#instead of keeping my old watermark i decided to change it to the new one so ppl can actually find me if it ends up inevitably reposted lol

[oatmeels]

Still one of my favorite genshin drawings from last year ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶

[lairai]

2022 Art Summary

I've never been super keen on the "gallery-style" image/art summaries that people often do, because I a) never have enough art to give each month its own piece and b) I can never figure out a layout I like. So I decided to instead do a sort of "look back at 2022", in text form with images where it matters.

Beginning of the year

This year was a wild ride for me, art-wise! I took a landscape-painting course at the beginning of the year (I'd love to recommend it but it's on Wingfox which, last I checked, was borderline unusable, so until they make it work I can't recommend people spend money on stuff there), and did a bunch of landscape commissions. Here are two I'm particularly happy with! (Watermarked because due to the way backgrounds are formatted in ARPGs they don't have my signature)

I decided to try using gamut masks for my colour palettes instead of just kinda winging it based on a handful of reference images. I know not many people use them, probably due to how many steps they add to an art piece, but I've always kind of struggled with having the confidence to use less 'usual' colours in my paintings so they really helped.

Summer (kinda)

And then my old PC died! :') I had been looking to replace or upgrade it for a long time but never quite had the time for it, so I guess it decided to do me one last favour and completely cease to work so I could finally get myself to buy a new one (after 5+ years of owning this one). It took weeks to replace it, which I think was the longest time I spent without drawing in... quite a while. Eventually, as we learned it would take longer and longer for the new PC to be assembled, I moved my drawing tablet to a different PC temporarily and started working on a particularly ambitious piece:

I am honestly so proud of this image - both because I like how it turned out overall, and because drawing these two was the one thing that really made me want to learn how to draw people (and, more specifically, men). I had done the usual "pose studies, quick sketches, anatomy studies, looking at references" routine, but I always dropped it because I just didn't have the motivation to keep learning something I saw I was so obviously bad at initially. But then in Realm of Serpents, these two happened, with just the cutest story that somehow wrote itself without anyone planning it beforehand. And I just had to draw them. So here we are.

Autumn

In autumn, in a group I help run, we launched the biggest change the game has ever received: we gave it a lore-based, story-focused progression system. If you're not in any ARPGs or aren't familiar with how they work, this might mean very little to you, but just imagine like a year and a half of writing, 80k+ words, and art assets on art assets on art assets. I'm very proud of how some of these turned out. They had to be done in just a few hours each for me to get everything finished on time, and for how little time I had to spend on them, I'm not unhappy with their final look:

Winter

Winter was busy. Partially I was really tired from finishing the project I mentioned above, partially I was writing my second BA thesis on top of studying at a second uni for a completely different degree. I didn't get a lot done, but that didn't stop me from sketching my two favourite Fools Who Are Terribly In Love:

And now we're here! I tried a lot of new things with my art this year. I'm still getting the hang of human anatomy, and I know some of my human sketches look a bit wonky still. But I think diving into a new subject, knowing you won't get it right the first dozen (or hundred!) times but also knowing it'll pay off in the end, is kind of what art is all about. Happy New Year!

[jadenite]

Lil Princesses: A Decade Later. Top version is from Jan 2021, bottom version is from Jan 2011. 

The original full resolution image for the 2021 one can be seen on my Patreon!

and not that it’s terribly important, but I’d appreciate it if you gave me a follow on Twitter and Instagram too!

So, I spent the past week working very diligently to recreate (& update) one of my first fully digital pieces. I’m pretty sure the original drawing was the first artwork I ever shared here on tumblr (if anyone’s particularly curious, you can check me on that by going all the way to the end of my art tag on my tumblr).

Okay so I’m gonna ramble quite a lot about this, because it’s so special to me, so for those who want to skip the text and keep scrolling:

But if you’re here to read some more notes on this little exercise, hooray!

Fun fact #1: I didn’t have a tablet back when I did the original one. I did it solely through the touchpad from the laptop. You may be asking yourselves “but...how?” Short answer: patiently. Long answer: obviously I didn’t free draw the thing, iirc I think this is how I learned to use the pen tool (the one that makes vector shapes and lines) in Photoshop. 

Fun fact #2: The watermark on the old one is freshly added, because I was a wee baby digital artist back then and didn’t know how important it was to have any type of identifying mark on a work when you share it on the internet. Not that I’m aware of any shady stuff happening with my art so far (because I’m not that a popular an artist on the internet), but still. 

Fun fact #3: I decided to add four more Princesses to the drawing to reflect the passage of time, however, they are all in their canon kid forms as they appeared in their respective movies; Ariel, Kida and Rapunzel also briefly appeared as kids canonically (Ariel’s Beginnings for Ariel if you remember that 2008 sequel) in their movies, but thankfully they just wore a kid’s version of their main outfit so I didn’t have to go back and alter what I initially made.

Other random notes:

There may be people who might argue that Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck it Ralph and Lilo and/or Nani from Lilo & Stitch should have also been added. I’ve thought about this, but decided not to add them for a couple of reasons: 

Vanellope and Lilo are kids for the entire run of their movies, so I don’t think they would match the concept for the drawings; adding only Nani without Lilo seems a bit cruel under this condition

Vanellope meeting the Disney Princesses in WR2 was very meta, and the concept of the movie itself is quite meta in general, so it would have kinda changed the context of the drawing by adding her too imo

there is only so much unoccupied space available in the image; I knew I was pushing the amount of space I could fill with more characters by adding the 4 new ones already, so idk where I could have found space for two more and not made it look too busy; hopefully I don’t decide to do this again another decade later

I genuinely think I did a better job on the spatial relativity between characters in the 2011 one; idk they just ‘sit’ better and I wonder where and how I lost my ability to see things in space; granted, I think the perspective of the shelves, wardrobe etc is much improved in the 2021 version, but at what cost??? It is entirely possible my brain wanted the girls to be better viewed and not be obstructed by each other. I did punch up the color significantly in the new version after all, and it would have been a shame to have them sit too close to each other (visually). I may be overthinking this too much though.

~*Cinderella dress color discourse time!*~

Jk, we’re not doing that (again). I do want to pat myself on the back for getting it to look so good though! The more I look at it, the more I love it. I’ll probably draw Cindy and this dress some more in the future, because in the past few years I really got to love the entire color combo and how it looks overall. Ariel is still my #1 Disney gal, and at some point I’ll get to do her pink dress some justice too ( it can actually be seen peeking through the wardrobe behind Cinderella and Tiana)! and also the sparkly lavender one because I feel like we don’t talk enough about that one. Just one more dress color thing tho: I picked the light blue dress for Tiana instead of the green leafy one for two reasons: 1) to showcase an actual blue dress in the Disney canon right next to Cinderella’s and 2) I’m actually not that much of a fan of Tiana’s green dress and I like the simpler, blue one way more.

Okay that’s enough writing. Scroll forth!

[coreastories]

Corean Awards Night: Was the queen hidden in plain sight?

This year, the Corean Awards Ceremony was held in the winter palace in Pyeongchang 

Usually held in Gwangyeongjeon Palace in Busan, the awards ceremony relocated to the mountains where the queen is currently recuperating from the car crash that shook all our collective knees on November 13

Ahjummas still haven’t recovered and there was talk whether or not the awards ceremony for November 29 would be postponed to a later date

But new invitations have not been issued

The Royal Public Affairs Office announced instead that the media and nominees are cordially invited to the winter palace for the Corean Awards Ceremony, with every change in transport and accommodation for this to be satisfied by the palace 

Who'd complain? 

Exclusively televised by the the Corean Broadcasting Service, this humble reporter didn’t really have to do much but enjoy being there

Gyeoulgungjeon, literally “winter palace,” was completed in 1926, a royal gift for the current king’s great grandparents on their wedding. It served as a recovery hospital during World War II. 

Security protocol doesn’t allow me to post photos of the palace, and you’ll find no aerial shots of it anywhere. For international readers who haven’t seen the televised broadcast, you can look at the Pillnitz palaces in Dresden so you have an idea of what Gyeoulgungjeon looks like, nestled in the snow-covered slopes of Pyeongchang. 

Gyeoulgungjeon has the same Baroque style, though more gracefully situated in the mountains, with a charming rustic landscaping to match the scenery rather than Versailles-formality

The Corean Awards Ceremony was both luxurious and casual. It was black tie, and almost all the men were in tuxes, but the king himself wore a simple black suit and tie rather than any of his grander uniforms and coats. 

We were seated in round tables with glittering candelabra. The banquet hall left plenty of space for camaraderie, and people were on their feet, switching tables, and mingling in a friendly atmosphere. It was an evening among colleagues and the best people in the fields honored in the Corean Awards, but there were no huge egos walking around. It was delightful. 

We were served delicious makgeolli, which I’ve been told was made right there in the winter palace. Aside from the sumptuous Corean and continental buffet, I also had a whole year’s serving of carbs in irresistible hotteok and bindaetteok. Gods. 

The new Corean Laureate in Medicine: Chae Song-Eun Seonsaengnim

We’ve mentioned before that more than half of the nominees were under 50. Many of them won. Every Corean Award winner was decided by the most renowned in their respective fields around the world. 

Go here for our coverage of the Corean Awards Winners 

Dr Chae Song-eun, the queen’s OB, won the Corean Award in Medicine for her pioneering work in in-utero surgery. The award was presented by Dr. Fouad M. Abbas, one of the top doctors of the world specializing in oncology and obstetrics-- one of the judges of Corean Award in Medicine, and among the special guests that night. 

In her speech, Dr Chae announced the prize money of 2 billion won is going to Daesang Medical Group, to support international surgery missions to countries and patients in need.   

DMG has the queen as patroness, and is headed by Dr Chae’s husband, CorGen Chief of General Surgery, Dr Lee Sok-jun. 

Dr Lee Sok-jun: “I’m very proud of her. But then she always amazes me every day. This is nothing new.”

Congratulations, Dr Chae! On your Corean Award and your husband! 

Confirmed: The Prime Minister has been staying in the winter palace

Rumors have been circulating, of course, because the PM is supposed to be in Seoul but she  hasn’t been there. She wasn’t in Cheongwadae either. 

We can now confirm: The PM has been working from the winter palace for the past week.

This too-close tie between the palace and the government has drawn some raised eyebrows from the international press (and some local dissidents from the Jinsun Party, but no one listens to the parties). Within the kingdom, however, it’s just an accepted and beloved fact that the queen and the prime minister are friends. 

They work together to the benefit of the kingdom, and these two are always in lists of the most powerful, most admired women of the world. 

The PM worked closely with the king and queen at the palace. It seems Their Majesties are tying up loose ends for the year and for the next, with the PM expected to take over some diplomatic duties until well into July next year. 

While we weren’t able to get a comment from Her Excellency, we did see her power walking in one of the palace’s service halls in her half-tux, half-tartan skirt outfit. Hmm. Not crazy about it, but not too bad either. 

After flashing that mischievous grin like the proverbial cat with the canary, she was both friendly and curt, and we didn’t press her. She did tell us she was leaving after the Ceremony.  

I would love to be a bug on the wall for the past week. I want to know the dynamics between those three! 

Speaking of three…

The royal love triangle was together again-- although one party wasn’t aware of it

Part of the fun and anticipation of the Corean Awards was seeing Gong Shin and his blatant crush on the queen. 

My assistant was shaking too much when she took the photo for this to turn out any good, and we’ve enhanced it as much as we could.

We met him on the way to Pyeongchang, and the Corean star was all smiles, saying he was looking forward to the evening with Their Majesties, and he was really glad the queen was well. 

I was quite sad for him that night. 

Before the sun went down, we were treated to the sight of the king arriving amid the Royal Guard. 

No queen until evening fell and the lamps lit up the palace. Shortly before the ceremony started, it was announced the queen was not attending. 

You’ve all seen this photo of Gong Shin with a flute of champagne in what looks like a dressing room in Gyeoulgungjeon. His expression does look a little forlorn.

Ahjummas are speculating it’s because he was disappointed about not seeing the queen. 

Now we have these low quality photos of the king, in a different room, in a different suit, with a different expression, looking rather amused and gleeful. And we know very few people who can make the king look so happy. 

The same ahjummas awww-ing over Gong Shin awww-ed over this, and speculate that the queen had entered that opulent room, or maybe the king had been told something good?  

The king seemed in good spirits during the evening. We have this breathtaking photo from the Royal Public Affairs Office, of the king now in the suit and tie he’d worn that evening. 

I feel like we've published the same photo before, but it's not the king's fault he looks the same bright eyed happy king he always does, is it. 

And along with that photograph, we received one other: 

Her Majesty the Queen, Corean Awards Ceremony, Gyeoulgungjeon

The label is succinct as always. So it looks like the queen did attend the Awards! We don’t know how they’ve managed to hide the queen, but the palace can be terrifyingly efficient like that. I’m just glad to see her even in this photograph. 

And of course it’s her right to watch without being obligated to present an award or be there for the guests. It’s Her Majesty’s prerogative. And perhaps Gong Shin is smiling at the discovery that the queen saw him present the award for the Corean Award in Film, yes?   

The Royal Public Affairs Office assures us the queen continues to mend. She will still be in a sling for another 2 to 4 weeks, and she has started therapy. I’m sure the queen is snug and absolutely getting the royal treatment-- pun intended. 

Now if only the Royal Public Affairs Office could add something to their labels to elucidate why the queen was hidden away, hmm? 

Ahjummas have weighed in on this, and said it was perhaps the old tradition of keeping the expecting mom away from the public as she goes past the first trimester, to protect her from jealous bad spirits. 

After that car crash, I can get behind that!

Stay safe, Your Majesty!  Stay tuned, dear reader. 

------------ With thanks to @ms-interpretation​ for the screenshot of the king and the Royal Guard. :)   If I added a watermark on a photo, it means I did some hard work on it that ate time, so the conceit of adding a watermark. Argh. Lol.

[atelophobicity]

Top 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do If You Want to Finish Your Thesis On Time

It’s my entry for September! I’ve been busy in consuming new music, films, and kvariety episodes in my effort to catch up on everything. So, I decided to post monthly to fulfill my oversharing Tumblr needs and to exercise my skills in writing in English and putting thoughts into coherent words.

TL;DR of this: things I’ve done instead of doing my thesis for the past year and a half. I’m not romanticizing my not doing thesis self for the past 21 months, but I’m also not dissuading you from doing other stuff besides thesis because god knows, you will need something.

1. Got a part-time job. This was the first new thing I’ve done that really took my time and effectively gave me no time to do thesis. And yet, this was the most rewarding thing as I learned how to get my TIN, accomplish my deliverables, answer to my superiors etc. Looking back, I wasn’t the best employee and I deserved no job offers on the same company after. But still, it was a stepping stone in the right direction. Adulting-wise, anyway.

2.  Discover the art of creating.

Journal spreads. I bought a 2019 planner and I couldn’t fill it up, so I decided to turn it into a journal-planner. The art materials I used for to design pages are from old supplies bought back when I was in high school or stickers from the fandom-related events I attended. I didn’t spend money and I was given a chance to be creative.

Sew doll clothes. In K-pop, dolls that look like your idol exists. It usually comes with one set of clothes to dress it. As a “doll mother”, I wanted to dress them with new clothes but buying clothes was expensive. So, I just sewed clothes for them. I made clothes from scrap fabrics or clothes no one wears in our household. I’ve been barely successful, but it’s one of the things that keep me happy and make me feel like I’ve succeeded in one measly part of my life.

3. Purged my online files.

From my high school files. Nostalgia has been one of my coping mechanisms. I was able to be provided by lots of it when I discovered that I didn’t lose my high school files and it was on my mom’s laptop all along. Being able to relive memories while organizing my files was the best hours of that day.

To my external hard drives. Since 2016, I have been a hoarder of online files for so long that I have two EHDs to prove it. This time though, I was able to delete content that was either repetitive or uninteresting anymore. I was able to shave off some of my data bytes and am now able to save new interesting content available online (if I ever find one).

4. Realigned my priorities and consumption of K-pop as a stan and as a person by:

Selling 3/4 of my merch. Unlearning the pride that comes with owning K-pop merch was difficult, but overtime, I have been proud of myself for not falling to the traps of capitalism—at least in K-pop. Also! I was able to buy my own concert tickets with the stuff I sold so it is a win!

Joining giveaways instead. No matter how I can avoid the urge to buy K-pop merch, I still can’t help but want to own them. This is where I discovered how joining giveaways was my next best option. It takes a lot of effort and screenshots to win these things. However, if and when you win, it really feels like winning against the odds. You get free merch too!

Actually spent hours to vote and stream. In relation to the last point, since the main requirement in giveaways I’ve joined are voting/streaming proofs, I have been one of those people who collects points on voting apps or has a playlist of music videos that should be streamed. After collecting and/or streaming, I take screenshots, put watermarks there, and tags mutuals if needed. It’s relatively hard work but there’s a feeling of pride when your idol wins the poll or an MV reaches a certain amount of views and you know you participated in making that happen.

5. Rediscover Youtube. Channels like the vlogbrothers and their associates (Crash Course, Pemberley Digital among others), Buzzfeed’s shows (The Try Guys, Ladylike, Buzzfeed Unsolved) were a delight to watch after being out of the Youtube loop for so long. The platform also offered new niches of content and I allowed myself to be sucked in it. From Simply Nailogical to Ask A Mortician to amazing pop culture video essays like Lindsay Ellis and Jenny Nicholson, Youtube has all it for you! Learning something new every day is one of my favorite things and I get to do it with this website.

6. Rediscover my love of writing. (As if I’ve written anything for my thesis but here.)

Made drabbles. There is a weekly activity on my fandom where we write < 500 word drabbles on any pairings. I have been joining when I can, and through the support of the (small) community (back then), I gained confidence to write one. I’ve written at least four now and I’ve not done yet because I’ve been on a slump lately. But I’ll get back to it soon!

Short story. The same account that brought the drabble challenge created a festival where we write a pairing and write a short story with it. I decided to join the event! Not going to lie, my entry was shit, It was the first draft, it needed a lot of revisions and more constructive criticism and yet, I am still proud of it. It was the first creative fiction I wrote since 2019 and I did it in a day. And, I believe it has potential, so I’m going to review and revise the hell out of it someday.

7. Reclaim my college days.

Reconnected with orgmates. Visiting Elbi for registration and consultation purposes are brightened up by the fact that I get to do this. My first four years of college were not kind to me. I’ve forgotten a lot of things because of trauma and deep sadness that I still have until this day, and when I remember good things, they’re few and far in between. The numbered days I was in Elbi during 2019 were also few and far in between, but they were infinitely better than my academic years from 2015 to 2017. I was able to do the things I wasn’t able to do before (mostly attending Happy Ts and eating in newly-opened food places there) and I get to do it with people I love.

Made friends. One of the drawbacks of being a slot-driven student with no care of my coursemates’ schedules: I didn’t get to establish a friend group. So I didn’t get to make friends. During this time, I’ve accepted that I didn’t have any friends outside my organizations. But this time, instead of a feeling of dread of being that cliché orgmate, I feel relief and happiness because now, I realize that I do have friends from college, unlike the 2015-2017 who didn’t have anyone in college to rely on her darkest times.

8. Appreciated my friends more. For the past few years, I was the shitty friend. I agreed to go on hangouts only to message them that I’m backing out the last minute—sometimes I even straight up ghosted them. I really took my friends for granted. I have been slowly making it up to them by always attending when there’s an invite! I sometimes initiate the invite and it’s always a fun and healing time for me (it was a literal healing time for me as I was depressed during that time). I love them and I’m always thankful for them—and more so now than before.

 9. Unlearning things like:

Realizing that a priv (a private account meant to be seen by your mutuals you trust; usually contains unpopular opinions and hot takes on stan twitter) only encourages negative emotions and I must not do it again.

No matter how I tried rationalizing my hate for Jennie when the JenKai dating news happened, I was one of those K-pop stans who hated her because she dated my idol. (I have moved on past that and have started liking her and Rose.)

Knowing that attacking people for what they say won’t make them unlearn their wrong opinions. Not talking down at them and educating with patience is the key, always.

There are still so much more I unlearned and learned where those came from. My main takeaway is: it’s complicated.  Sometimes our opinion needs a more nuanced perspective and sometimes it needs to scrapped entirely because it was just wrong. But it is essential so we, as people, won’t be stuck with outdated views of the world.

10.   Learning something new like:

Practicing how to do Tzuyu’s helicopter hands until I realized it wasn’t meant for me.

Utilizing Omegle to look for potential quaranflings.

Installing Telegram and uninstalling to ghost quaranflings.

How to do laundry in compliance with my mother’s preferences.

Doing two things at once.

Enough patience to take time and read the laws our government makes every day to know what I’m fighting against.

Optimizing my Twitter lists and now I can keep up with current affairs (that takes a toll on my mental health) then scroll through a fic fest-centric list the next (that helps me forget the stress from reading news).

Learning something new every day has become one of my life goals. Knowing that the world always has something new to offer to me, a speck in this universe, warms me up and keeps me going. And you’ll never know where the new tidbits will lead you. Maybe it’ll help you reconnect with something you’ve known before, maybe it’ll change how you see things, or maybe it’s something new that once explored, it will contribute something new to the community. It may seem small and unimportant but with a tweak in perspective, it might be something worth doing and pursuing.

Looking back at my list, I can finally see how if I didn’t do all these things, I would have probably finished my thesis by now and probably working a full-time job, able to provide the financial needs for my family. There will always be regret that I am still not done until now. But stressing over my current predicament in this time when the world is in its most stressful state yet won’t help me. So, we soldier on and hopefully, hopefully get back to the thesis I’ve been meaning to do.

 Let’s get it.

[spnfanficpond]

July 2019 Pond LiveChat Recap

We had a great time chatting with @crispychrissy today! Thank you so much, Chrissy, for joining us!

This month, to make up for not having a chat in June, we chatted for two hours about some issues related to posting your works on Tumblr. Chrissy talked to us about making our own gifs, we discussed giving credit to gifmakers, how to make a Keep Reading cut, and much more!! A rundown of the chat, as well as general Pond news, is below the cut!

[Editor’s Note: For ease of understanding, the tags you put at the bottom of a post with a # will be called #hash-tags, while the tags you use to notify another Tumblr user that you’ve posted something will be called @mention-tags.]

Q: What programs do you use to make gifs? Are they free, or do you have to buy them?

Chrissy: Well, there is a free one I used back when I started called GifCam. It's easy to set up (it's just an exe) and there's a little learning curve, but it's easier than what I do now. I currently use a screen capture program that came with my $1500 graphics card along with Sony Vegas. If anyone wants GifCam, I can send it to them.

Q: And are you watching via Netflix or some other way?

C: Yes, I use Netflix. I have the first 6 seasons on DVD along with 12 and 13, so for bloopers and deleted scenes I have to use the DVD's. For current episodes, I have YouTube TV, and use the screen capture option with that. Tumblr has a 3MB limit on file size, so it’s really hard. The amount of frames you can fit in a sub-3MB gif depend on so many factors. Colors in the scene, movement, FPS (frames per second), and length. A low FPS gif looks pretty choppy, while a high FPS gif is smooth as butter.

Q: So that's why some gifs seem to go on forever, and others are quick things.

C: Yes. I can make a really long gif of something that's really really tiny, but if you want it to fit into the pixels of a Tumblr post, it limits how long they can be.

Q: And I guess that's also why some gifs I find from Google and try to put into a post won't animate right. If they're too big, I guess Tumblr stops them?

C: Yes. Tumblr just freezes the image instead of animating it. When you save it, check the file size.

C: So this is an example of the brightness and colors of a gif affecting the size. Since there's so much brightness and color, the more the gif has to render, meaning the bigger the size. This worked out to be only 35 frames, which is like... really small, but the gif itself came out to be 2.83 MB.

Q: Are websites that come up when I Google "gif maker" worth my time and effort?

C: Only if you don't mind a stupid watermark from the company.

Q: About giving credit to gifmakers....any thoughts?

C: Well, all my gifs have "cc" in the bottom right corner, that's how I give myself credit if they're used. Not everyone knows the "cc" gifs are mine, but I do. I offer my gif making services to anyone if they need a specific gif made for a story or otherwise, not limited to SPN. I've made porn gifs, ones from YouTube, and from other shows. If it exists, I can gif it. Tumblr's search feature is... well, it's not perfect, but it'll help give you a quick gif and give credit to the author. When someone uses a gif I've posted, it gives me a notification, which is awesome, but annoying if it gets reposted a crap ton. It also links the person back to the original post and who posted it.

Q: Some folks seem to think that if they grab a gif from Google, just saying they found it on Google is giving credit. I know this isn't the case. (I mistakenly thought that pasting the link to the image would allow folks to click through to where I found it, but discovered last night that's not the case.) If I found a gif on Google that was yours and used it, and provided a link to the page where Google found it, would that be enough, do you think?

C: Sometimes a reverse image search can be helpful, but it mostly doesn't work with gifs. That would be fine for me. Like I said, I have "cc" in the corner so that's me marking the gif as one of mine. I can't control where someone reposts them or uses them. There's a difference between reposting it to a site like Pinterest or using my gif on a LiveJournal post and saving it and reuploading it like it's yours and without giving me credit. One is malicious, the other isn't. I have a problem with the latter.

Q: I started looking at where Google finds gifs last night, and noticed that sites like gfycat have whole pages of gifs, and just citing that page might not be enough. (And trying to find where Google found them many times leads to a Tumblr blog that’s now gone.)

C: Google finds gifs all over the place. Someone can take my gif from Tumblr and reupload it to a bunch of different websites, all which would show up in a Google search. It's hard to find the original poster when it happens. Yeah, people delete their pages, but the gif stays. If you get to that point, just say, “Gif found on Google, unable to find original post"

Q: Speaking of finding gifs, how does the search function work on Tumblr? Is it just whatever the post was tagged with or the first 5 tags like regular searches or something else entirely?

After some discussion, we all decided that the gif search uses whatever #hash-tags are on a post where a gif is used, and then makes that gif searchable by that #hash-tag. So, if you make a post about chronic pain and use a gif of the Winchesters hugging, that gif will then show up in the gif search under #chronic pain. Also, popularity of the gif ensures it shows up at the top of the search. As people stop using a gif, it eventually falls out of the search results.

Q: Going back to file sizes...Do the dimensions of the source video (like watching Netflix/YouTube in full screen vs in a smaller window) impact the size of the gif, specifically with GifCam?

C: Now, that's a HUGE reason why I switched the way I make gifs. Netflix has a set streaming rate, which is only optimized at full screen. So the smaller you make the window to get it to fit into the size of the gif, the more degraded the image is. (Some confusion was expressed, so she continued to explain it further.) Netflix likes to run as big as possible. It wants as many pixels it can get to show you an image. If you minimize the window, it kind of freaks out and has to quickly scramble to make everything smaller so the video keeps playing. It does that by squishing everything down, making the image look weird. It might not be too noticeable when you look at it, but when you make gifs, they're gonna come out lookin all wonky.

Q: So, you have to make the Netflix window smaller in order to capture the images with the gif-making software? The gif-making software can't capture full screen?

C: GifCam will record the gif based on the window size. You gotta squish the window down to make it a reasonable size to fit on Tumblr. Other programs, which you might have to pay for, might be able to capture full screen and do the squishing for you. (Side note: during this discussion, Chrissy gave us some examples, and in showing them to us, revealed that a good gif size for Tumblr is around 410-430 wide, 230-250 high.)

After that, we moved on to other topics that had been brought up in the Pond survey a while back. 

How to make a Keep Reading cut and when you should use it.

Note: Although this worked for one person on the app, it doesn’t seem to work for all, and we’re not sure why. There are too many variables to determine the root cause for why it doesn’t always work. 

Q: "When should I give someone credit for being a beta (for example: I bounced ideas with someone for a minute or two but they didn’t technically beta read it; I can’t decide between X and Y (with no context), pick one)"

A: Always mention anyone who helped you. You don’t have to say they beta-read your story, but at least mention that they helped, even if they didn’t know it! Gratitude is always a good thing!! Writing takes a village, and being thankful for help is courteous, kind, caring, and helps you to make friends that will be the same right back to you.

How do I add my masterlist for my blog description?

Note: Chrissy pointed out that if you change your bio by hitting “edit appearance” instead of “edit theme” the link will break, so be careful where you add this! These things and more can be found in the Pond FAQ list!!

Q: The facts on search issues (re: links, tags, and anything else that keeps a fic from being “searchable”)

A: A lot of testing and research went into trying to figure this out, and we still probably don’t have it all figured out, but we learned some interesting things!

Most importantly, since we have a lot of smut writers, if you use the #hash-tag #NSFW on your post, your post will NOT show up in any searches!!

Adding an external link should not cause your post to be unsearchable, but that’s not guaranteed. According to Tumblr’s own help pages, “some links may cause posts to be hidden from recent search results.” Since spambots use external links in their posts, this will always be something that could possibly interfere with your post being searchable.

According to Tumblr: “Blogs that have been either self-flagged or flagged by us as “explicit” per our old policy (before December 17, 2018), will not show up in search. Users under 18 are still not allowed to click through to see the content of these blogs. If you think your blog has been erroneously marked as explicit, you can file an appeal by following these instructions.”

When you are searching for your post, make sure you are looking at Most Recent posts, not Most Popular! 

Some things to know about searching:

There are two ways to search a blog. If you use the search box at the top, then your results will have a URL like this:  https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/search/big-fish-chat

However, that is not the only way you can search your blog. If you look at a post, and click on one of the tags on that post, your results will have a URL like this: https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/tagged/big-fish-chat

The first search will look through all of the text in a post to find the words you’re searching for. The second search will only look for posts with that specific tag. If a blog doesn’t have a search box in its theme, you can type these searches in manually, and they will still work.

You can also do these searches manually through all of Tumblr. Keep this in mind when you’re doing your general Tumblr search and check the URL of your results, because... “search” & “tagged” look at #hash-tags differently!

(This is so confusing, we know.)

“Search” will look through 20 #hash-tags. “Tagged” will only look through 5 #hash-tags. So, put your most important #hash-tags in your first 5!!

Q: Can you talk about xkit?

A: xkit is awesome and we should all bow down to the xkit guy because he fixes things when Tumblr poops on the carpet. Seriously. It’s only for use on desktop, but it makes Tumblr so much easier to manage.

xkit is an extension for your browser. Look for New xkit, and download that. Once you have xkit loaded, click on the xkit icon near the top right of your screen. When the xkit window pops up, click on Get Extensions. We could suggest a list of the best extensions, but they’re all seriously awesome. Blacklist seems to be the most common, as it filters out posts you don’t want to see based on tags and text. Auto Tagger, Activity+, Outbox, One-Click Postage, and Quick Tags are all ridiculously useful for everyday blogging. The whole thing is super easy to learn and use, and you can’t break anything while you’re learning. Some extensions, like Blacklist, may slow your computer down when you’re surfing your dash because they essentially surf it ahead of you and manipulate it. If you start seeing problems, you can disable any extensions you decide you don’t want to use, anymore.

Seriously, it’s freaking awesome.

Great talk, guys! If you have ideas for topics, please let us know!!

General Pond Updates and Reminders

What we’ve got cooking up next: 

We’re working on setting up the discord server. We’re still learning the ins and outs and all the options available. More options means more discussion among the admins and decisions to be made, so please be patient! We’re getting there!

Reminders:

Angel Fish Award nominations are accepted all month long! No need to wait to tell us how much you liked a fellow Fish’s work!  IF YOU HAVE SENT IN A NOMINATION, BUT HAVE NOT RECEIVED A PRIVATE MESSAGE CONFIRMING WE RECEIVED IT, WE DIDN’T GET IT. Be sure to use Submit instead of Ask!

Don’t forget to submit your stories to be posted to the blog! When your stories are on the blog, then they are easier to nominate for Angel Fish Awards!

SPNFanFicPond Season 14 Weekly Episode Challenge - Now that the season is over, we will be reposting each prompt list through the summer months! Remember, there’s no deadline for submissions!

Say hi to June’s New Members!

Check the Pond CALENDAR to see when Big Fish will be in the chat room and other Pond and SPN events are happening! Know of something that’s not on the calendar, send us an ask or submission with the deets info details!  The calendar offers a lot of features, such as showing you when things are in your own timezone! Since we’re an international group, that’s a definite plus!!

We don’t have a topic or speaker set up for August’s event, yet, so if there’s something you want to talk about, or someone you want to talk to, LET US KNOW!

[lockdownuk]

Lockdown Diary Part 11

A personal account during the lockdown in the UK due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

23/03/2020 8:30pm Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, gives a live address to the nation to, effectively, put the country on lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus strain, Covid-19.Many of us have been self-isolating for days but this latest development within the UK in reaction to the pandemic feels very serious and very scary. I decided to keep a simple diary and where better but online.

Day 301: Up at 1pm after a good few bevvies last night. usual Saturday stuff but my walk was astop/start affair due to yet more flooding. 

Facebook today informed me that Karen Wyles died suddenly. It really shocked me. I saw Guy and Gail while out walking (nice to bump into them and chat) and they told me it was a heart attack! I sent K a WhatsApp just in case she’d not heard. I put a few words on FB. I had known Karen for a long time and, while I took the piss a lot, she was a friend (that I often didn’t deserve) and a good person....I felt a responsibility to say something nice as a small homage.

During the week I ordered new boots (since my Merrells are fucked after only  few months but I am getting my money back) and, today, I also ordered McKenzie Attwood trainers (£20 cheap as fuck from JD Sports sale), slippers and jogging bottoms from Amazon. 

Now I am going to have pizza, drink, smoke and watch The Equalizer 2 (for the umpteenth time - I watched the first one last night). I could watch Tenet - Miles has given me his Amazon login details, which is pretty fucking cool of him, but I’m not in the mood.

Posh beat MK 3-0 at home. I fucking love beating them. It’s extremely satisfying.

Right, it’s Saturday, it’s nearly 9pm, time I got on it.

Day 302: Not the most mental night last night but still 4am-ish when I went to bed, so I am very pleased to type that I was up before my alarm this morning. But, also, as I type, at gone 10pm, I am fucking knackered. Just about to tuck into spicy-as-fuck sauasage casserole, wtach MotD2 and then bed!

Day 303: Slippers arrived today but they’re going back. Too tight in the left foot. I’m not wearing slippers in FFS!

Day 304: New trainers (McKenzie Attwoods) arrived. Now, this footwear I shall keep. £20, bargain.

Posh came from a goal down to beat Charlton at home 2-1. Nice.

I made some veg soup today and, quite frankly, it’s fucking stupidly chilli-fied. Barely edible.

Day 305: New trainers are sweet - wore them for my morning exercise routine. Pretty comfy - after a few wears, they’ll be ace, I think.

Got served notice on the house on Monday (why I didn’t enter that on day 303, I do not know). Lynda, from Woodfords, says a semi-detached place in Havelock Cottages is coming up that looks promising. I contacted Emily at Aspire today, there’s a two bed terrace in Basset Place coming up so i am looking at that on Monday. Choice of 2 I do hope! First is £700 pm, second £725.

Day 306: Flipping frustrating “nothing works” day at work, It’s been like it all year so far. Tbf, Sueanne gets it and is quite supportive, even though she dives in when I’ve been dealing with problems that drag on! It’s Thursday, I can’t wait for tomorrow and, I am all to aware, I am wishing what little life I have left away.

Spoke with dad, he had his first vaccination jab on Tuesday in Spalding - he said it was a very efficient process (he was full of praise) and that the jab itself was no bother, with no after effects apart from a slightly sore arm. Excellent!

Day 307: Not even one beer (Saporro) in, and I feel wasted. A toke has helped.

Day 308: New Scarpa boots arrived today and, while they will need some wearing in, I did the stair climb and a 45min walk in them. I think they are going to be ace. Just as well as the Merrells are falling apart.

I have decided to listen to the Rush back catalogue, 2112 (4th) is playing as I type. It’s been a trip down memory lane and a bloody good one!

I had a few beers last night, as yesterday’s entry confirms, which included a video catch up with Fog, Ham and Andy P. Gonna chat with Fog later tonight as well.

I watched King of Statten Island last night. I liked it but, in some parts, it was smultzy as hell, rendering it a 6/10. Later, I’m watching Outside the Wire and eating pizza. Can’t wait!

I reset my mobile yesterday ‘cos it’s been playing up. What a fucking ball ache, logging on to all the different apps, all the little settings you get so used to, only to miss them when set back to defaults. Things like the camera settings - photo size and watermark....ooooh, just realised, ‘first world problems’! Get a grip, Tim!

Day 309: SNOW! Thick and crisp and uneven. I walked 11.9km in it today and it fucking well knackered me out. The old Merrells held their own in the snow as well, totally waterproof and, for such a light boot, remarkably warm. I will actually be sorry to see them go.

Danny sent me a link to a free week’s worth of receipes from Hello Fresh (he’s nuts for it) so I and ordered one, worth nearly £40! 

Posh won away from home yesterday at Ipswich. Now, get this: the stats on the BBC’s report showed Posh had no shots on target but still won 0-1. How, might one ask? Own goal, that’s how. Piss funny!

Day 310: I am aching today. Walking in the snow yesterday certainly exercised different muscles than walking in mud. And, today, I walked less than normal, usual lunchtime but only 4km (instead of 8) in the evening. 

‘Cos of the snow, the woman from Aspire cried off showing me around 3 Bassett Place. At first I was well pissed off but, looking at the roads and traffic situation around Oundle, it was the right decision (she’d have had to get here from Nassington - a bit treacherous),

It’s just gone 8pm. I am going to eat and go to bed. It’s too fucking cold even with the heating on!

Day 311: Rearranged the viewing of Bassett Place tomorrow - I rang them ‘cos I saw it advertised on Facebook, FFS! My walk tonight was mad...melting snow, rain/sleet, ice made for fucking hard work. Plus, since I am wearing in the new Scarpas, I wore the Merrells. The right boot is now, most definitely not waterproof! Got home about 8pm, changed bed sheets, showered and made diner...bloody knackered. It’s now 11pm and I am off to beddy byes.

Day 312: Viewed Bassett Place and I really like it. It is advertised at £750pm but Emily (from Aspire) said it was £725. Sarah, who showed me round said there may be some leeway for the right tenant so i’ve asked if it could be done for £700. If so, I’ll take it. It’s a large two bed mid terrace, bigger than here (36, East Road), similar type place, just what I want. Fingers crossed.

Day 313: Having slept on it, I do believe I definitely want 3 Bassett Place. I phone Sarah at Apsire to say as much. She told me she’d forwarded my details and offer to the landlord and is waiting to hear. As yesterday, fingers crossed.

I couldn’t take the pic of the field for the Morning Walk album, too flooded due to melting snow. On that note, my new boots are getting worn in both by wear and by superficial looks, it’s that filthy out there. I need to clean them. I wonder that, if I’d cleaned the Merrells, they might have lasted a bit longer. That being said, no amount of cleaning would have save the soles from wearing as thin as quickly as they did.

Day 314: Typing on Day 315. I didn’t get Bassett Place, the landlord gave it to a couple who offerred full asking price. To say I was fucked off is an understatement. I phoned Emily to let her know as much. Tbf, she explained that the snow (delaying my original viewing) wasn’t her fault and that she is at the mercy of the landlord. Fair enough, when I heard her POV. But, I am still gutted. I should have gone for the full £750!

Glad the working week is over (I am really wishing my life away so far this year).

Long walk to Cotterstock - amazing light behind the clouds with a wolf moon (which I just looked up - full moon, basically) - I just wish I was a bit better at night photography, or at least the camera on the Mi9 was. However, once I tweak them a bit and post them, the feed back is usually good. In fact, I posted one on the move last night and someone on FB has asked if they can paint it!

Meatballs for tea and beers.

I have decided, when the year of this log is up, that I’ll end it (the diary, not my life, though that dark thought is never far away!). I have reached this decision because, while this diary is really only for me, it is as boring as fuck, really. I’ll continue to write a log but randomly, when the day’s events warrant it. It’ll be on the main Tumblr.

Day 315: Typing this on day 316. Up at 1pm-ish. Morning exercise routine, long walk curtailed by flooding (again!) more beers, smokes and trash food. Posh lost 2-0 away to Shrewsbury (a bit of a bogey team).

Day 316: Up at 1pm yet again. I really didn't feel like any exercise but I did the usual regardless. Google Fit isn’t fucking working!

I have got to start stopping these ridiculously late Friday and Saturday nights. My weekend is over before it’s begun. This coming Friday, I am not going to do the really long walk in the evening that i have become accustomed to - just a 8km one that I do most evening, and then start drinking earlier so as to go to bed early. If I can get out of bed in the Saturday morning, perhaps do a couple of long walks so as to get the weekly steps up.

Day 317: My left foot, during my lunchtime walk, killed. I must have sopped and undone & redone my laces 6 times. Dunno wtf is going on with the Scarpas. I wore my Merrells for the evening walk. I tried to got to Cotterstock but it was too flooded on the road just before the bridge!

Ordered new joggers, a boot brush and some new wireless earbuds (Mifo 05 plus Gen 2 - bought them off eBay -I hope they are the real deal, it’s the very latest spec and £74.99 instead of £89.99 from the Mifo website).

Day 318: I went shopping at 10.15pm mainly for pizza and party food since I have booked Monday off because it’s the Superbowl (Tampa vs Kansas) and booze! No fucking Sapporo. It was eerie shopping that late at the superstore in Corby. Boots still hurting (Merrells in the evening). Day 319: New ear buds arrived. Well impressed. So did the boot brush (BootBuddy) - on that note, boots weren’t so bad at lunchtime. I didn’t wear them in the evening but I think it’s just a ‘wearing them in’ thing, hopefully.

Day 320: Hello Fresh delivery day. I had pork and chipotle black bean tacos with pickled red onion, chipotle tomatoes and lettuce. It’s a good set up, decent ingredients and nice recipe sheets...but I don't need it, I’m good enough in the kitchen. And, I am no fan of minced pork. I am not being a fair judge though. Today, my sugars have been all over the place over 21 and under 2 mmol/L. I nearly fell asleep trying to recover from a low before my evening walk. When I got back (soaked - it was pissing down), I was over 21 by the time I had cooked it all....puts me off actually eating, even though I have to! Rang Barry Haddon today, to see how he is. I think he’s OK but, strangely, told me, during conversation, that he’s 77 years old. I don't think so! I also texted Posh Dave. I think he’s struggling being on his own (he lost mum and dad last year, I think). I must make more contact with him. I might call him over the weekend.

Day 321: Typing on Day 322 (well, 1am on day 323 actually). It was nice finishing work knowing I have Monday off. I also din’t do an extra long walk this evening as with most Fridays. Cooked the send Hello fresk meal, Mango chicken tacos -diced chicken thighs - it was alright. Rog video called so had a good chat with him and I invited Foggy to it (he was at his cousin John’s funeral today), so the three of us chewed the cud for a bit. I then went onto get fucking shitfaced. I couldn’t make it to bed with low sugars, lying on the runner rug, fell asleep, got up and could only make it top the living room rug..I felt so dodgy but I was too fucked and too full to even take more than a swig of coke. I think I’m going to fall asleep one drunken night, slip into a coma and then die. I can think of worse ways to go. Day 322: Typing  very late, it’s actually Sunday morning, 1.07am. I got out of bed at gone 2.30pm today. I managed my morning routine and a 8km walk (in the Scarpas, they are getting more comfortable since my episode of pain a few days ago; definitely a wearing in process). No booze after last night’s debacle. I am going to hit it during the Superbowl tomorrow though. The Hello fresh meal tonight was pasta chicken bake with pepper and courgette. Fucking lovely and I coudln’t eat it all. I’ve lerant that adding creme fresh to pasta, whacking it on top of meat and sauce on a casserole bowl and baking it for 15 minutes is the way to go. I watched The Dig tonight. It’s a good film but fucking glum. Posh won at home to Crewe today, 2-0. They are now 4th. Day 323:Bright as a button today, up at around 11:00am despite switch in the bedroom light off at just before 3am. Today’s walk was fucking hard work. It’s wintry, the wind was keen, strong and full of icy particles just not quite sleet. The fields between Park Wood and Monson Way were bloody tough. One wrong foot and you’d slip over. I did about 10 km; it took over 2 hours and felt like twice the distance.  I’ve just eaten Hello Fresk teryaki mince. It was good. One beer in, a film (probably One Night in Miami) and then Superbowl time. Day 324: The Superbowl was good. Tampa beat Kansas 31-9. The second half was a damp squib since Kansas never made a go of it. Tom Brady won his 7th ring. He is to American football what Federer is to tennis. The Weeknd half time show was excellent. So, it was about 4am I went to bed, nicely pissed. Up at just after 1pm. Exercise, omelette, long walk, done some washing. About to make the last Hello Fresh meal and watch One Night in Miami which I didn’t manage last night.   Richard sent me a message (screen shot of a) house up for shared ownership in Oundle (Sharmann & Quinney) - I need to look into what that is all about.

Day 325: Shared ownership isn’t straightforward and, actually, I have discovered that I need to look at something call ‘older persons shared ownership’ when I hit 55. Jon at work wants me to get involved in two additional pieces of work, he told me at the SUMO today (Sueanne is off) - he did say that “that’s what happens if you have a day off! Finished the last of the Hello Fresh (last night’s sausage bolognese including homemade garlic bread using a Tiger loaf from Co-Op which was reduced to 28p. I didn’t watch One Night in Miami last night. Shock. Day 326: I spoke with Lynda from Woodfords yesterday, viewing 13 Havelock Cottages tomorrow. Also, yesterday, Posh beat Ipswich 2-1 at home. They came from behind. Ipswich have never beaten Posh away. Simon Banwell posted on FB berating some new legislation whereby potentially people who travel and lie about it (the destination) are liable for 10 years in prison. His gripe is people get less for murder. I am beyond words...the potential for mass deaths of such actions! I tried to argue that case but it is, as always on social media, flogging a dead horse. Rachel Harris jumped on Simon’s bandwagon whereas Tim Francis posted a ‘well said’ to me (I think it’s genuine). Day 327: Carrying on directly from above; Candice Bellingsea, Rachel’s niece, Carla’s daughter, was also ‘vocal’ in defence of Simon’s post, joining in with the clamour for relaxation of lockdown (at the expense of safety) - citing more people commit suicide because of the mental pressure than die of covid. Well, today, I investigated and posted a FB status to poo-poo such claims. It felt good (and right) to address Candice’s ridiculous post albeit, I didn’t call her out directly but did have part of her comment on Simon’s post directly quoted in my status. I went to see 13 Havelock today. It’s OK. Not perfect but more than alright. When I left there I was very much in two minds but now, at 10:30pm, the place is growing on me. Still part of me thinks to hold out - I have got around 5 month’s notice left - but, if I let it go (and Lynda from Woodford’s has already said the landlord is happy for me to move in), I might regret it. I keep thinking of 3 Bassett Place though...if only I had said yes to £750 straightaway. That place would be perfect, I reckon. One major concern with 13 is the neighbours. There’s no way I could have my usual Friday and Saturday night revelry. But...I’ll sleep on it. I have only just finished doing some work - pissing about with Smartview Essbase (with Simon Welch’s help - he’s a bloody good bloke - no need to be so helpful, but he’s more than happy to be) - I sent him a Teams message to arrange a catch up tomorrow with some questions I have regarding the installation - he only bloody answered - working as late as I am! I have managed to watch some of One Night in Miami. Going to finish it now with a dirty, microwave hamburger for tea.

Day 328: Typing on day 329. Usual Friday but not so mad in the evening. One Night in Miami was good. For Friday’s viewing I chose Greenland. Not so good. Only 4 beers and two spliffs. I’m getting old! Day329: Up at 1pm, usual exercise including a long old walk. It included walking along the river (Oundle Mill bridge to the marina) for the fist time this year. The floods are in evidence but, obviously, receded enough to get through - that, or the resulting water, mud and boginess is frozen. I really enjoyed it today but it was freezing - the wind was evil at certain points. Tea’s on the go, beer in hand and I am going to watch War Dogs.  Posh’s game was off today due to a frozen pitch. Day 330: Typing on day 331. It wasn’t a mad Saturday night but mad enough to not be up until gone midday. Another nice long walk, Walk and eat is all I really do nowadays. I can’t even muster any enthusiasm to do housework since I am going to be out of here soon. I called Posh Dave in the evening. It was good to chat and I think he appreciated the call. He’s on his own and struggling, I get the impression. He told me both Matt Baxter (bowel) and Adi Mowles (neck) are undergoing treatment for cancer.

[killfaeh]

Tipeee and Patreon pages updated

Hi everybody! Today I'm here to announce that I've finally been able to update my Tipeee and Patreon home pages. :D For those who are discovering, these are patronage platforms where one can support the activity of an artist/author by giving a small obole monthly or punctually. On Tipeee you can even help for free by watching promotional videos.

The mini comic presentation of the Patreon page. I'm happy with this cute style like comic Artist for Rent. :D

These two pages have been existed for 2 years now and I thank all the patrons who have helped. It doesn't allow me to live from my creations but it give me a boost of self-confidence knowing that there are people who believe in me and my skills. So, thank you all! :) Like many artists, I got a bit fooled by proposing content that required extra work (illustrations, tutorials, graphic resources...) that glanced at my usual activities (i.e. my comics and software development) to try to make these pages attractive. I couldn't do everything when I was unemployed, so now that I've found a full-time job to fill the fridge, it's going to be even more complicated. Plus, this bonus content didn't seem to really inspire much enthusiasm. So I've concocted something simpler for you. Today I'm here to present you the changes I've made to these pages:

What will remain

What will disappear

What will be new?

Rewards

What will remain

Comics

Obviously, the comics will remain since they are the main content and the reason why I opened these pages. ^^ I'm going to stay on the free web comic formula (because you have to publish content on the Internet regularly to attract new readers) with one month advance access and no watermark for patrons for serial projects. I also add Dragon Cat's Galaxia 1/2. Although this comic book features licenced characters, this one remains in the register of parody and humor. I also have non parodic fan comics ideas. Those will obviously not be financed via these platforms. On the other hand, for one-shot projects I'll do the same as for Tarkhan: the first pages published for free to give a preview, but the rest accessible exclusively to patrons and purchasers of the comicbook (because publishing content regularly on the Internet is useless if it's limited in time).

G-rated illustrations

The HD illustrations will remain as well. I have some in stock and I create new ones regularly, so I shouldn't find myself on a tight stream anytime soon.

What will disappear

NSFW illustrations

Exit the NSFW illustrations. I like to draw nudes of beautiful males from time to time, but unlike the other illustrations, I don't have a stock in advance, so I'm on a tight stream. It annoys me to have to force myself to do this kind of illustrations when I don't feel like it and especially when I don't have an interesting idea in mind instead of working on the main content. Moreover, the audience that supports me on Tipeee and Patreon is not the most interested in this kind of content (as far as I know), so if I ever propose this again, it might be elsewhere, on a different account or on another platform. For the moment I put it aside.

Tutorials

No more tutos. It's long to write and format, it's never read, and since there are lots of free tutos on YouTube, nobody wants to pay for it. I'd rather share and answer questions about my tips and tricks in person during meetings or on my live Twitch.

Graphic resources

Exit the graphic resource pack (brushes, patterns, color catalog...). As for NSFW illustrations, I don't necessarily have one every month to offer. It is important to know that I produce these graphic resources according to my needs when I work on my comics, so I don't get them out on a regular basis. Moreover, the resources in question don't necessarily correspond to your needs every month. People interested in my brush and screentone packs to use in their own comics made it clear to me that they preferred to buy them occasionally according to their needs on my own online store even if it meant paying the price and that going through Tipeee and Patreon for that bothered them. They see these platforms as a patronage system but not as buying platforms. So I'm simply going to remove that and I'll modify my online store to add the possibility to buy dematerialized goods.

What will be new?

Well, I'm going to incorporate into the main content my other activity that I had ignored in the rewards even though it occupies a huge part of my work: software development. Obviously all this is related. This activity includes, in addition to the evolution and maintenance of suiseipark.com, the development of the Péguy project, my games projects, as well as a comic platform project.

TGCM Comics (Website - in dev)

TGCM Comics is a web platform project dedicated to web comics and webtoons where budding or experienced authors will be able to publish their stories and exchange directly with their audience without technical knowledge on the web. Here's a mock-up that gives an idea of what it will look like.

As soon as the main functionalities are ready the site will be made available in beta test for patrons. Why this project? Many other such platforms have emerged in recent years. So I hesitated for a while before launching this project, but seeing that all of them impose trending algorithms that give headaches to many authors of the web, I recently decided to propose a project where this type of algorithm will simply be inexistent. The default display on the home page will be based on the principle of the random playlist guaranteeing an equal rate of visibility for all comics and a real freedom of choice for the readers, allowing authors to create at their own pace without mess up thair health to go up any rankings. This is this fall's priority project. So I will post news regularly and soon to keep you informed of its progress and present you little by little the proposed features. I've opened a development blog (French) for this purpose that I will feed about once a week. It has a suggestion box (French) if you want to ask questions or suggest features.

Péguy (Web application - in dev)

Péguy is a web application that since 2018 allows me to automatically generate certain graphic effects, patterns and scenery elements for my comics. It has brought me a huge gain in productivity.

As it is beginning to take a form that can be used by laymen in programming and mathematics, I will soon put it online. Initially, this will be an early access reserved for patrons. Then, I will propose a small subscription system for non-patrons with a trial period. Naturally, the patrons will keep their access during this second phase. :D

Wizeknight Brotherhood (Online game - in dev)

Wizeknight Brotherhood is an online RPG project with a slightly unusual format. Basically, take World of Warcraft and put a visual novel interface on it, and you'll get an idea of the final result. In this game you will explore the world of Tellura, a Tolkian fantasy world, and conduct quests that will make you conclude 'we are not alone in the universe'. :p In the spring of 2020 I developed a small prototype called A l’Aventure Compagnons which gives a vague idea of the principle.

I am tempted to keep this pencil rendering for Wizeknight Brotherhood.

A l’Aventure Compagnons is playable, just download the client from this page. Don't hesitate to come and pull my ears on Discord if you see that I forgot to switch on the server. :p For the moment the engine of Wizeknight Brotherhood is under development and the first test phases will take place in pure text mode.

This good old scary UNIX console. The MUDs, the ancestors of MMORPGs, looked like this and they still exist with active communities. :D You can find them here.

Rewards

As for the rewards, here again I decided to simplify things so that I could concentrate on the projects I have just listed. The basic reward will give you access to the content I just mentioned. I'm not going to make different levels of access, otherwise I think that some content will have no audience or too little. The higher counterpart levels will give access to HD scans of my artwork. I'm way behind on the old formula's rewards. I'll try to deliver all the promised content in the coming weeks, except for the NSFW illustrations, I might get stuck doing only that. x) That's all for today! Have a nice week and see you soon! :D Suisei

P.S. If you want miss no news and if you haven't already done so, you can subscribe to the newsletter here : https://www.suiseipark.com/User/SubscribeNewsletter/language/english/

Source : https://www.suiseipark.com/News/Entry/id/294/

[sheminecrafts]

Quibi is the anti-TikTok (that’s a bad thing)

It takes either audacious self-confidence or reckless hubris to build a completely asocial video app in 2020. You can decide which best describes Quibi, Hollywood’s $1.75 billion-funded attempt at a mobile-only Netflix of six to 10-minute micro-TV show episodes. Quibi manages to miss every trend and tactic that could help make its app popular. The company seems to believe it can succeed on only its content (mediocre) and marketing dollars (fewer than it needs).

I appreciate that Quibi is doing something audaciously different than most startups. Rather than iterating toward product-market fit, it spent a fortune developing its slick app and buying fancy content in secret so it could launch with a bang.

Yet Quibi’s bold business strategy is muted by a misguided allegiance to the golden age of television before the internet permeated every entertainment medium. It’s unshareable, prescriptive, sluggish, cumbersome and unfriendly. Quibi’s unwillingness to borrow anything from social networks makes the app feel cold and isolated, like watching reality shows in the vacuum of space.

In that sense, Quibi is the inverse of TikTok, which feels fiercely alive. TikTok is designed to immediately immerse you in crowd-vetted content that grabs your attention and inspires you to spread your take on it to friends. That’s why TikTok has almost 2 billion downloads to date, while Quibi picked up just 300,000 on the day of its big splash into market.

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood thinks we want

Quibi feels like some off-brand cable channel, with a mix of convoluted reality shows, scripted dramas and news briefs. Imagine MTV at noon in the mid-2000s. Nothing seemed must-see. There’s no Game of Thrones or Mandalorian here. While the production value is better than what you’ll find on YouTube, the show concepts feel slapdash with novelty that quickly fades.

Chrissy Teigen as a small claims court judge? The tear-jerking “Thanks A Million” does skillfully multiply the “OMG” gratitude moment from makeover programs to happen 4X per episode. But a cooking show where blindfolded chefs have to guess what food was just exploded in their faces…(sigh)

The catalog feels like the product of TV writers being told they have 10 seconds to come up with an idea. “What would those idiots watch?” The shows remind me of old VR games that are barely more than demos, or an app built in a garage without ever asking prospective users what they need. Co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg may have produced The Lion King and Shrek, but the app’s content feels like it was greenlit by, well, Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s leader Meg Whitman, who indeed is Quibi’s CEO.

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

Despite being built for a touch-screen interface, there’s little Bandersnatch-style interactive content so far, nor are the creators doing anything special with the six to 10-minute format. The shows feel more like condensed TV programs with episodes ending when there would be a commercial break. There’s no onboarding process that could ask which popular TV shows or genres you’re into. As the catalog expands, that makes it less likely you’ll find something appealing within a few taps.

TikTok comes from the opposite direction. Instead of what Hollywood thinks we want, its content comes straight from its consumers. People record what they think would make them and their friends laugh, surprised or enticed. The result is that with low to zero production budget, random kids and influencers alike make things with millions of Likes. And as elder millennials, Gen Xers and beyond get hooked, they’re creating videos for their peers, as well. The algorithm monitors what you’re hovering over and rapidly adapts its recommendations to your style.

TikTok is fundamentally interactive. Each clip’s audio can be borrowed to produce remixes that personalize a meme for a different demographic or subculture. And because its stars are internet natives, they’re in constant communication with their fan base to tune content to what they want. There’s something for everyone. No niche is too small.

TikTok screenshots

The Fix: Quibi should take a hint from Brat TV, the Disney Channel for the YouTube generation that gives tween social media stars their own premium shows about being a grade school kid to create content with a built-in fan base. [Disclosure: My cousin Darren Lachtman is a Brat co-founder.)

Take the Chrissy’s Court model, and shift it to stars who are 20 years younger. Give TikTok phenoms like Charli D’Amelio or Chase Hudson Quibi shows and let them help conceptualize the content, and they’ll bring their legions of fans. Double-down on choose-your-own-adventures and fan voting game shows that leverage the phone’s interactivity. Fund creators that will differentiate Quibi by making it look like anything other than daytime TV. And ask users directly what they want to see right when they download the app.

No screenshots

This is frankly insane. Screenshots of Quibi appear as a blank black screen. That means no memes. If people can’t turn Quibi scenes into jokes they’ll share elsewhere, its shows won’t ever become fixtures of the cultural zeitgeist like Netflix’s Tiger King has. Yes, other mobile streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+ also block screenshots, but they have web versions where you can snap and share what you want. Quibi never should have structured its deals to license content from producers in a way that prevented any way to riff on or even let friends preview its content.

TikTok, on the other hand, defaults to letting you download any video and share it wherever you please — with the app’s watermark attached. That’s fueled TikTok’s stellar growth as clips get posted to Twitter and Instagram — and drive viewers back to the app. It has spawned TikTok compilations on YouTube, and a whole culture of remixing that expands and prolongs the popularity of trending jokes and dances.

The Fix: Quibi should allow screenshots. There’s little risk of spoilers or piracy. If its deals prohibit that, then it should offer pre-approved screenshots and video clips/trailers of each episode that you can download and share. Think of it like an in-app press kit. Even if we’re not allowed to set up the perfect screenshot for making a meme, at least then we could coherently discuss the shows on other social networks.

‘Content network effect’ makes TikTok tough to copy

Sluggish pacing

On mobile, you’re always just a swipe away from something more interesting. It’s like if you watched TV with your finger permanently hovering over the change channel button. Ever noticed how movie trailers now often start with a fast-forward collage of their most eye-catching scenes? Quibi seems intent on communicating prestige with its slow-building dramas like The Most Dangerous Game and Survive, which both had me bored and fast-forwarding. And that’s watching Quibi at home on the couch. While on the go, where it was designed to be consumed, slow pacing could push users with a minute or two to spare to open Instagram or TikTok instead.

None of this is helped by Quibi not auto-playing a trailer or the first episode the moment you scroll past a show on the home screen. Instead, you see a static title card for two seconds before it starts playing you an excerpt of the program. That makes it more cumbersome to discover new shows.

Where TikTok wins is in immediacy. Creators know users will swipe right past their video if it’s not immediately entertaining or obviously revving up to a big reveal. They grab you in the first second with smiles, costumes, bold captions or crazy situations. That also makes it easy for viewers to dismiss what’s irrelevant to them and teach the TikTok algorithm what they really want. Plus, you know that you can score a dopamine hit of joy even if you only have 30 seconds. TikTok makes Quick Bites feel like an understaffed sit-down restaurant.

The Fix: Quibi needs to teach creators to hook viewers instantly by previewing why they should want to watch. Since tapping a show’s card on the Quibi homepage instantly plays it, those teasers need to be built into the first episode. Otherwise, Quibi needs a button to view a trailer from its buried dedicated show pages to the preview card most people interact with on the home screen. Otherwise, users may never discover what Quibi shows resonate with them and teach it which to show and make more of.

Anti-social video club

Quibi neglects all its second-screen potential. No screenshotting makes it tough to discuss shows elsewhere, yet there’s no built-in comments or messaging to discuss or spread them in-app. Pasting an episode link into Twitter doesn’t even display the show’s name in the preview box. Nor do shows have their own social accounts to follow to remind you to keep watching.

There’s no way for friends to follow what you’re watching or see your recommendations. No leaderboards of top shows. Certainly no time-stamped, live-stream style crowd annotations. No synced-up co-watching with friends, despite a lack of TV apps preventing you from watching with anyone else in person unless you crowd around one phone.

It all feels like Quibi figured advertising would be enough. It could run contests where winners get a Cameo-esque message or chat with their favorite stars. Quibi could let you share scenes with your face swapped onto actors’ heads, deepfake-style like Snapchat’s (confusingly named) Cameos feature. It could host in-app roundtables with the casts where users could submit questions. It’s like if Web 2.0 never happened.

TikTok, meanwhile, harnesses every conceivable social feature. Follow, Like, comment, message, go Live, duet, remix or download and share any video. It beckons viewers to participate in trending challenges. And even when users aren’t itching to return to TikTok, notifications from these social features will drag them back in, or watermarked clips will follow them to other networks. Every part of the app is designed to make its content the center of popular culture.

The Fix: Quibi needs to understand that just because we’re watching on mobile, doesn’t make video a solo experience. At first, it should add social content discovery options so you can see which friends opt in to share that they’re watching or view a leaderboard of the top programs. Shows, especially ones dripping out new episodes, are more fun when you have someone to chat about them with.

Eventually, Quibi should layer on in-app second-screen features. Create a way to share comments at the end of each episode that people read during the credits so they feel like they’re in a viewing community.

Can Quibi be more?

What’s most disappointing about Quibi is that it has the potential to be something fresh, merging classically produced premium content with the modern ways we use our phones. Yet beyond shows being shot in two widths so you can switch between watching in landscape or portrait mode at any time, it really is just a random cable channel shrunk down.

Youths act in front of a mobile phone camera while making a TikTok video on the terrace of their residence in Hyderabad on February 14, 2020 (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP) (Photo by NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the few redeeming opportunities for Quibi is using the daily episode release schedule to serialize content that benefits from suspense, as Ryan Vinnicombe aka InternetRyan notes. Bingeing via traditional streaming services can burn through thrillers before they can properly build up suspense and fan theories or let late-comers catch up while a show is still in the zeitgeist. Cliffhangers with just a day instead of a week to wait could be Quibi’s killer feature.

Suspense is also one thing TikTok fails at. Within a single video, they’re actually often all about suspense, waiting through build up for a gag or non-sequitur to play out. But creators try to rope in followers by making a multi-minute video and splitting it into parts so people subscribe to them to see the next part. Yet since TikTok doesn’t always show timestamps and surfaces old videos on its home screen, it can often be a chore to find the Part Two, and there’s no good way for creators to link them together. TikTok could stand to learn about multi-episode content from Quibi.

But today, Quibi feels like a minitiaturized and degraded version of what we already get for free on the web or pay for with Netflix. Quibi charging $4.99 per month with ads or $7.99 without seems like a steep ask without delivering any truly must-see shows, novel interactive experience or memory-making social moments.

Quibi’s success may simply be a test of how bad people are at cancelling 90-day free trials (hint: they’re bad at it!). The bull case is that absentminded subscribers among the 300,000 first-day downloads and some diehard fans of the celebs it’s given shows will bring Quibi enough traction to raise more cash and survive long enough to socialize its product and teach creators to exploit the format’s opportunities.

But the bear case is already emerging in Quibi’s rapidly declining App Store rank, which fell from No. 4 overall when it launched Monday to No. 21 yesterday after just 830,000 total downloads according to Sensor Tower. Lackluster content and no virality means it might never become the talk of the town, leading top content producers to slink away or half-ass their contributions, leaving us to dine on short video elsewhere.

Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok

from iraidajzsmmwtv https://ift.tt/2yIK9kl via IFTTT

[technicalsolutions88]

It takes either audacious self-confidence or reckless hubris to build a completely asocial video app in 2020. You can decide which best describes Quibi, Hollywood’s $1.75 billion-funded attempt at a mobile-only Netflix of six to 10-minute micro-TV show episodes. Quibi manages to miss every trend and tactic that could help make its app popular. The company seems to believe it can succeed on only its content (mediocre) and marketing dollars (fewer than it needs).

I appreciate that Quibi is doing something audaciously different than most startups. Rather than iterating toward product-market fit, it spent a fortune developing its slick app and buying fancy content in secret so it could launch with a bang.

Yet Quibi’s bold business strategy is muted by a misguided allegiance to the golden age of television before the internet permeated every entertainment medium. It’s unshareable, prescriptive, sluggish, cumbersome and unfriendly. Quibi’s unwillingness to borrow anything from social networks makes the app feel cold and isolated, like watching reality shows in the vacuum of space.

In that sense, Quibi is the inverse of TikTok, which feels fiercely alive. TikTok is designed to immediately immerse you in crowd-vetted content that grabs your attention and inspires you to spread your take on it to friends. That’s why TikTok has almost 2 billion downloads to date, while Quibi picked up just 300,000 on the day of its big splash into market.

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood thinks we want

Quibi feels like some off-brand cable channel, with a mix of convoluted reality shows, scripted dramas and news briefs. Imagine MTV at noon in the mid-2000s. Nothing seemed must-see. There’s no Game of Thrones or Mandalorian here. While the production value is better than what you’ll find on YouTube, the show concepts feel slapdash with novelty that quickly fades. Chrissy Teigen as a small claims court judge and a cooking show where blindfolded chefs have to guess what food was just exploded in their faces…

The catalog feels like the product of TV writers being told they have 10 seconds to come up with an idea. “What would those idiots watch?” The shows remind me of old VR games that are barely more than demos, or an app built in a garage without ever asking prospective users what they need. Co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg may have produced The Lion King and Shrek, but the app’s content feels like it was greenlit by, well, Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s leader Meg Whitman, who indeed is Quibi’s CEO.

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

Despite being built for a touch-screen interface, there’s little Bandersnatch-style interactive content so far, nor are the creators doing anything special with the six to 10-minute format. The shows feel more like condensed TV programs with episodes ending when there would be a commercial break. There’s no onboarding process that could ask which popular TV shows or genres you’re into. As the catalog expands, that makes it less likely you’ll find something appealing within a few taps.

TikTok comes from the opposite direction. Instead of what Hollywood thinks we want, its content comes straight from its consumers. People record what they think would make them and their friends laugh, surprised or enticed. The result is that with low to zero production budget, random kids and influencers alike make things with millions of Likes. And as elder millennials, Gen Xers and beyond get hooked, they’re creating videos for their peers, as well. The algorithm monitors what you’re hovering over and rapidly adapts its recommendations to your style.

TikTok is fundamentally interactive. Each clip’s audio can be borrowed to produce remixes that personalize a meme for a different demographic or subculture. And because its stars are internet natives, they’re in constant communication with their fan base to tune content to what they want. There’s something for everyone. No niche is too small.

TikTok screenshots

The Fix: Quibi should take a hint from Brat TV, the Disney Channel for the YouTube generation that gives tween social media stars their own premium shows about being a grade school kid to create content with a built-in fan base. [Disclosure: My cousin Darren Lachtman is a Brat co-founder.)

Take the Chrissy’s Court model, and shift it to stars who are 20 years younger. Give TikTok phenoms like Charli D’Amelio or Chase Hudson Quibi shows and let them help conceptualize the content, and they’ll bring their legions of fans. Double-down on choose-your-own-adventures and fan voting game shows that leverage the phone’s interactivity. Fund creators that will differentiate Quibi by making it look like anything other than daytime TV. And ask users directly what they want to see right when they download the app.

No screenshots

This is frankly insane. Screenshots of Quibi appear as a blank black screen. That means no memes. If people can’t turn Quibi scenes into jokes they’ll share elsewhere, its shows won’t ever become fixtures of the cultural zeitgeist like Netflix’s Tiger King has. Yes, other mobile streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+ also block screenshots, but they have web versions where you can snap and share what you want. Quibi never should have structured its deals to license content from producers in a way that prevented any way to riff on or even let friends preview its content.

TikTok, on the other hand, defaults to letting you download any video and share it wherever you please — with the app’s watermark attached. That’s fueled TikTok’s stellar growth as clips get posted to Twitter and Instagram — and drive viewers back to the app. It has spawned TikTok compilations on YouTube, and a whole culture of remixing that expands and prolongs the popularity of trending jokes and dances.

The Fix: Quibi should allow screenshots. There’s little risk of spoilers or piracy. If its deals prohibit that, then it should offer pre-approved screenshots and video clips/trailers of each episode that you can download and share. Think of it like an in-app press kit. Even if we’re not allowed to set up the perfect screenshot for making a meme, at least then we could coherently discuss the shows on other social networks.

‘Content network effect’ makes TikTok tough to copy

Sluggish pacing

On mobile, you’re always just a swipe away from something more interesting. It’s like if you watched TV with your finger permanently hovering over the change channel button. Ever noticed how movie trailers now often start with a fast-forward collage of their most eye-catching scenes? Quibi seems intent on communicating prestige with its slow-building dramas like The Most Dangerous Game and Survive, which both had me bored and fast-forwarding. And that’s watching Quibi at home on the couch. While on the go, where it was designed to be consumed, slow pacing could push users with a minute or two to spare to open Instagram or TikTok instead.

None of this is helped by Quibi not auto-playing a trailer or the first episode the moment you scroll past a show on the home screen. Instead, you see a static title card for two seconds before it starts playing you an excerpt of the program. That makes it more cumbersome to discover new shows.

Where TikTok wins is in immediacy. Creators know users will swipe right past their video if it’s not immediately entertaining or obviously revving up to a big reveal. They grab you in the first second with smiles, costumes, bold captions or crazy situations. That also makes it easy for viewers to dismiss what’s irrelevant to them and teach the TikTok algorithm what they really want. Plus, you know that you can score a dopamine hit of joy even if you only have 30 seconds. TikTok makes Quick Bites feel like an understaffed sit-down restaurant.

The Fix: Quibi needs to teach creators to hook viewers instantly by previewing why they should want to watch. Since tapping a show’s card on the Quibi homepage instantly plays it, those teasers need to be built into the first episode. Otherwise, Quibi needs a button to view a trailer from its buried dedicated show pages to the preview card most people interact with on the home screen. Otherwise, users may never discover what Quibi shows resonate with them and teach it which to show and make more of.

Anti-social video club

Quibi neglects all its second-screen potential. No screenshotting makes it tough to discuss shows elsewhere, yet there’s no built-in comments or messaging to discuss or spread them in-app. Pasting an episode link into Twitter doesn’t even display the show’s name in the preview box. Nor do shows have their own social accounts to follow to remind you to keep watching.

There’s no way for friends to follow what you’re watching or see your recommendations. No leaderboards of top shows. Certainly no time-stamped, live-stream style crowd annotations. No synced-up co-watching with friends, despite a lack of TV apps preventing you from watching with anyone else in person unless you crowd around one phone.

It all feels like Quibi figured advertising would be enough. It could run contests where winners get a Cameo-esque message or chat with their favorite stars. Quibi could let you share scenes with your face swapped onto actors’ heads, deepfake-style like Snapchat’s (confusingly named) Cameos feature. It could host in-app roundtables with the casts where users could submit questions. It’s like if Web 2.0 never happened.

TikTok, meanwhile, harnesses every conceivable social feature. Follow, Like, comment, message, go Live, duet, remix or download and share any video. It beckons viewers to participate in trending challenges. And even when users aren’t itching to return to TikTok, notifications from these social features will drag them back in, or watermarked clips will follow them to other networks. Every part of the app is designed to make its content the center of popular culture.

The Fix: Quibi needs to understand that just because we’re watching on mobile, doesn’t make video a solo experience. At first, it should add social content discovery options so you can see which friends opt in to share that they’re watching or view a leaderboard of the top programs. Shows, especially ones dripping out new episodes, are more fun when you have someone to chat about them with.

Eventually, Quibi should layer on in-app second-screen features. Create a way to share comments at the end of each episode that people read during the credits so they feel like they’re in a viewing community.

Can Quibi be more?

What’s most disappointing about Quibi is that it has the potential to be something fresh, merging classically produced premium content with the modern ways we use our phones. Yet beyond shows being shot in two widths so you can switch between watching in landscape or portrait mode at any time, it really is just a random cable channel shrunk down.

Youths act in front of a mobile phone camera while making a TikTok video on the terrace of their residence in Hyderabad on February 14, 2020 (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP) (Photo by NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the few redeeming opportunities for Quibi is using the daily episode release schedule to serialize content that benefits from suspense, as InternetRyan notes. Bingeing via traditional streaming services can burn through thrillers before they can properly build up suspense and fan theories or let late-comers catch up while a show is still in the zeitgeist. Cliffhangers with just a day instead of a week to wait could be Quibi’s killer feature.

Suspense is also one thing TikTok fails at. Within a single video, they’re actually often all about suspense, waiting through build up for a gag or non-sequitur to play out. But creators try to rope in followers by making a multi-minute video and splitting it into parts so people subscribe to them to see the next part. Yet since TikTok doesn’t always show timestamps and surfaces old videos on its homescreen, it can often be a chore to find the part two, and there’s no good way for creators to link them together. TikTok could stand to learn about multi-episode content from Quibi.

But today, Quibi feels like a minitiaturized and degraded version of what we already get for free on the web or pay for with Netflix. Quibi charging $4.99 per month with ads or $7.99 without seems like a steep ask without delivering any truly must-see shows, novel interactive experience, or memory-making social moments.

Quibi’s success may simply be a test of how bad people are at cancelling 90-day free trials (hint: they’re bad at it!). The bull case is that absent-minded subscribers amongst the 300,000 first-day downloads and some diehard fans of the celebs it’s given shows will bring Quibi enough traction to raise more cash and survive long enough to socialize its product and teach creators to exploit the format’s opportunities. But the bear case is already emerging in Quibi’s rapidly declining App Store rank, that fell from #4 overall when it launched Monday to #21 yesterday. Lackluster content and no virality means it might never become the talk of the town, leading top content producers to slink away or half-ass their contributions, leaving us to dine on short video elsewhere.

Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok

from Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2yIK9kl Original Content From: https://techcrunch.com

[magzoso-tech]

Quibi is the anti-TikTok (that’s a bad thing)

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/quibi-is-the-anti-tiktok-thats-a-bad-thing/

Quibi is the anti-TikTok (that’s a bad thing)

It takes either audacious self-confidence or reckless hubris to build a completely asocial video app in 2020. You can decide which best describes Quibi, Hollywood’s $1.75 billion-funded attempt at a mobile-only Netflix of six to 10-minute micro-TV show episodes. Quibi manages to miss every trend and tactic that could help make its app popular. The company seems to believe it can succeed on only its content (mediocre) and marketing dollars (fewer than it needs).

I appreciate that Quibi is doing something audaciously different than most startups. Rather than iterating toward product-market fit, it spent a fortune developing its slick app and buying fancy content in secret so it could launch with a bang.

Yet Quibi’s bold business strategy is muted by a misguided allegiance to the golden age of television before the internet permeated every entertainment medium. It’s unshareable, prescriptive, sluggish, cumbersome and unfriendly. Quibi’s unwillingness to borrow anything from social networks makes the app feel cold and isolated, like watching reality shows in the vacuum of space.

In that sense, Quibi is the inverse of TikTok, which feels fiercely alive. TikTok is designed to immediately immerse you in crowd-vetted content that grabs your attention and inspires you to spread your take on it to friends. That’s why TikTok has almost 2 billion downloads to date, while Quibi picked up just 300,000 on the day of its big splash into market.

Here’s a breakdown of the major missteps by Quibi, why TikTok does it better and how this new streaming app can get with the times.

What Hollywood thinks we want

Quibi feels like some off-brand cable channel, with a mix of convoluted reality shows, scripted dramas and news briefs. Imagine MTV at noon in the mid-2000s. Nothing seemed must-see. There’s no Game of Thrones or Mandalorian here. While the production value is better than what you’ll find on YouTube, the show concepts feel slapdash with novelty that quickly fades. Chrissy Teigen as a small claims court judge and a cooking show where blindfolded chefs have to guess what food was just exploded in their faces…

The catalog feels like the product of TV writers being told they have 10 seconds to come up with an idea. “What would those idiots watch?” The shows remind me of old VR games that are barely more than demos, or an app built in a garage without ever asking prospective users what they need. Co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg may have produced The Lion King and Shrek, but the app’s content feels like it was greenlit by, well, Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s leader Meg Whitman, who indeed is Quibi’s CEO.

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman

Despite being built for a touch-screen interface, there’s little Bandersnatch-style interactive content so far, nor are the creators doing anything special with the six to 10-minute format. The shows feel more like condensed TV programs with episodes ending when there would be a commercial break. There’s no onboarding process that could ask which popular TV shows or genres you’re into. As the catalog expands, that makes it less likely you’ll find something appealing within a few taps.

TikTok comes from the opposite direction. Instead of what Hollywood thinks we want, its content comes straight from its consumers. People record what they think would make them and their friends laugh, surprised or enticed. The result is that with low to zero production budget, random kids and influencers alike make things with millions of Likes. And as elder millennials, Gen Xers and beyond get hooked, they’re creating videos for their peers, as well. The algorithm monitors what you’re hovering over and rapidly adapts its recommendations to your style.

TikTok is fundamentally interactive. Each clip’s audio can be borrowed to produce remixes that personalize a meme for a different demographic or subculture. And because its stars are internet natives, they’re in constant communication with their fan base to tune content to what they want. There’s something for everyone. No niche is too small.

TikTok screenshots

The Fix: Quibi should take a hint from Brat TV, the Disney Channel for the YouTube generation that gives tween social media stars their own premium shows about being a grade school kid to create content with a built-in fan base. [Disclosure: My cousin Darren Lachtman is a Brat co-founder.)

Take the Chrissy’s Court model, and shift it to stars who are 20 years younger. Give TikTok phenoms like Charli D’Amelio or Chase Hudson Quibi shows and let them help conceptualize the content, and they’ll bring their legions of fans. Double-down on choose-your-own-adventures and fan voting game shows that leverage the phone’s interactivity. Fund creators that will differentiate Quibi by making it look like anything other than daytime TV. And ask users directly what they want to see right when they download the app.

No screenshots

This is frankly insane. Screenshots of Quibi appear as a blank black screen. That means no memes. If people can’t turn Quibi scenes into jokes they’ll share elsewhere, its shows won’t ever become fixtures of the cultural zeitgeist like Netflix’s Tiger King has. Yes, other mobile streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+ also block screenshots, but they have web versions where you can snap and share what you want. Quibi never should have structured its deals to license content from producers in a way that prevented any way to riff on or even let friends preview its content.

TikTok, on the other hand, defaults to letting you download any video and share it wherever you please — with the app’s watermark attached. That’s fueled TikTok’s stellar growth as clips get posted to Twitter and Instagram — and drive viewers back to the app. It has spawned TikTok compilations on YouTube, and a whole culture of remixing that expands and prolongs the popularity of trending jokes and dances.

The Fix: Quibi should allow screenshots. There’s little risk of spoilers or piracy. If its deals prohibit that, then it should offer pre-approved screenshots and video clips/trailers of each episode that you can download and share. Think of it like an in-app press kit. Even if we’re not allowed to set up the perfect screenshot for making a meme, at least then we could coherently discuss the shows on other social networks.

Sluggish pacing

On mobile, you’re always just a swipe away from something more interesting. It’s like if you watched TV with your finger permanently hovering over the change channel button. Ever noticed how movie trailers now often start with a fast-forward collage of their most eye-catching scenes? Quibi seems intent on communicating prestige with its slow-building dramas like The Most Dangerous Game and Survive, which both had me bored and fast-forwarding. And that’s watching Quibi at home on the couch. While on the go, where it was designed to be consumed, slow pacing could push users with a minute or two to spare to open Instagram or TikTok instead.

None of this is helped by Quibi not auto-playing a trailer or the first episode the moment you scroll past a show on the home screen. Instead, you see a static title card for two seconds before it starts playing you an excerpt of the program. That makes it more cumbersome to discover new shows.

Where TikTok wins is in immediacy. Creators know users will swipe right past their video if it’s not immediately entertaining or obviously revving up to a big reveal. They grab you in the first second with smiles, costumes, bold captions or crazy situations. That also makes it easy for viewers to dismiss what’s irrelevant to them and teach the TikTok algorithm what they really want. Plus, you know that you can score a dopamine hit of joy even if you only have 30 seconds. TikTok makes Quick Bites feel like an understaffed sit-down restaurant.

The Fix: Quibi needs to teach creators to hook viewers instantly by previewing why they should want to watch. Since tapping a show’s card on the Quibi homepage instantly plays it, those teasers need to be built into the first episode. Otherwise, Quibi needs a button to view a trailer from its buried dedicated show pages to the preview card most people interact with on the home screen. Otherwise, users may never discover what Quibi shows resonate with them and teach it which to show and make more of.

Anti-social video club

Quibi neglects all its second-screen potential. No screenshotting makes it tough to discuss shows elsewhere, yet there’s no built-in comments or messaging to discuss or spread them in-app. Pasting an episode link into Twitter doesn’t even display the show’s name in the preview box. Nor do shows have their own social accounts to follow to remind you to keep watching.

There’s no way for friends to follow what you’re watching or see your recommendations. No leaderboards of top shows. Certainly no time-stamped, live-stream style crowd annotations. No synced-up co-watching with friends, despite a lack of TV apps preventing you from watching with anyone else in person unless you crowd around one phone.

It all feels like Quibi figured advertising would be enough. It could run contests where winners get a Cameo-esque message or chat with their favorite stars. Quibi could let you share scenes with your face swapped onto actors’ heads, deepfake-style like Snapchat’s (confusingly named) Cameos feature. It could host in-app roundtables with the casts where users could submit questions. It’s like if Web 2.0 never happened.

TikTok, meanwhile, harnesses every conceivable social feature. Follow, Like, comment, message, go Live, duet, remix or download and share any video. It beckons viewers to participate in trending challenges. And even when users aren’t itching to return to TikTok, notifications from these social features will drag them back in, or watermarked clips will follow them to other networks. Every part of the app is designed to make its content the center of popular culture.

The Fix: Quibi needs to understand that just because we’re watching on mobile, doesn’t make video a solo experience. At first, it should add social content discovery options so you can see which friends opt in to share that they’re watching or view a leaderboard of the top programs. Shows, especially ones dripping out new episodes, are more fun when you have someone to chat about them with.

Eventually, Quibi should layer on in-app second-screen features. Create a way to share comments at the end of each episode that people read during the credits so they feel like they’re in a viewing community.

Can Quibi be more?

What’s most disappointing about Quibi is that it has the potential to be something fresh, merging classically produced premium content with the modern ways we use our phones. Yet beyond shows being shot in two widths so you can switch between watching in landscape or portrait mode at any time, it really is just a random cable channel shrunk down.

Youths act in front of a mobile phone camera while making a TikTok video on the terrace of their residence in Hyderabad on February 14, 2020 (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP) (Photo by NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the few redeeming opportunities for Quibi is using the daily episode release schedule to serialize content that benefits from suspense, as Ryan Vinnicombe aka InternetRyan notes. Bingeing via traditional streaming services can burn through thrillers before they can properly build up suspense and fan theories or let late-comers catch up while a show is still in the zeitgeist. Cliffhangers with just a day instead of a week to wait could be Quibi’s killer feature.

Suspense is also one thing TikTok fails at. Within a single video, they’re actually often all about suspense, waiting through build up for a gag or non-sequitur to play out. But creators try to rope in followers by making a multi-minute video and splitting it into parts so people subscribe to them to see the next part. Yet since TikTok doesn’t always show timestamps and surfaces old videos on its home screen, it can often be a chore to find the Part Two, and there’s no good way for creators to link them together. TikTok could stand to learn about multi-episode content from Quibi.

But today, Quibi feels like a minitiaturized and degraded version of what we already get for free on the web or pay for with Netflix. Quibi charging $4.99 per month with ads or $7.99 without seems like a steep ask without delivering any truly must-see shows, novel interactive experience or memory-making social moments.

Quibi’s success may simply be a test of how bad people are at cancelling 90-day free trials (hint: they’re bad at it!). The bull case is that absentminded subscribers among the 300,000 first-day downloads and some diehard fans of the celebs it’s given shows will bring Quibi enough traction to raise more cash and survive long enough to socialize its product and teach creators to exploit the format’s opportunities.

But the bear case is already emerging in Quibi’s rapidly declining App Store rank, which fell from No. 4 overall when it launched Monday to No. 21 yesterday after just 830,000 total downloads according to Sensor Tower. Lackluster content and no virality means it might never become the talk of the town, leading top content producers to slink away or half-ass their contributions, leaving us to dine on short video elsewhere.

[onlinemarketingcourses]

17 Ways to Get More YouTube Subscribers (2018)

In this post you’re going to learn how to get more YouTube subscribers in 2018.

In fact:

These are the exact strategies I used to grow my channel from zero to 165,900 subscribers.

And today I’m going to show you how I did it…

…and how you can do the same thing.

1. Use “Power Playlists”

“Power Playlists” are like regular playlists… but better.

Here’s exactly how they work:

You see, most playlists are organized by topic.

But Power Playlists are different.

Instead of topics, Power Playlists are organized by outcomes.

Here’s an example from my channel:

As you can see, the title of that playlist is an outcome:

Which makes people MUCH more likely to watch my playlist… and subscribe.

And that leads us to…

2. Publish LONG Videos (10+ Minutes)

Yup, this goes against conventional wisdom.

But stay with me.

I recently did the largest YouTube ranking factors study ever.

And we found something surprising:

Longer videos rank better in YouTube.

For example:

A few months ago I published this video.

As you can see, my video is almost 14 minutes long:

And that’s one of the main reasons that it ranks #1 in YouTube for the keyword: “backlinks”:

3. Promote Videos In Your End Screen

Here’s the deal:

The more of your videos someone watches, the more likely they are to subscribe.

The question is:

How do you get people to watch 2, 5 or even 10 of your videos?

Promote another video in your End Screen.

Here’s an example from my channel:

This simple “Next Video” has led to TONS of bonus views and subscribers:

Here’s how you can do the same thing:

First, include 10 seconds of time at the end of your videos specifically for your End Screen.

Here’s what mine looks like:

Then, use YouTube’s End Screen editor to add a link to a related video:

That’s all there is to it 🙂

4. Branding Watermark = Subscribe Button

This is the ultimate YouTube subscriber hack.

You probably know that you can add a Branding Watermark to your videos.

This watermark lets viewers subscribe to your channel inside of your video.

Unfortunately, most Branding Watermarks are completely ignored.

For example…

Last year I added this watermark to all of my videos:

And it did absolutely nothing.

So I decided to try something new.

Instead of a watermark that looked cool…

…I used one that looked like a normal YouTube subscribe button.

And it worked!

My new watermark generated 70% more subscribers than my old one.

Pretty cool.

5. Focus On Quality… Not Quantity

When I first started my YouTube channel, I read the same advice over and over again:

“If you want to grow your channel, you need to upload videos on a regular basis”

As it turns out, this is HORRIBLE advice.

I’ll explain.

When I first started my channel I published videos on a consistent schedule…

…but no one watched them.

And the few people that watched my videos didn’t even bother to subscribe.

It was REALLY frustrating.

So I decided to change things up.

Instead of quantity, I decided to focus 100% on quality.

And this “quality over quantity” approach worked like magic.

Flash forward to today and my channel generates over 200k views per month from only 24 total videos:

And because I pour my heart and soul into every video, 7k people subscribe to my channel every month:

6. Reply To EVERY Comment

This is one of the EASIEST ways to get more subscribers.

In fact, YouTube’s internal data has found a clear correlation between replying to comments and subscribers:

Why does this help?

Well, most YouTubers never reply to comments.

Which means you instantly stand out when you do.

That’s why I do my best to reply to as many comments as I can.

(Especially right after a new video comes out)

7. Write a Compelling Channel Description

Your YouTube Channel Description is HUGE.

Sadly, most Channel Descriptions look like this:

Imagine that you’re considering subscribing to that channel.

Is that description going to make someone lunge for the subscribe button?

Probably not.

Contrast that weak description with this one:

This about page works because it:

Tells you what the channel is all about

Gives you important information on the channel (like the upload schedule)

Includes a strong call to action to subscribe

Here’s a template to help you write your own Channel Description:

Pro Tip: Sprinkle in a handful of keywords in your description. This can help your channel rank better in YouTube search.

For example, I sprinkled in a few different keywords that people searching for my content would use…

…like “SEO”, “link building” and “content marketing”.

8. Funnel People to “Subscriber Magnets”

This is working GREAT for me right now.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

First, head over to your YouTube Analytics.

And click “Subscribers” → “YouTube Watch Page”.

Next, identify the video that brought you the most subs last month:

(This video is your “Subscriber Magnet”)

In my case, this ONE Subscriber Magnet from my channel brings in as many subscribers as 13 other videos from my channel… combined.

Why is this important?

Your Subscriber Magnet video is PROVEN to generate subscribers.

And if you can get these video in front of more people, you’ll get more subscribers

Here are 3 ways to get more eyeballs on your Subscriber Magnet.

First, feature that video in your End Screen.

Second, make a playlist that starts off with that video:

Finally, promote that video in a card:

You can even make your Subscriber Magnet your channel trailer.

For example, Evan Carmichael uses his high-converting Steve Jobs video as his trailer:

That way, Evan’s high-converting video gets in front of everyone that visits his channel page

9. Use an Awesome Channel Icon

Your Channel Icon shows up EVERYWHERE on YouTube.

That’s why it’s really important to use the right one.

So if you’re a personal brand, use a high-res headshot:

If you’re a company channel, use a version of your logo designed for YouTube.

For example, ESPN rounded their logo so it works perfectly as a Channel Icon:

10. Create a Channel Tagline

Let’s face it:

Most YouTube channels do NOTHING to stand out.

And hey, I’m not judging.

In the early days of my channel I completely ignored my channel’s positioning.

And it was one of the main reasons that I struggled.

Once I started to strategically position my channel, my views and subscribers shot up like a rocketship.

Fortunately, you don’t need an MBA to position and brand your channel.

In fact, all you need to do is create a simple tagline.

Here’s the 3-step process:

First, identify ONE thing that makes your channel unique or different.

Maybe you’re a busy mom that can deadlift 500 pounds.

Maybe your channel teaches software companies how to grow their blog.

The exact “thing” doesn’t matter.

As long as it’s different than the other channels in your niche, you’re set.

For example:

My videos teach people marketing strategies they can use to grow their business.

But if I made my tagline “I teach marketing strategies” or “I help you grow your business”, I’d blend in with thousands of other channels on YouTube.

So I decided to focus on the ONE thing that my channel focuses on:

Higher rankings and more traffic.

Second, put that tagline in big font on your Channel Art.

Here’s mine:

Finally, say your tagline in your Channel Trailer.

11. Heart Awesome Comments

A while back YouTube launched “Creator Hearts”.

Creator Hearts make it easy to highlight awesome comments from your community:

Now for the interesting part…

When you heart a comment, that person gets a notification:

And according to YouTube’s own data:

That’s right:

Heart notifications get 300% more clicks than average.

So whenever someone leaves a solid comment, hook them up with a heart:

As you just saw, this will bring them back to your video… and make them VERY likely to subscribe.

12. Make a Killer Channel Trailer

Here are 3 tactics for making a channel trailer that converts:

Kick things off with your tagline

Start your trailer off with your channel’s tagline.

(Don’t have a tagline. Check out technique #10 from this post)

For example, I say my tagline (“Higher Rankings and More Traffic”) within the first 5 seconds of my trailer:

Stick to 60 seconds (or less)

YouTube themselves say that shorter trailers convert best:

That’s why I made my trailer about a minute long:

Show off your best stuff

Your trailer is a GREAT opportunity to promote your best content.

That’s why the middle of your trailer should be a 20-30 second highlight reel.

For example, my trailer includes LOTS of clips from my other videos:

That way, viewers can quickly get a feel for the type of content that I publish.

13. Create Videos That CRUSH Watch Time

Yup, Watch Time is a massively important YouTube ranking factor.

And not just for YouTube SEO.

Videos with high Watch Time numbers get promoted more often on the YouTube homepage:

And in the Suggested Video sidebar:

That’s why YouTube states that:

Question is:

How do you maximize Watch Time?

Use lots of Pattern Interrupts.

Definition

An event that changes a person’s thought patterns.

Pattern Interrupts make your videos more dynamic…

…which keeps people watching.

That’s why I use TONS of Pattern Interrupts in every video.

Including graphics:

Jump cuts:

And corny jokes:

Remember:

Pattern Interrupts don’t need to be anything fancy.

For example, check out this video from Safiya Nygaard:

Safiya uses lots of super simple Pattern Interrupts (like camera angle changes and simple graphics) to keep things fresh.

14. Embed YouTube Videos In Blog Posts

Your blog is a HUGE untapped source of views and subscribers.

Why?

Well, if someone’s reading your text content, they clearly like your stuff.

Which means they’re primed to subscribe.

That’s why I embed lots of videos in my blog posts.

Sometimes the video makes up an entire step or tip:

But I also embed videos as a way for people to learn more about something from the post:

Either way, these embeds get my videos in front of more people.

And not just random people.

I’m showing my videos to people that are SUPER likely to subscribe to my channel.

15. End Videos With a Strong CTA

When someone get to the end of your video, they think:

“What’s next?”

And unless you give them something to do, they’re going to click over to another video from another channel.

So tell them to subscribe to your channel.

And don’t be afraid to tell people exactly what to do.

For example, here’s how I end all of my videos:

I literally tell people to click on the subscribe button below the video.

That way, there’s no guesswork or thinking involved.

And that’s one of the main reasons that so many people subscribe right after watching one of my videos:

16. Promote Your Channel In Ebooks, Webinars, Presentations and Lead Magnets

The next time you create ANY piece of content, ask yourself:

“How can I funnel people from this content to my channel?”

For example, I include a link to my channel in every lead magnet:

I even promote my channel in podcast interviews:

17. Optimize Your Channel Page

When someone lands on your channel page, two things can happen:

They leave right away

They watch more of your videos and subscribe

And I can tell you from experience that an optimized channel page can increase your subscribers by 2-5x.

For example, my channel used to look super unprofessional:

Needless to say, VERY few people that landed on my page decided to subscribe.

That’s when I decided to put more time and effort into my channel page.

Specifically, I hired a pro designer to make my Channel Art:

And I organized my videos so that my best stuff appeared at the top:

That said:

There’s no “perfect” way to organize your Channel Page.

But here’s a template that I notice a lot of top YouTubers use:

Bonus #1: The “Social Media Preview”

I used to share my videos on social media like this:

And my posts got BURIED.

Why?

Because Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites want to keep people on their platform.

Which means they don’t like posts that send people to YouTube.

Well, I recently discovered a way around this problem:

The “Social Media Preview”.

And this simple strategy has helped me get INSANE views on social media:

In fact, one of my recent Social Media Previews got over 30k views on LinkedIn:

Here’s how to do it:

First, grab a 30-90 second clip from your YouTube video.

This clip should be a single technique, idea or point.

Next, upload that clip as native content.

This is key.

Like I mentioned earlier, social media sites want to promote native content on their platform.

And there’s data to back this up.

Native video Facebook posts get 10x more views than posts that linked to YouTube.

Finally, include a link to your video as the first comment on the post.

That way, if someone wants to see more, they can easily head over to the full video on YouTube.

And you’re set.

Bonus #2: Include a Subscribe Link in Your Channel Art

You probably know that you can link to external sites in your Channel Art:

But what you may not know is that you can sneak in an extra subscribe button there.

Here’s an example:

All you need to do is create a YouTube subscribe link:

Then, add that link as one of your Channel Art links:

Make sure to give your link a compelling title:

And when someone clicks on that link, they’ll see this high-converting prompt:

Nice.

Now It’s Your Turn

And now I’d like to hear from you:

Which strategy from today’s post are you excited to try first?

Or maybe you have a question about something you read.

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

Source link

[energyphotos-blog1]

New Post has been published on http://twoarticles.com/17-ways-to-get-more-youtube-subscribers-2018/

17 Ways to Get More YouTube Subscribers (2018)

In this post you’re going to learn how to get more YouTube subscribers in 2018.

In fact:

These are the exact strategies I used to grow my channel from zero to 165,900 subscribers.

And today I’m going to show you how I did it…

…and how you can do the same thing.

1. Use “Power Playlists”

“Power Playlists” are like regular playlists… but better.

Here’s exactly how they work:

You see, most playlists are organized by topic.

But Power Playlists are different.

Instead of topics, Power Playlists are organized by outcomes.

Here’s an example from my channel:

As you can see, the title of that playlist is an outcome:

Which makes people MUCH more likely to watch my playlist… and subscribe.

And that leads us to…

2. Publish LONG Videos (10+ Minutes)

Yup, this goes against conventional wisdom.

But stay with me.

I recently did the largest YouTube ranking factors study ever.

And we found something surprising:

Longer videos rank better in YouTube.

For example:

A few months ago I published this video.

As you can see, my video is almost 14 minutes long:

And that’s one of the main reasons that it ranks #1 in YouTube for the keyword: “backlinks”:

3. Promote Videos In Your End Screen

Here’s the deal:

The more of your videos someone watches, the more likely they are to subscribe.

The question is:

How do you get people to watch 2, 5 or even 10 of your videos?

Promote another video in your End Screen.

Here’s an example from my channel:

This simple “Next Video” has led to TONS of bonus views and subscribers:

Here’s how you can do the same thing:

First, include 10 seconds of time at the end of your videos specifically for your End Screen.

Here’s what mine looks like:

Then, use YouTube’s End Screen editor to add a link to a related video:

That’s all there is to it 🙂

4. Branding Watermark = Subscribe Button

This is the ultimate YouTube subscriber hack.

You probably know that you can add a Branding Watermark to your videos.

This watermark lets viewers subscribe to your channel inside of your video.

Unfortunately, most Branding Watermarks are completely ignored.

For example…

Last year I added this watermark to all of my videos:

And it did absolutely nothing.

So I decided to try something new.

Instead of a watermark that looked cool…

…I used one that looked like a normal YouTube subscribe button.

And it worked!

My new watermark generated 70% more subscribers than my old one.

Pretty cool.

5. Focus On Quality… Not Quantity

When I first started my YouTube channel, I read the same advice over and over again:

“If you want to grow your channel, you need to upload videos on a regular basis”

As it turns out, this is HORRIBLE advice.

I’ll explain.

When I first started my channel I published videos on a consistent schedule…

…but no one watched them.

And the few people that watched my videos didn’t even bother to subscribe.

It was REALLY frustrating.

So I decided to change things up.

Instead of quantity, I decided to focus 100% on quality.

And this “quality over quantity” approach worked like magic.

Flash forward to today and my channel generates over 200k views per month from only 24 total videos:

And because I pour my heart and soul into every video, 7k people subscribe to my channel every month:

6. Reply To EVERY Comment

This is one of the EASIEST ways to get more subscribers.

In fact, YouTube’s internal data has found a clear correlation between replying to comments and subscribers:

Why does this help?

Well, most YouTubers never reply to comments.

Which means you instantly stand out when you do.

That’s why I do my best to reply to as many comments as I can.

(Especially right after a new video comes out)

7. Write a Compelling Channel Description

Your YouTube Channel Description is HUGE.

Sadly, most Channel Descriptions look like this:

Imagine that you’re considering subscribing to that channel.

Is that description going to make someone lunge for the subscribe button?

Probably not.

Contrast that weak description with this one:

This about page works because it:

Tells you what the channel is all about

Gives you important information on the channel (like the upload schedule)

Includes a strong call to action to subscribe

Here’s a template to help you write your own Channel Description:

Pro Tip: Sprinkle in a handful of keywords in your description. This can help your channel rank better in YouTube search.

For example, I sprinkled in a few different keywords that people searching for my content would use…

…like “SEO”, “link building” and “content marketing”.

8. Funnel People to “Subscriber Magnets”

This is working GREAT for me right now.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

First, head over to your YouTube Analytics.

And click “Subscribers” → “YouTube Watch Page”.

Next, identify the video that brought you the most subs last month:

(This video is your “Subscriber Magnet”)

In my case, this ONE Subscriber Magnet from my channel brings in as many subscribers as 13 other videos from my channel… combined.

Why is this important?

Your Subscriber Magnet video is PROVEN to generate subscribers.

And if you can get these video in front of more people, you’ll get more subscribers

Here are 3 ways to get more eyeballs on your Subscriber Magnet.

First, feature that video in your End Screen.

Second, make a playlist that starts off with that video:

Finally, promote that video in a card:

You can even make your Subscriber Magnet your channel trailer.

For example, Evan Carmichael uses his high-converting Steve Jobs video as his trailer:

That way, Evan’s high-converting video gets in front of everyone that visits his channel page

9. Use an Awesome Channel Icon

Your Channel Icon shows up EVERYWHERE on YouTube.

That’s why it’s really important to use the right one.

So if you’re a personal brand, use a high-res headshot:

If you’re a company channel, use a version of your logo designed for YouTube.

For example, ESPN rounded their logo so it works perfectly as a Channel Icon:

10. Create a Channel Tagline

Let’s face it:

Most YouTube channels do NOTHING to stand out.

And hey, I’m not judging.

In the early days of my channel I completely ignored my channel’s positioning.

And it was one of the main reasons that I struggled.

Once I started to strategically position my channel, my views and subscribers shot up like a rocketship.

Fortunately, you don’t need an MBA to position and brand your channel.

In fact, all you need to do is create a simple tagline.

Here’s the 3-step process:

First, identify ONE thing that makes your channel unique or different.

Maybe you’re a busy mom that can deadlift 500 pounds.

Maybe your channel teaches software companies how to grow their blog.

The exact “thing” doesn’t matter.

As long as it’s different than the other channels in your niche, you’re set.

For example:

My videos teach people marketing strategies they can use to grow their business.

But if I made my tagline “I teach marketing strategies” or “I help you grow your business”, I’d blend in with thousands of other channels on YouTube.

So I decided to focus on the ONE thing that my channel focuses on:

Higher rankings and more traffic.

Second, put that tagline in big font on your Channel Art.

Here’s mine:

Finally, say your tagline in your Channel Trailer.

11. Heart Awesome Comments

A while back YouTube launched “Creator Hearts”.

Creator Hearts make it easy to highlight awesome comments from your community:

Now for the interesting part…

When you heart a comment, that person gets a notification:

And according to YouTube’s own data:

That’s right:

Heart notifications get 300% more clicks than average.

So whenever someone leaves a solid comment, hook them up with a heart:

As you just saw, this will bring them back to your video… and make them VERY likely to subscribe.

12. Make a Killer Channel Trailer

Here are 3 tactics for making a channel trailer that converts:

Kick things off with your tagline

Start your trailer off with your channel’s tagline.

(Don’t have a tagline. Check out technique #10 from this post)

For example, I say my tagline (“Higher Rankings and More Traffic”) within the first 5 seconds of my trailer:

Stick to 60 seconds (or less)

YouTube themselves say that shorter trailers convert best:

That’s why I made my trailer about a minute long:

Show off your best stuff

Your trailer is a GREAT opportunity to promote your best content.

That’s why the middle of your trailer should be a 20-30 second highlight reel.

For example, my trailer includes LOTS of clips from my other videos:

That way, viewers can quickly get a feel for the type of content that I publish.

13. Create Videos That CRUSH Watch Time

Yup, Watch Time is a massively important YouTube ranking factor.

And not just for YouTube SEO.

Videos with high Watch Time numbers get promoted more often on the YouTube homepage:

And in the Suggested Video sidebar:

That’s why YouTube states that:

Question is:

How do you maximize Watch Time?

Use lots of Pattern Interrupts.

Definition

An event that changes a person’s thought patterns.

Pattern Interrupts make your videos more dynamic…

…which keeps people watching.

That’s why I use TONS of Pattern Interrupts in every video.

Including graphics:

Jump cuts:

And corny jokes:

Remember:

Pattern Interrupts don’t need to be anything fancy.

For example, check out this video from Safiya Nygaard:

Safiya uses lots of super simple Pattern Interrupts (like camera angle changes and simple graphics) to keep things fresh.

14. Embed YouTube Videos In Blog Posts

Your blog is a HUGE untapped source of views and subscribers.

Why?

Well, if someone’s reading your text content, they clearly like your stuff.

Which means they’re primed to subscribe.

That’s why I embed lots of videos in my blog posts.

Sometimes the video makes up an entire step or tip:

But I also embed videos as a way for people to learn more about something from the post:

Either way, these embeds get my videos in front of more people.

And not just random people.

I’m showing my videos to people that are SUPER likely to subscribe to my channel.

15. End Videos With a Strong CTA

When someone get to the end of your video, they think:

“What’s next?”

And unless you give them something to do, they’re going to click over to another video from another channel.

So tell them to subscribe to your channel.

And don’t be afraid to tell people exactly what to do.

For example, here’s how I end all of my videos:

I literally tell people to click on the subscribe button below the video.

That way, there’s no guesswork or thinking involved.

And that’s one of the main reasons that so many people subscribe right after watching one of my videos:

16. Promote Your Channel In Ebooks, Webinars, Presentations and Lead Magnets

The next time you create ANY piece of content, ask yourself:

“How can I funnel people from this content to my channel?”

For example, I include a link to my channel in every lead magnet:

I even promote my channel in podcast interviews:

17. Optimize Your Channel Page

When someone lands on your channel page, two things can happen:

They leave right away

They watch more of your videos and subscribe

And I can tell you from experience that an optimized channel page can increase your subscribers by 2-5x.

For example, my channel used to look super unprofessional:

Needless to say, VERY few people that landed on my page decided to subscribe.

That’s when I decided to put more time and effort into my channel page.

Specifically, I hired a pro designer to make my Channel Art:

And I organized my videos so that my best stuff appeared at the top:

That said:

There’s no “perfect” way to organize your Channel Page.

But here’s a template that I notice a lot of top YouTubers use:

Bonus #1: The “Social Media Preview”

I used to share my videos on social media like this:

And my posts got BURIED.

Why?

Because Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites want to keep people on their platform.

Which means they don’t like posts that send people to YouTube.

Well, I recently discovered a way around this problem:

The “Social Media Preview”.

And this simple strategy has helped me get INSANE views on social media:

In fact, one of my recent Social Media Previews got over 30k views on LinkedIn:

Here’s how to do it:

First, grab a 30-90 second clip from your YouTube video.

This clip should be a single technique, idea or point.

Next, upload that clip as native content.

This is key.

Like I mentioned earlier, social media sites want to promote native content on their platform.

And there’s data to back this up.

Native video Facebook posts get 10x more views than posts that linked to YouTube.

Finally, include a link to your video as the first comment on the post.

That way, if someone wants to see more, they can easily head over to the full video on YouTube.

And you’re set.

Bonus #2: Include a Subscribe Link in Your Channel Art

You probably know that you can link to external sites in your Channel Art:

But what you may not know is that you can sneak in an extra subscribe button there.

Here’s an example:

All you need to do is create a YouTube subscribe link:

Then, add that link as one of your Channel Art links:

Make sure to give your link a compelling title:

And when someone clicks on that link, they’ll see this high-converting prompt:

Nice.

Now It’s Your Turn

And now I’d like to hear from you:

Which strategy from today’s post are you excited to try first?

Or maybe you have a question about something you read.

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

This article is copyright ezinearticles on website http://www.twoarticles.com 2018 

[vitalmindandbody]

If not my surname or my husband’s, could we call our child after a New Zealand volcano?

Franki Cookney and her husband didnt much like one another surnames, so now theyre having a baby theyve are determined to pick a brand-new one

When my husband, Rob, and I wedded last year, the question of what to do about our surnames scarcely participated our discussions. We are both writers, so our identifies are on every piece of work we do. That we would impede our own seemed a demonstrated. There was just one niggling mistrust. What would happen if we had children?

I had always had considered that we would just protrude both our reputations on birth certificates credential, but I knew this didnt quite resolve the problem. Whose call would go first? And which appoint would end up being used?

We could use a double-barrel identify, but didnt seem our surnames, Cookney and Davies, lent themselves to hyphenation. Whichever prescribe you have selected, the result is clunky and we were reluctant to saddle a child with it.

We could have just chosen whichever refer sounded best with our newborn given name. But in that scenario, one mother purposes up not sharing a surname with their child and neither of us missed that. Plus, Id listened too many narratives of mothers being agreed upon at airfield insurance because the epithets on their passports didnt competitor that of their children.

The conventional alternative of taking my husbands surname was never on the table. Fairly apart from the feminist principle of not was intended to relinquish my identity for his, I wasnt keen on the reputation. Rob supported this and was by no means offended. The misfortune was, he wasnt a fan of my name either. Its just a bit cumbersome, he said. Its virtually Cockney but not quite. Youre incessantly having to spell it out. We looked at our moms maiden mentions and our grandparents names but always ceased up back in the same plaza, feeling that it wasnt equal, that picking one side of their own families over another wasnt fair.

We hit on the idea of taking a brand-new name about a year ago when before our wed we went to write our wills. As we chatted to one of the attorneys, it transpired that he and his wife had done exactly this. Theres a fair bit of admin, but its good, it makes, he said , nod decisively. Unexpectedly, it didnt seem so preposterous. This wasnt some foolish rebellion or bohemian pretentiousness, this was something lawyers did!

We mooted it with pals, who were largely unfazed. What refer will you go for? was the thing they were most strange about. Good topic. Could we blend the letters of our identifies and develop something new, we amazed. Rosters were reached: Dents, Cave, Devine, Kinsey, Dacovnicks Cookies? Nothing of them fairly hit the mark.

As our wedding depicted nearer, we employed the appoint activity on a back burner. But when I became pregnant 3 months later, we were forced to look at developments in the situation afresh and decided to change tacking. How about a home? I recommended. Somewhere weve saw that we cherished. A backpacking stint before we got married had left us with batch to choose from but most sounded reasonably odd when attributed to a couple of ordinary Brits. Rob and Franki Tongariro owned a certain verve, but naming yourself after a New Zealand volcano would be ridiculous. And Zhangjiajie might make remembers of dazzling Chinese mountains, but imagine having to incantation it every time you booked a whisker appointment or called your internet provider. For a while Salento and Chaltn were on the schedule, after places available in Colombia and Argentina. But we werent convinced we are to be able pull off the patently Latino-sounding former and supposed the latter would result in a lifetime of chastising people who pronounced it Charlton.

Then Rob said, What about Stone Town? The beautiful old-fashioned town of Zanzibar City is where he had asked me to marry him. It instantly appeared right. Stone was straightforward but significant. It chimed good with both our first name and after a few weeks of trying it on with other reputations would work well with almost anything we chose for our baby. It was perfect: a solid name( with a potential for puns that was not failed on us) that felt like a constructive solution to our problem. We would keep our original surnames for undertaking and accept this new last name for our personal lives.

By law, all you need to do to change your reputation is, well, change it. Simply accepting and using your brand-new epithet is enough. Modernizing your accountings and accounts, nonetheless, requires a document of proof such as a union credential or, in our case, a deed poll. There is no official space of acquiring a deed ballot. You can write one yourself expending free templates from the internet, but shortfall of lucidity about the relevant procedures develops in some institutions demanding an original credential despite the fact that no such happen dwells. You can either fight it out or you can do what we did and pay 15 -2 0 for a company such as the Deed Poll Office to draw up the word on your behalf and periodical and stomp it on watermarked newspaper. Passed the roll of bodies and organisations you have to notify and the health risks statements over what constitutes an original certificate, this seemed a reasonable compromise.

Perhaps it was naive, but we didnt expect to meet with resistance. Uncertainty, perhaps. Intrigue, for certain. When it is necessary to getting married, we had trenched almost every institution proceeding, prohibiting the matrimony itself, and no one had wondered us. Surely this too would be seen as a modern updated information on an outdated habit. But where reference is announced our decided not to our families, the reaction was mixed.

Franki and Rob. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi for the Guardian

While they understood our quagmire, the common refrain was that the child would lose the connection to its family history. Try as I might, I cant know what this is. To me, family history moves far deeper than ones refer. Its in accordance with the rules “were living”, our values, the gumption and shared event passed down through generations. It is part of the storytelling our parents did and its in the legends we, more, will tell and the beliefs we will share.

Our roots are not in our calls, they are in our natures. My grandmother, whose surname was Jones, is important to me not because of her reputation but because of her love. My great-grandmother, a midwife I never even encountered, let alone shared a name with, forms a part of my feel of identity. Why? Because of the road my own mother talks about her, because of the pictures she has painted in my head of that life, that family, that time.

Interestingly, the mention itself has also testified a sticking point, with a few people commenting that its bearing. Youre doing this really unusual thing but youve picked a really ordinary mention, said one colleague, as though by doing something different we are obliged to go the whole hog and announce ourselves Rob and Franki Thundercats.

In fact, the accessibility of the figure was something we reckoned would be used sell the idea. It is about to change “were in” naive there, too. My baby, a former primary school teacher, insisted that someone called Stone would be taunted. Another relative describing him as a dead weight of a name.

In my experience, children will come up with nicknames no matter what. I wasted often of my school years known as Franki Cookie while my first name was regularly elongated to Frankenstein, Frankincense or Frankfurter.

Never tell people your call options in advance, advised one pal( too late ). Its as if telling people in advance is inviting a exchange or consultation!

While my familys notions apparently matter to me, I suspect she might be right. Eventually, this is our decision, based on our requires, and I hope they will come to see it as a practical and positive step , not an irresponsible one.

Its almost impossible to get everyone on board, lawyer another friend, who changed her surname by deed poll in 2004. The project upset my granny but my dad, her son, understood. When I marriage my husband, he took my reputation. Im still not sure two brothers was 100% behind us, but when we had our first son, he was the first to be born into our empire. Im so excited that we are the first in our tree!

This is exactly how I seem. I love the idea that our child will be born into this new, specifically opted and carefully thought-out family name. And if one day he or she decides to change it either to something new or to one of our old-time family name we will fully support that.

Even when you change names, lineage going to be able be traced and, if nothing else, I like to think we will be looked back on as all those people who tried something new; who instead of preparing do with an unsatisfactory place, remembered creatively about how to solve it. Thats a family bequest Im glad with.

Read more: www.theguardian.com

The post If not my surname or my husband’s, could we call our child after a New Zealand volcano? appeared first on vitalmindandbody.com.

from WordPress http://ift.tt/2jZY3qU via IFTTT

[blkwidowsweb]

Chicago Spotlight: Chicago Born with Ron Carroll

Ron Carroll is a Chicago DJ, Singer, Songwriter, Label Owner, remixer and producer who has played all around the world.   He is House Music’s “Renaissance Man”.  He’s worked with some of the industry’s best producers and Djs.  Known for his signature singing style like a preacher earned him the nickname “Minister of Sound”.   He has written and performed on some of the biggest hits in House Music and although his music is global, he never forgets his Chicago Roots.    I recently had a chance to speak with Ron Carroll about his career, the state of the Chicago Music Scene and his most recent project, Chicago Born. 

Black Widow:   You’re a DJ, Singer/songwriter, and producer, how did all of that begin? What came first?

Ron Carroll:   Within the house world, DJing came first but in my life, singing came first. You know growing up in church.  I wasn’t into house music or disco at the time. I was into Rock and metal; AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath.   Once my father, who was religious, found this out he banned it from the house.   I remember going to a party at my school and there was a guy DJing.   In my opinion, the DJ didn’t look so good. He wasn’t a handsome dude, he was kinda bummy but he was the DJ and I noticed people were hanging around him, kicking it with him. I was like, man….he’s not a dope looking dude but people want to be around him. I was an introverted and shy kid.  Honestly, I started DJing for acceptance. Growing up I didn’t have many friends or anything like that. I started wanting to DJ to make friends and be liked.   I studied that DJ all night and decided then that this was what I wanted to do.  Once started learning it and doing it, my brother and I were DJing together. We had a little crew.  I noticed people started being cool with me and we were doing parties at our school.   From there I started to love it. Once I startedlooking and searching for music and educating myself on the craft, the love grew.  From there I wanted to learn more so I started working at Trax Records, starting going to the studios at DJ international, I became obsessed with it. That’s how it all really started.

Black Widow:   I’m fairly new to the songwriting genre.  I’m used to writing poetry and there are differences between writing song lyrics and poems.   As a singer/Songwriter, what is your favorite part of the songwriting process?

Ron Carroll: It’s all about the story.   I look at poetry and songwriting in a similar light. I say that because poetry is a free-form and songwriting is a melody locked into a situation.  As writers, we all rhyme and tell a story, but as songwriters, you create a melody and lock it into the groove.   That’s what I do.  I write the story out first. I don’t even listen to the track initially.   I write it first then listen to the track. Then I attach the melody to it. 

Black Widow:  Do you find sometimes, the melody and the groove don’t mesh and you have to go back to the drawing board?

Ron Carroll:   Of course, especially when you are working with people, everyone has their own ideas of what they want to be expressed or experienced. It’s not always a final thing.  A lot of times, I’ve been sent back to the drawing board 10-12 times.  I’ve just learned that it’s part of the industry…the business.   It’s totally different if you are working alone.  You can express yourself freely. You know…it’s my groove, my track, my song. You can do what you want. 

Black Widow:  Where you do get your inspiration?

Ron Carroll: I draw inspiration from real life. I can overhear a couple arguing about something and find the subject matter there. I can see something posted online and draw inspiration from that.  A lot of it is personal too, things I’ve gone through and experienced.

Black Widow:  I completely agree.  I have found that when I’m dealing with writer's block, I tend to take a break and get out and “live” more, enjoy new experiences.  It keeps me fresh creatively.

Ron Carroll: Of Course…absolutely.  You have to take breaks and live to find that inspiration.

Black Widow:  As a producer, with technology and all of the new advances, the music making process is different now.   How has the music making process changed? Is it better or worse?

Ron Carroll:  I’ll say this; the way music is made today creates sort of a laziness in creativity. The mind is not being worked or challenged.  Nowadays, people just take loops and from the loops they take, they steal a keyboard line from another song….you know that’s why I respect the way Terry (Hunter) creates.  You know he still wants to put in that work, in the bigger studio, adding horns, and different sounds. He still has that authentic way of creating…Same with Louie Vega.  That’s why only certain people’s stuff stands out because they are really in the complete creative process.

Black Widow:  Taking it to the next level with the instrumentation and utilizing these different sounds instead of relying solely on technology. It’s definitely an art form.

Ron Carroll: Absolutely! 

Black Widow:  As a DJ, how do you see the balance between giving the crowd what they want and introducing them to something new? Is it a challenge for you to break new music? Especially here in Chicago where we are all opinionated! (Laughter)

Ron Carroll: I learned a long time ago that people really feed off of energy.  I’ve always been told I have to sell whatever I’m trying to sell.   I HAVE TO SELL IT and when I look and listen to new music or new vibes, people may not dance initially because you know people like a good old familiar record or a sing-along. I get that, but if they are looking at me and I’m working it and I’m vibing off of it, regardless of the initial response, they may walk away and say, “you know there was a track he played around here, but I think I like it” and the next time they hear it they may rock with it.     It’s like commercials.  You see “drink Coca Cola, drink Coca Cola" every day, eventually someone is going to try Coca Cola and like it.  That’s how I approach it.  I think what’s killed a lot of new music from being introduced is the lack of “one regular Dj type parties.  The scene here is different now.   Now it’s a lot of guests DJs and 30-minute slots and such with multiple people and that’s not a lot of time to sell anything.   Some of the creativity gets lost because of how the scene is today. 

Black Widow:  So you feel it doesn’t really allow a patron to go on a true musical journey with the DJ anymore?

Black Widow:  Yeah.  Think about it.  You go to a club to hear “so and so DJ” because you love them and you have a ball but next week, you go to the same club and now  it’s someone else and they aren’t doing the same thing.  You were attracted to something and now that connection is cut off.   You know you used to have those clubs like the powerhouse, music box and warehouse to get those intimate experiences with the DJs that were staples here.  Then you also had those huge parties for the masses where you would have multiple DJs on the bill and you would get to hear everybody and those DJs meshed well together.    For example, Mike Dunn and Tony T are examples of a true house party.  Each week, people pack Reynolds to hear them play. The people who come to Reynolds know Mike and Tony and love what they are giving them so they come week after week, then that same crowd will roll to the north side when they are playing.   Now the fan base doesn't mind going to check them out at different venues because they’ve set a tone and provided a weekly experience for the audience. Terry Hunter had the same thing with BANG. 

Black Widow:  Is that why you tend to play alone?   I noticed your sets this week were pretty much just you. Is that how you prefer to play and why? 

Ron Carroll: Yes and that’s what I tend to request.  I feel like this, I want people to come and say, “Ron fucked up” or “Ron did his thing”   and I loved it. I don’t want anyone else energy to throw mine off.  I want to set the tone and if the tone is wack then it’s all on me. If I set a good tone, then it’s on me.  It keeps me on my toes and makes me stay on top of my game.   That’s just what I prefer and as a result, I don’t do a lot of parties. 

Black Widow:  Ok…so let’s talk about your latest project, Chicago Born.   You have 8 completely refurbished tracks of some iconic house classics.  Why did you name it Chicago Born and what made you want to take a look at these tracks again?

Ron Carroll:  I believe there are younger generations and many others outside of Chicago who don’t understand the Chicago movement.  They never experienced some of these songs like I did growing up.    I wanted share that and introduce it to those who may not have had the same experience I did.   Nowadays, things are mastered and programed better, so I took them and gave them a heavier sound that makes them current so you can play them alongside new tracks.  We have various volumes coming out too.  Volumes 1-10.  We are just going to keep pushing them out and giving people that old vibe.  It was all about recapturing my youth and sharing it with those who don’t know what that was about.

Black Widow: That leads to my next question. These songs came out when I was in grade school, so my memories are from grammar school parties and the radio primarily. What are some of your fondest memories from that time?

Ron Carroll:  I loved that back then Chicago had its watermark on the world. We had our own style, sound and vision. The music felt like it was us…it was Chicago. Just like hip hop felt like New York in the beginning.   Unfortunately over the years, we've allowed other cities to take credit and to a certain degree lost our identity.  We started taking other cities vibes and sounds.  

Black Widow: Do you think Chicago House Music has lost its signature sound?

Ron Carroll:   I do.  A lot of people don’t want to talk about the 90s but there was a huge gap with house music during that time because a lot of House DJ’s started playing Hip Hop.   They stopped doing house and did R&B and hip hop so now the city became completely influenced by that sound which was coming out of other cities. The 90s was a crucial moment.  If you notice when people talk about the older days of house, they always speak about the 80s and omit the 90s. Clubs shut down, the crowds switched…the 90s was a very critical moment. On the urban side, everyone wanted to be hip hop and we stopped creating the sounds that came from “our hoods”. While New York was doing hip hop and creating this sound that came from their hoods, we stopped doing that here.  House Music was the music we made...from our experiences and from our hoods... That sound was completely us.  We have to get back to that...OUR SOUND instead of the sounds from other cities to influence our music. That's how Chicago stayed innovative back then.  We were the trendsetters, not the other way around.

Black Widow:  In listening to Chicago Born, I have to say, War Beats is my favorite! That beat is bananas! Do you have a favorite track on the project?

Ron Carroll:   Oh Thank you!   Yeah War Beats, definitely and I also have to say Poindexters Groove and Born Acid. 

Black Widow:  This website is all about Chicago House Music and the Chicago House scene.  How does being an artist from Chicago and having this rich history influence or impact you as an artist?

Ron Carroll:  I love it.  I take Chicago with me wherever I go.  It’s a huge reason why I did Chicago Born and will continue the series with different volumes.  The music and genre we created impacted the world. 

Black Widow:  Thank you so much Ron for taking some time to speak with me today. Continued success and blessings to you!

Ron Carroll:  It was my pleasure. Thank you.

Check out my review of Ron Carroll at Club Experience Here!

Until next time,

See ya on a Dance Floor!

Black Widow

[aprilsimpsonhunt-blog]

*This post may contain a few affiliate links, depending on whether I feel up to finding them or not. I’m trying to hurry a bit, as I have chaffeuring duties to attend to, as well as mountains of laundry and dishes. 🙂

Hi all! Hope this post finds your well! Welcome, or welcome back, depending on how you found me. Either way, I’m glad you’re here!

This post is going to serve as a catch up post. While I love to sew and love to share, I have kids a fairly busy life, which means that often, things don’t get shared. I’m really tired of looking at my pretties and realizing I didn’t share them. Sewing, for me, is all about the tangible item/reward that comes from it, as well as the feeling of having completed something. Lord knows, nothing else in this house ever feels like it’s really “completed”. (Laundry or dishes, anyone? They go on for days when you have 4 kids!)

To be honest, I’m a little lost on where to start. I’ve been sewing up a storm lately!  I suppose I’ll begin with the shirts i sewed up for my Duchess skirt blog tour post. I was a little nervous, as it was my first blog tour/colab, so I made several items…although looking back, i should have sewn up more than one skirt, since the focus was that. (To be fair: I’ve been dealing with a fabric budget cut back, though. all i currently have to work with is my small stash & my linen closet. The skirt called for more than 2  consecutive yards of fabric,  and I just didn’t have it. 😦 )

***You may notice that the images in this post are a little different than usual. For one, I’ve begun doing most of my photography on my own and the learning curve is HUGE. Also, I have a friend who just recently had a scare from a company stealing her images and using them for profit, so my watermark is now in the middle. Sorry in advance if it takes away from the aesthetic. You can never be too safe. I have updated my Terms of use/privacy policy and you can find it by clicking the main menu!***

So, without too much ado, I give you my first shirt (which ended up being my favorite). I used the free Key West Tank PDF pattern from New Horizons Designs. This is one of my favorite woven patterns. It’s a tank with a looser fit and features bands on the neck and armholes (I suppose you could bind them if you REALLY wanted to…but who has time for that? lol) . There is a crop length and full tunic length. It would also be really easy to take the tunic length and extend it, if you wished to have a swing style dress. If you were to do so, you would probably want to use something with a bit more drape than I used, though!

    For my version, I took the pattern in my size and used this gorgeous stretch woven  Stretch lace from Fabric Mart Fabrics. I received both as part of a mystery apparel box. I love those things! 6 yards for 10 bucks and I have NEVER been disappointed! (more on this another day!) I was originally going to just use the lace for the top, but hadn’t worked with stretch lace before (gasp!), so I wasn’t sure how the bands would work. I was also worried about how “finished” it would look, since I don’t use a serger (another shock, right? I did say I’m on the tightest budget ever. 🙂 )

So instead of cutting it to fit the top of the pattern to just above the bust (the middle of the armcyse), adding seam allowance and doing the reverse for the blue fabric…I cut a whole front and back bodice from the stretch woven, then just the top part from the lace. I folded it down over the bodice, RST, stitched a straight line (with a super tiny seam allowance) across the bodice, right where it would hit above thebust, then folded it back up and sewed the 2 bodice pieces together at the shoulders, then up the sides (like normal). The small amount I lost by not accounting for SA didn’t make a huge difference, as the lace stretched a lot more easily than the woven and it wasn’t hard to make it fit. If I did it again, I would probably do it a lot more technically, but I was in a rush. 🙂

  So that was that. I could have just stopped there, but being the ADD/OCD person that I am I decided I may not even like that shirt. (It was pretty hard to getthe lace detail to show up on my point and shoot camera, after all.) So off I went, to find more fabric and another pattern.

  Of couse, when you’re sewing and designing things in a rush, you tend to reach for those things that you’re most comfortable with. The Mama Cassie pattern by Made for Mermaids is definitely one of mine. In fact, one of my very first posts was made about the Mama Cassie. My writing and sewing styles have both changed since then. I also like to believe my photography has gotten a bit better (i.e.: my 4 year old no longer holds my camera for me), but you can be the judge and read it here.

I used this super lush DBP that was from Joann’s fabrics, but I purchased it via a destash page on Facebook for $2.50. It has been in my stash for awhile now and I’ve been staring it down lately, knowing that I wanted to turn it into a fall piece. I used the Mama Cassie cold shoulder bodice and 3/4 length sleeve pieces and constructed it as a top by lengthening the bodice by 2.5″ in front and in back. To be honest, I’m long waisted which means I typically have to lengthen peplum bodices at least this much normally, anyway. So it would have been great to lengthen it by more, or to add a band….but alas, I only had about 3/4 of a yard of fabric. I was amazed to have gotten the top out of it to begin with!  I love the bright colors, mixed with the softness of the fabric. I can’t wait to see this piece, along with the rest of my fall wardrobe. (getting there one piece at a time!)

  If you can’t tell from the Duchess skirt, key west top and Mood dress that I’ve made…I’ve had a big penchant for wovens this summer. Last summer, I had a pair of shorts that I bought at target that quickly became my favorite pair. I don’t know about you, but when something is my favorite, I quickly WEAR IT TO DEATH! I must have worn those shorts every other day last summer. So, needless to say, this summer when I pulled them out, I realized they were beginning to fall apart a bit. I began looking for a pair just like them, but everything was either too short, made of knit, or just not my style. (I’m 5’3″ so “board shorts” look like I’m trying to wear capris unsuccessfully. lol) These shorts had a front and back yoke, were made from woven material and were fitted in all th right places, but loose in others. They looked great on and didn’t make me look to much like a church mom OR a mom who is trying to look like a teenager.

Because of this, when Rebecca Page of Mummykins and Me released her Berry Bubble Shorts, I knew it was fate. They resembled my favorite shorts so much it was uncanny. They can be made bubble style or straight style, with a large or small yoke, with several different lengths, finishings, etc. Basically, a perfect pattern for shorts. I would venture a guess to say that they would even come out cute in a stable knit fabric! I intend to try, anyway!)

Indoor pictures with my Fujifilm Finepix 3280 camera are still a little difficult. You can tell here that my ISO was turned up too high, resulting in the “noise” that you see. Another lesson for another day. At least I’m learning, right?

  The shorts are available in girls sizes as well as womens and you can bundle them via her site. (Psssst: she may also have some great coupon codes to try a few dress patterns for free, if you join the Mummykins and Me facebook group!) I’m a big fan of Rebecca’s patterns, as everything fits in a very specific niche that she has never waivered from. She definitely has her own style and it fits along with mine quite nicely. She also has a great section of “curvy & plus size sewing patterns” and I love how she keeps the patterns relavant accross the board and available for ALL body types. The beauty in sewing is being able to make pretty things for yourself that fit you well and make you look your best, so I believe designers who leave out these sizes do themselves and the sewing community a great disservice.

This was one of my sons favorites, he said. I’ve never known him to get excited about me sewing something for myself, yet he loved these shorts!

But let me hop down off that soapbox! The fabric I used for the shorts was another from my mystery apparel Fabric Mart box. It was some sort of tweed, I’m guessing (?) and I had envisioned it as either a pencil skirt or pants, but it ended up being perfect for these shorts! I’m still not sure how I feel about the poofiness of the bubble style, so I may go back in and remove the bands from the bottom, then just hem. I love that I can keep my options open!

  Obviously, I struggle with top overlaod, as right after the shorts, I jumped back into making another top. This time, the new women’s Hera Blouse had been released from Wardrobe by Me, and I loved the look of it!

  The Wardrobe by Me patterns are lovely contemporary pieces that fit together so well, they can help you build a capsule wardrobe. I love that so much thought has gone into the aesthetic of it. Stephanie, the designer, has developed “wardrobe builder” pieces that include such basics as tops, pants, jackets, etc. Then there are other pieces that mix and match with the bases to build a wardrobe that is unique and beautiful! This was my first time sewing up one of her patterns and I’m officially a fan.

The pattern itself was well written, the instructions are on point and thorough and the blouse goes together very quickly. The only thing I may have done differently would be to use a less stiff woven. This one has absolutely no drape and the pattern specifically mentions that you should go with drapey fabrics. Rebel that I am…I quickly figured out why, as without a belt, this top resembles a very beautiful scrub top. 🙂 (hence the full on outfit pics 🙂 ) Don’t forget to join the  Wardrobe by Me Facebook group for support and to see all the other new patterns coming out! I know I’m definitely excited to have another designer to keep an eye on!

  I believe the Hera blouse will be a welcome edition to any end of summer or beginning of fall wardrobe. I can just picture it with a plain white long sleeved shirt underneath and it’s practically beggin to be worn with boots and belt, as I’ve shown! Bonus, for those of us who still have kids attached to our boobs constantly  nurse, you can keep the front wrap piece unsewn and voila! easy access! (although I’m not sure my milk monster needs her access to be made easier, seeing as she loves to flash me around! ha!) 🙂 I’m sure it would be excellent for a new mama, however! 🙂

    Without dragging on forever, I will say that I have a few more things I have made recently, but as pictures are now a ton of work for me, I haven’t photographed them yet! I am very excited to share the new tests and things I’ve sewn up, though, so keep your eyes peeled! Among my favorites, a little boys hoodie, some zombie fabric, ironing board cover, thread catcher and some fun felt animal embellishments!

I’ll be back again soon! thank so much for reading!

  Until next time,

Sewin’ and Swimmin’,

April Simpson-Hunt

  Catching up: Projects lost in the shuffle of the #momlife *This post may contain a few affiliate links, depending on whether I feel up to finding them or not.