UP AND DOWN AND UP AND DOWN AND
06/18/24
hello everyone.
at the time i started writing this newsletter everything had started to settle down but now we are back up in the air again. as of finishing it the future looks even brighter than before and i am at relative ease, but i am doing my best to keep a level head and take things one day at a time. as always i have been busy in my scattered way, and with nothing to show for it i’ll just tell you:
MOST NOTABLY
- two commission slots are available! i had the opportunity to work with some fantastic people last round and i’m looking forward to working with more. you can read more about them here.
- created a demo for domestication! my user experiences will be built in astro javascript so this is more a test of basic functionality. i hope you enjoy it nonetheless and let me know if you see any potential areas for improvement!
- i have been making considerable progress on my art log. i am having an absolute blast working with astro and i am hoping this leads towards a full astro rebuild. there is still considerable work ahead but i will let you know if i decide to do a soft launch.
SOME LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING
- removed the hit counter from my landing page as it was preventing users from verifying their age and accessing my site. i contacted the company that purchased countapi in 2021 and they said they had no plans to continue supporting it. let me know if you have any leads on alternatives.
- design touch ups all around. i’m good like that.
PROJECT UPDATES
- a lot of fun stuff happening on codepen. codepen functions as my development sketchbook so i encourage you to take a look if you’re interested, or don’t if you’re not. i’ll put out notices when templates have been completed.
- i’m looking for a flatbed scanner so i can finally scan in mac’s pictures. i was gifted a canoscan lide 400 and none of my computers agreed with it so please let me know if you have any suggestions.
kind of a light letter given the circumstances but i thank you all for reading and supporting me as always. wish me luck on my future endeavors. or something.
RUDY TUESDAY FOREVER
11/05/2023
RUDYTUES.DAY IS 1 YEAR OLD! i can hardly believe it. an absolutely immeasurable amount of work has gone into its creation and i have a lot to say about it so here’s the brick:
i began construction on this site upon realizing that the current social media landscape is not viable for a long-term online presence. i had a vague list of things i wanted: a home for my webcomics, a gallery and an art log, much needed link aggregation, my own newsletter; but above all, something that was wholly mine and could not be taken from me. something sleek, sexy, intimidating, professional, demanding your submission to engage with it, with my signature whimsical touch. i realized too that my skill level was the limit, and if i really, really wanted to, i could do anything a computer can do.
so i got to work.
i poured countless hours into self-education and spent every spare second building or thinking about building this site, ever aware that i only had more work ahead of me. i dedicated myself to this project, this last, desperate effort to survive, unlike anything else i had ever invested myself in. it changed me. i became smarter, more clever, more confident, more autonomous, more certain than ever that i could do more than just survive: i could flourish and become eternal. i could and i have.
this site will never truly be finished. i will touch and tweak and wrestle with it until my body quits. it is a living, breathing thing, constantly growing, constantly developing, becoming more and more refined, like me. it is a testament to myself alone and the work i have done to make it exist. i couldn’t be happier.
there are 22 of you here now receiving and sometimes opening these newsletters. i can’t put into words how much i appreciate you all joining me on this journey. i have so many blessings to count and people to thank but this has already become miserably long-winded, so here’s the actual news:
MOST NOTABLY
- started construction on my comics and toybox subdomains. the first has a new display font, a blurb, landing pages for the symposium and WRATH, and two unfinished character bios. the second in its current state is a bunch of assorted pages. both need a lot more work but are coming along very nicely!
- pushed a big fucking commit. i don’t have any plans at the moment to make the repo public but i’m hoping to push commits every time i send out a newsletter at the very least so i can keep better track of my changes.
- filled out my gallery including works dating as far back as 2014. i also broke sketches and studies up into separate tabs with sections for digital and traditional art.
SOME LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING
- moved mailing list to buttondown which is a mailing list service that allows you to build your emails (like the one you are reading) in markdown. there are tons of other features included in their paid plans so if i ever break even i’ll take it for a spin but for the time being you can check it out here
- created an official logo. this should appear in the header on tablet and desktop.
- restyled the news section and added an archive link. i forgot to send out the last newsletter so i encourage you to click here and scroll down a bit if you wanted to read it.
- lots and lots and lots of code clean up, little cosmetic changes and bug fixes you can’t see. things now work mostly!
PROJECT UPDATES
- my money laundering scheme is in its final stages! the yearly income i anticipate is negligible, even in recouping the costs, but isn’t this the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? you’ll be the first to agree.
- i am putting a hiatus on art log updates until i get around to the astro rebuild. unfortunately i have no timeframe on this.
AS FOR NOW
i started a new job that will be much heavier on my time and i’m unsure what my creative output is going to look like until i adjust. at this point i am hoping to move more towards developing my user experiences now that i have a solid foundation to build on.
if you have read this far, god help you, i appreciate you more than i could ever put into words. this has been an intense, chaotic and liberating experience, one i would never wish on anyone, and i only have more work ahead of me. i hope you can stomach it.
I DON’T THINK I ACTUALLY SENT THIS ONE OUT
06/28/2023
hello everyone, possibly my biggest site update again, so big that i’ve had to rewrite this several times over the past few months. with that in mind and my lists being longer than ever i’ll make it quick:
MOST NOTABLY
- created two subdomains for my comics and toybox. neither are presentable but you’ll never hear the end of it when they are.
- created an age gated landing page. this makes the site overall feel much more professional and cozy.
it had a hit counter but the api broke so we’ll see on that one.
- created a gallery section. newsletters will come with gallery updates going forward but for now you’ll just have to check it out for yourself. this was easily my biggest endeavor and i’m hoping to put together an easily accessible template to share at some point so keep an eye out for that.
- created an rss feed. i am still trying to balance my communication methods but assume you’ll get rss updates alongside the newsletter and as needed to accommodate any long-term projects or “get you all caught up.”
SOME LIGHT HOUSEKEEPING
- made it purple! as eric andre would have wanted.
- made the preview meta tags work. you will never know how painful this was for me.
- recreated the chain assets in the header and made them responsive.
- created a “back to top” modal.
- updated the mobile menu icons.
- added a favicon.
ART LOG UPDATES
PROJECT UPDATES
- my money laundering scheme has run into another issue since my last update for which arrangements have been made and are in progress. it’s been a year and a half’s work but just a little bit longer and everything will come into place; i can assure you it will be worth the wait.
- additionally, i am now a volunteer for bobaboard! i will be recreating their homepage and am thrilled to be a part of this project.
there are a few more touches i would like to make to the site but in its current state i’m satisfied to turn my attention towards some other projects. going forward i’m going to try to make a habit of sending out updates more regularly so you won’t end up with email bricks.
please let me know if you run into any issues with the site and as always, enjoy!