This is the perfect project for deviantArt!

Dogs Deserve Better (DDB) is US nonprofit organization dedicated to getting dogs off chains. Chaining dogs outside where they are lonely, bored, and subjected to extreme temperatures is inhumane and dangerous.

This year, DDB is working with thousands of people across the US to create and deliver Valentines cards to chained dogs. Their goal is to raise awareness about the problem and to try and get owners of chained dogs to think twice about what they are doing. You can help by making your own cards and sending them to DDB! You can also submit the addresses of chained dogs near you so that they receive cards this year. Last year DDB delivered almost 15,000 cards and their goal this year is 17,000. Will you help??

Please the news article I posted about this project and spread the word!

I just wanted to update you all on the 365DAA project. Nikki has added a whole new section to the website devoted to 365DAA, so go check it out! We're doing well, but we need a lot more shirts to get to December 31, 2011. Please spread the word!

+++

As many of you may know, I help run a site called I Love Rescue Animals. Specifically, I'm in charge of Shelter Sketches, so each week I find an animal in need of a forever home, draw his or her portrait, and post it on the ILRA blog in the hopes that someone will help. I'm always looking to get more people involved, so if you know an animal in need or would like to contribute a sketch, please contact me.

What I'd like to address now, however, is 365 Days of Animal Advocacy! I'm super excited about this project. Ashley and Nikki are working hard to collect 365 T-shirts from different animal-welfare-related organizations, and I'm doing what I can to help them. For every day of 2011, Ash will wear a different shirt, take a photo of herself wearing said shirt, and post it on the ILRA blog! How cool is that??

This is where you come in! Do you know of any animal welfare groups who have need more exposure and have T-shirts? Contact them and tell them about the 365DAA project. Ask to buy a shirt so that you can send it to Ash; the organization may even give you one or two for free because you're trying to help out. Then mail the shirt, with appropriate information, to Ash and Nikki. Simple! I've already gotten one shirt sent to them (free of charge) and am working on several more. Who's in?? Who wants to help animals in 2011?!

To stay updated about the 365DAA project...
Follow the ILRA blog!
"Like" the ILRA Facebook page!
Follow us on Twitter!


+++


As a side note, I'm toying with the idea of doing a 30-60 minute Livestream a few days a week while I do sketches and studies. I usually prefer to get studies done in the morning, but what do you guys think? Are there any days/times you prefer, if you're even interested? I'm in Central Time, which is GMT-6.

Livestreaming again for a while. Feel free to stop by, but bring your own music because I've got the sound turned off.

Clickity-click.

The very skilled ~Grobelski is giving away free oil paintings (craziness!) to anyone willing to help promote his work online. He does some beautiful still lifes, which I think are the oil paintings up for grabs. I featured this gorgeous digital painting he did a while ago:



Check out his blog or his dA page to see more of his work and learn how you can get a free painting!

Blog: [link]
Deviantart: [link]



The Discover a Muse book is out! My steampunk pirate captain is one of the illustrations featured in the book, and the rest of the images are even better! The best part of the whole project is that 100% of the profits from the sale of the book will go to the Discovery Arts charity. Please go take a look and consider picking up a copy.

From November 10-14 I was in Altoona, Pennsylvania for the third annual Illuxcon. It was the most amazing and useful art-related experience I've ever had. As a very small convention - fewer than 300 people - Illuxcon has a uniquely intimate atmosphere. All the artists I met there, from big names like Donato Giancola, Lars Grant-West, and Mark Nelson to other relatives newcomers in the field were incredibly friendly and eager to share information and inspiration. To see some photos from the con, and more links to other people's Illuxcon experiences, head over to my blog.

I believe that tickets for next year's Illuxcon go on sale in a month or two, so sign up early if you want to guarantee yourself a spot. I have to stress, though, that this is not a fan convention. It's an industry show that focuses primarily on fantasy and sci-fi illustration, and is geared toward pros and serious students.

+++

A number of the amazing artists who attended Illuxcon have started up a blog called Muddy Colors. I highly recommend giving it a read!

+++

My mom and step dad visited for a while after Illuxcon and we had an early Thanksgiving then. By the way, I hope you other Americans had a fun, safe holiday weekend! We don't really celebrate Christmas, so from Thanksgiving to January I try to lie low and stay away from the insane crowds. That should be conducive getting lots of work done, at least!

Speaking of which, I can probably squeeze in a couple tiny commissions before the end of the year, if anyone is interested.

Aside from work I've been walking 2-3 miles every day with the dogs and trying to get one page done for the Sketchbook Project every day. I should be able to get in done in time this year!

Oh, and yesterday Nick and I hiked 6 miles at Mammoth Cave with the dogs, and when we were leaving the park we saw a coyote! He was beautiful and healthy looking. I was in love.

Like many of you, I've been following this issue brought up by ~split-complex here. I was dismayed to learn that dA (and Facebook, but that's neither here nor there) had changed its policy so that all users had to choose either Male or Female under the Sex category in user settings. Sex and gender have come to mean different things over the years, but even so, having only two options for sex doesn't take into account the many people who don't fit neatly into either category. Thankfully, the issue is on its way to being resolved! For more information, you should check out +spyed's journal entry and ~dmarling's journal entry.

The reason I'm writing this journal at all is because I feel as though I have a small bit of insight that I might be able to share with other cisgendered (people who identify with the same gender to which they were assigned at birth) people. Some of you may know `kkart and his awesome photography. I'm in awe of his skill and all the hard work he's put into the dA community. I read his journal entry from this morning, and had to leave a comment telling him why I disagreed with his opinion on the situation (please, if you leave a comment as well, don't be a turd; be nice). Here's basically what I said:

One of the main points of art is expressing oneself. Sexuality/gender/etc. are, for a lot of people, important parts of expressing themselves. DeviantArt is, of course, about art and not about silly links and Farmville and who's dating who, but certain issues of self-identity do play a part in the Art aspect of the site. I don't think it's fair to imply that those people who care about the current issue are being immature or not caring about the Art side of deviantArt.

I currently live in the US and am not a minority, but I have lived in a country (Japan) where I was a minority. I can say with complete certainty that my fellow foreigners and I often felt alienated and less than human because of how differently we were treated by those around us. Feeling so excluded and abnormal really made me resent and dislike many of the people I dealt with on a daily basis, and I found myself interacting with Japanese people less and less as time went on. That's not a healthy mindset, and I imagine that the situation is similar for transgendered people.

Now, I'm certainly not going to leave dA or anything over it, but I can understand how transgendered people would feel alienated by the lack of choices, and especially by the way the initial query was handled. I'm happy that the dA staff are working to resolve it in a fair way, and that they are educating others about the issue at the same time. I give them a lot of credit for that.



Okay, them's my two cents. On to the features!

I don't care how busy I've been - I have to do a Halloween feature. So check out the spooky and/or pumpkiny art below, and for those of you who live in places where Halloween is celebrated, have fun!

I'm going to be a bit scarce around here for a while.

Tonight Nick and I are going out to dinner for our 9th anniversary, and tomorrow we're driving to a vet in Alabama for Azu (one my dogs) to get a root canal. Her appointment isn't until Friday morning, but we're staying at a friend's house tomorrow night so that we don't have to get up at 3am on Friday. Wish us luck!

Then there are two concerts coming up in the next month - Jon Lajoie and Mumford & Sons. I'm really looking forward to both of them!

On November 10 I'm heading to Illuxcon, where I'll be rooming with and . On top of regular work I've got to try and finish another couple portfolio pieces for the con; I've got a portfolio review with Jon Schindehette! I'll be back home on the 15th, but then my mom and step dad are visiting, so I doubt I'll be online much then.

After all this I'm going to need a vacation, hehe.

I just realized why the only sound I'm hearing from the internet tonight is the distant chirping of crickets - tonight is apparently when a bunch of US TV shows are premiering for the season.

Anyway, I posted some really great inspirational what-nots on my blog! I'm too tired to mess with the formatting and everything to put them up dA, though, so if you're interested, go check 'em out HERE. I think you guys will like them.

Blor (© ~SpookMouse).

I got back from visiting family on September 1. It was, uh, tiring. Then, after I got home I worked every day until this past Friday, so that's why I haven't been around much on dA.

What little free time I've had has mostly been spent watching/obsessing over/reading fic for BBC's Sherlock. It's amazing and wonderful and the casting is beyond perfect, though I will warn you that the second episode is not nearly as awesome as the first and third episodes. If you live in the US, the PBS cable channel will be showing Sherlock on October 24. WATCH IT. AUGH now I want to watch it again. Look what I've done. T^T



Couple more things:

You can see my greyhound, Storm, on Project DOG!

Just a reminder, we're always looking for more people to contribute sketches for Shelter Sketches on I Love Rescue Animals. This week's featured animal in need is Rosalie, a 6-year old Shiba Inu who was rescued from a puppy mill.

I'm flying out to visit relatives bright and early tomorrow morning (okay, well, more like in 7 hours, but still), so I obviously won't be around much! I think I will have sporadic internet access, but probably not much time to mess around on dA, anyway.

Oh, I posted my last few Artslam things on my sketchblog if anyone is interested. I'll probably stick them in scraps here at some point, but don't have time right now.

See you guys in ten days!

I just posted this weekend's Shelter Sketch on I Love Rescue Animals - Michael the Cane Corso Mastiff. I'm excited to announce that ILRA has been nominated for The Petties 2010 - DogTime's Pet Blog Awards! If you have a couple minutes, please go vote!


A good friend of mine just got a story called The Book of Autumn published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I really love her writing, and man, this story does not disappoint!!


For those of you on tight budgets (who isn't??), you should check out a digital painting program called ArtRage. I think I may have mentioned it months ago, but it's worth pointing out again. *JonHodgson made this enigmatic piece with ArtRage:



You can watch him paint it here! Apparently AR now has cool stencil tools that are seriously making me drool.

I'm still desperately looking for a ride to DragonCon, if anyone is passing through the KY or TN area. I am compact and travel light, and would be eternally grateful to anyone who could maybe help!

+++++

Check it out! is doing $2 commissions. That kind of boggles my mind, because her stuff is awesome. o__o Go give her money!

I'm close to being done with Artslam; I can't believe how quickly the summer has gone by! Of course, because I'm a horrible masochist I'm diving right from one project into another. I'll be participating in the Sketchbook Project this year! I tried doing it last year, but didn't complete it for two reasons: 1. The moleskines got sent out really late, and 2. I just couldn't get into the randomly assigned topic I had. This year, however, you can choose your own topic from a list, and I picked "Adhere to Me". The funny thing is that I didn't even realize why the phrase appealed to me so much until later, when I was writing down some ideas. "Adhere to me" is a line from The Decemberists' song, Red Right Ankle, and since they're maybe my favorite band ever, well - clearly I was subliminally influenced by their awesome.

I'll be traveling at the end of the month! I'm apparently very weird in that I love air travel, especially when I'm by myself. I adore being completely anonymous and having so many opportunities to people-watch, and flying in planes is super fun! I never had the chance to do it until I was like, 22, when we moved to Japan (that was a hell of a first flight, let me tell you ), but as long as the flight is less than 4 or 5 hours, I'm a happy camper! Aaaaanyway. I'm leaving on August 23 to visit my mom and step dad in Pennsylvania, then my mom and I are going to drive over to southern New York for my grandpa's (paternal side) memorial. Then we'll be driving to Upstate NY (represent!) to visit my Gram (maternal side) and other relatives on that side of the family. I haven't seen any of them since Nick and I moved back from Japan three years ago, so it should be... interesting. I'll be flying back on September 1.

So much work to do before then!!! D8

First off, thanks for all the recent faves and comments! I will get to the comments, but it might take me a few days.


Awesome news!! Remember the steampunk pirate captain I did a while back for the ArtOrder Discover a Muse Challenge? Well, she got into the top 43 (LOL, random number), which will likely be put together into an art book, the sales of which will go to the Discovery Arts charity for children with life-threatening illnesses. Please spread the word so that we can raise money for these kids!

I posted this week's feature on ! There were so many great submissions this past week that I had a lot of trouble choosing which ones to include.

This is a great post on Temple of the Seven Golden Camels about Picking the Right Moment to Illustrate. It contrasts the style and subject matter of pulp novels with that of classic stories illustrated by masters like Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth. Go. Read.

James Gurney posted the most amazing slow-motion videos I've ever seen!

Totally not related to anything else, but I made these awesome gluten-free black bean brownies yesterday. You should try them. They are OM NOM NOM. :9

Hm, not that much going on, really. I've been pretty busy with work, dog transports on weekends, Artslam, and portfolio stuff. Actually got out of the house and saw Inception last night; it was really cool! I've also been doing more running in addition to the usual lap swimming. I guess I swim 4-5 days a week (2000m workout), and run anywhere from 2-4 times. I bring Azu, our mutt, along for runs (she's so cute with her little weighted backpack!), and Nick walks Storm, our greyhound. On days I don't run, we of course still walk the beasts. I was bad yesterday, though, and slept in until 9, so we couldn't walk them. This is our third summer in Kentucky, and we've learned that we need to walk the dogs and be back before 8am at the latest, or Storm will just melt. Poor thing can't handle the heat! I don't handle it well, either, to tell the truth. I've always lived in much colder places, so summer here is just stupidly hot to me.

Anyway, I wanted to get a new journal up to feature some awesome art! I'm pretty excited that a deviation I recommended got a DD yesterday! See?? Look look!

Congratulations to for being the first person to send me a screencap of my kiriban last week. Free sketch will be free!

You'll want to have a look at this gorgeous watercolor sketch of Francesca the kitty by ! I'm so in love with how soft her fur looks. If you would like to be a guest artist for Shelter Sketches, please contact me or :devnailbird: and we'll set you up.


  I'm very excited to show you guys the latest book cover illustration I painted for Cowboy Logic Press: Into the Dark--Escape of the Nomad, by Bill Housley. Check it out!

Hey guys! Sorry for the radio silence recently. I've been busy with work, and had kind of a crappy week, but am feeling better now.


I've got another kiriban coming up very shortly. First person to screencap pageview 117,000 and send it to me in a note gets a free sketch!


We've got a Shelter Sketches Gallery up on I Love Rescue Animals! ~nikkiburr and !Koutou have contributed sketches for the last two weeks, and ~yurchan is providing a sketch this week! It's so exciting to have other people in on the action, and I hope we can continue to spread the word and help out a few fur beasts. As always, if you would like to contribute a sketch or rescue story, contact =snailbird or me.


I did a short feature on WhatTheFlux
about Awesome Nerdy Tattoos from around dA. What do you guys think?? I really like
and
The first one makes me think of a certain vampire from a certain webcomic with which I may or may not be kinda obsessed.


Finally, here's a website I've really been enjoying, and I bet you guys would like it too! My Indie Life introduces you to the best bands you've never heard of. I'm totally nuts about finding new music, so I get stupidly excited when they feature a band that catches my attention.