#i can basically taste the improvement through my last few artworks…

[perfectlyfrosty]

*throws this at u*

I think he’s funny

[kristsune]

So I had this idea a while ago, to do little reviews for all of Tim Meredith’s songs because I feel like there isn’t enough love out there for them. So last week I decided to just Do It. I finished (including the two new songs he just dropped yesterday) I have it here under a readmore, or if you would prefer, you can just read the gdoc here, I only did the songs that were listed on his bandcamp (which you should absolutely go to) even though there are a few extra early ones on his youtube.  These were written in no particular order, basically whichever song I happened to click on next. Anyway, feel free to read and spread the word.

How to even describe Tim Meredith’s music. The way he can adapt to different styles and genres is honestly impressive. It’s probably got something to do with the improv background but it’s amazing how he can just … choose a style and write an incredible song for it. Everytime he drops a new song I am always impressed with what he has managed yet again. 

Disclaimer: I don’t have any musical education except being friends with multiple musicians for many years in which only small amounts of information have managed to seep into my adhd addled brain. So I apologize for the lack of musically correct terminology, this is a work of appreciation, not technical prowess. Also lyrics are generally the last thing I hear, so I may mention them here and there, but they aren’t my main focus for this.

Always Here 

I can’t quite express what it is about this song that I adore, but it absolutely has something to do with the deep rumble of the bass and the way it drives the song forward relentlessly. The effect on the vocals only adds to this. The fact that it goes minor definitely caters to my tastes specifically. The high tones that come in during the bridge have such a Bowie quality that is delightful and a perfect contrast to the rest of the song. (artwork: the mossy greenery adds such a vibe to the song)

Don’t Look to Me

This has been one of my favorites since it aired. The high vocals of the chorus, with the overlapping harmonies are beautifully done and how they are placed over each other makes me think of something being sung in a large hall or church, big and echoey. Additionally the offset of the lyrics “it’s what you chose” (and to a lesser degree “any other way”) makes it feel like you’re being surrounded, like its multiple people telling you this is what you chose, what you wanted. I adore how the vocals trail out with the music at the end. (artwork: the hot pink neon feels so right for the feeling, the tiles adding to the echo)

Sweaty (Near You)

I know this one was controversial at the release, but I honestly could not then, and still cannot understand why. People are honestly sleeping on this song and it makes no sense to me. It’s got a very sensual vibe without gendered lyrics. Sure “baby” is used, but if you don’t think baby could be used for any gender then that’s on you, not the song. The deep base with the sparse instrumentation with a fun noodly solo is just an excellent combination that works so incredibly well. (artwork: the b&w photo with dark maroon text is a perfect combination)

Lucky Boy

When this song premiered my first thought was the entrance song for a villain in a movie. I could see it so clearly in my head. It’s got drive, and movement, and attitude the way it kicks up into high gear into the chorus from the verse with that fuzz guitar. The incredible layers with all the different synth/organ sounds, paints such an image. Nevermind the vocals that fit so perfectly within all that. (artwork: The maneki-neko is such a perfect choice for this)

Numbers and Lights

This is another one I have difficulty describing quite what it is that I love about it. It’s rather lowkey all the way through and I rather enjoy the… almost the stops and starts, the way it gives pause before kicking back in, like the song needs to take a breath before moving on. Again, pretty sure this one turns minor in a way that caters directly to me. Small detail that really delights me is what sounds like the equivalent to crickets under the “Reid asks Reid tells”. (artwork: gotta love biflag color rep. always a plus)

Limb Controller

This song features Amy and was an early favorite of mine. It feels like a song that could and should be played at a disco, just making me want to dance. The synths are perfect and I love how they gain intensity in the bridge before coming back down for the verse. The contrast between Amy’s higher vocals to Tim’s rougher growly ones is a perfect combination. I’ve always loved the “I’ve already let him in, a puppet on his string” moment. (artwork: when videos were still being made, love the scifi vibes)

Never Loved

Another song that is a bit more lowkey, but still comes through with excellent vibes. This one is really all about the syncopation especially with the drums. Which includes the panning back and forth during certain portions, but especially during the time change. I also really love the effects on the vocals. The occasional splashes of a high stringed instrument, and the crash of a forward cymbal really just add to the atmosphere of the song. (arwork: something about being called never loved with what looks like kintsugi just kinda Hits)

Love Your Mind

The repeating pattern throughout this song is just So Good, I love everything about it, and then how other patterns build on top of it? Impeccable. There are so many layers but it's never too much or loses track of itself, never feels over complicated or discordant. I always end up tapping along to the pattern, sometimes difficult to choose which one to follow. This song is shorter, but never fails to make me smile. (artwork: love the chandelier with the many intricate patterns, feels like it matches the song perfectly in that way)

On Your Terms

Oh that bass line. *chef kiss* Absolutely the backbone of the song, helps create the perfect atmosphere for that distorted guitar. Tim always puts a lot into the vocals, but here it feels like there is a extra level of emotion that feels raw. The way the note is held for “on your terms” just kind of kicks me in the chest every time. (artwork: love that the fire is the only color)

Some Thoughts After Consideration

This song truly resonates with me on a molecular level. I have been working in retail for going on 18 years and I just feel this song in the depths of my soul. Something about the wobbly synths and strong beat with the soft vocals are just perfect. The transition to what almost feels like a … big musical number in a theatrical show for the chorus. Like I can just see big spot lights turning on the stage. Perfection. (artwork: can’t go wrong with a squawking seagull, theme on point)

Falling Away

This is another one of my favorites. It’s so soft and gentle, lilting piano blending so perfectly with the vocals, which build up in intensity for the chorus so beautifully. Again, I think this one turns minor key, though I’m not as sure about it as I am with the others. I don’t have a lot of words for this one, but it’s lovely in its simplicity. (artwork: always loved this one for no reason I can really define)

Regret Me Not

I love how this song starts off sounding like something like a medieval march. The most prominent thing about this song is of course those incredible harmonies all throughout. The whole initial build up, and how it switches halfway through is just incredible. There is so much depth in this short song. I don’t always pay attention to lyrics, but when I did look at them I was surprised and delighted by how uplifting they are. (artwork: another older one with a video. I am a sucker for nature anything, and this just being a series of nature shots particularly appealed to me)

Pacesetter

The deep rumbly bass paired with the panning distorted vocals is just an incredible driving force. This song has the kind of beat that will just go on forever. If it were a predator it would be a komodo dragon just relentlessly following behind, never losing sight, always there stalking forward. (artwork: the starting line for a racetrack is an excellent choice)

The Aftermath

This was another early favorite of mine. The mandolin is the star of this song, but it is surrounded by a wonderful arrangement that allows it to be so. The gentle piano with the soft vocals, the shakers and woodblocks all come together beautifully. I always adored the extended pause about ⅔ of the way through. (artwork: this is my favorite video, and I’m sure it took a lot of work to match all the timing so well. The way it ends with the snuffing of the candle 10/10 no notes)

Arcadia

The light bouncy acoustic guitar is so catchy paired with the light and airy vocals, just makes for a lovely song all around. Truly impressive that so much can be expressed with so few instruments. I always find myself nodding my head along to this one. (artwork: makes me think of marshmallow and then want something sweet, but then I remember it’s a rock face and then that makes me want to climb it. Too bad it wasn’t a marshmallow clifface)

Deep Air

This is one of those songs that I love because it’s so out of the usual wheelhouse. It’s chill and wonderfully lowkey, and truly does make you feel like you are just floating around in space. The NASA audio certainly only adds to that vibe. Even with all that I do really love how it still slowly builds towards a big end. (artwork: excellent space vibes, love it)

A Horrid Angry Goose

I remember the goose game stream quite fondly, and this song in response to that was an absolute delight. It’s a fun and funny song, but it also has genuinely fantastic harmonies, and a strong baseline. The build up in each verse into the chorus is just so good. I love how it tells the story of the game, but in such a delightful way. This song is a guaranteed mood boost and I’m so glad for it. (artwork: Goosey perfection)

What It Says About Me

Adore the intro to this, the panning on the string instrument is perfect, and then when the beat drops and everything just drives on. Again, the way the vocals harmonize is impeccable. Truly impressive. Also adore the almost call and response at about halfway through. (artwork: something about the rusted half visible ship feels sad, though I suppose it’s apt for the song)

Unremarkable Sin

The alternating rhythms for this are just so incredibly good, the way it starts and the way it changes when the drums kick in, giving it a bit of swing that is just really great. I really love the gentle vocals for this as well, they fit between the instrumentation so perfectly. (artwork: i love the vague religious vibes, which somehow also translate into the music but in a not actually religious way)

What’s Due

Another one that just kicks ass right out the gate. The rising synths just gives this song such energy. The layered and overlapping synths and rhythms makes it feel like it’d fit right in at a bar or a scene in a movie (bar scene in a movie?) Again the pause about ⅔ the way through adds such drama and it’s absolutely perfect. The processing on the vocals is fantastic and the delivery only adds to the overall attitude of the song. (artwork: bull terriers are one of my favorite puppies and this one is SO cute, bonus points for bi pride colors)

Breaking

The bass line with the panning distorted guitar is such a good combination. That plus the processing on the vocals, creates such a spacious atmosphere that feels melancholy (Though I suppose the lyrics probably add to that feelings). (artwork: love a good seascape, big fan of corals and anemones, and adds to the vibe of having already “fallen”)

An Imagined Sense

Another song that just makes me want to dance, The way this one goes from just a decent beat to kicking into high gear is so good. Again with the excellent doubled vocals/extreme delay just creating such a great balance with the synths. (artwork: the video for this is extremely hypnotizing and feels like you’re being sucked into the song, which feel right)

Walk Away

The really distorted bass paired with the really light piano synth and gentle cymbals is just a really excellent combination. I really love the repetition for the chorus, plus of course the lovely harmonies make for a really lovely chill song. (artwork: Always been a fan of viewing through an opening, but the broken down interior out into the green outdoors is very pleasing.)

Exquisitely Bad

The groove that is set as soon as the song starts is just impeccable. And that groove just doesn’t stop. I love the contrast of that deeper bass with the higher synths that alternate between ears. Something about how the vocals jump up during with the chord progression is delightful. Really just a killer song. (artwork: love the dilapidated house with green font, fit right in with the Halloween premiere)

Horny for Greece

I know this started as a song from stream, but it is genuinely a fantastic song. That funky piano that gives Stevie Wonder Vibes, the niche but perfect rhymes with excellent vocals, the syncopated drums. All just add up to great vibes. (artwork: having the title cut diagonal over the broken section of sculpture is perfection)

The Eventual

Always a sucker for a song with handclaps. Mixed with the woodwind and the harmonica creates such an interesting atmosphere. There is something about the double beat on the drums that I really enjoy. I also love the strong distortion on the vocals, really pulls the room together. (artwork: took me ages to realize the picture was flipped upside down, that being said, it’s still very visually interesting)

Wretched

The slow build with the offset synths that make almost a round, the drums start and stopping before they fade and the beat truly starts is just so good. It creates such tension. I love how the synths create almost waves throughout the song, pulling it along. I also adore the effects on the vocals, just fits so perfectly with the soundscape of the rest of the song. (artwork: it took me a little bit to realize what I had been looking at, but the textures are so good. Fits with the vibes)

More Time

The hard fuzz guitar is such a strong start for this song, paired with the very rock drums is just perfect. Just has excellent classic rock vibes. I really love the depth of emotion felt in the vocals, and the low doubled vocal is a perfect extra layer you sometimes don’t even realize is there adding to it. (artwork: not sure how or why, but the fire seems to just fit perfectly for this)

Can’t Happen Here

I absolutely love the piano intro for this, it really sets the whole mood. I absolutely love the vocals for this song. The almost call and response, the harmonies, just *chef kiss* fantastic. I also really love the fuzz guitar when it kicks in. Ramps the song to a whole other level. (artwork: love the roiling clouds for this one. Yet again, fits the mood perfectly.)

Kennecott

I desperately love the percussion in this song, both the unusual patterns and the sounds used. It creates such a cool landscape for the song. And the interest doesn’t end there. The part where the sound pans quickly from left to right with the rhythm is just so incredibly good. This song is just an experience from start to finish. (artwork: I never quite figured out what this one was, an aerial shot? of the beach? My brain always just made it out to be an abstract painting but I am currently realizing that is incorrect. Still fits the vibe though, feels scattershot like the song.)

On Notice

(sidenote: I have barely listened to this one, because I tend to listen to my youtube playlist, and I found while making this that this song is only on bandcamp, so I haven’t listened to this one nearly as much as most of the others despite it being released about a year ago)

The sheer amount of Radiohead Vibes for this is absolutely incredible, and as someone who absolutely adores Radiohead, I love it. I love how the vocals come in and out, I love the almost droning instruments in the background. Additionally, on the delay on the vocals is fantastic, and I love the pause like ⅔ the way through. Excellent. (artwork: Love the b&w, looks like black marble. Great look.)

Better from Further Away

I love the simple clean (upright?) bass in the opening, with the soft drums. Again, I am a sucker for harmonies and I love them on the chorus. The juxtaposition of the very chill relaxed song, to the somewhat ridiculous (read: amazing) lyrics is very good. (artwork: Love this video, especially the close up zoom on the sheep when they are mentioned.)

Friend of Mine

I love how gentle and soft this whole song is. The piano and soft drums working so well together with the gentle lyrics. I really love it when the piano kind of goes into double time. (artwork: Love a good red sunset. Excellent.)

In The Dark

I love how this starts out with what feels like very 80’s movie synths, and then just shifts into a very chill song. Not sure why but it does give very 80’s Jim Henson vibes. Like I feel this should be in the Dark Crystal or Labyrinth or something. Maybe it’s the lovely harmonies that I can see being sung by small fuzzy puppets. Also I absolutely adore the horns throughout. Perfect 10/10. (artwork: I think 3 puppets should in fact pop out of the three holes to sing those harmonies.)

Now We’ll Never Know

This song is so very pretty. The simple bass and ringing guitar along with the gentle vocals. Yet again, the harmonies on the “oohs” are beautiful and I love them, especially paired with that gently picked guitar. (artwork: love a good dilapidated staircase. The green lettering is a perfect match.)

[msmoonfire]

How to prep for Lammas ❂

I know witchy fellas, it’s boiling hot & sunny out there. But we gotta put it in the effort. All together. Till the end. Till Lammas.

Briefly explained, Lammas or ‎Lughnasadh opens the harvest season around August 1st and our ancestors would know the perfect timing of it by watching the rise of the star Sirius at the dawn after a long while not showing. This sabbat originated by the Celts whom used to propitiate Lugh to ensure sunny weather and a fruitful harvest. He was their god of Light, excellently proficient in all arts & protector of thieves, travelers and merchants.  Moving to the southern areas, this celebration was still existing in a more earthy practical variant: mother Earth, plants, fresh produce, seeds and grains were the actual focus. These other people couldn’t care less about Lugh. They only cared about showing gratitude to Nature as a whole, often by baking the first LOAF MASS of the season (Lammas, a bread loaf) after months of summer break - we should stop baking at home from Beltane day till Lammas day, unless we’re home-based bakers and do that for a living;)

So, as usual, in this post I’m going to give you tips & ideas to prep for august 1st. Which means these are not things you should do on the very day, but BEFORE. Don’t rush last minute darlings. We can do this. 

Let’s get readayyyy. ✽

1. Local farmers’ markets should become a routine. Ok, hands down we all need the supermarket to survive on a daily basis but you can surely minimize your shopping list, so you can go buy fresh produce at some farmers’ market. Buy organic stuff there, not at the mall. This is a good easy way to re-establish a direct contact with Earth and welcome earthy energies into your life. Plus, it’s going to be a refreshing walk every time.

2. Improve the lighting in your house/room. Besides Samhain, this is by far the best time of the year to purchase new lamps, led lights, lanterns; fix bulbs that are out, remove useless/broken curtains, buy candles, add fairy lights everywhere etc... Being a metaphor of the sunny weather, daylight and artificial lighting in general must be of primary importance in your environment. Enhance natural lighting during the day, set up a nice and diffused lowlight illumination system at night. Don’t forget your backyard ‘cause...

3. You should take good care of your garden. I don’t care how busy you are, we all have at least 5 spare minutes to trim out dead leaves from our plants. If you own a piece of land or have a rather big veg garden, please don’t forget about it. Pay special attention to your plants/trees, do a little bit of cleaning every day, pick what’s ripe, cut out dead leaves, get creative with your lawn mower, water the vases, work the ground... The goal is to have a beautiful, curated garden by august 1st. But if you don’t have a garden or similar...

3.2. Buy your fav aromatic plant & look after it. Choose herbs that you prefer adding to your meals (if you’re a diy pro or make your own soaps etc.. feel free to use that fragrant plant in your products), so that you’ll be able to use it quite often without forcing yourself. I personally do it with basil. Basil is my daily go-to, I love its smell and taste. Again, the goal is to buy a plant in July and prove to Mother Nature that you can nurture it properly until at least august 1st. Get in touch with the “green world” and upgrade your basic skills. In other words...

4. Try to excel in every project/activity you start. Remember what you read earlier? Blame Lugh for this one. Lammas day is like a test: if you want Nature to be by your side during harvest time, you must earn its trust through proving that you’re able to achieve great results - because you’re a hard worker.  July is about learning, attending classes, practicing, studying. My advice would be to not start a bunch of random projects now: be picky and commit to only one or a few. Be honest with yourself, modest with timing and consistent in everyday practice so that in august you’ll be skilled enough to unleash your best potential. This is your time to shine!

5. Do your research on baking bread. Yes, exactly. Read recipes, articles, books etc... On Lammas day you want to have fun baking your first bread loaf of the season, so you’d better be prepared. It’s a fun experience even if you’re not a pro baker, at least you can try a new hobby to fill your free morning/evening. But baking a beautifully decorated, tasty, fragrant bread loaf would take Lammas to the next level though.

If you don’t own an oven, purchase a small electric one for less than 50$. It’ll be useful to cook other foods in the future without stressing the hell out of your microwave. 

*for our celiac fellas*: grains and gluten are clearly off-limits for you. However, Lammas’ celebration involves CORN as well. Try to make your gluten-free dough with corn flour, rice flour or other ingredients that are suitable for you. Focaccia, polenta and pizza doughs are also suitable for the occasion.

6. Include apples, grapes and corn in you cosmetics or in your diet. Since these fruits are in season, why not take heed of their benefits? Simply buy things like apple shampoo, grape lip balm, apple snacks, grape masks... A BAG OF CRISPY POP CORN...These are valid examples. You have a wide range of choice, you’ve got the powahhh.

7. Grab a book and a glass of Albariño/Pinot Noir/Rosé. That’s how you pamper yourself before Lammas. A rocking chair in the garden, proper lighting for reading, a cushion, your fav book and a glass of fine wine. 

Alternatively, you can elegantly snack on grapes or sip some super refreshing apple juice from a chic crystal goblet!

8. Develop a grounding routine. For those who are new to the grounding concept, I’ll break it down real quick. We’re always moving, on the go, running, rushing, driving, working out, traveling, walking, cleaning, fidgeting, passively entertained, distracted by screens or social media etc... The practice of grounding promotes the exact opposite to reach inner balance and fulfillment. Basically, it’s very good to be swift and active, but being incapable of sitting still while quietly dealing with ourselves is a huge, major problem. Imagine rooting yourself into the soil: you can lay down or sit comfortably on the ground without a mat and really feel the Earth underneath. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, choose a meditation method that you like, visualize yourself being as static and peaceful as a tree... Or simply be. You’ll find a way to contemplate these OFFLINE moments away from photos, screens, sounds, people... This routine should take 10-20 minutes of your day. Make sure it takes place in nature, or alternatively in places where there’s actual grass, ground or nearby your (aromatic) plants so you can touch them if you need to.

9. Get creative with corn magic and corn art. Lammas has a solid tradition of corn use for various purposes. As you’re prepping for the big day, start featuring corn kernel/cobs in your magic. If you don’t practice - which is totally fine - carry a small amulet bag with corn inside with you. If you’re an artist or crafter, paint the kornel or use cobs for artwork!

10. Be out in the sunlight, sun bathe or simply breathe fresh air, get outside, enjoy all things outdoors :)

Hope this was helpful and inspirational fo you all, good luck and happy Lammas darlings.

Floods of love,  msmoonfire (IG: @msmoonfire)

[evesbeve]

Exactly one year ago, I posted my first Ninjago fanfiction on Tumblr

(Yes, this is one of these big and personal posts, but bear with me for a second ^w^)

I've already talked about how much Ninjago means to me, and what a positive impact it has had on my life, but to celebrate a year into this fandom, I'd like to focus on its community here on Tumblr.

I've always been into Ninjago. In fact, I started watching it back in 2011, when it first came out!

Later on, I discovered fanfiction. It was like a dream come true, to read original stories about my favorite ninja, and to write them myself too! Eventually I began posting them, and I must say... They weren't good XD

But hey, I loved writing them! So I did just that - I kept writing and writing, until... Well, I grew out of Ninjago when I reached 7th grade.

But last year, I decided to rewatch the entire series during Christmas break. It was like falling in love with my favorite ninja all over again.

And who would have thought there would be an active fanbase here on Tumblr?

I remember scrolling down the tag and smiling at every single artwork and piece of fanfic (+ memes, of course. Who can forget about memes?) that I found.

(And bruh, discovering bruiseshipping? Holy FSM, that was truly a Christmas miracle.)

On December 28th of 2017, I made my first Ninjago Vocal Cover.

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The feedback I got was incredible. I had never, ever received such positive comments before, and the encouragement to do more helped me get out of the bad mental state I was in.

So I got writing again.

If I was going to post Ninjago, I was going to post Pixane.

So I did do that, and on January 1st of 2018, I posted my first Ninjago fanfiction in years.

Did I post it as soon as I finished it? Yes!

Had I beta-ed it? ... No...?

It was still a huge step for me though! Once that story was up, I was on freaking fire.

To make you understand, I published a total of 30 Ninjago related stories (and that was just the stuff I made public!)

I have never produced this much content before!

If that wasn't enough, I picked up my YouTube channel again, occasionally made some art, and heck, somehow I got motivated to clean up my room to make space for LEGOs.

I even had the pleasure of hosting a collaborative project with around 30 people! (Yes, the new one is on the way, we're all still working on it :D)

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Suddenly I was motivated to do stuff, I wasn't sad all the time, I made new friends!

All that is because of YOU.

I'm just a random girl from Greece that happens to like a bunch of LEGO ninja. Yet, you've treated me with so much kindness, and made me feel like so much more than that.

I'm not oblivious to the fact that I am known inside this fanbase. I just want to make sure you know that you made my voice loud.

And for that, I am greatful.

I am greatful for the joy you've given me, and the memories I was able to make because of you.

I've always wanted this blog to be a place of positivity. It makes me so incredibly happy that you can seek to it to get away from everything else, that it makes you happy.

This blog, is our blog.

So I'd like to take a moment to personally thank a few people from this community that played an important role in my life in 2018. If you don't want to go through a big thank you list, that is totally understandable, so I'll put it under the cut. To those of you who are leaving this post now,

Happy New Year!

Before I start, I'd like to say that it would be impossible to include every single person I know into one post. If you're not in here but you're still relatively active, chances are I don't know you personally (but I have probably noticed you!) OR I accidentally forgot to include you, in which case I'M SO SORRY, AAAA!

Without any further ado!

Thank you @diamantdrache, for drawing me like three times without me even asking, holy crap ;w; You're so amazing dude, I'm always happy to see you around. Keep being awesome!

Thank you to @strawberryhipster and @kunoichi-of-fangirling for always screaming with me about Pixane!

Thank you @i-am-the-bluejay for making me laugh through your amazing bruise fanfics! They never failed to cheer me up :D

A special thanks to @parachutingkitten, for, gosh, everything. Discovered your fanfics during a very hard time, and trying to solve the mystery behind them kept me going. You're so kind and sweet to me all the time, and I'm so happy we ran into each other!

Huge thanks to @volzorra for dropping by my inbox to tell me the randomest of things! I adore everything you do, keep it up!! :D

Thanks to @panwitha-plan, @purplerose244, @monstriframinerva and @ninjago-rewritten for making me giggle whenever you pop up in my feed and notifications! You guys rock 💜

A big one to @ninjakitten1699 for coming up with such amazing scenarios featuring the one true mastermind of Ninjago - Dr. Kitty Saunders! Not only that, but somehow you always remember what stuff I like, and tag me in funny posts (and angst bc I live for that) and making my day! Thank you so much for everything!

Thank you @coco-jaguar for being a mom to all of us in the fandom, and organising such cool events like the Secret Santa!

Thanks to @loud-quiet-and-fragile for going through 100 of my posts at once and commenting at every single one! You're just so fun to be around, and my mood instantly improves when I see you!

You knew it was coming, @nightlybirdie! Thank you, for always responding to my yelling about your art, and for yelling on my content as well! You're one of the sweetest people I know, I'm seriously so happy we met!

Thank you to @kara-is-so-ninja!! For not only having such an amazing AU, but for spreading joy everywhere you go! I admire your work so freaking much, but I admire you as a person even more. Thank you for always putting a smile on my face 💜

Thank you @ninjagojed, for being so easy and fun to talk to! I enjoy your company to death!

HUGE THANKS TO MY WONDERFUL DAUGHTER @lindsey-chr-not-found!! I've known you for so long and, its amazing we found each other again! Thanks for screaming to me about our ideas, and, well, for letting me adopt you XD

A big thanks to @echojulien for being such a supportive friend, and always there when I'm in need of our boy Echo!! :D

This is where it starts to get really difficult to fit things into a single paragraph...

To @hottchoco, who is basically one of the reasons I started shipping bruise in the first place, thank you for opening my eyes. Thank you for being that one person that is somehow into all of my fandoms at once, and screaming to me in random about them. Thank you for, even though we have different tastes sometimes, being respectful no matter what. Thank you, for being my shoulder to cry on when I need it. Thanks for everything dude :D 💜

Thank you @spinharmony, for creating a server where I made such amazing friends, and for BEING one of those amazing friends. It's so easy to talk to you about anything. You're always there, whether it's screaming about our misunderstood favorite characters, or talking about our problems. Thank you so much for just being there. I am so lucky to be able to call you my friend 💜

Thank you @hollsheadcanons!! You were one of the first people I met in this fandom, and definitely someone I was comfortable with since day one. We spend so much time just meming and yelling, that I literally feel like there's nothing to be afraid of when I'm with you. You make all my problems disappear, but you're also here to comfort me when I'm in need of hugs. Words are not enough to describe how much you mean to me. You're one of my best friends in the entire world, and for that, I thank you. Love you so much Holls!!💜

And finally, @clumsinessinperson and @ninjagoruinedmylife. You two, it feels wrong to talk about you separatedly because we're always together! I don't even know where to begin with you guys, I just love you so freaking much. No matter how upset I am, you always lift me up. You're so understanding of how I feel, and I know I can always count on you for anything. I just can't believe how close we are, and how many things we've created and been through together. I want you to know that you mean the world to me, and I love you so much. Thank you for being my friends. I love you 💜

To everyone reading this, regardless of being in my list or not, thank you so much for being part of my year, and for being part of my life. Thank you for everything 💜

[distant-stargirl]

Hey my lovelies,

Soooo if you’ve been following my Twitter account (link to which is in the menu bar of my page, please visit it, my beautiful page which I tried so hard to set up for all of you is getting lonely 😢 ) you’d know that I recently went out and bought a LOT of books from Barnes and Noble! Heck yeah! Gosh I absolutely love books and it’s been wayyyy too long since I’ve been at my local B&N store. It’s just so soothing for me to visit it, get myself either tea or hot coco with a pastry sit down and just r e a d. Yeah, I’m a geeky bookworm and I love it. Books, and the occasional manga, are my sustenance and it’s also been too long since I’ve bought some of my favorite books/manga for myself and added to my growing book collection. Also shout-out to the incredibly friendly and chill Barnes and Noble staff who absolutely took all of my queries about where certain books were located in stride and not once were irritated by how often I returned to ask where another one was located. You guys are the best and thank you so crazy much for putting up with me and my stupid queries!!! So let me deconstruct these books, why I bought them for myself, and why they’re my favorite in this PART 1 post:

Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tcholke  Honestly I know nothing about this book, it just jumped out at me as I was looking for the other books that are in the picture and after reading the flap summary and finding out that it was a dark fantasy novel with its own world and females having magical killing powers I knew this was the book for me and I had to have it so I could read it for myself. Sadly I haven’t read it yet, but it’s definitely sitting high up on my to-read list right now.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia This Young Adult realistic fictional novel I’ve read before based on a recommendation from a local librarian friend, and once I got past the awkward beginning I just couldn’t put it down and finished the rest in almost one go. The book is about an awkward teen named Eliza Mirk who is an artist/author for a famous online websomic called Monstrous Sea. Whilst she is practically famous and extremely adept at the online sphere she keeps this persona very separate from her real life, thus making her out very awkward in her high school and constantly battles with negative thoughts from her social anxiety. Thankfully all of this changes when she meets a fellow Monstrous Sea fan Wallace who is actually... well nah I’m not gonna spoil it for you guys :P But anyways, I absolutely loved how this book described social anxiety along with the depressive thoughts Eliza faces later on and it really touched me at how accurate and realistically it described them. I knew I had to have this book for myself and today was the day I decided to get it

Kitchen Princess Volume 1 omnibus by Nastumi Ando & Miyuki Kobayashi So some of you may not know but I’m an avid fan of Japanese comics, otherwise known as manga. Well, this is another series that I’ve read before about a girl named Najika who has a special talent of having absolute taste which means that if she tastes something she can almost always recreate the recipe almost perfectly for what it is, if not improve it too! But Najika isn’t too focused on her special talent, what she wants is to find the boy who first inspired her to live by giving her some flan to eat after her parents passed away leaving Najika all by herself. And the only thing she has to go by is a spoon that was included with the flan leading her to the prestigious Seika Academy. The manga follows Najika through her ups and downs at Seika Academy as she discovers and navigates through her inherent cooking/baking talent and secretly searches for the boy that stole her heart so many years ago. So. I am a total sucker for insipid high school romance stories and this was one of the prime ones I’ve read a long time ago. Plus I’ve already read manga with Kobayashi’s artwork and Ando’s storyline and I knew I loved their artist/writer combination so this one wouldn’t disappoint me. Of course this is only 1 of 5 omnibus volumes which contains both volumes 1 & 2 and I can’t wait to slowly collect the rest of the volumes month by month, so excited!

The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki Another manga I’ve been wanting to get for a while! So for a while I’ve seen this manga really gaining a huge following over the years to the point that I even saw it being sold at my high school’s Scholastic book fair. Honestly, I wasn’t all about this book back then especially after reading summary of it despite it really being everything I should want in a manga (I was stupidly only focused on those insipid high school romance manga I mentioned before). But the years passed and I once again happened upon it at my local library and thought heck I may as well try it and see where it got me. And boy did it get me. Right from the start I was dragged under with its basic yet fascinating fantasy elements especially with its otherworldly characters and lore behind it all. It had pretty much everything I could ever hope for: an immersive and developing side-world within the real world, unique and magnetic characters, a developing magical lore, and even a small hint and undercurrent of a budding romance between the two main characters. And if my memory serves me right, I believed that the first novel actually was the one that explored the character relations and romance aspect the most so I decided to finally buy it for myself so that I could return to it at any point I wished. plus the first couple volumes had the most magical lore exploration and artwork as well so heck, another reason why I should buy this novel! Aaaaaand finally... last but not least:

Waiting for you by Susanne Colassanti Yeah, yet another insipid high school romance novel by one of my favorite YA authors. What? I love these novels especially the ones that explore the heavy mental disorders and how it feels/is to live with them on a day to day basis. This one features Marissa a teen high school girl that suffers from general anxiety and the depression that stems from it as well. The book is pretty much how she navigates her spiraling family, her search for a boyfriend, and how to support her friend Sterling who is constantly attracted to boys that are well outside her age range. Although I do love this book to absolute bits because of its mental health awareness, I feel like the book is more of a summary of the things Marissa goes through and it doesn’t really emotionally or spiritually connect with the situations that she faces. They kind of fall flat most of the time since a lot of these things are mostly told rather than shown I guess. Shame because this book really faces some serious thoughts about depression and all.

So these are some of the books I’ve been dying to buy for myself and finally decided enough was enough and bought them for myself a few days ago. Of course this isn’t a complete list of all the books I’ve wanted for myself, which i why this is just a PART 1 post as I’m already planning to buy the books which were out of stock at B&N’s today. So definitely tune in and follow me to get a notification about the future post about the other books that I decide to buy for myself and a possible deconstruction behind them as well!!! Thank you for everyone who read this post to the very end, and here’s a kookie as thanks and congrats 🍪<---- kookie!!! I really hope I didn’t bore y’all out of your minds with this deconstruction, and for those who left in the middle of it, I’m really sorry you didn’t decide to stay to the end but I understand that I can be very monotonous at times (damn me and my perfectionist nature!!!).

Anyhow, thank you all my lovelies for reading all of this again, and follow me to keep an eye out for a part 2 of this!!! Good night my lovelies, sweet dreams and as always.... I’ll catch you all on the flip-blog side!

~ Distant-Stargirl out!

[sophiesgoldartsaward]

Exhibition Report

Unit 2, Part E

The end result of my project was TWO Tumblr blogs, one full of pictures of art work and the other with the reflections and all my planning for the project.

BEFORE SPLITTING UNIT 2: I think my project plan was very effective, but I did have to make some changes, including: editing some of the work I was sent instead of posting the pictures unchanged, having the pictures of the art on different posts from all the planning stuff, how many people I could ask for artwork (a smaller number than I had planned for), making my own art to post here instead of not making any of my own and moving the project online instead of doing it in real life.

AFTER SPLITTING UNIT 2: The major change to my project plan was putting all the pictures of the art on one blog and putting all the writing and notes on another blog (Here Be Artists and Sophie’s Gold Arts Award respectively), which changed the whole format of Unit 2. My original plan was to do everything on just one blog and have it all mixed together. I also adapted the writing section of Unit 2 so, if I wanted to, I could make the online exhibition grow bigger even after I finished my Gold Arts Award by explaining the point of the blogs to anyone who was interested.Another change I made to my original plan was making the exhibition open-call instead of just people I knew, but it turned out only people I knew actually sent anything in. Yet another change was moving all of my Gold Arts Award online, not just Unit 2, so I had to video my sketchbook for Unit 1 and rethink how I was going to evidence the feedback for Unit 2. Finally, I changed the opening lines of all the posts with writing on when I split Unit  (because I wanted to encourage casual viewers to look at the art and not get bogged down in all the spec notes, so had put stuff like ‘This is just a reflection and brief analysis of how the project is going so far - scroll down for more art!’). 

While I was figuring out how to split Unit 2, this is what my plan looked like:

Week 1 -videoing my sketchbook, looking into different themes (like XOXO, Inkwell and curly), deciding which theme the writing section and the photos section should be in for aesthetic purposes. Also putting the material into the two separate blogs and getting used to making and writing ‘pages’.  

Week 2 -writing out all the pages for ‘Sophie’s Gold Arts Award’, posting the few remaining photos of art I had on ‘Here Be Artists’. 

Week 3 -editing Unit 2, Part E (this very post) and finalizing the report so it makes sense. 

Week 4 -sending out my list of questions for feedback, evidencing replies and responding to feedback, posting all this on ‘Sophie’s Gold Arts Award’. 

The project’s biggest success was how easy it is to see the art work and how effective all the pictures are laid out. It’s very simple to follow and the pictures are very large (especially on a computer), so the art really gets to show off on the screen.

The most challenging aspect of the project was having enough people to ask for artwork - there were only a few people I could rely on to get art, since it’s particularly hard to motivate people online and under the current conditions of Covid-19.

Feedback from others and my response to their feedback will be presented in my next post (so will be found above and before this post). I’m also going to encourage people to use the ‘Any Questions?’ page on this blog. 

My leadership skills developed during the course of planning, managing and finalizing the project, mainly through presenting artwork, asking others for artwork and checking to see if there were any issues along the way. My communication skills have become more refined and I have a better understanding of using email and texts. From the variety of the art within and length of the project (shown throughout this blog), I can judge that I have been an effective leader. I have also enjoyed doing the project, which is another indication of success. This is not different from my original objectives (which shows I predicted the necessary skills for this project well). I think I am now better at motivating people (that was also very important in this project) because I put lots of time into thinking about how to phrase requests and how to chase people up -and when to use formal and informal tones over text and email. Effective leadership is also demonstrated in the clear brief of the poster I made on Canva (see bottom of ‘Unit 2, Part A’, and the fact that I did get back to people as soon as they sent in work to thank them (this shows that I’m organized).

I have learnt that working effectively with others requires clear communication, all-round cooperation and anticipating other’s responses. A sign of working effectively with others is a short time period between ask and response.

I now know that communication is absolutely fundamental to the success of any sort of project, and that you have to judge the situation carefully to get the right tone and approach when communicating with people. This is also a bit harder to do online.

Planning is also vital for good results - thinking ahead and predicting problems are key elements in any effective plan. Running a project with a clear idea of aims and desired outcomes (which are products of planning) helps immensely because you have a fixed goal you can work towards.

I’ve learnt a bit more about art form knowledge in the sense different art forms need to be presented in different ways, and that some art forms respond well to editing and captions while others don’t. I’ve also understood a bit more about how art forms can reveal peoples’ opinions and personalities. I’ve also learnt a lot about presenting art online, since I’ve never done that before (it’s a different approach to documenting work). I’ve also had to get used to learning as I go along, and not having everything explained at the start. Finally, I’ve experimented with taking photos of different sorts of work, both 2D and 3D, and what puts the artwork in its best light.  

I’ve also decided to do a reflection on health and safety online, because it’s more important than I first realized. To improve the project with respect to health and safety, I would have a referral to somewhere people can find help, like Childline or Samaritans. I would also list the rules for basic online safety (for example never using last name, never mentioning which school you go to, don’t post sensitive information, never write anything online in anger, etc.). Basically, limiting any content on both ‘Here Be Artists’ and ‘Sophie’s Gold Arts Award’ to creative only. I’d put more thought into how I’ll keep people safe because before I didn’t think health and safety was that important in a project like this.  

Next time (in an ideal world), to improve the project, I would do a bit more of my own work, do more reflections, ask more people for feedback and do the exhibition in real life (so I would be able to encourage people for feedback more successfully -it’s harder to refuse to give feedback when someone’s in front of you asking for it-, and I could ask more people for work because there’s something more tangible about presenting work in real life than online). But! More realistically, a longer time period, i.e. 2 weeks planning and 3 weeks recruitment, would give me more options and extend the project - I would be able to do things like statistics and pay more attention to details.. Additionally, I could have bigger aims, say, get art off 10 people instead of 5. 

I also thought I’d do a bit about how I would use other peoples’ art if strangers had responded to my project. I’d set out rules for artwork that I’d accept (so nothing offensive, racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, etc.) and I’d make it clear what I’d do with their work. For example, I would only edit people’s work with their express permission, and stress that they would only have to give a date of completion, medium(s) used, description/explanation and title if they wanted to. I don’t think I’d need a lot of information for each artwork, but I would add any details the artist wanted me to because it’s their work, not mine. I could have a form for participants to fill out so they could make it clear what information they wanted to supply alongside their artwork (I could use SurveyMonkey or Google Forms for this). 

And I’m going to do a bit about what is the point of doing this blog (apart from it being part of a Gold Arts Award) because it ties in with why people would want to look at and contribute to an online arts exhibition. Firstly, it puts you in touch with other like-minded people who enjoy art as much as you do and you can learn so much from other people like that -new techniques, new tricks, new concepts, new sources of inspiration... It may also spark a competitive spirit, which some people respond well to as a source of motivation. Secondly, it offers a chance to get your art on a public platform, and it gives you a taste of trying to make a place for yourself in the arts world (it’s also an introduction into beginning to sell your art, if that’s what you’re after). And thirdly, it can open your eyes to new careers in art and new galleries, art projects, artists -in short, investigating an arts blog pushes you out of your box into the international arts world.  

[septi-art]

Art, Artists, and Community Interaction

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. It’s something I think both artists and people interested in consuming art should take the time to read. It’s a discussion worth having. 

[Disclaimer I’m basically spit-balling this, and it is based on my own experiences and perspective. This discussion and advice may not be universal.]   

Having interaction with your audience/community is something that I feel is incredibly important as an artist. When you make art you need to be marketable, you need to sell. This isn’t universally true but if people aren’t seeing your art, somewhere along the line, something has gone wrong. There are multiple factors that go into your success as an artist of course. Things like work ethic, self improvement, and the core foundation skills you use to create art in the first place, are fairly obvious factors. However once you’ve made a drawing your work isn’t done. You still need to show it. You still need to sell it. Otherwise you’re not really a successful artist, right?

It gets lengthy under the cut, but please take the time to read through this and consider sharing it. I put time into this and would like for it to gain at least some visibility. 

From my experience there’s more than a few factors that play into your success. Your audience, your business sense, and your ability to interact with your community as an artist however, really stand out as important to me. And all three are linked very closely to each other. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and I want to touch on specifically the first and last elements on that list. Business sense is important, but it relies entirely on the artist to understand how business and entrepreneurship work. Community and visibility do not. 

As an artist you depend on your audience and the community surrounding your work, however large or small it may be. I know that personally I have several friends who I can rely on to support my work. They may be a small network of people, but they are in the notes on almost every post I make on this site. As an artist I want to see this network grow. If I spread my community it makes me more successful as an artist, and this benefits me a lot as someone who plans on using my art as a source of income. As someone who has yet to break into the professional setting, my options are limited to freelance work and private commissions being my major sources of accessible income. Freelance work and getting commissions can rely heavily on reputation and visibility. This is why I (and many other artists) need a community.

Growing a community is something that takes time and effort. And it’s something that I believe requires the artist and the audience to sort of meet in the middle. Realistically though, growing a community is primarily the artist’s job. In day to day life, as a consumer, it’s not my job to advertise a product to myself. A company wouldn’t just give me a product and tell me that if I like it, and want more of that product, I need to try to get my friends to buy it too. In the same way, forcing the audience to sell the artwork they consume is not practical, and just straight up won’t work. As an artist seeing people only hit the “like” button is frustrating because it limits my exposure, but also it’s not that person’s responsibility to hit “reblog”. Just like it’s not a consumer’s job to sell the products they want. However art isn’t quite like say, Pepsi, or a pair of new shoes. The audience shouldn’t be passive in their consumption of art. After all art at it’s core is interactive. 

This is where community and interaction really come into play. I both need and desire to have people care about my artwork. But getting “popular” is slow. Gaining an audience, is slow. Early on in your art career your visibility is very small, and no one knows who you are. You have no reputation, and no incentives for your audience. You need something to sell them on.

For someone to want to be involved more actively in consuming art they need to have a reason to care. This is why fanart is so popular, this is why web comics and artists with long running series do well. They have a product people can identify with or learn to identify with (this is why my Dark Souls sketches I may have drawn in an hour have several hundred notes and my personal work I spend days working on gets no traction comparatively). 

This just shows that on some level, for an audience to care, art has to have an immediate appeal to a person. This is either based on personal taste (what art really stands out to you?), or by appealing to a group of people as a whole (drawings video game or TV characters from popular franchises that people love). I feel that being able to do both is important. Bring in people based on topics or themes they know already, and hopefully they stay because you have a body of work outside that they like as well. And outside of your artwork, appeal to them even more by showing that you have an accessible community. That you care about the fact that they like your work. This is something you can do through community outreach, by doing things like:

Drawing things you know people will like, it doesn't have to be your entire body of work but it helps to make your content relatable to your audience(which I mentioned already).

Make and post art frequently. 

Streaming your artwork on places like YouTube and Picarto.

Show works in progress (WIPs), or show how you make your art from time to time.

Interact with other artists (draw together with them Google Hangouts are great for this, this post might be helpful for that). 

Create a system to reward people for involvement in your community, Patreon is a good way to do this.

Another way to reward interaction is to let the community have some influence in your content (polls and contests).

Set up a way for people to make small donations, it’s better than undercutting your prices. it’s more affordable for people who care but aren’t just full of money. Using a Ko-fi button is good for this.  

Post to as many sites as you can.

Respond to feedback now and then 

Posting with regularity, and making your content accessible with links to where you post attached is also a smart idea. Make it easy for people to find where you put your art.  

Just because it is the artist’s job to build and “curate” their community doesn’t mean that the community itself should be passive. If you are seeing art, you are interacting with it. And if you are interacting with it, even for 10 seconds, it took hours and hours of effort on top of years of practice and learning just for the artist to let you see it for those 10 seconds. Even mediocre artists often have spent a large amount of time trying very hard to get as far as they have. No one should have to try that hard not have some kind of payoff. This is why your support as a consumer matters so much.  

That being said a consumer’s job isn’t to sell the product. But being passive in your interaction with art really doesn’t benefit anyone. The largest form of this I see is people hitting the “like” button, and nothing else. Doing that is like walking up to a street vendor and telling them you like what they’re selling, and then walking away. Consumer interactions like that mean that while you get to see the art, the artist now has a smaller audience (I’m basically saying likes on posts essentially do not matter from a practical perspective). 

And yes, it’s not your job to make the artist’s community larger, but it’s worth considering that you can. But then again, why should you if it’s not your job, right? By being active in your consumption you can join a group of people who are a network that truly supports an artist and will benefit both the artist and you. If you interact with the art you appreciate, and especially with the artist, you increase your chances of seeing more art you like. it doesn’t even have to be monetary contributions. 

So how can you help out, how can you be active in an artist’s network? Here are some things you can do:

Hit “Reblog” instead of “Like” (it’s easiest thing you can do and involves almost no extra effort) 

If you see art you like, find out who made it. More often than not, they have more like it. 

Follow artist’s streams. 

Ask questions. 

Leave comments. As long as it’s not rude or negative just say something in response. 

Give money if you really, really, like the art. Support on Patreon, Commissions, or even just one or two dollar donations are all super important. 

if you can, just learn about art! broaden your appreciation for it. It can even be fun (seriously art history is crazy). 

[Keep in mind that not all artists will interact with you or their communities the same, use good judgement. This post is all coming from someone who is talking about smaller artists working independently or freelance, and trying to build a following on an online platform like Tumblr.]

But like I said, your job is at the end of the day, to just be an audience. You can do whatever you want. You can hit “like” and keep scrolling, I won’t stop you. I won’t be surprised or upset even. But if you really like a piece of art, if you care about art in any way, keep this discussion in mind. It’s really important. Art can’t exist without an audience that supports it.    

TL;DR - As an artist, reach out to people and actively make yourself visible. As an audience member, interact and support artists you like. 

[raisloversakura]

What DeviantART Taught Me

This is going to basically be my honest opinions and a bit of a rant, so if you don't like these kinds of things kindly ignore it  This is what DeviantART taught me in the 8 Years since I joined. First and foremost, DeviantART was my first art website that I joined and in the beginning I was only submitting photographs of my animals, as that seemed to be the only way to get any sort of commenting or feedback. It didn't matter to me whether or not it was one person commenting or even a few favorites, I was happy and appreciative. I started sharing my artwork, my stories, and my original characters, and quickly became enveloped in commissions. I ordered my first ever commission back in 2010 and was so grateful for the two artists that took upon my requests with such poorly drawn references. It was these people who inspired me to do better, to provide better references for my characters who deserved to have nice reference sheets and images.  Thank you to those people who helped me along this process in the beginning and were very kind and helpful in assuring me along in the process of creating and receiving artwork. The joy that was provided was something I never experienced and looking at my collection now, I can't believe how vast it is. Thank you to these people who made ordering artwork so incredible and such an enjoyable experience. And to those of you that have wronged me, I hope that you learn your lesson in life and I hope that Karma will come back around and bite you in the ass as you deserve what's coming to you. From these commissions blossomed relationships. It was from these commissioned based relationships that I took the plunge and became friends with many people here and we spoke often online. It was the first time I had ever flown to meet an online friend at a convention in Baltimore Maryland at Otakon, an anime convention. Thank you Newsha, Tifany, Amanda, Lavata, Luis, and Anna for meeting me and showing me that the life behind the screen was exactly the same person, and thank you for giving me the courage to meet you in person and experience and share your life and your art journey. (And the kick in the ass to attend conventions and welcome this hobby into my life as I had been nervous to try.) From these friends I have established life long friends who are very dear and important to me and I would never replace any of you for the world. We went through ups and downs and drama and unexpected surprises together which have etched its way into my life and have solidified my existence in their life as much as they are in mine. Perhaps it was from these amazing and reciprocated relationships that perhaps I was blind to the few toxic relationships that developed.  There were a few who would use me for my money or for the multitude of gifts that I would buy and mail their way out of kindness and willingness on my part. The constant asking for money that was promised to be repaid, or the "art trades" that would be completed with the things I sent as compensation were never met and it was really frustrating and depressing on my part. Thank you to you greedy souls for showing me that not every one of you is kind, ingratiating, and appreciative of my friendship and what I had to offer.  You showed me that my trust needs to be more reserved and I shouldn't always believe that the friends you make online are genuine and want the best for both parties involved. Everyone is human and no one is perfect, least of all me. But the way they treated their "friends" or even "customers" was unacceptable and it made me exceedingly bitter. I really hope to the people that have wronged me that you regret it one day and realize what you have done. I don't care for an apology, I just want the realization that you lost a good friend and you lost my trust. I am a loyal faithful person, but I won't be fooled time and time again by people who only want to use me and abuse my kindness.  On that note, I notice far too often people begging for free artwork, And even WORSE are the people who initiate friendships with other artists just to get free artwork. That is the most vile and disgusting thing you could ever do to another person, friend or not! How can you begin a friendship solely based on greed? Oh we are friends now so you should give me free commissions or art trades because I can't afford you normally? How does that sound ok to anyone? I have many friends who have had this situation occur to them, and you can ask ANYONE that I am friends with if I still pay my dues. The answer will be 100% yes. I don't ask for anything free, I am your friend first and foremost, but I will always support your trade and pay you for your work as that is your profession and how you make a living and I will never take that from you. I don't believe in using people just because we are friends and I think I deserve free shit.  Aaaaand with that comes under pricing and overpricing (and then people who don't pay for their commission altogether) I know many people haggle for lower prices, I even know of people here by name that will haggle and barter for the lowest possible price to pay artists and that makes me disgusted. Why would you demean an artist that way? Coming up with prices to sell your craft, art, whatever is really hard and frustrating! You never know if you are overcharing or undercharging and then someone you don't even know comes asking for a discount because "they can't afford it" or "I really REALLY like your work, please" that's just disgusting and pathetic to me.  If you can't afford someone, save up or move along. Pay the artist what they are worth. And pay your dues. I have seen far too many of my friends and fellow artists quit commissions because the clients either A) Didn't pay them. or B) were so rude and difficult to work with.  It breaks my heart to see people just quitting them altogether because people are so unjust or cheat them out of their hard earned time. And people that get offended when the artist expects payment upfront? It's called security. If they don't get half or at least all of the money they are running the risk of doing all this hard work for nothing. I hope no one has this experience but unfortunately it could happen to anyone on any website, anywhere. It's a sad reality that there are people out there wanting something for nothing and they aren't willing to pay the price of that "something". Support your artists. Support your friends. Support fair business. You wouldn't want to be cheated so why is it fair to cheat someone else? In the last few years I have contemplated leaving DA for an abundance of reasons and in my last journal I expressed that this website was depressing. Everything that I once really enjoyed about this website seems to be really dead. Now tons of people have their own reason for leaving DA (Bullies, Art Thieves finally getting to them, Lack of Popularity, etc.) For me I saw a decline in the quality of people that were joining DA and more or less the amount of trolls and rude thieving individuals who run rampant. Not to mention the large majority of untrustworthy artists opening commissions and scamming clients.  I never cared about getting a Daily Deviation, nor do I care about it to this day, but I hate the mentality that if you aren't popular on this website you aren't going anywhere. DeviantART really isn't ANYTHING.  DeviantART doesn't care about helping you grow as an individual or help your artwork blossom. All they care about is the growth of their absurd "Core" program and shoving as much money down their greedy throats with merchandise, and overpriced premiums that the standard person could not afford. When did this hobby website become such a money driven fool that you care nothing for your community and what others are asking for? Why did I take my OC's down from DA? Simple. I was tired of the "OMG your OC looks like (insert any random character from anything ever created here" or "Your OC looks like mine LOL" It's the most DISRESPECTFUL thing you can say to someone who has spent YEARS developing stories and original characters to be unique and special to you. I was tired of the comparisons in the commissions that I ordered and I just felt like DeviantART was not a great place to store my children any longer. And what made me even more upset were the people who flammed others for having an "all white cast" of characters. I was never called racist or anything but a friend of mine was called that for having all of her characters "pale white skin". I don't think there is anything wrong with having all white characters. You see your babies in one way, and you don't have to bend to other people's wishes so that your characters suit other peoples tastes or societies as a whole. Original Characters are my children and they deserve to be in a place that focus's on original characters and creativity more than it does high quality artwork and people with over 100,000K views on their page. That's why I moved all of my original characters to Toyhou.se and why you can no longer find my stories here on DA. I never felt completely comfortable sharing my stories on DA because anyone could just copy and paste that and I was terrified of being plagiarized. What I take away from this website is a lot of lessons learned, Improve your artwork for you only, don't do artwork because of what you expect others to love and praise. Be diligent in the work you owe others. If you are going to do something for someone, do it for the love of god and be honest and have good follow through.  Realize that people behind the screen aren't always as sweet and nice as they appear and watch for those that only wish to hurt and extract all that they can from you. Be grateful and down to earth. I don't care how popular you may be on social media but you are still a human being, you aren't gods gift to earth and treating your supports like dirt isn't going to get you anywhere in life and it causes so much unnecessary drama. Ignore trolls and those who seek to stir up shit for no reason. They aren't worth the time it takes you to reply to them or the breath you hold in anger. Don't let anyone use you for whatever reason, whether it be from sympathy or the yearning to have more friends. Don't. And always remember, everyone is human. Treat them as you wish to be treated yourself.... RaisloverSakura~

[componentplanet]

The Top 5 Games We Played in 2019

What is life without fun? Few things are as fun as getting truly lost in a game you love. As we close out 2019, it’s time to look back on the games that dominated our free time. This year, we have top five (or almost five) lists from Joel Hruska, David Cardinal, Michael Justin Allen Sexton, and Ryan Whitwam. Our picks skew newer, but not everything we’ve been obsessed with is from the last year. These are just the games we’ve enjoyed the most in 2019.

Ryan

Red Dead Redemption 2

As a primarily PC gamer, I was never able to play the original Red Dead Redemption, but Rockstar saw fit to make port the sequel to PC. The game suffered from a rocky launch on PC, and not all the bugs have been ironed out, but it’s still one of the most engaging gaming experiences I’ve had in recent memory. The world is detailed and rich with content, and not just repetitive fetch quests like some games that tout the size of their maps. The storytelling and voice acting are also absolutely top notch. Traveling to distant waypoints in many games is tedious, but the journey is part of the fun in Red Dead Redemption 2.

Pokemon Sword and Shield

Pokemon occupies a unique place gaming culture as a franchise that became a worldwide phenomenon without any full console releases. Pokemon Sword and Shield broke with tradition when they launched on the Nintendo Switch. They still have many of the same problems as older Pokemon games like clunky menus, confusing online features, and bad writing. That’s not why people play Pokemon games, though. It’s about catching ’em all, and Pokemon Sword and Shield do that better than any previous games in the series. In addition to the game’s linear routes between cities, there’s a vast Wild Area to explore. The raid battle mechanics are also a nice addition. You can waste truly obscene amounts of time searching for your favorite mons in these games.

Untitled Goose Game

Who would have thought a goose could be the bane of an entire town? But that’s what you become in Untitled Goose Game. The game presents you with a to-do list and turns you loose on the unsuspecting people of this unnamed hamlet. Some items on the list are simple — steal the gardener’s rake and put it in the lake. Others will take more planning and thought, like the quest to make someone put on the wrong glasses. This game speaks to some sort of casual maliciousness we all have when playing games, and it’s incredibly engaging. You will become the goose, and as you walk away from your vanquished foes, honking and flapping your wings, you feel almost unreasonably powerful.

The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds is basically a smaller, quirkier Fallout in space. As a refugee from a stranded transport ship, you have to make your way in the libertarian fantasy that is the Halcyon solar system. You can either support the mega-corporations that dominate the colony or fight to change things. Along the way, you’ll assemble a crew of misfits with their own backstories to explore across the Halcyon system. The settings are fun to explore, and the voice acting is surprisingly good. I will be the first to admit The Outer Worlds isn’t a perfect game; it’s too short, and there’s not enough variation in gear. Still, it’s still one of the best things I played this year.

MechWarrior 5

I love giant fighting robots, and MechWarrior is the premiere giant fighting robot franchise. However, we went almost 20 years without a proper single player MechWarrior game. That finally changed a few weeks ago with the release of MechWarrior 5. You play as the leader of a mercenary group, traveling the stars in search of money and revenge at the controls of heavily armed mechs. The combat in this game is superb — the dozens of included mechs have unique characteristics, weapon loadouts, and roles. These war machines feel heavy and powerful, and it’s an absolute delight to blast other mechs as you fulfill a contract. The game does have some problems with a meandering storyline, and the voice acting is barely passable. I’m willing to forgive that in light of the incredible combat, though.

Joel

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Mutant Year Zero is one of my favorite games that I’ve played this year. It’s not really a full AAA title in scope — think of it as more of a “AA” game, bigger than an indie, but smaller than what a large studio would build. The game is built on the same engine used for the newer version of XCOM, but it allows free-moving exploration in ways XCOM isn’t known for. It’s not perfect — there are definitely a few rough spots — but it feels like a Fallout title (and includes a few easter eggs referencing that game).

World of Warcraft Classic

I haven’t had nearly as much time to play WoW Classic as I’d like, but I’ve definitely had tons of fun with it. Bringing back Blizzard’s iconic World of Warcraft proved to be a popular choice for the company. The mode has been more popular than Blizzard anticipated, though it’s not clear how many players are brand-new to the title versus those coming back to relieve the glory days.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Don’t look at me that way. I never had access to a console growing up, which means I’ve had a lot of first-time fun with some of the old console games. Yoshi’s Island is a truly amazing game for it’s era, with gorgeous artwork and great level design.

  It was designed to be a more ‘accessible’ platform, and I’m willing to admit I need that kind of feature, having basically never played platformers as a kid. I die. A lot. The restore button is going to break off the NES Classic long before any other component. I may not be very good at the game, but I’ve certainly had a lot of fun with it.

Sadly, I’m only in for three titles  — I’ve scarcely done enough gaming to talk about it, outside of the above. One of the ironies of writing about the topic is that it’s hard to find the time to actually do it, and life had other plans for Christmas this year. I had planned to write an article about No Mans Sky, which I recently bought, but I’ve only been able to spend an hour with the title thus far.

Michael

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi

I got my first taste of the Koei Tecmo’s Nobunaga’s Ambition game franchise roughly twenty years ago on the SNES. Afterwards I fell out of touch with the series but recently have got back into these wonderful strategy games with Nobunaga’s Ambition: Spheres of Influence and Nobunaga’s Ambition Taishi. Though both games provide an enjoyable experience as you fight to conquer the Japanese isles, Taishi has options to automate some of the more tedious aspects of the game and makes the later stages of the game significantly more enjoyable than in Sphere’s of Influence. Though it’s not what I’d call perfect, it’s currently my favorite strategy game that I feel any fan of the genre will enjoy.

Jade Empire

Jade Empire is sent in a fictional world roughly based Chinese history and culture with Buddhist elements influencing the game’s story.  The game also features its own artificial language that was created by a linguist explicitly for use in the game. Released in 2005, I first played this game when I was 14, and it helped to grow my interest in Asia. It’s by far my favorite game of all time, and I make it a point to replay this game at least once every year. Though my hopes for a sequel have yet to be answered, if you’ve never tried the game before its well worth giving it a try.

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy

This is another game that I first played years ago on the original Xbox. Set in ancient Egypt, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is predominantly a puzzle game with some fighting and RPG elements mixed in. I got back into this game this year after discovering that THQ Nordic had released a remastered version of the game with improved graphics. Though the gameplay remains unchanged from the original, it holds up well it’s still fun to play. There is also a fan based mod in the works which includes content cut from the original game.

Fable III

When Lionhead studios launched the original Fable, it instantly became one of the best RPG games in the world. Later games in the series changed drastically and mixed reviews. Though the games were fun, they were also disappointing because of the extent to which they changed. Fable III has never been able to stand up to the original Fable, but trying the game again after a few years I found this game to still be fun to play and an enjoyable experience.

StarCraft 2

StarCraft 2 needs little introduction. Since its release StarCraft 2 has been a crowd favorite with the online multiplayer gaming community. The game also has a long and highly enjoyable campaign that also has plenty of replay value. Though I don’t play online much, I often return to run through the campaign, which is why I opted to include it in my list of top five games for the year.

David

Untitled Goose Game

This game comes pretty close to qualifying as the ultimate un-video-game — at least compared to most current hits. You can’t get killed. At most you suffer from a couple momentary ruffled feathers. There is no time pressure, unless you complete the entire game and decide to try and set speed records. Graphics are trivial and cartoon-like — but artfully thought out. It is fun, addictive, and can be played by anyone. You only need a couple buttons and a joystick, along with a sense of humor.

The plot is simple. You’re an annoying goose who spends your day harassing the unlucky denizens of a nearby village. When in doubt honking is sure to get a start out of them, and help you distract them. There are dozens of tasks you get to try to accomplish, ranging from breaking things to befuddling shopkeepers. Watching and kibitzing can be almost as fun as playing, so don’t hesitate to fire it up when the whole family is around.

F1 2019

For some reason lost in history, our family follows F1 racing. Despite the relative lack of passing or on-track action, we’re addicted. So it is great to be able to “follow along” with the season by playing the F1 games for each season. This year in particular, the game came out part way through the season, so it was possible to drive the same tracks that the racers would that weekend. There are extensive team and career modes, but they’re wasted on me, as I don’t have the attention span for them. But experimenting by driving different cars and different setups adds to the enjoyment of the race season.

Forza Motorsport 7

If it wasn’t for the F1 connection, I’d rate Motorsports 7 as a no-brainer winner over F1, and it definitely has the best AIs of any version of Motorsports. I really enjoy the versatility of the game, with a huge selection of cars, tracks, and race series. It is certainly not anything like iRacing when it comes to racing fidelity and true competitive racing, but the graphics are much more detailed, and I don’t participate in multi-player racing (other than with Avatars) anyway. I also play Assetto Corsa and Project CARS, but Motorsports is my go to if I just want to spend some time on track.

Dirt Rally

The most stressful video game experience ever for me was driving a mountain course in Dirt Rally in VR using my Oculus. I can imagine driving a NASCAR around an oval at full speed (as lethal as that might prove to be), but I can’t imagine driving at high speed on a dirt track hugging a cliff. So for the most part I stick with the forest tracks in Dirt Rally, but I love the combination of needing to drive the car and interpret the messages about the upcoming hills and turns from my rally co-driver.

Ultimate General: Civil War

This is another game where the campaign modes are wasted on me. But the detailed, and carefully-modeled, tactical engagements and multi-day battle strategies are great fun for a reformed hex board gamer like me. And unlike with tabletop versions of military campaigns, I can play this one against the computer any time I want. Like many games of its genre, it doesn’t get updated much, and some elements of it are behind the times, but it looks great on my 4K 32-inch photo monitor.

That’s the titles we’ve been playing — what’s held your interest through 2019?

Now Read: 

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, Xbox’s Phil Spencer Are Fighting Over Moore’s Law

Warcraft III: Reforged Launches on January 28, 2020

How Much Does It Matter That PCs Are Faster Than Consoles?

from ExtremeTechExtremeTech https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/303784-the-top-5-games-we-played-in-2019 from Blogger http://componentplanet.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-top-5-games-we-played-in-2019.html

[mikeyd1986]

MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 131, November 2018

On Monday night, I attended a Yin yoga class with Aaron Petty at Level Up Yoga in Berwick. Tonight was a last class before Aaron heads off on his trip to Bali for 3 weeks to do an intensive training course. It was a 30 degree hot humid day outside but I really didn’t want to miss this class as I’ve been putting off my yoga practice again recently. It was unusually packed in the studio but being Aaron’s last class a few weeks, I should have suspected that. Thank goodness that the air-con and ceiling fans were turned up or else I would have been sweating heaps.

Aaron guided up through a series of yin style poses including caterpillar, toe squat, straitjacket pose and leg extensions with strap. I found these all to be particularly challenging with my pain and discomfort threshold being tested as well as my annoying anxious mind on rapid fire (Am I doing this right? Oh shit, my strap’s twisted. God this hurts so much! My legs look like a mangled mess). But I did my best to not get caught up in those thoughts and just focus on breathing and releasing. https://www.yinyoga.com/ys2_2.0_asanas_toe_squat.php

I also tend to get myself emotional during Yin classes mostly because there’s a microscopic focus on me and that can be quite confronting at times. Loving yourself is one of the most difficult things to do but also one of the most important things. Hence why I often find it so hard. It helps to connect with positive affirmations like “I deserve to be here practicing yoga. I am worthy. I do belong in this yoga community. I am not alone. I am accepted and welcome.” http://www.annieauyoga.com/library/2018/6/13/your-emotional-self-care-guide-in-yin-yoga

Saying goodbye to Aaron is still something I find painfully awkward to do. And it’s not just him either. It’s the internal pressure of knowing exactly what to say and when to hit the exit. But I made it short, sweet and simple. “Have fun in Bali.” Was there anything more to say? Not really. I’m not the type to ramble on about what’s going on in my life because that’s not how I roll. Still it was nice to see him showing that he cares and I’m excited for his trip away though I can’t pretend that I won’t be missing him. Namaste. https://www.aaronpetty.com/

On Thursday morning, I went down to Centrelink Cranbourne office to apply for the Disability Support Pension. This has been a long term goal for me this year and it’s taken me a few months to be prepared for it. There were quite a few obstacles in my way and several people who advised against applying for it but I stuck to my guns, making sure that I filled out all the forms correctly and gathered enough medical evidence, pay slips, bank statements, and letters to even bother trying for it. https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/disability-support-pension/eligibility/how-we-assess-your-disability-or-condition

When it comes to the Centrelink system, I feel like there are harsh, unfair and unrealistic expectations placed on individuals who actually need their services and benefits. You have to jump through so many different hoops and meet often ridiculous eligibility criteria just to even be considered hence why I wasn’t exactly in a rush to get this done right away. Still I have legitimate diagnoses of depression, anxiety and high functioning autism so it’s not like cheating the system or doing it to get on A Current Affair. https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/disability-support-pension/eligibility

So, in a way, I am doing this to prove the naysayers wrong and make big decisions on my own. But more importantly, I need the DSP in order to supplement my income which I continue to struggle with week to week. Of course people could argue that I should just get another job or increase my hours at my current job but sadly it’s just not that simple and it’s not like I haven’t tried those avenues either. It won’t be an easy road but I’m prepared to tackle and push through any bumps I need to get through. https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/disability-support-pension/claiming/claiming-form

Walking into the Centrelink office, I was already feeling quite nervous. No amount of green decor was going to settle my nerves. This was a pretty big deal for me, months of preparation and I didn’t want to fuck it up. I decided to bring my Mum along just in case I did crumble to dust. The best way to deal with this level of anxiety is to throw humour at it and what better way than to think about Centrelink memes. I waited around 30-40 minutes or so and then my name was called up.

A lady named Emma served me, who was physically disabled herself and appeared to have dwarfism. Thankfully she was really nice and just asked me for all the required forms and supporting documentation for the claim. I don’t think I could have been more organised, though she was giving the photocopier a good workout with all the paper she had to make copies of. I asked her “How long do you expect it will take to get a decision?” She said 6-8 weeks which I expected but now that it’s done, I feel a huge sense of relief now.

On Thursday afternoon, I booked my first appointment to see an Occupational Therapist from Everyday Independence in about two weeks time. Last week at the Disability Expo, I only had a vague concept of what an Occupational Therapist actually does and still don’t really know for sure. But I figured I would give them a shot and considering I have NDIS funding, I don’t have much to lose over it. I mostly want to focus on improving my self confidence, social skills, making friends and at some point, living independently. Hopefully the OT can help me achieve some or all of those goals. https://www.everydayind.com.au/our-therapies/occupational-therapy/

On Thursday night, I had my final Sleep Intervention Workshop held at La Trobe University Psychology Clinic in Bundoora. Prior to arriving, I received my actiwatch in the mail via express post which I’ll have to wear again for another week. This will basically be comparing the results from the first period and see if there’s been any improvement with my sleep. I engaged in my usual Maccas run though time wasn’t playing nice today. I literally had to scoff my food and coffee down (That’s NOT being mindful...oops!).

Tonight’s session was run by Eric and Alexa with Associate Professor Amanda “Mandy” Richdale joining in. Alexa guided us through a short mindfulness exercise which involved using the five senses: touch, smell, hearing, taste and sight, using a raisin. Next, they attempted to tie all the concepts and techniques that we’ve learned together as well as discuss the importance of having values to focus on. Basically trying to work on living a fulfilling life can in turn help to improve your sleep. Some of my important values include: accepting myself, loving others, creativity, imagination, embracing the moment and seeing possibilities.

We also did some short term goal setting which is perfect considering we are getting close to the end of 2018. I wrote down: catching up with friends and family, going out for dinner or drinks, losing weight and improving my fitness levels, going for regular walks, attending art exhibitions and galleries, producing artwork again and getting back into study. It was a good exercise as I usually don’t do it often enough as my mind gets caught up in other commitments and responsibilities. https://www.latrobe.edu.au/otarc

The last part of the session involved creating a plan for the next 6 weeks to make sure that we’re prepared when insomnia comes back. It breaks everything down into sizable chunks week by week and details many of the techniques that we’ve learned about during these workshops such as mindfulness and defusion of thoughts, feelings and emotions, building a new sleep routine and practicing acceptance. Eric then gave us each a $25 gift card for our participation in the study. https://aspergersvic.org.au/Research-Requests

Reflecting back on the last few weeks, it’s good to know that this is the first research study I have fully committed myself to. I didn’t let the physical distance, lack of motivation, low mood and energy levels stop me from finishing it off because I do believe that improving my sleep is something worthwhile to invest time into. It’s been a problem for me for at least 2 or 3 years now and that’s significant as it affects my daily functioning and ability to enjoy life. So hopefully it’ll have some long lasting benefits for me. https://www.apa.org/topics/sleep/why.aspx

On Friday morning, I started doing my Christmas shopping at Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre and Westfield Fountain Gate! Trust me to forget that it happened to be BLACK FRIDAY today so of course getting a parking spot was painful as hell. Also it’s this time of the year when my anxiety levels tend to increase more readily especially when it comes to impatient shoppers and drivers. The rainy weather outside certainly wasn’t helping matters either. It didn’t take long before I was getting stalked in the carpark.  

IT’S THE MOST STRESSFUL (WONDERFUL) TIME OF THE YEAR! I briefly met up with Mum and my hairdresser Katrina, dropping into shops like Kmart, Target, Dusk and some $2 variety stores before I knew that I was ready to collapse with my shopping bags. I’m also learning that it’s okay to break things up, that I don’t necessarily have to do all my Christmas shopping in one hit. I put limits on myself for how much I’m able to handle and it’s a good thing because the last thing I want to do is burn myself out before Christmas Day.

On Friday night, I went to my HIIT Boxing class with Cinamon Guerin at CinFull Fitness. Boxing is both physically and mentally challenging. It takes a lot of effort, focus, concentration and practice to learn all the movements, techniques and combos. I’m fortunate that this group of clients is endlessly patient with me because I do worry that I’ll drop the ball at times. Anxiety is an unwelcome heckler trying hard to get me to give up and I’m able to shove it further and further into the background now.

Even though these small group training sessions are tough, it always feels good to finish them. My fitness level is irrelevant. To me, it’s more about what I can do rather than keeping up with the others. It’s a shift that’s taken me months to learn and remember. As a few people have told me, your only competition is yourself. Push ups are still one of the hardest exercises for me and yet I was smashing them out tonight at my own pace. It can only get better and easier over time.

On Saturday morning, I voted for Gary Maas - Labor for NWS at Strathaird Primary School. Generally speaking, I usually vote for the Australian Labor Party as most of my values align with their policies. Workers rights, public transport, infrastructure, education, mental health issues and autism are the big issues for me this State Election and Gary Maas ticks all of those boxes. https://www.viclabor.com.au/mp/maas-gary/

I’ve noticed that the Liberal candidate, Susan Serey, has had her face plastered on signs and flyers all around the Narre Warren South area. I guess their logic is that using dominant visual exposure will help secure more votes but to me, this screams of desperation. I haven’t seen her put many proposals forward for this election so I’m far from convinced that I should be voting for her. https://vic.liberal.org.au/SusanSerey

When it comes to Matthew Guy, he seems like a typical Liberal politician. All talk and all business. Coming off like a shady used car salesman with his “plan” to get Victoria back in control. Just like Scott Morrison, he’s just not very likable to me. https://www.matthewguy.com.au/

Daniel Andrews has done a lot of hard work for this state especially in the areas of workers rights, public transport and infrastructure. He has begun work on the Melbourne Metro and West Gate tunnels, removed many level-crossings on various train lines and upgraded several train stations, invested in free TAFE courses, building more schools and TAFE campuses, recruited more police officers, increased employment rate and job vacancies. http://www.cesarmelhem.com.au/andrews-labor-government-economic-achievements/

He is far from perfect but his achievements far outweigh his flaws in my opinion. Plus he has many great optimistic plans for the future if he ends up being re-elected. https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/vic/2018/11/20/victorian-election-policy-comparison-daniel-andrews-matthew-guy/

On Saturday night, I attended my work Christmas party held in the Common Room at Berwick Inn. When it comes to most social functions, my first instinct is to run for the hills and this potentially could have been the case tonight. I guess I wasn’t anticipating the huge turnout and therefore how much the space was creating bottlenecks and human traffic congestion. It’s moments like those where I literally need my own space to breathe.

However it was really lovely to see many team members tonight, both who I currently work with and a handful who have transferred stores, resigned or retired. Still being an introvert and autistic, social situations will always be challenging for me. Not knowing what to do, who to talk to, what to talk about but I generally gravitate towards people I feel comfortable around. There also becomes a point where I get easily bored and restless.

I decided to wear a black Christmas themed sweater with colourful Santas, bells, trees and snowflakes on it as well as a classic red Santa hat. It’s probably the one stereotypical trait that I don’t tick as an introverted person: putting myself out there with my outfit. Possibly because I want to make an impression and get people’s attention in a good way. I left shortly after the Visions & Values awards were announced as energetically I was spent and needed to rest. But I’m glad I made the effort to come out even for a short while.

“S-P-I-R-I-T, it's great to see. We got it, the spirit. Hey, hey, let's hear it. Said we couldn't go the distance, yeah. Look at us, we're going the distance. They just wanna be us. They don't wanna see us.” Mariah Carey featuring Ty Dolla $ign - The Distance (2018)

“It wasn't really much at all, just a little sensitivity, yeah that's all. Here in my heart is where you should be, ooh you are. Giving me life and it's everything. Thinkin' 'bout when we were seventeen. Living like Babs 'cause it's Evergreen. Here in my arms is where you should be.” Mariah Carey featuring Slick Rick & Blood Orange - Giving Me Life (2018)

[super8creswellsoutheugene-blog]

The Fall and Rise of Hotel Art Why the artwork at America’s lodgings has vastly improved—even at chains like Super 8

In 2016, the world’s largest budget hotel chain, Super 8, underwent an art makeover. Whatever you imagine when you imagine quintessentially kitschy hotel art—a deer by a babbling brook near a lamplit cottage, a Bob Ross paint-by-numbers special, powdery winterscapes of quaint villages, maybe even a velvet painting if you’re lucky—that’s the kind of stuff that had been hanging in Super 8 rooms since the chain was founded in 1974. But at two events, one hosted by Amy Sedaris at a gallery space in New York and another at Art Basel in Miami, Super 8 gave much of it away, a signal that the age of kitsch hotel art was, for Super 8s, officially over.

When we decided to do an episode about hotel art, we thought we would be doing an episode about, well, hotel art—exactly the sort of ugly, shoddy, cheap paintings that used to hang in Super 8s. But it turns out that’s an outdated understanding. Sure, you still regularly come across ugly work in hotels, but Super 8’s move away from kitsch is part of a decadeslong trend on the part of hotels—hotels of all price points—to reclaim hotel art. In recent years, hotel art has been transformed from something unconsidered and embarrassing into a selling point—a sign of sophistication and authenticity, an Instagram photo-op, a communication to customers about the kind of people they are and the kind of hotel they’re staying at, or, at the very least, evidence that the hotel isn’t desperately behind the times. Hotel art, if you can believe it, has become a signifier of good taste.

At the Bellagio in Las Vegas, which was opened by the art collector and hotelier Steve Wynn, a $10 million glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly blooms out of the lobby’s ceiling. The W Hotel in South Beach, Florida, has a collection that includes work by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Julian Schnabel—who himself redesigned the interiors of the Gramercy Park Hotel in 2006, just one of many hotels designed by artists. This month, a hotel is opening in Arles, France, that was entirely designed by the artist Jorge Pardo, and just last month another opened in lower Manhattan that turned its stairwell into the Museum of Street Art, inviting graffiti artists to spray-paint there. High-end hotels commission original work all the time, sometimes from blue-chip contemporary artists, and even nonluxury hotels boast about featuring site-specific pieces in their lobbies. And all of this is truly just scratching the surface.

In order to understand how we got here—to a place where hotels are jockeying to distinguish themselves with their art programs—you need to understand how the modern hotel came to be.

The hotel, as we know it, first appeared in America in the 1790s. At the time, inns and taverns were the norm. Places that often housed travelers as a way to procure a liquor license, they were bars with beds, basically. By contrast, these new, modern hotels wanted to emphasize their elegance and luxury. Their architecture was imposing and they were decorated beautifully, from the plush carpets to the chandeliers to the sumptuous wall hangings. And this approach, at the high end of the market, has more or less continued through to the present day.

But in the early 1900s, a man named E. M. Statler pioneered a different, more affordable version of the hotel—one that was always the same. “He was the most influential hotel man of the first half of the 20th century and he wanted people to have a reliable, predictable hotel experience, and that actually carried prestige,” says A. K. Sandoval-Strausz, the author of the book Hotel: An American History. In 1908, the Statler Hotel opened in Buffalo, New York, the first of a number of standardized hotel locations that promised customers to provide, in Statler’s words, “a bed and a bath for a dollar and a half.”

Hotel art, if you can believe it, has become a signifier of good taste.

These hotels were economical, but they were also, in their way, luxurious. If you were traveling to a new, strange city, just knowing that the affordable hotel you’d end up at would be of a basic level of quality, and not a bedbug-infested flophouse, was an innovation. Reliability was so desirable that nearly 70 years after the first Statler Hotel was founded, a hotel chain like Holiday Inn was still advertising itselfas, above all else, predictable—a place where “the best surprise is no surprise.”

But then the backlash to all this sameness arrived: the boutique hotel. In the late 1980s, the hotelier Ian Schrager, one of the co-founders of Studio 54, opened a few hotels in New York that immediately became sensations. One was the Royalton, which was designed by the singular Frenchman Philippe Starck, whose witty, playful lobby included velvet armchairs that leaned back at precipitous angles, wall sconces in the shape of rhinoceros horns, and three-legged chairs that had a tendency to tip over.

“These hotels in New York became the gathering spots for the beau monde,” says Mayer Rus, the West Coast editor of Architectural Digest. “Everybody wanted to have a drink, a power lunch at the Royalton, and it gave birth to this movement of hoteliers who wanted to signify cool, signify chic, and draw people into their properties by promising an experience—what would now be called a curated experience.”

These early boutique hotels had an elevated, even unexpected, style. They weren’t standardized because they wanted to set themselves—and by extension the person who stayed there—apart. These hotels could be funky, elegant, sexy, but they were intentionally designed, with a very strong sense of place, because the whole idea was that when you were there, you weren’t nowhere—you were somewhere. In the 30 years since, the idea that a hotel ought to be a designed experience has expanded beyond boutique hotels to most hotels. And if you need proof, look no further than the Super 8.

If you walk into a Super 8 today, instead of seeing, say, a kitschy, impressionistic sailboat, you’ll see two huge, chunkily framed, very polished black-and-white photographs above the bed, serving as both room art and headboard. These images are not just of anything—they’re related to the specific location of that specific Super 8. At one Fort Worth, Texas, Super 8, for example, there’s a photograph of a cowboy on a horse, in silhouette, getting ready to use his lasso. At another, a Los Angeles Super 8, there’s a photograph of Mann’s Chinese Theater, lit up at night.

“One of the things that we recognized is that this next generation of traveler, they’re interested in things like farm-to-table,” says Mike Mueller, the brand leader for Super 8s worldwide. “They want to know where things are sourced. They want to know where things are coming from, where they can go for a truly local authentic experience.”

Super 8s, which are scattered all over North America and even in China, can often be found near inauspicious interstate exits. I’ve stayed at a few in my life—driving away from college with a U-Haul full of stuff, between Chicago and New York; on a road trip, somewhere in the Texas Panhandle—and I could not possibly be more specific about their locations, because that’s what was so useful about Super 8s: They’re just right there, when right there is the middle of nowhere. The idea of a Super 8 as a place that’s anything other than a stopover, as a place that should be locally branded—it shows just how deeply ingrained this new idea of what a hotel should be has become.

[jamiekturner]

100 Days of Vector Illustration

It was January 2017. I moved from San Francisco to Seattle. The winter was dark and the rain seemed never to stop. One night, I sat down, played some music, and opened Sketch. Four months later, I completed my 4th 100-day-project — 100 Days of Vector.

I started my first 100-day-project back in 2015. It taught me that creativity is a skill — the more you practice it, the more creative you are. Since then, I have challenged myself to explore different tools to exercise my creative muscle.

My past projects include 100 Days of Doodle, 100 Days of Lettering, and 100 Days of Watercolor.

In my most recent project 100 Days of Vector, I focused on the digital tool. Each day, I created a vector illustration in Sketch and posted it on Instagram with the hashtag #100daysofvectorbytx.

Here is my thought process and reflection behind this project.

Why vector?

As a visual thinker, I enjoy vivid color and shaped-based illustration. The digital artwork posted on Behance and Dribbble have always inspired me. I wanted to learn how to create vector illustration in order to make beautiful things.

Plus, without a formal training in graphic design, this 100-day-project would be a good opportunity to hone my vector illustration skill.

I chose to use Sketch for this project because it’s easy to use and affordable. Its basic vector-editing feature set helped me focus on completion rather than perfection.

Getting started

My setup can be summarized into the following 3 steps:

1. Set up Sketch

I used a 600px by 600px artboard for each illustration. Inside my Sketch file, there are 100 artboards arranged by a 10×10 matrix in one page — it allows me to look at all the pieces together for easy comparison and reference.

Inside my Sketch file

2. Brainstorm ideas

The subjects created in this 100-day-project were things I like. Once I came up with a topic (e.g. food series), I spent time on brainstorming different things I’d like to create within that topic.

I used a notebook to record ideas. Sometimes I doodled everything on notebook and organized them into sub-groups. This way, I can plan ahead to avoid the last-minute “idea-hunting” panic.

Brainstorm Ideas

3. Define color palette

One thing I learned along the way is to define a color palette ahead of time.

For example, in the food series, I defined 5 background colors to be used repeatedly. It not only ensured consistency but also helped me narrow down the subjects of the day — some items matched well with the background color while others didn’t.

Define Color Palette

Day 1–25

Follow tutorials

Following tutorials is the best way to learn a new skill. I followed two of my favorite tutorials on Tuts+. They were created for Adobe Illustrator, but the vector-editing process were the same in Sketch.

I created the succulent series by following How to Create a Trio of Succulents in Adobe Illustrator written by Nataliya Dolotko.

100 Days of vector — Succulent Series

Then I created the planet series by following How to Create a Solar System Planets Icon Pack in Adobe Illustrator written by Andrei Stefan. In this series, I went beyond the original tutorial and applied different visual styles to each planet.

100 Days of Vector — Planet Series

Day 26–42

Dog alphabet

On February, I participated in the alphabet challenge organized by HandletteredABCs on Instagram. During the challenge, I illustrated 26 dog breeds in alphabetical order. I had a lot of fun researching dog breeds while honing my illustration skill.

100 Days of Vector — Dog Alphabet

Day 43-90

Food series

I spent the next 48 days illustrating food icons. Some food ideas were inspired by my childhood — the popular Chinese snacks like Zongzi, Yuan Xuan, Shaomai, etc. Other food ideas were inspired by my experience in the U.S. — the street food like hotdog, taco, pretzel, etc.

In order to collect more ideas, I asked people what their favorite food was on Instagram. The comments were amazing — some food like Nattō and pop-tart were the ones that I have never tried before. I loved the fact how a side project can encourage me to step out of my comfort zone and try out new things.

100 Days of Vector — Food Series

Day 91-100

Cocktail series

In the last 10 days, I created 10 cocktail illustrations. This time I applied a consistent visual style across all the pieces. I also managed to play with color blending modes — something I have never used before.

100 Days of Vector — Cocktail Series

Reflecting

1. Always stay inspired

I have always believed that creativity is a skill — the more your practice it, the more creative you are. However, this time I learned something new:

In order to be creative, you need to stay inspired.

When I was working on the dog alphabet, I simply repeated the same visual pattern everyday. I didn’t look for outside inspiration. Soon I got bored and wasn’t feeling creative anymore.

Since then, I decided to stay inspired all the time. I spent 10–30 minutes every day browsing Dribbble, Behance, Instagram and collected the best work on my Pinterest boards. My growing Pinterest collection has served as my source of inspiration and I was able to stay creative for the rest of the 100 days.

2. Stop comparing

I still remember the feeling when I stumbled upon the wonderful work from “36 Days of Type” challenge. Those work, created by top artists and illustrators all over the world, were so good.

For a while I started to question the existence of my own work.

As I dug into those artists’ backgrounds, I realized that they are professional illustrators/designers who have been in the creative field for a long time. It doesn’t make sense to compare my work with theirs because we have different background, experience and goals. We are on different creative path.

The only thing I would compare my work to is my old work. Whenever I was in doubt, I looked back at my own work from the first day. The huge improvements on skill and process have always motivated me to continue my creative journey.

“Take pride in how far you’ve come. Have faith in how far you can go. But don’t forget to enjoy the journey.”

— Michael Josephson

3. Embrace the gap between ambition and output

Although I can see improvements on my illustration skill over time, I was frequently disappointed by my own work: the poor color combination, the bad type choice, the lack of consistent visual style… Sometimes I simply felt the work was not good, but I had no idea how to improve it.

Ira Glass described this gap between ambition and output:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.”

I decided to embrace the gap between ambition and output. As long as the gap exists, there is room to learn and improve. It is only by going through a volume of work that I will close that gap, and my work will be as good as my ambitions.

4. Do the work that feeds your soul

I started my first 100-day-project in 2015. Since then, I would receive a few “Likes” and gain new followers on social media. However, as more and more people paid attention to my work, I started feeling lost. I got distracted by the number of “Likes” and wanted to create something people like in order to gain more recognition.

That’s why I found Jessica Walsh’s words resonating:

“Do the work that feeds your soul, not your ego.”

I reminded myself the goal of this project was to make beautiful things even if nobody cares. I wanted to hone my vector illustration skills. I wanted to express myself by creating things that resonated with me. This project was started for the sake of creation, not for fame.

“Create for the sake of creation whenever you feel the urge to do so. Treat it as a basic human need. Challenge, surprise, change yourself .”

— @fell_martins

End

Looking back, I feel accomplished. I created 100 pieces of vector illustration during the past 100 days. My illustration skill has been improved. The satisfaction of creating something that resonates with my soul feels great.

Since I started the first 100-day-project in 2015, I have formed the habit of creating. I’m grateful to be part of the 100-day-project community and I look forward to starting the next 100-day-project soon.

Below is my 100 days of vector illustration in 15 seconds.

A post shared by Tiantian Xu (@tiantianxu) on Jul 22, 2017 at 2:05pm PDT

Resources

Here are some helpful links:

Design & Illustration Tutorials on Envato Tuts+

Sketch App Crash Course by Sketch Together

Sketch Tips & Tutorials by InVision

About that space illustration you keep seeing around by Nina Geometrieva

Sketch Tutorial — Colorful Switch by Sebastien Gabriel

100 Days of Making by Tom Wahlin

Color in UI Design: A (Practical) Framework by Erik D. Kennedy

Sketch: Blending Modes 101 by Mauricio Uehara

Also, check out the following Instagram accounts for design inspiration:

Community: supplyanddesign, thedesigntalks, genecreative, illustate,

Individual: maite_franchi, lukedoylestudio, juliendreamdesign, liquid_ink, rosemarie.cc, typoe11, bymeilne, marioayala.design

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