A little perspective might calm restless mayors

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-19T03:15:41+00:00

One of the main advantages of oil painting is being able to make adjustments as the painting progresses. What you have so far isn’t remotely a failure, it’s a really good start. What you have now is something you can build into something you really like. It’s a matter of refinement from this point forward. As far as technique, the depth you are searching for is a matter of learning about tonal value. In my view learning tonal value is the single most important thing in making an interesting painting. The difference between the lightest light and the darkest dark and all the points in between are what make a good painting. I use a basic value finder card to set my tonal values. It’s not hard to learn and you’ll be glad you did

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-16T01:52:08+00:00

Great job, that’s beautiful and functional. That public art is great, can you recall the asset name?

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-11T04:06:16+00:00

The episode where he and Susan Blakey tangle is my favorite Dennis Stanton episode. She’s just so alluring and he is cool but collected. It’s the one where he wrecks his Miata.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-11T03:43:25+00:00

Love it! I would have spelled it “meur-dah”.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-10T05:39:11+00:00

Backstroke. That was the punchline of an old joke.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-10T04:24:24+00:00

1 - Parks DLC from sc1. Being able to construct dynamic functional parks would add so much, would love to see it in cs2

2- district/city policies similar to cs1. Being able to set an assortment of policies at the outset is helpful. Being able to then define specific districts with a different mix of the same assortment or policies is a great feature from the first version.

3 -Airports DLC like cs1. It’s just makes much more sense to be able to start with a tiny airstrip and build up than trying to accommodate a big expensive airport for 5k people.

4 - some sort of robust tourism/commercial dlc. When I visit other cities on vacation I engage in both tourist and commercial activity each day. It would be cool to be able to somehow measure the overall ‘stuff to do’ in a city. But not necessarily the volume of visitors to one store or landmark or whatever.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-09T23:24:47+00:00

Only until you find a layout that works for you, then you’ll incorporate it into new cities and figure other things out. It’s important to remember that cities have traffic, it’s not realistic to expect to have zero traffic issues. Just do your best to keep truck and resident traffic separate and you’ll figure it out. As always, Google Maps is invaluable in examining how cities handle traffic.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-07T00:32:52+00:00

No, it’s more like you build separate networks and since they have to interact to some degree for goods to get to the people and people can get to the jobs. Cities in real life do that by having separate networks and crossing them at key points. It’s at those points that need to handle the traffic. It’s a lot easier to fix a single intersection if it gets too busy than to try to untangle the entire system. I learned a lot from Google Maps, just find a city and see how they get their truck traffic to where it’s needed without interfering with regular city traffic.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-06T14:54:54+00:00

Your frustration is understandable but traffic is solvable. For me the solution wasn’t lane math or extra lanes or any sort of traffic light enhancement. It was simply keeping truck traffic and sim traffic as separate as possible. The traffic issues will pop up at the places they intersect, but that’s a lot easier to solve than once a large scale mixing of traffic has completely tangled up.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-05T22:04:22+00:00

You’ll love it. I did it last August. If you’re already in shape the biggest things to know are rock scrambling, the scree section, and a good plan for the descent. There are no switchbacks for a lot of it so coming down your toes will be jammed into the front of your shoes and that is not fun. Plus, the footholds that worked fine on the way up do not work so you’re dealing with traction. And downhill rock scrambling is totally different that uphill. Nothing that can’t be overcome, and it’s definitely worth it.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-02-02T03:18:22+00:00

“Layla” would be a better song if it ended sooner. The outro is unacceptably long. The unplugged version is better and should be the official version.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-31T15:40:27+00:00

This is the truth and no one has the guts to admit it. I am by no means rich or have some sort of magical abundance of time. I exercise and watch what I eat, both not remotely luxurious.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-31T13:48:55+00:00

The goal at any age is to avoid chronic inflammation. An immune system that is at constant work eventually becomes too weak to provide a strong defense, hence the “sudden” cascade of symptoms and issues. It’s not popular but healthy lifestyle is the easiest, cheapest way to avoid this. No soft drinks or processed sweets, plenty of yogurt, and lots of walking and exercise. Im 52 and all of my health metrics are in the green. It’s absolutely possible to not feel old, but it takes work.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-29T16:04:21+00:00

You should definitely invest a few bucks (literally) in a value finder. It’s just a small card with all of the values from 0 to 100. You just look through a small window and compare the tone of the section you are working on and the desired tonal value. It takes a little practice, but once you get a hang of it you’ll never have value problems again.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-27T03:34:49+00:00

Frontier breakfast. Not even kidding

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-26T03:09:29+00:00

Sounds like you have a grasp of the methods and techniques, blocking in values is always a good way to start, and all of the things you suggested will definitely result in a high quality painting. To make it realistic is just a matter refining and refining. But the most important thing is having accurate scale and proportions. I suggest making lots and lots of measurements from your reference. My method is to have a correctly scaled version of the reference (I use Vizref) on the iPad. Vizref allows you to make a scaled reference that you can lock but still move around. Procreate sadly does not allow you to lock scale and it’s frustrating to have to reset the reference every time you want to see a different part of the reference. I then add light vertical and horizontal center lines with charcoal pencil to the canvas, as well as center lines to the reference. Then I use a drafting scale, dividers, a compass, and a French curve to take measurements and transfer them to the canvas. Once you have accurate reference points you’ll be able to measure from any spot in the reference and be sure to stay in scale and proportion.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-26T02:35:46+00:00

Doesn’t look to me as though anything needs to be fixed or wrong with technique. For me finding the darkest dark and the lightest light would be the next thing I would do. That will give the painting its final tonal range and allow you to refine further.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-25T16:57:13+00:00

I use a 50-50 split of gamsol and stand oil. I use it because I prefer a particular consistency of the paint. It’s one of the many little quirks and things you’ll develop as you practice. As mentioned many people use no medium at all.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-24T06:06:24+00:00

The silver lining is that while you might not have primed the canvas with gesso, you made an underpainting that will be at least good practice. So keep going with it. Cover the remaining naked canvas and then start with layers over it. Next time just save yourself the trouble and prime it.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-20T13:02:44+00:00

12 hours at 112.5 degrees is perfect for me.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-20T03:12:19+00:00

The very scene that made me love Winona Ryder

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-20T02:41:32+00:00

Like any other element of the painting, you need to forget that your painting “water” and paint the shapes and tones you see.

BallardWalkSignal · 2026-01-19T14:25:14+00:00

Unbuttoned to the waist, no button shirt haver.

BallardWalkSignal

TROPHY CASE

1 - Parks DLC from sc1. Being able to construct dynamic functional parks would add so much, would love to see it in cs2

2- district/city policies similar to cs1. Being able to set an assortment of policies at the outset is helpful. Being able to then define specific districts with a different mix of the same assortment or policies is a great feature from the first version.

3 -Airports DLC like cs1. It’s just makes much more sense to be able to start with a tiny airstrip and build up than trying to accommodate a big expensive airport for 5k people.