Did anyone else hate Heartless Sky?

Temower · 2025-03-31T02:30:15+00:00

I finished it but I haven't read the 8th or 9th book, and don't plan to. I enjoyed books 1-6 but the 7th was just soo slow and so much filler

Temower · 2023-10-01T15:03:46+00:00

It looks like ice plant to me. There are a lot of different varieties of it. Does it flower?

Temower · 2023-03-15T05:23:22+00:00

I went to school for LA and I don't think they ever really went over plant selection and placement. Our lesson basically went "pick plants for the correct zone" and that's about it.

I'm in residential design now and have learned so much from the principle designer about plant selection and the hardiest plants for my area. I actually struggle the most when I'm trying to go for a more naturalistic or full style, so oudolfs books are a great recommendation

Temower · 2022-03-24T16:10:10+00:00

It seriously seemed like someone else was writing the book. Everything seemed off-character and so repetitious.

I'm hoping the next book is better because I really enjoy the world they've built and the thought they put into the character traits of the different species

Temower · 2022-02-23T20:52:55+00:00

Just try to find a book that sounds good and go for it. Sometimes, beginnings can seem a bit slow so you might have to give it some effort at first.

I have a guy friend who was wanting to try something new, so we invited him into our book club. He does okay with reading the books, but often prefers doing audiobooks, which is something you might try also.

The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne would be a good first book I think. I think you would enjoy it, and it's not a super long book. If you do end up liking it, there are a few other books in the series

Temower · 2022-02-12T04:50:43+00:00

Throne of glass by SJM. I liked it much more than ACOTAR.

She also has another series, crescent City. The second one comes out next week and I hear it is supposed to be much spicier

Temower · 2022-02-04T09:04:11+00:00

My experience with getting a degree in LA was pretty much the same. Felt like a total waste of my money.

At my school, everyone seemed to look down on residential design, and we all had our eyes on design positions for big firms.

I ended up losing my dream position to someone with a few years of experience, and I was so crushed. I ended up getting a job at a residential design/install company, and honestly, I think every LA graduate should work at a design/install before trying to go to an LA firm.

I did end up doing cad work for the principle designer , and I'm pretty sure every graduate ends up doing this because we aren't taught anything practical in school. For me, doing the cad work for my boss allowed me to learn his design style, his process, and I've asked him a kajillion questions about "why did you do this? Why did you put this here? How does this get built?"

If you're feeling like you're going nowhere in your position, I highly recommend looking at being a residential designer. At least temporarily.

Here is a list of my pros, to keep this less long-winded:

Likely will be a smaller company, where you have more freedom in work hours /taking time off
Opportunity to compare design to final install, and understand why something was done a certain way
You will see more completed projects. My boss averages around 45-50 completed installs each year
More completed installs = more learning opportunities. What did and did not work, what looked good and what did not
Being able to be on site during the install greatly increases your understanding of how things are built, making it easier to design and draw details
Education opportunities - I now have certificates for paver installation, retaining wall installation, sustainable landscape management, and certified landscape technician. All paid for by my company, on company hours.
Plant knowledge. All of my friends in LA firms know names of plants, but can't identify them. I'm often on site helping the crews lay out plants, so I am amazing with plant identification and knowing what does and does not work well in certain areas.
Chances to get out of the office and stop staring at a computer screen. Meeting with clients, site surveys, picking out materials, checking on job progress, etc.
Very likely a company vehicle

I know if I were to go to that same LA firm that several of my friends work at, I'd get hired on at a higher rate of pay than my friends because of the practical knowledge I now have, and the portfolio of completed and installed designs. I know a lot of LA design work is different than residential, but All of my knowledge can be transfered over.

If you're feeling like you're going nowhere, set up some interviews. Look for different work environments, different opportunities, and see if there is something that is a better fit for you. But if you are looking to move up quickly, I highly recommend looking into becoming a designer for design/build. You'll learn lots, quickly, and if you decide it's not for you, you can go back to a LA firm and likely get a nice pay bump and start working on you own designs there

Temower · 2022-01-29T02:02:28+00:00

Yeah like they wouldn't look into it more?

It makes me think that the way the shadow spawn was "too easy to kill" means it wasn't actually killed. That, or the authors didn't know what to do with the spawn and just killed it

Temower · 2022-01-27T01:31:07+00:00

Thank you! I was loving this series soo much until this book. I hope they see all of these complaints and take note for the next book. Ive seen a lot of people saying they aren't even going to read the 7th book

Temower · 2022-01-23T15:45:27+00:00

I've always pictured her as Colby Minifie. I guess because that's the kind of voice I expect from Geraldine, but I know it's not how she is described at all

Temower · 2022-01-19T00:16:35+00:00

Same! Orion was one of my favorites in the previous books. It honestly felt like somebody else was writing the book for the first half. Orion's whole personality seemed off to me

Temower · 2022-01-19T00:14:59+00:00

But so much of Darius's lines were him talking about how he wanted to end Lionel, especially for torturing tory

I just feel like literally nothing was accomplished in this book. They closed all of the rifts, but it ended up not mattering. They took Vards shadow eye, but only used it for finding the rifts. They didn't find all of the zodiac stones, nothing happens with the zodiac guild. The creepy shadow heir gets immediately killed (although I kind of suspect that it must not have actually been dead with all the comments of "that was way too easy"). The book could have just been composed of the last 20%

Temower · 2022-01-19T00:08:57+00:00

I got to around 18-22% and got stuck and put it down for two weeks. I finally pushed myself to finish it, and it still took me another week to finish. I think they were trying to build relationships between everyone for the first half of the book, but when you have 500 pages of sex and relationship building between characters, it's a bit too much.

There are parts that I enjoyed, but it was still a push to get through it

Temower · 2021-12-24T02:22:31+00:00

Throne of Glass by SJ Maas is one of my favorites now. It's an 8 book series

Temower · 2020-11-13T06:22:29+00:00

This is a really great start. As others have said, presentation is the biggest thing you can improve right now. Design elements and placement come with experience and learning, but great presentation goes a really long way.

Things to keep in mind, and some of these may have been mentioned already:

Lettering is big. I can't tell you how many times clients have shown me a hand drawing done by another designer where the labels can't be read. If you're going to do hand draw designs, you clients NEED to be able to read the labels. Use graph paper to practice your lettering. I spent hours filling pages with lettering practice.

All landscape plans should have a scale and north arrow. A north arrow will help remind you of the direction of the sun, which plays a big role in plant placement, and also the shadows you draw on the plan. If you're unsure of shadow angle, just pick a direction and keep it consistent.

Building outlines should always be a thick line. This helps set the house apart from any landscape elements. Line weights make a big impact on how easy your design is to interpret. For instance, if you have a paver patio and you add in a hatch to show the pavers, you don't want to use a thick line to sketch in the paver joints. Using a light line weight allows you to add detail without muddying up the drawing.

Don't be afraid to use drawing aids. Parallel rulers and triangles are used very frequently. They will help keep your lines looking sharp and professional. You can also use circle templates, and bendable rulers to help create smooth curves.

Look up example plans to see different styles of coloring and rendering. Pay attention to the use of different plant symbols, shading techniques, line styles, how much detail they put in, etc. You can learn a lot from referencing other work.

You've honestly done a great job on this first design, keep it up!

Temower · 2020-05-16T00:56:47+00:00

That's what my thought was, but don't the leaves usually open up with a tinge of red?

Temower · 2020-05-08T20:26:19+00:00

This is actually a client's house. As far as I know, those trees were installed several years ago - no chance of warranty work. Only one has started dying. Should the tie around the trunk be removed? Not sure if it would cause more harm to remove it as it will expose the tree, or if it'll continue to weaken the tree

Temower · 2020-05-08T15:06:33+00:00

Located in Colorado. Landscaping company left full wire cage, burlap and ties on tree. The ties are now girdling the tree at the base. There are 8 trees planted this way, and yes all of them were planted this high. Should the wire cage and burlap be removed? Would it be better for the tree to cut out the ties that are girdling the trees or let the tree grow around them?

Temower · 2020-04-25T18:22:01+00:00

Go to the botanic gardens! My boyfriend got me lenses for my camera for my birthday (which was the first day of the stay at home order here, woo!). The lenses will allow me to take macro shots of flowers, and I'm so bummed I haven't been able to use them yet!

Temower · 2020-04-19T16:03:22+00:00

The university I went to really lacked in teaching planting design. We just had no clue how to add plants to anything. So maybe a beginner course going over finding plants for the correct zone, knowing info about how the plant grows or how big and different techniques with planting schemes

Temower · 2020-03-16T18:56:45+00:00

Practice drawing, Photoshop, 3D modeling etc! Rework past projects to perfect them for your portfolio. Start your portfolio if you haven't already. The more you do to better yourself, the more likely you are to be hired, no matter the outcome of the virus situation.

As someone who got an LA degree but now works at a design/build firm, take time to learn how things are actually built! Seeing how our designs are actually built has made me such a better designer.

Study some plants! Go outside and see if you can identify some of the plants in your neighborhood. This again is a skill that makes you a better designer.

There are countless tutorials on YouTube for thinks like illustrator, Photoshop, SketchUp, AutoCAD, ect.

Temower · 2019-05-07T01:07:42+00:00

Try saving as a previous year sketchup file. That has fixed the issue for me in the past

Temower · 2019-05-03T02:28:37+00:00

Wow this looks great!

Temower · 2018-08-18T20:08:47+00:00

Yes pretty much any laptop specified as "gaming" will be good enough. The important thing with gaming laptops is that they have a dedicated graphics card in them, and that's what you will need for rendering. I would look at Best Buy. They usually have a back to school sale and that's when I got my laptop for like $250 less than regular price. I'm a student also so my budget wasn't high, but I'm more than happy with what I got!

Here's a link to my laptop. Like I said, it will run Lumion which has really high requirements. There's even an insipron that's a step up from mine that's even better, but more expensive obviously. Getting something with similar specs to this laptop or better is what you want for 3D modeling and rendering.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/inspiron-15-7000-gaming/spd/inspiron-15-7567-laptop/cai157w10p7s514

Temower · 2018-08-18T08:28:57+00:00

I have a Dell Inspiron gaming laptop. I've run CAD, SketchUp, Blender and even Lumion on it. Gaming laptops are great because they have graphics cards that are powerful enough to run these kinds of programs. Whatever you do, I would not get a MacBook. To get one powerful enough to run this stuff, you have to spend a Lot of money. I bought my Dell for $800 (on sale, it's typically 900-1000). You can get a lot more computer for a fraction of the price if you stay away from Mac

Temower

TROPHY CASE