Coin Operated

Old goth Aussie who does a lot of things but has crippling Imposter Syndrome like everyone else on this Hellsite. ART BLOG: @punkedsolar

[steampunktoy]

I made an Android phone watercolour app called Waterwheel. This post is the pinned intro if you're new here, because Tumblr is like the only place online that keeps getting rediscovered by confused people in pith helmets.

Iiiiiif you've landed on this blog and you're wondering what I'm up to lately: I built an Android app for watercolour painters, and this is the place I keep talking about it.

Waterwheel is a pocket studio tool. Not a social app, not a subscription trap, not another RGB colour picker (actually colorlovers is great for that). It's for people who think: 'Look, is a new watercolour tube really so bad compared to a cup of coffee'.

All the bits:

Wheel - spin and compare outer and inner hues, read blend previews, and open manufacturer matches (Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, Schmincke, Sennelier, and more — 18 bundled catalogues so far). Warm/cool variants, harmonies, staining and granulation notes where the data has them.

Frame - camera study tools for the field: Claude Glass (circular value study) and a viewfinder with crop ratios. Handy for plein air and urban sketching when you want a second look at value and composition.

Palette - log what's actually in your paintbox and then go buy duplicates anyway, I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE. Catalogue colours or custom entries. Track what you're running low on.

Learn - short glossary and technique cards for when you're mid-session and want a distraction from overworking your piece.

Most of it runs offline on your phone (like, except the camera bit). No login. No friend lists. No data harvesting. You pay once ($4.99 AUD - less if you don't use Monopoly money) and that's it. You wouldn't believe how confusing it was finding how to do this in Google.

I'm an artist who wanted this for my own painting - not a studio, not a company. I made it because I needed a practical way to see which colours each manufacturer actually sells for a hue, and what to substitute when the tube I want isn't on the shelf.

If you paint in watercolour, sketch outdoors, or hoard half-empty tubes like the rest of us — it might be useful.

Google Play (Android): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.enpleinhare.waterwheelcolourwheel

Questions welcome in asks/replies. I read them.

If you can't use Android, I'm sorry - it's Play-only for now - I'd love to do an iPhone version but I don't have an iPhone to test on. If you can, and you try it, I'd love to hear what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for being here!

[steampunktoy]

The thing about the bisexual awakening polls is that they can also function as asexual awakening polls just by changing the question but not the images, and I think that's lovely.

[sugarsaltreading]

earlier this week Twitter user ppuccin0 tweeted about a fashion article that advised against tops with large floral patterns, saying the wearer was in danger of looking like a "ロマンティックおばさん," or a "romantic auntie." the tweet went viral with many agreeing that a "romantic auntie" sounded like a very nice thing to aspire to be, and some even posted illustrations or photos tagged with the trend

illustration by Toyota Yuu (author of Cherry Magic)

illustration by 141shkw/Sora Midori (author of Beautiful Curse)

photos by Takinami Yukari (author of Motokare Mania and Watashi-tachi wa Mutsuu Ren'ai ga Shitai or "We Want A Painless Romance")

illustration by m:m (mangaka of Matataki no End Roll)

illustration by ooinuai (mangaka of Onikui Kitan)

illustration by ma2 (mangaka of The Reason We Fall In Love)

BONUS:

[sugarsaltreading]

Twitter user WomeGa55 drew some art of “Romance Auntie x Combat Auntie”

[bigbigbigtruck]

IT GOT BETTER

[mysteryteacup]

The RomCom Aunties!

[prinnay]

The store got updated! I'm printing on a bunch of literally shiny stuff! And Untitled mirrors are back!

[steampunktoy]

An Artfight template update because I...really didn't like the current Mystery template, sorry folks.

FIGHT ME at https://artfight.net/~Punkedsolar!

[manny-jacinto]

“you’re so weird, are you on something?” yeah i’ve been on tumblr for 10+years

[balaclava-trismegistus]

>check video

>European

[chumbology]

A lot of the comments on this seem to think that Europeans HATE American cheese. They don't. (Okay, maybe the french do, but they hate everything and everyone)

You can buy american cheese in most grocery stores in europe, it's not even an exotic item. It's considered a superior cheese for making grilled cheese sandwiches and cheeseburgers, and isn't something europeans spend much time thinking about.

However, american cheese is considered to be "fake" cheese, an industrial simulacrum of cheese that is ultimately Not In The Same Category as Actual Cheese.

Europeans take cheese extremely seriously, to the point that the normally VERY strict food safety regulations are given specific carveouts for regional cheeses. There are a huge number of variations, and the public generally will not tolerate the kind of cheese americans normally buy and eat, which is considered lower quality.

Cheese is an immensely treasured and valued food item for a lot of people in Europe. I went to a play once, and the man I went with paid quite a lot extra to have a hamper of fancy cheeses delivered to him during the intermission. He admitted to me that he had spent the week leading up to the play looking forward to the cheese hamper, perhaps more than the actual play itself.

I mean, in Wallace and grommet, Wallace runs out of cheese and builds a fucking spaceship, because the moon is made of cheese and he'd rather risk death in space that go without cheese. Thats supposed to make us laugh, but more in the sense that it's an escalation of the 'usual' cheese obsession, rather than just Wallace being a weirdo.

Now think to yourself -- would you ever say the same thing about kraft singles? Of course not, and that's not even a dig at American cheese. American cheese doesn't inspire that and it's not trying to. It's a mass produced product designed for convenience, not part of a multi-centuries-old cultural tradition.

This is a lot less visible in North America. I grew up eating those humungous blocks of cheddar and mozzarella you get at Costco, and even the tier up from that was still fairly similar to those large blocks, if a little higher quality. And yes, if that's what you were comparing kraft singles to, you'd have to be a complete snob to shit all over american cheese.

But that's not what Europeans are comparing american cheese to. In the UK, even a small corner grocery store will usually have a larger variety of cheeses than a large north american store. The quality of cheese in a grocery store here STARTS at the quality you'd find at a fancy cheese store in North America . Even cheddar comes in three varieties, and even a cheap 'mild' cheddar is still vastly superior to the stuff I grew up eating. They're simply not in the same league, and it's not snobbery to say so, it's just a fact.

'American cheese', therefore, is used to evoke the concept of large volumes of low quality and unsatisfying product that is vastly inferior to The Real Thing, which, all things considered, I think is a very appropriate metaphor for AI.

[wickedsnack]

i have to be a little pedantic because it’s 4am and i tried to fall asleep two hours ago and failed. i haven’t watched the screenshotted video so for all i know they are just being a snobby european. but “american cheese” is an actual classification of cheese. that’s why you can buy kraft singles that are “cheddar” and kraft singles that are “american.” the video poster isn’t just saying “all european cheeses are superior to all american cheeses”—american cheese, as a classification, is a highly-processed blend of other cheeses, usually cheddars, with an additive of sodium citrate that allows it to be pasteurized without its components separating.

the video poster isn’t just shitting on usamericans’ perceived lack of historical and cultural connection to cheese (and frankly i’m gonna feel bizarre if y’all tell me it’s weird to have had more than just kraft singles and velveeta—have y’all never tried swiss? a good fresh mozzarella? am i the weirdo for having a grocery store that offers fresh brie in the deli?)—they’re saying that generative ai is an overly-processed blend of the real thing that might make it cheaper and more easily available, but is nonetheless subpar quality-wise when compared to the real thing.

[difty-dift]

[shadyfennec]

I work in scientific research, so lots of foreigners come to work in my lab here in France. We've had a few Americans, one of them who stayed for two years while I was here. He's from Wisconsin, the self-proclaimed best US state for cheese.

I remember vividly him telling me the shitty little Carrefour Market near the university had a better selection of cheese than his favourite fancy cheese shop back home, and they all tasted amazing. I don't think americans understand what we're trying to say. We're not snobbish and rude and judgmental, we're sad and sorry for y'all.

The parallel the video makes between kraft singles and the recent rise of LLMs is spot on. It's not useless, but its mass production and subsequent adoption literally hurts the "palate" of its users. Live a little. Stop using LLMs. Try a slice of Tomme des Bauges, or maybe a bit of Reblochon in hot bread. A lil' dollop of Mont-d'Or. Some Raclette for the road. Maybe a Crottin on the go? There's so much in the world, and the elite is making sure you don't have the chance or the drive to taste it.

[steampunktoy]

Im trying to work out if I should take a photo of the cheese aisle in my local supermarket (NOT a fromagere! Supermarket!). And then where the cheese-like dairy products are stored. They're separated. If you want the mass produced stuff, which is budget friendly in this COL crisis its there, and if you want the stuff that isn't mass produced and is superior, its elsewhere. Seems like an OK day to day way.

(Of course a cheese shop is different. This is just a supermarket. It can't maintain the humidity and cooling required for a cheese room, double door systems etc).

[steampunktoy]

Is there are more pure watercolour experience than being enraged at yourself for overworking a piece.

[liberalsarecool]

The bubble is nigh.

[steampunktoy]

So, I am, irl, a UX researcher. I'll give you a moment to look that up if its not familiar. Not UI - UX.

My areas of expertise are interfaces with health and emergency systems. Mostly digital ("There's a pandemic - here is how vaccination works and how to book online, we need to reach 98% coverage for herd immunity") but sometimes physical ("If you implement the escape stairs as a ramp with this turning circle, wheelchair users can use it and deaths by trampling will drop 12%"), and even radio. The fun bit of my job is design. I like interviewing too, but I'm an ADHD riddled artist who never made it, so the design bit is what I gain my true power from. I utilise my ADHD death spiral focus to tear big problems inyo little ones.

Recently, two things happened.

1) My parent company instituted a requirement to use AI in a specific manner that changed over 95% of my workload to staring at a black screen running Claude in white text. When I needed an interface, I told Claude AI to produce it. I was required to work at incredible speeds and only review and prompt. No users. No design. No humans. My work became only intensive decision making with very long documents written by AI used by coworkers. I am logged and my work output can be measured hourly. I'm formally medically assessed as having extreme Hyperactive AND Attention Deficit ADHD. I cannot adequately describe my suffering.

2) The UX industry was profoundly disrupted. UX research is expensive and relatively slow for agile teams. But fake users and UX agents spun up by AIs are fast and cheap. When I test in an interview I need to build rapport, adopt my user's communication norms and language (so, learn it), and rigorously review myself for bias, then explain my bias in research. All of this produces slow, rich data. And good UX researchers take years to become good. So the job market was stabbed to death because you could fire juniors and now seniors will fight for those positions.

Back to me.

So what's a designer to do? Can't quit, the job market is trash and our economy is fucked, and i got mortgage and a family to support. Can't trust everything AI does as it's consistently making weird mistakes through biased assumptions. The work will get done anyway, and I have users to protect.

Answer: I rigorously force it to eat its own output, flag mistakes, log error styling, make the model relearn to avoid biases, develop my own agents which know when to check in, I WILL MAKE IT FUNCTION-

"Punkedsolar, we need to talk. Management has noted your token usage is too high. We have to assess your usage and what you're doing wrong."

I am too expensive for the company. But I have no choice but to use AI. But I am doing it wrong. But I must be faster. But if my output is wrong, its my fault. But there are no guidelines. But it is my fault. But I get several messages a week asking for when my projects go live.

In the ideal ending they will let me fo my own job again.

The question is - how long can people cope with being out of work in the current global economy until the rebalance happens? Because most of us, including seniors like me, are one pay cycle from disaster.

(This is a story about Late Stage Capitalism.)

[depsidase]

[dragon-in-a-fez]

under US law, it's illegal for anyone who's not a member of a recognised native tribe to own an eagle feather. the penalty is a $100,000 fine.

14 years ago when I had recently moved to Alaska, I went hiking with an Aleut friend, and she pointed to a feather lying on the ground and said "hey that's a bald eagle tail feather, you should grab it!" and I was like "uhh I'm very white and that's very illegal" and she went "they're fuckin everywhere up here man. I have 20." so she grabs it off the ground and hands it to me and says "there, now it's a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person."

and I'm like, okay, cool, I guess this is how we do things in Alaska. nice.

so I keep this bald eagle tail feather around for years. display it in my home among other cherished memorabilia from places I've lived and visited, etc.

on a whim, I have just now looked it up. there is no exemption to that law for a ceremonial gift from an indigenous person. the last 7 years I lived in the US, I was technically a bald eagle poacher.

probably a good thing I don't intend to move back there anytime soon. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on bird crimes.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

@freedomisscaryshit I'm fucking dying I think you forgot the word "feathers" in your tags?? or do you just wish you could grab whole ass eagles that land in your yard??

[emotional-support-husband]

As an Indigenous person, it continues to astound me that there are such strict laws (written by White people) in our name, laws against...picking up things just found on the ground. Like, stop pretending this is "for" us. We don't want this.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

so, for clarity, that's not what this is. the law against possessing feathers is an anti-poaching measure, derived from a North American treaty protecting certain migratory bird species from hunting. that treaty has an exemption for indigenous people to allow tribes that use eagle feathers in ceremonial or religious practices to continue doing so.

[chekhovs-raygun]

i used to collect feathers (illegally) as a teenager and the thing is that it's incredibly important for feathers from wild birds to be illegal to possess because it ensures that they never become fashionable to wear. the reason we passed the migratory bird act was because the american and european fashion industry was driving species to extinction in a timespan of years. not just decades. the ecological devastation of exporting birds for hats was absolutely insane and people were watching wetlands and forests and meadows just empty out in realtime. look at the wikipedia article for the plume trade.

the law against 'picking feathers up off the ground' means that you can't go shoot an eagle then sell the feathers on etsy by saying you 'just found them'. you can't own them no matter where they came from, which makes sure that they're not going to come from any birds killed and then secretly disposed of.

these laws, as harsh and ridiculous as they seem, saved flamingos, spoonbills, egrets, and all kinds of hawks and eagles from extinction. the minute these laws weaken and people can make money off killing them again, they're fucked.

[steampunktoy]

While this makes perfect sense, I am reminded of the bestoflegaladvice thread from a long while back by some poor bastard who had a medium sized dog and two bald eagles nesting in his back garden. So far so good, dog was not a fish and was safe, eagles were a cool thing to see...

But poop covered nesting feathers are absolutely irresistible to many dogs and this one chewed them and required vet trips due to blockages. Said guy was trying to find an exemption so he could bin said feathers because asking the local tribe come out with zero notice seemed rude. Local police told him he couldnt touch them. The online lawyers debated and eventually came back with something like 'cut grass in the middle of the night and also we didn't tell you this'.

The laws are good, and people do suck, but sometimes I guess you gotta do your mowing in the night when you can't see what you're chopping up.

[edibleteef]

New-ish Benoni art, I keep forgetting to post here😭I also forgot her rosary so just imagine the firewood is tied together with one until I can get around to finishing it

[steampunktoy]

I love that the wings are just like those of angels from 16th century paintings.

[tiktoksthataregood-ish]

[steampunktoy]

Trying to make a Wind in the Willows-esque Tomodachi Life and the villagers spend all their time choosing violence with each other.

The barn owl and the potoo are lesbian birb girlfriends and all they do is enrage each other.

[steampunktoy]

Waterwheel is nearly live...

I made Waterwheel for watercolour artists. Well, really for myself, to help me make better colour choices, clearer composition decisions, and useful tools gathered into one place.

Inside the app you can:

explore colour relationships and likely mixes with an interactive wheel

use Frame tools inspired by the Claude Glass + viewfinder to simplify values and composition

track your real paint collection in your Paintbox

learn watercolour terms and techniques while you work

I wanted it to feel less like content and more like a real studio companion or field kit I could keep in my pocket: focused, and helpful. And hopefully kind of beautiful.

This whole project was built independently by one person - concept, UX, code, testing, release.

I'm hoping to go live in the next few weeks, but for now here are some sneak peaks:

[flightlessbirdboy]

I made AM

[pekingopera]

Mongolia via PallasDav

[pekingopera]

PallasDav

[steampunktoy]

Somehow I love this. Something something full circle - the guide, the fursuiter, the cat, all of it.