it’s “interesting” that some female celebs came out n support of Ai this week. Feels planted. Apparently women use Ai less, so we’re now being targeted? Deepfakes unclothing women, misogynistic Ai ads about not having to pay “this woman” + amplifications of sexism might have something to do with it.

Thank you so much!

🙏🙏🙏

Yes that area is my favorite! It seems it’s actually a free process to apply for the painting permit—just an extra hoop to jump through!

Thanks Aimee!!

This is very good to know!! I will definitely be doing this! Thank you! :)

Thank you 🥹🙏

As it turns out it’s free, but it is a hoop you have to jump through! You have to apply and be approved and get a special card to bring anything other than pencils/pens/sketchbook. No colored pencils or crayons even. So silly.

On the left, there is an open sketchbook full of grayscale pen/marker composition studies of desert plants. On the right is a gouache painting of a desert plant.

A gouache painting of a desert plant

The limitations of working in black & white actually led to an interesting workflow that I may try again! I spent my time in person focusing on compositional studies and took reference photos. When home, I referenced only my sketches for the under drawing and looked at the photo ref for color.

Outsourcing film and television because of health insurance companies is embarrassing. We are letting American jobs and entire sectors of the American economy leave the country because politicians are in the pocket of health insurance companies. It’s a disgrace

Wow very cool to know! I’m pleasantly surprised to hear that it’s free—I thought for sure that it must be a scheme to squeeze a few extra dollars out of patrons!

Insane right? I can understand rules against messy media like chalk pastels or paint, but there is no way people are damaging anything with pencils and crayons.

Wtf their policy is actually no color at all. I can’t even use crayons or non messy media. They want you to buy a special license to use color media. Robbery!! A woman in line behind me laughed because she thought it was a joke!

Full time money is pretty good depending on your rank and the school though! I have a full time gig now (that hasn’t asked me to get a masters, but I always am waiting for the shoe to drop), and it’s less than animation money but significantly more lucrative than people think it is.

Very not worth for anything other than academia-related goals imo!

Literally just illustration to shore up credentials for full time professorship.

Anyway I’m gonna go play Pokopia and repair some roads or something

Having the “I should go to grad school” thoughts again and they are unfortunately becoming increasingly convincing

Love that my idiot 24-year-old self is probably being immortalized in an AI somewhere

I know!! I assume it must just be because people have been shitty about dumping dirty paint water all over their gardens in the past, but like… isn’t the aesthetic of artists hanging out and painting exactly what rich donors want to see??

Yeah, they require a special license to bring wet media (or messy media like pastels)! But I figure if I am discreet no one will notice me. Definitely have clocked the Japanese garden area as a good spot 👀

I bought a membership to the Huntington Gardens since I have my first summer with no work (but childcare!) in a while, and didn’t realize they’re anti-painting! I’m scheming my incognito travel paint kit 🫢

wow

AI is profoundly unpopular. A recent NBC News poll found that among 18-34 year-olds, AI's net favorability rating is -44. *Negative 44*. Those are basically serial killer numbers. It's not much better among women 18-49. (Men over 50 and upper class are the only ones who like AI, and just barely.)

💯

It feels like “girls don’t watch movies” is a conversation that we have been having for the past decade when there are mountains of evidence to the contrary??? Are these execs goldfish?

Being a parent is so hard because sometimes you are trying to get your kid to go to sleep and you have to sit there for 15 minutes keeping a straight face while your toddler flops around and makes fart noises.

I mean extremely fair—I think we must be a similar age! The external world has been HORRIBLE for my 30s but my personal life has gotten incrementally better each year!

Yeah I guess maybe not a universal experience (nothing is), but that is very cool to hear!!

I’m rapidly approaching my 40s and am genuinely excited? I think every single thing about my life is better than it was when I was 20. I am hotter, more stable in basically every way, and just more “me.”