I've missed my furry muse. She hasn't come to visit for a very long time, and for that I apologize. Just not sure how to wake her back up. Been dealing with RL so much lately, I really haven't had time to even think about it. And health issues haven't helped. Creative endeavors have found some other outlets, but not the art that I miss doing. Doug Winger's passing today (god rest him, he was a brilliant man, one I'm glad I got to know back in the day) kinda brought it back to mind... I 'used' to be one of the 'founders' like him, once upon a time. And I admit... I'm old school. I don't have all the cool programs people use to color. I can't afford a tablet to draw into a program, much less afford those programs to color with... I still use good ol' pencil and paper. And I feel like I couldn't even hope to keep up.

I am not pandering for compliments. Just laying out thoughts. I haven't even been to a con in the last ... 5 years, if not longer. It's kinda depressing in that regard. I'm just missing it, and not even sure if I -can- reassert myself into a fandom that has changed so much and so rapidly lately.

I dunno, don't mind me. I'm waxing philosophical.

http://www.change.org/petitions/ncs.....city-of-heroes

That is a petition to sign if you want to try and stop this from happening on November 30th.

The only way it will do any good is if NCsoft sees how many people actually care about the game and the community surrounding it.

Things are being worked on, I promise :) Getting sketches done, will be emailing those as I get through more. And postings here on FA as I complete the commissions will be in the order in which they were paid for.... so, if you see other comissions popping up, don't worry, you're is en route and in the queue :)

Thanks for all your patience.

Always sucks when one gets fired from one's job for BS. Even moreso when one is unprepared and has no cash to back one's self up. So, if anyone's interested, I'm willing and wanting to take on some lower-than-normal priced commissions just to try to get some money in the bank, so I can at least pay bills this month. Needless to say, while on the job hunt, I've got time... So, turnaround time for these commissions are 2 days min, 2-3 weeks max. Prices are as follows (all in USD):

$10 - pencil-sketch
$15 - inked -or- pencil-shaded
$25 - inked, colored
Additional characters in the pic are $5 each

Commissions will be sent electronically/digital format to any buyer, if the 'original' pencil/ink work is wanted, postage will (unfortunately) have to be added to the price.

If anyone's interested, please send an email to the account I created specifically for my art commissions:
stormmagus010[at]gmail.com

Thanks

Planning to try some new inking/coloring techniques, but lacking in a Wacom tablet to work on... anyone got one cheap they'd be willing to sell and/or donate to the cause? Thanks :D

Well, I was planning, like most artists, to celebrate that I've got over 500 watchers now (even tho I don't know where they all came from, lol), and do some kinda special drawing. Problem is.... I'm not sure exactly what I should do.... most I've seen post big ol' porn pieces of their most famous 'characters', but I wouldn't know which one of 'mine' I'd use, or in what fashion... or even if I should draw something else entirely, to be honest ;)

Any suggestions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ipQsUlQmXc

- the French are good for something at least, lol :D

Hey all, I will be going to AC this year, so if you're watchin, be sure to look for 'Storm' and say hi ;)

I've made the decision to not do Artist's Alley this year, however, as I want to spend a little more time doing Con stuff, rather than be stuck in a chair all weekend, hehe...

On that note, though, if you see me and want to get a commish/drawing on the spot (during the weekend, that is), I'll be more than open and receptive to that :D And will be trying to catch up on some of the past commissions that're due to people that have already gotten them :)

See you all in Pittsburgh on Thursday!

I'm a geek, I know it, I play D&D.

Well, today, Dave Arneson, the co-creator of D&D passed away at the age of 62... he was the 'unsung' hero of D&D, as he created the first game 'world' setting, Blackmoor, and came up with the idea of the classic 'dungeon crawl'.

So, if you're an RP'er of any kind, most of what you may have played was spawned by this guy's original idea (even if it's not D&D, but just the concept). And for me, that's been 21 years or so of entertainment, fun, creativity and friendship that I've gotten to share with others.

God rest you, Dave, and thanks.

So yeah... life has decided to throw me a couple curve balls, one of which I think hit me in the nuts :P

1. I got laid off from my job on Tues and 2. last night, one of my HD's decided to die on me, and the problem with that is, that was the one that contained all my art, my WIPs, my reference pics, etc :( :( Sooo... any commissions I've got due may be delayed a bit further, while I'm a. looking for a new job, and b. starting over on quite a few pics :( I'm sorry, all

For those of you that have the Cartoon Network, they recently released a show called 'Batman: the brave and the bold'. There was an episode this past Friday (2/20/09) called 'return of the fearsome fangs', and it was about martial arts, totems, and, well, all the main characters (including Batman) becoming furs, w/ the other good guy admitting to preferring it ;) Check it out if you get the chance, hehe

Hey, I want to give a HUGE thank you to all those that contributed in my time of desperate need, it was all a really really really big help :) *hugs all around*

To those that've gotten commissions earlier in the fall, I'll be finishing those up ASAP, and to those ones that commissioned for new ones last month and this month, I'll be jumping on those as quickly as possible and will be sending updates as they come :)

On that note, I won't be taking on any more, for just the moment, while I caught up on the past ones that're due to those that paid for 'em, but I'll let you all know when I can start taking new ones again, I promise :)

Thank you all!

I'm not the type of person to ask for anything. But over the course of this last week some time, my car decided to severely start leaking coolant, suggesting a radiator crack. I've got a day job and cannot afford to a. lose work or b. replace anything on my own, given my current finances. So I'm trying to get about $400 together as quickly as possible to get it fixed.

I would never ask for favors, but if anyone, anyone at all, would be williing to contribute, I'd be more than willing to do commissions on a severe discount: badges, sketches, full color pics, whatever; I'm desperate at this point. So send me a shout or a PM if you can help out in any way. It'd be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

Hey, just wanted to give a shout out... this pony is poor and needs some cash (bad), and more than willing to whore some artwork out for it... if you're interested, send me a private message ;) I work cheap too ;)

Guess I should add pricing to this ;)

$25 for pencil
$30 for pen'n'ink or pencil w/ full shading
$40 for color (hand or digital, buyer's choice)
+$5 per additional character per drawing

I have no limits for subject matter either... any species, any gender, any type of 'scene', it doesn't matter to me :D I'm an open-minded person, so throw whatever you got at me :) I'll take it on ;)

AC is just around the corner (like next weekend), and I am most definitely going to be there (with the name of Storm on my badge). So whether you know me, or if you don't and just wanna say hi, look me up :D

Last year for AC (despite having gone for so many years) was my first time doing "artist alley"... I found it to be pretty decent exposure for my art, and I know several of the watchers I have now are from it (as several of their commissions they got then too are viewablw in my gallery ;) ). The downside, of course, was spending most of the day sitting there, while the con was going on around me, hehe...

so I'm debating, honestly, whether it's "worth it" to do it again this year. I guess I'm asking for an honest opinion from people on whether it is something I should do again this year... any thoughts?

Hey, just didn't want people out there to think I'd gone anywhere, I'm still here ;) Sorry for not having posted within the last month, life's been kicking my ass, and work's left me so exhausted it makes it hard to have the mental energy to draw :P

Don't worry though, there are more pics in the works forthcoming, I got some commissions to get through first ;)

I'm sure by now most of you have already heard about the passing of Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the D&D saga, and everything it's become.

Gaming has been a large part of my life, as I'm sure it has many of yours. It helped me believe I could do the right thing, and achieve greatness in life, just from what I could achieve in a fabricated reality. Obviously not the same kinds of "literal" things, but still... it helped instill the idea that anyone, even me, if they put their mind to it, could do great things.

My earliest drawings, back when I was first learning how to put the stick figures together were of my first characters I created for D&D at the ripe age of 10, having gotten involved in playing with some older kids in the neighborhood. And it was history from there... Most of my drawings for many years were of nothing but RP characters, the kind created through both Gygax's vision and numerous others that were spawned by it.

Another thing I learned from this man was how to be able to create, and how to storytell. I've ran MANY successful multi-year campaigns for friends over the course, and it was all brought about by this man (and others), who showed us that we could REALLY create whatever we wanted to. And that we could be creative and have fun with it at the same time.

So, here's to you, Gary. *raises a glass and holds his original set of dice from ye ol' red boxed set of "D&D"*

Thank you for all the pleasure, pain and emotion.
Thank you for all the good times, and creating the ability to have life-long friends made through these games.
Thank you for helping to create the ability, for anyone, to become something greater than themselves.
Thank you for the imagination.
Thank you for the inspiration.
Thank you... for more than I can put into words right now.

May the dream of the game never die.

Wow, first FWA... (definitely NOT my first furry con, or con in general tho, lol) ... was a really nice experience, was a smaller con than AC, but sometimes that's a nice thing, to be able to go and relax and have fun and not worry about the pressure of "having" to draw while there, or sell artwork, or be pulled in about 18000 different directions by the 20000 things going on or people that wanna see you, etc... so yeah, that was good :)

got to try absinthe for the first time (and yes, it was the "real" stuff, thanks to some wormwood tea the drink was steeped in for a good 10-12 hrs)... and wow, yeah, that was fun, lol. definitely left me feeling it the next day tho (and any of the days following that were spent finishing off the bottle, lol)

actually did get a handful of drawings done (and one colored by hand, no less) that'll be posted within the next few days after I get home (still out of town ATM, away from scanner, hehe), so hoping that'll be enjoyed ;)

major hugs and shoutouts to all the wonderful furs that helped make it such a fun weekend. Kyllistin, my sweet poneh/kirin, of course :) Dragoneer for hangin out and having fun, definitely need to more often. Marc Leonhardt for the great company, convincing me to come to this con and helping getting my ass to draw again (after this last 7 month interim, let's all pray it's not as long before I draw again...) Phantasmas for being such a sweet and wonderful siamese kitty, you're so polite and nice, and giving ;) EraDragon, always good to see you. Herc, thank you so much for your little gift that made some things a LOT easier for epic lovins to give to my poneh :D Fennec, always a pleasure catchin ya :) Vish, was nice seeing you, been too long there pup :) Damaratis, you're great company and thanks for keeping FA up and running, being the rat behind the scenes ;) Foxxfire, was nice to catch you there, even if it was only for a brief hello :) Um... yeah, I know there were a lot more peeps too, and I apologize if yer not on that 'list' there, I's a very tired wolf (hoss) at this point and kinda fuzzy-brained, so forgive me :)

all in all, definitely a con I plan to attend again, was definitely a Blast... gonna hate getting back to the 'normal' grind, hehe. but I'll definitely be having some nice memories of a great weekend to help me through for a while :D

hey all, for those that are interested in knowing, due to a series of circumstances that all kinda fell together at once, I will be going to FWA (Furry Weekend Atlanta) this year :) so if yer there, give me a shout-out hello :D

hey, happy holidays and stuff to folks out there... just wanted to let you know I'm still here too :) and for those that've added me to their watch lists that I didn't say 'thank you' for, I'm saying 'thank you' now, as I accidently deleted all the new watchers before being able to message them, sorry!! but thanks for the support either way :)

don't worry I'll try to get new stuff up soon

Storm

Well, thanks to a good friend of mine, one Stripes Waterkat, I'm at least back online via his laptop that he's lent me until I can get a working full computer back up and running again. So yay! Can't scan anything yet, but new stuff will be coming soon, I promise!

On that note, though, anyone have any suggestions for how to get a cable company to hurry its ass up and pay up for something that was its fault? Turns out the reason my box got fried was because it came in through the cable and an 'equipment dmg claim' was filed, but I've yet to hear anything back, despite my several repeated calls. Any thoughts?

Unfortunately, a rather hard lightning storm struck our area this past Saturday, and, despite having a surge protector, my home computer got fried, dead motherboard :( And I have no idea what else in the computer, if anything, got fried too... What's worse is, I am, in no way, able to afford a new computer or anything like it right now, so the likelihood of me being able to post/scan/upload anything for the next several weeks (or months more likely) is just about nil :( Just FYI

Wow... what an Anthrocon... AC 11 this year was the 10th one I've been too (yes I feel old), and in my opinion, it was the best one yet. Meeting old friends + making a whole crapload of new ones is always great :D

Thanks go out to many people, I was encouraged to take part in the Artist's Alley this year and I want to personally thank each and every one of you that got a commission from me this weekend, it helped me get back into my art which has been so lacking for waaaaay too long, and I want to thank those that helped me while I was there too (Ferris comes to mind, thanks for sitting next to me, heheh) just encouraging me continuously. I'm still on a con high, lol. Record attendence there, all around good feelings, a whole new generation of furs popping up. A city that just embraced us wholeheatedly... Just ... wow :)

Those that did commission me, I'd like to ask (and it's of course your all's decision) if you could scan and either post my pics I did for you, or just send em to me so I can post them. The originals are, of course, still yours, but I'd like to share the image, even if just on computer, with others too ;) Thanks in advance

Anyway, I'm back now and in full force and have no intentions of letting this starting momemtum slow. Thank you all again for being there :) If not for me, then for yourselves and all of us that are part of this Community. The world could take a lesson from us furs sometimes. :)

I'm leaving today for AC, and will be doin sketchbooks and the like while there, so if you see "Storm", stop and say hi :)