I'm trying to art again. I have proof over at my sketch journal!

http://skysketches.blogspot.com/

Hopefully, things will start getting back to normal soon.

I don't do this often, but  dnk-anais needs some serious help. :(

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1783406/

This certainly caught my attention. Bravo  notveryathletic :D

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4472920/

I'm starting up a journal to throw up all my sketches, WIPs, ect. as well as the trickle of art from other people that come my way!

http://skysketches.blogspot.com/

Finished pictures will still end up here, but this blog is more to explore the creative process. Or something. :P

Yup. It is mine. 28 on this day.

Going to work a full shift today. But maybe I'll buy a little sushi for myself.

That's pretty much it.


EDIT:
Thanks to everybody for the well-wishes! I honestly didn't expect nearly this big of a response! :O

Well with a new job in full swing and eagerly awaiting my first paycheck, I find my pantries quiet empty. So thusly, I am accepting commissions again.

THE RULES!

I am offering commissions at $30 a picture, inks at $15 a picture, and icons at $10 an icon.
For $15 and $30 pictures, I offer a digital copy of the picture, since my work is nearly entirely digital. At $30, I also offer a WIP for your scrutiny, to make sure I'm on the right track, but please be reasonable when asking for alterations!

Commissions are on a first come, first serve basis, based on who replies in this journal. If for whatever reason the person cannot, or decides against a commission, then the person who replied under them will get the spot. Commissions will be done five at a time, with a new call for first come, first serve commissions once the previous five have been completed.
However, I will also do a few 'bonus' commissions. Those commissions that tickle my fancy and will be picked on merits of subject and person, rather than the standard first come, first serve rule.

Details will be taken to e-mail or notes, so just let me know if you're interested in a commission, and we'll go from there!

For the commissions themselves, just a few things to keep in mind when commissioning me!

-As of right now, I only accept payment through paypal.

- I do not do "squick" or "controversial" subjects. Scat or cub for example. If I am not alright with something, I'll mention it in the details notes and we can work together to find alternatives that I'm alright with.

-I don't do "fan-art" pictures. So no Spyros or Starfoxes or the like. This mostly stems from my belief that I am far from ready to do these characters anything resembling justice, so I'm steering clear for now. If it's fan-art of other peoples characters, I will be contacting them to confirm it is alright with them. This means no suprise pictures. Sorry.

-I work best at one to three characters with a background. Anymore than three characters might be subjected to a bit of an addition cost, due to the increasing complexity of the picture.

If you already have a commission from me (listed in my commission info tab), please note me and let me know what you want!


----
THE LIST
----

Overflow
1.  shadowulf
2.  calafin
Pictures
1.  mith
2.  Ladon_Umia (PAID)
3.  dyluck (PAID)
4.  whiro (PAID)
5.  tallyhawk (PAID)
Bonus
1.  slither (PAID)
2.  ridayah (PAID)
3.  acroth (PAID)
Icons
1.  margolo-blu (PAID)
2.
3.
4.
5.

I've been thinking about the few characters I've had used off and on for a while, and I think I want to try to draw them more, and the wyvern less I think. I also want to try and expand my range of characters so I can get a good range of things to draw.

That said, I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter. Which characters of mine did you like? What would you like to see me try to draw?


MALE CHARACTERS
1. SkyShadow (Wyvern)
2. Aran (Plesiosaur)
3. (Magpie Hippogriff)
4. Paccu (Mako Shark)
5. Cordi (Dragonfly)

FEMALE CHARACTERS
1. Kristen? (Dolphin)
2. Aunnis? (Gryphon)
3. (Wyvern)
4. (Gryphon)
5. (Dinosaur)

OTHER CHARACTERS
1. Inq (Monster)


EDIT: Alright, as it stands, the male characters got finished really quickly, but there's still a lot of questions for the ladies. So I might go this direction.... Any specific ideas for those three mystery ladies? I got some ideas already, but I'm curious to see what people might think of. ;)

Also. Femsky, Badsky, Mersky and all the other variations are also implied under "SkyShadow" ;)

So I was talking with a friend, who was trying to show me some tricks in SAI. I really had a hard time understanding what they were doing until I realized that I was missing some key tools they were using in the program!

Initially, I thought this was due to a different version, so I updated it to the current release. Only the tools still are not present...

Anybody else have this problem? Any thoughts?


EDIT:
Got it figured out with the help of Traediras. Thanks so much!

Well, I caved in and bought a copy of Bad Company 2 for myself, since it's what all my RL friends are playing, and I didn't want to feel like a square.

It runs a lot smoother on my computer, suprisingly, and coming from that hell where you didn't know the maps, capabilities of weapons, or competent team-mates, I think I didn't do to terribly bad starting out on my own account.

Therefor, I do hereby recant most of my bitching about the game. I said most, because it still is the worst FPS game to start out on. A little knowledge goes a long way to make the game tolerable in the begining.

Thank you all for the advice, support, and comments on the issue. I really appreciate the words of wisdom. <3

Wow. Just. Wow.

I never thought a company would intentionally make a shitty game, but there you go.

300 hours of Battlefield 2, 300 hours of Battlefield 2142, and 10 hours later I'm sick as shit of BC2. I never saw a game actively PUNISH new players before. Way to raise the bar, Dice.


Everybody out there, avoid Battlefield Bad Company 2 like the plague. Trust me, you'll thank me for it.

Huh. Looks like my page views rolled over 100,000 sometime during the night. Neat!

I'll have to eventually plan a commemerative picture or something. :P

Tagged by  agroantirrhopus

1) Post these rules
2) Post 8 true things about yourself
3) At the end you must tag 8 people and post their icons
4) Go to their page and send them a message saying you tagged them
5) NO TAG-BACKS

1. I've had three jobs in the last year alone.

2. The only alcohol I can stand the taste of is rum, and even then, not a whole lot of it.

3. I've dabbled in most table-top games known to mankind, though I find it hard to focus on just one. Oh, and I love board games.

4. I love football. I have a team for NFL and CFL.

5. Everybody who hears I'm single universally acts suprised for some reason.

6. I used to have an extensive library of fantasy, science fiction, and science books, but several moves have scattered all my books to the wind.

7. One of my molars is shattered. Has been for the last two years. I don't have the money to have it looked at and removed.

8. I seem to have a knack for figuring out labrynthine public transportation maps.

Tag 8 people?! No thanks. I don't tag. Do it if you would like to.

My buddy  astralabortion is in some need, and I said I'd help him out. He's offering art cards for $10 a card, a steal from such a good artist!

EXAMPLE TIME:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3310600/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3578207/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3574116/

Give him a look see if you're interested. He's goooood. :P

What's up with these profile IDs?

I seen everybody at their dog (possibly cats?) posting them, but I don't have the slightest idea what they are for or represent?

I check peoples pages, but nothing is changed.


I am confused. O_o;

http://www.formspring.me/TheSkyShadow

Thank you all for the great suggestions and thoughts in refards to my previous journal. I have a lot to think on, it seems. n.n;

Well, V-day is fast approaching, and rather than spend another year moping about being single again. I thought I might try something a little more positive this year.

So this challenge is for all you happy couples out there. What advice would/could you give to a wyvern who seems completely lost, out of place and down right stupid when it comes to all things romantic? Just one peice of advice that helped you get you where you are today in that game called love?

Conversly, and also humorously. What peice of advice could you recommend NOT to do when it comes to matters of the heart?

My last commission picture was removed. The comments were treading the unfriendly territory for a bit, and I'd rather not have harsh words dragging on in the picture.

I agree with  shadowulf it was hardly my best picture.


RESOLUTION:
I've agreed to redo the picture for Shadowulf once my other commission is complete. This is primarily because I wasn't happy with the picture I offered him, and I felt as though I let him down before it was even posted.

I appreciate all the comments in regards to this matter. Things got heated, but it was nice to know people cared enough about this one picture. I hope I won't disappoint you with the next!

Seem  empressamihisss is in some dire straits. Enough so, that she is relaxing her normal commission regulations. The situation must be fairly dire for her to do that.

If you're in the mood for some high quality commissions, I would definately look her up in her time of need!

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1167979/

I normally really don't care for meme's, but this one has me curious. Stoled from  astralabortion

Fill in the blanks! The second best kind of test next to multiple choice!

PRO:
1)I like when you draw _______________________.
2)I wish you drew more _______________________.
3)I wish you drew more fanart of these series/characters:
4)I wish you did more original art of these characters:
5)I love how you draw ________________________.
6)If you were to do a comic of/about I would be soooo happy!:
7)If I could get you to draw anything I'd get you to draw ___________________.
8)My favorite part of your work is __________________________.

CON:
9)I hate when you draw _________________.
10)I wish you drew less ___________________.
11)Stop drawing ________________!

OTHER:
13)When I think of your art I think ______________________.
14)If I had to describe your work I'd say ______________________.

2009 ended up being both incredibly busy, and amazing uneventful.

-Moved cities. Left a lot of items and friends behind to go chase a job that didn't work out.

-Lost THREE jobs this year. That has to be a record for me.

-Thought I was in love, but I guess I was mistaken.

And that's pretty much been 2009 for me. All in all, another terrible year. For the first time since leaving school, I'll be going into the new year jobless.


Here's looking to 2010, but fully expecting it to be just as shitty as all the years before it.


Since I didn't accomplish ANY of my last years resolutions. I guess I'll just use those again.

REPOST:
1. Work on my art. I'm unhappy with how it looks. Anatomy, pose, coloring, and composition are horrible, and I need to improve them. So after my commissions are complete, I'm focusing on learning new things and trying to better my art until I'm happy with it again.

2. More clean stuff. All the rampart sex pictures are starting to get old, and I'd like to start branching out. Again, once commissions are done, expect more clean stuff from me with a variety of subjects. From landscapes to technology to aliens and ect.

3. Start animating again. I've put it off for far to long, taking a backseat to work/sleep/chatting and I feel my education has suffered for it. So I'll be trying to set aside time every few days to work on my animation and modelling, and maybe, start persuing my dreams again.

4. Find somebody. I feel lonlier and lonlier these days, my days are empty and my nights are spent alone and I feel horribly depressed from it. I've tried a few different things, but the answer from anybody seems to be a resounding "If only...". I'll redouble my efforts, and maybe I just might find somebody interested in me.

5. Spend more time with friends. I've been mopey and depressed a lot this year. I don't reply to messages, do meme or other fun things anymore and I usually don't initiate chats, waiting for people to talk to me (most don't). I'm going to try harder to keep up contact with my friends, OL and RL both.

6. Improve myself. Get a better job, get a car/licence, get my own place again. Scavanging and scraping along week after week, month after month has really affected my mood. And forget about any romantic prospects when all I have is $10 and a single, small room to call my own. I hope to change that this year.

Well, I'm back from my "time off" more or less intact.

Amongst the things I brought back, I seem to have brough home a mean chest cold. But I also found a Miami Dolphins Jersey for $10, so I guess that balances out?


Also art, which I'll start posting tomorrow, I think, in batches.

I might be scarce for a few more days yet, since we're having some company over until new years or there-abouts.

Well, the bad news is that I'm out of a job, and christmas is more or less cancelled, as far as buying gifts for people go.

The upside is that for the first time in seven months, I have an opportunity to visit my friends and family back home for the holidays.
That said, I'm probably going to be offline and out of contact for 2-3 weeks starting friday (tomorrow). But the plan is to take my computer with me, so I'll be working away on commissions while I'm gone.

I've been working on a new way to draw these commissions, and it's been working out well so far. Though this recent one is taking a while due to all the fiddly details in it.

Hope you all have a merry christmas, and I'll see you all again soon (with art, I hope!)

Well, I got it in my head that I would eventually like to get to a con. I've spent the last few years hearing about them. And my curiousity finally got the best of me.

So I'm setting up a donations fund to see if I can eventually get to one of these con-things that sound like such fun. It's up on my main info, just above the featured submission. n.n

In addition, any future commissions will also be going towards this fund. And I hope to make enough to actually take a break and go on a trip to see all the awesome people I know.

So if all goes well, maybe I'll get to one this coming year? n.n;

I figure it's about time to write something here. It's been a while I think.

October has been a busy month, both with work and otherwise.

ON WORK:
Work has been assigning me split shifts recently. Some days, it feels like I spend every waking moment at work which, at my current pay, is hardly worth it and also tends to grind my spirit to dust. It leaves me with no desire to persue any of my wants or needs after a day where I've been at work from 10am to 10pm.
I was hoping to finish a commission once every three to four days when I started my current batch, but with work the way it is, it took nearly three weeks instead of three days for the last picture.
Unfortunately, from the looks of things, these shifts will continue for an indeterminate amount of time.

ON LIFE:
My life is in a bit of a crisis. Though nothing serious. It's a crisis of staleness.
Between my series of rapid moves that ended up with me in a strange city with no friends (save room mate) within three hours of me, and my shifts at work devouring almost all of my waking hours. I find that I really don't have any life and/or hobbies anymore. The only thing I seem to have anymore is WoW. Which, by itself, is not a terribly good thing.
Unfortunately, hobbies require time and money to persue. Of which I don't have much of either. I would like to get back into table top gaming, but a lack of friendlies around makes that difficult and limited. I would like to get back to animating (which I've put off for years.) but the miasma that saps my will to draw also syphons my desire to animate. I like football, but that pretty much is only good for a few hours on sunday.
The lack of people I know also makes going out (the rare time I can afford to) a rather boring affair.

ON ART:
To be frank, I'm getting well and truely sick of my art. It seems somedays I can't put down a line without being horridly dismayed at how... aweful... it looks.
That is to say, I don't intent to give it up, especially when I have commitments with it. But I'm really not happy with how limited it is, especially after ten years.
I've been trying to rectify things in this regard. Downloading tutorials, watching other artists on Ustreams and the like, but nothing really seems to help.
In addition, I'm finding it harder and harder to draw SkyShadow the wyvern recently. When I first penned him, he was a younger, ideal me. Somebody much happier and playful than I am today. To be short, it really doesn't feel like ME anymore. And representing him as me just feels wrong these days.
In addition, there is a reputation surrounding the wyverny personal I've had that just doesn't really apply to me anymore.

What exactly this entails, I haven't decided yet. It seems more and more likey the wyvern will be "demoted" into a character of mine. And that's where things are still in the works. I might be quiet for a while while I try to learn new things.

Before you reply, keep in mind. I have no desire to disappear or anything of the sort. I've made a great deal of friends here that I would be loathe to part with, and for the most part, I do enjoy the community. I'll keep you all appraised of things to come.


Anywho, TL;DR VERSION:
-Split shifts, affecting art. (+ whine)
-Life is boring and predictable. Need change. (+ whine)
-Tired of art. Wyvern demoted to character of mine, rather than persona. (+ whine)
-Updates to come. (- whine)

Just to prove that I'm not dead, and not undead, while typing away at my computer. A meme that piqued my interest, originally stoled from  necrodrone13

*Are you a furry?
Yup. Though I think "xenophile" would be a more appropriate label for me. I love the inhuman, plain and simple.

*If you have a Spouse/SO - Is he/she a furry too?
Nope and, by default, nope.

*How long have you been in the community?
I started drawing around 2000, but I think I've been around since '99 or '98 or thereabouts.

*How did you find furry?
It started with a search for dragons on the net, then I stumbled onto Draconic.com and it kinda snowballed from there.

*What's your reason for furry (what interested you to get into the community)?
It seemed like fun. A non-human persona really appealed to me, so I created Sky as my 'mask at the ball' and he kinda grew on me.

*What's Furry to you?
Furry is the appreciation and exploration of the fantastical and the non-human, and through that, a better appreciation and understanding to be a person. At least, that's how it works in theory.

*If someone found out you're a furry and asked you about it how would you respond?
Give them the basics of it, since I'd rather not color peoples personal opinions on it. It's no big deal and just a fandom, like the dozens of other fandoms out there.

*What are your favorite aspects of our community?
The endless variety of form and function of peoples characters really appeal to me. It's always awesome to watch your favorite artists turn out something new and unique!

*Do you use any furry terms? (i.e. yiff, paws, murr?)
I really dislike those terms these days, though I'm quite guilty of them in the past. They just sound so... off-putting?

*What do you wish furry was NOT associated with?
The appeal of furry is that is a meta-genre, able to apply to other genres quite neatly. This also means that genres and subjects I find distastful also find shelter under the broad awning of this fandom.

*How strongly do you feel about someone bashing the community as a whole?
They are entitled to their opinions and thoughts. I really don't care.

*How strongly do you feel about anyone bashing you yourself for your interest based on the media's aspect of what furry is?
Like just about everything else, the media overplays things for the ratings. If somebody doesn't like something because a TV show told them not to like it, then why should I care about such sad people?

*We all know furries have alot of sexual aspects in this fandom, What's your opinion on it?
Perhaps there's a little to much focus on it? To each their own and all, but after a while, it gets a bit tiresome...

-Personal-

*What is/are your fursona(s)?
SkyShadow, a Glaive wyvern. I was pondering an alternate (or perhaps replacement) but I'm just not sure yet...

*Do you have any fetishes that pertain to the fandom?
I aquired a few from my time here. Size play, a little interest in vore now and again. I really can't think of others off the top of my head.

*If you could magically morph into your fursona would you?
That would be incredibly situational dependant. Am I the only one? What are the worlds views on me? Would I change back? ect.

*Do you believe you have a spirit animal?
*Shrugs* Not really. No.

*What other fanbases/groups are you a part of?
I'm a gamer (video and table top), a CFL/NFL football fan, an artist (ha...). I really lost a lot of hobbies when I moved down here. There used to be more.

*Anthro/Feral, Therian or Kemonomimi (Not a furry, just a human with animal ears and a tail)?
If this is preference, I'd have to say Anthro/Feral?

*Are you a fursuiter? If yes, how many do you own? If No, do you ever plan on being a suiter?
The suiting aspect never really appealed to me. I don't have any plans for a suit at all, though if I ever go to a con, I would be interested in making a Sky-shirt, perhaps.

*How many of your friends are furry?
I'd say about roughly half? Though I've only met a handful of furs in person.

*How many pets do you own, if any?
None. I really can't handle the responsibility right now.

*Aside from furry what other interests do you have?
Table top and video games. Cartoons (of the western variety, mostly). Watching and playing football, art, tinkering with animation myself. And perhaps a little cooking here and there?

*Are you confident enough in yourself to say that you're a fur, no matter what the media says?
I don't think there's anything embarrassing about saying you're a fur.

-Meetups-

*Do you attend any cons? If no, would you attend any cons? If yes, which cons have you been to?
I haven't had the opportunity to go to a con yet. I'm rather out of the way, and money and time are always in short supply. Still, I would love to go to one and see some of my friends from online.

*Do you go to local meetups(bowling, public outings...etc)?
There really isn't much going on here, furry-wise.

*Have you ever attended a furry party? If no, would you attend one?
Maybe. Crowds, loud music, and me generally don't get along to well.

-Online-

*Have you ever met up with a fur you talked to online?
Several. And they were all very cool.

*What furry websites do you attend?
FA mostly. VCL and YS now and again to upkeep my galleries there.

*What non furry websites do you frequent?
Livejournal. Youtube. And a few web comics, gaming sites and misc sites.

*Has the fandom done anything for you that you're thankful for? Has it taught you anything or brought you anything you treasure greatly?
I've met a lot of great people, and made some awesome friends I would never have met, otherwise. I think that is far more than enough to be thankful for!