I know it has been a while, however my home studio is finally on the path to being set up which bodes well for future commission work. Needless to say, this is going to be great for the FA gallery!

While all of this is being taken set up, I was curious what sort of projects folks would be interested in commissioning once the workspace is ready to go live? Here's a few example project types:

Your character in a pin-up - SFW or even NSFW!
Fursuit reference sheets
Toony or semi-realistic sketches
Colored character paintings

Let me know your thoughts on what you would be interested to see or if you would be interested in commissioning me for your next project. I look forward to realizing your creative vision and putting it to paper.

- The Desert Fox

Well, everything went well yesterday and I'm all patched up. Now comes the fun part which is getting back to 100%.

Since there is a six week recovery time for hernia surgery, I unfortunately won't be able to hike, shoot do much driving or or lift 15+ pound objects until early September. No fursuiting until that time either. I expect to be in good shape for AZFurcon and am quite excited about that upcoming event.

In other positive developments, the new studio space is almost ready and I expect to have that set up and running in a few weeks once the space is all cleared out. Soooo excited to get back to work on illustrations once again.

I hope to share more updates soon! As always, thank you for the support!

- The Desert Fox

Hi all,

Well, I'm a bit nervous! I'm going in for hernia surgery early tomorrow morning and will be out of commission for at least a month. I've had this injury for the last six months and it got to the point where it just had to be fixed as the pain was preventing me from fully enjoying the things that I previously enjoyed such as hiking, jogging and of course my creative endeavors like illustration and photography.

The good news is that once I recover, I'll be back to hiking and getting in good physical shape once again. This has been a major goal for this year and I'm intent on meeting that goal. I expect to be hiking, shooting and doing fun things again like fursuiting mid-august at the earliest.

In other positive developments, I'll have a new dedicated studio workspace set up within the next couple of weeks, so commission work will be opening once again in addition to more updates to the flickr gallery, FA gallery and personal projects resuming again. The creative drought has been far too long and it will simply be fantastic to put these dark days behind me and get back to doing the things that make me happy!

I hope to share more updates soon! Thank you for the support!

- The Desert Fox

Hi all,

I have made a decision to part with some crop-sensor gear in order to upgrade to a full frame lens, so the following items are up for sale.

Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 Art Lens with Canon Mount + 72mm UV Filter
B+W 72mm Polarizer Filter (Fits the sigma)
Sigma Calibration Dock with box and paperwork.
Includes original box, paperwork, all inserts and pouch. Warranty card is blank.

The Sigma works GREAT with Canon Rebel series bodies or crop sensor bodies like the 70D or 7D. Since I have gone to full frame, I'm not able to get the full use that I thought I would be able to get. Due to this, I am selling it. Everything functions perfectly and there are no issues with the lens.

Asking price for all items is $850. Normal retail is $1100 for all accessories. Pictures available upon request. Cash only, please. I can meet anywhere in the Phoenix/Mesa/Tempe area for the transaction.

Example photos with the Sigma lens can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

- The Desert Fox
602-214-7604

This week has been...interesting to say the least.

Without going into the gritty details, future plans to return to Texas are very unlikely at this time as my relationship was sabotaged by two other individuals who shall remain nameless. Although this is disappointing, I am doing my best not to let this get me down or bent out of shape. Sometimes things just happen and its time to move on. I won't be the type to harbor resent over this.

I do have some projects to occupy my time. Mainly, getting this old house cleaned up and making sure my dog lucky can enjoy her last days here as painlessly possible. The home office seems to be running fine and work is keeping me busy with an overtime schedule, so I can't complain. I'm doing what I can to contribute to a better outcome for everyone involved.

I do want to get back into shape. Gotta get back into running the mile again, hiking and getting in time at the pool. With the summer months coming up, I hope to get a much swimming in as possible.

Also on the list is setting up some new meetup events here in Phoenix (currently looking at meet ideas). Maybe bowling again?

- The Desert Fox

I'm in the middle of building up my home studio and am offloading several items. Here is what I have to offer. Cash only.

Canon T4i DSLR with 18-55mm lens. Includes the original box, all original accessories and is in excellent condition. Also includes two bonus batteries. Asking price $450. [SOLD]

Photo here > http://imgur.com/WFS1icc

70 rounds of assorted 30-06 ammunition. Asking price $40 [SOLD]

Odin Sphere - PS2 Game. Asking price - $15

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 for Xbox. Asking price: $50 for both games. $25 each.

Panzer Dragoon Orta - Xbox - Asking price: $15

Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection. PS2 - Asking price $20.

All games for $80.

- The Desert Fox - 602-214-7604

Hi all,

Way back around 2012, we used to have a weekly meetup event where folks would show up around 6 PM just in time to order pizza, appetizers and beer for happy hour. Man, those were the days and I miss them!

I'd love to gauge interest for a 21 and over meetup like this again. Who all would be interested? Old Chicago is in Glendale on the southeast corner of 57th Avenue and Bell Road near Sprouts Farmer's Marketplace.

I've also been thinking about running one time meets at various microbreweries across Arizona such as Lumberyard Brewing in Flagstaff, Rock Bottom in the North Valley and Four Peaks in Tempe. The idea would be to show up as a group, try some unique brews, kick back and relax.

- The Desert Fox

Texas was one hell of a ride and I can't thank my friends here enough for the warm welcome during my stay and the great times. I've gone through 11 months of photo galleries and every single one of them has brought back wonderful memories of interesting moments I won't soon forget.

Standout moments include Texas Furry Fiesta, seeing Veskar battle it out in Hockey, enjoying moments at the monthly Arlington Fur Meets which were simply fantastic and of course Skyy and Veskar's beer tours at Martin House, Petticolas Brewery, Revolver, Deep Ellum, Rahr and Sons, Rabbit Hole and Community Brewing. Of course, the going away party and Hibachi made for an excellent denoument to the whole experience. Good god, you folks sure know how to keep life interesting!

As I look around me, I'm completely surrounded by boxes containing souvenirs and memories of good old Texas. I'll be sure to bring them back with me to Arizona to hopefully continue some of the traditions I saw here. I'd love to do some brew tours and maybe share some brisket over a smoker with local furs at a future meet.

I do look forward to returning to the Sonoran desert and returning to the land I call home. While the leave from Texas is bittersweet, I hope to visit once again.

Again, thanks everyone for being awesome and friendly during my stay. I couldn't have met better people.

- The Desert Fox

In case anyone's interested, here's a breakdown of this weekend's Arlington Fur Meet photos. Feel free to download and share with friends.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

Thanks everyone for making this a fantastic last fur meet before my relocation to Phoenix. I really appreciate it.

- The Desert Fox

Hello,

I figured I'd throw this out there to keep everyone on the same page. In a few weeks I'll be relocating back to Phoenix, Arizona to step in and help out my family with their slot machine business in addition to taking care of our dog, Lucky. She's on her last legs and I'd like to be there to make sure her last days are as good as they can possibly be. Lucky has been a huge part of my life for 15 years and she means so much to me.

Me and  rabidrabbit56 will still remain together, we just plan to be a bit more distant for the time being and I hope to come back out to visit Fort Worth as often as I can. Love you, bunny!

In retrospect, Texas was a worthwhile experience and I have so many fantastic memories and have met some awesome friends. I'd like to thank icon  TennisBallLover and  Veskar for being awesome and a majority of the Texas furs that I've met for being friendly and welcoming. If its one thing I like about Texas, its the laid back, friendly types in the area along with all of the fur meets and events. Ya'll should come to visit Phoenix sometime for the next AZ Fur Con and we'll have a hell of a party!

Texas certainly opened my eyes and I wouldn't trade my experience and time here for anything. If anything, the time spent away from home showed me how important it is to see things from a distance and realize how much family means to me. I also got a great taste of Texas BBQ, so I intend to bring it back when I return. Smoked brisket, anyone?

I won't miss the Texas weather and shitty highway system though, so its back to sunny Arizona with its predictable weather, easy driving, shooting galore and plenty of free desert to explore. Its easy to say this fox is going back to his natural habitat and you can certainly say the dusty deserts of Arizona are where my heart is. I feel a deep connection to the Sonoran desert as it has been part of me for these last 18 years and it will feel right to be back to see the beautiful sonoran sunsets on the mountain ranges once again. I've really missed that...

For my Phoenix friends, I plan on relocating around March 22nd and should have a few days off to get back into the swing of things. If you all want to go shooting or hiking, let me know! I'm eager to step back into my hiking boots and head out for an advanture!

- The Desert Fox

I've been thinking about a name to give my alternate deer fursona and haven't quite settled on one yet. I have a few names brainstormed already, however if anyone has anything creative, let me know!
A few fun names in mind:

Apple Cideer
Buck Browning
Rusty Deer

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear them!

- The Desert Fox

Hi all,

I just got back from visiting Texas Furry Fiesta and would like to share my experience with everyone. Overall, everything was enjoyable! Me,  rabidrabbit56,  tigerthemeerkat and  adelbutton left Thursday afternoon for a four night stay at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dallas with a fully packed Jeep including a stuffed cooler full of beer and plenty of fursuits.

We debuted our matching deer fursuits on Friday and reception really seemed positive. If anyone has any photos of the matching deer from the convention floor, please send them my way. I'd love to see how they look.

I have to say I liked the friendly faces, calm atmosphere and the excellent convention staff. Everything at TFF seemed so coordinated, seamless and well managed, especially the dances. The major standouts for me was the dance competition, the spacious dealers den and the con suite. Check-in was a breeze and food trucks were available! No expensive hotel food for me!

Me and Rabid met too many cool people to mention in this journal, but I would like to thank  masterkennyg for hosting an awesome room event at his con suite. Also, it was fantastic to see friends like  ouiji and  bubblesfennec once again. See you in Phoenix again soon, guys!

Some convention improvements I can see down the line for TFF would be having all of the con merchandise in one place instead of on separate levels. It was a bit confusing finding this year's T-Shirt and it took three tries to finally get to the right place. The other item would be ensuring that the staff have their point of sale machines up and running. I went through a ten minute process of selecting last year's shirt, waiting for it to get retrieved and then going to the check-out counter only to realize that the machines were down. I know its minor, but it was a let-down and they lost a sale. These are minor critiques. In the grand scheme of things, it was a damn good convention!

I'm really hoping the next Arizona Fur Con is a comparable experience. They can really improve on their dealer's den, artist alley and dance sets. Please guys, announce your dates early so we can have an awesome experience for the next convention!

Overall, there felt like plenty to do at the convention outside of the room party events and I was happy to see plenty of variety in the panels.

Kudos go the staff for putting on a professional event. Guys, you kicked ass.

Anyhow, for those interested, feel free to check out the full event gallery here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

If you prefer a different look, I tried something different this year. Two sets - main event and after dark.

Main event set - My convention experience condensed into just about a hundred photos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182.....7650999114671/

After Dark Set - Experimental low light photography. Safe for work, I promise!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182.....7650940269346/

Enjoy!

- The Desert Fox

Hi all,

The day is finally here! I'm so looking forward to meeting familiar friends and meeting new ones at this year's Texas Furry Fiesta! I will be rooming with  rabidrabbit56 along with  tigerthemeerkat and  adelbutton at the Intercontential Hotel for several days of this exciting convention.

Me and the bunny will be wearing brand new matching mystery fur suits. See if you can 'spot' us!

For familiar Arizona friends visiting TFF, I will also be suiting as Desert Fox. He's had a few adjustments including a new front zipper and feet paws, so the idea of suiting up just got a bit more exciting.

I'll be snapping pics as well with my trusty Sigma lens. Who can't love a constant 1.8 aperture wide angle zoom? Mmm...low light photography.

Will you be there and want to meet up? Let me know. : )

- The Desert Fox

I'm in the process of upgrading studio equipment and the idea of picking up some new creative tools crossed my mind. I'm still weighing a few options but once the budgeting is in place, I'm going to jump on something that will speed up my creative process. Current budget is $1000 USD.

I've done some research and am considering pulling the trigger on a new tablet in Spring 2015. Does anyone have any experience with the following items?

Option 1: Wacom Cintiq 21 UX
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wacom-Cinti.....item462f0a7992
I'm seeing these under $1000 on ebay, however they are outdated. The working area of 17-by-12.75-inches is a huge leap up from the 13 HD. This is one hell of an upgrade and is at the top of the list for a reason. I'm debating between using this outdated model or a newer one. The 22HD out of the question as it costs more than double my budget.

Option 2: Wacom Cintiq 13 HD
Product: http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products.....s/cintiq-13-hd
The $950 amazon pricetag and 11.75 x 6.75 working area seem just about right. I'm questioning whether its enough resolution to work with for a monitor interface.

Option 3: Wacom Intuos Pro Medium
http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products.....uos-pro-medium
The 8x5 working area seems about right for on-the-go creative work with a laptop.

Any thoughts on the above products?

- The Desert Fox

Just some thoughts on recent comments I have read online and have seen on TV regarding the recent events at MFF.

First off, its amazing to see the level of support that attendees and non-attendees have given each other in the aftermath of the gas leak at Midwest Furfest. Everyone seemed to stay resilient, pulled together and the convention ultimately ended the weekend on a positive note with over $30,000 in funds raised for wildlife charities, 4600 attendees and a very successful fursuit parade. If its anything we can learn from this, its that the community is much stronger and much more resilient than the naysayers give furries credit for. Nobody is going to stop the community from gathering together to share their stories, experiences and creativity. No one.

The idea that someone would wittingly release a chemical agent used in World War I on a hotel full of folks who were enjoying life, enjoying their hobby and having fun is pretty disturbing. We may never know the motive or person responsible and I can't speculate on who would be involved. However, I'm really hoping that this person is found as soon as possible. Someone, somewhere, had to have seen something.

My heart goes out to all of those affected by the chemical attack. I had good friends attending MFF who were staying at the hotel and found out about it the morning after the incident. The first thing that went to my mind was - holy crap, are Skyy, Veskar and Adel OK? A quick check on Twitter confirmed that all was well. Still, other people I did not know ultimately were carted off to the hospital. Did this happen because they just happened to be at a convention enjoying their hobby? We may never know, but the specter of that thought is unsettling.

Also, for the journalists covering this event, I still don't understand why folks like Mika Brzezinski on the MSNBC Morning Joe show would find a chemical attack even remotely funny. Numerous radio DJs, morning show hosts and other commentators have also jumped into the fray with obligatory 'bump in the night' jokes and the like. I know many of them are playing to their audiences. However, at the end of the day, the immaturity and lack of perspective really show that they just don't get it. Real lives were affected here. There's nothing funny about that.

Regardless of all of this, I appreciate folks focusing on the positives and pulling together. You guys truly show that creativity cannot be stopped.

- The Desert Fox

Hi all,

For those who joined us on Thursday, here's a gallery with all of the Fort Worth Turkey Trot photos. As some background, a small group of suiters registered for the local 5K event and we all had a fun, memorable event with plenty of random folks dropping in to take photos with us!

Attendees included  thedesertfox  rabidrabbit56  tennisballlover  veskar  adelbutton  tigerthemeerkat

The image gallery is here > https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

Feel free to repost and share these images.

- The Desert Fox

Hi everyone,

Here are some interesting shots from this month's Arlington fur meet. With the weather starting to cool down, we had quite a nice turnout and I hope to suit once December rolls around.

All the shots below were processed with a 70-200 2.8. Love the lens and the unique rendering style that is imparts to the images.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

Feel free to repost and redistribute, with credit of course. : )

- The Desert Fox

For those interested, here's a gallery from today's visit to the Arlington Fur meet. As always, a big thanks to everyone for the great event!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182.....h/15055987107/

- The Desert Fox

Hello,

Hope everyone had a fantastic labor day weekend.

To celebrate,  tennisballlover put together a fun trip to Galveston Island right off the coast of Texas for a five day weekend vacation. Here's a gallery set of photos from our fursuiting walk near Seawall Boulevard which was the highlight of the trip.

Attendees included  thedesertfox  rabidrabbit56  tennisballlover  veskar  darroh  darkdragon23 as well as  ravidwolf Storm and Ronnie.

Gallery > https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

Overall, I had a great time and look forward to future trips with the Texas Furs. For those who attended, feel free to share and re-post these photos. : )

- The Desert Fox

Here's a few shots from a brief meetup with a couple of furs in Grapevine. Enjoy!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182.....h/14626564926/

- The Desert Fox

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

Enjoy!

- The Desert Fox

 theDesertFox +  RabidRabbit56 +  Adelbutton

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

I occasionally set up fun private photo-shoots from time to time so to celebrate Adel's new fursuit, I decided to try a few fun situational shots. Hope you all enjoy and feel free to re-post. These were all shot with the Sigma 18-35 1.8. Love that lens! : )

- The Desert Fox

Hello,

Thanks everyone for the fun time at this weekend's Arlington, TX meet. Once again, what a turnout! Plenty of interesting lighting situations today with an overcast start and some really strong sunlight toward the end. I'm still getting used to all this humidity, but soon I will be fully acclimated. : )

Here's something interesting for all the shutterbugs out there. Want a closeup shot with wider depth of field so you have everything in focus? Stop down to f8 to f10, get really close, keep a fast shutter speed and engage the popup flash. For follow me eyes, this technique works great as you'll illuminate the eyes and not get the 'dark eyes' effect you would otherwise get in a standard shooting situation.

Here is the photo lineup from the meetup event. Feel free to re-post these on your profiles and share with friends and family.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

As always, thanks for the great time and I hope to see you all again soon!

- The Desert Fox

Good morning,

Thanks everyone for the fantastic time at the Station 4 furry meetup in Dallas. The experience ended up being vastly different than expected and wow, what a turnout. One thing that stood out to me about this meetup was the friendly atmosphere, cheap drinks and some really unique lighting situations that posed some fun lighting challenges. Well, challenge accepted!

Here is the photo lineup from the meetup event. Feel free to re-post these on your profiles and share with friends and family.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

As always, thanks for the great time and I hope to see you all again soon!

- The Desert Fox

Hi all,

Thanks again for another great, sunny weekend meetup in Texas! While yesterday had just a few suiters drop on by due to the humidity, their dedication earned them some unique and interesting portrait photographs. As to whoever brought the pizzas, thank you!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

Feel free to repost these on your profiles. : )

- The Desert Fox