Hello FA!

Want to win one of my originals?

All you have to do is come up with a brilliant chat-up line and post it in a comment on this piece. Full rules and details can be found in the submission information.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9927753/

Good luck, and please, spread the word, I want lots of entries!

~T

If you, like I, have a love of quantum mechanics and entanglement theory, then you will love this practical demonstration of the long term effects of Schroedinger's experiments with cats...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNalMWLnt0o&feature=youtu.be

It's really nicely drawn and very well observed.

Where are you staying?
In the hotel!

What day are you getting there?
Friday, about lunchtime, just in time for QueueCon!

Who will you be with?
nuwolf and agrajag initially. Then I will be in the bar, with everyone else.

Do you do free art or trades?
Late in the evening I will be trading bad drawings on beermats for beer.

Do you do commissions/badges?
I do. Come find me and agrajag in the Den. Be quick though, I won't be doing many as I am going to the con to have fun, not to spend 2 days drawing.

Do you have prints/CDs?
Prints, yes; CDs, No. Come to our table, we've been working on some really cool shit to sell to you lot!

Do you have art in the art show?
I should have a few bits, yes. I've also done something a bit special for the ConBook which I will be donating to the charity auction.

What suit(s) will you have?
None. I make shoddy costumes for stupid parties which last 6 hours then fall apart, not fursuits.

Can I dance with you?
If you so desire.

What is your gender?
Chap.

How old are you?
27

How tall are you?
Maybe 5'6" ish?

Are you mated? in a relationship?
Oh how I hate these trite furry neologisms. Um, Yes?

Can I touch you?
Depends where/how drunk I am.

Can I talk to you?
Go for it.

Can I hug you?
Have you washed?

Can I take photos of you/with you?
Yes, but I'm not sure why you would.

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
Hell yeah. You might even get a doodle out of it.

Do you drink Alcohol/Smoke?
Yes, to excess and No, not generally.

Can I give you lots of money?
Why not, eh?

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Hug, yes; Snuggle? What exactly does it entail? Is it the sort of thing that gives furries a bad name?

Can we hang out?
If you are fun and interesting, sure. Cliques at conventions are unavoidable, but if you like silly games that involve word play and quick imaginative wit, pull up a chair.

Are you nice?
No. I am an irredeemable bastard who hates people and eats puppies.

Hello Fuzzies.

I am planning to do the ‘Den at Confuzzled this year.

I have been to plenty of con’s, but I have never done this before, and I’m quite looking forward to it in an odd sort of way.

I may never do it again, but I have to try it at least once, just to see if I can.

I’m not going to bother doing huge binders full of prints, but I will be offering sketch commissions and maybe a badge or two, nothing serious, just me and my pens.

This brings me to my point; does anybody have any advice for a Dealers Den virgin?

What can I expect? What do you think people would be willing to pay for my work? What’s it like being on the other side of the table looking out?

Cheers!

~T

It’s November, which means a few things, changing clocks, fireworks and only 8 shopping weeks until Christmas!

It’s also Mo’ season, where men everywhere grow moustaches to raise awareness and money for men’s’ health issues, specifically things like prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

I have been doing this event for a few years now, and this one is no different. My MoBro’s and I will be selflessly coiffing and nurturing our facial topiary for the amusement of all, and all we ask is that you throw some money at us.

If you want to support me, head over to:

http://mobro.co/SchroedingersDog

Or, ping me some cash via PayPal via this address:

SchroedingersDog(at)Gmail.com

I will post photos of my moustache growing escapades at the end of the month, and considering my potent hormonal chemistry it will be a thing to behold.

Peace Out and Sod Cancer.

~Theo

I don’t use this blog very much, and I probably ought to, Livejournal isn’t the community it once was, where this community seems to be ticking over quite nicely if one can dodge the flying shit and know to shelter when it hits the fan.

Anyway, I have something of an announcement to make. Well, I say announcement, it’s nothing so grand really; I just have something to say.

I wasn’t too pleased with the last batch of things that I put up in my gallery. I mean, technically they were fine, the linework was up to standard and the people who bought them in whichever auction they ended up in don’t have an inferior drawing, but I wasn’t satisfied with the thought behind them, they felt a bit rushed on the development side and they didn’t satisfy the indulgent artist in me.

I like to spend a few days thinking about my work before I put pen to paper, do a few sketches and just have some time to process the imagery and get the cerebral stuff in place. I find I’m happier with the result and I have a chance to work some interesting ideas and symbols that go beyond the initial idea. I suppose the last lot of artwork felt like it was made on a production line and the ideas were a bit superficial, with only one or two having any significant amount of time lavished on them.

I know that this is the reality of professional illustration, but I’m not a professional illustrator. I do this for fun, and I stopped enjoying the process while I was producing drawings for the RBW art show.

This is partly why I’ve not uploaded anything for months, I’ve not wanted to draw or paint for pleasure.

This is all changing now. I have a couple of commissions in the works, one of which has been running for months, I mean you could grow a baby in the time this thing has been gestating. The commissioner knows who he is, and I cannot express how grateful I am for his patience, as I’ve had the chance to do the process in my head properly. Needless to say, it’s looking good.

This leads me to my little thing to say.

I will be finishing off the current commissions I have on my books (both of them), after which I have decided that I will only do things I enjoy. This doesn’t mean I will stop taking commissions or stop producing work for Art Shows, but I will be more selective with the commissions I take and I will be producing fewer, better pieces for conventions.

I need to enjoy what I’m doing, which means slowing the process down and having capacity to experiment a bit, play with materials and techniques and not worry too much about the result. Much as I love fine pens and crosshatching, I want to roll in paint and throw myself at a canvas, just to see what happens, figuratively speaking.

Hopefully this will mean I will be posting more on here as I will be producing work for me and not to a deadline for a particular audience, which will be nice.

That’s all, nothing earth-shattering, and in all honesty you probably won’t notice any difference, but it feels good to get this in writing.

The next con’ I’m doing will be Confuzzled, and I hope to have a couple of pieces for that auction, I'm not sure what they’ll be or what they will look like, but I can’t wait to find out!

Peace.

~Theo

I went to RBW last weekend and, as its name suggests, it was Rather Brilliant.

As is typical with my con reports I’m not going to produce a day by day diary, I’m just going to tell some anecdotes. I'm collecting these, but I'm not sure why.

Costumes

The theme for this convention was ‘Space Cowboys’ which has a huge amount of scope, and I was pleased to see that so many attendees got into the spirit of it by dressing up and wielding their modified non-lethal weaponry. It made the whole thing feel more cohesive, and I have to say that I have never seen so much participation in the theme. I think my costume went down quite well; I have never had so many compliments on my posterior in a single weekend. I know there are a few pictures of my get up floating about, but I've not seen any yet.

Play your cards Right

 agrajagVolunteered to do a stage-based event at this convention. The nature of this event morphed several times from the sublime to the ridiculous then back again before settling on a tried and tested quiz show format with a selection of rubbish prizes acquired from a local poundshop, as well as a few good prizes that one might actually want to win  agrajag was master of ceremonies and did a masterful job of keeping the energy up for two hours, and I was the hapless, glamorous assistant charged with resetting cards and presenting prizes. The event went very well and we got a lot of good feedback from it, although I doubt there will be a repeat performance.

Art

Naturally, I took a load of art with me for the art show. I'm in the process of uploading it to FA and it will appear here too. I sold all but one piece which I donated to <lj user="red_russell">, partly because I didn't want to take it home, but more because it seemed poetic given the subject matter. This sounds mysterious, but it really isn't, all will become clear when I get around to cleaning up the scan and posting it somewhere.

I also did a piece for the convention charity (In my gallery, it's called 'Outpost Crew'). This was quite an unusual work for me, firstly it's colour, secondly it's quite big and thirdly it's on canvas. If I have anything to do with it it I will never work on canvas again, the result is nice but by god it's a faff. I was hoping it might sell for £100-200, a good sum for the charity and a nice warm fuzzy feeling for me. So, imagine my shock when it went to the main voice auction and sold for a whopping £500! I could hardly believe it, my silly drawings aren't supposed to go for that much!

Boat party

Lastly I have to talk about the boat party, my god, that was awesome! Brilliant venue, great music and a fantastic high-energy atmosphere. Really, this one event made the weekend for me. Thankyou!

So, to sum up, brilliant con, long may it continue to grow.

~Theo

I’ve been working on a drawing for the RBW show for the last few days, it’s taken quite a bit of research to get the details right (sci-fi nerds are sticklers for detail) and I though it was going OK.

I finished it late last night, took a step back, and got that horrible sinking feeling as I realised it was terrible.

I checked again this morning and it’s still terrible.

Dammit.

Hello world. I am now back from EF and mucus of concrud has receded to an acceptable level so I don’t sound like a vengeful Norse god anymore. Disappointing, I was getting used to summoning lightening and riding my goat-chariot.

This post is somewhat later than I would have liked, but it has come to my attention that RBW is in less than two months and I have to get right back into the art-groove and work another minor miracle. As such, life is still on hold. Eventually I might get to do my ironing, but I somehow doubt it.

As always the EF was an absolute blast and as always I can’t remember anything distinct, just a general blur of silly games, beer and inane chatter. In all honesty I’d like to keep it this way, but as with previous years I want to present a few vignettes and notes for posterity.

Art

Lets do the serious bit first before I descend into the absurd. Once again I was in the art show, everything sold and I made enough to cover my convention costs, which is all I every intended to do. I also won a nice big rosette for ‘Why the Cheetah’s Cheeks are stained’, which made me feel quite special. I also did one or two sketchbooks, which is not something I usually do, but I was really pleased with how they came out. My argument used to be that cons are too stressful to produce good art, but either I’ve got better or I was wrong in the first place. While on the subject of art, it was great to meet and briefly hang out with some truly brilliant artists, I’m not going to namecheck here as I’m sure I’ll forget someone, but those concerned know who they are. You guys are awesome.

Now, on to the silliness.

Silly Games

These are the things that can make a convention, and they were especially abundant this year. There was a decent game on Munchausen, followed by an awful drinking game involving a bottle Unicum* and a set of spherical dice. There was an epic D&D game that too three sessions to complete where I ended up as a lesbian hyena with a box of magic bones and got caked in black gunk at one point. Many thanks to the stalwart DM’s who ran that game, it was great fun. However, by far the silliest game involved a pack of vandalised flashcards designed for the under-fives. ‘Key Words’ became ‘Wankey Words’, and every seemingly benign word was given an obscene or surreal prefix or suffix to make it hilarious to drunkards. Until you have played the game you will never realise the potential of a card with ‘The Duchess of Cornwall’ written on one side and ‘Uvula’ on the other.

Silly Ideas

The following list is assembled from memories, little notes written on beer mats and sketches in my notebook. Some make sense, others don’t.

Bacon: I know that this is about, but it’s secret.
Squid: How cool would a squid fursuit be?
Jellyfish: How cool would a jellyfish fursuit be?
Longcat: How about a Longcat suit based on a Chinese dragon costume? Too many legs, but it could be fun.
Plushguts: Do fursuiters have plush internal organs?
Siamese Fur suit: You never see this, I wonder why? It could be like the twins from La Cité des Enfants Perdus, with one massive foot between them.
Furry Winehouse: God knows.

And that’s about all; if you got this far, congratulations, have a cookie.

~Theo

*Apparently this is the national drink of Hungary, but we only got it because it had ‘cum’ in the name. Look, it’s not big or clever, but we’re puerile, ok?

It's that time of year. Again...

Where are you staying?
The Con Hotel

Who will you be with?
A more sensible question is 'where', the answer to which is 'at the bar'. I will be with anybody else who's there, i.e, most of the British contingent.

Do you do Trades or free Art?
Wave a sketchbook at me and I might scribble in it for you. I warn you, it won't be pretty, I need tools and the right sort of pens to get the sort of result you see in my gallery.

And Commissions?
Yup, but not at the con. Ask for a card and we'll talk after the con'.

What suits will you bring?
My human suit.

What is your gender?
TBC.

How old are you?
Real age or showbiz age? 25 and 17 respectively.

Can I touch you?
If you so desire.

Can I talk to you?
Knock yourself out, I don't bite unless you want me to.

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
Please do. You get freebies if you do.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
I'm sure we've been through this.

Can I hang around with you?
If you like, I'm not that interesting.

How tall are you?
Sorry, why is that relevant? About 5'4.

You look pissed off, can I come up to you?
If you like, but do so at your own risk, I won't beat you senseless, but I reserve the right to ignore you. This said, it's unlikely I will be pissed off, I'm on holiday dammit!

Are you nice?
No. :P

Can I stalk you?
Yes, but don't steal my stuff and build a shrine to my magnificence, my ego doesn't need any more stroking.

How long are you going?
Normal arrival, late departure

Do you have an artist table?
Nope.

Will there be any Artwork in the ArtShow?
Yup, loads. Buy it, I don't want to take it home.

Do you like parties?
Does the Pope shit in the woods?

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Expose yourself and jiggle your boobs/genitals at me*.

See you there!

*If you do this, you will probably be arrested. This is good for me as it means I don't have to deal with your freaky ways. If you are the sort of person who thinks boob/genital jiggling isn't appropriate behavior for public places, you have passed the test and are relatively normal. If you fall into this category, I am happy to talk to you and a simple wave or shout is perfect for getting my attention.

Going to be streaming a bit later, tune in if you want to watch me corrupt another classic album cover.

[edit] About 1900h fyi.

Going to be streaming again in about 1/2 an hour.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/see-theo-draw

Just finishing the inks for  fuzzypaws's kiriban prize.

Hello All, going to be streaming me doing a little drawing for a birthday card at about 1730 GMT (about 5 minutes from now)

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/see-theo-draw

The mic will be on, so ask me questions and I'll answer.

This is a bit of a test, if it goes well I'll do it again with a better set up and a bigger drawing.


[EDIT]

Thanks for tuning in guys, the result of the session was this little beastie:


http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4069926/

I'll do something bigger next time.

Long time watchers will doubtless be aware that I go from being dormant, not posting anything for months, then it all comes in one concentrated lump at about this time of year.

The reason for this is the EF art show.

I like working under a bit of pressure, nothing motivates quite like a deadline! Also, I like to plan an exhibition so it all hangs together well and you get a nice consistency, That's probably a product of architectural presentation where all the technical drawings have to sit with artistic interpretations and tell the same story about a 3-dimensional building that doesn't exist. Architecture's weird like that, you have to sell something that doesn't exist yet and is the most expensive thing you can buy.

So, In the coming weeks and months I will be coming out of hiding to post a flurry of new pictures. So, would any of you like to watch? I'm thinking of doing a bit of UpStreaming as I work, would anyone be interested in seeing me hunched over a big bit of paper, scratching away with a tiny pen?

Just a quickie, has Zakumi, the South Africa World Cup mascot been Rule 34'd yet?

If not, why not?

We have a cute anthropomorphic cheetah with green anime-hair and a huge head here, he's just begging to be violated by the furdom!

[Edit] I should probably add that I'm not actively looking for this material, I'm just surprised it isn't everywhere, this character seems like perfect furry-porn fodder.

I know, I know, first journal in ages and it's about something as mundane as this, but there you go.

I just have to say I'm loving all these little Photoshop Mash-up 'Real Me' things that have spread over FA like a rash in the last 24 hours.

I'm not sure why, but as FA memes go, this one appeals to me far more than most.

That's it.

Revelatory wasn't it?

Ta ta.

EDIT: I did do one, but it got taken down almost immediately for not having enough original content. I have put it here:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b.....altheocopy.jpg

Hello FA

I'm running the Bath Half Marathon for the Bath Cats and Dogs Home and I need to raise some sponsorship.

Since you lot have a vested interest in the well-being of anything fuzzy, I was wondering if anybody would be willing to chuck some cash in the pot to feed some starving puppies with floppy ears and big blue eyes?

No pressure, but every little helps.

~Theo

Throw money at this email address -> schroedingersdog[at]gmail.com

Drop me a note if you want to send cheques or use some other money transfer mechanism.

Bath Half Marathon -> http://www.runninghigh.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ho0

Bath Cats and Dogs Home -> http://www.bathcatsanddogshome.org.uk/

[Cross posted everywhere I can think of]

Ok guys.

I'm coming up on 3000 views, if anyone can cap it and send me the image I will send them free stuff and drawings.

I'm reality I will probably just sweep a handful of loose items from my desk into a box and drop it in a post box, but there might be some good shit in there, right?

The mystery makes it fun.

EF is on the horizon. I've packed the J-lube and rubber gloves and I will have two inflatable sheep this year as I don't want a repeat of last years debacle, that was just plain unhygienic

Where are you staying?
In The Ringberg.

What day are you getting there?
Wednesday

Who will you be with?
Hard to say; I want to have a good natter with Agrajag, Albrecht,  kurtbatz Giro and  wruf

Do you do free art or trades?
Trades, maybe, but not at the con. Free art, depends how drunk I am when you ask me, although the probability of me saying ‘yes’ is inversely proportional to the quality of the art produced.

Do you do commissions/badges?
Yes, but not at the con. I have business cards, if you want something you can have one of those and drop me an email. Cons are too stressful for art.

Do you have prints/CDs?
Um, No, but I might be able to do prints on request. Again, ask for a card and email me.

What suit(s) will you have?
I have a white t-shirt with a lightening bolt stenciled on the side, does that count?

Can I dance with you?
Yes, you may dance on me as well, as long as you don’t expect money in your G-string

You're talking to someone, and I would like to say hi, but don't know how, what can I do?
Whatever you would normally do, social conventions and rituals still apply at cons.

What is your gender?
Eunuch

How old are you?
168

How tall are you?
Does it matter?

Are you mated?
At the moment, no, but that does not mean I want to be molested in the sauna.

Can I touch you?
What, intimately?

Can I talk to you?
Uh, yes.

Can I hug you?
Probably, depends on hygiene and the time of night.

Can I take photos of you/with you?
Not sure why you’d want to, but OK.

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
Please do! I might do bad art for you if you do!

Do you drink Alcohol/Smoke?
Yes, excessively, and no, not generally.

Can I give you lots of money?
Only if you claim to be a deposed Nigerian monarch or businessman.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
We’ve been through this…

Can we hang out?
I don’t see why not, I’m not a total misanthrope.

Are you nice?
I’m just peachy.

Where will you be most of the time during the con?
I’m British, I’ll be at the bar.

Other cons you may go to?
RBW

Those who watch me may have noticed a stylistic shift in my work recently. If you look back through the (limited) archive I have moved from a very clean geometric look to something far softer and dependent on freehand hatching. I first tried this new technique on The Last Supper, and found I could get far more expression and far more depth in the images, a well as a softer edge, which was far more appropriate for copying the fresco.

I’ve been working with this for a while now, and I prefer the results to the older work, the new ones are just so my more dynamic!

Now, my feeling of self worth is entirely dependent upon my online popularity *cough*, and I notice that my newer works don’t get anywhere near as many favourites or comments as the older ones.

Do people prefer the older stuff?

I mean, it’s not going to change anything, but I am curious.

~Theo

[EDIT: I'm not fishing for more comments here, and the thing about self worth was a joke, you may stop PM'ing me now]

Ok, lets try this.

Is anyone going to EF? If so, are you in need of roommates? Agrajag and I are looking for two more people to join our room, and we don’t really want to let The System randomly allocate two extra bodies, as they will probably be deranged misanthropes who collect road kill in jam jars.

I mean no offence if you are one of these aforementioned misanthropes.

Let me know if you are interested, or know anyone who might be.

Tah,

~Theo

[EDIT] Sorted now.

I like to think that I am a creative sort of chap, that is to say I enjoy creative pursuits. Whether I’m any good at them is up for debate, but I shall let my peers and tutors decide that.

I always used to believe that the reason for this was that I liked the results. I liked investing time in something in order to get a tangible product; some evidence for how the time was spent, a creation, if you like.

However, recently I have noticed my interest has moved away from an ‘end’ and towards the ‘means’ by which it was reached. To me, the act of drawing is an exercise in getting an idea on to paper, and if the result is good, so much the better. The thing is, once the drawing is complete it stops mattering and becomes superfluous somehow; a mere vehicle for the process, only retaining relevance until an end is reached. This is its life, so to speak.

I first noticed this phenomena when I was going through some sketchbooks and models from my undergraduate course and I found that I had no problem throwing them on the fire. Despite the hours of work it took to produce them and the amount of soul that had been poured into them, I had no love for them, and I found it quite therapeutic watching them be devoured by flames. It is perhaps understandable that I have no attachment to old work, symbolic of bygone times, but the same thing is true of things I have only recently completed. Once I finish something I just want it gone, and I don’t really care how it goes.

This brings me on to cooking, perhaps a slightly strange metaphor, but bear with me. Take a cake for example. Baking it could be considered the process, and the end result is a completed cake, but the life of the cake ends when it is eaten. The results are self-destroying and by virtue of this, the process begins again and you start baking. It represents a complete cycle from nothing, to nothing.

The same could not be said of drawing. You still have the act of baking it and getting a result, but the results are static after that, just ink and paper. This cycle seems faulty to me, and I think that’s why I, either knowingly or unknowingly, strive get rid of everything I do.

As an aide memoir, I have gone through my gallery and added a note to each piece saying what happened to it afterwards, or rather, how the cycle was completed. Nothing to nothing.

I’m not really sure why I’m writing this, but reading it back to myself, it makes me sound like a bit of a head case. I’m not mad am I?

~Theo

To celebrate the fact that I have finished moving house and now have a flat surface to work on that isn’t the floor, I would like to declare that I am now open for commissions.

I’m offering con badges for £8 ($13) and full-blown pieces starting at £15 ($25). If you want something big, complex, winged or involving more than 2 characters then this will go up. Postage to the UK is included in the price, postage to the US isn’t, and I plan to work this out on a piece-by-piece basis. Alternatively I could just send you a hi-res scan.

If you’re interested or have questions, email me at spaniel.with.a.pen(at)gmail.com

Toodles.

~Theo

I’ve had this account for years now, and I think it’s about time I started using it properly.

So, here goes.