[Chat], and the world [chats] with you; [Brainstorm], and you [brainstorm] alone.

ruzkin

I know nothing of GIMP, unfortunately. All my skills are in Photoshop.

Quoth

I made that on Sumopaint, which is somewhere between Paint and photoshop. Not very robust but can do basic stuff. I have gimp at home but the odds of me being able to use it soon are slim.

ElJeffe

I have not read your stories, Quoth, and have npo idea if the old cover is actually more or less applicabel, but I liked it a lot more. The bee one is... fine, I guess. Professional mlooking and all. But I would not really give that cover a second glance, whereas the robot on e would catch my eye. It has a very Shel Silverstein vibe to ti which I really dig. Th e problems with excessive minimalism and lack of color are valid, but at its core the idea was awesome and adorable.

Again,. though, I haven't read the stories and maybe the bee one is dramatically more appropoiriate.

Wank

Getting a bunch of poems published in February

Magell

Congratulations on getting published again. Condolences on writing poetry.

chiasaur11

Magell wrote:

Congratulations on getting published again. Condolences on writing poetry.

Philistine.

Seriously, Wank, good work. Again.

Way to make us all look bad.

TheBigEasy

Congratulations Wank ...

Quoth

Good job Wank! I just submitted a bunch of poems as well, here's hoping at least one makes it. Most went to the Cincinnati Review per @lilnoobs' suggestion.

Dang it Jeffe, why must you muddy the waters here. I am not sure which one is more thematically appropriate, to be honest; the title is a story about giant robots and bees. I don't know if my stuff is as whimsical as that drawing might suggest. At the same time, maybe the other concept is too sci-fi looking, while not all the stories are spec fic. I'm not sure! I will keep trying, though.

LaOs

ElJeffe wrote:

I have not read your stories, Quoth, and have npo idea if the old cover is actually more or less applicabel, but I liked it a lot more. The bee one is... fine, I guess. Professional mlooking and all. But I would not really give that cover a second glance, whereas the robot on e would catch my eye. It has a very Shel Silverstein vibe to ti which I really dig. Th e problems with excessive minimalism and lack of color are valid, but at its core the idea was awesome and adorable.

Again,. though, I haven't read the stories and maybe the bee one is dramatically more appropoiriate.

I actually agree with Jeffe here on every point. (I also have not read your stories, etc.)

[Edit]
Oh, and if those are bees (I thought they might be butterflies or something) in the robot cover, that's an excellent opportunity to add some simple colour. [FakeEdit]Oh, I just looked at the cover again--they are clearly bees. My bad![/FakeEdit]

The font on the robot one also doesn't have the antialiasing problem (so far as I can tell), but you will want to make the lines on the robot bolder/stronger or whatever. They appear really weak and "flimsy" right now. Combine with Ruz's layover and border advice (etc.) and I think it's the better of the two.
[/Edit]

Quoth

I only have that file as a PDF... I don't suppose anyone can convert it to something else I can work with, like a JPG or PNG?

Quoth

This is so ghetto, this thing I am doing, I should just wait until I have Gimp access.

http://candleinsunshine.com/asthemoonclimbs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/adastracoverrobot.png

geardrops

@Wank -- Congrats! Can you say where? Or is it still-sekrits?

Wank

Thanks errybody!

geardrops wrote:

@Wank -- Congrats! Can you say where? Or is it still-sekrits?

It's going to be in YARN magazine, and I'll definitely be pimping it here when the issue goes live.

TheOrange

So, while I lurk here a lot, I don't contribute. that's because most of my writing is arabic, so, I doubt I can discuss anything from a literary point of view. I work as an engineer for 50 hours a week, which pays really well, but you know, it ain't writing and it kills my writing time.

Lately, I've got a comission to write an ad for a production company which neted me a week's pay for a 9 hour job. They want to give me more comissions, and they 'say' they have a lot in stock and get more all the time. Not just ads, some local shows ask for thier help and review on stuff.

The thing that don't make me just give my own boss the pink slip is, well, they insist that I remain free lance, they won't put me on a pay roll. This tell me they want the ability to stop working with me at any time. So its a big risk to leave my job. Which I hate so freaking much .

I don't know, I guess I want to know if working with something you like is worth the lack of security a payroll job gives.

MKR

A steady paycheck just abstracts away all the risk. Someone is still going out to find the work. Moving to a job within the company with more responsibility (like the one where you find the work or working with the person who finds the work) could give you some better perspective.

Spoiler:

Disclaimer: I am making guesses and have no experience with this situation.

zenpotato

The freelance life is fraught with financial dangers, to be sure. But if you've got a lead on a good client, it might be a great time to start. Here's my list of freelance necessities (which I don't have, so I don't freelance full-time):

* Have multiple income streams. If work from one client dries up, you've got to have other sources of work. Counting on just one client is the path to financial ruin.

* Have 6 months of savings. This is good advice for anyone, but it's especially necessary as a freelancer. You need to have a cash reserve to fall back on. If work is slow, or you get sick, there's no one there to cover for you. Being able to pay your rent, your car payment, grocery bills, etc, for six months even if you have no income coming in will take a huge load off your mind.

* Use a contract with your clients whenever possible. Clearly state the scope of the work, the payment schedule, and penalties for changing things mid-job. Protect yourself from greedy or toxic clients; this is business, and people will try to take advantage of you. Having a contract upfront protects your sanity and reputation.

zenpotato

I woke up this morning with a slight numbness in my hands. It started bugging me yesterday; it might just be a pinched nerve in my back or something (it's a bit unusual for it to be happening in both hands at once, so probably not carpal tunnel?) but I'm still a little worried. My arms have been "falling asleep" more easily the past week or so, so I think I've got a weird nerve thing going on.

Time to finally use my medical insurance and find a general practitioner, I guess. If I never post again, it's probably because my hands were amputated.

Also, I woke up with a fully formed smut-series in my head. I've always been loath to write "erotica," but I'm starting to think that it might be the easiest thing to accompany my planned speculative fiction stuff for the Amazon Kindle store. I've been really busy with work the past couple of months, so I'm behind schedule, but I'd still love to try my hand at the emerging Kindle market like ruz is and throwaway_writer have done. Smut seems perfect-- I've been basically drafting smutty short stories in my head every day for the last 20 years.

The hard part would be success. How do you explain to someone that you're making your living writing masturbatory fiction? And what the hell do you tell your mom?

MKR

My mom would jokingly say "where's my cut?"

Wank

zenpotato wrote:

The hard part would be success. How do you explain to someone that you're making your living writing masturbatory fiction? And what the hell do you tell your mom?

Use a pseudonym and don't tell your mom anything.

Quoth

On this point, it is advisable to listen to the one called Wank.

But yeah, pseudonym. I know several people who make decent dollars writing smut.

ElJeffe

Conversation between a person I know and her daughter:

Daughter: "What kind of meat is this? It's weird and squishy."
Mom: "Umm. That's tofu."
Daughter: "Oh. What kind of animal is that from?"

It's a fairly cute anecdote until you discover the daughter is actually 16 and then you sort of want to cry.

chiasaur11

MKR wrote:

My mom would jokingly say "where's my cut?"

"Jokingly".

ruzkin

zenpotato wrote:

I woke up this morning with a slight numbness in my hands. It started bugging me yesterday; it might just be a pinched nerve in my back or something (it's a bit unusual for it to be happening in both hands at once, so probably not carpal tunnel?) but I'm still a little worried. My arms have been "falling asleep" more easily the past week or so, so I think I've got a weird nerve thing going on.

Time to finally use my medical insurance and find a general practitioner, I guess. If I never post again, it's probably because my hands were amputated.

Also, I woke up with a fully formed smut-series in my head. I've always been loath to write "erotica," but I'm starting to think that it might be the easiest thing to accompany my planned speculative fiction stuff for the Amazon Kindle store. I've been really busy with work the past couple of months, so I'm behind schedule, but I'd still love to try my hand at the emerging Kindle market like ruz is and throwaway_writer have done. Smut seems perfect-- I've been basically drafting smutty short stories in my head every day for the last 20 years.

The hard part would be success. How do you explain to someone that you're making your living writing masturbatory fiction? And what the hell do you tell your mom?

I can relate, seeing as my D.D. Marks stuff is full of explicit sex. My folks asked me what was selling so well, and I said "I write bodice rippers."

"Oh, that's a bit naughty!"

"Yep, but it'll pay the bills if I keep it up. I'd rather write my great novel from behind a desk in a house I own than in poverty."

"Write that smut, son. Write it good."

TheOrange

zenpotato wrote:

The freelance life is fraught with financial dangers, to be sure. But if you've got a lead on a good client, it might be a great time to start. Here's my list of freelance necessities (which I don't have, so I don't freelance full-time):

* Have multiple income streams. If work from one client dries up, you've got to have other sources of work. Counting on just one client is the path to financial ruin.

* Have 6 months of savings. This is good advice for anyone, but it's especially necessary as a freelancer. You need to have a cash reserve to fall back on. If work is slow, or you get sick, there's no one there to cover for you. Being able to pay your rent, your car payment, grocery bills, etc, for six months even if you have no income coming in will take a huge load off your mind.

* Use a contract with your clients whenever possible. Clearly state the scope of the work, the payment schedule, and penalties for changing things mid-job. Protect yourself from greedy or toxic clients; this is business, and people will try to take advantage of you. Having a contract upfront protects your sanity and reputation.

Multiple income streams are there, thing is, there's only one middle man so to speak, but I can work PR with the extra free time I'm getting, so thats a check .

The 6 month thing is actually something I already did ; not because I saw this coming, but rather because I wanted to buy a fancy car which something I can easily live without. Also check.

Contract is the only thing I can't secure, not while I'm still a nobody at least. Hmmm, well then, I guess I'll do it. But if I grew poor and started instant ramen diet, I'll come here to whine !!

TheBigEasy

So I am writing more these past few days ... which is good. I still have the feeling I write absolute crap ... which is ... not so good.

But ah well ... at least I am writing. Maybe I can salvage something through revising/editing.

Quoth

Okay, so... I think I'm getting better, and Gimp is a great help:

http://candleinsunshine.com/asthemoonclimbs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/adastracoverbee.png

Edcrab

I like that a lot!

zenpotato

Quoth wrote:

Okay, so... I think I'm getting better, and Gimp is a great help:

http://candleinsunshine.com/asthemoonclimbs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/adastracoverbee.png

Trying playing around with the kerning on the larger part of the title. Those letters look a little far apart to me.

Quoth

Will do! Funny how that happens even when everything is the same in the bigger/smaller fonts. Our eyes and brains are tricky beasts.

E: Is the background all right? Should I try other stuff with the bee part? I like the texture I gave it but wonder if I should get some honeycomb in there somehow. I was aiming for a kind of cameo-ish look.

squidbunny

(I never post in here but whatever; Quoth the kerning on the larger type looks fine to me but you might want to adjust the leading to get the midsize type's descenders out from between the larger stuff, and similarly kick the smallest stuff out away from the largest stuff's descenders. Also that watercolory filter on your concentric circles is really sort of cheap-looking and detracting from the cleanliness of the design. Otherwise it's basically good and I like it.)

ElJeffe

I like that cover, Quoth.

But when I buy your book I want a custom cover with the robot on it. The robot should be saying "BEEEEEEEEES!"

Quoth

Thanks @squidbunny !

I thought the circles looked too bare without some kind of texture, but I guess I have to figure out a different way to do it. Maybe I can find a picture of the moon or something and use that? Currently it's a coffee stain filter.

MKR

!

You've lured her into TWB. Finish her!

...

I mean

Hello

geardrops

Quoth wrote:

Okay, so... I think I'm getting better, and Gimp is a great help:

http://candleinsunshine.com/asthemoonclimbs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/adastracoverbee.png

Again, I'm no font-expert, but if I were choosing font for the title, I'd pick something... bigger? Something that grabs the eye more. Again, not a typography geek, so take that with a grain of salt

That said, I like the bee being centered. That looks good.

BEAST!

I actually really like the font, I think it fits well with the title itself. Only complaint would be probably to move the third line slightly further away from the p

squidbunny

Quoth wrote:

Thanks @squidbunny !

I thought the circles looked too bare without some kind of texture, but I guess I have to figure out a different way to do it. Maybe I can find a picture of the moon or something and use that? Currently it's a coffee stain filter.

I'd apply an actual paper texture vs. using a filter. Filters look like filters every time. I'm not sure how to do this, though, in Sumopaint (I think you said?); it's simple in Photoshop and probably GIMP, which I also don't really know very well.

MKR wrote:

!

You've lured her into TWB. Finish her!

...

I mean

Hello

Heh. I think about taking up with you folks often; I'm far fonder of writing prose than I am of drawing/comics, honestly, but I don't put enough serious time into anything to bother soliciting feedback. I never finish anything.

But hi!

Edcrab

squidbunny wrote:

Heh. I think about taking up with you folks often; I'm far fonder of writing prose than I am of drawing/comics, honestly, but I don't put enough serious time into anything to bother soliciting feedback. I never finish anything.

I'm exactly the same as you! I mean, minus the kickass webcomic and the massive backlog of excellent past artwork to my name

But other than that exactly the same

Quoth

I'm using Gimp now. Must find good texture... is the background one okay, or should I replace that as well?

Quoth

Yeah jeez, SB has the best arts and should draw that comic I wrote for TLB. JUST SAYIN'.

MKR

squidbunny wrote:

(I never post here but I am now

Quoth wrote:

Thanks @squidbunny !

I thought the circles looked too bare without some kind of texture, but I guess I have to figure out a different way to do it. Maybe I can find a picture of the moon or something and use that? Currently it's a coffee stain filter.

I'd apply an actual paper texture vs. using a filter. Filters look like filters every time. I'm not sure how to do this, though, in Sumopaint (I think you said?); it's simple in Photoshop and probably GIMP, which I also don't really know very well.

MKR wrote:

!

You've lured her into TWB. Finish her!

...

I mean

Hello

Heh. I think about taking up with you folks often; I'm far fonder of writing prose than I am of drawing/comics, honestly, but I don't put enough serious time into anything to bother soliciting feedback. I never finish anything.

But hi!

If writing regularly were a prerequisite for posting in the chat thread this place never would have gotten off the ground. TWB is what it is because of the slackers.