The Nigerian Prince Scam versus Spontaneous Job Applications, And Slight Update On State of Things. · 8:49am May 25th, 2017
Okay, I said I'd do it, so I'm doing it. Here goes. I want you to form this picture in your mind:
You pretend to be a Nigerian prince and send around some e-mails to that effect. Claim you're stinking rich, and want to get your money out, but you need help from the recipient of the message. If they help and send you money, you can make them rich.
Standard online scam, cliché by now.
Contrast that to the following:
You send out a message to some companies. You list all your degrees, details of your studies. Claim that if they are willing to hire you, you can benefit their company.
One is a scam, the other is a spontaneous job application. Both are essentially trying to convince someone to give you money in exchange for a promised benefit. Both of them are based on nothing but promises. The big difference is that, at least with the Nigerian prince scam, you get your money straight away.
Kinda makes you think, don't it? 
Anyway, with that out of the way, minor update on things.
Warrior Meet is done, over. Final chapter coming up, no bonus chapters in the pipelines yet. The Orphan-Off or Orphanhooves thing hasn't seen any progress, I'll try to start it up soon.
The novel is definitely not going to be ready for publishing before my birthday, but I am trying to rush another editing pass these next few days with added scenes for the unicorn colt, so I can do a third pass in June and I will, as promised, deliver the version of chapter 1 that I end up with on July 8th, which shall mark my 30th birthday. I'll be considering cover art for it starting then.
I've been doing some Blender work, too, the past few months, and while I foolishly promised my Filly fan friends I'd be long done by now, I'm still working on my reindeer model. The rigging was a nightmare, my old nemesis (eyelids) popped up and on top of that I was determined to build the rig up from scratch, rather than using the built-in premade ones Blender comes with, not to mention doing everything with bones instead of the point-by-point shapekey method I've been using up 'till now. It's been rough, but educational. I think I've finally cracked the last few bits of it. I've also been learning how to make materials in Cycles. Looks more realistic, it's more demanding on the hardware, but it's a good skill to learn, to learn it I must.
In general, I've been trying to make bases, really. Stuff I can import, append, re-use to speed up my workflow, like I already kind of have for 2D things. I made a basic topology facemask to try and do anime characters, completely failed to make a Power Puff Girl Z face. Then I realised anime faces are usually hacks and cheats, and I tried to make Ladybug's face – which is, you know, an actual face that is correct in three dimensions -- with the same mask. Took about half an hour, tops, and most of that was tweaking. Didn't even need to worry that much about the eyelids, believe it or not. So yeah, that's looking pretty awesome. A humanoid body should be the next big thing to make, I guess. I will just use the premade rig for that, most likely.
Anyway, past two weeks or so, work's been a bit slow, motivation and scheduling is still an issue. My latest job interview was, once again, a bust. No animal stuff for me. I still have two applications to see through. After that... well, I'll be 30 by then, and still not burst through the gates or climbed the walls of that elusive and well-guarded kingdom, the Realm of the Gainfully Employed.
I am seriously considering my options here. The base for the reindeer isn't perfect, but it's manageable, and so is the rig. I can use that for the original characters, and they don't need to move for cover art, anyway. I've got plenty of ideas for the novel to make into a series, but no energy or motivation to spend on it. I still need a simple human base body in Blender, too.
I don't know what I'm going to do next irl, that's the problem I'm trying to convey here. Because there's no money in it, Blender and the novel aren't progressing. But if they don't progress, then they won't ever get to a professional level where I can make money off them. Instead, I'm putting my energy in job searching. Which hasn't paid off yet and has actually hindered my progress in other fields. I don't want to say I have mental issues at the moment, because I'm nowhere near that far in the dumps, but I can feel myself slipping. There is some family stuff in the mix that complicates matters further, but the crux of it is getting a job versus working.
I wouldn't mind writing all day, honestly. Or modelling in Blender. I'm just not sure if I should, and I'm not doing that right now because of... well, everything else. Instead, I'm spending more time on Hearthstone than before, and that's not even that good a game. Procrastination strikes again, it seems. It's one thing to feel worthless, it's another to have to deal with the uncertainty of your value, not knowing whether your decisions matter at all. If you know, you can at least choose your path from there. I feel like I'm stuck at the crossroads and every road I take leads me in circles. It might all be a dud. It has been so far. Would brute-forcing it work, I wonder?
I do know what's next for the pony thing, though: Orphanhooves. Scootaloo and Aunt Vinyl versus Spike and Twilight Sparkle. One hungover unicorn versus a sleep-deprived one. A filly whose parents are never around versus a dragon who doesn't even know who his parents are.
Maybe it's just the shifting weather getting me down, I don't know.
And while I'm pondering this stuff, here's the latest exploit from the Blender Animation Studio:
For those of you who are unaware: the Blender Foundation has done several of their movie projects, where they decide "We're making this," and add new features to the software as they go along. One thing I've noticed with this one is that they'll be making it easier to do Cars/Sonic eyes, with a simple modifier. I point this out because Filly Funtasia's models use a similar trick in the eyes.
But the Open Movies have always been a little bit 'off,' which is a great way to showcase independent moviemaking, but not so great to appeal to a larger audience. So yeah, I am really glad to see more light stuff coming out of their pipelines. This is based on a Dutch comic book, so once the full movie gets made, it'll make a pretty big splash, I'm hoping.
Cracker out.
This all seems awfully familiar. Looking forward to it!
--arcum42
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I've been announcing it for a while, that might be why. It's a sort-of sequel to the Sleepover at Octavia's fic