http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vanti.....nts-in-painter

It's that time again! My last card for the beautiful Endangered Ark project, my last piece before I slip back into real media commissions for a while.

I had hope to do this piece in colored pencil but after failed 2 attempts to transfer the delicate lines to two pieces of my non cheap good English cartridge paper, I give in to the call of Painter.

This is the card with plant genitals. Ew. I have a cool story regarding this card, but i will write it up when I am finished.

Please come join me if you like. As a night owl in California, I'd love to see some of you folks on the other side of the rock come in. And of course you other night owl of the Americas.

As usual, this may be very boring to some of you. I'm painting the main elements of the background first and that means peni...flowers. An orchid species Elleanthus aurantiacus, which is indigenous to the slopes of the Columbian mountain region this critically endangered bird inhabits. By critically endangered we mean 50 to 60 birds. DAMMIT

I use Painter X, Oil Pastels, 1 layer not including the sketch layer, a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet with the non standard springy nib, and you can change your name from anon with /nick <new name. Or you can remain anon. i don't care. I'll be nice to everyone.

If I disappear, my internet has dropped on me and I will come back in about 5 to 10 minutes.

I will edit this, for real this time, When I Go.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vanti.....nts-in-painter

EDIT: Bed for now.

I...I didn't know that's what I was doing. But slave driver Foxfeather pointed it out to me.

I'm doing my very first piece of botanical illustration...


...and there are flowers!

So I have to make dinner in a few. I thought, why not show some (not so) amazing cooking action? At least until the food is doe and then I can eat and get back to work and stream the Chinese River Dolphin I am working on.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vanti.....nts-in-painter

type /nick <newname> for your own non anon name if you like.

Again, this post will be edited when I am done!

*paints*

Mighty brainmeats Sagegoat and mighty artist  Nambroth are joining up for a different kind of Ustream: An actual show! This episode features live painting by Nam and informative narration by Sage. How fun!!!

I wil be fileding question, so if you are curious about something, send me a PM in the chat as voice will be off. Keeps the clutter down. :> If voice is left on, since it's not up to me, please no chats. Treat this like a real classroom.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nambr.....h%27s-nonsense

And I will start painting after I make dinner after this (baked ziti with italian sausage OBOI)

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this goes until 7 pm PAcific!

also, you can change your name in the chat with /nick <newname>

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vanti.....nts-in-painter

Sooooo...I am painting again. Usual thing...it's boring. I answer chats when i can, and the painting SPINS a lot.

Everything is painted by hand. No cloning. I use Painter X, mostly the Round Oil Pastel tool and I have a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet.

You can change your name by typing /nick <new name>

I will update or delete this journal when I am done working.

IT'S OVERRRRRRRRR Well that was almost 12 hours.

Are you guys getting tired of these notifications? :/

Anyway, today's work is a red panda, sketched by Foxfeather, painted by me. I guess that last is obvious.

I may stream some music from my mic, which includes me singing sometimes. :/

It is boring. I will be idle at some point.

Upon joining the chat, you can change your name like in IRC by typing: /nick <new name>.

And off I go.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vanti.....nts-in-painter

Edit: DONE

Hope everyone is having a lovely day. I am. I have four Valentine's, a cask conditioned IPA, and BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Now I paint. Cheers!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vanti.....nts-in-painter

I am going to be painting for the next 10 hours or so. If you'd like to come watchand maybe be bored or make fun of my art or whatever floats your boat, please come on in! It is going to be boring, I am warning you!

I may not be very active in the chat at ome points, and at some point I may turn on my mic and stream my music. I am listening to an Audiobook right now, The Wheel of Time book umm...dunno which book. There are too many.

Ok. Bewm I go.

Done for now.

I took two random days off from working on art.

Tuesday Tmber, or  dewclaws, picked me up with the intent of going to the Japanese tea gardens in San Francisco and the museum that I do not know how to spell...the Deyoung? Dee Yon? Don't know. Well, we ended up not going to either places anyway.

I was excited about the visit so I had no sleep the night before. Some of you who stopped by my painting session may remember me mentioning that.

First we stopped at a hole in the wall sushi joint called Kabuto. Timber heaped loads of praise upon the place, and I fully agree with him. The place is wonderful! Normally when I go for sushi i get the same things: caterpillar roll, rainbow roll, spicy tuna roll, and salmon nigiri.

Timber is far more knowledgeable than I am about sushi, so I insisted that he take the reins and order for us. Everything but one fusion item was fantastic. The exception wasn't bad, it was just meh compared to everything else. I regret not writing down everything we had for my own reference. I recall Amberjack, Butterfish, some kind of bluefin tuna, and of course salmon. you can't go wrong with salmon! The last item we had was some sort of salmon concoction the sushi chef came up with for us. Delishus.

After that we hit the zoo. Since it was cold and clouds were moving in, there weren't a whole lot of people there. The San Francisco zoo is small and the exhibits were sparse, but Timber and I had a great time wandering around talking, taking photos, and just watching the animals. I may post some of my pictures, but, as with my writing, I am rather shy of showing my photography publicly. It's just not that good.

Sadly by the time the zoo was closing, the tea gardens and museum we wanted to hit were closed as well. Time for alternate plan powers! I wanted to show Timber Paxton Gates, a store that I adore with fossils, tea, dried and live plants, taxidermy, glass and brass steampunk stuff, and much much more. We fought city traffic and found a parking space. Timber is really good at maneuvering in tight spaces, but I was still tense. I hate being in a car in the city, hate looking for parking. I hate the city in general.

After a brief perusal of the shop we headed to the Castro for a wonderful dinner at Nirvana. Timber told me it was Burmese Fusion. Whatever it was, it as fabulous. We shared Thai Tiger Prawn and spinach noodles and Chicken Noodle Curry something. I think. It was really good and I recommend finding the place if you are ever in the area.

And then we went to watch Coraline in 3D. I had read the book a while back and I wasn't super impressed. I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman yet that story didn't quite pull me in like his other work. So I didn't expect too much with the movie.

Oh it was more than I could have expected. It was visually stunning, funny, creepy, and the story seemed to be better than I remembered. I highly recommend seeing it! I want to see it again. X3

Timber and I had one of those rare perfect days together, so thank you very much dude. I need special times like that right now more than ever. <3 I went to bed around 3 am feeling good and peaceful and so very worn out...

And then at 10 am Kayotae came in to wake me cause OH YEAH! We were going to the Redwoods! He'd been inviting me out for the past week to do stuff and enjoy the Bay Area's Beer Week, but every time I opted to stay in and rest and work. This time I had to go because...well the REDWOODS!

Lunch was beer and burger at Boulder Creek Brewery and ZOOM to Big Basin.

I want to write about the redwoods, but I can never do the experience justice. I love them more than any other place I have been to, even Washington. The trees are friendly, the moss makes me feel at peace, the chaos of the undergrowth around the imposing singularity of a mammoth trunk is inspiring. It rained on us and I could look up at a 300 foot tree and watch the slow glittering decent of a hundred fat raindrops. It rained and then it hailed on us. The sound of the hail surrounded us, drowned out everything else for a brief couple of minutes. And then then sun came out. Was it still raining? How much of the water tapping the brim of my hat was tree water? The sun splashed gold and green light everywhere and the moss lit up, the ferns sparkled in the brightness, the trees reflected light between them and the whole forest glowed.

Like usual it was too soon to leave. But we had an agenda to get to Santa Cruz for some beer tasting!

I'll tell you right now: santa Cruz Brewery beer is terrible. It was the worst beer tasting I have ever had. It was Kayotae's worst beer tasting he's ever had. The taster set included 9 samplers. I started with the wheat and wrote down, "Tastes strange. Green and chemical flavors." The Pale was simply "Nasty". After I tasted the Amber I just gave up trying to make tasting notes.

Doggedly I trudged through each sample, sipping a bit. Maybe this one? No! This one? NO. The IPA nearly made both Kay and I throw up. Every beer had a terrible green, clove, chemical flavor that only go worse. Only one beer was acceptable, their seasonal Ginger Beer. However, even through the ginger flavor I began to taste the bite of whatever the hell it was. :/

After that palate singeing experience the two of us went next door to a bakery. I have a love for buying desserts...and then eating them. An eclair and rum truffle for each of us soothed our poor mouths with deliciousness. :9

A good couple of days off. Now, I am back to work tackling my stack of art that must get done.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vantard%27s-artings

I copy everyone else and use ustream. I am working with Painter.

edit...for anyone who hasnt seen this over 12 hours later: Done for now. :3

 rah-bop has decided to start uploading her work here on FA. Why not give her a good old fashioned +Watch huh? Her art is fantastic and she is a great person.

>>>>> http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rah-bop/ <<<<<<

Two entries in one day? Sorry.

I went out to eat pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) with a friend today. Like usual when our fortune cookies came I gave mine away. My friend asked me, "Don't you want your fortune?"

"No," I said, "It would be blank anyway." A thought that is a reflection of my low state of mind these days.

He shrugged and opened up the cookie.

There was no fortune inside.

Here it is, such as it is.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table, whether to buy stuff or just say hello. I've managed to commit a few more faces with names to memory for next year! I hope.

Um, my report is pretty boring. Sales were down. I sold a lot of Okami commissions and I don't know how I would have done if I hadn't had those available. They were super fun though, and I will offer more in the future! I worked much slower than I have at previous cons, but the quality was higher than before. I ended up with more homework than I would have liked, but again, the quality was higher than before. Now if only I can get my speed up to snuff!

Art show was awesome. I had a lot of cheap stuff, mostly prints, and "Pint Sized" sold. Nobody bought a print of the piece though! True, I only had the larger 40 dollar prints available so that could have thrown people. Again...the economy blows and everyone is feeling it. I do have leftover pieces that I will pop up on Furbuy later, when I have time to list things.

I am working on my homeworks right now. Honestly, taking sketchbooks and badges home makes for better art as much as I dislike being responsible for others belongings. Less stress, better work.

The Wing Panel!!! It was different working with Nam. We didn't get around to a lot of actually drawing the wings, we talked a LOT about the science of the wing, what its doing and why. We did have a LIVE red tail hawk come to the panel. Some of you at the con may have see her and her human around. It was so awesome to have dead birds, a live bird, and Nam there with me. We work together well. I did get asked how to draw a seagull. I replied by drawing a big "M". >:}

Um, after the con I went to Timberwolf's cabin in the woods to see the pack again with Sidian. Going back there again Sunday! Woofmutts are love.

SO. About commissions: I am finally back on my feet financially AND I am finished with a project that ate my soul and time AND frantic con prep is over. With all that stress out of the way and a good cushion, I feel much more at ease getting my homework and the overdue pieces I have on my plate.

Thank all of you again for supporting my work! All of you who got something from me...thank you. Seriously. I am still glad to do this for a living and be able to do so without drawing porn.

Sheath and bawls are always fine though. :3

Whyyyy not. All the cool kids are doing it. These things are silly.

Where are you staying?
At the Doubletree

Where will you be most of the time during the day's?
During the day I will be in the dealer's room with  Thornwolf table 65.

Who will you be with?
 thornwolf or  Nambroth or  eldarath or  rah-bop if I am not working.

Do you do free art?
No! Not at a convention. I need the money to live off of like all you good folks!

Do you do trades?
I only ask certain artists for art trades. I do trade for goods like dinner, dead stuff, and some other things. You will just have to ask!

Do you do commissions?
Oh yes! My bread and butter are the commissions. A lot of folks are fmailiar with my prices by now, but in case you are reading this and you do come by my table: I do tend to be pricey. I try to create quality, unique work that makes people happy. I am taking fewer this year so I don't have any take home work and I can have time to see some of my friends. Again, my new thing for the year are Okami style commissions. Ink, marker and colored pencil for only 40 dolla! I hope I get a lot of these because I have so much fun with them.

Do you have prints/ CDs ?
Prints, yes. I will have 8 by 11's and 13 by 19's, maybe some others. I will also be selling more New Coyote and Coyote Season books for Michael Bergey, 24 dollars each.

What suits will you have?
I might run around in a friend's suit but probably not.

What is your gender?
Contrary to what people think, I am a girl.

How old are you?
25, 8 and 40

How tall are you?
5'5"

Can I touch you?
No. No with no sauce.

Can I talk to you?
Please do! I enjoy talking to people and hearing about their con experience or what they think of the art or good food nearby or whatever! I'm shy and dorky but I try to be as friendly as possible. As with most artists, sometimes it's a bit difficult to interact with everyone while behind the table. Never take it personally. :3

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
While I enjoy booze, I can't drink much at the con because I get sleepy and do sloppy work. I plan to pilfer some drinks from specific sources like the tequila kitty Panth (<3).

Can I give you lots of money?
I'll trade you money for some art! I will also urge you to go see my friend Nambroth because our work is similar.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
No. My list of people to hug is short, and they know who they are. Gosh...does that sounds pompous?

Are you nice?
I try to be! :>

Thaaaaaat said, back to work!

Hey everyone,

Dealers Room:I will be in the dealers room with my shorter best friend Thornwolf, selling what prints I have left and the usual sketchbook and con badge commissions. My new thing for this year is Okami style commissions. I really like these cause they are so much fun! I hope some folks get some.

Come by, say hello!! I like to talk to folks as much as I can. You don't have to buy anything, it's cool just to look. Table 65 is where I will be.

I will be sporting pendants 'round my neck made by  Foxfeather and Nambroth.

Art Show:I have space in the art show too! There will be a couple new pieces, nothing fancy.

How to Draw Wings Panel: My taller best friend Nambroth and her husband Elderath are flying in New York state. This will be their first time on this coast, so I hope all you Californians give them a warm welcome.  Nambroth has a table in the Marketplace, Table 4, feather Dust Studios, as well as some kickass art in the art show. If you haven't seen her work already, go see it! You'll be glad you did.

Anyway, she and I are giving a lecture on drawing bird wings. I think We will touch on dragon wings as well. There will be some awesome photos and video as well as hands on action with real (legal) bird wings! I am nervous as hell, like always, but I hope to see you there on Saturday night, from 7 to 8 in the San Carlos Room.

Not only is this Nam's first FC, but it is also my very good friend Rah Bops first FC, in fact it's her first furry convention!!! Rah is also a phenomenal artist, you can see her work here: http://rah-bop.deviantart.com/ She will also have art in the Art Show.

That's...kind all from me. Back to work!

I am starting the lesson at 6 pm pacific! I plan on showing black and white textures, then color, then how textures follow form.

In theory anyway.

I will be using TokBox for voice and occasional video. The link will be provided in the chat room.

http://www.artspots.com/chat

It only takes a minute to register there. If you have difficulties getting Sketcher to work, ask someone in the main chatroom. They may be able to help you!

Hope to see you there!

Saturday evening I will be giving a lesson in the ArtSpots on fur and feather textures. There will be voice not sure if will use TokBox or something else.

So if you have any specific questions about texturing fur/feathers, ask here and I will work on coming up with an explanation. :3

Feather Dancer, or Karu Dragon, is going to be giving a demo on creature design. She is going to start at the top of this upcoming hour, and will be warming up in room 3 at Artspots paintchat. Come on in and see what information she has for us!

http://www.artspots.com/chat

If you are having trouble getting into sketcher, see if someone can help you in the actual Artspots chat.

Hope to see you there!

Once again, I am about to do a Sketcher demo of ow I work. These are fun! Tonight's subject is a black wolf in snow.

Same request as always; don't draw on the canvas. But really, everyone has been so kind and polite so far and I appreciate it so much!

http://www.artspots.com/chat Room 3. Hope to see you there!

I finished the first demo, thank you all who showed up and keept me company! I hope that I helped you.

I am about to start another one for any US night owls and for you great folks on the other side of the world from me.

If for some reason you can't get sketcher to work, hop into the ArtSpots chat and maybe someone can help you out.

Again all I ask is that if you com in, don't draw on the canvas. There are two other sketchrooms available. one of them has the drawing I just finished, but it can be erased as it has been saved.

See you (maybe!) there!

http://chat.artspots.com/

Hey guys.

I'm doing a painting demonstration at ArtSpots right now, kinda spontaneous. Its bring to watch and you can see how often I mess up and how sloppy I am and how long I take. Oh yeah...and how I paint digitally.

All I ask is that if you come by, don't draw on the canvas I am working on. There are two other rooms if you wanna draw.

The address is http://chat.artspots.com/ You must be a reigstered member of ArtSpots.

So come on by!

So hey all you people on the other side of the world: I am going to have a class for you guys too! I just don't know when is best. I tend to exist between the hours of 4 pm to 7 am Pacific. Then I sleep.

So what time would work for you guys?

Hey everyone!

This Wednesday night I will be hosting an online class over at ArtSpots using the paint chat program Sketcher starting at 7 PM California time. The topic is drawing wolves/canine anatomy.

I've never done this before using Sketcher, which is a java applet and is a little tricky to use, especially since there is no pressure sensitivity for Macs. I am told the sever can handle about 15 people, but it might be expanded to handle more.

I chose wolves because it is a subject a lot of people enjoy, I enjoy drawing them, and I can deal with Sketcher being difficult with this subject.

It is my hope that I can offer more classes over at ArtSpots, and also that people will start offering their own classes or requesting them. The forum topic about it can be found here: http://www.artspots.com/forum/topic/1328?fi=7

If you have any requests for a class from me, ask! Keep in mind the limitations of the program.

You need to be registered on ArtSpots to join, so come play! And the rest of the forum is interesting, and I have art in my gallery there that isn't on any other gallery.

So, come on by if you feel so inclined! I will also try to be around during the hours that non US folks will be able to pop by. http://chat.artspots.com/

First of all, I am pimping my auctions again. Another set of Bestiary cards is up and I also posted some print auctions. Really though, if any of you are interested in smaller prints of my stuff, let me know and I can make them and ship them for you.
http://www.furbuy.com/seller/vantid.html

I also have the nice prints from ArtSpots.
http://vantid.artspots.com/product/list_prints
(and originals but I am unable to ship them right now)

And in the real world, perhaps more personal information than I should share, i developed an ulcer a week ago. It started as a mild tummy ache that escalated into me doubling over in agony that lasted for hours without letting up, plus some throwing up. Thankfully my good buddy Kayotae the paramedic saved my life, my financial one, by diagnosing me moments before I headed out the door to the E.R. He said that it sounded like I had an ulcer, and I took some genero Zantac and when the pain began to ebb I cried.

The whole ordeal sucked. It left me worn and weak.

My friend Kishor( kriznowox) is into herbal healing and home remedies and as soon as he heard I had an ulcer, he went around gathering information for me on how to fight it. Colloidal silver to fight the H. Pylori bacteria aggravating the ulcer, to aloe vera juice to coat and soothe, chamomile to relieve stress, yogurt to promote healthy bacterias, mastic gum to both fight the H. pylori and promote mucus (yum!) in the stomach.

I am a heavy skeptic when it comes to herbal/home remedies. I have fought off yeast infections, urinary tract infections, and pericoronitis using home remedies. I haven't seen a doctor in years. Yet I remain skeptical at every new treatment. It's a good thing.

This past Saturday I was invited to a friend's pool party. I really didn't want to go. I looked and felt like crap. When got there, people were asking me if I was ok.  Thornwolf told me that i looked like shit. She's my best friend. :D I made myself eat a little something, and I took a mastic gum pill.

Within an hour I was feeling better. I perked up, I went swimming, and I ate! I want to say that it was psychological, but of all the treatments I was using, why this one? I've been taking the pills since Saturday and there is a marked improvement. I was feeling sore, as if I'd been punched or kicked in the diaphragm. Now, I am fine. Still a little sore, but only if I think about it.

So another herbal remedy wins.

(disclaimers: Ulcers are bad, and I know that one should go to the doctor, however this one can't afford it and hates doctors anyway. I said I would go if the pain didn't go away in a week. I am fine as of now and eating normally, although not nearly as much) Also, the phone advice given by Kayotae included all his disclaimers that he is not a doctor etc etc.

And my last subject:

Katze ( tarnac) picked me up as i was hugging him goodbye and started to walk to the car, saying "This one's coming with me."

I flailed a bit and cried "You don't want me...I'm androgynous!"

That's probably not funny to anyone but those of us who where there, but there you go. :3 There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what gender I am. My recent stupid photo posted didn't help any. I do enjoy the fact that my face looks anywhere from 15 to 40 years old and it's both male and female, depending on whatever look it's doing at the time, especially my short poofy anime hair.

But I am most certainly 100% female. I am a tomboy, but c'mon guys have you ever seen the girly shit i draw? Or Vantid?

This is really much more of an LJ entry than an FA entry. Who reads this business?

http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1006032.html

Go forth! Bid! Get them! These are not mine, they are Anthony's, I'm just doing the gruntwork for him while he makes art for Magic.

Also, Nambroth has more jewelry up for sale.

http://featherdust.critter.net/jewelryhtml/

And now I go to make some auctions of my own. Hopefully shipping won't me as much of a bear this time around.