Project Zodiac Mystic Signs has begun!
Two deviations this month! I'm so excited!! I hope y'all like Gemini ♊️. I've been waiting for this set of minis to get here with baited breath; now that I have them, it's hard not to just paint them all at once! That would be bad for my health though, so one per season is the challenge before me. I'm starting work on Cancer and assuming all goes according to plan, Cancer will go up June 22nd! I hope you'll consider giving me a watch so you can see each sign as they come out <3
In other news, the summer is when I actually feel physically at my best, so the fact I finished not only Gemini, but a digital painting of my D&D character, Reira, is a feat I would've never thought possible for a long, long time. I hope I can keep this energy level going for a while, as I'm still planning to paint my way through the D&D party, and there are 3 more characters to put into picture form for this campaign. We'll see if I decide to do portraits of the party of the campaign I DM for... but that's going to be a ways off, even with the warm-weather perking me up a bit.
That's all for now - Hope I see you next month!♋️
Well... Now what?
I'm 4 months strong on my commitment to post *something* art related every month. But, I just realized that I caught up with all my photos from my last photo shoot session, and I only have a handful of things that have yet to be photographed. I'm feeling the pressure of needing to finish some new pieces so I can post them!
Truth is, this self-challenge for me is more than just trying to rediscover my art-heart. I've been going through some medical troubles for an extended period, and just sitting here on my computer to post my deviations takes a lot out of me, let alone the actual painting projects themselves (my most recent one I pushed really hard to finish in time for game night, and I was EXHAUSTED for the whole weekend). I really want to keep this up because it's the only true motivation for me. Yeah I get up and I do my job because if I don't I won't have healthcare or money for food, but that's a necessity, not a motivation. Art actually motivates me. I paint because I want to, not because I have to.
So, hopefully I can keep up this momentum. I have next week off, which hopefully means some energy during the day to take pictures and finish some in progress projects finally. I should also soon have a set of minis that I am SO EXCITED to get to paint. I want to keep the details close, but hopefully, pretty soon, I'll be able to reveal the project :3
If you're out there reading this, and you like my painting or my other work, give me a watch, leave some comments, or send me some motivational llamas to help me keep up my streak! <3
Caught up already??
Well, I went to upload a new deviation and realized I ran out of pictures! I have some trees and some walls that are done, and I took pictures, but they're a bit plain compared to everything else I've posted recently. They're meant to be part of the game, so while I'm proud of the paint jobs, they're not exactly "look at THAT" worthy, y'know?
So, I'm essentially caught up with all the things I want to post for now - save one piece that was most recently finished. But, I'm holding off a bit because I really want to post it at the same time as another project I'm working on. No details on that for now, just in case it doesn't come to fruition. If it doesn't - I'll still post the pictures; no worries.
I also want to say that - there is a LOT MORE that I have painted than just what's up in my deviations - but they're either specific characters, old and not my favorite, or more likely, a surprise for my group that I would hate to spoil, so they stay in the dark until my table gets to see them first ;)
That all said, I'm still working on new things to paint! I just won't be posting every week-ish or so for a bit. Not painted minis, at least. I'm also working on new digital art, planning on taking more photos of not miniatures at some point, and just all around being more present here on dA again. But hey, I actually did the thing for once! I've bounced back in here so many times over the last 5+ years with promises of new things or attempts at projects, but just never really GOT THERE again. I guess that's what life will do to you when you have a full time job, chronic pain and fatigue, and about 5 million interests in things you want to do.
But, I do hope that I can get my butt in gear to paint more of my backlog. I think posting here has been a big push for me to get back into creativity. I say I'm working on digital art, but honestly I hadn't touched it in months before I started posting again. I do tend to go through phases with my hobbies where I'll be really into something and then not touch it again for years (that's not a metric ton of yarn in my closet that I haven't worked with since we moved into this house. I don't know what you're talking about. Pay no attention to the crochet hooks behind the curtain!), so maybe it's just time to get back to this again.
dA itself turns 21 this year. I've been on the site since it started, though I only signed up for an account after encouragement from a couple places. I never thought I was good enough to post. But something about the miniature painting... it just feels right when I do it. I'll hem and haw over the slightest details on my art. Hit the undo button or delete multiple layers to try again, and often just give up on a piece entirely because I feel like it's just not good and it's never going to be. I can't really do that with the miniatures. I can paint over mistakes, yes. But I honestly find that I don't feel like I "mess up" with them the same way. I'll do things the hard way sometimes. Have to do multiple coats to get the color to look right. But it still looks right to me in the end.
I hope you've enjoyed what I've put up so far - and hopefully, universe willing, I'll continue to post more as I keep going with my painting.
Current Goals:
Finish part 1 of [redacted] project (percent.exe not found)
Paint a new miniature to post (currently primed!)
Finish digital art of another party member to the game I play in (roughly 50% there)
Watching: Animes. Animes everywhere. And a rewatch of Babylon 5.
Listening: Mostly my own pop-punk Pandora station. Occasionally turn on the playlist that consists mostly of songs I heard from said radio station.
Eating: Trying to make meatless versions of my go-to Friday night dinners; one friend does not eat meat, one is allergic to dairy and gluten, so working with what I can (So far, so good!)
Smelling: Rain - it's been raining for a few days and it smells good with the windows open. <3
Touching: Soil for my growing trees to make sure they're properly watered. I'm growing trees for bonsai (won a kit in a contest) but there's not much to do for another 2+ years, haha!
Catch you later!
Setsuna
Y'all still here?
Ok, ok - I admit it. I'm kind-of out of practice on dA... I don't know what's normal here anymore.
But hey - I've been uploading again. I have a ton of pictures taken of things I've painted... I'm working on painting more regularly... I'm even in the middle of plans for this year's NaNoWriMo. Am I overpromising? Probably. Am I determined to try? Abso-fuckin-lutely!
If you've been watching me for a while, and this is just popping on your timeline out of the blue - hi! Believe it or not, I've missed you! I creeped on the site every now and then, but mostly kept to myself.
If you're new here, hello! Welcome! Sorry if I sound like a big ol' newb - life has just been... very much life. And that was before the pandemic.
Let's see... a little about me - I'm a big geeky nerd. I think programming is fun, I love logic puzzles and coding, and I love D&D even though I only started playing a handful of years ago. I play video games, watch anime, and do creative things when I'm not depressed that no one will like what I create. Y'know - normal people stuff.
I recently bought a real camera, to help me with taking good pictures of things - my phone's camera is pretty dang decent by phone camera standards, but I just wanted something dedicated - also, I wanted to play with maybe recording my painting so I could do timelapse videos. I just finished my first start-to-finish recording, so we'll see if that actually pans out. Fun behind-the-scenes fact if it does get posted - my dog is terrified of lawnmowers, and more than once while recording he decided that under my tripod was the safest place to hide, and knocked the camera! I'll likely be able to edit any shakes out, but it's still funny to me. (:
Well, that's it for this update for now. I should be posting a new mini by this weekend - just need to decide which one. The Gargantuan White Dragon did pretty well considering how dormant my account has been. Maybe I'll go with another dragon to keep the party going? Or I might swap to some foliage that I'm proud of. :3 I'd love to start taking polls for what I should paint next, but I don't think enough people are around yet for that. Keep your eyes peeled for that sort of thing later on though!
Thanks for stopping by,
~Setsuna
Welcome to Setsuna's DA! I did actually state in my journal that I would say I wanted to do more art, announce projects, and then fall off the face of the earth, didn't I? Well... at least I set the expectation, I suppose?
I'm back again! And this time... maybe I will subvert expectations and stick around a bit? This last month we spent a lot of time cleaning up the room in which my desk is situated. I actually have a desk now, because for a while it was just the catch-all storage area for orphaned things that didn't have their own place in the house, but didn't want in the basement. We had our bathroom redone last fall, and the closet had no shelves, so towels, sheets, and whatnot all lived on my desk. Well, for my birthday, I got shelves and everything is now back where it goes. Yes, that is how hard I am adulting - I asked for bathroom closet shelves for my birthday. XD
For Christmas though, I asked for a nice desk chair, which I now have, and over all this time we've been getting storage containers and organizers so that I could someday have an actually usable desk! And now I do, complete with super duper comfy chair, and Funko Pop! figures looking over me for inspiration. I am ready to create!
Except for that pesky ideas thing. Kinda need some of those. Which I do! Oh boy do I ever. But it's kinda like choice-paralysis, where I have so many ideas, I don't even know where to start.
Not to mention... my name here on dA is still "ladyalikolecir" which is a bit of a buzzkill since I universally go by another name online now. I just can't bring myself to pay for that Core membership unless I actually stick around long enough for it to be worth it. Which is a bit of a chicken or egg situation. We'll see though... maybe having this nice clean desk will help. :3
Something that I never really did much with when I was an active dA member before, but has become one of the biggest pieces of media driving my life over time, is Kingdom Hearts (the game series). I LOVE that series. And the third main-series game is coming out this year, supposedly to finalize the "Seeker of Darkness" saga (yeah, I see you Square Enix, leaving yourself open for a new game in the same core rule system later on down the road. You can't fool me). I. Am. HYPE. I have what my husband calls my Kingdom Hearts "shrine" which holds all my wonderful KH related merch. And I keep adding to it. Plus, getting jewelry, clothing items, accessories... you name it, I probably already have it. Especially if it's got Riku on it. He is my absolute favorite since day freakin' one.
My point being that as we get closer and closer to KH3's release, my creative endeavors may veer a bit toward the Disney/Final Fantasy mashup wonder that is Kingdom Hearts.
If I actually follow through and create new art, that is... 9.9
Anyway... felt weird to post a new piece without updating my journal. It's rather intense... and I sat on it for about a month before I finally decided to post it. But... I wanted to share it. I showed it to a friend and she felt a few lines in particular resonated with her, and I thought maybe... someone out there could read it and maybe my message could help. Or maybe no one will read it and I'm just chatting into the void here. Who knows, right?
Either way, life is... a different adventure every day. And I'm trying to take it one step at a time so I don't find myself in a pitfall. If you're struggling, and you're looking for advice, mine is to take things in the smallest steps possible. Break it down to however small you need. If the thought of getting out of bed is too much, then make it even smaller. You're not getting out of bed, you're sitting up. You're putting one foot on the floor. Then the other. Then you're standing up. Take a step. Then another. Break each task down until it's a small enough task that your brain doesn't say "that's too hard."
And if you can't find that smallest step... if you're still seeing those small steps as being too hard, then find someone - anyone, who can listen. I put this in the description of "Help" but while I may be flaky on the posting side of things here, I do lurk and check my notifications about once a week or so. If you don't want to talk to someone you know, or don't have someone else to talk to... my inbox is open. Sometimes you just want someone to listen without hearing a lecture or getting "advice" from someone else, so I will only respond if you ask me to. But if you just want to vent... to be heard? I will read what you send. I will hear you. If nothing else, let yourself be heard by someone. It may be exactly what you need to find that maybe, that small step isn't too hard to make after all.
Thanks for stopping by,
~Setsuna