Fanart / Nooo!! I’m ded in Kirby Air Ride! Poor yellow Kirby! My first visit to the Immigration Museum & update
In this blog:
- Kirby’s Air Ride ramble
- My first visit to the Immigration Museum & noms!
- SundayLeonieRamble time! Personal update and slow progress
- Redoing Patreon tier art
Nooo!! I died in Kirby’s Air Ride
So I was test playing the City Trial mode in this game and I couldn’t get together a good vehicle with power ups. So when racing came around, I got attacked by a bomb and my sub standard vehicle exploded. Then my poor little yellow Kirby just looks vacant, dead and laid flat like the above. All I could do was wiggle one foot in the air and shuffle side to side 🙁
I guess I lose and I’m dead for the whole race! :’)
My first visit to the Immigration Museum with a lovely buddy!
It’s been 4 months since I’ve been into the city!
I walked about 2 hours after getting here too early, shhh :’) Great weather here for a change! I put in all my silver coin change (except the 5 cent coins) to add to my public transport myki card too :0
The Immigration Museum! My generous buddy took care of me and treated me the admission ticket and a wonderful dinner! Thank youuu 😭 💖
Obviously I cannot publicly show photos inside but I managed to use their website to jog my bad memory about what we saw:
- Leaving Home – respect and acknowledgement of First Peoples, migrant stories and mementos; there’s this comprehensive online Journeys to Australia timeline too
- Immigrant Stories & Timeline – there was a lot of intense reading with the immigration timeline (online version) and I liked the stories they presented too
- Customs Gallery
- walk through Dance Reel – a lot of assorted cultural and contemporary dances across the huge wall and I felt the pillars were in the way sometimes ;P I saw a lady dancing sensually on a basketball court?
- Interactive theatre experience where you act out as a government official, judging and interviewing people applying to migrate to Australia – lots of depressing stories but very interesting
- there was a 1920’s lady speaking in Cantonese so I understood her plus it threw me out of the immersion when the actress was emotionless in her acting as she shouts for her family :’)
- there was an incredibly depressing and unfair rejection of someone trying to seek asylum for himself and his family
- rejection of a South African couple because their occupations aren’t in demand
- there was a British couple from the 1920’s what were horribly wrong in their decision to move to Australia but they had to mislead them to get them to come to Australia
- there’s some more but I get the point they’re trying to make; very effective interactive experience where I end up feeling more jaded about Australia’s immigration policies
- They displayed Caroline Chisholm’s scrapbook
- Identity: yours, mine, ours – the history of immigration, racism, communities, dated products/slogans/toys and mementos. How we don’t generally feel comfortable with a “leave me alone” stance on a tram/train of strangers (I didn’t want to try it as it felt too real and I’m probably projecting my insecurities around other people I don’t know)
Generally the museum provided an expanded history lesson beyond Australia’s high school textbooks through many more diverse migrant perspectives and experiences. And a lot of other things that I couldn’t remember because it was a lot of information overload.
Also we walked lots, had some good Korean dishes and I tried my first bubble tea/boba (Pearl Milk Tea) and it was sweet and nice and I liked the interesting pearl jelly things! Super sweet though; I need to try different varieties one day when I can afford that kind of thing.
My amazing buddy made sure we weren’t too overwhelmed by crowded, noisy areas too! <3 One to one time is sweet! I had a great, exploratory, inspiring, chill time! 😀
And I got sucked into marathon reading a few popular webtoon comics :’) Whoops where did the time go!
Thanks for bearing with this update; I rarely do outside activities ;D
SundayLeonieRamble: Personal update time!
Hey the designs I did for PatchGaming are all on their merch store! :0
Please note I don’t get any royalties/money for mentioning this, I’m just grateful for their kind shoutout! (: Here’s my original blog post about this commission.
Freelancing? Making art? The creative industry? Career?
I got lovely signal boosts about my looking for work and a bit more twitter followers than I’ve ever had earlier in the week! Thank you for all of you for sticking by! <3
As expected, freelance work is scarce and not really happening but at least people know that I’m open to it. I’m just going to focus on Patreon for now, given how I have much to learn and practice.
Hope to do more personal work, learning, get more creative momentum and keep healing from my burn out and lack of motivation :’) Indeed, I don’t want to pretend that things are great all the time. I hope to get better this year and in years to come! Eventually feel more excited about making art again in baby steps :’) My slow healing process and learning journey!!
Hearing how working freelance illustrators are struggling who have been in the industry for 10-15+ years. How budgets are not changing to accommodate and value artists to today’s living wage. How a lot of clients don’t want to pay what you quote and just disappear/ghost on you for cheaper illustrators. How competitive and saturated it is more than ever and you have to keep fighting to be seen by the right people. Suck it up as they say.
As for studio jobs, it’s essentially a job in the end and you gotta suck it up too (yeah we’ve all been there). How it’s always about cliques and how well you work together and how strong your connections are. How you need to play the social game and do group social things or people leave you out of future projects. How most people are only nice to you if you’re of value to them. How many art roles are outsourced to cheaper ghost artists overseas.
Yes I’ve heard about the “Storyboard revisionist quits Disney” drama and a few unrelated videos of a few freelance illustrators about their struggles too. The business of the entertainment and creative industry is gets tougher and I’m sure other industries are faring similarly too. Learning that I’m not alone in this makes me feel humbled, sad, reassured and both discouraged and inspired. I have lots of swirling, complex feelings! :<
It has been super disheartening to hear that reality continues to be a mixed, complicated bag and it’s also pushing me to just explore and eventually do my own projects and maybe products. Gosh I need to be more brave and people (with my best interests) to push me in the right direction! I’m just too averse to the socialising, networking and conversation part that comes with connecting with people :<
It gets emotionally exhausting but all the same I shall keep striving to make a career that’s sustainable for myself. Definitely a “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” kind of career :’) I hope to figure out my own path, however long in takes.
It’s okay if you’re somewhat anxious, Leonie. Being brave is all about doing it while managing the fears anyway :’)
Redoing Patreon Tier art! 😀
I kept with 3 tiers just as pledge suggestions even though it’s really a “pledge as you like system” and patrons don’t really have to be bound by a tier (a few patrons aren’t attached to a tier)! I’m just attached to rare treats like hot chocolate and cheesecake to represent my tiers ;D
And goodness! I took a month’s break in January and upon returning I doubled my number of patrons from 3 to 6 for February?! Whoa I wasn’t expecting it! Thank you for the continued and new support! I shall continue to do my best! Super grateful, encouraged and humbled for your incredible generosity!! <3
♥ Support my art & learning journey on Patreon or Ko-fi! ♥
Thanks so much for your support & for reading! You help me keep going! ʕ ✿˵•ᴥ•˵ ʔ ♡
If you want to stay up to date with me, sign up for my weekly blog updates!
May you enjoy the rest of your Sunday, rest up and best wishes for the first week of March ahead!! Take care!
Oh man. Kirby Air Ride is one of my favorite GameCube games! I especially love City Trial and unlocking the gigantic list of new characters and vehicle bits. Got some good memories of playing with my little brothers (Even if they never quite understood it and got destroyed by me :X). I’d kill to play that with folks again some day…
The immigration Museum sounds interesting. Huzzah to spending time with good friends!
Freelancing is certainly terrifying. There’s a constant haze of uncertainty and inadequacy looming while you’re pressured to go from doing things you want/love to do to expanding your portfolio as much as possible in order to cast a big enough net that you can atleast get a little bit of work.(I actually admire your tenacity in refining and expanding the scope of your work while also making sure it’s still the thing you love doing. It’s one of the reasons I want to support you.)
Take things at your own pace and heal up! I can’t speak for everyone, but know that I intend to be here for the long haul. I’ve read through a good number of your blog posts and your SLM comics and they’ve genuinely helped me with comprehending my nearly identical social anxiety, general anxiety, hermit nature and slew of other issues. You’re the first person that I’ve ever actually got. That I’ve ever actually understood. I can’t thank you enough for this piece of mind. Even though I’m just some random unimportant guy on the internet and you didn’t intend it. Thank You, Sincerely. (Gonna cut the sappy stuff here. >_<)
Oh, and one more thing! Quite a few times you say that you’re boring. That’s not true. You’ve got some excellent taste in games, movies, and music. An interest in Musicals (As a fellow appreciator of Musical Theater I greatly approve!) and board games. You’ve taken trips to cool places like the above mentioned Immigration Museum. Done over 300 pages of comics. Even worked on Art for a video game! All of that stuff is pretty cool I’d say. But biggest of all you’re able to collect your thoughts and feelings and create an enlightening introspection on a regular basis….for Years.
That’s not boring. In fact I’d say you’re pretty darn Interesting.
(Oh boy this ended up being a lot longer and more embarrassing than I though it’d be….Oh well. Pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone!)
Aw thanks for sharing your sweet Kirby Air Ride memories! 😀 I’ll live through your experiences of this game then hehe
Freelancing is definitely something that constantly keeps you on your toes. I’m growing increasingly tired of casting too big of a net because I usually end up doing what I don’t want to do and then burn out from trying to do my best and keep the job :'( Maybe I’m just stubborn! Thank you so much for saying so and the kind encouragement!
Aw thanks so much for the lovely, kind sappy words, for the generous, kind support and reading my blog! Goodness, thanks for coming along for the ride :0!! I’m happy to hear that you relate to my posts and art, thank you for letting me know and that we’re not alone! Although I don’t think I’ll continue SLM comics as an actual, regular comic webseries, I’ll still keep blogging! ٩(^ᴗ^)۶
Goodness you’re too sweet! >_<; Wow you have been reading some of my blog indeed! Thanks for the reassuring my taste in things and giving me the warm fuzzies from the compliments haha gosh!! I guess I’m unfair to myself for comparing myself to more outgoing, active, socialable types :<
And good on you for pushing your comfort zone and being brave! Thank you so much for leaving a heartwarming comment! (^▽^)/
Thank youuu!!
🙂
If what I said actually made you feel atleast a little better than I guess there’s some good sides to being someone who speaks from the heart lol.
Wanting to do what you love for a living is an admirable goal and dream. definitely doable too. You’ve put in so much work on improving yourself and your craft over the years that you most certainly earned and deserve support for it.
Here’s to the potential for a fantastic 2020!
Haha it did make me feel a bit better. Thank you so much for the best wishes and gracious words of support! ;___;
All the best to you for your 20202 😀