This weeks question: Do you do anything creative besides Heromachine? (Art, music, video etc.)
The Nerdmudgeon Podcast
Three middle-aged nerds (including yours truly!) review all of the MCU movies in chronological order. Short, funny, and full of good vibes, check it out and let us know what you think!
Nerdmudgeon.com
1. Creative outlets. There are media I haven’t tried, but not many good ones. Acting supplemented my income for a while. Custom fabrication of items from jewelry to furniture and ice sculpture WAS my income for a very short while as my three part-time jobs withered and died from companies going through bankruptcy, licensing issues, and fall layoffs. I’ve sold two paintings and had one sculpture stolen–my only presence in a bona fide gallery, ever. I’ve completed one mural professionally. Puppets and carvings I’ve made were occasionally bought, as well as other crafts.
That being said, I have a problem. I’ve never made enough money on art to make it, I’ve never had enough interested parties in one medium to stay in practice with just one and become great, and I can’t leave it alone. My compulsion to create has cost me much and ruined my capacity to live cheaply. Interacting with the hm community, as well as my family and a few select friends, has enabled me to nix my spending on art supplies, fulfill my compulsion, etc. These days I can sometimes go months without buying something unnecessary or spending way too many hours doing something unprofitable or non-family oriented. My debts may start leveling out soon as my new job starts.
2. Contests: This spring has apparently drawn a LOT of people away from hm, but I have suggestions–anyone wanting to have an extra challenge for the scenery contest should go look at my renditions of Aelihoh, the first pure scenery I did with heromachine. All but one of those were done as ‘one-slots,’ and I’m curious to know if anyone else can pull off something like that. Using just insignia should be a lot easier now. I used ‘hair/std.’
The contest for JJ Baskins is the best cause I’ve seen for these contests, so, even if you just make a crowd scene of winners faces with a punchline, many of you should try.
3. Questions: Surprises art has brought into your life. What art would you buy as originals, if you could. What art would you NEVER buy as originals. Do any of you mix media?
Oh, and one of the many instruments I’ve not tried is that stringed one you showed. How about introducing your next segment with “Happy Birthday?” Somebody here is bound to have had one recently.
For a short while I dabbled in photography, but I had to stop because of exams and I haven’t done any since. As for other media I have used Pivot (stick figure animator) and I briefly experimented with Scratch, but I have never found anything as fun, complex and yet as easy to use as Heromachine.
As for a question, how about: What genre do you find easiest/hardest to make with HM
Thanks JR and keep up the good work!
Mostly, I’ve been working on my own Pen n’ Paper RPG. While it takes some inspiration from other such games, the system itself is built from scratch. Pretty much all of the drawings (which there aren’t many of) I’ve done lately are concept art for this game, as well.
Pretty lucky here, as my job affords me a great many creative challenges and possibilities. Used to make jewelry until the Parkinson’s took over and turned me into a lethal bead cannon!
I draw with the old traditional Pencil to paper method! I have also tried my hand at making chainmail. I am seriously out of practice drawing and while I enjoy the chainmail stuff, it can get very tedious as it takes a long time to make anything and all you are doing is opening rings, weaving them into the item you are making and closing the ring, over and over again.
Questions:
1- Do you collect anything? I myself am a sword/dagger/knife collector.
2- Do you have a cherished childhood television program, animated or otherwise?
I’ve been writing fiction all my life, off and on. Started out with pencil and paper like everyone else my age. Now, of course, I do it all on computer, and my ability to hold a writing utensil for hours and hours has atrophied. My ability to focus on getting things finished also seems to have atrophied, sadly, which is how I have a story I began 21 years ago still in revisions. I do the occasional poem as well, but not often enough to think of myself as a poet. I feel like I should have more to say on this topic, as “writer” has been my self-applied identity forever. But I don’t seem to right now.
I dabble in music. (I guess my lyric-writing would qualify me as a poet after all …) My voice used to be acceptable until I had pneumonia a couple years ago, and now I almost constantly have some kind of respiratory nonsense going on. On good days, I find that my range is deeper than it was pre-pneumonia, and I was already plenty alto. So songs by Cher or Annie Lennox — I’m good. Mariah Carey, not so much. As for instruments, I have not enough skill to claim that I play anything, but I have played *with* piano/keyboard, guitar, recorder, and bowed psaltry. (My spouse used to spend lots of his disposable income on random obscure musical instruments, which is how we have a psaltry. He also owns a theremin, a bamboo sax, and an electric kazoo, among other things.) It’s been a while, but I’ve also composed electronically. I started out using a midi composer called Anvil Studio, until my spouse introduced me to Fruity Loops. Most recently, I’ve used Linux Multimedia Studio.
I’ve done other stuff. I used to make beaded necklaces pretty often. I also picked up supplies to do pyrography, but I haven’t really sat down and practiced much. I have an idea in my head to do a hilarious video series re-enacting Norse myths using action figures. I’m good at ideas, not so good at following through. But even if all else fails, I can turn to HeroMachine, because somehow the following through part seems easier here. Possibly because I spend an embarrassing amount of time tooling around on the internet anyway; I might as well be here doing something worthwhile, right?
On that note, despite the risk of oversharing, I’d like to say that doing creative things has been a major weapon in my fight against depression, and so many times it’s been HeroMachine that has made it possible to use that tactic. So my thanks to Jeff and the HM community.
@Lime- You have a Theramin? Jealous.
Mostly writing. I’ve written fiction in my spare time off and on since high school. Actually, given that I really haven’t HeroMachined much lately, writing has been my primary source of creativity recently.
From time to time, I’ve done some pencil-and-paper sketching, but I haven’t had the discipline to keep at it.
No questions, but one anecdote. While I was watching the video, about a minute in, I realized I recognized the t-shirt that you’re wearing JR, because I own the same one. Made me chuckle.
Also, is anyone else unable to log-in to the forum? I’ve been unable to since the update. I’ll shoot an e-mail off to Jeff about that.
@Herr D- I can’t actually play Happy Birthday. I tend to mostly play songs that I like and can play just for fun, Happy Birthday is to just too situational for me to be bothered to learn it.
@Myro- You have good taste is shirts sir. As for the forum log in problem, Jeff is aware of it, he posted about it yesterday on the blog and him and Ben are trying to fix it. As far as I’m aware it is affecting everyone, so it’s not something wrong your end, don’t worry.
@Kaldath- Remind me never to annoy you then, if you have a collection of swords and the like.
@JR: I have 18 swords, 2 axes, 1 spiked Mace, and a handful of daggers. Most of the blades are un-edged though there are a few… My 2 Katanas, my wakizashi, and my Ninja-to for example are razor sharp 😀
1B. . . . and I’ve resisted thinking of myself as a writer for so long that I forget my accomplishments. I’ve been soft-published twice now under my own name and have written somewhere between 1500-1800 pages under ghost-contract. I’m pretty sure that all have been canned for project failure. –Apparently I haven’t backed a winner yet. I have also been promised “one percent of one percent” for lyric improvements written by numerous garage bands, songwriters, etc., none of whom have made it. The Roanoke Poetry Slam was a frequent stage for me until I ran away to get married, and I even have one completely untraceable set of technical instructions to my credit. The story spigot just won’t turn off.
@JR: Some other intro then?
@djuby: Speaking for myself, I never got good enough at beading to STOP being a lethal bead cannon . . . and the cheap beads I could afford to lose didn’t lend themselves to high profit. I only made money at wire work, assembly, and design/redesign. Tremors haven’t affected your tailoring yet, have they? A pre-Regulin medication used on me has caused almost unnoticeable ones.
@Kaldath: While briefly with a small company, I did a showy kata with two razor-sharp mirror-plated swords that I THINK were ‘Southern Chinese broadswords.’ What are the chances that those blades were not based on anything out of history at all, realizing that I know precious little about swords, but haven’t been able to find a really good match for shape?
@HerrD – I have an excellent care team and while I am on a medication that, in conjunction with therapeutic massage, controls the tremors, things like handsewing can be hit and miss depending on the day. The thing with Parkinson’s is finding a way to live with it, and adapt as best you can to gain some level of control in your day to day life.
Check out this guy’s art O_O
http://jiyu-kaze.deviantart.com/art/Elsa-frozen-437235329
Hey JR, loved the vid.
I’ve drawn with pencil since I don’t know when
I still do on occasion, but my eyesight makes it a bit more difficult. I was using sharpies for a while, but a few months back tried pencil again and did pretty well.
I did some acrylic paintings in my 20s, a couple of which are quite decent.
I have done some photo manipulation in the late 90s and early 2000s when I had iPhoto Plus that came with my scanner at the time.
I written poetry, even won some contests and had some published, even have a book of vampire poetry published by SynergEbooks in 1997 “In Another Vein” by Vanyell Delacrox (my vampire nome de plume)
I write haiku and was the founder and president for the Fort Worth Haiku Society from 2002 till this year, which I let close due to health issues.
I have written some short stories for fun.
I have MANY ideas but sadly rarely finish many lately.
In the early 90s I was a female impersonator called Ivanna Mann. I was part of a charity group that did drag shows for various charities.
I like to sing and have a decent voice, depending on who you talk to. But sadly I can’t remember complete lyrics to songs. Although one friend calls me a “human jukebox” since I like to pop off bits of songs for almost anything anyone says around me.
All this has slowed down dramatically in the last few years, but I still keep my hand in some now and than, drawing something by hand, or singing.
Hero Machine 3 has been a life saver. I have illustrated AD&D RPG characters, Super Heroes, Chill Horror RPG characters, Story idea characters, made COUNTLESS satyrs, made Birthday cards, Holiday Cards, made Birthday/Holiday gifts for people, illustrated Haiku (which is called Haiga) which I have given “Haiga: The Art of Haiku” talks with my HM3 illustrated haiku at clubs, poetry meetings and readings, schools, Universities, libraries and haiku conventions including the National Haiku Society of America we hosted here in Fort Worth THREE Times , I have sold Haiga cards and bookmarks. have participated in 3 international Chinese New Year card exchanges, made flyers for various events, created Memorials for loved ones who’s passed, Designed several book covers, I have won $50 for 1st place in a Book Cover Design Contest … Let’s see I think that’s all .. other than have had hours of fun. 😀
For about a year and a half I had trouble getting on to HM from either various computer problems or what seems to be AOL, but I realized I can do it fine on Internet Exporer, so I just do it from there now.
Over the years since I discovered HM3 it seems like I have been asking permisson to do something and thanking Jeff everytime I turned around.