General Information & Updates:

Production: Updates
UPDATE: March 19, 2008

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WELCOME! HELLO AGAIN!
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Aether d’Animaux, that anticipated-by-many, all-but-forgotten-by-a-few first edition of juried Anthropomorphic and Furry artwork has finally, turbulently rounded another corner on its path to publication. What had started as a highly ambitious yet simple idea has developed [predictably] into painstaking labor wrought with a plethora of production snafus. Though we are all familiar with how Life’s many obstacles threaten to delay all of our dreams, Aether’s production has felt improportionately burdened. Aether has experienced a great many trials along the way, many of which being a general failing of time. But more critically, Aether suffered a serious blow when the prime hard drive that stored all of the artwork failed in what Aero Data Recovery, ESS Data Recovery, and Drivesavers all called, “the worst head crash they’ve every seen.” More information about this below.

Despite these many set backs, I am still beyond pleased with how the book has developed into something spectacular.

My long silence, a product of poor time management, has surely been a source of concern for all involved. The assorted genres and fandoms have long been plagued with deceit and drama, and I struggle to avoid that pitfall.

Long overdue, I am initiating a series of email updates meant to parallel my various web posts and blogs regarding Aether’s progress. I want to make sure that all parties involved are receiving the news posts as they happen, particularly those who do not regularly visit the various watering holes.

First on the docket:

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DOWNLOAD THE LATEST MOCK-UP!
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Long, long overdue, a fairly sizeable document has been sampled from the Master document for you to peruse. This mock-up is complete in its look, needing a few various plugs to fill missing details.

I have supplied a link to all active participants via email to a PDF showcasing 57-pages of the near-complete 312-page full edition.

Please note that this link is being distributed only to those individuals who participated in Aether. This is not a production-ready file, nor is it intended for sharing or distribution. The completed book will be made available after all neessary amendments have been made. This advanced edition is a courtesy ONLY to those who submitted work.

If you submitted work and you did not receive emailed instructions as of today (March 19), contact me.

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ABOUT THE MOCK-UP
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In the PDF, you will notice the following:

• All categories are represented (in part).

• Some artwork has a magenta “FPO” pasted over it. “FPO” stands for “For Placement Only”, and in this case means the image it is covering is low-resolution or missing entirely. These missing files are entirely due to my hard drive failure, and I am working to restore them from various sources. Individual artists may be re-tapped to resubmit if a suitable back-up version will not work. I still have 90% of ALL artwork saved in a backed-up, 200dpi version that I saved for layout purposes only. These files are not necessarily ideal for publication, but can be used as a last resort. Each image is considered individually for production quality.
I cannot apologize enough for this disastrous and frustrating loss...

• Some description information is “greeked”, and does not describe the actual iilustration. The fake information currently in place is nothing more than a placeholder for style and size, and the real information is being filled in as we speak.

• Some descriptions are in magenta. These descriptions are left incomplete as the original Entry Forms were lost in a massive hard drive failure. Individual artists may be re-tapped to resubmit their forms if suitable back-ups cannot be restored.
I cannot apologize enough for this disastrous and frustrating loss...

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CURRENT DEVELOPMENT
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Current tasks pending for Aether’s completion include the following:
• CURRENT TASK: Relocate and Replace all affected artwork due to the hard drive crash (approximately 300 pieces)
• CURRENT TASK: Relocate and Replace all affected Entry Forms due to the hard drive crash.
• CURRENT TASK: Re-enter all description information for all entries included in book (approx. 700 remain)
• Proofread the book for consistency of layout, spelling errors or misplaced artwork/descriptions.
• Collect for print.
• Submit to lulu.com, await proof.
• Proofread lulu.com’s proof, make changes if necessary, approve.
• Sales begin.

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SOME ARTWORK and ENTRY FORMS HAVE BEEN PERMANENTLY LOST
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ARTWORK AND ENTRY FORMS HAVE BEEN LOST for all entrants whose public name (real name or pen-name, as it was listed on your Entry Forms) fell between the letters “J” and “Z”. The hard drive crashed mid back-up, and I only retain “A” through “K”. This ONLY affects those artists who submitted exclusively via FTP. If you submitted works or entry forms via email or post mail, I still have your files.

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HARD DRIVE CRASH
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If you are interested in knowing more about the hard drive crash and what steps were taken to correct it, please see this post:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/308835/

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SECURITY RISK?
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Though no one has asked, I am certain, as a fellow illustrator, that many artists may view this hard drive crash (and the guantlet it traveled) as a potential security risk; not only to their private information contained on various forms and spreadsheets but also for the potential mis-use of their artwork. I feel a strong need to take this opportunity to say that the nature of this hard drive crash completely and utterly destroyed all information; not only was the data scrambled when the magnetic heads touched-down, but it was literally scraped from the surface of the disk when the heads crashed into the platters.

Since my constant vigilance for participant security is partly why I had so few back-ups in the first place, I am both happy (and dejected) to say that there is zero risk that any sensitive information has been misused or obtained by any third parties. All remaining information and artwork is secure.

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PROACTIVE ABOUT RESUBMITTING?
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If you are interested in re-submitting artwork and Entry Forms to replace what was lost in the crash, please feel free to contact me, or do so via FTP and/or Email. Submissions may be uploaded via FTP (contact me), or sent to: brian [[at]] intrinsikdesign [[dot]] com

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GENERAL INFO
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Specific posts regarding Aether’s various stages of development are available on public message boards, blogs and journals at the following locations:

• Aether Web Site: http://www.intrinsikdesign.com/clients/aether/
• FurAffinity: (THIS GALLERY)
• LiveJournal: http://krossbreeder.livejournal.com/

If you are interested in knowing more about the project and do not want to wait for updates or journal posts, please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to answer your questions.

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THANK YOU!!
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Thanks again to all involved, and to all for their faith and participation. I am pushing as hard and as fast as life will allow, and I vow nothing less than an excellent finished product!

Sincerely,
Brian / Kross


Production: Moving Forward!
UPDATE: February 20, 2008

Well there's an old adage that says "if it ain't done right, it ain't worth doing."

There has been some very understandable concern regarding the slow production of Aether, and when we start throwing the dilemma of "failed drives" into the mix, I can only imagine the number of raised eyebrows.

I am painfully aware of how many people have been bitten hard by theft and dishonesty, and it greatly distresses me to know that I may be causing anyone concern regarding this project or its integrity. Though many of you do not know me on a personal level, it is important that you know that I am a man of my word and I finish everything I start. Sadly, my greatest flaw is that I never expect set-backs. Despite this, please rest assured knowing that nothing has been canceled, and Aether will continue to move forward. Through some very creative reverse-engineering from old mock-up PDFs and other resources, I am recovering a very large percentage of the lost artwork when the drive failed. At this point, my larger concern is in tracking down the Entry Forms so that I may re-enter all of the information and descriptions for each image. I am currently limited to Title and Artist Name.

Some very helpful colleagues have been offering ideas and suggestions on things I should be doing to make this process a little more tolerable, given the long delay. Beginning next week, I will have a more routinely established system in place that will keep everyone up to date with the goings-on behind the scenes.

As to current events, I am in the process of replacing all of the lost high-res artwork into the layouts, which remain mostly intact. By request, I will also have some more mock-ups available for review.

Lastly, I wish to address anyone who may still be feeling queazy with doubt or battling feelings of betrayal; Aether is a serious pet-project that I will see to the end. This first edition has been riddled with problems, mostly falling on my end, particularly regarding work flow and finding available time to complete tasks. Please do not fall victim to paranoia... I know that other projects have left many a bad taste in many a mouth, but I vow completion. Where I admit vast underestimation of time needed to finish, I have learned an equally vast amount for next time that will make this process light-years faster.

For anyone still doubting my sincerity or the events regarding my failed drive, I have posted the only proof I can think to offer: The links below are emails received from both Data Recovery centers regarding my drive. I know this "proof" is circumstantial, but it's all I can do.

http://intrinsikdesign.com/clients/aether/other/Failed Drive - Aero.pdf

http://intrinsikdesign.com/clients/aether/other/Failed Drive - ESS.pdf

As to why I did not have a better process in place to prevent this, I am guilty of ignorance. This is my first failed drive in all my 20 years of professional work, and like every accident, I simply never believed it would happen to me... especially on a brand new drive. I had back-ups in place, but they were too few and far between. I have remedied this by purchasing three new hard drives (a Western Digital 250GB Passport, a Seagate 1TB, and another LaCie d2 Quadra 500GB). I have also invested in syncing software that is set to sync my work between all three drives every few hours. This is a deeply embarrassing hit, both to the assets and to my reputation, but I am not rolling over.

Aether is coming. I promise.

A most heartfelt "thank you" for all of your concerns, questions, suggestions and thoughts. Above all, thank you for your participation and faith.

I welcome all questions and comments, please feel free to send them over: brian@intrinsikdesign.com

Also, if you would like to inquire as to if you were among the art/artists that were lost in the crash, please feel free to inquire. I will post a list to this effect if you are interested in re-submitting. I offer my apologies for this inconvenience, and my thanks for your furthered assistance.

Take care all—

—Brian/Kross


Production: Drive Failure IV: Conclusion
UPDATE: February 17, 2008


No happy ending here, I'm afraid.

ESS Data Recovery contacted me this morning with the news that my drive is indeed unrecoverable.

Of course, this news is unfortunate. But like ole' pappy used to say, "It ain't worth doing if not doing right." Well apparently, I am the person you need to see if you want a drive to be completely destroyed.

At five months old, I don't know what could have possibly happened to it that could have damaged it this bad. This causes me pause; Just how fast do you have to act to recover any data? It's not like this was clicking for days or even hours. It was a matter of minutes... which I can only assume that if a drive is failing, it's going to do so over the course of a period of time. So for a company that specializes in data recovery, particularly crashed heads, to tell me that the drive is beyond recovery angers me. Not because they were unable to recover data, but angry in the original manufacturing in the first place, as this is where I suspect the true problem rests. Every data company along the way in this quest has explained to me that a certain percentage of drives will simply and inexplicably fail, usually due to nano-imperfections in any number to manufacturing variables. Usually when this is the case, or so I'm told, the drive will be toast within 6 months.

I realize that there is always going to be a percentage of manifacturing "trash", even on a superb line, but in today's age I would expect that any company worth its salt would not only recognize this but also stand behind their product. When I told LaCie about my plight, they were quick to offer a "look see" at the drive but were very very rigid on the data recovery aspect. Of course, they do not offer that service, but they do "highly recommend" (read: "ka-ching") drives be sent to DriveSaverrs Data Recovery. Which, despite their high-reputation, cost more than triple the alternatives. This is perhaps due to their success rates, but again, if a head is crashed, it's crashed. I'm not going to waste time and money to reistablish that. LaCie was open to the idea of my sending the drive to another location, provided it employed a desireable level of quality and damage control, such as the ever-important class-100 clean rooms etc. Without this, LaCie would likely reject my warranty.

[Note: LaCie has consequently reviewed my drive, which ESS sent to them directly. 5 days later I received a refurbished (much noiseier alas functional) drive for which I am grateful, but damn it's noisy!]

Of course, I'm hot with frustration right now. I do not blame anyone for this drive failure, but I really wish I could. It would just feel so good to scream at something.

There IS real good news, though. That being, no recovery fee. I don't have $900+ to spend on anything right now, especially intangible goods. So I guess this is my silver lining.

The other "good" news, is that even though I, and particularly Aether, have suffered a pretty serious digital kick to the groin, we're not down yet... just a little wobbly in the knees. I still have all of Aether's layouts, and all of the back-up administrative documents. I have all art for artists whose name falls between "A" and "I" and some of "J". I have everything that was physically shipped to me (be that on CD or printed proof(s)), and I have everything that was emailed to me. So essentially, all I'm missing is any work who was created by an artist whose name falls between "J" and "Z", and of those, only those who submitted via FTP. I'm hoping this will be minimal losses. I won't really know until I regroup, rescan and re-import everything. Of course, based on the way this ordeal has been unfolding, I am sure to find that this encompasses a lot of people.

Is my pessimism showing? Oop, sorry. *adjusts his attitude.

Well, my good people,... many of you have already offered to resubmit, and many have offered support in a number of ways including the ever-pertinent financial option. I cannot thank you all enough. "Furry" has been labled a dramatic genre for a lot of good reasons, and while that sadly calls to thought the bad things, it tends to ignore the supreme good. Furry may have it's downer moments, but there is a wealth of goodwill and kindness herein that we never focus on. The outpouring and support I have received has been heart warming. As the whole intent and drive behind Aether has been to focus on these very things, I cannot help but see this as symbolic.

Please note that as my continued quest to prove that the Aether project is a gift and not a scam, I am not accepting any financial contributions. I thank you all for your thoughts and frequent offers to donate, but I ask you keep this for now. If the mood strikes once Aether is FINALLY released, we'll put that goodwill to better use.

In the meantime, Aether is just a slow-moving project with high ambitions.

I thank you all again for the concerns and support, and most of all your patience as I struggle with my dilemmas.

Love!
-Kross

Production: Drive Failure III: The Saga Continues
UPDATE: February 14, 2008

Sooooooooo I heard from Aero Data Recovery yesterday, and the news was sadly less than ideal. I am a pessimistic person by nature, so I cannot say that the news shocked me. Despite Aero's EXTREMELY personable and heartfelt condolences (I would use them again in a heartbeat), they are unable to work on my failed hard drive.

"Your drive is exhibiting symptoms of a severe head crash," goes the email, "and it is beyond the scope of our techniques to safely attempt to recover."

Queue heart-sink. Queue stomach churn.

Sooooooooo, they have referred me to their sister company, a place called ESS Data Recovery, which apparently has more stringent recovery techniques. They also boast "extremely high success rates." Without even picking up the phone, I know what this means, of course. More money. Three times more, to be exact. Using their economical plan (which takes two to three weeks), they cap the price at about $900 and this price varies based on complexity. Seeing as how my drive is "exhibiting symptoms of a severe head crash," I can only imagine I will be at the $900 mark.

My HOPE at this point, is that the data is even recoverable at all. If it is, and God willing it is, I hope ESS will allow me the option of only retrieving certain files and folders. Because of that 500Gigs, I only REALLY NEED about 70 to 80Gs of it. So we'll see. I have one more shot at hope. After that, the ship has sailed and I'll be standing on the shore casting my drive as far as my arm can cast.

Stay tuned!


Production: Drive Failure II: The Sequel
UPDATE: February 11, 2008

So for all of my loyal readers nervously clinging to the edge of their seats as to whether or not my recent, failed drive is salvageable, [/sarcasm] there is an update;

I have officially submitted my LaCie d2 Quadra 500gig external hard drive to a place called Aero Data Recovery in Troy, IL (http://www.aerodr.com). They were the fourth company I found who deals with such problems, and by far the cheapest. Whereas companies 1 through 3 charged a minimum of $1,600 and no maximums, Aero has a flat fee of about $300 per drive. The difference? Apparently number of staff. They use the same Class-100 Clean Rooms and employ the same software and hardware recovery techniques as the big boys... according to their site.

This is the first time I've ever attempted to have a failed drive recovered. I honestly do not know what to expect and am likewise nervous for a plethora of reasons. The most obvious of which is whether or not I will see any of that data ever again.

This could all be yet another major set-back for Aether, too. It appears that when the failed and back-up drives synced, they did not copy EVERYthing. While I have all of Aether's layouts preserved verbatim (which is the vast majority of the work by far), I am missing a great deal of the artwork; letters K through Z to be exact.

Ever feel like pulling your hair out in huge painful clumps and beating the life out of the first living thing to cross your path?! Well I do!

I was purposely keeping my back-ups to a minimal (especially with Aether) because A) I've never had a drive fail before, and this drive was only 5 months old! and, B) I was so paranoid about having multiple copies of potentially pirated high-res artwork around, that I wanted only the original and one back-up. Well now I only have half.

If Aero cannot recover my drive, particularly the missing Aether artworks, I will have to re-scan the hard-copies that were sent to me, re-scan missing works from my pre-press layouts, and then evaluate which pieces I am still missing and go from there.

Aside from major back-up lessons learned, I will be making it a requirement for future entries to be submitted via CD. I simply cannot imagine having to scramble like this again.

Aero guarantees a result within seven business days, which puts today at day four. We'll see what happens. If they are successful, or even partially successful, I will be very happy... and you can bet I'll be toting their business everywhere. If not,... prepare for mopey me.

-Thanks all! Catch ya soon. Happy St. Valentine's Day!


Production: Drive Failure
UPDATE: February 01, 2008

Total.

Utter.

Drive failure.

500-Gigs of my life vanishes wholly and suddenly as my LaCie d2 Quadra drive has decided to off-itself in a ghastly series of violent click and whirring noises.

Does this affect Aether? Not really, because I had backed all 45-gigs of it onto a second drive... minus a few recent updates.

Does this affect the rest of my life? You betcha. Everything from baby pictures to countless client files.. Ker-gone.

I have set up for data recovery, at a whopping $300... which is actually considerably cheaper than the $3,200 LaCie's DriveSavers wanted... WTF is that?!

Anyway. Yay technology.

-Kross


Production: Aether Notes
UPDATE: December, 2007

Hello all! Happy Holidays!

Just a quick note:

Aether has not been cancelled.

Unfortunately I had no way of knowing that my employer was going to be sending me on several trips, and ontop of everything else, they've decimated my life. If you had any idea how close Aether is to being done, you would understand my frustration. It's literally, right there...

I've tried to "hire" some back-up help to wrap things up, but as the old saying goes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

Although 2007 is all but vanished (and my shame for being behind schedule mounts) Aether will indeed arrive.

Since the publication had officially been stripped of its "Best of _____" status because of some mounting pressures over semantics, the debut edition isn't obligated to a specific year. Though I had sincerely intended to be well into edition #2 by now, too much has overwhelmed me this year.

Everyone has had a lot of patience, but I know it's wearing thin. We're getting there!

I just got back from Europe, and the office will be closed between Christmas and New Year's Day, so I plan to take full advantage of every day in there that I can.

Happy Holidays to everyone, and thanks again for your participation.

Production: FINAL STAGES.
UPDATE: September 21, 2007

Last night I completed laying-out all of the imagery for the book, and my poor poor eyes are aching, but I could not be happier. I truly think everyone will enjoy the look and feel of Aether. Granted, it is a very familiar feel, but nonetheless an effective one and I think everyone will be proud.

Currently, I am entering all of the credit information and author-supplied descriptions, which I chose to add after the images were placed so that I had less to keep track of on the workspace.

The total page count as of this post is 204 pages. (I expect this to increase when Copy is added back in.) Keeping in mind of course that page-count determines printing price, I am trying to keep the page count as minimal as I can considering the artwork itself. That being said, the chosen printer, www.lulu.com, estimates the cost of ONE 8-1/2" x 11"', full-color book at 204-pages to cost $35.18 USD. This is the production cost and not a single cent has been added for profit.

Now, I also was determined to donate all proceeds to a charity from the sales of this book. Which means that the price could rise to as high as $40 per book. I would really hate to cut out the Donation element, but nothing has been promised to any organization yet. This decision will really depend on what the public fandom would like to do. Comments welcome.

Also, there is no contract or commitment to use lulu.com, so we could move publishing to another vendor if a cheaper, equal quality solution is found. Preliminary research found that lulu.com was the cheapest and most reliable, but this was back in August 2006. A thought to ponder.

All in all, it's been a long, hard road and again I find myself with a great desire to thank each and every volunteer and participant in this journey. I have learned a great deal during production, and I will be able to streamline things better for the 2008 edition.

I will also be opening the 2008 Call for Entries as soon as the 2007 goes to press. (I've got more than I can chew right now as it is!)

For 2008, the process and the waived-fees will remain. The biggest difference for 2008 will be the strict, drop-dead deadlines for Entries. Part of the 2007 production hold-up has been waiting for participants to comply with requests (which is totally understandable, but none-the-less very time consuming). When the cut-off date is announced, I will absolutely have to stick to it. No exceptions.

Thanks again everyone! As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, comments or concerns! brian@intrinsikdesign.com

Production: Almost Complete!
UPDATE: July 31, 2007

Even though I had thougtht I would have said this months ago by this point, I am finally ecstatic to announce that Aether is very near completion!

|As of this update, I am laying out the Traditional Illustration Category, which is the final Category. Once this is complete, I will be building the index, double-checking page numbering, and performing a general proof-read for obvious spelling errors, mismatched art/artist descriptions, etc.

Also as of this email, there are a handful of artists who have not yet supplied high-res files or ENtry Forms for your pieces! You know who you because I've sent you several email reminders. Such persons are also listed here, if you are in doubt!

Aether will be sent to lulu.com in August!

Nominations Posted
UPDATE: March 27, 2007
The nominations for the 2007 edition of Aether d'Animaux have been tallied, and the full list of nominations can be found here: [LINK]

UPDATE: March 9, 2007
Five Jurors down, two to go!
Today is the deadline for the Jury process, and we have received a lot of great feedback and commentary from those who have completed the polls! As of this post, two Jurors remain unspoken for. After today, all polls will be tallied and a master list will be created. Please keep your eyeballs here for updates. A link called "THE SHOW" will be created which will supply all of the names of those who were selected into the final publication. Please note that no list will be made or supplied addressing who was not selected. Also note that no list will be composed of which pieces were selected for the book, if an artist entered multiple pieces. We simply don't have that kind of time.

The book will be composed over the next few weeks, and is still planned to be supplied to lulu.com for publication by month's-end.

UPDATE: February 26, 2007
As of today, three Jurors must complete the Jury Process before final selections can be tallied. At which point, all artisans whose work has been selected will be sent an email confirming their entry into Aether d'Animaux, 2007. If the remaining Jurors cannot participate do to scheduling conflicts (as this process is volunteer only and not obligatory), a statement requesting dismissal will be required before I can continue. I want to make sure every piece has been seen by the total Jury, and that every Juror has had ample opportunity to participate.


UPDATE: JANUARY 29, 2007.
>> The Call fo Entries for Aether d'Animaux 2007 is now closed. I must again thank you all with the warmest possible appreciation for participating in a new and untested project.

The project has witnessed the participation of 157 artists of wide scope and media! Together, over 980 submissions were gathered!

With the successful close of the Call for Entries, the ball now rests squarely in my court to produce the polling-center for the Jury to convene and offer their insights. This polling-center, which will take the form of an exclusive, private website for the Jury's eyes only, will be complete this week. I had been set back a few days due to some unexpected construction concerns, as I'm moving residences.

The Jury is under no real scheduled pressure to perform, as they are volunteer. However, as I believe and I the fandom in general tends to agree, the 2007 Jury is comprised of professional, compassionate and experienced members whom I believe will make their best efforts in assisting me to produce this book. My deepest respects and apapreciation to this talented group.

Thanks again!

>> The official Deadline to submit entries to Aether has been lengthend to January 1, 2007. You may submit as many times as you wish, within reason. You do NOT have to create new works! Existing works are fine!

>> Due to increased activity with Aether and the Aether FTP site, it has become difficult to connect in order to upload your materials. If you are having difficulty connecting to Aether FTP, you would be advised to wait and try again in 15 minutes or so. Or, you are also welcome to email the works to brian@intrinsikdesign.com. We can accept up to 10-megs per email.