It’s been a while since I posted… I’ve had a lot more to write over on my cubing blog for sure. I just haven’t had the time or been in the mood to write or draw lately, and I kinda hate myself for it. I want to draw but yet at the same time, couldn’t. I did write some last week and the week before. But mostly I’ve been too tired. And I’ve been staring at the screen so much at work that my eyes are going haywire. Heck. Spent about 3 hours writing some posts over at twistyrubiks and now my eyes are shot, again. It’s that weird stage where like… My eyes can’t seem to focus on anything. I wonder if that’s how it’s like to get astig. But mine does go away when my eyes are more rested.
Honestly I thought that this week I’ll just be relaxing away with no worries… But nope, life had other plans and I was left scrambling to finish stuff up on Friday. My colleague probably worked yesterday and today too… I really should check on the status of stuff later too ><…
I have so many new supplies, some of which I’ve unboxed without filming videos, some I filmed but that’s it. Not started editing or anything. Sigh. I could really use an editor, but at the same time, with so little videos I’m filming? Yes I can totally do it myself, but I’ve also been too exhausted mentally to do it. I should get back to it soon… I did buy hobonichi stuff for next year and I am getting the delivery next week… So I should totally make a video for it. But also… So much stuff happening with work right now… And also with my future plans… It’s a huge cloud hanging over my head that I can’t get out of. I’d feel a lot better if at least the work stuff was settled. Which we thought it was on Tuesday but alas. Sigh. So yeah. This is just a post checking in to say, I’m alive, and I’m ok, but also not free/ok enough to have time for ‘extra curricular activities’ like video editing. Yeah I’m definitely not becoming a full time YouTuber at this rate… But I do still value my mental health more so it is what it is.
That’s it for this post. Maybe I’ll have better news to bring next time!
Sigh. Ya all remember that scratch art thing from Daiso I talked about previously? And I said that two of the boxes didn’t come with the bamboo sticks to scratch? Well. I was wrong. I noticed today that they had sticks, but it’s stuck on the side of the box and I didn’t look at *that* side of the box and completely missed it. Instead I was rattling the box around and didn’t hear anything, and didn’t see any mention of the sticks on the box either so I assume there were none… But well. I found the sticks on both boxes and… Yeah. One of the is mouldy already. Sigh. The weather here. I’m pretty sure it’s not my room this time since the other sticks are fine and it’s only been a week or so since I bought this… From my experience it would take much longer to get to this stage. But yeah. Goodbye stick. Threw it away. I have enough spores flying around my room as it is!
Here they are… The fanart I’ve been working on… Well rather than fanart… It’s more like, I picked twosetviolin as reference photos?
Finished this piece this morning… Let’s start off on a strong note and go with my latest and best work thus far… Eddy in colorpencil. Matching skin tones with color pencil (or maybe with any medium) is hard! The mask was much easier to draw in comparision… But well it’s not exactly color accurate too. Overall the colors are more saturated than the original… But not too bad I guess. He’s tilting his head quite a bit in the photo, which doesn’t seem to be captured here… The specs are so freaking hard to draw… I gave up trying to color match it and… Yeah… I didn’t realise how off the shape was till it’s too late. I mean. It’s one thing if it doesn’t match the reference. It’s another that the left and right does doesn’t match each other *facepalm*. Oh wells. Ya live and ya learn. Better luck to me next time… Maybe I’ll have a better idea how to blot out the shape of fragile tiny things like frames better next time. (The left ear is also a bit weird, but not as weird as the glasses…)
Considering that this is pretty much the 2nd time in my entire life that I’ve done a color pencil drawing (the first one I drew was an apple), I’m very, very happy with the results. Used the gel pen for some spots on the glasses, and the eyes because at the last min I messed up the blending… I didn’t like how the gel pen looks when it went down, but it looks ok in the photo and looking at it in person again now after half a day, I’m fine with it too.
One mistake I made this time was doing the draft in pencil… Should have used my erasable prismacolor pencils dangit! The pencil left marks and though it’s fine in many areas… The glasses which I would have preferred to remain say… White or yellow, ended up being a bit grey because of the pencil marks… Oh wells. Again, ya live and ya learn!
Going back in time we have another sketch of Eddy… This time in pencil. Just a quick sketch this time. I thought Eddy looked pretty gangster squating like that, plus it was a good challenge. I’ve hardly draw any full body sketches, pretty much just my favourite scientist in a lab coat thing that I default to, and even then it’s just standing up, and many a times I omit the shoes because I can’t draw them properly. I can only draw sideways shoes, and I’ve tried and failed to draw shoes in other angles. So this time the challenge was to draw a squating human, plus front on shoes. I did also try to look at the light and shading… But overall I didn’t put too much effort into those… I wanted to finish it off quickly and be done with it, and move on to learning new things with a new piece, and that was what I did. Finished this off in one sitting, maybe 2 hours or less? I don’t remember any more. But that is significantly lesser than the color pencil. That took me like two weeks. Obviously I wasn’t working on it everyday… But it probably took 10 hours? Maybe more? To finish that color pencil piece.
Finally we have the very first portait I tried to draw, ever. In pencil. It’s also one of the first few times I tried to shade properly. I think the proportions and everything looks pretty decent… Like… It looks like Brett.. Though the smile/grimace is a bit weird. In my defence, his smile in that insta photo *IS* a bit weird/awkward… Which was why I chose to draw that in the first place. Kinda cute, if you’d to ask me. I did cheat and turn the color photo into black and white and used that as reference so it’s easier to see the shading.
To think that 4 years ago I was only capable of doing this… Lol.
I was scrolling through my instagram accounts just now and realised that I’ve really not done much calligraphy for very long now. The last time I actually ‘practiced’ calligraphy was like 3-4 years ago… I started earnestly doing a bit of brush calligraphy daily when I was in my previous job, and I’ve been in my current job for almost 4 years now. I did continue for a little while when I switch to my current job… And then I did do like a doodle a day for a while, but those are really just quick, childish doodles, and nothing that I truly put much effort into. Finally picking it up again after stopping for so long.
I’ve been doing quite a bit of drawing lately. Not ready to share them yet… But maybe after I finish this color pencil piece I’ve been working on for a while now. Just taking it slowly and doing a little each week. I’ll show ya all when it’s done, I promise!
Meanwhile… Went to Daiso today and found they have a ton of scratch art sheets… I got myself 4 packs… Yeah 4. But I’ll do them, I promise! In fact I’ve already done one!
Tokyo bay night scene, featuring the rainbow brigde and Tokyo tower. Ahhh… I did go to the rainbow bridge in Tokyo last time, but I did see it from afar from Odaiba, when I went to Fuji terebi. Ahhh… I miss Japan. Why are they still NOT opening up? T.T
But well, in case you don’t know what scratch art is… You basically buy scratch sheets that are like colored paper or hologram/foil/whatever paper that’s coated with this black stuff, and scratching away the black stuff reveals the color (foil etc) paper underneath. So these packs from daiso seems to all be packs of 4 sheets, with them being 2 foil/hologram and 2 colored sheets. They have designs printed onto the sheets in white already so you know where to scratch off. But of course the entire area underneath is colored/foiled so you can add on to the design however you like.
Of course you can buy scratch sheets that are blank and make your own unique pattern, and I did get two boxes of post-it squares sized scratch sheets.. But those are just plain old rainbow color underneath, not fancy foil/hologram.
But yes, back to these Daiso scratch art packs. It’s great fun, and kept me very entertained for just 53 cents thereabout. It’s like $2.14 per pack of 4 designs and I did one tonight… Some packs come with the bamboo pen thing to scratch away the designs but some don’t, so you might want to pick up at least a pack that comes with the bamboo pen just for the convience. No need to fret over what to use and all. (Most of the packs I saw does come with the pen though.) It’s pretty mindless, you just trace over the lines, and maybe thicken some lines, fill in some areas etc… It’s even more mindless than plain old coloring. Not need to think about what color to use, the shading, making it look pretty etc… Just scratch the dang thing away. It’s engaging enough to keep you entertained for a while, but doesn’t take FOREVER unlike diamond painting… A good in between for sure. Definitely very calming and stress relieving… Would definitely recommend!
Fresh off the press! Recorded last week with my new mic and finished editing today…
It’s a super long overdue video though… I mean. I have so many good stuff sitting in boxes just waiting to be opened on camera. Or even off camera… But yes. I’m back. I don’t know for how long etc… How to keep this up with the crazy sh!t happening at work… Resignations… Manpower shortage… New colleagues… Interns to teach… Experiments to rush….
But yes. I did actually come back to making videos, and much sooner than I expected. I was so low on motivation and feeling so burnt out on everything that I thought it’ll be good if I could get back to making videos in Sept, or by the end of the year… And well I did stop posting regularly before my last video in May… But all in all, I was not expecting that sense of loneliness and emptiness in me as I binge watched YouTube video after video…
Maybe discovering TwoSetViolin and watching how they few their channel from 0 to 3.8 million inspired me. And all their constant ‘go practice’ certainly motivated me to try doing some art again. I did do some, not much, but some is always better than none. Video editing is still a pain. And I’m still such an awkward speaker… I need to be more fluent in my talking so that editing would be a bit less painful… And for this recording, there were so many times when I just sat there in silence thinking about what to say. It’s been too long since I did a recording indeed.
Even with the new mic, I think I need to turn off the fan and film in silence… No fan, windows closed, curtains down. It’s so noisy otherwise… Volume is at least much louder though, so you can actually hear me better. Slowly improving things…!
Alright. So that’s it for this post. Till next time!
Sigh. Reinstalling Anaconda on my lappy because it just crashed somehow…
That means I would need to re-make all my spyder environments… Sigh…
Anyway. On the messydesk YouTube front. Nothing is happening. Still. I don’t know… I need some time to rebuild… I need more space. Like literally, physical space. I hate that I have so much stuff, but not enough space to store them. I hate that I have so many unopened packages, some from last year even… That I want to open on camera, but just couldn’t, haven’t, get around to. There is so much that I would like to do, but also no time, no energy, no motivation… And no space.
I have been getting better about using my offwork time though. More me time. Been getting out of the house. Doing some exercise… Lord knows I need to move more and get in a better physical shape so that I’m at least NOT panting by the time I get up a single flight of stairs…
And I’ve been doing a new coding/digital art project. So far only been doing the coding part that is… That’s the fast part of course. The art is the more tedious, time consuming part. Yes. It’s generative art and yes, I will sell them as NFTs. Whether they will really sell, I don’t know. But those who know me personally would probably know that trying to find another line of income, or another career, has been a long time thing of mine. That’s why I tried the whole YouTube thing right? And if you look at my account, it’s a REALLY OLD account, so no, that was NOT my first attempt at YouTube. Of course, I didn’t stick to it the last time round, and it seems like I’m not sticking to it this time round either. I really don’t want to give it up though. I will get back to making videos before then end of the year, I promise. But for now… Now that I actually have the motivation to… I want to focus on my physical health for a bit. Get in those exercise which I’ve not done in years… Slowly toil away at the NFT sale… And continue to start getting creative.
I’ve been writing a lot of letters to my penpals recently. Only 1 letter in my inbox that arrived just a few days ago… That’s a far cry from the nearly 20 letters I had previously… So that’s definitely a good start in the right direction.
I get urges to make *something*. But my table is so messy that I don’t freaking have the space to do ANYTHING. Still struggling to change that. But I’m trying… And I will have to make it happen because I want to be able to just pick up on my art wherever I left it, whenever I want to. Like just for 30mins on a weekday night even. Because let’s face it. We are all busy people. We’re not gonna find a full 4-6 hours to get something done in one sitting… And 4-6 hours might not even be enough for what you’re doing…
Alright. Anaconda has finished installing… Time to make a new environment and set up all that stuff again. *sigh*
Yeah I’ve been watching a lot of NerdECrafter videos… Everything I sign I imagine the words ‘salt’ coming out of my mouse…
That’s my mental state and motivation levels I guess…
I did finally dabble in a little bit of art, but not quite anything ‘proper’ so to speak. And no video again…
Really glad that I did do something artsy though… And also sent out a couple of letters. That’s something at least, even though I couldn’t bring myself to finish up everything I had wanted to.
A little amateur brushwork and a quick doodle.
Hands up who else is as lazy as I am? I have never drawn guidelines for calligraphy, and I am just too freaking lazy to do so. Would I improve faster if I do guidelines? Maybe. But I might also never learn to write properly without guidelines. I don’t know…. But I want to be able to do brush lettering without guidelines, and I can say for sure that practice has definitely helped a lot. If only I kept up with it. From the letters being completely slanted and falling off the page, to this… Most of it was when I pushed through with the 100 day challenge and then kept up with the lettering prompts for a little bit longer afterwards… So maybe, 4 months or half a year’s work? And by work I really mean, like 5 – 10 minutes of work a day on average. I might give that one word 1 or 3 attempts and that’s it. Hardly what you’d call practice, but still a lot more than I’ve been doing in the past… 3.5 years. That’s how frigging long it’s been since I last practiced, honest. I pretty much stopped when I changed jobs.
It’s certainly nice to have a job that’s a lot more mentally engaging. But it seems like regardless, I just don’t have sufficient energy/brain power or well, stamina and willpower to constantly be super productive after work. These days the most productive I might be is to practice on my speedcube a little before bed. But more often then not I’m just reading some webnovels, playing some games, and watching some YouTube. I should really make the effort to spend my time better huh. At least a portion of the time…
It’s 1:15am right now and strangly I’m not the slightest bit sleepy. Ok, maybe just slightly sleepy…
Using my pens again recently made me remember how nice it is to use them… AND that foxy doodle on the postcard made me realise how much I actually love that plasticky sort of feel. Personally I find it really nice to write on and I love it. And that’s why I love the Iroful paper. You might beg to differ too and that’s fine… It’s really a personal preference kind of thing. You do you.
Alright. Shall end off here today. Till next time!
With my letter writing. Not so with video production. Just two letters in my inbox! That’s quite amazing for me, didn’t think that such a day would ever come.
I’m out today… Went to test the new Iroful paper from Sakae Technical Paper. I will try and do a proper review of that soon, it’s quite a different paper, the sizing is very different from what I’m used to. It’s basically from the same factory as the old, aclaimed Tomoe River Paper, production of which has since stopped and the factory itself has changed hands. I don’t even know the exact details… Gotta do some reading up later… But the short summary is as such: Paper is very different, fountain pen friendly, has sort of plasticky feel, but from my very short test, I love it.
Off to meet some other fountain pen friends in a bit… To just hang out and get the tea that I ordered with them in a group buy. Hmm… Not sure what time I should head over. Maybe a little more? Don’t want to hang around so long in the ‘poison den’ so to speak. We are meeting at a local fountain pen shop that’s been affectionally nicknamed the poison den because well, you rarely go out unscathed. I mean, your wallet rarely comes out unscathed. It’s a very dangerous place… And I did just spend a ton there a few weeks back… AND also bought a bunch of paper today at Cityluxe were we got to try the Iroful paper. Yes, I definitely did buy the Iroful paper…. :X
In my defense, the paper is unlike any I’ve tried before… Ok, more similar to the Cosmos Note… But still quite different. AND it’s cheap! $9.9 (that’s Singapore dollars) for a pack of 50 A4 sheets, or the same price for a pack of 100 A5 sheets. That’s quite affordable plus they gave us 20% off today so… More excuses to buy right?
I do have a long form video… But I did also spend all day yesterday reading instead of editing… And…
Well a short video is better than none right?
Wanted to do a 60s challenge, but the limit of YouTube shorts *is* 60s so… It kinda became 30s instead. I would love to do more random drawing things on YouTube, without bothering about the quality of my drawing… As much as I still have a lot of things to unbox… It’s not like I’m going to keep buying new things forever. And I really do want to do more art. Maybe more vlog style videos in the future? I don’t know. But I did three doodles in a row so there will be at least two more of these 30s doodle shorts coming up. So far I haven’t had much success with shorts… But I guess you can say I haven’t had much success with *anything*. I put quite a bit more time editing this shorts this time around… Hopefully I’ll at least get a few views… :X
Yeah, I actually won the giveaway! First time ever! I guess there being not as many participants as the usual online giveaways helped a ton… Since it was held in the wancher FB group rather than say, on their instagram page. I’ve tried so many of those instagram giveaways but nope, no luck. Those typically have thousands upon thousands of entries so yeah.
Maybe someday I’d have a ton of subscribers and viewers too and I can actually earn a decent enough living from doing all these so as to do my own giveaways…. Or something
I was certainly very excited to win this pen… And I was quite conflicted on which pen color to pick. I keep saying ‘model’ because they give all these different colors nice names and all. Almost like it’s a different model but not really. Just a different color. The blues are nice, but not really that special. The is color changing and looks great, plus I do love greenish/turquoise hues a lot too… And it was also the color that my bestie penpaller loved the most. But the black also stood out a lot to me, and the more I looked at the photos, the more the colors popped and the more I liked the pen. The colors actually look a lot brighter than what I could photograph for the YouTube thumbnail. I should I should take my photos in the day when it’s much brighter… But alas, I’m a night owl. Even with lots of lights the photo still looked really dark ><. Dang.
Still have not inked up the pen yet. What should I ink it up with? Hmmm…
