#this was kinda just an excuse to test out photoshop

[cheese-n-crack]

doodles for an au that i may or may not ever post

[miss-bvnny]

It's my birthday so I can finally be cringe legally. So, here's some bits and pieces of something that I've been playing with off and on since about June. As I sit here and finish off the last of my birthday sushi, I ask myself what I'd regret more: NOT sharing something I'm admittedly proud to have slaved over played around with for the last few months, OR the fact that this basically spells out how I'm a LeFou stan. Oh well. There's only one way to find out.

''One evening, whilst being dragged along on a hunting trip with his self-absorbed meathead of a stepbrother, LeFou gets lost and ends up at a mysterious castle forgotten by time, hiding a secret far more mysterious and peculiar than anything anyone's seen before. But at the same time it is, in every way possible, a tale as old as time.''

There's a whole lotta words to be said about all of this junk, so I'll put it under a readmore for the convenience of all. Please don't be mean to me about my interests.

Sketches 1 and 2 - First (Left) and final (Right) pass of Beast!Nicole

I was very tense in life and about this entire idea when I first started to dip my toes into it, and that definitely translates into my first try at drawing Beast!Nicole. Much like the Beast in the original 1991 Disney classic that has luckily never been turned into an ugly abomination of a live action cash grab remake, I tried to mix several animals in her design. She's got the lower half and tail of a wolf, upper torso of a lion, and her head...where it gets messy. I've always loved the designs of the hyenas in The Lion King, so I drew inspiration from Shenzi for her neck and part of her head. Her mouth/muzzle however is based on some of those cursed photoshops of horses with wolf teeth:

I can remember I'd JUST come back from seeing a special showing of Kung Fu Panda 2 the morning I drew the very first one of Nicole, and I've always LOVED Boss Wolf. I think you can see just a BIT of inspiration from his body shape looking at her. It probably comes across a bit better in the final when I cleaned her up somewhat. I hate looking at that first one so much, actually. It's so unforgivably clunky. BUT I did get the hang of her with time, hence the second pass. Wanna know a fun fact? Those colors were originally just something I kinda slapped together as placeholders. But...I grew pretty attached to them, so they stayed. There is...almost a month between her initial test and her final, btw.

Sketch 2 - Expression test/me having some fun

Yeahhh there was a time when I had no idea how far I was gonna actually try and go with this stuff, so I just kinda...played with it. Beast!Nicole is a treat to draw, so I jumped at any excuse to sketch her. Where the Beast in the movie had to learn to be bit more of a gentleman and control his temper, Nicole is...prone to impatience and outbursts under extreme stress. In this AU, she was forced to take the throne at a young age after the death of the previous king and queen. Going from a teenager to a ruler almost overnight weighed heavily on her, and she's got a short fuse. The night o the party in which the enchantress cursed her was a result of her breaking down and not thinking. I know there's debate in some places about whether or not the enchantress was right to curse an 11 year old prince for denying entry to a stranger, so...I tried to make this version a bit more...ambiguous on who's at fault. Maybe Nicole was being hasty, and maybe the enchantress was wrong to condemn a teenager to Eternal Fursuit just for trying to abide by stranger danger rules. IDK.

Side note - I can't help but imagine that in her Beast form, Nicole sounds like April Winchell. Think prime angry Sylvia from Wander Over Yonder.

Sketch 3 - Smiledog.jpg ''And give him an elegant, ladylike smile!!''

I wanted her to be unsettling. LITERALLY so unsettling. She;s got a horse mouth with canine teeth, I can't imagine that puts a warm feeling in anyone's heart at all. I also just really wanted to redraw that smile scene as an excuse to draw a lot of teeth.

Remember how I said Nicole's got BAD trust issues? Most of that comes from the memory of having suitors, possible consorts, and foreign princes trying to woo and flirt. They were suffocating, and it left her with a lot of lasting bad impressions. Wouldn't call it outright sexism on her part, just...caution based on experience. To the point where the rest of the enchanted objects heard that only true love's kiss could break the spell and they all went ''Hahaha we are so fucked'' Took them forever to even begin to fathom the idea that this LeFou guy MIGHT maybe be the one to break it???

But...in the end, they work together because...they're not typical of what the world expects from them. In MY headcanon, which ignores and disowns any and all alleged ''Live action remakes from 2017'' that may or may not include ''Josh Gad'', LeFou is Gaston's yougner step brother. A headcanon, I might add, that was inspired by @wreckham and their Balto rewrite where Star is Steele's younger brother. What does that have to do with Gaston and LeFou? Well:

A weird hill to die on headcanon-wise, but I'll take it. Anyway, Nicole is a huge terrifying beast. A practical manifestation of how awkward and out of place she felt as a young princess trying so hard to fit into a role she ascended to before her time (Honestly, Nicole is just Twilight Sparkle's bookworm tendencies and lack of social skills mixed with the intimidating aura of Vitani and Sergeant Calhoun. Kiiiiind of a mess). She isn't small and lovely and fair like a young princess should be. MEANWHILE, LeFou is the young brother to the ''town hero'' and...that's kinda hard to measure up to. He's not the huge hulking man that's traditionally sought after. *COUGH* *COUGH*

They sort of...find a connection over this topic. Nicole likes him because he's nothing like the rich stuffed shirts that always flexed their looks and wealth to try and win her heart, and LeFou likes that she doesn't care if he's not a big and tough guy. Every Furry girlboss needs a short king.

Sketch 4 - ''THAT HURTS!!''

TBH the thing about this was...there WERE a few scenes I felt...REALLY obligated to try. The Ballroom scene WAS one of those, but unfortunately you won't see that one, since its over tumblr's photo size limit. Kinda happy about that, since it looks...less than great. Where was I? Oh yeah. Uhhhh this is one of my favorite scenes from the movie so I ABSOLUTELY wanted to give it a shot with these two. Sketches 4-6 are all drawn directly into screenshots from the movie because I was NOT about to try and redraw those backgrounds. God this movie is GORGEOUS but soooo intricate and i am only a little creature who scares easily. Also, I had OTHER things that were hard to draw that I was more focused on. Wanna know what those things were?! LEFOU. I don't know if I'm bad at diverse faces or maybe he's just genuinely a little tricky, but GOD I still have a hard time drawing him. Assume every sketch of LeFou here in this post took me three hours minimum. That's why most of these are of him and Nicole. My deal with myself was that if I at least gave him a good college try, I could ALSO have fun drawing Nicole, who is WAY easier. I mean I'm...getting a LITTLE better at him, but still. He was NOT east the first few times.

Nicole's snarly face in this one was so fun to draw. I looked at a lot of Nala during the chase scene with Pumbaa, and Sabor fighting Tarzan to get her teeth right. Hilariously, I also looked at Steele.

Sketch 5 - ''It's obvious there's a spark between them..''

''You are a strange sight

Some new kind of wonder

With good hidden under

I'm sure that it's true.''

A theme song??? Is for me??? Is for my silly little drawings???

Sketch 6 - Nicole's hour in the fursuit is over

THat's right I KEPT her in the dress for the final fight in this AU. Why??? I DON'T KNOW I wanted to. Maybe it was a reference to the ''running from a T Rex in high heels'' scene in Jurassic World. Maybe it was me trying to convey how Nicole has finally come to own the ''princess'' she never thought she could be. I DON'T KNOW. OH. and by the way. her dress is loosely inspired by the one @Johannathemad drew here

Sketch 7 - A most peculiar Mademoiselle

I was looking at these by @davidgilson and they were SO cute I....KINDA wanted to give something similar to it a shot. That tiny LeFou is going to make me fucking scream he is SO small

You guys wanna know a really embarrassing fact? So...LeFou is voiced by Jesse Corti, right? Who ALSO provided the signing voice for Charlie in All Dogs Go To Heaven 2. So....AHEM and COUGH maybe Ive been listening to these a lot while I draw LeFou and Nicole. What of it.

Um....that's all for now, but....Hopefully there might be some more on the horizon. I've been...kinda burnt out and tired as a result of some work drama lately, but...I have more sketches and ideas with this AU I'd like to do. It's been...really fun to play with, honestly. i had a GREAT birthday tho, and...I think it was more than appropriate that I shared this today <3

[my-whumpy-little-heart]

In anticipation of @whump-tr0pes​‘ lovely book “Honor Bound” coming out soon, I used a class assignment as an excuse to make fanart! 

So the assignment was to make an advertisement poster for something, so I kinda went with making a movie poster(?) for Honor Bound. 

This isn’t technically the finished product since I adjusted some levels after this test, but with school being closed I figured I wasn’t going to have access to another laser engraver for a long while (oh! this was printed by a laser engraver on a piece of cardboard by the way).

I have more details, symbolism, and a sketch to talk about, but I’ll leave those below a cut because that’s gonna end up reeeally long.

So first of all, I loved the idea of having a sort of collage of all the team member names, but I also wanted to include some sort of drawn portrait too. So bam, all the team names superimposed on a sketch of what I imagine Isaac to look like, since he’s essentially the main character through a lot of the story.

As for the team name placement, I had a bit of thought behind that besides aesthetics. Because I’m a sucker for ~~symbolism~~

Isaac: his name’s at the top since he was originally a leader figure in the group, and while not exactly the brains, he often has a high level of authority.

Sam: Placed right near Isaac, exactly where he always wants to be :D. Also near the eyebrows (often purposefully accentuated to appear more attractive) for being one of the “prettier” members of the group.

Vera: Right along the bridge of the nose, at the forefront of the action but also most easily broken ;). Farther away from the other names for the beginning of the story when she’s more often emotionally closed off from the team.

Ellis and Finn: A double whammy with Ellis along the cheekbones: sharp and intuitive, a strong standout member of the team, and Finn just below them in the softer skin by the nose: more hidden in the background, a very important asset and beloved Soft One. Complimenting and juxtaposing each other, but connected at the hip.

Gray: The stiff upper lip of the group (you have no idea how proud of myself I am for coming up with that hehehe), often strict and restrained, but filled with a whole lot of love. Everybody’s parent, and my beloved ace rep ;v; ily gray honey.

Tori: A newer member of the group, finding her place in the background but proving to be a large, essential teammate. Slotted in the space under the cheekbones, she is less often thought of but no less developed and important.

Gavin: Along the jawline for his sharp acerbity and making himself a permanent spot in the team’s story, whether they like it or not. Largely important, but separated and easily dislocated. As much as the team would like to shake him off, it would only hurt the entire structure more.

Alright wow that was a lot.

Anyway, for the overall picture, I loved the side profile aspect and had Isaac stare determinedly at the word “Honor.” I feel like he connects a lot to the title in how he at first goes to Gavin to preserve his own honor as a useful member of the team, and slowly relinquishes it to try and save them in the same way. Not that either of that really works, huh? Poor Isaac awwww buddy.

Now, you might ask, why is he collared? Uhhhhhhhhhh I have a really good explanation somewhere around hereeee come on man, just truthfully tell me you don’t want to see Isaac Moore collared and only then will I give you the good explanation I definitely have

Past that, I just included the little heartbeat graphic because I needed something fun to put in the background so it didn’t look bland. Hearbeat it is. Meaning is that all the characters try to stay alive. Wham. There ya go. Alright, uhhh next.

Athena revealed her full name and the book and everything in the middle of me making this, and I would have put her full name for accuracy, but I didn’t really want my teacher to have a reason or way to trace this back to the actual book lol. I told him it was something I was reading online and that was it, so he doesn’t need to know anything about my whumpy side.

That being said, the W-T just stands for whump-tr0pes. Plus I love the way capital letters look in that font, so how could I resist?

Besides all of the design elements, if you guys are at all curious about how I made this logistically, it was with a program called Lightburn. That’s where I added all the text, and imported an image from the internet of a heartbeat and manipulated it to make it work and fit. As for the picture of Isaac, I drew that myself first on a sketch in my notebook.

Then I took it into Photoshop, drew over it and cleaned it up, and saved as an image that I then opened in Lightburn. And then painstakingly edited the text so it would curve along the lines of the face (the stupid program didn’t have a way to actually manipulate and bend text, so that left my typing out names letter by letter and aligning them while my soul melted away into a puddle aghHHH)

Alright I think that’s finally all I have to say on this. Had too much fun making it, all that jazz, I’ll get out of here now. If you read this far, kudos to you. I admire you, whoever you may be.

[icekong]

Well, since the Best of Tumblr post doesn’t work. I thought this be a chance to go back and actual hand picks my best and favorite works throughout the entire year. Also, some months repeat because either I didn’t have anything that month or there was another worthy edit/art I wanted to be here.

Lady Medea and Artoria (Edit)

Helena “Aliens” (Art)

A Cute Helena in a Cardboard Box (Art)

1614th Elizabeth Divison  (Actual Full-Size Image) (Edit)

Tsubasa Wishing You A Happy Birthday (Art)

That A MF Symphogear Reference??? (Edit)

Bone Hell (Edit/Art)

Me As Sakata Kintoki (Cosplay)

Scathach Temperature Chart (Edit)

Excuse Me What The Fuck (Art)

The Tower Knight Montagne Attack! (Art)

Big Love for Tiamat (Art)

Anyways, I think I really enjoy this year when came to art. They were so many pieces like any of Helena drawing or Tiamat where I enjoy the drawing processes immersively cause it was out of love. Especially the Tiamat one cause I went through so many failures and it really tested my patience. Took about 30 hours, but most of that I was testing new technique on how to draw digital and I had to do over a lot of stuff. But it easy to get through that when you're drawing something you really love.

I also had a lot of fun making edits of Elizabeth. Honestly, I didn’t expect to make so much out of her, but during the TF2 Noob Cup tournament I just got really into spreading Liz propaganda. Although we lost hard, I had fun my own way with the edits.

Finally, even though you see me do art, I for the longest time kinda got in a rut in a way and thought I never do more with art beside edits in Photoshop with occasional art. But around October, I realize that the love of being the artist that I had back in my high school day wasn’t gone. I want to draw a lot more and try to shift my focus toward that more. Though it still tough finding time cause of college, finishing up on selling the website, and studying for certifications I’m behind schedule for. It hard for me to make a promise or resolutions, but I hope If anything I can still just progress a little bit in my art each year. Whether it learning new techniques or just knowing more about the art world.

Well anyways... Heres to seeing what I produce for 2019.

[chuckepisodes]

Chuck vs. The Suburbs Part 2

You were sitting on Chuck's bed as he was going through his shirts, trying to figure out what would be appropriate to bring. "Okay. What about this one?" Chuck asked you. "Chuck...It's fine! It works!" "That's what you said about the last shirt." Ellie then came walking in. "What do you think?" Chuck asked Ellie, holding up the shirt. " Well, I think it makes you look very grown-up." "Oh, good, that's kind of the idea." You smirked and shook your head a little. " Yeah, where are you guys going?" "Oh, Chuck and I are going to be doing some house sitting. My boss is out of town so..." "Oh, guys, that's... that's great." " Spending a week in the suburbs? Yeah, dream come true." Chuck joked. " No, don't you get it? This is... this is like a dry run, you know, so you and Y/N can see what it would really be like." "To live together? I mean we practically do right now just not officially." you said. "Yeah but I mean...Just the two of you. Alone. No one else is around." "Okay yeah...I can see what you mean. But in the end it is just house sitting." "Exactly." you added. "Alright...But still a big step forward." Ellie said, clapping her hands as she left his room. You looked over at Chuck and walked over to him. "You know...Ellie is right. This mission is kind of going to be like a test." "You think?" "Yes! Chuck let's face it when we come over to each other's place it's just to spend the night together basically. This time we will be cooking for each other and doing house cleaning and..." "Be doing some spy work." Chuck said with a smirk. "Okay yes that too." you said with a little laugh. "I don't know babe. But I feel like this mission will be kind of fun." "I do too." Chuck said, smiling at you and leaning in to give your forehead a kiss. "Let's do this ." You and Chuck grabbed the wedding rings and slipped them on.

You and Chuck ended up finding the area where you will be living for a little. As you were looking around, the place already started to give you the creeps. "Man I hate the suburbs." "What?" Chuck asked, laughing a little. "Houses all look the same, all the neighbours know you and are always happy... Who loves that?" Chuck couldn't help but laugh some more. He slowly pulled up to a house. He saw a mail box with the name "Carmichael" on it. "This must be it." As you two got out of the car, you looked around the area. It was very nice, you had to admit. But then all the neighbours, whom you have never even met yet, started waving at you both as if they already knew who you were. "See? Creepy!" You whispered over to Chuck as you both waved. Chuck then grabbed your hand as you both walked into the house.

As you both walked in, you saw a bunch of photos that you and Chuck have taken together, framed all over the house. "How did they get our photos?" Chuck asked. You just shrugged. You both then looked up and saw they created wedding photos. They looked very real. "Whoa." you said. You and Chuck both looked at each other and you knew you were both thinking the same thing. That one day you will have real wedding photos and not photoshopped ones. As you continued to walk down a dog came running out. "Oh my God! Hi boy!" you said all excited, kneeling down and petting the dog. Sarah then came walking out, dressed like a maid, bowl in hand. "Love what you've done with the place." Chuck said. " Thanks... I had help." " Uh, sorry, but whose lives have we stepped into?" you asked as you both followed her into the kitchen. " And what-What... What are you doing?" " What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making potato salad. That you are going to finish now that you are here." You went over to the counter and finished it off. "Are you cooking for the entire neighborhood?" Chuck asked when he saw the size of the bowl. "No, Chuck. You are." Sarah said, handing him a plate of sausages and burgers.

" Hey, there's the grill-meister!" Someone shouted. You and Chuck jumped and turned around to find a bunch of people in the backyard. Must be the annoying neighbors." Welcome, neighbors." "Don't forget, one of our new neighbors is a suspected terrorist." Sarah warned. " You heard the little lady. Get out there and mingle." Casey said, appearing in the living room, dressed as a cable man. You and Chuck looked at each other then put on smiles as you grabbed the bowl of potato salad and you both headed outside.

Chuck was busy on the grill when one of the neighbors approached him. "Welcome to the neighborhood." " Oh... Hi. How you doing?" " I'm good." " I'm... I... Hi. My name is Charles." " Oh, I'm Brad. I live next door." he told Chuck, pulling out a business card and handing it to him. "There you go." " I'm... I'm so sorry. I just ran out." Chuck said jokingly. " Well, lucky for you, I'm in the stationery biz. Check this baby out. It is 110 pound card stock, brand-new, genuine embossing, antique finish." "Wow." " Listen, don't let any of these bums know, but I can get you a thousand of those at cost. Enough shoptalk. Let's go meet some of the natives. What do you say?" " Okay." Chuck said as he walked away from the grill. "Guys, this is Charlie. Uh, Charlie, over here we got Mark." " Hi." " Hi." " Whatever you do, do not let him drive your golf cart. We got Dennis here. Uh, Dennis and his wife, Trudy, every Friday night, they play a pretty wild game of charades. It gets pretty zany. And this one, last but least, Mitch. Do not believe a word this dog says." Chuck just stood there awkwardly as he got introduced to everyone. "Hold on a minute. Who is that talking to my wife?" Brad asked Chuck. "Oh, that's-that's my wife. That's Y/N." Chuck said, looking at you and smiling. You looked back at him and smiled back and gave him a little wave. "Well... Well done, Charlie. You want to trade sometime?" he asked, laughing. Chuck tried to laugh as well but it came off totally fake. "I'm kidding! No way the PTA would stand for that."

Chuck stood off to the side, smiling, as he watched you talking and laughing with the neighbors. Chuck then quickly checked his watch. "My sentiments exactly." a woman said, walking over to him. " Can I let you in on little a secret about your neighbors, Mr... ? " "Carmichael. Charles." " They bore me." " Oh, yeah?" " Yeah, it's, uh... it's not really my scene either. Perhaps the two of us can, uh, get together sometime. Maybe engage in something a little more... stimulating? " she asked, totally flirting with him now and standing real close. "Don't-Don't..." Chuck said, trying to back away. He ended up dropping his beer." Sorry. I... Slippery. That's very kind of you to offer and it sounds like a lot of fun, but I am very, very married. " he said, holding up his hand and pointing at the wedding ring. "Congratulations, Mr. Carmichael. But who isn't? My husband's right over there." Chuck looked over at the man who was her husband and was surprised. The man was huge and kinda scary looking. "He's a big fella, isn't he? What line of work is he in? Lumberjack?" " The kind that keeps him out of town." " Charles!" you called out, waving him over. " Is that your wife? She seems very... pretty." " Well, got to run. You know how it is. The old ball and chain." Chuck joked. " Listen, Charles. I just live right across the street. So call me... when the honeymoon's over. I've got a chain, too." " I bet you do. Excuse me." Chuck said, feeling very uncomfortable.

Chuck quickly made his way over to you. "I haven't flashed on anyone. You?" you asked. "No flashes. No nothing. I think our neighbors are clean. Except for that lady across the street. She's got a dirty mouth." "Excuse me?" you asked, ready to attack. "Relax baby. You don't have to worry about her." Chuck said, laughing a little and putting his arm around you. " Well, are you sure we checked everybody?" "Maybe we got the wrong cul-de-sac." "Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael?" Casey called out from the window. You and Chuck turned around to look at him. " Would you come inside, please? There's a slight problem with your cable."

You and Chuck walked into the kitchen, where Sarah and Casey were using a device to check for any bugs from the food the neighbors brought. You ended up finding one quick under a plate. Soon as Casey pulled it off, you and Chuck flashed on it. "Looks like one of ours." Casey said. " Uh, correction... that was one of ours." Chuck pointed out. " That bug was stolen from a CIA substation in Omaha in '06. Now it belongs to FULCRUM." you finished. " And here I thought we were all looking for a garden-variety terrorist." Sarah said. " Better hurry up, buddy. Your wieners are burning." Brad called out from outside. You and Chuck turned around and all the neighbors were gathering around and waving at you all. " I knew these people creeped me out." Casey said. "Right?!" you exclaimed, turning to look at him. "I'm not the only who thinks so. Thank you Casey!"

[pauldeckerus]

Ambition

If you want something, go and get it! Find a way or make one!

I’m Dave Williams and as always I’m here on Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider today, #TravelTuesday, for you! I aim to enlighten and inspire every week with something to do with Photography, Photoshop and life. Today I want to provoke you to take last weeks personal project and monetise it, either directly or indirectly.

When we shoot as professionals, that is to say we are making money from our photography, we are doing more or less everything with a goal in mind – a bill that needs paying! Removing that element of life and shooting for self-development allows a relief of the stresses and pressures placed upon us (by others or by ourselves) so we can afford more of our efforts on the creative aspects of the shoot rather than the ‘end goal.’ It’s important to have that creativity in the moment, to enjoy the moment, rather than simply aiming for that end goal, and it’s an aspect of photography that is worth incorporating into everyday life – here’s why: –

Whilst it’s good and often important to have a goal in sight, staring at that goal won’t get you anywhere on its own. Concentrating your energy and efforts on the here and now is what makes things change and ultimately what shows your value as a person. It’s what shows your commitment and understanding, not of what you want to achieve but how you’ll achieve it..

I’ve found that whilst I can take a good image of a place the first time I visit, I often think of better images and better techniques and want to revisit until I nail it. It’s this which prompted me to undertake personal projects which develop my skill as a photographer (and storyteller) and allow me to get better images the first time round, but that said, the second visit (and third and fourth) will never go away because……

“There’s no such thing as ‘just one last shot'” – Peter Treadway, 2014

This kinda has a few meanings to us photographers – it can mean that we’re usually such perfectionists that an image is never really finished, or it can mean that actually it is finished but we just find it hard to recognise when! That’s something to think about.

Here’s my current go-to example of second visits: –

  Mont St-Michel, France. The image above was taken about 5 years ago, and the below image was a couple of months ago. I’d like to think both images work, and they’ve both sold so each has their own merit, but that is the very point – each has their own merit. Each shows the same place but in entirely different ways. It’s going to my development as a photographer that that’s happened, through grit, determination, practice, perseverance, and through personal projects! So, one word I said in there that I mentioned right up top – sold. Let’s talk about that.

    I’ve been talking to a few photographers lately about this, and whether it’s for the purpose of paying your bills or simply for funding new gear for your hobby, I implore you to get involved with monetising your photography. The people I’ve been talking to have been largely successful in the first stages of getting into stock photography, but there are other ways to monetise your photos. The world is a small place, you no longer need to be ‘famous’ to make a living from photography, nor do you need to drive from home to home with a strobe and a backdrop in your car shooting family portraits, here’s the thing: –

All those photos you see on billboards, in magazines, on leaflets, in menus, in newspapers, in brochures, on packaging, on computer screensavers, in books, on ads you scroll past online, literally everywhere, they all came from somewhere – why not come from you?

Signing up for stock photography for these things is easy – all you have to remember is to play by the rules! For example, a test submission to a stock agency will state ‘common theme, not overly retouched, no brand names. in focus’ etc etc, and as long as you stick to the rules (so that you pass the test submission) you can start to sell your images! It doesn’t have to be stock, of course. You can monetise your Instagram account in a similar way – find agencies who are looking for people and, again, follow the rules! Perhaps the rules are – common theme, signature look, 5,000+ followers, good engagement – follow the rules and you’re in! How about postcards? Take a look on the back of postcards next time you see a display rack and you’ll see the company who produces them printed on the back. Why not send them an e-mail? Send a few of your best images over and see how you get on – at worst, they say no thanks – at best, you’re making money!

Seriously, no more excuses! It’s 2k19, it’s time to make your photography pay!

The cover image is of me 13 years ago when I was living in South Africa. I was busy shooting thorns in the Klein Karoo area with my SLR (yes, SLR, no screen) and working out what kind of a photographer I was. Essentially a whole series of personal projects one after the other, finding a niche through the process.

Much love

Dave

The post Ambition appeared first on Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider.

from Photography News https://scottkelby.com/ambition/

[survivordivergent]

EPISODE 4 - “I WANT TO REACH MY GOATENTIAL” - GEO

Welcome to Survivor Divergent, where's it's 14 inactive people and 6 people actually playing

I'm pretty damn busy today grading final assignments, and I'm pretty sure my frustration yesterday was enough to paint a target on me going forward, but I don't much care. This tribe's work ethic is for shit. I don't belong here. I can't just sit back and not do things. Ed can't, either, because it's such a deep-seated belief of mine that it permeates through him too. Not submitting things is just not my speed.

What pisses me off more than anything is that so far, I've been the only one to put in any concrete work. Percy got the theme based on a writing prompt. Payton's been offering suggestions. Dani's offered to do both the poster and the write-up. Meanwhile, I did the poster (deliberately at a level below what I know I can do, because I've been saying all along that I'm not good with Photoshop.) I did the write-up. Last time I felt so alone in one of these creative challenges, my tribe lost and I was the one sent packing at the next tribal council.

It's bullshit. I hate it I hate it I hate it. And while I love the people on this tribe based on our limited interactions, Peter can fuck off back to the inactivity pool from whence he came. Lucy can find a clue while she's busy finding a last name. And Geo... man, Geo is the biggest disappointment of all, only because we've SEEN what he can do. And it's like he's choosing not to do it. I get that we all have lives and that we're all super busy. I'm running myself so ragged that I'm going to hibernate clear through the holidays.

But that's the key difference: you make time if it matters to you. And if this game doesn't matter to anyone else, why should it matter to me? More importantly, if I get to jury, where's my motivation to vote for any of these people who couldn't — or wouldn't — step up when they're needed?

This is frustrating. I miss Megara Tribe. I miss Bondoso Tribe. I even miss Drohend Tribe. I like tribes that work hard, like each other and trust each other as a result. And this tribe fits maybe one of those three criteria. It sucks.

Six: The amount of posts in our tribe chat per day. God damn.

I'm pretty sure the hosts hate six. Like.

On 12/18/16, at 12:09 AM, Payton Rodriguez wrote: > also, y’all are rigging this against the 90% inactive tribe

On 12/18/16, at 12:10 AM, Payton Rodriguez wrote: > its not mine and ed’s fault that the rest of them are flops like if we went offline for three days the world would fall apart and you know it

no, i dont think they're actively rigging. i think my tribemates are sabatoging and we're not gonna have fucking numbers going into merge. sluts.

Okay so it's been a while, let's see if I can catch up. Last time I made a confessional I was stuck on trying to find the Erudite idol. I was so frustrated, and then we lost reward. I didn't want there to be a chance that someone from Six would find the idol, since the clues stack, so I panicked and asked Melissa for help. She figured it out in 2 seconds bc stupid me doesn't know the alphabet or how to count. Ugh. So we work through the next few pages, and then we get stuck again. But after looking at it for a few minutes, I realized I needed to use the keypad on a telephone to get the next word, and I figured it out. To show some good faith, I tell Melissa right away, but the next page.... whew. I looked at that page for a good half hour and couldn't figure it out. Then I'm reading what's on the page and it looks like song lyrics? So I decided to google them. I copy and paste it into google, and i noticed in the search bar are words I did not see before. So I go back to the page and highlight everything. Sneaky Jenna hid the link to the next blog in white lettering on the page. Very clever. So I go to the next blog, and I need another password. Crap. Well, I'm hoping that whoever is looking for this idol on the Six tribe gets stuck at the password too, so they wont be ahead of me. I decide to not tell Melissa that I figured it out. I want to see if she comes to me with that information. And she does, the next day. So I know I can actually trust Melissa. Like, I know I'm in an alliance with her, but I wanted to like, test her trust? I guess? So there's where we are on the idol journey...

I've been talking to Jill bc, you know, former Candor, and she brings up starting an alliance with Kyle. Me, already being in an alliance with Kyle, am completely down for this. Jill's plan is to have a former Candor/Amity alliance with me, Kyle, and Will, and bring in Melissa as a 5th so we have majority. Kyle and I, already being in an alliance with Melissa, are completely down for this. We decide to tell Melissa about this alliance, because we want Ugly Fruti to be our core, our majority within the majority, if that makes sense. Melissa seems fine with it.

So then we wind up winning the Battleship Immunity, and I am really enjoying not going to Tribal. If we can keep it this way until merge, that would be fantastic. Things have been really quiet around the tribe lately. I haven't been on much because of things irl, but I'm going to try and be around more. I dont want to be first boot from this tribe for inactivity, even though there are people who are way less active than me. I'm just hoping our movie poster is enough to win reward so we can continue on that Erudite clue...

Every single day, I feel myself slowly becoming someone that I am not. And honestly, I kind of like that.

I think Payton is pretty set on getting to know who I am but I'll keep bouncing that carrot in front of her face because the longer I keep her focused on my identity over the game that I want to play, the better it is for me in the long run. Payton is a threat because shes so talkative (albeit annoying as hell) and has Percy in her back pocket. She even came to me and said,

[10:14 PM] Payton Rodriguez: So I think I kinda decided Percy would be safe if we went to tribal again, at least from my vote? He really did help with making that poster look good

Of course that's a valid excuse but you should be willing to vote off anyone at any given moment in time. I don't care who we're going after, but I kind of think that Peter does need to go next. He's just going to do whatever people tell him to do later and he contributes almost nothing to my game, except acting like a little pawn for the time being.

I still have my Abnegation idol, so I'm going to hold onto it as long as possible. I think this is an idol I need to use on myself only because if I try to use it to make a huge move, like playing it on the target to get rid of a threat, then it could backfire and if my own target ends up getting saved, I could go out on a revote. If I just had the regular old thing, then I'd be more willing to be #dauntless and whip it out to save someone else and *ciera voice* make big movez.

Also I'm being really patient with myself and trying to make a lot of spelling/grammar errors and ignoring most forms of punctuation. I want to, in addition, have perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation on my regular account so that people are somewhat confused about my identity. I'm still going with my "pretty, spoiled girl" image that I'm adopting so that everyone thinks that I'm two completely different people. Maybe its working, maybe its not. But I need to start cutting the bullshit and start being as realistic as possible. No more talking about the unrealistic life I don't have, but being real. I have to adopt true parts of my own personality so I'm not looking like a bullshit artist. I have that tumblr blog, so maybe i should share it with the people so they choose to follow me and understand that maybe this is something i'm committing to. we'll have to see how that works out for me, of course.

ok i know im not supposed to but i cant help but get uncharted flashbacks rn im sure its not but lake is giving me ari vibes

Gosh it's been a long time since I've made one of these.

Nothing has really happened. We've been winning immunity and I haven't really helped at all.

I've been trying to staybtalkative with the most active members of the tribe and I feel like there's at least 2 or 3 people that could be voted out before me.

I feel so bad cause I havent done one of these in a long time. Im usually good with confessionals <.< sorry hosts.

I feel like im wadting time with the amity idol but oh well ill keep chugging along

Dani scares me. Theyre really smart, they know who i am, and i feel like theyre not playing with abnegation (obviously they werent from thay tribe) and theyre gping to use it against me. I want to get her oyt, but i think shes better connected to people, therefore attempting to do so will get me oyt instead, and i want to play with loyalty, i dont want to ve a flipper again and again. Dani is in an alliance with me so that wont be good as the others may be wary of me.

Im concerned as well as people arent actually talking that much to me. They dont message me, only dani and payton. I love payton or logan if it is them and i believe theyre going to be a bigger target ahwad of me in the future.

I want to play a very goat game. Previously my competitors and friends viewed me as someone who cant win and is very well aligned and a flipper. I havemt made ftc, and thats my goal. I dont care about anything else. If im loyal and very nonthreatening, people will want to take me as they view me as a goat and i could potentially use that strategy to win? I want to reach my goatential, and see whether i can lose at the end or not. Hopefully i dont.

Im typing this on my phone and i didnt put the heading, sorry for all my messiness. #Goatential #Geoat #loyalty #noflippers #mystrategy

I want to conspire to vote Dani out. I think that might be too risky right now but I don't trust her.

I'm glad we won tribal! But I really, REALLY want to send Dani home. Like, yesterday.

I'm tired of people outside the game talking to me about this game. Stop.

Um, it's been a confusing past few days. The biggest things to come out of them:

1. Six won immunity! Woo hoo! Payton was trying to argue that they were throwing it, but I refuse to believe that. We cam together as a tribe and we showed how much more effective we are when we work together, and that's that. So I guess another way of saying it would be, I don't care what they did. I care about what we did. And we crushed it. And frankly, as great as Payton has been for moral support and activity, her frequent willingness to couch thoughts with 'if's and 'but's really rubs me the wrong way. That's not the way winners think.

1a. That said, Payton is still my #1 for now. She's got a tremendous grip on the tribe socially and is realistically one of the shot-callers around here. The longer I can stay under the radar and vote with her, the more likely I can make merge. And then we're golden.

2. Danielle approached me with 'evidence' that Payton took the advantage, but it was very... sketchy. Which is not to say I don't believe it. I had my suspicions. But I wonder if Dani is trying to throw Payton under the bus for something. There seems to be some bad blood there for reasons I can't fathom.

3. Payton approached me with 'evidence' that Danielle or Geo are fabricating receipts, but it was very... sketchy. Which is not to say I don't believe it. It seems like something both would do, based on what little I know of them. But I wonder if Payton is trying to throw Dani under the bus for something. There seems to be some bad blood there for reasons I can't fathom.

3a. Déjà-vu is the sensation of seeing something you feel like you've seen before.

4. This Erudite idol is maddening. 'Center from the start?' What the hell is that??? I've tried everything – the letter a, the titles on each of the blogs, the word 'hosts' which is the 'center' block on the 'start' page, every past clue in every single blog... I know the clue points to a page on one of the blogs I've already visited, as opposed to the latest one. But I'm so stuck and it's so frustrating and I can only hope others are as hopelessly irritated as I am. I need that next clue, and hopefully this time it'll be something new rather than something I'd already been trying. Talk about bad luck.

5. Peter has been very quiet, but at least he showed up for the comp.

6. Lucy has been very quiet, but at least she showed up for the comp.

7. Geo has been very quiet, but at least he showed up for the comp.

3a. Déjà-vu is the sensation of seeing something you feel like you've seen before.

I will make a longer confessional if I survive tribal, which honestly, I think I will. Me, Kyle, and Melissa are in alliances with pretty much everyone on the tribe, so I think we are fine. The vote should be for Amanda, which is a relief for more than one reason. One, she's getting on everyone's nerves, and two, its so weird for people to be talking about Amanda and to remember its not me. There's only room for one Amanda in this game, hun! Ahhh anyway, after this tribal, we are supposed to be on a holiday break for a while, but I have a feeling before that happens, we are gonna be split into 3 tribes of 5. I'm really hoping not, but if so, I have Kyle and/or Melissa with me, or that I end up on a tribe with a Four Tribe majority. Ahh okay, I'm out til later