For a long time I've been wanting to branch out and do stuff other than NSFW, not that NSFW isn't my favorite thing to draw anymore, I just don't want it to be the ONLY thing I draw anymore, kinda like how George Carlin agreed to be the narrator on Thomas the Tank Engine because he wanted to show a side of himself you never see in his standup. I won't call it a "SFW account" because it would be more accurate to call it a "LESS NSFW account" because sexy stuff will still get posted there, just tamer stuff like pinups, whereas the HyperFlannel accounts from now on will be reserved specifically for the more extreme stuff (inflation, TF, etc.) Completely calculated decision, don't wanna make a new fan off designing the Neitherworld from Beetlejuice as a Kingdom Hearts world map graphic only to scare them off with the snail butts, but also don't wanna give the potential new fans the impression that I'm a different kind of artist than I actually am and get inundated with "my favorite artist drew something problematic waaaah" posts, so letting some sexy stuff go on there will BTFO the puritans and let them know they aren't welcome, so if you follow me here you also might wanna follow me there too:

https://www.furaffinity.net/user/heavyfreaked

Will be posting an art dump there sometime tomorrow

Accounts with the same name have also been made for DeviantArt, Tumblr, Pixiv, Newgrounds, and Twitter

The barn isn't done yet, but I'm gonna try something by accepting commissions again, but only one at a time, starting with the people I already accepted a commission from before I closed them, we'll see if I can manage that

Sorry to anyone I've already agreed to take one from, but now that the weather is warm again it's time to get back to building the barn that was started last Summer, and just a moment ago it has been made clear to me that I will simply not be allowed to return to work until it's done, no accomodation will be made. The one commission I have that's already been paid for and the Poll Pic for Patreon that was supposed to go up yesterday but is still just a sketch are going to have to be slowly chipped away at a little bit of a time until they're done, but after that, nothing until we have a completed barn. It turns out that sheep, goats, and horses have different dietary requirements and shouldn't live in the same bulding because of it. Wasn't my idea to do that, but I gotta help fix it. Sorry.

Since I've been posting on there less frequently than I used to to make more time for commissions, and even when I was making that the priority and posting there as many times in a month as I could it still wasn't as frequently as some people seem to have been hoping, I've been thinking about the several artists I follow that post their commissions on there. I know that to a lot of people it's considered a no-no to "double dip" like that, for very understandable reasons, that's why I don't do it, but the artists I know that do do it seem to get away with it by offering a discount in exchange for it. So I'm asking, would it be okay if I did that? The client would obviously still get to see the piece before it's posted whether they're a patron or not, they would have to look at it in order to get approval in the first place, and there wouldn't be much stopping them from sharing it around themselves if they really wanted to, so the only way they would be affected is being charged less, maybe 10% but I haven't fully decided, in exchange for permission to put it on Patreon, maybe with the caveat that I can say no if for any reason I don't want to put it on Patreon. Would that be okay? And please be honest, don't just say yes just because I'm considering it, if the idea doesn't sound good to you, do tell me, that's why I'm asking

As of typing this it is after sundown on the day of the solstice, meaning Yule has officially started, and I promised my family I would participate in the tradition, which means no more of what I would classify as "work" until after the new year, which means I won't be chipping away at any more of the waiting list. I'm still willing to hear requests and add onto it but I won't be working on any of them until Yule is over. I'll still be posting some stuff on Patreon because I don't consider that "work," that's where I put the stuff I draw for myself leisurely and if anyone wants to tip me for early access to it they're allowed to. And if accepting money for it makes it work then that excuse still works since technically I won't be collecting it until Yule's over anyway. I'll also be posting the commissions I've already finished since the last update, probably about a couple of them a day, because I'm not going to do what I was originally planning anymore; wait until the waiting list was cleared before posting a big dump of them. It didn't really help with the problem I tried that in order to solve, which apparently was never really the problem I thought it was.


Pretty much the whole time I've been taking commissions I would always have more people asking than I had slots, so I was always telling people to wait, which I never liked doing, I hate telling people to wait. I'd been told that one of the problems was my prices not being high enough, because that's how supply and demand work, that makes sense. So I did about a year ago, that didn't change that, instead of raising them again though I considered if maybe they were filling so fast because I had less slots than I was "supposed to" (in quotes because obviously there's no "standard" but I wondered if there was an average and if that average was the average for a reason). When I set my current prices I asked anyone who frequently commissions me if there are other artists they go to a lot, and used the resulting list as my reference. Because I still had said list I went back to them to ask directly how many slots they have or if they don't have slots what they do use, and most of the answers I got was "X amount of slots plus a waiting list." YDBunny in particular showed me a form with ten slots and like fifty people on a waiting list, and that just lifted a huge weight right off my shoulders. I always thought I was struggling to stay "caught up," turns out that's just how most artists do it, telling people to wait is just part of the business side of art, and the people who frequently commission me are probably used to it


So yeah, unlike all the other commission updates I give where I apologize for telling people to wait, this time I don't think I will. If it's just the nature of the beast then I guess it's not something to be too sorry about. I guess I can apologize for the fact that that's the nature of the beast, since I would change that if I could, I just can't, and now that I know that I can feel much better about not trying to

For anyone wondering, I am in fact working on commissions, I just don't intend to post them until they're all done this time, just something different I'm trying. For anyone who's asked for a commission and hasn't heard back, I added the waiting list to the commission slots post (https://www.deviantart.com/hyperfla.....lots-753836588) so that it's public. When I say that I won't be posting the commissions until they're all done, that includes those ones too, once everything that's in a slot is finished I'm going to be hitting up some of the people on the waiting list to see if they still want theirs. The ones on the waiting list are orders that will take more than one slot so I'll only be hitting up a few of them and then a few more once those are done. Sorry to anyone that may have been confused by that, I've been making a point this past year to be better at communicating.

The reason I'm doing it that way this time is because usually when I post a commission, a lot of people assume that the slot must be open now and before I can even get to filling it from the waiting list I have several people asking if they can have it, then I have to tell them to wait, which I hate having to do and it's bad enough there's already people being told to wait, so when I post each commission as soon as it's finished the waiting list just gets bigger and bigger, usually until I get overwhelmed by knowing I'm being waited on by so many people. I've been told by artists much bigger and more successful than myself, as in people who's advice I should probably listen to, that that's a sign that my prices need to be raised. Supposedly it should actually be difficult to keep all of your slots full, otherwise your supply, which in this case is time, is outweighed by your demand. That makes perfect sense to me, but I also have no idea if that applies to me since I dunno if five is considered a normal number of commission slots to have, maybe they get filled so fast because there's so few of them. I just saw on Twitter earlier today that Spiralingstaircase is opening commissions and said he might take five or six for the rest of the year, and he also does charge more than I do, so that's something I need to do more research on before I make a concrete decision.

After a long summer of building as much of a barn as was gonna get done this year, followed immediately by throwing my back out on the exact day I was gonna make this announcement, like to the point of several days of immobility, followed by a week of not immobility but still requiring plenty of rest, and with my condition still not back at 100% but no worse than before, it seems like it's probably about as good as it's gonna get for a while, so I might as well just finally reopen them, especially since I actively want to. Since a ton of people have been waiting, I'm certain I'll get more people asking for one than I have slots so unfortunately not everyone's going to get one right away, so I'll be deciding what to fill them with from whatever the pool of requests looks like on Wednesday

Last commission update I gave was that I wouldn't be taking any new commissions until the ones I already accepted were finished, and that ended up taking longer than I wanted it to because of helping build a barn, which still isn't finished yet. So unfortunately I'm not opening them back up right away, and I won't be giving a specific time for when they will be open again, I will just make an announcement when they are. I live on a farm, and it's a bit of a fixer-upper, so Summer is a very busy time of the year and probably will be for a good few years, so it's been a bit of a struggle staying caught up on commissions while also posting frequently to Patreon and making time in between for hobbies, so I've come to the conclusion that something needs to give and at the moment I need time more than I need money. Time may be money, but money isn't time, you'd think it would work both ways but it doesn't. Since I have enough saved up that I can afford to, I'd like to just coast with Patreon as my primary source for a while until things settle down a bit irl, very sorry for the inconvenience

Right now I'm just going to be working on the commissions that have already been paid for and clear out the slots, if I agreed to take one from you and you're still waiting on the sketch (for context for anyone who hasn't commissioned me before, I do the sketch before getting paid unless it's a dedicated sketch commission, so anyone who's waiting on a sketch hasn't paid me yet) then I need to rescind my accepting of it for now, very sorry for the inconvenience. Last week was not very productive because I had to take some bereavement time, then right after there was familial drama keeping me away from the PC which bled into this week, then as soon as that was over I've been experiencing some significant fatigue and been having a hard time keeping myself awake long enough to do anything, I don't know if I'm sick or what but I've fallen behind and need to catch up before I go adding any more to the work load

Looks like I'm going to need to help with another irl construction-related project this week, probably won't take nearly as long as flipping the house did but I'm sure if I make any commitments beforehand fate will make a liar of me and I'll just end up with a repeat of last month, so in the interest of not jinxing it commissions will be on hold again at least until this time next week. Very sorry again, I hate having to make these announcements. Art dump tomorrow that will hopefully make up for it

I was wrong about the worst being behind me before, but this time for sure it really is, getting the house ready to sell is pretty much done. Since the last update I've been hard at work during the evenings getting some stuff done, starting with getting some personals done for the Patreon (to hopefully make up for the lack of posting on there I went through the past couple polls to do some of the suggestions that didn't win yet) with the intention to finish the last commissions after getting what I thought was a good amount of those done. Unfortunately the last of the Patreon pieces I literally had to do the shading very slowly and meticulously with my nondominant hand (I wish I was making that up) because I managed to pull something in my dominant hand like a week ago mucking a goat barn. I tried to man up about it and didn't rest it like I should have, so all it did was get worse instead of any better until today I had little choice but to say something, wrap it up, use the front of my overalls as a sling, and commit to not using it. Over the next few days I'll be posting the new art to Patreon, if not dump it all at once I'll have to see how I feel, and unfortunately have to take a couple days off or however long it takes for my hand to get better before finishing the last commissions. Very sorry to everyone that's already been waiting longer than they should have had to, I promise I will do whatever I can do have them done before the month is over, this month blew and I'd love little more than to start May with a fresh sleight

Getting the house ready to be sold has basically turned into a borderline flipping of it, the family member that was living in it absolutely trashed it, it needed a lot more than just a simple cleaning and still does, but the worst of it may be behind me. I'm sorry to those still waiting for sketches but those are still going to be on hold for now while I spend my evenings after the housework getting caught up on what was already paid for and also getting out some personals for the Patreon. I really hate that last month was my most lucrative month yet and then I had to go from it immediately into what will likely be my least productive month in years. Needless to say I'm pissed at that family member for destroying the house, making this whole project take way longer than it should, and not even lifting so much as a finger to help clean up her own mess. If I actually took the time to list everything that's been done to fix that house, you'd be appalled at the thought that there's still more to do, and it was not like that when she was left with it with the specific expectation that she'd maintain it until it's time to sell it. She slobbed all over it instead, and now everyone is paying the price for it.

Sorry to everyone still waiting on commissions, been helping clear out a house to get it ready to be sold, I'm not the one calling the shots on that project, and the one who is calling the shots has ceased communicating with me on what days I'm needed, so every time I plan yuu get some work done I find out at the last possible minute that I'm needed down there and gotta put down what I'm working on. I haven't been able to get anything done this week besides inking the belated April Fools Day pic, that was not by choice, I will be getting back to work as soon as I can

Normally I'd make sure that a pic of my clown OC April goes up today, but since I'm going to be busy this weekend helping get a house cleared out and ready to sell, I won't be able to post it until probably sometime after the weekend. So in the interest of still doing something interesting for April's day I'm gonna ask for suggestions, when I get back to work I'll pick my favorite

https://www.deviantart.com/hyperfla.....lots-753836588

Very sorry to everyone I wasn't able to get to, I even put it off a small amount longer than I initially said I would, but it is time to finally enact it and I was never going to be able to get to everyone beforehand anyway. I would have if I could have, but sadly I'm neither a Splixson or a Sonorosian if you know what I mean

Since I didn't get to use the past week for what I wanted to, I'm continuing to not accept any new commissions for another week, which will also push the price increase next month back a week as well just to keep it fair. When commissions are reopened I will be clearing out the queue in the interest of starting with a fresh sleight, so very sorry to anyone who already was on it, but you'll have to ask again. Also yet another thing some people aren't going to like to hear, but I won't be taking any comic commissions until further notice, unless they're smaller simpler ones. Sorry again to anyone I've already agreed to take some from, especially when I just posted a comic page on my Patreon, but working on that pretty much reminded me that I don't actually like drawing comics that much, by the time I was done sketching that one I was already tired of working on it and just wanted to see it done so I could move on to the next thing. I know it sucks because every time I do draw a comic I always love the final results, but to me art's about the journey not the destination. I'd much prefer if whether or not I draw a comic is my choice, for it to be up to me if the destination is really worth a journey I'd rather not go on. I've known this about myself for a while but always have a hard time saying no even if I really want to, I've got a bad habit of trying to be a people-pleaser. Why that is, I have no idea, but I know it's not healthy and since it's only January I'm changing my new year resolution to working on that

Gonna be taking the next week to draw only for myself, very sorry to anyone still waiting on sketches, I hate making people wait as much as they all hate having to wait, but even though I haven't been working a ton on commission the past couple weeks between lengthy holiday preparations followed immediately by having to help with a lengthy home improvement project, that hasn't stopped me from spending that time thinking about commissions and the people waiting for them and stressing out from not being able to get cut loose long enough to work on them, so I'd like to take some time to not have to think about them.

And also to kill two birds with one stone, another announcement I don't really want to make but it kinda needs to be done: I will be raising my prices again about this time a month from now, and unlike the last couple times I did it where it was just a slight increase from before, this time it's going to be significant. Really sorry about that. When I set my initial prices back in 2017 I didn't do any research on what art actually goes for and more or less just guessed what sounded fair to me at the time, and the two times I've raised them after the fact no additional research was done, the new prices were pretty much just "first prices + slight increase." Recently I've actually looked into what other artists with comparable quality of work as well as comparable followings to me charge for their services, and very few of them weren't charging significantly more than me. Normally I hate raising my prices for any reason, even when it's something like minimum wage going up, something out of my control that necessitates it, because it feels like it's punishing the people who like my work enough to pay for it, and having people like that in my life is pretty much the number one thing I've ever wanted out of life, and the fact that I have it is something I'm grateful for every day, so the last thing I wanna do is anything unfair to my clients (unless I feel they on an individual basis treated me unfairly first, then I reserve the right to cut them off). But if I'm underselling myself, which I believe that I am and know a good amount of people (including frequent clients) who agree with me, then I'm not being very fair to myself, and I don't want to do that either

Are there any other artists in particular that you frequently commission and if so who would they be?

This time next month I'm going to be revising my prices again as it's been a while since I've done that. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're going up and if they do it probably won't be by a whole lot, and if they do go up significantly I'll make sure cheaper options are still available. Since I set my current prices I've both acquired a better tablet and my art style has adjusted to a much more consistent one so I need to reevaluate my prices to reflect that

Gonna start a Halloween stream in about fifteen minutes https://picarto.tv/HyperFlannel

Thank you for your patience. For now I'm starting with only three slots to test the waters, if I find that the new way does indeed streamline the process like I hope it will then I will probably up it back to five.
Also, about to start a stream, to ring in my break being over: https://www.picarto.tv/HyperFlannel

I'm taking a week off of commissions to sort of clear my head, as the last time I took any break from commissions was when a house move that was a lot more stressful than it needed to be necessitated it. I'll make another post of announcement when they're open again. When they reopen I'm going to be reworking my terms of service. Don't worry, prices aren't going up again or anything.


What I'll be doing is actually removing a little bit of structure rather than adding any more, if that makes any sense. What I'm gonna be doing is actually not making them first come-first serve anymore. I always considered that the most fair option, but after turning away so many people because my five slots were full, only for their next chance to not last long as the slots keep getting taken up fast, and they're just never lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, especially when I don't post on any specific day at any specific time, so it's not even like they can try to schedule their time around it or anything, I just don't find anymore that it's that fair.


What I'm gonna do instead of giving each slot to the first five people to ask is give the next couple days after each commission dump for anyone who wants a slot in the next one to let me know what they want, then selectively choose five to fill the next slots with, and politely let everyone who didn't get one know as such. If this idea doesn't sound fair, consider that this way I have the freedom to prioritize somebody who's never gotten a commission from me over someone who just got one recently, or if I take a big order in one slot I can prioritize smaller orders in the others, or even have especially big orders take up multiple slots, in order to keep the work load proportional, that way I can finish commission batches faster and get another set of clients to the next opportunity to ask much faster.


For the past four years I've tried to take every commission that comes my way in the order they came my way, but for the past couple months I've been prioritizing my own mental health, and this is the next step of that. I'm at a point where I have no choice but to accept that I am only one person and I don't have enough hours in my lifetime to take every commission I get asked to, and trying anyway has only served to make art feel less like a hobby that functions as my job and more like a job that functions as a hobby. And life is too short to think of your favorite hobby that way, no matter how much of your income comes from doing it.


I am very sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm giving a one month heads up that this time a month from now, September 17th, I'm going to be readjusting my prices. When I originally set them up, they were calculated with minimum wage in my state as a factor, and in the time since then, minimum wage over here has gone up a little bit every year, and like a dumbass I haven't been adjusting it accordingly. Every time I'm about to, I just get kinda worried that I'm gonna come off as some greedy money-hungry asshole, and so I put it off, just finding excuses not to every time. But under the advice of friends and family members, I've decided that I'm just going to rip the bandaid off right away, as to put it off forever would just be an unsustainable business model. Please let it be known that I really hope this decision doesn't come off like I'm ignorant of how ridiculously compassionate, understanding, and most of all patient that a lot of you have been with me for the amount of time I've been doing this, so the last thing I want to do is come off like I don't respect that or I'm taking it for granted.

With that said, this is merely a heads up, the changes to the prices aren't taking effect immediately, the prices are going to remain exactly as they are until September 17th, after which they will be adjusted to be more proportional to the change in minimum wage, as well as having actual calculations done to determine the price of shading (of which there will be more styles of to choose from) rather than guessing like I did the last time.

https://hyperflannel.tumblr.com/pos.....on-furaffinity Here's the link to the Tumblr upload. Tumblr's probably gonna nuke it in a couple days, but if that happens, I'll probably just edit this journal to have a link to DA stash, so don't worry, it's not going anywhere

https://hyperflannel.tumblr.com/pos.....-on-deviantart Here's the Tumblr link