Category: Real Life

Meal Prep

I’m trying to eat better, and one of my major issues (besides snacking when I’m stressed) is portion control. A lot of times I’m just so busy and stressed during the day that I’ll binge eat whatever is laying around as I come across it. I don’t often feel like cooking, and because I have two littles, one who has very strict dietary requirements it means that I don’t eat very well.

In an attempt at making some time to take care of myself, I went and planned out 5 breakfast/lunch/dinner that I could make all at once and just have for the week. I don’t mind eating the same things for multiple days so long as I enjoy what I’m eating. I made egg & ham breakfast wraps for breakfast, I made a veggie soup & buns for lunch, and dinner is rice & chicken with bell peppers & pickled onion. Snacks? I got carrots and tzatziki. So far (3 days in, I know that’s not much) I’m moving more and I’m eating my prepared meals without snacking outside of it. There are some growing pains, but it’s a work in progress.

Next? I need to work on stress levels, and sleep. Maybe not trying to do ALL the things every single day. That one will take some time. But, for now, this is a start.

AI Art – I have Thoughts

I have watched the art community react in horror to most of the recent AI developments when it comes to art. People are worried about their jobs, people are worried about their style being stolen, people are worried about their actual works being stolen and used to create these AI generated pieces. AI art is getting to the point where it is difficult to tell that it’s AI generated. As an artist (even if beginner) myself, I’m torn. I absolutely do NOT like the idea of artists work being stolen. I’ve already had to splash giant watermarks on my own stuff when it was being taken for NFT’s – but how long until the AI can remove the watermarks (this is already a thing, I know). How long before a company doesn’t even bother to hire an artist to design for them, but instead types in the artist they want to emulate, a bunch of key words, and there’s the next piece already done for them in a matter of seconds.

As mentioned above, I agree that AI art can be great for certain things. Much like a reference, or for generating ideas that an artist can then take and put their own spin on. I don’t make a living from my art, so I don’t see the later part becoming an issue for me personally, but I can see why some artists out there may be worried. It’s already difficult to make a living as an artist. How many will be replaced with AI over the next 5 years?

I belong to a few Facebook art groups and already people have been posting their AI works claiming them as their own traditional pieces. While that might fool someone who doesn’t know any better, to some of us it’s pretty apparent (especially when the person drops 10+ pieces, all a different style, with no proof of process). I think that having a time lapse of the actual work is going to become more important, and I think there will be more requirements to ‘prove’ you created the piece yourself.

I think technology can be amazing, but I think in this instance it’s also very dangerous. I’m just incredibly uncomfortable with using artwork without permission from the artist, in any capacity. I guess we’ll simply have to see where this goes.

Blender? Let’s Learn Blender

For a few years now I have been following some 3D artists who use Blender to render World of Warcraft scenes – and I have wanted to do exactly that. I love the idea of making a scene with all of my characters, or just creating little scenes for friends. Or just on a whim. The problem is it involves using a handful of programs that I know NOTHING about – the biggest one being Blender. I’ve been meaning to try to learn it for a long while, but I never made time. That’s the biggest downside to having so many interest and hobbies, finding / making time.

I am working out a schedule where I can dedicate two days (evenings) a week to this, and hopefully I’ll make a little progress. I’ve downloaded the programs required and started with the YouTube video above, and joined a discord owned by the same person. I know it won’t be a quick learn, but I feel like this is a natural progression from my digital art that I’ve been working on. OK maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but at least I’m hoping it will be interesting.

Streaming with Anxiety

I started streaming after a 3 year hiatus back in June, playing World of Warcraft and doing gold making. The problem is I have incredible anxiety and it’s easy to talk myself out of streaming when at the end of the day I’m exhausted and I just have nothing left to give an audience.

I want to stream. I enjoy it. I think it could help with my anxiety issues – but taking the plunge and sticking with a schedule is something that I just have such a difficult time with. I recently set up an AirPlay server on my PC so that I can stream my Procreate art to OBS and perhaps do some art streams in the future too. I keep meaning to get some sort of system set up to stream my spinning, or my sock knitting machine, but end up doubting myself and just end up doing nothing instead. It’s frustrating. I’m frustrated.

I had written out this enormous post about navigating depression and anxiety but deleted it because what is the point. People don’t like to hear about that stuff, and I don’t like to promote it. Blah blah blah words and stuff the end.

How is the Drawing Going?

Last year I attempted digital art for the first time in 20+ years (after trying traditional art first, but my hands were having none of it). I completed roughly 50 pieces, and in December I set a challenge for myself to do at least 1 piece a week, or 52 pieces for the year in 2022. Of course then a cross country move happened, then my son broke his iPad so I gave him mine (and eventually got mine replaced), and dealing with life and all the rest. Still, I’m currently sitting at 26/31 completed so far, and that’s not too shabby. I’ve seen my skills growing with lots of room for improvement too but I’m proud. I appreciate the quiet time I spend with my iPad.

There are a ton of creative projects I enjoy. I knit, I spin my own yarn, and I cross stitch, to name a few. The problem is of course I also enjoy gaming and I have a family with two littles, so I finding the time to fit things in becomes an issue. I actively have to make time or else the project will just be neglected until I pick it up again for half a day.

When it came do drawing, I made sure I was setting aside time just for that. I usually draw when my husband is working nights, after the kids are in bed. Less distractions that way. It takes me anywhere from 1-3 hours to finish a piece, though some would argue that you’re never really ‘finished’ anything. I post most of my pieces on DeviantART but I’d love an alternative. There just hasn’t been anything that has popped out to me over the years. I know there’s ArtStation (I think?) but I believe that one also has a cost. I want to make sure I can apply watermarks to my work since I’ve already had some of my photography pieces stolen for NFT on DeviantART (they were older pieces where I had forgotten to add the watermark. I went back and fixed them after).

Anyway. Rambling post about creative endevours in the hopes that I feel motivated to draw sometime this week. We’ll see.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!