#i hope this advice helps

[vnmof]

hai hello! I'm trying to get into 3D modeling and was wondering if you had any advice on where to start? :0

hello hello 😎😎!! im no expert since ive just gotten into 3d modelling in blender like weeks ago and have been procrastinating but.. i might give some advices, i do recommend watching some youtube videos, i know all advices are like "yeah, go watch some youtube videos if you want to learn more" but it does in fact, really help i think for me, you should start learning how to remember all shortcut keys and the other controls if youre going to be using blender since im like a beginner like you, making low poly stuff to start making 3d models should be an easy start for you and the other beginners out there :D and a lot of suffering, trials and errors will come along the way, but hey, you'll get used to it ✨‼

[livums]

there's no way to say this without sounding like i can't take criticism (i can, it's something i had to work on like everybody else), but some people are like. really bad at giving constructive criticism and i think if you're receiving crit from someone that's not a bad thing to keep in mind for ur own sanity lol

[reasonsforhope]

Hey adults: Why do you like being an adult? What do you like about your life?

A couple weeks ago I told the kids at my work that "Being an adult is pretty nice, actually," and they looked shocked, laughed incredulously, and told me I was the first person they'd ever heard say that

So clearly we adults need to talk about this way more often

The past few years have been hard for a lot of people, me included. Covid sucked. I lost three relatives and three pets in one year. Right after lockdown ended, I got badly injured, and ended up housebound for six months and (much more) disabled for two years, and that sucked too.

And you know what? Literally all of that was easier and better than being a teenager.

I like being an adult. I like my life. Even when it's hard, it's mine, and I am building to the best of my ability the a life that I want to live.

I talked about a lot of why being an adult is something worth looking forward to in my last post, so right now I'll simply say this:

I love actually knowing who I am now. I love that I learned and am learning what I want and need. I love that I have independence and autonomy and don't get treated like a kid. I love the fact that I'm the one who gets to decide want I want to do and what I need. I also love that I'm learning to sew. I love that I've had pet rats, and next will have a pet cat. I love that I got top surgery. I love the way I've decorated my room. I love traveling to visit and crash and even just hang out and do work with my friends, when I can. I love that I started reading good news every day, and that I actually have hope for the future, and that I started this blog and have been able to help give so many other people hope, too.

So, here's a call to action for my fellow adults: comment or reply or tag what you like about being an adult. What you love about your life.

Let's give some kids some reasons for hope.

[hansoeii]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day/night! I absolutely adore your art, you are one of my favourite artists. I love the way you shade and do backrounds. Also everytime I get into a new show I immediately see your art for it??

I was wondering if you had any advice on drawing more realistically (backrounds, anatomy etc) but still keeping a style?

Hey hey!

Thank you so much!

I have a pretty good understanding of facial structures, because before I got into drawing more semi-realisticly, I heavily focused on realistic portraits. Here are some example, these are from around 2019!

(yes, I was really into danmei and kpop back then, haha)

I just always loved drawing/painting faces and it was all I did. But at some point I realized that I wanted to do more than that because just portraits felt super restricting. So it took me around 2-3 years to somewhat find my style. Thought it would be fun to show a little timeline! Advice will follow afterwards :)

2020

I began working on my OCs in 2020 and since I didn't have an exact reference to work off of, I struggled a lot. My art from this year is super wonky.

2021

Still wonky, but the Lokius obsession was the jumpstart into finding my style! My work from this year is all over the place haha, I was experimenting a lot.

2022

This first ofmd piece is pretty much the first drawing where you can see where my style is gonna go, which I think is pretty cool! This is the year I made the biggest progress cos I was drawing SO much. These two pieces are only six months apart. The one on the right was the first time I gave drawing a background a proper go, too! It was a good year.

2023

And this is where I am now! I'm still constantly learning and improving, but I'd say I have a style you can recognize now!

Now here comes some actual advice, haha:

What I highly recommend you to do is to study your favorite artists as much as you can! I have like 5 A4 sketchbooks all from 2020 that I filled with sooooo many studies, where basically all I did was look at artists I like and copy how they draw stuff, to try and figure out how to stylize certain things. Some of my favorite artists are Ami Thompson, Velinxi and TB Choi. But I also liked to just scroll through pinterest and study all the art I came across that I liked! For example, if I saw a really great drawing of a pair of pants I would copy it many times in my sketchbook and try to learn how they stylized the folds. Doing this for a prolongued period of time will naturally improve your own work! It'll be difficult at first, but you gotta push through, it's gonna be worth it!

I also highly recommend studying unique faces to try and avoid the same-face syndrome. Find some cool looking people and try to draw them as simple as you can! Maybe even draw a little timeline where you first draw them as cartoon-y as you can, and keep going until you end up with a more detailed, realistic drawing. Maybe in the middle of it you find a step that feels the most fun to you, so you can try to build on that! It's a great way to figure out what kind of style might be the best for you.

Here are some cool faces I found on pinterest!

I have a pinterest board with many more!

One REALLY important part of learning how to draw all kinds of things is to understand forms and shapes and how to manipulate them. I have so many pages in my sketchbook filled with just shapes that I drew from all kinds of angles without any references.

This is a great video on it:

6 Ways to Draw Anything by Proko

Learning how to do this is so crucial! Young artists often think they first have to learn all kinds of detailed anatomy before doing anything else, but all that's gonna do is make you tired and hate drawing. Shapes are where it's at! Once you understand how shapes work and which ones to use for certain parts of bodies or objects, drawing is gonna get so much easier! Once you understand them, you can get into details such as muscles and bones!

And honestly the most important point is to just absolutely love what you're doing! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that I get extreme hyperfixations on certain media that turn me into some kind of beast where I can suddenly draw 10 detailed illustrations a week, haha. Just be passionate about what you do, find something you REALLY love and go crazy!

I really hope this was somewhat helpful! My inbox is always open if there's any more questions :)

[dimeadozencows]

This came to me in an early morning queer haze

Kissing my medics good morning (I am your husband heavy and I love you)

[slfcare]

Do you have any advice on doing it scared? I'm so scared all the time, i avoid doing anything that would make me more scared, but its the only advice anyone has ever given me. Your post hints you figured it out, somewhat? Do you have any further wisdom to pass?

I had to stop seeing fear as something I could run away from. Think of the situation you're in as a large, boxed room, and you're standing in front of the door to that room. You have to enter through the door, because you have to experience the situation to get to that room's exit (which is on the other side), and move on. Your fear is like the key to both doors - the entry as well as the exit. The thing is, it's a heavy key. For some reason, it's uncomfortable in your hands, and you know that opening the door would take a monumental amount of effort. You also feel like it's unfair that your rooms are locked at all, because other people don't even need keys. At least, you don't see them use any. If you wanted to, you could drop the key and turn around and forget about the room altogether, but you don't want that - because then you wouldn't be moving forward. You'd also rather open the door without the key, but to get to a situation where you no longer run into locked doors at all, you need to unlock this one, first. I started seeing it that way. My fear used to be a heavy key that I was embarrassed to need, but my unwillingness to stay where I was forever convinced me to bother, anyway. Later, my fear became a lighter key, and then a keypad, and now it's somewhat of a finger print ID. Most importantly, my fear is not what stops me, but like security if you really think about it. However much it annoys me, feels like it hinders me or embarrasses me at times, its most important function is that it's a tool that I use to open doors. I'm trying to forget others' lack of security systems and intricate doors, and focus on opening mine however I need to so I can move forward. Because that's the point. Moving forward. This makes perfect sense in my head but it might not in yours (it already feels really odd trying to put it into words so I wouldn't be surprised), but I really hope you get the gist ♡ Fear = tool!

[zabreus]

one thing i see a bit with disco elysium fan script is a conflation between a failed skill check and bad advice from a skill. one of the beautiful things about DE is the skills are not arbiters of truth; successful checks won’t always lead to the correct outcomes, and a skill level being too high can impair you. in that sense, a failed passive (“anti-passive” according to wiki) wouldn’t be a skill giving bad advice, but a skill failing to fulfill its duty.

(bad example ahead) so it wouldn’t be:

LOGIC [Trivial - Failure]: Stick a fork in the toaster.

but more like:

BREAD-TOASTER: You peek into the narrow opening at the top of the electric bread-toaster.

PERCEPTION: You find a slice of bread wedged between the filaments. Smoke wafts into your nostrils. It’s burning, and you seemingly have no way of retrieving it.

INTERFACING [Challenging - Success]: The metal fork you found in the cupboard. It should be both long and sturdy enough for the job.

You: Grab the fork.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium - Success]: The tips of your fingers tingle. This seems like a very bad idea.

LOGIC [Easy - Failure]: You are uncertain of the outcome here.

1. Use the fork to fish out the toast.

2. “This is beneath me.”

3. [Half-Light - Godly 16] Establish dominance. Fuck the toaster.

[teachyouhowtodothesponge]

How do you make home's eyes so expressive- every time I draw him he either looks like he's about to pass out or too hyper for his own good-

Home is a very hard character for me to draw (mainly because I am not the best at drawing buildings)! I have trouble with that too cause all his expression is in his eyes! I am not the best at art advice, but for Home, some things you could play around with are the eyelids (blinds), eye pupil size, and which direction he is looking. Maybe even squashing or stretching the walls of Home a little bit if you're going for a more rubber hose cartoony design!

Also, here are some messy Home doodles!

[canisalbus]

Hey, I’m new to Tumblr, but I’ve seen your characters around the internet and I love them so much!! Everyone has so much love for Machete and Vasco and your art is so cool to see! Do you have any tips for an aspiring artist and creative writer?

Hi! Welcome to tumblr! I'm glad to hear you like my dogs :]

I'm not really a writer, and I also completely lose my confidence when I'm trying to explain my art processes. So this is probably an obvious, unhelpful platitude at best, but one thing I've realized is that you should allow yourself to be self-indulgent. If you're the primary target audience of your own work, it generates passion and keeps you inspired and motivated. I like to believe that people who see your creations are more likely to respond to them positively if they can sense that you're putting your heart and soul to them.

[cussima]

"what the heck is affirming from lack?"

🥴☝️umm

its when you don't believe you can get your desire so you affirm harder in order to get it.

you're not accepting it as creation completed, you're treating your desires as a process (ie. "its not here right now but it will be")

this what reacting to your 3d can look like.

in contrast to these negative believes remember that:

• creation is completed once you decide it is

• manifesting isn't a process, you're not learning anything, its an immediate thing

• if you just assume it to be true, saying more or less affirmations won't change it, so don't burn yourself out or make this less fun for you ! you honestly deserve better than that imo

what can you do when you get these thoughts?

• if this happens to me i simply close my eyes, and take a deep breathe (or a few). this will helps you re oxygenate your brain which takes you back to home base (manifesting is easy and its already done) this helps me accept my desires for what they are: facts.

from then on i move onto something i enjoy clear out my mind ! either subliminals or music that makes me confident ! (rihanna, lady gaga etc)

[the-modern-typewriter]

do you have any advice on writing beginnings? i never know where to start so that the exposition and action are balanced enough to make the opening interesting. i can do middles and ends easily enough if the beginning is well-set up, but i’ve always struggled. any tips?

I'm going to focus on balancing exposition and action in this answer, as it seems to be the key area you are struggling with, rather than openings more generally.

Okay. Let's go!

1 - Need to know

The first question to ask yourself is what does the reader actually need to know to follow and understand the story?

Openings can vary by genre and the age group they are written for, but beneath all of the variations and methods, is the need to know. So long as you have that covered, the rest honestly just comes down to reader and author preference.

What a reader needs to know will depend on your story and your plot. E.g. if it is a portal fantasy, then we typically just need to know what the protagonist is missing/yearning for/struggling with in their everyday life in order for us to see how this is changed through their adventure in a new world. We will learn about the new world as the protagonist does so there will be a natural exposition point as they explore (exploring = action, we learn as they learn).

If, on the other hand, the whole story is set in a magical fantasy land that the protagonist has always known, then you're going to have to do more exposition in order for your reader to understand the key rules of the world and what things mean.

2 - Start at the interesting bit/provide your protag a goal or the reader with a question they want answered

We don't typically start on an ordinary day where nothing happens, even if it shows us what the protagonist's normal life is like. We start on the day that they have a job interview they desperately want to ace, or the day a body is found in the river, or a day where something unusual happens or two characters meet for the first time.

This raises external, concrete plot questions.

Because we have started at an interesting point in the story where something is actually happening, it makes it easier to interweave action with exposition.

To go hand in hand with this, give your character a goal/something they want. This doesn't have to be a big or seemingly important thing, although it can be. The recent film Everything Everywhere All At Once did a wonderful example of this in that the main character just wanted to do her taxes. Other examples might be that a character just wants to get home after a bad day, or to pick a cake for an event. Whatever.

This can have a number of different purposes depending on the story. For example, it provides tension and conflict because there is an obstacle in the way of what they want (to get home), or it provides an opportunity to showcase character or relationship (e.g. the cake).

3 - Options for exposition

There are different options for doing exposition.

A narrator or first person POV can tell the reader about the world even through direct narration or their internal thoughts. This works especially well if you have a strong sense of character. It is useful for conveying key information quickly, but you will likely want to break it up with other forms of exposition to avoid an info dump.

A flashback. Flashbacks are a great tool! I don't recommend starting a story with a flashback. They are much better for providing important information a little later after you have hooked your reader with the more immediate plot.

Dialogue. Dialogue is a natural and excellent way for us to learn about characters and the world that is also action. The danger being that your dialogue still has to sound natural. If the characters wouldn't be standing around actually talking like that in that setting at that time, sorry mate. Do a different exposition technique.

Exploration/setting. Characters can learn about a place/world as they explore it, which means the reader can learn with them as they experience the world.

One way to balance your exposition with action is to vary how you do your exposition. If your reader is having fun reading the story, they won't care that it's exposition/set up. All stories start with exposition. Look at your favourites and break down what they are actually doing, shamelessly steal the framework, and adapt as relevant for your work.

4 - Remember that you don't have to start by writing the opening

Openings are easier when you know what your story is about. This is because openings often showcase something that is going to be relevant throughout the story. This could be a specific image, a nod to theme, or some character trait that will be important.

If you don't know what your story is about yet because you are still writing it (totally valid!), feel free to come back to the opening later, in the same way that you might write the body of an essay and then do the introduction/conclusion last once you have figured out what you want to say.

You're allowed to work backwards. You're allowed to work in any jigsaw way that works for you. You don't have to write the first line first.

When you know your story, it's also a lot easier to figure out what your reader will need to know.

[genericpuff]

I'm honestly amazed by how well you can imitate the LO S3 art style! Have you always been good at this sort of thing or is it a skill you developed due to your work as a tattoo artist?

ahhh thank you, but ima let you in on a little trade secret -

it's literally just referencing LMAO which is a valuable skillset to have! but one that I think a lot of folks tend to overlook because they think "learning to draw" means "I need to be able to draw everything perfectly from imagination!" Which sure, learning how to draw things without needing references might be cool, but it's ultimately not the sole defining feature of a "good artist" and I think there's frankly way too much emphasis put on "drawing without references" these days because it creates this unrealistic expectation of what an artist is. Referencing is part of the process! It's important! And it's a valuable skill to have so that you can actually grow your skills beyond your own limits! Referencing is as important to the process of creating art as research is to the process of writing, you can only produce so much new stuff if you're not taking in new stuff alongside it.

Though I use this skill a lot in tattooing as well, it's mostly rooted in my animation schooling which broke me out of the habit of drawing purely from imagination and taught me how to properly reference other material for educational purposes.

And I'm sure there are people in audience right now gasping at the fact that I simply cropped a bunch of different shots of Minthe from S3 and rearranged them like some surgical madman playing with body parts-

-but this is like, the actual majority of the process when it comes to learning other art styles and this process is taught as a skill in a lot of art schools because it forces you to draw what's there rather than what you think is there. This is the basis of master studies, to learn the techniques of other artists by trying to mimic them as closely as possible. Don't know what tools that artist used specifically? Try to recreate the work anyways with your best guess. Even if you only get close but not perfect, you'll still likely learn a lot along the way and may even develop some brand NEW techniques that weren't present in the original work you're studying from.

Imagination is necessary to the creative process, but it's only part of that process, you can't suddenly learn how to draw the way other artists draw through imagination alone because your imagination is limited purely by your own lived experiences. Our brains don't come pre-installed with these skills, they can't just magically unlock the capability to "do the thing". Just like how we have to learn to follow recipes as a means to becoming a baker or learn to read the alphabet to learn how to read and write, we have to learn how to draw what we see and reference the material around us if we truly want to expand our own innermost knowledge which will allow us to draw from imagination.

Here are some other examples of studies I've done, such as my attempts to learn the art style of The Doctor Foxglove Show:

As well as a background study from S1 of LO:

And of course here are a handful of the shitloads of studies I've done to try and "figure out" how to draw Hades and Persephone from S1 of LO:

Aaaand just for the fun of it, here are some completely non-LO studies, like the ones I did of Kazuma Koda's background work and Akihiko Yoshida's character designs for Nier: Automata:

And this sorta rotoscoped ??? animatic of Mitsuhiro doing the opening jig for Still Feel by Half Alive which is 100% not done and probably never will be LOL

I'm always progressively doing studies of both LO and other media in this way so that I can update my knowledge and continue to improve my skillset.

Though, despite my best efforts to mimic the original creator's style, works like Rekindled will always have my own stylizations present, as that's just an inevitable consequence of it being made by myself and Banshriek (and the fact that we just refuse to draw worse to look more like LO because jfc so much of LO's original art, even the stuff we love, is rooted in Rachel's trial and errors lmao), but that's a feature, not a bug :') <3

So the answer is yes, the Minthe S3 redraw was done through skills I developed over time, though not necessarily through tattooing, simply through learning how to actually practice properly beyond "drawing a lot". And you can too! Draw lots, but also remember that your brain isn't naturally just going to "get better" at whatever you're trying to achieve just because you really want to achieve it. I try to avoid the mantra of "just practice" because it oversimplifies what's truly necessary to learning - having something to learn from outside of your own imagination. If you don't learn how to practice properly, then you'll just wind up repeating the same mistakes and reinforcing the same bad habits over and over again.

All that's to say, if you want to learn how to draw like a certain artist, try and recreate their art for yourself ;0 (but like also please for the love of god remember that it's for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, I shouldn't have to tell y'all not to copy directly off other artists' work for your own because that's just deadass stealing lmao) I know this enters the ethical dilemma of tracing, and whether or not it's a "valid" way to learn, but there's a lot of virtue in learning through referencing other artists and building new skills through them. I'm sure folks will argue that it's a 'crutch' or 'training wheels', but that's all often being touted from the perspective that crutches and training wheels... are automatically bad things and aren't meant to help people ?

Like obviously if you want to create your own thing that isn't purely "living in the shadow" of the works that inspired you, you WILL have to make that leap into the unknown. But that leap's a lot less scary to make when you have a parachute.

[erinwantstowrite]

question, if you only have a basic plot concept how would you normally expand the plot? There's a story I really want to write and I know the idea of the vibe I want for it but I'm not sure of much from there ^^

Well, for me, I usually look at other media to get inspiration, things that are similar to what I'm trying to write. I imagine what my characters would do in the same situations, or I think about what I would have written instead, and from there, I figure out what could go where in an outline. We like to think our stories are original, but there's never a truly original story, and we're all a little inspired by each other. A lot of the movies or books you read have similar plotlines, but it's the author's influence and the character choices that make you decide if you like it or not.

Something that helps me is keeping in mind that other characters are doing things in the story outside of my narrator's POV, so they could create scenes for me. A villainous plot, someone confessing a crush, getting their doctorate and throwing a party. I think of it like... Making a hairstyle? Like one plot concept: you're putting your hair in a ponytail. Two plot concepts: you're creating a french braid. A third concept, you're making a regular braid. There are moving parts underneath your first story.

It goes into "How does my character get from point A to point B": knowing there are ups and downs to the road they have to take, and sometimes they might get sidetracked. My character has to get over a ravine, but they don't have a bridge to get across. Maybe they have to make a friend to help them find a bridge somewhere further down the ravine, or maybe an older figure in their lives teaches them how to make the bridge, or maybe someone on the other side of the ravine tries to help them get across.

(These are metaphorical or literal examples. "Ravine" could be a major set back in their lives, like trust issues. The "bridge" is them getting the tools to get over the setback. And the other characters are helping them figure it out, but every person has a different situation and therefore, different solutions.)

Sometimes, writing with a basic concept of what you want is the way to go- the problems create themselves, and you solve them as you go along. Your character gets across the ravine, but now they have a mountain to climb. It's up to you to decide if they trek it on their own, or if someone comes along and decides to help, or if there's a person who waits at the start of the trail and always offers help to the travelers they come across.

[dreemurr-skelememer]

May I ask on how you choose your colors when you color your art pieces? It is so pretty to look at the colors of your art, and I want to color like that, but color picking is very hard q-q

here's!! uh, the general areas in the color wheel where i try to pick depending on the vibe

highly inaccurate because tbh i just color pick directly or try to guess the colors from my references and just adjust them to be a little bit more pastel or to the atmosphere and if i have their colors memorized (such as ink or dream), i just pick by memory or by my modified colors LOL

color your scrunkly!

set your line work to multiply and lock opacity

i use warm tones for white ish colors so uhhh idk whatever warm color from here

color the line work!!!!! ofc, shift the hue depending on the undertones of the surrounding colors the skull color is a warm off-white, the undershirt is a blue-ish off-white, scarf is warm brown, so on and so on the multiply function rly helps just blend things into the palette a little more, but if ur confident enough, you dont have to set it to multiply at all for extra variation

minimal shading by just taking the surrounding colors n adjusting the hue slightly n its value n saturation gives it a very messy cel shaded look! been into it lately and stuff

and then i add a few overlays using the pin light layer mode! i usually use these two colors together, it gives the right amount of pastel colors that really appeals to me

if you have access to gradient maps, i recommend using them lots! it makes the pieces look a little more cohesive the pin light layer mode imitates it n is very versatile if u cant use them though (like me when im just doodling on sai)

that's it!!! that's the basic rundown of how i color i'm not very well versed in color theory so i can only do very basic color picking tips, but maybe next time i can offer ways on how to color more atmospherically!

have a nice time coloring your blorbos ✨

[goeswiththeflo]

Knitblr friends!

Can I ask for help/advice please?

I'm knitting the shiftigan : https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shiftigan

It's my first stranded color work, first steeking project, first cardigan and first fitted piece of clothing!

I just split for sleeves and tried it on, and am concerned that the bottom edge of the sleeve is rising too far up into my armpit ? I don't know how better to describe it except that it feels weird. And the seam of my T-shirt sleeve was lower than it felt like the cardigan sleeve would fall which makes me worried about fitting it on over base layers.

So questions:

1. Does anyone have any good sleeve fit tutorials? (I've been trying to read the notes on other ravlery project posts but haven't found anything relevant yet)

2. Is the height of the base of the sleeve cast-on likely to change much once I pickup/start building out the sleeve? Or after blocking?

3. If I go off pattern and add length before splitting for sleeves, how do I tell where to split?

Any advice appreciated at this point! I'm only 3 rows beyond the split right now, so easy enough to frog if needed!

[anipgarden]

What to Do Once Things Are Planted?

This is my seventh post in a series I’ll be making on how to increase biodiversity on a budget! I’m not an expert--just an enthusiast--but I hope something you find here helps! 

So you’ve gotten started on making a garden to boost biodiversity! 10/10, excellent work! So, now what?

First, you’ll need to keep watering the plants--especially if you’re going through a dry season. Native plants will be more acclimated to your area’s seasonal weather, but they’ll need a helping hand while they’re getting established--especially if you’re starting with young, tender seedlings. With that in mind, if you accidentally skip out on crucial watering days, don't panic! There's been tons of times where I haven't watered for an entire summer and had perennials come back the next spring! Even this year, during a heatwave, I completely did not water my swamp milkweeds, but they're already popping back up! You may also need to go in and weed, especially if you’re seeing invasive species popping up in the garden. Invasives are no good--if you do anything, do your best to get those out as effectively and safely as possible!

If you’re needing to maintain your shrubs in spring and summer, double check to make sure there are no active bird or insect nests within them. If it’s possible to wait until later to cut your shrubs, it could be extremely beneficial.

When fall and winter come around and your plants begin to die back, don’t cut them away if you can! Many insects overwinter in the plant stems left behind as perennials die back to the roots. In addition, birds will use seed heads as a source of food over the winter. Try not to clean things up until late winter/early spring, when other food sources are beginning to come back and things are growing again. By then, the insects should be waking up and leaving the plant stems as well.

However, don’t let this discourage you from collecting seeds! Collecting seed from your plants is a great way to continue gardening at low cost, as well as making friends and encouraging others to garden by trading seeds or offering them as gifts. If you're in an area where you do need to cut back, this is a great opportunity to collect the seeds and save them for the future. You could also cut back what’s dying in the front yard and keep things to overwinter in the backyard. Some overwintering habitat is better than no overwintering habitat.

Want to know how to collect seeds from specific plants? I've found YouTube to be a great source of info for this! Knowing what you're doing and when is key to getting a viable harvest.

As your mulch begins to break down, you’ll need to keep adding more to top it off, if you can. It can get a bit repetitive, but no worries--the mulch breaking down means your soil is improving! 

If possible, add to your garden! Expand, add in new things, and keep encouraging the growth of native plants. If you couldn’t add that water feature in year one, see if you can in year two! New interest in birds? Add a birdhouse, or more bird feeders. Loving the butterflies? Add plenty more nectar-rich plants, or do more research into what they lay their eggs on! Want more color? See what else you can add in! Came into some new pots to expand your flowerpot garden with? Find cool native plants to put in them! I always encourage people to start small and then expand over time, as opposed to starting big and getting overwhelmed.

Keep learning and observing native species of birds, insects, mammals, etc. See what’s coming to your yard now, and look into how you can improve things more for them on your budget. If you aren’t seeing what you were hoping, see if there’s other actions you can take that’ll attract what you’re hoping to see in your backyard habitat. Knowing more about the world around you makes it easier to know how to help the world around you. Talk to others about what you’re doing, the changes you’ve made, and the results you’ve seen! Curious neighbors? Work friends? Your closest homies? Your family? All fair game! You just might be the one who gets someone else interested in making their space a habitat for local wildlife!

That’s the end of this post! My next post is gonna be about the secret Other Thing you can do to help biodiversity--tackling invasives! Until then, I hope this advice was helpful! Feel free to reply with any questions, your success stories, or anything you think I may have forgotten to add in!