The Plan is Flawless

Hello!

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:28:15 GMT

I have been a little quiet, but am still working! I'll be doing a big mail run to get out some prizes this week, and am still at work on the icon day stuffs. I would like to do a stream some time this week, too.

After discussing the matter with Fuzzybutt's owner after the cat passed away, we decided to take down the fundraiser, and I'd been quiet while waiting to talk about it and get back to you guys; that's why the fundraiser never actually happened. It is really sad, and I wasn't really sure what to do. He and I might do a creative project in the future!

I'm doing okay. Soreness is minimal, though the rash is back on my hands again. It's weird. Doctor says it's probably an allergic reaction but I am not sure at this point what I'm reacting -to-. It always pops up on mirrored spots on both hands. Eh. Anyway...

Athena is now nine - her birthday is the 10th. The convention went pretty well, socially, though I don't think anyone in the dealer's room made many sales. I didn't make back enough to cover my $20 convention badge. But, it was still a really good time, lots of fun to network with other local artists and crafters and see what they were up to! And, I got a sandwich. So... all things considered, a good convention!

Now I need to get to work for the day. I will let you guys know when I schedule a stream, and when I've made the mail run.

Mon, 13 May 2013 05:44:45 GMT

Fuzzybutt the cat has passed away. http://gwyd.livejournal.com/1368755.html#comments

Two quick things before I head out!

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:49:22 GMT

One, I will be at Pacific Nerd West today and tomorrow, in downtown Bellingham. If you're local, come say 'hi'! I'll be at Jonathan Sodt's table with art and dragons. :D http://www.pacificnerdwest.com/

Two, when I come home, (I will be home in the evenings, but schedule is very up in the air atm) I'm going to be helping a friend with a fundraiser for his cat's vet expenses, so that is incoming.

Three (I added another! haha!) I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Four, Arsen got me stuff to pack in my lunch :3

Art Party Art!

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:45:19 GMT

Below the cut, the art from the art party! :D

Velociraptor Alchemist

Sea Serpent with snowflake patterns (the patterns are in shimmer paint, and show up a little here, but glimmer when you move the art, irl)

Flirtatious Owl

Gardening Sorceror

Steam-driven dragon thingie

Unicorn Hero

A skeleton warrior, in memory of Ray Harryhausen.

Bossy Fox

Fox Knight. This one is inked and not painted, because I did it right at the end of the stream and ran out of time.

So, thanks again to everyone who participated and showed up to watch the stream! I'm going to send off notes to the folks who prompted these now, to collect mailing info to get 'em sent out.

Signal boost - Poetry Fishbowl

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:35:50 GMT

ysabetwordsmith is doing her monthly poetry fishbowl! The theme is puns and wordplay, which is super awesome, so go check it out: http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/2822335.html

Art Party DONE! :D

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:03:56 GMT

It's 5, and the art party is done for today! I got eight pictures done, and one inked picture. I'll post 'em and contact the winners tomorrow. Now, I must find FOOD!

Thanks so much to all of you who participated. This was a ton of fun!

Art Party!

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:05:30 GMT

The Art Party has started! I will be streaming from now until 5 pm PST at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/icon-day/
Sound is off and the chat is on. Yesterday I had to end the stream because the chat and my internet went all screwy. I'm hoping that won't be the case today. If it is, I'll edit this post and set up an irc chat room so we can talk while I draw.

Today's art party will be random prizes for folks who request art here in this thread - everyone can leave a comment! If you leave an anonymous comment, make sure you give me an email address to contact you at. Leave me a character, prompt, idea, whatever you'd like me to draw for you. I can even roll you up a character like I did last time, if that's what you'd like. If I select your comment, you'll get the art I draw you in the mail. Folks who won pictures in the last art party can't win prizes in this art party. Aaaaand, please keep your requests SFW, all-ages appropriate, not-fanart, etc - the same rules as for icon day.

eta - art party is done! Thanks for participating. I'll be contacting the winners and posting the art tomorrow. No more requests! ^_^;

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:19:30 GMT

I had to end the stream, sorry. Our internet is acting up, chat is not working, and things are starting to lag. Tomorrow, if I'm still having issues, I'll set up an IRC chat or go use internet elsewhere, depending on how things go and what's not working.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to watch the art! 10 icons completed today!

Streaming icons!

Mon, 06 May 2013 22:17:59 GMT

I am streaming icons from now until ???. I wanna get caught up after being so sore past couple weeks, so LET'S DO THIS! RRRRRR!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/icon-day/

Sound is off, chat is on - come hang out in text chat!

Also be sure to come back tomorrow at 9 AM PST for the next art party. :D

eta - chat is not working for me at all :( Sorry

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:22:29 GMT

Last night, I dreamed that Putin requested an icon for Icon Day, and it was for a picture of his wife (I don't even know if he's married who who his wife is irl, just go with this). And the picture of his wife looked exactly like him except with long, straight, beautiful blond hair.

Just wanted to share, ok?

eta - he does have a wife and I'm not trying to make fun of him or her, just a silly dream image.

Fri, 03 May 2013 17:41:34 GMT

Hello, all! Gotta make that art party and icon streams happen! I almost double-booked myself with this for the weekend. On Saturday, I'll be down in Mt. Vernon, at Docking Bay 93, as part of their Free Comic Book Day event, drawing doodles for tips and free art for kids! If you're local, swing on by and say "hi". If you mention icon day, I'll make -you- a free doodle, too.

On Sunday, I'm celebrating a friend's birthday. It's gonna be a good weekend.

On Monday, I'll be doing an icon stream. I've been working on these, but haven't done a stream yet, and wanting to make a ton of progress in May, so let's do this. :D I do not have a specific time planned, but will post here when I'm about to start, that morning.

On Tuesday, I'll start the second art party at 8 am PST. I'll also make a lj post and link it, and there folks can leave their prompts that I'll randomly select for the prizes.

***

Milo linked me to this video yesterday. It is adorable! http://vimeo.com/65107797

Ian linked me to -this- video yesterday, too. WARNING: THE WORST SHRIEKING NOISE EVER. But, tiny happy fox-puppy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su3ovMsFXMg

To make up for that, here's four minutes of leopard cubs playing, accompanied by soothing music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSOB8SdgdXQ

***

Health-wise, I continue to feel better and better, which is really good, because I wanna draw a ton! And I will get my wish. So, that is pretty awesome. Nothing else here to report, really. I'm trying to keep a record of this in case things get worse again and I need to have that for my doctor, though.

***

Okay, one more thing! I am setting up more designs in a zazzle store for my awesome friend Hats. As I've mentioned in the past, she is restoring a sailboat with the plan of circumnavigating the globe. Now that it's spring, she's been able to get back to work on some grubby-cleaning work on her boat. There's a lot to do, yet, but the projects means a ton to her, so I'm thrilled. The profits from this store will go to her, to help fund her, so check it out if you feel so inclined. And hey, cartoon pirate animals! You guys like those! Here's the first new design to post: Pirate Otter. Also there's a wall decal which shows some of the other upcoming critters.

http://www.zazzle.com/boatproject*/gifts?cg=196641095489767680

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:42:18 GMT

I do not want to spend too much time telling you my tales of woe, but I've been quiet because I've continued to be sore and exhausted and it's wonky, but does seem to be on an upward trend. Past two nights, I've been able to sleep soundly, which has helped a ton. I feel mostly normal today. Doctor's appointment will sort things out if it doesn't go away. So... I'm trying to get stuff back in order while taking it easy on myself, and having a good time. Just wanted to pipe up and let you guys know. I'm working on icons and such off-stream, but if I continue being not-sore, I would like to have icon streaming later this week or this weekend, and the second Art Party on Sunday.

Nothing much else to report. Neighbor's outdoor cat is super friendly but afraid of the dog. Getting to know more of the spring birds' songs around here. I found a SECRET PATCH with a ton of four and five leaf clovers. I guess that is pretty awesome. I pressed a couple, and my friend has one on a keychain, so we're testing to see if it keeps.

Also got some news on a fun summer project that I'll potentially doing ~for a play~. More details later. :D

an update!

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:58:34 GMT

I've spent the week being unusually sore, and it's been scary at points, but I think I have some ideas worked out for solutions, and if those don't work, of course I'll go in to talk to my doctor about it. I just had some routine bloodwork done, also checking up on minor anemia (VAMPIRES!), which is now gone. But, my doctor says my bad cholesterol is trending up - not over normal, yet, but trending, and since I'm on two medications that can have that as a side-effect, the net total is that I need to keep up with the positive changes to my lifestyle.

So, my current ideas are that I need to be doing more regular stretching (I made so many crackly noises this morning, but feel really good now!), increasing my daily exercise, and probably set up my computer desk and work desk so I can stand at them. And, I'm still saving up for my shiny new bike. So, there's my projects... and I'm chomping at the bit to get more work done. I have lots of sketches I need to get wrapped up and sent out, icons to work on, comics to sketch, and more streams in the future!

So, I wanted to let you guys know what was up with me this week. I still owe you guys a final count on the icons, too.

PS - I am still waiting to hear back from someone on who's won the pictures from the last stream. All of the emails have been sent out for that, and as soon as I have that squared away, I'll schedule the next session. WOOOOO! PRIZES!

Adventurers!

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:02:26 GMT

Below the cut, there are the five adventurers from yesterday's art party, along with their stats and character info! Once I'm done posting 'em here and on my art galleries, I'll pick and email five winners to get the originals. Woo!

I randomly rolled for stats, alignment and gender (made up a quick rolling scheme to allow for variance in gender identity, though all but one rolled as cisgendered), which yielded an interesting and pretty balanced party of... heroes?

Character #1 - Werewolf Cultist
STR - 10
INT - 14
WIS - 15
DEX - 14
CON - 10
CHA - 11
gender - female
alignment - lawful evil

This character was in training to become a druid, but she rejects a philosophy of natural balance. Civilization, on its current course, will eventually strangle and destroy the natural world, and civilization must be cut back, brought in line, and held in check. She found the power toward these ends by forming a pact with an ancient and wild wolf spirit, who blessed her with the gift of lycanthropy and grants her clerical powers.
Though she is not the most intelligent or charismatic member of the party, she has the drive and cunning to keep Character #2 under her control. This affords her a position of power in the party, by way of threat, that undermines Character #5's leadership.

Character #2 - Fennec Scrapper
STR - 13
INT - 9
WIS - 12
DEX - 13
CON - 9
CHA - 15
gender - male
alignment - chaotic evil

Character #2 is a spectacularly mad furball of wild destruction. His charisma is a blend of cuteness, flashiness and intimidation. Due to his diminutive size, he is more fragile than one might expect of a fighter, but he makes up with it in speed and outright not giving a flip in the face of danger. He likes to think that Character #1 is his loyal minion, but is oblivious to how she manipulates him into basically being a weapon at her side.
Character #2 haaaaaates Character #4, resents his easy charm and sharp intellect, and listens to Character #1 over anyone else in the party.

Character #3 - Gnoll Scholar
STR - 12
INT - 18
WIS - 16
DEX - 8
CON - 14
CHA - 6
gender - agender, masculine leaning, AFAB
alignment - lawful neutral

Character #3 is hindered by heavy difficulty interacting with others - their primary conversational gambit is to interject trivia into conversations and hope it's relevant to the discussion. They also have a deformed foot, which slows them down somewhat, but in body only - they are deeply intelligent and possessed of a still, distant introspectiveness. They are not afraid of much, except other people, and happiest to spend their time in study, contemplating the mysteries of the multiverse. Character #1 is seeking power, and Character #5 is on a grand quest that will lead to that power. Character #3 is lending their services in the hopes of uncovering ancient knowledge.
Character #3's familiar is a ferret. :3

Character #4 - Bird-Cat-Snake-Dragon Bard
STR - 12
INT - 16
WIS - 16
DEX - 17
CON - 12
CHA - 15
gender - male
alignment - chaotic neutral

Milo dubbed this one "the GM PC". Hah. He's got an excellent spread of skills, is witty and charming and fun to be around, plays many instruments, is handy with a sword, can fly, is... a strange mix of species and no one is quite clear how. He doesn't lead the party because he has no interest in leadership - he is along for the adventure and fun! And profit, too. Shiny treasure! He thinks Character #2's hatred is hilarious, and never misses an opportunity to mess with the fennec's mind.
Despite the rivalry/prank war with the fighter, Character #4's easy-going, friendly nature goes a long way in holding the party together. He has a great deal of patience for Character #3's challenges, and is perhaps the only person they would consider a friend (besides their ferret, of course!)
So, yeah, maybe the GM's annoying character. ;)
The original art of this one is mostly shimmer-paint, which the scanner doesn't really capture properly. His tail gleams like a peacock's tail in the light, it's very fun.

Character #5 - Elf Barbarian and her tiger friend
STR - 13
INT - 12
WIS - 8
DEX - 12
CON - 15
CHA - 13
gender - female
alignment - neutral good

Character #5 (the only heroic character in the party? I suppose time will tell!) is the leader and provides a unifying goal for the group. Her forested homeland is under threat by a Dark Empire of Some Sort, and she seeks the artifacts and magic which will bring it down. Charged by her elders with this task, she has brought together this band of enemies of the empire... and opportunists who are happy to tag along.
Her companion is an intelligent tiger who would rather be at home sleeping.

This was so much fun! I'm looking forward to the next art party and maybe more in the future :O

Now I gotta get to work on commissions!

Adventure Art Party!

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:02:45 GMT

I'm about to start streaming the Adventure Art Party, so come on in and watch me make art! :D I'll be rolling dice and designing adventurer characters all day.

Please keep the stream's chat SFW. I'd like to promote a safe place to relax and take a break from current events, also.

If you see a dinosaur or other-such plastic or stuffed beastie on camera, that means I'm afk and will return! :D
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/icon-day

ETA - it's now 5 pm (wow, time flies!) and we had a great time in the art stream! We made up five characters - I'll scan them and upload them tomorrow morning. Now, after my work day, I gotta go do some paperwork stuff, and... chilling out evening stuff. Goodnight, all! :D

Art Party tomorrow

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 01:00:12 GMT

Here's a reminder that tomorrow is the Adventurer art party! I hope to see you in the ustream channel! I'll start streaming at 9 am PST, and will keep the art goin' at least until 5 pm - a work day, and yes, I'll be taking breaks. ;) The link is:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/icon-day/

but I'll make a post here when I'm about to get started. You can come watch and chat in the text chat while I work! It'll be good times.

I just got back from running the day's errands, and I need to get some other things done tonight, so I'll get to regular icon streaming soon after the first art party. Also - most of the tip incentives from the last batch are on their way in the mail. I have a couple keychains I still need to drop off, because I needed to get more bubble mailers, which have been acquired... and then everything will be off on its magical journey to your mailboxes. Some were sent out with some sweet modern art stamps I got at the post office last week. Some of them are not quite as lucky, but there is art inside all the envelopes, at least!

And finally, here is a link to a groovy nature sound mixer - http://naturesoundsfor.me/

Art Party Poll - Closed!

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 04:25:37 GMT

It's 9 PM PST, and I'm about to wind down for bed, so I've closed the poll. First, though, while I was getting ready to make this post, I've been reading about the explosion/fire in Texas, on top of what else has happened this week. I guess all there is to say, no matter where you are, donating blood is always a good idea if you can, and being mindful and compassionate in our interactions with each other makes a world of difference. Life can change in an instant, but humanity is beautiful in its capacity to help and to love. We might not always live up to that, but we often do, in surprising ways. You are all wonderful and important and I am grateful to share the world - and online and offline community - with you. If you ever need help, with anything - I'm always happy to promote and pass on the word. I'm not always the best at talking, but I stand by keeping this journal a safe place to talk about what you need to share.

It's my hope that silly cartoons can bring some happiness or distraction, if needed - I'll be holding the first art party this weekend - Sunday the 21st. Bring your own snacks and I'll bring the art. Tomorrow I'm going to be out all day, and Friday or Saturday, I'd like to do a regular icon stream, first. I'll keep you all updated.

The poll was very close, so I'll have to keep the runners up in mind. Maybe art parties can become a regular thing. Adding in the votes that were emailed to me, we have a tie between Adventurers and Worldbuilding, both at 20. Pirates came in second/third at 15. The tie between the first two bounced back and forth all day long, and I thought about leaving it open for a bit longer, but I think I'll roll a die, and see where fate takes us. And, after the second art party is done, if I make this a regular thing, the third will be the theme that didn't win the die-roll, how's that?

Okay, odd: adventurers, even: worldbuilding. C'mon lucky green d20!

Lucky green d20 rolled lucky #13. Adventurers it is! Alien planet explorers, alas, your voyage has been delayed, but perhaps not for long.

Art Party Poll

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:10:38 GMT

So, it's time to get this thing goin'! Here is a poll where you can vote on the theme for our first of two streamed art party. Everyone is invited to vote, whether they participated in Icon Day or not.

Once we have a theme - voting is open until tomorrow (Wednesday) evening - I'll schedule a day and go onto ustream to draw! Then, everyone who votes here or participated in Icon Day will be eligible to win art that I draw during this session. If you don't have a LJ account, you can leave your vote as an anonymous comment below (and include a way to contact you in your comment, if you want a chance to win art!), or email it to me (coyotepuck@gmail.com) with THEME VOTE as the subject line.

View Poll: Themes!

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 19:31:55 GMT

Anyway, last night, for some reason, I dreamed I was Don Quixote. Arsen was my sidekick. Neither of us could remember the horse's name, so we decided Rocinante's name was Rosencrantz... close enough, right? Uh... and then we were trying to ride through the drive-through of the Taco Bell in north Boulder.

What.

Icon requests are closed!

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:28:02 GMT

Wha, huh? I'M AWAKE! I'M AWAKE! Okay, let's do this... Icon requests are now closed, so now it's time for me to do my bit, and get to work.

Thank you to everyone who participated! The final tip tally is 1,549. Which means that we hit all of the tip incentive goals, and I am going to have some extra in my budget to splurge on some new paints. Yay!

Everyone who posted a request before the cutoff will get an icon.
Everyone who tip will get three icons.
I'll be scheduling both art parties, and posting more about that when they happen.
And, I'll be compiling the mailing list for folks who requested to be on it. I'll also be posting progress updates here.
And, of course... I'll be drawing icons.

I haven't done a final count yet, but I will be taking that as I get the mailing list together. Also, I want to make sure I have the right info for everyone who is getting a keychain, etc.

o_O

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:39:17 GMT

So, I woke up this morning, and the tip tally is at 1,346. I am a little floored right now... thank you so much guys, for supporting my tiny-art making! I will make -all the tiny art-! I've decided two things.

First of all, I am going to keep requests open for one more day, to see if tips do reach the 1,500 incentive, which would be kinda amazing. I will go buy more paint, and it will be glorious. (more on the paint, later)

Second of all, I've decided that no matter how much higher tips go, at this point, I will be doing the second art party. I'll schedule a day to do whatever art you guys tell me to do - I'll make a post, let people comment there with their requests, and randomly pick folks who get that art as prizes. It will be glorious.

Okay, and then, the paint. That fuchsite paint I got yesterday? You know how fuchsite is a type of muscovite, and how muscovite is a type of mica? I don't really know why I expected the nice folks at the paint company to just extract the lovely sea-foam green somehow... no, this paint is like an explosion of glitter. It is so, so awesome, but so, so not going to reflect this in the scan. But I love it. And this might be the excuse I've been looking for to go buy some of those duo-color paints in this line, because... I want to. And the originals will then have an extra special thing to 'em that you can't see in scans.

Here's what the fuchsite paint looks like, scanned:

So, the color scans well enough. But in person, he's a sparkledog.

Whee!

3 Icons!

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:43:39 GMT

I am home from my meeting - second meeting was canceled, so I went downtown to get some stuff done, but wasn't feeling so well, so I got some errands done and tried to head home... missed two buses. Oh noooooes. Anyway, I am home and going to take it easy today. Was going to scan some Ratha's Creature stuff, but that will not catch fire and burn away if I get to that tomorrow. Eheh. XD
It was raining when I left, and I got to see - and walk around in - the weather going from hard rain to soft rain to a sunny drizzle to sunshine, really made my day to get to spend some time out in Spring, even if I'm feeling a little crummy. Life is good. I picked up a fresh set of brushes, since Icon Day eats those and demands more. And, I got a new tube of paint. This one is fuchsite, and it's a really beautiful pale green-blue. I can't wait to paint with it.

So, another good thing! The tip tally is now at $1096, which means that I get to draw three icons for everyone who tips! The request window closes tomorrow morning, so if you've been waiting on a request, go leave one now - http://djinni.livejournal.com/482759.html

With the email and livejournal requests, it looks like this batch is about as big as the last one. I'll do a final count when requests close. I will also assemble the mailing list to mirror icon updates on this journal.

Speaking of final counts, I know several folks have let me know they'll be tipping later, after the request window closes. That's fine. I'll continue to keep a tally going, and if we do hit enough for the second art party, I'll let you guys know. :)

Thanks so much to everyone participating in this project!

Oh, and if you haven't see this yet, there's a new species of bat from a newly discovered genus, which is really neat. Also it is a really pretty bat. http://marybatessciencewriter.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/beautiful-new-bat-discovered-in-south-sudan/

And, yesterday I made some silly fanart for haikujaguar featuring the jokka character Abadil. Abadil x fifty-coin spirits is my OTP from the series :B

Gonna go chill out, now. I hope you have a great day!

Icons, Reading

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:53:11 GMT

The icon tip tally is now at 875 - and that is counting the tips I have received. I know some folks have tips they've told me they're sending in soon, and so I think it will probably reach a thousand, and then everyone who tips will get 3 icons! So, I'll keep you guys updated. :D And, I'm excited about the art party day. I wonder what theme you guys will choose. Link to the request post - http://djinni.livejournal.com/482759.html

haikujaguar recently released the second two volumes of her Stone Moon trilogy. I've been a big fan of this setting, which concerns alien beings who have three sexes and sometimes change between those sexes at two puberties. Due to their biology, their environment and even having children is very difficult for them, often resulting in them slowly or suddenly losing their sentience. And they try to build their lives despite all the hardships. The stories can be very difficult and painful to read, and I must say that the final installment built on all of that for an incredible conclusion. You can find more info about them, and a list of all the stories you can read, here - http://mcahogarth.org/?page_id=10463

good morning!

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:20:41 GMT

Almost afternoon, but I had some stuff to do before I could do icon day tallies and stuff. Also I slept in SO THERE :D

I'm about to head out to get some more errands done (cat food! dropping off some stuff! something else that I don't remember right now but I will or, uh... not get it done!) and do some sketches over coffee. It's gonna be a grand day.

And, the icon tip tally is now at 679, which means I will be putting up a poll for the themed art party stream. I'll keep you guys updated on that, when I plan on it happening, etc. :) We are 321 away from folks who tip getting three icons. Thank you to everyone who has participated! The email-in-your-request thing seems like its popular, so I'll call that a successful experiment.

Icon requests! - http://djinni.livejournal.com/482759.html

Icon Day update!

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:24:07 GMT

The icon request post is open and collecting lots of fun requests. You can get yours in, too! - http://djinni.livejournal.com/482759.html

The tip tally has tipped to $416, which means that tippers get 2 icons now, and now we're aiming for the art party stream with a theme you all get to vote on! I will come up with a list of the sorts of themes I do, and put up a poll to vote.

I'm about to head out to do some errands. When I get back, I'll be promoting icon day on various lj communities and places around the web. I've found it pretty interesting to do that on the second day of requests, to see how the traffic changes and whatnot. Science!

Also, Vincent the doofy!cat has been having a really tough night. He keeps meowing and wandering the apartment and won't settle. I thought after all that, he would eventually crash and fall asleep, but nope... he greeted me in the morning by launching himself out from under the bed to grab my feet, and now he's wildly playing with the other cat. I think he must have been bored last night. Poor, noisy buddy. ;P