Social (?) Networking

I had an interesting event that happened over the weekend that made me question the idea of "social networking". Without going into a lot of details about the event, I'll provide my thoughts on what I've been thinking about....

Social networking was to bring people of similar interests together in a new way...no matter what the city, province or country...people could connect. As an example I have 850+ contacts in facebook...many are not "really" my friends. But since I play one of facebooks many online games...we band together for a personal army. Something interesting happened since I've been in college, I've posted some work that I've completed to a photo album in an effort to let my "real" friends see what I've been doing and have my work seen. What happened was I received comments not only by the people I know well, but from people whom we've never even said hello. Helpful comments, small tips, and insights in an attempt to make my work better or to give some encouragement to keep studying and stay focused. For this I can be so grateful.

In an effort to expand my social network, I joined Twitter and Empire Avenue (a game where you have personal shares that others buy so that your stock rises - or falls). I found this to be a bit more odd...sure I cared about my share worth and was encouraged to follow people on twitter and start a blog (which I am happy for...). I suppose what is so easy to forget is that social networking is like online dating...they are individuals that are out living there lives that spend a few min, or hours a day connecting with people. Some of these connections become "friends", and I have several from facebook.

The things that bug me are the release of information about me to third party companies just they can market to me better, and the reality of by connecting with others this way - you only know what they tell you...Just like in my travels to other countries, there are many different people good and bad, who also act good or bad - the difference is that for many - there is a loss of the idea that there is a real person connected to the posted photo, chat, or message. In it's attempt to connect people...hasn't it made that connection a bit thinner? It seems so easy to rant off a message and feel no consequences until forced to, many can feel free by doing so anonymously...others are not so lucky and must face themselves eventually.

For some others, it is the only form of escape for a thin attempt of socialization that they can deal with...For me, I am finding it difficult to chat on Twitter, MSN messenger and Facebook chat AND get my school work completed (well I always complete mine done...but still!). It is time consuming...

As for me, and my recent exposure to a concentrated dose intense of social networking...I think I'll remove myself from Empire Avenue, remove the people I don't really know from twitter, and stick with those that at least have the common interest on facebook. I'm not sure what the difference is really, but at least I've "known" many of them for a while...as for the others I don't know on facebook...at least we have castle age!

TGIF!

I missed my blog entry for yesterday, however I'm not sure if it would have made much sense.

I usually have problems sleeping, to overcome this I usually go to the gym since the added work load seems to level things out and actually make me tired at night. These days, working on projects seems to tire me out enough so that when I go home, I have no distractions and I just go to bed at a reasonable time. Wednesday night I had about 2 hours sleep (I'll go through why in a minute), still I went to college and attended all my classes (I hate to miss anything). Struggling through the day I went home, didn't stay late after school like usual, and fell asleep around 8 pm. This of course was a bad thing since I woke up wide awake at 1 am. On the upside I can come to school and get things done without anyone else around.

Anyway I know the reason why I don't sleep properly is due to worries about money. I would never, ever talk to anyone about these kinds of problems since I have always been pretty independent. I'm even hesitant to write this out here except I decided that I would use this blog to practice my writing and to get the things out that need to be said...only a few people read this anyway ;-)

However! Tonight when I wok up my mind started to go again and I think I have a direction (finally!). Part of my issue with working is that it doesn't advance my goals of working as a digital artist. I've been offered to work as a door guy in a bar (not my style or personality), I had thought to work at Sobey's grocery (but the money is so low that it hardly seems worth it). So I've been the "struggling student/artist" for a few months...

So the plan is to now try to do some things that combine my experience...start a company with a friend of mine. This company produce digital print banners, mostly it will be used for advertising anything from real estate, birthday celebrations, and billboards. However I think that this could also be perfect for artists to showcase their work in a reasonably priced, large format. This is an exciting prospect and I really need it to work out. Especially since this fulfills my idea of "working from anywhere" since most things can be done via the internet.

The next thing I decided what to make a book. Not really to "publish" but I can see the potential of understanding a product like InDesign, the best would be to make a magazine. I was toying with the theme...but I think it's going to be a book/magazine about me and my interests, plus I can put my work in there and use it as a portfolio...that must be good!

So that's the end of my 4am ramblings...hope it wasn't too painful for you ;-)

Mid-Week

I am pretty happy today...just posted an unfinished version of my first pinup to facebook. Had to stamp it with "Sample" so the facebook police wouldn't "own" my work. I'll be making a Flickr account soon for my final images...still with a watermark. I think I'll have her finished today and I'll add the background done today/tomorrow depending on how detailed it will be.

I've been learning some basic html so let's see if I can add the image here...

[Fail]

Not sure if it's my coding or this blog website...? More investigation is needed.

Today we are moving towards "making" actual websites. We have to make a mock up in photoshop, then tomorrow we'll code it...should be interesting!

Highly Productive!

I feel pretty good! I have the first pinup near completion...should be done tomorrow if all goes well. Then I'll start another, I'll only make 3 or 4 and not one per month (for the calendar project we have. I find this all very interesting and cool, drawing but with the computer...exactly what I wanted...now to get it to pay for me!

I think I'll be going home soon, I've been feeling tired and although feeling good - I don't want to get sick or something crazy and have to miss school.

Also I think I need to look at getting a flickr account to post my work on. Facebook is ok for tutorial stuff that I've finished but for work that I've spent hours and hours on...I'd like to control that a bit better. With any luck, maybe I can be a not-so-starving-artist someday!

Back to Monday

Funny I feel so tired this morning...but I got more off-time that I usually take while in college? Maybe it's the cloud cover and slight rain, but I feel tired. One of the good things though is I'm making good progress for my pinup calendar :-)

New Project!

Well I have to day I feel I did a lot of good work this weekend...and I'm pretty happy about it!

Finished some projects, got a good start on a new one. I've met and chatted with cool new people through EA (Empire Avenue) - though my stock has been dropping all day...not sure what's up with that??). I had a nice coffee and conversation with someone. Then after coming back did some more work. Now I plan to go home soon and take a break...I don't want one, but I'll come in early tomorrow...don't want to get burned out after all ;-) Not sure if my Mac Crazy Eye Syndrome was burn out or not...

So here is my "in-my-head" song for the day...Heroes by Bowie of course! Although he is totally strung out, can't really lip-sync the song, and apparently doesn't remember shooting the video...I love the song and find it very inspirational.

Anyway...enjoy your night/weekend!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Not too bloody, actually quite good. I essentially finished my huge image image (I say essentially since I will most likely need another 5-10 hours but the main image is now done). So I started a new one, this one is the calendar, to be done Using Illustrator. I have the actually calendar written out in the program - did that Friday. After a ton of looking around at different calendars, Aztec, zodiac, celestial, etc...I decided in Dano style to do a pinup calendar. Those who are reading this and not "subscribed" will not find this unusual of course. However it has it's own challenges...

I think I want to do 4 different images, and to make sure I don't suffer my White Pixel Retinal Burn Syndrome. So this means I'll have to lower the amount of detail while still getting it done well...tough for me since I would want to add every single shade and detail. However I'm glad to report that I've been doing this for only a few (3) hours and its working pretty well...even getting the sense of when I'm getting too nutty about detail! See and old dog can learn new tricks! Ha!