hehe. been meaning for awhile to write a journal that answers a lot of the questions i get asked, along with what i hope is helpful information.
I'm not posting the questions, though.. just answers.
Everything I can think of about me!
My name is Heather, I'm 27, female, Aquarius, 5'8, 135 lbs, blue eyes.. currently have "Rogue" (x-men) hair. It's awesome. I live in a tiny farming town in Idaho, which is as exciting as you might imagine. I'm a Christian, but i promise i will never be annoying about it, try to cram it down your throat, or harass you just because you don't believe what I do. I hate that.
I'm married (6 years this july) to

who /somehow/ manages to magically put up with all of my crap. Trust me, it takes mad skills. ;D He's also a fantastic artist who is good at everything I'm bad it. ^^
I have two kids - a 4 year old daughter named Sienna (who everyone calls Annie), and an almost 3 year old son named Krischan. (middle name is Wolfgang.. heck yes!)
I'm a stay at home mom and housewife.. It takes up pretty much all of my time during the day..usually i don't get to set down and work on art (or whatever) until after 9pm... when they go to bed. It's part of what takes me so long to get through my art projects.. that and I just work slow because i tend to obsess over details.

My best friend in the entire crazy universe is

She keeps me on track in art and understands my weird stories and complaints and joys without me having to explain a thing. :}
I teach art lessons here locally, and currently have 4 students. 2 are here on DA..

is taking a break, but

is still here...though i see she hasn't updated in awhile. o.o She has some new art that's out of this world, trust me.

I really like helping folks with their art - in tutorials, redlines, critiques, suggestions.. whatever. always feel free to ask me.. just keep in mind that I stay pretty busy and I'm also /very/ forgetful.
Forgetful. Yes. Very. I have a goldfish memory.. so if I seem to have forgotten or are ignoring something pertaining to you, do NOT take it personally or think I'm doing it on purpose. I never am. Just remind me somehow
You should also feel free to speak your mind around me... it really takes a lot to offend me! I like knowing what's really going on. I tend to think and talk very bluntly and honestly.. I kinda just say what i'm thinking. I never mean to offend or hurt anyone, but sometimes I do. I'm sorry. o.o
I rotate through a long list of art projects at once... I'm ADD and I really struggle to focus on any one of them for longer than a night.

Because of this, and because I do tend to pour tons of time into details, I work pretty darn slow. If you're patient with me while you wait for your art, I promise it will always be worth it. I try hard to please and go above and beyond what's expected.
Part of my inability-to-focus-on-only-one-thing issue crosses over into the variety of mediums of art I do... I was raised in traditional art mediums, but started learning digital art in 2002 when I got my first Wacom Tablet.
My two favorite traditional mediums are colored pencils (I use prismacolors) and acrylics, but I also do oils, watercolors, graphite, pen & inks, and recently, Copic markers!
For digital art, I use a Wacom Intuos4 drawing tablet...I work in both Photoshop CS and Painter X, separately and together.
I can't take any commissions right now, because I have tooooo many projects on my list already, but when I do, I don't really have any special method or system for them. Sometimes I make a journal post, sometimes I'll just get ahold of someone who had asked earlier, and sometimes I take them without having to ask just because someone asks me first.

I also don't really have a pricing ladder... usually I ask what exactly is expected of me for the image, then try to estimate how much time it will take. I set my prices by my hours. Try to anyways.
I'll take art trades if I have room on my working list for them. (right now I don't)
Requests are very, very hard to make work... only if it was something that i could enjoy creating as a doodle in my sketchbook during church or while teaching.

I'm pretty laid back about folks using my art for whatever... for the most part, so long as you link back to me I'm fine with it. There's a few obvious rules... don't make money off of it, don't say it's yours...ask me BEFORE you get it tattooed permanently on your arm. o.o
A lot of my art here was done as a commission for another person, so i think it's only fair that you ask them as well.
I'm even more laid back with my sketchbook sketches... you can color or build on them or whatever.. just, again, link back. that'd be great!

Right now I'm trying to finish working through the sketchie commissions I got as part of the fundraiser for Japan. As soon as I can get those out of the way, it's back to rotating through my regular, bigger commissions.
I really, really appreciate the patience of everyone who's waiting on me for art. ^^
that's all i can think of for now... if some other pertinent info comes up, or someone wants to ask something, I'll try and answer and add it or.. yanno, something. :}
Oh man, I LOVE this school! I get to be taught by Leon Parson this coming semester, which I'm quite excited about, and there's just way too many classes that I want to take!
I also got to listen to Nathan Fowkes come and speak where I pretty much fangirled the whole time.
Ooh, there's a question. Are you mostly self-taught, or did you take a lot of classes?
I had art lessons as a kid.. I was 9, I think. she taught me all the basics, and made me try just about every medium there is
i went to boise state university for 2 years - aiming for a fine art degree - before i ran out of money. i also felt like i wasn't learning enough from the art classes to justify the amount of money i was spending on them o.o i learned a little, but most of what they were teaching i already knew.. soooo....
that was that!
Haha, I know the feeling of too much black and not leaving a picture alone. I think I learned the most when I joined DA, and now university is just refinement
Ahhh, that makes sense. I feel like I'm learning a lot so far, so I think the only thing that might actually pull me out would be marriage
I enjoy getting to know the person behind the art :]
I'm in the small percentage of people that actually do that
[link]
Honestly, you're one of my "goals" your art is so freaking good, I'm trying to get to HALF of that skill.
anyways, if you really truly want your art to be good.. if you care enough to stick to your goals and practice a LOT, you /will/ get there! ^^