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Connie Converse
Maybe you've heard of her, maybe you haven't. I'm writing this for those who haven't.
Connie may well be the first American singer-songwriter, though her name remains relatively obscure. I only stumbled upon her music recently and was instantly captivated by it. My fascination with her artistry drove me to delve deeper into her life and the mystery surrounding her disappearance. This exploration took an emotional toll, as I found myself relating to her on a profound level. Her lyrics already resonated with me, but as I delved into her story and read parts of her final letter titled "To Anyone Who Ever Asks," the line, "Let me go, let me be if I can, let me not be if I can't," moved me to tears. I suddenly felt like her disappearance was such a significant loss to the world.
Then a strange thing happened as I was painting this portrait of her. I glanced at my worn-out, old Intuos4 graphic tablet (yes, it still works), its stickers peeling off, and I couldn't help but cry. In a hypothetical scenario (if I also disappeared) where someone as sensitive as me discovered my possessions, viewed my art, and learned about my life, they might feel the same way about me. In that moment, I gained a newfound appreciation for my art, for what I do, and for who I am.
Being proud of my art has always been a challenge for me. Typically, I create and release my work into the world, allowing it to find its own audience. And I have to admit that a lot of the time I even dislike my art. But lately, I've been working on having the same level of appreciation for my own work as I do for others. I'm sharing this because I know there are many artists, like me, who are excessively self-critical. Yes, I struggle with perfectionism, but even more than that, I used to be so self-critical to the extent that I would stop myself from creating at all.
This year, however, through my personal sketchbook project, I've made a conscious effort to change that. I've been focusing more on savoring the process of simply putting pen to paper.
But enough about me for now; let's shift our attention back to Connie Converse, and I'll just leave this sentence that her brother Philip Converse wrote about her:
"Sis was a genius and a polymath. I do not use the terms lightly. Connie was a poet, a writer of scholarly articles, a cartoonist, a painter, a would-be novelist by her own description, an activist, sculptor, and among other things a songwriter."
She wrote most of her songs between 1950 and 1955 when she was in her late 20s, living in New York City. While they do evoke that period, they are also timeless.
There's another intriguing aspect about her, at least from my perspective. Based on my reading and the accounts of those who knew her, it's my personal belief that she may have been on the asexual spectrum. I don't mean to speculate or offend her family, but this is just my personal opinion. Her music often delved into themes of loneliness and isolation, but it also celebrated her independence and contentment with being on her own. It's evident that she grappled with depression and often felt unheard. If she indeed fell within the asexual spectrum, it's highly plausible that she also carried feelings of being different or "broken," a common experience for asexual individuals, including myself.
There has also been speculation that she might have been a lesbian, though it remains just speculation. Ultimately, we'll never truly know, and her personal life remains her own business. I believe there might be a connection between these aspects. She was undeniably brilliant, and while it might be wishful thinking on my part, the fact that she was never found and her family respected her wishes allows me to imagine that she might still be out there somewhere. I hope she senses how much people cherish her music now and realizes how deeply appreciated she is.
Thank you for reading if you did! If you want to know more about Connie Converse you can listen to Spinning On Air's beautiful podcast episodes about her here, here and here.
#connie converse#illustration#art#personal#personal post#I don't know if this is interesting to someone#i felt like sharing#maybe it can help another soul#thank you for reading
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for tablets: wacom are good, i've had an intuos4 for over a decade as a professional illustrator and no plans on upgrading. they have nice wee cheap starter ones! you'll have to get used to drawing on the pad and having it turn up on the computer monitor, though. it's weird at first but you get used to it. :o) otherwise i recommend an ipad with procreate. it's really good but might be more expensive unless u get one secondhand
:oo thank you so much!! i'm going to bookmark the results for wacom and hopefully by christmas i'll be able to get one, or anything like that really. just seems like it would be fun and a nice distraction lol. youre a star mwah i hope you're having a lovely day/evening <3
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I got an XP Pen display for Christmas and I'm so in love 😩
My little intuos4 served me well for over a decade, but this is so nice
#ive drawn on screens like tablets before but the matte screen on this is incredibly nice#plus the power of my pc is superior to every android tablet ive drawn on#its just ~smooth~ i love it
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I FIXED MY PS4 CONTROLLER !!!
Meet my resurrected from the grave unus annus controller that I might paint into a spiral in future.
I'm so proud of myself. I bought a $12 battery and replaced it, instead of a $60 new one or $50 refurbished one. since I had two I mashed them together for the unus annus reference (I know b&w isn't just unus annus but it is to ME) I might get a new battery for my 2nd controller but I have no friends so there's no rush.
but the only thing wrong with it was that it couldn't hold a charge at all, the buttons and everything else worked fine. the x was sticky but it just needed me to scrape the dried sweat off the inside.
on the topic of fixing electronics I also saved my wacom intuos4 after my vape spilled all over it by taking it apart and cleaning it.
so if you have an electronic that's just a little broken, look up some things about the issue and see if you can fix it yourself! not only is it cheaper and more eco and ethical to fix what you have, but it's satisfying too! and if you break it in the process, well you were gonna get a brand new one whether you tried to fix it or not anyway you know?
#hello void#hell o popsicle#hell o misc#hell o hadal#hell o pyro#ps4 controller#ps4#is this what modern cyber/tech punk is#i feel punk whenever i repair my own shit or cut my own hair or make my own things and i know there's more to punk but i feel like#being conscious and caring about what you have and avoiding consumerism as much as possible and using your own hands is pretty punk#tech#tech repair#vessel
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I searched valiantly but was unable to find my old Intuos4 pen.
Okay, I looked in the two places I might have left it, then gave up. Close enough.
But there are so many tablets available for $40 or less now. I'm just going to buy one solely for Blender sculpting on my main monitor.
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I'm hesitant to ask this, but I have my old Wacom Intuos4 that's just hanging out in my closet after I bought my Cintiq. It still works just fine. It's worn from use, but still very functional.
Seriously though, Wacom makes good stuff. I have only ever had three drawing tablets and only the first one, an Intuos3 I had back in like 2006, broke. And that's only because I abused the hell out of it and the cable frayed. I taped that thing back together and dumped water on it so many times.. rip Tabitha.
Anyway, I digress.
I would like some other artist to get some use out of it instead of it just collecting dust. Does anyone want it? I'd only ask that you pay shipping since that's probably not going to be cheap.
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Good bye My friend. But I will keep you forever. Like friends who went earlier than you. I would still like to be able to repair this again, but it would be difficult.. Do not need any new tools or high-tech equipment to draw. Just a friend familiar to me is the best. 12년에 16만원 주고 중고로 사서 이걸로 도대체 그동안 얼마를 번거냐. 그동안 정 많이 들었는데. 그래도 버리진 않을거지만 암튼 그동안 고생 많이 했다. #tablet #intuos4 #wacom #iiilstrator #inhyuklee #inhyukleeart #tool #draw #와콤 #타블렛 #인튜어스4 #이인혁 https://www.instagram.com/p/CFFFDw0hMQu/?igshid=nbzrx3qgtcol
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I haven't picked up a drawing stylus in months... time to get back to it! Upgrading my set up soon enough, I'm tired of working uncomfortably. _ _ _ _ _ #drawing #studiotsu #tablet #digitalart #indiedev #flexseal #animedrawing #linework #logodesigns #logo #animeart #wacom #wacomtablet #intuos4 #ineedtoupgrade https://www.instagram.com/p/B3kJqSeBhPJ/?igshid=6vtaye9ig20b
#drawing#studiotsu#tablet#digitalart#indiedev#flexseal#animedrawing#linework#logodesigns#logo#animeart#wacom#wacomtablet#intuos4#ineedtoupgrade
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Let your voice be heard
Concept illustration for an inspirational childrens poster :)
#music#drawing#illustration#voice#children#guitar#drums#sing#digital drawing#digital illustration#digital design#sketch#intuos4#photoshop#pattern#poster design
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Yikes. This is why I pay other people to draw for me. I guess I just need practice. My very first Wacom Intuos pen tablet creation.
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Ilustración gatito 🐱 con mariposa 🦋 #minino #gatitos #mariposas #artwork #instaart #digitalpainting #digitalart #ilustration #ilustrationdigital #drawing #digitaldrawing #wacom #intuos #intuos4 #corelpainter https://www.instagram.com/p/BvlOy6FBrFT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=qllhxf986hf
#minino#gatitos#mariposas#artwork#instaart#digitalpainting#digitalart#ilustration#ilustrationdigital#drawing#digitaldrawing#wacom#intuos#intuos4#corelpainter
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About worn out nibs in Wacom Intuos 4 tablet - when to change them and how (with pics)
It comes a time in which one shall replace the nib of the stylus of choice. In a Intuos 4, the pen-holder can be opened with a twist and there you will see 10 free nibs. Treasure them.
5 of them are copies of the same black plastic nib it came with your stylus by default. These wear out quite fast, hence their comprise the 50% of your free nib population (why are you rising your eyebrow?).
The others are made of different materials and are coloured differently, 4 grey ones and one black with a core of what I believe is some kind of white polyester (correct me if I’m wrong). One of the white ones comes with a spring and its feeling is pure plastic, much like the default black ones. The other 3 feels like they are made of “felt”. All these are to give a different feeling when using your pencil, and to be honest, they run through the surface with more ease and more control than the default ones, which slips way too fast for comfort.
These 3 white ones are the most close to the feeling of drawing with an actual pencil on paper, and on the plus side, they wear out slower.
The one with a spring feels like plastic, all right, but the feel is more like when you paint with a brush. The most closer feeling I can give is when you use one of those Copic markers which comes with a tip that tries to resemble an actual wet brush. That’s the feeling I get from that one.
The black nib with a white core is a champion. This one wears the slowest of the bunch and its feeling on the surface of the tablet is more akin to the ball of a pen. If you are like me and love to draw with those BIC pens, you are in for a treat. At least is the feeling I get.
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Now onto the real challenge. I was one of those who thought changing the nib should be done when the tip was flat as a stump. DO NOT.
Inside the pen-holder there is a metal ring with a slit on a side and a small notch in it. This is the tool you need to actually use to pull out your nib and exchange them with the rest. However, nobody tells you when to do it, and if you decide to do it late, chances are you will be stuck with a nib you can’t pull with the metal ring. No tweezers can be used to pull the plastic nib outside its fortress. However, in my case, the tip wasn’t fully flat. It was flattened in an angle, but the more I tried to pull, the more it went in, to the point a mere mm and a half was out. It made me to open the tip case and look for a way to push the nib outside, to no avail.
A search on Google made me to locate a solution: to pull it out with a pin.
I was lucky enough to have enough slope outside to trust the pin through the plastic of the nib and pull it outwards (with the help of a thimble and my thumb), but as I perused the post of another affected user, she needed to insert the tip of the pin on one side (causing a notch on the plastic rim of the hole because of how narrow it is), and she managed to pull the nib out along with the pin.
However, this case is extreme, as she accidentally stuck all the nib inside the tip of the stylus. I just can imagine her frustration while trying to fit the pin in a suitable length to force the nib out.
This is how my worn out nib looked like after it came loose. You can see the notch I made on one of its sides where I stuck the pin to push it outwards (and a flake of plastic from trying to grasp at it with the metal ring and later with some tweezers).
Can you see the measly difference in size on both, the new and the old? Lets have a look at the new one sitting inside the stylus.
You can see, with such length outside, you are left barely with enough room to pull it out safely without it becoming stuck.
After considering the width of the metal ring into account. You are safe with a nib worn out as follows:
Lower than that and your metal ring will slip and trust the tip further inside, which is what we don’t wish to ever happen (again). If your tip is wearing out unevenly (like mine, which wears out in an angle), make sure the lower part of it is within the safe boundary. Else, it will slip away and tear flakes of plastic, making the tip smaller. If you are very unsure about the length and wishes to play safely, after you replace your new nib into its place, use your metal ring, squeeze it hard and twist it until you make a noticeable notch on the surface of the body of the nib. This will serve to remind you about how much length you are leaving for the metal ring to safely pull the nib out, and on the plus side, it will give more “grip” to the metal ring in future pulls... but be mindful, if you carve too deep, it will leave a burr on the sides of the notch and the nib will not be able to go into the socket of the stylus, hindering your user experience in way I can barely explain without making another wall of text.
Hopefully this will help anyone to avoid wearing down these particular nibs on the Wacom tablets. I’m not sure how it works for Cintiq and such, but at least up to the Intuos 4, this is how you can enjoy all your 10 free nibs without breaking your stylus (and having to pay 45$ for a new one).
Safe arting.
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Here is an illustration I did of my friend Nosebleed Sundae. I used Photoshop and my trusty wacom intuos4, and brushes from GrutBrushes (if you’re in the market for good PS brushes, I highly recommend you check them out).
I strayed away from drawing and painting all the time and naturally started gravitating toward the practice of collage, but I miss it, and would like to do it again more. I forgot the feeling of having a finished piece drawn by hand! And I’d like to better my skills in the realm of digital art.
To keep updated with more work like this and upcoming projects, you can follow me on instagram, twitter and facebook.
#illustration#cats#photoshop#digital art#digitalart#wacom#intuos4#grutbrushes#drawings#digitalpainting#digital painting#photoshop art#cute#pastels#kawaii#artists on tumblr#textures#artists on instagram#cats of tumblr#cats of instagram
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my vape mod leaked all over a corner of my tablet for no real reason and I haven't tried to see if the tablet works yet bc if it doesn't I might not be okay. and not knowing is currently where I need to be bc I'm okay. because I have chores that need to be done...
it's a wacom intuos4... I've had it since I was like 13... idk if I can lose it. getting a new tablet wouldn't be the same at this point it's a sentimental object.
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Dreaming of freedom ~
My insta:@cel.chaa
#celsart#manga art#digital art#anime art#art#artists on tumblr#artwork#illustration#digital painting#anime drawing#drawing#tattoos#sky#clouds#sunset#flying#paint tool sai#photoshop#intuos4
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Yote
Been a hot minute since I’ve done any art, and of course when I lost my tablet pen I’ve never wanted to do it more. Ended up having to order a whole new tablet (turns out it’s easier to replace a 15 year old tablet entirely than find just the pen for it), and I dove in fully intending to just scribble and paint. Happy with the results!
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