Fanart / My entry to Albabbgg’s DrawThisInYourStyleChallenge + LeonieUpdate!
In this little LeonieUpdate:
- Process for my fanart illustration!
- LeonieUpdate, Nintendo Direct thoughts, staying productive by minimising context switching and more!
Initial sketch!
Learning how to draw this character design! :0
Sketch pass 2!
Sketch pass 3
Nothing seems to be working for me :’)
Sketch pass 4
Final lineart & colour mapped out
Close up!
I forgot to update the close up with the scales haha
My entry to Alba Ballesta González’s DrawThisInYourStyle #Albabg150k challenge! ☀🔥☀️🐍✨🖤 [AlbaBG’s original DTIYS post]
Her character design looks super fun to draw so I went ahead and gave this challenge a go! She’s the goddess of wind of water 🌊💨 (I think! 😅)
I’m not on instagram anymore so I don’t care that I don’t qualify for the instagram prizes haha
In a few months, I’ll show a full timelapse of this piece for patrons ;D
Little LeonieUpdate!
Last week I had 3 to 4 or so hours sleep for at least 3 days, got super carried away procrastinating and binging from some sappy webcomics, my eczema flared up again and there was some terrible hot humidity! Consequently I wasn’t too productive, was sluggish, exhausted and didn’t have much of an appetite aside from eating the minimum :’)
As a reminder to self, I have to manage stress, internet consumption & things better so that I can get proper sleep and exercise some self discipline again :’) I’ll keep adjusting my online restrictions upon myself :0
Goodness I missed this!! I hope to do more Zelda fanart in the future! :0
Nintendo Direct 17th February 2021
Not discussing the loud complaints and disappointment I hear about this direct as it brings me down and as much as I respect and understand them I’m tired of this cycle. People are impatient and if they don’t get what they want, then the direct is all/mostly bad :/ Let other people enjoy video games too even if it’s not your cup of tea!! Stop putting other kinds of video games down >:0
Anyhoo this direct has some neat games and lots of ports from other platforms. I’m glad there’s some people who liked the direct ;P
As much as their character design is simply superficial sex appeal (by a lady character designer), Pyra/Mythra as characters in Smash is cool and unsurprising, I’m just glad it’s not Rex (who is a super annoying, oblivious shonen protagonist character). Neat they tricked people by not having the smash logo split screen transition at the start! Note I’m pretty indifferent to this Smash character and I haven’t played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as I watched it instead.
Maybes & I may want to play after more consideration/reading reviews
- Famicom Detective Club
- I am intrigued and may give this one a go!!
- I really hope the Japanese Ace Attorney game gets localised (the one with Sherlock) and come out when it’s ready
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
- glad there’s button controls and it seems like they’re going to do Twilight Princess and Wind Waker on the Switch too! (rumours)
- as flawed as this game is, I’m super annoyed every time people bash the game’s controls, Fi and some of the game design
- I liked playing this game, Zelda, the cheesy story and Groose – stuff people who keep bashing this game!
- I feel personally attacked for liking it :’)
- the joy cons look so pretty and cool!! If drift wasn’t a concern then I would have considered it (and it’s pretty much sold out)
- I might play this again because it’s been so long but it depends on if I can/will make time :’)
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Expansion
- Purah and Robbie are probably playable and I want to know more what character vignettes mean before I consider jumping into this good game again for the expansion content
- Mario Golf: Super Rush
- keen for reviews before serious consideration and I’m more interested in the speed golf mode and story mode :0
I want to play!
- Animal Crossing x Super Mario Anniversary Update
- they look great though it is the basic minimum :0
- the warp pipes are cool!
- Super Mario 3D World & Bowser’s Fury!!
- started playing Bowser’s Fury!! Hope to play the main game again co-op after finishing the new content
- Splatoon 3 in 2022– aw YES! I am DOWN to play!
- I played the first two games (don’t remember if I finished the Octo Expansion though) and I’m keen for this 😀
Interesting finds: notes on how Context Switching Sabotages Your Productivity by Elaine Meyer
- immediately there’s a jab at how you’re readily distracted with another digital distraction
- (tab, email, message, notification, video, post, alerts, team communications, social media feeds, programs, etc)
- Context switching means:
- each time we’re getting interrupted, switching attention and focus between tasks, communication, contexts and processing things
- Attention residue:
- attention is fragmented each time after switching tasks, costing us time, productivity and resulting in mental exhaustion and difficulty in staying focused
- we can’t remember everything; we have a working memory storage capacity
- (3-7 pieces of information at once)
- our brains want to interrupt themselves and look at all the tabs
- brains handling too many stimuli (response selection bottleneck) and slows down thought and decision making
- it can take up to 23 minutes to re-focus
- small mental blocks from switching can take up to 40% of someone’s productive time! Whoa!
- that explains why once I start something properly, I can’t switch away until I’m done with the task, webcomic, piece, article, etc :’) I get intense!
- context switching takes up brain space for retaining and processing information
- (at worst constantly juggling messages and work is the same as skipping a night of sleep)
- makes us struggle with our attention spans, exhausts our mental energy, increased levels of stress from multiple screens and apps
- busy and stress jumping between tasks; confusing priorities, working on immediate low-value (low hanging fruit) tasks and not seeing the bigger picture on what’s really important
- yeah sometimes it is hard to do important, non urgent things
- This happens because everything is designed to interrupt and we’re overwhelmed with information and noise :<
- our work culture rewards responsiveness and always being available
- notifications and infinite scrolls are designed to fulfil the brain’s need for dopamine, unpredictable novelty
- How to prevent context switching according to this article:
- have a plan written down (digitally or paper) so you can focus on the present/immediate work and not think about other tasks
- clear on your own priorities with lots of trial and error
- high value versus low value, urgent versus non-urgent, how realistic are you with time, what results are you expecting
- daily structure to minimise context switching with grouping similar tasks together
- (communication, admin versus work especially)
- time blocking (meetings, emails, deep work)
- different days of the week for certain tasks (if that suits you)
- pomodoro method of 25 minutes of focused work and 5 minute breaks (plus 30 minute break after 4 rounds of this)
- or 50 minutes focused work & 10 minute breaks ;P
- regular screen free, productive breaks
- (social breaks with other people, outside walks, fully detached from technology, move your body)
- admittedly I don’t really do that unless it’s a restroom break or meal :’)
- keep a log of your distractions for a week and notice your patterns with times of days and what triggers the context switching (energy dip, boredom, stress)
- check in regularly with how you’re feeling in the present (mindfulness, awareness)
- then with this knowledge, work with your energy rhythms and flow
- eliminate distractions
- focus on one task, screen, app at a time
- no notifications from apps, social media, email
- keep programs you’re not using closed so you can’t toggle over
- close tabs so you have less tabs open
- use software to block out websites during focus periods
- gosh this is hard!! I tend to have lots of tabs open! For me when I can actually simplify, I’ll turn off a monitor and only have one in use
- Declutter, streamline and delete digital things you don’t need (less screens and apps to deal with)
- Limit how frequent you check emails/messages/replies, lower other’s expectations (you can’t be fast and available all the time) and resist responding right away so you can balance your focus periods and be thoughtful in your quality responses hours later or a few days later (depending on urgency and the work involved)
- some people take their sweet time and don’t care that much so I shall too ;P
- I don’t know if workplaces will actually foster focus and no interruption time blocks :/
- it’s going to be difficult managing my focus but if I’m strict enough with myself it works and feels satisfying! A lot of great reminders here!
Interesting finds: shenanigans
- Matt McMuscles’ Disaster Day of Crisis – What Happened?
- Vsauce’s Illusions of Time
- about sonder; how people have full, complex lives too
- chronosonder: how people are protagonists in their own story and we’re side characters to each other’s stories; you are not the centre of the universe
- consciously feeling time and how we judge time
- does time go faster as we grow older :0!!
- Conception of time and illusions :0 How we see the past and push it further away
- how much can you recall? It seems empty sometimes because we can’t remember it all :0
- I remember a time without internet! ;P
- saving time, no significant memories from consuming TV/entertainment and getting information immediately doesn’t really mean anything
- aw yes this is why I write these notes sometimes to process what I consume better and if it feels important to me to think back on
- (not that I reread my old blog posts much)
- it could be healthier to be slow, be present, lose track of time, be bored, miss out, experience more time
- I feel like I’m too slow though :’)
- Big Joel’s The Strange World of Youtube’s Corporate Propaganda
- yeah youtube is the employer here, which is why I blog more than do videos :S
- oof when the approach to mental health is “self development! self care! breathe! take breaks!”
- but they don’t adjust the conditions they put you through that caused the stress, burnout, mental health struggles in the first place
- how the system is made so that it’s the individual’s fault for not taking care of themselves enough
- how the company cannot be changed and restructured to a less profitable system/business model to cater for the wellbeing of their employees/students/creators
- optimising profit, funding, maintaining structure, compliance and business growth is essentially what many businesses across industries focus on
- there’s an illusion of freedom and choice
- creators truly do work for Youtube the corporation
- they don’t get paid as much or at all if you don’t do what youtube recommends
- they want you to let them put ads, get views, get subscribers, get conversational, do update videos, optimal timing, make it shareable
- but they disguise it all as “making good videos”
- yet lots of quality content with mature themes, animation etc are not in favour
- how youtube recommends conversational videos / Q&A videos
- some point out that it encourages unhealthy, parasocial relationships between creators and fans (you are not friends nor family!!)
- though many watch youtube to learn something new or get entertained before moving on
- lots of food for thought and youtube is a whole complicated maze on its own :<
- David F. Sandberg director of Shazam! /ponysmasher’s Can You Be An Introvert Director?
- just keep doing it and learning with experience :’)
- social interactions are draining and I freeze up a lot too in public situations :/
- I hope to watch Shazam eventually!
- Shadowed – Short Horror
- Not Alone in Here – Short Horror
- J.K. Rowling by ContraPoints
- deep and compassionate dive into J.K. Rowling’s problematic views and writing
- WongFuProductions: If Asian superstitions were a horror movie
- I didn’t know about the Korean fan one!
- I experienced the chopsticks in rice one and the unlucky number digit “4”
- Unity’s WiNDUP: Award-winning animated short film
- love, life and never give up :’)
- Jason Diaz’s The Netflix Show That Killed a Woman | Terrace House & Hana Kimura Explained
- glad I didn’t watch Terrace House at all; I don’t like reality tv shows
- this is a horrible tragedy and completely not fair 🙁 FujiTV is simply not taking any accountability
- Disney’s Cruella | Official Trailer
- I feel indifferent but it looks cool
Thank you so much for reading!
Another busy week ahead! I’ll strive to do better taking care of myself this week and managing distractions. Goodness it’s the last week of February too!
Stay safe and have a good rest of February! (:
♥ 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!
You must be logged in to post a comment.