Yes apparently I'm a deviantArt rule breaker and was reported for posting a pin-up style picture of the Little Mermaid Ariel.  "A member of staff has reviewed a report concerning this deviation and has determined that the character(s) depicted in a nude, erotic or sexually compromising situation are established as being under the age of 18 in their original context."   I'm sorry for causing dA staff any extra work as I was sincerely not aware that I was breaking any rules since age of consent where I've lived at has always been sixteen.

To be on the safe side I'm going through and removing every other potentially compromising piece from my gallery.  If you come here and find a particular favourite of yours deleted you can still probably find it in my Tumblr sketchblog by searching the tags [link]



On a completely different note, nobody came forward to claim the 99,999th pageview kiriban so next up is 111,111!

First of all, thank you very much to everyone who sent in a request, there ended up being close to fifty of them so congratulations to the three winners of the random raffle, lady luck was with you!  

The randomly picked winners are   and
I will do my best to get your requests done by the end of November!  So looking forward to this too, they ended up being fairly different requests.  As to what they were... I'll publish them as I submit the finished piece.  

For the bonus winner I personally picked as the request stood apart as quite a funny one and it's of a topic I love to draw of.   But it was such a hard decision, lot of you had written detailed and lovely descriptions of what you wanted to see... and also there were couple of requests on topics that I've been meaning to draw fan art of for ages already.

Thank you again all who took part and congrats to winners!  

I did one of these for my Tumblr followers in the spring so now I think it's deviantArt's turn to get one...
basically it's a request week but I will randomly pick three (3) requests from all the ones I get and draw/paint those.

So for the next week, 5th Nov-11th Nov 2012 feel free to send me a note with a drawing request and next Monday (12th Nov 2012) I'll use a random number generator/pull names from a hat (depending how many requests I get) and start drawing them out.

Rules:
- ONE request per person and no changes or swaps.   Any notes sent after the first one will be ignored so think carefully before clicking "send" button.  
- You don't have to be a watcher to make a request.
- Content of your request must be PG-13 and otherwise within deviantArt's submission rules.
- You can request any fandom/original topic you like but if it's something I'm not familiar with I do expect you to be able to link me to some kind of references.
- You can specify a preferred medium or other specific details if you wish, I will do what is possible for me.
- Be reasonable, I can't spend rest of my life on one request. Any notes sent asking for "all main characters from all 50 Disney films eating burgers" or "entire cast of Glee on an A0 sheet" or other somesuch nonsense will be deleted as trolls.
- If you wish to obtain the original of your request you may do so but I will charge you material cost and first class signed postage as that can be up to 30USD (and more) depending on where in the world you live/size of the image.  

BONUS - Aside from the three randomly picked winners I will draw a fourth request that I personally think sounds like fun IF there is one that sounds like fun to me.  

Think that's it, good luck with the random request raffle and looking forward to drawing out all the random things.   If you have any questions, comment on this journal please.  

EDIT: SEND A NOTE WITH THE REQUEST.  I will not consider any request comments to this journal.

Limited commissions are always open, this is the "official" journal I can link folks back to and this should answer some of the most common questions.  Key word is limited, I work on these fairly slowly and on first come-first served basis.   I only do one commission per every two weeks/month, depending on other things.  Please try to have as concise an idea as possible with regards to the size and content of your commission before you even send the first note.  I have two small children and lot of other things to do so I am not always able to check dA daily, please have patience.  

Because I work in a traditional medium these are commissions for actual physical pieces, not just digital images.  As such, I only accept paypal for online commissions and only from countries where postal service is somewhat reliable so I can actually mail your drawing to you.  I normally use "Recorded Signed For" letter service (Royal Mail, UK), if you would prefer a courier service that is fine too but up to you to set up and pay for.   I can work in pencils, ink, fine liners, watercolours or any combination of them (see my gallery for examples) and in any size from postcard to A3. Due to the flexibility of the medium I do not have set-in-stone price structure but to give you a rough idea, something simple with one or two characters on an A4 watercolour sheet would be around 40-50USD, anything more complicated, detailed, bigger etc. would go into the 100+USD range.   I will include package (hard-backed envelope) and postage in the final quote.

If you're still interested, send me a note, talk to me about your idea, what you'd want to see and I'll let you know what can/can't be done.   Do NOT send money until I say it's ok to do so and I'm ready to start work on your commission.   If I agree to work on your commission that means for a brief period I work for you.  I will send you sketches before tackling the final piece and I will do my best to understand your input and make changes you ask for where possible.  And please do not be afraid to ask, even a simple thing like your favourite colour can make a big difference.  Commissions are a two-way street.

I reserve the right to refuse a commission if it's in any way offensive or from a fandom I have absolutely no clue of unless you are willing to provide me sufficient research data to work from.  This also applies to OCs, ships, OTPs, BBQs, WTFs, you know, anything that I might not know about.   Please note I will not be reading 800-page fanfics, if it's a text description it needs to be brief.  I reserve the right to post a watermarked version of your commission in my dA gallery/personal blog.



-Most original artworks in my dA gallery and tumblr sketchblog ([link] are also for sale-
The exception are kiribans and requests (unless the original requesters wish to purchase them).
Sketches and small pieces are 20-40USD, bigger/detailed pieces 60-100USD.  Note me with the link to the one you'd be interested in and I'll let you know.

Oh and if you want to have custom art for free, next Kiriban is coming up at 55,555 pageviews, best of luck!

Congratulations to on hitting the 44,444th pageview, I'm currently working on a wee kiriban for her.  Other than that, my updates will continue to be random... my 10-month old daughter is hard at work learning how to walk so I'm spending most of her waking hours trying to catch her before she hurts herself.

Well it's been a bit of a crazy week for my deviantArt page, so many new visitors and new watchers, welcome folks!  

Numbers flew by so fast that nobody claimed the 33,333 kiriban, next one available is going to be 44,444.  So if you happen to be here on the 44,444th pageview screenshot it, note me with a link to the screenie and I'll do you a drawing request.

Just a heads up, I'll do a kiriban for whoever hits the 22,222th pageview.   
Same as before with the 11,111; screenshot it and send me the proof via note and I'll draw you [within reason] anything your heart desires.  

Woagh that was fast and due to dA lagging or whatever we have two people who both hit 11,111.  o_O  
Congratulations to and !  

I'll be drawing something for both of them once I hear what they'd like to see.

Not done one of these before so here goes.... whoever gets the 11,111th pageview send me a screenshot of it and I'll draw you anything you wish (within reason and nothing too rude to be posted on dA).

I was tagged by : and  

I've been tagged twice now, going to finally answer these but I honestly can't bring myself to inflict this onto anyone else.  Rules are made for breaking.  

RULES:

1->You must post these rules (VERY Important )
2->Each person must post 10 things about themselves on their journal.
3->You have to choose 10 people to tag and post their icons on your journal.
4->Go to their pages and tell them you have tagged her/him.
5->No tag backs
6->No crap in the tagging section about "you are tagged if you're reading this." You legitimately (AKA, really, truly with all honesty) have to tag 10 people

10 Facts about me...
1) I studied classical animation at Ballyfermot College in Dublin
2)  When I was 14 I put together a bunch of my drawings and sent them to Disney asking for a summer job.  Of course I didn't get a job but I did get a nice letter with information about animation schools.
3) I have two children.
4) We're technically not married but I still call my partner my husband all the time, 'partner' makes it sound like we're lawyers or cowboys or something... and after 7 years together all our mail comes in addressed to "Mr. and Mrs." anyway.
5) I dream of going on a holiday to Japan and staying at a traditional inn/bath house there.
6) I'm blonde and pasty-skinned and burn in the sun easily so just as well I like being indoors.
7) My favourite sweet treat are macaroons.  
8) I detest living in a city as you can't see the stars for all the light pollution.
9) I love to drive and travel, airports and train stations are some of my favourite places to be.
10) I'm too old for this.


Questions by
Post these rules:
Fill out the questions asked, then write your own and tag your hoes and bros

1) Who/What inspires you to be involved with art?

Everything around me can provide inspiration, it's pretty random.

2) Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 10, and find line 2. What does the first sentence on that line say?

'I know,' said Moominmamma.   [Tove Jansson: Finn Family Moomintroll]

3) Can you make an interesting anagram with your name (Try it!)?

I love cock(erels).     

4) Is your glass half empty or half full?

It's filled with to the brim with roughly 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases.

5) Do you believe in love at first sight?

Of course.

6) If you could have any job, what would you want to do/be?

Heiress to a fortune or lotto winner.

7) What's your pet-peeve?

Kids who don't sleep when it's bed time.

8) Are you a early bird or a night owl?

Hoot hoot.

9) What animal would you love to be?

If they were still around a giant irish elk would be cool.

10) Take this short quiz [link] Does it really describe you?

Of course it did to some extent as like horoscopes it only described very vague and generic emotions and events that almost anyone can find in themselves.

Three weeks ago on March 30th our gorgeous son Benjamin Aleksanteri arrived.  And I have no idea what's happened to those three weeks.  Time goes forward in 3-hour stints between feeds and nappy changes, I'm barely sleeping but somehow I'm managing to find the energy to keep going at 4am.

Recovered from the house move and settled into Birmingham over Christmas.  Had little siblings visiting from Finland and from Dublin couple of weeks ago.  Belly's growing huge and the baby spends its days kicking my insides like a monkey trapped in a sack. So tired all the time, but also quite blissful.  Had a wonderful Valentine's day with a meal out with David and went to see Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Very good movie but made me cry almost all the way through.  Can't wait to have baby out as I can't move properly anymore and it's uncomfortably big.  Few more weeks left.

... been a busy summer and I don't know what's happened to the time.  

Big news out of the way first if you haven't heard yet, me and David are expecting our first baby who is due in late March.  Due to the baby I've been a bit all over the place, finally made my way up to Edinburgh to see Sean and had an awesome weekend up there.  Me and David have been hunting for a new slightly bigger house to rent and finally found one suitable.  It'll take us a lot closer to Birmingham (we'll become Brummies!!) but it's worth it.  Instead of the 1.5 bedrooms we have in our current place we'll have two big bedrooms and one small one.  It's also only 5 miles from David's work so he'll save tons of time and petrol money. It'll be fun to move house again although a lot of work.

Had the 20-week ultrasound scan last Friday, the baby's growing perfectly but I wish it would grow a bit faster and come out sooner.. I'm already starting to feel a bit like a hippopotamus.  I'm still sketching all the time but not really had time to make proper drawings to post on DA. Hope everyone is keeping well and enjoying life!

-hugs
Taija

First sunny day since I-can't-remember-when today.  Great start to 2008 so far, hopefully the year continues just as awesome.  Missing many old friends and looking forward to a short holiday soon.  Really nothing journal worthy or exciting happening, but life is just wonderful and quite relaxed.

Yes, I'm officially a bum, no longer working, unemployed, made redundant, whatever you want to call it.

Ahhh life is good.

Time to job hunt in another month or so but for now I'm learning how to live like a normal person.  Never working night shift again.

... except it's not really summer, it's chilly and after a week of persistently wearing shorts to work I finally gave up and went back to long trousers.  Grrr.

I'm slowly becoming addicted to DeviantArt, too much browsing to be done and that's not good when you're as easily distracted as I am.  I should be logging on to FFXI for a "Sea farm" in about four hours and I still haven't slept today because this is too much fun (and far too addictive for my own sake).   I cleaned up a corner of living room downstairs and set up my old animation desk, really ought to start drawing more again and playing less games.  Seeing all this great artwork is making me feel inspired again.  I've drawn so little in the past couple of years compared to what I was like in Dublin.  Spent too much time playing games and nibbling David's ears (not a bad thing really).

Booked proper Summer holidays, so will be going to Finland in the end of June for about a week and a half.  I'm looking forward to going over for the first time in uh... four (?) years without there being snow on the ground.  David's never been there in the summer so will be even more of an experience for him.  At work, the union voted for strike just yesterday over pay deals but nobody at my depot really seems to care as none of us will be there anyway when the suggested changes come to effect (cutbacks and redundancies coming our way at the end of summer anyway, I'm opting for voluntary redundancy money and going back to training then but more on that when it happens).  If the strike happens I'll get an extra long unpaid summer holiday, not really looking forward to that at all so hoping they reach an agreement.  Other than that, English Midlands are as quiet as they ever were.