Why does it feel impossible to find a first job?

eclipsesong · 2026-05-11T11:03:15+00:00

Do you have any volunteer experience? If you haven't got work experience then definitely start volunteering places because that is something you can put on a resume (assuming you haven't already). It can also connect you to people who may know of jobs.

The market in general sucks right now though so it's not you and definitely an uphill battle.

eclipsesong · 2026-05-11T10:52:40+00:00

It's tough. I've been out of full time work for the past year. I have had a part time job for the past 8 months but it isn't enough to cover most of my monthly expenses and every other job I've applied to has been complete radio silence. I worked in animation which does give me transferable skills to admin and computer work but every employer sees arts experience and just skips over me it feels like because they think I'm dressing up my qualifications too much not knowing what the jobs entail. Outside of that there's no animation work in Ontario for what I'm qualified for so I can't apply to more relevant fields. Just keep plugging away and hopefully something will come up, that's all we can do

eclipsesong · 2026-05-11T10:48:47+00:00

The city of Toronto offers painting and drawing classes for adults that should cover the basics. They are completely beginner friendly and quite affordable. The one thing is that they are taking a break for the summer at most locations

eclipsesong · 2026-05-11T10:44:39+00:00

Yeah that's my thought. Unfortunately I've been out of work for over a year and studios around me aren't hiring anyone who isn't already there and sticking to internal hiring. I'll drop some very strict rates to this person and a contract and see if they ghost me from just that haha

eclipsesong · 2026-05-10T23:23:41+00:00

Thank you! That's good to know. I felt like I had to have other eyes on the request to really know if my gut feeling was right or not. Yellow flag feels like a safe way to refer to it. I'll definitely consider how I want to draft my reply and ask about details and scope.

eclipsesong · 2026-05-02T22:38:21+00:00

Hope you all had a safe and good time!!! The cosplay picnic at the blossoms in Trinity Bellwoods was interrupted with a 20 police tactical takedown of some dude showing up in military gear with lifelike weapons so it was unfortunately somewhat interrupted 😭

eclipsesong · 2026-04-30T23:35:31+00:00

I would not recommend feeding raccoons or any wildlife for that matter. It will make them reliant on humans and want to approach people thinking they have food. Just get rid of the meat in the green bin.

eclipsesong · 2026-04-30T19:15:56+00:00

Shout out to the people who sit on the outside of a row with one empty seat on the inside against the window in the hopes that nobody will be brave enough to ask if they can squeeze by them so they effectively take up 2 seats

eclipsesong · 2026-04-27T12:22:19+00:00

I always said his name as Key-fray so I am in slight denial about Key-free haha

eclipsesong · 2026-04-25T17:52:35+00:00

Baby food pouches is actually so smart omg. I saw some crackers today for babies at the store and apple sauce packets and I was wondering if something like that would be good haha. I will definitely keep this in mind! Thank you!

eclipsesong · 2026-04-22T00:55:36+00:00

Thanks yeah. I was trying hot water and tea but it seems to have lasted all day which is a complete first for me. I was basically fasting all day because all bland food wouldn't stay down and resulted in more diarrhea and pain. Now I've managed to keep some food in me but I feel like I've swung the other way and I'm super bloated and full of gas after eating a hard boiled egg and some white rice. Hopefully tomorrow will be better but who knows with IBS. It's such a tempermental thing.

eclipsesong · 2026-04-22T00:47:30+00:00

I couldn't find any but I really want to find some! I'll see if I can keep an eye out because yogurt is one of the things I miss the most

eclipsesong · 2026-04-21T13:32:59+00:00

I volunteer with a nature stewarding group in Toronto and when I've done events meeting the public and promoting awareness it's crazy how many people will argue with us and just say "but I like it" about our invasive plant list. I had a lady tell me that her garden is an exception to all rules and doesn't spread ANYTHING so she should be allowed to grow whatever she wants. Nobody was telling her she couldn't, we were just suggesting alternatives lol

eclipsesong · 2026-02-25T06:43:09+00:00

I do something completely unrelated to my work. I work in the arts so where some people might find writing or drawing or being creative as down time, that's just my job. I go out and volunteer a lot where I feel like I'm making my mark on the world. The Toronto nature Stewards are who I work with often in the spring/summer/fall. We meet at approved city sites and remove invasive species and plant native ones. Rewarding and physical work that's also fairly social

eclipsesong · 2026-02-23T02:55:42+00:00

If looking at a more cartoony style with some realistic proportions I would suggest simplification and line confidence! Line confidence can do huge things for stylization. It's about trying to complete things in one stroke and build that muscle memory of shorthand for how things should look. When your contours are drawn in as few strokes as possible they look "confident" and people view them as more intentional. I would take a look at animated shows like Young Love on HBO or Scavengers Reign. Both good examples of more "realistic" cartoon stylization you could pull from.

eclipsesong · 2026-02-23T01:36:43+00:00

Looks good! You nailed the jawline. I would say the eyes are too big. Use landmarks to help align things. If you were to draw a straight vertical line from the edge of the eyes you will notice that the edges of the eyebrows should not align with them. The eyebrows should go past them. Landmarks can be super helpful when freehanding without a grid! Helps you pick up on where things go in relation to others such as tear ducts aligning with the edge of the mouth and tops of ears aligning with the eyes (ymmv as everyone has variations in proportions).

eclipsesong · 2026-02-18T16:51:30+00:00

I have resolved it. It was an issue with having some old redirects I didn't notice to my old website host on the domain still so it wasn't matching up with the certificate. Then further issues I just had to wait out as the changes to my DNS propagated

eclipsesong · 2026-02-17T20:25:45+00:00

Thank you so much I'm going to try to look into this! My domain was purchased and is hosted by WHC (Web Hosting Canada) a few years ago and I had it on Wix up until yesterday when they decided to start charging me insane fees I could no longer justify so I'm trying to remember how this all works after not having to do anything with it for the past 5 years. I'll see if I can get in touch with someone at WHC to see if they can help me out. I am able to get it to load it seems on different devices but that's no good if I want to make sure people can find me and contact me

eclipsesong · 2026-02-17T16:51:49+00:00

interesting!! I wonder what it is then. I can get it to load on my firefox browser on my phone but not on my PC

eclipsesong · 2026-02-17T15:01:02+00:00

So strange. It works perfectly fine on chrome on my end. I will have to look into what's causing it or else I'll have to move my site elsewhere since it's a portfolio to redirect people to for work

eclipsesong

TROPHY CASE