technonaturalist

image link to hive image link to ko-fi

starzone

September ProgBlog #3: slightly modified wingies

I’m only apologising for the late progblog out of habit as I’m not sure how many people read these things XD I’ve really got to kick the habit of working in the time slot that’s supposed to be for writing the progblog. It’s misplaced guilt from feeling bad about not having “enough” progress from the last progblog so I try to have more to show because I’ve taken so long obsessing over details and making sure things are perfect. This is why I’m never going to be able to get an industry job.

September ProgBlog #2: Wingy wingy wings

It’s probably a good thing I’m fairly used to chaos, and also that we didn’t actually need to fly anywhere in a hurry.

It took me four goes to get the kids’ passports renewed (and this isn’t even mentioning the chaos and confusion trying to tee up with my friend who agreed to be their guarantor). Fortunately the post office I was using is less than 10min drive from my place and the lady who processes the applications is very good-natured and patient.

September ProgBlog #1: the state of fyn

Which is not nearly as entertaining or interesting as the states of the @nonameslefttouse addresses.

After ages of trying I’ve finally come to the conclusion that I can’t make enough progress fast enough for a Patreon to be worthwhile to most people, and also there were some little niggly things that were bothering me, so I’ve partially shut it down (deleted my pledges to other creators and “unlaunched” my creator page but haven’t deleted the account yet, I may either do that or relaunch down the line, will see what happens).

August ProgBlog #4: just a "quickie"

Because like I ever do anything quickly.

So after making some good headway on the tail feathers from last progblog, I eventually realised (again why could I not do this earlier) that they weren’t flowing with the arm direction and when the arm bent the feathers around the elbow were doing to kink horribly. Not only that the flow of the tail feathers didn’t make much sense given the overall shape of the phoenix.

August ProgBlog #3: music loops

Perhaps it’s a good thing that JJ walks around with headphones on whenever he’s home and that the kids are just used to my weirdness as pretty much everyone else would probably have gone slightly insane at the sheer number of times I’ve been listening to True Colours by Artists Against Bullying (linked to a sign language one because it was adorable, this is the official clip and here’s the original Cyndi Lauper one that they covered) and *Here I Am *by Bryan Adams (again linked to a *Spirit *one because I’m still not sure what to make of the original XD).

August ProgBlog #2: all the small things

An unbelievable amount of crazy has been happening.

Comp season starting was just part of it (aka there went one weekend, spoiler alert 12yo did well).

We’re now onto the last few tail feathers with the pink and purple.

shiny phoenix tattoo on 3d character

Close up of the middle feathers (which shows I need to cover more grey in the purple section!)

August ProgBlog #1: Moar shimmer

Didn’t take too long to get my hand in, so once I figured out what I was doing it happened reasonably quick (but not as quick as I would have liked partly because it’s been a week and mostly because I have unrealistic and generally unachievable expectations of myself).

shimmery phoenix feathers

Decided to do the tail feathers by colour instead of individually and the barby bits are kind of painstaking because the brush is tinier than 3dC wants to deal with, but we’re glacially getting there.

July ProgBlog #4: derp

So problem shoulder is acting up again. It all started when I decided to have a shower with the extractor fan on (I’m aware it needs to be on but my need to be warm is infinitely more important than the need to avoid mould growth). There was problems with the hot water system (we replaced the old one which finally died after possibly 40+ years with a cheap crappy new one instead of a good one because we thought we were going to be moving) or maybe it’s a problem with plumbing, I don’t know. Anyway, I got too cold, I felt something twang while shivering (I’m aware it doesn’t actually get that cold where I am but I have no cold tolerance. None.), woke up the next day feeling sick (which I got over pretty quick) and getting dizzy spells when looking right regardless of what orientation I’m in (standing, sitting, lying, doesn’t make a difference) which eventually fades but can recur randomly during the day which is tonnes of fun when I’m driving. It’s done wonders for my concentration.

July ProgBlog #3: distractions aplenty

Sprat is up for a couple of weeks, so I’ve been a bit distracted.

On Friday when I was supposed to have been writing this, we played Minecraft for most of the day. I used to play survival mode with the kids, but these days I just mindlessly build things in random locations (usually with plenty of supplies inside) for Sprat and the kids to find (they’re all in survival mode), and laugh at the hilarious sound effects that happen when they encounter the hostile mobs.

July ProgBlog #2: shiny froof

Finally finished the gloss map for the scales! The belly scales were fairly boring and straightforwrd but I was still glad to be done with them XD Currently lighting the froof and am much happier as I like doing hair. Quite pleased with how it’s turning out so far too.

nicely lit up dragon froof

A little bit blurry up this close and I don’t think it should be. I’m currently writing myself some pipeline notes (not as I type obviously because I’m kind of typing this XD) including just making the model a lot bigger (as much as I really, really don’t want to) because for whatever reason the SceneScale either doesn’t work in the paint room or doesn’t work at all.