Banner Illustration: Troisnyx

NEW EP $pare ¢hange, BandCamp, Supplies Unlimited (wav)

I know I put out an announcement somewhat recently but this post is mandatory in the memory of the money I just tossed around for illustrations. Technically I didn't have to toss Garden any money but I did BECAUSE I LOVE HER, NO ONE CAN TAKE HER FROM ME D:<

Massive shout out to Troisnyx and Bleak-Creep for their talent that's lending me a fresh new look. My last post was to declare that I needed artists for a new EP and my original hope was to commission some under privileged fresh-out-of-art-school cutie with fire in their eyes and big dreams. I went with two old friends instead because I was pretty confident I'd get good work from them and Bleak-Creep literally said "Wtf, you let me make you some EP art for free now!" 

I snuck her a friendly tip via PayPal when she was done BECAUSE I LURV MY FRIEND SO MUCH and it felt right. It didn't necessarily feel right paying only Troisnyx and not Bleak-Creep, I love both of my friends. The PayPal account is a happy rainy day fund from old contests and BandCamp sales, I try to forget about it so I have small currencies laying around to encourage stuff like this:

EP Illustration: Bleak-Creep

I'm so happy with the two drawings. I think it's worth pointing out that I didn't want to guide them too much. I like it when artists feel things out and make things they want to make. I jokingly told Troisnyx:

I wasn't expecting her to get back to me with an illustration featuring literal "big monies eating smaller monies" or "a personified gang of teeth trading organs in back alley ways" but I kind of got what I asked for and love it. Very adorable interpretation of an odd request. She had also mentioned something about working on a dumpster fire so I asked her to throw that in too because I love dumpster fires. She kept the color scheme Bleak-Creep used to the best of her ability and it's really lending a nice new tone to the Bandcamp layout. I made a few small edits to her work to fit my Bandcamp page and add valuable visual information. Reducing the file size hurt, I can see some of the loss but I do love adding text to stuff and I think it looks fine. Hopefully she doesn't mind:

I wanted to shout out Garnet-Frost and MindChamber for their illustration work on the old BandCamp layout but it looks like Garnet-Frost changed her user name to "ERROR — No user "garnet-frost" exists in our system." For posterity, here's the work she applied to my old page:

Shut up, I know I haven't activated Windows. I'd photoshop the watermark out from the bottom right corner of the above screenshot but I actually adore the obnoxious guilt trip Microsoft is doing. COME AND GET ME BILL GATES, I WON'T ACTIVATE YOUR PROPRIETARY OS, FUCK YOU. I'M SO BADASS. I'M NEVER ACTIVATING WINDOWS. PUT 100 WATERMARKS ON MY MONITOR, NERD D:<

...and like I had mentioned, MindChamber had done a previous EP illustration as well at about the same time as the last Bandcamp update and I love bringing it up:

Tom and I made some progress on the music studio. We started putting up dry wall and I've come to the conclusion that drywall is the shittiest material for building with. We bought a drywall lift to hoist these panels up to the ceiling but we may have destroyed a board which will set us back. You can buy some really expensive drywall lifts, you can rent them, or you can do what we did and buy the cheapest piece of shit dry wall lift available in a small middle-of-nowhere Colorado town.

The lift we have doesn't conform the drywall panel to the exact angle or bend of the ceiling and the little bit of force from gravity the drywall puts on itself by not conforming to the ceiling leads to screws ripping through the board. I usually like to include pictures of the build for a veneer of educational reflection but this time I'm only posting the one above. Drywall is fucking hellish. We also got electricity moved in, wires routed, breakers installed, router for internet, lights purchased but it's all for next time. If anyone has an interest in the studio construction, I've been documenting it regularly for over a year now: 

Music Studio Construction ACTIVATED, Studio Build- Raising The Roof, Poverty Hot Tub, Music Studio Construction Postponed

We didn't have much time to work on the studio this year because we had to prep for the wedding instead. If you're curious about the wedding check out the post: Living My Best Life

One final reminder to check out the new $pare ¢hange EP and help me recoup some of those art funds! Like the total sell-out that I am I've deactivated free downloads for all my music currently available on BandCamp. I will jokingly accept that some of you may pirate my music, just don't claim that my work is your own and remember to ask for permission before using it somewhere else! I like knowing where my music goes. If you use an audio program to rip my music files I want you to immediately title the file and meta data it with my name and information so you always know where the tune came from. These added steps are meant to encourage support but I know some of you are kids with no monies. Just enjoy the music and live happy lives, don't feel bad about ripping my audio for listening pleasure. You might learn something, the Audacity.

If anyone is near Austin Texas, I'll be heading to the Astronox Music and Arts Festival in late October and camping there. 5 day passes are available, so are one day passes! The festival is actually run by an old Newgrounds personality, FatKidWithAJetpack and my maid of honor EchozAurora will be going with her girlfriend:

$pare ¢hange EP, listen or die!