DECEMBER 2023
Your Standard End-Of-The-Year Round Up/New Year Resolutions Post
December 27, 2023
Hello! If you celebrate Christmas I hope it was a good one! Mine was alright. I enjoy my gifts :-) ! My haul, for those who are interested:
- A memo pad shaped like toast
- A pig memo pad from Midori
- 2 sets of roller-stamp pattern pens. (My mom mentioned to me later that she got them mistakenly; thinking they were normal pens. Honestly they're really fun to use, I like them!)
- A set of 6 subtley patterned washi tapes
- A sweater
- A big jar of lao gan ma
- Lip Balm (Rebel's Refinery, I think I'd consider this my new go-to tbh. Very comparable to EOS if you're curious about it.)
So! End of the year round up. I set no goals for 2023 -- I just wanted to survive, after how awful 2022 was. I'm more functional now, so feeling up to setting some goals. If I had to force a singular ideal for this year, it would be working with how I am. I have and still continue to spend so much time fighting myself. About 2.5 weeks ago I wrote a tentative list of potential N E W Y E A R R E S O L U T I O N S.
- Lose about ___ pounds/month:
- I'm not going to publically share any numbers, weight is such a miserable subject for so many people online. I weigh more than I want to, and I have enough fat to affect my health. Losing weight will not magically change my opinions on myself, but it is something I still want to accomplish. I very specifically chose to say "about" because I record ounces and I don't care for the stress of hitting a specific round number each month. If I'm a couple ounces off, so be it. I'll know if I did fine in how I feel.
- Focus on building a skill (or good habits) every month:
- I don't know if I'll specifically end up going with "monthly," but I like the idea of frequently switching focus to avoid getting bored/fed up. Some ideas I have: being more thoughtful, art, doing more hobbies than just sitting and browsing the internet, keeping my spaces tidier, dressing better, so forth. This goal feels vague, going to think more on the best approach.
- Go outside more often:
- This is not surprising.
There's so many little things I want to do too, but wouldn't really write as a New Years Resolution. Finish 1 piece of art each month but making as many sketches as possible; eating more thoughtful/intentionally; focus on using up things I have (like art supplies and personal care items); dressing better; improved sleep hygiene, so forth. Zero promises for timing but I'll try to get periodic check-ins throughout the year.
For 2023 I gave having a Hobonichi Techo (Cousin) a try, after two years of Kokuyo's Jibun Techos. My conclusion is I am stopping lying to myself; while I adore the aesthetics of these books if something is hidden inside a page I will not look at it. I've been sticking with a big ugly wall calendar with a big ugly habit tracker above it for a few months now, and it's been working great. I need to accept that I don't use planners, not like this at least. Worth noting: if you do actually know you like planners, I fully reccommend the ones I've used. They're great at what they're meant for.
A few months ago I switched to using my Hobonichi as my diary exclusively, and while I definitely use it a lot more, I still don't like all the wasted paper from days I don't write. As well as the lack of space on days I DO use it. What I've been doing for almost 2 decades now is using normal blank notebooks, and whenever I feel like writing, I just write about what's happened since the last update. It's kind of a bummer to have such a nice item only end up semi-used, but in a way I'm glad I tried because at least I got confirmation in what works for me. Worth noting, a filled 2-day spread in the Hobonichi is considerably much more ~aesthetic~ than 2 pages in a normal notebook. I'll miss that.
I've barely touched my secret santa art since the last update, but since it's due in one month I'll be working on it a lot more going forward. Unsurprisingly, I kind of want to redo everything. We'll see though LOL. I just hope my friend likes whatever it ends up being.
Hey also it's still holidayish season! I haven't been feeling/acting very festive, oops. The snowman army is not working out so well :-(
Update On My Drawing
December 19, 2023
Wow Christmas in a week!
So, I haven't actually touched this between the last update here and today. I've been losing my mind trying to decide a color for the outer frame (I'm thinking making two versions - off white and dark blue.) A big part of it is since my friend wants this as a print to decorate with, I know it's going to end up on a dark blue wall; which I think the light contrast will look great with...but I hate how the lilies are lost in lighter colors. aaaaaa.
I also sketched a new character, I have yet to decide how far I'm going to render her/what style I will go for. I want to leave the dress pretty flat since I plan on the sky and the flower border to have plenty of texture. I'm planning on playing around with that white ornament around the moon; I think it would be neat to have the phases of the moon there (or maybe zodiac signs?) but who knows how disruptive the character's head will end up being.
I like the idea of the skin having lots of texture plus, I drew the moons and stars on her for no real reason, but I actually like how they look like a sort of affliction lol. Another idea in my head is freckles and moles that are constellations. ALSO I promise I will actually draw at least one hand - this pose was supposed to be her right arm is reaching past her back and possibly interacting with the ribbon. I don't really like how that pose makes her look bound by it though. Though, I still like the idea of her arms being behind her in some way since she's sort of leaning forward; plus I worry they may break up the dress in an unflattering way. I'll have to play around with it. (this applies to the whole picture lol.)
This is all if I go with this sketch. I had a third idea (head-on, hand outstretched, a tad curled up, almost approaching you) that I want to test. Notably another friend said they preferred the first pose as well. We're both having a hard time articulating what we like more about the first one, beyond "vibes."
Additionally, I redid the layering/shapes/structure of those gold frames. I'm not super happy with the colors (plus they're not anti-aliased at all?) But the moon, its frame, the off-white block, and its frame are all seperate pieces that I can mess with. Most important is the moon and its frame being seperate. This means nothing to anyone else, but hey.
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There's already the button on my front page, but hey, the 32-Bit Cafe has a holiday event going on right now! I'm excited to see what everybody submits! I want to participate, I'm not dead set on anything yet......but I have a desire to build a snowman army...
Test/Exhausted Entry
December 14, 2023
Hi! I should be long asleep by now, but I'm not. At least I have the diary archive figured out, I think. I don't love it but it's a lot more functional. I also basically deleted the page and thought I lost everything (since all the old entries were just on one giant page) but I didn't, I just had to re-html it. "Just" it took forever and wasn't worth it. I now need to shower and then melt into puddle, TY to everyone who looks at this site lol.
Art Progress, Thinking About Next Year
December 11, 2023
December!!! I started typing this a few days ago, oops. I wanted to show my current progress on my new art for the art club exchange. It's only a rough draft, but still.
So, as you can tell it's early on. The most pressing to-do is to totally redraw the character, I want a new design, new pose, probably slightly different style, different rending too. Plus I think I'm going to get rid of the water, and just have nothing but the sky in the background (which could maybe then get some constellations?) I think I'm most looking forward to painting the flowers and stars. I'm least looking forward to fixing the weird border intersection at the top. I might rework the dimensions to be a skinnier poster shape. Also, cannot decide for the life of me what color I want the (currently) green area to be. There's a lot to do but I think it has promise.
New topic: Since it's December; I'm seeing more and more people either discuss their 2024 plans, or start to wrap up their 2023 (rather early imo, but to each their own.) I was pretty sure I went into this year with no goals in mind, but to make sure I decided to check my journals from around christmas 2022-early jan this year. 1.) I was right, I did not have any New Year Resolutions. 2.) It was kind of harrowing to look back on, not going to lie. I've definitely gotten worse over the last year... like in general.
I'm a bit more in tune with how I am (in the sense that I'm more willing to work with myself) among other things, so I'm up to actually making resolutions for next year. I'll start brainstorming. PS: next project for this website, I think I want to redo the diary archive.