I think I've mentioned a couple times before that of late, I listen to audio books more than music when I draw these days. Having a story told to you makes sitting still for 4-8 hours much less of a chore! As my budget for audio books is not huge, I've been taking advantage of some of the free podcasts to listen to as well. I thought I'd link a few of the ones I've enjoyed for anyone who's also looking for some listening material.

Writing Excuses - Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy author), Howard Tayler (Web comics), Dan Wells (Horror author)

I highly recommend writing excuses for anyone who's ever wanted to write their own novel or web comic. The podcasts are 15 minutes each and every week they cover a different subject. I found them very entertaining and they give you a lot to think about when writing. Coming from someone who produced 200 page failed web comic out of high school with no plan at all for what was going to happen more than 3 pages down the line, I can safely say that the importance of thinking your story through is something everyone who wants to do a comic (print or web) or novel (I think preplanning is a given there, haha) should consider. You can listen to seasons 1 and two through the archives, as there are too many episodes to have on itunes at once.

12 Byzantine Rulers - Lars Brownworth

A series of podcasts about the eastern roman empire. My friend Erich recommended these to me. The podcast covers the history of the Byzantine Empire by giving you the life stories of 12 key rulers. These probably won't be for everyone, as it is very much like having a (very good) history teacher lecture to you. But if you're in the mood for some learning, they're a good listen.


If anyone has any podcasts they favor and would like to recommend them, I'm all ears. I'm finished with Byzantine and halfway through season two of writing excuses and my stockpile is dwindling fast: Honoes! D=

---------------------------------------

Patch Together - Eurukatt's Butterfly Cobra
Eurukatt recently submitted a rather spiffy butterfly cobra to patch together. Stop on by and comment / vote if you enjoy it and would like to see this made into something fancy and tangible.

Warning: Shameless self promotion

I opened up a NeonDragonArt.com etsy shop for discontinued or limited quantity items. Etsy is very easy to use, and I am very excited about it. In the etsy store you will find some con-only items, discontinued (and thus discounted) items, and some popular items from the neondragonart store.
( Etsy photos and more info under the cut )

( Ramble about crafts, glass pendant necklaces, and handmade soap. Probably rather dull, and thus I cut to save your flist! )

I geek out over dumb things. It's 4AM. I wonder if I'll still be geeking out about soap in the morning; everything's cool at 4AM.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any art communities besides the ones listed below that may be a good place to share my current artwork. The gallery would have to be something that I am able to add to and delete on my own, not someone's personal web space where I e-mail them my images and they update the site. These are the only ones I know of at the moment.

ND @ Artspots
ND @ Artwanted
ND @ DeviantArt
ND @ FurAffinity
ND @ SheezyArt

Thank you!

DragonArt DVDs
For those who keep inquiring when the video workshops I participated in would be available on DVD, the answer is now! I received an e-mail from Impact about a month ago regarding these DVD's, and here are the direct links where you can purchase them should you wish to.


Now you can learn to draw a dragon from start to finish! Learn everything from generic shapes, to specific anatony, and even the minute details. Starting with a simple dragon, you'll progess to more detailed dragon heads, horns, wings, and finally a complete dragon.


In this workshop, J "NeonDragon" Peffer reveals some of her favorite digital art secrets using photo imaging software. You'll learn techniques for digital inking, coloring and special effects all in one place! Includes digital files so you can follow along with "NeonDragon" as she demonstrates her techniques, step by step.


--------------------------------------------------


NeonDragonArt.com Updates.

Store
I updated the Store of the site so that print and t-shirt dropdown choices now have the most current art listed in the dropdown. It was over half a year behind on the artwork that was available!

Oekaki
The oekaki graphic has changed and now features a piece by Sketches. Congrats to Sketches, and thanks for making such great art for our boards! Don't know what oekaki is? Oekaki boards are online boards where users can create and share digital art, all through their web browsers! NeonDragonArt has some very active and creative oekaki users. Stop on over and create an account to begin drawing today!



Gallery
There are 8 new pieces of art in the gallery. I took the liberty of adding quick backgrounds to a few of the spot illustrations for the next DragonArt book. I have about 20 more pieces to add to the gallery in the coming weeks, so be on the lookout for more updates shortly!

DragonArt 3 & Net Absence
I thought I would update my journal just to give a little status update and an explanation of why I have not been around. My book was due October 2nd and... it's just not finished! I'm now in a frantic rush to finish all the content I would like to be included and I've had very little time for the net. Apologies on the lack of replies to my journal/DA/e-mail. I simply haven't been very active online.

Conventions
I'll be attending Youmacon this coming weekend.

Zap! Billy the Squid
Pascalle, creator of Zap! has recently submitted a design to Patch Together. Patch together is a site that creates designer toys in very limited quantities. Artists can get their toys made if they toys receive enough votes and then preorders. If you're a fan of Zap or the unfortunate Billy, then you should head on over and give him a vote!


/random
Umbrella Cockatoos are just about the best. (Sadly I will never have the time and space to own one.)

I colored this guy up while I was at Matsuricon. I'm currently behind my table still coloring, haha. It's a fun con so far. :)



( Full View Under Cut )

Those are supposed to be stripes on his wings, not some sort of bizarre highlighting system. Haha.

Computer Paranoia
I think that these last few months have made me irreversibly paranoid. I now maintain 4 external harddrives... One for the Mac as an automatic time machine backup... One for the mac as a backup that's me just dragging files into it as an archive. One for the PC as an automatic (but difficult to access without a "full install" of the entire archive) backup, one for the PC as an easily accessable file archive.

What's horrible is that I'm considering getting a Carbonite subscription to boot... to have my files stored online so if the house burns down I still have them. I suppose I could back everything up on DVDs and send a set of them to my parents. I know it's silly to worry about things that are backed up on multiple machines, but when both your Desktop and your laptop fail on you and the only thing that saved your butt was your external HDs... that's kinda scary. The external HD can fail too! It makes me think that frequent DVD backup may be something I should begin again.

Digital art is great, but so much can go wrong with computers that the thought of losing hours and hours of work is a little scary. (Especially when some of that work is for a 800+ illustration count book that hasn't been sent off yet.) I can't imagine what I'd do if I had lost everything and my deadline was borked.

---

Faerie Art Club Promotion
I know a lot of people watch me for the dragons, but one of my favorite things to draw was (and still is) faeries. I thought I'd mention a Livejournal community that I've been a member of for several years now. Faerie_Art_Club is a community where artists can share their faerie/mermaid/nymph artwork with others.

They're really a fabulous group but in recent years the club has had less and less frequent posts to it. I thought I'd give it a bit of linkage just in case there are faery lovers who are watching my LJ who were unaware about this Livejournal community.

---

Art Trade
My long overdue half of a sketch trade for Kiliara from two years ago. Haha. Oh boy. My busy schedule is the reason why trades are currently closed. I *DO* love drawing other peoples characters and creatures, so I hope that in the future this changes. But I can't let myself get into the same mess as I did previously. It's utterly unacceptable and very rude to the person you've traded with.

Click for full view.

Yesterday I bought Salizar (my ball python) a new 30 gallon critter cage. I REALLY like the size because all the area of the 20 long to 30 went to ground area. It's very deep and wide. The lid on it is amazing. Previously I had to weight down my lids with books and CD spindles to keep the snakes from escaping. This lid opens on a track and is very tight.

I don't know if he's freaked out or if this is what he would normally do, but he's moving all around and really using the space, so I feel pretty good... I think he's just freaked out... but I'll pretend he's moving around so much because he's exploring, haha.

The next time I get $84.99 to spare I'm going to have to get a second 30 gallon for the cornsnake, Scooter. I worried about a larger tank with her because she's even more of an escape artist than Sal, but I don't think even Scoots and get out of THIS style of aquarium.

I'm very pleased :-) I've felt my snakes were too large for their aquariums for some time now, and I'm happy that they have more space to putz around in. They're not large snakes or anything. Both are 3-4 feet and they won't grow much beyond that... but I like knowing that they have room to climb and stretch and hide in multiple places. The aquariums has room for multiple hides, soak dish, driftwood, and climbing vines in addition to the bedding they burrow in, so I think that it offers them a pretty good life.

Snakes aren't cuddly pets, so they only get out of their aquariums when I'm feeding them, giving sal an extra soak and some assistence getting off the tips of his last shed, or sitting at the computer using them as a snake bracelet or necklace. I try and take them out frequently to keep them used to being handled so they remain calm... but their life is mainly them in their tank, so I want them to be as happy as they can be in that environment.

I'll be streaming LIVE for a couple of hours tonight.

If you miss the stream I should have a couple segments recorded and available on demand in the livestream channel itself :-)

Here's a little something I sketched up this afternoon. There's a unit in the next book on two legged dino/ostritch dragon leg construction and how you need to balance such creatures with a very upright position or a long heavy tail and such. I'd imagine that this guy walks on his wings a little bit when he's idle :-)

Oh yeah, and he's on fire.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Livestream to say hi. My apologies on the multiple breaks and technical difficulties. I'm not supposed to be using my left arm for another two days, strictly speaking, so I'm being bad for taking it out of the sling and I like to give it lots of breaks. The muscles are especially cramped and I cannot fully rotate my wrist or bend my elbow. It was nice to have the company :-)

Here's the final version of that image I was working on. The pattern on the cloth is a mix of layer effects, a paint job, and some Keen Floral Brushes by Hawksmont.

I wasn't especially happy with the drawing on this guy, but now that he's got some color and a sky (that I adored painting), I think he turned out much better than I thought he would! It was a pleasant surprise. Usually I start out with an image thinking it is going to be awesome and get let down when well... it's not as awesome as I had hoped, so the reverse was a nice change of pace!

Right Click View Image to see at full size, or click cut link to see it at full size under the cut. :-)


( Full-size artwork under the cut. )