So, this is a long one, but it’s because it has been a recurring thing for the year 2019. That’s 12 months. And I been able to do much with it.
Card-Stock. A type of paper that is seemingly overlooked in a world where art boards and Bristol is king. It’s kind of a strange thing for me. Since, I’m used to for a couple years using larger and higher quality types of paper. But with the booming days gone, it’s kind of a thing where I felt that for a certain amount and a bulk stack of them, it’s logical to take this route and make a plan around how to make work for myself and client’s eventually. And it did after half a year.
Is the material good enough for work?
Kind of, it can do a bit of everything such as washes and holding up to layering of markers too. So, it’s can holdup. But don’t expect it to do very heavy amounts. It will do sketches and light conceptual easily.
What is it best suited for?
Sketches. Sketches for sure, due to the fact it’s in the 8.5×11 inches range and most of so-called “best ideas” are sketchers often, people want my ideas mostly. And sketches are adequate enough to get it across.
Earlier this year, I did do inking for sure, but that’s about it. It can for sure have a crisp clean finish when it comes to ink.
What does it mean?
Well, it’s nothing short of being economical and it’s to sustain my creative work a bit longer. Given the type of works I’ve been assigned to, it’s kind of a logical move to use something that supports it.
Does it give me any serious advantage?
in some ways yes. Given that it’s already a standardized paper and size, it allows me to refine my technicians and ideas within it’s limitations. Having more doesn’t mean better always. What it’s good at is that it gives a better working surface than simple copy paper where it can fall short in the durability department.
Is this something most people can get behind?
in the direction where it’s either Digital Only, or something higher-end is used. I have doubts that the mainstream will “get it”. There is a skill gap to jump through and most likely my kind of work and knowledge around it is too niche for many to care. ‘See, we no longer live in the 70s-80s anymore, production art done on paper is becoming very very rare, and chances are those who do it for a living have been doing it since the post-war eras. They been doing it that long and I have doubts that they will even give chance to share their knowledge online.
Who does this material suit?
Those needing a practical material to work from. It’s inexpensive and it’s viable for those starting to upgrade from copy paper and want to start doing light renders of ideas and works they have in mind. It can hold up to quite a bit of work, and chances are, it will give it’s bang for the buck. Plus the scans are quite clean too.

So, you must be thinking of this, I need to get it right and all planned out right?

Well….the problem comes to this.

The universe isn’t going to align it’s stars against you as it won’t go out of it’s way to pave the way like how Moses split the sea.

It just, the timing is never perfect, nor the conditions and what you have with you, you’ll have to use it. You have to get used to a few things.

• It’s never the right timing nor conditions
• Learn to get into small trouble often and ask for forgiveness than permission
• you only get this life once most likely
• staying still and doing nothing is the worst case scenario

I used to think of ways to perfect my projects, but in hindsight, if I started with less and learned to adjust the course of my craft along the way, life would have been better most likely.

It’s never the right timing, and I started rather late for my rather serious aspect of my works.

‘see, unlike most people software like ‘photoshop and using my own flatbed scanner didn’t

come into play until 2017, so it’s been 2 years since, trying to make my stuff work.

The progression is rather slow in terms of official records.

However, in actuality, my craft has been running much longer as far as 2014, where the internet just really get into the mainstream actually.

So, with all this action going on in my background, and it may well be a historical series of events.

I was just quietly working away at imgur, tumblr, and few ‘sites that I no longer operate on for personal reasons.

We are going towards a more permissionless world, you have to take the initiative.

well, here’s the news flash, nobody, either your parents, boss, friends, etc, won’t tell you want to do in terms of your internet stuff most likely, and in reality they can’t stop you from working on your online shenanigans and gigs you have in mind.

If anything you have a better chance of learning from the small (hopefully not fatal or totalized) mistakes and just try again. It’s better to start small and build up these personal resilience to your own path and endeavors you want to take.

In fact, I just decided to go with a bunch of seemingly non-related projects and later down the road, some of them actually seems to stick. It’s that simple.

You are not getting any younger and being still will kill you eventually

I hate to admit it, but. Time in some cases is more valuable than Money, when I mean by that is that through history, currency and free-trade was always a thing. Perhaps the dollar of today will be less valuable tomorrow thanks to the rise of crypto currency and block-chain, and Gold and Silver still can tank it through the times seemingly. What was consistent was that people tend to wast their non-renewable resources known as time and attention, and after a certain point in their life, people will notice this and start really regretting it. It’s a sad tale of the majority even in the first-world. And chances are you might not get this very statement until it’s the endgame or too late.

There are two way to “waste time” either you do something and slip up, and improve based on it little by little, not giving up and redefine what you want from life, or simply sit and do nothing.

If you can start with a Bargain Price and Setup, and get away with it. Do So.

Here is a couple footage of where I started my serious online art gigs from. Pretty shoddy right?

It’s just the way it is. But that is the thing. I figured out that as long as I can get away with it and just focus on the results. Things will be alright. And guess what? Things are just fine.

It doesn’t matter is the Wifi is so bad that I have to get a folding chair and “table” to get up online communications under the stairs and next to a bunch of laundry machines. I just went with what I can afford or bargain with for weeks or months.

2-3 years later, the setup may have changed but the laptop still holds and works.

I just managed to deliver results without an iphone or macbook being involved.

By the End of the Day, only time will tell

Look, I never really expected things to end up the way it is actually.

In fact, most of my substantially exciting events where from starting small and adjust based on what people online reacted with. It’s kind of a strange dynamics for me. Since, starting things like Dark Souls Inked, I actually haven’t really expected much good from it. I only tried because there was a couple incidents from 2016, that signaled that it was worth it. It was that simple.

And after following through for 1-2 years, it did show that certain actions really worked.

Better to start doing now than to ruminate about stuff later.

References and Sources

https://tim.blog/category/protecting-personal-time/

https://nav.al/how-to-get-rich