The Art of Plugging Away

Wow, I haven't done an 'The Art of Plugging Away' post for a hot minute, huh? 

[This post originally on Bluesky] Episode 4 just needs 3 pages left before I migrate files to FireAlpaca for coloring, sfx, and finishing touches! [Bsky]

*Rant time* There's ppl on FB who actually know me IRL, and there's a few family members & folks on Twitter who know me IRL. So, I'm going to vent here: I work a 5pm-1am on average with this webcomic. 

Whether it's scripting, character design, storyboarding, learning my chosen software, I need to do this.

I've tried to work a 9-5. I've tried different jobs over the years. But I work a few months. I may even work a few years with a handful of jobs. But the same things always ends up happening: my mental health tanks. I get depressed, social anxiety, panic attacks, etc. Or this chronically-ill body gives out on me, somehow.

 

I realized from 2017 (right when I finished and graduated from a master's program) that I just am too neurodivergent and chronically sick to work like others. And maybe some of these jobs were just too toxic for me. 

Regardless of the whys, working to self-publish my artwork and writings is my last shot. I don't know what more to do. I don't know what else to do.

I'm getting there...

Been working on how to get my Bosto pen to work in FireAlpaca. The pen works fine in both Paint and Paint 3D but the strokes are off when I tried coloring in FireAlpaca, which is what I need it for. When I checked my laptop settings, I learned my Bosto Pen Display updated its own drivers and didn't need my help on that end. 

After much digging, YouTube viewing, and whatnot, finally found a TechShift article that explained you need to download the latest Wacom drivers. Those drivers, while from another company, helped calibrate with Bosto's pen since the display tablet updated itself. Sheesh! I'm really out of the loop!

More from the notebook...

By speaking to many Southerners (of Color), I learned how my Caribbean/West Indian background has been woven into the narrative of Southern U.S.A.

Also, Inktober is coming up and I'm left to wonder how much of Adobe Illustrator I will have to learn in order to do my comics or if I must also learn that basic manga software?

New phone, new chapter

For anyone who knows me, I am a total tech geek - especially for what it says on my Twitter profile - and revel in using technology to its fullest. But I am in no way a trailblazer or pioneer, trying to bring new concepts into existence. 

Rather, I am that technical person who will learn about a software/hardware inside out, understand how it must be upgraded somewhat, and then use the HECK outta it! I will become fiercely loyal to that particular update, version, and refuse to change it in any way because I become so comfortable with the way the tech is. 

My mother laughed when my last cellphone died on me because, unlike other people, friends, a certain sibling, I don't lose my phones, I don't shatter their screens, drop accidentally in toilets, etc. As a matter of fact, when I bring in previous phones to get the upgrades, sales clerks often express awe that my phones are in pristine shape, almost as the day I purchased/contracted it!

Why I was laughed at is because I do EVERYTHING on my cellphones. From the moment I changed my Nokia to a Sony Ericsson, and discovered WAP (the earliest internet connection for phones), I have used my next Sony Ericssons, Samsungs, LGs, and even this HTC to type stories, blog, film short videos at cultural events, network, participate in forums, surveys, done market research, update blogs, synch with desktops and netbooks so I could continue my web designing projects, etc. 

And did I mention NOTES!? Ever since students at the college where I work introduced me to a certain note app, I've been a beast! I can actually say that the Samsung that died and this HTC literally helped me through graduate school! When I'm at work, and my mom, who's retired, negotiates phone deals for me, she has to go down the list of all the things I do with my phone to the customer representatives. 

Right now, I'm in a bit of a dilemma: this phone needs an upgrade but my provider no longer gives upgrades, rather, one must purchase a phone all together. Yet, the problem does not really remain on price, but, more so on what type of phone a crazed tweeter, blogger, writer, and author can use?

I'm still doing research on this, but please, if any of you dear readers have any suggestions, please, please, as many of my favorite YouTube celebrities would say: leave your comments in the box below, and happy reading, writing, and drawing!