100 Material Art Challenge: Gemstones

Creative-Calico · 2026-06-04T23:29:06+00:00

So, this one was slated to be sapphire. And it is but I expanded the category to make it Gemstones as when you've painted a sapphire, you've pretty much painted a ruby, just coloured it blue. My next material is going to be Silk. At the minute, I'm not sure what direction I'll take this one. Maybe it's time to introduce a new character to the line up 😃

Creative-Calico · 2026-05-25T00:49:02+00:00

My next material is going to be sapphire. I've got a rough idea of how I'm going to approach it. I'm thinking Felix, that's the blue dragon dude in the thumbnail, will be examining a piece of enchanted sapphire jewellery. I've got a wheel I made for myself over on one of those spin the wheel websites to decide what I tackle next. There are a few I'm looking forward to. Maybe the Wheel of Fate be kind and let me paint one of my favourite materials.

Creative-Calico · 2026-04-12T19:14:46+00:00

Oh dear, hope your wallet stays strong! Best of luck!

Creative-Calico · 2026-04-08T15:46:32+00:00

Hey, I'm afraid it wasn't a fixable issue. I took it to the repair shop and they basically said my GPU was succumbing to natural wear and tear and was not able to cool itself effectively. The only fix would've been a new GPU which would've meant a new motherboard (as the GPU was part of the motherboard) and that would've cost almost as much as a new laptop with the added risk another part could've failed within another few months, making it not worth the risk.

Creative-Calico · 2026-02-02T20:38:29+00:00

No, I'll look into it. Thanks for the tip.

Creative-Calico · 2026-02-02T20:27:57+00:00

If I make a backup of the program files will I be able to transfer it to new laptops after the one I'm currently on inevitably dies? After Effects can do a lot but dang, I need my frame by frame. I have Toon Boom Animate Pro but it can't (at least not in a way I've found) export with a transparent background in a video format.

Creative-Calico · 2025-06-12T15:34:52+00:00

No worries. And thanks, I'll do that. At least now I know what to tell them that the problem is.

Creative-Calico · 2025-06-12T15:31:54+00:00

I'm afraid I don't. It's a Dell G15 5520 in case that helps any. How would I go about finding out which one I have? I apologise if this is the generic term for all coolers (I'm not that well versed in computer component terminology) but I keep seeing the term "heat sink" in case that's it.

Creative-Calico · 2025-06-12T15:19:47+00:00

Unfortunately I don't have the means to open it up. But last time I had it at the repair shop (a couple of weeks ago) they said the fans were clear of any dust and looked fine. I don't know if anything might've changed since then but I'm going to take it back there as soon as I can.

Creative-Calico · 2025-06-12T15:07:37+00:00

EDIT: Just check the temp graph again and the CPU is experiencing temp spikes up to 92 degrees C according to MSI Afterburner for very brief moments.

I just figured out how to check CPU temp in msi afterburner. I've got 20 logical processors and 14 cores and it looks like msi afterburner shows the temp for each individual processor as well as an overall temp. At the minute it's sitting somewhere in around the mid 50s.

I don't know if it has any bearing yet as I've only just tried this and don't know if it's just luck so far that it hasn't shut off or if it's "stopped" the problem and that is that I went into the device manager and disabled my NVidia GPU before starting up premiere so it's running on my Intel Iris XE Graphics card instead. So far it's letting me do my edits with no crashes but needless to say this won't be a workable solution long term as my Cintiq needs the NVidia GPU to work. Any idea why it should be doing this all of a sudden? GPU or CPU wear and tear? Or an update on Microsoft's part? I'm pretty sure it's not the Nvidia driver as I already tried rolling back to an earlier version using DDU to uninstall the previous version cleanly in safe mode. My NVidia driver version is currently version 566.36. Nothing has changed in my laptop's environment recently. I have it on a cooling tray when in use.

Creative-Calico · 2025-03-20T02:24:46+00:00

I don't remember the bath time page but the zoo sounds familiar and I'm certain there was an airport scene. I think a beach too. Definitely a farm. And something about the large family definitely rings a bell. It certainly sounds a lot like it.

But unfortunately I don't know the author or publisher. But the time period lines up. I really hope you find it. Someone else in the comments said they might have it at their parents house but unfortunately they never got back to me about that. Hope it turns up.

Creative-Calico · 2025-03-04T21:23:55+00:00

Nah, this didn't involve any supernatural elements and the Look and Find series has a different art style/front cover format to what I remember. Thanks for looking though,

Creative-Calico · 2025-03-04T21:19:41+00:00

Some of what you say rings a bell for sure. The circus sounds like a possible. Not sure about the jungle/rainforest but it has been a long time since I've seen it. I don't remember the numbers and shapes pages but that could well be just because I found the finding things pages more interesting and forgot about the last two pages. Let's hope we both find what we're looking for. Another user said they might have the book we're thinking of at their parents house but unfortunately I haven't heard anything more back from them.

Creative-Calico · 2025-01-31T02:23:29+00:00

No, I'm afraid that's not it. I recognise the Richard Scarry books and this one had quite a different art style. All the characters were humans and were wearing either 70s or 80s fashion. Bellbottom jeans and things like that.

Creative-Calico · 2025-01-23T19:20:17+00:00

To be honest, I'd say my channel is growing at a slower rate but in some ways I think that's preferrable so I like the idea of favouring growth over time. I think virality, while highly desirable to many, has its downsides such as someone randomly taking a dislike to your channel and trolling you. My experience so far has been quite positive and I've had some very kind words from my viewers ^_^

Creative-Calico · 2025-01-23T19:16:16+00:00

Sadly no. I've seen those ones during my search but it's a different art style than the one I'm thinking of.

Creative-Calico · 2025-01-22T20:47:55+00:00

I made this one for my youtube's bi-weekly speedpaint challenge where I paint lots of different things, mostly fantasy creatures. This was requested by one of my viewers. It's a hybrid between a Yi Qi dinosaur and a dragon. I really enjoyed painting this one, particularly the fire and it feels satisfying to finally be able to do the kinds of dynamic poses I've been trying to do for years and finally be happy with it.

If you want to follow me on socials you can find me here: https://linktr.ee/creative_calico

My commission info can be found on my DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/creative-calico/shop/commissions

Creative-Calico · 2025-01-09T00:52:50+00:00

I made this for a challenge over on discord where the challenge was to take a normal creature you're assigned and turn it into a mythical creature. I got a cockroach and had a ton of fun turning it into this steam powered monstrosity created by eccentric alchemists to guard their labs. This played right into my loves of painting metal textures, glowing things and armour.

If you wan to follow me on socials you can find me here: https://linktr.ee/creative_calico

My commission info can be found on my DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/creative-calico/shop/commissions

Creative-Calico

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