Vyechi | Personal Growth & Mindfulness

Tag: digitalart

Sunshine Blogger Award & Rules
Some time ago, I got the Quill Commander Award, this time Commander Dronstad has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award. If you are new to my blog, please read Striving to Become a Professional Artist. Before I discuss the rules of the award, I wanted to say that he is an excellent writer who is composing exciting war stories that will captivate your eyes and keep you glued to your seat. Also, he is always looking out for other bloggers. Further, it gives me great pleasure to answer his questions. Finally, if you got this far, please visit Dronstad blog, who is a well-read writer and who is sharing his stories.

Sunshine Blogger Award – Here are the rules‼

Write a post thanking the person who nominated you. Then offer a link back to their blogging sites.
- Answer the question asked to you by the person who nominated you.
- Nominate 11 new bloggers and ask them 11 further questions.
- Notify them about the same by comments on their blog.
- Make new questions
- List the rules and display the sunshine blogger award logo on your site or in your post
The Questions ⁉
1. What book are you reading?
  - Right now I’m reading “Be More Chill” by Ned Vizzini because my brother left it at my place and I needed a book to fall asleep too.
2. What is your favorite drink?
  - Right now I’m into Gin and Tonic because I don’t know too many others.
3. What place would you like to visit?
  - Ice Caves at Sam’s Point
4. If a rocket leaves Earth in 550 km/h and you have five apples, what color are your underwear?
  - Okay, why a rocket? Lol, Wait! I will leave two apples and take the rest to space with my red colored undies!
5. Sun or the Moon?
  - I need more sun to sleep better during night-time because of sun imbalance due to my career choice!
6. What genre do you like reading and why?
  - I don’t read much, but I like books that teach me useful handy skills that will help me survive. I’m up for any genre, even if it puts me to sleep!
7. What are your favorite names for boys and girls and why?
  - I had thought about this, but I haven’t written the names. If I recall them, I’ll add them to this answer.
8. What have you learned from blogging?
  - After slaving away at my first three posts, I learned that giving up won’t solve the issue. Connecting with other bloggers in your niche is important. However, mix in a few topics other than art to sweeten the deal!
9. You got a gun in your hands, what do you do with it?
  - Nothing to do. Think about putting it into safety. Why do I even have a gun in my hands!? What did I do?
10. You get to talk with a celebrity, what is the first question you ask them?
  - What inspired you to get this far?
11. How do you deal with people you don’t like?
  - I try to get along or ignore them.
The Questions for my nominees❓
1. Why did you start your blog? Why did you choose WordPress?
  - I researched the topic and if your interested take a look at Blogger Hosting Why I moved to WordPress.com?
2. How much time do you spend on your blog posts?
3. What is your most productive time?
4. What motivates you to be a blogger?
  - If you need help on this question take a look at Who I am and why I’m I here?
5. When Should You Compromise?
6. What Makes a Good Blog Post?
7. Would You Rather Work From Home or in an Office?
8. How often do you collaborate on projects with other bloggers? Do you have a contact page?
9. What is the number two thing that is bothering you now?
10. Who do you look up too?
11. Where do you draw the ideas for the blogger awards questions?
I nominate my Inspired Eyes for the Sunshine Blogger Award 🤩

If you so choose to accept the award, wear it proudly like a talisman around your blog if they so want too.
Yeah, my inspired eyes are great. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself. Stay inspired my epic adventures.
March 18, 2018
Chronolapse Dragon Sketches Underway

I’m working on putting together a visual-provoking time-lapse. I experimented with software called Chronolapse. It has a feature to take screenshots every second or the amount you specify. Whats more is that it can combine all of the images into a video. I decided to use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, but it quickly becomes a chore to figure out how to output simple motion video. For example, I didn’t know what to set the frame rate too, and I didn’t want to spend hours figuring it out. When I have time, I might return to adobe and figure it out, unless somebody knows how to create a simple time-lapse. Chronolapse is excellent, but for some reason, Adobe Premiere is trying to provoke me. In other words, it didn’t take the MPEG format. Nor does Adobe Media Encoder. Therefore, I have to resort to using a dependable FREE VLC Fix!

Dragon Sketches Underway Chronolapse

Chronolapse

Earlier I used Open Broadcast Software to create a video, but it is to heavy on my tablet resources. If I continue to use OBS, my poor tablets resources cannot keep up with Sketchbook Pro. For example, when I draw, it slows down my brush strokes and makes it hard for me to stay focused. Later on, I realized that I had to throw out the time-lapse created in Chronolapse. When I imported my video tracks into Adobe Premiere, the duration of the video becomes 1 second. Therefore an hour was lost in trying to convert and combine simple video.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

VLC is Good

I ended up saving all of the video files using VLC. Spending 3-4 days trying to do this task is a bit much? I get about an hour to work on this, but that’s it. I’m not going to give up of course, in fact, I outline my goals in my Striving to Become a Professional Artist page.

Is feedback a good thing right?

The great thing about this experience is that I will look for another way to speed up my workflow. I’m open to new ideas if you have recommendations.

March 15, 2018
How to Customize WordPress Prompt Thumbnail?
I’m not satisfied with the WordPress “prompt thumbnail” screenshot. The created screenshot is a result of a pingback. Is it possible to customize the thumbnail? Is it crazy to say that we want somebody to click on our little square box to visit our blog? In my opinion, half of my thumbnail doesn’t offer any useful summary of my blog post. For example, what is the point of showing a small tiny menu and a title? In other words, the main menu is hard to read at that size. Also, why is the name of the post displayed twice? First in white overlayed, then on the image.

Prompt Thumbnail 📚

What I do know is that if I change my theme, restart, then the screenshot changes. What exactly takes the screenshot, I do not know. I do know that it has something to do with the pingback I create using the prompt. For example, today’s prompt is conversant. Last night, I created a blog post on my latest sketches using this technique.
- thumbnail of WordPress prompt
- Existing Custom Thumbnail
How does it work?

Interestingly, there is a documentation about how it all works. If you’re not familiar with the daily prompts, take a look at the article challenge-instructions. If you want to learn more about the prompts, please read the article comments pingbacks. Granted if you are lazy like me, see how WordPress defined pingback below.

A pingback is a particular type of comment, when you link to another blog post, as long as the other blog is set to accept pingbacks. To generate a pingback, link to another WordPress blog post. If that post has pingbacks enabled, the blog owner will see a pingback appear in their comments section.
WordPress – Pingback

Bloggers ✍

What do you think of the issue above?
- Change the theme, so it caters to the screenshot?
- WordPress do something about it?
- Leave it alone, and it works well for my needs.
- Is there anything else I should add to this list?
Here is a Phoenix Sketch for you :) It could be useful in my stories.

Phoenix Red Color Sketch
February 23, 2018
Hair Sketches are Underway V2
Lately, my next day posts become harder to write. I wanted to publish my hair sketches, but I could not start on it. Usually, Monday or Tuesday I feel okay. After work, I feel drained. I figure, if I workout, do yoga, shower and eat, everything will work out? Not the case, in fact, it becomes hard to concentrate and keep the anxiety from taking over. In other words, I started working on this post, but then I decided to stream on YouTube. Here I am finishing up this post. Earlier, I created a new “WordPress Category” called Sketch-Based Articles to house these types of articles. My goal is to continue sharing my latest creations with this new group. If you’re new to the site and don’t know what I’m going on about, then check out my bio on the Striving to Become a Professional Artist.

Hair Sketches are Underway V2

Hair Sketches are Underway V2

The hair sketch came into existence when I decided that I want to learn to draw hair. I got inspired by the Sketchbook Pro email newsletter or notification. There was a post on HOW TO DRAW HAIR: STEP BY STEP WITH LORD GRIS. Interestingly, I learned that I need to add shiny, wavy areas to dark areas to create believable looking hair. When I finished drawing the hair, I decided that it wasn’t enough. What is hair without a head? SO, the hair sprouted some eyes, nose, and mouth; You get the idea. I’m not good at drawing the nose, so I decided to create a simple box with circles. In other news, I think I did an excellent job with the texture. I copy pasted that image texture around and used a few different blend brushes to spread it nicely around the hairball figure.

What do you think?
- Ugly?
- Scary
- Needs a nose job?
- Does the background need smaller doors encrusted with jewels?
- What else should I add to this list?
This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Late night doodles :)

I like KerDoodle Village sketches because its simplicity inspires me to find a better way to make my art. For example, today’s post, “In the Village 3” I can connect emotionally and understand the thought without needing to read a lengthy blog post.
February 21, 2018
Mercy Can Have Closure and So Can I
Mercy For the Simple 👼

Please have mercy, today was a simple day, more straightforward than usual. I woke up with a plan to visit my girl. In the same light, I needed to pack. I knew I would be staying for a few days. As a result, I packed two pairs of everything. For example, I got my socks and underwear. Yet, I dislike packing because I never have any way to organize. Thus, a few months ago I put in some time and researched ways to pack better. Thereupon, I discovered packing cubes and simplified my life. After I finished packing and getting ready, I left to catch my train to work.

The Timeless Knowledge Train 🚂

My train ride seemed longer today. I forgave the train for its lateness. Then, I started working on a dragon head in 3/4 view. In other words, this view is harder to draw because it shows action and direction. Besides, I started reading Dragonart: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures. For example, from that book, I created a few sketches of circle and line shapes. Also, I made sure that I used a blue pencil because it will make it easier to sketch on top with a red pencil. Thus, you can achieve a cleaner and faster result. If you combine layers, pencil color and lower the opacity. Without delay, my train reached its destination and I rushed out to reach work.

Can thoughts be actionable? 🎬

At work, I had many different thoughts. For example, I had wanted to resolve some coding issues for a while. Yet, all I can say is that the day was productive and work got done. In contrast, I had some issues with WordPress Publicize. Also, I got upset at the engineers, but I showed mercy and asked them to add a new feature. For one thing, I learned that many of the connected services do not include the tags I create for the post. For this reason, I lose impressions on Twitter and other social platforms. Yet, Tumblr is the only service that posts the tags. Thus, after speaking with “Happiness Engineers”, they recommend trying somethings. Either getting a plugin or inserting tags into the custom message. Afterword, the day went by fast and I made my way to my girl’s place.

Reading List 📚
November 23, 2017
Nest Inside a Large Crater; He slept
Morning Dragon Nest 🐲

I woke up with lots of energy, jumped out of my nest and ready to go! Not even close, I had to reward myself with an extra 6 mins of sleep. As a matter of fact, my mind didn’t want to shut up with noise about the alarm going off in a few minutes. By the same token, I got up, made some cereal and got ready for work. With the intention, of making it to the train station and getting to drawing my dragon.

Short Train Ride 🚆

Without delay, I sat down and started drawing! Then again, I sat down elbow to elbow between two beauties and got nervous for a moment. Yet, I thought for a moment that my goal is to become an awesome artist. In light of that, I immediately pulled out my pen and tablet to start drawing. Likewise, I opened up DragonArt book and flipped to the page with a dragon head. As a matter of fact, you can get Dragonart: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures on Amazon. To the end of that, I was able to create a quick dragon sketch as my train neared the final stop.

Nest Dragon During Lunch

At Work, Lunch is a Precious Time! ⏰

Sooner or later, I arrived to work and put on my computer programmer hat. Despite, lunch came around and allowed me to work on my blog. Not only, I was able to take a few quick snapshot of my dragon, food, and book. Not to mention, I posted to Instagram because I heard its a good idea to share small snippets of work. By the same token, you can read Extend Your Blog’s Reach with Instagram. Of course, that time went by fast, back to work and then home to write you a blog post!

Nesting my Feet into Ski Boots

Reading List📚
November 22, 2017
Sludge Ski Women and any Inspiration?
When the Sludge Rolled In 🙄

Yesterday, I organized my sludge and added my stories underneath the thoughts menu. Also, let me know if you are having any issues accessing them? As a matter a fact, I learned that I can create menu’s using WordPress categories! Next day, I was on my way to work and I decided to learn how to draw a female character. Yet, that is when the sludge rolled in, her breasts and hair didn’t work. Not to mention, her hands and legs looked like sausages. Although this may be true, her belly and pelvis came out great! Thus, I know what I need to work on and I’ll continue improving those areas.

Where is the inspiration? 👨‍🎤👩‍🎤

I’m reading a book called Fantasy Characters, you can get it from Amazon. In the first place, Peffer, does a good job breaking everything into easy to follow steps. Yet, after following along learned that I need to improve hair and proportion drawing. In the same light, I want to go back and work on drawing dragons. Also, this author wrote Dragonart: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures. As a result, I will create a new dragon tomorrow and share it with my favorite readers!

6.2 Dragon Sludge

Weekend Plans ❤️

I don’t have a lot of time. In the same fashion, I need to prepare for my ski trip. Coupled with organizing my clothes for the trip, I lost some sleep. In like manner, here I am talking about my other passion. Not to mention, I love the challenge of the slopes and I’m eager to improve. Yet, I’m thinking, how will I be able to draw! Thus, I decided to use my phone to create quick sketches. Also, I don’t want to carry too much stuff. Tonight, I will buy snacks for my ski trip, then eat, put on my ski boots and try to draw.

Reading List 📚
November 20, 2017