Get that thing off your chest... Now...

[KittyKatStar]

Yayyy~

Gonna have some more half-days on the weekends. ^^ That means more time with my boyfriend~

Also getting nervous. >_<; One of the games I helped on (wrote some scenes, and edited) is going to be released soon, and it's so... nerve-wrecking. OTZ Never had my writing released in a game before. I really really really hope people like it. (Plus I'm working on two other games. So I'm worried if I didn't do a good job, it'd be easier to just hand the projects to someone else, disappear, and binge on ice cream while marathoning Chihayafuru.)

This is me now:


This will be me after the beta release:


So to all the writers that have released/worked on game(s) before: you guys are amazing. ;_; Maybe I should ask how a writer feels generally when a game is out (nervous, excited, etc...)

[Aedin]

Hi guys, been awhile.

I don't know what's wrong with me. Lately, I've just felt so reclusive. I hide in my room playing xbox all day, not eating, not sleeping. School started back and I find myself usually sitting in a chair staring at the wall. My friend has to nag me into doing thing with her, and my relationships with everyone is strained. I have no desire to go anywhere or see anyone. I mean, I've never liked people that much, but it's getting worse, and I'm not doing it on purpose. I've even felt disconnected from myself, like I'm just floating through life. I have no energy, no motivation, nothing.

[Lekhaka]

Are you left-handed by nature? I thought I heard somewhere that left-handed people are better in the logical realm. Being an artist, and right-handed, I tried to develop my left hand a little bit in hopes that it would force the logical part of my brain to work harder. I felt like maybe it helped a little... but I was also in a statistics class that semester, so...

I really doubt training your left hand will have any effect other than making you more capable with your left hand.

Maybe there's a correlation between handedness and logical thinking, but I'd be really surprised if the former is a cause of the latter.

[Blue Lemma]

@Aedin: I read in a book that it's the wrong idea to go around in life waiting for motivation to do things. "Action creates motivation." Go out there and do something, and you'll start to feel better Probably.

[PyTom]

I'll second Lemma, and mention that I have - in the past - gotten into a sort of mode where all I do is sit around and just surf the web, tired and not working. (At one point it was bad enough I had to leave college due to it.) I've found the key to stopping it is to set small goals, one at a time:

- I will make and eat breakfast.
- I will go to class.
- I will mow the lawn.

etc.

And these seem trivial, and they are. But the thing is, you do them, and you get a sense of accomplishment. And that makes you feel a little better. And then you try something a little harder, and you get that done - and the viscous cycle turns into a virtuous one.

But the key is to just recognize when you're not accomplishing anything, and then force yourself to do the little things.

(Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist or anything.)

[Sapphi]

I really doubt training your left hand will have any effect other than making you more capable with your left hand.

Maybe there's a correlation between handedness and logical thinking, but I'd be really surprised if the former is a cause of the latter.

L-Lekhaka... don't embarrass me

An interesting thing I did find was that while drawing and writing with my left hand, my right hand/wrist was tense and aching. Every time I sent the signal "Draw!" to my left hand, my right hand seemed to burn with passion, like "No! I am supposed to do it!!" I wonder if I can get to the point where my right hand doesn't eavesdrop on the signals.

I am so weird

[ebi brain]

@Aedin: I read in a book that it's the wrong idea to go around in life waiting for motivation to do things. "Action creates motivation." Go out there and do something, and you'll start to feel better Probably.

I agree.
With the xmas break (3 weeks for me, 2 official, 1 because I have no classes this week, while the other students do), I kind of fell into isolation, which is really bad for my RSI ( my whole neck was so full of knots, I felt weak and like I'd faint any moment).

Only this week did I realise where things were heading, so, taking baby steps, I tried to pull myself up again.

First couple of days I created a sleep routine and started to build a daily routine ( homework/drawing), then I focused on making myself healthy meals and yesterday I started exercising again ( I tell myself I only have to exercise for 2-4 minutes at a time, every 15-30 minutes between homework, so my mopey ass self can't say no..because..it's just 2 minutes.. They fly by before you know it!).

This morning the knots in my neck have really decreased!
Now, for the final part of my plan, I'll go to school to see some of my friends during their break.

And, knowing myself, if I tell myself " I'm going to school/town/see my friend"...
It never happens.
So what I do in these situations, is "surprise" myself.
Before I have time to change my mind, I pick up the phone and call my friends to tell them I'll come see them. So, Then I really have to go, no excuses. It really works for me though sometimes my reclusive side wants to hit me in the head for doing that. Once you go out and have fun with friends though, you'll see it wasn't that bad and actually worth it.


So yes, stop tolerating this reclusive behaviour and get back to living your life again!

[Sunlit-Dreamer]

My Wacom tablet. My beloved tablet. I finally felt the inspiration/drive to sketch out a few things so plugged it in and everything after...2 weeks or longer. But...it didn't light up. And my laptop kept saying that it couldn't recognize the usb or something similar. Restarted laptop since it was being fritzy. Then...the message that my tablet driver isn't running popped up. Why...why!? I had just updated it! I take good care of it and I'm very careful to not mess with anything unnecessary. (Or forcefully turn off my laptop while it's still plugged in when it freezes...during those times it is thankfully already unplugged) I just don't get it. Q_Q

I did a little searching on what to do and people say different things here and there. Some say the update caused it, others say it's the tablet's fault, a bad wire (very unlikely with the wire), and other things. Really don't wanna uninstall and reinstall since the disc is missing...and it takes hours for it to install in the first place. I'm gonna keep searching for info first before doing anything that could possibly make things worse. Still sucks...

[LVUER]

I never take care my wacom tablet that way. I mean I treat it just like a mouse, plug it and unplug it anytime I like and never care when shutting down or alike.

You say you just updated the driver? Try to revert to older driver. Newer driver doesn't always means better.

[mugenjohncel]

Ah the old Wacom problem...

The sure fire way to solve your Wacom problem (or any Tablet problem) is to uninstall the drivers. Preferably a clean uninstall... then you reboot the computer and re-install the driver that comes with the box or download a dedicated driver directly from the support page. Never use the update function since it occasionally introduces unwanted hiccups (It happened to me many times)...

If that fails try using a different pen... you might have a defective or broken pen...

Also, hours to install the tablet driver?... Uh... I think you should get your Laptop checked... usually it's only seconds to a few minutes... for smooth performance, I really do recommend using tablets on machines with decent specs and lots of memory...

If all else fail then... I'm sorry... but your tablet maybe broken but at least try and clean the contacts with dry cotton buds as a last resort... the failure might just be between the contacts but that is a long shot at this point...

"POOF" (Disappears)

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Also, hours to install the tablet driver?... Uh... I think you should get your Laptop checked... usually it's only seconds to a few minutes...

I agree. The most simple fix is to just completely uninstall the tablet, (making sure you have the latest driver file on your desktop ready to reinstall on reboot), then restart the computer and install the new drivers. Presto bingo. It's like a 5 minute process. I sometimes have to do it if Photoshop crashes in a rather spectacular way while I'm using my tablet in it. (Though sometimes I can fix the resulting tablet issues by just logging out of my account and logging back in.)

If you are using Windows 7 and connected to the internet, your OS should even find temporary working drivers for your tablet if you reboot with the tablet plugged in.

I never take care my wacom tablet that way. I mean I treat it just like a mouse, plug it and unplug it anytime I like and never care when shutting down or alike.

I'm the same way. At art school we'd rent tablets and just walk into the labs and plug them in and go. At the art studio I worked at, we moved them around all the time from computer to computer. We'd just yank out the USB cable, truck everything over to another computer and plug the sucker back in. We even dropped them occasionally. Wacom makes their tablets to last, I'll tell you that much. My old tablet, a Wacom Graphire, was 7 years old and still working when I replaced it with my Wacom Intuos 4 Medium.

[LVUER]

Really don't wanna uninstall and reinstall since the disc is missing...and it takes hours for it to install in the first place. I'm gonna keep searching for info first before doing anything that could possibly make things worse. Still sucks...

Just like other said, installing driver shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Perhaps there's something wrong with the disc, the disc drive, or you may be need to re-install your Windows.

If you lost the disc, don't worry. Just download it from Wacom's site. You can download all version of Wacom driver there, even the older one. And remember, the latest driver doesn't mean it always the best for your tablet. It happens to me once that the latest driver makes the pen jitter. The problem gone when I revert back to older driver.

[Deji]

How do I tell my commissioner he's being annoying as hell?

In his last mail (not about the commissions, just linking me to things related to his project because they're fun and he likes them and he thinks if I have the time it'll be fun if I could check them out, etc) he says he's sorry to be too talky, but he wants to be friend with me and apologized if he's being annoying.

Truth is, I feel *really* annoyed! *rolls on the floor* And pressured too. And the more somebody nags me to do their stuff (when I'm not even behind schedule or anything), the less I want to work for them.

I'm tired of his twitter replies, his fb comments and every single one of them joking about "Work more, work more, get my stuff done! I'm kidding, hehe." and "(on art for others) I can't wait to see my characters because I love how you draw! Do my characters soon! Tis reminds me of my characters a lot! Oh, yeah, the pic is nice, too."

Most my commissioners only comment or talk to me occasionally on things that are not related to their commissions (and they don't relate everything to their stuff), and they don't keep feeding me info about their projects; their just usually leave it up to me to inquire further about their characters and stories and stuff if I feel like it.

Now... How do I tell him to back off before I start hating his guts and snapping at him ;v;?

Nvm, I wrote him a long email politely telling him that what he's doing is not okay, that I feel pressured and for this business relationship to work he needs to understand how I feel and hopefully change his way of approaching me. And that, while I love getting to befriend the people I work with, posting about his project in several spaces of my life is not the way to be friends with me.

[KomiTsuku]

How do I tell my commissioner he's being annoying as hell?

...

Nvm, I wrote him a long email politely telling him that what he's doing is not okay, that I feel pressured and for this business relationship to work he needs to understand how I feel and hopefully change his way of approaching me. And that, while I love getting to befriend the people I work with, posting about his project in several spaces of my life is not the way to be friends with me.

That's about all you can do. They sound more like a creepy stalker than a client at this point.

[DaFool]

How do I tell my commissioner he's being annoying as hell?

...

Nvm, I wrote him a long email politely telling him that what he's doing is not okay, that I feel pressured and for this business relationship to work he needs to understand how I feel and hopefully change his way of approaching me. And that, while I love getting to befriend the people I work with, posting about his project in several spaces of my life is not the way to be friends with me.

That's about all you can do. They sound more like a creepy stalker than a client at this point.

No that's just a noob client that's just overly enthusiastic. When you've undertaken too many projects and commissioned too many artists even your own projects get to be a chore.

If you've commissioned someone you think is good... chances are they have other clients as well, whose projects may be worth more to them than yours.