Now, this isn't your typical "I need help with ustream." question.

It's a content question.

Saturday I will be launching a 2 hour weekly tutorial session called "Holy Sh!t: Draw Comics" which will outline how I landed the job I have in comics, and cover how-to's, basics, structure, etc. I was curious what kind of material people would like to see in such a show?


http://www.mysteriesofthearcana.com (The comic I illustrate)

Tonight myself and my writer J Gray will be on Two Guys Talking Webcomics!.

Come check it out, in 30 minutes

https://www.tgtwebcomics.com

Doing some coloring for my comic Mysteries of the Arcana.
Feel free to drop by and take a look and ask questions!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/keith-w%27s-art-room

Now, I'm fairly sure I'm not alone in this area, but those who feel the need to just stare at a piece of paper for a while and think on it, go right ahead....

I've been drawing for a good many years now, over a decade, and I'm guilty of "monkey see, monkey -try to do-" syndrome.

Basically, I would see some wicked art somewhere, something that just amazed me, and off I'd go, attempting to emulate it.

Even worse, is when I have laid down a drawing, sometimes I get that "perfect line" in a piece, and henceforth try to replicate it.

It's a common trap, one I've strayed into many many times. Finally, I settled back, and forced myself to do the seemingly impossible. Don't think, don't try to find a style, don't try to emulate a style. Just fuggin draw, and see what comes out.

My friend Jesse, former comic artist for DC Comics told me flat out, "ou don't find style, it finds you."

But it can't find you, if you're too busy trying to draw like everyone else.

This journal is for those who've suffered from this trap, and still struggle to find their own artistic "voice".

Keep it simple.
Don't think. Just Draw.

So, since I don't want to totally amass my gallery with sketches, scraps and whatnot, I've created a blog for this purpose.

It'll house works in progress, tips and tricks, and much more (including videos and such as time permits)

Feel free to check out my art den at http://verias.blogspot.com

That's right, commission time!

I've 5 slots available right now, and I desperately need the money!

Plus they make great gifts.

Browse through my gallery, and if you like what you see, drop me a line.

Check the commission tab for commission info.


Verias

http://www.myspace.com/staggerdband1


We just wrapped up our first album, and we're trying to pimp it out. Enjoy

Rock and roll!

Not long ago, I sent off a recording of our song Fallen Angel to the Clear Channel Multimedia for addition to the New! song database.

I just received confirmation of our addition to the New! db, along with a link.



Here’s where you guys can help out!

Click this link, and listen on the web, the more listens, the higher up the ranks we go! The highest listen count gets up on the mainpage!



http://www.edgelittlerock.com/cc-co.....tml?art=144511



UPDATE!



Clear Channel has added another of our songs to the database!



Dreaming:

http://www.edgelittlerock.com/cc-co.....tml?art=142825

Hit these links up, pass them out, help get us listens!

So, I ordered 2 new printer cartridges for my Epson all in one...magenta and yellow

I'm all excited, I get them installed, and I print the nozzle check....no magenta, no yellow....

I print a test image, all cyan and black....

No amount of head cleaning fixed it, and Epson Tech support can't figure it out either.
They're shipping me 2 new free ink cartridges to see if it's the cartridges that are the problem.

That's right!
Me and my band are slowly cutting our first album, and it's going to be available in a handful of ways.

For one, you can get the songs, as their released, for a measly $.99 each, before anyone else, from http://www.myspace.com/staggerdband1

These proceeds help us continue to produce music, as well as up our equipment, and possibly put out even more music!

Secondly, once finished, the cds will be available for purchase also, more once that's completed!

Keep an eye on us, and hopefully we won't disappoint!

Saw this going from journal to journal, decided to do up mine...

stolen from  mobianfox

Oiy wow....good lord.

*************************

This is fun to do!
The only catch is that you can't ask the person who posted it anything about it!
Just read the "offense" and if you've done it, you owe that fine.
Keep going until you've read each "offense" and added up your total fine.
Title your response "My Bar Tab is$........"
You don't have to confess your answers, just the amount of your fine.

Smoked pot -- $10
Did acid -- $5
Did some X -- $15
Did cocaine -- $20
Did meth -- $25
Ever had sex at church -- $25
Woke up in the morning and did not know the person who was next to you--$40
Had sex with someone on MySpace -- $25
Had sex for money -- $100
Ever had sex with a Puerto Rican -- $20
Had sex with members of the same family -- $50
Had sex with 2 different people in the same day -- $50
Vandalized something -- $20
Had sex on your parents' bed -- $10
Beat up someone -- $20
Been jumped -- $10
Crossed dressed -- $10
Given money to stripper -- $25
Been in love with a stripper -- $20
Kissed some one who's name you didn't know --$10
Hit on some one of the same sex while at work-- $15
Ever drive drunk -- $20
Ever got drunk at work, or went to work while still drunk -- $50
Used toys while having sex -- $30
Got drunk, passed out and don't remember the night before -- $20
Went skinny dipping -- $5
Had sex in a pool -- $20
Kissed someone of the same sex -- $10
Had sex with someone of the same sex -- $20
Cheated on your significant other -- $10
Masturbated -- $10
Cheated on your significant other with their relative or close friend --$50
Done oral -- $5
Got oral -- $5
Done / got oral in a car while it was moving-- $25
Stole something -- $10
Had sex with someone in jail -- $100
Spit in someone's food --$25
Made a nasty home video -- $15
Had a threesome -- $50
Had sex in the wild -- $20
Been in the same room while someone was having sex -- $25
Stole something worth over more than a hundred dollars -- $20
Had sex with someone 10 years older -- $20
Had sex with someone under 21 and you are over 27 -- $25
Been in love with two people or more at the same time -- $50
Said you love someone but didn't mean it -- $25
Went streaking -- $5
Went streaking in broad daylight -- $15
Been arrested -- $5
Spent time in jail -- $15
Played spin the bottle -- $5
Done something you regret -- $20
Had sex with your best friend -- $20
Had sex with someone you work with at work --$25
Had anal sex -- $80
Lied to your mate -- $5
Lied to your mate about the sex being good --$25
Been raped -- $500
Have raped -- $200
Had sex with some one under 16 -- $300
Had sex with a dog -- $25
Had sex with a horse -- $50
Had sex with a cat -- $75 (add $50 if you tied it up so you didn't get scratched)
Have you ever had sex in a fursuit -- $100
Have you ever had sex while your partner wore a fursuit -- $100
Been spanked by a lover -- $50
Been whipped by a lover -- $ 100
Been fisted -- $150
If you know what "CBT" stands for -- $250
Used whip cream in bed -- $25
Used handcuffs in bed -- $50
Used a whip or paddle in bed -- $75
Ever imagined the person you where having sex with was some one else -- $100
If you have had a butt plug in for more then an hour -- $75
If you ever used any vacuum cleaner attachments -- $100
Had someone come climb in your bedroom window for sex so your parents would not find out -- $100
Used a blow up doll -- $50
Drove away from a car accident you caused -- $500
Cut yourself on purpose -- $100
Cut someone else on purpose -- $150
Pissed on some one -- $10 (Add $10 if they drank it)
Been pissed on -- $15 (add $20 if you drank it)
Shit on some one -- $20 (add $25 if they ate it)
Been shit on -- $25 (add $50 if you ate it)
If you have ever been shot -- $300
Dyed your hair -- $10
Dyed your pubes -- $20
If you ever ate your own cum (vaginal fluids for females)-- $20
Smoked while having sex -- $20
Ate a sandwich while having sex -- $50
Slapped someone across the face while fucking them-- $100
If you ever shoved a candle up someone's ass and lit it-- $200
Fucked someone while they were crying-- $300
If you have ever fucked a girl on the rag -- $100
If you ate her out after -- $200
If you have sucked your own cum out of a guy's ass -- $200
If you took this test and were completely honest add -- $500
Didn't use a condom -- $50
Got an STD -- $ 25
Have an STD -- $ 100
Planned to kill some one -- $50
Killed somebody -- $1,000
Add $5 for each tattoo and piercing you have
Add $10 for each scar over an inch long that you have

Tally it up and title it..."My Bar Tab Is $...."

Let's see, where to start. I'll try to do my best to go chronologically.

Friday: Got to the hotel at around 9amish, did the check-in thing. 10ish, registered for the Con (didn't preregister, will remember to do so next time).

The first person I bumped into (well people) were Mr. and Mrs. Orion. I got to have a short talk with Strider for about 10 mins that resulted in a bit of mutual laughter, and then they had to jaunt off to Wal-Mart for supplies (inside for Strider: "My god that's a shitty scan. It looks like someone stepped on it, then threw it on the scanner").

After that, ran down to the Dealer's Den and looked around, then ducked into Artist's Alley, and there, I met Duo. The exchange was quite funny. Here for your amusement.
Me: Well, if it isn't the artists formerly known as B.A.D.
Duo: Where the hell did you hear that God awful name?
Me: Well, I found you on VCL like 4 or 5 years ago, and have followed you ever since.
Duo: *stares, shakes head in mild amazement, then offers his hand* Thanks...

From that point forward, I'd periodically go check in and chat at him throughout Con. But that was a rather funny exchange, and I think we had some people in the AA staring at us.

From there I met K'sharra, Baka_sokunku, Vic Draconis, and a myriad of others.

Saturday:
Much lack of sleep and what not, but most of the day was spent hanging with Baka, Duo, K'sharra (they departed at one point) Beowulf (who just happened to be at the table with Baka, Duo, and co. when I sat down.) What ensued was a bit of brain breaking, on my behalf. My two favorite things said to me from Beo were " You're not allowed to talk about White Wolf anymore." and "I'm going -back- to the bathroom now...." oh....and also Duo vs. the cellophane baggie.

Then the riddlefest started. Which was amusing, I must say. Several riddles, a good....8 or 10 people participating. Jokes, riddles, logic puzzles.

Sunday:
I actually didn't sleep much between saturday/sunday, which resulted in a little bit of overlap. Sitting in the small common area near the message boards, with a laptop, looking up Misheard Lyrics, on youtube (if you haven't, go look, it's great) And gathering a crowd of people wondering why we were laughing so hard.

Late sunday afternoon was spent in the same area with Blazger, Duo, and several others, where I met Karno briefly, Verm, and....a few others.

It was here that I managed to break Duo's brain.
I do a bit of impression work, and he was working on a sketchbook commission for someone. We were talking while he was working, which at one point led to me doing Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "Yum, yum, I love cum."
Duo started laughing, and asked if I could say "I love to suck knotted dog cock" in the same voice.
After doing so, Duo took a moment to compose himself and stared blankly at the sketchbook, and proceeded to declare that the commission was dead, and he had lost where he was going with it.

A short bit later it was time to leave, which resulted in a massive group hug that included Duo, Beowulf, Blazger (i think), Verm, Jager, and a good count of others.

I will also be posting up some of the small bits of photos I took, and probably some art inspired by events from con (i.e. Duo and the cellophane baggie).

Looking forward to many more cons with these guys, they're all awesome!


Verias.

Okie, seeing as how I need to raise like 70 dollars in a little under a week, I'm doing a short term anything goes sale.
All commissions, $10 dollars, regardless of final state.
Obviously colors will not be immediately available, but if that's part of the deal, I'll get it done.

so, here's the temporary scoop.
$10 dollars, anything you want, from pencil sketches, to fully completed works.

Anyone interested in helping me keep my internet working, drop me a note, and I'll get the details from you.

Verias/Lucien

Finalizing plans with Shiftergratch for our trip. Who else out there is going?

Blame  portzebie

Six things I like, don't like or sometimes do (you know, habits)

1. I smoke. *grin*
2. I like chocolate, the dark kind, long and gooey. (Dammit, get your mind out of the gutter)
3. I absolutely hate misspoken turns of phrase (ex.: "For all -intents and purposes-." Not "For all intensive purposes")
4. I have 3 tattoos and 3 piercings, I love both! Body modification FTW!
5. I grind my teeth at night.
6. All Metallica cover bands should be lynched, there's plenty of them already, and it got old back in 1989.

Those tagged by me:
 lynxia
 carnak
 smexydemfox
 rother0
 sonicdash
 pheonix-wolf

I've been sick the past couple of days, and was unable to sleep easily last night, and I began to reflect on a lot of things that I've been through.

Now, before you get the wrong impression, what follows is an explanation based on personal experience, and is in no way concrete fact for each and every person.

I've seen photomanips, photographs, drawings of the "emo" characters some people draw, cutting themselves. Now, as a former cutter, I'd like to offer an explanation of, at least my, how and why.

First off, I'd like to state that just because one cuts, it does not mean they are suicidal. For me, the process had started with experimentation and anger. I have always been slow to anger, and if I ever did get mad, I would far rather take it out on myself than someone else, at least then I know the extent of the damage being done.

My experimenting first started with heat and fire, which was too radical a shift, and it took longer, so I wanted to go with something that you could do without too much prepping. Secondly, I wanted a spark, something that was a nice, firm jolt. So I tried a knife.

Deciding where to cut was the next part, and just as before, there was a little bit of experimentation, but it all came down to logic more or less, I wanted the least amount of permanent damage, with as much sensation as possible. This narrowed the field a lot. In the end, I chose my palms and fingertips. Fingertips, primarily because of the massive amount of nerve endings in them.

You simply just take the knife, apply pressure, and a jolt runs into you. The pain was never unbearable, it was a kick down in the center of my spine, a firm reminder that I was alive, that what I felt was real.

It was a controlled method to vent anger, and just a reaffirming (to me) of my own humanity.

Whether or not this has enlightened anyone is up in the air, but I hope it's something you'll think about (not cutting yourself obviously, but think about the reasons behind why some people still do it).

I haven't done it in over four years, I found other ways to vent that kept my hands out of bandages for drawing.

Well, the Comic Book Challenge Top 50 has been announced, and...well, yours truly didn't make the cut.
Not a huge ordeal. There's always next year.

The Pitches will be done on the 38th of July, so stick it out and vote for your favs when the time comes.

http://www.comicbookchallenge.com

Comissions are still open, rawr.

Alrighty, for those of you who don't know about it.
I recently entered the Platinum Press Comic Book Challenge (http://www.comicbookchallenge.com).
Essentially, you take an original idea, draw up a page, and write a one page synopsis, submit it, and the system will whittle down to one grand prize winner who gets a contract job to produce their comic or graphic novel.

The submission deadline is done, The notifications for top 50 will be announced on the 18th, I'm hoping I make the first cut.

Top 50 all go to San Diego and have to pitch their idea, in peson to Marc Silvestri, Scott Rosenberg, D.J. Coffman (last years winner) and 2 judges to be announced on July 26th.

From there the top ten will be announced (on or around the 28th) and posted online for viewers to vote on. This will last about a week, then it'll go down to the top 3.

These 3 will be the finalists, and for one week, more votes will be allowed online by viewers, bringing it down to the Grand Prize winner.

I've wanted something like this my whole life, I'm hyped, nervous, anxious, and a myriad of other things.

My submission and synopsis is in my gallery, take a look and see if you like, and keep comicbookchallenge.com bookmarked!


Oh, and on another note, to make some cash and such, comissions are open, price scoop below.

It seems I have some thank you arts to do.

Amidst all the work I've been doing...I think I can come up with something!


THANK YOU ALL!

As I wrap up my introductory drawings of all my anthro characters...it dawns on me...I do not have a herm/transgendered character

Soooooo
Here's where you get some input. I want suggestions for an animal, a look, a concept for a hermaphroditic character!

Go wild, and I will pick the idea I like the best.

Periodically we all go through changes. Some big, some small.

This is a change that's been coming for quite some time.
Due to the change in my fursona from tiger to fox/hybrid, I began pondering a new name. Finally one came to me. Lucien.
This is a permanent change for the character formerly known as Verias. The female form will still have the moniker, only the male will be known as Lucien.

What does this mean for my gallery? Not a damn thing. I'm not moving, not going anywhere. Just an FYI pretty much.

It seems I'm right on the verge of two monumental things.
I'm firstly 23 hits away from 3000 pageviews. Woot and woot.
Secondly, I'm 7 away from 200 watchers!

Thanks to all of you who enjoy the artwork I post, even as infrequently as I manage to update.

To add to this, commissions are open. All my commission information is stored in my commissions tab on my page, as well as some samples of my works, which can alternatively be seen in my gallery.


Thanks everyone!

For those of you who don't know, I am currently involved in working on a new comic.

It's called W.O.D.S. (Warriors of Diminutive Size)

I'm updating it weekly, on Wednesdays, so you can view it here.

http://www.powertrippin.org/wods/

Sign up, and get updates, bring your friends!


Verias

Well, boys and girls, furs and furrettes (no offense to my furry siblings, just...an open greeting).

I know I have not posted much in a while other than oddball snapshots from SL.

You might pose the question of "Why?"

The answer itself is very short, but it doesn't curb my enthusiasm, nor the reality that hits me each time I sit down.

I'm getting paid to draw a comic.

Yes, you heard right. I'm getting -paid- $60 a page to draw a comic.

So, that's where I've been, and will still be for a while yet. I just figured I'd let you all know.


Hugs and Love or whatever,
Verias

I'm incredibly hyper today.

Why you may ask?

I sent samples to hotfurs.com (this is the second time, I was turned down initially) I took the advice they gave me to heart the first time and it's paid off.

So, essentially, a lot more of my fully colored work/completed pieces will no longer be featured here, but there instead.

I'm in such a hyper state right now I can barely sit still.