Finally Friday! I get to see Lulu tomorrow *squee*

Unfortunately I only get to see her like once a week lately *cries* but at least it's consistent. Work has been keeping me busy lately, and the weather's been hot and muggy. A few thunderstorms rolled through last couple evenings, made for a nice light show (I LOVE thunderstorms - especially when the power goes out, hee hee).

I haven't had much time to draw, but I do have a few ideas for new pics. I'll be taking my sketchbook to work today, hehe. Work's been slower than usual so I'll probably have some time to draw. :)

Mew! With any luck I'll have some new things to upload before long.

Well, this saturday marks the one-year anniversary between me and my cooncat Lulu ^.^ I'm going to take her out to a nice dinner. :D It'll be a fun day. Yay!

I've got a bazillion pics in the works. First of all, I just noticed my watches and pageviews!! I have to draw something for that.

Second... oh heck, I'll just write a list of all the things I'm drawing!

Lance, a male serval
Lily, a female bunny
Sandra, female dragon
More Lulu! *murr*
Diane, a gazelle fem (probably going to draw her a boyfriend too)
Onyx, my Sacred Flower character from Nine Dragons - drawn as a black tiger :)
And finally, I'm working on a picture of none other than Lynceus' mother!

Stay tuned. I don't know when I'll be able to finish all these, but I do sometimes have time to draw at work, so there is that.

Finally, give me ideas! What new species should I draw? :)

Well it's now the morning of my second day on my new job.

This job literally fell into my lap. I was phoned one day and told they'd found my resume online, and proceeded to offer me an interview for what ended up being an 11$/hour job working with computers and warehouse inventory.

How could I refuse?

The company builds heating/air conditioning units. I will essentially be the guru of their gargantuan Shaffer's network database software. My first task once learning the software will be to get their inventory system fully online and functional, then I can start teaching the software and finally settle into being a shipping/receiving coordinator of sorts, managing the ins and outs of the warehouse inventory.

I've got an office that, from the outside, looks like a shed. (I'm just outside the warehouse.) Inside isn't much better, but it is climate controlled and I'm quite comfortable in there. Got my own computer, printer and network connection, and soon I'll also have a phone.

For 11 bucks an hour, I sure as heck ain't complaining. I'm delighted to find such a good job - heck, it found ME. Wish me luck, furres ^.^

-Lynxie

Lulu and I both picked up the new Pokemon game, and since I have access to my WiFi router I've also got my friend code for those who care!

Username: Lynx
1117 6717 1071

Just some textual sneak previews of what I've got in the works!

First of all, I'm starting to get off my lazy tail and draw less of the same old stuff I've been doing. This means you'll be seeing more males, more species, and with any luck, COLOR! I've got three or four pictures already in the works to this effect and hopefully will be finishing them before long.

Second, I ran into someone here on FA who I also met at FC this year - Septerra. A cheetah who fursuited at the con. I'd told her I was going to draw her (and then I promptly lost track of her), so now that I found her I'm going to keep that promise :P I'm working out the details with her and hopefully will start drawing soon.

Finally, I've decided to open comissions... cautiously. Not that I'm expecting many customers right now, but I hope I don't get slammed! *laughs*

-Lynceus

I found some old art! And I do mean OLD!

Most of them date back to when I was still a regular on Furcadia and trying to increase my art skill at the same time. I came up with the idea to draw random people - they would get free character pics and I'd get art experience.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "These are all girls." *chuckle* I know I drew quite a number of male pics too, I just have to FIND them; if I do I'll be posting them here too.

I have very little, if any, memory of these people. I left Furcadia a long time ago.

A lot of these pics had some kind of source, since I didn't have nearly the art skill or confidence I do now. So if they resemble another art pic you've found somewhere... that's probably why. :P

Another thing - the shading. Yes, I was more into shading back then, something that, due to my own laziness, I've fallen out of. I need to get back into it >.< Meh.

Anyway... enjoy the art and stuff.

I have always had a bad view of work. The fact that everyone I know seemingly hates their job doesn't help any. Now that I'm looking for a new one of my own, I'm reminded of how much I hate work and how utterly pointless the working world is.

I mean... why do people work? To make money. That money is spent so they can maintain the status quo of living.

So they can go back and work more.

Of course, the only alternative is death, and I hardly think I even have to say that that's out.

Grown-up life is not fun. I've come to the conclusion that I'm addicted to fun. I can't give it up. And the prospect of going to the same place every day to do something I probably won't even like just so I can... keep doing it, is downright depressing.

Meh. The real world clips my wings. What kind of a life is this?

Mewf...!!

My money has disappeared. I'm now chewing into my savings, I thought I had money left over from the con, but that evaporated thanks to medical expenses!! Now that I also have no job, I have no income. Got car insurance and meds to pay for... and my palmpilot took screen damage while I was at the con so it needs repair/replacement too! And then of course car expenses...

I'm worried.

Comissions are open. PM me if interested. Prices are negotiable, just please bear in mind I usually only work in pencil. I CAN ink, however. I just need MONEY! :( help the dracat out!

Lynx

Holy cats, that was fun. After buying tons of art and other swag (But mostly art!) I plopped my tail into the Creators Lounge just like last year and let things take their course.

Kenji and Lulu came with me this year. I badge whored, I now have four with a fifth on the way via mail. Whee!

I didn't do as much drawing this year as I probably should have. Lulu got a lot done, but I just didn't feel like drawing as much. I did take a rookie artist under my wing at one point and showed him what I knew, which was fun :)

Events? We didn't go to many, actually. That might have been a mistake, but I think the fun we had in the lounge and the other areas made the trip more than worthwhile.

There is one funny thing that comes to mind that happened the first day. We had plopped down waiting for the registration line to form. A kitty fursuiter came by, knelt down, grabbed my art tube, and proceeded to use it as a bong... then mock fainted. It was hilarious :P (She was getting high off my art?)

Oh what else? The Second Life panel was an absolute riot, Roxikat and Arito were there, as was the entire Luskwood crew, of course. We even had a "griefer attack" in the middle of the panel... Kenji and Arito took care of him! Hahaha.

But perhaps the best part of the con was simply spending time with my cooncat in the evening ^.^ Mew!

Of course, coming home was a drag, but we made it, and life goes on... I'm thinking I should reserve space in the hotel for next year soon. :P

Hope to see you all next year, furs! ^.^

-Lynx

PS Oh yeah, in other boring RL news, I now have no job. I quit my job because I hated the concrete-headed management and scapegoating (AM shift could do no wrong and my shift was blamed for everything). So... yeah. I gotta jobhunt now x.x

Well this'll be my last entry before Further Confusion. There's 4+ inches of snow on the ground outside from yesterday but I can handle it. The pass down into California is clear, and all I have to do is get my friends together and take care of a few last minute things. I know I can get over the pass, and I'll be damned if I can't make it the rest of the way.

See you all there, those who are going! :) I'll probably be in the creators' lounge a lot! Look for the face on my avatar. It's my conbadge!

Well, it seems Succendo has struck back. He was being an ass to someone else about their art when I pointed out that most everyone also thinks his "critiques" stink, and told him about my journal I posted. He of course wanted to see it and basically said all of you who have sided with me are whining morons who were just "patting me on the head" and stroking my ego.

Then he banned me from #FurryPub IRC channel.

I had a conversation with someone else (unnamed at their request) where I said I did nothing more than what he did, rip on something that was "publicly posted. I did the same thing he did, and he got mad and used his banhammer.

Basically what happened during this new confrontation with Succendo is that he maintained that not being brutally honest (i.e. rude) to an artist about their work is some kind of disservice to them.

I dunno furs, all I know is I want back in that channel. All my friends are there.

I mean seriously, am I wrong? Is it so horrible to attempt to use some tact when telling someone there's something wrong with their work? Isn't it possible to still communicate something negative without being a jerk about it?

Mewf. I can't seem to wring anything out of my pencils... it's a bit depressing, really. I feel like my skill is waning, especially when I think back to just after figure drawing class when I was doing lots of shading and such.

My problem is I'm too damn lazy. As I'm sure you've all noticed, I mostly only do line art. Whoop de doo. I just don't have the drive to finish a picture, if I have enough to start one at all. :/ My job hasn't helped much, either...

Any thoughts, furs?

Well it's my second week of my new job. I'm working in the dishroom of our valley's largest and most well known retirement home, and it's actually pretty darn good work. 8 bucks an hour. Heck of a lot better than risking life and limb working on a printing press.

I work more than most everyone on my shift, since I actually work 8 hours. The shift is actually more like 6 hours, so I end up helping out the end of the AM shift. I work swing, 2-10 PM but we've been getting out early a lot lately.

Most of the work I do, when I'm not helping out the end of the AM or PM shift, is shuttling dishes back to the dishroom. Not exciting work (it's rather slow since I'm passing by a clock every 5 minutes...) but it's not difficult work.

Everything else I do is either washing pans (meh), unloading trays (easy), unloading freshly washed racks (HOT!!!) or putting stuff away. Since we're THE dishroom in this 11-floor manor, we deal with every dish and pan that's ever used. Needless to say, we're pretty busy most of the time. :P

The servers are generally kinda crabby. It's one of those "pretty face/bad attitude" kind of situations. They're not mean, but they are relatively irritable. And yesterday everyone working the dining room was... on edge for some reason. I did my part by simply keeping out of their way... the way I see it, they need to get where they're going more quickly than I do anyway.

There are a few people in the dishroom I don't like too much, like the ladies who don't speak English like... at all (they're off in their own little world, and slow most of the time), and the tall skinny guy who's got the mouth and attitude of a middle schooler. (He ain't stayin, I can tell you that.)

But I keep my thoughts to myself. No sense in unnecessary drama. And for the most part, things go pretty smoothly regardless. Things just get hectic and fast-paced, and I don't see people who are slow or complainy helping matters at all.

And of course, I'm making money. Which is important. I pretty much have enough to go to FC now, and I'm going to keep saving as much as possible. The only possible hitch is getting time off, which I've not asked for yet.

So yeah. I start in a couple hours from now, so I should think about packing my lunch. Toodles.

Well today marks my latest trip around the sun. I'm 23 now. Whee! :P Lulu drew this for me... mmm best present evah!

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/278704/

Muzzles can be difficult to draw from a head-on view, I've found. Does anyone have any tips or examples, from you or your favorite artist?

Here's what I know/have observed on the subject:

-Generally, the longer the muzzle, the more difficult it is to draw in this position.
-Species with more pointed noses are often more difficult.
-Without shading or coloring of some kind the picture can still be unclear or flat even with very good linework.

Any thoughts, furs?

Well since he felt free to rip on my work because it was "publicly posted" I'll do the same to his critique ;)

<WhiteLynxDragon> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/267783/ Here's MY latest, Succendo :P
<Succendo> I saw.
<Succendo> It's flat.
<WhiteLynxDragon> -.-
<WhiteLynxDragon> it's a damn line drawing, of COURSE it's FLAT
* Kyera has joined #FurryPub
<WhiteLynxDragon> Succendo, do you always comment about artists' work like that?
<Succendo> Your art has no depth.
<Duo> explain it to him and give pointers now
<Succendo> Of course the picture is flat, but as Escher so eloquently proved, you can fool the mind with flat lines
<WhiteLynxDragon> Succendo, that's just a sketch, I haven't shaded it yet. It's *not finished*
<Succendo> You can make a non-shaded piece seem flat.
<Succendo> The shirt doesn't fold nicely
<WhiteLynxDragon> I'm not very good with drapery yet.
<Succendo> The arms are at odd angles
<Succendo> The face has no lines indicating depth.
<Succendo> You indicate that things are 3D without ever shading at all.
<Succendo> Furthermore, her entire body is forward, but her head is to the side.
<Denim> >.>
<WhiteLynxDragon> okay I get the point, the picture is shit. Did I do anything RIGHT?
<Denim> oh daer
<Denim> *dear
<Succendo> Her shoulders didn't even move. When you look to the side, part of your whole body moves.
<Denim> *raises a paw* I really like it, Lynx
<Succendo> The breasts shouldn't be "completed"
<Denim> Succendo, stop it :p
<Succendo> In that you shouldn't draw the full half-circle
<Denim> He didn't ask for your critique
<Succendo> And?
<Succendo> By posting it publicly, I will critique it.
<Denim> You're mature enough to know that you only give advice when it's asked for :p
<Succendo> The hair and fuzz effects were done nice.
<Denim> Honest opinion. Your work is better than Succendo's, Lynx.
<Succendo> This isn't advice, this is a critique.
<Succendo> Oh yeah.
<Succendo> Not a question
<Succendo> Except maybe my still life it's pretty hot ^__^
<Succendo> But I worked for like 2 weeks on it, so
<Succendo> WhiteLynxDragon, your art is also nice and clean
<Succendo> While it lacks depth, it isn't helter-skelter and messy like mine
<Denim> Maybe you're a little too good at finding fault ;>.>
<Succendo> Mine just sucks
<Succendo> 5th graders draw better than I
<Denim> :
<Succendo> OH
<Succendo> And denote the ribs, WhiteLynxDragon.
<Succendo> It'll add to the illusion
<Succendo> What Denim?
<Succendo> It's true.
<Succendo> My art is teh suck
<Succendo> You said so yourself
<Denim> I didn't
<Denim> I said his is better :p
<Denim> and that's down to taste
<Succendo> YEAH WHATEVER YOU HATE ME ;..;
<Denim> You're really good at destroying things though, I must concede :
* Succendo goes and cries in a corner
<Denim> I just don't think everyone appreciates it :p
* Lupamon curls up in a fuzzy blue ball and snoozes behind the bar counter
<Succendo> If someone wants a dicksucking when it comes to their art, they'll be disappointed with me
<Succendo> Just ask Duo
<Malachai> Let's fart on his face while he sleeps.
<Succendo> I'm like his best friend.
<Denim> You don't have to do that either :p
<Succendo> And I crit is stuff pretty harsh.
<WhiteLynxDragon> I noticed.
<Denim> He was showing off, he's proud of what he drew, let him have that
<Succendo> Anything not my total honest opinion is a dicksucking.
<Succendo> You should be proud of ANYTHING you draw.
<Denim> Again, you're mature enough to know when your 'critique' is required
<Denim> When someone asks :p
<WhiteLynxDragon> I don't want to have my ego unneccesarily stroked, but I ALSO DON'T WANT SOMEONE TO BASH ME IN THE FACE WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER
<Succendo> That's a load of tripe.
<Succendo> Was posted publicly
<Denim> It's difficult to be proud of anything you do when someone's deconstructing it before your eyes
<Succendo> Art is suffering.
<WhiteLynxDragon> o.O
<Denim> That's your opinion
<Denim> Give it when asked for it
<Succendo> It's a fact.
<Duo> uhhh
<Duo> i just pop in
<Duo> and dude
<Succendo> In order to improve, you need to know what to improve on
<WhiteLynxDragon> do you honestly think I don't know that?
<Duo> if you rip apart somebodys hard work they do get pissed and saddned and hate that work
<Succendo> I told him what he needed to improve on.
<Denim> Did he at any point say he was obsessed with improving as you are? :p
* Firewing has quit (Ping timeout)
<WhiteLynxDragon> Not everyone thinks exactly like you do.
<Duo> give slight help here and there
<Denim> That's your fuckin' prerogative, dude :p
<WhiteLynxDragon> hehe
<Malachai> Maybe he doesn't mind staying at the current level of artistic development he's at without feeling badly about his work, Succendo.
<Duo> your not even that bad with me dude
<Succendo> Me? That's because it's hard to find stuff wrong with your shit from a stylistic perspective
<Succendo> Whatever, I'll shut up.
<Succendo> Was just being honest and trying to help.
* WhiteLynxDragon rolls his eyes
<Denim> :
<Succendo> Which apparently is not wanted.
* Succendo goes and works on her own shitty art.
<WhiteLynxDragon> since the things you're saying are "publicly posted" allow me to offer my critique. Ever heard of tact?
* Denim takes a very long sip of his whiskeywater
<Denim> v.v;
<WhiteLynxDragon> ok I'm going to go play a game. Maybe ripping the shit out of some things with my Razor Wind will help me settle down for bed.
Succendo> If I hold back in a critique, I'm not respecting the artist.
<Succendo> That's less tactful than going all out.
<WhiteLynxDragon> whatever.


...Yeah I don't think I need to say any more.

This just in! Duo is selling off 120+ of his pics in a bulk sale, bidding starts at 50$! Seriously awesome art, folks. I'd probably bid myself if I could. See the details here:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/260757/

Help keep Lynette fed and unclothed!

Well things have changed! First of all I finally got a real JOB! I'll be doing press bundling, starting Monday. Never done anything like that before, but at least it's better than a stinking paper route. :P

Now that I have actual income prospects, I'll probably make it to FC this year. Who else is going? :) I'd love to meet people who are watching me :)

Well, considering I just drained my bank account with one payment (car insurance) and the hotel is almost full anyway, I'm seriously doubting I'll make it to FC this year... Even if I did manage to go, I'd have next to no spending money and that would drive me insane walking into the dealers den :P

Anyone want to give me five hundred bucks out of the kindness of their heart? :P

Or comission me?

Mew?

You get a cookie if you successfully recognized the great Terrie Smith's art style in my new icon! What you see is part of the con badge she did for me at Further Confusion 06. I'm using this space to officially say that artwork is hers, not mine, and I simply own the original.

But yes! If you ever go to a con (most likely a west coast USA con) and you see this face on a badge, it's me! ^.^

- The Dracat

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_377.php

Well I actually came out at 1 AM, not 3 AM :P

And here I am sitting at the computer, drinking an odd concoction of my own: Strawberry smoothie, milk and... peach cobbler :P

It tis teh yum :)

I'm sorry but I have to pose the question. Why is everyone and their second cousin suddenly growing both sets of bits? I mean why is every other character I see online and in art one of those who has a difficult time picking a restroom?

I admit I'm not exactly flexible in the choice of gender of my own character - I never once had any desire to play a female (which seems to be rare in itself.) But honestly people, what's the appeal? Can someone explain this to me beyond the default and rather ridiculous answer of "best of both worlds" that doesn't really answer anything?

I guess you guys out there just want boobs. And yes, I know you're almost all guys. I've known hundreds upon hundreds of people with herm characters and only TWO were actually female.

I had kinda hoped I would leave the herm craze when I left Furcadia - i.e. that it was just a kiddie thing - but it's just as strong out here. Second Life has a massive herm furry population, for example. (It was amusing to overhear a group of furry herms on SL once talking about human herm avatars ingame - they were all like "furry herms are fine. But human herms? Ew." This rather puzzled me even more!)

So... penny for your thoughts, furres? I hope no one feels offended or targeted by this, I'm just simply baffled. Not trying to rip on anyone... just tell me what you think? I myself don't care for herms, as you probably all know I'm 100% straight so only ladies are on my menu - and of course recently, only one lady *snuggles his cooncat*

So tell me whatcha all think. :)

-Lynxie

It's been a few weeks or so since I joined my best friend on the Bootes server of Maple Story to kill cute snails and happy green slimes. The game's pretty good; apparently it was made by the same folks who made Gunbound.
Maple Story, for those not familiar, is a free-to-play, 2D side-scrolling platform MMORPG played in real time. It's got cutesy chibi anime graphics that are quite good. The game itself came out of Malaysia, and I see evidence of this in the fact that the servers are basically dead in what I as an American would call daytime.
Unfortunately, I've found the average age of a Mapler is probably about 14. Beyond my party, I don't generally talk to people... mostly because I can't understand what they're trying to say. More on that later.
Our party is five strong now. Jolda, my best friend, came to MS first and brought me into it soon after - thanks bud ^.^ Jolda is our thief.
I, Lynceus, am one of our two bowmen. Nothing special about me really, except that I'm one of our two highest level party members.
Next came Jaron, our warrior. He's not on so much because he's also an obsessive WoW player, which is kinda annoying sometimes. Come play with US, man!
Masukari is our other bowman. He's going to be the hard-hitting bowman specializing in crossbows.
Lulu is my girlfriend (that's right folks, Lynxie has a love life now!). She's a mage, and is going to be our cleric.

We're probably going to end up creating a guild, though from what I understand we'll need one more person to do that. Add in a price tag of 1.5 million Mesos (ingame currency) and the fact that I actually have to FIND the place ingame you register guilds, and you can see this goal is actually a ways off. :P

I'm not nursing much hope of finding a person to add to our guild. As I said before, pretty much all of the players are kids, and they all speak their own dialects of netspeak which are incomprehensible to anyone with a high school diploma. New levels of lazy were invented when the internet rolled around... you all know this. Jolda once commented that the uneducated seem to have their own language... and I see that quite clearly in Maple Story.
If I do have to look for another member, it'll be pretty easy to screen out who we don't want. I've come up with some requirements:

1) Ability to speak coherent English. Y and U are letters, not words; you save about .000000000002 seconds by not typing out the other two letters, but it has an oh so profound impact on your perceived intelligence. I understand that you can't stop to write a book when the party's being chased by some creepy-crawlie whose level is higher than everyone else's combined, but in casual conversation... show some effort - or at least proof your mental facilities surpass that of a coral polyp.

2) Some level of creativity. I'm not going to be impressed by someone whose name is a misspelled adjective or two followed by a tally of the US national debt (i.e. CoolTheif23425214 or some such nonsense). You need a NAME to communicate.

3) Continuation of the previous rule: Replacing letters with numbers or symbols is dumb, and adding xXxstupid bordersxXx around your name just makes it more difficult to read. aLtErNaTiNg cApS doesn't exactly look good on your IQ resume either.

4) Relative equality, both in level and mind. Having one person who's level 100 isn't much fun when the rest of the party's still working on level 12, and if you have an inflated head about perceived or actual superiority (or just get bossy), you won't be around us very long.

Did I miss anything? The only catch I see with these rules is that they'll rule out at least 97% of the population in Maple Story, since as I said most of these players are kids. Them's the breaks.

So wish us luck. We'll be roaming around the Bootes server breaking things, and hopefully sometime we can get our guild started. Speaking of which, we need a name. Any ideas, folks? :)

Well I've decided.

Comissions are open now; but I'm only going to take a few at a time, say five. This is my first time doing things for money, so please bear with me.

I've decided on prices as follows:

8 1/2 x 11 line sketch - 5$

8 1/2 x 11 shaded - $10

I hope this is "about right" as comissions go.

As for content... I said before I'm most comfortable drawing females, but I will draw males. Nudes are ok, as is the occasional adult pic, but please limit adult stuff to M/F. I'm not comfortable drawing gay males so I figure out of fairness I should leave out lesbians too :P

Reference to your character is DEFINITELY preferred. I can't work miracles, I can't read your mind :P So once things get established, send me some pics or links.

I'll ask for payment after I finish the picture. It'll be sent to you via e-mail.

(If anyone has any advice for me starting out on comission work, please don't hesitate to speak up.)

I'll be doing things in the order that I get them.

1-
2-
3-
4-
5-

Well, I'm finally in the wonderful *choke* position of being in a bit of a financial fix. I need to replace my car's transmission, and it's going to cost me about 600 bucks total.

It's not horribly urgent (yet) as the car still runs, but I'm going to need to raise some funds.

So... the drakitty is going to test the waters of art comissions.

I won't be shy about saying that I really prefer drawing females. Also, I really can't ink that well and color is... well... not really an option for me yet. So... I sketch. That's about it right now. I can shade, though, but that's about all I can do.

I have no idea what to charge for comissions, of any nature. So I ask you, other artists, what you think... and if anyone's interested in having someone drawn, let me know and all that. Reference is preferred, etc, and as I said, I'm more comfortable drawing females. Nudity is ok. Adult stuff is too, but I'm not exactly a spooge artist (ha) so I might not be able to do what you hope. :P For the record, I consider myself more of a cheesecake artist.

All that said... anyone have any thoughts? Anyone pining to throw money at me?