This is only referring to how a picture is taken or if it's a WIP.

Starting today I will not allow wips anymore (to be faved). It's best to finish the piece first. Sketches ARE allowed, but if you plan to finish the picture it's best to wait until it's completely finished to post a comment to have it faved.

In the future I may do a journal or something about getting help with your Volatikai, be it anatomy or anything else, but I won't allow wips in the gallery itself anymore.

I also want to cut down on images where it's either blurry or you see outside of the paper. Please, when you take pictures of your drawing, make it as close to the edges as possible. Or if you have something to crop the image with, use that!

...should they have black eyes during it?
I was thinking this would make it more clear when they are in this state, but would it be too much? hmm...

Only thing different from the were form black eyes is there's won't have a yellow pupil. It will just be black. The sclera will be black like were forms, though.

I think it most likely will be a thing, but I like to get your thoughts as well.

It's pretty much a high instinctive state. They don't turn into anything and it's never random like a were form can be.
It can happen while hunting, while being protective or fighting, or some other intense situation. For a moment or for a few minutes they can seem out of it and only relying on instincts. Yes, females can do this as well.
IT'S HARD TO EXPLAIN SO I'LL GIVE AN EXAMPLE.

Quill is my northern/tropical Volatikai mix. He doesn't have a were form. He also doesn't hunt, since he's an omnivore (though will eat cooked meats and fish). So this instinctive state doesn't happen when it comes to food for him.
He's also a very kind character he doesn't WANT to hurt anyone... but certain situations can cause him to go for the kill without even trying.
For further example (rape warning): at one point in his adult life a female will try to rape him. She becomes very forceful about it, so in the heat of trying to keep her away his instinctive side kicks in and causes him to kill her through neck bite. If he didn't have this instinctive "state" she most likely would have succeeded. It's something he can't control, but if he does work at it he COULD use it to his advantage, so it IS able to be controlled (and way more easily than a were form).

Males with a were form don't get this, since they already have a defense mechanism. Though, females who's father had a were form would still get the instinctive state.

I hope this all makes sense. D: I'm still working it all out as I think about it and play through it. xD

I want to take on some Volatikai commissions. It can either be you commissioning me to draw your Volatikai or buying a custom from me.

Regular commissions: http://shortycommissions.weebly.com/ Please read my ToS!
Volatikai are $5 off as well for any commission type.

Customs: http://shortycommissions.weebly.com.....mmissions.html (ignore the bottom part)

This was just a random thought that came into my head...

I am fine with drawing your volatikai with another humanoid character, but I don't think I can handle drawing a volatikai with a furry... you guys can draw this, but I can't, because it makes me feel uncomfortable.
Maybe in time this will go away, but for now I'll just make this clear I can't. D:'

No, I haven't been asked to do this, but I feel like at some point this would come up.

Over time I end up becoming more lenient on what happens with my species.

First change: Your volatikai doesn't have to be in my universe/their world. The rule that they had to be in their canon world doesn't make sense if I already allow their character to be with non-world characters.
Thing not changing: They still cannot make offspring with non-volatikai/humans. That still feels uncomfortable for me.

Second change: I have it so you can call your volatikai's sexuality whatever you want if you want to not stay canon. I will not be angry at this. Canon is that there's only Straight, Gay and Bisexual. Under the rules I have that clear now.

Third change: You may make a volatikai that is just fetish based. The thought now doesn't bother me since I made my own volatikai that is pretty kinky. lol;
Thing not changing: I still have the rule set up that certain fetishes aren't allowed to be drawn (or that I can't see). Those certain things still make me VERY uncomfortable, but possibly in time that will change as well.

Minor change: I'm not going to worry about breast size on females. Canonly they are small, but you don't have to stick to that.

Of course I'll still prefer those who make their volatikai as canon as possible, but again I will not force you to!
Same with the fur issue. I do have it as a rule to make them actually look furred, but I will not punish you if you don't. I "punish" those who intentionally try to make me mad or upset.

Something I'm still considering:

Right now I have it as a rule that if someone wants a mix, their volatikai can only be a mix of two sub types, but I wonder if I should drop that rule. Must think of the pros and cons!

It has come to the point that showing me volatikai through stash or dropbox can be frustrating if the person forgets to then show me the submitted image. Then I forget about it and their volatikai is never truly accepted then, since they aren't listed on my page. <___>

Most people who make a volatikai I don't have to ask for changes, so because of that I'd just like to go right to putting their volatikai on my page.
If people do have to make changes it's easy to edit the image. Just please make sure to update the image if I do ask for changes!

Also another problem was people were telling me their names/number when showing me their volatikai, but it's no help if the volatikai is in stash/dropbox. xD

SO, for any future people who may show me through one of those things, I'll just let them know to simply submit so it's easier for me, THEN to note the group with the link.

You can still note the group with wips through stash/dropbox, but please make sure to then submit and then note the group again!

Then when you give me your number, it makes it easy to find you.

A bunch of you are upset with what I want to do with my species/what I ask for even to the point of heavily disrespecting me and/or trying to make me mad on purpose.
This is only happening on here as well. No one complained on dA, so I dunno if there's some kind of difference because of that between the sites.


One person even asked me why I have my species open... over this? It feels like several of you would rather I not allow anyone to make them at all because of some of my rules. That doesn't make sense to me...

Either way, please hear me out.

My species is VERY important to me, but I also want to see what others do with making their own. Since they are a species I created, there will be rules... but I also have lots of leniency, which I felt would be fair.
You have to show me your volatikai in order to get an okay. With this, I may ask for no changes, a few changes, or a bunch of changes. I'm pretty much already asking you to "change up" your style, though very slightly.
There are certain things I will look for that need to look at least close to what they are supposed to be:
-Ears (where they don't look like bat ears! But but the shape I won't be super picky about if one happens to look like a different sub type.)
-Tails (I ask you to not make them look like fluffy tails! At least not like a wolf.)
And now the fur. I am NOT asking you to draw the fur how I do it. What I am asking is to show that they actually HAVE fur. I might have to show a chart with all sorts of ways to be able to show this, because the styles can vary a bunch! They just can't be super crisp when it's obvious they have thicker fur. They then end up looking like other species people have created and that's hard on me.

Will I punish you if you can't do it? No! I only put people on my red list who deliberately go against my rules. The fur thing is minor when it comes to that (but it's still an important thing for me).
I feel I should end up giving prizes to those who try to stay close to canon as they can. I dunno what that will all entail, but it will be something!

Opening up my species to everyone has been a great joy to me, so I will not suddenly close them because of a few problems.

People will end up disliking or even hating me because of my choices, but I'll have to learn to shrug it off.

I also expect that some point there will be trolls who will draw volatikai specifically in ways I say not to do, simply to make me mad. Someone has already voiced that they wanted to do this, so I have to block them.

So thank you to those who have been kind to me even if you may not agree with a change I make or with one of my rules. I appreciate you a lot, and you may end up changing my mind one day. Being rude and mean does not do that, however. Especially being sarcastic or passive aggressive.

I hope this all makes sense. :c

---

Now about buying adoptables from me... I've decided I'll have it unlimited for now, simply because my auctions haven't been going so well. Once there's more of a demand for them, then I'll put a limit.
I'm thinking I should moreso go with flat prices, too. We shall see.

I'm just going to type out two ways to do it. I feel it would be too hard to show in pictures.

How I've been doing it all of this time is with photoshop and the smudge brush. For hair and fur I have a hard round brush between 57-70 hardness and just do strokes with it. It depends on the hardness with getting different looks.

The second way that I know of, and in which I wanna try more of, is simply drawing in the furry look (since SAI doesn't have a smudge tool, or at least not like PS). It would pretty much be like drawing the actual fur, but as a pattern instead.

I hope this helps!

And hopefully the next few things I do with patterning will be with this second way of doing it. xD

I finally figured out how I could show this. On my volatikai site where it says "volatikai types", now if you click on it it will bring you to the general comparisons. If you just want specific ones, there's still the "drop down (side)" tabs connected with it.

So these are some comparisons so far:
http://volatikai.weebly.com/volatikai-types.html

If you can think of any others to add, please let me know! I won't be doing super complicated comparisons, however.

I hope this helps you guys! :3

At times I just want to design volatikai, but have no idea of what pose I'd use, so it becomes frustrating. This would be just for chibis I feel. I don't wanna limit myself to one way to design volatikai and to sell. For those with the same pose, I think I'll have them in batches. Their expressions won't be all the same, and their actual body structure won't be the same either. Just their pose.
I think with the base ones, their starting bid would be lower as well.

I wanna try to get some done before this month is over!

I don't know if I can allow people to keep things the same... since I did mention everyone has to be ready if changes are made. My species is still a wip as I figure them out.

So I need to think about this...

Maybe I need to put a warning on my site that parts of my species may change.

The tails, for me, is an important change because I want them to seem more like apes (monkey's at least).

No, I will not change the shape of their feet. I love them too much for that.


I just need some time to think about this.

I went to the MN Como zoo today and spent a long time in the monkey area... and I fell in love with most of their tails.

And then it hit me... I should make volatikai tails act more like monkey tails!

Some tails won't change at all, while others may change big time.

The first one I wanted to change was obvious: northern tails. Of course, they aren't free to the public, but I'll explain what I am doing:
They'll have a thicker base to the tail, and the underside will be rather flat. The length will stay the same, but it will be slightly all around as well, and will have a rounded tail tip. They;ll still be furry, though! Their tails can pick up small objects (but cannot hold their weight!). They won't drag across the ground anymore. When on all fours the tail could be almost straight up, or at least up in some way, and could curl at the end. I'll be drawing an example of this later on Pierce!

Southern: Like the northern, but shorter.

Eastern: I am thinking of lengthening their tail some, and making them thicker as well, also like a monkey tail. They'll still have very fine fur, however.

Western: May just stay the same.

Mountain: General same shape, but I may change the tip.

Plains: I don't know exactly what I wanna do with them yet. Maybe like a spider monkey tail because their tails seem "frizzy". http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net.....20131116002805

Arctic: Mostly the same, but will be like a colobus monkey tail: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumbl.....58431Y481j.jpg

Desert: Same shape, but may change the tip.

Tropical: stays the same.


I have to make an updated ref thing of their tails anyways because the one I have now wasn't even exactly correct, especially with how large/long they are supposed to be.

I think I might give a flatter side to all of them at least closer to their bases.

This change is also to help with their flight. They'll have lots of muscle in them and can bend well, except for desert tails.

I more so wanna title it as making them an open species was a great choice on my part. xD I was worried how this would go, and that I'd just be super stressed out and would have regretted it... BUT NO, THAT HASN'T BEEN HAPPENING!

It feels as if I'm getting a lot of gifts even though they aren't specifically to me. It's the fact that they are my species and some people are drawing them a lot or even commissioning them a bunch from others... AUGH I'M SO EXCITED AND HAPPY.

SHIZ. I'm a little kid in a candy shop. xD SO MANY GOODIES.

MY BABIES, THEY ARE SPREADING. LOL;

Sure, some people you may commission may get some parts wrong on your characters/my species (mainly the ears. People sure love to deviate away from how they really are. xD) but they do this to Pierce as well, so it's expected. STILL I AM HAPPY.

So this is a large thank you to all of you who either draw my species or commission people to draw them!

(it's even more fun when I see ones I've designed actually being used. I am a happy mama!)

For FA: if you commission someone and they post the picture/you post the picture, shout the group with a link! I'd love to see and fave. :'D Of course I'll want to fave the original, though.

This is for if someone wants me to design a volatikai for them.

People didn't seem interested at all with a chibi option, so I haven't offered that... but what about just a front view look of a volatikai so it costs less?
This is what I have right now: http://shortycommissions.weebly.com.....mmissions.html

If I do just a front view, it would be $50, while front and back view is $100.


If this is more interesting, I may just have volatikai customs opened up for a while.

I've started to notice some problems happening that make it hard for me to really look over your volatikai, so I have to make some new rules.

Please show me:
-At least a full body front view WITH color. (if it's a bust shot with no color, it makes it very hard for me to really say if you're doing it right besides what I see.)
-Large enough for me to see the details. (some people have shown me images to where I can barely see the face. Please make it large enough!)
-One volatikai per page. (it can be overwhelming to be shown two volatikai at once and especially if they are already interacting with each other. For approval, I need single sheets with just showing how they look!)
-A clear image of your volatikai (it can not be a blurry photo! And please try to keep the picture clean, too. With my groups I won't accept blurry pictures anymore.)
-Say what type they are. (sometime people don't tell me and it's hard to guess if they do have some things wrong)
-Your number (so then I can find you easily on the list if you happen to have a different name on there)

So if people miss one of these steps, I'll have to ask you to give me the full thing before I can give crit/give approval.

What I'd prefer to see:
-full front view and back view and a head shot (color, no shading) This way I can better judge it! But again, a front view is just fine.
Example: http://shorty-antics-27.deviantart......2015-515521388 (no headshot, but downloading makes it easy to see his face, which is also fine if you have it large enough.)

I was starting to become stressed with this, so I may have accepted some volatikai without asking for certain changes. :c I'm sorry about this.


Some other small notes:
-you don't have to show me human refs for my approval. I only need to see volatikai/mix characters.
-you don't need to show me your story for approval, as I don't know much about the world right now to even give an okay or not.

I'll be updating my site soon with all of this new info.

I figured out what I can do so it's not so crowded on my site. Right now this is what it looks like: http://volatikai.weebly.com/fan-mad.....volatikai.html But I think I'll have it so that | is an indicator for a volatikai, and will have a link attached to it. This way you can have many volatikai without the page being filled up with words. It won't say what the type is anymore, but clicking the link attached should show you anyways!
It may be a little while before I change all of the links to "|" instead, though.

I just know people would really want to make full families and whatnot, so I want that to be available for you guys!

I might lift the limit to bought volatikai as well. I dunno yet. I just wanna make sure those who don't have one could still somehow get one! I know some people hoard adopts and don't really do anything with them, so that's why the limit is there to begin with. But let me know your thoughts on this!

With how I'm letting people pretty much do anything they want (to a point) with their own personal stories for their volatikai, I finally decided this will be fine. In canon it's super freakin rare, but it doesn't have to be for you guys. I won't have set times, like I had planned, for when they can have mixed offspring. That just sounds silly to me. You'll still have to show me their designs and get the okay from me, though!
I still do not allow volatikaiXany-other-species for offspring. I at least want to keep that true to their world. Otherwise it will get too confusing.

Terms to know:
Female human with male volatikai: volatiman
Male human with female volatikai: humankai

I'm wondering if those who already have drawn volatikai would like a chibi picture of them. I'd say $25 for shaded, which is $5 off the normal price. Though I'm not opening them right now! I just wanna see if there's an interest for that.
They'd look like this: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15909794/

I know sometime I'll wanna draw all of my own volatikai as chibis, and all on one page. xD hah.


For a small update, I've decided I'd use FA to list the things I wanna do on the site. These specific things I feel like I'd forget about if I didn't write them down. xD Though the ongoing thing of needing to update each volatikai type is there as well. I could put it on the site itself, but this feels easier. Before I had them listed on a sticky note. I want to have my sticky note for other things instead.

It will grow and shrink as time goes on. hah.

...at least I think so. There were a bunch on dA that I had to add. I dunno if on FA I have everyone up-to-date, so let me know if you see yours missing!

One problem I'm noticing is on dA a few people have changed their username. Some people I was able to figure out while a few others I had to ask. That may just be something I'll have to deal with/figure out how to handle for myself since I don't blame people for forgetting to let me know they changed their name. xD;

Also, I've decided that I am fine with linking to both FA and DA when people post their volatikai. So for some people, one volatikai may be on DA while the other is on FA. I've noticed dA is way easier with keeping track of the ones people submit, since they go to my group, so if you post to both DA and FA you most likely will have a link to your dA post instead.

On FA if you post your volatikai for the first time, PLEASE message me about it so I can view and add them to my list!

Thank you!

Info: http://shortycommissions.weebly.com.....mmissions.html
Also please make sure to read over my ToS on that site.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, please comment below to let me, and others, know! Just don't fill out the info yet. xD I need to confirm first.

If you're curious how a ref would look, Pierce is a good example: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15816223/
I can add some text, though. Doesn't have to be so lacking like his. xD

...it will have to be from those who have already designed a volatikai and are approved.

I used to have the rule that no one could be paid to design a volatikai (most likely because the artist you'd be commissioning may not even know my species), but then I feel like it could work best if you wanted to commission someone who DOES know my species.

When I open customs they'll be rather expensive, so other artists who have their own volatikai may be a better option money-wise. Otherwise if you want it as accurate as possible, it would be best to come to me.

A good way to see the artists who have already made their own volatikai can be seen here: http://volatikai.weebly.com/fan-mad.....volatikai.html

I still have to update a bunch of people, too. :c I'll try to do that this week.


Just think of it this way:
If you commission an artist to design your volatikai and they don't even know what they are, they could make many mistakes, which I'd have to ask to be changed, and they may charge you for.
So that's why I'd like to have that off limits, to save you and me time and money.

I'm finding it to be a little troublesome for people to show me a link to their volatikai and then posting it after it's confirmed... and then making sure I get THAT link.

I think instead I'll be fine if you just post the picture to your gallery, possibly with text saying "still needs to be checked over" or whatever, and be willing to update the file if changes need to be made.

Most that have been shown to me have had very small problems or none at all, so it would have been fine just to post.

Of course, if someone wanted me to see the sketch or wip before working further, that's fine as well.

I just wanna make it easier on all of us, yah? XD

SO, IF YOU HAVE IT FINISHED BEFORE SHOWING ME, FEEL FREE TO JUST POST TO YOUR GALLERY and then link me there and I'll look it over. :3 I'll be updating the site soon with this proper info.

I expect this to happen a bunch with the tropical kind, and I won't be against it... HOWEVER:

If you are to commission me to draw your character who may have a few too many bright colors clashing with each other, I will alter the colors. I'd then show how they'd actually look in my world, since they should be a mix of natural colors and bright colors.

This also goes for customs. I will be a little more strict with that. I will not design a tropical volatikai with crazy, clashing colors.

YEAH, JUST WANTED TO MAKE THIS CLEAR. I hope this makes sense.