#i want to be an artist in 2024. my goal is to not quit.

[mymp3]

not gonna do one of those "year in review" art things. but i will say this, even though this was a tough year, im really happy and the things i did end up drawing. lots of little things and comics. just doodles and the occasional piece. just things that made me happy. next year i want to continue that, i just wish and hope i'll continue to draw and that i'll make things i genuinely enjoy. i wanna go into 2024 with a smile. :)

#mikutimetalk #happy almost new years everyone! #i have some other things i could probably say regarding what i want for my art #like to learn perspective again #rundowns on anatomy #brushups and whatnot #coloring and experimentation #and to continue drawing things with backgrounds #but other than that i just want to draw #theres been a couple of times this year where ive just sat and considered the fact maybe i'll never make something ever again #maybe i won't be an artist #and i dont think i could live with myself if that were the case #i dont want anything standing in my way #i dont want any hardship or tough time hindering my relationship with self expression #i want art to be with me for the long haul #not just to talk about it but to actually show off what ive done #i want to be an artist in 2024. my goal is to not quit. #i'm gonna make another new years post that isnt about goals when the clock strikes 12 #but for now. its just about art

[thirdnap]

Hello,

Here is the life update of my past 4 years.

I began this blog many years ago in 2012 when I was only 14 years old, and I then slowly gained the courage to start posting art at 17 when I joined the K fandom. It's wild to think that I am now 25!

I was never quite consistent in posting since I only shared my art here whenever I felt like it, but it slowed down ever so gradually to basically 1 post a year for Yata’s birthday. This blog helped me with my fear of showing my art to others as I was incredibly embarrassed of my work for a really long time.

I soon moved to the USA from my homeland and attended animation school for 1 year, and then studied illustration and visual development for 4 years and I managed to accomplish many things I never could have imagined. I graduated with honors this past May, was selected by the faculty and head of department as my major’s trustee scholar, completed my 84-page art book thesis, got a few pieces into the Society of Illustrators, and my school even shot a mini docu-film about me, my art and my life where I got to share my upbringing. Art school was very demanding and at times tough but I managed to get a lot out of it :)

In July of this year, I moved to California from Florida and I’m much happier than I’ve ever been. I come from a very small country so I never expected to get this far in the art world. I drew Yata for fun in my bedroom whenever I wanted to and now I’m in LA breaking into the animation industry (receiving my first credit too!)

the drawings I share here are a very very small part of the illustrations I make weekly. I wish I could share them with everyone as I’m very proud of them but I enjoy separating my fandom life from my real life a little too much! Surprisingly I am working as a background artist at the moment despite never drawing backgrounds in this blog lol. I think many of you would be surprised at how different my work is from irl!!

It hasn’t always been great, so I don't want to make it seem like it's been all perfect. I’ve had many hard times too and at the moment I am extremely homesick since I haven't returned home in a long time but I think these are needed sacrifices.

However, I'm excited for 2024. I'm looking forward to growing as an artist and my goal is to continue to have fun with art as much as I have right now. I think I’m lucky to have a great support system including my best friend @fuurais who has been by my side for 10+ years and I managed to convert into a K artist too <3

Thank you for the support, for the kind messages, and for the excitement every time I post. I am always happy when I think of this blog and the friends I made. I unironically think about Yata every day as he is past being my comfort character tbh. I am currently writing this with full-on orange hair that I've had for a few years now lol.

I don’t think I’ll be as active as I was at 17 but I will try to not ghost this blog completely. There are a lot of things I haven’t drawn yet that I really want to do and I'd love to share those drawings with everyone.

Lots of love -

Tael <3

#k project #project k #yata misaki #misaki yata

[vndev]

Free VFX & Consultation for NaNoRenO 2024 Jammers!

Hey everyone!  I hope you've had a great time participating in NaNoRenO this year!  I'm Nai from Make Visual Novels, though I imagine more of you know me either through our live team building events in DevTalk, or from the other jams and competitions I run.  I wanted to let you guys know that, for a limited time, I'm offering free consultations for jammers participating in NaNoRenO2024.  With those consultations, I'll also be creating VFX for your title screens to help you make a stronger first impression.

So you might be asking...

Why would I even want a consultation, Nai?

Something went really wrong and you want to know how to fix it .

Something went really right and you want to know how to take advantage of it.

You had an objective that you got close to, but couldn't quite hit it.

You want to go Pro with developing VNs, and you'd like guidance.

You feel lost in some part of the process, and need help setting goals for your circumstances.

You tasted VN Dev, you can't imagine a life without it, and you want tools, resources & opportunities.

Okay, but why you?

I've spent nearly a decade supporting and coaching visual novel developers reaching their personal and professional goals.

I've read over 500 indie visual novels.  I know what your peers are doing, and where they are succeeding and where they're struggling.

I run & judge for the largest sponsored visual novel development competition.  That 500 was a conservative estimate.

My network includes VN engine & game developers, game, book, comic & VN publishers, merchandise providers & manufacturers, marketing professionals, crowdfunding experts, professional programmers, illustrators, animators, graphic designers, VFX artists, 3D Artists(specifically modelling, texturing, rigging, and lighting) editors, pixel artists, Live2D capable artists, authors, narrative designers, translators, composers, musicians, singers, casting directors, voice actors (so many voice actors).And, probably most importantly, people who are living the experiences you're looking for.

In short: If I don't know the answer and/or can't come up with a solution to your very specific goals, I know someone who can.

I'm in.  Now what?

To be eligible for the free consultation and the VFX, you need to have a game submitted to the NaNoRenO 2024 jam page and follow its rules.

Having a list of questions to ask is a good idea.  Having goals is an even better one.  If you don't have goals, we can work on setting them.

For best results, you or a team representative should be present for the consultation.  These are conducted between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM ET on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Message me over on Discord (discord:naidriftlin) or in DevTalk(https://discord.gg/devtalk) to set up a time and day.

Some things to keep in mind: 

Don't ask me to roast your game/be brutal.  I don't do that.  I can provide critique with suggestions and examples.

These consultations will be conducted live on https://twitch.tv/makevisualnovels.  My viewers are typically your peers and VN industry folks, and usually not exceeding 10 concurrent viewers.  A VOD recording will be provided to you to download for 30 days afterwards.

The free VFX for your title screen is eligible for those who complete the consultations.  It will be tailored to your existing title screen visuals and delivered afterwards.  I may opt to stream and record the process of making them.

#vn development #vndev #visual novel #nanoreno 2024 #nanoreno

[xiaq]

Hello friends. I mentioned it might happen and now it’s official—A scrubbed version of All Hail the Underdogs will be published as the third book in my Breakaway Series (aka after LRPD and LYNLTP). I signed the contract today⭐️ ⭐️ so you have a week to go download it (until Jan 30)⭐️⭐️ before my publisher requires that I take it down. A word of warning—I’ve changed the scrubbed version Quite a bit from the original in terms of secondary/background characters; you will recognize none of the old Samwell hockey crew. So if you want The Boys (TM) (and Lardo) go download it now or forever hold your peace.

Questions folks might have:

1. What about Matts or Martel/Okezie’s stories?

Matts will be book 4. I'm working on that now. Martel/Okezie will be book 5.

2. Will you turn any of your other fic into published fiction?

I don’t think so. The check please fics were mostly an excuse for me to play in a hockey sandbox and I relied a lot on headcanons/Fanons when writing. That made them easy to scrub and turn into their own thing. Everything else I’ve written I feel is tied much more closely to the source material (HP, Old Guard, Mandalorian, Sherlock, Bond) so A. It’d be hard to scrub and B. I just want to enjoy fic and let people enjoy my fic and not feel like I need to try and monetize all my writing. Especially now that I have this series I can keep expanding. My goal with publishing at all was to start making a name for myself now so that when I retire (maybe early? depending on how things go) I can write as a second career. I've achieved that, now.

3. After you take it down will you still share downloaded versions if people lose their copy or miss the deadline?

My publishing contract doesn’t allow that, but I’ll make a post just like I did for LRPD where folks with copies can share them with folks who need copies. I’m absolutely not going to hold the story hostage. If you don’t want to pay for the new version, you 100% won’t have to.

4. When will it be published?

Book two will be out in late spring or early summer 2023. Book three will likely be spring of 2024 but nothing official yet considering I just signed the contract today.

5. Will the same cover artist do the art? Provided Jick is still down, yes! We are all about supporting fantastically talented fan artists (and continuity) in this house.

6. Will you keep writing fic?

Of course! I'm writing a new HP fic now and I have a Witcher fic idea percolating. My writing might slow down with Real Life work stuff and publishing stuff, but like...the majority of my friends are here. I learned to write here. I like it here. Why would I leave?

#ahtu #myfic #mywriting #fyi #alert alert

[onlycosmere]

STORMLIGHT 5 UPDATE

Concept Art by Randy Vargas

Brandon Sanderson: Hello, all!  I know some of you may have been waiting for this.  It’s time for the first in a series of updates about your book!  I wanted to wait until I’d made good progress this month before I stopped to write one of these updates, and I do apologize for leaving you in the dark for so long.  I probably should have written one of these back in January, but it’s been an odd year for me, full of unpredictable timing issues. 

So, let’s get the obvious questions out of the way.  Do I have a title yet?  No.  Still thinking.  I’d like it to fit the format of KOWT or KOW, but I don’t like most of the options that have presented themselves.  It requires more thought.

When will the book come out?  I’m looking at fall 2024.  I have tried to be very forthcoming about this one—warning people for a while that 2023 might be too optimistic.  And, as I feared, I have been forced to let the date slide quite far into 2024 because of three issues.  The first is that I set myself up for a TON of revisions this year, and they’ve been taking more time than expected.  I still have two books to revise, though I’ve been spending all of August on Stormlight.  

However, that isn’t the primary reason I’ve ended up pushing back the book.  I’d planned for these revisions, and could have done those while working on Stormlight.  The second reason I pushed the book back is that I knew this book, of all the ones in the sequence, deserved a little extra time and attention.  It will likely be the longest of the series to date, and I have to be careful to juggle all the storylines properly.  I didn’t want to be rushed on it, and—though it may shock you—an 18-month production cycle wasn’t going to cut it. 

The third reason is one I haven’t been able to gauge as easily as the first two—something new to my life.  Lately, I’ve needed to dedicated more and more of my time to running a company.  I still reserve three days a week solely for writing, but that’s down from four days a week in previous years.  

The meetings take two general forms.  The first category is meetings with my team.  Things like reviewing the production of the secret projects and leatherbounds to make sure things look and feel right.  Others involve deep dives into concept art for characters and settings, so that when we create products like the upcoming Stormlight miniatures, they can fit with a canon version of the characters.  This is something I resisted for a while, feeling like it was all right if different artists interpreted the singers (for example) differently.  More and more, though, Isaac and I feel that we should have specific canon examples for continuity.  

Other meetings are editorial related, or publicity related.  Dragonsteel has kind of grown up the last few years, and I want to do it right.  That means being involved, as long as it doesn’t impact my time TOO much.  But all of that needs to be balanced with the numerous film and television meetings that have been happening lately.  Again, I want to do this right—which means being deeply involved in the projects that are moving forward.  (Announcements should be coming in the near future.)  That takes time.  So, the free time that I had during Covid to write secret projects is now being eaten up by a lot of these meetings.

I’m still finding the right balance, but this last month has seen a lot of good progress on Stormlight.  I’m sitting at 65,000 words right now as of this writing.  Roughly 16% if we assume a 400,000-word final book.  (Though this one will, as I said, likely be longer than that—so that 16% might be more like 15%.)

Unfortunately, progress is going to slow again as I have a couple of other deadlines due.  My goal right now is to do the last two revisions (Defiant and Secret Project Four) in rapid succession, in September and October, and be back to Stormlight in November.  

For a teaser, though, here is what I’m working on: I’m going to write this book in phases, straight from beginning to end, through several character groupings.  For example, the first sequence I’m writing is Szeth and Kaladin in Shinovar, including the Szeth flashbacks.  I plan to write all of their plot, from start to finish, before moving on to the next sequence of characters.

All of that 65k so far, except the prologue, has been on this plotline—and I’m loving how it’s shaping up.  I know the Szeth backstory has been a LONG time coming.  I hope it lives up to your expectations.  There are some interesting lore secrets here to reveal, and the climax is something I’ve been building to since book one—indeed, you’ll find death rattles from the first volume referencing the events here in this sequence.

I plotted this sequence at 100k.  It’s looking a lot more like 150k now that I’m neck deep in it.  The picture is related!

I know that four years is a long time to wait for a novel, and it’s been my goal in the past to keep that to 3 years.  My intention is that once this is done, we’ll have another longer-than-normal gap as I turn my attention to Mistborn Era Three (and hopefully the Elantris sequels) before diving back in to do the back five Stormlight books.  From there, I’m hoping to return to a 3-year gap between books until we push to the ending at book ten.  

A long journey, I know!  But you’ll almost certainly have television and film projects in the interim to keep you occupied alongside the other things I do.  And I continue to feel that Stormlight works best in ultra-long-form novels, rather than the (far more profitable) option my publisher would prefer of one shorter 100k Stormlight book every year.  The experience of the thick book full of interconnected plotlines and smaller interlude flourishes is part of what makes the artistic vision work for these volumes.    

As always, thank you for your patience.  My job is to make sure it’s all worth the wait, and I am striving each day to show respect for the trust you’ve put in me.  

Next update should come around the end of the year, where I’ll let you know how my November/December went.  With luck, I’ll have managed another 70k or so across the two months, and land us at around 130k, which MIGHT be the end of the first sequence.  

#the stormlight archive #stormlight 5 #cosmere #cosmere future #cfsbf #brandon sanderson #kowt #root #wob #arts arcanum #szeth son son vallano #kaladin stormblessed

[teenytraveler]

ART VS ARTIST 2023!

Man, what a year! I read what I wrote for my previous art vs artist in 2022 and thought "wow, how positive I sounded!" A long text ahead - you have been warned!

This year truly was a mix of pure chaos and a quiet void at the same time. Many life changes happened in my first year of adulthood. As I tried to navigate myself in this new environment, I got to experience many things for the first time - I landed my first job, bought my first PC, got to take part in many weddings of my closest friends and family members, went on a trip to another country with my friends and got to meet my work colleagues.

I also isolated myself at home as my home became my work place, developed bad habits of spending all day in front of my PC, lost joy in the work I at first found interesting, lost faith in what I can do and in myself, too. Somewhere along the way, trying to make good, rational, adult decisions, I kind of lost myself. I felt left behind as people moved on to the next stage in their life. I wanted to do art but lost my drive for drawing. I gave up and quit my job, and now I'm slowly getting back on my feet again. I keep reminding myself that it's not the end of the world, even tho for so many people out there the end of their world is happeninig as we speak, every single day.

I came back with full force in December, my will to do art strong and steady, with new plans and goals forming in my head. I am still uncertain about many things I want to do, but I'll never know if any of them work until I try them, right?

Thank you for still sticking with me, despite me being in and out. Seeing my art getting noticed and seeing you reacting to it makes me so happy and warms my heart every single time! To every and each of you, from the bottom of my heart - thank you, for being here, reading this.

I don't have any expectations for the next year, just one request - dear 2024, please be kind to us.

(threw in some of the sketches undercut since I doodled so much in December!)

#meg rambles #art vs artist #art vs artist 2023

[citrus-cactus]

Citrus' Art Summary 2023!

The year is almost over, so here's my art summary for 2023! I got this template from here. This is my third year in a row being able to populate every month with a finished(/digital) piece (and really, I did a LOT more than what's shown here!), so that feels like something to celebrate!

Technically some of these choices don’t match up with their post dates; I counted some months as “when I was primarily working on them” and some as “when I actually published them,” but the sentiment remains. Like I said, it was a busy year! :)

Some more rambling + links to all featured artwork beneath the cut:

I remember last year I was quite worried about/was actually teetering on the edge of artistic burnout. There were definitely some months during this year that I felt a bit overwhelmed (particularly during the summer, when I was working on a 5-illustration series in a style that was DEFINITELY outside my norm, PLUS a bunch of other stuff), but I also appreciated the stylistic variety, and doing a lot of sketchbook drawings/marginalia that were(/are) just for me, so they never had to be "finished” or even "good." Even though almost everything pictured here is Digimon(/anime) art, I did experiment with a more "realistic" style for the Dracula Daily series (Aug/Sept), as well as trying to relearn the "Disney" style I started drawing in waaaaaaay back in high school, only now with a LOT more understanding of facial structure and anatomy. Largely, this style shake-up has been incredibly freeing (these are still sketchbook-only studies at this point, but I'm planning on some digital illustrations in the Disney style in 2024). I'm sure they still look pretty anime-influenced, and I'm not sure I'll ever truly be able to escape that, but honestly I don't mind; the anime aesthetic IS a part of my preference/style!

Let's see, the prevailing fandoms for what's shown here are Digimon Survive and Adventure 02. I really want to draw more Survive art next year!! Really happy with the collabo between @vidramon and myself (July), and honestly most (if not all) of these pieces. I worked hard, I branched out, I took on some really ambitious projects, and finished a ton of things (looking at you, March! That Knight drawing was a WIP for an entire year, but I finished it instead of abandoning it, which is what usually happens when things sit around that long!). Ultimately, I believe I told (and helped tell!) some great stories through my creative projects and art this year, which is my true goal forever and always.

Honestly I'm happiest with April's drawing. That one was a ton of fun to do, but I would have to work really hard to replicate that coloring style because I don't remember my brushes/settings, ahaha. Sadly this is how it usually goes with coloring for me; I make it up as I go almost every single time, which is why series are so difficult for me. I am nothing if not inconsistent -_-;

I would be remiss to mention that a huge part of my productivity this year was due to setting and tracking monthly goals for myself. I gotta thank everyone on the @campdigimonth server for their help in keeping me organized and motivated throughout the year! I plan on continuing my creative check-in posts in 2024.

Next year, I want to a) make more Survive art (particularly with Survive Week coming up), b) draw some more flippin' gargoyles (CRIIIINGE, but no, cringe is dead, I'mma do what I want!), and c) keep working on my personal project! And I am, once again, thinking about bookbinding. That's a "maybe" for next year as well!

Descriptions and links to the full artwork pictured for each month:

January: Survive Week, Day 5

February: Survive Gang Aromantic Week

March: Knight Unryuuji and Friend

April: “Rose-Tinted” fic illustration

May: Happy Birthday Vi!

June: Happy Birthday Haru Shinkai!

July: Happy 1st Anniversary Survive! (aka BEST SOCK FRIENDS)

August: Dracula, September 13

September: Dracula, September 20

October: Adv 02 Countdown Event, Day 7

November: “Boo!” on the Cob

December: Digimon Secret Santa 2023

#the cactus speaks #art summary #art summary 2023 #my art

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #34 | 08.27.23

Hi everyone!

Another month has flown by, and we are already entering the month of September soon! It's crazy it's already Fall......... Hope you all have been doing well <3

Since we're getting into the latter half of the year, I wanted to sit down and talk to you about the usual monthly progress as well as do a check in on where Alaris is sitting. This is a longer one, so without further ado, let's dive in, shall we?

Writing

We continue to move forward with writing. But it's extremely refreshing this month since I've Finally moved into Etza's route! Already, the route is feeling relatively different from the past three routes I've been writing---not necessarily because the past three routes are repetitive, but moreso because Etza's route (and the Fae ones moving forward) is very different regarding plot content. I can't say much more than that because then we start getting into spoiler territory. But it's been exciting since Etza, Kuna'a, and Aisa have always been the "final stage" of writing for Alaris to me.

I'm aiming to have Etza's first draft done by the end of next month. We'll check in next month to see my progress, but that's my goal at least! I also wrapped up the finishing touches for Druk's route this past month and moved his onto developmental editing, so we are just moving into New Stages all across the board yay!

Art

Most of my attention was actually on art this month though! Specifically, on finalizing Kickstarter merchandise so I can ship it out. I finished the updated Mermay prints as well as the character postcards.

they r beauty they r grace

I will have some extra prints that I'm happy to send off. Obviously, you will have to pay for them LOL. But if you're interested in any, I'll have an extremely limited stock. Patrons will get first dibs, so if you are interested but aren't subscribed to my Patreon, I'd recommend getting on that for this upcoming month since I will not be restocking the Mermay prints ever again!

We also continued to get backgrounds from Vui. These are spoiler territory, so I will not be showing them this month teehee. But they're beautiful per usual Vui fashion!

Check-In

Now that we're in the latter half of the year, I wanted to talk to you all about overall Alaris progress and some more specific parts of development.

As of right now, we have about 210k written for Alaris (including the demo). And the end estimate is about 350k. For art assets, we have 20 CGs out of an estimated 48 CGs finished and/or sketched out. For BGs, we are on background 18 out of 25. The GUI is for the most part finished, save for some small finishing touches. And we have 6 out of 8 original tracks completely done.

If it's not clear, Alaris will definitely be a 2024 release rather than an end of 2023 release, which may be disappointing news for those of you eager for Alaris. But realistically, even if I make absolutely cracked progress on the assets from now until the end of the year, I would still need time to polish the full game, especially considering how long it took me to polish intertwine for Otojam, which was significantly smaller. And that's excluding my team members, who I don't want to force into a crunching position. All that being said, I hope to get some playable content to you all before the end of the year, namely the updated demo and maybe Kayn's beta build!

I wanted to take a moment to mention one thing concerning the updated demo. As you all may know from past devlogs, I've updated many of the assets for the enhanced demo. Initially, I had wanted to release the updated demo quite a while back, but there was one set of assets that ended up getting held up in production. For full transparency, since I've talked about the updated demo for a while but haven't been able to show much more progress beyond that, I wanted to touch on (generally) why it's been held up, mainly because I don't want you all to think I'm just Not Delivering on it!

My GUI artist is the same person who made the Alaris logo (re.Alice). She's wonderfully talented, which is why I wanted to work with her for the Alaris GUI as well! As many may know, sometimes life happens and so without getting into any specifics, this is what has been holding up the enhanced demo since I haven't been able to update and code in the new GUI.

Based on recent updates from Alice, I'm hopeful that I'll be receiving the new GUI this upcoming month, and I'd love to release the updated demo (T e n t a t i v e l y) in October! Of course, when the September devlog comes around I'll be able to update you all more concretely. But I wanted to communicate where things currently (and have been) standing since I've been wanting you all to experience the updated demo so badly but didn't want you all to feel like I've been forgetting about it/dropping the ball on it/etc. etc. etc.

Thank you, as always for being so patient and supportive of me! As we head into this final half of the year (jesus), I hope the progress I've been making behind the scenes for Alaris will start to come to fruition through the enhanced demo and some playable beta builds of the individual routes <3

Market Research

I did ~some~ market research this month, but it's honestly been pretty sparse, mainly because my usual market research time was actually replaced by Jam Time this month.

Specifically, if you didn't get the chance to check them out, I helped with two games this month for a 10 day jam. I think they're both pretty top-notch if I'm allowed to humbly brag since the teams behind them were very talented!

The first is Oblivisci Memorias

After receiving a mysterious request, you create a potion meant to erase memories. But the process is a grueling one, and as you add ingredients to your potion, you may find yourself reminiscing on memories you thought you had long since suppressed.

And the second is Titan Arum

Alone, you find yourself catsitting in your family's new house as they traipse through Europe. But incidents slowly signal to you that something's... off about this house. What story exists behind its walls? And more importantly, are you brave enough to uncover it?

#alaris #devlog

[risathefairyofshampoo]

Goals for 2024

So this year started, and the first month almost passed, and I've been thinking about my goals for this year. I do have some personal goals that I want to achieve, but for the last two weeks, I've been thinking about my blog and if I want to make any goals for this year (to improve, make things easier for myself, etc.). So here are some goals I want to achieve, or well, work on:

1. Stick to a certain aesthetic

I've been looking back at the readings I've done, and tbh I think they are really ugly. Of course, the quality - so the reading - is the most important but also the way I present it and how I word myself. I just don't like them anymore. I deleted a lot of them and from now on I want to make them more pretty. I'm a big perfectionist so yeah... Maybe you noticed a little change and if you didn't, well now you know ;)

2. Improve your online time / post more

Okay so. What I mean by it is that I want to be more active but also take care of my privat life. I want to find a balance and make both things work. I get a lot of requests and I would like to answer them but I don't have the time, or make the time for it. I'm badly structured and I would like to improve that.

3. Care more about your interests when it comes to readings

Like I said, I do get a lot of requests and I sometimes pressure myself into doing them even though I'm not interested. Therefore I feel like I don't give it my all and make myself feel 'bad' while doing them and thus I don't like to do them and it feels like something I have to do (like it's my job and not hobby).

4. Finish one 'board' for an artist

Okay this seems to be a little extreme but I would really like to just finish one board with 'basic' readings for every member of one group (Ideal type, X as a bf/gf, X as a friend, ideal life, ideal/dream job, personality reading, how does the Kpop-industry view x). And maybe for a soloist but a group seems to be a good goal!

5. Not only post readings but also talk about something you like

This is my blog and I mean yeah I do mainly/only post readings but I would like to talk about things I like and that maybe aren't a part of tarot or kpop.

6. Learn more about tarot and find a better way to meditate

So I'm a huge fan of 'learning by doing' and I mean tarot is done in many different ways and I want to improve my 'technique' (If I can call it a technique) and meditation. I think it's very important to meditate especially if you work with energies, so I want to do it more often and for maybe a longer time (?). I'm not quite sure about it but what I know is that I want to do it more often. And yeah as for tarot I kinda like the way I do it now so maybe if I get better with my current technique, that would be great!

These are my goals and I hope things will improve on this blog and I'm always open for (good!!) criticism and ideas. 🫶

[kimblestudies]

studyblr intro

-> it's been a while so I wanted to post another one of these.

About me:

call me Kimble :]

woman. indifferent about gender and prns.

high school senior (US) intending to study international economics.

I like enjoy writing, making art, embroidering, crocheting, reading, cooking, and baking.

I've had this studyblr for a while now and I always love interacting with other similar blogs. I like posting aesthetic pictures in order to romanticize my academics and hopefully inspire others.

My posted will be tagged w/ #kimblestudies

Classes: -> Calculus II/Differential Equations, AP Government and MacroEconomics, AP Art, Geoscience, and AP Literature.

More about me:

-> I have three cats: Rowan, Apollo, and Luci <3

-> I love listening to music, and don't know if I have a favorite artist for sure, but I like listening to Lemon Demon when I do math. Other favs are Dresden Dolls, The Velvet Underground, Mitski, Will Wood, MGMT, Glass Animals, Hozier, and quite a few musical soundtracks.

-> I am neurodivergent with anxiety, and I've found out how to work with my brain to make school work for me! (Most of the time, anyway).

-> I keep an 'everything journal' and it works really well for me.

-> I'm agnostic, but sometimes I might post some stuff about my crystal collection or tarot cards.

-> I also collect keychains and shiny objects.

-> My favorite genres are horror, science fiction, classic lit, and historical fiction (particularly historical fantasy).

-> INTJ, 5w6

Goals:

-> Enjoy my senior year -> Move out to Uni

-> Read 25 Books in 2024.

#studyblr intro #studyblr adhd #studying #academia #kimblestudies

[templetogavage]

Weekly Weighing (02/25/24 to 03/02/24)

Here are 7 posts I enjoyed from the week of 02/25/24 to 03/02/2024.

1. https://www.tumblr.com/softjigglyprince/743601282140504065

Let's start off with @broaderstrokes. There's a lot of fat hanging off this superchub, and the lighting and the pose do a lot to highlight every inch of it.

2. https://www.tumblr.com/ryanporker/743443319671095296/alright-these-feel-like-pictures-i-wouldve-found

There's already plenty to like about these images, but the caption really cinched it for me. It's true- this looks very much like a case of achieving gaining goals.

3. https://www.tumblr.com/ginger-binge/743521056791330816/get-more-from-gingerbinge-on-patreon

If you're even slightly into teasing/degradation, this preview will definitely make you consider checking out this encourager's Patreon. Thanks to @ginger-binge for drawing my attention to him

4. https://www.tumblr.com/gaininggalore/743585289569812480/cinnamontoastken

CinnamonToastKen is a YouTuber/Twitch streamer whose content I mostly wouldn't recommend, but his weight gain is something I'm happy to appreciate from a distance.

5. https://www.tumblr.com/thespiderpig1999/743652819444400128/gaming-is-a-gainers-best-friend

I don't believe I've featured @thespiderpig1999 previously. This photo ties into my favorite idle fantasy, the gaining gamer boyfriend. Excellent use of a prop to turn a simple belly shot into something greater.

6. https://www.tumblr.com/naughtynoodle056/743777800843051008/heres-my-list-of-black-gainers-artists-and

I checked out quite a few names from this list of black feedist Tumblr users. Most of their blogs aren't for me, as while I respect and wish well for women into this kink, I'm too gay to want to see regular posting of photos of them. However, this is exactly the kind of list that ought to be spread- a curated list of folks who aren't getting enough exposure without the help. So I'm sharing it for anyone who follows me who might appreciate this sort of thing.

7. https://www.tumblr.com/mattyhalled1/743918037016756224, https://www.tumblr.com/mattyhalled1/743879218317950976/sometimes-i-get-discouraged-with-my-slow-gain-and

I was facing a choice between two gorgeous men with excellent, dramatic before and after comparison photos, and I have elected not to choose. Here they both are in all their glory.

And that’s this week’s Weekly Weighing!

#rotund roundup #weekly weighing #content type: text #content type: photo #content type: video

[peachiseas]

Art summary 2023 Ramble

Yeah yeah yeah, like I stated in my last post, I really kinda wanted to talk in depth about just the insane whirlwind that was this year for me artistically anyways. I hope y'all enjoy ans sincerely thank you for supporting me

So to start off, this year was the most successful year for me in art. I had a lot of lows this year but art? Art was not in any of those categories though it was really shaping up to be my worst year yet.

In 2021, I had my house fire that really more or less threw my senior year of school for a fucking loop. Then in 2022, I lost all of my stuff due to negligence by the demolition company and that severely tanked my entire will to really create. Decades worth of art since I was 2 that I carefully preserved for myself when I was older to browse, was just gone.

So after I graduated, I applied for a fuckton of zines because I thought that since I was approaching a huge depressive creative block, if I didn't stop drawing then I wouldn't experience it.

Well. I was wrong.

Not only was I depressed, but I was swamped with work and the work just didn't make me feel better at all. By the time 2023 came around, I dropped out of so many zines and the ones I did finish were late. It was just an absolute nightmare. I think that's why I didn't have so many general pieces in 2023, I was burnt the fuck out from overworking.

I think a positive was though that afterwards, I still wanted to draw little things which turned out to be my best idea yet. Mainly because for me, little stuff like merch is quick and easier for me to pump out. And because of that I ended up selling so much this year because I became more active in making merch, I'm really shocked. Not only that, I did do quite a few cons too and sold pretty well for my first official year. Which once again, took me off guard cause I'm hypercritical of my own work.

So! My goal for next year is to sell and make more merch obviously, but I do want to make actual illustrations again. I really miss it. And comics too!! Now that I'm officially moved in, I can do things I actually wanna do. I really cant predict what next year looks like for me but hopefully, it's good. And I do want to make a sincere thank you to everyone who supported me before and now! I wouldn't have gotten this far without yall! I hope 2024 is kind to you!

#candy girl.txt #very long but its just #augh #makes me a lil happy

[taintedmantis]

2023 Wrap Up! What I Achieved (and What I Didn't) Plus 2024 Goals

We're at that time of the year again! What a blast this year has been for me as a Gaming Content Creator to look back on. For this, I'll be referring to these Tumblr blog entries:

1. 2023: Reevaluating My Content and Developer Goals For This Year

2. End of 2023 Content Creator and Developer Goals (Updated as at August)

Let's start with what I didn't manage to achieve this year.

Indie Game Dev:

Achievements

The hobby dev team I'm in managed to recruit a graphic artist, and we were able to create something out of a game jam back in April. As mentioned in the August blog entry, the game still needs polishing and honoring the team's agreement to not showcase it yet until it's ready, it was still a fun dating sim project that involves mycelium! However, we're at the point where we aren't quite able to do this on a more regular basis due to new job schedules for a few of our team members. So...looks like my time as a game developer is currently on hold for a while.

Having gotten that out of the way, let's continue with what I did manage to achieve and where I'm headed in 2024.

YouTube:

Achievements

As at now (December 31, 2023), I'm sitting at 690 subscribers, just 10 subs shy of hitting 700 at time of writing. It doesn't sound like a big number, but at this time last year, I was only over 300 subscribers, with me hitting close to 400 on January 18 this year.

Specific tweet here.

This means almost doubling the number of subscribers on my channel, which I am grateful for, and already a fabulous achievement for a small creator like me. ❤️

Targets for 2024

Will the upcoming year be the year I'll finally hit 1000 subs? I'm absolutely positive it will be! With the trend of my best videos being the Get Better At Mahjong series that constantly receive views daily, I can see it coming. Despite only producing possibly 1 mahjong video annually at this point, it's the tabletop game that will always be in demand no matter what, especially during the Lunar New Year period when the entire community that celebrates the festival plays this game to entertain the rest of the family. The better question is exactly when this will happen! Let's see if this will happen by the Year of the Dragon!🐉

Content Creation:

Achievements

1. Festivals and Why You Should Play series: Having covered several Steam festivals, ranging from Next Fest to LudoNarraCon, I have come across many games that would have otherwise flown under my radar. With so many amazing games released in 2023 in particular, I had to start a new series that goes a little more in-depth on individual games. This is when I decided to start the Why You Should Play series. The playlist is still a little too short to have it appear on the landing page, but I hope I'm able to give the games a little more justice and attention to some of the details that I wasn't able to cover in the more generic festival videos that usually only offer demo coverage. There are still many games that I have planned videos for, but with my ability as a one-man-band doing everything while also honoring other commitments, many of these have to be on hold. Hopefully less so in 2024, but let's see!🤣

2. Let's Plays: Noticeably, I have done a lot less Let's Play style videos in the past year. This is not to say I don't want to keep doing them, but due to lack of views and my inability to be amusing enough to be entertaining, I've decreased the frequency of this video style in favor of more structured videos. It also means putting more effort into increasing the production value for the other videos, which means my video releases are less frequent compared to 2021 days. However, seeing the improved quality of videos I've released in 2023 is a great reason to continue that trend. I will see if I can finish off some of the Let's Play titles that are in progress at a later time, but with upcoming new schedules, I cannot make any promises on that. I will try to squeeze something interesting in once in a while where possible (such as the Two Point Campus Christmas Challenge video).

3. Convention series: As Covid-19 started to ease off in January and Hong Kong finally opening up to the world after nearly 3 years of being in constant lockdown, I began to consider heading back out there and put gaming travel as part of my channel branding as it was my original plan pre-Covid to start travel vlogging. It was one of the best decisions I've made this year with meeting many gaming industry peers at conventions, plus putting faces to Twitter mutuals. This is where I decided to begin some form of gaming related travel series, though I admit I am a little slow in the turnover as the time commitment to editing has been quite challenging on my end. I only have 2 videos related to conventions so far, but more videos are coming!

Targets for 2024

With dates set and churning out travel plans in advance, my convention attendance and coverage will overall increase as with continuing coverage for Steam festivals (Next Fest in particular). The only thing I'm afraid of right now is creator burn out, but by far I'm managing this reasonably well, despite may sometimes requiring me to take a week or two off from video editing on occasions due to sudden mandatory commitments. As long as this trend continues, we're good to go!

Last Words for 2023

Best year yet! Thank you everybody who has been supportive of my journey and am absolutely grateful for the opportunities presented to meet new (and finally non-virtual) faces from the gaming industry. I'll leave a photo of my cosplay of FFVII's Tifa (that I wore to gamescom asia 2023) as a reminder of this year's achievements as I continue my Gaming Content Creator journey through to 2024. Here's to a fabulous 2024!🎉

#2023 #gaming channel #content creator #indie games

[bell-arina271]

1/25/2024: Update and Yearly Goals

Hello everyone! First of all, I am SO sorry to everyone who was following me and waiting on updates for the project. I was completely wiped and had a bad turn for my mental health.

HOWEVER the fundraising idea I had in mind is still on track! It’s just taking longer for me to learn everything I need to get this off the ground. A lot of it has been learning new stuff, so it’s taken longer than I anticipated. I was planning to start mid January, but now it looks more like I’ll be launching in February. Hopefully in the first week.

Just so you’re not in suspense, here’s the idea:

I want to create a “logo” for this campaign. Nothing too fancy, but something that symbolizes artistic creativity, and will represent supporting Artist Communities. Then I’ll put it on Redbubble and sell stickers, pins, notebooks, and little things people can buy so that they can openly support the cause while “donating” to the start of it. I work full time, so all my living expenses are already paid for. The profits would go straight to funding the project.

The reason it’s taking so long is because I wanted to have other designs too, in case people don’t like the logo for whatever reason (I’m not a graphic designer, so admittedly, it’s probably not gonna be great lol) so I could give them options. Also, I wanted to open up my sister’s Redbubble first. She has Downs Syndrome and is medium functioning, so she doesn’t understand how to set everything up in the shop. She is on disability and already has housing, but I figured having a little extra income for the fun stuff she wants would be good lol I wanted to make sure she was set before focusing on myself.

Anyway, my initial idea is to still take older multi-tenant places and update them with pure function in mind, not luxury. That way I can keep rent very low. Basically just charging for utility, property taxes, and pay off renovations. Which, split between multiple people should be more than reasonable.

If for some reason that doesn’t seem viable, I’ll take someone’s suggestion of buying land and just bringing up manufactured homes to make a little community. Either way this WILL happen, it just might take me a little longer to figure out how.

I’m still talking to other professionals to see how to do all the technical stuff, but after that I should be able to take charge and start getting things under way.

Unfortunately, it… may take another year after all, because my mom just had a bad turn for her health. Bad enough that she had to quit her job. So now I’m taking over mortgage payments for the house so we’ll be set while she gets the tests and treatment. Before anyone panics, she’s not in the hospital or anything, just having issues with her vision and a few other things. She plans to “rest” for two months while we fix her up, and then get an easier job that’s not so physically demanding. Thankfully she had to quit due to medical reasons, so (I think) she’s still covered from her job insurance lol.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hopefully my next post will be the grand opening of the Redbubble! :D

Also if any of you are Christian PLEASE pray that I will find time to relax. Things keep popping up triggering my anxiety and making it hard to get good sleep and breaks OTL

#art #artists on tumblr #affordable housing

[longarmsmagee]

News Years Update: 2024!!!

Ello Ello everyone, and welcome to the year year! I have settled myself into January, and have some things to share with you!

So, to start, I want to apologize for being inactive with my own posts, art, etc. I've been making stuff, just failed to post it, and I do really like sharing my stuff with everyone. I've made a list of 2024 Goals I'd like to achieve (some personal, some general), and one of them is to share more on here and other places! I'll be breaking down the others below.

ART GOALS! I am planning on practicing more body types and body variety, as I am very much a same face, same body person. I want to change this, and improve my art and knowledge. I know I'm a fairly decent artist, but there is still so much I can't do and only I can change that. So expect a decent amount of experimental art throughout the year, alongside my usual AU and OC posting!

SOCIALS! I'll be trying to keep up with socials more this year, as I have been slacking. Currently, I am balancing Tumblr, Bluesky and Ko-fi for Socials and Promotion. They've been pretty dry for the last few months because again, I haven't really been taking the time to post anything. That's gonna change, I love sharing my works and progress with yall and it makes me happy when people enjoy what I make.

COMMISSIONS/STICKERS! I need to overhaul and update my comms, mainly the examples I have. I feel some of them might me misleading or not quite representative enough, so I'll be getting those done. My goal is to have them updated and open again sometime in February. I'll also be running a new Interest Check for some new stickers. This check will be much larger and give you plenty of options to choose/suggest for what you might like to see me make in my style! I'm also hoping to do some research into other types of merch like pins or charms, but do not expect to see any merch like that any time soon. You will be able to find all of these on my Ko-fi!

That's all for now, I hope to see yall around, and I can't wait to get back in my groove this year! Cheers!!!

#artists on tumblr #txt post #new year 2024

[strangedaystrangeyear]

2024-01-01 — Bound for Botany Bay — John Williamson

I've typed, deleted, and retyped variations on the same opening line for this post too many times now, so I'll just write words and hope they serve as an acceptable introduction. Once upon a time, I went out of my way to listen to new music. I really enjoyed discovering all sorts of artists and albums. Somewhere along the line though, without realising it, I stopped. After listening to the same set of songs for the entirety of 2023, I wanted to try finding new music again.

My goal is to try and listen to a new album every day this year. I don't know if I'll follow through with it. I don't know how long it will be before I miss a day, or a week. I do want to try, though, and hopefully, keeping a log of what I've been listening to online may help. I don't know how much I'll write each day. Probably not much.

Bound for Botany Bay (or Fair Dinkum J.W., which I am told is the original title) is an Australian country album. I'm not really sure how I got into it, but I really like Australian folk/country. All things considered, I didn't branch out too much today, but it was still something I hadn't listened to before. I had the album on while I was trying to piece together a Commander deck for MTG. The deck still needs a lot of work.

I think Wrinkles was my favourite song on this. I added it to my big songs playlist before it had finished. If I were to try writing a song myself, I reckon I'd be unconsciously trying to write something similar. I also added (Why Don't We) Separate and Be Lovers to my playlist, as well as his version of Brisbane Ladies.

Country Football was a very charming opening song, charming in a wistful sort of way. It didn't feel like an opening track as I listened to it initially, but on reflection, I think it works well. Your Body Feels Like Heaven to Me felt like a closing track, so I wasn't sure how I felt about there being another track afterwards, but again, on reflection, Brisbane Ladies works very well as the closer. I might add Country Football to my playlist now I'm thinking about it some more.

Some of the songs here are traditional folk songs I've heard many times now. They just automatically make me happy. Botany Bay, The Ryebuck Shearer, and With My Swag Upon My Shoulder, I've heard done by a whole bunch of people, but somehow this was the first time I'd listened to Brisbane Ladies. Not quite sure how I'd managed to miss that one before.

I wrote down two notes while I listened through the album. (I thought I'd end up writing a few more so I had something to work with when writing this, but alas.) 1) I wasn't sure about the panting in Just a Dog. I got the sense, as the song ended, that I'd grow to find it charming if I listened to the song some more. Not sure yet, though. 2) Being told I was about to hear what turns John Williamson on in Love of a True Blue Girl was a little disconcerting. As it turns out, he was using "turns on" to describe sentimental memories he is very fond of. If that's what turns on means, then I guess I'm also turned on by soup and being tucked in.

With any luck, I'll have a post up tomorrow. With some more luck, my Taigam, Ojutai Master deck will be finished soon.

#music #album a day #john williamson #folk #country #i don't know how to tag