all assuming no background or very basic bg.

To claim a slot, you must be on the stream at the time! I will not be taking pre-stream/post stream/comment/note commissions. You have to /be there/.

Commissions can be broken up over several sessions (one stream is pencils, one is inks, etc) To make payments more manageable if that's a problem.

Commissions need to be SFW as I'm streaming on twitch, though things like transformation or growth could be considered as long as still mostly clothed. Follow me on twitch and turn on notifications to be notified when I'm online: https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst/

This is the only way I'll be taking commissions for the moment unless I've talked to you in person (such as at a convention). I have to be careful I don't overload myself, as I dip my toe back into commission world.

First at stream of the year! Come and join me if you want to hang out, chat and chill while I draw.

https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst

Long and last stream of the year on twitch today. Will be finishing up a bunch of stuff hopefully. Come hang and chill for this final art stream of the year. https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst

Streaming now until whenever I'm done.

Its Tuesday night, and that means its STREAM TIME. Join me as I do art on twitch!

https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst/

Its Tuesday night and I'm drawing fuzzies. Come hang out: https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst

Streaming art for a few hours tonight, going to work on some anthro portraits I've got outstanding. Come and hang out: https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst

Streaming while working on some art tonight, come and hang out.

https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst

I'm trying to work on coming back to doing regular art. To do that I'm going to try to stream at least once a week. I'm streaming today. Join me and chill & chat while I draw. My mic/camera is on, will answer questions. https://www.twitch.tv/shadows_myst/

I will be trying to stream regularly on tuesdays. I'm not currently doing commissions (not up for it yet), but I'm hoping I can work up to it eventually, as well as comics.

So, the last time I updated this was.. well forever ago. I can see some folk who've been following me wondering if I was okay. I assure you I'm well, and alive and everything is okay with me. I figure I should probably tell you all where I was and what I was doing if you weren't following me on twitter (https://twitter.com/shadowsmyst) or something where I tend to be more active.

So, where was I? Well I was running a furry convention. It took a lot more of my time, focus and mind share than I thought it would. Especially in the last six months leading up to the convention. Which convention you may ask? Vancoufur 2020. One of the last ones to run before the world got shut down thanks to covid-19.

I'll say that it was an intense, and very profound learning experience for me. I learned a lot about event management, hotel negotiations, financial costs, volunteer management, organizational management, teamwork, scheduling, and SO many other things. I learned things about myself, my limits, my weaknesses, but also strengths I didn't know I had. It was a phenomenal experience and I'm extremely proud of the convention we put on, and the accomplishments of the 2020 volunteer team. I can tell you that I can appreciate how much work and what a challenge it is to make a convention, and that I have a lot of compassion for people who run these events. Its so many moving parts, and its a real challenge for volunteer organizations to make these things happen with people who aren't pros, who are learning as they go, and are doing this in addition to their dayjobs/parenting/whatever they are doing in their RL to make something fun for people. If you do go to conventions, consider volunteering, even doing badge checking or gofering can be a huge help.

That being said, I'm glad that its over, and I've had some time to rest and sort of reevaluate thanks to this pandemic slowing the world down. I have a day job, that as of yet still exists (thank god) so I'm okay financially for the time being. So no worries there. Running the convention drained me of literally every bit of creative energy or otherwise that I had, and forced me to dig deep into reserves of composure and perseverance I didn't know I had. I had to put a lot of personal and art things on hold for a long time to get through the event. As I recover from the burn out it caused, I'm slowly coming back to life.

One thing I really want to do is art. I'm re-energized and motivated to get back to art and doing artwork. I really want to work on improving a lot about my art, there's somethings I found I'm just deeply dissatisfied with and I need to fix. I'm not sure how, but that's one of those things I'm going to work on. I hope to get back to comics and such too, but I'm not going to promise anything yet. For now, its more just experimentation, practice, messing around with tools. I've got a few things art wise to post I did manage to do in the last year that never got posted here, and I will get those up eventually. But I wanted to reassure everyone that I'm okay, and I'll be back to posting art stuffs soonish.

Streaming working on comics, maybe other stuff if time permits. Mic is on if people want to talk, ask questions, whatever,

https://picarto.tv/shadowsmyst

I'll be vending again, and also giving panels at Vancoufur 2018! If you are planning on going, I'll be at table #26 in the Dealer's den, with comics, pins, species badges, prints and other goodies. Will also be open for badge commissions, and other commissions at con.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there! Let me know if you're going to be there!

Will be streaming for a bit while I paint with Acrylics. Yes, RL painting, with a shitty webcam. You can watch here. I have the Mic on - https://picarto.tv/ShadowsMyst

Doing some late night coloring of Shifters. Keep me company.

https://picarto.tv/ShadowsMyst

I've got a bit of time and some art to do, and I thought I'd do some streaming. But which times are best for people to watch? Let me know your thoughts!

My sister's sweet sweet Rottie, who is also my neice's support animal has a lump (likely a tumor) that needs looking at pronto. Unfortunately my sister's been going through a nasty divorce, and thus doesn't have the funds for big time vet bills. She's already working two part time jobs, and is a single mother.

Trying to help her raise some funds to get Abby (doggo's name), to the vet and at least on her way to treatment. Help a doggo! Even a few dollars helps.

https://www.gofundme.com/help-abby-get-vet-care/ <-- See sweet dog, donate to sweet dog.

If you can't donate, PLEASE SIGNAL BOOST whereever you can!

Well its that time of year again!

Tomorrow I'll be in the Dealer's Den at Vancoufur Table #11! Come by and say hi if you are going! I've got new buttons and prints, so check them out!

I'm also doing panels! Transformation: The Art of Drawing Shifting Anatomy on Friday, Drawing Dynamic Figures on saturday, and Making Comics on Sunday. Come by and check them out.

Hopefully get to meet some new faces and such!

If you are going to Vancoufur this year and are still looking for a badge, or maybe something a little fun and different, I'm offering a few badge commissions, but they are only open for orders to March 3rd!

The first one is a special commission that's for this year's theme - Bounty hunter and starship pilot licences!
These are smaller cards with a headshot of the character and some details and fun text on the back. The details for them are here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/22720606/

The second are more regular badges, 4x6 laminated digital badges. I'm only taking a maximum of five. The details and examples of these are here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/22720822/

I will be doing traditional badges at the con, but I can't do the digital ones there, so they have to be preordered. They come out looking pretty swank, I have to say.

If you are interested in these, you can note me, or email me shadowsmyst@gmail.com. I'm also shadowsmyst on twitter if you want to get ahold of me that way too to claim a spot!

REMEMBER THESE CLOSE MARCH 3rd!

So, I have a patreon. It's not much right now, but I'd like to rework it so it's got more value for people that support me through it. Its also got to be stuff I can deliver. Also right now it mostly is just around Shifters, but it could possibly support Brymstone too if there was enough interest.

However, I'd like to get an idea of what sort of patreon rewards you, the supporters, feel have value. I don't have core membership anymore, or I'd probably do a poll, so this will have to do.

So, here are my personal observations so far with Patreon:
- I've offered things like exclusive livestreams and skype Q&As, and no one attends, so I feel like this has little value on a "patrons only" level currently.
-I've got a strong feeling that people are mostly there just for the early updates of the comic/lineart previews. this makes some sense though, people are there for the /comics/ first and foremost.
- I don't really get much feedback on the wallpapers or any other art, though up till recently I wasn't posting random art.

So I'm talking to different groups of people here.

One is people who already support artists on patreon (mine or others), and that is what sorts of rewards do you personally value? What things do you want to participate in? How do you want and expect to interact with an artist you support on patreon.

The other group of people who aren't supporting people on patreon, but If you were going to support an artist, (and that doesn't have to be much, $1 minimum here guys, Less than a cup of coffee), what would entice you to do so? What would an artist need to be providing for you to say "Yes, this is worth my dollar a month." (or hopefully more).

Rewards I commonly see offered by artists include:
-Access to a patron only 'art stream' of sketches, sneak peaks, and random unpublished stuff
-Discounts on commissions/products
-Priority on Commission slots
-Tutorials (art, or otherwise)
-Private Streams - Process, lessons
-Free Commission, icons, sketches rewards at a certain tier
-Hangouts, Q&As
-High rez downloads, PSD files
-wallpapers
-Credits/shoutouts on art or in a comic
-Cameos in comics
-Process videos
-Physical rewards (stickers, charms, pins, prints)
-Access to an exclusive upload area with PDF and other goodies
-1 on 1 art lessons, redlines, how-to videos
-Preview artwork, lineart, in progress sketches

Which of these do you find valuable? Are there other rewards not listed that you would want to see? Obviously the rewards vary by tier, but I'm trying to get a sense of which of these things do people actually like and find valuable.

I posed this to my current patrons, but they are rather silent on the matter. So I'm having to look elsewhere for feedback. So I'm very interested in any feedback I get.

Drawing lineart for shifters. Come and gawk if you want. Normally I'd be doing this for patrons only, but attendance has been sparse since its summer probably and everyone is out camping. Also other people might not even know I have a patreon for Shifters/Brymstone. It's here https://www.patreon.com/shadowsmyst if you want to check it out.

Some stuff is a little messed up though because they magically put my page in a beta for tagging and it screwed up posts. I haven't fixed yet. Doing this art first, then fixing that stuff.

So if you want a free preview of new pages, you can want to come and watch the stream.

stream is at: https://picarto.tv/ShadowsMyst

Well I'm not leaving FA, but I just want to remind the people who are where I can be found else where, such as:

Weasyl
https://www.weasyl.com/~shadowsmyst

Deviantart
http://shadowsmyst.deviantart.com

Furrynetwork
https://beta.furrynetwork.com/shadowsmyst/

Please be sure to watch/follow/comment on other sites if you are moving.

I also have a patreon for my comics here, if you are into that:
https://www.patreon.com/shadowsmyst