nonanut

Hey all =3

I'd love to honestly hear your feedback. 


A while ago I did a gallery cleanup. I felt that my old work was, artistically-speaking, absolutely terrible. There were composition flaws, anatomy flaws, technique issues- I strive to always be a better artist and keep my work fresh. To such an end I'm always observing life around me. Nature is my best teacher. 

I'm eclectic: I can't settle down on one medium. As a kid and into my student years in high school, I was self-taught, and had an amazing art sponsor (a wonderful gentleman who really knows his stuff with art- but not a professor, not a teacher- just a commissioner and really good friend- one of my best friends today, 23 years later). He's an amazing guy and he constantly ragged on my art in a constructive criticism to help me improve. Young artists constantly get their hopes, dreams, and pride of joy works crushed- and I was no exception. But what really forges an artist is how much they get back up, build that perspective lens of objectivity and improve their work. Many artists get really comfortable when they say "Yeah, I have ___ style" and don't progress past that. My mentor was of the opinion that it's total bullshit to say one has a 'style' because he equated that with "I like how my art is so I'm refusing to grow as an artist and become a machine, producing the same visual look over and over"- and he went on to support this with the fact that people, when comfortable, don't change. Life is not stagnant: it's always changing, always moving. Art becomes relatively irrelevant if it stops creating a reaction or interaction: that's its entire purpose. 

Furry art is admittedly an obvious subculture niche which has hit the mainstream over the last several years, for better and worse. But my mentor had a point: I watched many artists in the community growing over the course of 16 years and many reached a plateau: they never branched out in medium, they improved technique and skill but to the point where they could grow no more, and their work became often forgotten, outdated, and they often stopped drawing as they had no goals except to portray what was in their mind. 

Well... I used to rebel against his points, but he never stopped urging me to become a better artist. And *I* never stopped urging me to improve my work. Some of my best commissioners have been very demanding of me, especially if I was new with the subject matter being portrayed. People often learn the best from painful lessons if they weren't listening fully before or if they simply didn't have the knowledge to execute certain things skillfully and pin it into art. And you know- I really do love these clients because they gave me wisdom, they gave me skill, they gave me more patience, and these intangibles are pure gold. 

Where I was going with this is to continue on and say that I have done oils and left them by the wayside, I still do pastels now and then but dislike the texture. I still do acrylics, as well as colored pencils, markers, charcoals, and other traditional media. I did college for graphic design and had exactly one art class, Drawing 1. Ugh. But still, I recently upgraded my materials from my old beaten-up sets to new highest-quality. In recognizing that my skills are now at the point where having inferior tools are handicapping me, I've been steadily upgrading as finances allow over the last few years. And it's making ALL the difference in my work. I'll resume discussing this in a moment. Check it out.

Here's what I'm running on. 

Digital | 
iPad Pro with Apple pencil- far better than Wacom for half the price of their top end (not to mention loads of bad experiences with Wacom, using several 'til they broke down, etc), with a slew of programs, I am in love with using the ipad Pro for digital art. I use a variety of apps which together provide more unique effects than Photoshop CS2. My old digital works exclusively were Photoshop- you can tell the difference.

Pastels |
Vintage: Nu-Pastel
Modern: Faber-Castell Gold Faber soft sticks & Pitt-pencils

Colored Pencils |
Faber-Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils- oil-based, and folks will often claim you can't put details into colored pencil works with oil-based pencils. This is honestly what I interpret as a lazy person's response: I have found the exact opposite to be true. You can repeatedly blend these, build on top of them with no wax bloom like wax-based pencils. The pigment load is high, the color lots are consistent, the lightfast colors will last rather than fade over the years (this has actually happened with a few pictures I've done- and I redid the pictures free for affected clientele). These pencils are SV-bonded to the wood leads, and they're perfectly centered- so they're consistent in quality when shaving down. They take a wonderful point as well. 

Markers |
Copics. I love them, but haven't spent much time with them lately. The colors are excellent, they're refillable, you can make custom blends, and they have accessories you can use to broaden their application. They look like watercolors, which can be very helpful and since they're alcohol based, they stay put when you need them to. Needless to say- when working with marker commissions, I will be using these. They're definitely worth it. 

Watercolors | 
Vintage: Teranishi Chemical Co, LTD, Guitar Watercolors
Modern: Daniel-Smith Watercolors
One might wonder why use watercolors compared to copics, which resemble watercolors. They're literally more fluid, light-fast, and these ones are the best that can be afforded at this point in time. (Sennelier may also be a good choice, but they're harder to find.) The pigments are fully-loaded into a really, really good consistency, some colors will granulate, others won't. But it gets you to working with actual, raw pigments and the polychromos pencils are named for such colors. There are a variety of ways watercolors can be worked with, the colors I've picked are the best at lightfast ratings, and they are already literally divine to work with, including the crushed gemstone ones. I already absolutely adore these watercolors. Because of working with the actual pigments, I can work with the polychromos pencils and really understand what's happening on a chemical and physical level- and this can and does change your working relationship to color. Rather than simply picking up the pencil that works for you, you're saving money blending with colors you already have than if you bought a storebought tube of color (unless you need a specific pigment!). Teranishi are brighter, smooth and honestly decent quality. I wouldn't choose 'em for any serious reason; they were a yard sale find. But I like the warm purple that is produced. The way they created their Crimson uses different pigments than Daniel Smith's crimson, which has a green pigment you can't see but which changes the colors subtly when blending to create cooler purples that are just delicious eye-candy.

And by doing various watercolor techniques, I'm returning to colored pencils also with a better understanding of that color vs skipping color theory, blending, and all that really important information that gets missed out on if people just skip blending altogether and buy colors, no blending needed. For a long time, that's what I'd do. But with the really high-quality paints and painting, this is one of the best ways you can gather info- building your literal own color palette. This is something digital art really screws you over on; you can pick any color you want instantly free, but you're missing the color interaction, and layering doesn't quite cover it. In many ways, digital art is very backwards and topsy-turvy: it breaks rules of art, it breaks down the need for various knowledge and skills, and it's instant-gratification (not a bad thing!). It's fun. But watercolors were introduced to me as a kid along with other mediums, and I find myself as a growing artist admiring really amazing traditional paintings. And part of that is color and composition. Digitally, I've seen a lot of really good moody pieces coming from other digital artists and those colors are a more advanced understanding and selection. When I do digital art, the colors are thought of and about: I aim for true-to-color but haven't specifically always captured the mood I want vs. say, a monochrome blues picture with some yellows and red backlighting. 

Watercolors have definitely just happened, and I am in love in a watercolor phase again- but gathering specific knowledge this time. I'm furthering my art journey. These are gonna last a damn looong time, 'cause I got the 15 ml sizes.

Paper | 
Arches Cold-Pressed Watercolour Paper 140 lb. 
Arches Hot-Pressed Watercolour Paper 140 lb. 
This stuff is -divine-, plus you can paint right on it and it's properly made so it won't buckle/split/pill/etc. Best stuff on the market, hands-down.

Barnes & Noble Sketchbook paper (for pencils, markers & wax-based colored pencils)
My old go-to for the last decade and a half or so since they came out with it. Black sketchbook. Quality is downhill sometimes; you can see some translucency in the pages.

Moleskine blank sketchbook paper (cream)
My more recent go-to from around 2009; the pages are much smaller and take a beating, though they absorb inks and markers a bit more than I'd like and sometimes their stitching pops. The cream color doesn't interfere with the colors, but it really doesn't like wax-based colored pencils and I've not yet tried the new oil-based pencils. 

Phasing Out Materials | 
I am phasing out the following art supplies because I have found them to be inferior and/or handicap my skills and capacity as an artist. I will still use them on an as-needed basis only if using them would provide an effect that I cannot attain with higher quality materials. 

Prismacolor Markers:
When the company changed hands (I forget if it was Sanford to Rubbermaid or vice-versa), the quality went downhill, badly. The same colors would be drastically different; some greys were purples, others were reddish, and other colors wildly different still. Nibs pop off or bend- and worse sometimes crumble, and the amount of duds, damaged ones, mixed-dye-lot issues added up. I'm still working on the last of my Kitsune Tarot with them, but after this- the vivid colors are nice but it's just not financially worth it nor worth it to work on a picture not knowing if your new ___-color is going to completely wreck the picture from the older marker you just tossed. Plus, a lot of the colors bleed and aren't lightfast at all, so others' gorgeous works for me have turned into pale imitations of what they used to be, sadly. So I'm phasing these markers out. The only actual thing they have going for them is vividness, but other markers have cropped up over the years.

Prismacolor Colored Pencils: 
Same deal; when the company changed hands, the quality went downhill. With these, they're not bonded and they're heat-sensitive. So I've literally had entire pencils break the leads inside the wooden casing and be unusable except holding tiny stubs of lead by hand and attempting to use those. Hand-cramps later, it wasn't worth it. The wax bloom builds up after 5-7 layers, sometimes as much as 3. These pencils were godly back in 2002, when the company knew what they were doing before they got bought out, and years later really declined. On top of that, the leads often weren't even centered- spelling a bad time right off the bat when it comes to shaving and getting an even, proper point. Honestly speaking, it's difficult as an artist to be handicapped by repeatedly faulty-tools. I knew I had to look elsewhere, so I'm phasing them out. I can't express enough how glad I am that I did- the "Tigress in Waiting" picture is a culmination of 16 years of that handicap along with development of skill for my continued pursuit in realistic work.

Charcoal: 
Just ugh, honestly. It's not for me. I'm leaving it by the wayside unless I specifically feel like doing a high-contrast piece. Still keeping my charcoal pencils and vines, though.

Watercolor pencils: 
I was eyeing the Albrecht-Durer watercolor pencils. However, I wound up choosing actual paint, and I don't regret it. Higher-quality. But the old pencils I was using were Crayola Portfolio, from 2002-onward. The colors aren't bad, the saturation is borderline acceptable- just pale, they don't blend well, and they fade too fast. They shave down unevenly and crumble. I expect very little since they're watercolor pencils by Crayola and at the time, I was only using them for kicks and in addition to my Aquarelle color sticks. However, for casual use- they're totally still relevant and fun. I'm planning on selling 'em. 

Oil Pastel Sticks: 
Cray-pas, over 'em. Oil sticks- I liked the windsor and newton oil sticks, definitely, and the Crayola Portfolio Oil Sticks are just damn fun for when I feel like getting dirty and finger-painting in a much simpler, expressionistic type of art. When those are gone, they're gone. Don't let me buy more.  

[Does any of all that bad stuff with your materials even matter? It's just art.]

Yes, it absolutely matters. The more you work with your materials, the more it's an extension of you- and the more these handicaps will adversely affect either your work, your time, or your wallet- and often all of the above. As to 'just' art? Is it 'just' art to someone paying for quality from you? What do people expect when buying art? They want their art depicted properly, they want it to look good, and while they won't necessarily see broken pencil tips, lost time on resupply runs, gas used up tacked on to that, they may see they dye lot issues with poor quality, or colors paler than they would have liked, etc. Clients literally are paying you for your best work, every time. I refuse to disappoint any client. 

[So what about time? Why's it even matter if you're getting paid?]

I've been asked this by clients: "Can you do this picture by next Monday and get it here for xyz deadline?" while having other pieces on the queue. Folks willing to pay for rush-orders. I've been asked this by other artists: "Why does time even matter, you're getting paid so what's the rush?" 

First... you're not rushing anything. You're working as productively as you can to the best of your ability. Your time matters. People say "time is money". It's actually true. Imagine you have ten clients- ten commissions- in one month. Sound like a lot? How quickly and efficiently do you work? How much time are you actively working with your client one-on-one gathering details, ref sheets, etc? Time does matter. If you're a hobbyist artist taking commissions on a casual basis and wish to improve to the point others start calling you a professional freelance artist, you'll notice your personal time sliding away: you have to love this and adapt to making your own schedule, knowing how long a piece can take you, including "oh shit" moments like re-supply runs. How much is that piece costing you- probably pennies or a dollar per piece of paper, divide a marker's purchase by mL content and all the math that goes into your cost of production- stuff that most hobbyist artists shrug and don't care about. But young artists hoping to keep doing this long term -should- consider these things, especially when your overhead costs rise up- ie, you hit your 20s, 30s, and you have to feed yourself, keep the lights on, keep the internet on and pay your rent. 

Example: If you take four hours on a pic that a client paid you $30 for, $7.50 an hour. Okay, cool: min wage in many states. Not bad, doing what you love: that's worth it. But I recently had a sewing commission which required 100% hand-sewn details. This took me five days, working 10-14 hours per day. 50 hours, easily. For $35, which required an investment of $75 in materials. I lost $40 out of pocket, at least 50 hours, but the client was happy. So why'd I effectively work for effectively 70c per hour (and likely even less than that)? The client taught me very valuable information in constructive criticism along the way. She encouraged me, she wanted to see me expand my skill. BUT... this commission was worth it and I knew from the moment I accepted it that working with her would give me intangibles to help me on my way as an artist. I've had even more challenging clients. And even though by the end of it my fingers ached, I couldn't hold a spoon 'cause carpal tunnel was acting up, I knew she was happy with me and she publicly thanked me for my work. And all the rest of the materials are now mine. Sometimes you gotta take that short-term hit to come out with a longer-term investment and win. You have to think ahead for your wellbeing as an artist while you take on clients and work with them. It can and will benefit you. Sometimes you can't sacrifice your time like that; I happened to have an empty week to devote to it. It was totally worth it all. 

Bottom line: Your time matters. You're an artist: if you're taking your art to the next level by accepting money for your art, you're not just being paid in materials. It's for your time, your skill, and your eye-to-brain-to-hand interpretation and coordination. Too many artists shrug and don't appreciate their time, their skills they've cultivated, themselves, or their self-worth as young businesspeople (and artists who take money for their work -are- doing business: this should not be something shied away from). 

I personally try to keep my prices reasonable and have been told I'm "too expensive" before. But the truth is? Honestly not really. I aim for each commission to take 2-5 hrs. That's how efficiently I can work most times. It's modest when you break it down and take out the cost of materials and look at the time investment. I'm not tooting my horn here: I don't have an ego. I want to be affordable for folks so they can enjoy my work and so I can enjoy working with them. I do art for love of the creation process first, and I love seeing what others bring to the table. :3 

You are worth it.  

[Regarding my Clientele]

I want you all to know that I started doing commissions in 2002. I have an ongoing 100% satisfaction rating among my clientele and I take every care in the world to make your work stellar, to the best of my capacity- and if I suck at it, I'm open, reciprocate to your constructive criticism, and so far it's been so fulfilling to work for every single fur and non-fur. I would love nominations to the Trusted Artists group here on FA if you agree my work for clients rocks. 

I will continue pursuing improving my skills as an artist- for me and for you. 

So my penultimate question is, now that I'm all kitted out and upgraded for the time being- what form of media do you guys like to see from me? Markers? Digital? More traditional work? I'm eclectic as hell; I bounce back and forth, and often times I'll blend media. Part of my journey as an artist is to comprehend the ways in which one media can be best utilized, what techniques are usable, and how they can be used with other media. I'm really curious as an artist; that's vital for any artist- that sense of wonder and exploration, and love with working in that creative process, either consciously controlling it or letting it evolve naturally. 

I'm working on improving natural landscapes and rendering textures better. I've gotten better at that digitally but not in traditional media. I find that I still have some niggling anatomy issues, so I'm working on those. Foreshortening and anatomy: still refining my work. I want even more realism. I crave that photorealistic look and I will be so happy the day I finally accomplish that. The Tigress in Waiting pic was the best I could do in 16 years, with proper tools- the first pic with Polychromos pencils on watercolor- and no pencil sketch prior, if I recall right- and that's still nowhere near as realistic as where I want to be.

[Feedback]

Do you guys have any interest in any merch from me?? If so, what prints, what kind of art? Before, in the past, I had a shop set up with various merch but only got one sale since I figured I'd do it only on request, but I'd love to build up and eventually even be a vendor in an artist's alley somewhere, finances permitting. :3 

I am still writing my novels and writing my RPGs as well, time permitting. 

Love you all <3 Every like is an encouragement. It makes my day. 

1 commission to finish (sorry it's taken 2 years; you haven't been gypped and you know who you are).


Kitsune Tarot: Will be mass uploading each suit.
Major Arcana: 0-21 Complete!
Earth Arcana: Beginning 9 of coins!

Rubara book:
-wildlife section updated- need to reinstall Illustrator CS2 on this PC to properly res some images for it, then I can move on. I'm so agonizingly close, yet so far.

Mardusion book:
-Almost completely done. Need to make map of Kirigyoku and illustrations for it- not sure if I'm going to format for Quark yet or not (Athos and Kashbrinaari weren't).

I just got a job raise/promotion, so it's more of my time at work. Plus I've been making a necklace for the last 2 months! I'll post pics of it when it's done. It's glorious and my first non-single-strand necklace ever made.

Also studying Egyptian hieroglyphs and memorizing/reading/writing/speaking it, and pursuing ministry duties.

For a while after I'd received a generous donation of markers, my creativity was just being sapped by life going on around me. I have taken some time to do some spiritual work and now that I have reached a certain point of completing studies, I am resuming them.

HOPEFULLY I will finish the Earth Arcana by February's end- Hold me to it!!

Life is good, despite some financial hardships. I think it has given me a deeper understanding of the Earth Suit, the Coins, as well.

I'm looking forward to producing more so that I can possibly finish the Kitsune Tarot this year, and maybe even other projects I'm working on! (Lately my creativity spree included a Versin costume mask/paws, a painted box, a bejeweled chain belt with Egyptian style, and some more-tangible-3d items rather than 2d.)

~

It's been really difficult due to my living circumstances to keep doing my creative work but I'm trying. I'm taking a new approach to my Kitsune Tarot- sketching all at once of the Minor Arcana's coin/pentacle suit rather than start-to-finish on a single image. I'm still trying to find my art supplies, and my scanner died, so I'm back to focusing on Rubara while I take a break from Mardusion and finish off my existing commission which has taken WAY too long due to everything that's gone on in the past since it's been on my queue. Being dragged under by debt and trying to make my rent has been difficult as well, sapping my creativity. I'm trying.

This new apartment is cramped and tiny compared to the older one.
This new apartment also has more charm to it and convenience than the others we've lived at!

It's got what I used to think was hideous wallpaper in the kitchen (of many fruits all repeating on a pale cream background- we're disallowed from changing it as per our lease). I'm very averse to yellowy colors and had some panicky moments (it's a PTSD trigger, yellow walls) but I've been training myself out of it. The kitchen has two doors, but one's in front of two closets and the other's in front of the dishwasher. We've locked up the latter out of convenience.

We've also got wallpaper in the whole damn place- our old place had plain white walls in the whole apartment. None of our prior apartments ever really felt like home but I think it's in part due to knowing we'd have to leave every year. This place's wallpaper has off-white, vertical cream ridges which are highlighted when the place is lit. It also has wooden accents, which are beautiful.

Thank Deity that we've got a month to month agreement here at our new place. We can stay as long as we pay our rent! (It also makes it more terrifying on our bare months- I *need* to be making commissions here besides my day job!)

Our fridge is smaller and so is our pantry, but oddly, it fits everything we've got.

Our bedroom went from being 13 x 13' to 15' x 10'. It's narrower and longer, but it rocks.

What's especially awesome is that it's 1, on the first floor (no more up-and-down stair hell all the time which gets tiring when we're moving, working on the vehicles (which unfortunately we 'can't' do at the new place), and dragging groceries up for the month. Secondly it rocks because we're 9 footsteps away from the laundry room. We haven't been able to afford laundry at the old place, so we were blowing through everything we had in hopes that some month we'd be able to afford it. Now we can afford it and we're doing all the clothes we own. XD

So yeah, first floor, smaller but cozier, laundry's cheaper, rent's a little more tolerable (ie: I'm still screwed on a cold month if I have to pay it all myself like I have been in the past but this time I might be able to make it... ), nice quiet spot, still only a few miles from work with an even easier route, and a country charm feel to the place... we're completely loving it.

Looking around here, I'm really happy about where I'm living for the first time. The first place was to get out of our living situations (me, my mate, and our roommate/friend who helped facilitate it all) and help each other. By the end of it we were ready to maul each other but still it brought us together further. The second place... just a place to rest for the year and the bedroom ceiling fell in. Living in that one apartment was one hell after another and most of it marked by stress. It wasn't conducive to doing art either... but now that I'm in this new place I feel everything 'myself' coming back to me, my art vibe, my spiritual practice refreshed itself, and life is really feeling better. The pieces are slowly falling into place for us.

Commission Rates

Standard Commission
-One character, inked, with no background: $20
-One character, inked, with full background & done in markers: $40
-One character, inked, with full background & done in colored pencils: $50
-One character, inked, with full background done on the PC at high-res [200-300 DPI]: $100 (turnaround time for completion: anywhere from 2 months to a year, depending on detail)
-One character, inked, with full background done on the PC at [web quality 150 DPI): $75
-Additional characters: $5 per character

-Character Sheets: Start at $80, including front & back view with simplistic background, done in Photoshop, 200 DPI (print quality). Additional views/details, $10 extra
-If done in marker: free, simplistic background, $70
-If done in Photoshop at 300-600 DPI: $100

Unusual Commission
-ACEO portrait (2.5 x 3.5" tall card)- $10
-Con badge- $20 (laminated & w/ gel/glitter/metallic accents)
-100 x 100 icons $5 each (non-animated)
-Painted wooden boxes: contact for details
-WATERCOLOR & ACRYLIC commission (9 x 12" or 8.5 x 11"): contact for details
-Dreamcatcher- contact for custom quote
-Gemstone jewelry- $20 per necklace

See something you like? Just send me a note/PM or email nonanut@gmail.com!
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