#yosstext

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humanity-shines

replied to your photoset“I’ve been drawing these forms… been calling them “angels” because…”

@humanity-shines

They look like angelic sigils for angels name, as over time they got more complex. Makes me wish I could commission you to draw mine

What a wonderful thing to say! I have drawn them based on emotions, notes in songs, animals I’ve seen, even writings that really struck me, so I could see how they would have looked that way to you.

[starlightpen]

So here’s what’s been going on (art, Tumblr, New Year Planning)

I’m fully aware I basically fell off the face of this blog, let me explain:

Life got busy, I had to focus on getting it together and basically swore off the daily challenges for this year, and came back when it looks like Tumblr is going to self-immolate.

My take on it is that while it doesn’t look like it’ll affect me or this blog. (not a lot of my stuff has gotten flagged, if any) Tumblr is depending way too much on a broken system to fix a problem they’ve been aware of for a while.

P*rn bots have been running rampant for over a year, but despite users reporting and blocking them Tumblr didn’t seem to think it was important until it got taken off the app store. Until it affected them. And even when they took action, all it did was affect, not only n*s*f*w users who were being responsible and making sure their work didn’t reach minors or people who didn’t want to see it, but perfectly innocent users who got flagged for... some reason? The logic isn’t clear.

This has been a problem ever since Tumblr implemented their shoddy filtering system, and they’d have to have their heads pretty deep in the sand to be unaware of this. What makes this worse is that now there doesn’t seem to be a way to get flagging reversed, and it looks like a lot of blogs and posts may be deleted on December 17th. To rub salt and lemons in the wound, the p*rn bots have adapted by adding #sfw to their stuff, basically making Tumblrs efforts meaningless. This is just the peak of infuriating BS that staff has pulled ever since it got bought by Yahoo/Verizon, a downward spiral of bad decisions that started with ads that you can’t dismiss (even if they’re triggering/extremely inappropriate, I’m looking at you weird toxic romance comics) and ending with introducing a system that only really affects the userbase.

I’m under no allusions that this will kill Tumblr. Honestly, I hope that even if this cripples Tumblr the staff will learn enough to rebuild and maybe put some brains and effort into running this site. However, actions speak louder than words, and I fully intend to participate in the log-out protest on December 17th. If you’re interested, here’s how it works:

Completely log out of tumblr on the 17th, for 24 hours. From 12am Monday to 12am Tuesday. Don’t delete your account, don’t delete the app, just log off and don’t log on. Go onto other social media, raise a bit of a stink. The idea is not a mass-exodus, just a sit-down protest. You aren’t using Tumblr, you’re just holding on to your accounts while you complain on other sites about what a crummy job they’re doing. Then log back on and assess the damage.

Hopefully this will send a message. Maybe not. I’m already collating the alternate info for people I follow just in case they get lost in the implementation of the new system.

On that note, in case Tumblr does a massive hiccup and I lose this blog(or for people seeking brighter horizons)

I’ve been a lot more active on Instagram lately, so my account is yossdillo on there

I have a twitter I sort of use, that I may start using more in the future, it’s @ starlightpen

I don’t have a pillowfort or anything at this time, I’m looking at other options.

I do have a personal website, though: starlightpen.com.

(It looks like a business-y portfolio site because it is, however I’m looking at changing it later this week to be a general hub for my work, so keep the link saved because if something in my social network changes you can bet it’ll be there.)

Now on to the art announcements!

One of the things keeping me from posting was prep for a couple of actual offical art shows. Exciting stuff, and a way for me to vent my abstsract artist leanings. This has left me with images of quite a few paintings I’m proud of, and I’ll post these later in the week. Outside of that, there isn’t really a lot. I swore off the daily challenges and I’m mostly taking life one day at a time while I get ready for Christmas and try to reorganize myself. After the art show post, I’ll post when I can but I can’t make any promises. I can only thank people for their patience and assure them that no, I’m not dead.

-Liz

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So!

I'm fully aware I haven't posted in months. Good news, I'm not dead! I just got massively busy and the ol' art blog got pushed to the back burner. I'm going to kick things if my queuing up some sketch dumps I'm particularly proud of. I've been sketching on pastel paper lately and I think the results really work. So have fun with that!

[starlightpen]

July 2018 Update

So this update is kind of a big one. It comes with a bit of a story, but the long story short is that I'm not going to be doing daily challenges for a while, until at least October.

I was at one of these job hunt things that my Dad has started encouraging me to go to. You know, it's basically a class where you sit and take notes on how to get a job. (it's mostly designed for people who had a career trying to get back into said career or something similar, but I digress) I did some accidental soul searching as one does when they have add and an open notebook in front of them, and I was writing down all these big projects I want to do. Pretty exciting, right?

Then I start thinking about all the little projects I was doing. And how much time it took to do them, even if I was able to keep up with them every day. At the time of this reading I was only able to finish four out of ten drawings. I wasn't fully invested in the project and it showed, and on top of that doing those little projects was taking time and energy from all the big projects I keep raving about in every monthly update.

At this point I'm silently staring at the wall. What on earth was I doing?

To make a long story shorter this is me announcing that I'm not doing the daily challenges anymore, at least for a while. I want to see how much I can get done before October before deciding whether or not I'm going to do Inktober. I've mentioned:

Finding a job

Making a webcomic

Doing an art series

Designing jewelry

All the while letting these smaller projects drain the energy and drive I have to actually do these things! Somehow I never made that connection until now.

If something cool I want to try comes up, I'll do it once to get it out of the way but after that, well, I have work to do.

Thanks for your patience with me, and I hope to bring out even cooler stuff in the next month.

-Liz

also I may make art for the 4th, not sure yet I’ll need to think of something...

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May 2018 update

Okay yes this update is kind of late. I've been very inactive this last month due to taking a break and a friends wedding, but I'm back for the time being. Here's what I've got planned.

I skipped the April Drawing Challenge, so this month I'm participating in Mermay. I'll do it in big chunks because I want to do themes. I'm also experimenting, both with a new medium and a new drawing style. I'm pretty stoked about it to be honest.

I'm also doing some reworking of my portfolio, so I may be making new pieces to fill any gaps.

But most excitedly, I got a new machine to do digital work on! I found a Surface Pro 3 for a good price used and it works beautifully! I'm messing with it so that I can get used to using it as my main art machine. (the old one would periodically freeze and crash, which kept me from getting any drawing done) I am very excited to dive headfirst into all the projects I had wanted to do but couldn't on a buggy machine.

Looking forward to posting more art this month!

Liz

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Happy Easter! Or at least, happy April Fool's day. I'm hanging out in the small cafe my church has to free up space for the people who attend maybe twice a year. Maybe we can get them to attend regularly that way. Anyway, seems like as good a time as any to write an update.

My plans kind of fell apart last month. I got sick, which happens every year and I should have planned for, and I got promoted (???) at the craft store. Which means more responsibilities, but also way less late shifts. I didn't even finish Marker March, and I'm up in the air about whether to just post what I have or try to finish it. Prolly the former. The daily doodles thing died too, and it may be for the best that I post doodles in batches anyway.

The April Drawing Challenge is starting, but I'm not planning on doing it this year. I have other projects that I don't want to put off for the challenge. I may draw enough to post equivalent to the April Drawing Challenge, but this year I'm not officially contributing.

Basically this month is a month of refocus; I've lost track of all the stuff I wanted to do and I'm using April to reorganize. I just ask for your patience, and thank you for your continued support. 117 followers 117 more than I ever expected!

-Liz

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March 2018

Okay I know this is a few days late; some personal stuff has come up I'm not going into detail about. Here's the short version of events:

The weekly series thing is leaving. It wasn't working, it was causing more stress than good and I'm switching it out for posting updates to those series when I'm able.

The monthly writing series and updates are staying, since I already have a few planned.

Marker March is coming back this year, I'll be doing it in ten-image chunks with one big image at the end. Still deciding on a theme.

I'm going to try doing daily doodles in place of the weekly series. I saw it on another art blog; get a daily doodle in by a certain time every day. Doesn't matter if it's unfinished or crude, just has to be a doodle. I'm going to try this until the end of the month and see how it works.

Writscrib isn't yet a thing as far as my posts go; looks like they may be making updates, some of which would wipe all the posts. Since a majority of the current userbase is for that this early in development (and I can't blame them) I'm just going to wait until that update goes through.

Etsy also isn’t a thing yet. I'm having some formatting trouble and haven't put a lot of time into it because, again, personal issues.

Daily doodles start today.

-Liz

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Inspiration: Meditative vs. Focused and embracing both.

One of the things I devote a good amount of my maladaptive daydreaming to is different ways to come up with ideas. (hopefully making the action less maladaptive and more productive haha) On self-reflection I've found the two best methods I have for idea creation are polar opposites in methodology; buckle in kids I'm pulling out the five-syllable words today Meditative Inspiration and Focused Inspiration.

Meditative Inspiration has an easier and more recognizable term; "shower thoughts". I was introduced to the term for Meditative Inspiration by a video on how to come up with ideas by NightMind on Youtube. In his How To Make A Webseries videos he brings up the idea of putting your mind in a meditative space; occupying your body enough that the mind can wander. I often find myself in this state while going on a walk, mowing the lawn, cleaning my room, or- appropriately enough- while in the shower. These are the kinds of ideas that creative types bemoan not capturing and putting down "while I still had the chance!" I personally have multiple scraps of paper that are scattered around my living space with ideas I've scribbled down to put in my planner later. The key thing is to not be focusing on something else while you're in that mindset; you can't put new gas in a full tank.

The ideas you get from meditative inspiration will often be the richest. They will come from things in your environment and mutate together into a horrifyingly beautiful idea baby. And if they aren't, as NightMind said in his video, you can throw it back out and wait for that idea to draw a bigger, better idea in. It is a natural, organic method of idea creation, and you can "harvest" those ideas into a journal and notebook with a long and far off expiration date. Think of it like canning.

Meditative Inspiration is best for your magnum opus style projects; personal projects, or projects that you're leading a team to work on. The more you're invested in the project and it's results, the more appropriate a rich, meaty Meditative Inspiration idea is.

However, sometimes you don't have time for lightning to strike. Maybe you're in a high-pressure, professional environment and you need a good, solid idea in a matter of days or even hours. That's where Focused Inspiration comes in.

Focused Inspiration can be used for when you try to force Meditative Inspiration to work for you. This can take many forms, all of them involving you sitting down and taking heavy notes. A mind map is my preferred method; you take your goal and sketch out a tree-shaped map of different ideas, key words, requirements, working outward and making connections until you are able to string together a solid idea. (my next writing post may just be an overview of how this method works; see? An idea, right where I needed it!) Other methods work as well; lists, journaling, vomiting words and doodles onto a large piece of paper until you have your eureka! moment. You aren't putting out a lightning rod, you're jumpstarting a car.

I'll warn you, these ideas may not be as rich as your Meditative Inspiration ones. Especially if you're on a time crunch, they may be passable, and you won't have the time to throw them back out and bring something else in. However, a passable idea is better than no idea. See what I'm talking about?

Focused Inspiration ideas are best suited for, again, professional environments, or ones where your idea is going to go through the threshing machine of strict group review. Group projects, focus groups, working through multiple departments, the more times it changes hands the less your idea can be your baby. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, and a little harsh. I find it helps to think of my idea going through the it-takes-a-village-to-raise-a-child mentality, or even the mentality that your idea is a seedling, and all the other hands are contributing to its growth. Your idea may be changed in a way you didn't expect, or maybe even didn't want, but you have to have faith that the people changing it only want the idea to succeed as much as you do. You need to be willing to detach, just a little. And should you get one of those lightning strike ideas that may have nothing to do with your goal and you know would only get sullied in other hands, I sure wouldn't judge you if you put it aside and dug for a seedling idea more appropriate for the project. It's a bad idea to make an unrelated idea work anyway.

To continue orbiting at least vaguely around the various food analogies, imagine getting an apple. Meditative Inspiration is akin to going apple picking and finding the perfect fruit in your preferred variety; a nice surprise, with a natural ripened flavor, and you'll be carrying it out in your hands with the utmost care because you can't depend on finding that good a fruit right away. Focused Inspiration is more like going to the grocery store and finding the best one in the rack; you place it in the bag and carry it out, knowing it may not be as good as those perfect apples you picked on an apple-picking trip, but not only do you need an apple right away, there will always be more apples when you need it.

If you haven't tried both methods (most creative types are familiar with Meditative Inspiration, but not Focused Inspiration) I highly recommend putting aside an afternoon to give it a go. You may find you prefer one method over the other, or a mix of the two; I personally get my best ideas from a mix, with more Meditative Inspiration than Focused Inspiration but not purely Meditative. This way you'll at least know what you prefer.

Thanks for reading my thought process on idea creation. I hope it helps you when you're trying to think of new ideas!