Hey folks,
Just doing a bit of a vibe check.

How’s everyone holding up these days? Are you doing okay financially? How’s your living situation, stable, uncertain, somewhere in between?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how many of us are just scraping by, especially in the art/furry community. It’s easy to feel like you're struggling alone, but I know that’s rarely the case. So I wanted to ask:
How are you getting by?
Are you managing? Barely holding it together? Doing okay? Crushing it somehow?

Feel free to vent, share, or just lurk I'm genuinely curious how everyone’s doing out there. No judgment here.

Take care of yourselves.

I will be in stream every night, central time zone, accepting commissions for 30 USD per hour. Most sketches don't usually take anymore then 1 hour to an hour and a half. 2 characters take about 2 hours for frame of reference. Why do I charge hourly? It keeps me working fast, and I want to be compensated for revisions.

https://picarto.tv/Dewclawpaw

I stream on Picarto, but I can stream on piczel if folks request that instead.

xencelabs, the company who makes my tablet quickly replaced it. Received it in the mail, tested and working. I will be on again tonight.

Hey everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve officially opened. About 3 years. I’m unsure where I stand as far as being able to viably do this to pay the bills anymore. My work doesn’t do very well as far as socials go. I don’t get many faves on FA and likes on other Twitter/Bsky. I know that doesn’t equal good/bad, but I’m not sure if people have moved on to expect bigger and better things.

I would love to offer 2D animation for commissions if I could but I’m unsure how accessible that would be for anyone. I calculated how much time it took me to do a simple loop with color and it was 27 hours total. So if I wanted to make 30 an hour to keep up with what my last job paid that would be roughly 800. So that probably wouldn’t fly. I’d always be willing to offer no color or animating just rough sketches instead. It would be a lot faster but I’m not sure how Keene you’d all be without something that looked more polished.

If I have to I guess I could just offer sketches and be done with it. I could try paint sketches maybe but I don’t know if anyone wants me to experiment on their dime. I’d rather not leave folks disappointed or feeling they didn’t get their moneys worth.

I appreciate all of you and please let me know your thoughts, if I’m not worth buying from or if commissions aren’t a good idea considering the economy then I won’t do them if you think it’s not a good idea.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing back

Sorry I didn't reach out to you more often, you always treated me and Reva very well and helped us out where you could. Rest easy man.


If anyone wants to get ahold of me

https://x.com/DewAnimation
dewtheram - discord

Hey thanks folks. Gonna close down for now. I'm not really interested in drawing anymore this week. It's been a rough one mentally.

Hi there! Does anyone out there who follows me capable of 3D printing or cutting plexiglass?

I'm trying to build a drawing tool from the 1940s for traditional perspective drawing

https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/.....trolinead.html

it's described in james gurney's blog with some detailed blueprints on how to build one. I would build it out of wood but I lack a way to make precise cuts. I don't think I could do this with a hand saw. Any advice would greatly be appreciated!

I'm finding talking to other artists and being around art in general lately has been really making my mood go south. I'm not sure why I'm finding being around other artists and even around art esp furry stuff has been just been making me unhappy. It's possible the AI stuff that's come out recently has also made me kind of not want to be around anyone. I'm not really excited to use the internet anymore in general. The information I find isn't at all very helpful or encouraging to me. I've spoken about some of this in the past that art to me feels insanely lonely. I'm around other people but I feel alone next to them. I'm alone when I draw, I'm alone when I'm stuck and the advice I get is beyond frustrating. I don't want to snap at other artists but I really need a break being around it.

I'm not burned out but I'm pretty damn close, so I'm just going to step back and clear my head I don't ever want to go through a burn out again. I'm mostly just frustrated and sick of hearing the same shitty critiques.

Hey guys sorry I haven't been around much but if you'd like to actually chat with me and check on how I'm doing ect. I'm always around on discord. https://discord.gg/9tDPSUG9YE

Let me know if you need me to just DM me my discord name and number if you wanna chat as a mutual or something.

Hey guys sorry I haven't been around much but if you'd like to actually chat with me and check on how I'm doing ect. I'm always around on discord. https://discord.gg/9tDPSUG9YE

Let me know if you need me to just DM me my discord name and number if you wanna chat as a mutual or something.

https://discord.gg/9tDPSUG9YE


This is a server just to get updates, ask for commissions ect. Just if you want work from me this would be the best place to find out.

It's my 35th birthday on the 17th of this month. I wasn't honestly planning on living this long. Things have not gotten much easier for me and I know my time is a bit sort when it comes to having the luxury of being able to afford to keep on renting a place to live.

I haven't enjoyed my life very much in the last few years, I don't want nor can I afford therapy. I'm severely in college debt (500k most likely atm) to the point where I am more then likely to die poor, luckily I don't have a co signer or anything so I'll be taking that with me, or leaving it behind depending on how you see it. All I ever wanted was to be a pretty well rounded artist, be able to draw decently, make 3D animations and generally share things I was passionate about with others. When I was in my Sr year of college I was planning on taking my life quietly since I very well knew my college film was atrocious and studios were looking the other way. I'm looking back 10 years ago and I have regrets for not following through with that decision.

I know there really isn't any real hope for me, I'm getting older and I'm not getting any better or smarter, I don't want to really give this another year. I hate putting in the effort, getting my hopes up just to come up sort over and over again. I'm tired and I'd be okay if I stopped existing. I don't really want to make it to 36 to be really honest, it's probably selfish to think that but it's just how I've been feeling for the past year.

It's been one nutty year, apologies for not uploading here. I've been neglecting FurAffinity for a while and was focused on my Twitter which I am more active there. I need to set up posty burb or whatever it's called to get on a better que to upload consistently.

https://twitter.com/DewAnimation

If you want to follow me there I upload pretty frequently and my 3D WIP's as well.

Sorry about not posting. I will be setting up posty burb or something so I can actually queue up posts properly. I'm really really bad about posting my commissions. I do them and they just sit on my drive and i forget about them. I will be posting throughout tomorrow so just warning ahead of time if you suddenly see a flood of sketches and junk coming your way.

Hey guys sorry, been an odd game of catch up after Christmas vacation. Lots of 3D work i owed and a color piece I experimented on. Also finally getting over a cold I had caught last Wednesday. Will be posting that later today as well as opening up for commissions finally. Hope everyone is well, healthy and happy. See you soon!

I'm not sure why but i can't see the thumbnail of a new commission I'm trying to submit. Anyone else having this issue. Any feedback would be appreciated. I even downsized it seeing it was just too large of a file.

Well this batch was...interesting. Not because of the content it's nothing i haven't drawn before but the effort I put into this new queue was a bit intense. I tried using 3D ref, i spent time trying to focus on my line quality, structure, posing especially and anatomy. I'm iffy on the 3D ref i'll be honest with all of you. It really does help but I can't knock out some of the stiffness it brings. On some of these sketches it was invaluable, other ones I wound up having to just redraw it without using the ref at all as it not only did not help but looked crazy stiff and dead.

I did however pick up some Models for general ref that i think helps a lot, I am still continuing to do studies frequently. I have no idea if this is helping or not, making my art improve but only time will tell right? Anyway! Any feedback, thoughts, things you liked, did not like. I do apologize about the speed or lack thereof this last batch. I definitely slowed down a bit to experiment with some of these pieces and it does come at a cost...well mostly for me lol as I did not accept any new commissions the entire month and that does hurt. So I'm going to not take as large of a queue as last time and focus more on alternating between opening very small queues offline and streaming online to hit both sets of folks who either want to attend streams and people who cannot absolutely do that because of life, timezones, ect ect.

Anyway, thank you all for being so patient with me, folks who are on the call list I will slowly hit some of you up to see if your still interested in a piece, if not no pressure and no worries.


Current Queue

[1]   barzillai [Flats][approved]

On Call

  TinTessinic
  HiMyNameIsNobody
  HollowJester
  goldcoin
  Kumamoto
  kipper0308
  partran
  zhaliz

Hey folks, just got through my queue finally, going a bit slow this month my apologies. Been trying new techniques and working on making sure each piece I learn something new. Been using some perspective tools since I am a 3D artist to try and change some things up. I hope the effort will pay off. I'm almost done I just have some lines to do for some folks and 1 experimental color piece. I'll contact everyone whose waiting as soon as I can.


Current Queue

[1]   barzillai [Flats][approved]



On Call

  TinTessinic
  HiMyNameIsNobody
  HollowJester
  goldcoin
  Kumamoto
  kipper0308
  partran
  zhaliz

If you are interested in a spot please comment down below saying you want one. I will respond to you saying the spot is yours. When you are on the list, I will need you to note me 3 things.

I will need from you in a note!

1) Your Idea - Please also let me know if this is A sketch, or a lined piece. Please read my Tos before selecting your idea http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9192291/

2) Your Refs - If you don't have an actual character a description works but please try and provide some kind of visual reference so it can get me more accurate to what you want.

3) Your Email - I will need this to invoice you.

You must also have an actual active gallery, this goes without saying. If you have no profile picture, or your account looks pretty blank I can't accept from you (Apologies this is something I implemented years ago)



Anyway! I have some of you already show interest I will place you on the list as "Inquiry" This just means your interested and I don't want to screw you out of a spot because you did come to me earlier.


The slot registry will go as follows: Inquiry > Info Received > Invoice sent > Paid > Sketching > Lines "If applicable" > Completed > Approval

This way you, I and everyone else sees progress is being made, who is where what time people expect their work to be done if there a certain place in Queue. I do not ever want to leave anyone in the dark about anything.

I will be making the empty list on this very submission and editing it so folks know. When the list is complete I will move it to a new journal so it is easier for you all to take a look at it.

Now don't fret if I fill up all 10 spots, I cap it off so i don't have an endlessly long list. As soon as I complete one I will notify you immediately if you still want the spot, if you see the list fill and still want one, Please let me know and Ill place you on the "On Call" list this is just a way for me to give you the courtesy if you still want the newly opened up spot.



Available Slots

[1]   sethkeidashi [COMPLETED]
[2]   partran [COMPLETED]
[3]   zashisouthpaw [COMPLETED]
[4]   Anuv [PAID][Sketched][Approved]
[5]   barzillai [PAID][Sketched][Updated - waiting for approval][Single - Experimental]
[6]   EmeraldSkunk [COMPLETED]
[7]   spiney [PAID][Single Lined][Sketched][Approved]
[8]   cale~ [PAID][Single Lined][Sketched][Approved]
[9]   Mr_Takari [PAID][Single Lined][SKETCHED][waiting for approval]
[10]   Alphae-baisse [COMPLETED][Approved]


On Call

  TinTessinic
  HiMyNameIsNobody
  HollowJester
  goldcoin
  Kumamoto
  kipper0308
  partran
  zhaliz

Testing the waters here, anyone want a commission from me but they just can't make streams please let me know down below if there is interest. if not I can continue my streams. Or accept outside stream and do them in stream regardless.

Hey everyone, thank you all for supporting me so long. I had some good news from the neurologist I don't have MS or anything serious past optical migraines. This hiatus has sort of put me in a spot where I can sit and think about what or in this case how I want to continue my life forward.

A lot of my stress is certainly environmental as I'm typing this journal my next door neighbor is blasting their Music/TV where I can clearly hear it through my noise canceling headphones. If I was trying to conduct a stream It would be rather difficult for me to concentrate. I don't really like blasting music or something while I work. I tend to listen to something pretty dull when I draw so it helps me concentrate, often however I like complete silence, especially when I'm working on 3D which requires a lot of problem solving.

I think the fire has sort of gotten snuffed out this year while I experiencing all this stress and the need to draw to live/eat, my desire for drawing has sort of died out and I haven't touched my tablet in almost 2 months and I haven't opened my sketchbook in over a year. My worry is that my desire to make art, my muse or whatever you call it has all up and vaporized. My creativity has been pretty dead, I often don't think of anything i'd like to make or i dread when I had to stream which to me is not a good sign. I've decided maybe, at the very least I should hold off on streaming until after I move, at least I'll be in a new place.

I'd like to honestly approach my art in another direction if I can, I've been stuck in sort of a rut since 2015 and I drawing constantly for others hasn't seemed to break through. I've tried to join discord servers that help people focus on improving their work, all I was doing was drawing boxes which is not only boring but further killed my creativity. I've done tutorials ect, but it feels like a slough, which I was willing to put up with if it helped. After years of doing stuff like that and seeing no difference in just drawing normally vs practicing I didn't feel like practicing helped my art whatsoever in fact it feels like it hurt me more then helped.

I've never really been put in a position in my life where I've felt so burned out that I have no desire to pick up a pencil, not sure what to do about that really. If anyone has any advice for me I'd greatly appreciate it. If you've experienced a kind of death to your creativity or want to make things, were you ever able to get it back?

I'd honestly hate to retire as a commission artist but I don't wanna force myself through it. I did like drawing quite I lot, I do like art, and for the longest time I wanted to be successful. I don't really know why my mind and body sort of fell apart this year. I guess every person has their limit? I've been trying to get as much rest as possible, but it still feels like I need to sleep another few days.


Anyway, I appreciate to hear from any of you.

-
Dew

Hello everyone, sorry I've not been active on FA lately, or open for commissions for that matter.

Two weeks ago I temporarily lost my vision, was alarming at the time and I thought I was either going blind or having a stroke. My GF   revadiehard was ready to drive me to the ER. Since the vision problem started as a small colorful blind-spot then started to expand outward to my central vision then to my peripheral vision. My eyesight was normal after sitting in a dark room for about an hour. I saw an ophthalmologist the following day, had my eyes dilated to see if anything was wrong. My optic nerve wasn't damage or swollen. I had no pain or headache so I don't think I was suffering from optic neuritis. He diagnosed me with an Optic Migraine without pain, so asymptomatic or whatever that's called.

To rule anything out since I have a family history of MS on my father's side of the family, I am going to see a neurologist next Friday on the 17th. I haven't been at my computer and I have been resting, eating, catching up on some news, playing bloodborne and drinking plenty of fluids. The first week after this happened was very rough. I felt very washed out and unable to concentrate on much of anything. I've felt like I was on the cusp of COG fog but not enough to feel like I was not able to comprehend my surroundings. Today I feel much better however emotionally it's been up and down.

I'm sorry I did not leave you all a message sooner but I honestly completely forgot all about FA, drawing, and even art in general. I was so taken out mentally that I shut down from everything and i'm only recently back at my computer for maybe a few hours a day.


Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well. If you would like to leave me a comment or talk to me I always look forward to hearing from anyone.

Hey everyone!

Small explanation

I wanted to announce this before I implement anything. My stress has been at an all time high, my end goal was trying to get a job in my field (Animation) doing commissions was more or less supposed to be a temporary thing but due to circumstances it has become more or less my full time job. I want to get my 3D animation project in a position where I can confidently animate and start rendering things out for a Patreon. Right now I've been struggling so the only thing I can think of doing to help alleviate my stress is to try and free up some of my time. I'm living in a more expensive part of the country to see if I can be in an opportune position to look for work. Right now I have no portfolio due to lack of progress and free time.

I will be reverting back to my rougher sketches for my base price of 30 USD per character. I'll still be offering cleaned sketches but I will have to charge at least 60 USD per char in order to justify the amount of time I spend on doing them. This includes the shading I do on them as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the prices, the need to change them ect. If you want to talk to me privately please do so, you may also join my discord as well.

https://discord.gg/HAKZ5X


Thank you, and I hope to see you in my streams.

Hello everyone, If you aren't currently aware I haven't been streaming or accepting as often. I think mostly it's due to extreme burnout. I have not had any time to recover from being burned out since last December. I've been working through burnout so long I'm surprised I was able to do as many sketches as I have.

I think part of it is the extra time and effort I'm putting into my sketches so I was wondering if people actually liked the cleaned up sketches at all. I could spend a little extra time just cleaning up the base sketch a bit more and calling that done vs going through and cleaning up the sketch with fine lines.

Please if you could let me know down below if the clean stuff is something you specifically like or would a rougher sketch suffice so I can get things out after and accept more people. It would also greatly help me financially if I could spend less time on 1 sketch.

Let me know down below if you like my work, are wanting a sketch, want specifically clean work or don't mind having rougher linework.

Thank you!

Let me preface by saying that I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me out, commissioned me and generally just support me.

Over the past few weeks I've been feeling a lot of anxiety, more so then normal. My blood pressure was reading reading around 120/110 on Wednesday, thankfully today its back down to 117/79. I can only assume stress and my nerves are taking their toll and I may need have to reconsider how I'm going about my life.
The joy I feel from art stems about 25 percent from completion, 25 percent from viewership and feedback, and 50 percent from improvement. I'm noticing very little engagement and viewership these days, I don't know how color very well so I'm unable to create anything larger then just sketches and I've felt no benefit from practicing. To sum it up, I'm working a lot but I'm getting nowhere.

On top of this I'm feeling the pressure of needing to make rent every month and then having nothing afterwards. The personal project I've been toiling on has been for the lack of a better word " a cluster-fuck". I don't mean that negatively I'll definitely see it through to the end but I felt like I could of saved myself a year and a half if I had at least one industry person look at my rig sooner. Its a year of my life I'll never get back and I had little to show for it.

Social pressure hasn't helped either. My feed, friends, family ect. have been bombarding me and pressuring me into taking part in the recent election. Normally this isn't something that would stress me out but with everything else going on in my life it just added unnecessary worry.
I moved to Austin so I could be closer to my line of work but with needing to do commissions constantly to stay afloat it gives me very little time to dedicate to my personal portfolio.

I'm at the point where I'm questioning if being an artist is even working out for me. I don't feel like I'm making any progress. The thought of another year of scraping by doesn't sound appealing to me. I could understand if the work i was doing was going someplace, but It's apparent that what i make doesn't have appeal.

This is what goes in my head almost on a daily basis, money, lack of progress, anxiety then depression from it. I guess I'm just frustrated and I'm not finding enjoyment in anything I'm doing because of that. This is what has been causing me to not stream and open as much as I should be.

I apologize about the vent, rant or whatever this is. I appreciate anyone or whomever would like to comment, or want to give their honest feedback or opinion. I'm leaving a lot of things out so if there is any clarification please don't hesitate to let me know.