Worldbuilding Wednesday

The JUICEBOX is my ongoing struggle project to make a useful (and *safe*) powerbank for big powerhungry costumes. I'm not there yet at all lol! But I keep hacking at it occasionally. Holds 6 rechargeable NiMH D cells- for juice to last up to full day of running leds depending on the number of lights of course, as well as the animations and colors... And brightness.. etc... Uhhh battery life depends on a lot of factors... Why NiMH though? Lipoly batteries pack more power into a smaller package but thats also what adds to the risk. So thats why I decided to go with D cells instead. If you've seen the videos of phones and laptops combusting and then imagine the abuse a costume goes through, maybe you too can reconsider strapping one of those to your flammable human body! PLUS if they're drained and you want to repower your costume NOW its easy enough to go pick up fresh ones from a store. The Juicebox outputs about 6-7v, good for servos, fans, speakers, and small motors. 5v/15A UBEC to run mostly neopixels! Up to 200 at full power if you're crazy. 3v voltage buck for sensors and microcontrollers. I used a different style of connector for each output for foolproofing, its not attractive but hey at least you wont fry anything by plugging it into a higher voltage output xD this is still something i'll be redoing because I have some other ideas Id like to try. Each output also has a fuse so if you cant resist the tempation to plug in a million things or miscalculated somewhere you wont overheat the pack. The enclosure is the molded EVA kind for headphones or other various gadgets so its easy to cut holes into! Unfinished things- tiny cooling fan for the UBEC, an ammeter, tiny OLED display for detailed info on power usage, and a neopixel programmed to battery life color indicator on the end of a long cable so you can route it to an easy access part of the costume, to check the juice levels at a glance. All of the code I consistenly fail to get working runs on an arduino pro mini lol If you're still actually reading this and havent fallen asleep you might be interested in my and @maddycatcosplay 's new maker discord for crafty costumers! Invite in bio! https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Tx9-Jjcig/?igshid=91wqvlq99sjf

ww!

alexds1 answered your question: What kind of things inspire you to worldbuild?

Honestly? I just feel like it is the default form of my imagination. My mind just automatically goes to possible alternate realities and worlds and timelines what-if cause/effect stuff. It happens a lot when I think about my own life too which is a problem :| I have trouble existing in the present...

Eads, CO

I have the WORST art block right now... sigh. But I finally made it to a Dr. Sketchy's to see what the fuss is all about. It was alright though I'd love the chance to go to one with better costumes LOL

PS- worldbuilding wednesday isn't over yet!

Costume DUMP because I had to move and put most of my stuff in storage so I don’t know when I’ll be able to resume work on this :C Also cos I was CUTE

The fiber optic HAIR is 110% of the reason I wanted to cosplay her in the first place. DREAM WIG, still can’t fully believe I’m making it happen… tho uh. You know how no amount of planning can replace what you learn by doing and gaaawsh there are. Many. Things. I would like to do differently. And I’m nowhere near done but also too far along (and too over budget) to start over, eeeeegh.

It’s a 168 neopixel led matrix controlled by an arduino pro mini. Also have a few attinys to control a servo (wiggly robot antenna 8D), and some sound-reactive led circuits, and just, so many other things I have been banging my head against desk all year tryna make this stuff work, tbh the biggest challenge has been figuring out how to power it properly, and uh, safely…?? I learned a LOT about how batteries work this year let me tell you

Final outfit will be visible from SPACE

Rabbit with *~sparkly~* pink pincurls because I said so. I started doing more with this because I have too many fancy design elements not to, but not the time to complete it right now…which is annoying cos that’s my favorite part :C Yes, clipart and filters are my favorite part, leave me alone

SPG’s new album is SO great, YOU NEED IT, I love albums that tell a whole story, I love rock operas, I love SPACE, SO MUCH!! My favorite songs are SteamJunk, Sky Sharks (with my bb Professor Elemental, squeeee), Oh No, and Necrostar *3* BRING IT INTO YOUR LIFE~

Oh lordy how did I not know you went to CMU?! You've been such a huge influence on me artistically; I think I had every single thing you'd ever posted on DA saved in a folder when I was in high school. I can't believe you went to CFA!Just so you know, nothing's changed (I'm in Drama, but its still a Fine Arts degree). I'm having a huge struggle finishing because I feel like the only thing I'm learning is how to be pretentious. My professor claims everything I draw is anime and unacceptable and I'm banned from using digital. The only medium we're allowed to use for renders is watercolor, which I despise with a passion. I get so caught up in trying not to fail out that I've been in an artistic rut for years. I'm sorry someone as talented as you was treated so terribly. It really seems like CMU can't appreciate anyone who deviates from their narrow worldview.I was in CS before I was in Drama and don't get me started on that....ug.

Well I gotta say I'm not exactly forthcoming on the internets about rough times in my life nor am I keen about turning this blog into incandescent rants about my thoughts on the structure of modern art schools... aha. But. That divide between fine/"high"/contemporary/SERIOUS art and design/commercial/art-as-trade/"low" art is unbridgeable in an academic setting. I certainly didn't know anything about any of this at the time, I'd already been burnt out from attending an extremely competitive high school, and I just didn't have the confidence to turn down such a great opportunity in order to find my own way (and find a school that was a better fit). The irony is still that I do take my art very seriously, just not in the omg-I-am-so-deep-and-challenging kind of way that professors want at critique time where developing any kind of technical skill is an afterthought. I had nothing against the art that goes in contemporary exhibits that make you feel like you're being trolled (if you don't find this pile of broken glass on the floor to be the most deep and mind-blowing work of the year you are a PHILISTINE) if you don't "get it" until I went to art school. Its the environment of insisting that true art is anything and everywhere and all points of view are valid when they clearly aren't just... made me so sour yep I'm ranting

Deep down I've always known what kind of artist I was/am and as a square peg being told I could fit into that round hole if I only tried harder!! well its no huge surprise that didn't work out. I do want to finish college someday but I'm interested in biology/medical illustration due to it being the best way to combine my love of art and science :D Also I just really really really want to take lifedrawing classes where you observe surgery instead of models! 

I wouldn't take any of it back since I learned so much from it, I just also hope one day to have learning experiences that are hmmm... more enjoyable lol

I started using the internets to teach myself hobby electronics a little less than two years ago and struggling with whatever random 101 sites, blogs, tutorials, and instructables I could find. Slowly piecing together info that is never presented in an incremental-increase-of-difficulty way because its not class... It's always a continuous struggle to find information that is at your level when it is pretty much always going to be something you've already sort of learned, and therefore less useful, or something way too advanced and HOW do you fill in the gap, its always there at every level as you learn more things

I think it's useful to point out that I'm not really a self-taught artist. So while there is a TON of stuff I taught myself (particularly digital art/photoshop/coloring), I had the benefit of classes in the fundamentals (lifedrawing, construction drawing, figure drawing, etc) and that makes it SO much easier to expand from a solid knowledge base. So I'm sayin it is not the case here, while I learn to make gadgets and it is taking FOR EVER and driving me up all of the walls. But I want it so badly.

Then Adafruit put up their revised learning system site and I s2g every time I have a neat idea for a project but not sure how I'd make it, they put up a relevant tutorial basically the next freakin day. This has been happening without fail for SEVERAL MONTHS! I LOVE ADAFRUIT AND ADAFRUIT LOVES ME BACK

I always have a cosplay/props/gadgets wishlist that is miles long and an ever-expanding list of ways to make things blinky, beepy, and/or animatronic and going NUTS because I don't yet have the skills to accomplish what I want to do (which is everything), learning a skill is HARD, harder still if there are parts of it that are not interesting but sort of a necessary evil- which for me is programming, I hate it so much, its so painful, ughhg uugghhh it hurts, I have not studied this hard to learn something I dislike so much EVER but there is a blog I like called HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT and that has stuck with me all this time. It's how to get what I want and I'm not gonna let my hatred of programming actually stop me from typing up terrible buggy code and uploading it to a microcontroller to make leds blink and animate and change colors because I love lights and I love COLORS. Join me!

LETS PUT LEDS IN THINGS

Once in a blue moon some characters will suddenly pop into my head and I have to DROP everything and DRAW them OR DIE (no I won't).  Its true that sinister carnies will always and forever be overdone but do I care? (I don't care) The adorable Sue Carver; ventriloquist, petty criminal, with Peggy and Woody; lackeys, dummies. OR ARE THEY? (yes they are)

I regret nothing!

Gryph Encarcer, Jackalope Faun Ranger, Ghostbuster of Eldritch Horrors and Primordial Evils, fights with a giant paintbrush staff using calligraphy magic... because OCs can be whatever you want to draw all at the same time xD

First time I'm tempted to do a proper character Illustration in FOREVERRR, something fun like a flashy calling card maybe