Hello world! I figured now would be a great time to update you on some things that are happening. I'm making a few changes in order to get things working the best for myself and everyone relying on me because so far... well, I've been pretty sucky at it.

First off I would like to announce that my online webstore is closing! I will not be taking any more orders until my current queue is completely wiped out, and once that happens I'll be opening up again. I will never do pre-orders again since I was unable to predict both the high interest and the insufficient amount of free time I would have to work on them the past half year... it's continuously pushed me back further and becomes a very unfairly long wait for those interested in making a purchase. Next time my queue gets too full, I will cut off the ability to order from the store temporarily until it's more under control again so this doesn't ever get out of hand like its been doing.

My financial situation is still pretty awful right now, I'm the poorest I've been in my life and it's rather terrifying. My parent's cut me off financially in January and I've been struggling to stay on my feet since. Keep an eye out for on-the-spot Livestream commissions and some pre-made or flawed webstore items sales posts to help me get some quick cash so I don't die. The timing of needing enough money by a certain point each month to ensure I can live in my house with water and electricity and internet and food is kind of the most important thing to take care of in my life right now and I'm a complete noob at it. I luckily have enough stocked materials in my workroom to create the rest of the webstore orders in my queue, so that's pre-paid for, and I finally got my Paypal debit card in so I can pay for all the shipping directly instead of having to wait 5 days to transfer funds into my bank account. Whew that's going to help a ton.

Other than stereotypical financial problems, I have some more major news from Rileyland- I am officially graduating from college in June! It's really happening this time! I've been stuck at the school since Summer 2008 and I've very much ready to get my degree and be done with homework forever. There are a few HUGE projects I need to take care of in order for me to actually graduate. First is my animated short "The Last Flower" which is about 25% done. I need to get it like at least 80% done in only a month's time. During this time I need to write my capstone thesis paper and spend hours researching, interviewing, and writing to get a complete rough draft by then. Then I need to put together my demo reel, finish all my branding (website, portfolio book, resumé, etc) roughly completing that by the same time. If that wasn't a crazy amount of work to try and cram in my life, on top of that I have my webstore orders to try and clear out of the way asap, the commissions I took at RMFC to finish (and many of them I'd like to finish to be included in my portfolio), AND complete my Riley costume for events this summer and for use in my portfolio. I'm going to have a very hard time working through all that so bare with me for the next 3 months of hell.

Now back to working on finishing up my taxes :/

Dat foam nakidness

Hello internetland! Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that today will be the new episode of Sem on my Livestream channel. This will be happening at 2:00pm Mountain Standard Time and we are now offline. Click here to automatically detect what that will be in your time zone.

CLICK TO WATCH LIVESTREAM NOW

Sem is an original sci-fi series by my oldest friend *SorinCrecens who is the director and voice of the main character named Sem. It is presented in both a radio drama animatic format, which is basically a full audio soundtrack (dialog, sfx, and music) synced to graphic-novel images... rather like a movie soundtrack played over a storyboard. It's got a time travel theme to it and reminds me a bit of Doctor Who. I fell in love with the project and it's had some amazing response so far from everyone I've shown it to ever since we revealed the pilot episode. It will be a fun afternoon of creativity, discussion, cool music, and free art! Yes, that's right, FREE ART.

If you join in on the stream from beginning to end of the Sem episode, you'll be eligible to enter. A randomly selected winner will receive art of their character and have it drawn live during the stream. Check out the other drawings I've done for the Sem streams... you could be next!

If you haven't joined us for episodes 1-3, I highly recommend watching the first few over on YouTube. They're 15-20 minutes long and awesome, getting constantly better in both plot development and artwork. I star as a character in 2 and 3 by the way :>

Hope you see you all there!

So I hate to be asking this at all... considering me + commissions = problems, but that's exactly why I haven't publicly opened for commissions outside of cons for years, and don't really want to offer slots anymore... they're like promises I can't keep (or just ones that get fulfilled very very late)

So I'm going to try out a new system that seems to be working well for a ton of artists I know: Livestream commissions!

First off, the reason behind me doing this- I have rent to pay off the beginning of next week and I'm nowhere near the amount I need to cover it yet. I also got hit by two big overdraft fees recently due to companies automatically charging my accounts on a scheduled billing cycle, which would have been fine, but it went through without my knowledge or they were early in charging me, so I didn't have enough money in the right account at the right time and WHAM suddenly I'm down almost $100 for no good reason. UGH! The desperate need for cash in a short amount of time has twisted my arm to force me to take on commissions when I should be using my time focusing on my school projects for graduation. Just means I get to work my tail off even more to do both.

If you haven't seen it yet, I just put up a sales post about some discounted webstore items. If you were looking to purchase a mask or nose from me, here's a great way to get one cheaper and faster than ever before!

Great! You're interested in a commission! These will be first-come, first serve opportunities and all arrangements will be made via Livestream. These commissions will be done on-the-spot so you'll get to watch it come to life right before your eyes so you know you'll be getting some instant return on your purchase. Win-win for both of us, no more of this waiting shenanigans. If it works out well enough, I may be able to open for more commission days like this more often. So I do hope you'll stop by and give some support!

Livestream Broadcast info:

Stream is OFFLINE! Started February 27th at 1pm MST (click here to instantly convert this into your time zone) and will go on for as long as I can go on for. It will be most of the day.

Commission info: I would like to start out by opening for badge size, flat colored characters. Your choice of headshot ($20) or full bodies ($25) Prices can also go higher/lower than this depending on complexity. Yes you can have multiple characters/commissions! You'll pay the full amount ($20 or $25) per character drawn for you, no discounts by combining them in the same picture. Your commission must be paid in full up front before I begin working. No reserving slots, if you're present and ready to pay immediately for the next opening, then you'll get it.

Examples

($20 for character simplicity or headshots that we can pretend are flat colored)

($25 standard pricing)

Let me know if you have any more questions! Hope to see you on the stream

Today I'm turning 23, whoo! I think Verlis has something planned for dinner otherwise I'm not really doing anything other than working on my Riley suit... which is becoming more and more a lost cause to complete it in time for Further Confusion, mostly because work decided to schedule me like every day next week leading up to the trip and I'm back in school again. >:C I'm reconsidering making the suit the new Hybrid Riley as well but I just can't decide. I'm thinking I might be happier switching modes to drawing and finishing Hybrid Riley's ref for con commissions, but I'd also be sad if I didn't have anything to wear at the con. Yet I'd hate to half ass it. Maybe I'll just finish the head and paws? Still have tons of webstore orders to do in the meantime as well (by the way I have a webstore tracker now: www.caninehybrid.com/orders). UGH there's just not enough hours in the day!

Anyways- HAVE A MEME

What dates will you be attending?

• Thursday morning to Monday afternoon

How are you getting there?

• Plane trip! Haven't been on a plane since I was 14 and this'll be the first time I go on one alone

Where are you staying?

• Secondary con hotel, The Hilton

What will you be doing the most at the convention?

• Buying all the things!

What else will you be doing?

• Suiting, attending panels, meeting people. Here is my planned panel schedule (you stalkers): [link]

Who are you rooming with?

• Monoyasha-face

What do you look like?

• Normal w/ Riley hat, spiked hair (and my many awesome shirts), or on a good hair day :


• 

What is your gender?

• Female

How old are you?

• 23 as of today! The con's a bit of a birthday present for myself

Are you mated/in a relationship?

• Yup, currently with Verlis

How tall are you?

• 5' 6"

Do you have a fursuit? What does it look like?

• Currently a work in progress, hoping to finish in time. Riley the German Shepherd Dog

Rules of engagement?

• Hugs are fine, just please ask first. Feel free to take photos, talk to me, join me on the dancefloor, and (assuming your hands are clean) handshakes and high-fives are great!

Can I buy you a drink/food?

• I'm down for noms! I'm not an alcohol person though

Can we hang out?

• I'd be happy to chill with people and get to know them. I'm quite sociable and easy to get along with, but if I'm quiet or reserved, either I'm tired or I think you're a creeper and am just too polite to say so.

I really want to meet you, whats the best way I can find you / reach you ?

• Tweet me @CanineHybrid! I always have my phone on hand and will try to check it constantly (though may take a bit to respond). Otherwise I'll probably be in the dealer's room a ton and a majority of fursuit/art tracks and hanging out with Monoyasha a lot of the time. See my schedule for the list of panels I plan to attend

If I see you, how should I get your attention?

• Just call out "Riley!" or "CanineHybrid!" Or just come up to me, I don't mind being approached and am always looking for a good conversation. Don't be nervous to say hi!

Anything you are going to buy in the Artist Alley / Dealers Den?

• I've got pre-order badges from Idess and Kacey, but I definitely want more badges and drawings of Theod and hybrid Riley for sure. Whatever I can afford really.

Anyone you are looking forward to meeting?

• 2 Gryphon, various fursuit builders, tons of artists, a few online friends

Last thoughts?

• I'm so super excited for this! It's gonna be a year of firsts for me- first out of state con I'm flying out to by myself, first time at a large fur con, first time I'll have a personal fursuit, first time in San Jose. I feel so grown up now |D

Who else is going!!? I want to compile a list of peeps I know here on my journal.

~Monoyasha, ~Lrdkazul, *FrosteeFox, *roothragon ~SparkleKreations, *TwistedTerrace, *raptonx, ~BeastCub

So guess what, I'm sick AGAIN >< I don't know why and I absolutely hate it because it's killing my productivity. Along with being scheduled more at work and the holidays getting in the way, I've been a little behind schedule on everything. I was hoping to get the most out of my December but I disappointed myself there. Weeelp, time to move forward from here.

If you were interested in purchasing a resin blank from my webstore, Jan 1st was the last day to save $10 for New Years! Sale is over now but keep in mind that I am behind on orders so it'll take 3 weeks or so to get to you if you order anything right now. Still, I won't be having another sale for quite awhile so I can focus on finishing orders and creating new product.

Speaking of new product, for Christmas I received an industrial compressor and compression chamber- meaning that I can now do airbrush work AND pressure casting! This means that I will now be offering resin eyes because with my new toys, I can pressure cast them to be completely bubble-free. I'm adding them to the webstore right now. Jawsets and pawpads will be next, then I can move onto fixing my dragon blank and starting on the feline sculpt. Send me a note or an email if you have any questions (sales@caninehybrid.com)

Click here to go to the webstore: store.caninehybrid.com

So a lot of shit went down last month... long story short my graduation date has been pushed from March to June 2013 and my parents are no longer financially supporting my living costs in Denver. They are luckily still paying for my school but the rest falls onto me to pay rent and have enough to eat every month. Lots of new responsibilities and work ahead of me to pull everything off. I'm hoping this will be a good thing for me to get more organized and stay on top of things.

I'll be updating my Newsletter this week with more detailed craft info and also starting making use of my website's blog. This month's overview: I will be doing a lot of webstore orders, I will be turning 23 on January 12th, I start school again on the 7th (too soon!), and I'm attempting to make and finish my Riley the German Shepherd Dog half suit in time for Further Confusion Jan 17-20. I recently cleaned out and re-organized the entire storage room area and now I have a proper work studio for my crafting.

Lastly, I gotta talk about my holidays a bit :3 I think I got some pretty bitchin' gifts for people this year.

For my brother ~ReyTiger I commissioned a beautiful, custom MLP plush from *fireflytwinkletoes of his original character Frost Byte. My parents I commissioned an original painting of my dog Charlie, who passed away this year, from *MorRokko which I got professionally mounted and framed in museum glass.

For the rest of my friends, I seriously cannot thank the talented and inspiring =Disneygurl for tackling a HUGE request and doing each one so much cute justice! Take a look! (also a few are late so there's a handful we're still working on finishing up) Melissa... you are an art GOD!!!

Whew! Hope everyone is doing well, I look forward to the new year!

So guess what I FINALLY stopped being sick >< I don't remember the last time I was that ill for that long- I blame this party I went to a few days before Halloween, combined with my high stress levels and the weather changes for the reason as to why it was so bad. I still have a nasty cough that won't go away however so I'll have to be careful about doing my molding/casting stuff with that.

If you're waiting on a canine blank from me, I'm going to be focusing on working on all the orders and shipping out as many as I can this week. Since I'm doing everything myself, I'm unsure how long it'll take to do each one, but I'll get a much better sense on the timing once I get a system down for working on them. For those of you who have pre-ordered and opted to get a partial refund for the delay, that will be credited to you the moment your order is shipped out. Those who downgraded to the "flawed" masks will be completed first simply because the new mold is not ready yet, and will take 30 hours to make the new mold due to curing times. And that's assuming the new mold comes out perfect. *crosses fingers* SO, tomorrow I am working on all the flawed mask orders and making a silicone nose mold. I should be able to start casting noses tomorrow night to send them out to everyone who wanted the nose upgrade. Mid-week the new mold will be ready and I can start casting those orders. I can make several masks in a day (naturally the cut/hinged ones will take a little more time) so this week I should be able to finally get these guys out of the way very soon! On top of this, I will be offering a special Thanksgiving sale on the masks and special Livestream with some friends. Stay tuned for details

Speaking of Livestream! This weekend, on Saturday November 17th at 3:00pm MST, I am hosting a very unique and awesome broadcast with my oldest friend *SorinCrecens. He has been very dedicated on working on an original series called Sem that we will be introducing to you during the broadcast. More details about that can be found on the Livestream announcement deviation. Sem is a sci-fi story with a sorta time traveling theme to it, reminds me a little of Doctor Who actually (which is why I like it so much I guess) and is a highly creative and collaborative project! Sem itself is a radio drama/animatic presentation (animatics are like storyboard/graphic novel images timed up with a complete soundtrack of music, dialog, and SFX). It actually features the voice acting talents of myself and my friends, as well as other contributions such as art and music. In fact we're always looking for more interested people if you would like to help out yourselves, and this broadcast is helping promote Sorin's awesome work so he can get some future interest. We'll be needing plenty of voice actors in the future and it's all just a lot of fun.

As a bonus, if you show up for the Livestream and stick around for the Sem preview (about 15 minutes of your time), you'll be eligible to be entered into a random drawing where I will pick one of you to receive a free character drawing, done right there on the spot while you watch and get some time to talk to Sorin, the director, about the Sem project- or just hang out with my friends and I for an afternoon of chatting, music listening, drawing, creativity, and awesomeness. We really hope to see you all there!

I'd like to start doing so more Livestreams again in general, how does that sound? Probably a lot more drawing things, maybe even some animation sessions.

Happy Halloween

Unfortunately, I've been very sick this past week and was unable to do much today :c Or the past few days at that. Including not being able to finish ~ReyTiger's Ezreal cosplay in time and having to miss work. Also I have not being able to mold/cast the new canine masks as planned because I don't want to expose myself to the chemicals and fumes, also it requires a certain amount of focus which I cannot bring myself to do quite yet in my weakened state. I have been doing pretty much nothing but sleeping.

However, I did manage to get out of the house briefly to participate in Chipotle's Costume Contest! (thanks to ~Verliswolf for wearing Groudon because I was in no condition to put it on)

Could I ask you guys a big favor? Help Groudon get some attention and vote for him in the contest? I would love you forever

How was everyone else's Halloween? Do anything fun?

Stole this from I don't usually do these things, but who DOESN'T want to draw random attention to themselves once in a while? Plus I'm interested to see what kind of questions might be asked.

"Few people are man/woman enough to openly answer any and all questions thrown at them. Are you? Prove it. Copy/Paste this as a new journal entry and answer every question you get.

The rules are simple:

-You must answer every question you get no matter what it's about, and you must do so honestly

-There are no questions that can not be asked as long as they are within reason. They can be personal, about oc's, and every thing in between."

Now I'm mainly doing this because my Formspring account is completely dead/ignored. Don't bother asking me questions there. I won't answer. I don't answer DA notes within a reasonable time either.... I get flooded all over the place and can't keep up, yet when I try and participate in TMI Tuesdays? Radio silence. SO I am dedicating today to question collection time.

I am purging my 490 unread DA notes.

Sorry, I cannot handle my current volume, and most are a year or more old anyhow. This is now your chance to ask me anything that you've always wanted to ask and/or asked before and I didn't respond but it must be posted here in my journal. I WILL respond to each and every one of them as I see fit. Everyone gets an answer. This may also help me work on my FAQ journals a little more, I'm hoping. Have fun! (oh gawd what am I getting myself into?)

The journal question deal ends Oct 31, so I may or may not answer questions posted after this date

Time to give you some much-needed updates methinks. First off school fall quarter has started again, I'm enrolled in character animation, portfolio production, and dynamics & simulation classes. My final portfolio project is the focus since I'll be graduating in March 2013. Whew, getting rather close now. I have 6 months to create an animated short; you'll start seeing assets from it pop up on my gallery quite soon. It should be a fun project to work on! I go to school Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and go to work Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday. I gave myself Saturday's off.

This means I have a LOT less time to work on commissions and costumes, unfortunately D: So I want to give you a heads up about that now: Once again, if you are waiting on a commission from me, feel free at any time to send me a note if you would like to cancel it and I will refund you in whole if I haven't started on it. I cannot promise anyone deadlines when I'll get your project done and I do not wish for you to wait a painfully long time if it's not worth it to you to keep holding your breath. There is an upside however: you'll get a higher quality piece of art simply because my skills will improve over time. But do not hesitate to contact me about it. I plan to first focus on the RMFC commissions and resin castings for awhile then go back to wavy icons and headshots- might try to slip these in throughout the week.

First of all, I recently launched a new way to keep up with me and my work: Creative Connection Newsletter!

I dislike updating my DA journal, I completely neglect my FA, Wordpress, or LiveJournal, so what I'll be doing instead is replacing all my journals with my newsletter. I won't stop posting here on DA altogether, but the updates will be mostly consist of an overview of the newsletter and a link to the current issue. I do encourage signing up for it but will be reflected here so you won't miss an update.

Theod Raptor Costume: Stilts are being upgraded by *Skaros444 to be a little lighter, stronger, and less squeaky Meanwhile I'll be working more on the head sculpt and my goal is by the end of the month to have a mold made and a resin pull. Early next month I'll purchase some reticulated foam for the body/leg padding and I'll be able to start on the bodysuit. A new video will be done by the end of the year with a few of the secret features revealed Project deadline is now set to March 1, 2013 and will debut at Animeland Wasabi convention.

Charizard Partial: Head was slightly heat warped by being left in the car, will need to be warped back- no permanent damage. Mouth (teeth, gums, tongue) is sculpted, just needs a few details smoothed out and then it will be ready for molding and casting. Will offer the jawset and tongue in the webstore for the dragon resin masks soon as it is done. After that the head is completely ready for pattern making and skinning. The wings will be the next piece as I have all the materials for it and the pattern drafted. Goal is to finish this project by December.

Canine Resin Mask: Just spent another 10 hours in last night's broadcast refining the details of the mask- mostly the eyebrows and bottom jaw, and the nose I just started roughing out. All I have left is finishing the nose sculpt/texture, smoothing out final details, and creating the hinge. I have not uploaded photos on Flickr yet, but the final sculpture will be uploaded to my gallery early next week when I make the mold. Resin production starts next week and shipment will begin as soon as possible. Uncut blanks will go out right away and cut/hinged blanks will take an extra week or so. I will also be offering silicone noses in the webstore! I will contact everyone who has placed an order with me and ask if they would like to also purchase a nose so I can combine shipping. Something special might just happen when the blanks are officially released, so keep an eye out for something soon.

"The Last Flower": New project alert! This is title of my animated short portfolio project. This features two new monster characters, Garen and Spencer, whom you'll meet real soon. The storyline: It is a barren mountainous environment, and Garen has been traveling for a long time searching for something to eat. He happens upon a rare and delicious flower. He hurries over but as soon as he reaches it, the flower disappears as Spencer quickly grabs it first. Angered, Garen confronts the newcomer but their quarrel ends in an unexpected way. You'll have to wait till it's all done in March to see the ending. It's a completely original piece that was actually inspired by this picture I did of my Tyranitar: [link] I have been working the last 3 months on the animatic (animated storyboard) and the character designs are finalized. This week I'm working on tweaking all the camera angels and timing, as well as making final character turnarounds. Animation tests will follow real shortly and should be up next week as well. I'm uploading a screenshot of what the final project will look like today.

Ezreal Cosplay: This is a project I started working on a little before A-kon back in June for my brother ~ReyTiger. It got delayed but I have a lot of assets done for it already. Ezreal is a playable character in the video game League of Legends (that my friends and I are all addicted to and you should totally play with us and use my referral code to give me bonus points *shameless promotion goooo* [link]). Ez is an explorer guy and user of ranged magic energy for his attacks. He is steampunk-ish with goggles and too many belts and wears a gauntlet that is the source of his energy attacks. I made the goggles out of circle jewelry cases wrapped in foam and I tinted the lens with blue resin. I also cast a LED plush light into a halfsphere mold cast in blue pigmented silicone for the energy light and made a foam gauntlet base over a duct tape dummy of my brother's hand. I started on the jacket pattern too and have all the materials ready. I'll be posting a WIP of it in my gallery soon, but check out the project folder on my Flickr here to see what I've got so far: [link] Completion date is this month in time for whatever contest Riot puts on for Halloween.

CanineHybrid 2.0: I've been working hard on a complete overhaul redesign and rebranding of CanineHybrid Creations. My website www.caninehybrid.com is still being reworked, while the new design is completed the content is still being worked on. Links may be broken and all that jazz. I moved to a new host and design platform and loving it so far. On top of that, of course I also have my webstore located at store.caninehybrid.com where you can buy all my costume-related products and what I'll be using for orders from now on. Spent about a week straight testing out different ecommerce platforms and set that whole deal up. All the designs now match up with my business cards, resume, newsletter, portfolio, commission price guide, vinyl banner, etc etc. a lot of which I haven't shown you yet. But it's spiffy and I'm pretty satisfied with it now.

YouTube Creature Costuming Panel: I have started editing the footage from the panels that ~sgtknifeman and I hosted last month at Nan Desu Kan anime convention. Like the video series we did last year, I am splitting up the video into several parts to make it easier to watch and jump to specific topics. I have already spent about a week working on it: re-doing my animated logo as a high-res version that uses my new logo text, finding royalty-free music, creating and animating titles and credits, cleaning up audio, color correcting video footage, cutting and editing, inserting high-res slideshow images, and creating a new section at the end of the video that I call "afterthoughts" that includes extra relevant tips and info we didn't get to mention in the live presentation. And this is only for PART ONE of the Beginner Creature Costuming, which is about 8 minutes long out of an hour of video and I haven't touched the Advanced panel yet. Ever wonder why I don't update my YouTube channel much anymore? THIS IS WHY. It takes forever to go through the entire process, especially if it's something I have to first to pre-production planning before filming (and that can take forever to, anything from writing a script to setting camera angles and lighting). I want to release the videos as they are completed instead of releasing them together when they are all finished so you can have mini updates instead of waiting forever. I have no promises of when I'll be able to get the whole thing up but I'll aim for as soon as possible.

My friend ~feathergills is offering commissions for the first time! She did an absolutely beautiful job on mine and I highly encourage you to consider getting something from her so she can fill up her gallery with awesomeness (it's so lonely right now):3

Hey internetland! Been awhile since I updated my journal, mainly because I started typing out one about my whole experience at Rocky Mountain Fur Con and then lost everything due to not paying attention to what tabs I was closing and by that time it was too late. Eh. So anyways just wanted to say a few quick things.

I had a great weekend at the con and was very successful. My table looked gorgeous for the first time since I brought my whole computer setup, had a matching theme to my business cards, commission price guide, and the coolest thing- a brand new vinyl banner printed by my friend ~RKTDWG. He also printed me diecut logo stickers so I was all pimped out. Didn't get the chance to put out all my new merch though, I had plannnns… but guess it'll have to wait for next year. I put the Charizard and Theod heads on my table too and was able to actually get some work done on the spot with the watercolor chibis- which did well so I'll be offering them as commissions permanently.

Apart from the table I had in the dealer's room, I also ran 3 panels this year (omg crazy) which meant I was occupied with something the entire con. I felt the beginner's costume panel was a bit rough but we absolutely nailed our advanced creature costuming panel. Of course that's many thanks to my lovely co-host ~sgtknifeman for running them with me. I also did a rather last-minute panel about the 12 principals of animation and for being so rushed and ill-equipped for it, it was also very well received and people seem to have a lot of fun. I have plans to make it better if I attempt it again next year too.

All sorts of shenanigans and meeting cool people happened all weekend, notably got to chat with badasses Morphology and NorthShep. I also put on my stilts for about a half hour each day and paraded around the con with them for a bit much to my own amusement. There was even a video of me dancing in them taken Sunday night that I really hope I get to see! Con was run well, it keeps getting bigger and better. Also got my Swedish Fish fix from my dealer room buddy =FireMaster13 :>>>

Lookit all the sweet art I got during the con!

Welp first up I wanted to mention that if you're going to Nan Desu Kan anime convention this weekend and not attending the Beginner and Advanced Creature Costume panels ~sgtknifeman and I are hosting, you should feel bad >:C Because you'd be missing out on the most super special awesome panel there! Check out my deviation here to learn all about it.

Along with that, particularly for those interested but cannot attend NDK or who live elsewhere, we shall be recording the panel presentations and making them available on YouTube to watch! NEW VIDEO FROM CANINEHYBRID!? IT CANNOT BE!!

And now for something I know many of people have been asking and waiting for… and I'm happy to say that I finally have plans to put this in the works! Be prepared because I'm ready to offer pre-orders on Canine Resin Masks! I'll be getting a deviation up about it very shortly (so this will be updated when that happens) but thought I'd give a lot of you the opportunity to get an awesome discount that you won't ever see again.

I'm offering $30 off if you order a resin canine blank from me right now. This offer will be good until the clay sculpt has been revealed… this could be as soon as next week or as late as the end of this month, but either way this discount won't last for long. After the sculpt preview goes online, the discount becomes $15 off and that offer will last until the first cast is made from the new mold. So If you order during the special pre-order sale, you'll get it shipped to you the moment I have the first batch made. See a preview and check out the new item in my webstore here: [link]

Just ask if you have any questions! Hope everyone is doing well. Now it's back to work for me... I have art to work on

And asdfghjkl I'm not ready! Ak! It came too fast once again that's for sure. I thought I'd go ahead and post up the traditional con meme as well as my panel schedule so those of you who are attending know what to look forward to. Rocky Mountain Fur Con is August 10-12 at the Denver DoubleTree Hotel.

First off I will have table space in the dealer's den once again this year. I will be stuck there most of the time at table #36 and would love for all of you to come by! I'm in the middle of the room and sitting next to my good friends =FireMaster13 and ~THODRAGONFIRE/~redvarg with ~Lrdkazul across from us. I will not be wearing a full costume this year because Shadow Lugia is still in torn-up pieces and Theod is nowhere near done. Very likely he will not be done by September for NDK either. However I will be bringing some of the pieces I do have so you can see him as a WIP at my table. I will get up and walk around in my digitigrade stilts from time to time and it should be pretty obvious when I do so. I'll try to do a lap around the con each day hoping that most people get a chance to see them. Otherwise just come over to the table and ask to take a look. You can likely find me wearing my Shadow Lugia hoodie, Riley the German Shepherd Dog fleece hat, and possibly the Necomimi animatronic ears for the lawls.

I am hosting 3 panels this year at the convention, so I'll have my work cut out for me. The first one is "Beginner Creature Costuming" hosted by myself and ~sgtknifeman. This is our modified/updated panel that is currently found on my YouTube and it will discuss the basics of getting into building costumes for non-human cosplays and characters. We'll be going over concept design, materials/tools, building tips, a project walkthrough, safety and performance. This will be held Friday at 9:30pm in the Crystal 2 room

The second panel ~sgtknifeman and I are hosting is "Advanced Creature Costuming" which is a continuation of our first panel that goes into more involved techniques. We highly recommend attending our beginner panel first or have some prior experience building costumes. We'll be going over sculpting, molding, and casting, a project walkthrough of making a resin mask, moving jaws, body padding, and basic electronics. This will be held Saturday at 6:30pm in the Crystal 2 room

The last panel that I will be doing is "Getting Animated!" where I get to talk about the art of animation! I'll be going over the origins and history, different kinds of animation, tools and techniques, and most importantly give an overview on the 12 principals of animation. This will be held Sunday at 5:30pm in the Crystal 1 room

Q: Where are you staying?

A: My basement

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Q: When will you be arriving and leaving?

A: I'm local so I'll show up when it starts and leave when it ends each day

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Q: Who will you be rooming with?

A: ~ReyTiger,  *SorinCrecens,  pox.azraelis,  ~enoinlyon,   ~Verliswolf,  *ScratchingSouls,  ~sgtknifeman,  and ~Leap207

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Q: Where will you be most of the time and how can I find you?

A: At my table in the dealer's room, #36. Otherwise attend my panels!

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Q: Who are your con buddies?

A: *Starmuttani, ~ReyTiger, *SorinCrecens, pox.azraelis, ~Verliswolf, *ScratchingSouls, ~sgtknifeman, *Skaros444, ~Artsquish, *Zhon, ~ArcanineIce, ~redvarg, ~THODRAGONFIRE, =FireMaster13, ~ROhuski, *StraylightRevelation, =SteelJaw, *RPGKampfer, ~RKTDWG, ~Leap207 ~HappyHuginn

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Q: What/where will you be eating?

A: Across the street- Smashburger, IHOP, Panera Bread, Chipotle, Noodles and Co, Panda Express, and Starbucks are all likely

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Q: Will you be having a room party?

A: Nope, nor will I be attending any

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Q: Will you be drinking and/or getting drunk?

A: Very unlikely. Absolutely not getting drunk- never have, never would like to try.

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Q: What is your gender?

A: Bitch, har har

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Q: Are you single?

A: Not looking, thanks

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Q: How old are you?

A: 22

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Q: How tall are you?

A: 5'6'"

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Q: How will I recognize you?

A: Look for the Riley GSD hat, Shadow Lugia hoodie, or Necomimi/animatronic ears.

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Q: If I see you, how should I get your attention?

A: Call out "Riley!" and wiggle your arms

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Q: How many furry conventions have you attended?

A: Every RMFC since 2009, so this will be my 4th

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Q: Do you own a fursuit?

A: Yeppers, a bunch of them. However you will only see Groudon this weekend worn by *ScratchingSouls

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Q: Can I hug or snuggle with you?

A: Friendly hugs are fine, snuggling not so much

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Q: Can I buy you drinks?

A: I like Mt Dew and Monster

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Q: Can I look or draw in your sketchbook?

A: Just ask

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Q: Can I take your picture?

A: Of course!

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Q: Can I hang out with you?

A: That's generally fine, long as you're not behind the table and not blocking the way for other people to come over

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Q: Can I talk to you?

A: Please do!

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Q: Can I ask you to dance?

A: I suppose, I don't know how much dancing I'll be doing though being camerawomen

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Q: Do you do do free art, trades, commissions, badges?

A: Unfortunately can't do free art, ask about trades, and totally get some commissions/badges! It's the only time I'm open all year!

As for what I'll be selling/offering this year... you'll just have to come over and take a look :3 Hope to see a bunch of you there!

Hi internetland! I'm off to Lake Powell for a week with my brother So when I get I'll post my pictures and also recap my weekend at Denver Comic Con. See you all later!

Hi internetland! Needless to say I had a blast at A-kon this year, thought I'd blurb a bit about the trip. This was the very first year I wasn't a hotel room bum, slaving away the entire con in front of a sewing machine. In fact ~Monoyasha and *Draga03 wouldn't have let me even if I had tried to pull that stunt again |D Thus sadly I didn't get my brother ~ReyTiger's Ezreal costume done that weekend. However despite not keeping myself occupied with costumes, I managed to find even less time for all the activities I wanted to do at the con and I ended up having my busiest year ever. I didn't even get a good chance to walk around the Artist Alley or Dealer's Rooms, which sucks but probably a good thing since I'm broke anyhow.

We hit the road at 2am and drove all day Thrusday... and then stood in the badge pickup line for almost 3 hours. I'm seriously considering buying at the door to avoid the line- particularly so I don't miss out on the spirit walk, which is a mini costume parade around the city, next year. Friday I met ~dirktiede, the author and illustrator of my favorite graphic novel/web comic Paradigm Shift (a must read if you like werewolves) and ~ABrownrigg, the director of Freeborn (a must see project if you like werewolves). It was an absolute pleasure talking to them both! I also attended their Friday panels. We took Groudon out that afternoon for three hours and met up with both ~Affinityxxfox as Deoxys and ~AppleBush as Lugia, I had delicious noms with ~Monoyasha, and lost my camera within the first 10 minutes of the day... but thankfully it was turned in to lost and found an hour later. I hooked up with ~NTC7 for a bit and inbetween afternoon panels, then ran into the dealer's room with one goal in mind: to find a Stitch kigurumi. I got the very last one! Huzzah! Check out this sexiness

Saturday I got up bright and early to have breakfast with *Draga03 and register Groudon for the cosplay contest. Afterwards I met up as Aerodactyl with ~BeastSoul as Kabutops so we could do awesome things Ancient Pokémon style! Not long after finishing that up we suited up *ScratchingSouls as Groudon, grabbed a bite to eat, and walked to the costume contest. Sad to say that it wasn't as neatly organized as when I entered as Shadow Lugia, nor nearly as accommodating for the larger costumed people such as ourselves. But then again, at Nan Desu Kan, Rek and I were SPOILED TO ALL HELL |D I love the heck out of the NDK staff for all they did for us at the contest. Anyways, Rek, BeastSoul, and I got pretty exhausted standing there waiting for the contest to start and all the audience to file in for 2 and a half hours. We had to be there from 5:30pm until 10:30pm. Poor Rek ended up being in Groudon for 8 hours straight that night! She didn't have the head or hands most of the time, but man she's got dedication. ILU REK

I'm happy to report we won 2nd place! Which is freakin awesome considering how large the con is and the next highest award was Best In Show

Sunday was the Pokémon Photoshoot outside bright and early. I was afraid Rek would pass out from such an intense Groudon session the day before :U The weather ended up being slightly overcast and the shoot was in the shade so it wasn't super unbearable for us Poké Suiters. We had a great turnout this year, largest gathering of us crazy Pokémon mascots I've seen yet! ~Monoyasha as Emogla, ~CiaraDragon as Minccino, *ScratchingSouls as Groudon,~BeastSoul as Kabutops:, =CanineHybrid as Aerodactyl, ~AppleBush as Lugia, *Tatta-Kasame as Rattata, and ~TreeHuggingSinner as Garchomp!

Woooah. So yeah. After relaxing from that for awhile, ~Monoyasha took Toothless out on the con floor for an hour assisted by myself, ~CiaraDragon, ~Saiyai, and Fred. Legendary bro fist-ing happened. Then we ran into ~HappyHuginn with *NightTwilightWolf and *Starmuttani as Chibiterasu and Dark Chibiterasu and even more cuteness plagued the convention! After this I quickly ran to the dealer's room and bought a pair of Necomimi's... I just... couldn't resist after I learned they were out on the market now and ~MajinFido0 placed a pair on my head. Besides I have plannnnsss for them. That's when the con broke apart into nothingness and we eventually hit the road around 11pm or so for the long 14 hour drive home. Sadly I didn't run into =TaoKyuubimon Chibisuke suit this year, nor did I have enough energy to attend the dance/rave with ~ReyTiger, Pox, and *SorinCrecens. ~WingsofSmoke and ~kalashnikovmarine are always running off somewhere and I saw *ToxicAsylum, ~MajinDante0, and ~MajinFido0 rather briefly as well, though enjoyed sharing the con photos with you all in the hotel room was a blast! And so many of you came and said hi! Thank you guys! I'm surprised how many people recognized me

By the way guys? GAAAIIIS OMGWTFBBQ is with this!? THIIIIS

I... I'm pretty much shocked. Like I thought it would be funny and cute and you all would like it but BAJEEBUS I think ~Monoyasha and I broke the internet. Again. In one day, it got more views and favorites than anything else in my entire gallery, even my Groudon DD. One thing I'm extremely grateful for though- she got more pageviews and watches from this GIF upload than I did, which is the way it should be so thank you guys for taking the time to go support the artist and not just the animated GIF Also LOLOL everyone thinks we're both guys now.

A-kon is the oldest-running anime convention in the USA held annually in Dallas, TX. It's this weekend, June 1-3. I make a roadtrip out there my friends each year. The main point of this journal is to let you know what's happening A-kon weekend if you're attending so you know what to look for and when.

>>>[CLICK HERE FOR THE SCHEDULE]<<<

Highlights of this event calendar would include the costume meetup with ~DreamVisionCreations' Minccino and Emolga suits (as well as when you can most likely expect to see Toothless), the times you can catch Groudon out on the floor, and all the panels I am interested in attending. I'll be bringing Aerodactyl out of retirement for an appearance with ~BeastSoul's Kabutops too. Also not listed on the schedule is the Thursday "spirit walk" parade at 8pm, if we get settled in by that time I'll go to that. If you're interested, go check it out.

Also! If you want to keep up with my trip, I'll be tweeting whenever something worth mentioning happens

Also I will not be bring Shadow Lugia, she isn't ready for con-time. I MIGHT be able to take her her Denver Comic Con but no promises there either.

My con group consists of these awesome peeps

Anyone else attending? What will you be dressing up as? :>

How are you getting there? 14 hour roadtrip with friends! On the road all day Thursday (oh gawd)

What hotel are you staying at? Marriott

Which days will you be attending? Thursday 6pm through Sunday as late as 9pm

Who are you staying with? My brother Rey, Sorin, Sanyai, Rek, Draga, Mer, and Eric

How do you want to be addressed? Riley is preferred, but CanineHybrid, Canine, or Hybrid works too

Gender? Female

Age? 22

What do you look like? 5' 6.5"  with short black hair, (might be spiked) hazel eyes, apparently look like a guy from the back lol. I always wear a dark T-shirt with dark cargo pants. Most of the time I'll be wearing my Shadow Lugia hoodie or have my Riley hat on.

Where/how can I find you? Check out my schedule: [link] and/or look out for my cosplays

Do you do requests? Maybe a doodle

Do you do trades? Rarely

Do you do commissions? Yes but I'm not open for new requests at the moment

Will you be selling any items? Not for this con

Will you have Art in the Art Show? Nope

What is your main purpose for attending? To chillax- enjoy my first year ever NOT slaving away sewing in the hotel room! Hang with friends, attend some panels, and buy things I don't need!

Can I talk to you? Sure! Warning though: I'll easily talk your ear off.

Can I take pictures with you? Feel free!

Can I touch/hug/cuddle you? A handshake, highfive, or friendly hug is fine

Can I hang out with you? I won't have much time on my hands, when I'm wandering around the AA or dealer's might be the best time if you want to tag along, otherwise you'll just have to be following me around while I'm in costume or assisting other's with theirs, like the stalkers you all are

Do you go to parties? Nope, I'm probably more of a party-killer than anything. Never been to a room party nor care to.

What costumes are you wearing??? Shadow Lugia Hoodie most of the weekend during downtime/assisting Groudon. Aerodactyl otherwise. Check out the schedule for where/when.

What is the best way to reach you? Find one of my friends (anyone listed above, including Monoyasha/Ciarra and BeastSoul) or tag me in a Twitter post (assuming I can get to my phone of course).

Plenty of things going on lately, here's to keeping you all up to speed.

EDIT

I'm a derp and totally forgot to pimp out my friend and 's badge commissions! Dude check out this amazing awesome art, and these were only $10 each! TEN FLIPPING DOLLARS FOR THIS BEAUTIFULNESS ASDFGHJKL. You know you want one

I have been a bit absent from the online world more than usual... due to a lot of school-related things. I need to look for an internship for next quarter and keep up with my assignments. There were some times I was sick last week too which didn't help. But I'm working on it. This has taken away my time from working on my costume though and I need to start changing that around.

One thing I did start the other day was a character "ask blog" featuring Theod (of course). I've actually for some reason have had a lot of motivation to work on it and have done 3 entries in less than 24 hours. wtf is wrong with me? I'm never this productive. We'll see how long my motivation continues... if I get flooded with too many questions, that may spell trouble. Once I reach 6 entries, I'll cross-post them here in my gallery. Go follow the blog on Tumblr! [link]

As I mentioned in my last journal, my portfolio at this point revolves around Theod. I have started sculpting the raptor head and estimate I'm about 30% done with that as of the last Livestream broadcast. As always, these photos will be found on my Flickr [link] and as I make bigger milestones I'll share them in my DA gallery. I hope to have the head finished by the end of this month, but I'm already so low on funds, I won't be able to buy the silicone and casting supplies for awhile. So I'll probably start focusing on the feet after we've made some adjustments to the digitigrade stilts. Good news though- I have bought a replacement for my Dremel tool and should be able to get further on the Charizard mask in the meantime!

The other major part to my portfolio is the animated short project. I missed last week's class so I was unable to pitch my ideas to the animation board, therefore I will find out what project they want me to work on tomorrow afternoon. I have been updating regularly about my portfolio projects (both animated short and the costume) over on my new Wordpress journal blog [link] . Do check here from time to time if you want to keep informed (updates to this are also posted on my Twitter/Facebook). Some of this will find its way into my DA gallery too, but not all of it.

First off, I am highly considering NOT bringing Shadow Lugia to A-kon this year. She is no longer in the best condition and is more of a hassle to deal with than it is worth for my handlers. I had planned to give her a much-needed makeover before the convention but I don't have the money to do this right now, I have the hotel and trip costs for A-kon set aside but otherwise I'm going to be struggling to even eat until my next paycheck. I will be able to fix all of the structural problems since I always have foam in stock but cannot replace the fabric. She should be good to go for Denver Comic Con if I don't spent too much at A-kon.

But depending on how bad my financial situation is, I am really debating if I should even go anywhere near the idea of opening for a few commissions. I think that the ONLY ONLY way I would be able to do this properly is if I accepted on-the-spot commissions over Livestream and broadcasted the drawing session. That would ensure you got what you paid for immediately and it would not add on to my current list. Is there any interest in this at all? I need to make about $100 for the new fabric and want to see how feasible this is.

Alright A-kon planning time because I've had several people ask. They just released the panel schedule today so I can officially make plans. Huzzah! As far as the famed Legendary Pokémon group goes, we will be bringing Groudon. Both Rayquaza and Kyogre projects are in limbo and will not be participating this year. Shadow Lugia is 50/50, at the very least I'll have the hoodie. I am also going to bring Aerodactyl back in order to match ~BeastSoul's Kabutops.

FRIDAY: I am so so SO attending ~ABrownrigg's makeup effects panel 12:00-1:30. Probably the most excited I've ever been for a panel. Actually no, the other most excited I've ever been for a panel goes to ~dirktiede's Paradigm Shift Q&A at 2:30-3:30 as it is my absolute favorite comic of all time... in which I'm totally buying all his books for him to sign and it will be epic. And then of course I'll attend ~ABrownrigg's Freeborn panel 9-10 which I'm also the most excited for! Ugh so much excitement; what's with all the werewolf stuff!? Either way it makes me super happy. I'm actually going to get something out of my A-kon badge this year!

SATURDAY: ~ABrownrigg's Improv Comedy Class 5:00-6:30... because I'm dying to get in on the Freeborn project and I think this would be an extremely smart (and fun) move towards that goal. HOWEVER this seems to really interfere with the costume contest. I *might* be able to pop in for the very beginning of the improv panel and then run over to the cosplay contest but I don't want to push it too much. Depending on how tired we are after the contest, I may go watch Repo the Generic Opera at 11pm-3am because I've been wanting to see that movie.

SUNDAY: Pokémon Photoshoot outside in the Cancer Park at 10 am. Might check out the Voice Actor's Cold Read 4:30-6:30, because why the hell not. Yes ~ABrownrigg will be there again, so it's another chance to work with him. There's not much else to do Sunday otherwise.

As far as planned appearances for cosplay, I will be discussing plans with my Kabutops partner for our ancient Pokémon appearance and I'll just be Groudon's handler whenever *ScratchingSouls feels like going out in him. I might arrange something with ~Monoyasha if she's bringing Minccino and Emolga. Otherwise Friday plans are still up in the air as I do have a lot of events going on, but we may take Groudon out sometime between 4-8pm on Friday.

However I do have a set plan for Saturday: I will take Groudon to be judged in the Hallway contest room and attempt to sign up for one of the ten on site walk-on slots. Registration opens at 10am so I want to be there RIGHT on time... meaning Rek has quite a trip over there getting stopped for photos and hugs so we'll try to leave our hotel room at 9am. After judging and/or contest sign-up we'll most likely continue to walk around since we've already bothered to suit her up and are already out on the floor. You would be most reliably able to catch Groudon Saturday somewhere in the 9am-noon timeframe as it depends on how Rek feels. Then we'll be off to the foodcourt for lunch. We'll have her rest after lunch until it is cosplay contest time. You will see Groudon if you attend the cosplay contest and of course we will stick around a little bit after the contest.

The other time you should be able to catch Groudon is the Pokémon Photoshoot Sunday 10am-11. This is outside in the Cancer Survivor's Plaza (under the skybridge that connects the ice rink mall and the hotel). And then we might walk around some more afterwards depending because it'll be DAMN HOT and we might not feel up to that right away. I might be Aerodactyl if Kabutops joins me for this.

SO YEAH! Told you it was a much-needed update, so much needed to be said. Hopefully I remembered to cover everything but if not expect some edits or something. I must now go back to homework, have a good night!