As usual, I'll be hanging out in the public space at Texas Furry Fiesta, along with a handful of locals, readers, and people from the OOPs Discord server, so if you're at all interested in chatting, hanging out, trading con book sketches or whatever, then just look for a public table (not a booth) with yinglet on a little stand, and that's where we'll be!

If you require proof that I am indeed a living human being who in fact exists, then by all means stop by!

I met up with BoldKobold at their booth at Texas Furry Fiesta today and got to see the dakis for the first time; They were really high quality, silky and a bit stretchy, and can now personally confirm that they are indeed perfectly life-sized! : D

They also unpackaged what remains of the batch they printed for the convention, and I took some time to put a little signature on 'em.

So if you're at TFF, if you buy a yinglet daki, they'll have a SUPER RARE LIMITED ULTRA EDITION OFFICIAL TRADEMARK COPYRIGHT VAL SALIA SIGNATURE!!


...And presumably they won't throw the ones that don't sell at the con away so they'll be available for order afterwards.

They're also taking preorders on the next batch, so if you wanted one but the initial batch sold out, then they're now available in unlimited amounts!

Go check 'em out if you're interested. : D

https://boldkobold.com/collections/.....imakura-covers

As usual, I'll be at Texas Furry Fiesta this weekend! It's less than an hour from where I live, so I basically have no excuse not to go.

There's always a big meetup of OOPs readers and yinglet enthusiasts, so if you're interested, just look for a table (in the public area, not an art/dealer booth) with a little yinglet stand in the middle, and you'll find me,  oniontrain,  koofins,  Caedere, and whoever else decides to show up!

So after months of being asked, I'm finally breaking down and making a dakimakura of an OOPs character or two. (For those unaware, it's essentially a body pillow covering of a character, one view from the front and the other from the back.)

And to see which character/s the most people are interested in, I'll be holding a vote on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55489341

Unlike other votes however, this one will be open to every tier, including the super cheapo $1 tier! And even if you don't have any interest in the pillow covering format, it'll still be a vote for two high-detail images of the chosen character. So get in there and vote a vote!


Note: The winner will have SFW and NSFW variants!

Just in case you don't know,  lMortosl has been translating The Out-Of-Placers (as well as Lusty Argonian Maid'd) for a a while now and is currently caught up with the English releases! So if you or someone you know is more comfortable with Russian than English, then definitely check out the translation at:

https://acomics.ru/~OutOfPlacers
https://acomics.ru/~OutOfPlacers
https://acomics.ru/~OutOfPlacers

Heya folks! This isn't something I do very often, but boy is there a good reason to bring attention to a thing here today.

A talented artbuddy of mine,  NateDay , responsible for such goodstuffs as http://www.furaffinity.net/view/26747803/ , has been having a lotta the same hand/arm/nerve issues as me, but on an unfortunately greater scale. Despite working his ass off, at the moment he's caught in a vicious loop of Need to pay for medical stuff and bills and food - need to take on more commissions for money - crunch out so many commissions in a day that it makes the hand/arm problem worse.

He does however have a Patreon up and running, and any support coming in that way (i.e. not on a fixed $-per-individual-piece setup) would go a long way in helping him break free of The Cycle Of Artdeath

So basically, one way or another, he's gonna be crunching out a ton of quality arts day after day regardless of whatever else, but even just a dollar in support from a few people would make a huge difference to him in his noble struggle. So if you're not broke and/or want to see more great expressive art (and like three or four other awesome ying-pics that I gotta get around to coloring and posting), please do consider throwing a bux his way! He's a really hardworking, humble and appreciative dude; you'd be making a big difference in his life, and prevent some great art from disappearing from the internet. (Well, he'd have to stop making new stuff, not remove the existing stuff from the internet but you get what I'm saying here right)

So pop on over to:
https://www.patreon.com/NateDay
https://www.patreon.com/NateDay
https://www.patreon.com/NateDay

and consider lending him a ghostly internet hand! And of course, be sure to check out his FA at: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/nateday/


Regardless of all else, I hope you have a very day!

Okay, got some updates for alla yas!

HEALTH
First off, the tendonitis that kept me from drawing entirely healed up quickly earlier this month, after giving it a ton of rest and rehab attention. The longer-term issue is that I've got a major artery/nerve branch on either side where they pass from the shoulders into the arms; that's why I was getting cold hands (bloodflow getting pinched and stopped, not enough reaching the hands), and the awful-feeling numbness in my forearms and the backs of my hands (as the nerve branch running down my arms was also getting pinched and inflamed).

It's called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome; here's a handy medical illustration! https://i2.wp.com/www.nerdclimbing......?fit=638%2C479

Thankfully, ever since I narrowed down the cause, I've been able to get back to drawing with a steady habit of taking frequent breaks to do stretches and light exercises to release the pressure. As a result, I'm now close to being able to sit down and draw stuff for almost as long as I could before all this started!

My good friend  Caedere has been handling the character coloring and shading for me this month so that I could finish a fair amount of pages without worsening my condition, which has helped immensely. And she's good at it, so it might become a long-term thing, even after I'm back at 100%, because if everything works out well, it could really help me get more done each month.

I'm seeing a specialist and pursuing the best long-term course of action that I can afford, so that this doesn't ever get that bad again. I'm really thankful to everyone who sent well-wishes and encouragement during this honestly pretty frightening time; you guys are great.

FAN DUB
Looks like  AevaRisis has put a good amount of work into starting a fan dub of this comic, so I wanted to bring some attention to it! If you're interested in voicing one of the characters, or just seeing what it's about, then be sure to check it out at:
https://www.castingcall.club/projec.....lacers-fan-dub

AUCTIONS
A couple good art buddies of mine will be auctioning off for characters from  Lunate's transformation-heavy setting, Merra, which includes everything from fuzzy sugar-addicted squirrel things to bizarre slimy monstrous bug creatures (super NSFW, obviously), so if that sounds like something you are interested in, check out the auction infopost here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/27431981/

Or take a look at  Lunate's Patreon for a lot more of that stuff!

Hey! Probably should've made an announcement about this before, but I was hoping to get something taken care of before it became an actual issue worth writing about. Well it's definitely an issue, so time to share what's up!

I've been dealing with some cubital tunnel syndrome for a couple months or so (numbness/tingling/etc in the pinky side of the hand and arm), which was annoying, but was still something I could work with, as long as I adopted better drawing posture and such.

WELL I DIDN'T DO IT RIGHT.

I'd been holding my arm at a 90 degree angle above the table/drawing tablet, which did take the pressure off the cubital tunnel nerve area, but apparently that shifted all the weight to the muscle I use most while drawing, which runs from around the base of the thumb to the inner, lower area of the inside of the elbow. So that muscle remained fully tensed for upwards of 8 hours a day, in addition to all the tight micromovements I make to draw.

So now I've got tendonitis (torn tendon where it connects the bone to the muscle), which is like a zillion times worse than the cubital tunnel stuff.

Ever had your blood drawn? There's a pinching sting at the insertion site, but the bigger sensation is that weird dull, aching throb deeper down past the skin layer where all the soft sensitive bits are. That's what it feels like. And if you've ever tried to draw with an arm that has a blood-drawing needle stuck deep inside it, then good god why the hell are you doing that, take the needle out first you masochist

So I admit I was really, really worried about the present and future. Medical expenses from the arm exam, plus lack of comics posted, means I've been hemorrhaging money, and the one thing I can do to make more money is the exact thing that will make the problem worse, so it felt like an unsolvable problem, threatening to put a stop to my comicmaking right as it was really taking off. I gotta admit, I was really, really scared.

So I've been spending a huge amount of time getting it looked at professionally, searching the internet for info, and talking with other artists who've dealt with similar issues to help me figure something, anything out that might dig me outta this dangerous hole.

And I'm intensely glad to say that things are looking hopeful now. I've got a huge amount of good info gathered about how to sit/draw to put the absolute minimum amount of strain on my arm possible, I've downloaded a program that forces me to take frequent breaks, and a wall full of printed out doc-recommended stretches and light exercises for therapy and recovery. This shit's serious, with the possibility of crippling my arm for months or even years if not taken seriously, so seriously is exactly how I'm takin' it.

I'm still drawing, but taking many more breaks, and stopping for the day once the tendon starts getting that needle-ey feeling. And I'm super lucky to have some good artbuddies who've volunteered to handle parts of the comicmaking that won't make things look too different, like the flat coloring stage.

The next week or two is critical is making sure that this is a temporary issue, and not one that'll linger for months, so I'm taking every measure and precaution I can. I've typed this whole thing with my left hand only, could you tell? : D

(No because I corrected the many many typos as I made 'em)

So! Things might remain slow for a bit. I was gearing up to make this my first 4-comic minimum month, but upon further consideration, it's far more important to not destroy my damn arm. I've got some savings to dip into, so I should be fine this month- still aiming for 3 comics + Patreon stuff. I've also been kinda quiet online, because typing uses a lotta the same muscles, and left-handed peck-typing is exactly as fun and fast as it sounds!

All in all, I've been dealing with a potentially super-serious problem, and I'm now turning every ounce of my attention and efforts to rehabbing, so that I can ensure it's a very temporary problem, instead of a "well this is my life now" variety. And now, armed as I am with so much good info and practices, things are looking very hopeful, in place of the bleakness that there was in the past couple of weeks. The next OOPs page is almost done, so posting will resume shortly.

Thanks for your patience; it means so, so much to me right now. : )

So that's what a full con experience is like! I'd driven to a couple local comic cons for a quick walk-around before, but never a full "fly somewhere, rent a room with buddies, stay for the whole con" thing before.

I spent most of the time at the drawing tables with friends/online art people, and that's pretty much exactly what I wanted to do! Got a ton of stuff drawn both by me and the others, which will hopefully start getting posted pretty soon.

The 2nd con was a local one so there was no flying involved, and damn there were so many people I knew there; a large part of the OOPs Discord chat group, and one particularly awesome yinglet suit that got all the little details right.

It was incredibly uplifting and humbling to see so many people gathered there because of a shared interest in some part of what I've been doing; rather than bask in all the attention, all I wanted to do is let everyone know how much I appreciate them. To me, if felt like I was there for them, not the other way around.

I mean, take the Patreon thing just by itself. These are people, not the financial department of some corporate office, directly giving me their own hard-earned money, in order to support what I'm doing.

I'm still completely humbled by that. I've noticed I've been putting a lot more thought into how I spend my money, because I remember every time I spend that money, it came directly from someone who feels what I do is worth supporting.

Anyway! Cons. These last two in such a short period have definitely set me back a little in terms of productivity, so I'll be taking a break form others for a while, but they will clearly be far from my last.

I just know I'm gonna end up having a table at one of these things sooner or later, probably selling physical OOPs books and/or weird merchandise and stuff.

So on that note, I'm really glad I wasn't exhausted by all the conversation and meeting people; just the opposite, in fact! I talked more in the last 2 days than I ever have in a 24 hour period in my entire life. And yet, I would've had long, meaningful conversations with absolutely everyone if I wasn't limited by the constraints of time. I wanted to let every single person know how grateful and excited I was that they were enjoying something I'd put so much work into.

All in all, both cons were absolutely wonderful experiences for me, so it looks like I'll be attending them semi-regularly now. Thanks to everyone who showed up, and to everyone else who help support this stuff I'm doing.

You all are why I get up in the morning and draw ridiculous stiltrats and lizard maids, and also why I am able to do it fulltime.

Oh damn, looks like it's Valentine's Day, too. So I guess it's appropriate to say I totally love you all.

Man, I went from barely ever posting any journals, and never attending cons, to posting two journals in two months announcing that I'll be at two separate cons. Lots o' changes lately!

Anyway; a buncha readers are getting together there, and then decided to make a panel, and then invited me to be a guest speaker, and now it looks like I'll be giving a presentation about transformation as a narrative concept, at 2:30 on Saturday.

Panel info: http://schedule.furryfiesta.org/eve.....comics-writing

So if you're going to be at the con, swing by if you can and say hi! Because then I will also say hi

So I've driven to a few local comic cons (and one fur con) in my time to wander around for a couple hours and take in the sights, but have never had a full "fly out of state, rent a room, and hang around the area for the full duration of a convention" experience; plus, I've never gone with anyone I know.

Well a bunch of artfriends finally convinced me to join them this year at Further Confusion in San Jose, so I guess that's finally happening!

I'll be there from the 11th to the morning of the 15th, hanging out with Raptie/Caedere, Toxoglossa, RML, and some others.

So if you're going to be there, send me a message on Deviantart or Furaffinity, and let me know!

Good god, I never imagined I'd find myself in the position I'm in now.

On December 10th, I'll be moving into a new place, starting up a new work/life schedule, and making comics my fulltime job.

A brief recap: earlier this year,  watsup convinced me to try opening a Patreon. I figured "Oh why not, I might get an extra 50 bux a month or something!" But it quickly turned into much more, and has been a bigger source of income than even my freelance/part-time "real" work for a few months now.

Even so, my comic work has remained something of a "hobby-level" thing, i.e. something I do whenever I'm finished with other, "real" work. Which means that I don't often produce the 4+ comics a month (plus Patreon rewards) that I'd like to aim for, and the work I do is sometimes a bit rushed.

With this move, I'm making comic work my fulltime profession. I want to put out more comics a month. I want to spend some time practicing and tightening up things like character designs, more background detail and other little things, and post pages that are just a bit less rushed in production. This is my thing now, and I want it to represent the best of my abilities, instead of the current "I'll give it some work whenever I find the time, boy I wish I had more time."

I actually planned to get this move done in the beginning of November, but at the last minute I found an apartment that is not only basically my dream location and has everything I'm looking for in a modest place to live, but is also over $100 less in rent each month than my other options! The only downside is that it wasn't available until Dec. 10th, so the price I've had to pay for this ideal apartment is patience.

And believe me, I've been super anxious to make this transition all month. I cannot tell you just how eager I am to pour all my energy into my comic work, without it being a secondary priority behind other work. There is so, so much story that I desperately want to draw and share with all of you. And that is now indeed possible, because enough people feel what I'm doing is worth throwing a few bux at via Patreon.

God, I love you people. Your support, whether it's been via Patreon, or comments, +watches and faves, is something I actively think about and appreciate daily. You've turned this from a little project I started to keep myself drawing regularly, to something I can actually support myself on, full-time. I never imagined my comics would result in me getting any sort of money, so naturally it never entered into my head that it's something I could do as a living.

Yet, here we are. Because of you, entirely because of you, this is now the reality of my life. You, readers and supporters out there, have unexpectedly changed my life in a way so tremendous that I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around it. I appreciate you so, so much. Seriously, I get this warm little glow when I think about all of you out there who feel it's worth their time and effort to read, comment, and even lend me their hard-earned money in support.

And I think I know just the way to show my appreciation; more/better comics, of course! And it's because of you all that I'll soon be able to offer more, so it's a nice circular thing we got goin' on.

From the bottom of my strange little heart, thank you.



Also MONEY MONEY MONEY FEED THE CAPITALIST MACHINE at https://www.patreon.com/valsalia

Heya! You might've noticed that OOPs pages have been coming out a bit slower than the 1 to 1 1/2 week rate that I try to stick to. Just wanted to pop in and say that it's due to nothing serious or permanent; life's just been crazy lately, and has been requiring more of my time and energy to deal with.

I don't see this continuing much longer though. And even in the busiest/craziest circumstances, putting the comic on break and/or hiatus is something that's never even entered my mind, so no worries there.

That's all! Just a lil' update.

All right! With ArmoredKangaroo's commission comic done, it's time to get around to all these shorter ones! Many thanks for everyone on the list being so patient; I'll be contacting you in the order you signed up as I hammer these out in the coming days.

So I guess these things collided too hard and yinglets happened because seriously look at those things: https://youtu.be/d9OBqYbZ99c?t=35

Because I'm gonna be there on Saturday, getting there sometime around noon. I've been to conventions before, but just general comic cons, rather than furry-based ones.

Should be interesting, if nothing else!

There's a lot of stuff

Well, the "repaired" Cintiq Companion that I got back a month ago once again started up with the "plugged in but not charging" problem, so once again I backed up everything on Monday and sent it off to the factory, requesting a new system this time.

Well, it came yesterday! Missing the Windows ID code that's necessary for the initial setup. Now I was planning to spend the weekend making up for the lost drawing time this week, but it seems that their tech support doesn't operate on the weekend, so I can't call to request the code they failed to supply.

But screw that, I can't wait around all weekend doing nothing. So I bought a copy of Windows 8.1 online for the code. But the Companions start with the regular 8.0 version, so the code is invalid.

All in all, if you are considering purchasing something from Wacom, please, please consider a different brand, such as the Surface Pro series. Wacom has a solid core product, but have sat on that monopolized tech for over a decade and have been running their business into the ground ever since.

He was going door to door, selling some little grocery store cupcakes for 50 cents each. He didn't cite an actual cause or anything, I'm pretty sure he just took them from his pantry and has been going around selling them to people.

Whatever, he was walking around on a cold day, so he probably earned his sale.

Not gonna eat those cupcakes though, I've taken enough risks this year.

So! My computer broke. Apparently the Gen 1 Cintiq Companions have an equivalent of the Gen 1 Xbox's "Red Ring of Death," and I got it.

Thankfully, since my experience with Wacom products have left me expecting them to malfunction horribly at any given time, I backed up every bit of personal and comic work the moment things started going screwy. So all the important stuff is safe, but I need that tablet functionality to draw stuff while it's being sent back to the factory and refurbished.

So I pulled out my old Cintiq 12wx, but apparently that line of models doesn't recognize the modern Wacom stylus models. So I'll be paying to have an older stylus shipped via 2-day air so that I can draw while my main tablet is out.

But! Because they have a monopoly on the digital drawing industry, they can afford to overcharge and take their sweet time sending things out. Overnight shipping on a single item that's only slightly thicker than a regular ink pen and weighs less than a pound is over $100, and despite ordering 2-day shipping, their policy is "items will usually ship within 2 to 4 business days.

So okay, I'll get my urgent order sometime this week, maybe; the order I had to make because my other Wacom product malfunctioned.

Wacom, I want to love you, but YOU'RE MAKING IT SO HARD

Just imagine it's about 5 times lighter and you've got an accurate simulation of how yinglet legs move.

http://i.imgur.com/ReAyeol.gifv

LOOKIT THAT DUMB GLAMOROUS THING

Because there are a couple I know of, and it seems a meetup is coming together this Saturday, so why not see who else might be interested?

Let me know if you're in the Dallas area and are at all up for hanging out for a few hours on the 10th, to talk comic stuff, drawing, and/or whatever else seems like fun at the time.

The aforementioned job's recently turned into a more sporadic commission-style business, which means that I'm almost fully in charge of my daily schedule again, and that's good for drawin' commissions.

There are a few people already in line (following a big, juicy multi-page comic for  armoredkangaroo which I'm really looking forward to drawing; I think just about everyone will like this one!), but after that, more commissions as usual.

-Also, check out this 3D turntable of a yinglet lady, because it's so great: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17314060

It so happens something nice happened recently! I stumbled across a fine part time job that I'm enjoying, and it pays well, so I'm all happy about it.

So now that I once again have a steady source of income, I'd like to close commissions for a while, and concentrate on putting out more OOPs pages and personal stuff.

The commissions in the current queue (and a couple that I've promised to buddies) will still be done, no worries! But now that I'm back to feeling energetic and draw-y, I want to get back to a weekly(ish?) release schedule for The OOPs. At least for a while, before spending time on commission work again.

I definitely enjoyed all the unexpected ideas I got since opening commissions, and learned a lot by drawing stuff I hadn't tried before; but I'm really eager to get further ahead in the OOPs' plotline, so that's what's gonna happen!

As per the title, anyone going to be at the Dallas Comic Con this Sunday (the 31st)? Because I'm going to be there, wandering around and pestering the artists.