Yeah I'm excited about this one.
I'd been wanting to do something like take an art class or whatever for a while now, but always the searching never went well. Either I would find nothing at all, or I'd find something but it'd be like, up in Chicago or something (freakin' NOPE, nope nope nope)
Once we did find one recently, held in the most irritating area nearby, but it just wasnt quite what I'd hoped... it was this little 3-week thing, with like 25 people crammed in a room for two hours each Saturday. I ended up not actually doing it after discovering those details. It was very "traditional", that class. Kinda reminiscent of art classes in high school. So that's a "bleh".
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, my father is taking a walk down at the local mall (which is mostly dead) and comes across a big colorful display, a whole bunch of art and sculptures and stuff, and a flier advertising a place nearby.
It turns out this is an art studio/class/tutoring program or something, I'm not sure exactly what to call it, that is primarily meant for those who are neurodivergent. It is actually within a sane driving distance, which is surprising.
Usually when signing up for a class or program or whatever, you just... well, you sign up, see the exact dates and times, and then you show up at those exact times, and the class goes for a couple of weeks or months and then just sorta ends. Turns out this isnt like that at all. Signing up meant going through a questionnaire that asked like 5 billion things, quite a few of which were about accomodations and stuff, so I was able to give a ton of info, including things like explaining sensory triggers I have (mostly audio-based) or a big ton of other stuff. And then we set up a "tour" date, I wasnt exactly sure what that would entail.
I went there a couple of days ago, with my father in tow. The place was different from what I was expecting. Usually when I hear of stuff like this I think of like, a small studio in a building where it's not the only business in there, like how a lot of office buildings are. That's often how things operate in that area, it's very much a business district. But this isnt like that. It's an enormous sprawling facility, very open and airy, with tons of stuff going on and a cafeteria the size of Texas.
We go back into one of the studio rooms, which is also enormous, and I meet up with two of the ladies who run the place, both artists themselves. Honestly I dont remember the last time I had such a positive experience in meeting new people. They dealt with me and my obvious anxiety very well (I meet people easily online, but IRL is a different matter), and I was able to explain and discuss a lot of things. Talked about autism of course, and I explained, well, the gender thing, I infodumped a bit about my hobbies because I have no self control, and then we talked about what I was looking to do/learn in terms of art... it turns out there's way more there than I thought. Could learn origami if I want, for some reason. Or a million other forms of art. Seriously I dont think I've ever seen that many art tools/supplies in one place. I dont even know what half of it was. Sure was colorful. I showed them a bunch of things I'd made too, that was nerve-wracking. Usually I get nervous showing someone like, one thing, but we brought like 20 of them and I showed off my fractals as well. Like seriously though I got *really* anxious at that part. I'm not really sure why that gets me so much.
Honestly other than my own loopy anxiety, everything there was really great. The program is just ongoing, it's not some limited thing, and I'll have a chance to meet others on the spectrum and such later on, but only if I want to... nobody is forced into crowded groups or anything there, which is great.
I think I'd like to maybe try to make friends, though I aint exactly very good at that. I draw attention to myself very easily, but after that part I dont usually know what to do. But ya know what, I'm going to try.
The best part honestly is just that everyone is so accepting there, and accommodating. It's not just the autism stuff. They can actually accommodate my bizarre spinning sleep schedule. THAT is rare. Usually that just makes everything super difficult, or just prevents me from participating in stuff altogether. As they pointed out though, a lot of people on the spectrum or whatever tend to have sleep issues or erratic sleep cycles, so it wasnt new to them. My father was super impressed as well, which isnt something that happens easily. I just gotta hope I dont somehow screw it all up or something. But I'm going to do my best to not tell myself any negative things.
And... yeah, I'm excited. I think I needed something like this to sort of break me out of the reclusive cycle I'd gotten stuck in. And since going I've been more motivated to just make stuff than I have been in a long, long time. It turns out that when it's not purely kept to myself I get a lot more interested and focused on it.
Also, today, I made this:
I named her Vitrea. I figure she's the little sister of the pink haired girl I've shown previously (her name is Iris).
Heck if I know what that thing on her head is. I came up with her design while having Pop-Tarts. I focused A LOT on her expression... a ton of erasing and making very subtle changes over and over again. That was the hardest part. The rest was honestly pretty easy. Which is a far cry from how bloody difficult the first one had been.
I always see so many artists that have come up with their own unique characters, it's nice to finally have a couple of my own. No idea what I'm going to do with them yet, but I'd love to do a bunch more stuff with them in it. Whatever that turns out to be.
Also you know what, character design is freaking hard. That's something I've learned. But everything is a bit less wobbly, so that's good.
I did this all in one sitting again, I really must stop doing that.
I'd been wanting to do something like take an art class or whatever for a while now, but always the searching never went well. Either I would find nothing at all, or I'd find something but it'd be like, up in Chicago or something (freakin' NOPE, nope nope nope)
Once we did find one recently, held in the most irritating area nearby, but it just wasnt quite what I'd hoped... it was this little 3-week thing, with like 25 people crammed in a room for two hours each Saturday. I ended up not actually doing it after discovering those details. It was very "traditional", that class. Kinda reminiscent of art classes in high school. So that's a "bleh".
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, my father is taking a walk down at the local mall (which is mostly dead) and comes across a big colorful display, a whole bunch of art and sculptures and stuff, and a flier advertising a place nearby.
It turns out this is an art studio/class/tutoring program or something, I'm not sure exactly what to call it, that is primarily meant for those who are neurodivergent. It is actually within a sane driving distance, which is surprising.
Usually when signing up for a class or program or whatever, you just... well, you sign up, see the exact dates and times, and then you show up at those exact times, and the class goes for a couple of weeks or months and then just sorta ends. Turns out this isnt like that at all. Signing up meant going through a questionnaire that asked like 5 billion things, quite a few of which were about accomodations and stuff, so I was able to give a ton of info, including things like explaining sensory triggers I have (mostly audio-based) or a big ton of other stuff. And then we set up a "tour" date, I wasnt exactly sure what that would entail.
I went there a couple of days ago, with my father in tow. The place was different from what I was expecting. Usually when I hear of stuff like this I think of like, a small studio in a building where it's not the only business in there, like how a lot of office buildings are. That's often how things operate in that area, it's very much a business district. But this isnt like that. It's an enormous sprawling facility, very open and airy, with tons of stuff going on and a cafeteria the size of Texas.
We go back into one of the studio rooms, which is also enormous, and I meet up with two of the ladies who run the place, both artists themselves. Honestly I dont remember the last time I had such a positive experience in meeting new people. They dealt with me and my obvious anxiety very well (I meet people easily online, but IRL is a different matter), and I was able to explain and discuss a lot of things. Talked about autism of course, and I explained, well, the gender thing, I infodumped a bit about my hobbies because I have no self control, and then we talked about what I was looking to do/learn in terms of art... it turns out there's way more there than I thought. Could learn origami if I want, for some reason. Or a million other forms of art. Seriously I dont think I've ever seen that many art tools/supplies in one place. I dont even know what half of it was. Sure was colorful. I showed them a bunch of things I'd made too, that was nerve-wracking. Usually I get nervous showing someone like, one thing, but we brought like 20 of them and I showed off my fractals as well. Like seriously though I got *really* anxious at that part. I'm not really sure why that gets me so much.
Honestly other than my own loopy anxiety, everything there was really great. The program is just ongoing, it's not some limited thing, and I'll have a chance to meet others on the spectrum and such later on, but only if I want to... nobody is forced into crowded groups or anything there, which is great.
I think I'd like to maybe try to make friends, though I aint exactly very good at that. I draw attention to myself very easily, but after that part I dont usually know what to do. But ya know what, I'm going to try.
The best part honestly is just that everyone is so accepting there, and accommodating. It's not just the autism stuff. They can actually accommodate my bizarre spinning sleep schedule. THAT is rare. Usually that just makes everything super difficult, or just prevents me from participating in stuff altogether. As they pointed out though, a lot of people on the spectrum or whatever tend to have sleep issues or erratic sleep cycles, so it wasnt new to them. My father was super impressed as well, which isnt something that happens easily. I just gotta hope I dont somehow screw it all up or something. But I'm going to do my best to not tell myself any negative things.
And... yeah, I'm excited. I think I needed something like this to sort of break me out of the reclusive cycle I'd gotten stuck in. And since going I've been more motivated to just make stuff than I have been in a long, long time. It turns out that when it's not purely kept to myself I get a lot more interested and focused on it.
Also, today, I made this:
I named her Vitrea. I figure she's the little sister of the pink haired girl I've shown previously (her name is Iris).
Heck if I know what that thing on her head is. I came up with her design while having Pop-Tarts. I focused A LOT on her expression... a ton of erasing and making very subtle changes over and over again. That was the hardest part. The rest was honestly pretty easy. Which is a far cry from how bloody difficult the first one had been.
I always see so many artists that have come up with their own unique characters, it's nice to finally have a couple of my own. No idea what I'm going to do with them yet, but I'd love to do a bunch more stuff with them in it. Whatever that turns out to be.
Also you know what, character design is freaking hard. That's something I've learned. But everything is a bit less wobbly, so that's good.
I did this all in one sitting again, I really must stop doing that.
