Articles Written By: Ben

Happy Halloween from Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Stayed up after recording the podcast Saturday night, first crafting mines with Frank while Ian hung out on the hangout, then I decided to finish a game I want to review. Sunday my dad wanted to do some running around and after a nap I worked in the studio until around 1:30 in the morning. Thumbnail art for the next episode of NoRights Plays…, wrote up and scheduled the blog post/made a preview image for today’s Billy Badass comic, and fiddled with some site stuff I’m not done with yet.

Today’s been kind of a blur as I slept in, started getting a headache, then had lunch with my dad. He dropped me off then needed me to drive over and do tech support for his computer that was giving him trouble. It’s been busy and I’m tired. I’m looking forward to finishing the inks on November’s pages after I get some sleep.

NES memories in this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Frank and I were up to about midnight seeing if he could get on the modded server or if we had to go back to vanilla. He was able to do more this time, though he still has to sort out why his escape key doesn’t work in game. I left my alarms off today and woke up thinking it was around 4 in the morning because it was so dark. Turned out to be 7:30. This season does funny things to you, man.

Tried KanbanFlow today instead of TeamViz. It requires manual restarts, too, but with desktop notifications they’re easier to deal with. I had a nice rhythm going until my dad called to go for lunch. Spent the first session doing some free drawing in Mischief, letting myself draw whatever I felt like at the moment. Realized I should probably have some specific subjects to doodle. I have a short list of things – pin up girls, monsters, supernatural creatures, aliens, space ships – that sorta thing. What I need to do is jot down some character and scene descriptions to run off of. I should be spending time thinking of how to draw the thing, not figuring out what thing to draw. This is good though. It means I’m breaking things down into smaller tasks so I can handle them efficiently. It’s why I was looking for a pomodoro timer/task manager in the first place.

Speaking of figuring things out, I’m thinking more about the time I’m spending not working. It’s often reactionary to things. I’ll want to work but need to spend some quiet time first. I’m sure it comes from being an introvert. I go out with people and then I need some “me” time before I’m able to work again. I’m trying to roll drawing into that time instead of lumping it in with work. Fun drawing exercises will help with that. Having prompts so all I have to worry about when drawing is the act itself will, too.

NES memories in this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Stayed up until 11 last night trying to work out a modded server with Frank. I couldn’t connect myself from some mismatched mod error so I opened my singleplayer world up. Somehow his machine is having trouble running it smoothly. Considering his vanilla install won’t let him leave the game window I’d say he’s got some figuring out to do. Fullscreen mode wasn’t working properly on my end either for some reason.

Today hasn’t been very productive. I’ve been very tired and the only thing I’ve had on my mind is sorting out that timer problem I was having. Been looking at other apps, still haven’t worked out a solution yet. Bought Jazza’s Animation Foundation yesterday figuring I might pick a few things up form it. Plus watching another animator work for 10+ hours is my idea of a good time.

NES memories in this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Went to bed early last night since I’ve had trouble getting up in the morning. Woke up thinking, “It’s gotta be like 3 or something by now,” looked at my clock to find it was only 12:30 and got mad. Stayed in bed until about 4:30 trying to fall back asleep. Finished the half page I left off and another before going for a nap. Went for lunch with dad and got groceries this evening.

I started using TeamViz today. Timers work a little differently than I was expecting. You edit the default, break, and long break lengths for all tasks instead of individually, which I guess is fine since you can set how many pomodoros you need on each task. Also it immediately switches to break after you complete a pomodoro (as long as you have more than one to a task) but to start a new one even on the same task you have to tick the start button. I’m curious the point of configuring a daily list if you have to manually start it each time. I was feeling the flow when it moved between pomodoro to break but having to check if it’s still running either makes me forget to start it again or gives me an opportunity to procrastinate.

I’ll look into automating things better. I’d like to be able to pause if I need to but the norm should be, “Here’s what we’re doing! Let’s go!” It divides up the hats I need to wear at a time and separates Boss Me from Worker Me.

NES memories in this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Frank and I played Minecraft until about 10 last night. I think next time I’ll boot up the server I was going to use for the next Crafting Mines series. (I made it a single player world awhile ago after some issues with multi player.) I had stuff on my mind when I went to bed and didn’t get to sleep until about 11.

Today was kind of slow as I spent the morning looking for a good pomodoro timer. I wanted something with task tracking that was easy to organize. A lot of them were either simple timers or overly complex systems for teams. Funnily enough I settled on TeamViz which has a good free single user version. I can divvy my projects up into lists of tasks and view reports on my progress. This is good because usually there’s a divide between the planning and implementing stages. Now I’ll have running lists of tasks to spend 25 minutes at a time on rather than some big thing I’m trying to chip away at. I’ll also be recording what I’m actually doing each session so I can catch anything unproductive I’m sinking my time into.

NES memories in this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Woke up this morning around 2:30. Got out of bed about 3 and in the studio maybe 4:30. Spent some time looking for a timer app to try the Pomodoro Technique and probably got a little too fussy with desired features. Wanted something I could assign tasks to, them around to order them, and view a time chart of the results. Realized I was overcomplicating a simple process and tried using one to time myself for a free draw period. It didn’t go off right so I just turned my music on and started inking pages. Inked page 18 and about half of 19 before I got tired. Took a nap, woken up when my mom came in and we went for dinner. Frank called and offered to maybe play some more Minecraft later.

I signed up for a webinar this evening so I think I’ll squeeze another nap in before that. I feel like I was on to something with a timer, I just need to pick a better one and try it in conjunction with a time tracker app. If I work in bursts and break things up I probably won’t get burnt out so bad.

Remember New Coke? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Finished the Halloween comic around 2 Friday morning. Slept, helped my dad check his trail cams again, napped a bit before Frank and I recorded some Minecraft footage. I’m going to try getting my sleep schedule lined up this weekend. I’d rather be up early and get stuff done than work late.

I’ve got a batch of penciled pages to start inking, though I think next time I start work I’ll doodle for awhile and warm up. There’s a lot of invention and discovery when you’re loosely building a drawing but I usually pencil fairly tightly for production purposes. I think it’s good when brainstorming ideas to experiment. It’s just hard to tell yourself to stop doing one or the other. Sometimes you have pages to finish inking but all you want to do is make something new. I’m going to try using doodle time as a break from inking and whatnot, we’ll see how it goes.

Remember New Coke? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Worked in the studio until about 3 this morning. Finished the inks and the known flat colors for the Halloween comic. Need to choose colors for the rest and add shading/lighting effects. Went for lunch with dad and meant to lay down for a nap. Ended up listening to the Dana Gould Hour instead. Currently eating a bowl of cereal and drinking a frappuccino before I settle in for more work. I should be good as long as I have the right playlists handy.

Remember New Coke? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Couldn’t fall asleep until about 2:30 this morning. Woke up about noon. My dad wanted to look into upgrading his cellphone. Then I went for dinner and groceries with mom. Decided if I can’t get up to work in the morning I’ll try working at night. Normally I avoid being a night owl to keep on a regular daylight schedule but my body doesn’t want me up in the morning for some reason. I figure a few nights in the studio might line me back up. Or at the very least I’ll get some work done.

Remember New Coke? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

I’ve been dragging all day today. Slept through both my alarms this morning and decided to sleep in. Woke up exhausted around 11:30 and took some time getting a shower. I called my dad and told him to come check out my old cellphone and when he got here it just kept restarting. Then he just wanted to check Facebook and Craigslist.

I don’t remember overexerting myself yesterday and I got to bed at a reasonable time. The only thing I can think of is the change in weather as it’s turned grey and cold out. I’m not sure how to combat this other than going to bed even earlier and dosing up on caffeine in the morning. I try to avoid that since there’s the crash and withdrawals but I need to do something to bring my energy back up.