about the site

mooncalf ('mu:nka:f)
1. A misshapen foetus; a monstrosity.
2. a person with a mental handicap; a born fool.
3. a person who gazes at the moon or idles time away; an absent-minded person.
4. An animal imagined to inhabit the moon.
5. A cow of no particular talent for anything who draws and writes anyway.

back to mooncalf

Name: Mooncalf
Age: Older'n You
Sex: Yes
Gender: Female
Eyes: Two
Hair: Usually
Location: Midwestern America

Drawing: Mediocre
Writing: Vaguely Amusing

[about the site]

mooncalf is a website mostly (but not entirely) devoted to my efforts at RPG fanart and fanfic.
I like to think I'm funny. Please don't disabuse me of this notion. I bite.

[quick guide]

about the site: this page, right here.
gallery: where the artworks live. Big surprise. If it's drawn, it'll probably be in here.
library: where the written works live. Again, big surprise.
links: links to other fanart/fanfic sites, and the occasional bit of randomness.
sott: the mini-site dedicated to my original fiction project, Shadow of the Templar.

updates: what's new. The site updates sporadically; updates will be mentioned on my LiveJournal.

[warning]

In general, this site has a PG-13 rating, as long as you stay out of the (!!!). I am (technically) an adult, and I think about/write about/draw adult things. It's not uncommon to stumble across random profanity on this site. Or sexual innuendo. Or pictures with a high skin content. Of course, I also have my moments of immaturity, so there are also a large number of cutesy things here.
The red exclamation points are there to warn you about possibly offensive content in my gallery and library. In brief, here's what they mean:
(!)
gallery - mild skin exposure (shirtless man), slightly suggestive pose
library - violence, excessive foul language, oblique sexual references
(!!)
gallery - severe skin exposure (but no genitalia), extremely suggestive pose
library - sexual situations described, couched in euphemism
(!!!)
gallery - complete full frontal nudity, sexual situations
library - blatant pornography
(Anything that rates (!!!) is kept in a separate section, behind a warning page.)

[the official faq]

1). Hey, can I link to you/can we crosslink?
You can certainly link to me; I'm completely link-free. There's a banner or twenty here that you can use if you want. Please link to me. I love it.
If you want me to link to you, there are helpful hints here. Please note that I do not do link exchanges.

2). Can I give you some constructive criticism?
Er... well... if you gotta. Usually I know my stuff sucks, and you'll see a little comments section that tells you what I think sucks about a given picture/fic. If you feel you have to criticize something, please be constructive about it; flames will be smirked at and ignored.

3). Can you teach me how to draw/CG/write?
Are you kidding? I can barely do it myself. There are a bazillion tutorials out there written by artists/writers a thousand times better than I am; go find one of those.

4). Can you draw/write something for my site?
I won't do anything exclusively for your site unless you pay me. I am, without exception, a greedy mercenary bastard. Otherwise, a copy of whatever I might be willing to do for your site will appear on this site as well. I'm not terribly inclined to make exceptions to this rule, but if you think you have a really good reason, what the hell, email me. What am I going to do, eat your eyeballs? Not without ketchup.

5). Do you do commissions? Can I commission you to draw me a picture of (something)?
Hm. Yes and no. I don't have any sort of official commissioning rules or expense chart set up, since if you're going to pay for artwork, there are plenty of better artists out there who do officially do commissions. However, if for some truly random reason you want to commission me (fat chance) then email me with a few sketchy details of what you want. If I think I can draw it, we'll talk price.
However, for the record, I don't feel comfortable giving away all rights to a piece that I've drawn, so if you're going to use a piece of mine for any sort of business reasons, I must retain the rights to own/display the piece. If you're doing something professional, buy a professional artist.

6). Can I use something from this site on my site?
Probably, as long as you a) ask first, b) don't alter the piece in question in any way, and c) give me credit. A link to my site from yours would also be nice. As far as totally personal use goes, go right ahead and copy my stuff to your hard drive, use it as wallpaper, whatever. I have a hard time seeing why you'd want to, but tastes vary.
It's only when using my stuff publicly that there might be a problem and you definitely need to ask first. Usually, I don't mind giving you permission to use my pictures/fics on shrines or collection pages, as long as you ask first. Putting them there without asking, even if you give me full credit and a link, is bad. I must know first, before you put them anywhere. As for gifts that people have given me... just don't think about using them. Those belong to the person who made them and not to me.

7). What about gifts?
You wanna give me a gift? Sure! Wow! Cool! You want me to give you a gift? Uh... maybe. See #4 above. I figure if you ask me for it, it's not a gift. I prefer to spring my gifts totally unannounced on unsuspecting and startled people.
Please try not to email me files over 100K in size. If you can give me a URL instead, that'd be great.
I'll try and post gifts as I get them, except for things that violate my personal sense of tastefulness. Which is, admittedly, pretty broad. If you give me a smutty gift, it'll go in the (!!!).
Please note that if you send me a gift, I'll be putting it on my webpage unless you specify otherwise... if you'd prefer that your gift remain private, please say so.

8). What tools/programs do you use?
I've become an art supply slut. I usually draw in a sketchbook, but I do use bristol board from time to time. I draw using an HB pencil, normally, although I have all sorts of other pencils.
I've used both Rapidographs and Sakura Microns to ink, and I have a much-beloved Wacom Intuos tablet for bypassing all that stuff. I use both Photoshop and Painter on the computer to color, and sometimes I also use Prismacolor colored pencils, with which I suck.
The written stuff was typed directly into TextEdit and converted into text files with QUED/M.

9). Can you help me with my site/critique my site/critique my artwork/writing?
No, no, and hell no. I'm sorry, but this sort of request makes me itch. I'm even worse at HTML than I am at drawing, which is saying something... frankly, if I can use Netscape Composer, a monkey can use Netscape Composer. Ook ook.

10). Wanna be penpals?
Not really... I'm sure you're a really nice and interesting person, but I just don't have the time to get involved in that sort of thing right now.

[The 'Real' FAQ]

1). Hey, can you write a parody about (this game)/can you write a parody about (this subject)?
... maybe. I can only parody games that I've actually played, but if you want more parody on a given game, sure, go ahead and ask. Don't count on it, but I'll definitely see what I can do. I have no shame. I play to my audience.
I don't mind getting suggestions as to what to write/draw, since sometimes I actually use these suggestions. But please note that just because you suggest an idea doesn't mean I'll use it. I'm a fickle little thing.

2). Why don't you draw more girls?
Because I'm profoundly heterosexual and the libido is an excellent muse.
Seriously, I prefer to draw guys because... I like guys. This also explains why I draw so many guys with their shirts off, or even worse things.

3). Ew! Why do you like yaoi? Yaoi is gross!
Well, some yaoi is gross, yes. Yaoi (male-male porn) and shounen-ai (male-male romance) is most definitely an acquired taste. However, it is also a taste that I have acquired, and I display the yaoi that I draw and write in a special gallery for other people who like yaoi. You won't stumble across it on accident, I promise; even the more innocuous works, those which don't qualify for the (!!!), will be clearly labeled. There's a great big honking warning page up at the entrance to the (!!!). That said, if you don't like yaoi, then don't look at mine. I'm not going to force it on you.

4). Where can I find reference material for (some character from some game)?
Generally, when I buy an RPG, I also buy the strategy guide. Strategy guides, even the lousy Brady ones, usually have plenty of official art in them, and I tend to use that a lot. There's also pictures in the little manual that comes with the game itself, but you knew that.
I don't buy artbooks very often, but I do buy them occasionally. Obviously, they're great reference material, but expensive. You might also try RPGamer. The site tends to maintain large screenshot/official art galleries that you can browse through to get ideas.

5). Hey! How come you didn't answer my email? You suck!
I'm pretty much the world's worst correspondant. I can't tell you how many times I've checked my email, read a note, and then deleted it without a second thought. Often my brain is not yet functioning when I read my email. I'm trying to stop doing that, but I still have lapses. If I don't answer your email, blame my sleepy brain and write me again. Rest assured that I did read it.

6). Why is all your stuff from RPGs? Why don't you draw/write about anime/fighting games/whatever too?
Short answer? That's just the way it is.
I work with RPGs because that's what I play. I have lousy eye-hand coordination, therefore I suck at games that require actual physical skill. I can, however, solve puzzles and manipulate the intricacies of character stats. RPGs for me. And I do draw anime fanart, sometimes. But not often. I've actually seen a fair bit of anime, and I like many of them... but it's a lot easier to care about a character that I, personally, controlled for 40-90 hours than for a character that I watched for two hours. I tend to get more involved with RPGs, all in all, so that's why I'm moved to draw fanart/write parody.

[site history]

The speckled-tan mooncalf opened at redrival.com on March 1, 2000, amidst no fanfare. In June of 2000, I moved mooncalf to rydia.net, where it started to gain some attention, now in black. Finally, in March of 2002, I dyed the site blue and moved it to its new domain name, hosted by kekkai.org. The domain name moved back to rydia.net in October of 2002, where it resides currently.

[obligatory disclaimer]

All fanwork on this site is intended only as homage and is created and present out of the sheer love of the work in question.
The characters depicted in images and words on this site are copyright to their respective owners and do not belong to me, unless they are specifically denoted as my original works, in which case they do belong to me.
Said depictions are copyright to me or to the artist that created them, however, and may not be used publicly without permission.
The depictions on this site are my interpretations only and are not to be used for profit in any way.
Please don't steal, it makes the baby Mooncalf cry.
Nyah nyah nyah NYAH nyah.