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Crash Landing

Crash Landing

Category Archives: Arts & Crafts

In which I make art and craft crafts.

Steps to Completion: Drawing Challenge

24 Monday Apr 2023

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts, drawing challenge

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

crash landing, crashdlanding, drawing, drawing challenge, dread., editing, non-fiction, video, video editing.

In an effort to improve my drawing skill, of which I have none, I started a drawing challenge.

I visit Random Generator’s Random Things to Draw. The first drawing challenge I used the first image that came up. It was a sunflower. I feel pretty good about the results. I screen recorded the drawing process and made a video, which I posted on my YouTube Channel.

The first.

At the end of that video, I shared three options for the next drawing challenge. And of course the one and only person who ever comments on any of my YT videos chose the next Drawing Challenge subject.

TLDR

Long story short I’m in the middle of the fourth one of these, and the soul reason I’m doing it is because she wants me too. Am I a good aunt or what? So here’s a list of steps to completing a drawing challenge from start to finish.

Drawing Challenge

  • Have niece choose next subject.
  • Contemplate not doing it
  • Open safari and Google subject (ie: sword)
  • Look at pics of swords
  • Ask a question my Facebook which no one will answer
  • Get really good ideas
  • Don’t draw anything for at least a month
  • Remember you need to work on it every day for said month
  • Open Procreate, regret life choices.
  • Draw… something.
  • Start over
  • Cheat. Just a little (take the lazy way out. Not cheat on your significant other that’s wrong)
  • Doubt yourself. It’s part of the process.
  • Put on a podcast and eventually zone out while working, complete forgetting to record.
  • Don’t work on it for a month. Minimum.
  • Niece keeps asking about it. Make up excuses.
  • Wallow in self pity. Everything is going wrong, you’ll suck at this too.
  • Schedule a time to work on the thing. Make yourself do it.
  • Actually work on it, manage to finish the drawing fairly happy with it. Don’t look at it too hard though, you’ll find the flaws.
  • Put all videos in a folder on iPad so they’re in one place and easily accessible. This is responsible. Remember not to delete the videos until everything is complete. Trust me on this. I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE.
  • Create Video intro: basically just update the last one to the number of the challenge and subject. Upload to VideoLeap app.
  • Upload videos. Probably one at a time since your iPad is five years old and has to think about it for a minute.
  • Edit videos for length and content. We don’t want a 30 minute video.
  • After editing is complete, research and write script for voiceover.
  • Record voice over
  • Add background music where needed. Note title and artist. (You will get copyrighted, but the video won’t get taken down. At least they haven’t yet.)
  • Remember: don’t touch anything. If you add in stuff then change the video, YOU. WILL. HAVE. TO. MOVE. EVERYTHING. AGAIN.
  • Once you think you are done watch it through. AGAIN.
  • When you’re finally happy or just content or about to throw the iPad across the room with vigor, upload to the ‘Tubes.
  • Schedule it to premier so The Niece has a countdown to watch.
  • Profit. Wait.

The editing process will take several hours, if not days. I’ve gotten migraines. I’d hate to be a popular creator and have to have quality videos.

Honestly I dread it.


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Well, 62 was a good number.

21 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts, sticker making

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Tags

art, bro, crafting, crash landing, crashdlanding, Cricut, Cricut design space, design, drawing, exhausted, Mo the cat, Mr beast, non-fiction, Procreate, sleep, sticker design, sticker making, stickers, sunflowers

I’m not calling it failure because I didn’t put a number on it. I’m really just amazed I lasted as long as I did, even with a little cheating. But last night, after working on several different things, I forgot and went to sleep.

Here’s a list of things I did tonight.

  • Created a store front for sticker sales.
    • There are two stickers by myself and two by The Kid.
  • Made my Cricut work
    • When I tried to use it to cut stickers the other day, it messed up. I used some tips from TT comments to figure it out. I had to turn off my lights to do it.
  • Figured out how to keep Cricut Design Space from adding a bold black line to my images.
    • It has to do with transparency. Now I just gotta figure out how to fix the stickers I’ve already designed.
  • Completed The Kid’s stickers.
    • The only thing I did was create a white background with a distinct and clear border for CDS and the Cricut to cut.
  • Published the storefront and sold two stickers!
    • They were the kid’s but still. She earned $4.
  • Learned how to and made a stamp/brush in Procreate to easily add “The Kid ‘23” to her images.
    • At some point I’ll get her to help.
  • Printed two of each of The Kid’s stickers, and one of mine, just so I didn’t waste paper.
    • I then used the Cricut to cut said stickers. While they were cutting I got two separate notifications that two of hers sold.
    • We packaged those up in a sweet envelope, after she wrote a little message of course, and they’ll be hand delivered tomorrow. Ah, the glory of knowing your customers personally.

I have some to make for my nephew, he only gave me guidance on one, requested an edit on another, and liked one more but didn’t say if he wanted it. It’s not ready anyway.

I’m sure this will be yet another failed side hustle did me, but it’s fun. And if I don’t print something every day my stupid printer acts a fool.

I’m not planning on beating my streak for a while. Gonna post as they come. But I’ve got a few in the pipeline. Another page of Cora’s story. A review of some Oats Overnight flavors, and some Spite Diet updates.

Anyway here’s Wonderwall some stickers.

Language? Not complete.
Sleep is beautiful.
Mo the Cat. First sticker sale. Available
Original. Need to change the font. Available
Pink for some reason
First sticker. Still love it. Available
Background Not Included. Available
Mr. Beast. Background not included. Available
Stickers. Some WIP. Some Available.

My Bob I’m tired.

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I made some stickers

18 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts

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Tags

art, crash landing, crashdlanding, Cricut, drawing, drawing challenge, non-fiction, Procreate, small business, sticker making

Sorta

Well, really not sorta. But it was a struggle.

The goal was to make them to sell, but my Cricut is being absolutely stupid.

First, I had to do some warranty violating things to my printer. If I go for more than a few days without using it (honestly it’s typically six months to a year), it wants me to clean the print beads or nozzles or whatever and that uses an ungodly amount of ink.

But I figured out why that has to be done. It’s because of the amount of in that just sits in the nozzles between prints that doesn’t even get used, dries out and clogs it. Then it ushers the most inefficient way of unclogging, which is I assume, blading an ungodly amount of ink through the nozzles to force any clogs out. This way the manufacturer gets more money because you run out of ink faster. Plus, when it says the ink is empty, it’s 100% not empty.

Anyway, I eventually got it printing well, reminding me that it is a really good printer, despite its faults, after all. I waited until almost bedtime to work on it, they printed fine.

I had to dig my Cricut out and plop it on the bed.

It was only after one cut attempt, a calibration and another cut attempt that I gave up and hand cut out these six stickers. One was sliced from the poor cut, leaving me with five.

I’m keeping the damaged one for myself. Saving one for the sister, that would have left four. However, I just realized I slapped a perfectly good one on my water bottle, leaving three. I miss counted that twice so that’s a sign I should probably give up and go it bed.

In other news, I finished the most recent drawing challenge. It’s awful but it’s done. I’m going to start working on the video as soon as my iPad stops being a spaz. And I’ve had some sleep.


It really is too bad I’m.l not wealthy enough to be unemployed

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Gonna try and print some stickers tomorrow

17 Tuesday Jan 2023

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts

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Tags

arts and crafts, crash landing, crashdlanding, learning, non-fiction, sticker

Well “chocolate pudding”
Sunflower Bro
The first two

The goal is to sell them. Roughly 3×3, maybe. $2 per sticker. More ideas to come.


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Drawing a dragon is hard. Also perfectionism.

11 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts

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crash landing, crashdlanding, drawing, drawing challenge, non-fiction

I recently started a drawing challenge for myself. The first one came from whatever the first thing to pop up on a random generator was. I asked my niece to choose the second and then the third.

The third is the absolute hardest one so far. A dragon.

Now, she choose the dragon for me on this video:

Like, December 26th?

It’s at the end. You don’t have to watch. Anyway…

Of the three options I knew she’d choose the dragon, somehow. Mostly because I knew it would be the hardest one. Fun fact, I once painted my husband, back when he was still my boyfriend, a dragon for our first Christmas.

He has since informed me that it’s actually a “wyvern” not a “real dragon”. Which, by the way, rude. I’d never drawn one before, let alone painted it. So it kinda made me feel bad. But he doesn’t read my posts so doesn’t matter what I say here.

So, with this most recent dragonian adventure, I did what any sane normal me person would do. Put it off for two weeks. Every single time I messaged or FaceTimed my sister, the niece asked, “have you started on the dragon yet?”

My answer was always no, and she’d always ask why not. I’d give various reasons but honestly?

FEAR. OF. FAILURE.

My reasons for everything.

But tonight, I decided that it would be a better waste of my time than scrolling through TikTok endlessly, to start on this dragon. And so I did. Like, four times.

At one point I even got so fed up with erasing I closed one Procreate canvas and opened a whole new one. I’ve drawn and redrawn so many parts of this dragon that there are probably twelve different breeds of dragon floating unfinished in the digital eraser dust of the universe.

I used to imagine that the things you erased lived on in another form in the eraser dust you swept off your paper carelessly. There’s a universe somewhere where all those mistakes exist.

The dragon himself is currently living tailless on the canvas. You see, I got every bit (of the initial sketch) done but the tail, because I thought, “That’s gonna be the easiest part.”

But no. The part of his body, where his torso ends and tail begins looked wrong. I stared at it so long my brain only saw deformities. So, I created a new layer, hid the part I needed to edit, and drew a new tail to see if I liked it better.

The husband agreed that it did, and I erased the original and added the new. But then that bit still needed reworking.

So I erased that too.

Because even though the only person who needs to really see the dragon is a ten year old who probably only cares about choosing the next challenge subject, and that’s the only opinion that matters, I’m still being particular about it.

Therein lies the problem. It’ll never be perfect because I’m not an artist. I’m a doodler. I have been a doodler for decades. I’m not painter, nor do I sketch or any of that stuff. I doodle. I draw silly pictures of borderline depressed stick aliens named Steve in the borders of my college notebook papers.

And yet I tell myself I can do better because it’s not good enough.

But, despite that, despite the fact I’d love to keep working on it well into the midnight hours, only because the unfinished of it is eating away at my soul even as I type this, I am leaving it. I’m not leaving forever, it will not go unfinished, nay nay. Tomorrow probably, I will work some more. Hopefully I’ll finish it then.

But then there’s the silly video too.

The lesson of the day: do not seek perfection. Perfection is a silly thing, a nonexistent entity. A thing worshiped by many, claimed by a few, and attained by none. It’s nothing to praise or long for. The only things that are perfect are a child’s laughter, a well formed flower, and the way leaves tend to spread out in a canopy of trees. And rainbows. I think rainbows are pretty perfect.


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All the ways I thought I could make money but didn’t

08 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts

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Tags

crash landing, crashdlanding, stickers

  • Tutoring: bought a book about starting a tutoring business
  • Jewelry making: no one wants to buy my stuff and I’m too lazy to make more
  • Vinyl stickers with Cricut: everyone already owns a Cricut
  • Tumblers: I made a few and Messina two up and vowed to never make another
  • Resin crafts: no one really wants them. And again: too lazy
  • Resin bookmarks
  • Writing books: gotta write the books first
  • Blogging
  • Lip balm: I sold a few but made too much and now it’s all expired
  • Nail and cuticle balm: ditto
  • The latest: STICKERS!

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Drawing Challenge 2: The Duck

24 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts, Non-Fiction

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Tags

art, Bruce, crash landing, crashdlanding, dragon, drawing, drawing challenge, duck, kids, non-fiction, YouTube

Things I’ve learned and will hopefully remember next time.

  • How to add in an image or video Picture-in-picture style: I use VideoLeap to edit my videos, and there’s an option called overlay. I used it to add reference images I used, as well as a TikTok video I “borrowed without permission” because I like the sound of duck feet slapping around.
  • Edit your actual video completely to your preference FIRST, and add in extras later: editing piece by piece and adding in your features, like Overlay, graphics, sounds, voice over etc, and then having to go back in and rearrange and scale extras to fit and sit where you want will increase edit time.
  • When using screen record as your primary source of content, you probably don’t need everything. Just snippets: the unholy amount of footage I have of doing the same thing over and over again, that I had to cut, is astronomical.
  • DON’T MARATHON EDIT: trying to get all the work done in one session is going to exhaust you, and lead to poorer work. Take your time, over multiple sessions, and step by step.
  • Remember why you are doing it: if my niece hadn’t been so excited about the whole thing, I don’t think I would have done it. It’s hard to quit when a kid has expectations.
  • SPEEDING THINGS UP IS YOUR FRIEND: this is not an instructional video. You can go at ludicrous speed if you want too, or need too. And it cuts down in final runtime.

In the end

My niece, who seems to be the only one who cares about it, actually watched the whole video this time, at least once. And she chose the next drawing. A dragon. I’m gonna start by doing some research tomorrow.

Until then, Merry Christmas.


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Most Frequently Used

21 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts, Gadgets

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Tags

canva, crash landing, crashdlanding, creation, creator, frequently used, image editing, images, MagSafe, non-fiction, popsocket, popwallet, Procreate, Products, video editing., VideoLeap

Apps and Devices

This is a list of the things I currently use most frequently on this misguided and pointless journey to doing something amazing.

Procreate for iPad

Precreate is a paid app on the Apple App Store for digital art. It’s a non-subscription price of $12.99 I’ve made all sorts of art with it. I am currently obsessed with making poorly drawn stickers. Mostly because it took me forever to figure out how to get the white outline without hand drawing the whole thing.

You can download new brushes and textures for use in your app, and create your own. And since it is a widely used app, there are a million tutorials all over the internet for anything you might not be able to do.

VideoLeap for iPad

VideoLeap is a video editing app for iPad. It is subscription based, and I pay $35.99 a year. if you’ve ever used iMovie, it’s fairly easy to lean but with a ton more features. It also has its own section of music and images to add into your videos!

I’ve created multiple videos and posted one, the first drawing challenge, to YouTube. It’s only gotten, like, ten views but that’s only cause I’m unpopular.

Canva

Honestly it’s been a hot minute since I’ve used Canva, which is a free app, but if you pay for a subscription (monthly or yearly) you get way more features. I’ve created digital book covers, intro videos, featured images for blog posts, and covers for my podcasts

Even if I haven’t used it in a while its another subscription I don’t plan on letting go of for a while.

Apple Pencil

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit there are MUCH cheaper pen style stylus’ that work perfectly well with iPad, and also that I grief purchased this and my current iPad not long after my mom passed, but I don’t think I could go back or give up this bad boy now.

While the weight of it isn’t like a regular pen, and I purchased silicone tips because I didn’t love the TAPTAP of it on the screen, it really does make life easier when you need precision to do something, like drawing or video editing.

Honorable Mentions

  • Any kind of jump drive/flash drive that can connect to an apple device: I own two speedster flash drives with Apple connections. They make transferring of data—images, videos, documents—between devices and/or computers a cakewalk. Especially handy when emailing it to yourself seems cumbersome.
  • PopWallet+ MagSafe: these have nothing to do with work or productivity, but I have been an avid and adamant pop socket user for years. And I ordered a popwallet with interchangeable popsocket for myself last year and it became invaluable. But I recently obtained a new iPhone with MagSafe I didn’t want to lose my wireless charging capabilities with a stick on wallet anchor, so I risked my funds and purchased a MagSafe wallet, and case (case not pop wallet brand) and it’s absolutely perfect. The magnet is strong enough to hold and I have my cards where I need them, without any issues with the magnet.

This has been yet another quickie post. It is the holidays after all and I can’t be bothered with being productive before 11pm!

Coming soon: Drawing Challenge No. 2: The Video, Fiction Friday (still haven’t figured out what fiction), and my Year in Review (picture, if you will, a dumpster fire…).


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Took me long enough.

19 Monday Dec 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts, drawing challenge, Non-Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bro, crash landing, crashdlanding, drawing, drawing challenge, non-fiction, sun, sunflower, sunflowers, sunshine

If you recall, I recently began a self-created drawing challenge. The first challenge was a sunflower and I wanted to commemorate it by creating a sticker. Not that I have the means to do so, but I have Google and the Toky Tokys.

So, after multiple days and several hours of trying, hundreds of views for various YouTube and TT creators videos on the subject, I finally figured out how to MAKE THE WHITE BORDER AROUND AN IMAGE.

This is it. This is the sticker. Sans Greenish background of course.

Now, I haven’t got the materials yet to make this a physical reality, but I rode the high of figuring it out a long time. Until I went hunting for my checkbook to pay a bill and couldn’t find it.

But I still feel good about it.

Eventually I’m going to have the material and attempt to print and cut the stickers out. I plan on selling the about 3 inch by 3 inch stickers for $2. Not that anyone will buy them but I’m 100% gonna slap one on my truck with my “Hi, Robin!” sticker.

And I plan on continuing the Drawing Challenge. I’ve got a duck I just finished, and a video to come plate for that. Yes the duck is going to have its one phrase too.

*wink*

Anyway, The Kid conned her way into my bed, so I’m not getting much sleep, so I’d better get in that!


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Ducks Are Hard to Draw

08 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by crashdlanding in Arts & Crafts, drawing challenge, Non-Fiction, Uncategorized

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Tags

crash landing, crashdlanding, drawing, drawing challenge, duck, ducks, facts of life, no touchy, non-fiction, tiktok, YouTube

And other facts of life.

Case in point

If your a little behind the times, first off same. Secondly, I’ve recently decided to punish myself challenge myself and try to get better at drawing. Specifically digital “art”.

Shameless plug to first challenge video on YouTube.

My niece was asked to pick from three options and she chose a duck so that’s my next punishment challenge.

She currently has the Flu and I sincerely hope she feels better soon.

A duck is an animal I have never been in super close proximity to. In fact, my general rule of thumb is that if I do not know them I should keep my distance, out of respect for both of us.

However it is important to note that it’s on my bucket list to touch an elephant. I will never do it but by golly if I’m not tempted.

An animal cannot give you direct and clear permission to touch it. It can touch you, but that does not give you permission to touch it back.

The same cannot be said for people. They can give you permission. They can also deny you permission. A good rule of thumb, unless you know the person well, is no touchy touchy.

So I am suddenly reminded of this dude’s Tikie Tokies. About how to pick up a duck. Go watch it. It’ll either make you laugh, or make you do that, “huh, I’m not sure how to feel about this” thing.

Back to the topic at hand, I have no preconceived notions that the duck I am going to draw, eventually, will be any good. It’s gonna 100% be cartoonish and silly. But, you know, I’m not here for perfection, I’m here to have fun.

I’m gonna try really hard not to try to hard, to not let it get the best of me. The sunflower I completed in one session, and I’m sure I could have done more for it in more time. But the duck I’m gonna practice with. I’m gonna erase and start over a lot.

Honestly the goal with this second drawing challenge is to, in the end, be able to look at it and go, “Hmm, I ain’t mad at that.”

And also like the sunflower, it’s gonna be a sticker. Couple of suckers maybe.

I’m gonna learn how to do that too. Because right now the only thing I can afford to do for entertainment and betterment is learn. Through the Google of course, and Wikipedia. Although, because the founder of Wikipedia pretty much dissed Ol Musky, I really should donate.

Anyway, the melatonin and heated throw are telling me to say goodnight.

Goodnight!


Ps: just so you know I tried really hard not to get stupid and personal with this one. I need an outlet but I don’t have to tell the Internet strangers everything.

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