And the WindDown after Conifur

[balaa]

First and foremost. I just ordered the Tablet for dolphiana. I had to wait for the money to transfer from my paypal to my bank before I could order it. So hopefully the transaction will go without a hiccup and she will get her tablet soon. Thank you all again who pitched in to help make this possible. I am humbled to be a part of a community that is so generous and willing to help out a fellow artist. I truly look forward to seeing what kind of beauty she will bring to the world with a tablet. Dolphy we all love ya girl!! Oh and apparantly all wacom had available for Germany are the Graphire 4's Classic..so thats what I ordered. It looks about the same as what I have, just a newer version or whatnot. I need to find a card to go along with it now so you know who all helped out :). *BIG HUGS*


Ok now on to Conifur. First I have to thank v_lockheart, wicked_sairah and xianjaguar(which I found out was pronounced Christian Jaguar..rofl I thought that was an awesome play on words when I heard it...*dork*). I will say this a million times over but it was soooooooo nice to meet you all. I was terrified when I was driving up there and zero sleep didn't help anything. But after the first day I already had no regrets. You welcomed me with open arms and made me feel so special I had to hold back tears at times *sappy violin music plays in the background*. I feel bad now that it took me so long to meet you and I look forward to seeing you again way before any cons.

It was also nice to meet other folks, people from deviant and live journal. I am sorry if I did not recognize ya guys immediately..I am sort of a very visual person who recognizes icons and charas before names. So sorry about that!

A big hug to goldenrod I can't believe how nice you were and as soon as I saw that pineapple shirt I knew it was you ;). I hope to have more time to chat and doodle with you next con...and I must make you a badge. I started one at the con but fleh I sketched it too big...and besides that I want to make it nicer.

Ok lets see what else? Ahh yes, out of 5 pieces I put in the art show, 4 sold and one went to live auction, which absolutely flabberghasted me. It was the ebon Sunset framed print and ended up fetching a pretty penny(much to my surprise). The fifth piece, that didn't sell, was My Snow Leopard Vixen. I have since found her a good home as a thank you to dark_jaguar01. He has always been so nice to me so I can't think of a better home for the picture than him. Of all the prints I brought, I sold all but 3, and those 3 I didn't expect to sell in the first place so it's all good. I sold quite a few sketch badges and sketchbook commissions and actually learned I can draw just about any animal out there :D. I was worried I wouldn't be able to draw anything outside of felines just because thats what I always draw for myself..but I ended up drawing foxes, wolves, gargoyles, otters, assorted kitties, ferrets, puppies, horsies and I forget what all else. So WOW!!!

At the end of the con I walked away with a LOOOT more than I expected to make..and a huge smile on my face. This has been one of the most wonderful experiences in my life. I could not even have dreamt of a better experience. SO I am already making plans to hit Further Confusion in January of '01 and hopefully be able to get my own dealer's table or at least a half table in the furry Marketplace :). I have the same hope for this upcoming con, just make back what I invested. Other than that my payment is meeting old friends in person and making new friends. What could be better than that??? Now I just need to sell some badges and icons to help save up for both myself and Jennifer to go :D.

That is all for now :D

Comments

Re: Conifur

[odious.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the character sheets are a huge undertaking since they're anthros and I really don't draw all that well as far as traditional media is concerned. Most of what I can work with and turn out quickly and well is more related to graphic arts like logos and tattoos and that sort of thing. My digital media is where most of my skills are at but I really can't sketch shade and color well with it. The character sheets are going to take me just a lot of time. If I hammer on them long enough eventually I can force them to come out the way I want them to. Sketch first then scan digital ink and color. Will be the first time I've gone through the whole process, I expect to invest a few hours a day for a week or so on each one. (for the otter I can cheat though and send you screenshots from secondlife and a character description to accompany it =O)

I haven't actually seen too much of your work, I just know that wicked_sairah and lj_anderson recommended you to me though I'd trust your judgment on what media you think would work better for my characters. Digital may be the way to go I really like your Balaa userpic which I assume was done in that fashion and it's really beautiful work. There's time for that especially since the con is still upcoming. That would really wow people, I take it you print glossy, laminate and send them in the mail? Paypal would be just fine. I'm going to enjoy sending traffic your way when they ask me where I got the cool badge at.

Thank you so much for the wonderful complements, it was really nice meeting you I just wished I lived a little closer. I miss the Seattle area so much or moreso I miss the people. There's really not a lot of artists down my way which makes it hard, a lot of what got me going was being abe to bounce ideas and techniques off of other people.

Re: Conifur

[xxbalaaxx.livejournal.com]

I havent really hung around Seattle itself very much but I would like to live closer to both Sarah and Jennifer. They are just wonderful people and my art is always improved when I hang with just plain good people(if that makes sense). As far as medium, I am open to pretty much anything, always willing to give things a go. I love Xian's marker badges,she has a very clean style with markers...unfortunately I can't afford to buy my own set for a while. So for now it will be digital, colored pencil, pencil or acrylic(which I havent yet had time to experiment with). I worked up an example badge the other day from a sketch badge of Balaa I did.

If ya care to see this is it


But my style varies to cater to pretty much anything anyone would want *shrugs* I just can't stick to one style and always lovvvveee trying new techniques in my work.

if ya care to see more examples: my dev gallery has a lot of variety: http://balaa.deviantart.com/gallery/ and if you have something in mind you don't see feel free to say the word :). As far as living far from folks, I do know the feeling..my best friend lives on the east coast so we dont see each other but once a year. We still manage to share ideas via the net but obviously its just not the same as in person.

Re: Conifur

[odious.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you're talking about! Back when I used to do art it helped immensly to be around other creative people they help me with seeing things. sometimes all I need is that little nudge in the right direction when I'm stuck. I get stuck frequently. Now that I live in Portland I really miss being able to just go and hang out at Sairah's or Fire's and do art. There's not a lot of artists around my area like there are up there or at least I haven't found them yet.

I love XJ's marker badges but that looks really hard to do, every time I've used markers I have problems where the strokes overlap they create a darker area. It could also be my technique but to improve that I'd really have to just sit and observe someone like XJ do their work. I'm told that better quality media would help but they're very expensive so I haven't tried it yet besides, I have to improve my composition before I can even begin to consider inking and coloring seriously. I would really like to learn how to do digital work since I already have those tools at my disposal I just don't know how to use them in that way.

I don't really think you have much to worry about though, everything in your gallery is absolutely beautiful. I'll just send you a character sheet and let you take over. Use whatever you feel would produce the most stunningly beautiful badge for the character.

I really like your more realistic stuff though, I have no idea how you do that. In any case, investing in some quality media is probably worth the price for you since your composition is strong.

Re: Conifur

[xxbalaaxx.livejournal.com]

HAHA! everyone loves my realism stuff more. Sometimes I do too and I can see how people would enjoy it so...but sometimes I hate it. The reason is simple, the work can be quite overbearing sometimes..just gets to be literally painful to do (ie my wrist and back will hurt for daaayyyyssssss). But in the end more often than not it is worthwhile. I love bringing characters to life, even if it is for that one brief glimpse of a moment...I just like letting people see into my soul through the character's eyes (I know that sounds super corny). I love toony stuff more sometimes because its more relaxing for me, not nearly as stressful or involved...and there is room to deviate in the middle of a project..unlike in realism where you are wise to choose your light source, mood, atmosphere, and colors right from the get go and just stick to them throughout the piece.

Actually come to think of it I dont think I know any furry artists from Portland myself either O_o....that does make things challenging. Then again before I met Sarah and Jennifer I didn't know any furry artists from washington or the northwest ppperrioood. I knew many many many from California but none from around here. Must admit, its opened up a new world for me knowing them and hey now you as well! I would love to share my techniques with you and show ya how I work, digital or real media :).

The way I look at art is if you have the will the skill will come in time...simple as that. I don't believe in second rate artists or any such thing(and Ive faced many many people who introduce themselves in just that fashion!!), if you have the passion and the drive the rest will follow.

Re: Conifur

[odious.livejournal.com]

Ouch, the realism does look rather involved, I'm sure it really does make you ache. On the other hand, I don't really think the full realism look would work for my characters because they're somewhat in the middle of the toony/realism spectrum being that they're mostly realistic but too cute for their own good. Something with a softer feel but definately with good fur details would probably work well for them though they've been cartooned well also. Once again I'll let you be the judge of it.

If you're looking to meet more furry artists up in Washington I can definately give you some names, there's no shortage of them up there (Seattle). Sairah and LJ are definately some of the more skilled ones but there's a lot of other very talented artists up there. On the other hand it might be possible to have you come visit down here and hang out and do art even if mine is really terrible about now. I'm just so out of practice, my sketching used to be decent but currently it's so off that I can't really get my lines where they should be so coloring them wouldn't help. I need more practice.

Motivation is sometimes an issue for me. I do have passion and drive but sometimes I run out of ideas, and a lot of times I have a hard time making myself do it because right now it's definately not as much fun as it used to be. I could get back to where I was if I practiced but I mostly do that when other people around me are doing the same thing. It kinda gives me the ideas I need and also kinda kicks me in the tail. I'm not the lock myself in a room by myself kind of artist.

Re: Conifur

[wicked-sairah.livejournal.com]

Hey, can I pay you for a colored badge of Roscoe?

I'm so not kidding, by the way.