Far and Away

BlogpostPublished: Mar 13, 2010Views: 954

I don't know who actually still comes and looks at my page anymore, but I think someone does so I thought I'd do a little update.

I have been wanting to actually have stuff to post on TSR but I'm still feeling swamped with everything in life. My life has changed dramatically for me since October, mostly because I have found my dream job. I am now officially a self-employed graphics designer (see my stuff here!) and doing really well. The only down side is designing my brother's wedding invitations with custom artwork (and I am very honored) but at the same time it is the most difficult batch of things to draw, and the frustration is draining a lot of my happiness and energy. You wouldn't know how to draw a Scottish thistle, in fine detail, in pencil would you? It's a freaking two-tone ball of spikes on a stick! In addition to that, I feel like I have about half of the programs I need to do a quality job but at the moment, forking out $700 for Photoshop CS4 is near imposable. On the plus side I do have Adobe Illustrator, and just recently bought my first Wacom tablet and that has made things LOADS easier. I would have preferred a Intuos 4 medium, but the small works well, was half the price, and gives me a smaller space to get used to using a tablet because I have never messed with one before.

What does this have to do with TSR? I feel like I hardly have time to get my work done, let alone any breathing room to play around with Sims 3 or trying to figure out my way through the meshing/object tutorials. I swear there needs to be a tutorial for object creation that every micronic step has a screen shot, because once it gets to some of the texturing parts, I get so thoroughly lost that I couldn't find my way through it if my life depended on it. I was actually having a lot of fun with the meshing though, but it feels strange doing two versions of the same mesh. :D

I am frustrated to tears that I can't get even a single object completed and properly textured in the game. I cannot figure out how to get the fourth (Alpha) channel to work, and last time I tried I was using my Photoshop CS4 free trial that is now expired. I'm mad and depressed because I can't texture my stuff properly, and I can't even make my own patterns! And that leaves me stuck with all the EA ugliness because I wanted to see what I could make for my game instead of getting into the habit of downloading everything.

Why did EA make the game so difficult for creators? Its like being the hungry horse with the carrot danging just out of reach. When I see people get up new meshes, it doesn't excite me, it just makes me very sad. Once I get everything down and understand it (and have the programs that I need as well) there will be no problems.

On top of that I'm a workaholic (without the happy moodlet for it) and I'm sick. :( HELP! send me some encouragement if you have any to spare...

~Corsetcrush

P.S. I have to say... shame on me. I should know better by now to check out CycloneSue's blog first... she always seems to have the answer before I realize it is there. Going off to read the new tutorials now. :D

metteaske ∙ Mar 13, 2010

Keep smiling Corsetcrush or start smiling, if necessary! As I can tell from your words over my head, there are really lots to smile at!
As for the issue about the thistle I can just tell you, I think I know exactly how you feel. Here in Denmark we have a tradition of writing occasional songs for weddings, anniversaries, round birthdays (I don´t know if you can call it a round birthday in english $\;\)$ it sounds a bit danishified to me, but you know with 30, 40,50, 60 years and oddly enough 75 as well. I suppose when you reach 75 you have to celebrate more frequently in order to get enough parties.... $\:D$ )
Well, back to my point: everybody writes songs but there is quite some hype and pride about it. Not all are of course great songwriters and your ability as a songwriter will be thoroughly ransacked, believe me!
As you may understand I have had som success with my songs, but as soon as you have written one good one, people will always expect you to come up with an even better one next time. And that feels like a boulder on you shoulders! What a burden.
And when a person really dear and important to you has something to celebrate, it becomes a true pressure.
I gather what you feel is that you want to draw this thistle better and prettier than perfect, and can it ever be done! But remember your brother and his wife to be will be grateful to you for ever for even just putting and effort to it and do your best, and it is obvious that you will. So just go ahead, you can do it, and you can do it good!