I was still sick a lot of December… I noticed that there were lots of people sick in the November / December timeframe. Guessing it is related to post-COVID low immune systems.
I graduated from Columbia International University with a M.A. in Intercultural Studies!
I played TMNT Shredder’s Revenge (Switch) with my wife. Love the backgrounds and the pixel / retro style art. I would recommend it for sure. I beat Dragon Warrior Monster 2: Tara’s Adventure (GBC). I quit Marvel Snap because it was too good.
I finished reading the Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer. I liked it overall but was disappointed by the lack of conclusion.
I was sick for a lot of November. I really am not productive at all when I am sick. I did still finish a few drawings.
I started Pyre (MacOS) and Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 (GBC). I also spent a little bit of time playing Eastward (Switch).
I have been listening to a few folks playing the ttrpg Deathmatch Island. The game is currently unreleased. It is reminiscent of Hunger Games and Red Rising.
I have started working on a ttrpg module for Mausritter based on Mouse Guard.
I started and finished reading Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. I was thinking about the game Control pretty much the whole time. I started reading The Man Who Leapt Through Film: The Art of Mamoru Hosoda.
Started a daily sketchbook habit.
I beat Golf Story and Golf Club Wasteland. I did not really enjoy Golf Club Wasteland. I picked up Splatoon 3. Super duper fun. I feel like matchmaking isn’t the best (either put with people way over or way under me). Update: I feel like matchmaking is becoming more accurate the more I play. I like that the weapons seem fairly balanced. I don’t see one weapon over and over again in matches. I started playing Marvel Snap! One of the best mobile games I have played in awhile. Free to play and gives rewards and new cards all the time.
Watched Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space. I thought it left the viewers with too little resolved. There were definitey some enjoyable moments along the way though.
I informally interviewed Holly Leonard about her art practice and about the intersection of art & faith. I walked away with a lot of thoughts about authenticity and creating a large body of work.
This month I taught a 3 session class on origami to kids at an elementary school next to my church. Overall it was a good experience and I was pretty impressed by what they could do! I learned a lot about origami myself.
I bought my own electric guitar. I really like Justin Guitar’s free lesson videos so far.
I found the artist / teacher Tim Mcburnie online. I really really appreciate what he has to say. I will definitely continue to watch at least his free material if not more.
I finished two illustrations. One for church (Take Note) and one for a friend (Electric Fighting Primeape). This moves my total tracked illustration time to over 50 hours!
I started playing Golf Story again this month. It is very charming but definitely drags on. I know others consider it short but I think it could have been shorter. I have started playing League of Legends: Wild Rift on iOS again. Mostly ARAM mode. I am looking forward to the release of Warwick.
I started messing around with the alpha version of the 3D software Womp. I submitted an entry to the spaceship competition.
I learned how to play Wingspan this month. I have been playing it on Board Game Arena.
I finished listening to Culture Care by Makoto Fujimura. I was hoping for more practical applications than I got. I started Art + Faith by the same author.
My neighbor lent me an electric guitar near the end of the month. I have started to learn how to play it.
I met Ahmed Aldoori! I had heard of him online before through his “100 Heads” challenge, but did not know he lived in my city. I started his “Med’s Map” course. If you read the July ‘now’ section you would see that I started on making my own version of a art learning roadmap. That is on pause while I go through Med’s Map.
I started listening to the Streetlights Audio Bible. Very cool and engaging.
Started and finished reading Feck Perfuction: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life. It is the second time I have read it. Nothing groundbreaking, and a little bit insulting for those of us who are doing art as a hobby or have a 9-5 job. I finished Spiritual Survival Handbook for Cross-Cultural Workers. I would recommend it to any missionary, and probably even any Christian as we are all called to be missionaries wherever we are. I intend to read it again in the future.
Japanese Kanji learning is underway again using WaniKani. This is probably my third try. I am hoping that the practice sticks this time.
I would like to watch Yu Yu Hakusho, but I don’t really have a regular time I watch TV right now. Not a bad problem to have. A friend recommended the anime Sonny Boy. I started watching it as I got a 30 day trial of Hulu. I saw Millenium Actress for the first time. I loved the animation but did not like the message of the movie.
I stopped playing Hades on Xbox. I just don’t make the time right now. However I did beat Dragon Warrior Monsters for the GBC. As for physical games, my wife bought me 7 Wonders: Duels so I have been playing a lot of that. It might be the best two player board game I have ever played.
I keep redesigning my website. I enjoy working on it. One of the new pages is for collecting Liam’s art. Liam is my very young son.
I recently found radiorunner’s curriculum for the solo artist. I have a few ‘personal choice’ qualms with it. I am designing my own version which I plan to share shortly. I was also looking at the classpath for the FZD School of Design which I think would be a great alternative to going to a 4 year college. One downside about woriking on this curriculum is I am paused on making art while I work on it. Not the best.
I brightened my Luke Skywalker illustration by 60% and ordered new prints of it from Vistaprint. I am thankful they gave me a return on the last print that turned out way too dark.
Very into Uki Atsuya’s art right now.
Finished reading Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life. It was extremely good. I need to now go through the exercises that the recommend. I also finished Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. I have read it before, but it was awhile ago. I feel like the authors are bitter about art. I don’t necessarily recommend it. Additionally, I also read Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk: And Other Truths About Being Creative. I have also read this one before, but it was refreshing after re-reading Art & Fear. Specifically more encouraging.
Currently reading Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise. From time to time I try to force myself to get through some of Everybody Writes: Your Go-to Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content.
I am playing through Dragon Warrior Monsters for GBC and Hades on the Xbox S. I turned on God Mode (assist mode) because I just can’t handle the heat. Mind you I waited 10+ runs to turn it on. I picked up and then proceeded to play wayyy too much World Flipper on iOS. I deleted that app before finishing the story as I don’t like things to grab my attention throughout the day like that. I play asyncronous games of Star Realms (iOS) with some family and friends daily. I have also gotten back into BoardGameArena lately and have been playing Hive and Splendor. I do hope they add Scythe eventually.
On Discord I have been running a play-by-post tabletop role-playing game of Cairn with the Undying Sands hexcrawl. I have added my own futuristic twists on it.
I started a Couch to 5k running program.
Made some art, learned some art stuff. It is a little fuzzy to me writing this in July. I did not have much time for art really - between work, grad school, and young kiddos. Maybe I had some time, but certainly not the energy.
I abandoned reading Starting Point, 1979-1996, which was fairly sad to me. I was really looking forward to reading it. I might try to finish it again at another point. Kindle tells me I made it 49% of the way through. I was hoping for content related to Ghibli films, but instead it was a lot of personal thoughts and anecdotes from Miyazaki. Then also, there were a lot of depressing stories about overworking in the anime industry. I was tired of hearing that it ‘had to be done that way’ and other statements along those lines.
With regards to podcasts, I finally got through the entire COUNTER/Weight tabletop RPG series by Friends at the Table.
I watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It was pretty good. I watched some other movies too, but none that I want to discuss.
I beat Quantum Break, Horizon Forbidden West, and Going Under. I loved Quantum Break. I did play on their Easy mode because I was mostly interested in the storyline. I want to run a tabletop RPG influenced by it some time. Horizon Forbidden West was super great up until the last 30 minutes. Super disappointed by the ending. Horizon Zero Dawn is probably my favorite game of all time (to date). Going Under was charming, but a bit of a slog. I turned on the assist mode or whatever towards the last 10%ish of the game as I just wanted to get through it. Dialogue with the characters was the best part.