That said, below is the commission queue for all orders (even those completed at the con) taken on during Anthrocon 2010. For better or worse, I didn’t take on that many. I’m still reeling from a trip I took just the day before leaving for Anthrocon (and dealing with food poisoning to boot), so I spent this con relaxing and having fun meeting new people more than working. BUT now that I’m back and resting up, all that should change. >:)

Anthrocon Commission Queue

You can check the progress of your order by using this color code:

None –> Sketched –> Edit #1 –> Edit #2 –> Edit #3 –> Edit #n –> Inked –> Colored –> Shaded –> Final Touches –>Finished

Note: You may not see every step in the above process for your order. You may have ordered a more simple commission, or I may just work really hard one night and get it done in one fell swoop.

1. “Thorn” Bell Badge
2. “Makoim” Digital Badge
3. “Haliegh Zane” Luau Badge
4. “Gerf” Luau Badge
5. “Jace” Luau Badge
6. “Alukit” Luau Badge
7. “Nepper” ACEO sketch
8. “Hush” Bell Badge
9. “Eldar” Ink
10. “Afry” Bell Badge
11. “Odin” ACEO sketch
12. “Lord Grey” full-body, full-color collab
13. “Taisong” colored cardstock sketch
14. “P.G.” Luau Badge
15. “Kaden” Badge with circle template name tag

Thank you everyone for viewing my art at Anthrocon and/or ordering a commission! I greatly appreciate your support!

If you have any questions or concerns at any time, feel free to drop a note via the Contact page. That form goes directly to my personal e-mail address, and I can give you a reply from there.

Summer is here! Time to bust out the lei’s and do the Hula! Since our last collaborative badges, the Bell Collar Badges, were such a success, Rochelle “Digitalblood” Steder and I are offering a new collaborative badge style: Summer Luau!

What they look like:

Check out our sample and completed badges here, and see several examples from our last badges below!

With this badge, you get:

• The artwork:
  • Your character drawn from the neck up, inked and colored in quality, highly-detailed real media
  • Your choice of facial expression (suggestions: cute, sexy, serious, snarling, happy, sad)
  • Your choice of accessories within reason (suggestions: sunglasses, glob of sunscreen, balancing a beach ball on the nose, etc.)
  • Your name written boldly on the colored cardstock (if there’s a unique way you want it written, let us know!)
• Laminated front and back
• Badge clip/key ring attached
• Colorful Lei added that dangles around the neck
• Tropical Sticker added (current choices: palm tree, green leaf, pink flower while supplies last)

Ready for your next con or event!

We can get your badge done in under two weeks from the time we receive your order (in reality, we’ll likely get it done in just a few days!).

Our badges are incredibly sturdy! In addition to the cardstock itself being quite strong, the double-lamination makes them very durable! Great for people who run around or like to suit at cons.

Badge and shipping prices

• The badges are $25 each.
• US shipping is $2
• non-US shipping is $3

We currently accept payment through PayPal only at danalarson111@gmail.com.

A note on shipping: We may ship your badge with the key ring/clip unattached. This is to avoid any possible damage from the clip nudging against the badge during shipping. WE HAVE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH SHIPPING OUR BADGES! They arrive cushioned in bubble wrap and cardboard.

Samples from our last badges

Note: We do our best to give everyone as unique an appearance/expression as possible! Sometimes several people request the same thing, however.

Reviews from our last badges

“Just to inform you, the badge arrived safe and sound today and I absolutely LOVE it! Seriously it’s so cute! The bell idea is genius! Thank you so much [...]! You both did a smashing job!” ~Jezzabelle

“WOO! I just saw my badge picture on here! I LOVE IT! Thanks” ~Beshon

“Just recieved the badge in the mail, love every bit of it and can’t wait to show it off at the next furry gathering I get to!” ~Azlan

“Your Badges Rock! XD I <3 MINE!” ~Polar Joe

“just saw the pic of my badge and all i can say is wow thank you soooo much!!! X3 can’t wait to get it so i can show it off at the next fur meet” ~Thumper

“just got my badge and its so cuuuuute!” ~Chakat

“My badge looks AWESOME! Can’t wait to get it.” ~Starfox

“these were really cute, cant wait to see your next style” ~Truevampiress

“Oh yay, so glad to see mine finished! I’m excited to have a jingly badge, thank you guys!” ~Idess

Want one? Tell us here!

Current Queue

You can track the progress of your badge with this color code:

Order received –> Payment Received –> Sketched –> Inked –> Colored –> Re-Inked, Cut, Cardstock on name added –> Laminated, Lei & Tropical sticker attached –> Shipped

Note: You may not see every step in the above progress for your order. Usually we just work really hard and get the whole process done in one night!

1. Micheal S. “Kodyax D.” [Ready for Anthrocon]

1. T. Leap “Starfox”
2. Cassandra G. “KaiChanti”
3. Steven H. “Sun”
4. Crystal C. “Lakota”
5. Tyler “Rei”
6. Rachel “Kura” R.
7. Michael M. “Mangi”
8. ______
9. ______
10. ______
11. ______
12. ______
13. ______
14. ______
15. ______

Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to view our badge offer and our art! We look forward to making these unique badges for you! Please share with your friends!

The form above is to place a formal order, but if you want to leave a comment or helpful critique, feel free to use the comment space below.

Last weekend my friends Rochelle and Andrea attended FCN, or “Furry Connection North,” all the way up in Novi, Michigan. It was a 6 hour drive each way, we slept about 4 hours each night there and are now left thoroughly sapped of energy. Though, I take that as the mark of a good convention. Per my last con report (and the first of many I hope to do!), here is a run-down on my experience along with some photos I took.

As a disclaimer, I want to note: Rochelle, Andrea and myself do not draw or distribute any unsavory materials, nor do we engage in any illegal or unsavory activities besides having a few too many now and then.

And a particular highlight this blog has that I hope to continue at further conventions is a collection of furry license plates or car decals I found. I don’t know why I enjoy taking pictures of such things, but I guess after the first one I saw at MFF I found the concept absolutely hilarious.

Anyway, here’s a rough break-down:

Room + Roommates

I roomed with VooDoo, Dearc, Aheria and Kash, and the whole situation turned out absolutely wonderful and far better than I had expected. I met these guys at MFF and talked to them online, but of course rooming with someone is an entirely different experience. They brought lots of food, a toaster, extra blankets for us, showering equipment, and we were all awake and asleep at roughly the same times. It was just a perfect set up and more than I could ever ask for.

The first night I ended up falling asleep laying on only a towel. My back was destroyed for the first half of Saturday as a result. :’-( But other than that…and, well, getting only 4 hours of sleep each night…things were good.

Artist Alley

The artist alley greatly upset me at this con. Now, I don’t know if I’m ’spoiled’ from landing a spot with no problems at MFF, but in my opinion the set-up at FCN was horrible. There were incredibly few tables and spots set up, which was especially frustrating when it was obvious many more tables could have easily been added. In fact, two table spots remained empty for hours until I got a little snippy and convinced those running the Alley to open them up and choose from the lottery of people waiting.

Rochelle and Andrea and I all got in on Friday (they got in first and then I got in after an hour’s wait). Friday Rochelle and Andrea again got in, set up and left me with really no one to talk to or anything to do. Although I had signed up the night before, people who had signed up that morning “won” a spot instead of me, and again people besides myself kept winning spots even though I kept checking in every half hour. I understand there is a high demand to get tables and not everyone can get a spot at every convention, but it was just all-around an extremely unfair and poorly set up situation that left me in a very sour mood for most of Saturday.

Although, there was some good to the situation. I set up my own spot with my supplies in the lobby with a mock “Back-Alley Commissions” sign and ended up getting a surprising amount of hits out there. A group of people stopped by and thought what I was doing was pretty funny and enjoyed my style, and they commissioned me there on the spot. Best of all, Venaul, whom I met at MFF and did a badge for, ran into me and sat with me for an hour or so and kept me company. He also did a great job of flagging people down to my table to check out my art. To the left is an ink I did for “Amma” of an 80’s hair femme husky. Strange request, but a lot of fun to do!

Unfortunately after a few hours of being out there I got yelled at by staff to take my sign down, but at least I was left with a enough to do and some people to talk to. A bit after that I finally got a table and a few “legit” hits while in the Alley.

Lobby

The lobby at this hotel was a blast to hang out in, and in fact I spent most of my time there. The set-up was pretty cool with lots of tables, some open space, some lounge area and a bar accessible on all sides. Rochelle, Andrea and I often found ourselves drawing our commissions or other doodles down here, attracting randoms to talk to us and buying a round of drinks at the end of the day to wind down. Best of all, lots of people in costume kept coming through giving us something amusing to watch. One guy in a bunny outfit had a giant speaker attached to his back and was playing hits from the 80’s on the first night.

Dealer’s Room

This was also a disappointment compared to MFF. This was a small, cramped room that felt more like an Arabian Bazaar than a convention dealer’s room. Nonetheless, there were some interesting wares there, including a comic salesman who had a used copy of BlackSad sketchbook, which I eagerly shelled out cash for. I first discovered BlackSad when it was on display at my college’s library during their comic theme month and fell in love with the art.

Dance

The dance at this convention rocked the socks off MFF’s, and I only went to the Friday night one! (I heard Saturday’s was even better, unfortunately I missed it) The music was great, there were lazer lights, a fog machine and all kinds of neon light graphics. My only gripe was that it was a tad too dark to really see…well, anything! But it was still a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I didn’t take many pictures, but there’s me dancing with Fuego!

Oh yeah, after the dance we took advantage of this abandoned dry-erase board. I mean, that’s what happens when you leave a dry-erase board, complete with markers, at a convention full of artists! The next morning I found the woman running the actual massages and she actually enjoyed the artwork for her sign. She erased the rather, uh, profane parts, but felt the art helped attract more people to her set-up. Hey, it was fun to do! Feel free to request it anytime!

We noticed the next night that even more artists caught on and violated the board! They should definitely put up more of these at cons, it was a lot of fun. We wrote and drew some ridiculous stuff and had laughs all around.

Parties

After Artist Alley and hanging out in the lobby getting commissions done for a few hours, we were invited to a room party in 337 that apparently drew in a lot of people. They had a cooler full of a mixed drink they named “Slurm” (just alcohol and Mountain Dew, this wasn’t that kind of party!) and it was delicious! We met even more awesome people and had a blast.

A handful of guys we spent most of our time with (until, gawd, 4 a.m. I think!) were particularly awesome. They had hilarious stories to tell and I learned a lot about web design from one fellow continually breaking out in a British Accent. I really wish I captured their stories on camera, because I was simply dying. I can’t really elaborate too much of what they said here, but uh…just take my word for it.

This costume was amazing with the LED lights. Very cool effect, especially outside in the dark.

Instead of partying, Rochelle found it imperative to work work work on commissions. So, any of you people out there looking for an intensely dedicated artist, definitely check her out!

Overall

Overall, amazing experience. Much more social than MFF; I can’t remember a time I heard more hilarious stories and laughed harder in my life. It was great meeting new people, seeing all the artwork and costumes and hanging out until 4 a.m. like I used to in college. Definitely a great break from things, although I am beyond exhausted now from the lack of sleep! So, my apologies for not writing this with a more dramatic flair!

Thank You!

I am sending a formal e-mail to everyone who commissioned me, but to those and anyone who talked to me, told me a story or joke, commented on my art, danced with me, let me room with them, partied with me, hugged me or just hung out, THANK YOU! This con was definitely a blast, and I hope to attend many many more.

I was to give two particular shout-outs: First of all, the fellow who bought me a few drinks and showed me his web design stuff, please send me an e-mail! I want to hear more about your design and learn more tricks of the trade.

And to the person who asked for an autograph from me (haha, I’m “known” in this fandom?), please leave a comment or send me a note! I’d love to make an icon for you! Asking me for my signature totally made my day!

Alright, and without further ado, FURRY LICENSE PLATES!

Furry License Plates

Movie: Dreamwork’s How to Train Your Dragon

See it or save your money: See it in IMAX 3D, and don’t settle for less.

In short: Amazing movie with some adorable, some genuinely fearsome creatures. Very inspirational for the artistically-inclined.

In long: Dreamworks has always released great films in both animation and live action, but I never actually started favoring them over Pixar, Disney and other studios until I saw Kung Fu Panda and shortly after purchased the art book. Compared to both Pixar and Disney, Dreamworks is a humble studio and yet one with original, memorable characters, with fresh, laugh-out-loud humor and perhaps one of the most unique styles on the planet. After seeing Dragons, I thought back on Kung Fu Panda and the Madagasgar films, among others, and have concluded that, for me, they are currently the leaders in animation entertainment.

Now, anyone like myself who like animals and fantasy creatures would of course want to see any movie about Dragons (Rochelle and I forced ourselves through Dragon Wars despite how hilariously awful it was), but what I was anxious to see was what kind of flair Dreamworks and their amazing animation/art team would put on it. Not for a second does the movie keep you waiting; Right from the beginning you see some apathetic, bug-eyed sheep grazing in the field of a small Viking village at night, until a barrage of gnarled, swirling, spikey, smooth, fat and slender shapes start darting through the air and setting the scene ablaze. It’s intense, but not half as intense at later scenes or, especially, the ending.

Before seeing Dragons I watched a movie critic on CNN comment that the characters weren’t as memorable as Dreamworks’ other movies, though I have to disagree. While there isn’t as much time to get a real feel for all the characters as there is in Dreamworks’ other movies (namely since so much emphasis is placed on what the audience came to see–dragons), there is enough time given to each character for you to pick up on their overall personality and quirks and for you to care about what their next move might be.

I will say that I found Hiccup, the human protagonist, annoying enough with his nasal voice and Dreamworks’ classic nerd-trying-to-fit-in nervous tics (ok, so Dreamworks does have one overused persona), that he was quickly forgettable. Thankfully, Hiccup grows some spine by the end of the movie and you do end up rooting for him and feeling sympathetic to his outcome in the end (which I won’t give away!).

Flying Scenes: Dragons vs. Avatar: I saw this movie with my buds Rochelle and Andrea, and Andrea noted that she had read a review that Dragons’ flying scenes were even better than Avatar. With Avatar being a movie I deeply fell in love with despite having nearly zero originality to it, I will say this about the flying scenes.

Avatar’s flying scenes were amazing and special to watch because everything about them looked so real. The Banshee Jake flies has eyes that twitch around scanning the sky like a real hawk, you can see Jake’s hand patting the realistic texture in its skin. On top of this the world of Pandora was one viewers were begging to see from the sky from the get-go with the enormity of its forest and the mysterious beauty of the floating mountains. Yet the entire time, these flights and Jake’s taming of the Banshee and the “Last Shadow” are completely, undoubtedly expected by the audience. Avatar completely failed to make the taming or flying of the beasts tense in any way. Even when Jake initially falls off the cliff, unable to control his Banshee, we all share a collective yawn knowing he’ll have it figured out soon.

Although the previews to Dragon showed the kids flying the beasts, Dreamworks gives the main dragon character, Toothless, such a strong, unique and cat-like personality that you often doubt if Hiccup will really be able to fly him unscathed, if at all. Toothless is initially handicapped with a torn-off tail wing in the beginning of the movie, and as Hiccup brings him food, gains his trust and ultimately attempts to repair his wing, you are waiting and hoping for him to get up in the air again and show us what he’s got. On top of all this, Toothless is given such a dark reputation from the Vikings (unlike Neytiri’s meager warning in Avatar that the Banshee might try to kill whomever attempts to tame it…pfft, big deal!), you constantly wonder if he will ever show his dark side against any of the humans again, or if Hiccup will be able to harness his powers.

Dragons has long, beautiful and varied scenes dedicated just to flying. These scenes are absolutely fantastic, and not once does it ever feel gimmicky. They fly through the woods, over the ocean, into the sunset and almost into outer space.

In terms of which is better, it’s hard to say. They are both arguably very different movies. Dragons makes you feel more emotionally connected to Toothless and his renewed ability to fly, and the fact that the movie is animated leaves some license open to flying into over-beautified, artistic scenery. Avatar wows you with the realness factor. I have said countless times that Avatar feels more like watching a National Geographic special than an imaginary world.

So, for me, I’d have to say the flight scenes are a tie. What do you think?

My favorite dragon: After the movie, we headed to the local Wal-Mart after being handed a pamphlet about the exclusive toys. Needless to say, we splurged a little.

We all got a Toothless toy (of course), but I added a “Deadly Nadder” to my collection as well. This was my favorite dragon in the movie. It had a goofy face on a wyvern body, with bright, parrot-like colors and a birdlike personality to match. To me, it had the most interesting design of them all.

Which was your fave? Let me know!

This movie definitely left us all feeling very inspired. Expect to see some sweet dragon drawings popping up soon!

We’re sorry to disappoint, but fret not! We will be offering a NEW, summer-themed badge style very soon! Stay tuned and look for a new ad to be released on FA!

If you have ordered a badge any time before April 30th, regardless if you have paid or not, you can and will STILL get your BELL COLLAR BADGE (once you pay, if you have not already). In addition, Bell Collar Badges may be available at Anthrocon and possibly Midwest Furfest (other cons TBD). As usual if you have any questions, just send us a note!

Rochelle Steder is currently open for other kinds of commissions if you are interested. I (Dana) have a waiting list for other, non-badge commissions if you would like to get on that (refer to my “commission information” page).

Hey everyone! I’d like to announce a collaborative art project between Rochelle “DigitalBlood” Steder and myself. We are offering “Bell Collar Badges!” The badges feature your character’s portrait from the neck up, a collar of your color choice, your character’s name, a badge clip, lamination and a real, jingling bell!

On this page you can see what they look like, read all the details about them, and leave a note to place an order if interested.

What they look like

Please click this image for full-view to see what the badges look like both ‘plain’ and laminated with the clip and bell:

For more samples, look below our queue list at the bottom. We post all the completed ones there.

As you can see, we both put a lot of detail and care into these!

Our process (and real, jingling bells!)

They are drawn and inked by me on smooth Bristol stock with Micron inking pens, colored by Rochelle with quality markers, and laminated. We attach a clip and sew a bell on and they’re good to go!

The bells really do jingle! They are not loud and obnoxious, but if you clip the badges on your pants and walk around, people will definitely notice!

With this badge, you get:

• The artwork:
  • Your character drawn from the neck up, inked and colored in quality, highly-detailed real media
  • Your choice of facial expression (suggestions: cute, sexy, serious, snarling, happy, sad)
  • Your choice of collar color
  • Your name written boldly on the collar (if there’s a unique way you want it written, let us know!)
• Laminated front and back
• Badge clip attached
• Real, jingling bell sewn on!

Ready for your next con or event!

We can get your badge done in under two weeks from the time we receive your order (in reality, we’ll likely get it done in just a few days!).

Badge and shipping prices

• The badges are $25 each.
• US shipping is $2
• non-US shipping is $3

We currently accept payment through PayPal only at danalarson111@gmail.com.

A note on shipping: We may ship your badge with the clip unattached. This is to avoid any possible damage from the clip nudging against the badge during shipping.

Want one? Tell us here!

This particular badge offer is now closed. We’ll be offering a new badge style very soon!

More samples of our work

More samples of Dana’s inks:

More samples of Rochelle’s marker work:

Even more available on FA.

Current Queue

You can track the progress of your badge with this color code:

Order received –> Payment Received –> Sketched –> Inked –> Colored –> Re-Inked, Cut, Laminated –> Clip and Bell attached –> Shipped

Note: You may not see every step in the above progress for your order. Usually we just work really hard and get the whole process done in one night!

1. Lady Sin
2. Andrew “Kristjian” M.
3. Reddy Wolf
4. Jenny M
5. David G.
6. Troy M.
7. Taylor S.
8. Arty B.
9. Douglas P.
10. J Hitchcock
11. J Hitchcock 2nd
12. Jordan L.
13. Metatsopholies
14. Bradley “Braduz”
15. Chrissy M.
16. M. Sherwood
17. T. Leap
    
18. Brian “Crafty Fox”
19. Luke “Frosty S.”
20. Micheal “Thumper” J.
21. Je. “Tohcat”
22. Christopher “Chakat Winsoar” K.
23. Alex “Fire Fox”
    

(more spots can be added as we receive orders)

Completed Badges

Reviews

“Just to inform you, the badge arrived safe and sound today and I absolutely LOVE it! Seriously it’s so cute! The bell idea is genius! Thank you so much [...]! You both did a smashing job!” ~Jezzabelle

Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to view our badge offer and our art! We look forward to making these unique badges for you! Please share with your friends!

The form above is to place a formal order, but if you want to leave a comment or helpful critique, feel free to use the comment space below.

Harmony comes with a pretty unique set of tools and rules that make it both interesting and difficult to draw with. For example, the “sketchy” tool creates a pretty realistic shading effect, but it will start shading any time it detects a nearby line. In the examples below, you can see where the tool went overboard and started completely filling in my drawing in black. There is a “web” tool which creates spider webs between the lines (which I used in the joints of the dragon wings), a chrome tool which randomly selects colors to paint with but which ultimately muddles together in a pinkish gray tone.

There’s definitely a lot of possibilities for this tool, especially if erase or undo capabilities are added in the future. In the meantime, give it a try! Feel free to share your results!

Character Name: Zelaphas (zel-LAH-fuss)

Nickname: Zel

Species: Striped Hyena

Sex: Female (originally male, explanation below)

Creation Date: March 2008

Purpose: Zelaphas is my representation within the Anthro Fandom

Origin

Zelaphas was created shortly after the movie The Golden Compass was released in theaters. In The Golden Compass, an entirely alternate world is shown where the souls of humans exist outside of their bodies (as opposed to within, as they allegedly do in our world). These souls take the form of an animal, and the animal reflects the true personality of the owner. These soul-animals are called daemons.

I saw the movie in theaters and became absolutely enthralled with the concept of daemons and the world they existed in. I looked up as much online info as I could on the subject, and found a whole fandom of people equally engrossed in the world created by Phillup Pullman in his series His Dark Materials (of which The Golden Compass is the first book). I remember being up until 5 a.m. some nights during my senior year of college reading this series, regardless if I had a class or exam the next morning.

As I explained in a forum I briefly joined for fans of the series, I found a variety of fun quizes you could take to find your “true daemon,” and one of my results was a hyena. After a bit more research on the animal and its different sub-species, I decided the striped hyena fit me the best. At a glance, their appearance is ugly or off-putting, but in truth they are beautiful, unique creatures. They both hunt and scavenge, eat meat or vegetation, and are solitary creatures some times and family-oriented pack animals at others. All in all, their general demeanor very much reflects my own personality and behavior. Not to mention the association between hyenas and laughter!

Creation

Much like the image above, I researched as many pictures of this creature as I could find. What I found was that all striped hyenas look different from one another. They share the stripes and dark coloration on their ankles and faces, and the distinct tufts of hair outlining the front and back of their necks. After looking through enough pictures, I sketched out a few designs until I created a very distinct look for a striped hyena to have, and one that would fit how I wanted to be represented.

I tend to exaggerate features I find interesting in an almost Dr. Seussian style, and as such I gave Zelaphas such long chest hair it nearly drapes to the floor. In the photos of striped hyenas I saw, I noticed their ears came in all sorts of odd shapes and sizes, and I gave Zel some embarrassingly large and twisted ears as a result. I loved the stripes on the ankles, which I feel make whatever pose the creature is in (be it stationary or in movement) more interesting. I didn’t like how some striped hyenas had stripe overload all over their bodies, so outside of a handful of stripes on Zel’s rear back, the rest of her body is white or grey. Additionally, I wanted to give Zel some features that most creatures don’t have; Most creatures have a lighter underside and a darker backside to blend in with their environment. Zel, however, has a slightly darker belly and a completely black underside to her tail.

I also created Zel at a time that I was venturing more heavily into graphic and web design, and wanted to create something that would lend itself to a particular design scheme, possibly for Twitter or whatever other sites I sunk my teeth into. Ever since I was young, pink and blue has been a favorite color combo of mine, so I used a dull pink for Zel’s fleshy features and a bright blue for her eyes.

I felt the striped pattern deserved some sort of repetition on the face, and thus Zel got some odd, white stripes over her eyes to help them stand out a bit more against the black and dark grey. Although her mane was originally a dark grey, I later added in black stripes to add more interest and color variance to the overall design.

It took a lot of drawing and re-drawing before I finalized the design, but after tweaking the features I mentioned above, I was able to settle on a design that was true to the nature of a striped hyena, over-emphasized per my own style, fairly unique and overall interesting and appealing to the eye.

Bringing Zelaphas to Life

Name

According to His Dark Materials, a daemon isn’t given a name; it has one at the moment of its owner’s birth, and the owner simply knows it. Once the owner comes into knowledge of words and names, it simply looks at its daemon and knows what its name should be. In the same vein, many of the fan sites I visited suggested you name your own daemon, however real or imagined, in the same way – simply think of it, and know what it should be called. Perhaps because hyenas are associated with laughter that I had the word “laugh” in mind, but the rest of the syllables forming the name Ze-laph-as just sort of spilled out.

Gender

Originally, Zelaphas was a male. This is because in the world of His Dark Materials, daemons are the opposite sex as their owners (with a few exceptions). I introduced Zel to the Internet as a male character and as my imaginary daemon, but more recently I decided Zel should instead simply represent myself within the anthro fandom, since I otherwise had no anthro persona for myself. Zelaphas is now simply “me” as a striped hyena.

Use

I’ve grown more interest in drawing Zelaphas and bringing her to life through art now that I’ve finalized her design and decided to use her as my representation. As per my post on MFF ‘09, I used the name Zelaphas for my attendance badge. As I may attend more conventions or other events in the future, I will probably continue to use Zelaphas and proudly display art of her when I go.

Planning for getting there

• If possible, go for all three days of the convention. Although there weren’t too many panels and such at MFF, there was nonetheless a lot to see and do. There are always new people to meet and talk to, plus if you know you have all three full days, you can experience the con at a more relaxed pace instead of trying to cram everything in at once. We spent nearly 10 hours in the Artist’s Alley and desperately drug our exhausted bodies to the dance floor afterwards JUST so we could be sure to see some costumes and crazy antics. Rochelle and Andrea didn’t even get to take a break to see the parade!
• Figure out transportation routes and gas costs. My parents were generous enough to lend me their car with a full tank of gas, so this wasn’t an issue this time. However, if we go to FCN or a con that’s further away from us than MFF (MFF was roughly an hour drive from us, only a 20 minute drive from Andrea’s place), it’ll be important to factor in the cost of gas when trying to recoup that money later in commissions. Also, we had a pretty easy route to take, but still shaved off several minutes when we were briefly lost, plus when we had to print out the directions beforehand. So, know where you’re going and roughly how much it will cost to get there.
• Figure out Lodging and costs. For MFF, Andrea had a relative who lived, as mentioned, 20 minutes from the con. This saved us the cost of renting a room or driving a much longer distance to/from our houses or one of my relative’s houses. If we attend conventions that are further away, we might ask to crash with someone who lives nearby, or if the hotel isn’t too pricey, we might just have to find a fourth roommate to cut down on that.
• Finally, add it all together. Keep a tally on how much this planning will cost to make sure you can afford it and to set a goal to break even against when/if doing commissions.

Preparation for your actual time there

• FOOD! Pack breakfasts and lunches! Pack fruit, granola bars or oatmeal that can simply be mixed with water for breakfast. Bring a box of juice boxes for some healthy hydration. Make some sandwiches and bag them to nibble on later. The less you have to spend in restaurants and the less you have to leave the con to find food, the better.
• Bring everything you need to make badges. Badges seem to be the most popular item to buy at a convention, so in addition to whatever your favorite medium is (inks, markers, pencil, etc.), bring sticker lamination sheets and badge clips. Lots of them!
• Have lots of samples of your work, but not too many. It was sheer luck (Tom Shear luck?) that I even had a handful of inks in my new sketch book to cut out and lay out on the table. They were mostly tiny doodles and one larger, slightly more realistic piece. Yet in the end, this is what sold a lot of people to my work. There was enough to show what I was doing, but not enough to turn someone off from one or two sub-par samples in the bunch, or to think that I was trying too hard, or to make them feel overwhelmed by how much there was to look at. I feel some other artists there turned people off from having several giant binders of their work. It’s kind of exhausting for someone to go through, and if there’s too many options they may be worried how their particular commission might come out. However, I will say that having too few samples (as I sort of did) turned some people off from my work. Find enough samples of your work that really, really show your one specific style that you will use in the badges, so people will know what they will get when they commission you. If you insist, have a separate binder and label it “alternate styles” so people feel they have a choice in how it will look. What ends up convincing people to buy or not is style; Everyone is going to draw their dog fursona with the same colors and markings, but how will yours look?
• Offer some standard priced commissions as well as “cheap” commissions. This one comes from Rochelle. She and I were offering our standard $10 – $25 inks, badges, sketches and marker commissions, but Rochelle also offered $2 chibis. People who commissioned her ended up tossing in an extra $2 with their orders to get a second, smaller version of their character (and they loved it!). As people buy and buy throughout the con and run out of spending cash, have some small item for them to tack on their purchases or spend their last few bucks on. In fact, our last commissioner for the night was a gentleman going around getting $1 badges from every artist at the con. When he approached us, he was at the end of his roll of singles. Sure, it’s only one dollar, but it ends up stretching your bottom line that much more.
• Have an order sheet prepared. You can either get something fancy printed out at Kinko’s, or just use your home printer, but have some standard order sheet prepared. It should have room for the person’s full name, the name (and spelling!) of what they want on the badge, their cell phone number (for reaching them during the con when their commission is done), e-mail (you’ll see why later), and enough room to write in a description of their character if they don’t have a ref sheet. I luckily had my trusty Iron Man notebook to write much of this down, but it would have looked more professional and kept me better organized if I had a standardized sheet to use.
• Have a con-related business card. Rochelle and I were planning on making some biz cards, but so much got in the way and we never got around to it. We both wanted to get the biggest bang for our buck and focused on having more long-term info for the card, but really, having a con-specific card is not only fine, but really, much more appropriate. The card should have your personal web site, any other community/social sites on the ‘net you care to share with others (in the case of a furry con, you would include your FA or DA account). Include your cell phone so commissioners can contact you during the con if needed. Include your contact and paypal e-mail addresses. Have your full name and alias. Include a very eye-catching piece of your work on both sides if possible. Have a stack of the cards spread out on your table so that people are encouraged to take them. Have LOTS spread out at all times so that people don’t worry about taking the last one. Make sure everyone who commissions you takes one (or several to hand to their friends!) so they can reach you.
• Know what events are going on, and what you’d like to see. We were going to do this beforehand, but again our time got cut short and decided we’d look when we got there. But then, of course, we ended up spending our time at the Artist’s Alley and missed most of the events and panels. So if the con releases their event schedule beforehand, print it out and highlight the ones you’d like to see most, and highlight some back-up ones. Now, we went on a Saturday, and much less “interesting” panels were going on, so I feel that attending events and panels is best reserved for Friday and Sunday of the con if you go all three days. You want to maximize your availability as an artist, of course, but you also want to enjoy the con while you’re there!
• Know who’s going! Luckily for this con, we had three of us so that two could hold the table while one ran off to get food or check out the convention. But doing this would be a lot easier and a lot more fun if we knew even more people to tag-team with when leaving to go to the bathroom, get food, attend a panel, view an event, mingle, etc. Even if you only know someone through the Internet, so long as you’re on good terms with them, you should work out a sort of buddy system for watching one another’s tables or attending events. The more, the merrier!

During the con

• Keep a commission queue list. I CAN’T STRESS THIS ONE ENOUGH. I started to do this in my Iron Man notebook as more and more people commissioned me, but before I did I was pretty disorganized. This list should note: Who commissioned you, what they commissioned (ink, badge, etc.), what they paid, to whom they paid (if, like Rochelle and I did, you’re doing collaborations. She and I had some confusion with the exchange of money on our first collaboration), and what time they ordered. This list will help you and your customers know what “order” the commissions are being done in and when they can be expected to be done. It will help you keep track of how much money you’ve made so you can know if you’ve broken even yet with your other expenses, and how much more you want to take on to make a profit.
• Take e-mail addresses. Make sure to get the e-mail address of everyone who commissions you, and try to get the e-mail of those who visit your table. After the con, send a thank-you note to everyone! This is not only professional, but gives people who stopped by a second reminder of who you are and a chance to check out your art again online. Send the e-mail within a few days of the con so that you remain fresh in their minds.
• At around 4p.m., post a sign saying, “Now accepting DINNER in exchange for art!” As evening rolled around, we got VERY hungry. But we felt like we couldn’t leave the table since we had so much work on our plate, and people kept returning to ask if their commission was done yet. Earlier, however, one very kind gentleman gave us some soft drinks in exchange for some doodles in his sketch book. He mentioned to us that other artists were accepting lunch or dinner as payment for food. So, to help avoid leaving your table, make sure this option is available for your buyers. Let them know if you have any food sensitivities or allergies, but besides that try not to be too picky. Also, take the sign down once someone agrees to get you food!
• Work steadily, but make time for breaks. I’m still trying to figure this one out. We worked so hard on so much art that we hardly took any time for ourselves. We were extremely burnt out by the end of the con. The most ideal situation would be to have an actual hotel room at the con so you can run up for a quick cat nap, but otherwise just try to be aware of how much work you’re taking on and what your own energy levels are at. Bring lots of healthy snacks to keep your stamina up. You should have some sign prepared for your table to notify people when you are gone on a break.
• Have fun, be social! We did this at MFF, that’s for sure. We’re very loud, giggling people, and drew in a lot of others to join in on our mischief. There are a lot of asocial nerds (ha!) that go to these things, a lot of people that go alone since they have no other friends with this interest, or a lot of people that are unsure of this environment. The happier you seem and the more outgoing you are, the more fun you will have making friends and the more business you will draw to your table!

Alright, I think that’s a good, solid list for now. I’m sure when/if the next convention I attend rolls around I will rewrite what I have for it. But this is definitely good to get in writing at least while it’s still fresh on my mind.

The next con we may go to will likely be “Furry Connection North” in Michigan. I’m thinking about trying my hand at ACEN just because Rochelle gives it such rave reviews, and one of these days I would love to attend Comic Con and Anthrocon.

Have any of your own con advice? Leave a comment below!

As I said, MFF was my first con, but Rochelle and Andrea had gone to other conventions before, so they at least knew some things about getting thre early, what to prepare for registration, what to bring for the art table should we get one, etc. So, thanks to them, I packed up my bristol board sketch book and Micron inking pens in a simple tote bag, and we drove there at ridiculous o’clock AM (around 9:30).

When we pulled into the hotel, we didn’t see any signs or anything and weren’t sure we had the right place…until we swung in front of the lobby and saw a group of people…wearing tails…standing outside having a chat and smoking. We started screaming and giggling like school girls at the sight of that, excited yet apprehensive about what lay ahead. We found a parking spot, gathered our things and walked towards the hotel. Seeing the tails was one thing, but we knew we were really in furry territory after seeing this:

So we walk in and take a quick grasp of our surroundings. It’s pretty sparse, but a surprising amount of people walking around. We see where the Dealer’s Room is and a few other important locales, passing by people in tails, ears, wings and full fursuits along the way. We finally find where registration is, but realize we’ve arrived too early. So, we hang tight and doodle in our sketchbooks while we wait for someone to show up for us. I spotted this guy catching a nap while waiting for the action to start as well.

A lot of people started piling in and getting in line, so we did too. We noticed very early on that not only were we probably a few of the only people not wearing anything furry (except my shirt, arguably), but we were among the very few girls there. Hmm…

While we waited, more people in costume popped in to entertain us. I’ve seen these guys on Youtube and the like before, but didn’t learn their names until now. Jaggers and Littlebluewolfie were wandering around, offering high fives and the like to other earlybirds. I jumped out of line and asked them for a picture, so they obliged.

We got our badges, and I registered under the name Zelaphas, as per my striped hyena character. I’ve always had something of an “identity crisis” (lol) in terms of my involvement in the anthro fandom. I’ve been Erdraug, Evilinnocence, Industrialwolf, more or less Charles, Danale and now Zelaphas. But I think Zelaphas is a good character to use for events like these, or even for my involvement in the art scene. She doesn’t have to be “me”, but she can represent me, my art, and my…furriness? *shudders* Danale will always be something of a nickname for me, in real life and online.

Anyways, Rochelle and Andrea more or less bolted to the Artist’s Alley and got a corner table all to themselves. I decided not to register since, really, my intention was mostly to be a customer and an observer. In a perfect world I would have planned more carefully to make more art to sell, have samples and business cards ready, etc. I’ve been feeling kinda lackluster about my drawing hobby lately, so even though I knew I’d feel sad not to sell anything while my friends did, I mostly wanted to enjoy the works of other artists and gawk at the costumes.

So while Andrea and Rochelle set up drawing, I found my way back to the dealer’s room and checked out everything that was for sale there. I had no idea how much art, comics, literature, plushies, costumes and other junk the furry fandom churns out! It was pretty cool! There was a big emphasis on industrial and steampunk items there. I probably would have bought some goggles if I felt them worth the expense. The craftsmanship in these things is amazing, so I don’t blame them for the price tags. Just not something I want to spend my cash on right now.

Several of the “big name” artists like Arphalia, Hibbary, Ursula Vernon and others were there (or had tables/merch set up) so I said hi and browsed their works. I found Skulldog, whom I’ve done a commission for not to long ago, and had a brief conversation with her. She was extremely friendly and told me about her con experiences. My family brought me up to have an interest in the business aspect of things, so I asked her how she typically does in sales at conventions like these. She told me that attending conventions and selling art was her job. I was very impressed! I imagine there are rough patches, but overall, to travel around, doing what you love and earning the praise and money of fans for it–that’s gotta be pretty sweet. I made my rounds through the Dealer’s Den again before coming back to buy some prints from her. They’re very good quality, so I’m anxious to frame them and hang them up somewhere.

I also got goaded into some spot selling plushies. The guy running it said, “any species, you name it, we have it! What species are YOU!?” Now, I don’t really subscribe to any otherkin or even real furry beliefs, but I just played along and said I was a hyena. His assistant ran past me and pulled out this big hyena plushie, which was extremely detailed and very well done, even with bendable arms. Of course, it had a price tag of about $60, so I was prepared to leave until I chanced upon an adorable little llama on one of the lower shelves. It had the softest, little curly hair and the perfect pose, and it was only about $8 so I caved.

Back at the artist’s alley, Andrea had already racked up a pretty penny in commission slots, but Rochelle hadn’t had such luck yet. It was still fairly early, though. The con now was much more crowded, and a lot more people started coming through. Including those in suit, who stopped by our table to say hi and look at our work.

“Flux,” definitely one of the best costumes at the con. Really glad he stopped by our table for some pictures and costuming fun!

So since I felt I had seen enough of the Dealer’s Den and not much else was going on, I decided to sit down and offer some moral support to my artistic friends…and try my hand at drawing some things myself. I cut out some old inks of mine and set them out with a lame price tag, and then doodled for a bit. Sure enough, after a while both Rochelle and I were getting hits from a number of people. One of whom was Venaul, something of a newbie to the fandom, who, like me, was enjoying his first con. He commissioned Rochelle and myself for what became our first official collaboration commission, and it came out awesome. He may or may not be able to link the final product, but I at least caught a blurry picture of how my portion (the ink) came out. You can see him in the background to the left.

He was extremely delighted with how it came out.

For the bulk of the rest of the day we sat glued to our spot in the Artist’s Alley. We’re very loud girls, cracking jokes, laughing our bums off and bringing in complete strangers to our conversations. It definitely lends well to the con setting. We had a number of interesting people come to our table. One of whom was the marshmallow peeps guy, Jell-O-Blue. He handed us a business card with his character info – just a marshmallow peep – and told us to have fun with it. He offered us our base price for our basic commission type and took off. Below is my interpretation of “anthropomorphic marshmallow peep” (kinda inspired by Sponge Bob, I must admit) as well as the other art and badges he collected.

The ACEO card with the peep in the top hat, monocle and martini glass is Rochelle’s. Nicely done!

This wolf man that came to our table was a laugh riot. He had a moveable jaw and carried around little plastic men to “nom” on. He was eyeing my new llama plushie with hunger…

After much texting back and forth, I finally bumped into Voodoowolf and her boyfriend Dearc. They’re awesome! They stopped by my table to say hi and chat for a bit. She helped me out with some lamination sheets (like I wrote above, I came very unprepared), and I gave her some of my inks to express my thanks, if nothing else. She told me she had a lot of success in the artist’s alley too, and even saw her art skill improve as she went along. Awesome!

A hound came by to give me a kiss on the cheek…

Much later in the evening, these two guys showed up asking for $1 badges. By this time we had a pretty full queue, and weren’t in the mood to do hard work for only a dollar. But these were excellent salesmen (erm…buysmen?), and convinced us to just do whatever medium and size we want and just have fun with it. And if we learned anything from the marshmallow peeps man, the “have fun with it” commissions are always the best.

His jacket pocket is bursting at the seems with all the $1 badges he bought. Seems to be the way to go!

After closing up shop, we decided to stick around for the dance. It kinda felt like being back in 8th grade. There was horrible alternative rock music playing, everyone was kinda standing around awkwardly, and there were chairs lined up along the wall where lonely people sat hoping the murry purry love of their life would show up and ask them to dance. By this point we were exhausted, and every bone in our body just ached, but we wanted to make the most of our one-day con experience, so we toughed it out.

These costumes were HORRIBLE. We dubbed the guy in the right “Roadkill in Pajamas”, which we later agreed would make a great name for a band.

During the fursuit parade, I noticed a rather infamous fursuit walk by, and couldn’t believe my eyes. This same costume appeared again at the dance. So instead of “Buyer Beware,” it’s “Buyer…ah forget about it, let’s boogie!”

Some time during the night, this cat/fox girl (guy?) saw us standing around and waved us over to dance. We couldn’t tell which of us its unfocused eyes were looking at, but Rochelle took the queue to go over. Andrea and I couldn’t stop laughing at what happened next…

There was also a very young girl with her parents there in full costume! I had mixed feelings about that one… But I give kudos to her parents for being open-minded, not to mention keeping an eye on her the whole night. She looked no different than the kid from Where the Wild Things Are.

This chick in chain mail…well I dunno what to say about her. Too much skin and too little dignity.

And we dubbed this guy the Orca Cat from Space (can’t see in this pic but he has a whale tail). We couldn’t figure out what he was supposed to be beyond that.

And this guy had the coolest hand paws…not sure why my camera went berzerk on the right, there.

We later bumped into Jaggers again – I loooooove his costume! I caught some video of him on the big screen dancing, but later when Rochelle, Andrea and I gave it a shot, we saw him waiting in line and waved him over for all four of us to do it. It was a blast!

Also, Venaul popped in again in the dance room, so I caught a quick vid of him as well.

One very notable thing that everyone who was there can thank us for (lol), is the dance circle! Rochelle, Andrea and I were busting out ridiculous dance moves until we caught the attention of some guy. He was rather flirty but not very good at including all three of us in the conversation, so we quickly waved over a green dog man to join our circle and spread things out. Later a few more people came in to show off their moves, and within minutes we had a huge circle going that encompassed half the room! One by one people both in costumes and without hopped in the center and showed off their stuff. Andrea showed off “the worm” a number of times. I cheered like a mad woman, but it was mostly to get other people excited and get more people to bust a move in the middle. It ended up being a blast.

After that, we left at around 12:30. I know that sounds kinda early, but that’s a 13+ hour day of drawing, mingling and dancing our bums off. We were beat. But it was definitely a blast, and I can’t wait to do it again.

I have some footage of the Fursuit parade (plus my commentary while watching!), but it’s too long for YouTube. So I’m trying to find another way to host it or cut it up. I’ll post an update once I get to that!

I’d just like to end this entry with a formal and emphatically appreciative THANK YOU to each and every single person who said hello, sold me something, bought artwork from me, complemented my skill, joined our dance circle, posed for a picture, told me I looked adorable, or was just there having a great time and being someone awesome to look at. Although I spent most of my time in the Artist’s Alley, I still met a lot of people and had a great time. You can definitely expect to see me at more Anthro Conventions to come!

Comments welcome, encouraged and appreciated! No registration necessary, just chat away!