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AsheSkyler

Martial / Artist
160 Watchers228 Deviations
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Earlier this year a friend asked me to help serve breakfast at a hotel kitchen she manages, but, yeargh, I just don't hold up to so many jobs as well as I used to. Plus the hotel had promised to work with my schedule at my main job and the divorce visitation schedule with my kids (the joys of being the non-custodial parent), but they regularly made me late for work during my busy season, and made me give up time with my kids a few times when they weren't complaining about having to let me off every other weekend to be with my kids. If you're only going to pay $10/hour and provide no benefits, you cannot be that controlling over your employees, and I firmly believe that both as an employee and as an employer who could only hire at $10/hour.


Tax prep is mostly seasonal and I became a notary public to help supplement that and the handful of clients who need it. It has some interesting sub-hustles, like apostille and ITIN verification services. Still mulling over what expansions I want to do. Right now it's simple stuff like wills, marriage certificates, and divorce certificates. Notary Signing Agent for mortgages is at the bottom of the list. Power of Attorney is almost always a hard "no", because usually that means dementia or other cognitive issues are involved, and I send those cases to attorneys in the hopes their rights are properly respected and preserved. As a notary public, my job is to reference a photo ID to make sure the person signing the document is who they say they are, appear to be mentally competent, and thus have the capacity to answer me honestly if they understand the contents of the document and are willingly signing it.


I do not have the patience or attention span for bookkeeping or payroll to add to the income tax office. Every bookkeeping account I've picked up has been a fight because nobody wants to get their receipts to me in a timely manner, and then blame me when their quarterlies and tax returns are late. Payroll went similarly when in instead of a 48 hour drop off beforehand as I required, the client would call me when the employees were hours past time to be paid and scream at me for not doing their payroll now, even if it meant I had a client at my desk.

Art and writing has been increasingly neglected since 2020 and arguably kaput since 2021 when my personal life got turbulent, excluding commission work, which even that got rocky this year due to more turbulence. If life stays stable or I get better at rolling with chaos, I'm thinking about getting started back into the creative world with this year's Inktober prompts. I have finally accepted my brain will not function for art outside of 2pm-4am, so that is now my 2nd/3rd shift job. However, my brain is very technical in the mornings, and the website needs serious work. Also considering putting up framed prints with links to my Zazzle shop and commission offers in the waiting room, and actually get back to making art prints and taking nature photographs again. I have a hiking buddy now and can regularly get our for photography again.


Karate has taken an uptick and I'm usually doing a minimum of four hours per week. Jiu jitsu has slacked off. Earlier this year I had a knee injury from an overly enthusiastic kneebar and had to take three months off. The same drama that derailed commissions also knocked me out of jiu jitsu again for two months. Currently classes are only at 5am, and that's hard to get to when you're also being kept up all night with work. I tried going back once last week, and tweaked my back going against a heavyweight who needed a partner, so fingers crossed I can start back in August and have enough time to prepare for the Chattanooga tournament in September. My sparring partner and I are going to try to start running this week for general fitness and for the karate tournament in August. I've got black belt testing in November and I need the extra oomph for that too.


So, yes, busy busy. But happy enough.

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Commission Info

6 min read

Anything else you want to know that isn't listed here, just ask!

Rules

Accepted Subjects and Content

  • humans, animals, furries, scalies, anthros, fantastical creatures (unicorns, dragons, gryphons, merfolk, etc.), cryptids, mecha, vehicles, architecture, landscapes, calligraphy

  • There is very little I won't tackle. Try me.


Unaccepted Subjects and Content

  • copyrighted subjects (i.e., Simba from Disney's The Lion King)

  • celebrities and public figures

  • hateful or disrespectful content

  • gore and/or graphic violence (sport fighting such as MMA is fine)

  • certain religious themes (i.e., Christ's apostles, Tarot card designs, etc., however, religious expression such as a grandmother holding a rosary or divining is fine)

  • erotic fetish art

Process

I send regular updates throughout the creation process.

  • Sketches. After initial contact and discussion, I begin sketching. Sometimes only a single sketch is required, sometimes I send several sketches depending on the number of changes requested from the original photograph. Creative and design works often have a few days or weeks dedicated just to preliminary sketches.

  • Linework & Details. Now that the basics are good, I start to flesh it out. And make a few adjustments as necessary, such as the shape of an eye or details of a finger. Typically I am only asked to make minor adjustments at this stage since the sketches took care of the major items like clothing, body position, and background items.

  • Colour. If you wanted color, I begin this step.

  • Fixative. After all tweaks, adjustments, and changes, we're down to the final part! I spray the drawing with a matte fixative so it won't smudge.

  • Delivery. Any digital downloads requested are sent securely. Any physical artwork is carefully packed and taken to the post office.

Delivery, Downloads, and Shipping

  • Turn-around time varies by size and commission type. Small items like character sketches can be completed in less than 24 hours, while larger and more complex items like a house portrait can take 1-2 months. Completion time is also impacted by my commission wait list, day job, personal life, and martial arts training. I will keep you posted about your order.

  • All commissions have a high resolution (600dpi) digital download available.

  • If the commission is created traditionally on paper, the commissioner may receive the original if they pay for shipping. Unless specified otherwise, shipping is free for USA, and $10 for international.

Policies & Copyright

  • I retain the copyright to all artwork I create, however, I will not use them for prints or other such reproductions.

  • I reserve the right to display the commission in my gallery, portfolio, on my website, and in promotional displays unless otherwise agreed upon with the buyer, if their account is paid in full.

  • All commissions are for personal, non-commercial use and are not for resale. Please credit me if you post your commission to your gallery, social media, etc. You are welcome to print off your commission for private use such as very large wall art, very tiny wall art, coffee mugs, throw pillows, keychains, magnets, and badges.

  • You may crop your commission for use as an icon, avatar, etc.

  • If possible, please do not send anything below 1000⨯1000 pixels for an 8"⨯10" or 9"⨯12". If all you have is something smaller, I can work with small and grainy photographs, such as an old wallet photo, but please understand it may not be the most accurate work. If you are requesting a sensitive drawing such as a child's memorial, I will not send a follow-up inquiry a few months later if you stop messaging me before committing to the order, even if you seemed to have decided to place an order. I am aware of how painful such a situation is and do not wish to insensitively badger you about your loss.

  • All orders must be paid in full before download and/or delivery.

  • Changes are okay! Do not feel guilty about asking for changes! If I have not yet sprayed the drawing with the fixative, tweaks and changes are perfectly acceptable and are normal parts of the art process. It's okay to ask for them and I am very patient. I'm not going to reach through the computer screen and strangle you because "you have disrupted my perfect artistic vision" or some such silliness. Just please be responsible and don't ask me to do anything drastic like redraw most of the picture when I send the final preview.

Payment

Privacy

Any personal data including but not limited to names, email addresses, physical addresses, and reference photographs will not be sold, shared, or given away to anybody, aside from interactions that are obviously necessary such as providing the post office with a receiving address.

Types of Commissions

All artwork listed below is for graphite pencil. If you wish to have a charcoal, coloured pencil, or tradigital work, please contact me for pricing.

Character Sketches

  • $10 - 4"x6" sketch

  • includes color or gradient overlay on digital file

  • 1-7 days completion time

  • USPS First Class Mail: free!

  • USPS Priority 1-3 Day Mail: $10

  • International First-Class Mail: $2

2016-05-19
2016-05-19
2016-05-16 (sketch)

Character Drawings

  • $20 - 4"x6" drawing

  • includes color or gradient overlay on digital file

  • 1-7 days completion time

  • USPS First Class Mail: free!

  • USPS Priority 1-3 Day Mail: $10

  • International First-Class Mail: $2

2017-02-11
2018-11-07
2020-01-26
2018-11-12

Portraits

No Background

  • $40 - 6"x8"

  • $50 - 8"x10"

  • $60 - 9"x12"

  • 5-10 days completion time

  • USPS Priority 1-3 Day Mail: free!

  • International First-Class Mail: $10

2014-11-07
2015-05-13
2019-12-07

Simple Background

  • $80 - 6"x8"

  • $100 - 8"x10"

  • $120 - 9"x12"

  • 10-14 days completion time

  • USPS Priority 1-3 Day Mail: free!

  • International First-Class Mail: $10

2022-09-10
2016-05-31
2022-12-03

Complex Background and/or Foreground, or Merging Multiple Photographs

If you need me to combine multiple photographs for a single drawing, please select this option as it requires extra time to scale and match the figures and background items.

  • $160 - 6"x8"

  • $200 - 8"x10"

  • $240 - 9"x12"

  • 14-28 days completion time

  • USPS Priority 1-3 Day Mail: free!

  • International First-Class Mail: $10

2013-12-22
2022-09-07
2022-08-04
2016-04-20
2014-03-02 (pencil)

Architecture Portraits

  • $100 - 6"x8"

  • $150 - 8"x10"

  • $200 - 9"x12"

  • 14-28 days completion time

  • USPS Priority 1-3 Day Mail: free!

  • International First-Class Mail: $10

2022-06-29
2021-08-20
2021-06-24
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Round Two

2 min read

Hello again! I'm going to try and give deviantART another go. I'll re-upload a few older works before I start adding newer stuff. Comments are going to be disabled on deviations for a little while.


I guess to properly reintroduce myself, I am a professional portrait artist and aspiring illustrator. At my day job, I'm a self-employed income tax preparer. Riveting stuff as you can imagine, but, it pays the bills and as a seasonal job it gives me the flexibility to do what I'm passionate about the rest of the year. I have two kids, a house full of pets, a growing collection of plants, and I'm a practicing martial artist. I have a black belt in karate and have been practicing since 2006. I'm only a year and a half into my journey with Brazilian jiu jitsu.


Life has been quite chaotic over the past few years since I was last active here and a lot has changed. I'm divorced and five years after that I've started dating again. I have a wonderful fellow martial / artist in my life who regularly does karate, jiu jitsu, boxing, muay thai, t'ai chi, qigong, yoga, and meditation with me. Time will tell if he ever goes public with his own creative endeavours, but until then, it's nice having an art buddy who enjoys a lot of the same music I do. Also very important, my kids like him and he gets along very well with them.


I also post to Facebook, Instagram, and Ko-fi.

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Commission Info by AsheSkyler, journal