Harriet's Written Year, Chapter One

[KB Girl]

On 1/18/2021 at 4:36 PM, Harriet said:

We take a break from tarot cards to paint a relaxed landscape from reference photo using newly discovered brushes:

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Jaap just came home as I was checking your thread and sometimes I tell him about you guys so I showed him your drawing from today, but I wasn't a big fan of it so I scrolled back to properly show off your work and he loved the one with the boar/pig figure and then he saw this one and was very properly impressed and asked wether you sell prints. Thought I should let you know. 

[Red1263]

12 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Developing muscles are like expensive lace-and-sheer lingerie. The whole point isn't whether others can see them or not... the point is that we know it's there.  

This has to be the BEST analogy ever!

 

11 hours ago, Harriet said:

Original and study:

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I also agree that your drawing looks like an older/angrier version of the original. I love it!

[Harriet]

9 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Jaap just came home as I was checking your thread and sometimes I tell him about you guys so I showed him your drawing from today, but I wasn't a big fan of it so I scrolled back to properly show off your work and he loved the one with the boar/pig figure and then he saw this one and was very properly impressed and asked wether you sell prints. Thought I should let you know. 

 

Aww, that's lovely to hear 😊. I did a few landscapes last year but I can't remember where I put them. Maybe I'll make a blog with all my paintings on it just to show people if they ask. But I kinda see myself as an apprentice still, so I haven't tried to sell anything.

 

Hmmm. Time to google how to take personally identifying information off a picture that I upload to a blog, which I think Scaly alerted me to earlier when I was setting up my writing project.

 

1 hour ago, Red1263 said:

I also agree that your drawing looks like an older/angrier version of the original. I love it!

 

Thank you!

[fearless 2.0]

I would also love it if you sold some of your stuff! Id love to have a print too!

[Scaly Freak]

6 hours ago, fearless 2.0 said:

I would also love it if you sold some of your stuff! Id love to have a print too!

 

Yes! I want the swordless warrior framed on one of my walls!  

[Mad Hatter]

13 hours ago, Harriet said:

Aww, that's lovely to hear 😊. I did a few landscapes last year but I can't remember where I put them. Maybe I'll make a blog with all my paintings on it just to show people if they ask. But I kinda see myself as an apprentice still, so I haven't tried to sell anything.

There's nothing stopping you from selling things just because you're an apprentice! If people want your art I think you should provide, and gain some XP in the process.  I would also consider posting on social media as soon as you start making more of your own work. If it makes you more comfortable you can even state that you're an apprentice. You have nothing to lose. Just my 2 cents.

[Salinger]

Hey Harriet, hope your weekend is going great xx

[Harriet]

2 hours ago, Salinger said:

Hey Harriet, hope your weekend is going great xx

 

Thank you, Salinger.  All is well. 😊

 

10 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

There's nothing stopping you from selling things just because you're an apprentice! If people want your art I think you should provide, and gain some XP in the process.  I would also consider posting on social media as soon as you start making more of your own work. If it makes you more comfortable you can even state that you're an apprentice. You have nothing to lose. Just my 2 cents.

 

Hmm, true, I don't need to be a master in order to sell. I'm not very active on social media, though. Facebook is full of old uni acquaintances but the only people who are active are the philosopher bullies. I suppose I could make a dedicated site. When I set up my blog for the reviews of classic feminist texts, I paid for the service and got the option to make two more blogs. I should find out whether and how people sell digital paintings, and think some thoughts about where I’d like to go with this.

 

11 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Yes! I want the swordless warrior framed on one of my walls!  

 

I don't have any printing facilities, and I'm not sure if the resolution is good enough to print at any size (I didn't make it with the intention to sell/print), but you may certainly print the swordless warrior yourself if you wish, Scaly 😊

 

17 hours ago, fearless 2.0 said:

I would also love it if you sold some of your stuff! Id love to have a print too!

 

Haha, okay, looks like I need to put some thought into this. What resolution is needed for high quality prints? Is it even possible to sell digital paintings when anyone can download them? Or do I just need to make analogue paintings? Hmm.

[Harriet]

Writ: I journalled in the morning but didn’t tick everything off in the evening.
Warcraft: I lifted. Loaded carries, snatch and deadlift.
Weaving: planned weekend pause from writing and painting
Witchery: Oops, I neglected meditation and spirit work. I went for a walk, though, in the light rain.

Willowy: Erm. Let us not speak of yesterday’s eating. Dry January continues without incident.

 

Well, yesterday was fairly indolent, but I lifted. And it's good to rest (i.e. play video games and knit) on the weekend. Today I'm re-reading my journally big reasons and recommitting to everything including eating sensibly and meditation, which didn't get full points this week.

[Mad Hatter]

2 minutes ago, Harriet said:

Haha, okay, looks like I need to put some thought into this. What resolution is needed for high quality prints? Is it even possible to sell digital paintings when anyone can download them? Or do I just need to make analogue paintings? Hmm.

300 dpi, and color mode CMYK. I wouldn’t recommend letting people download the image for home printing as you’ll completely lose quality control. Analogue paintings sure, if you want! Just remember to charge more.

 

I wouldn’t put the images on a blog because nobody will ever find them there. But it’s ok as a temporary measure if you only want somewhere to collect finished work.

[Harriet]

26 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

300 dpi, and color mode CMYK. I wouldn’t recommend letting people download the image for home printing as you’ll completely lose quality control. Analogue paintings sure, if you want! Just remember to charge more.

 

Oh. You know things! I'm going to look up color modes and find out what they are. So I guess what digital artists do is place a watermarked digital image on their website to advertise, but print and ship the prints themselves.

ETA I post JPEGs here, but obviously I have the original image files (of e.g. swordless) and could save them as something else.

ETA: after a quick search I realise you mean those are the specs for printing. For painting and saving apparently I want 300 PPI, and I should make sure I keep this resolution and save as tif or jpeg. So far I've been painting at 150 PPI, the programme's default. So it may be that none of my paintings so far will print well, or not ideally, anyway.

 

Quote

I wouldn’t put the images on a blog because nobody will ever find them there. But it’s ok as a temporary measure if you only want somewhere to collect finished work.

I wouldn't mind having a place to collect them. What's the alternative to a blog? Where do people sell? How do they advertise? Hmmmm. (You don't have to answer. I'm just talking out loud here...)

[Mad Hatter]

10 minutes ago, Harriet said:

Oh. You know things! I'm going to look up color modes and find out what they are. So I guess what digital artists do is place a watermarked digital image on their website to advertise, but print and ship the prints themselves.

Only bits and pieces. There's no need to go into super high detail about color modes, unless you want to. The most important thing is knowing that RGB is used for devices and CMYK is used for prints, because that's basically how the respective tech deals with color. It's important because the range of printable colors is smaller on CMYK and since you can't convert them 1-1 your prints might come out in very different colors than you expected. This is a separate issue from images looking very different on different monitors. If you print it yourself you can tweak it on the fly, but it requires a good printer which may or may not be feasible/worth it right now as it's costly. You can also get it printed at a print shop, and in that case it'll be more important to have calibrated monitors to avoid big surprises. Btw the file format is separate from the color mode. JPEGs are ok for printing.

 

As for watermarks, I haven't seen them except for stock images. They're just too distracting and ugly and you want to display your work in the best possible light. For digital display the standard resolution is 72 dpi which make them unusable for high quality prints.

 

22 minutes ago, Harriet said:

I wouldn't mind having a place to collect them. What's the alternative to a blog? Where do people sell? How do they advertise? Hmmmm. (You don't have to answer. I'm just talking out loud here...)

A simple website is the cleanest I think. For selling usually a website, for example a square space type thing or a wordpress powered one (cheaper). This is if you want to run it yourself. Advertising these days is largely social media - Instagram, twitter I think are the most popular, but there are other specific artist related ones too. Or you could sell on sites like Etsy or places where they print on demand for you, with their own rules and advertising. And charges! There are loads of ways. But you can just pick whichever you find easiest to start with.

[Harriet]

47 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Only bits and pieces. There's no need to go into super high detail about color modes, unless you want to. The most important thing is knowing that RGB is used for devices and CMYK is used for prints, because that's basically how the respective tech deals with color. It's important because the range of printable colors is smaller on CMYK and since you can't convert them 1-1 your prints might come out in very different colors than you expected. This is a separate issue from images looking very different on different monitors. If you print it yourself you can tweak it on the fly, but it requires a good printer which may or may not be feasible/worth it right now as it's costly. You can also get it printed at a print shop, and in that case it'll be more important to have calibrated monitors to avoid big surprises. Btw the file format is separate from the color mode. JPEGs are ok for printing.

 

Okay. I actually do know someone with fine art printing facilities. I also know it's expensive. I'll look at that later.

 

47 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

As for watermarks, I haven't seen them except for stock images. They're just too distracting and ugly and you want to display your work in the best possible light. For digital display the standard resolution is 72 dpi which make them unusable for high quality prints.

 

That makes sense.

 

47 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

A simple website is the cleanest I think. For selling usually a website, for example a square space type thing or a wordpress powered one (cheaper). This is if you want to run it yourself. Advertising these days is largely social media - Instagram, twitter I think are the most popular, but there are other specific artist related ones too. Or you could sell on sites like Etsy or places where they print on demand for you, with their own rules and advertising. And charges! There are loads of ways. But you can just pick whichever you find easiest to start with.

 

Oh yeah, a preexisting place like Etsy is an idea I hadn't thought of. I sure wouldn't mind not having to stress about printing and shipping myself.

Thank you for all the ideas, Hatter! I am new to this, obviously, so your knowledge is very helpful.

[fearless 2.0]

Hey Harriet, glad you are thinking about selling! I have no tips as I don't know shit about printing...hehehe

Have a great Sunday!  

[Harriet]

Week three report

Writ: I journalled every morning, and checking in all evenings bar one. Fine.

Warcraft: I ran three times and lifted three times. Perfect.

Weaving: I painted and wrote four out of five days. Fine.

Witchery: I meditated five days, did spirit work six days, and walked every day. Good.

Willowy: Dry january continues, but I had trouble with snacking and eating while distracted. Lots of trouble.

I read up on print-on-demand places where it would be super easy to upload and sell art. It seems like a super low effort way to sell things I'm making anyway. I won't make much money from it, but it would be nice to at least offer my paintings for sale when I have a decent stock of them. I also started making a blog to show all my works. In case someone asks to see what I do or whatever. One thing I noticed is that pictures can look different on different screens. How will I know if the digital art I upload to a print on demand site will come out dark or light or something? And apparently when it comes to resolution I need to consider the PPI, the total size (no. of pixels) of the painting, and the size of the finished product, so I might have to get familiar with the requirements and keep them in mind when I make something new. Hmmm, the site says PPI doesn't have an effect on the final product, only total pixels... I don't really understand this yet, but I'll figure it out.

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

One thing I noticed is that pictures can look different on different screens. How will I know if the digital art I upload to a print on demand site will come out dark or light or something?

You don't. But you can take precautions. Converting or painting in CMYK is one thing. You should also check the color profile which is a different thing. I've never looked into details, but I know some profiles are used by printers and you can use the same. You can also calibrate your monitor. And finally ask for proofs so you can compare your monitor with the print and adjust if needed. From what I heard it's more likely that images will turn out a little darker than a little lighter, but there's no guarantee. Even different print runs can be slightly different if they're printed in different places.

 

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

Hmmm, the site says PPI doesn't have an effect on the final product, only total pixels...

That's a bit of weird thing to say. But if you know the size of the print and the total pixels you can calculate the PPI. Maybe that's what they mean?

[fearless 2.0]

well done this last week! woOOOT!!!

[Harriet]

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

That's a bit of weird thing to say. But if you know the size of the print and the total pixels you can calculate the PPI. Maybe that's what they mean?

 

The websites were saying that you can't make a good, big print out of a small picture regardless of PPI. So you can't take a picture that's only 500 pixels wide and print it at 15 inches, regardless of PPI. And a picture with lower PPI will be okay if you're only printing a 2 inch wide sticker. Or something. IDK.

[Jupiter]

3 hours ago, Harriet said:

Week three report

Writ: I journalled every morning, and checking in all evenings bar one. Fine.

Warcraft: I ran three times and lifted three times. Perfect.

Weaving: I painted and wrote four out of five days. Fine.

Witchery: I meditated five days, did spirit work six days, and walked every day. Good.

Willowy: Dry january continues, but I had trouble with snacking and eating while distracted. Lots of trouble.

 

You did great this week! Nice job!  

[Mad Hatter]

4 minutes ago, Harriet said:

The websites were saying that you can't make a good, big print out of a small picture regardless of PPI. So you can't take a picture that's only 500 pixels wide and print it at 15 inches, regardless of PPI. And a picture with lower PPI will be okay if you're only printing a 2 inch wide sticker. Or something. IDK.

Hmmm. I’ve always heard 300 PPI is the magic number for high quality prints. Which would mean that a 500 pixel wide image will only be guaranteed to look good if it’s 1,6 inches. So sure in that sense a nice 15 inch print would be impossible to pull off. But if you have many pixels and a low resolution it will still look bad in print if you try to scale it up too much, so you’ll need to consider both. Or rather 2 out of 3 of number of pixels, resolution and print size. For stickers I assume you can get away with lower quality because they’re stickers and it doesn’t matter all that much. 
 

On a screen it really doesn’t matter at all since a monitor doesn’t scale anything, 500 screen pixels correspond to exactly 500 image pixels. That’s why it’s ok to post low res images online.

[Harriet]

21 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Hmmm. I’ve always heard 300 PPI is the magic number for high quality prints. Which would mean that a 500 pixel wide image will only be guaranteed to look good if it’s 1,6 inches. So sure in that sense a nice 15 inch print would be impossible to pull off. But if you have many pixels and a low resolution it will still look bad in print if you try to scale it up too much, so you’ll need to consider both. Or rather 2 out of 3 of number of pixels, resolution and print size. For stickers I assume you can get away with lower quality because they’re stickers and it doesn’t matter all that much. 
 

On a screen it really doesn’t matter at all since a monitor doesn’t scale anything, 500 screen pixels correspond to exactly 500 image pixels. That’s why it’s ok to post low res images online.

 

I'll need to read more because I don't understand it yet. Maybe one needs adequate PPI and adequate size?

[Mad Hatter]

1 minute ago, Harriet said:

I'll need to read more because I don't understand it yet. Maybe one needs adequate PPI and adequate size?

There are plenty of sites which can explain this much better - with pictures.  But to keep it really simple, the way I'd go about it is by fixing the PPI to 300 because it's a safe bet, then decide on the maximum print size. So for a 15 inch print I'd go with 300*15=4500 pixels. You can still print a smaller image and it will look great, but if you print larger you'll start losing quality.

 

Oh one more thing to read up about is image bleed. There's a few millimeters margin around the image that can get cropped out. So if you add a signature in a corner, or some compositional detail, it might get lost or look weird. 

[Harriet]

9 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

There are plenty of sites which can explain this much better - with pictures.  But to keep it really simple, the way I'd go about it is by fixing the PPI to 300 because it's a safe bet, then decide on the maximum print size. So for a 15 inch print I'd go with 300*15=4500 pixels. You can still print a smaller image and it will look great, but if you print larger you'll start losing quality.

 

Oh one more thing to read up about is image bleed. There's a few millimeters margin around the image that can get cropped out. So if you add a signature in a corner, or some compositional detail, it might get lost or look weird. 

 

Awesome. Thank you!

[Magdalena Ravenclaw]

On 1/21/2021 at 10:24 AM, Harriet said:

Upon looking in the mirror today, I thought my delts looked a little bigger. For the first time ever they have a bit of shape--you know, instead of my arms just being uniform tubes. Maybe these dumbbell exercises aren't pointless even though they're considerably less heavy than what I was hauling in the gym? Maybe I should keep at it 😊

 

AWESOME!!! Muscle definition! How much are you lifting? What exercises do you do? 

 

And the Tarot dude is amazing, by the way!!!

[Harriet]

1 hour ago, Magdalena Ravenclaw said:

AWESOME!!! Muscle definition! How much are you lifting? What exercises do you do?

 

I do three lifting workouts per week. The weights and reps are always increasing, but I always do five sets of each exercise. Latest weights and reps were:

 

Day 1: loaded carries (20kg, 10 reps), snatch (10kg, 10 reps) and deadlift (40kg, 5 reps)
Day 2: plank (26 sec), floor press (20kg x 13 reps), goblet squat (10kg x 13 reps)

Day 3: two handed bent over row (22kg x 14 reps), OHP (15kg x 8 reps) swings (20kg x 13 reps)

 

I daresay the OHP, snatch and floor press have something to do with the increased delt size.