Training Montage, Part Ten
Dec. 12th, 2017 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI ended up chickening out on the "Let's Draw Zelda Characters from Memory" event I had planned for Anime USA, partially because it ended up snowing over the weekend but mostly because I'm a coward. Except for making an announcement post on Tumblr, I actually followed through with all of my plans, and I had everything set up and ready to go, but... I think maybe this is something that I won't be able to do by myself. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to need a friend to go with me and help me deal with my anxiety, and I just don't know anyone in real life who would be up for it.
When I talk about hating male-dominated geek culture (as I often do), this is definitely a major reason why I get so upset. It's not just about representation or online harassment, but also about me having felt a strong need throughout most of my life to hide my fannish interests so that I neither became associated with nor attracted the sort of male geek media fans whose only modes of interaction with women are sexual objectification and condescending bullying. It's because I felt that I needed to protect myself from male fans that I ended up getting this far in my life without any geeky friends whom I can interact with offline.
ANYWAY. On with the montage!
There's a free series of videos on Youtube called Digital Painting 101, which should more appropriately be called Photoshop 101, that I'm finding extremely helpful. When I finish these videos, I'm looking forward to jumping into the Core Techniques workshops offered by The Oatley Academy.
I'm still a little shaky with my tablet and stylus, but a Tumblr friend just reblogged a good set of basic control exercises, which in turn links to a more advanced set of exercises.
Meanwhile, an account called Catstealers-Zines on Tumblr is working on a guide to making digital zines, which I am very much looking forward to, as I have yet to make any real progress with Abode InDesign. When I used to see creative professionals working with two huge computer monitors on the desk in front of them, I always wondered if maybe that was overkill; but, now that I'm finding it almost impossible to work with InDesign on my laptop screen, I'm starting to get a sense of why that sort of panoramic display is necessary. Hardware issues aside, I would very much appreciate a good strategy guide for using the program for the one specific task I want to accomplish.
Finally, I've made a resolution to start posting my art on both Tumblr and Twitter from now on. Despite the general air of malaise that has characterized most of 2016 and 2017, I think that the broader culture is much more positive and accepting of adult women with fannish interests now than it was when I was a student in the 2000s, and I'm infinitely less afraid of judgmental fake geek boys now than I was ten years ago. I may not create the most technically proficient pictures in the world, but my drawings are filled with love and joy, and there's nothing for me to be ashamed of!
When I talk about hating male-dominated geek culture (as I often do), this is definitely a major reason why I get so upset. It's not just about representation or online harassment, but also about me having felt a strong need throughout most of my life to hide my fannish interests so that I neither became associated with nor attracted the sort of male geek media fans whose only modes of interaction with women are sexual objectification and condescending bullying. It's because I felt that I needed to protect myself from male fans that I ended up getting this far in my life without any geeky friends whom I can interact with offline.
ANYWAY. On with the montage!
There's a free series of videos on Youtube called Digital Painting 101, which should more appropriately be called Photoshop 101, that I'm finding extremely helpful. When I finish these videos, I'm looking forward to jumping into the Core Techniques workshops offered by The Oatley Academy.
I'm still a little shaky with my tablet and stylus, but a Tumblr friend just reblogged a good set of basic control exercises, which in turn links to a more advanced set of exercises.
Meanwhile, an account called Catstealers-Zines on Tumblr is working on a guide to making digital zines, which I am very much looking forward to, as I have yet to make any real progress with Abode InDesign. When I used to see creative professionals working with two huge computer monitors on the desk in front of them, I always wondered if maybe that was overkill; but, now that I'm finding it almost impossible to work with InDesign on my laptop screen, I'm starting to get a sense of why that sort of panoramic display is necessary. Hardware issues aside, I would very much appreciate a good strategy guide for using the program for the one specific task I want to accomplish.
Finally, I've made a resolution to start posting my art on both Tumblr and Twitter from now on. Despite the general air of malaise that has characterized most of 2016 and 2017, I think that the broader culture is much more positive and accepting of adult women with fannish interests now than it was when I was a student in the 2000s, and I'm infinitely less afraid of judgmental fake geek boys now than I was ten years ago. I may not create the most technically proficient pictures in the world, but my drawings are filled with love and joy, and there's nothing for me to be ashamed of!
