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jackaccletonfutureworks · 8 years

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DD2000 - Research blog for a path into industry

Portfolios and their importance

Now before we even get to the building up to our chosen job and how we get there we have to talk about arguably the first and most important step when going into any industry, a good portfolio.

A portfolio in definition is according to many sources such as google, the oxford dictionaries and the free dictionary

a set of pieces of creative work intended to demonstrate a person's ability to a potential employer.

Example: "she had a portfolio of crayon portraits"

now reading the definition you should get an idea as to why a portfolio is quite the important tool in any industry but allow me to elaborate, a portfolio usually contains all of your best and well presented work that you wish to show off to a future employer in the hopes that it will impress them enough to consider you for the role available and hire you into it.

Even if that doesnt happen they are important tools for ensuring people dont soon forget you, if its good enough your employer might talk to his co-workers about it and the work that was in it, might recommend you to other companies and give you an easy-ish way into the industry, not only that but if its up online somewhere it can allow none industry people to view it and get invested in the work you do, get invested in your ideas and anything to do with them and begin to support you and want more of your work which is hard to ignore from people in the industry.

But an important part of a portfolio is to make sure it fits the job role, its nice that its all neatly presented and stunning work but if your going for a modelling job and bring in cool doodles of swords instead they will more than likely enjoy them but dont cross your fingers for the job or even being well remembered in a good way.

Now lets take that Modeling job as an example, if your looking into that job there are some things that would work well in your Porfolio

What to include generally

Some well constructed and unique models to show your skill, talent and creativity. Make sure to have beauty shots (Three angles) a Uv render (Shows off the uv maps of the models showing you do know how to Map and texture) and a wireframe

some more bland models that everyone has but it shows you can model things of this type, guns, corridors things like that

all of the work should be finished and if not it should be a w.i.p showing of how the model developed or something you are working on recently and wish to say “this is my latest project”

Portfolio : About myself

Every portfolio for every job must be different and suited for the job role your looking to invest into. Now my portfolio will have me looking into narrative design so there are some things i do need to include when constructing mine and things i need to look out for

What i should include

Well written stories of varying length and style as well as on different matters and subjects to give a quick look at the range i can write at and my ability with different styles and topics

Character development if possible, Original character, fan characters and things like that, let people in the industry see the work and love put into them and how you created them from the ground up, even include the most trivial detail if needed it will show how i think about even the smallest things for characters and bring them to life

Same applies for world building, show worlds you crated and the living breathing atmosphere they have, show off head canons and theories about already made worlds if you wish

Show dialogue and scripts made, this includes roleplaying and back and forth between characters of your own and friends

Work done that is not narrative directly but does still link to it

Any writing done for games, this includes small projects and twine games

Now what have i done to go towards this portfolio as of writing this?

I have written many short stories and poems some better than others i cannot lie however i tend to struggle sometimes with motivation in writing longer tales if they are not split into parts either via working time or as part 1, part 2 etc, 3 twine games which could be improved but stand at a decent enough quality and i do intend to create more, have an entire blog built for role playing (character creation and building, dialogue, world building) this is where i let alot of my ideas roam free as well as some of my more out there character traits, this character has spawned off into his own story and world view from a character that had nothing to start with, he has spawned countless side characters and alternate realities surrounding him and all of them have their own stories and worlds not to mention many pieces of college work.

All of these very important in the portfolio especially for the job role im looking to enter.

General Examples of both good and bad portfolio's

Networking

Networking is in short terms the connections you make with people be them big or small, it forms a web coming from you of connections you made. If you meet David and David knows Susan but you dont know Susan, she is still now in your web of networking due to knowing David.

Networking is important to the industry at it is a key way to get into the industry and get yourself known to people, without the links to people it would be almost impossible to get a way into the industry without directly going up to someone and asking for a job or applying yourself.

Networking can also offer unexpected help from people inside the industry through simply talking to them.

But how can networking help my career path into a narrative games career?

More importantly what kinds of networking could help my cause?

Well the obvious one to start off in narrative would be social media, its a great place to store and write small stories or tales and build character/worlds. It is also perfect for getting your small tales out to a large audience of people very quickly.

Take tumblr for example, its blogging allows for quick short stories or grand giant multi-post tales to be re-blogged , twitter is also a good example here as many industry insiders use twitter and could be a great way to share your narrative ideas and work with them to get feedback and make yourself known to them

It is also a prime location to show off portfolio w.i.p work and gain interest in what else is inside your portfolio both from regular people and industry insiders which could lead to job offers or simply having you in mind when a place does come up

Another prime example would be Game conventions, they allow for examination of upcoming games as well as series of games with over arching stories as well as the idea of communication with industry insiders as well as games media about games and your general idea. It could also provide you with skills and much needed tips if your willing to buy some people a beer. Game designers are just people like you and me so most of them have no issue sitting down to talking.

There are a few that take place here in the UK :

EGX - EGX is a British made Gaming Convention sponsored by Virgin media and s currently set to take place in the Birmingham NEC arena on the 21st -24th of September

Play Expo - Play Expo is a British games convention set in Manchester England at event city.

There is one that comes to mind and does take place in the US

Ludem Dare - Ludem Dare is a game jam hosted this year in San Francisco that gives people a theme and 24/48 hours to create a game, this allows people in the industry to see how people work under a tight deadline and the quality of games they can create with minimal information. It also allows for the people involved to brush up on their skills or develop new ones.

Well i say one but you cant talk US and game gatherings without mentioning

E3 - E3 is a yearly multi company convention in which the biggest games are shown and revealed and many of the gaming industries top professionals visit to give their games that needed star power, a place like this is perfect to ask questions, build connections and show off work you had done in hopes of making an impression

One important thing to know about networking overall however is that you should never be afraid to talk to someone or ask questions to them, they are not some untouchable idol who will simply scoff at you, they are infact just as human as you are and i imagine they they have trouble talking to a person from time to time. Plus there is only things to gain instead of things to lose

The Ideal Work Place/Key Companies In My Field

When it comes to an ideal work place that generally comes down to preference, some might want to work for Bethesda, maybe you want to work for EA but this is in general terms which company would be the best suited for the field i would like to enter

The first company that instantly jumps put for narrative focused games would be tell tale who have generally been known to create heavily emotional narrative focused point and click/episodic games based on existing IP’s such as The walking dead, borderlands and game of thrones

https://telltale.com/ - 4000 Civic Center Dr, San Rafael, CA 94903, USA

https://telltale.com/jobs/

As of this moment in time they are only looking for a senior writer in the job field i wish however that doesnt mean i cant apply for another job they are in need of to work my way into a writing position for example they are always looking for q/a testers so using that i can wiggle into a narrative design or writer role by suggesting things that could improve the story experience or helping with the writing of scripts and dialogue.

An issue with telltale however is it is hard to single out a game from their library as more narrative focused or important than any other, walking dead offers a dark saddening take on the world where every option and choice you make will have an impact later. This is in stark contrast to say tales from the borderlands which yes does have a similar choices matter mentality however the story in that game is less serious and grim and more light hearted and lovely.

With tell-tale they cover so much ground in their narrative focused games its hard to single one of them out alone

Not a company that comes to mind when thinking of narrative but one that i would enjoy a job at would be gearbox, they are mainly known for creating the borderlands franchise and as of now are in the process of making the third game . Their narratives tend to be somewhat serious but have a lighthearted tone to them with alot of dirty humor.

Borderlands and its sequels probably are the most notable games they have created and do narrative in an inventive way in that it is both serious yet not at all serious at the same time i mean....the planet your on is in grave danger from a tyrant hell bent on wiping life as you know it off the planet with an alien doom weapon, but at the same time the villian mocks you with such childish insults and sarcastic nonsense its hard to take it seriously, even more so with some of the side missions like “shot this guy in the faace” which is exactly as it sounds.

http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/ - 5757 Main St, Frisco, TX 75034, USA

http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/careers/

Gearbox software have an odd internship program that allows people of all skill levels to join and it is called the cogs program, in their own words the cogs program is

“The COGS program at Gearbox Software is designed for future game developers to get a chance to start their careers by becoming embedded with the veteran, professional developers at our world-class video game development studio and actually contribute to a commercial video game project. It’s the real deal. This is the foot in the door. This is the chance to prove yourself.

The COGS program differs from a traditional internship because Gearbox Software will actually pay you during your time at the studio. What?! Did you read that right?! Yes, we’re going to pay you to prove yourself. We must be nuts.But forget about us being nuts for a minute – the COGS program is as real as Clap Trap’s malfunctioning artificial personality.

COGS stands for Contractors of Gearbox Software – you will get a contract and it will say that you have become an actual, official, paid professional inside the studio that is home of Borderlands, Duke Nukem, Brothers in Arms, Homeworld, Battleborn, and Randy Pitchford’s flamboyant shirts. The contract terms can be for as little as three months or as long as a year, depending on the timing and the role. During that time you’ll get free soda. Also during that time you’ll contribute to a real commercial product at our AAA development studio earning valuable experience and credit that will not merely be rewarding and insanely gratifying, but will also set-you-up to be very valuable and sought after by the industry. And there’s free snacks to wash down with the soda. Did I already mention the soda? It’s a cool deal.”

quote directly from here

This is all to simply prove if you deserve a job or not

Key people in my field

http://www.evanskolnick.com/games

His portfolio is rather well put together and lists all of his skills and accomplishments as well as any and all of the projects he has worked on it also seems to show his wide range of work as he has taken part in narrative roles on project such as mafia 3 which is full of gore and racial angles and tension to the kid friendly hi-jinks filled over the hedge game and movie.

This is a portfolio i should keep an eye on and learn from

https://twitter.com/evanskolnick?lang=en

Evan Skolnick is an american born writer who has previous worked on marvel comics as a lead writer and now has jumped into narrative video game design, his most recent project/job being the walking dead : a new frontier by telltale which makes him a key player not only in my field but a company based solely around the field i wish to work in

has a book out called : video game story telling, what every developer needs to know about narrative techniques

the description of the book and what it may offer

“With increasingly sophisticated video games being consumed by an enthusiastic and expanding audience, the pressure is on game developers like never before to deliver exciting stories and engaging characters. With Video Game Storytelling, game writer and producer Evan Skolnick provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to storytelling basics and how they can be applied at every stage of the development process—by all members of the team. This clear, concise reference pairs relevant examples from top games and other media with a breakdown of the key roles in game development, showing how a team’s shared understanding and application of core storytelling principles can deepen the player experience. Understanding story and why it matters is no longer just for writers or narrative designers. From team leadership to game design and beyond, Skolnick reveals how each member of the development team can do his or her part to help produce gripping, truly memorable narratives that will enhance gameplay and bring today’s savvy gamers back time and time again.“

Edwin McRae isnt noteworthy due to the work he has done, though he has worked on many smaller titles and mobile games as a narrative designer and world builder. He is more notable due to his constant advice and tutorials on how to become a better narrative designer and how to build a living breathing world from scratch

He too like Evan has a book or two to be purchased and read which can be found here : https://www.edmcrae.com/books-and-comics.cfm

Another good narrative designer to take a look at would be Daniel Dick, he describes himself as follows

“ I'm a Narrative Director & Writer with over 15 years of industry experience creating, building, and implementing successful narratives (including multiple AAA titles). I also recently designed a narrative design and game writing course for the University of British Columbia's Creative Writing Program.”

Some notable projects he has worked on include

★ DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED Narrative Director Eidos Montreal ★ HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK Narrative Director BBI / Gearbox ★ SPEC-OPS Lead Narrative Designer & Writer Rockstar Vancouver ★ BULLY Narrative Designer & Writer Rockstar Vancouver ★ SOCOM: TACTICAL STRIKE Lead Writer & Narrative Designer Slant Six / Sony ★ SOCOM: FIRETEAM BRAVO 3 Lead Writer & Narrative Designer Slant Six / Sony ★ NEED FOR SPEED & SSX Story Consultant & Contract Writer Electronic Arts ★ TREASURE PLANET Game Designer & Writer Barking Dog / Disney ★ THE DAMASCUS LETTER: A Spy Novel Author Finalist for the AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD in 2011.

His portfolio on Linkden is also very well put together and will have to keep an eye on this one as well

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieldick/

The skills i need

When it comes to narrative design in general there are certain skills you will need when entering the field.

Atleast basic knowledge on pacing and tone to a story, you cant have characters fighting an epic war then suddenly 2 seconds later have a clown filled tea party only to mourn their friends for a solid hour or two after that, it kills both the tone your going for and pacing. Keep it balanced and consistent

Understand character and world building, it good to create a world or character but if they are blank slates of boring with a side of boring pie then no one will care.

To create a breathing living world you must think about every detail and bit of history, what does this town do for the world, why is this ruin here, where do these enemies live etc. However be careful as you cannot make a game with backstory and word building alone and people do not want to have to sit through hours of lore.

Characters are harder to build, they can have preset fears and goals and motivations and even backstories however alot of the time they need to grow alongside the player and inside the events of your narrative. If a character loses something precious to them show it, if they are tried from a long battle show it, if they have been beaten badly and took a massive hit to their pride again show it to the player and in the character.

Script/dialogue writing skills and understanding what goes into creating them. Make sure every bit of dialogue fits who it is meant for perfectly and try to avoid repetition if possible. Ensure scripts are clear to read for the voice actors

Ability to take critique and improve from it, maybe someone thinks a certain aspect of your narrative is a bit off and wants to give feedback, it would be your job to take that feedback in and maybe change the narrative a bit to fit it.

Interpersonal skills, do you really think your going to be working alone....yeah no it doesnt work like that as you will be with a team of writers more than likely who will be throwing in ideas into this world or character and trying to make them perfect. Listen to what they have to say and work with them. Plus you will be working with other departments, maybe the environment designer needs specific dialogue for a fire area and you need to take a look at the area to gauge what kind of dialogue to fit into it, Maybe the character designer needs help figuring out how this character might speak and what they could even say

You have to have the ability to understand the genre of what it is your writing, cant have a kid friendly platformer suddenly have sexual jokes and decapitations now can we?

Organization in your writing is a good skill to possess as well as good motivation skills and time management

My work and evaluating it/General Evaluation

Now that i have mentioned the skills needed and the work i have done it is time to evaluate it bit by bit and see if i meet the standards set above and if not how can i achieve them from where i am now

My work

Short stories and poems tend to come to me in the moment and usually come from my already made characters, existing characters from movies/tv/games or from some random idea i had in my mind. However as mention before they tend to be a one time thing and rarely branch out and become longer, any longer story usually gets forgotten about due to motivational or memory issues even if broken into parts (For example i got 5 parts into a dark souls 3 story before forgetting it and never really going back to continue it). If i wish to get into narrative i need to work on long stories

The few twine games i have made so far are at a time where i have minimal knowledge of twine and one of them i cannot add to my porfolio due to content inside it. They are not nearly to the standard they could or should be and i should spend time completing and working on them to put them at the level i believe they could be.

The blog is personally my proudest bit of writing, i started the blog with a charcter based on an ingame mario enemy that had no backstory or anything, no personifcation or even personality. I took this enemy and gave it life and a soul, gave it wants and needs and fears and a personality, it has goals and a past now and as said has spawned countless Alternate worlds and ideas from it due to the story i have told with him. However alot of the writing tends to be very informal and dailouge based and the blog also has some informal and silly content to go through, will need to isolate the writing from this blog to show on the portfolio

As said he has spawned countless characters off of himself, from a sweet gentle shy king, to an evil dominating tyrant, a lonely yet wise last of his kind hunter, a sickening horrific yet lovable spider hybrid creature, a shy 1 limbed mechanic looking into necromancy to power his robotics to be honest this is stuff to include in the portfolio however it mention it here as no matter how many characters i do have i should continue to add more to the mix and develop them every chance i get to do so.

Skills and myself overall

In terms of skills i would like to atleast believe i own some of the needed skills for my job role, a basic understanding of pacing and tone, world and character building experience as well as interpersonal skills and abilities. Perhaps i do struggle a small amount with critique as sometimes it dont learn or go back to redo what is told of me.

Out side of skills to myself in general im a generally approachable and creative guy who could keep tensions low and ensure that everyone in the company is keeping themselves happy and destressed, i would also like to believe im willing to advance and learn even if it is painful.

But to evaluate you have to speak of the bad too, which is sometimes i can be very unmotivated and avoid/put off work for as long as possible even if i understand and know i have work. I can also get frustrated easilly with things that i cannot do or do not understand, if i wish to advance in my industry i willl need to put these under lock and key

My path into industry due to what i have found here

Due to the information i have found here there are a few paths into industry i can take

i can look for a indie or triple A developer looking for a q/a tester and work into the company from there offering the skills i do have to help construct the game and help any struggling member of the team during my none working hours, this iwll show them my previously obtained skills and allow them to remember me above all the other Q/A testers thus getting a foot in the door

I could also use my Voice acting talent and get in through that, voice a character and offer changes and help to the script as well as developing the character which again gives me a foot into the door.

another option is to wiggle into games journalism, this way i can write about and meet many developers as well as play some of the hottest games before anyone else and offer my opinion on them and what could be changed.

#FWDD2000

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anni-humanities-blog · 8 years

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Gallery/Museum Visit Review I visited the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford. There were galleries which had comics, installation pieces, statues, portraits, and much more. While I walked around, I felt overwhelmed with the amount of art my eyes were absorbing. I loved all the exhibits, especially one about surrealism but by far, my favorite show was in the Marie Stauffer Sigall Gallery. It was called “Object Lessons: Art and Its Histories.” This part explored ways that late nineteenth- and early twentieth- century artists challenged the standards of past art and created different and new ideas that are now used in modern art. I found this interesting because it showed how, in a sense, modern art began. The show featured artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Conrad Felixmüller, Robert Henri, Eadweard Muybridge, Francis Picabia, and many more. This show included a variety of paintings and a few sculptures. This gallery was definitely my favorite, even though there were a few close runner-ups. Each painting was completely different from the others in shapes, styles, texture, and color. This gallery contained mainly paintings and had two sculptures but I really enjoyed it because of the different techniques that were used in each piece. The different abstract shapes and designs somehow put a smile on my face. There would be a black and white painting right next to a painting filled with color. I found that most paintings that I was drawn to either had very bright colors or an interesting texture. I think the only thing I didn’t like in this gallery was that there wasn’t that much variety in art forms. It would’ve been cool if there was some more sculptures or anything else just to say that artists started modernizing art through other forms too. Also, it was kind of confusing which gallery I was in. My favorite piece was a small drawing called “Curved Forms with Blue” by Barbara Hepworth made in 1946. I researched the artist and found that she was a sculptor and made many sketches for her different circular sculptures. I assumed that the drawing was a design for a sculpture. In the drawing, there was lots of gray and I could definitely see the depth and layers that resulted from the shading. In the middle of the drawing, there was a splotch of blue, which seems to just stand out. It made me think about how artwork doesn’t have to be some elaborate and complex piece, something so simple could be gorgeous too. I also loved another piece called “Lunch Table.” It was made by Wayne Thiebaud in 1920. Depicting many different foods, the painting was full of bright colors. There were desserts, fruits, sandwiches and much more lined up on a table. This was the first painting that I saw when I stepped into the gallery and it immediately drew me towards it. It reminded me of something I had seen when I was younger and I stared at it for a full 10 minutes, staring at every single detail. When I looked closely at it, I could see the brush strokes in the layers of thick paint. I love when artists use thick paint and you can see where the paintbrush has been. At this time, I was also extremely hungry so this was even more appealing. These two pieces were few of the many artworks featured in this gallery. I loved all of them. There were paintings made with many different materials, making the room very diverse. There were some made of crayons and pen while others were made with paint. Some paintings were dark, while others were very bright and filled with abstract shapes. It seemed that every painting had some kind of contrast in it, whether being from dark to light or black and white to color. I would definitely recommend this museum to everyone. Although I didn’t spend a lot of time in each gallery, every single one had a unique characteristic to it. Some galleries were placed in very lit rooms while others had dim lights to make the paintings more dramatic. There was so much variety in the art pieces there. They had everything from ancient Egyptian sculptures to art pieces about surrealism. I loved the show I focused on and it was very successful. It taught me more about how modern art was created. If I could talk to an artist, I would ask them what inspired them to go outside of the standards for art at the time and create something so different. My overall experience was unforgettable. I went with two of my best friends and it was fun to see their reactions to the artwork alongside with mine. I would love to go again and explore each gallery more and look at the outside sculpture garden. Although I went there when I was younger, I got a much better understanding of the concepts.

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luanabat-blog1 · 6 years

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CRAYOLA CRAYONS MAKEUP REVIEW

New Post has been published on https://parfumage.com/crayola-crayons-makeup-review/

CRAYOLA CRAYONS MAKEUP REVIEW

my sister’s James Charles here and welcome back it’s my youtube channel first today’s the day we’re doing something that I actually have not done in a very very very long time and that is a review and it fills you guys who have been watching me for a while you know that I don’t really like doing reviews but mostly because of one they’re boring – I don’t release which up my beauty routine that often and three the general public is convinced that beauty gurus are literally spawns of Satan and were sent down to earth to literally fool everybody and lied to them into buying copy products a few days ago I was doing some sisters shopping the play stylist online to pick up some really cute summer clothes and I was on ASOS which if you don’t know what that is it is a really really cute online clothing retailer how I can not sponsored by shag should be and I actually came across the beauty section on their website and found out something that had me shook to the core and that was that Crayola the crayon company that we all used to draw with when we were kids came out with a full-on makeup line at first sitting there I was very much sister stumped on why the heck and our supplies company would release a makeup line but then I remembered it’s kind of within the same realm and you guys just saw me do my full face using only art supplies a few weeks ago and clearly the actual products worked out pretty well so it might not be that strange of a business move for them but regardless I bought the entire collection today I’m very very very excited to see how these products actually test out will they be good or will they literally be like crayons on my face we’re gonna find out so without further ado let’s jump right into the video [Music] so lonely isotopes that made to search the Crayola and it looks at that they launched 57 different items at the collection which is actually like very very large I deftly picked up a lot of different things today that I’m excited to try out and there are things on this website ranging from brushes to eyeshadow palettes to mascaras to highlighters to face crayons which I’m have no idea what that a is but I guess we’re going to find out so starting off I picked up two different eyeshadow palettes that they launched right off the bat I’m gonna say packaging absolutely beautiful this rainbow moment is so so so cute and I got the nude eyeshadow palette and the mermaid eyeshadow palette France if you’re watching this please stop releasing mermaid and unicorn themed items we are all over it this has been a PSA the palette sweet offer $29 and they come with ten shadows and each kit meaning each shadow is $2.90 Wow I love being at the queen of math and they’re actually both cruelty free and vegan which is really really great I also picked up the Crayola face palette which once again retails for at $29 and contains 10 different oh this is the face palette I really thought this is going to contain a contouring color I grabbed their customizable lip palette which is $35 and once again contains 10 different sheets perfect for mixing I am very very excited to try to sell it later on I don’t know if any you guys know this or if ever tried it but honestly Beverly Hills actually has a really really great formula for their customisable lip palette so I’m gonna be very interested to see how this performs and comparison to that one I grab the highlighter crayon and the shade shimmering blush and this one was $17.50 which looks like this interesting I’m a little bit scared to put this over top of my foundation but we’re gonna make it work hopefully I grab two different mascaras in black and navy blue and these retail for sixteen dollars but the years of the collection for me what a little bit sister sell good Laura I picked up some of the Crayola face crayons and I grabbed a yellow a block a white a mango color of blue of red and a nude color just to try out different eye looks today now these look great on the website they retail for $14.50 now to me if this price hike seems a little bit high bring their you’re only getting point 0 7 ounces of product for $14.50 and I know for a fact that milk sells their jumbo eye pencils for like $6 which is literally like the same exact product hello I literally spent 101 dollars and 50 cents on all seven of these eye pencils and what I find even more ridiculous is that you can literally go to the craft store and buy a 96 packet of crayons which are probably let’s be honest the exact same thing was this for nine dollars I got 96 crayons for nine dollars and I got seven i crayons for a hundred and $1.50 something does not add up here if you ask me and finally my last purchase of this collection is probably the worst of all them being this Crayola Beauty make up a brush set in case now when I saw this brush out online originally I was like wow is so cute look at this brush keys are you kidding me at holographic Crayola Gorge and then I bought it for $40 and I opened it up to find this for eyeshadow brushes for Quattro I don’t think so before we go ahead and actually start my look today I thought we should do some sister swatches of the different eye crayons because these are really what I’m most excited to see how the heck of these perform so let’s start off with the shade white oh okay so it’s definitely a very very creamy formula thank God it doesn’t feel like an actual crayon on my arm we have the shade dandelion so cute that these are actually matching to the real names of the Crayola pencils putting these on they actually feel kind of like oily to apply I really thought that are gonna be a lot more like hard I definitely interested to see if these are going to try down because they definitely do it transfer as you can see it kind of feels like you’re playing a lip stick to your arm whereas I felt like they’re gonna be a lot more dry next we have the shade at Mango Tango okay I guess this one is a little bit sparkly that’s kind of pretty I doesn’t want to try to use that one as a blush next we have the shade of red oh wow that you’re kidding that was with literally zero pressure yeah these are a really sister soft this is like a lipstick wow that did not last long this is a mess alright next I picked up the shade and navy blue this one also has a little bit of sparkle to it as well that’s a really pretty color not gonna lie I wanna use on the lower lash line I also picked up the shade desert sand which is like a little nudie color I would got this for out the waterline and this is really really pretty and then finally of course I got why but I think the worst block that I’ve ever swatch in my entire life what is that you’d think of all the colors the block would be like the best one if anything okay I’m a little bit sister spooked after these swatches but you know what I want to see how this is gonna turn out let’s just jump right in I’m gonna first grab the base palette because I’m looking a little bit flat right now and I’m literally scared and I’m going to attempt to contour somehow I’m first gonna grab the blush brush from this collection and grab I think this shade or right over here and try to contour this let’s see luckily there’s a mirror in here which is actually really helpful it’s not like bad it’s just like not there I was definitely right in the beginning when I said that this palette deftly does not have a contour option which is hello it’s a face palette I’m gonna grab my Calvin D shade of light palette and just contour them I’m gonna go back to that in 30 seconds for blush and highlight and the full shebang okay we’re back with our regularly scheduled programming did you miss me I know you did I’m gonna grab the blush brush once again I’m gonna dip into this kind of metallic e coral copper shade down here it actually look very very sunny I want to try to use this for at blush today so once again it’s not showing up can you see that what’s going on why is it not showing up with my face oh there it is okay it’s their shoes that are shaking into the party oh I love that okay I feel like this blush shade is like absolutely perfect for a really beautiful bronze look for the summer time to kind of transition your bronzer to your highlight I really actually like to shade a lot oh my god Wow okay cool great love that you guys might like to do highlighter earlier on as well so I’m gonna go back into the shade in a short second I want to lay down this highlighter stick as a base first this is in the shade shimmering blushed and once again I think this was $17.50 these kind of remind me of like the milk sticks and there it’s barely there come on Crayola this is like the texture of what I thought the face creams were gonna be like like this has that waxy kind of more dry texture that I was expecting and that does not look good it’s actually picking up the foundation underneath which is definitely not good do it does not look good that is canceled a million percent and sad what I’m gonna do is get my face a white spritz of fix+ just like I always do before I apply my highlighter and I’m gonna get my morphe 501 brush and I’m gonna dip into this shade right here in the face palette which actually looks like a really really pretty highlighter and let’s try out this instead okay not at that see that looks good great love that the true test here is can it snatch a sister schnoz let’s see that is the face all complete we are chiseled out we added a little bit of color and now we aren’t glowing from with Ana I’m actually really really loving how this is looking so far but I’m gonna bake my face and set it in place and I’ll be right back a little bit closer up to start off the eyes okay literally about a sword in the eyeshadow I’m literally luck the pocket it’s literally flying apart oh you’re kidding okay this is just getting worse and worse and worse for the second we’re gonna pretend like that shadow didn’t just fall out of the entire package good lord I’m scared okay let’s freakin do this thing at this point I’m gonna start off with the nude eyeshadow palette which is literally falling apart at its seams I think I really want to keep with the theme that I have going on it’s officially summer time I know some of you guys are graduating at congratulations by the way so before I even talking to the eyeshadow palette i actually the yellow face cran and I think I want to pop this in the inner corners like a little fun a pop of color and see how it actually it turns out it’s actually showing up on the skin surprisingly I guess I’m just gonna grab like a blending brush and see if I can buff that out I hear they do blend thank God oh wait no they don’t what the heck okay so the cranes actually do blend out but it definitely loses like almost all of its pigmentation when you blend it and it doesn’t dry like it’s still tacky feeling this is not going well I’m gonna put a little bit more on to bring some of that color back similar to the highlighter – it’s actually taking off the foundation from underneath the crayon it still looks fine oh my god you guys can’t even oh wow hashtag for Cyril problems when you buy too expensive hood camera and it still looks good so looking at the news power R or matte shades and then six different shimmer shades which is a very very bad ratio there should never be more shimmer shades in math sheets in a palette I wanna grab that red crayon that literally melts it off when it was touching my hand and see if one I can create an orange in the middle of this eye look and also kind of wing this out on oh my god why is this right doing this let’s grab the one eyeshadow brush in the entire brush kit and try to blend this out the sad thing is I’m like actually really trying here like I don’t want to lost you from Crayola but I know you can feel it coming okay that’s not that horrible what if I grab like a regular morphe brush okay that’s not horrible it’s like bad but like not the worst me look at everything am i I wonder if I grab a blending brush and like a little bit of this oh okay that actually works okay what’s actually really annoying is that blending the red and the yellow together like didn’t make orange I wonder if I put this mango shade in here what that will do nothing it’s gonna do absolutely nothing apparently why can I make orange like red plus yellow wow look at me being an artiste oh we we welcome to Patti maybe these are supposed to be like use when you’re like not wearing makeup it’s like not like it just over like a eye thing or like you like just put it on the cheek like as like a light on the go type of thing this is just not good I think is the conclusion that I’m coming to here okay I wanna figure out to somehow finish this I look and I want to do a house quickly so I can check out some of the shimmer shades in here because they are so you look really really stunning and I love the highlighter in the face palette that we use beforehand so I’m gonna grab my shape tip concealer I’m gonna cut out the crease but I’m actually really nervous to do this being that these shadows are and are not drying down in the slightest bit so this might all get mixed together and we’re gonna find out in a few short seconds I’m gonna grab my morphe I’m 2 to 4 brush and start off with this kind of light gold shader right here at the bottom and I’m gonna pack that on the lid hello what the heck what like this swatch so nicely where is this on the arm hello I do not see that do you I feel like I need to treat you all I children right now because we’re doing a Crayola makeup tutorial what is going on now that the crease is all kind of caught I’m gonna grab this like a metallic kind of ready orange shade right here on a fluffy brush and I want to use this to blend out the outer edge into that red shadow that we have going on I’m just gonna pop this right here oh that’s a good shot oh okay not mad about it i doesn’t want to deepen up that outer V a little bit too and add some more dimension so I’m just gonna grab a Smith 235 brush and dip it it’s this kind of like muted grey tone up in this corner I’m not sure how this is gonna turn out let’s just try those so be one of the worst eye looks I’ve ever done and I’m literally not even being dramatic yes I am but I never want to use as much of the colors as possible so we did get a black crayon and I want to try to do a winged liner with this which I know I’m going to regret like you know what you don’t know unless you try why is this black so sheer why would you ever want a block that looks like this oh my god this is also a cream so it’s literally not gonna dry down either yeah what’s the worse all right so that is the upper lashline all complete and it looks not good but let’s move on to the lower lash line I think I want to add a pop of color because I really am dying to try out this mermaid palette I first wanted one of the crayon in the shade navy blue first of all this is like cherlene that color that we all loved not dark blue I want to pop this right up here for a fun pop of color and see how this works see that’s actually really pretty like that I can get behind we love great and then I’m gonna go a mix of these two shades right up and here with my morphe I’m at 149 brush and use that to epochal right over top to actually set in the shade because cream eyeshadow is whether or not Crayola knows they are supposed to be set with something with that same brush I want to dip into this darker purple shade right up in here and give Dada spreads a fix+ as well and pack that on the outer corner because purples are so pretty and I feel like it’s very very rare that you see like a metallic purple and an eyeshadow palette so I really want to test this out okay you know what as much as I was making fun of it the remain I showed up how a hundred percent outperform the nude palette this actually is really pretty I just can’t get over the fact that this black eyeliner is literally like not block who does that how would you ever do that okay so I got this nude shade desert sand to pop in the lash line so we’re gonna pop it in the lash line I feel like that did like very I guess it kind of worked okay should I try white instead oh okay that’s actually a bomb white liner kind of all right that is enough of the eyeshadows I bought mascaras these were 16 dollars each I’m gonna start off with the black one on the upper lashes and see how this mascara actually it performs I like this wand a lot actually Wow as if following this video literally could not get any worse I am out of lash glue a very BA 20 minutes later all right finally huh that is what I look all completes looking in the mirror I actually don’t hate how this turned out I feel like we had a mission to go on and although we may have failed I like the direction that this is going in and I really want to recreate this look sometime soon with like a really good working a product that being said this eyelid literally took me 45 minutes to do and I still don’t feel like it’s up to par the blending is not great these cream shadows still are not dried down which is very very strange and it’s just not as bright and pigmented as those like them to be that being said I’m gonna go and do the other eye off-camera really quickly and hopefully try to do it a little bit faster and I’ll be right back to finish off the rest of this Crayola all right hello i am back and those are both eyes complete thank god i’m gonna finish up my look today with a lip so let’s go ahead and grab the custom lip palette i think i want to do probably just like a nude lip I did a rainbow I look so I think I need to like balance out a little bit something you thought I want to mix in this sheet together right here with a pink to make a slightly lighter nude um let’s see how this actually works under go this mouth shape my down here mix it on my arm I guess and then a little bit of this white shade well okay they definitely are really creamy that’s for sure which is great I want to add a slight bit of yellow as well and make it a little bit more peachy tone let’s try this what the heck that is not what I wanted okay it kind of tastes like like not good I’ll ease lip color ever for this look it’s like a bright Barbie baby pink like no that is not what I wanted I wanted like a dark nude how do I make that maybe like shad Brown I would love to tell you how I got to this color but I don’t even know myself all right guys I’m calling it quits for this video today this review has been something else Crayola sweetie love you the most you made my childhood pretty iconic but I think we need to stick to our 96 crayons for ten dollars because all this is not working out overall this collection is not absolutely the worst but I definitely not recommend you guys to go and run and spend your money on it these face crayons I would have to say by far the worst thing in this entire collection they’re way too waxy they’re not that pigmented they do not blend out very well they don’t dry down and they are way way a way to overprice the next several pencils are a much better alternative the eyeshadow palettes however were actually not that bad specifically the face when I actually really really like this one this highlighter shade right here looked absolutely stunning on the cheeks and this metallic coral blush I am literally in love with I want to reach for this all the time this summer and the mermaid palette as such as I was actually making fun of it in the beginning was actually a pretty bomb as well and I love how it looks on the lower lash line the lip palette although I was having a really hard time finding a decent shade at first I think I was actually able to mix together a really beautiful nude and the formula feels really really really nice but I would definitely recommend buying a lipstick instead because I know most you guys don’t want to sit there I was saying good morning and mixed together a lipstick I know I certainly don’t the mascaras were okay they definitely like did their job of coating and lash and giving them a little bit of a lift but they’re definitely not something I would recommend or say that you needed in your life and the brush collection is an absolute no please never spend $40 on four brushes ever I actually really really do love the look that I came up with today but it just took me way too much time way too much ever and way too much packing and Blandings we ought to really get good Ilyich going on I’m actually really disappointed because you guys know I say all the time or difficult for the are and you guys might grew up drawing painting and coloring and Pirela actually did have a huge huge part in my life and it got me through a lot of really really tough times as a kid but it really sucks to say that I will not be recommending this election to you guys and it will definitely not be a part of my future makeup routine that being said I really hope you guys enjoyed this video today and if you did please don’t forget to give it a big thumbs up down below and subscribe if you have not already I’d love to have you join the sister this is a pretty lit time because I got Bala I can’t see if we notified every time I upload a brand new video if you like to follow me on my makeup journey you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter they’re both the same Charles and my snapchat for more behind the scenes lights up his senior Charles and extra ass after Charles this videos sister shadow goes to sister Ethan thank you so much we employ stalling in supporting two I love you so so so much and if you like to be the next videos sister shadow don’t forget to always a retweet video links they go live on Twitter all right sisters that is all I have for this video is tonight thank you for watching this crazy crazy review I love you and I will see you in the next one bye

#beauty #beauty tips #brutally honest #coverboy #covergirl #crayola #crayola makeup #crayon makeup #crayons #easy makeup #full face of makeup using only art supplies #funny videos #honest review #how to #makeup artist #manny mua

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storiesnstormsinmyhead-blog · 7 years

Text

Stories we tell ourselves

Some of us are born with a natural sense of bravado and bravery. Confidence in their collect features. But many of us are not, to many, such was the case for Reynold Roy Richardson, the third son of Miguel Jonathon Richardson. Reynold Roy Richardson, Roy for short, was born with exceptionally low confidence in everything. He was averagely tall and averagely skinny and had average body type and average coloring. Just another shade of blue in the fifty eight crayon box. And although some days he wished to be something better, he had no real motives to get there and so settled with being happy with his droll, tired, average self. He could shoot a hoop from half court given enough tries, and while the guys at school thought that was pretty cool, so could everyone. However one day his life took an unexpected turn for the oddest. It started in home ec class, his usual partner who added too much salt to everything was gone for the day, so he was paired with Ruby haired Robin. Ruby haired Robin was a loner oddball who watched asian cartoons and drank real smoothies and had short red hair the stuck up at odd angles. Her doctor who sweater was too big for her and her boots too tall, her glasses seemed to eat half her face under their big frames. As she sat down he could almost feel her discontent and irritability at the long day. They made cupcakes, but instead of putting a perfect hat of frosting on them Robin dolloped a huge drippy mess of hers, they cleaned up and she stacked everything wrong and it fell down in a huge clatter. It soon became obvious to Roy that Robin was exceptionally perfect, at being completely imperfect. The next day she had a homemade beanie and they made banana bread. She tried to start conversion.

“Hey you, don’t you think miss Barreyman looks like she should be wearing a bowtie?” It was an odd question but did make sense if you saw miss Barreyman. Miss Barreyman wore power suits and high heels everyday and drank black coffee out of a gallon mug without smudging a bit of her bright red lipstick. She looked like she could have gotten away with murder in her youth, but now had tired eyes and drippy eyeliner and less perk and pep.

“Yeah sure”

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Ruby chirped, honestly would she just shut up? Why did she wanna talk to me anyways?

“No”

“Oh sorry.” lapse silence “Do you watch doctor who?”

“No, but my sister does” My freaky man obsessed sister, I borrowed her laptop once when I was ten and that's how I learned how men made love, well gay men, in her adolescent imagination.

“Oh thats cool, Supernatural?”

“What?”

“The show?”

“I don-” the bell rang, “I gotta go” finally, free from her weird conversation topics.

The next day Robin wasn’t there, salt boy was back. we made brownies, I turned my back for one second and when the brownies came out of the oven they shimmered with a fine layer of salt, he had mistaken the teaspoon for the tablespoon again. We had no conversation, but I kinda missed the weird break from normality that was Ruby haired Robin. She didn’t come back the next day, or the next day, or again. Later that week there was an article in the newspaper about a young teen girl commiting suicide. However I got a nagging sensation she was still around. Rationally she couldn’t be, but I swear I felt her irritation and discontent still, following me around. Then it happened, I was just chilling in my room gaming and eating BBQ Lays when I heard a sigh, I looked up and saw Robin, or rather a specter of her, sitting on the corner of my bed staring longingly at the bag of chips i was eating. Gone was the dark makeup and cakey foundation that looked hastily applied. In its place was a plain, but not unadorable face, slightly boyish with freckles and light lashes. hair was several shades lighter and curly in a baby pony tail, and she was wearing a huge pair of dragon pj pants and a tank top with a bow on the front. With a gasp Roy leaped from the spot on his bed and to the window and started fumbling for the latch, he had seen enough horror flicks to know what would happen next.

“Eeeek!” Robin saw his sudden scare and jumped off the bed and backed towards the door.

“Holy crap you’re dead!”

“Obviously! I’d actually be eating those chips if I could. I haven’t had anything to eat in like five days and I’m dying…” She stopped realizing the actuality of the pun “Again”

“But you’re dead, like dead!”

“Yes I am, it’s all the aliens fault.”

“Aliens?!?”

“Yes aliens!” She settled down on the bed again. “I don’t quite remember my death but I remember that there was a bright white light like a beam and I was lifted up and then it was really painful and I died, and since God doesn’t exist for me it must be aliens.”

“Okay…” This chick was clearly mad, looney, but since I was seeing ghosts didn't that make me looney as well? “So what would I do about that?”

“Well I don’t quite know why but as soon as came to you were standing right in front of me. It was at school in the home Ec lab. And since then I can't wander away from you. It’s like you’re my earthly tether?”

“Well then untether yourself! And leave me alone. I don't believe in ghosts.”

She seemed to shrink, ”I’m sorry but I don’t know how to do that!!!!!” I immediately felt both bad and embarrassed, I was yelling at a dead girl.

“No don’t be sorry, I’m sorry for yelling, but seriously, you could try to untether yourself…” Even that comment seemed stupid to me.

“Can you tell me how that game works?” She completely ignores it.

“Um sure.” I picked up my controller and proffers it to her small hands when I realize it will just fall through.

Our heroes spend the rest of the day with Roy eating chips and pointing out how different buttons work to a confused and hungry little ghost girl.

“And see, The boss has been defeated and now I just walk over using the joystick to walk and steer and can collect all my booty-” He stops when he hears a soft sighing whistle, draped across the shelf in the corner is a sleeping Robin, apparently ghosts sleep. Her face is turned away and her arms are crossed as they hang off the shelf.

“Royyyy! Dinner time!” His mother called him to the table.

“Coming!” As Roy shut the door to his small room he remembered, the dead don't need to breathe, so if Robin snored it was out of habit, a painful reminder of the times she had been full of life.

“Why do girls wear so much makeup?” Roy's questions all seemed to be common knowledge to me. I wonder why his brain hasn’t thought to comprehend these things yet, I will not say as much however because it would he horribly rude. Many things he thinks are common knowledge I have not even began to think through yet.

“Well… because they don’t believe they look good without it or desirable to the people they wish to attract. And it is a mask to hide behind so that they can face others of their species proudly without feeling inefficient. I wear- wore mine as a mask so that people would leave me alone and know I did not want to be apart of their games.”

“What games?”

“The contest between girls to be the best, like how some girls like to manipulate guys into liking them just to feel important and get all the attention because they base self worth on those things. I guess I understand how they need these things to feel alive, and I won’t oppose them unless they hurt someone I care about then I will destroy them. There are too many to oppose plus it doesn’t seem fair to deny them their existence.”

“Why do you think you’re any different?” The question is loaded and Roy knows it.

“I’m not, I just try harder not to be.” He snorts in surprise.

“Why just people who are important? What about yourself?” This seems genuine.

“I’m not very important to myself, I guess I wanted to live because anything else is scary and the effort, but I don’t see why I should be special because I don’t have any special talents and I don’t want to run around being just self important.”

“Isn’t that view a bit insulting to the people who care about you?”

“Yes, but what else do you expect me to do? Go to K-Mart and buy myself some self confidence? If I’m just a melodramatic teenager like normal this should go away soon and if I’m not I’ll just go buy something to fix it.” I can feel my translucent shoulders begin to tighten up and tears hot in my throat, I swallow them down before they spill out. Funny how even ghosts can cry, I wonder if ghost tears have magical potency? One spills and as I reach up to brush it off Roy dabs it with a sleeve.

“Hey sorry, you okay?”

“Yeah sorry I’m just overactive!”

“Come here?” He awkwardly offers me a hug, I don’t want to be rude and also, even dead girls need a hug sometimes.

She’s a fellow comrade in normalcy, and I feel sympathy, I also know how it feels to be frustrated by my lack of talent. As she accepts my hug I also feel envy, men aren’t suppose to cry.

Air rushes past us suddenly and we are flung into space violently buffeted by wind and something else like small rocks. Surprise makes me grip the only solid seeming thing around me, regardless of the weirdness of the solid. I can hear Robin screaming, or is that me? Then stillness, we are jerked into a still space and righted, well mostly…

Blinking tears out of my watering eyes I perceive colors and then images, it’s like we’re standing inside a painting, fractured images surround us in ever changing patterns and textures. Robin gives a little gasp and moves fluidly towards one. I follow not wanting to get lost inside this seeming endless maze of mirrors and illusions. I manage to grab her bare foot as she is sucked forward into the image.

Space, outer space, below the earth twinkles like a diamond covered in muddy water and around us are lights and nebulas of dust. It seems like it should be cold but I cannot feel anything, Robin gives a cry of excitement and spins in a circle laughing.

“It's just like a story I saw once!”

“Saw?” I grab at a rock floating next to me and do several slow spins in place.

“Yeah, I saw it in a dream!” She tries to right me and ends up floating the opposite direction, I grasp her wayward feet so that we are not separated. A roar buffets by us and a giant, gray, blinking mass careens past us like a torpedo. The alien saucer heads straight towards earth on a warpath. Robin gives a little yelp of fear and puts herself in front of me, like her slight body can hide me from the probing spacecraft. Fear is written on her face, and for the first time I think I may believe her a little bit about the alien story. Air rushes again and a pulling sensation drags us back, until my room swims into focus before my eyes. Robin sits against the other side of the room frozen in fear, no matter of potato chips or british shows lures her out of her spot lodged behind the door.

When she finally moves her heart is set on finding out what happened, she swears it’s somewhere, somewhere in her memory she blocked out.

I know now I have to know what happened, no matter how painful or violating the truth, a morbid part of me needs to know. If curiosity killed the cat than satisfaction brought her back. Me and Roy watch movies on aliens; independence day, alien, doctor who: the water of mars. Nothing sparks recognition. I look for scars on my body when Roy isn’t home but all I find are all my old self harm scars with my new cuts that now would never heal, just glow a subtle red against my skin. When I look at then my head hurts remembering the mood that made me do that, but it seems with my body I also shed a weight that the doctors called clinical depression, funny, it felt like a weight before, now it feels like the aliens stripped more from me than life, a part of my mind i missing. My fingers burn to hold a pencil, stupidly i try, the pencil moves an hair’s breath when I go through it. I have nothing else to do so I commit to picking up the pencil.

“Hey so you know Ruby Haired Robin?” I casually ask Bryan in the locker room.

“Yeah! That chick who liked Brian and always carried a sketchbook with her?” Bryan is a tall, athletically gifted guy with killer abs and a crisp cut look like a male model. He doesn’t have much in the way of brains but if you give him a piece of paper he can write a sonnet to make shakespeare cry.

“Yeah her! Wait she liked Dwain?” Hm interesting.

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“Well… do you know if they stated a cause of death?” He cringes a little.

“Morbid man, yeah it said she had been big on cutting, there were hundreds of wounds all over her body and she had bled to death from a few in her sleep.”

“Okay cool! Thanks man.”

When I got home I rushed to my room, the door flies open to reveal Robin sitting at my desk. A pencil is grasped in her hands and she is so focused on her work that she doesn’t even start when I walk in.

“You cut?”

“Yes.” Her focus is solely on the picture she is creating.

“That's what they said killed you.”

“I know”

“Why aliens then?”

She looks up finally, “Because I never cut deep enough to kill me.”

“Can I see?”

“Some of it sure.” Carefully she lifts her pants leg all the way up to show me the red angry lines marching haphazardly up her legs. “It’s not a big deal, it doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“Okay.” It’s confusing but she doesn’t seem in pain so I let go. “You liked Dwain?”

“What is it, question the dead girl time?” She is blunt.

“Sorta… sorry I was just curious… It’s more a question about why and what a girl likes in a guy… I figured you would know!” She smiles.

“Totally! Well I like Dwain because he was nice to me and didn’t ostracize me because of my looks and attitude. It’s more a kindness crush, I like him because he was nice to me and that made me happy! Then his friends started teasing him and he left me be… no one wants to be liked by a loner if their popular like that. Why you wanna know what girls like?”

My cheeks heat up like volcanos, “Because I like someone…”

“Oooooooohhhhhhhhhh who do you liiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkeeeee!” She drags it out like a kid would.

“Marina….” “Marina K?”

“Yeah…”

“She’s really pretty, just watch out she’s one of the get them to like you just because girls. Play hard to get.” Robin bounces up and down laughing, “ Roy and Marina sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G! First comes loooove then comes marriage! Then comes Roy with a baby carriage!” Robin pokes me in the side and giggles, “And we both know how you get babies since neither of us were absent from health class.”

“You remember who was in that class?” “Totally, most of the people were too embarrassed to look up, but I’ve been familiar with that stuff for a long time and it was fun watching them all blush and nervously giggle.” Thoughtfully she adds, “well knowing Marina you won't have to wait till marriage for babymaking… just babies.”

“Were your parents doctors of something?”

“Sorta, why?”

“Well you were previously associated with the process of babymaking…”

“My dad’s a gynecologist assistant and my mom is a midwife. They didn't think their daughter should be left in the dark about one of the oldest acts of mankind so they got me a few books.”

“Wow, your parents are crazy…” She shrugs her shoulders.

“Maybe to some people, but to me it’s just how I was raised and I wouldn’t ask for anything else!” A dark cloud seems to form in her visage, “I’m really gonna miss that… Damn! Why did I have to die!” Her shoulders start to shake. “It felt like a dream until now, a dream I could wake up from, but I really am dead… And being dead sucks.”

Damn it, my eyes are burning and my nose is tingling in it’s odd, sharp way. I miss my mom and dad so much, my misunderstood, passive father and my hypersensitive, overexpressing mother. Roy looks concerned but I don’t want to be helped, I want to not think or exist anymore. Roy gasps and runs forward but his hands pass through me and when I look down in morbid curiosity, I cannot see myself at all. Then the world goes black for me.

Am I really dead this time? No… I’m just sleeping. No. Im awake, just everything but my mind has faded. I’m guessing I will die soon, again, but the only regret I have is not being able to tell my mother sorry for our fight and for dying, same to my dad. Damn this is stupid, why can’t it be anyone but me! I would happily go back to my disease ridden, messed up body to fix this. But I can’t, I really can’t, and I was stupid if I ever thought I could. After all this is all my fault.

She’s gone! She vanished, one moment so real, the next gone in a wink of the imagination. Snatched away like death took her again, mind, body, and soul. Like static. The air wavers for a second, then again, she flickers back into existence. I almost rush to hug her before I remember, then I pause. Her eyes look tired, like she left something behind when she reappeared.

The rest of the week pasts like a gray rainstorm, time drags on like a tired packhorse. Slowly and worn down until I felt like a walking corpse of a walking dreamer. The boring days of old seem rose tinged to me now compared to the ominous presence in my home. Robin had vanished again off and on when she felt like it and didn’t want to be seen crying ghostly tears. I looked at the drawing she had made to try to figure out what had happened, was it an omen… or was that just my desperate hopes?

In my dreams we frantically searched for her death among the fractile memories scattered in her mind. We searched massive desert plains with beautiful rose sponged skies on the verge of night as the sun tumbled down the throat of nighttime. We scoured the bottoms of ocean so deep that they crushed everything into itself and no light could reach into the murky waters, once you were immersed the only way you could go was down. But while I searched she stayed quiet, distracted. That is until the fourth tuesday in november.

“Roy!”

“Hgrm….”

“Roy!”

“Rrrrrrrr!”

“Roy RoyRoyRoyRoyRoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What!!!!!!!!!” I sit upright and to my great horror Robin is chilling at my bedside shaking me awake.

“You sound like an angry twelve year old.”

“What do you want!!!!!!”

“I wanna have an adventure!”

“It’s too early for this…”

“It’s never too early for an adventure!” She chirps. God I want to strangle the dead girl.

“Yes it is!” I roll over and try to ignore her.

“Nope!” Her statement could have been followed by a cheery emojicon it sounded so ridiculous. To make matters worse as soon as my back was turned she put her icy hands through my back.

“S-Stop it!” She wiggles her fingers in front of my face, sometimes she is as solid as a wall other times as thin and vapor.

“I’m dead but I’m still here and I wanna enjoy everything I can!” She pouts then puffs hair off her forehead and to the side.

“Just ten more min.”

“Royyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.”

“Shhhhhh!”

“I will haunt you until the day you die.” Her threat rouses me from my slumber, no way in hell do I want her to witness my final moments or in fact the rest of my life.

“Fine, where do you wanna go?” I sigh and ruffle my hair.

“I want to go get closure so that I can move on into death.” This answer comes as a surprise!

“Why?”

“Because earth is hell and I want to go into nothing so I am no longer reminded of what I could have done or had. I don’t want to have to see my parent grieve or my existence slowly vanish until I become lost without worldly possessions and isolated until I become simply mad, I wish to go with peace.”

“Okay.” Though sad I thought it sounded completely reasonable. Being forgotten would be painful. “Where will we go?”

“I think I know, I remembered something when I vanished and I’ve been stuck here for a while, it's vague but I think if you help me we can figure out what happened!” She holds out her hands and I hesitantly grab them. A fuzzy warm vortex sucks us up in a silent vwoosh feeling.

Instead of the fearful nothingness that swallowed me up before I feel a warm calm, like acceptance. I had accepted the lonely knowledge that I had ceased to exist for my mother and father. When I had vanished I had gone to see them, I tried to talk to them but they just sat there at the table, my spot sat empty and a sullen silence engulfed the dinner. That had been the final straw, the piece that told me I was good and truly dead. My stuff had been moved and my clothes had been given to goodwill. Nothing remained of my stone collection, even my beautiful river rock paul was gone. There was no way for me to go back to my old life. No way to fix the problem. I was gone, I just hadn't let go. At first I had cried, I was unfair and horrible. I went back to Roy and sat beside him, he couldn’t see me. Life felt unbearable. Then I had appeared and saw his concern. I wanted to indulge in the feeling of being needed and cared about. But I knew I had to say goodbye to everything. It was painful. But I slowly grew accustomed to the feeling, when it became too much I went back to Roy. Now I just wanted to stop all together. I would like to say I am at peace, but to tell the truth, no, no peace for the walking dead.

So we flew forward propelled by that foggy recollection of a memory of mine. A memory I feel I must both dread and accept as a last piece of the puzzle of my death. I’m to scared to go at this alone so I took Roy with me because despite the extremely short and tumultuous times I have know him he has provided the most comfort to me of any person in my life. It’s not love or attraction of any sort, he has simply been kind and shown me support that I had not found anywhere else. In return I wished to give him closure in my demise so he was not left confused or guilty in any way.

I alight upon the asphalt of a sidewalk beneath a shiny street lamp. Dusk pulls over the hills in ribbons of smoky blue and clear soft purple and hazy clouds. Familiar lights glow from a familiar home. This isn’t the real thing but it feels so achingly like it my resolve almost wavers. Then I see a figure move.

Another Robin is inside that house, she’s in her room with a book clutched in her hands, it looks so small. She sniffs ungracefully and wipes the snot away from her nose, her eyes are red rimmed and her cheeks look raw and blotchy. She sets the book down and pulls the leg of her dragon pants all the way to her hip. Red lines across her hips ooze blood, she seems to inspect the wound before slowly letting the pants drop down. Next to me Robin stands stiffly, frozen as if in a trance. The image Robin seems to float to the bed and sit down. She snuggles down into the blankets, the scene looks peaceful even after the life fades from her skin, if you ignore the widening stain of red across her sheets. The Robin next to me is shaking and looks petrified. All of her natural seeming bravado is gone and all that left is a scared girl stripped of all her worldly possessions.

I have realised, that is not what happened exactly, it feels too neat, too fake. I wouldn’t have given up just like that. That’s not right.

At home again I sit tiredly spinning a basketball on my finger. Around and around it goes like the thoughts in my head. What was that light, why did Robin cut? Didn’t it hurt? Robin sits on my window sill and chews restlessly on her nails. Tiny, shimmery, crescent moon nail shards tumble from her fingers occasionally. Her cute features are twisted into a mask of concentration as she mulls over something. I can tell something didn’t sit right with her. “It was to perfect.”

“What?”

“My death.”

“How so?”

“I am a naturally imperfect person with many flaws and bad traits yet I died like a F***ing princess.” Sadly I think I agree, when I first met Robin I could feel her impatience and her imperfections radiating from her body, I cannot imagine someone with that much irritation could die without a complaint, hypnosis or not. “I may have seen my death but I don’t know what lead up to that. What made me want to lay down and give up?”

“What day was it?” Dread gnaws at my stomach.

“Tuesday… I think.” Oh god. “Yeah tuesday!” It had been the day we had talked.

“Do you remember anything?”

“No. Why?” We lapse into silence.

After a long pause, “Didn’t we talk that day? Barreyman and the bowtie?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“What did I seem like?”

I think back and remember her that day, “happy, chipper, and very very talkative!”

“Desperate”, she murmurs under her breath.

“Huh?”

“Nothing”, She turns away, but not before I catch a fleeting glimpse of her face, pinched with worry, her lower lip disappearing completely into her mouth.

“Cool cool.” I don’t know how to help her so I pick up my game boy and try to not think of her, she slowly vanishes, almost hesitantly.

Now I am back in ghost space, I know my presence near Roy was making him feel uncomfortable, after all it was me who died and invaded his personal space, I at least owed him the courtesy to have a mental breakdown outside of his presence. So I was desperate that day, then that begged the question what triggered this? It was obviously before Home Ec class or I would have been fine that day. What was so bad it had kept me down all day?

“Did you keep a diary?”

“Huh?”

“Did you, keep a, diary!”

“Sorta.” I slowly reappear into normal space. The only thing that can penetrate my ghost space is words I need to hear.

“Why don’t you go and look through it?”

“Well that might be difficult.”

Roy shifts to look at me over his shoulders, “Why?”

“The police confiscated it…”

“Oh okay.”

“Wanna help me get it?”

“Breaking and entering?! Are you kidding me!!! Try and stop me!” In movies the heroes always seemed to have to steal something and there was always a cool getaway scene with a cute chick and a car chase. It sounded like the perfect way to break the seal on my incredibly boring life, not that Robin hadn’t already done that, although her small a-gender cuteness took away from the mystery and just made her seem childish…

“Today? It’s in a back lab of evidence!” Robin looks nervous, I wonder what is up with her, maybe she doesn’t want me to see her diary.

“How should we get in?”

“Okay so-”

Her diary is small and compact and fits almost in my pocket, the little heart shaped lock is cheap and fragile and the keys jangle behind me as I sprint full force towards the parking lot. It took way too much effort to get in and fool the officers in the first place.

“Halt!!! Mr. John!!!!!” Two officers pound down the hall after me belts clanging. They aren’t quite willing to take out their guns yet because of who I said I was. After all they wouldn’t dare shoot Robin’s boyfriend, whom grief stricken stole her diary from the station to hear the last words of his dear departed love.

Dodging arounds a secretary desk out front I hurdle past the surprised desk attendant and out the swinging doors. Alarms blare, triggered most likely by the magnetic strip inside the diary hidden so that thieves would have trouble finding it. Next to me Robin shouts barely comprehensible, “Roy! Keys!” A wad of keys flies at me from the blur of color streaking by and I catch them. The first vehicle in the lot is a blue and white motorcycle. I grasp the handles and swing on starting the engine with the smallest key on the ring. It roars to life and ghostly hands clasp around my waist in a light embrace. I kick off and we are streaking across the road at seventy in no time. It feels like flying and I know that if we ever make it free of this mess I want a bike like this one. Adrenaline rushes like the blood in my ears muffling everything except my heart, my heart beat seems to be the beat of the world as I turn into the curves of the road. Police cars follow with blaring sirens and blinding lights. Robin squeezes my waist and suddenly we vanish from their view like an invisibility cloak was pulled over us. When I am sure we have lost them, confused and bewildered we drop the getaway vehicle at a streambed and trudge through the culvert upstream at least a mile before making our way to a local park. Exhausted I plop onto a swing back in the woods below a large old apple tree and take out the diary. Robin leans over my shoulder and we flip the the entries closer to the last one.

To Delinx Quarte

School still sucks, yeah I know I’ve said that to many times. I see no point to complete it if I feel like this no matter what I try to do with my life. My therapist tells me it's called clinical depression, I hope it goes away before I have to pay the bills. My energy is basically null and void. I guess at least you're there to listen to me.

To Delinx Quarte

Brian has shunned me for the eighth time this week, I guess I get it, I mean I’m the one who told Kristy I liked him and even if she said she wouldn’t tell, its high school. I guess I’m just stupid for thinking someone like him could talk to me after knowing such an ugly truth.

To Delinx Quarte

Roses are red

Violets blue

Im sad af

So F u to

To Delinx Quarte

Thank you for talking to me all the time.

“Talking to you all the time?” I look questioningly at Robin. To answer she picks up the book and shakes it. A small phone falls out, when I pick it up and flip it open it turns on with a whoosh noise. The screen clears and four new messages blink on the screen.

Robin I’m sorry for slashing, you shouldn’t have run, please come back I’ll bring you to a good doctor!

Robin?

Robin are you there?

Answer me goddamn it!!!!!!!!!!

As I flip through her phone the name Delinx Quarte makes sense, horrible sense. This Delinx claimed to be an alien, or he role played one. He told fantastical stories about beautiful worlds far away and amazing adventures, seriously he sounded like an author. One even make sickening sense as the space saucer heading for earth. He called Robin a petite princess and flattered her with praise for her ingenuity. He listened to her stories she told of cruel classmates and lulled her into false trust with pretty words. He even claimed to be a twenty year old lesbian. Robin told him about having no friends, and her lying confidents, and her crush who ignored her. She leaned on him and never questioned his motives besides being good and nice. Then he said he liked her. Told her what an intelligent girl she was, not like those other high school bimbos. He said they should meet and make cosplay for the next con, his place. The address sounded remote. Robin had her license and drove there herself.

Shakily Robin looks at me and in a small voice tells me what happened there, “I got there and it was ramshackled. She- sorry he didn’t wanna meet in the city because he said his anxiety would flare up.. I went to the door and he answered. I was surprised but he convinced me he meant no harm he just wanted me to be comfortable talking to me… Then we went inside, I was scared but I didn’t want to be rude… Then he starts talking all heavily. He’s an older man almost thirty and balding with grease stains on his saggy clothes and he had a ton of anime body pillows all over the place and his top pick in netflix wa my little pony! I didn’t wanna know what was in the corner… I asked him to not sit so close, even said I had a boyfriend now… But he knew too much and got mad at me for lying, he said I owed him for listening to my whining. I cried and he begged my forgiveness… I tried to run but he chased me, he had a knife and threatened me but I didn’t wanna get raped or killed so I ran, he slashed me on the thigh so deeply that my leg went numb in a few minutes. Then I got away and drove home. My parents weren’t home and I tried to dress the wound, my seats are black and I thought it was shallower. I realized it was to the bone and then I fainted from blood loss. I guess I bled to death… So I was killed by my friend who liked to pretend to be an alien and turned out to be a “Nice Guy”... Kinda pathetic.”

“Are you gonna let him get away with murder?”

“No…”

“Go get him girl!”

“What do I do?”

“Hide his porn stash, replace his anime pillows with guy anime pillows. Subscribe him to a yaoi(guy on guy) site where pre adolescent girls write fanfiction, put hot sauce in his lube… hide his wallet, and put password encoded age restrictions on his netflix so he has to watch g rated films forever. And then scrawl in ketchup on his mirror, I am always watching you. Then leave, and he’ll be paranoid forever.”

“You are truly satan Roy.” Robin smiles devilishly.

I never saw her again, she left and I was left to clean up my life. I faced community service for my crimes however the crime was solved with my help and when the police found the man he was sitting in the dark with a circle of salt surrounding him watching my little pony with horrible burns. He was arrested and sent to an asylum by his own convictions. I assume Robin went away peacefully after doing her part, maybe she stayed and saw his arrest however I believe she just left. I attended her funeral, her mother cried, her father left the room a lot. Brian was there, I could tell his consciousness was heavy with the idea he had contributed to someone's death or been able to prevent it but not done that, he was never the same. Her so called friends Kristy and Lillian were there, her therapist, and her extended family that could drive in from california to oregon. When I went up to view the casket I saw her cold face, beautifully made up in professional makeup, honestly it was weird, I missed the face only I knew, her real face and her faded hair all curly. Her cuts were hidden with a long dress and sleeves. After the funeral her mother approached me.

“Roy?”

“Yes..?”

“Okay, funny I’ve never met you, thank you for being such a good friend to my daughter! She left you something… I was almost like she knew she was going away…” Sadly she handed me an envelope with a hastily scrawled name on the front. Robin's mother was pale and mousy, her nervous eyes reminded me of a rabbits, hopping from place to place.

Dear Roy,

Thank you for being the truest friend I’ve ever had, you never lied to me and you helped me when I needed you most! You're my hero. Good luck with Marina, make her chase you… Sorry I can’t be your best man! Thank you! Enclosed is a remembrance gift!

Inside the package was a small drawing of a boy with a roguish expression on his face and a girl laughing openly riding on a motorbike that was blue and white. They seemed suspended in time carfree. I hung it on my wall, to this day I still muse over its detail and how the pencil has not faded yet.

Robin was the best and the worst thing to happen to me. I was labeled a criminal and a hero, I became not normal but am still unsure on how to become normal or not normal. It never worked out with Marina, she was to flakey and flirty. I married a beautiful, smart nerd at the age of thirty and started a family. Life runs smoothly and I wonder how Robin is doing, heaven? Rebirth? Whatever she is doing I hope she is happy as I am.

#shortstory ghost Art writing funtimes

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asgarden · 7 years

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I have skincare and makeups in my pouch. I used to have moisturizer, night cream, and make up remover as skincares. Then the makeups were only loose powder, lip balm, lipstick, powder blush, eyeshadow and eyebrow pencil from the same brand, my favorite makeup brand, Maybelline. I really love Maybelline mineral makeups. But I can’t get them anymore because the series isn’t available at the stores nowadays.

My skin type is oily and acne prone with tanned skin color and warm undertone. All of my first makeup was mineral makeup series by Maybelline and it was just suitable to my skin type right away. Now I don’t use them anymore, because Maybelline discontinued producing the mineral makeup series. Currently I have more variative cosmetic brands and beauty kits in my pouch.

Let’s open the pouch!

1. Moisturizer to moist my face. I actually have an oily skin but I still use moisturizer daily. I use Pond’s White Beauty moisturizer cream with SPF 15 to protect my face from the sunlight.

2. Bio Oil mostly as my night oil. I don’t use any night cream, just Bio Oil instead. I need to get rid of my dark spots and acne scars.

3. B.B cream. I bought a lighter shade (Cream) because that shade was the only one that available at the store at that time. For my skin tone it doesn’t look great so I use it very slightly. Next time I will buy the darker shade: Ochre. This B.B Cream from Pixy has SPF 30 & PA+++ to protect from UVA and UVB. It is said that noncomedogenic and cointains natural whitening extract and vitamin C.

4. Loose Powder

I have two jars of different loose powder because one of my loose powder is almost running out so I bought the other one, also to compare them.

What I bought first was The One Loose Powder by Oriflame. It is quite translucent. So despite the fact that it is still in lighter shade than my face, it doesn’t really matter. I use Medium shade, this is the darkest shade they have.

The second one I have is Bare with Me Mineral Loose Powder by Emina. The shade is darker (04 Ebony) than my The One Loose Powder in Medium. It has high coverage, so it looks very cakey and bright if I put too much.

5. Powder Brushes

One powder brush for each loose powder. Giordani Gold Professional Powder Brush for Emina and The One Powder Brush for The One Loose Powder. Emina provides powder puff inside its jar but I prefer to use powder brush. And I don’t want to mix the loose powder shades by using only one brush for all.

The One

Giordani Gold

6. Blush. I use Color Show Blush by Maybelline in Creamy Cinnamon color. It is a compact blush without any puff, so I just tap my finger to use it. Handy and practical unlike the former powder blush that I used to apply before. I still love my old blush, the Mineral Loose Powder by Maybelline. They provide a mini brush to apply the powder blush. Unfortunately Maybelline doesn’t produce it anymore.

7. Eye Shadow. Trivia eye shadow by Make Over provides three different colors and a mirror. I was confused to pick the natural color combinations between “Emperor Brown” or “Enchanting Nude Spell” because they are quite similar. I picked the “Enchanting Nude Spell” because it has a darker brown color. It provides shimmery white, shimmery beige/peach and matte dark brown colors.

8. Eyebrow Pencil. Still in love with Maybelline so I picked Fashion Brow Cream Pencil in brown color. They used to provide eyebrow brush on the pencil lid, but now… not again!

9. Lip Balm

I love lip balm rather than lipstick. So I used to have more lip balm variants than lipsticks. My favorite one is the Baby Lips Cherry Kiss from Maybelline because it has a very light pink color and it has SPF 16! Sorry I have no picture because I’m running out of it.

And then I have Love Nature Cherry Lip Balm with sheer red color. I have to make sure my finger is clean to put the lip balm on my lips so I am a little bit lazy to use this kind of lip balm in a jar.

Baby Lips Candy Wow. It has more bold tint than the original Baby Lips. The packaging is bigger and just like a crayon so it is pretty cool. But I don’t like the red tint in Cherry because I want more natural look not to be eye-catching. However the tint stays very long enough. Unfortunately it doesn’t have SPF to protect the lips from UV. Maybe I should try the pink color. Or not. Because it is more expensive than the original one.

10 Lipstick

Giordani Gold Iconic Lipstick by Oriflame in Copper Shine. I like this lipstick because it has SPF 15, but the color doesn’t suit my dark lips. The color is shiny and shimmery orange to brown.

Kiss Proof by Menow. This lipstick is soft and powdery so I don’t feel like wearing lipstick. It doesn’t stain when you drink or kiss. If you put a little lip balm before using this lipstick, it becomes more moist but it would stain.

The color Number 001 is really shiny with shimmers. My lips look cracking with this color because my lips are darker than this shade and the texture of the lipstick pigment is almost dry. I need to put lip balm first so the color could be completely blended on my lips.

Number 011 is dark red or maroon. This color is truly matte. I have to apply really thin unless I would look like Gothic. Actually this shade is quite similar with the color of my upper lip.

11. Milk Cleanser and Toner by Pond’s White Beauty to remove my make up. I use them to clean my face in the morning sometimes or before sleeping if I don’t take a bath and wash my face with facial foam.

12. Pencil Sharpener that can be used for eyebrow pencil and my Menow Kiss Proof soft lipstick. There is a part like a stick that can be taken off to clean up the clogged hole.

13. Mirror by Giordani Gold. It has a flat mirror and a concave mirror to magnify the reflection.

14. Folding Scissors just in case I need to cut or trim something. I will trim my split end hair if there is any.

That’s all inside my beauty pouch. I don’t use makeups every day, just for events and special occasions. Even when I go out somewhere I don’t usually use makeup. If you have a makeups or cosmetic products to be reviewed. Just let me know, I can write a honest review for you.

Now, you tell me what’s in your beauty pocket in your blog and give me the link to your blog post. I’ll be right there soon to check it out. Thank you for reading mine. Now, let me zip my pouch back!

X.O.X.O

Intan Rastini.

What’s in My Beauty Pouch I have skincare and makeups in my pouch. I used to have moisturizer, night cream, and make up remover as skincares.

#beauty #cosmetics #makeup #skincare

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agosnesrerose · 8 years

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Studio Saturdays: Mixed-Media Planner

We’re waist-deep in January, so what better time to get organized and start a new planner? I was so taken by the planner featured in the article “Creative Days Ahead” by Dawn DeVries Sokol in the January/February issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine that I had to make one for myself. It seemed like the perfect project for Studio Saturdays.

If you haven’t caught planner fever, this project will convince you to get on board. Keeping a planner like this isn’t just about writing your to-do list; it’s about making something unique, using your favorite supplies and techniques, and documenting your creative life.

This Create Along series is in three parts: In Part One we’ll create the cover, in Part Two we’ll bind the planner, and in Part Three we’ll decorate the pages, using fantastic collage, painting, and layering techniques. If you’ve never made a book before, you’ve come to the right place. This project uses a repurposed book and a very easy binding stitch, so there’s nothing difficult or intimidating. If you’re a veteran bookbinder or book artist, you’ve also come to the right place. We’ll do some fun techniques for painting and collaging the cover, and the binding stitch is quick and eye-catching.

Let’s get started! Here are the materials you’ll need for Part One. Don’t freak out about the number of supplies—I urge you to use what you have on hand, and to experiment. This is all about making something that reflects you, so feel free to try something different, do a variation on a technique, or break free altogether. Some supplies, as you’ll see below, are optional.

• Book with an intact spine about 2″ wide: A book bound for the recycling center is great for this project, but make sure the book is sturdy, and the spine is not split or coming apart from the covers. The spine width is important—make sure it measures about 2″. The book I used is 6″ wide x 9 1/4″ deep.

• Utility or craft knife

• Scissors

• Sandpaper

• Ephemera, such as book pages

• Regular gel medium

• Paintbrushes

• Gesso (optional)

• Acrylic paint, white or ivory, and burnt umber, plus a variety of other colors in dark, medum, and light values

• White chalk pencil (optional)

• Paint pen (optional)

• Black permanent pen (optional)

• Baby wipes or paper towels

• Stencil

• Cosmetic wedge

• Soft gel medium, gloss or matte, or acrylic glazing medium (optional)

• Palette paper or palette

• Palette knife (optional)

• Acrylic ink (optional)

• Stabilo Woody Crayon, black (optional)

• Number stamps (optional)

• Stamp pad, black, permanent (optional)

Quick tip: When choosing the book for your planner, think about where and how you’ll use it. If you want to carry it with you, choose a small size. I knew I’d be keeping mine at home, so I went with a fairly big book—I also wanted larger pages to work on.

To remove the text block (the pages) from the spine, pull on one of the covers while holding the text block, and you’ll see them start to separate. Put the tip of the craft or utility knife blade in between the cover and the endpaper, and start cutting downward, making sure your hand is out of the way. Also make sure that you’re not cutting into the spine or any part of the book. Repeat for the other cover, and reserve the pages for later. Clean up any jagged edges along the inside of the spine with a craft knife, scissors, or sandpaper.

Use a utility or craft knife to cut the text block away from the covers.

The book I’m using was a prop leftover from a photoshoot, and it had been painted red. I left it that way because I already had the color in my palette. You can leave your cover the way it is, or, if you want to cover it completely, brush on one or two coats of white gesso and allow it to dry completely.

Collage some papers on both covers, leaving the spine intact. I used a variety of book text, but use whatever you have that’s interesting and has some contrast—this layer will show through, so papers with some kind of pattern is good. I adhered the papers with gel medium; allow this layer to dry.

The first layer of the painted covers starts with collaged ephemera.

Now it’s time to really have some fun. Paint a great big mess on the planner covers. Really go nuts and layer colors and shapes and brushstrokes, and make marks in the paint while it’s still wet with your fingers or the end of a paintbrush. I started with a palette of blue, teal, and turquoise, and added pops of red for contrast. I mostly used tube acrylics, but fluid works just as well. Use whatever you have on hand. If you’re incorporating complementary colors, wait for one layer to dry before going on to the next so you don’t get mud. If you’ve obscured the collage papers, knock back the paint a little in those areas with a baby wipe or paper towel. Let everything dry.

For the underpainting, get messy with brush strokes and colors.

Choose a design and paint over the first layer with a very light color (I used titanium white). You can freehand it or draw it first with a chalk pencil. Choose an open design that allows the underpainting to show through; I painted leaf shapes. If you have mad painting skills, now’s the time to turn them out. If you don’t, like me, simple shapes are absolutely fantastic, and you can’t go wrong. As before, make marks in the wet paint as you go. If you don’t like something, a baby wipe will take it right off. Let dry.

Brush on a light color, letting the underpainting show through.

Here are the planner covers after the second layer of paint. I drew some veins in the leaves with a paint pen. Also, you’ll see that I didn’t go completely up to the spine. That’s because we’ll be covering it later.

The underpainting shows through the white, creating depth and interest on the planner covers.

For the next layer, choose a stencil with a pattern that complements your design. With a palette knife, mix some acrylic paint with soft gel medium or glazing medium in a 1:1 ratio; I did this because I wanted the paint to be somewhat translucent, but you can just use the paint straight. Dip a cosmetic wedge in the paint, pounce some of it off, and stencil onto the cover, however you want the pattern to appear. Let dry. When my cover was dry, I outlined some of the stencil shapes and created some random dots with a white paint pen, and outlined the leaf shapes with a black permanent pen.

Stencil over parts of the design, using a mixture of paint and medium.

With a palette knife, blend a small amount of burnt umber paint and soft gel medium or glazing medium in a 1:1 ratio. Dip a paper towel into the mixture and lightly swipe it across the covers. I wanted to create a bit of depth and warmth with this layer, so I didn’t use a lot. A baby wipe will be your salvation if you apply too much.

A few swipes of burnt umber paint warmed the painted covers of this planner up a bit.

The next step happened because I made a big goof. Big. I thought the planner cover would look cool if I dripped some dark blue acrylic ink on it, but the drips were so large and ugly that I panicked and grabbed a baby wipe to try to take the color off. In the process of wiping it, I created a beautiful blue stain. This became one of those happy accidents that I will now use in a future project. Try this technique if you’re feeling up for it, but you can also skip it.

I don’t know if you’ve discovered Stabilo Woody Crayons, but if you haven’t, you should check them out. These big fatties are water soluble, and you can draw with them, or hit them with a wet paintbrush or water brush and get beautiful watercolor effects (Spoiler alert: I used them for my planner pages as well.). I used a black crayon with a water brush, painting around the leaf motifs, waiting about 30 seconds, and then rubbing in the color with my fingers. This created a kind of shadow/stain effect that I absolutely love. You can also get this effect with a black Stabilo All pencil, or plain watercolor.

A water-soluble Stabilo Woody Crayon added even more depth and shading.

I wanted to represent the year of this planner, so I stamped 2017 with the Montreal Large Numbers set by Michelle Ward, using permanent ink. Since the cover is textured I didn’t get solid impressions, so I filled in the spaces with a black permanent pen. I liked the way the zero looked, so I left that as is. I then added some dots on top of the numbers with the white paint pen, and enhanced some of the dots on the cover so they’d pop a bit more.

For the planner cover, the year was stamped with permanent ink and embellished with a paint pen.

Quick tip: To hasten dry time, use a heat tool. Be careful not to heat the area too much—acrylic paint can start bubbling.

Since I’ll be using this planner for a year, I need it to be sturdy. In the next installment we’ll reinforce the spine, collage the inside covers, and also bind the book. So you can get ready for next week, here’s what you’ll need:

• A piece of bookcloth 1 ½” taller than your cover and 2 ½” wider than the spine. Bookcloth can be found in some art supply stores, and online. You can substitute fabric, but if so, you’ll need dry adhesive, such as Grafix Artist-tac Permanent Dry Adhesive.

• PVA glue

• Glue brush

• Waxed linen thread, 4-ply, about 7 yards

• Bookbinding needle (you can substitute a sturdy darning needle)

• Bone folder

• Paper for the pages. Determine how you want to use your book, and choose your paper accordingly. I wanted to use wet media, so I chose 98-lb. paper from a Canson XL Mix Media pad. You’ll need 35 folded sheets. To determine the size for your planner, measure the pages from the text block. If those aren’t available, subtract ¼” from the height of the book, and measure from the flattened spine to the front edges of the cover (called foredges), and subtract ¼”. Your pages will be that height x double the width, and then folded in half. Based on my dimensions, my pages are 12″ wide x 9 1/8″ high. You’ll need 36 folded sheets.

• Scissors

If you have any questions on the techniques or supplies, please leave them in the comments. See you next Saturday! In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about this article and other book-related resources, take a look at these great products from the North Light Shop.

See Dawn DeVries Sokol’s planner project in the January/February 2017 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine.

Make your own custom three-ring binder, and turn it into a planner; see how in this Colorful and Custom Three-Ring Binder video with Erin Zamrzla.

Discover how easy it is to make your own travel journal in this Travel Journal video with Erin Zamrzla.

Delve into the world of artists’ books in the eBook Book + Art by Dorothy Simpson Krause.

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