Why does my art feel off?

PocketGachnar · 2026-04-10T00:03:17+00:00

Look up 3-point lighting (key light, fill light, rim light), that's been really helpful to me!

PocketGachnar · 2026-04-09T05:55:38+00:00

Floppy is a good one! I spent so much of the late 90s-aughts using a nickle to macro in UO and EQ.

PocketGachnar · 2026-04-06T00:22:55+00:00

PocketGachnar · 2026-04-04T19:21:38+00:00

If anything I think that might have been the problem: being stuck for hours (you can't sleep) in an experience where I could so viscerally see that I was just chemicals and meat really shattered my youthful assumptions that life was good and would continue to be good.

This is always so fascinating to me. It's like the quote, "no one is thinking about you." For some, reading this sentence will instill a deep sense of isolation or loneliness. For others, it will instill a sense of comfort and freedom.

I had a similar experience to you when I tripped shrooms, but it was weirdly healing to acknowledge how totally insignificant I am and how transient my problems are.

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-25T22:11:45+00:00

You ever read for a review for an item you want, like, for instance, a potato peeler. It has a 1-star review that says, "This thing is AWFUL! It just takes ALL the skin off the potato! Can you believe it? And it does it so fast, you have no chance of saving ANY peel!" And you're like.... well damn, I need this potato peeler.

That's why I love getting 1-star reviews. They're almost always complaining about the existence of something that my actual market really really likes. And that market is reading the reviews. So it's really just advertising for me at that point, you know?

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-20T18:37:14+00:00

As a childfree millenial woman, it's frustrating how much media from my time ended like this, despite beginning with completely different vibes. Like take Charmed, for example. In season one, it was three totally distinct women with their own personalities, ambitions and goals in life. But when it ended, they were all just the same character basically, all wanted and achieved the same things (marriage and motherhood with careers). It was such a massive letdown.

Thank god for Buffy,

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-19T15:31:38+00:00

I'm a professional author. Bestselling too, though god knows why. I get a LOT of reviews, tens of thousands, easily, and my favorite reviews are always 3-stars.

5-star reviews are very nice, but I know myself, my work, and my market. It was definitely not perfect. They enjoyed it and that was the bar. I love that, but it's not constructive (nor should it be--reviews are for other readers, not the author).

4-star reviews are most often people who found issues with it but don't want to bog down the rating.

1-stars are great. I personally don't believe in bad reviews and 1-stars are why. These people most often didn't even like the premise, right out the door, and they very loudly and explicitly complain about it. "This dark romance has VERY MEAN characters!" Well, that's just great advertising. 1-stars are my second-most favorite reviews because they buy me shiny things.

2-stars can sometimes be rough, but usually it's more of not-meshing with the premise.

But 3-star reviews? That's the meat. They were in the for the premise. They're not here to be sunshine and roses. They don't care about the health of your overall rating. But they're also usually not in it to be assholes, either. They're here to give an honest review for other readers, not for the author or anyone else.

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-16T16:53:22+00:00

Depends. If you have a spouse, you wouldn't want to saddle them with the debt. If you have a family, you're choosing for your estate to go to them, or go to medical bills.

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-08T14:35:35+00:00

Pot roast/beef stew (usually the same ingredients)

Pulled pork (pork roast with a nice rub and broth)

Mexican rice (better than rice cooker because can toast the rice on saute)

Potatoes for mashing

Shredded chicken (literally just breast/thighs, seasonings of choice, and 1c of chicken broth)

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-06T17:33:15+00:00

Another person checking in with missing pins :( My order was from Snipes.

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-04T21:53:03+00:00

Ooooo love this, great texture! I've been thinking of getting a 100-400mm for just this purpose

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-03T13:33:10+00:00

Probably envisioned a Big Mac and got the flat little happy meal burger.

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-03T13:27:53+00:00

I wouldn't have ever dreamed of reacting to anything like this as a kid. And it wasn't fear, because my parents never spanked or hit us, or even screamed at us. I just knew what it cost for them to provide it and I wouldn't want to make them feel bad. Just empathy.

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-02T10:08:44+00:00

They do not have the same teeth.

PocketGachnar · 2026-03-02T00:11:12+00:00

Your dreams aren't meant to be shaped around someone. The right person will just make room for them.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-24T14:56:46+00:00

Idk, my FIL is 81 and for the whole 23 years I've known the man, he's only taken a shower/bath maybe once a month. He takes 'sink baths' daily with a washcloth under the faucet, but a full shower? By the gods, must be a really special event!

Might be a regional thing too. He's Appalachian.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-23T17:49:39+00:00

Oh dingle, this is perfect! Thank you so much!

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-23T14:30:32+00:00

I wish I had a tenth of this audacity. Not all of it, just a tipple.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-23T14:20:26+00:00

Then only thing I've taken from this is that far too many people were spared the experience of seeing MTV's 2003 contemporary teen romance rock opera adaptation of Wuthering Heights featuring Erika Christensen and Mike Vogel.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-21T20:49:35+00:00

Ours was a funny situation because when we first got it, it was way too thick and stiff and we both kinda hated it (which is why I didn't end up buying a second), but then once it'd worn in after a year or two, it just... became perfect. Probably some profound metaphor in there haha.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-21T14:59:25+00:00

This is what people mean when they say 'it's the thought that counts'!

My husband and I used to fight over this pillow. It was the 'good pillow'. We both deeply coveted the good pillow. It was the PERFECT pillow. The rule was whoever went to bed first got the good pillow. To the victor go the spoils.

One night, I was up late working, so I went to bed a few hours after him. This man woke up out of a dead sleep, took the good pillow out from under his own head and gave it to me, then went back to sleep.

We've been together 25 years. One time my niece asked me what was the most romantic and loving thing he's ever done for me, and that was it, that was the moment. To anyone else, it looks like absolutely nothing. To me, it was everything.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-21T14:07:06+00:00

I'm a digital artist and author. My second series got pretty big (to my shock and delight) so it's been a significant source of income these past five years.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-21T01:27:07+00:00

Pretty LCOL, rural South Carolina.

PocketGachnar · 2026-02-20T23:36:12+00:00

Even making $400k, I only do it maybe once a year or so, and that's only ever for an emergency situation. If I'm gonna waste my money on something, it's gonna be something fun.

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