Empyrisan

Hello, everyone!

I hope you all have been well! Been about... a year since I've written a journal entry? Dang... I never really had much to talk about, be it about myself or anything else of interest until just these few recent months. So here, have a bullet list of paragraphs!

P E R S O N A L   U P D A T E S

• I've been generally calmer and happier this year so far than I was last year. It's a huge improvement, since I was in a near-constant state of depression for years prior to 2015. It feels strange to be feeling and thinking more positively about myself sometimes, but it means that I've been directing less energy into self-loathing and more into being productive, which plays a huge factor in me being a little cheerful everyday and remembering to count my blessings.

• Jen and I reached our 4th anniversary together in August! We have been through thick and thin together, supporting each other in any we can, and I honestly wouldn't ask for anyone else to hold my hand and face Hell with me. We celebrated quietly, mostly because we tend to be very private people, especially me, but I was aching to to talk about this since. Thanks to this wonderful lady, I'm still here and trying to improve myself.

• Jen is also running a Steven Universe fanblog on Tumblr , of which I'm a co-admin and content organizer of! We blog and reblog anything SU-related, from fanart to silly screenshot edits that amuse us, including our own fanworks! Jen tends to favor writing fanfics while I'll be doing fanart. We're also Rupphire shippers, so watch out! If you have some fanwork that you'd like us to reblog, send us a link to your post in a fanmail and we'll take a look! And if you like the blog, please follow us!

• My computer dilemmas never seem to end. Since January, my desktop has taken up the habit of shutting down anywhere between 30 mins to 3 hours on average. Quite frustrating while I'm working on digital art; sometimes I lose my progress and I'm forced to take a break until the computer cools down. Plans to upgrade or get a new computer have been put aside for months, but I will aim to change that this month if things go well. I really, REALLY want to do more than 4 hours of artwork per day...

A R T   U P D A T E S

• Started doing freelance artwork for Flight Rising since June and I've been really enjoying it! What's Flight Rising, you ask? It's a magical place for dragon lovers who like to dress up colorful dragons!

• Got accepted into Pacific Arcana, a collaborative tarot card deck project based on the film Pacific Rim, organized by explodinghye. A Kickstarter will be held to fund the printing and all extra proceeds will be donated to the Larkin Street Youth Foundation. I completed my illustration, but I won't be sharing it publicly until the Kickstarter is live on September 20th. Do consider this project! Plenty of beautiful illustrations were created for this project and I can't wait to get my copy of the deck!

• Today, I got accepted into Together Breakfast Zine , a Steven Universe fan artbook! You can read more about the book's current plans here! I've been meaning to do some nice SU fan illustrations for a long time, and now I have a nice opportunity to do so!
• Commissions are open, more or less, but I can only take a few at a time. If you would like to commission me based on any of the examples of pieces in my gallery, be it a colored bust or full-size illustration, just let me know at empyrisan@ymail.com and I'll give you a quote!

E M P Y   B I R B   D I A R Y   I I

Hello again!

Since my last entry in September, I've got my Internet connection back, so I'm slowly trying to get everything together and cleaned up. I fell waaaaay behind my update schedule for posting journal entries, but hey! It happens, and best you can do is get up, catch up, and keep going.

I haven't been too artistically productive as usual lately, aside from working on commissions and art trades, but I've been sketching some creature designs here and there and thought that they might make for some interesting character adoptables to sell. I may post those up this month for all of you to see, and maybe I might even do some Halloween-themed monster adoptables too!

You guys love Halloween, right?!

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C O M M I S S I O N S

So... I've been thinking of taking up "Pay What You Want" commissions (abbreviated as PWYW) after I finish up my current commission queue. I mentioned it over a week ago on Twitter. It's something that I know a lot of artists around here have doing and I've considered giving it a try.

I still have trouble pricing my commissions, mainly because I'm very nervous and tend to think that no one would want to pay a high price for my work. As a result, I always undercharge my time and effort into private commissions and wind up being frustrated with myself.

Images of small dimensions or minimal details can take me about 1-3 hours to complete from sketch to final shading, whereas larger illustrations of can take me 12+ hours. I really want to develop speed and promptness with my art, so maybe taking on commissions of this nature will be a more stress-free than doing flat-rate work. Maybe for the rest of year? I want to see how fast I can work and how much quality I can fit into a single piece per hour.

I would really appreciate feedback on this.  

Flight Rising Dragon Portrait Commissions - Progress Queue List

1. Luunai - Marduk (Complete)
2. Luunai - Diotima (Complete)
3. Krin - Kune and Spinel (Sketching)
4. Krin - Keenan and Sentinel (Thumbnailing)
5. ErianaMoon - Ultandin and Fae (Thumbnailing)

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F L I G H T   R I S I N G

As some of you may know, I play a game called Flight Rising, where you raise a clan of dragons! If you've been wanting to join FR for a long time, good news! The doors will be open for a registration window, starting on Monday, October 13th at 5:30 Server Time until Tuesday, October 14th at 5:30 Server Time! You can read more about this announcement here.

As a reward incentive, if you decide to refer me (Empyrisan) when you register, I'll give you a hatchling from this pair of dragons, Cerebii and Kardio! 



Or whatever it is that you want! Join FR and add me as a friend if you'd like!

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K I C K S T A R T E R S

Poor me is unable to toss money at all of these neat projects I keep stumbling upon and collect some backer rewards, but as always, you can help out creative people by spreading the word of their little labor of love! These projects have yet to meet their funding goal, so check them out!

• MobilePants's Tea Spirit Calendar
• Steambot's URBANCE

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F E A T U R E S

Here are a few favorite pieces I've found last month! I was in the mood for browsing through realistic fantasy paintings...

 
   

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That's about it for now. I hope you all are doing alright!

~ Empy

_Hello! 

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Don't mind me descending from my kingdom of isolation to mingle with you commoners climbing down from my little tree to chat with you all! 

First off, I would like to "announce" that I'll be using this journal for weekly updates (every Sunday) and such, starting now so I can stay active here! I'll work on making these journal entries all fancy and stuff another time. Maybe work on a better title, too, but "Empy Birb Diary" will do fine for now. I figured this would be useful for sharing some important things and whatnot and for staying in contact with watchers who like to comment on my entries. Or if you just want to read and stay updated on what I've doing. That's cool!

I'm sorry for being so... quiet. I'm trying to get over my reclusive tendencies and turn social networking into a bit of habit. I'm quite content with being private, but I'm slowly building up the confidence to start sharing my work again. I went through August without Internet connection at home due to billing issues with the company, but I should have it back this month soon and start reconnecting with friends again.

I've been getting a lot of favorites and watches despite not being active, but I'm really happy for the feedback, be it comments or favorites. I may not have the time to thank each and every one of you all personally, but I really appreciate it! I've said this hundreds of times before, but I don't think I can ever say it enough! In return, I'm slowly kicking laziness aside to tell you how awesome your art is and leaving bits of critique if you like that. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.


T W I T T E R

I've been using my Twitter more often now, and since I've taken it out of private mode after a couple of years, I've been looking to follow some new people. If you have a Twitter, feel free to follow me! There, I post little ramblings, notable moments and events, and things that interests me. Once I have Internet connection at home again, I'll post photos, be it about my little adventures or work-in-progress shots of my artwork!

C O M M I S S I O N S

I can't say when I'll be able to take commissions again, but I do hope it's really soon since I really enjoy drawing other people's characters! I have a bad habit of taking up new commissions when I still have old ones to finish first, so I really ought to get those done before I can offer and accept new ones again! I'll be using this week to work on commissions for this list of folks from Flight Rising and crossing out the names as I finish the artwork. Sorry to keep you guys waiting!

1.) Luunai 
2.) Luunai
3.) Krin
4.) Krin
5.) ErianaMoon


F E A T U R E S
I've been meaning to make art features a regular, weekly thing on my journals by sharing some inspiring artwork I find in my inbox and while browsing around DA! Perhaps 6-12 per week? Some of these are older pieces and some are fairly recent, but I do enjoy them! I hope you artists don't mind being featured every now and then!

Take a look at these lovely pieces:

   
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That's about all I have to say for now, and hope you all are doing well! Maybe tell me how things are going for you?

A few of my New Year Resolutions: