| Jus' an update |
[May. 23rd, 2012|07:21 pm] |
Well I know I NEED to update my journal.
No luck on a job so far, but my sister’s got a job and I’ve been baby sitting for a while, and yeah kids are cool but I’m glad I don’t have any of my own.
Art is just hard at times because of the unpredictability of my life ATM. There are a couple of people I draw with at times and it’s always more fun to draw with other people.
I have been trying to make some money by buying cheap stuff on Craig list (Skate boards and bikes mostly) and trying to fix ‘em up and sell ‘em…
But with the economy the way it is it’s hard to sell anything.
I found out some of my old PS1 games are worth a fair amount of money, like I still have a copy of The Misadventures of Tronne Bonn, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Strider 2, which it turns out are all worth a fair amount of money even without cases, and even though I LOVE playing those games (Strider 2’s kinda “eh”) I need money more than videogames.
I’ve been trying to find a new place to move because I need to be out by the winter, but without a job or steady source of income, it’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I’ve been getting LOTS of requests for commissions but they’ve all been for HUGE images some times or 5 images series’s at a time with complicated complex backgrounds.
On the good news front I’ve posted a few MLP themed pics online and they have just EXPLODED online one got over 250 favorites on DA (a lot for a li’l ol’ guy like me) I have a couple more that I need to finish.
The reason I don’t update much is because there just isn’t much to say about what’s been going on accept that not much has been happening. |
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| Raffle VS Donation Drive |
[Mar. 5th, 2012|01:08 pm] |
Well once again I try something….
And once again it has NO CHOICE but to fail.
I didn’t know Pay pal doesn’t like “Raffles” I’ve seen TONS of people do them before…
But for some reason when I try it every one becomes “the Morality Police”, now I haven’t heard anything from Paypal or anything but most people are saying they’ll donate when “I find another way to get the donations”
Yeah the “Raffle” part is just a benefit of donating….
One thing I’ve learned trying to sell stuff online is that the moment you have to Explain ANYTHING you lose sales.
It’s hard enough to try and sell stuff online as it is, now I have people thinking I’m trying to lie and steal simply because I didn’t know there was some policy hidden in fine print somewhere in the thousands and thousands of lines in the Paypal TOS!
And even those who do agree with me still wouldn’t want to pay if I woudn’t get the money
Once again I have to use the phrase that best seems to describe my life!
“Oh well I guess!”
Any one have any suggestions of what I can do?
Should I try E-Bay again?
I have had SO MANY messages saying they’ll pay so much for these boards, and then when I say I’ll get started they just flake out.
I even had one dude quote me a price saying he will pay I told him I’d get started and he started asking for a lower price.
Then before I could even respond he saw that the Pinkamena board I made sold for 60 bucks on e-bay (I could go on and on about how E-Bay SCREWED me on that deal) and started asking if he could get a board for that much.
And all that and he wanted me to make a RAINBOW DASH board for 60 bucks!
The character with the MOST colors in the whole show and he wants it for less than the cost of paint and taping materials alone.
I’m just trying to make a living here and I’m running out of ideas! |
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| DJ Pon-3 Downhill board Donation Drive |
[Mar. 4th, 2012|10:35 pm] |
Well I'm going to try something a bit different this time.
I have been trying to sell my skateboards and yeah they "sell" but it's hard for most people to shell out big bucks to buy one.
SOOOOOOO
What Imma gonna do is try something a little different.
What I have here is a COMPLETE custom painted DOWNHILL board (basically a long-board but MORE awesome) with griptape trucks and wheels with Vinyl Scratch A.K.A. DJ Pon-3 hand painted on it.
And rather than sell it I'm going to hold a Donation Drive!
Yeah a donation of 2 bucks gets your name in the hat to win and receive this board your self.
To enter the drawing donate here!
I'll need AT LEAST an e-Mail to contact you with, and avoid the word "raffle" when you donate as I've heard that gets flagged!
I haven't worked out the full logistics yet so I don't have an and date yet!
One thing to note is that if I make only a little I have to give up on the idea so I NEED to make something just to pay shipping!
BUT I will tell you if I make over 500 bucks on this I'll paint my bike the colors of Rainbow Dash and video my self riding it at the local Skate park! |
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| Febuary SUCKS! |
[Feb. 27th, 2012|12:30 am] |
Well…
Where to begin…
This month has been the worst excuse for a month I’ve had in a long time.
First I got my Tax return… and it was really crappy, after I paid my phone car insurance, and some rent to my sister I had JUST enough to buy a new bike, the blank downhill boards, fill up with gas I had just enough to survive on.
Yah the bike is pretty sweet though, I really do love it…
Yeah and when gas gets up to 5 bucks a gallon who'll be laughing now?
Throw in I’ve been trying to qualify for training and stuff through the employment department, which is a bunch of hoop jumping on it’s own Attending “workshops” and crap that are just a bunch of “how to interview well” and have a “pretty resume” type bla bla bla that pretty much boil down to “If you DO actually find some one hiring you’ll STILL mess it up because you won’t get ANYTHING PERFECT!
Remember you don’t want to have to waist your time filling out applications any more than they want to be reading them, so it’s pretty much a “lose lose” situation.
THEN I thought I could maybe take a break by going to a local Anime/Sci-Fi con and yea it was pretty fun, far from “relaxing” though (I tried to make a MLP board to sell and guess what happened? YEEEEEEAH the clear coat ruined it) and through ALL THIS I have these two commissions I am TRYING to work on, I have one of them “done” I haven’t shown it to the guy yet and it’s SUPPOSED to look epic and it just…
…
Well it just doesn’t and I still have the second to do as well and I just don’t know what to do…
And JUST to make life ALL that much better after the con I got sick.
Now I don’t mean “cough cough Oh I don’t feel perfect” I mean FULL BORE vomiting!
Every time I would START to feel better it would just kick up again, now remember I have those work shops as well which are SO fun when your main concern is not tossing cookies on the guy next to you.
All and all it just sucks right now, I got some cool stuff I want to list on E-Bay (Uuuuuugh there’s ANOTHER headache) that might actually be worth something I found while scouring the second had stores.
Don’t even get me started on how they SCREWED me on the Pinkamena board, but we gotta make a living somehow right?
It’s just hard and frustrating, and I’m TRYING to stay positive….
To end on a positive note, I want to re paint my new bike when the weather gets better any one have any suggestions?
I keep wanting to paint it that military Olive drab, and if ANYONE suggests painting it the colors of Rainbow Dash…
…
Well I might actually have to consider that…
….
SHADDUP
Donut Out! |
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| Skateboards CAN BE art! |
[Jan. 31st, 2012|04:03 pm] |
Dear Princess Celestia
Today I learned something very strange that for some reason in an entire two fandom where they make art out of ANYTHING for some reason skateboards are ONLY considered skateboards and nothing more.
It makes NO SENSE to me no matter how hard I think about it, how a home made plushy is generally sold for THREE HUNDRED dollars bought BY A MAN but you put out a skateboard and the result is always
“But I don’t skate”
At first I just wrote it off as maybe one person here and there just didn’t get the artistic side of the skateboarding industry, I mean it’s not that rare of a concept.
I knew a guy once who had Skateboards along his wall that had his favorite bands on them (My favorite was one that had The Misfits Fiend skull on it) and when you see pics of kids rooms that are trying to be cool you always see skateboards on the wall.
BUT for some reason in the Furry and MLP fandom all any one sees is a skateboard AND THAT’S IT!
Dose this mean that if some one has a commemorative plate they feel this uncontrollable urge to EAT ON IT?
Do they look at a muscle car and go “Yah it looks cool but I’d have no use for it because I don’t DRAG RACE.”?
I have been busting my ass trying to promote my latest Skate board and can you guess what the MOST common response is?
“But I can’t skate”
“But I don’t skate any more”
“I don’t…
Well you get the idea it’s SO COMMON I just want punch ‘em in the face and start lecturing them on art and skateboards.
It is like the BIGGEST thing affecting the sale of my skateboards and it’s really starting to piss me off. I have seen people paint truck tailgates before and you don’t hear people going “Damn I don’t own a truck OH WELL”
I’ve seen people sell Hoods of NASCAR cars signed by the drivers I don’t see people going “that’s cool and all but I don’t own NASCAR race car”!
WHY is it that Skateboards are THE ONE THING that only have one use in the world, especially when they are such awesome pieces of art?
Sorry for the rant your majesty!
Your Faithful student:
The Burning Donut |
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| Bill Maher and Sopa |
[Jan. 22nd, 2012|01:58 am] |
I have tried so hard to take Bill Maher seriously!
He SOUNDS like a smart person, it’s just the words that are off!
When you watch his show it’s all
“Republicans BAD!”
“Republicans STOOPID”
“Christianity EVIL”
“Democrats GOOD!”
I mean he makes Rush Limbaugh sound open minded!
He has supported the Occupy movement, trying everything he can to make it look better than the tea party movement, he INSISTS that the economy has gotten better under Obama…
I sit there scratching my head bein’ all “How can ANYONE claiming to be a political commenter be SO one sided?”
Don’t get me wrong I HATED Bush as much as any one, and I know hating on anything “Conservative” is the “in thing” right now but DAMN, I just can’t see Obama being any better!
THEN I sit there and find out he SUPPORTS SOPA!
WOW really?
He says that the only reason any one is against it “because they want free shit!”
So it has NOTHING to do with free speech?
It has NOTHING to do with handing the government MORE control of the one last un controlled media out there?
Either
A: He lives in the Bubble he claims any one who has anything to do with republicans live in.
B: Is just a huge asshole who says what the group who funds his show pays him to say.
And either way I can’t take anything he says seriously anymore! |
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| My time at the FC yo! |
[Jan. 21st, 2012|11:46 pm] |
All right My FC Experience!
The night before I wanted to have five Skate boards for the art show but literally the night before I left I had to finish the last two and the paint kept blistering up and literally RUINING the board! I would sand the design off and start over re shake the paint cans and let the boards dry under a warm light and it was still happening!
There was nothing I could do so I had to leave with three, it drastically lowered the amount of money I could make but what choice did I have?
Then, early in the morning at the train station, you could tell it was too early because the ladies with kids there kids were too tired to cry and run around like maniacs, they were falling asleep on there luggage.
It was a quite ride ‘till I got to the Portland station where I met up with a bunch of Canadian Furs including Miss Mayhem, and Mikau Seafox,
It was quite funny because they weren’t candid AT ALL about where we were going, they’re all “OH YEAH WE”RE GOING TO A FURRY CONVENTION!!!!!!”
“FURRY this”
“FURRY that”
And you could tell SOME of the passengers were getting that “OMFG I’m scared” look in there eyes accept for this one dude who you could tell was drunk off his gourd.
When we actually got to the Hotel I didn’t know there were two hotels attached to the convention center and I didn’t know witch one I was in, and a bunch of “Oh crap I just got here I didn’t pay attention’ type stuff.
When the guy who had the room I was in Skitzy Cat showed up I ran to take a shower and some how water got all over the floor, I was all “Oh scrap what a way to start a con!”
One thing I’ve noticed is that when I share a room with Skitzy or Mikau is that they almost always have other awesome artists in the room as well!
I was staying with Chip ,n Death and Sailor Anna and Yiffer Fox…
I guess he goes a “Ban Badger” now…or … something….
ANYWAY as the con started there was so much chaos it was a new hotel and they had a lot of kinks to work out.
The first couple of days it seamed people just weren’t in to being very social there wasn’t a lot of drawing in sketch books or anything going on it was like either people were buying stuff in the dealers den and not much else.
I got my spot in the art show I hung and listed my boards in the Art show and I had a really good spot too it was right next to Diana Sprinkles stuff so you know I had a lot of people looking at them.
Also the feed back I got from people was WAY positive on them, just the ones I was trying to sell OUTSIDE the art show was a pain, accept for the Scootaloo board was bought almost INSTANTLY by the same guy who bought my Rarity board at Rainfurrest.
Google Mic the Microphone he dose MLP RAP MUSIC!
One thing that was pretty surprising was the shear amount of interest in My Little Ponies, I mean they were EVERY WHERE almost every artist in the dealers den had MLP themed badges they were selling, even the toys sold like hot cakes!
I even brought the Rainbow Dash water bottle to drink out of and it didn’t even make the first day before it was bought as I was in mid swallow!
Some feedback I got on my Pony themed boards was that more people would be interested if I did regular ponies rather than anthro ponies.
I drew TONS of pics for people over two hundred sketches and such and most likely only two or three were non pony related.
Things really picked up the con continued and I sold ALL my boards and a ton of sketches, (Yes I still have a couple of commissions I have to work on) to pick up on business I started walking around with a sigh that said
“Will draw for food: Starving artist”
The only problem was people were taking it WAY to literally! I mean don’t get me wrong I was eating mostly Ramen to keep from spending money and I was actually pretty hungry, but people start just HANDING me food!
I ate more the last two days than I did the whole com people are giving me sandwiches, cake, bags of potato chips and they weren’t even asking for me to draw in there sketchbooks or anything, it wasn’t what I meant but it was awesome!
Also I printed up my Commission price pic and hung it from my back pack and got a ton of business that way.
Then the con was WAY fun I started sitting at tables meeting and hanging out with both awesome and big names artists it was sooooo cool!
I have to admit I was in fan boy mode for a lot of the con!
As the con came to a close there wasn’t the sad feeling coming from people you know that post con depression?
You know you go to a con and had so much fun and so many people said they would talk to you and commission you when they got home and you check your FA account and there’s…
Maybe…
One new watcher and a comment or two
No no no this time was awesome I got tons of messages comments and all kinds of stuff before I even got home and even on the train ride me and Miss mayhem (Yes I was on the same train back as those doggone Canadians again) were watching MLP on my laptop and she was WAY to good at “Spot Derpy” it was kinda scary.
Now I’m sure most of you know what happened after I got off the Train in Portland
So the con itself was pretty good and I made a descent profit considering how little I time I had to prepare…
Yah that staying at the Hostel and stuff took a pretty good bite out of my profits, and I’m still screwed until that check from the art show shows up.
But that aside it was still awesome and it would be cool to actually be able to PLAN to have a dealers table or something as I was able to do better than most people and I didn’t have a table or anything! |
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| Not back from FC yet and so tired! |
[Jan. 18th, 2012|11:15 pm] |
Well my FC experience was SUPPOSED to be over by tonight BUT thanks to greyhound, Amtrak and mother nature I got screwed!
Yes I had an awesome time at the FC and I will post a better wrap up journal but right now I am staying the night on a Hostel in Portland and It’s NOT a fun experience!
First I showed up in Portland at 4:50 and was going to get a ticket, but they said ALL the roads are closed going ANYWHERE northbound from Portland, so I was all no “No big deal right?
Well you can’t be in the greyhound station unless you had a ticket, and it had to be originating from some where OTHER than Portland.
AND they wouldn’t even sell a ticket until they KNEW that the roads were clear, and even IF the roads were clear it wouldn’t be till 10 in the morning and that was STILL a gamble.
I just bought an Amtrak ticket and still over 20 hours away ay 4:30 in the after noon. And I’m still stuck in a big city I know nothing about with no where to sleep.
So I took the light rail and went to a couple of hotels I was told costed like 45 a night… only they actually cost 75 a nigh AND you needed a credit card to get a room.
I rode the light rail back to the train station and met a Cab driver who helped me find a “hostel” type room to stay in that was like less than a third the price.
And I’m to the point I just want to get home…
I’l post a BETTER recap of the FC soon I’m just tired right now! |
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theburningdonut's journal
