dess-arts

I'm now OPEN for commissions!

Hi! I'm officially taking in commissions for my mixed media marker + digital hybrid style! For quotes and inquiries you can message me here on dA, email me at dess.art.is@gmail.com, dm any of my other contacts or check out my Commission Listing.

What I will draw: Your OC, selfie, avatar, vtuber, dnd pc, pinup, fanart, furry, light mechanical/cyborg, pets, possibly what you want, just ask!

What I will not draw: gore, porn, or propaganda. I also reserve the right to refuse any commissions that I don't feel comfortable participating in.

BONUS! Because I work with traditional media there will be a raw, original copy of the piece that may differ from the final version. I will happily ship the signed original to you for an added $15 using the 'Source File' gig addon +the price of shipping (to be worked out at that time).

If you would like a raw, unedited copy of your finished piece, just ask!

If you'd like to commission something else from me I'm also open to negotiations. Just reach out!

Some examples:

It's the time of year again were I resurrect myself and get on a creative roll for a while! Hoping to make this one last a little longer in order to actually make something of myself and my artwork. As soon as I feel a little more seen (shout out to the Unseen Artists guild UnseenArtists) I want to get some products launched and a little sticker store going, but for now I'm banking a lot of fan arts and trying to build that momentum.

But I'm currently active here! So feel free to reach out and talk to me if you feel so inclined, reader!

So I thought I'd take a little time to write about what was up to in the last decade or so that caused me to abandon my digital drawing dreams and go for broke in the real world, all to be derailed and simultaneously realize there was no rail the whole time. Okay Storytime:

Prologue

In 2019 I was *so* close to hitting a milestone and finally opening my own bakery. I was sure 2020 was going to be the year to push my goal past that last financial hurdle and soon I would be actually building my dream erotic bakery - a classy place to take your soon-to-be mother-in-law for champagne and dick shapes pastries. It was going to be AWESOME. I had at least one financial angel investor and a whole lot of industry folks loosely committed to helping me make it happen. And it had taken me nearly a decade to get to that point.

Part One

Some people may know that I was THE cake dickorator at Seattle's Erotic Bakery in the last few years of it's existence. Some might even know that the reason it is not in existence anymore is partly because of me (but mostly because of the shit-poor ownership). I could have bought it from the owner and save it but here's the thing - I come from no money. I have no capital. When told it could be mine for just $80,000, I could do about $200. But I resolved myself to GET GOOD at the baking arts and REOPEN the bakery someday. I held on to that dream as I worked my way through an accredited Special Breads and Pastry Culinary Program (a very prestigious Community College course ) and got WAY more into classic French patisseries than I had planned. I then did a little stint as a midnight dough fairy for a pie food truck, before getting a gig that would suck the life out of me for the next 4 years: pastry cook then Pastry Chef at a fancy-ass seafood restaurant.

If any readers have worked in the restaurant industry, then you KNOW. So I'm not going to get into all the thrills and spills of working for a failing Restaurants Unlimited one-off in the years leading up to their cooperate bankruptcy. And I won't go into the day-to-day insanity of being one of two pastry gals (and then one of one) trying to handle 4000 brunch covers AND desserts for dinner service while not having very basic tools or resources to make our job even remotely easy. All you really gotta know is - shit was whack, I learned A LOT, and I'm never going back.

Part Two

So my third attempt to quit that pit was successful and around 2018 I was moving on to the transition between employment and self-employment. I was making and selling cakes out of my house, I had a side gig at a hip, old bistro in Pike's Place Market making their cheesecakes, and I was making the necessary industry connections, scouting my location and submitting my business plan for approval in order to secure a massive business loan. Because, you see, I still had no capital of my own, but was under the delusion that ANYONE can start a business with enough guts and gumption.

And then March of 2020 rolled in and fucked us all up. But besides the inevitable delay of my dreams, there would still be a place post-pandemic for my novelty dick shoppe, right? Nah. And there probably never was...

I don't know how to word what happened in the summer of 2020. My whole paradigm shattered along with the social contract I believed we had with our city leaders. Reader, you may have heard about Seattle's Summer of Love in 2020 and about CHOP/CHAZ, but you probably heard a lie. I wasn't deeply involved in any of the organization or action, but I was tuned in to it ALL and saw first hand how a supposedly progressive city government undermined its values and LIE to my FACE about my own fucking intentions. I have a lot to say about all of this, but I'll save it for now.

The end result was my total loss of faith in everything to do with the Seattle I once knew and loved and miss. But I'm too afraid to even go back and just go to my usual bar again, not because "rioting, looting and the homeless epidemic!" Nope, its all about the hostile and ever present police officers, the rising tensions between the NIMBYs on one side of the hill and the NIMBYs on the other side, and the fact that a lot of my cool restaurant industry friends who also dabbled in a little recreational drug use on the side STARTED DYING IN DROVES to fentanyl mixed into goddamn everything. Where I once had hopes and dreams of partnering with the city and putting my dumb bakery on its map, there's now just pain and resentment.

Part Three

That's when my husband Abe and I sold our Seattle home, cashed out on that investment, made well enough that I don't have to get a job for a few years, aaaand we moved back out to our home town out in the mountains. I told my dad that if he's not going to die any time soon, then he better scoot over, because I'm moving onto my future inheritance... Turns out he loves the company and our doggies so that's good. And I can truly say that I feel safe, secure and at peace... no thoughts... head empty.

So that sort of brings us up to speed. Now I'm adrift in this new hell and falling back on my laurels - Those being my sick art skillz. So if it seems like I'm too old to be *this* unknown and out of the loop and new , that's why. Also, I'm shy and lost contact with all my art friends from back in the day. I'm going to be doing my best to get with the times and try to gain some traction, but it seems like coming back after such a long time is harder than just showing back up lol.

Fin

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! And also... Hi!

I think I'm finding the flow again. My style and skill is coming back to me! I'm working on things to establish my digital artist presence back on the internet (after a decade long irl-attempt at starting a business only to get quashed by the plague) and I may be close to a point of opening merch sales/commissions - but first I want to try and see if there's any interest in adoptable characters/designs - so chime in if you have an interest!

Also, I do have a patreon and discord set up (due to encouragement from non committal friends/family) but both are in pretty sad states of neglect. Tbh I don't know what sort of things to offer, and the options are so limitless I'd rather gain some followers with desires first... But I want to start a sticker club so frickin' bad, you guys!

...until I get my shit together and this username changed to my updated branding.

dahli-lama.... wtf did she think she was? some kinda monk.... nope just thought i was being clever and moronically thought llama could be spelled with only 1 L. I'm over that bit and onto something new and fresh and obnoxious in a whole different way.

Watch this space

DessArts will be making waves whether you in the boat or not so...

Get in, Noah. Flood is coming.