(Version française à venir bientôt!)



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Hello everyone! I hope August is going out well for you and that the summer's heat hasn't crushed you folks too badly in this new summer of record temperatures. Here there's definitely been a fair bit of very warm days combined with extremely high humidity levels but thankfully things are finally cooling down a bit! Now since it's been a while since the last journal I wrote, there will be a lot for me to cover today starting with a round-up of the last month's works and events as well as updates to my commissions policies(specifically as they pertain to transformation sequences). Plus I also have some what I think(and hope!) might be helpful personal advices for those who might be interested in commissioning TF sequences from an artist.
Also, as today's journal is rather large the french and english versions will be posted as separate updates rather than an unified post.


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July's round-up :
As people have noticed, July has been a pretty busy month for me with a massive sequence that I have just recently completed this last week and uploaded the last image of to FA. It was certainly a lots of firsts for me not only in the size of the sequence and timespan within which I finished it, but also in term of subjects which included my tackling some specifics NSFW features and elements I never expected to prior to working on this.
This said it was very hectic and busy outside of artwork which meant I haven't got to work on a whole lot of projects outside of this one, with a lot I ended up having to deal with at home. Nonetheless, now that this sequence is complete I am well and fully open to more commissions!
And with the added freed time I now have, I also just recently completed a series of images(including a new digital painting for the first time in a while!) that I have just uploaded to my Patreon for "early access"-level backers but which should be available here sometime around next friday!


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Commissions status and sequences policies updates
As stated, having just finished a massive sequence last week, my queue sits currently empty which means I'm now fully open for more commissions! As usual, you only need to give a look at my pricelist and then hit me up via email at fringecrow@gmail.com !

Now, my sequence policies update:


The experience gathered working with this sequence means I feel a bit more confident about tackling transformation sequences commissions of varied length and at a faster pace, but also has led me to have a better idea of what I need in return to make this possible. This means I'm updating my policies relating to transformation sequence commissions.

So as of today my policies for sequences are updated as follow:


1- The monthly cap for sequence is replaced by a weekly cap.
Previously, when it came to larger sequences, I would work at a pace of only 2-3 images per months to avoid "project exhaustion". Thanks to the experience acquired with the latest sequence, this cap is removed but I may instead work on a given of (sequence) pages per weeks. The soft "weekly cap" thus allow me fast progress on even the largest sequence while leaving myself plenty of time to tackle other people's commissions as well(such as working two sequences for two different people at the same time). As such the cap is not global but rather on a "per sequence" basis instead.


2-I will require refferences and a clear scenario to work from.
This one is a new requirement, but from now on I will not accept sequence commissions for which I have insufficient reffenrences or even just too unclear a scenario for me to work from. To put it simply:
I will no longer accept requests for which the only informations I have is "a man transforming into a wolf" if I don't know what the man looks like, what causes the transformations and gives me even less about how the character should react.
A scenario doesn't have to be complex. Just the recent "transformation caused by potion" of the recent sequence commission gave me plenty to know how the sequence would work, how the character would react to it if the potion was one they personally wilingly drank/looked forward to with enthusiasm. Similarly for the same sequence I was given only a single refference but in this case in the context of the transformation I was able to apply it to both the character subject and their transformation which helped guide the work.


3-I will demand a strict "game plan" in term to pages count and general structure.
This is somewhat of an extension of the second point, but from now on I will no longer allow mid-production request for additional pages or changes to order of pages themselves. To work on a sequence, I need to know exactly how I need to go about pages. Should additional pages be requested, they will have to be done only after the run we agreed upon is over. This also mean that I will not accept changes to the planned structure; i.e.: I will no longer accept to changes a previously discussed upon preTF page for an additional midTF page.

4-I am taking a hiatus from accepting "Painted" sequences except for before/after sets of images or single illustrations.
As said, I am no longer currently accepting digital painting sequences projects outside of before and after images. Digitally painted images are a level of work that is very hard to adapt in a full sequence. However they remain perfectly solid for before-and-after shots where I can work them into a "beauty shot" format that mech very well with the medium of a before and after contrasting pair of images.


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Extras- Some General advices.


Now these are less rigid rules than loose guidelines which can help with commissioning a sequence. But when when it comes to the subject, I feel these are all points that can be useful to keep in mind! A lot of these are all points and factors which I feel and believe can often help in producing better looking and more satisfying outcomes.


For one, do your request need to be a full sequence?
Could the desired outcome be achieved with a shorter project like a before/after or a single midTF? It might be worth asking yourself if the scenario you have in mind really lend itself well to longer sequences and spare yourself the cost of longer projects. Similarly a subject that is stretched over too long can sometimes result in lower quality if steps even begin to feel like they are being "forced" rather than flowing more naturally in the process of a sequential work.


Similarly, how much of a foundation does your scenario give?
The potion theme worked well because it immediately implied a cause to the TF but also immediately added an emotional component. How would the character react? Do they enjoy/fear/dread/desire the transformation? These are all factors that helps an artist and even moreso with the flow of the sequence since it helps gives us a foundation not just for the sequence in general but every single pages we'll make for it. Telling us how you want the anatomy to have changed at every pages is one thing but is also a very dry foundation to work from if we have to figure out on our own how the character should even react to such changes! That goes the same for figuring out the character if all we're given is a very generic subject such as "a man" with no clear tropes for us to draw from.
For example: "A man changing into a wolf" is extremely generic and gives off little about even the transformation itself. "A man changing into a werewolf under the light of the full moon" already gives more content to work from since mentionning "werewolf" and "fullmoon" already gives more context than the generic "transform into a wolf" we'd otherwise would have to extrapolate from ourselves without beind certain what we'd make is what the client exactly wanted.
Similarly "A warrior succumbing to the transformation under the full moon after defeating a werewolf" already gives a ton of context about what type of character the subject is, why they are transforming and how they might even have contracted the lycanthropy in the first place. And it still all could fit in a single sentence!


If this is not your first sequence from the artist, is it a subject you've already asked of them?
This is a bit of a personal one, but ultimately repetition can have a wearisome effect on an artist. If your request include the same character, does the new transformation request really bring anything new to the table, or is it a
rehash of something that was already done before? This can be worth asking as it can be hard to keep the same scenario "fresh" if it always the same one being repeated all over. Instead consider asking yourself if more satisfying works could be produced by focusing not on repeating the same transformation but instead thinking about the context of images of the character(s) before or after they transform.
Did your request include reccurent hapeshifters for examples? Then consider you might instead explore expanding the ways the characters can be portrayed! What do they do when they aren't changed into their other self? What is their relationship with it? What kind of activities(mischiefs? adventures!?) could their transformed selves being involved into? These are all salient points to keep in mind and could lead to even more interesting outcomes than you might think!

Similarly, know your artist!
Do they have specific types of subjects they seem to favor or excel at? Think of giving a look at what personal art they create when not working on commissions! This is more of a loose advice than others, but for first-time commissions knowing an artist's strenghts is a good way to ensure the best of outcomes! The same goes about being aware of their weaknesses and being unafraid to asks them if some subjects might be more difficult for them to tackle.
For some examples I utterly love werecreatures in most of their permutations and varieties. Being able to inject traits of "weremonsters" into the recent FA sequence is one of the aspects that helped me complete it despite the facts that outwardly a lot of the NSFW features of it were ones I had very little experiences with. On the other hand, I heavily struggles with "ferals", particularly ungulates and "barnyard" animals like donkeys, chicken and cattle. It's not that I would never draw them, but requests involving them will very much not be playing to my strengths. If you asks me a request of a character transforming into a plain nonmorphic donkey, I will verily admit to you I will be uncertain if I will truly be able to give you the best results. On the other end, if you're asking for something like a powerful anthropomorphic monstrous weredonkey, then I may well be your artist!
And never be afraid to asks! Despite all my transformation works and how much I love TF, I also enjoy working on fantasy and science fiction characters even when they don't involve TF! And that's just a tiny part of the subjects I can tackles!


These are all factors to think in mind when you desire the best of outcomes for your request and I hope they will help no matter who you decides to commissions works from!

All of this now stated, I hope you people will be okay with these new policies for TF sequences and I look forward to all the future projects I may work on! Thank you for taking the time to read this and and I hope you continue to support and enjoy my work!