I've seen what I would like for my birthday at the end of the month (23rd) but it's a bit too much money for me and  kittspidox, I know its cheeky and I don't like asking for money for stuff for myself but if people want to get me anything I'd appreciate any cash towards this.

http://www.chickencoopsandhouses.co.uk/cc2100.html

Its obviously not for -me-, its for the ferrets. It's a much bigger enclosure, fully roofed and the height means I can add in extra platforms, give them hammocks and more tubes/toys etc than they currently have. The top section can be locked without having to open it up so I can lock them up, actually get in there to clean them out thoroughly then open it again from the outside to "release" them to prevent dook escapes - also handy if people are needing to ferret-sit for me and are worried about dook escapes during feeding. Any help to get this would be awesome and I know they'd be happier in there ♥


I'm not expecting anyone to go "ok, here's £100" - literally just a few pounds would be awesome and it really would be more appreciated than anything for myself personally.

Paypal is shirikdraguinea[at]googlemail.com - if you do choose to donate note me with the address you used so I can thank you directly <3

So 2012 has been and gone and now we get 2013. With a new year comes new things as we all know and there's going to be a lot of changes for myself and my artwork.

As of Jan 1st 2013 I will no longer be focusing on art as much as I have been. I will still finish outstanding commissions but I will not be opening for work as often as I have been the past few years. Commissions will be opened at conventions or for special events which will be announced n advance in most cases. This is a decision I have been contemplating for the past few months - I have hardly had time to draw for myself and I want to change this.

Fursuits are going to be my main focus from now on, I'm sure this isn't a shock to most of you but again its something I have been considering for a few months now. Work was slow before mostly due to events in 2012 out of my control (significantly the passing of a few people I held very dear) but also due to some poor time management choices on my part. I intend to work on this in 2013 to work to better planned timescales.

So yes, TL;DR less art more fursuits.

Got a fursuit head you're not so proud of? Had a bad deal from a builder and cant afford a replacement head?

Well,  Wahaneta is doing a fursuit head remake contest over here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4105890/

The reduced rate commissions are now CLOSED so please do not note about them!

I've made a start on the Black Friday sale stuff - you can see a full list of my commissions and their status at http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4017340/

 rika is running a secret santa art exchange! Go here to sign up!!!
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4042728/

WISHLIST OUTLINE:

In my gift I'd like to see:
1. Shirik and a feral ferret, I have 4 of the little buggers and love getting Shirik + dook art - feel free to make it Christmassy! I don't mind what ferret colours you use but I have a sandy, polecat mitt, silver mitt and an albino for reference :)
2. Shirik full of Christmas food/nomming on cookies
3. Spinner in some sort of classy evening dress, maybe shes going to a party?
3. Spinner wrapping up christmas gifts using her silk (spider silk comes from her tail tip and fingertips)
4. Kitt and Shirik being all cute in winter clothing
5. Kitt and Shirik dressed up going to a Christmas party
6. Anything cute and christmassy involving one or more of the ferrets (feral)


References:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7812539/ - Spinner
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4318745/ - Shirik
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1257249/ - Kitt
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v.....naoko/ferrets/ - Ferrets!

What I Will Do:
1) Strengths: anthro, females
2) Weaknesses: humans, feral
3) Character Limit: 2
4) Will Not Draw: herm characters
5) Anything else I should know:

I've been closed since May, reopening commissions now for the holidays!

Prices and examples:

Conbadges
ACEO badges (2.5x3.5 inches) - £5 (approx $8)
Examples: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9211794/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8276888/ (commission is for art only, filmstrip holder not included)

Traditional badges - £10 (approx $16) (will be backed onto glitter card)
Examples:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8276880/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8276879/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8276904/

Chibi badges - £5 (approx $8)
Examples:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8276896/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8276892/

Digital badges - £5 (approx $8)
Currently no examples, please see gallery for digital art examples. This will be emailed and not printed, laminated or posted.

Traditional art
All traditional art is A4 sized on Bristol board and are made using Copic Markers and Prismacolor pencils

1 character - £18+ (approx $28)
+ character - £12+ (approx $19)
+ background - varies, please ask

Examples:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9175217/ http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9170237/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9211815/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8277791/


Digital Art
Digital art is completed at 300dpi and sized to a4 printing size, high res will be emailed once art is completed.

1 character - £12+ (approx $19)
+ character - £8+ (approx $12)
+ background - varies, please ask

Examples:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9229803/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9183088/ (adult)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9189313/ (adult)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9237304/ (adult)


All prices for traditional art work include postage within the United Kingdom, please add £2 for postage to the USA.

Paypal in GBP preferred.

So yeah, I'm on weasyl as well now -
https://www.weasyl.com/profile/shirik

Doing some more commission work today <3

Again, thank you to people being patient with me for artwork - I appreciate I've been taking a long time with things but I'm trying to get on top of things.

With this in mind, a few people have been asking me "hey Shirik I get you've had a lot of shit on your plate but you've been uploading fursuit stuff/tweeting about fursuit stuff/facebooking fursuit stuff etc - wtf is the deal?". This is a valid question and I want to explain to people about this.

Fursuit building is my JOB art is my HOBBY - I had to take almost 10 weeks off suit building earlier this year due to being very unwell (I will not go into details with what happened but it was bad, those close to me know the details). This was right before a big UK convention which I attended as a dealer (which turned out to not be such a good idea). At the convention itself I took on a few larger pieces to be done on the last day of the con/just after the con and shipped out - however at the con I collapsed which left me unable to do next to anything for the last day and a half of the convention. Therefore I couldn't work at the con. When I got home BAM I had to get straight on with fursuit work which had deadlines and was working damn near every day to get stuff done, this carried on nearly daily up to the day before Eurofurence where I was having to do stupid things like working 26hrs straight on suits (my husband can verify this) to get the work out in time. It was during the working 26hrs nonsense I had two family bereavements literally days apart (this is explained in my last journal). I had too much work to do to attend either funeral, which crushed me. Working my ass off to play catch up on work basically destroyed my free time and IN my free time, I'll be honest I didn't want to sit down and do commissions I wanted to de-stress and get the hell away from the fandom for a bit.

I hate being behind on art, I used to have a reputation of "oh hey commission Shirik it'll be done like in a week tops!". I missed out on being able to do Halloween art, I'll likely not take Christmas commissions now and I didnt even get to doodle something for my husband on our wedding anniversary. I WANT to catch up on this, but to do this I need to take time off work which will put me behind more. But I have no choice, once I finish  lozbunneh's suit I'll stop working on fursuits until ALL outstanding art is done - this can't carry on. If it means I need to start working silly long hours again so be it.

Ive not really been about much so I apologise for that, this journal is a quick update on whats been goinmg on as of late.

You'll notice uploads from me have been very slow the past month or so - as you all know due to serious illness I was approx 10 weeks behind on my fursuit workload and as such I wanted to catch up on that before cracking on with art. Unfortunately real life events took a bad turn for me in August which put a halt to things again.

I've kept this off most places I frequent due to family being there and wanting to avoid upset but I had two very close bereavements in August within a week of one another - my "uncle" Richard and my aunt Margaret. Margaret's death upset me a lot but Richard's death absolutely devastated me and I couldn't work on anything at all be it fursuit or art related - he wasn't family but every weekend from the age of 6 until I was in my 20's I stayed at his farm and helped out. As a kid it was helping bake cakes with his wife, Ann and make sandwiches and pies for the guys in the fields and as I got older iit was helping with the cows, helping with harvest and almost every evening in the week I'd be at his golf course helping out as well either by serving in the cafe or out in the field picking up golf balls on the driving range. Richard was a huge part of my life, closer to me than most of my family and I am still struggling to cope with his passing.

My next few pieces I will be uploading will be things Ive worked on for me - during this I didnt want to work on commissioned pieces as I needed to do stuff for me, I hope you guys can understand that. Over the next few days I'll be uploading WIP sketches for people - if I need to contact you over details in your pictures I'll contact you (some people I lost some picture details so I just need to clarify with them - again just wait for a note from me).

Heya guys, just a heads up for people who commissioned me at CF
I have NOT forgotten about your work, it will be done - I had to take an 8 week hiatus from work due to illness which Im still playing catch up on and as such I havent even had time for my personal work. I was also very unwell during the con itself - I hadn;t planned on taking any small work home with me but thanks to seizures at the convention I was unable to avoid this. As soon as I can I will be getting on with your art just please be patient with me!

Artistic Licence Fursuit Head + Tail Trade

I'm interested in doing an artistic licence fursuit head + tail trade with someone! I'm after something preferably toony in one of the following species:

Skunk - natural colours (they come in more than black and white!! http://www.skunk-info.org/colrmark/marks.htm)
Ferret - natural colours (http://www.hugawoozel.com/colorings.html)
Dog (ideally mongrel/husky/collie) - natural colours
House Cat - natural colours
Fox - any species, natural colours

I say artistic licence - what I mean by this is I just choose the species, the BUILDER gets to choose the markings and colours. Just because I've listed I want natural colours doesnt mean I wont do fantasy ones! I'm cool with sparkle creatures I just want a natural critter for myself :)

Would anyone be interested in doing this? You'd name your own species you'd like and your own colours you'd want to have. I won't just jump on the first person to comment, I'll leave this open for a bit.

I will ask the following things though of people who want to participate:
Ideally I want to trade with someone of a similar build quality to myself
I'd want them to use EASILY ACCESSIBLE furs (ie: fabric.com, mendels, crs crafts etc - not your local fabric store)
Be willing to pay for shipping of their head from the UK

I'd like the trade to be completed by Jan 2013 - I won't post my half of the trade until the other person has finished theirs. Tracking will be provided and I expect the other person to do the same!

If you're interested please note me on FA <3

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3575409/

Kitt is looking for an artist for his adult toy website, $100 prize for the winner!

just throwing this out there - feel free to ask me any fursuit questions you may have about suits Ive made, suits I've owned, construction stuff etc. I like answering stuff ;)

 faust11! they were present in the stream when the draw took place, I will be in contact soon to discuss your prize!

Thanks very much to everyone else who took part - I can tell you that after material costs a total of £183 was raised for charity :) I'm proud of you lot!!

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3575409/

Kitt is looking for an artist for his adult toy website, $100 prize for the winner!

If Ive missed anyone, please please let me know asap via note!!

Fox Convoy, mixed media 2 char

Wolfie 2 char mixed med
Freddy panda: 2 char, flat copic
mylo badge
under the tail aceo
selth digital 2char
andy squirrel chibi badge
marbles and Andy - 2 char flat copic
Bardolph badge
ACEO Jasper Wallace

Aiming to have all of these done by the end of June, if any concerns about delays PLEASE note me!

Other commissions to do:
Var - 1char mixed media
Seraphone - inked pic

Back and rested from CF so here's a small report for you lot ;)

Thursday
Thursday saw me and  kitt_spidox flailing around the house in a blind panic with me trying to get packed and him doing the finishing touches to the 3d printer. LOADS of stuff this year: one giant duffel bag, 2 large expandable(!) wheelie bags, 2 backpacks and a holdall ALL FULL TO BURSTING. We had so much luggage when our taxi came he had to request a second taxi for us!! crazy times. Got to station ok, bumped into a few awesome people on the train ( spiritraptor and  bloodoodles I'm looking at your lot! :P) and after the change at Birmingham ended up in a carriage with a couple of bronies :). Got into Hinkley then headed to our hotel for the evening, nice little motel kinda place before being picked up by  makenshi to go to Nandos with him,  leinir and  ssithl - did early reg afterwards, helped the con staff to unpack some last minute things that arrived and scampered to hotel to sleep.

Friday!
Not much to say about Friday, got to the con and pretty much straight away dumped our stuff in our room and headed to the Dealers Den to help  jencen get his gear set up. We were in there pretty much all day :) Got my lot set up, put my stuff in the art show and after the opening ceremony decided to get suited up for the first time in Spinner. She was a lot of fun! Still hunting for pics of her though sadly, not seen very many ;;

Saturday
Saturday was an early start, sponsors got early entry to the dealers den.... but I wasn't there! I was attending the civil ceremony of  makenshi and  leinir <3 lovely ceremony, I cried SO MUCH then after photos I scampered to the dealers den to get on with work! Got to see lots of familiar faces and sell lots of random stuff (scribble badges ftw!) - my commission slots filled quickly and while I was able to get everything inked on the Saturday, colouring sadly would have to wait until I was back in the den on Sunday! We went to the bar for food and I somehow ended up (badly) singing "Carry on Wayward Son" on the Fur-E-Okie! It was a lot of fun :D we then headed to watch the Pawpet show - fantastic show this year guys!! Those bats better be making a comeback!

Sunday
First thing in the morning, after demolishing a full english breakfast was fursuit photoshoot! Great set up this year, got loads of pics of Spinner! :D looking forward to seeing them ^^ Then headed to fursuit lounge to chill out, bumped into  avalanche and  possum_fox in there and then headed to the main stage to prepare for the parade, found my draggy  gen-ichi and pretty much straight away got pounced on by  Kerijiano for some girly chat :D Semi disaster, my zipper popped before parade started - Avy helped me fix it but was paranoid the entire parade. It was a good route this year... until the end picture. Go upstairs, go downstairs, up, down, up, down - nobody knew wtf was going on and I nearly collapsed on the stairs the final time they made me go up. Thankfully as soon as the pic was over I wasnt far from my room - Avy helped me back there and helped me desuit and I flopped on the bed for ages. Jencen and Twll came up (thankfully I was decently clothed) and we had a chat before I got showered to come downstairs. Didn't quite make it for a while, had a seizure and it took me a bit to recover before heading back to dealers den. Got down to the den, pretty much straight away started having another seizure - couldnt even pick up a pencil. Stayed at my table to apologise to people waiting and felt increasingly rubbish as time went by - Kitt sent me to the room. Got upstairs, didn't quite make it and had another seizure, woke up and found myself face down in the middle of the corridor with a first aider and security staff hovering round me. Spreebok had called me while I was out of it so they called her to get me - she wasnt at the con so that worried her a fair bit. Someone realised who I was though and went to get Kitt. The attending paramedic helped me to my room once Kitt was there and did the whole first aid thing - she was lovely and had a good chat, explained what the con was about and the such and she thought it was brilliant :) When she left I called people to let them know I was fine then pretty much collapsed in bed and slept until the dealers den closed for the day. When I came round I (somehow) managed to go downstairs for the (disappointing) chinese buffet and then the auction. A LOT of my stuff went in this year and I was quite shocked, I couldnt stay the whole auction though as I found it very difficult being in the room with so many people so Kitt took me upstairs and I pretty much went to bed straight away. Not a good day.

Monday
Still feeling shit, had breakfast, did art pickup and then packed up my dealers stuff (thanks to the guys in the den for allowing me to do it during art pickup). We then ended up at the bar playing Fluxx with Kitt, Jencen and Avalanche. Always a fun game :D I don't remember much of Monday, after Lunch Kitt had to disassemble the 3d printer box so I fluttered around downstairs drinking copious amounts of rum. Rum was pretty much the theme for Monday, running around talking to people whilst tipsy until the munchie kicked in and we had dinner in our room. Headed to our other hotel around 11.30 and got to sleep off the rum ;)

Tuesday
Trains. Thats all I can really say.


Wonderful con as always, lovely seeing people and putting names to faces. Got a fair bit of art to do and got to do some advertising for myself and for Hybrid. HUGE thanks to Codewolf and the other staff for looking after me on Sunday, you guys are awesome - I have no idea who helped me apart from Code but it really REALLY was appreciated for you lot keeping calm and making sure I was ok :)

I'll be back next year!!!

Well, the bags are getting packed and I'm bound for Confuzzled tomorrow!
I'll be in the dealers den for the 4th year in a row, look out for me next to  jencen (he has shiny laser type stuffs!) and my awesome husband  kitt_spidox .

As always I'll have stuff on my table to suit all budgets - don't believe me? I have items on my table starting from 10p this year! The infamous "scribble badges" are also making a comeback and this year come laminated as standard! I'll also be debuting not one but TWO new portfolios and I have a large selection of art going in the auction this year.

Look forward to seeing people there! :D

I'm seeing an increasing amount of new builders boasting that their latest fursuit took less than 3 days to make. Really guys, why the rush? Rushing causes wonkiness, weak seams, wrong running fur and lumpy/choppy foam work. Take your time and actually LOOK at what your making. If it looks like a toaster before it has fur on it.... chances are it'll look like a toaster afterwards. If you're stuck, look at other peoples foam work to see how shapes work - a lot of builders post WIP's up for this very purpose!! And most importantly... don't be afraid to ask for help!!!! A quick redline can make a huge difference and its always great to have a fresh set of eyes look at foam work to point out any glaring issues.

So to recap:
- Take your time
- Look at others work
- Ask for critique
- If you need it, ask for help!!!

A great place to go for help is http://fursuit.livejournal.com - they have a lot of good builders on there willing to give help and advice and their memories section is chocablock with tutorials and guides about all sorts of subjects.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7645319
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7878020/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7878017/


These badges are coloured in copic marker with prismacolor details and are mounted on a glitter cardstock back.

Backing colours available:
baby blue, lime green, yellow, baby pink, pink, orange, purple, dark pink, red, turquoise, olive, silver and white.

These badges are £10 and are available for pre-order for collection in the Confuzzled 2012 dealers den. Payment is up front through paypal.

If you would like a badge please note me!

EDIT: If not attending please add £1 for postage, all badges will be mailed after the convention!

Where are you staying?
Day before and after we'll be at the local Premier Travel Inn, for the actual convention we'll be at the hotel :)

What day are you getting there?
Thursday (Premier), Friday (main hotel)

Who will you be with?
 kitt_spidox  jencen

Do you do free art or trades?
Sorry, but no

Do you do commissions/badges?
Yup!

Do you have prints/CDs?
I'll have prints again this year :)

Do you have art in the art show?
LOADS!

What suit(s) will you have?
None D: may be running around in Kitt's suit though from time to time

Can I dance with you?
I'm absolutely crap at dancing and most likely won't be at any of the dances :)

You're talking to someone, and I would like to say hi, but don't know how, what can I do?
Wave if in front of me, please don't grab or touch me from behind as I'm likely to get snappy D:

What is your gender?
female

How old are you?
27

How tall are you
5ft 4

Are you mated?
No, I'm MARRIED though

Can I touch you?
Um... depends what you mean by that x.x dont mind handshaking and stuff, but no ass or titty grabbing (keep it pg and DONT grab me from behind)

Can I talk to you?
Sure :) just don't be a creeper ;)

Can I hug you?
It depends on who you are, if I know you then its not a problem but if you're random most likely no D:

Can I take photos of you/with you?
Not keen on having my picture taken but if you must :P

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
Awwwww yeeeeeeah

Do you drink Alcohol/Smoke?
Drink yes, Smoke no

Can I give you lots of money?
Yes please!

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
As said above, if I know you I'm cool with it

Can we hang out?
Again depends who you are, shouldnt be an issue though

Are you nice?
I try to be, I am a bit shy around new people though

In fursuit...
If I'm in my husbands suit I'm cool with hugs etc - just not from behind. Would be in his Spidox suit.


Where will you be most of the time during the con?
Chained to a table n the dealers den

Other cons you may go to?
None, I'm kinda poor XD

Who are you rooming with?
Kitt Spidox and Jencen

Attending any events?
Will have to see the timetable :)

How can I find you at the con?
I'll be in the dealers den 99% of the time, not hard to find :)

So, literally just had a call from the sewing machine people - my machine is ready for collection (yay) BUT it will cost another £50 (boo!) which I don't have right now.

SO the quick commissions are opening again, aiming to get these done over the weekend -

£5 for a sketch - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7687002/
£8 for shaded inks - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7687968/
£10 for conbadges (if going to Confuzzled can be collected from my table) - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7645319/

Male, Female, Herm - it's all good. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

I'm also taking on coloured commissions as well but these will not be discounted and may take longer.

Flat marker: £15 (+£5 per extra char)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7176838/

Mixed media: £20 (+£5 per extra char)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7794296/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7212799/ (adult)


Payment through paypal.

All commissions can be collected in person at Confuzzled if you are attending.

I'm trying to organize a group photo shoot for the studio at Confuzzled 2012, there is no confirmed date or time yet but posters will be put up at the convention and information will be available from my dealers den table on the Saturday.

Please note: Photoshoot is for all suits built under the Hybrid Name, NOT just suits built by me!

So yeah, after getting the money for the sewing machine to be fixed our bills came out this month and we're a little short. Bills are paid which is the most important thing but money is very short right now which is going to make life difficult.

As such I'm re-opening these:
£5 for a "clean" sketch, £8 for shaded inks. Male, Female, Herm - it's all good. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

I'm aiming to have a 48hr turnaround on these!!

Several examples are in my gallery, if you can't get one please spread the word as I really am desperate.

Payment is through paypal :)

Hey guys, as you can see from my last journal I've been having issues and my sewing machine requires repairs. Thanks to your awesome people I HAVE REACHED MY GOAL! I would however like to get a few more commissions in on this offer in case they need to order any extra parts for the machine.

I am offering pinup commissions - £5 for a "clean" sketch with basic shading, £8 for inks. Male, Female, Herm - it's all good. I'll be taking these all weekend as I really am desperate for these. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Payment is through paypal :) Please comment to claim and then note me with character details!