Happy New Years Everyone!

For now, I'll put the DA drama aside and concentrate on more positive things as this year unfolds.

and I realized we have a ridiculous amount of original artwork piling up and needs to be moved out.

So if you or if you know anyone interstest in purchasing some original published work come by and take a look!

We have all the artwork for Indiana Jones Tomb of the Gods #1 listed up on ebay. Pencils for this book were done by the Great Steve Scott and inked by the awesome Nathan Massengill . With background inking assistance done by yours truly (Now you know why I never update DA anymore).

You can find the ebay auctions here: [link]

Lucas Arts has bought all the pages to Book 2, but we have no info about Book 3 as of yet. I'll update with info on that when we get word about it.

Also up on ebay is the artwork we did for the "Batman Begins Blu-Ray Special Edition" comic. To this day, this is the ONLY movie adaptation comic featuring the Heath Ledger Joker out. It can only be obtained with the Blu-ray edition. The original artwork can be found here: [link]

That is the reason to this day I hate buildings and buses. >:[

We also have a slew of other artwork from different books as well. These books include more work from Steve, a ton of work by the rockin' Sanford Greene , and we hope to put up the work we've done with ever-amazing Dale Eaglesham on JSA #18-22!

Please visit our Comic Art gallery at comicartfans.com found here: [link]

We're unclear about what will happen with the JSA pages as well, so I hope to update with info about that soon!

Have fun lookiing! If you guys have any questions about any of the artwork you see, please feel free to contact me!

-Michelle

Da came back with another photo that I reported as being ok to remain online. Found here: [link]

You know seeing as it's a clear depiction of masterbation means it's worth keeping online.

Thanks DA.

So I filled out another report.

I have been asking for help several times and I keep getting the runaround.

A while back, a deviantion of mine was taken down for "prohibited content". However, as DA's rules stated in black and white, I have not DIRECTLY violated the rules. The rules specifically say that if there is a clear depiction of what is prohibited, it is taken down. My piece did not have a clear depiction and merely HINTED at the idea, but nothing is in view.

I found 2 photos on DA that CLEARLY broke the rules as there was a CLEAR depiction of masterbation. Which, according to DA's rules, prohibited content.

I got a report back saying that the arguement was invalid and the piece remains online.

Please tell me why this [link] and this [link] are allowed to stay up and yet my image [link] cannot?

What rule did I break that these two photos did not? Do I need to clearly depict the contact between my two characters as these women have shown between their hands and genitals?

This is really unfair. I have shown no contact between my characters and these women clearly do. I didn't break the rules and they did.

Why will no one give me a good answer. Please don't repost the "Prohibited Content" rule as a reply unless you can point out where exactly in the rules I violated my rights to post that piece. Especially since I can point out exactly in your rules where those photos did.



I am not going to give up.

So during the week, I decided to test something out and found photography that CLEARLY broke the rules. After acouple of days, DA comes back to tell me that my arguement was invalid. Oh whatever. So I decided to give DA my reply. Back to the Helpdesk we go:

So last week one of my images was removed for prohibited content which I feel did not break the rules in ANY way. By DA's posted rules which I read through many times basically says that if hands, toys, oral, or genitalia come into contact with genitalia, is prohibited. And on top of that, these parts must be SHOWN in the image to be considered prohibited.

The image I did only IMPLIED what was going on. But I DID NOT SHOW ANYTHING.

So I decided to do a test and found photography that clearly violated DA's rules:

[link]

And to quote directly from DA's rules: "Masturbation - Hands should not come into contact with genitalia in a manner which is clearly a display of fondling or masturbation."


This image CLEARLY DEPICTS masterbation as one female sticks her hand down the other girl's underwear making contact with her vagina.

I recieved a note today saying the violation was invalid.

This is what I could argue as being invalid being that you cannot see the hand and vagina coming into contact. If this is the reason why, then that PROVES that my piece was also invalid to breaking the rules. You NEVER see anything coming into contact.

If this photo gets to stay up, then so should my piece. I find this to be absolutely unfair to me because not only was my piece of two males, but it was actual artwork and not real people.

I have asked you where exactly in the rules does it say I violated the rights to post my image, and still have not been shown. You guys constantly reply with a link to the prohibited contents rule, but no where in that particular rule is where it clearly states I broke the rules.

I am highly disappointed with how you are handling this.

Seriously, what rule have I violated that the photo does not?

Thanks DA for your double-standards.

-M

Ok, so I know I haven't been the most up-to-date with my DA account. I am about 3,209 deviations behind to view and refuse to do much of it until I decide to renew my subscription. I have yet to do so since I've gotten so busy to nuture DA with my attention.

I do occassionally check DA because I do get notes from people asking questions. So today when I woke up this afternoon after a horrendous night of inking, I recieved 2 notes from DA staff saying that they have deleted one of my old deviations for "Prohibited Content".

First off, guys, I know not everyone understands the fasination with "yaoi/shounen-ai" themes. I completely respect that. And I also repect everyone by not flaunting it around everywhere I go because I know it makes people uneasy. Hell, I don't flaunt it around my gay friends unless they initiate it. But on rare occassions I do draw such content, BUT I do it tastefully. It's my art, and I'll do as I please.

That being said, a piece I did with a "yaoi theme" was deleted from DA. You can find the image in question here (WARNING: Again, this does have a very "yaoi" theme. I apologize, but for understanding the arguement at hand, please don't give me childish comments about it being "gross"): [link]

Yes it's old and horribly done, but it's mine. I love it just as much as all the other horrible pieces of art I did prior and after.

Now, DA accuses me of posting prohibited content. What is considered prohibited content? Let's take a look at what exactly DA states as prohibited content: [link]

When we mention 'ornographic content' in our policies we are specifically referring to specific subjects which we will clarify below.

We apologize if the descriptions below are slightly graphic.

The following contents are considered unacceptable for submission in either visual art or literature form and will be subjected to immediate removal without notice.

• Masturbation
Hands should not come into contact with genitalia in a manner which is clearly a display of fondling or masturbation.

• Sexual Intercourse.
Subjects should not be depicted in a clear display of sexual intercourse. This includes depictions of sexual penetration, oral to genital contact, genital to anal contact, and oral to anal contact without exception. Some depictions of same sex genital to genital contact and some depictions of oral to breast contact might qualify under this guideline as adjudicated by staff but not all will be considered an automatic violation of policy.

• Sexual body fluids (actual or simulated).
There should be no depiction of semen or vaginal lubricants.

• Erections.
Male subjects may not be depicted with an erection.

• Vaginal or Anal Spreading
Female subjects should not be depicted with their vaginal area manually spread open by hand or manipulated open by any other artificial means. Neither sex should show the anus manually opened in a similar fashion.

• Adult oriented (sexual) toys.
"Adult toys" consisting of dildos, strap-ons, vibrators, etc. are not allowed.


Where is the sexual intercourse? The masterbation? The bodily fluids? Erections? Vaginal/anal spreading? Sexual toys? In no way have I violated the rules.

And on closer inspection: Subjects should not be depicted in a clear display of sexual intercourse.

Let's be honest, there is NO clear display of sexual intercourse. The piece merely HINTS at the idea. I leave my viewer's minds to fill in the blanks. For all you know, the characters could be hermaphrodites. And for that matter, MAYBE THEY HAVE NO GENITAILA.

When I first displayed this image, it had an adult filter warning, a small preview image with a warning label, and a FULL warning to those who may or may not be offended by the image. So unless you ignored all the warning signs, it's your own damn fault you are offended by an image depicting a gay couple.

So unless there is a hidden rule somewhere on DA that I violated their policy for showing the upper torso of a male's body or questionable facial expressions, I stand corrected. I will probably be banned for posting this journal, but I will have my voice heard.

You want to take my image down, but you refuse to take down all the images of people who take photographs of REAL people with extreme close-up shots of a woman's vagina as she lies down in a sexual manner? I personally don't find it appealing, but I believe it is the artist's right to post their work online and I can simply click elsewhere.

DA this is getting ridiculous.

-Michelle

OOOKKKKK!!! This is going to be a VERY long yet entry. So prepare yourselves! AWA is this weekend and I feel horrible that I have yet to make one entry about any of the cons I’ve been to this year, the people I’ve met, or even about the wonderful people I see a lot that are practically family to me.

I would like to announce that as of August, I quit my day-job and hit the freelance world full-force! What does this mean? I’m working full-time as an inking assistant to . The challenges I have in inking are getting bigger. And I’m starting to move from inking backgrounds to doing some of the primary characters! Yay!!! I’ll be posting some of the inking work I’ve done over the past year soon so look for updates. This also means I FINALLY have time to work on my personal artwork as well for a change. Check for art updates soon, including art for a story I’m writing featuring my character, Mobius! <3

This also means I won't neglect DA as much as I have been. Thank you everyone who've come by in my absense that have commented, watched, faved sent me notes! I haven't even renewed my DA subscription since June and I have A LOT of lost time to catch up on. My DA watchlist is 2000+! That's going to take a LOT of work to go through. Yikes!

One last thing before I touch the con reports: I would like to make a special shout-out to and the rest of the wonderful peeps at The Daily Wheel. I recently did an animated interview for their site about what I’ve been up to lately. They are awesome! So please go check them out!

You can find my animate interview here (Good lord, I laugh too much! >_< ): [link]

OK! Now for the fun part: Con reports! I’m just going to report up to HeroesCon. So much happens at each con so I’ll save Otakon and D*Con for an entry later this week.

ACE: Despite attendance I still had a lot of fun just hanging out with people. There was a Iron Munny charity contest where they asked the artists to design a Munny with the secret ingredient being fur. I ended up making a Joker Munny which you can see here: [link] What you didn’t see was the blood I added much later to his pinwheel. Heehee! I have to thank Sean Taylor for the idea as we were yelling across the tables about what we should make out of them.

MEGACON: Rode down with ,, and Kevin Stokes. Much fun was to be had! Saw friends I don’t get to see a lot which was always fun. The ever-awesome-super Dales, and were there. They dropped off for us to take care of for the weekend. I love Sanford like the big brother I never had. Thank you for the walk and talk to get my head straight. It was a huge encouragement for me. *hugs!* I didn’t get to do much walking around the con, but when I did I found a hiding out in the AA. She’s so sweet everytime I see her. ^^

Oh! If you guys ever find a Bubba-Gump shrimp restaurant, you should go! ZOMG shrimp!!! *drool!* I <3!

One of my most memorable moments was Michael Golden telling me I apparently freaked out his brother at the con. Mike is awesome at cracking backs as I’ve discovered at ACE this year. I saw him standing in the walk ways talking with his brother and brother’s wife. I asked him to crack mine to which he happily obligded. Later that night he informed me I apparently freaked his brother out because, to his brother, I was this random girl out of no where asking his brother to crack her back. This was his first con, so you’ll have to forgive him. XD

HEROES CON: This is by far my most favorite con to go to. While I see a lot of people here that I have seen at the previous cons, it just feels more like being at home with them. In addition I found my fellow SCADmates and . I also saw some of my MNC family Ben, Jason and Danny. You guys did an awesome job on the booth and you represented MNC well.

Check out the webcomic Monday Night Crew over here: [link] (Note: I’m Casey the Duck! XD )

And of course I got to see the amazing again. This time with his wonderful family. The kids are so cute and his wife is lovely! Please check out Scott’s awesome webcomic The Dreamland Chronicles found over here: [link] ! Go now! I command it!!!

I also saw the lovely and her fabulous sister again! I owe her sister a commission! I promise I did not forget. I still have a pile of reference materials of sparrows next to my drafting table. I want to make it PERFECT! I hope SCAD is good for you this quarter! XD

In addition to see old faces, I also got to see some new ones!

First off is Matt Sturges. Matt is a fantastic person and an awesome table buddy! Thank you so much for using some of your table space when the roof started to leak hardcore. Oy! That sucked! And remember to always say “Yay! Not a Douchebag!” when the time calls for it. XD Please visit Matt’s site [link] and be sure to check out his writing! It’s awesome! Jack of Fables is a reminder to me why I love asshole characters. XD

!!! While I’ve been watching her amazing art on DA, I finally got to meet her in the flesh! She is very sweet and talented and I was happy I got to meet her. I can’t believe I almost missed her had I not decided to turn my head to the left and see her table an isle down from me!

And who can forget the dynamic duo of the UK and Kris Justice! Andie and Kris made the weekend behind the tables a lot of fun. Thank you for giving me a list of UK insults. I <3 them! XD

There were quite a few memorable moments:

1. The Mike Wieringo Tribute. Todd Dezago and Mike’s brother Matt did a wonderful job. Mike will always be missed. I got two of Mike’s Robin pages. One of them means the most to me because it was one of the pages I re-drew for my senior project at SCAD. This was my version: [link] I am still no where near Mike’s talent! You’re still an inspiration to us all no matter where you are.

2. Dancing the waltz in the middle of the sidewalk as we talk about the weather with Craig Hamilton. [link]

3. This is not so memorable: but they had some car show or something going on at the same time. We saw Shawty Lo and could not resist the urge in forcing me to take a picture with him. For once, we found someone I am taller than. I am so deleting that picture when Sanford is not watching his phone. ]:<

4. Also not so memorable, Brian Stelfreeze deciding I make an excellent air guitar: [link] T^T Noooo!

Gah! I know I’m forgetting people, but forgive me! My brain can only remember so much from this past year! And I still have 2 more cons to report about! AHHHH!!!! O_O

Be on the look-out for more updates coming reaaaaallly soon! And I mean sooner than half a year.

-Michelle