Welcome back, journal people! Peep the theme! (If it's all manners of fucked up, clear your cache. Web developer problems.) I thought that, with as big and rolling as the journal has grown—seriously, it's now like seven months longer lived than the Scratchpad was, time flies—the old Setter art from like 2023 and how basic the layout was and the lack of links to the RSS feed and post tags (more sorting of those forthcoming) just didn't suit me anymore. This? This is hot.

I've really been on an experimental texture kick with my art lately. Caby linked this big Google Drive of various paper textures a few months ago, the thought being that sketching over them would make your brain draw more like you're doodling on paper. I've been using them as background plate textures for drawings instead, and alongside FireAlpaca's cloudy watercolor layer option and toying with blend modes, it's basically instant easy on the eyes traditional-like texture, just like how I wanted my art to look back when I started this whole art thing. I could not be more thrilled.

So yeah! Now that the journal doesn't mildly embarrass me to look at (seriously, that banner is so fucking hot, and if you know which album it and the journal name are a reference to, I love you), uh, business as usual shall continue, I suppose. Actually, the real news here is that cammy.somnol is finally getting that overhaul I wanted to give it back in June, so there's been a lot of movement on the home server copy of the site, chief among them this blog theme. A lot of it's been simplification. Simpler Cammys, headings that don't have to be a whole big drawing, a lot of stuff I was able to cobble together from sketches really, but absolutely for the better. I want to be making things to put on the sites, not making the sites forever, and I've gotten to a point artistically where I like my sketches, even.

Had to do some troubleshooting on the theme, and it had me crawling through all the archives of the journal. It's an interesting feeling. I left it all up regardless of however it feels looking back at quitting jobs or getting fired or leaving communities because it's all how I got to where I am now, and that's important. I think the big thing is that it's been so nose-to-the-grindstone barreling straight ahead and I write so ungodly fucking much that it's, well, kind of a big ephemeral mess. I'd definitely like to gain some better perspective on things going forwards, but it's really killer that all these things I wanted to do back in 2022, 2023, last year, before the journal even, have all largely come to pass. Feeling pretty content and accomplished these days. More from me soon nonetheless.

Tagged under: webmaster